standing in a cave. A quick three-sixty showed me it was a grand, underground cavern with a high ceiling. Light leaked through random cracks high above. The ropes I had pushed through turned out to be a curtain of thick vines that cascaded down from the ceiling and covered the mouth of the flume.
“Roots,” I said to myself.
Roots were good. Way better than spiderweb. The cavern was full of these long, green sticky roots that covered the rock walls. I took a few steps toward the center, still on high alert. But there were no gangsters, no quigs, no pools of water, and no Saint Dane. So far, so good. I looked back to the flume to see it was hidden by the dense curtain of roots. I dug an arrow into the dirt floor with my heel, pointing to it. I wasn’t taking any chances if I had to bolt out of there fast.
In the dead center of the cavern was a large flat rock. Lying on it was something I wasn’t happy to see. It was a pile of clothing. As you know, acolytes put clothing at the flumes for visiting Travelers. According to the Traveler rules, I had to dress in these clothes. No problem, right? Wrong. The clothing on this rock was nothing more than a pile of dirty rags. I’m not exaggerating. At first I thought that’s what they were. Rags. But when I lifted one up, I saw that it was a crudely made pair of cloth pants. It wasn’t exactly soft, either. It felt like rough burlap. I picked up what looked like a shirt. I wasn’t really sure at first, because I saw one sleeve and a hole that I thought would go around your neck, but the rest was in tatters. Not exactly something you’d find on the rack at the Gap. And they smelled, too. Like bad BO. (Is there such a thing asgoodBO?)
I also found some crude shoes made of cloth. I knew they were shoes because they were sort of foot-shaped with extra layers on the bottom. This was not good. I looked around, hoping there might be some other clothes that were a little less nasty, and saw something that made my heart jump. Lying on the ground next to the rock, neatly folded, was a black suit with a white shirt and a large pair of leather shoes.
“Gunny,” I said out loud.
These were the clothes he’d worn when he left me on Veelox. There was no mistake; I was in the right place in the wrong clothes. I had to change. Those were the rules. I reluctantly took off my comfy green jumpsuit from Veelox and folded it next to Gunny’s clothes. I then did something I absolutely hated, but didn’t have a choice about. I had to lose my boxer shorts. In the past, no matter what territory I visited, I kept on the boxers. I figured that if the future of Halla rested on my choice of underwear, it was beyond saving. But these Eelong clothes were so raggy and threadbare, my boxers would have shown! There was no way I could wear them without arousing suspicion. Or at least looking like a total dork. I wanted to scream. It was the final injustice. I had to wear these rough, itchy, torn-up rags, without boxer protection. They were smelly, too. Did I mention that? I already felt like I was on Eelong for too long.
I put on the rags as best as I could, but they hung on me like, well, like rags. On the rock I spotted several strips of thin, braided vine about two feet long. I used them to tie up the cloth in places where it hung too loose. I used these vines on the cloth shoes, too, wrapping up both my feet to keep the ratty material on. After a while I felt like a Thanksgiving turkey, all trussed and ready for the oven. It was awful. Compared to these putrid rags, the leather skins on Denduron were like soft pajamas.
And they smelled, too. I must have mentioned that.
Now that I was all dressed up (or down) the next step was to find the gate and get out of this cavern. I figured the way out must be hidden by the hanging roots. I walked to the side and stuck my arm out to brush aside the dangling vegetables. I walked along, pushing aside the vines, peering beyond to look for something that might be an exit. I saw that the walls weren’t entirely made of rock. There were thick sections of roots that had grown into and around the rock. I figured there must be some serious vegetation on the surface.
I had gotten more than halfway around the cavern when I started to worry that I might have missed it. That’s when I saw something. Beyond the thick curtain of hanging vines, there was a vertical crack in the rock wall. This had to be the way out. I took a step through the vines and immediately tripped on something. I stumbled forward, hit the wall, and face-planted into the dirt. Ouch. When I opened my eyes, I was face-to-face with… a human skull!
“Ahh!”
I rolled away fast. When I got the guts to look back, I nearly retched. Lying on the dirt floor in front of the crack in the wall was a pile of bones. Human bones. I had seen enough horror movies to recognize people bones when I saw them. I couldn’t tell how many victims these bones belonged to, and I wasn’t about to do inventory, but I’m guessing they were the remains of about six poor souls. They must have been there for a while, because there was nothing left of them but bones, and raggy clothes like I was wearing. Their clothes actually looked a little better than mine, but I wasn’t about to make a swap. Ick.
I began to question whether the opening in the rock was the way out, or the path to a gruesome death that would land me back on this pile. I saw crudely fashioned stairs, leading up. They looked to have been carved out of the root material that snaked through the rock. Better, I saw a faint hint of light coming from above. Light was good. I decided to take my chances. I gingerly stepped over the bones because the idea of stepping on something and hearing acrackwould have pushed me over the edge into gak-dom. With a quick hop I was over, and slid through the opening in the rocks.
The steps were narrow and steep and wound around like a spiral staircase. I could smell fresh air coming from above, so my confidence grew. I really, really wanted to be out of here. This place was starting to feel more like a crypt than a gate to the flumes. After climbing for a few minutes, I got to the top of the crude stairs and found myself in a dark space. I couldn’t see the walls, and the ceiling was so low I couldn’t stand. What now?
A few feet away I saw a thin sliver of light shining through what looked like more hanging vines. This had to be the way out. I stayed on my knees for fear of bonking my head and crawled toward the light. It was growing cooler, as if fresh air were only a few feet away. I found myself squeezing through a narrow passageway that at first gave me claustrophobia, but the urge to get the heck out was stronger. I picked up the pace, and a few seconds later the final veil of vegetation was pushed aside and I was hit with bright sunlight. I was out! I squeezed myself through, ready to be free of the dark tunnel and get my first look at the territory of Eelong.
I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this.
Eelong was totally, absolutely, beautiful. I found myself about twenty yards from the edge of a cliff, looking out over a green, tropical forest. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so awesome. I walked closer to the edge, on ground that was thick with grass so soft I probably didn’t need the lame-o shoes. The view spread out before me was absolutely stunning. As far as I could see there was nothing but forest. The canopy of trees below was so dense, you couldn’t see the ground. There were no structures, no roads, no towers, no sign at all of civilization. Just forest. A flock of birds that looked like pelicans soared by beneath me. They were bright yellow with brilliant red heads.
As dramatic as this was, there was another sight that made the view even more spectacular. Eelong didn’t have a sun. At least not in the way we think of a sun. The sky was blue, just like at home. There were even clouds. But rather than a ball in the sky, there was a wide band of light, stretching from one horizon all the way across to the opposite, like a rainbow. It was directly overhead, and I wondered if it would move across the sky as the day wore on. It was hot, too. Jungle hot. This band of brilliant light gave off heat like a tropical sun.
Looking to either side, I found myself on a wide outcropping that must have been at least a couple of hundred yards above the forest below. But it was hard to judge, since I couldn’t see the ground through the dense trees. Far to my right I saw a waterfall shoot from near the top of the rock and cascade down through the tree canopy below. I couldn’t see where it landed, though. The trees were too thick.
And the smell. It was sweet, but not icky sweet like when you walk into a flower shop. Whatever flowers grew on Eelong, they had a faint smell that reminded me of lemons. To my left I saw some low, scrubby trees that were covered with deep blue flowers. I walked over to this bushy tree and took a deep whiff. Oh yeah, this is where the smell came from.
One word came to mind as I surveyed Eelong: “paradise.”
The view was so breathtaking, I had completely forgotten to see where I had come from. That was important because the little tunnel I had crawled through was the gate to the flume. A quick look at my Traveler ring confirmed it. The gray stone in the center was glowing slightly. When in doubt, this ring would always lead me to the flume, so long as I was in the neighborhood. So I turned around to take a mental picture of where the gate was hidden.
What I saw made me catch my breath. I instantly knew that I wouldn’t have any trouble finding the gate again. That’s because looming up in front of me was thehugesttree I had ever seen. I’m not talking big. I mean
