“Hurry, Bobby!” Gunny shouted from outside the flume. “Run toward the light!”
Everything changed in a single second. One second. A second is nothing. A tick on the clock. Seconds pass all the time and we never think about any one of them. But a second can be an eternity. I got back on my feet and reached down to help Kasha up. I had her hand. I was a second away from pulling her to her feet. One stupid second. If I had been a second earlier, the falling rock would have missed her.
I wasn’t.
Before I could pull her to her feet, a chunk of rock fell down from the ceiling and hit Kasha square on the head. It was so loud in the flume that I didn’t hear the sound it made, and I’m glad for that. But I will always remember the sight. Kasha’s head jerked to the side, and her body went limp.
I didn’t allow myself to think about what had happened. I pulled on Kasha’s furry hand, knelt down on one knee, and draped the big klee over my shoulders. I was operating on pure adrenaline.
“Go, shorty, go!” Gunny shouted.
Itook a quick look back to see Gunny pulling Spader away from the mouth of the flume. They disappeared back through the curtain of hanging vines. Safe.
The floor of the flume was rumbling so hard, Inearly lost my balance again. But through sheer force of willIwas able to stay upright and put one foot in front of the other. I was desperate to get us deeper into the flume and away from the destruction. The light blinded me…
“Hobey-ho, Pendragon!” I heard Spader yell.
And we were on our way. The last sound I heard from Eelong was a shriek and a hugeboomas the flume disintegrated behind us. I braced myself, expecting the entire flume to collapse. But it didn’t. All the damage was done at the gate. The rest of the flume was intact.
I don’t remember much about the trip to Zadaa. Kasha andIsailed along side by side. I held her in my arms, cradling her head. Blood was starting to blossom through the black fur above her left eye, turning it slick. Iput my hand over the wound, thinking direct pressure might stop the bleeding, but thenIwas afraid of putting too much pressure on her damaged skull.
“Kasha?” I said.
She opened her eyes, but couldn’t focus.
“We’ll be there soon,”Iassured her. “Loor can get us help.”Iwas scared to death. I knew that Loor would do what she could, butIhad no idea what the doctor situation was on Zadaa, let alone if they would treat a giant predator cat. I wondered if they had such things as veterinarians. AllIcould do was hold Kasha tight and wait for the trip to end.
It only took us a few minutes to get there, but it felt like days. Finally the musical notes grew faster and I felt the tug of gravity. I held Kasha tight to help ease her down once we arrived. Moments later I carried her out of the flume and into the large, underground cavern made of light brown stone-the sandstone of Zadaa. I laid Kasha down on the floor as gently as I could, then turned my thoughts to helping her. I quickly realized how tough that was going to be. To get out of this cavern, we needed to climb up through a cleft in the rock using footholds that were dug out of the stone. There was no way I would be able to climb out of there with an unconscious, two-hundred- pound cat. I decided to leave her and go for help.
“Pendragon?” Kasha whispered.
Her eyes were open and barely focused.
“Don’t talk,” I said. “I’m going to find somebody to help you.”
“No,” she said. “I don’t want to be alone.”
“But if I don’t get help-“
Kasha cut me off by squeezing my arm. One look into her eyes and my heart sank. Her once-sharp eyes were becoming glassy. Blood flowed from her wound. The grim truth was that Kasha didn’t need help. She needed comfort. I sat down next to her, lifted her head and put my hand under it, to act as a cushion against the hard, dirt floor.
“Tell me again,” Kasha whispered.
“About what?”
“Tell me what your uncle Press said,” she answered weakly. “I need to hear it.”
It took every bit of courage I had to keep it together, and answer. “Uncle Press was a lot like your father,” I said, my voice cracking. “People loved to be around him because he was the kind of guy who never had problems, only challenges.
He never gave reasons, or excuses why things couldn’t be done. He just went out and did them.”
“Just like Seegen,” Kasha whispered.
“And Uncle Press was a Traveler. He taught me a lot about what being a Traveler meant, but he didn’t even scratch the surface. He knew a lot more, but never got the chance to tell me. The last thing he said, as he was dying, was not to be sad because one day I’d see him again. He promised. He never broke a promise to me and I don’t believe he’s going to now.”
“I wish I knew him,” she said.
“I wish you did too.”
Kasha swallowed and said, “Am I going to see my father now?”
I almost lost it. “Yeah,” I said. “You are.”
“I’m proud to have known you, Bobby Pendragon. And to have been a Traveler.”
“You’ll always be a Traveler,” I said.
Kasha smiled, closed her eyes, and died. I felt the life go out of her as her head slumped into my hand. I kept staring at her, refusing to believe it, hoping that her eyes would open. But they didn’t. The harsh reality landed like a heavy weight on my shoulders. Another Traveler was gone. I knew of others who died before her: Osa, Seegen, Spader’s father, and of course, Uncle Press. But this was different. Kasha was the first Traveler from my generation who died. The last generation.
Saint Dane’s true purpose on Eelong was suddenly coming into focus.
“Hello, Pendragon,” came a voice from deeper in the cavern. I knew who it was without looking. “Hello, Loor,” I said.
The tall, dark-skinned warrior girl stepped out of the shadows and stood over Kasha and me. “I knew you would be coming,” she said softly. “But I did not expect this.”
“Nothing is the same, Loor,” I said, trying not to let my emotions take over. “We saved Eelong. The territory is safe. But I don’t think Saint Dane cares one way or the other.”
“Then what was the point?” Loor asked.
“He wants to change the way things were meant to be,” I answered. “Saint Dane is doing all that he can to tear Halla apart. On Eelong, we helped him.”
“Please explain,” Loor said.
I gently laid Kasha’s head down, stood up, and walked to the mouth of the flume. I took a step inside and called out, “Eelong!”
Nothing happened.
Loor stepped in and tried herself. “Eelong!”
The flume remained quiet.
“The gate on Eelong is destroyed,” I concluded.
“How did Saint Dane do that?” Loor asked.
“He didn’t. We did. Uncle Press always said that mixing the territories was wrong. What happened on Eelong is proof. Saint Dane may have lost a territory, but we lost three Travelers.”
I saw the surprised look on Loor’s face. She was too stunned to ask what I meant by that. I walked back to Kasha’s body and knelt down. Gently I took the Traveler ring from around her neck. “Kasha was the Traveler from Eelong,” I said. “Since we’re the last generation, Eelong no longer has one.” I put the cord that held Kasha’s ring around my neck and stood to face Loor. “And since the gate on Eelong is destroyed, Spader and Gunny are trapped.”
For the first time ever, I saw surprise in Loor’s eyes. “But they are safe?” she asked.
“I think so. But they aren’t going anywhere. Saint Dane said the rules have changed, but they haven’t. He’s just decided not to follow them.”
Loor and I brought Kasha’s body out of the cavern and smuggled it through the twisting caves and tunnels
