Black Water tpa-5 Read online

  I heard the voice before I saw him. “Welcome to Eelong, Pendragon,” he said calmly. “I trust you enjoyed my performance.”

  JOURNAL #16

  (CONTINUED)

  EELONG

  Ididn’t have to look. I knew who it was. He may have taken the form of a jungle cat named Timber, but I knew the truth.

  “Hello, Saint Dane,” I said. Trying to sound as if I wasn’t surprised, or scared-because I was both. “You really must be getting desperate.” I turned around to see him standing a few feet from me. He stood on two feet, staring down at me like some lowly bug. It was Saint Dane, all right.

  “And why would you say that?” he asked.

  “I can’t change myself into a klee like you,” I said. “It gives you an unfair advantage here. But maybe that’s the only way you can beat me.”

  Saint Dane chuckled. “Oh, so brash for a young Traveler who failed so miserably on Veelox.”

  It took all my willpower not to scream at this creep. I didn’t want to let him know that he was getting to me, which he was. “What have you done here?” I asked.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” he replied. “The word has such a nice ring to it, no?”

  “What word?” I asked, not really sure I wanted to hear the answer.

  “Genocide,” Saint Dane said with finality.

  “Genocide?” I repeated. “You want to wipe out the gars? Why? Aren’t the gars like animals here? Wiping them out would be horrible, but not exactly a turning point for the territory.”

  “Ahh, but you’re wrong,” Saint Dane said. “The gars are much more integral to life on Eelong than the klees realize. Without the gars, the tangs will have no prey. It will only be a matter of time before those vicious lizards become desperate enough to rise up against the klees. The klees may be the superior race on Eelong, but they are no match for the tangs. So when I speak of genocide, the gars are simply the first step in the cycle of destruction.”

  It was a chilling thought. Saint Dane was monkeying with the food chain on Eelong. If he succeeded, the hunters would become the hunted, and Eelong would be left to a race of mindless, carnivorous dinosaurs…and he would have his second territory.

  “You never told me your plan before. Why now?” I asked.

  Saint Dane, or Timber as he called himself here, looked me in the eye. It took everything I had not to look away.

  “Things have changed, Pendragon,” he said with confidence. “As I said, once the first territory falls, the rest will topple like dominos. Veelox is on a path to destruction, thanks to your failure. My power is growing. Nothing is as it was. The order that ruled the territories is crumbling, and so is Halla.” He backed away and added, “Which reminds me, it’s time to pay a visit to your friends on Second Earth. What are their names? Oh yes, Mark and Courtney.”

  Hearing that, there was no way I could keep my cool anymore.

  “Leave them alone!” I shouted. “They aren’t Travelers. They have nothing to do with this.”

  “Everyone has a role in our little drama, Pendragon,” Saint Dane shot back. “It’s their turn. But don’t blame me. It was you who chose them. I wonder how they’ll use their new power.”

  “Power? What power?” I asked. “What’s happened?”

  Saint Dane backed toward the door. “Like I said, the walls are crumbling. I’ll give them your regards.” He held up a rotten, cloth bag and said, “Along with a small token from our friend Gunny.” With that he turned and walked quickly for the door.

  “Saint Dane!” I shouted, but it was useless. The big cat dropped down on all fours and sprang forward, leaping out of the doorway.

  He was headed for the flume. For Second Earth. For you guys.

  I knew I couldn’t stop him, but you two had to be warned. I yanked at the leash, desperate to get loose and chase after the demon. All I did was pull the knot tighter. Idiot. Thankfully Boon came back.

  “What are you doing?” he asked nervously. “Everybody’s watching you!”

  “It’s Saint Dane,” I said frantically. “Timber is Saint Dane.”

  “What?” Boon said, confused. “Timber has been on the Council of Klee since, well, since forever.”

  “Then Saint Dane has been here forever,” I answered quickly. “Or he got rid of the real Timber and took his place. I told you, he can turn into whatever he wants, and he wants to be on the Council of Klee. That’s what he does. He slimes himself into a territory and manipulates people and…now he’s going after my friends on Second Earth. We’ve got to get back to the flume!”

  “Maybe we should find Seegen first and-“

  “No! We don’t have time!”

  Boon must have seen the desperation in my eyes. With one quick move he flashed one of his sharp claws and sliced through the leash. “Let’s go,” he said, all business. He grabbed the cut end of the leash for show, and the two of us ran out of the Circle of Klee. Good cat.

  “I gotta beat him to the flume,” I announced.

  “If he’s on the run, you’ll never catch him,” Boon warned.

  “You gotta get me there, Boon,” I said, not caring that other cats were watching us curiously. The thought flashed that I could jump on Boon’s back and ride him to the flume, but Boon had another idea. He led me to an elevator platform and to my surprise, we went down… to the jungle floor.

  “Whoa, isn’t this dangerous?”

  “You want to get there fast?” he asked. “This is the way.”

  We hit the ground, and Boon ran across the jungle beneath the trees. He stayed on two feet so I’d be able to keep up. But he was still faster than I was. It didn’t help my speed any that I kept looking around, expecting a tang to leap out of a bush and start chewing on my butt.

  “Don’t worry. It’s pretty safe inside Leeandra,” Boon said without slowing down. “There are guards everywhere. We won’t be in any real danger until we leave the city.”

  Good. No worries…for now. Boon led me to a tall fence made of bamboo that was around ten feet high. There was an opening with two klees standing guard. Boon ran up to one and said breathlessly, “I need a zenzen.”

  The guard answered, “What’s your rush? The wippen tournament is over.”

  “And those guys from the north made us look bad,” Boon said, thinking fast. “I want the extra practice.”

  The guard stepped aside and said, “Good! They aren’t better than us, they just train more.”

  “Exactly!” Boon replied. “Watch my gar, would you?”

  That was me. Boon ran inside the gate, leaving me alone. I stood in front of the two guards, feeling all sorts of vulnerable. I almost whistled casually, but figured that would have been a little suspicious. I looked to the ground but still felt their eyes on me. I really hoped they weren’t hungry.

  “What is that smell?” one klee asked the other in disgust.

  “The gar,” the other guard snarled. “Filthy animal. Don’t they ever clean themselves?”

  The first klee walked up to me. I could feel his breath, but didn’t dare look up.

  “Nice shoes,” the klee said. “My hunting gar could use those.”

  “So get him a pair like that,” the second guard said.

  “I didn’t say he could use a pairlikethat,” the first guard corrected. “I said he could usethosel”

  Before I knew what was happening, the klee grabbed me around the neck, choking me.

  “Take them!” he ordered the second klee.

  The other guard quickly yanked off my shoes. I didn’t fight. There were bigger problems to deal with than losing a pair of torn-up cloth shoes. Besides, I didn’t want them to bite me. A few long seconds later, I heard the sound of hoofs. The klee guard let go of me and I gasped for breath. I saw Boon trotting up on the back of an incredibly strange-looking horse. I now realized that this tall fence was actually a corral. The animal Boon called a “zenzen” was dark orange, and sort of looked like a regular old Second Earth horse, except that it had impossibly long legs. T
hat’s because each leg had an extra joint. I’m serious. Imagine a horse leg, then add a whole ‘nother section that was about two feet long, complete with an extra joint, and you’d have what they called a zenzen. It moved strangely, like a spider. But it was definitely a horse.

  “C’mon, gar!” Boon shouted to me, as if he were calling a dog. “Good boy, let’s go!”

  I was totally humiliated, but had to play along. I walked over to the zenzen and looked up at Boon. It’s tough enough climbing up onto a regular old horse, but this thing was another few feet higher. Boon reached down and held out his paw.

  “C’mon boy, grab on,” Boon commanded.

  I gave him a dirty look and reached with my hand. Boon grabbed it and pulled me up like a doll. Man, he was strong. He plunked me down in back of him, just behind the saddle.

  “Not bad!” one of the klee guards said. “You got that one trained pretty good!”

  “But you gotta wash him down,” the other said. “He stinks.”

  “And get him some shoes!” the first guard added with an obnoxious chuckle.

  I whispered to Boon, “The stink comments are getting old.”

  “Sorry,” Boon whispered. He then let out a “Yah!” while snapping the reins. I grabbed on to his tunic and we bolted forward and ran faster than I thought any horse could run. That extra length of leg must have acted like a turbocharger, because in no time we were flying. We blasted along the jungle floor, beneath the buildings of Leeandra. Very soon we came upon a wall made of bamboo that looked like the fence around the corral. Only this wall towered fifty feet into the air.

  I now realized that Leeandra was built like a fort, with a wall ringing it to keep out the tangs. “The gate!” Boon yelled ahead.

  I looked over his shoulder to see a few klee guards move to open a huge, swinging door. Boon didn’t slow down. The guards must have realized he wasn’t going to stop, because they scrambled to get the door open. They swung it wide, just in time, as Boon and I galloped out of the safety of Leeandra and into the badlands.

  Boon knew how to ride. We charged along the narrow, jungle path as if we were out in the great wide open. Fast was scary, but good. We not only had to beat Saint Dane to the flume, I figured as long as we were flying along, it would be tough for a tang to attack. Still, Boon wasn’t taking any chances. Attached to the saddle was one of those long wooden weapons. Once we were out of the city, Boon held the reins with one paw, and grabbed the weapon with the other. He held it forward, ready, in case a hungry tang decided to get in our way.

  Now that we were moving, my thoughts turned to what I would do once we caught up with Saint Dane. I was really worried about you guys. Saint Dane’s comment about it being your turn, and your having new powers, didn’t make sense. The only thing I knew for sure was that it couldn’t be good. Saint Dane wouldn’t be dropping in on you guys just to say howdy do. And he mentioned Gunny. I felt certain that Gunny was still alive, but where was he? I didn’t want to leave Eelong without finding him, but knowing that Saint Dane was coming after you guys was more important. I had to get to you first.

  The mad gallop through the forest was uneventful. Not a single tang showed up. After a few minutes I saw that the stone in my ring was starting to glow. We were getting close to the gate. Boon rode us right back to the giant tree that held the flume and pulled up at the small entrance I had first come through. I had no idea if we had beaten Saint Dane there or not.

  “Find Seegen,” I said to Boon while climbing down from the zenzen. “He must know where Gunny is.”

  “No,” Boon protested. “I’m coming with you.”

  “You can’t,” I shot back. “Only Travelers can use the flume.”

  “What about acolytes?” Boon asked.

  “You’re not an acolyte yet,” I shot back. “And even if you were, acolytes can’t use the flume. It doesn’t work that way.” I stopped short, my mind racing. My own words rang in my ears:”It doesn’t work that way.”Saint Dane had said that the rules were changing, and the walls between the territories were breaking down. Could that be the “new powers” he was talking about? Was it possible that acolytes could now activate the flume?

  “Pendragon?” Boon called to me. “What are you thinking?”

  “Find Seegen,” I said again. “I’ll get back as soon as I can.” I had turned for the gate when Boon yelled, “Pendragon!” I looked back and Boon tossed me his wooden weapon. “Quigs” was all he said.

  I caught the heavy stick and felt its weight. It was like a long baseball bat. I had no idea how to use it against one of those human quigs, but it was better having it than not. I nodded to Boon, then dove down to the hole in the tree. I knew the way. I crawled through the narrow tunnel that was choked with vines and found the hole in the floor that led down to the flume cavern. While holding the weapon in front of me, I climbed down the root stairs, stepped over the pile of gar bones, and found myself standing in the grand underground cavern that held the flume. A quick look to the ground showed me the arrow I had scratched into the dirt. So far so good.

  I didn’t know if I was ahead of Saint Dane, or if he had already gone to Second Earth. Either way I didn’t want to waste time, so I didn’t change out of my Eelong rags. I put the wooden weapon down on the flat rock next to my jumpsuit from Veelox and dove through the curtain of roots that hid the flume.

  When I reached the tunnel, I saw something I hadn’t expected. There was a light glowing far in the distance, as if I had already activated the flume. But it didn’t grow closer to me, nor did it disappear into the distance. It just sort of hung there as if the flume had been half activated. I didn’t know what it meant, but I couldn’t spend any time trying to figure it out.

  “Second Earth!” I shouted into the tunnel.

  The light came for me. A moment later I was pulled in and on my way home. But this was like no other trip I had taken back to Second Earth. Every time I had traveled home, it was always with a feeling like I was going somewhere safe and sane. This time I feared what I would find…and I wasn’t disappointed. The voyage through the flume was eerily similar to the trip I had taken from Veelox to Eelong. I once again saw transparent images floating in space. This time I saw what looked to be giant chess pieces. There were also beautiful clear blue crystals spinning by that looked like glaze, the precious ore from Denduron. It felt like the star field was teeming with ghosts from all the different territories. I wondered if this had something to do with what Saint Dane had said about the walls between the territories crumbling.

  You guys already know what happened when I arrived on Second Earth. When I saw you at the mouth of the flume, I realized I was too late. You looked all sorts of scared, which meant Saint Dane had already been there. I was relieved that you two were okay, but still worried about what it all meant. I’m sorry if I was rough with you guys, but I had so many different thoughts and fears running through my head, not the least of which was that bag that turned out to have Gunny’s hand in it. Saint Dane is truly a monster. Once you told me he had returned to Eelong, I knew that I had to return as well. Again, I’m sorry for being such a creep.

  My plan was to return to Eelong, then climb back up into the tree and see if I could find my way back to Leeandra. I needed to find Seegen, the Traveler. And ultimately, Gunny. After that we would begin to try and find a way to stop Saint Dane and his quest to obliterate the gars. On the trip back, I carried the bag with Gunny’s hand with reverence. I didn’t know what I was going to do with it, but whatever it was, it would have to be on Eelong.

  But when the flume deposited me back in the cavern on Eelong, my plans immediately changed. I pushed my way through the hanging roots to find myself in the vast underground cavern facing…

  A jet-black jungle cat. The big cat stood on all fours, facing me. Its amber eyes seemed to look right through me. If this cat had been given the okay to hunt gars, then it had just gotten a surprise snack from out of the blue. Me.

  We stood looking at each ot
her for what seemed like an eternity. I saw that my wooden weapon was still on the flat rock where I left it-beyond my reach. Not that I would have known what to do with it anyway. The next move was going to have to be the cat’s. I bent my legs, ready to spring out of the way if it charged.

  It didn’t. Instead the big cat said calmly, “So you’re Pendragon.”

  I immediately realized who it was. I had seen her before and knew I wasn’t in danger.

  “My name’s Kasha,” she continued. “My father is Seegen, the Traveler from Eelong.” She stood up on her two hind legs, crossed her arms in front of her and added, “He’s missing.”

  I’m going to end my journal here, guys. I’m writing this from the city of Leeandra, where I am staying in the tree house that belongs to Kasha, the daughter of Seegen. But Seegen isn’t here. Question is, where is he?

  The main reason I’m ending this here is that I need to send you a warning. Whatever happened by losing Veelox has changed the nature of Halla. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but it seems to be okay with Saint Dane, which can only mean it’s bad news. You two are acolytes now. I’m proud of you, and I know you’re going to support me and the other Travelers when we come to Second Earth. But I’m beginning to think that it means a little more. I can’t be sure, but I think you two now have the power to activate the flumes.

  Don’t do it.

  If there was one thing that Uncle Press taught me, it’s that the territories cannot be mixed. Remember what happened on Denduron? It was nearly a disaster. I can’t even imagine what would happen if acolytes started traveling between territories. I might be wrong about this, but my gut tells me it would cause even more trouble than before. So please, wait for my next journal. Hopefully by the time I write it, I’ll have more information to give you. You guys are the best. I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t there for me, even if it’s just on the other end of my journals. Again, I’m sorry for having been so rough when I saw you, but I know you understand.