D. MacHale - Black Water

Whoa. I sat up quickly. This wasn’t a dream. It was the cat named Timber, from the Council of Klee. Or should I say, it was Saint Dane.

“You really should tidy up a bit,” Saint Dane added. “I can smell you from up here.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” I asked angrily. “I’m stuck in here where you can keep an eye on me.”

“Oh no, my friend,” Saint Dane said. “Quite the opposite. I would much rather have you free to match wits. Having you lurking about makes things so much more interesting.”

“Then get me out of here,” I demanded.

“Ahh, if only I could,” Saint Dane replied with mock sincerity. “But it would be wrong to interfere with the ways of the territory. That’s against the rules, you know.”

“Yeah, right,” I said with as much sarcasm as I could generate. “Like that’s ever stopped you before.”

“I will give you a piece of advice though,” Saint Dane added. “There is a way for you to get out. Seize the opportunity when it arrives.”

“What is it?” I demanded to know.

“Good-bye, Pendragon,” Saint Dane said as he slinked away. “Enjoy your day.”

“Saint Dane!” I shouted. I was out of my mind. I jumped up and tried to climb the rock walls, but it was hopeless. They were slick and I only got about a foot off the floor before crashing back down, banging my butt on the stone. I had hit bottom. Literally. I was hungry, I was weak, and Saint Dane had just teased me into losing control. I never liked to show weakness to the demon. I didn’t want him to know he was getting to me. But as of that moment, I had officially been gotten to.

“Black Water,” came a soft voice next to me.

I looked to my right to see that one of the gars had bravely crept a few feet from me. He held his hand out, palm up. Resting in it was one of the mysterious, amber cubes.

“What is Black Water?” I asked.

“Home,” came another weak voice.

The first gar held the cube closer to me, as if he wanted me to take it. I carefully reached out, expecting the gar to pull it away, but he let me take the precious crystal cube right off his hand. I was surprised to feel that the cube was as light as a marshmallow. I handled it gingerly, afraid that if I put any pressure on it, it might crack. I turned it around to examine all sides and discovered that there was a single black side, just like the other cube I had seen. “Soon,” the gar said. “Home.”

“What home?” I asked. “What is Black Water? What’s going to happen?”

“The Advent,” the gar said.

Before I could ask what that meant, the wooden door to the cell screeched open and two klee guards entered. The gar snatched the cube back and tried to hide it in his ragged clothes. Too late. The first klee guard saw it and pounced on the frightened gar.

“What is this?” he shouted. He pulled the cube away from the gar and held it up. “Is it something to do with Black Water? Is that it?”

The gar cowered in the corner, shivering with fear. The klee dropped the amber box onto the stone floor and with one violent move, stomped it. A sickeningcrunchtold me the box was indeed as fragile as I had feared. The other gars jumped, as if the klee had stomped on them. The only thing left of the strange little box was a pile of shattered glass. The gars stared at it, as if their last hope had been crushed right along with it.

The klee grabbed the gar he had stolen the cube from. He lifted the poor guy to his feet, holding him by the back of his neck and hissed. “I’m sure the Inquisitors will convince you to tell us. Guard!” A third klee entered the cell. The first klee guard shoved the gar toward them saying, “He had one of those boxes. Take him to the Inquisitors.”

The third klee dragged the terrified gar from the cell. The first klee pointed to a gar who was on his knees, shivering and crying.

“Him!” the klee ordered. The second klee guard quickly pulled him to his feet. The first klee looked around again until his eyes fell on…me. “And you,” he snarled. “You look like you might give us a decent show.”

I was tired of playing the role of a primitive, docile gar. I slowly got to my feet and stood up to my full height. I actually thought I caught a look of surprise on the klee’s face. He wasn’t used to a gar being so big, or acting so brashly.

“If giving you a decent show will get me out of here,” I said calmly, “then it’s showtime.”

The klees stared at me, dumbfounded. I’m guessing a gar had never spoken to either of them like that. I had thrown them off. I liked that. What I didn’t like was that the gar who was chosen first now looked more terrified than before. He shook his head violently and cried, “No!”

Uh oh. Had I made a mistake? Saint Dane had said there was a way to get out of here if I seized the opportunity. This sure felt like an opportunity, but was I crazy for believing anything he had to say? A month of confinement and hunger was making my thinking a little fuzzy. Okay, alotfuzzy.

The first klee guard grabbed my arms. I pulled away and said, “You don’t have to do that; I’ll go wherever you want.”

The klee hesitated, then glanced at his friend. The other klee shrugged. Neither knew what to make of me. Then the first klee grabbed me again and pulled me to the door. I didn’t fight. I didn’t want to waste what little gas was left in my tank. A moment later I was dragged out of the cell for the first time in a month. My legs were wobbly, but it felt good to use them again. Behind us, the other klee pulled the gar along as we traveled through a long stone corridor.

“What’s this all about?” I asked. “What are we supposed to do?”

The klee answered by giving me a rough shake. I didn’t want my brain rattled anymore, so I stopped asking questions.

We reached the end of the corridor and went through a door that led outside. Feeling the cool morning breeze was awesome. I felt like I was returning to civilization. Sort of. I now got a look at the prison building where we were being kept. It was a square courtyard. The stone building that surrounded it was one story high. I wondered how many other animal pens this building held. Probably lots. The ground inside the courtyard had a few worn grassy patches, but mostly it was brown dirt. In the center was a ring of stones about twenty feet in diameter. This is where we were headed. I saw several klees hanging around the courtyard, doing nothing. When we appeared, they all made their way toward the circle.

When we reached the center, the klees gave us each a shove. I stumbled into the circle but managed to keep my feet. The gar wasn’t so lucky. He took a tumble, and stayed on the ground. I was beginning to get an uneasy feeling about this. The gar and I were now alone inside the circle, with more klees arriving to watch. They gathered around, chatting excitedly and laughing. There was a definite air of anticipation. I had the feeling that whatever show they wanted us to put on, it wouldn’t involve singing or dancing.

The klee who had chosen me stepped into the circle. He looked me up and down, smiled in satisfaction, and nodded. He walked to the gar who was cowering in the dirt and gave him a sharp kick. The gar whined in pain, but didn’t move. The klee faced the assembled audience and said, “Make your wagers.”

Instantly the klees started chattering with one another. It was slowly dawning on me that this was going to be some kind of contest between us gars. I had no idea what it would be, but I had to believe that I was the favorite. I was in much better shape than the poor gar who was balled up on the ground. I was pretty sure I was smarter, too. However, I couldn’t help but think about the two other gars who had been pulled out of the cell. One came back full of blood, the other never came back. Gulp.