D. MacHale - Black Water

There was wildlife, too. I’m happy to report that we saw many different creatures on Eelong, and for a change, none of them wanted to eat me. There were beautiful, deerlike animals with strong, sharp antlers that must have been used to fend off tangs. I saw more of those funny, green monkeys, along with multicolored birds that chattered in the trees. When we’d pass beneath, the birds would take flight, looking like a chaotic rainbow. There were bugs, too. On the ground, and flying. Some were the size of hummingbirds. A sting from one of those babies would hurt. We passed a large flock of birds pecking at the grass in a meadow. They were hefty things, about the size of turkeys, but with brilliant blue feathers.

“What are those called?” I asked Yorn.

“Rookers” was his answer. “Very tasty.”

I realized they were the same birds that had been roasted on the coals of Kasha’s kitchen.

Kasha seemed to be pretty clear on where the map directed us. Sometimes we’d traverse a large field with no trails and hit the other side right at another trailhead. Once we had to detour around a truly huge lake. Many times we had the choice of several trails, and after a quick glance at the map, Kasha always seemed to know which one to take. I never questioned her.

From the get-go, my body was sore. After trotting along for several hours, I was totally worked. And hungry, too. I needed a break, but I didn’t dare suggest we stop. I was on thin ice with Kasha; it wouldn’t have taken much to crack it. Besides, Yorn wasn’t complaining. My pride alone made me keep quiet. Finally, after my butt had gone beyond sore into full-on numb, Kasha stopped.

“We’ve still got a ways to go,” she said. “We should rest and eat.”

I could have kissed her. If she wasn’t a cat and if she didn’t want to kill me, I might have. We got off our zenzens, and after walking around to get the circulation back into our legs, we sat down at the base of a gnarled old tree to eat. Yorn had packed food that was nothing more than long, brown strips of dried something.

“I don’t care what this is,” I said. “So long as it isn’t gar.”

“It’s not.” Yorn chuckled. “It’s a mixture of fruit and rooker meat.”

“The blue birds?” I asked.

“Exactly. It’s mixed together, dried, seasoned, pounded into strips and then dried again. It may not taste like much, but it’s good for you, and it’s light for traveling.”

I bit off a piece and chewed. It was tough, but after a few chews it softened up. It actually tasted pretty good, too. On the other hand, I was so hungry, the rags on my back would have seemed tasty.

“We have something like this on Second Earth,” I said. “We call it jerky. I’m not sure why. Maybe the guy who invented it was a jerk.” I chuckled. Nobody else did. So much for clever conversation.

Kasha didn’t say a word as we ate. She sat with her back to us, staring at a mountain range far in the distance. Yorn and I made small talk about the birds, but my mind was on Kasha, wondering what she was thinking. She was the Traveler from Eelong. We needed her. Eelong needed her. Heck, Halla needed her. I wished I knew how to convince her of that. When she finally did speak, I was surprised at her question.

“How many territories are there?” she asked.

“Ten in all,” I said. “At least that’s what I’ve been told. They’re all part of Halla.”

“Explain to me what Halla is,” she said. It was an order more than a question. I didn’t know why she suddenly had this interest, but if she was willing to listen, I was ready to talk.

“The way it was told to me, Halla is everything. Every time, every place, every person and creature that ever existed. It all still exists.”

“And you understand that?” she asked.

“Well, not entirely,” I answered honestly.

“But you’re willing to risk your life and the lives of those around you to protect Halla from Saint Dane?”

Good question. I’d asked myself the same question more than once.

“I wasn’t at first,” I began. “Far from it. I didn’t want any part of Travelers or flumes and especially of Saint Dane. But since then I’ve been to a bunch of territories and seen the evil he’s capable of.”

Kasha scoffed and said, “Evil? You’re a fool, Pendragon. A tang is evil. What possible evil could a gar cause that’s worse than that?”

“I’ll tell you,” I said. “He’s killed more people than I want to count, all in the name of creating chaos. He fueled a war on Denduron and tried to poison all of Cloral. Then he nearly crushed three territories at once, my home territories of Earth. But each time the Travelers stopped him. Until Veelox. We failed on Veelox. An entire civilization is going to collapse, millions will die, all because we failed. And Saint Dane will be there to pick up the pieces. Or step on them.”

“It’s all mildly interesting,” she said calmly. “But like I said before, it has nothing to do with me. I don’t care.”

That’s when I snapped. Okay, I admit, maybe I should have been cool, but Kasha’s total lack of concern had finally gotten to me. I jumped to my feet and said, “Well you’d better start!”

“It’s all right, Pendragon,” Yorn said calmly. “Relax.”

“Relax?” I shouted, getting more amped up by the second. “Why? So I won’t upset Kasha? Sheshouldbe upset. People have died fighting Saint Dane. People I’ve loved, peopleshe’sloved.” I looked right at Kasha and said, “You don’t care? I’ll tell you what I don’t care about. I don’t care that your life is a mess. Sorry, it’s true. You’ve got way bigger problems coming, kitty cat. You want to pretend like none of this affects you? Fine. You’re wrong. If we fail, Eelong will crumble and everything you care about will crash along with it. And whether you like it or not, you’re a Traveler. So why don’t you just grow up and accept it!”

I glanced at Yorn to see his eyes were wide. He couldn’t believe I had just gone off on Kasha like that. But I couldn’t help myself. The time for pussyfooting around was over, no pun intended. I looked back to Kasha and saw that she was reaching into the pouch around her waist. Uh-oh, she was digging out one of those round, projectile weapons. I froze. She was going to kill me! Yorn saw it too, and lunged for her.

“Kasha, no!” he shouted.

He was too late. Kasha flicked the killer disk. I instinctively threw up my arms to protect my head and closed my eyes, ready to get hit. But the hit never came. Instead I heard a screeching sound of agony come from behind me. I whipped around quickly to see a tang lying on the ground, writhing in its last moments of life. The disk was lodged in its head. Kasha had just saved my life…again. I slowly turned back to see Yorn had his arms wrapped around her. He looked just as stunned as I felt.

“Oh,” was all he said.

“Nice shot,” I croaked.

Yorn dropped his arms and Kasha stood up. “Those mountains,” she said, pointing. “That’s where we’re headed. We need to get there before dark.”

We mounted up and continued the journey as if nothing had happened. Still, there was a strange tension in the air. I was embarrassed that I’d lost control, but since Kasha was still leading us along the map route, I guessed it didn’t matter. The real question was, had anything I said sunk in?

The closer we got to the mountains, the less vegetation there was. The ground went from soft brown earth to rocky scrabble. The trees were no longer lush and leafy, but now scraggly and dry. A few times my ears popped, which meant we were gaining altitude.

Yorn rode up beside me and said, “I don’t know anyone who’s ever come this far. It’s definitely not on any map, other than Seegen’s.”