D. MacHale - The Soldiers of Halla

It was exactly what I wanted to hear.

I stood up and backed away from her.

“Go to Solara,” I said. “Tell them what we’ve learned.”

“And what will you do?”

We’d had so much thrown at us in the last few moments. The implications were huge. There was so much to digest. So much to try and understand. As confusing as it all may have been, I knew that we were a big step closer to finding the answers we needed.

The next step was clear.

After having been denied access for years by the tragic destruction of a flume, it was time to go back to the jungle. To the klees. To the gars.

To the tangs.

“I’m going to Eelong,” I said. And stepped off Third Earth.

The jungles of Eelong. Yikes.

I never thought I’d see them again. Not after what happened the last time I’d been there. The flume collapsed, killing Kasha and trapping Gunny and Spader on that twisted territory where cats called klees were the dominant species. The destruction of the flume happened because non-Travelers weren’t supposed to use them. But they did. Mark and Courtney went to Eelong and brought along the critical piece of information that allowed us to defeat Saint Dane there. But each time they traveled, they weakened the flume, until it crumbled on us. Mark, Courtney, and I got out just in time. Kasha didn’t. She was killed by the tumbling gray rocks.

Of course, that was ancient history. As Saint Dane’s dark spirit grew, the flumes became open highways. Anybody was able to use them. That is, of course, until they all exploded. Once again, the rules changed. After the destruction, Spader and Gunny left Eelong and moved on to Solara with the rest of the Travelers. Including Kasha. Her body died on Eelong but her spirit lived on.

Now Kasha was back in the game. As with all the Travelers, she was sent to her home territory in order to search for the exiles. My first task on returning to Eelong was to find her. Actually, that was my second task. My first task was to stay alive and not get sent back to Solara. That wasn’t going to be easy.

There was no way of knowing when I had been sent there and how much time had passed since I’d been there the last time. I found myself standing in a section of jungle that was so thick the overhead canopy of foliage blocked out most of the light. It could have been night for all I knew. That’s how dark it was. There wasn’t a regular sun that gave Eelong light. It was a distinct band that spread from horizon to horizon and traveled across the sky each day. It gave off heat, too. Lots of it. Eelong was a hot, humid place. It was that intense heat that told me it was daytime, in spite of the lack-o-light. It didn’t help that I was still wearing the dark red Ravinian guard uniform. It was pretty heavy and I started sweating right away. In seconds the uniform was sticking to me like a wet suit.

I had no idea which way to go. I hoped to land near Black Water, but if I remembered correctly, there were miles of open, barren land leading to the mountains where the gar stronghold was hidden. The dense jungle I landed in was much more like the area that surrounded the klee village of Leeandra. I did a three-sixty and saw nothing but jungle. I wasn’t even on a path. For whatever reason, the spirits of Solara had plunked me down in no-man’s-land. Or no-gar’s-land. Or whatever.

I picked an arbitrary direction and was about to walk when I heard a rustle coming from the undergrowth not far away, followed by the faint crack of a branch. I snapped to attention. All it took was that one little sound to instantly bring back another memory of Eelong.

Tangs. They were raptorlike dinosaur creatures that roamed the jungles in search of meat. Any meat. The last thing I needed was to square off against one of those bad boys. I listened. Had I heard a creature scrambling in the bushes? Or was it the natural rustle of the jungle? Just in case, I backed away from where the sound had come from. I tried to move quietly, which isn’t easy when you’re walking on thick snarls of roots and vines.

I sensed movement. Ten yards to my right. It was fleeting, but it was there. Something in the bush had definitely made the noise. Was it a tang? Or a monkey or any other creature that didn’t look at me and immediately think “snack”? As much as dying wouldn’t be the end of it all for me, getting shredded by a tang’s three-pronged talons or chewed by its razor teeth would not have been a pleasant way to get shipped back to Solara. I could blast off of Eelong before that happened, but then I’d be wasting more spirit.

I saw another flash of movement, quicker this time. Whatever it was, was hiding from me. That meant it wasn’t a friend. I hoped it was just as scared as I was and was hoping I’d go away and leave it alone. I took another step… and heard a low grumble. Grumbling was bad. Klees didn’t grumble. I suppose a gar would grumble… if it was trying to sound like a freakin’ tang! As much as I wanted to step off Eelong and be anywhere else, I knew there had to be a reason why I was dumped in that particular spot. I was going to have to gut it out for as long as possible.

Ooh, gut it out. Bad choice of words. I forced myself to relax. After all, odds were that it wasn’t a tang and I was totally safe. With renewed confidence I boldly walked in the other direction…

And was immediately attacked by the tang. So much for playing the odds. The beast leaped from the bushes with its mouth open and its claws up. I had no way to defend myself. All I could do was run. I took off through the jungle, crashing through dense foliage that pulled at my legs, trying to slow me down. I felt as if I were clearing a path for the tang, making it a lot easier for it to follow me than for me to get away. I didn’t look back to see how close it was, that would have slowed me down. I had to judge distance from the sound of its breathing and the sharp crunching that came each time its taloned feet hit the ground. 1 dodged around a few small trees, taking a winding route that I hoped would be hard to follow. Tangs weren’t all that agile. If we’d been out in the open, it would have gotten me for sure. The one hope I had was to duck and dodge through the undergrowth until I lost it.

The plan wasn’t working. I was being all cagey by changing direction every few feet, depending on how dense the foliage was. The tang didn’t care. It blasted straight ahead, tearing through any vines in its way. I didn’t have that particular ability. Though I was able to stay ahead of the monster by confusing it, I soon realized that losing it wasn’t going to happen. This was his jungle. He knew how to navigate it much better than I did. I was going to run out of gas long before the tang did. Worse, I was stumbling more than running. The footing wasn’t exactly solid. At any second I expected to catch my ankle on a vine, take a header, and it would be lunchtime. I didn’t want to give up and leave though. At least, not right away. But it was beginning to look as if I would have to step off Eelong before the tang stepped on me.

I spotted a gnarled tree about thirty yards ahead. It had a thick vinelike root wrapped around the trunk that would make for easy climbing. For me, that is. Tangs didn’t climb. I thought that if I could get enough distance between me and the beast, it would give me the few seconds I’d need to scramble up the tree and be out of reach. I had to go for it. Though I was almost out of gas, I dug down and poured on speed. The tang howled. They weren’t exactly smart lizards, but I got the feeling that this one knew exactly what I was going to do. Which meant it was going to do all it could to munch me before I got the chance. Which meant it started crashing through the jungle faster. Which meant I had to pick up the pace. Which meant I had to stop analyzing things, put my head down, and motor. It was time for a full-on sprint. I lifted my knees, hoping not to trip on the undergrowth. The jungle grew less dense, which is probably why I could see the tree. It stood in the center of a small clearing. So close.