Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (47 page)

“Because this is
the
way our world was ordered.”

“Oh
?
”

“Look at it this way
.
T
he
pedestal
serves as
the
main artery of this world.
Elboni
functions as
the
heart
,
pumping its life force to all
.
When ye took it, ye ripped
the
heart out of this world
.
As we speak Wybb bleed
s
— magically speaking.”

Guilt
stalked the edges of h
er
mind, but she
reminded herself how the
Wybbils couldn’t be trusted. They had lied about being elves. And let’s not forget the fact that they were kidnappers.
The story about their world dying
could very well be a ploy to garner sympathy
.

“I don’t understand how someone moving a rock in one world would
move
the
Elboni
in another.”

“It’s just the way things be,” Bone replied
.
“The
Elboni
be
the
Elboni
no matter what world it resides in and how many.
”

“If the
Elboni
is so great, why doesn’t it find itself and simply float back to the pedestal?”

“Ye ask too many questions,
Rock Collector,
” Bone grumbled.

“Maybe you don’t ask enough.”

“
She’s an impertinent fellow.
”
White Feather said.

“Aye,” the other two agreed
.

“
I suppose the stone
could float back if it wanted to
, but who be we to question?
” White Feather went on to answer.
“
An emissar
y’s
duty involves diverting chaos
and
maintaining the peace
. Not questioning the order, but preserving it.
”

“
So here we
be
.” Glory said. “
But, if you please, may I ask one more thing?
”

The
Wybbil
s groaned
.

“
If the
Elboni
exists in all dimensions at the same time doesn’t that mean the
Elboni
is still here on Wybb somewhere?”

“Aye,” Needle said
.
“But all our efforts to find it have failed
.
The search continues
on Wybb
, and on several worlds
, by other teams
of
star riders
.
Going through ye
—
the one who took it in the first place
—
seems to be
our strongest lead.”

“Or so we though
t
,” Bone added
.
“
It’s as if the
Elboni
doesn’t want to be found. Time
be
running out for Wybb.”

“So the
Elboni
could save Wybb, but for some reason it doesn’t want to?
”
Glory
scratched h
er
head in confusion
.
“Isn’t that kind of mean?”

“We don’t understand the
Elboni
’s ways,” White Feather added
.
“Regardless,
we be obligated to
do whatever it asks of us.”

Glory
gave them an incredulous look, thinking they were nuts for obeying a rock
.
In fact,
s
he doubted their story all together
, and ignored the little voice inside that
repeated
ly
asked
what if they
’re
telling the truth
?

“Look.
”
Needle pounded the side of the needle in his hand, saying
Nonru
until it glowed serene shades of green
.
"Its brightness has
already
diminished."

Another ploy, but she refused to take the bait
.
"Does your
spike
need batteries?
”

“
Spike
?
”
Needle inquired
.

Glory
pointed toward the silver spike in his hand.

“
Y
e mean this
?
” Needle held
it up
.
“Th
is
be
the
N
ightburner
. And
as long as I live it shall burn, u
nless
of course, my planet dies.
"

“M
ust be nice to have a free and never-ending source of light.
”
Glory
’s eyes lingered longingly over
the Nightburner
. How such an object would ease h
er mind in the deep dark recesses of Tullah
.

“
Why not plug the pedestal with another stone to stop the bleeding?”
she
suggested
.

"Only
the
Elboni
will do."

"What will happen to
Tullah
if the
Elboni
isn’t returned?"

"Nothing," Needle said
.

"
Why should I be worried about nothing?”

"Nothing
’s
not good," White Feather explained
.
"If
the
Elboni
doesn’t
return
to its proper place
,
your world will n
ever
discover
the
Elboni
’s essence,
trapping
it forever
in
a darkened state
.”

So far her
questions had
n’t
uncovered an additional condition, but
surely
something useful
was
h
idden
between all
data she’d collected
just now
.
If only she had the time to study, ponder, dissect
.
Oh, how she wished
Clash w
ere
here to help her sort it all out
. Better yet, Grandpa on one of his clear-minded days.

"
You guys are making everything too complicated.” Glory knew coming out and saying it was a risk, but sometimes the blunt approach worked best. “Give me the
never-ending supply of credits
that I asked for earlier, and I’m sure your Elboni will turn up lickety-split.”

The Wybbils crossed the
ir
arms over their chest.

“Okay, maybe never-ending is a little greedy. I’ll settle for five million.”

If looks could kill, she’d be dead right now.

“Okay,
” she rubbed a finger under her collar. “
Four
million credits, and that’s t
he lowest I’ll go. It’s pretty simple
—
a wish in exchange for the Elboni.
”

The three
Wybbil
s
hands went to
their
ears
.

“
We told y
e
t
hat word is forbidden here,” said Bone.

“
Oops, I fo
r
got.”

“Words are very important in Wybb.
”
Needle
said.
H
e spelled the word letter by letter
.
“
W-i-s-h b
e
a
very powerful
one
, so we prefer to use other terms, such as
magical request
.”

“How about
the word
binding
?
”
Glory
fixed
her eyes
on Needle’s
watermelon
face
trying to see if that got a rise out of him, hoping it would mean she was getting closer to unlocking the binding ritual. “Is that allowed?”

“
Sh
e’s relentless,” Bone said with a roll of his eyes.