Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (52 page)

“Don’t do that. Ye
Tullah
ns
be
delicately made. If ye fall, ye will splat.”

“
Nothing to worry about with the
smart fibers
to hold onto me.
”

“Good sense be
the
best preventative. Even with smart fibers
,
accidents happen.”

So much for feeling safe, but after a few minutes the fascination of it all outweighed thoughts of danger.

“How’s he making this
thing
fly
without any controls
?”

“
B
y concentrating,” Needle said.

“Could I learn how to fly a whifferdil, too?”

“A
Tullah
n’s connection to
the
Elboni
be
weak, so flying a whifferdil would be impossible
.
It’s a
difficult
task
even for
Wybbil
s, taking years of practice
,
and
of course,
one must
learn all the
aviation
laws and
obtain
the
proper licensing.”

“That’s right,” the pilot said, turning his head to glance back at them
.
“
But learning the law
be
the easy part
.
The
hardest
part
’s
learning to
meditate on
the
Elboni
,
the
whifferdil
,
and
the
wind all at
the
same time, weaving them together in constant motion.
”

“
That doesn’t sound
all that
hard
,”
Glory
said
.
“Can I try
?
”

The pilot snorted
,
tossed his nose into the air
,
and looked straight ahead again without
bothering
to
reply
.
The whifferdil continued to move forward, over the sparkling
purple
Sea of Serenity, skimming over the top of a ship with billowing
yellow
sails
, up through swirling white cloud vapors.

The clean briny scent of the sea filled h
er
nostrils
.
The day was warm, but it didn’t fee
l that way up on the whifferdil
where the wind whipped without mercy.
Glory
h
ugg
ed
h
erself
to keep warm
.

A
stream
of
little
bubbles trailed behind the whifferdil.
She
watched
mesmerized
as some of the orbs rose and others fell
.

The craft hit turbulence, tossing and turning
.
She felt the whifferdil grab on and pull her deeper into its fibers, but she couldn’t help to yelp,
squeezing a handful of spongy material
between her fingers
.

“
Some seatbelts would be nice about now
!”

“Tarnation
,
pilot!
”
Bone bellowed
.
“Where’d ye learn to fly
?
”

“Hush.” The pilot was curt
.
“
Fl
ying has been most difficult
as of late
.
Using the magic feels like trying to breathe through a tiny straw
, so bother me not
.
I need total concentration.
”

The pilot regained control and
so did Glory’s stomach. The whifferdil
sailed over the ocean a long while without conversation
.
S
ilence gave
her precious
time to think
about her strategy
.

Something interesting she had learned on Wybb was that s
hapes and words
mattered
.
A circle be for magic,
the
Wybbil
’s voice echo in h
er
mind
.
This
data
was important
.
I
t
surely
applied to the binding ritual, but how
?
I
n the cathedral
,
the Elboni was normally
enclosed in a rectangle
. Re
c
tangles
kill
ed
certain words that came near it
.
M
ulling
everything over for miles and miles, as the wind turned her into an ice
cube
;
it suddenly clicked.
The ritual required the
Elboni
to be
enclosed in a circle
!

Glory
wanted to explode with joy, but only
allowed h
erself
a furtive grin
as she
scrunch
ed
deeper into her jacket
.

“
Our Rock Collector
looks blue around
the
edges,”
Needle
said
.
“Seems I read somewheres that
Tullah
ns be very sensitive to changes in temperature.
Are ye cold?
”

“Y-y-yes
,” she said between chattering teeth
.

“Pilot
.
”
Needle
held
down his flapping beard with one hand
.
“Why don’t ye put up
the
whifferdil’s windbreaker
?
”

“All effort
be
focused on flying these days,” the pilot called back
.
“
My fellow aviators
say
the
Elboni
has been
stolen a
nd that’s why the cathedral be closed
.
Ye ought to be able to verify whether it’s true or no
.
Aye?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny such information,” Bone said.

The whifferdil began to gyrate
.
The ocean was a blur of purple below them
.
At such speed
,
a
girl
wouldn’t survive a fall into the unforgiving sea
.
Glory
clung to a
fold of spongy
material with
frozen
fingers
.

“
I’m too young to
die
!
”
s
h
e
hollered over the wind
.

“Ye folks from
the
cathedral are all
act
the
same,” the pilot said
,
“Close-mouthed and snooty.”

“Maybe ye should concentrate on flying,” Needle said
, looking a bit green around the edges himself
.

“The cargo
hold
has a few blankets,
some snacks, help yourself.
”
The pilot offered
.
“But be careful not to fall in.
”
The turbulence calmed and flying was smooth again.

Glory
hadn’t noticed the string until White Feather fished it from the back of the craft
.
White Feather pulled up on it, revealing a deep storage bin, which appeared a hundred times
deeper
than the craft on which they flew.

“Impossible,”
Glory
gasped
.
“
It’s like a cavern in there
.
Can I crawl in it
and get out of the wind?”

“Not today,” White Feather said
. He
pulled out a brown blanket for
Glory
and
passed out sandwiches made of dark bread, cheese and cucumbers.

“I kn
e
w a rookie pilot who got lost in his cargo hold and was never seen again
,
”
said the pilot.