Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (78 page)

The fierce wind continued to swirl from the hole, sucking in the flowers and vases that decorated the cathedral
.
Horrid sounds echoed from the void
.
Home sounded like heaven about now, but s
he
couldn’t let go of the
dream
of
a better life.

“It’s where?”
Lady
Gost
encourag
ed
.

“I’m sorry
.
”
Glory turned her face away from the beautiful lady.
“I can’t tell you.
”

The words came out against h
er
better judgment
.
This wasn’t a game
.
It was life and death
.
She
wanted to kick h
er
self for being so darn stubborn
.
By the look on Lady
Gost
’s face, apparently s
o
did
she
.

“Go ye sons of Wybb,” Lady
Gost
said with a somber frown. “
Show
the
Rock Collector what awaits liars, thieves and murderers.
May
the
Elboni
’s magic
guide and protect you.”

Bone and White Feather each took an arm and dragged h
er
toward the funnel spinning beneath the floor
.
Needle followed behind, advising
her
not to look.
I
f only she could close her ears because the most frightful part was the sound of the wind, like a haunted freight train rolling down the tracks
.
Bone and White Feather’s grips tightened
.
They jumped
into the vortex
forcing h
er
along with them
.
A hot whirlwind toss
ed
h
er
body
around
like a cat in clothes dryer
.

They began to fall.

Glory
screamed
.

Bone screamed
.

White Feather yelled, “Crimeny!”

Oompf
!
Her body slammed
on
to
something solid
.
B
reath knocked out of lungs
, wheezing now, she opened one
eye to see the tail
end of a tornado disappear upward into a sky th
e color of blood.
As the star riders
lay on their backs gasping for breath
,
Glory
took inventory of h
er
limbs
—
n
othing broken
. She
rolled to feet and
had a look around.
There was no grass, no trees and no sign of life except a maddening moan rising up from the very stones
.
What strange and eerie place
is
this?
B
lack cliffs, jutting every which way as if carved by a madman
, filled the horizon
. The worst part, however, was the stench
.

“Ew!”
Glory
’s finger
s
went to her nose and pinched
.
“This place smells like rotten cabbage
, cow patties, and dirty socks all rolled into one!”

Suddenly there was a crackling sound from below h
er
feet
.
Thousands of
spi
ndly white lines wriggled free
.

“
Maggots!
”
They squiggled
over h
er
feet
.
“Yow!
”
Desp
ite her frantic stomping, t
hey burrowed through shoes
, socks
and up h
er
legs
.
Sizzling holes formed wherever the maggots
’
slime touched h
er
shoes
.
Pinpoints of pain burned skin as the maggots tried to burrow
.
She
stumbled to the ground
screaming
.
M
ore maggots wriggled toward her.

“Raise the Nightburner!” said White Feather.

Needle fumbled for the silver spike in his hat and cried out, “Nonru!
”

A circle of white light enveloped the four travelers
.
Glory
watched with relief as the wormy things withered into dry ash before doing more damage
.
She
smacked at h
er
arms and legs, feeling like they were still crawling
with worms
.

“Get them off me!”
s
he jumped up and down and spun in a circle to
try
see if more were on
h
er
back
.

“Calm down,” Bone said
.
“They’re gone and ye be fine.”

Glory
turned to Needle
.
“Your light killed them?”

Needle said, “No, they were already dead.”

“Huh?”

The
Wybbil
s ignored h
er
and dusted themselves off.

“That was most unusual,” Bone said rubbing his lip in thought.

“Aye,” said Bone, glancing nervously about
.
“Normally, the maggots go after the dead and nothing more.
Must be h
er
tainted
Tullah
n blood they smell.
”

Needle
touched
Glory
’s
forehead, then pressed two fingers against h
er
neck
.
“Aye, y
e be
alive
.
For the time being, anyway.”

Glory
pushed the
Wybbil
’s hand away
.
“Of course I’m alive
.
Where are we
,
anyway?”

“
Ye have a b
ad habit of not listening
.
” White Feather said. “
We be
Where
Elboni
is Not
,
the
W-E-I-N
for short
.
”

“So, the
Elboni
doesn’t touch this dimension?”

Bone nodded.

“Wait a second,”
White Feather
shook his head
.
“The
Elboni
be
everywhere
.
Even here.”

“
That be crazy talk?
”
Bone
argued
.
“If it
be here, why
call this place
Where
Elboni
Is Not?
”

“Because
people
like ye don’t know any better,”
White Feather
retorted
.

“How rude of ye to say so.”

“My apologies,” said
White Feather
.
“I shall explain. Residents of this place
hate
the
splendor
of
the
Elboni
. Its
g
reatness
contrasts painfully against their w
retchedness.
T
o
e
ndure
its
p
resence would only add to their misery
.
So
the
Elboni
remain
s
out of sight here.”

“Why would anyone hate a rock as beautiful as the
Elboni
?”
Glory
wanted to know.

“Enough questions,” said
Needle
, pushing
Glory
along
.
“L
et’s get this over with
.
”