Kendra Kandlestar and the Crack in Kazah (18 page)

UNGERS, GOOJUNS, ORRIDS, IZZARDS, KRAKES—it was like being in the middle of a nightmarish sea of claws and fangs, fists and tails. With a quiver, Kendra realized that each brother who had been struck by the curse had been transformed into a separate creature, and his regiment along with him. Now she watched, frozen in horrific shock, as these monsters of Een began to stretch and groan, finding life in their new and disfigured forms.

The Wizard Greeve was still on his pedestal, straddling the now-shattered remains of his urn. He seemed more savage and wild than the creatures he had just created.

“Go forth, Brothers!” he screeched, his eyes still burning red. “Seek the lands of Een! Hunt its pathetic people and bring them before me. We shall cast them through my door of doom, and they will be Eens no more! Together we shall bring the Days of Een to an end!”

A jubilant chorus of grunts and groans came from the throng of monsters. If they remembered that they had been Eens, they seemed not to care.

Greeve tilted back his head and cackled so loudly that the whole dark hall echoed with the sound. Then he pointed a long and crooked finger at Kendra and proclaimed, “Let the hunting begin.”

Every beady eye in that wretched room now turned towards her. At her feet, Oki was trembling uncontrollably and Gayla was sitting against the overturned table with a look in her eyes that Kendra couldn’t decipher. It was like she was in another world. Then Clovin chattered, and Leemus sprang to alertness, his own trance broken. He rose to his feet, tall and mighty, staff clenched determinedly in one hand.

Kendra saw Greeve’s eyes flash with momentary fear. Leemus murmured a spell, at the same time bringing his staff against the floor with such a tremendous thump that the whole chamber rattled. And then—for just a moment—every creature around them seemed to freeze.

“RUN!” Leemus boomed.

With a chatter, Clovin led the way, bounding across the chamber and scurrying through the swarm of crooked limbs. At first, Gayla didn’t budge. Kendra clutched her by the hand and pulled her after Clovin. Oki came next, and Leemus took up the rear. They had just reached the entrance to the banquet hall when the freeze spell snapped and the monsters sprang to life. Leemus slammed the two mighty doors behind them with a wave of his wand and cast a locking spell.

“It won’t hold them long,” he announced.

They raced through the palace—which, of course, was a palace no more, but the dark and dismal temple maze of the Wizard Greeve. Between them and escape was a jumble of twisting passages, dead-end corridors, and false leads, but with quickness of foot and sureness of direction, Clovin led them through each and every turn. Not once did he make a mistake—as Oki explained afterwards, the squirrel was in many ways still wild, and he followed every instinct to lead them towards safety.

Behind them, Kendra could hear the doors of the banquet hall burst open and the sounds of the monsters as they surged through the maze, roaring, growling, squawking.

Then Kendra saw the front gate of the temple, though now it looked very different from the one they had entered earlier that night. She could tell, even from the inside, that it was the Door to Unger. Its mouth—a set of wooden planks that looked like a row of teeth—now began to shut, just as the haunting sound of the Wizard Greeve’s cackle emanated from the heart of his wretched temple.

Clovin dashed through the closing door, Kendra stumbling behind, desperately yanking Gayla along with her. She felt a
whoosh
past one ear, and out of the corner of her eye saw a long spear rattle off the stones in front of her. The very weapons that had been fashioned to protect Eens were now being used against them.

Once past the door, Kendra turned and saw Leemus flick his long staff at the onslaught of spears, rocks, and other weapons—instantly, the deadly projectiles were transformed into a harmless shower of cherry blossoms that fluttered lightly to the ground. Then, urging Oki through the door with one hand, the old wizard bustled through himself, just as the great teeth slammed shut with the sound of grinding stone and splintering wood.

Kendra looked up at the monstrous stone face that was the door to the maze.

No one will ever walk out that way again,
Kendra thought.
How many Eens will be tossed through this terrible door over the next two thousand years? How many will know Greeve’s curse?

She was still holding Gayla’s hand, and now she looked up at the bewildered Teenling, the girl who would one day be her mother.
My brother’s going to go through there,
Kendra thought.
And maybe my father, and you . . . .

She couldn’t bear the thought of it.

“Come,” Leemus urged. “We must make haste.”

It was still night, but in the moonlight Kendra could see that the plain before them was no longer one of grass and flowers, but rather a stretch of desolate rock. Across this they raced, desperate to put as much distance as they could between them and the temple.

At last, Leemus brought them to a stop. They were all panting, even the wizard. He sat cross-legged on the rocks and closed his eyes.

“This is no time to meditate!” Kendra cried. “They’re coming after us. And if they take us back through that door, we’ll all be—”

“Hush now,” Leemus said in a stern but calm voice. “If I am to save us—and all of Een—I need you to be silent.”

Kendra clutched Gayla’s hand and watched the wizard. He placed his staff on the rocks in front of him, raised his hands to the air, and began to hoot. It would have sounded comical if the situation had not been so grave.

Moments later, Kendra heard another hoot, this one coming from the skies. She looked up to see five dark shapes fluttering against the light of the glowering moon. Owls! With a rustle of feathers, the large and feathery birds landed alongside them. Without even opening his eyes, Leemus rose to his feet and placed his hand upon the soft, white head of the largest bird.

The owl cooed; something seemed to pass between the wizard and the majestic bird. Kendra plucked anxiously at a braid; she could hear the rumble of Greeve’s creatures, and knew that the Door to Unger had opened once again to let them pass through and continue the chase. At any moment they would be swarmed by the ferocious army.

At last, Leemus opened his eyes and turned to Kendra and the others. “This is Prospero, King of Owls. Do not fear him, my friends; for while his beak is fierce, his heart is as gentle as a feather. He will deliver us from this wretched domain.”

No one argued with the wizard’s proposition; indeed, the owls did not seem half so savage as the creatures they could all hear in the distance. Quickly, they each scrambled onto the back of an owl, and the regal birds took to the indigo skies. As they ascended, the roar of the monsters grew dim. Kendra looked down at the Greeven Wastes and, with a sigh of relief, watched its dark expanse melt into the night.

Straight as arrows, the owls flew. How many hours passed, Kendra could not be sure.

Was that what we were meant to do?
Kendra wondered, her mind reeling.
To save Leemus from the curse?

Then there was Gayla. Kendra just couldn’t shake that look she had seen in her mother’s eyes. Something had seized hold of her the moment she had witnessed the curse of Greeve—and it gave Kendra a chill.

Kendra awoke with a start and realized that her owl had come to a landing. She climbed down and rubbed her eyes; she must have nodded off sometime during the night. The sun was just beginning to break over the horizon, and standing in front of them was the twisted tree that served as the home of Leemus Longshanks. The old wizard scratched each owl on its feathery head, thanked them with a hoot, and sent them off to find their rest.

Kendra stared at the wizard. If Gayla had changed, then so had he. His face was sunken and stained with tears. And there was something else as well: over the course of their flight, Leemus had plaited his long shanks of hair into four braids.

“I wear them in your honor,” the old wizard told Kendra. “You acted as my Eengels, just as the stars foretold.” The old wizard then turned and gazed intently upon Clovin. Leemus bowed before the squirrel, then pronounced, “As for you, my fine furry friend, you too have proven your worth in the dark temple. As such, I hereby declare you Captain of Een, protector of all within this land. May you serve it well, with all the grace and dignity of our people.” After a pause, Leemus smiled and said, “And now, my cosmic travelers, sleep awaits you in the house. Go find your dreams—you have deserved them.”

“Won’t you rest, Elder Longshanks?” Kendra asked.

“That name is now a stranger to me,” Leemus said. “I shall go evermore by Leemus Longbraids. And I cannot rest, kind Eengel—for even though I might, the enemies of Een will not. Hunt us they will, until every last Een has been cast into that dark maze and perverted into a creature of claw and fang.”

“It’s the end of Een,” Gayla mumbled, looking dazed and overwhelmed.

“Fret not the future,” Leemus told her. “Nor pine for the past. Een will be saved yet.”

“What are you going to do?” Oki asked.

“I shall build a wall,” Leemus declared. “One that will protect Een from the outside world, one that cannot be battered or broken.”

“One that can’t even be seen,” Kendra murmured.

“Why, yes,” Leemus said. “An invisible curtain of magic.”

NOW YOU KNOW, dear reader, how the land of Een came to be. You know why the Eens wear braids, why they built the curtain, even why they turned into such a fretful and frightened people. If you find it a lot to ponder, then you can only imagine the thoughts whirling through Kendra’s mind.

Eventually our young heroine slept, but not long and not well. Perhaps you have had those nights; no matter how exhausted you might be, your slumber offers you no rest. For Kendra, it was a sleep plagued by a nightmare, the same one, over and over again. In it, she was standing at the edge of Een, watching her mother walk away into the distance, only to be suddenly devoured by a ferocious Unger. It was a dream Kendra had had many times. But this time it was different. This time her mother was the fifteen-year-old Gayla. This time her mother was someone she actually
knew.

At last she awoke and sat up. They were all sharing one large bed, and—to Kendra’s surprise—Gayla was also awake. The feisty Teenling was staring at the wall, that strange fire in her eyes.

“They’re . . . they’re Goojuns and Ungers and . . . everything,” Gayla said. “It changes
everything.
All this time, it’s been us against them. But they
are
us. Krimson always said he thought there was a connection. I used to tell him to shut up and stop playing fairy tale. But he was right. He was
right.
” She gave her head a shake and looked directly at Kendra. “I’ve got to get back, I’ve got to tell him. I’ve got to set everyone right.”

“What if they don’t believe you?” Kendra asked. “And what about your brother? And about marrying Burdock?”

“That . . . that doesn’t matter any more,” Gayla said. “It seems such a small problem now. Don’t you get it? The world is so much bigger than us, Braids. And there’s got to be a way to make it right.”

Kendra suddenly realized what that look was in Gayla’s eyes. It was obsession. Gayla had witnessed firsthand the curse of Greeve and it had galvanized her, transformed her into the very person Kendra had always heard about: the loud, outspoken sorceress with the “strange” ideas about the history of Een.

And she will fight with the elders of Een,
Kendra thought.
She will try to convince them of the truth. But no one will believe her—not even Uncle Griffinskitch. And then one day she’ll leave Een and . . . .

Kendra felt a sob welling in her throat.

I’ll be alone.

“I . . . I have to get some air,” Kendra told Gayla.

She scrambled out of bed and wandered down into the kitchen. She was grateful to find the house empty and quiet, and she sat at the table and rested her head against the rough wooden surface.

How can I let her go?
Kendra asked herself.

Then she noticed at her elbow a bottle of Eenberry ink, a feather pen, and a roll of parchment. It was as if they had been set there purposely for her. Before she knew it, the pen was in her hand and she was scrawling out a letter. For an hour she wrote, thoughts and feelings pouring onto the parchment until at last, exhausted, she fell asleep, cheek against the drying ink.

When she awoke, it was to a rough jostle from Gayla. “Come on, Braids.”

Kendra’s eyes flickered open. She slowly lifted her head to see Gayla and Oki staring at her.

“You have ink on your face,” Gayla told her. “What’s that you’ve been writing?”

Kendra looked down at the parchment. “Oh, nothing,” she said, quickly folding the note and sticking it in a pocket.

“It’s time to go home,” Gayla announced. “Back to where we belong. Me to my time, you to yours.”

“Shouldn’t we wait to say good-bye to Elder Longbraids?” Oki asked.

“He’ll expect us to be gone,” Gayla said with a sort of smile. “We are Eengels after all. It’s in our nature to mysteriously disappear.”

“Oki and I need to get back to the Forests of Wretch before we jump,” Kendra said, thinking of her friends on the cloud ship. “That’s where we started from. That’s where my master will be looking for us.”

“I’ll make sure you get there safely,” Gayla assured her.

It was a quiet walk through the forest. So much had happened that no one really knew what to say—especially Kendra. All she could think about was that she was about to be separated from her mother, and she had no idea if she would ever see her again.

After a few hours, Gayla brought them to a halt. “I think this is the right place,” she said. “One day this place will be the Forests of Wretch, crawling with Goojuns.”

“Where’s the tree we landed in?” Kendra asked.

“It’s not here yet,” Gayla said. “It’ll be hundreds of years before it even takes seed. But don’t worry—it’s close enough to the right place. You can jump from here.”

Kendra pulled out the Kazah stone and passed it to Gayla. “I guess you better be the one to lead us,” Kendra said. “It’s your time we’re going to, after all. You can imagine it best.”

Gayla nodded and held the ring carefully in her palm. “Grab hold,” she said, just before closing her eyes.

A few minutes later, they were sitting in the shadows of the forest.

“We’re back in my time,” Gayla said confidently as she passed Kazah back to Kendra. “Look, there’s the tree you first fell into. The branches are still freshly snapped.”

“I guess this is good-bye then,” Kendra said. For a moment she just stared at Gayla.

“Come on, Braids,” Gayla said. “I’m assuming you want to hug me or some other nonsense.”

Kendra nodded and rushed forward to throw herself into Gayla’s arms. Part of her wished she could just stay in this time with her mother, forever. In one corner of her mind she could hear the warning of her older self, the blind sorceress:
Start pulling at the tapestry of time, and everything you know just may unravel.
But in that instant Kendra didn’t care.
I deserve a mother,
she thought. Then she remembered the letter she had written the night before. Carefully, Kendra pulled it from her robe and tucked it into one of Gayla’s pockets.

She’ll find it eventually,
Kendra told herself.
Maybe it will make everything all right.

Then they heard a distant voice call, “GAYLA!”

“That’s Beards,” Gayla said in surprise. “I guess he figured out I’m not in the Elder Stone anymore.”

Kendra had to think for a moment; it seemed like a lifetime ago since Gayla’s trial.

“Probably in a heap of trouble,” Gayla added.

“He sounds more worried than angry, if you ask me,” Kendra said.

“Hmph,” Gayla grunted. “Well, I guess I better go. You two can jump once I get Beards out of here. You know, Braids? Well . . . If I did have a sister, I’d guess I’d want her to be you. Even though you are annoying.” She flashed Kendra a smile, then looked over at Oki and said, “Well, Eeks, any final words?”

“Knowing you was one big
floofenflah,
” Oki replied, giving her a hug.

“I’ll assume that’s a compliment,” Gayla said, scratching the top of his head. Then, with a final wave, she walked away.

As soon as she was out of sight, Oki turned to Kendra. “I saw you sneak that scrap of parchment into her pocket. What was it?”

Kendra shook her head. “Just . . . just a good-bye note. Come on. Time for us to go.” She paused and gazed down at the Kazah stone. “The crack is even wider now,” she said. “It’s a good thing this is our last jump.”

“Thank eggs for that,” Oki announced. “I’ve had enough time travel.”

“Me too,” Kendra said. “But I guess we accomplished everything we needed to, right? We rescued Uncle Griffinskitch. We rescued Elder Longbraids. Now everything’s as it should be.”

But, as she was about to find out, she couldn’t have been more wrong.