Kendra Kandlestar and the Crack in Kazah (24 page)

IT WAS THE PERYTON
.
Kendra watched in awe as he soared towards them, across the clouds. He was a bold and beautiful creature, and she wondered if she would ever cease to be amazed by his majesty. He circled above them, once, twice, then at last landed next to them, gracefully as a feather.

“Arinotta!” he exclaimed, calling Kendra by his pet name for her. “Were those your words I heard on the breath of the wind?”

Kendra nodded.

“Fur and feathers!” he uttered. “I am confused. Only an hour ago I bid farewell to you on that flying ship.”

“It’s a bit hard to explain,” Kendra said. “But from my perspective . . . well, that was much longer ago than an hour.”

“You can say that again,” Oki added.

“By the King’s wings!” the peryton snorted. “Some underling magic, I suspect.”

Kendra smiled. “I need your help, Prince.”

“My wings are yours, Arinotta. What foe might I vanquish for you?”

“Just distance,” Kendra replied. “We need to go to a place far away from here. Can you take us?”

“Certainly,” said the peryton. “Climb aboard my back, and we shall make all speed.”

They used a nearby outcropping of rock to climb aboard the back of the regal stag. When they were secure, the magnificent peryton rustled his wings, and with a snort he galloped into the air.

This journey did not happen all at once, of course, nor did it happen without incident. It was winter, after all, and they fought not only weather, but hunger, and exhaustion too. For five days they travelled over sea and mountain, forest and valley, finding shelter and food on the ground below whenever necessary. At last, one bleak afternoon, Oki recognized some peaks in the distance.

“Those are the Crags of Dredge,” he called to the peryton. “Be careful; it’s where the skarm nest.”

“Perytons are kings of the sky,” the great deer declared. “My heart shudders not at the thought of skarm.”

“If those are the Crags of Dredge, then below are the Forests of Wretch,” Kendra said. “We’re where we need to be.”

The peryton circled to the ground and landed in the drifts of snow.

“I smell danger,” the stag remarked. “Some creatures hunt nearby.”

“Eek!” Oki squealed. “Probably Goojuns.”

“Worry not,” Prince declared. “They are no match for my antlers.”

“We won’t be here long,” Kendra said.

She tried to send the peryton on his way, but he would not leave until he was sure they were safe. So Kendra said her good-byes, warned him of the magic she was about to perform, and settled down in the icy shadows of the forest to call upon the power of Kazah.

With Oki holding tight to her cloak, Kendra thought of her mother, the tempestuous Teenling whom she had left in the very spot she was now sitting. She thought of the letter that she had written to her. More importantly, she felt the emotion that she had poured into that letter. It took only moments for the Kazah stone to tremble to life; indeed, its crack was now so wide that it quickly sucked Kendra and Oki through its fissure.

In an instant they found themselves in the warm summer sun. The peryton, of course, was no longer anywhere to be seen, for they had traveled into the past.

“Gayla?” Kendra called out.

“Braids?” Gayla appeared from behind a tree trunk. “What are you still doing here? Aren’t you going back to your own time?”

“In a moment,” Kendra said, charging up to Gayla to embrace her. As she did so, she snuck one hand into the pocket of the Teenling’s robe and, with a sigh of relief, felt the scrap of parchment. Stealthily, she plucked it out and slipped it down her sleeve.

“Hmph,” Gayla grunted, as she wriggled free of Kendra’s grasp. “
Another
hug? That’s what I get for letting you hug me the first time. You come back for more. Yeesh.”

“Gayla!” came the sound of Uncle Griffinskitch’s voice from beyond the bushes.

“Look, I ought to go,” Gayla declared. “Maybe I’ll see you twiddle-twins around sometime.”

Kendra nodded. “Gayla?”

“What?”

“Just . . . just be you,” Kendra said.

“Sure,” the girl said, casting her a strange look.

Then she was gone. Kendra quickly turned to Oki and triumphantly showed him the letter.

“Thank the ancients,” Oki sighed. “I guess we can leave now.”

“Just a minute,” Kendra said, putting a finger to her lips. She wanted to hear what would happen between Uncle Griffinskitch and her mother. She ducked down low in the bushes, pulling Oki with her.

“Gayla,” came the sound of Uncle Griffinskitch’s voice. “Where in the name of Een have you been?”

“Relax,” Gayla said. “Hey—what’s
he
doing here?”

Kendra and Oki looked at each other in surprise.
Burdock?
Kendra mouthed to Oki, but the little mouse only shrugged. Though they couldn’t see through the foliage, Gayla’s next words solved the mystery.

“Krimson, don’t you know there’s Goojuns prowling around out here?” the spirited Teenling girl demanded. “They could pluck you like a rose.”

“Humph,” Uncle Griffinskitch muttered. “Leave the boy alone.”

“Since when are you on
his
side?” Gayla asked.

“Since he told me that you like to sneak out here,” Uncle Griffinskitch replied. “Which, by the way, is going to come to a stop. But we can discuss that later. For now, let’s get home. The boy promised to cook us dinner if we actually found you.”

“Er . . . what about Burdock?” Gayla asked.

“Humph,” came Uncle Griffinskitch’s reply, and Kendra knew that type of humph all too well. It meant, “Don’t worry about that. Don’t worry at all.”

“Well, garden boy,” Gayla said cheerfully. “I sure hope you know how to cook. Because let me tell you, I’ve got a
monster
of an appetite. And when I say monster, I mean monster . . . .”

Her voice faded away. Kendra smiled at Oki. “Everything should be put right now. Let’s get back to when we belong.”

“Foogiewunda!” Oki cheered.

The Kazah stone was still on Kendra’s finger, and she closed her eyes and concentrated once more. Oki clutched her sleeve.

The ring rumbled and grumbled. Even as she thought of her time—the cloud ship, Uncle Griffinskitch, Ratchet, the professor, and Jinx—she could feel Kazah rip, rend, and roar upon her finger. Suddenly there was a resounding snap—and when Kendra next opened her eyes the stone was completely split in two, burst open like a kernel of popcorn on her finger. She knew the last of the ring’s magic had been exhausted.

“Oh oh!” Oki exclaimed when he saw the ring. “I hope we’re in the right time.”

“Me too,” Kendra said, tugging on a braid. “Because no matter what, we’re here to stay. Well, come on. Let’s see if we can find the cloud ship.”

The snow was deep, but if you’re as light as an Een and the snow has had time to form a crust, you can walk right across it, which is exactly what Kendra and Oki did, all the while staring up through the branches to see if they could catch a glimpse of the
Big Bang
. Kendra remembered that they had originally time-jumped from the ship during the night and she suspected that their friends hadn’t even noticed them missing until the morning. She wondered how long ago that was from the crew’s perspective. One day? Two? She had no way of knowing.

She pulled out her wand and sent a plea across the wind.
Uncle Griffinskitch? Are you there? We’ve fallen to the ground. We’re down in the Forests of Wretch!

Then she heard a reply:
We’re coming.
At least, she thought that’s what she heard.
Perhaps it was my imagination,
Kendra thought anxiously. It was so bitterly cold she could hardly concentrate. She tucked the wand back into her belt and buried her hands inside her robe.

They trudged onwards. The sky was growing dark and gloomy, and soon the snow swirled about them, obscuring their vision.

“We wouldn’t see the cloud ship if it was right above our heads,” Oki complained. “What are we going to do?”

Kendra didn’t know. Then some dark shape caught her eye through the whirling flakes and she squinted hard. In the next moment, Jinx materialized from the haze of falling snow and came skidding to a halt right in front of them.

I hope it’s not the happy, kind Jinx,
Kendra thought.
Otherwise we’re not in the right timeline.

“Well, well, well,” Jinx said with a scowl. “If it isn’t Madame Braid-Brain and her trusty sidekick, Sir Eeksalot. How in the name of all things Een did you two halfwit, maggot-minded muddle-heads manage to fall out of your cribs all the way to the ground? What a couple of snow-sucking snotheads! I’ve been freezing my ankles off all morning looking for you.”

“Oh, thank the ancients!” Kendra exclaimed.

And she rushed forward and threw her arms around the tiny grasshopper.

THERE’S NOTHING SWEETER than a reunion with old friends. Once Kendra was aboard the cloud ship, she made a great fuss over the crew. She was glad to see that they were exactly as they should be. Jinx’s words were sharp, the Professor’s were long, and Ratchet’s were full of nonsense. As for Uncle Griffinskitch’s words—well, they were mostly humphs. This made Kendra perfectly happy, of course, because it meant he was alive. She couldn’t bear to think of the alternate timeline where he had perished. Indeed, she hugged the old wizard so tightly that she nearly squeezed him right out of his beard.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into you,” he grunted.

“Oh, Uncle Griffinskitch,” she said, gazing at him in earnest. “I have so much to tell you.”

“Humph,” he muttered softly, a knowing look in his eye. “All in good time. For now, you need rest.
And a bath.
”

Kendra smiled. She knew she looked a sight, with her robe in tatters and her hair a tangle. She passed the broken Kazah stone over to her uncle and said, “Here, keep this for me.” Then she went with Oki below deck where they devoured bowls of delicious carrot soup, took hot baths, and collapsed into their beds.

How long Kendra slept, she didn’t know, but when she awoke it was to find Oki’s bed empty. She assumed her industrious friend was already up and relating his adventures to Ratchet. Kendra’s clothes had been washed and mended, and were now waiting for her at the end of her bunk.

The work of Professor Bumblebean,
I suppose, she thought.

It felt wonderful to put on something clean. After she had dressed, Kendra slipped out into the corridor of the ship and almost immediately bumped into Jinx. The grasshopper was carrying a steaming bowl of soup.

“There’s more in the galley if you want it,” the grasshopper announced. “This one’s for
Agent Quirk.
” She gestured at the door to the nearby storage room.

“Oh,” Kendra said with a start. She had almost forgotten that Leerlin Lurk was still their prisoner. “Here,” Kendra said, reaching for the bowl. “I’ll take it to him.”

“Suit yourself,” Jinx said with a shrug. “Your uncle put a spell on the door so that he can’t sneak out—plus another one to make sure the invisibility cloak won’t work inside the room. But be careful—that boy is still dangerous.”

Kendra nodded. After an anxious moment of staring at the storage room door, she turned the handle and stepped inside. There was Leerlin Lurk, hunched in the corner, gnashing his teeth. He looked more loathsome than ever for, of course, Kendra now had the picture of the golden-haired Leerlin in her mind, that handsome Teenling who had paraded so arrogantly before Oki’s council.

“What do you want, girl?” Agent Lurk hissed, his one good eye burning with fury.

“I brought you something to eat,” she said, setting the bowl down on the floor and stepping away. She couldn’t help but to treat him as if he were a wild animal; in so many ways he looked like one.

Lurk skittered forward, sniffed at the contents of the bowl, then began to slurp it down. He didn’t even bother to use the spoon.

“Are you going to sit here all day and stare at me?” he growled between gulps. “I guess you like a good freak show.”

“I’m not staring,” Kendra said. “And I’ve been in a freak show myself. There might be a way to help you, you know. Uncle Griffinskitch helped the peryton once. In the Rumble Pit. He fixed his antlers and healed his wings.”

“So what?” Lurk scowled. “I wouldn’t let that old fool of a wizard anywhere near me with his wand. Magic can’t fix everything.”

“I know,” Kendra said, remembering the words her old, blind self had once told her. “But we could try to help. You don’t need to be in pain.”

“Pah! My only pain, girl, is to sit here and listen to your worthless babble,” he retorted. “You think you are so wise. What do you know about the world?”

Kendra sighed. “More than you give me credit for,” she said. “And in many ways, it’s thanks to you.”

Lurk’s only reply was to hiss. He finished his soup and dropped the bowl to the floor with a clatter. Kendra collected it and left the troubled boy to glower. After returning the bowl to the galley, she made her way up to the deck of the ship.

It was a cold day, and the skies were clear and crisp. She stood at the railing and stared across the clouds. After a moment she heard footsteps and turned to see Professor Bumblebean approaching her.

“I do say, Kendra,” the cheerful scholar greeted. “You do look better for your rest.”

“Thank you,” Kendra replied.

“By the way,” Professor Bumblebean said, “I discovered this in one of your pockets when I was laundering your robe. How did you happen upon it?”

He was holding the ragdoll rabbit.

“Oh!” Kendra remarked, taking the scruffy toy. “I . . . well, it was a gift.”

“It’s an Een toy,” the professor said. “Very special.”

“I never had one as a child,” Kendra said. “What makes it so special?”

“My word! Een toys are invested with rare magic,” the Professor explained happily. “They are stuffed with the cotton of the famous cloudtail plant. That cotton, you see, absorbs all the love of the mother who constructs the toy. That toy then binds itself to the first child who loves it. I do say, an Een toy offers bountiful comfort to an Eenling, especially if the mother is absent. So you see, Kendra, you have received a very special gift—though, I might say, you seem somewhat old for dolls.”

Kendra laughed. “Yes . . . I know.”

“Well, I best coordinate my latest calculations with Ratchet,” the professor declared. “I think I might have discovered the exact location of this mysterious City on the Storm. With any fortune, we shall maunder no further, and our journey will come to an expeditious conclusion.” With this said, he gave a cheerful whistle and ambled across the deck, leaving Kendra to her thoughts.

Kendra stared down at the ragdoll and touched one of its long, floppy ears. Was it really magical? She held it close to her chest—and at once felt the most amazing sensation flood through her body. It was almost impossible to describe. The only way Kendra could think of it was as if someone had suddenly lifted her from her feet and dunked her into a giant pool of comfort and joy. She wasn’t sure she had ever felt such warmth before. Then she knew at once: those feelings came from her mother.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Kendra? Are you okay?” It was Oki, who had come to join her at the railing.

“I’m better than I’ve been for a long time,” Kendra told the mouse. She tucked the rabbit away, and together she and Oki stared out at the glorious blue sky. Somewhere out there, Kendra knew, was the City on the Storm—and her brother.

“Well, here we are,” Oki said presently, “standing on the
Big Bang
and gazing out at the clouds. Just like before. It’s like nothing happened.”

Kendra looked at him and smiled. “Except for everything,” she said.