The Warble (11 page)

“There’s something else
that I need to tell you.”

“What is it, child?”

“Werrien was captured
by the zelbocks two days ago and brought to a prison in the city of Salas. Do
you think it could be the same place that you were in?”

“There is only one
prison in the city of Salas, so it must be the same place.”

“How much farther is it
from here?”

“If you leave now, you
should be able to make it before sunrise.”

“Then I’d best be
going.”

“One more little
thing—may I look at the Warble one more time? It will lift my spirit and give
me more strength.”

“Oh, sorry, Rumalock; I
gave it to Werrien. I know that I probably shouldn’t have but—”

Rumalock interrupted
her saying, “Then you really need to hurry to him.”

Kristina ran back
toward the tree where Taysha and Raymond were taking cover and Rumalock called
out to her, “Hurry, child! Werrien will most assuredly be on his way to
Treachery Island at the crack of dawn tomorrow.”

While Ugan rowed the boat, Queen Sentiz
sat on her purple, velvet pillow and looked through her telescope. She panned
the land they had left, looking for any sign of Kristina. The problem was, she
could only see along the cliff’s edge and the lower shoreline. Kristina and
Taysha were much farther inland at this time. The wind started picking up and a
large raindrop hit the lens of her telescope. “Can’t you row any faster?” she
blurted out to Ugan.

Even though it was very
hard for him, Ugan managed a fake smile as he tried to row faster in the dark
choppy water.

Hester, the beaver;
Davina, the bullfrog; and Graham, the weasel, were in their cages, sliding from
one side of the boat to the other. Ugan felt sorry for them, and so he stopped
rowing for a brief moment to place a heavy rope beside their cages to stop them
from sliding. Queen Sentiz rolled her eyes at him and then looked back into her
telescope at the dark, dancing waters ahead of her. “Aha!” she yelled suddenly,
startling Ugan so that he momentarily dropped the oars. “There it is that
wonderful place, Treachery Island. Oh, how I love visiting it.” She collapsed
her telescope once more and rubbed her long, bony hands together. “Not much
longer, and you’ll be in your new home.” She grinned at the animals. Davina
croaked at her remark, and Hester beat her big, flat tail on the bottom of the
cage.

The queen noticed the
weasel’s head was changing back into Graham’s head. Soon after, the weasel’s
whole body changed back into Graham’s body, and it burst through the cage,
breaking it. Graham was back to normal and lying on the wet bottom of the boat.
He was unconscious but starting to come to. He rubbed his eyes and then stared
up at the hazy figure of Queen Sentiz. Even though her image was distorted, she
looked very beautiful to him. He mumbled something about the cream puffs.

“The potion in the
cream puffs was supposed to last longer than this,” the queen said angrily.

Graham shut one eye to
try to focus, but it didn’t help. The swaying of the boat was making his
stomach sick, so he sat up. “I think that I’m going to get sick.” His freckled
face was as white as a sheet.

“Now, now, dear, I have
just the thing for you,” the queen said soothingly. She reached into her pocket
and pulled out a small box made of abalone shell. She clicked opened its latch
with her fingernail. As the lid sprang up, a puff of pink, green, and purple
smoke swirled out. Graham shook his head again, trying to comprehend what was
going on. “I have a lovely candy that will settle your stomach.” She took out a
pink, green, and purple swirled candy. “Now open your mouth.”

Even though he felt
sick, Graham was mesmerized by the queen. He closed his eyes and opened his
mouth. She dropped the candy onto his tongue. Its flavor was so intense and
delicious, bursting with lime, grape, and strawberry flavors, all combined
together. It sizzled and popped as it began to dissolve on his tongue. He
finished it and said, “That was so good! I want anoth—” And that was when he
changed back into a weasel. The candy had been laced with the same potion that
had been in the cream puffs.

“Didn’t your mother
ever tell you, ‘never accept candy from a stranger’?” the queen said slyly. She
picked him up by the scruff of his neck and put him in the cage with the
beaver.

As they continued along
the dancing sea, the wind grew stronger, coming toward them from the south.
This made it even harder for Ugan to row, and to make matters worse, the
weather was getting stormier by the minute. A bolt of lightning flashed across
the sky, followed by the usual roar of thunder. The swelling waves made it feel
more like a carnival ride than a boat ride.

“Put the canopy up, you
idiot!” the queen yelled to Ugan, while trying to smooth her tangled, windblown
hair.

Ugan struggled with the
canopy, and the rain plunged down at full force. The fierce wind blew steadily
at him, and the queen sat with the Book of Prophecy clenched tightly to her
bosom. Up, down, and side to side, the boat bobbed in the wild sea.

Ugan was back at the
oars, rowing toward the small island, and the place where he sat was not
covered by the canopy. The drenching rain poured down on him, soaking his
clothes and chilling him to the bone. Luckily the animals were covered,
nevertheless, the rain had now accumulated about two inches on the bottom of
the boat.

“My feet are wet. Start
scooping the water out, you lazy fool,” the queen shouted at him.

Ugan stopped rowing and
picked up a bucket that was near him. He stood up in the ankle-deep water and
began scooping it up and dumping it overboard. As he scooped, the boat tottered
back and forth. This made it very hard for him to stand, and after every time
that he dumped water over the side, he would have to grab the side of the boat
to steady himself. The winds blew even harder, and the rain came in just as
fast as he was able to dump it out of the boat.

“Work faster, dwarf!”
the queen commanded from her plush pillow.

Ugan worked as fast as
he could to dump the water overboard, and when he looked over the edge, he
could see many sharks swarming around the perimeter of the boat. The rain began
to taper off, and he decided that scooping up the water one more time would be
sufficient. Then he’d get back to rowing and try to get away from the sharks.
Every bone and muscle in his body ached from being in the icy wind and rain,
and his fingers were numb. He scooped the last bit of rainwater and was about
to throw it into the sea, when his foot got caught in the rope on the bottom of
the boat. The boat swayed to one side and then to the other, and he fell
forward over its right side. With his foot caught in the rope, he dangled, just
inches above the dark, twisting sea. “Help!” he yelled franticly as a shark’s
fin brushed against his face.

Queen Sentiz got up off
her pillow and glared down at Ugan over the side of the boat. She seemed to
enjoy watching him dangle in fear. Two sharks jumped up, angrily snapping at
each other, no more than a foot away from his head.

The queen laughed
wickedly. “Do you want to come up?”

“Please, my most
gracious queen, don’t let me die,” Ugan begged.

“Well, I could row
myself.” She looked toward the sky. “But I don’t think I will. I don’t want to
break a nail.” She grabbed the rope and pulled Ugan back into the boat. “Now
get back to the oars, and don’t let it happen again, or you’ll be making some
shark a tasty feast.” She tugged one more time on his beard.

As they neared the
island, fog
as thick as pea soup enveloped them. Ugan lit a
lantern and hung it on a hook attached to a pole in the back of the boat. He
continued rowing toward a cave in the rocky side of the island. Inside the cave
it was cold, damp and a musty smell lingered in the air.
If this isn’t hell,
there isn’t any other place that could be more like it.
A chill ran down
his spine. As the oars stirred up the water, the only sound that could be heard
was the moisture dripping off the cave walls, and the only source of light to
pierce through the darkness was that of the lantern.

A bat that had been
hanging on the cave wall awoke and flew straight toward the boat. It swooped
down at Ugan’s head, but he ducked and was able to get out of its way. Then it
flew in the direction of the cave’s entrance.

The queen was looking
through the Book of Prophecy and was so enthralled with it that she didn’t seem
to notice the bat. She began to laugh, startling Ugan to the point that his
heart began to palpitate. “Oh, how wonderful! It says that Ramon is waiting for
the arrival of Kristina. He and his troop of zelbocks are at the Salas city
prison,” she said. The light from the lantern gave a green tinge to her pale
complexion.

Ugan tried to smile,
but the most he could do was slightly lift one corner of his mouth.

“I guess you’ll have to
get the penthouse suites ready for her and the boy’s arrival tomorrow morning.”
The queen laughed insanely again, making Ugan cringe.

They finally reached
the end of the cave, and Ugan brought the boat to a stop next to a ladder that
was hanging from a trap door in the roof of the cave. Near the ladder hung a
large brass bell. Ugan reached for the rope hanging from the bell and rang it.
The gonging was very loud and it echoed off the cave walls. A light shone down,
and a large iron-barred crate with two zelbocks crouched on top of it was lowered
down into the boat. The two disgusting creatures jumped off of the crate and
one of them, who had a key hanging around its neck, opened a lock hanging from
a rusty chain. It pulled the large chain from the crate, and opened the crate’s
lid. The two zelbocks carried the two cages with the animals in them to the
crate, opened it, and dumped the animals into it. The zelbock with the key put
the large chain back around the crate and locked it up. Then it rang the bell,
and the two of them jumped back on top of the crate. Two other zelbocks, who
were waiting up above, slowly pulled the crate back up. As it ascended, the
beaver turned back into Hester, and then Davina and Graham turned back into
themselves as well. Hester sat up and looked at Queen Sentiz through the bars
of the crate.

“I must say, that
potion was one of Rupert’s best inventions,” the queen said, just before the
crate disappeared out of her sight.

It was almost midnight when Kristina,
Taysha, and Raymond neared Salas. They had come to the top of a hill that
overlooked the sleeping city below. The clouds had cleared and the
mother-of-pearl moon shone brightly in the dark sky. Calmness lingered in the
air as they gazed up at the twinkling stars above them. They were arranged so
differently than the ones Kristina was used to seeing out of her bedroom
window. For a brief moment, she felt homesick.

Raymond sniffed at the
cool breeze and looked up at the moonlit sky.      “A fellow could get used to
a place like this.”

“I agree. It’s so cool
here, except for that wicked queen who rules over it,” Kristina said.

While they stood gazing
at the stars, someone wearing a long hooded cloak came running up the hillside
toward them. Taysha reared up on her hind legs. Raymond disappeared back into Kristina’s
vest, and Kristina held on tight to Taysha’s mane.

“What is it now,
Taysha?” Kristina asked, not yet seeing the cloaked figure. Taysha didn’t
answer but turned and ran in the opposite direction.

“Wait! Please, wait! I
come in peace,” the cloaked figured called out, from about halfway down the
hillside.

Taysha stopped and
turned around to face the mysterious stranger. That’s when Kristina took notice
of it for the first time. The cloaked figure removed its hood to reveal that it
was a young gnome man. “Please, don’t be alarmed and run away. I have a message
for you.” He was winded from running up the hillside.

“How can we be sure
you’re telling the truth?” Kristina shouted.

“It’s from Prince
Werrien.”

“What do you think,
Taysha? Should we trust him?” Kristina asked the mare.

“If he is telling the
truth, it may be very important,” Taysha replied.

Raymond poked his head
out of the vest. “I say we don’t trust him and stick to our original plan.”

Kristina thought for a
moment and then replied, “Raymond, we don’t have an original plan, or really
any plan, for that matter. I say we trust him.”

Raymond shook his head
in disagreement and then disappeared back into her vest. Taysha trotted down
the hillside toward the gnome. When they were about twenty-five feet away from
him, he fell down on his knees with both hands clasped above his head. “Bless
you, chosen one. You have finally come to restore Bernovem.” He got up, walked
over to Taysha, and stared up at Kristina with large eyes and a wide grin on his
face. “My name is Retzel. It is such an honor to meet you,” he said, grinning
from ear to ear.

“Thank you,” Kristina
said, feeling slightly awkward.

“In the city, we
believers can’t show our joy publicly, so we have secret meetings, where we can
express ourselves and celebrate your coming, as well as the return of the
Warble.”

“I’m going to try my
best to deliver the Warble to its resting place.” By her outward appearance
Kristina seemed brave, but on the inside, she was just a scared child, not knowing
what to do or expect next.

“I work at the prison
in the city of Salas. I deliver the food rations to the prisoners.”

“Have you seen
Werrien?” Kristina asked.

“
Prince
Werrien,” Retzel corrected.

“Oh, yeah, Prince
Werrien,” Kristina amended. Even though he was a prince, to her he was just a
regular boy. “Is he okay? I mean, they haven’t hurt him, have they?”

“I’m sorry to say that
they did whip him several times.” Retzel looked sad.

Kristina’s stomach
sank. She couldn’t imagine her newfound friend being whipped.

Raymond poked his head
out of her vest. “Those dirty rotten creatures. When I get hold of the one that
did it, I’ll bite its ugly, pointy ears off!”

Retzel looked curiously
at Raymond. “What kind of an animal are you?”

Raymond raised his nose
in the air and answered, “I am a rat and, I’m proud to say, a fancy rat, for
that matter. That is what the pet shop sign read, when I resided there.”

“What a nice little
fellow.” Retzel pet Raymond on his head. Then he glanced up at Kristina. “They
were trying to make Werrien tell where the Warble is.”

“Did he give it to
them?” Kristina asked.

“Why, I don’t think
so.” Retzel looked puzzled. “Does he have it?” He tickled Raymond under his
chin.

“Yes, I gave it to him
to hold, not long before he was captured by the zelbocks.”

Retzel was so
fascinated with Raymond that he seemed to have forgotten about the message he
was to give.

“Did you say you had a
message for me?”

“A message?” Retzel
repeated, seeming a little confused.

“Yes, isn’t that why
you came to find us?”

“Oh, yes, of course,
the message,” Retzel said, bringing his attention back to her. “Werrien is
hoping that you are coming to rescue him. He wanted me to warn you to not go to
the back side of the prison, because there will be zelbocks hiding there,
waiting for you. Instead, you are to go to the east side, where his cell window
is. He said he can give you further instructions when you get to that point.”
He went back to petting Raymond.

Kristina stared a
Retzel, waiting for him to give her more information, but when he didn’t she
asked, “Is there anything else I need to know?”

“I think that’s about
all.” Retzel looked back up at her with his large eyes and a slightly annoying
smile. “I must hurry back.” He put his hood back up over his head, said
good-bye, and ran down the hillside toward the city.

Kristina rode Taysha
down the hillside, the same way that Retzel had left, and they continued under
the moonlit sky toward the city.

“He sure was a nice
fellow. I haven’t had that much attention since I’ve been here,” Raymond said.

“Quit whining Raymond!
It’s not like I’ve had a lot of time to spend playing with you since we’ve been
here,” Kristina said.

“I’m not sure that I
trust him,” Taysha said.

“I know I don’t trust
you,” Raymond shot back, “especially when I’m left alone on your back.”

“I meant Retzel,”
Taysha retorted.

“What do you mean?”
Kristina asked.

“There was something
creepy about him,” Taysha went on.

“I found him pleasant,”
Kristina added.

“Maybe you’re just a
little jealous that I got all the attention and you didn’t,” Raymond said to
Taysha.

“No! It has nothing to
do with that. It’s just the strange look he had on his face, and those large
eyes of his,” Taysha said.

“Well, one should never
judge by appearances,” Raymond countered.

Kristina stared ahead
in amazement. “Hey, look, guys, straight ahead,” she said.

Taysha and Raymond
stopped arguing to look ahead at an elaborate iron gate not far off in the
distance. Arched across the top of it was lettering that read “Salas” and
arched under that, more lettering read “A City Dedicated to Her Majesty.”