Zal and Zara and the Champions' Race

by Kit Downes

  “Grrrrr?”

  “Grrrrr!”

  All three turned expectantly to him. Rip shook the sand off his nose and led them forwards, following Sari’s scent through the ruins.

  * * *

  “SARI!” shouted Zal, at the top of his voice. “SARI STORMSTRONG! WAKE UP!!!”

  “Zal, stop. It’s never going to work,” said Zara, as Zal pushed Sari’s spear into the dream wraith and prodded her with it. “It’s dream magic. She’ll be asleep as long as she’s in there.”

  “What can we do?” said Zal. “Can we pull her out?”

  “I don’t know,” said Zara. “My teachers always said to deal with dream wraiths by not going near them and breaking them apart with magic. Ugh! I don’t know what else to do.”

  Being cut off from her magic like this was awful. It was like she was wearing thick, heavy gloves that made it impossible to feel anything properly.

  “We’ve got to do something,” said Zal, putting the spear down. “I’m going to try.”

  “Wait. It might not be safe.”

  “I’ve got to risk it,” said Zal. “She did try to sell us to the Shadows, but we can’t just leave her in there.”

  He plunged both hands into the dream wraith. The ghost jellyfish was thick and very sticky. Bubbles glooped between his fingers. It felt like he was pushing his hands through ice-cold glue. Zal shivered as he reached towards Sari’s wrists, but before he could grab them, a powerful force gripped his elbows and drew him forwards.

  “Zal!” cried Zara.

  The dream wraith’s tentacles rose up and wrapped around him. Zal squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath as he was pulled into its body.

  Parrots cried and monkeys chattered. Insects clicked and birds chirped. Somewhere nearby, a waterfall roared into a river. Zal opened his eyes and saw green. Huge leaves grew from the branches of gigantic trees, so thick that he couldn’t see the sky through them. The branches of the trees were festooned with vines and creepers and also with large, lumpy pink and yellow fruits hanging in clumps. Quakajaks. He was in the Quakajakian Rainforest.

  A voice laughed somewhere below him. Zal looked down and started. He was floating upright a good ten metres above the ground, and he could see through his feet. Zal held up his hand in front of his face. His whole body had become transparent. Had he died and become a ghost?

  The voice laughed again. Zal looked down properly. He was floating over a small clearing at the foot of a giant tree. Sunlight poured through the dense canopy in narrow golden beams. The clearing floor was covered in grass with giant ferns growing around its edges, and the tree’s huge buttress roots arched around its base to make a shady cave.

  Two full-grown tigers, a male and a female, were relaxing in the doorway of the cave, stretched out side by side with their tails wrapped around each other. In the clearing in front of them, three small cubs were rolling about on the grass. They were playing with a small, dark-haired human girl, who was wearing a torn, muddy dress and no shoes. She laughed as she hugged and tickled the cubs. They growled and purred and licked her hands and face. She was only four or five years old and there were no scars on her cheek yet, but Zal instantly recognized her as Sari.

  The two adult tigers growled happily as their children and the girl played together. These had to be Sari’s memories, Zal thought. The clearing was warm and quiet and peaceful.

  “WOOF, WOOF! WOOF, WOOF!”

  The silence was shattered as five huge brown hunting dogs burst through the undergrowth, barking and salivating. Human voices came from behind them, along with the swish of blades hacking through the bushes.

  “GGGGGGRRRRRRR!”

  The adult tigers – Sari’s adoptive parents – were on their feet in an instant. The father sprang into the middle of the clearing and faced the dogs, snarling and swiping with his paws to keep them at bay. The mother went to the startled cubs, picked them up by the scruffs of their necks and tossed them back into the trees roots. She picked up Sari by the collar of her dress and did the same. Then she leapt beside her mate.

  “No!” shouted a voice. “No! NO!!!”

  Zal looked up. Sari – the Sari he knew – was floating above him on the other side of the clearing. Somehow, she was also a ghost.

  The tigers roared below them. Zal looked down. Two large nets with stone weights tied to their corners were thrown into the clearing. They landed on top of the two tigers, who immediately tried to run away and fell over, tangling their paws in the nets. The dogs danced around them, barking with triumph.

  “No!” shouted Sari, hovering above them. “Not again! No!”

  “Sari!” Zal shouted. “It’s Zal!”

  But she did not hear him. Sari was flailing in mid-air, trying to get down to the ground where she could help her family. As Zal watched, he noticed she was changing. Her body’s transparency was fading and she was becoming clear and solid. Zal looked down at his own body, but it was still as transparent as a ghost. The same thing was not happening to him. And why would it be? They were inside a dream wraith. This had to be Sari’s worst nightmare, or worst memory, or both, and the dream wraith was trapping her inside it.

  Outside, Zara was holding on to Zal’s ankles, preventing him from being pulled all the way in. She watched helplessly as Sari began to fade away inside the dream wraith as her body was drawn into her own worst nightmare.

  “Zal! Hurry!” she called.

  “SARI! WAKE UP!” Zal shouted, flailing around. “THIS ISN’T REAL!!!”

  “No! No!” cried Sari.

  Down in the clearing, a hunting party pushed its way out of the undergrowth. They were not Quakajakians, but from one of the other kingdoms, rich, well-fed men in silk robes and enormous turbans, laughing as they stood over the struggling tigers.

  “No!” Sari yelled. “City-dwellers! You’ll pay! You’ll pay!”

  Zal watched Sari’s spear appear in the air next to her. She grabbed it with an almost solid hand.

  “SARI!” Zal yelled. “WAKE UP!”

  “GRRRAAAAARRRRRR!”

  “WRAFF, WRAFF!”

  Rip and Cloudclaw – not transparent, but real and solid – burst out of nowhere, sailing in mid-leap into the dream world. Cloudclaw leapt on Sari and she cried out in pain, just as Rip leapt into Zal’s arms, which had suddenly become solid too. The jungle shattered like a mirror and everything went black all around it. Zal fell through the darkness, clutching on to Rip as the broken mirror shards flew past him. He could still see the clearing in them. In one, the hunting party dragged the two nets away, still laughing and congratulating each other. In another, the younger Sari crept out of the root cave, tears streaming down her face, struggling to carry all three tiger cubs at once.

  Nine

  “AAAAAH… UMPH!”

  Zal landed with a thump on the sand. The air was cold and the wind was whistling between the crumbling stone walls. He was back in the palace ruins. Above him, the dream wraith shuddered. Its tentacles curled up into its body and then it broke apart in a burst of misty spray.

  “Zal!” said Zara, shaking his shoulders. “Are you all right?”

  “I … I…” Zal struggled to sit up. Opposite him, Sari was doing the same, surrounded by her tigers, who were mewing over her with anxious expressions. Her tunic was torn from where Cloudclaw had crashed into her. “I…”

  “Wraff, wraff, wraff!”

  “Rip!”

  Rip jumped on to Zal’s chest, licking his face. Zal hugged him, laughing with relief.

  “You’re fine,” said Zara. “Sari?”

  “CLOUD!” said Sari, sitting up properly. “SHEER! JEWEL!”

  She hugged all three of them at once. They nuzzled her and rubbed her with their heads, purring. Sari looked around her.

  “How… How did they…?” she said.

  “Rip brought them here,” said Zara. She had been very surprised to see Rip appear leading the tigers as she’d been trying to pull Zal out. “He was following your scent.
When they saw you were both asleep, they jumped in to wake you up. That was what broke the sleeping spell. They reminded you of the world outside and you realized you were dreaming, so you woke up.”

  “But I knew I was dreaming,” said Zal.

  “Yes, because it wasn’t your dream,” said Zara.

  “Wraff, wraff!” said Rip.

  “But…” said Sari, blinking at Rip. “But … he helped them?”

  Jeweltail purred and licked Rip’s head. Rip yapped happily and licked her paw. Sari watched in astonishment.

  “I saw what happened,” said Zal. “To the tigers. To your family, I mean. I’m really sorry.”

  Sari’s head shot up. Her face was furious.

  “Do not say that!” she said, pulling the tigers close to her. “You don’t know anything!”

  “No,” said Zal. “But I know what it feels like when someone attacks your home.”

  Sari stared at him.

  “The Shadows did the same thing to us,” said Zal. “They tried to burn down my father’s shop just so we couldn’t compete in the Great Race. They’re trying to do it again and they’ve hired you to help them.”

  Sari was silent. The tigers purred anxiously beside her.

  “What happened to you two in there?” said Zara.

  “I’ll explain later.”

  “OK, I don’t know what he’s talking about, but Rip just saved you,” said Zara to Sari. “The Shadows trapped you in here along with us and if you want to get out and stop them, we’re going to have to work together.”

  “Oh, on the contrary,” purred another voice, “this game is about your individual wits.”

  The ground vanished beneath their feet.

  “WHOA!”

  “AAH!”

  “WRAFF!”

  “GGGRAARR!”

  A giant hole had suddenly opened up where they were standing. Zal, Zara, Sari, Rip and the tigers dropped straight down it and landed in a tangled heap at the bottom.

  “What the Stork?” Zal spat Cloudclaw’s tail out of his mouth and stared up at the sides of the hole. It was twice his height, too high to jump, and the sides were simply made of loose sand. There was nothing for him to climb up.

  “Magic!” gasped Zara, struggling to breathe with Jeweltail on her chest.

  “You said magic didn’t work here,” said Sari.

  “No, she said she couldn’t use hers, my dear,” said the purring voice. “Magic itself works just fine.”

  A Sphinx smiled down at them from the top of the hole. She was large and elegant, with a lioness’s body and a beautiful woman’s face. She was covered in golden fur and had a long tail and lots of honey-coloured curly hair that tumbled around her shoulders like a mane. She had pale crystal-blue eyes and her smile showed sharp teeth.

  “Who are you?” said Zal.

  “Just a Sphinx,” said the Sphinx. “I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself sooner. I wanted to see if you could deal with the dream wraiths. Most of our visitors never escape from them.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you,” said Sari.

  “Oh, no! I’m delighted,” said the Sphinx. “It’s so rare to get people to play games with in here. It’s been centuries since our last visitors.”

  “We don’t have time to play games,” said Zal. “We need to get out of here.”

  “I don’t think she’s here to help us,” whispered Zara.

  “Oh, no. Everyone has to play,” said the Sphinx. “That’s the way things work in the bottle. But don’t worry. If you win, you can help yourselves.”

  The Sphinx flicked her tail. Thick, fast streams of sand poured into the pit from all sides, starting to fill it up.

  “Camelpat!”

  “Stop!”

  Zal, Zara and Sari tried to scramble up the sides of the pit as the sand flowed over them, but their fingers passed straight through the loose sand walls. The tigers had the same problem. The sand poured in faster, burying their feet and rising further.

  “Wraff, wrugh!” said Rip, as the sand reached up to his nose.

  “Now, I have a riddle for each of you,” said the Sphinx, curling her tail like a question mark. “Answer it correctly if you want to live.”

  “All right!” said Zal, shielding his eyes from the sand. He picked up Rip before he could be buried. “We’ll play!”

  “Good. Then my first riddle is for you, bold swordsman,” said the Sphinx. She cleared her throat. “You’ll see yourself in me. But if you turn me around, you won’t see anything.”

  “What?” said Zara.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” said Sari. Even the tigers looked flummoxed.

  “Are you kidding?” said Zal, as the sand reached their knees. “It’s a mirror!”

  “Yes!” cried the Sphinx. “Excellent!”

  The walls of the pit suddenly shifted. A set of spiralling steps, also made of sand, slid out of the sides of the hole. The sand was still pouring in. Zal, Zara, Sari and the tigers scrambled straight up them, Zal carrying Rip. They clambered out just as the hole filled up completely.

  The walls of the corridor shifted around them, reforming into a wide, sand-filled courtyard. The Sphinx was standing in the middle of it, with two dream wraiths floating behind her.

  “Wonderful!” the Sphinx said. “You wouldn’t believe how many of my guests give up without even trying. This is going to be a splendid game. Now, my second riddle is for you, my dear magician.”

  Six twisted, grey-brown trees with tangling branches burst out of the sand around them. In a second, they grew higher than their heads. Everyone froze in place as the branches surrounded them. The branches had no leaves, but they were covered in long, sharp thorns which stopped just centimetres from their skin.

  “I am larger than any mountain, but to your eyes I am smaller than a coin,” said the Sphinx. “My face is as white as snow and stained with tears of grey as I float endlessly in a waterless sea.”

  “A… Ummm… Let me think,” said Zara.

  “A fish!” said Zal. “Oww!”

  The nearest branch suddenly grew an extra centimetre and pricked him with its thorns.

  “No,” said the Sphinx, licking her paws.

  “A rock!” said Zal. “Oww!”

  “No,” said the Sphinx.

  “A grain of sand in the Great Desert! Oww!”

  “The riddle is for her,” said the Sphinx.

  “Wraff!” said Rip.

  “No,” said the Sphinx.

  “WRAFF!” said Rip, as the thorns pricked him.

  “A… Oww!” said Sari.

  “Stop! All of you,” said Zara. “It’s the moon!”

  “Correct!” cried the Sphinx.

  The thorny branches retracted as the trees sank back down under the sand. As soon as they were gone, the walls started moving again. This time, they slid inwards. The courtyard contracted, threatening to crush them.

  “My third riddle is for you, O cunning thief,” said the Sphinx, leaping on top of a wall. “I am kinder than the Celestial Stork and crueller than the Cosmos Vulture. The poor have plenty of me, but the rich want for none of me. And if you eat me, you will die.”

  “What?” said Zara.

  “A… Uh… Ummm,” said Zal.

  “Nothing,” said Sari.

  “Yes! Well done!” said the Sphinx.

  “Nothing?” said Zal. “Oh, I see.”

  “Every thief knows that riddle,” said Sari.

  The walls of the courtyard slid backwards, reforming into yet another shape. The courtyard became long and narrow, and an iron gate slid into place at the far end.

  “OOK OOK OOK! GAAHK GAAHK GAAHK!”

  Behind the gate was another pack of apes, hooting and howling, stamping their feet and beating the gate with their clubs. The gate was slowly rising to let them through.

  “Excellent! You’re doing so well! You’ve broken my last guests’ record,” said the Sphinx. “They were all dead after the first two. Now, my fourth riddle is for yo
u again, my bold young swordsman.”

  “What?” said Zal. “You said one for each of us!”

  “I did indeed,” said the Sphinx. “But I never said how many I have in total.”

  “How many do you have?”

  “How many grains of sand are there in the bottle?” said the Sphinx. “When you’ve been in here as long as I have, life gets grindingly dull. Thinking up new riddles is the best way to pass the time. Now, I am—”

  “Oh, Stork!”

  “Wait a minute!” said Zara. “If this is a game, why are you the only one who can ask the questions?”

  “Why?” said the Sphinx, looking down at her. The rising gate paused. “Because that’s the way things work here, my dear. The palace is my domain. You are my guests, so entertaining you is my duty.”

  “Not any more,” said Zara. She stepped in front of Zal and Sari. “I want to ask you a riddle.”

  “Really?” said the Sphinx, looking amused.

  “Yes,” said Zara. “Or are you only good at making them up, not solving them?”

  There was a pause. The Sphinx’s eyes narrowed.

  “Very well,” she said. “Let me hear it.”

  “I always deceive, but I never lie,” said Zara. “My words are real, but the truth always hides. I play a game, but make the rules, and the winner, I decide.”

  There was a longer pause. Zal and Sari looked at each other. Rip and the tigers frowned. Even the apes seemed to be thinking about it behind the gate. The Sphinx laughed.

  “Oh, come now, my dear magician,” she said. “That’s cheating. You’ve just made up something that sounds like a riddle, but actually it isn’t. A riddle has to have an answer. That is the first rule of the game.”

  “It does have an answer,” said Zara. “You just can’t solve it.”

  “Really?” said the Sphinx, smiling. “And what is this answer meant to be?”

  “It’s easy,” said Zara. “You.”

  The Sphinx blinked. For a split second, everything was still. Then blue light flashed behind the Sphinx’s eyes. She gave a cry of pain, which was half a woman’s scream and half a lion’s roar, then reared up, covering her face with her paws and collapsed on the sand, as part of her magic broke.