Lissa said, “Do you think we should pick this stuff up and take it to the fortress? Maybe the grandpa lost it.”
“Maybe it would help us find the key,” said Kari doubtfully.
Eli chewed on a fingernail. “I don’t know. It doesn’t look like it was lost. It looks like it was left behind. Thrown away.”
“Hidden,” suggested Lissa, thumping on the big tube.
“I don’t know how we’d carry it anyhow,” finished Eli. “There’s a lot.”
“Oh, that’s easy. We use this.” Lissa patted the tube. “We just have to dig a little down to the hatch and once we get inside, it’s easy.”
Kari made a face. Lissa could say that because Kari would be doing all the work. “Fine, you two dig, and I’ll pick stuff up from that field.”
She carried over the ancient rifles and the straps and the boots and the backpacks and piled them beside Eli and Lissa, then sat and waited. They dug a hole with shovels, which were the first thing Kari had found. But once they clanged on the hatch, it was Kari’s turn.
She leaned into the hole after they climbed out and touched the hatch. As soon as she did, it sprang open. Kari slid down into the cabin and into a seat. There was another seat further in so she squeezed through a narrow opening to the belly of the tank. As she did, she called, “Come on down, there’s plenty of room.”
The lower seat had what she was looking for: the various mechanical bits that would wake the metal beast up. She ran her hands over the board with all the dials. The others slid down after her, with all their loot. Once they were in, Kari gave the dashboard a shove.
It did its best to wake up, but it was still covered by a lot of earth. That was definitely a problem, no matter how much Lissa wanted to describe it as ‘easy’.
The tube, which was actually a giant cannon, rattled and swiveled back and forth, loosening more dirt. But it wasn’t enough. The treads of the tank turned and metal squealed and Kari got more and more frustrated.
“Can I just burn it all up?” she demanded.
“No!” Lissa shook her head violently. “We mustn’t.”
Eli held up the carved owl stick. “I know what to do!” He stood on the back of Lissa’s seat and stuck his head out of the hatch, waving the wand. “We’re going to rescue you, Grandpa! Come and help us!”
The owl on the wand flapped its wings once, twice, three times. Each flap made the wings grow bigger and bigger. Soon the flapping wings made a whirlwind around the little hill. Then Eli ducked back down. “Try driving now!”
Kari hit the dashboard with her palm, and the tank shifted gears. The hill shuddered around them, and the tank shifted gears again. Something groaned, and Kari clasped her hands together. “Hold on!”
There was a jolt and a jar. The whole tank wriggled. Then the hill came apart around them, and the tank rolled out into the sunshine.
“Yes!” crowed Kari. “Onward, to the fortress, Tankie!”
“It’s not called Tankie,” Lissa objected.
“It is for now!” Kari stared through the narrow window above the dashboard. The strange fortress on the high hill got closer and closer. After a moment the tank tilted back as it started climbing the hill. The weird fortress was round, with three triangle towers and a crooked door. Shadows moved on the towers.
Kari grinned over her shoulder at the others, then flipped a switch on the dash. When she spoke, her voice echoed loudly over the desert. “We’ve come for the orb of Earth. Hand it over!”
“You cannot take it!” The voice from the tower was scratchy, like a monster who wasn’t very good at talking.
Lissa popped her head up through the hatch. “I’m going to count to three, and then you’re going to be sad! One!”
The shadows grew thicker around the front tower.
“Two!”
“I think they’re planning something!” Eli said urgently.
“Three!”
A dark bubble grew around the top of the fortress. Lissa ducked down, slamming the hatch, and pushed the big FIRE button for the cannon. “Cover your ears!”
Chapter 4
There was a huge boom, and dust and black smoke obscured the viewports. When it finally settled, the whole fortress had collapsed into a pile of sand.
Kari laughed and patted Tankie’s dashboard. “Good job! Now let’s find that orb!” But Tankie didn’t move. Lissa popped out of the hatch and said, “It’s no good. There’s goo all over the treads. Gumming everything up.”
Eli climbed out after her. “But I think I see the orb!” He ran over to the ruins of the fortress and picked up a big, orange ball. “This has to be it!”
Kari patted the console of the tank for a while, trying to get it going again. Lissa leaned down and said, “Come on, Kari! It did what it was supposed to. And I bet if we can fix Eli’s Grandpa, that will fix the tank too!”
Kari sighed. “Okay.” She climbed out of the tank. Eli was cradling the orb, which had shrunk down to the size of a marble. “I guess we should work on getting the next one. Air, probably.”
Lissa looked up into the sky. “That might be kind of… tough. Let’s get out of this desert, first.”
Kari started walking. And walking. And walking. “I hate getting out of the desert. It’s so much slower than getting in. And we don’t even know where to go.”
Lissa said, “Eli, can your owl friend help us out again?”
Eli frowned and waved the owl wand. “Oh, owl of my grandpa. Where do we go next?”
Once again the owl’s wings grew and flapped. Eli had to hold on with both hands as it dragged him along the ground.
“Let it go!” Lissa jumped up and down.
“I don’t want to lose it!”
“Don’t worry,” Kari said. “We’ll follow it.”
Eli’s grip loosened, and the owl yanked itself out of his hand and flew ahead, low to the ground. It was fast, but Kari was too. She set off after it, knowing that if she could keep the owl in sight, the others could catch up.
It led her out of the desert and onto a big field with dry, yellow-green grass. It flew and flew and she ran and ran, until suddenly the owl swooped upward and Kari realized there was something in their way. It was a sparkling blue wall, slanted. She skidded to a stop just before running into it.
A minute later, when Eli and Lissa ran up, Kari was still staring at the wall. “What is it, Lissa?”
The owl fluttered down and landed on Eli’s hand again, hooting softly. He petted it. “It looks like ice.”
Lissa put her hand on the smooth slope. “It’s not cold.” She looked up. “It’s a mountain. I think we have to climb.”
“The orb of wind must be at the top!” decided Kari. She threw herself at the shiny blue slope and started climbing it on her hands and knees. But she only made it up a few feet before she slid back down again.
“Come on, Lissa, push me!”
Lissa patted the side of the mountain and looked up at the high peak. “I don’t think that’s going to work.”
“Hey, over here!” said Eli, walking along the base of the mountain. “There’s steps.”
Kari slid down a second time and went to go see. At first she couldn’t even see what Eli was talking about. Then she saw the curves in the mountainside. “Those aren’t really steps. Maybe scoops.”
Eli shrugged, put the owl wand in his pocket, and started climbing. In only a minute, he was much higher than Kari had managed on her own. She called, “Hey, wait up! Come on, Lissa.” She hesitated, then said, “You go first and I’ll catch you if you fall.”
Lissa said scornfully, “I’m not going to fall. You just hate being in the middle.”
Kari shrugged and waited. Lissa stuck her tongue out and started climbing as well, and only then did Kari go up after.
They climbed for a long time. It seemed like days and days. Once Eli slipped, and Kari and Lissa both caught him, which was very heroic. Once Kari slipped too, but she caught herself. But Lissa didn’t slip at all, ju
st like she said.
After Kari slipped a second time, one of the adults looming at the edge of the world came over. It was Marley, her face resolving from the crayon scribbles that covered all the other adult faces.
“How are you guys doing?” she asked.
“We’re playing,” said Lissa, quickly, before Kari could tell her what they were really doing. “Everything’s fine. We’re having fun with Eli.”
Marley looked at them as if she was suspicious of something. Kari gave her a big, bright smile. Marley frowned. “Well, be careful. It’s not fun if somebody gets hurt.”
“We know that, Marley,” said Lissa in exasperation. “Go away please, so we can keep playing.”
Marley hesitated, looked at Eli like she could see everything, then shook her head and went back to the edge of the world.
After that, they worked fast to get to the peak. Eli pulled himself onto the flattened top first and lay there panting as the sisters joined him. “Was that your mom?”
“Not yet,” said Lissa, which just confused Eli.
“She’s our babysitter. But we hope she’ll be our mom someday,” Kari explained. “Anyhow, where’s the wind orb?” But there was nothing up there except a tube. “Oh no, another cannon?”
Lissa patted the tube. “I don’t think so. I hear something….” She pressed her ear to the tube. “Voices. Like somebody’s talking. Singing? I can’t tell.”
Kari stood up on the mountain peak and looked out over the rest of the world. “Well, if the orb isn’t here, maybe we can get an idea of where else it could be. A good view.”
“Maybe the voice will tell us where the orb is?” Eli suggested. “Let me listen.”
Instead, Lissa looked down into the tube. “Oh. That’s why I can’t hear clearly. Something’s blocking the tube.”
“The orb!” said Kari, brightening. “Can you reach?” She tried to push Lissa aside.
Lissa pushed her back. “No. It’s really far down.”
“Maybe the owl can help again,” suggested Eli. He fished the wand out of his pocket and waved it around. But Lissa caught his hand.
“Wait. If we loosen it, it will roll down the tube and get lost. Somebody has to go to the other end to pick it up.”
“I see where to go!” Kari had spotted another tube just like this one, sticking out of the ground at the mountain’s far side. “I’ll do it!” Quick as a wink, she sat down and pushed herself over the edge of the mountain. “Woohoo!” she shouted as she slid all the way to the bottom.
It was over too soon. She hit the ground and rolled, which wasn’t quite as much fun as sliding. Then Kari scrambled to her feet, ran to the tube she’d seen from above, and waved at the tiny figures far atop the mountain. “I’m ready!”
The tiny Eli waved his wand, and the owl’s wings grew and grew once again. Even from the bottom of the mountain, Kari could feel the wind. At first nothing happened. Then there was a rattling sound and the whole tube shook until POP, a blue orb jumped out and into Kari’s hands. As soon as she caught it, a flurry of voices surrounded her: a woman singing, a man chanting something, an old lady saying a lullaby, and a little boy that sounded like Eli saying, “One more, Grandpa!”
Eli and Lissa came sliding down the mountain, and Kari handed the boy the blue orb. “It was stuck with a whole bunch of voices. But they’re free now, and we have the second orb!”
Eli looked at the orb for a minute, looking sad and serious. Then, just like the earth orb, it shrank down to a marble, and he put it in his pocket.
Lissa looked over at where Marley stood guarding the edge of the world. “We’d better hurry,” she said uneasily. “I think we’re running out of time.”
Chapter 5
They ran across the big field until they found a dry stream bed. Eli said, “If we’re looking for water, let’s start here.”
“We can follow it,” Kari agreed. “It’ll go somewhere eventually.”
She was right. At first it was dry as summer, then the ground got damp, then muddy, and then they were splashing through puddles. After that, the puddles joined together until there was a stream flowing around their ankles.
“We have to keep going,” Lissa said. “There’s a lot of water at the end of the creek.”
It rose to the middle of their shins. “We might have to swim,” said Kari. Swimming was fun, but she was a little worried about Eli. Sometimes kids drowned. That wouldn’t happen to her and Kari, because Marley was their babysitter and they knew how to swim, but their uncle was pretty strict about them luring other kids into deep water.
She looked around. “Wait, no, we don’t!” On the side of the creek was an old tire. “We can float!” All three of them gathered around the tire and pushed it hard, until it flipped end over end and into the rapidly flowing water.
“This is great!” said Eli, as they threw themselves aboard. “White water rafting! Let’s make it spin!”
They didn’t have to do much work. The stream broadened and got deeper, but it also got a whole lot faster, with big rocks that jutted up so that the water crashed and swirled everywhere. Spinning happened naturally. They got soaked, too. Around and around they went, leaning together to steer the tire around the rocks. Once Lissa almost fell off, but Eli grabbed her and pulled her back.
Then the river came up against a rock so big it couldn’t go around. Instead it got bigger and quieter and wider, spilling out into a lake.
“Is this the place?” Eli asked. He fished his wand out of his pocket.
Lissa looked around as the tire drifted into the center of the water. “This isn’t a good lake. It’s sick.”
Even Kari could see that. The water was murky and the shore of the lake was brown and stinky, not sandy or green. “The water’s supposed to be flowing.”
“Can we move the rock?” Eli waved his wand. The owl’s wings flapped twice and then settled into place again.
“It’s a really big rock,” said Kari. It was more like a wall than a rock: big and grey and smooth, curving out like a full belly.
“Let’s paddle to shore,” said Lissa. “We can’t do anything here.”
They used their hands at first, until Kari slipped into the water and kicked, propelling the tire and the other two ahead of her like she was the motor on a motorboat. When she could reach the bottom, it was strange under her feet. Definitely not a healthy lake.
The others got out as the tire bumped the earth, and Lissa ran around the side of the lake until she reached some smaller stacked stones that formed the edge. They were as big around as Lissa’s head, but they looked like gravel compared to the giant rock making the lake.
“Aha!” said Lissa. She pointed beyond the stacked stones. “I don’t think we can move the big rock, but we can help the water go around.”
Kari looked to where Lissa was pointing. There were a bunch of fallen logs all tumbled every which way, like an entire forest had been knocked over in a wind storm. “I don’t see it.”
Lissa clambered over to the closest fallen log and pushed it. It swiveled at the center, like the spinner in a game, thumping against the top of the stacked stones. It was hollow inside and the noise echoed weirdly.
“We just need to make a new path for the water to the other side of the big rock. Then we can move one of those little stones and the whole creek can flow again.” She looked proud of herself.
Kari looked at the tangle of logs. Even if they all swiveled, it was still a giant mess.
“What if we just take the little stone out and let it go here?” asked Eli.
“It’ll just make another pool,” said Lissa. “It has to connect up with the rest of the river. I can do it. You two go explore and find the other side.”
Kari said, “I can do that!” She ran into the mess of fallen logs, jumping and climbing her way through, until she heard Eli calling for her.
He wasn’t as fast as she was. Really, he might as well have stayed behind with Lissa, except that Lissa was thinking hard and
didn’t want to be distracted. So, although she didn’t want to, Kari waited until Eli was closer, then gave him instructions on the best way through the tangle.
“I think the other side of the river is over here,” he said when he caught up. He pointed off to his right. “See, the rock turns into a big cliff. But getting there will be a big pain.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Kari promised him, grinning. He was slow, but he did notice things, which Kari thought was awesome. “Then we can help Lissa show the logs the way.”
Together they picked their way through the jumble of logs. It was slower with Eli, but some parts of it were easier, too, because they could help each other. It wasn’t the same as doing things with her sister, but it occurred to Kari that maybe even normal boys could be more than just princes to be rescued.
Finally they reached the edge of the field of logs. Beyond was a rocky canyon. “Is this it?” Kari wondered.
“There’s a little bit of water at the bottom.” Eli squinted. “Maybe coming from under the big rock.”
“Okay,” said Kari. She turned to look back at what Lissa had accomplished.
She hadn’t gotten very far, but what she’d done was easy to see. Where she’d been, the mess of logs had been cleaned up: either spun so they formed a single path, or carefully aligned out of the way. It was sort of like when their Uncle cleaned their bedroom, except Uncle Zach was a lot faster.
“I’ll go back and show her the way,” said Kari. “You climb up on something and stay here so we don’t get lost.”
“Should I send the owl?” Eli twisted his wand.
“Nah, keep it. We can do this!” Kari bounded back across the field to Lissa. “This way, Lissa.”
“Oh, you’re back. Hush, I’m thinking.”
“Don’t you wish Uncle Zach was here?”
Lissa glanced at her. “Silly. He wouldn’t let us do this. Where’s Eli?”
“Back at the riverbed. See? You have to steer toward him.”
“Oh. Right,” said Lissa. “Here, you go push those four logs so they’re out of the way.”
The twins worked together, Kari chattering and Lissa thinking, and slowly made their way over to Eli. As Lissa pushed the final log into place, Eli climbed down from it and said, “It’s a road!”
Etiquette of Exiles (Senyaza Series Book 4) Page 6
