The most wondrous treasure I ever know’d.
TIME MARCHES SLOWLY when one is in discomfort, and this was certainly now the case with Kendra. Stuffed inside the parrot cage, her neck ached with a never-ceasing crick, and her legs continually cramped and fell asleep. She could find no relief, no matter how much she tried to shift and fidget inside her cage. She begged Pugglemud to free her, for even just a few moments, so that she might stretch her legs—but the pirate turned a deaf ear to her pleas.
The peryton was faring far worse. As the days rolled onward, the great stag sank further and further into ill health. He began to molt feather and fur, and anything he tried to eat only caused him to retch. Gradually, his eyes lost their noble luster.
“He’s dying,” Kendra told Pugglemud. “You need to bring him up to the deck.”
“So he’ll just fly away on me, eh?” the dirty Dwarf said with a scowl.
“I doubt he’s strong enough to fly,” Kendra rejoined. “And there’s the silver thread anyway. But he needs to feel the breeze and the light of the sun. He needs fresh air!”
It took some convincing, but Kendra knew that the greedy captain didn’t want to risk the peryton dying; he was worth his weight in gold to Pugglemud. And so at last the pirate captain had Prince’s wings and legs bound with the silver thread, and Squaggle and the rest of the crew hauled the great stag to the ship deck. The peryton somehow seemed even more massive to Kendra, for now his white wings sparkled in the sunlight and his antlers knocked against the ship’s mast.
Prince remained there for the next two days, hardly stirring. Squaggle left Kendra’s cage hanging on the mast next to the beast, even through the night. She spent hours just staring at the peryton. Finally, one bright morning, just as the sun was rising, Prince lifted his head and Kendra saw a familiar twinkle in his dark eyes.
“I may live yet, Arinotta,” he announced.
Oki scampered up the rigging to sit next to Kendra’s cage. “Is . . . is he friendly?” the little mouse asked.
Kendra turned to answer him, but then a cry came from high above. It was one of the pirates, up in the crow’s nest. “Land ahoy!” the Gnome shouted. “Thar she be, mates—Krake Castle!”
Kendra could hear a scuttle of feet as the pirate crew rushed to the edge of the ship to gaze at the shore. Kendra herself had to twist around in her cage in order to gain a view, but when she did, her mouth went dry and her stomach felt as if it was trying to digest a stone.
It was still many leagues away, but even from a distance Krake Castle was a foreboding sight. A clutter of dark towers and ramparts, it looked like a giant stone king, the crags serving as its throne, the waves below as its minions.
“Somewhere in all o’ that is the accursed Rumble Pit,” Squaggle muttered grimly.
“Take cheers, me hearties!” Pugglemud declared gleefully. “We’ll be rich soon, don’t ya know! Don’t be thinkin’ o’ the pit! Think o’ the gold! Tee hee!”
“K-K-Kendra,” Oki sputtered, still sitting next to her cage. “What is that thing?”
“What are you talking about?” Kendra said irritably. “It’s Krake Castle!”
“N-n-no, not that!” Oki cried, now pointing a tiny paw towards the sea. “I mean that—EEK!”
His squeal caught everyone’s attention; the whole crew followed the mouse’s gesture to the sea—and there they saw an enormous creature plowing through the waves like a torpedo, straight towards the Golden Loot.
If you have ever visited an aquarium, then you have most likely seen a squid or an octopus, and if this creature resembled anything, it was one of these, except it was far bigger and seemed to have more of everything—especially tentacles. Indeed, to Kendra it seemed as if there were dozens of these long feelers, curling in and out of the water like a writhing nest of serpents, each one poised to strike and destroy. It had a cluster of bulbous black eyes scattered across its head, reminding Kendra of a spider.
“What in the name of Een is that?” Jinx asked.
“A scoptacus!” Squaggle uttered, all the color draining from his face. “Our bleedin’ doom!”
“Stop yer blabberin’, ya yeller-bellied scalawags!” Pugglemud yelled, even as he retreated up the stairs to the poop deck. “Get yer harpoons! Get yer spears and swords! Don’t let that slimy slurper hurt me!”
The pirates began scrambling about the deck, grabbing hold of every weapon available. Even Jinx found a sword and raised it with all four arms. No one stopped her; they would need every hand available if they were to survive the sea creature’s attack.
Oki hugged Kendra’s cage. “Don’t think of pickles! Don’t think of pickles!” he murmured. “Oh, Kendra—what are we going to do?”
Kendra could feel the shard inflame in ravenous fury. Now! the voice inside her head wailed. It’s time to destr—
The scoptacus walloped the ship with such force that Kendra’s cage shook loose of its hook and crashed to the deck. As the vessel lurched in a wash of waves, the cage rattled across the tilting floor, slamming into barrels and legs until at last it struck the far railing so hard that it burst open in an explosion of rusty wire. Kendra leapt to her feet—and immediately fell down. She hadn’t used her legs in days, and it didn’t help that the Golden Loot was now entangled in the lashing tentacles of the scoptacus. It was like the ship was a mere toy, the creature an angry fist.
A chaotic battle had erupted on the deck of the Golden Loot. Everywhere Kendra looked there seemed to be another tentacle, thrashing out from the foam and spray to clutch at hapless victims. Now Kendra could see just how deadly these tentacles were, for each one was lined with a deadly row of pincers that snapped and clawed at the pirate crew. Some of the Gnomes had already been gashed by these pincers, but those were the lucky ones; many more had been trapped in the coils of the great scoptacus, only to disappear over the sides of the ship, though whether into the sea or the creature’s waiting jaws, Kendra never knew. Amidst the frantic din of screams, Squaggle and Jinx led the assault on the scoptacus. Harpoon, sword, and dagger were all thrust at the monster, but nothing seemed to impede its attack.
“Kendra!”
She blinked and collected her thoughts. It was Oki—he had been ensnared by one of the great tentacles and was kicking furiously as the long green limb pulled him towards the edge of the vessel.
Quickly, Kendra reached into her robe and grabbed the shard from Greeve. At once the black rock flamed to life in delightful and long-awaited fury. Kendra could feel her hand burn, but she ignored the pain. Holding the stone like a knife, she charged forward and sliced at the tentacle holding Oki. It instantly exploded into fragments of charred flesh, and the mouse fell to the wooden deck with a thud, his eyes wide with terror and confusion at the sight of the shard.
Across the deck, the peryton was struggling to get to his feet, but he was still bound by the silver thread. In a flash, Kendra crossed the deck and cut him free, first his legs, then his wings. Prince stared at her in wonder; then he leapt to the air, creating a rush of wind with his enormous wings. At first, his flight was unsteady, but then he seemed to find a hidden reserve of strength. Quickly and gracefully, he circled upward into the sky, free and truly beautiful.
When she lowered her head, Kendra found herself staring at Agent Lurk. He was but a few Eenlengths away, and even though she couldn’t see his face beneath his cowl, she could feel his eyes boring into her. He lunged towards her, only to find himself snatched by one of the scoptacus’s giant feelers. Lurk yelped in horror, but his cry was drowned out by a truly ear-piercing shriek. Kendra whirled around to find herself confronted by a giant wall of bumpy green scales as the massive scoptacus reared its great misshapen head alongside the ship. It gnashed its teeth, and its knot of black eyes flared with pain and anger. Kendra knew she had wounded the scoptacus with the first slash of the shard—but she did not care. She wanted to hurt it even more.
Raising her arms, she held the shard above her head and let the rage gush from her heart
. The wind whipped about her, blowing her hood over her head to shadow her angry face. Black lightning roared, snapped, and clawed from the shard. Wood splintered and cracked as the ship was ripped to pieces; the scoptacus flailed in agony, its tentacles bursting into flames and evaporating in a stomach-sickening stench of burning blubber. The pirates ran helter-skelter in every direction, desperate for cover. Oki squealed, Jinx yelled, and Pugglemud screamed above it all: “The ship! Not me ship!”
Everything after that was a blur for Kendra. One minute she was standing on the deck, the next she was in the sea, lying on a broken plank of wood that was just wide enough to support her. Her right hand was scorched and limp, still hanging onto the shard and its cord. Painfully, she managed to loop it back around her neck. The waves were wild and washed over her, as if purposely trying to drown her. All around were flaming pieces of flotsam, and though it was morning, the sky was dark—she couldn’t explain why. In the distance, Kendra could see the Golden Loot bobbing in the sea like a wounded animal.
“Kendra, what have you done?”
It was Jinx. The tiny grasshopper was clinging to a piece of wreckage and floating an arm’s length away. Oki was with her. He was completely drenched, but even so Kendra could see that his whiskers and fur were singed.
“I saved us!” Kendra bellowed.
“I don’t feel very safe!” Jinx balked. “You had the shard all along, didn’t you? You betrayed us.”
“If it wasn’t for me, you’d be dead!” Kendra growled.
“Kendra,” little Oki moaned, “you’re eyes . . . they’re . . . they’re red.”
“So what?” Kendra snapped as she bobbed up and down on the crests of the waves.
“That rock has gotten the better of you!” Jinx shouted over the crash of the water.
“Shut up!” Kendra snarled. “You’re just jealous fools!”
And then they were separated by waves; Kendra lost sight of them, first for a moment, and then completely. She rested her head against the board that was keeping her afloat. She felt exhausted.
“Ingrates,” she muttered as her mind slipped into unconsciousness. “At least Prince will thank me.” And her last thoughts before blacking out were of the bold and beautiful peryton, soaring to freedom.
SOMETIMES ON THE ROAD OF LIFE we arrive at a point where we pause and ask, “How did I ever end up in this awful place?” We turn to look behind us, but we can see no fork in the road, no clear signpost that shows where we went astray. Somehow, our way was lost.
This was Kendra’s very thought as she awoke on the rocky shore beneath the shadows of Krake Castle. She had washed up with the wreckage from the Golden Loot, but at first she had a hard time remembering where she was—or how she had gotten there. Her eyes stung from the salt water, and her hand was throbbing in pain; it was burnt and blistered, and she winced just to look at it.
With her good hand, Kendra plucked at her braids and stared out at the ocean. She found herself trying to remember home, but Een seemed a faraway place. She couldn’t quite recollect her uncle’s face or the sound of one his humphs. Then she tried to think of Oki’s silly puns, but she couldn’t recall any of those either. And she certainly couldn’t remember what it was like to feel Eenwood in her hands. The only thing that seemed real to her now was the shard.
Her stomach grumbled with hunger. When was the last time she had eaten? She looked about the wreckage that littered the beach and noticed a large water-logged sack that the waves had hurled onto the rocky shore. She scrambled over and ripped open the sack to find a few carrots and some turnips. They were spoiled, perhaps by age, perhaps by the sea—but just the same, Kendra began devouring them like a ravenous wolf.
It was an awful meal, and it didn’t help that she felt so felt cold and alone. Afterwards, she called out for Oki and Jinx, but there was no response.
“Figures,” Kendra muttered. “I guess they’ve abandoned me at last.”
She pulled herself to her wobbly legs and clambered over the large rocks. Reaching the top of one of the great boulders, she was met with a grim sight—the broken and battered shell of the Golden Loot. It had come to an awkward berth on the rocks, and it looked less like a ship than it did like the carcass of some giant creature, its great wooden ribs jutting towards the sky. Worse yet, it was crawling with Krakes. Kendra had seen many a Krake before, but she had almost forgotten how grotesque they were. They looked something like a cross between a chicken and a lizard, for they had long crooked necks, even longer tails, and plump, round bodies covered with tufts of greenish fur. Their front legs were short and clawed, their hind legs big and powerful. The top of their heads forked into three long tendrils, while their faces featured sharp, beaklike snouts that were serrated with small jagged teeth.
Kendra watched with horrid fascination as the Krakes swarmed the fractured ship. They looked like a colony of ants attacking a rubbish heap. Here and there the slurping beasts would find a Gnome pirate who had survived the scoptacus attack, and they immediately pulled him from the wreckage and locked him in chains. Kendra knew where those poor scoundrels were headed. It was the Rumble Pit for them.
Well, not for me, she told herself. She gave her braids another tug and then turned and began crawling up the rocky crags towards the tall and imposing castle.
She was small, and her hand was so badly wounded that she couldn’t use it to help her climb; it was hours before she reached the castle walls. Once there, she edged her way along the cold gray bulwark, and it wasn’t long before she came upon a rusty grate set among the stones. Here, gray water spilled from the innards of the castle; Kendra wrinkled her nose in disgust, but she knew this drain was her way to sneak inside. She squeezed through the grate and began trudging up the stream of muck. The way was rank and slimy, and in some places the putrid water came as high as her chest.
As Kendra wound her way deeper and deeper into the inner workings of the castle, her hand throbbed and her legs began to ache in agony. She had walked more in this one day than she had in weeks. By the time the drainage tunnel came to an end, Kendra was exhausted. She was in a large, seemingly empty chamber, but it was incredibly warm. At first she wasn’t sure where this heat was coming from, but wandering further into the room, she realized there were a series of open shafts in the floor, and it was from these that the broiling air was gushing. Some of the shafts were covered with iron grates, but others were wide open and Kendra was careful to keep her distance. The last thing she needed to do was going plummeting into some unknown hole.
There’s nothing quite like a warm room to make one feel the weariness of a long and cold journey, and so it was here at last that Kendra finally succumbed to her exhaustion. Collapsing to the floor, she leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. Just a short rest, she thought. Then I’ll find Kiro. She was asleep in an instant.
“Ooh-cha! It-cha Eeneez!”
Kendra’s eyes flew open to see the hideous beak of a large green Krake. He was wearing a rusty helmet on his head and a dented pauldron on one shoulder. He was also holding a long spear, which was thrust at Kendra’s face.
“Sergeant Yeeek catcha Kandlestar-cha!” the Krake chirped as he forced Kendra to her feet. “Now-cha Sergeant Yeeek biggee hero!”
Quickly, Kendra stepped back, trying to keep her distance. It wasn’t the spear she was afraid of; Krakes had deadly venom and she knew one bite could mean her death. So wary of the beast was Kendra that she forgot to pay attention to the danger behind her, and the next thing she knew, she stumbled right into one of the open ventilation shafts. With a shriek of surprise, she disappeared into utter darkness.
Thankfully, the shaft was not a straight vertical drop. It angled down at a steep slant, so that at once Kendra felt herself sliding on her back. Desperately, she dug her elbows into the stone to try and impede her fall, but it was no use—the slope came to a sudden end and she struck the ground hard. The wind was knocked out of her, and for a moment she just lay there, gasping for breath.<
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When she finally recovered, Kendra found herself staring up at a giant rock. At least it looked like a rock. But it was the strangest one that Kendra had ever seen, for it was perfectly round and covered in big purple spots.
Slowly, Kendra pulled herself to her feet to find hundreds upon hundreds of these same great boulders. They stretched before her in long rows, each rock as identical as the last. They were nestled in shallow pools of purple sludge that gurgled and percolated, sometimes burping with a loud pop. The mud was being heated, Kendra realized, and she now noticed a giant furnace perched in the center of the vast subterranean chamber. The furnace looked like a massive metal beast. Hot orange light flickered out from its cracks, and it had countless pipes jutting out like so many arms, reaching and coursing through the thick sludge to spread its heat.
Kendra wiped her sleeve across her brow; it was streaming with perspiration. And she had thought the chamber above was warm! She felt like she was in an oven now.
She turned her attention back to the purplish rocks. With an inquisitive tug of a braid, Kendra slowly circled the nearest sphere, staring up at its smooth round walls. Just what is this thing? she wondered. Then it came to her, causing a terrible, sinking feeling in her stomach.
These weren’t rocks. They were eggs—the biggest she had ever seen.
IF YOU HAD BEEN ABLE TO ASK Kendra, she would have told you that there was nothing to fear from an egg (even an enormous one). After all, what was an egg compared to a brawl in a tavern full of pirates or a nasty tangle with the slimy tentacles of a scoptacus? But as she gazed upon the rows of monstrous eggs, Kendra was thinking something even more horrifying than pirates or sea serpents: Whatever laid these must be simply gargantuan.
She pulled her braids, and with a growing sense of alarm, she began moving away from the center of the chamber and the blazing heat radiating from the furnace. She had no idea of the size of the place, but she guessed it must be vast; the ceiling was so high that she couldn’t even see it in the murky darkness above. Steam rose from the mud, and Kendra had to wipe her brow again. Why did the Krakes keep this place so hot? Maybe it really was an oven!
Kendra Kandlestar and the Shard From Greeve Page 13
