Kendra Kandlestar and the Shard From Greeve (23 page)

NOTHING HAPPENED.
I should be a goner by now
, Kendra thought. She opened her eyes to see the Krakes looking up towards the broken pavilion and the ruined remains of the throne, their beaks gaping in astonishment. Kendra saw a bright flash, like a crackle of white lightning—and in an instant, the Krakes scattered like a brood of terrified hens.

Kendra had no idea what had just occurred, but one thing was clear: it had seriously spooked the Krakes, for they were now emptying the arena in droves. Kendra looked over at the pavilion, which had ruptured into three or four massive slabs of stone; the queen was nowhere to be seen—but Trooogul was there, using one crooked claw to balance himself on the block that tilted beneath his feet. In his other claw, the mighty Unger grasped the shard from Greeve, and when he saw Kendra poke her head up, his eyes went wild and wide, as if he was looking at a ghost. Then the section of stone beneath him began to crumble, but he leapt to safety, a split second before it plunged towards the Rumble Pit below. With an onerous grunt, Trooogul landed in the seating gallery next to Kendra.

“Thankzum, Little Star,” he gasped. She could see that he was ravaged and exhausted; blood and sweat trickled down his face, and the stub of a broken arrow still protruded from his shoulder.

“You’re hurt,” Kendra murmured, reaching towards him.

But he jerked away. “City on Stormzum,” he gasped at her. “Little Star rememberzum! Rightzum?”

“I’ll come with you—,” she began, but before she could finish these words, he tore away, galloping over the rows of seats, towards the top of the arena where the exits were. There were a few Krakes lingering up there, but they did not try to stop the terrifying Unger; indeed, they hurriedly parted to make way for him.

What just happened?
Kendra wondered desperately.

She had just decided she would go after him when she heard a desperate shriek from the Rumble Pit below. She was not sure if she had ever heard such a cry of pain; she stared frantically down into the crater where the battle of the gladiators still raged; like a blazing fire, it would have to burn itself out.

Kendra watched the combat, now as a spectator, her stomach stirring with horror. Many of the warriors were still engaged in fierce fighting, but many more lay along the sides of the pit, wounded and defeated. Then Kendra heard the appalling shriek again; it was the peryton. He was on the far side of the crater, staggering terribly; his head drooped low and awkwardly as he collapsed to his knees.

Kendra looked back for her brother, but he was nowhere to be seen. He was gone, and with him Greeve’s shard. If she wanted to find him—and the stone—she needed to go after him now. But looking back to the pit, back to the peryton, she knew what she had to do. With an anxious yank of a braid, she scrambled over the edge of the pit. She leapt through the smoldering gap in the dome that Trooogul had created earlier and quickly slid down the steep slope of the pit, straight past the still-unconscious giant, and into the battle.

All too soon she was back amidst a sea of wallops and whacks, lost somewhere in the dark bottom of the arena, overshadowed by the thundering bodies of the fierce warriors. But Kendra now realized an advantage to being so small. Compared to her, most of the gladiators were mountains, and she quickly slipped through the writhing swarm to reach the other side of the pit. As she climbed higher, trying to rise above the rumble, she looked about desperately for the peryton.

Then she saw him. Part of the Rumble Pit slope had been gashed by some massive fist or weapon, creating a small depression, and it was here where the great stag now lay. He was grievously wounded, and he lay on his side, his body heaving up and down with labored breaths. Kendra rushed to him. With all her remaining strength she lifted his great head and cradled it in her arms.

“Prince! I am here,” she whispered.

“Ah, Arinotta,” the peryton murmured when he felt her touch. “I’m afraid I am nothing without my wings or antlers. I fought as if they were still mine! And, of course, they are not. And so I have failed my father yet again. I will come to my end in this terrible place.”

“Don’t say such things!” Kendra sobbed as tears spilled down her cheeks. “Come on, can’t you rise to your feet? We’ll escape yet.”

“Alas, it is too late for me, Arinotta,” he gasped, his eyes rolling backwards in his head. “You must go now, before I’m pulled back down to the bottom of the pit.”

But Kendra would not go. She only pressed closer to him and felt the fading warmth of his breath. She was wailing loudly now, her sobs lost in the rancorous roar of the arena.

Then, desperately, she pulled her wand from her belt and clenched it in both hands.

Oh, magic of Een, I need you now
, she thought. She closed her eyes and tried to find the enchantment in the Eenwood, yet again, one more countless time. Just as Uncle Griffinskitch had taught her, she tried to shut out the world around her and invite the poetry into her mind. Then, for a moment, she felt words begin to stir in her throat:

Magnificent creature of feather and wing,

Hear the call of my enchantment ring;

Sprout now—

But the words disappeared, suddenly, like a clutter of leaves in the wind. With a stifled sob, Kendra opened her eyes and stared down at her wand. For the slightest instant she thought she had felt a spark in the wood. Had she imagined it?

“Prince . . . did you feel something?” she asked. “Anything?”

“Nay,” he moaned.

Still clutching her wand in one hand, she buried her head into his rough fur. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered in his ear.

“Do not be,” he whispered back.

“But you don’t understand. It was me, Prince. It was me. I’m the one who destroyed you.”

He said nothing. His breathing was now no more than painful wheezing, and Kendra clung ever more tightly to him. Then, at last, the stag managed to find his words. “I know, Arinotta,” he said gently. “I know.”

Kendra lifted her head and looked at him. The peryton’s eyes were closed, his breathing stilled. Had he known all along? Had he known from the moment the black lightning had reached up from the shard and claimed him? And yet he had never shown her anything but kindness in the depths of the dungeon.

It was at that moment that Kendra knew she loved the beast. It was not his wings, nor his horns, nor his lustrous fur. It was simply him. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured, and she said it again, over and over, until the words turned to choked tears.

Then it happened. As she embraced him, Kendra felt some shift inside her heart. It was like a great door of stone pulled slowly upwards on chains rusted from long disuse—but it lifted all the same, revealing a faint glimmer of light. Kendra felt a tremor in her hand.

It was the wand. Something in it had come alive.

Kendra tried again. She raised the wood in both hands, shut her eyes, and concentrated. She breathed deeply, exhaled, and breathed again. The tiny girl from Een had never been in such a loud and raucous realm, but now the clamor in that awful pit seemed to fade into slumber. She felt the world around her slip away as she melted into that quiet, magic place within her. She tuned herself to the energy she felt coursing through her wand—indeed, coursing through her very body—and at last these words came to her:

Magnificent stag, mighty as a king,

Hear my words, my spell do sing;

Sprout forth: breath, horn, and wing

Let life return, a blossom in spring.

She opened her eyes. The great peryton stirred; she watched as a cluster of feathers began to emerge from his stubby and torn wings. A small tine sprouted from one of his antlers. Then Prince’s eyes flickered—but that was all. His wings, his horns, his breath—they grew but a little.

Kendra lowered her head and felt her heart pound in agony and despair. She had failed. The sounds of the Rumble Pit returned to her ears: growls and snarls and groans. Then she heard a voice rise over the din, and it was one that was all too familiar.

“Ready to give up already?”

Kendra whirled around. There, standing on the slope of the Rumble Pit, was Uncle Griffinskitch.

He was as old and white as ever, but his blue eyes were twinkling, and in his gnarled hands he held his staff of Eenwood. Kendra stared at him, her mouth agape.

“What? Is this anyway to greet your old master? Humph!”

And maybe it was the way he said it, or maybe it was because it had just been so long since she had heard his voice—but at that moment Kendra thought her heart might fly from her chest, for never in her whole life had she been so happy to hear her uncle humph.

THERE WAS NO TIME NOW for long and tearful reunions. Below them was the Rumble Pit, full of battling gladiators, and above them, hundreds of Krakes were still swarming. And in between, on the slope, the peryton was dying.

Uncle Griffinskitch hobbled forward, his eyes focused with determined intent. It was then that Kendra noticed a long rope ladder dangling behind him, and coming down it were none other than Oki, Jinx, and Ratchet.

“Look, Kendra!” Oki squeaked. “We found some old friends.”

Kendra craned her neck, her eyes following the ladder upwards to some sort of strange shape hovering in the air. It looked like an enormous bird, but one built of wood. Its tail and wings were sails, its eyes a pair of large windows. It was like a giant, floating ship! A figure leaned over the edge of the mysterious vessel and waved at her; it was Professor Bumblebean! Somehow her friends had cut a hole through the dome of the Rumble Pit and sailed right into the center of the action.

Kendra looked back to her friends on the ground and tugged her braids in confusion.

“My invention,” Ratchet explained proudly. “The one Oki and I worked on for all those weeks. It’s a cloud ship—we call her the
Big Bang
.”

“But how did you get here?” she asked. “How did you—,”

“No questions now, Kendra,” Uncle Griffinskitch said firmly. “We have work to do.”

With this said, he laid his hand upon the peryton’s body and began to chant beneath his breath. Then, still murmuring, he reached into his beard to produce a small pouch and began sprinkling some crushed petals over the broken beast. It was as if he had come prepared exactly for this situation, as if he knew exactly what to do.

Kendra felt something hit her head. It had come from the stands, where some of the braver and more curious Krakes had returned to see what was happening in the pit, only to find themselves staring down at their greatest enemies: Eens. Enraged, the lizardlike monsters began furiously bombarding Kendra and her friends with stones, trinkets, coins— anything they could manage to find. Some of them even began spitting, trying to reach the Eens with their deadly venom.

“Just be thankful they don’t have spears,” Jinx said as she picked up one of the stones and hurled it back at the attackers. She struck one of the Krakes, causing it to lose balance and tumble over the side of the arena. It fell through a gap in the steel dome, and with a squeal slid right past Kendra and into the swarming nest of gladiators at the bottom of the Rumble Pit.

“Good shot, Jinx!” Ratchet said. As for he and Oki, they had come armed with some of their magic powders and now they handed these over to the grasshopper so that she could use her tremendous strength to fling the tiny bags up into the seats. The Krakes quickly ripped the bags to shreds—only to discover that they contained Ratchet’s infamous
Snore Galore
powder. Soon the whole lot was a-slumber.

“More Krakes may come,” Jinx said to Uncle Griffinskitch. “Whatever you’re going to do, you better hurry.”

“Humph,” the old wizard grunted, and it was the type of humph that meant he knew all too well the need for haste. “Help me, Kendra,” he said, raising his staff over the peryton. “Your wand; we must work together.”

Kendra nodded and stood alongside her uncle. Closing her hands around her Eenwand, she shut her eyes and tried to find the magic. She felt it loudly and clearly now, booming out from the elder wizard. It touched her like an echo and amplified. Uncle Griffinskitch began to chant:

Glorious beast, so torn asunder

Ripped apart by magic’s blunder,

Banish now, lightning and thunder,

Replaced here with vigorous wonder.

There were other verses, and Uncle Griffinskitch recited them over and over until, at last, Kendra heard a rustle, and opening her eyes, she watched the great peryton rising to his hooves. She gasped in awe—he was not only alive, he was repaired, his great white wings and barbed antlers glimmering in the light. Kendra had never seen him look so majestic.

She turned to Uncle Griffinskitch and hugged him so tightly that the old man wheezed. “Thank you!”

“Humph,” he muttered, but it was a quiet, happy sort of humph.

“Look at me, Arinotta!” Prince proclaimed in delight, flapping his feathers. “Look at my wings! Feel the gust of their wind! Ah, this is what it is to be a peryton. I could take on the world, Arinotta, fly to the moon.”

“Well, first, let’s get out of the pit, then we can worry about the moon,” Jinx said, already scrambling back up the rope ladder. “Come on! Back to the cloud ship.”

Up went Oki and Ratchet. Kendra was to go next, when out of the crowd in the Rumble Pit came a voice that cried, “Lemme come!”

It was Pugglemud. He looked worse than ever; his clothes were torn and his beard was ripped to shreds, but his eyes glimmered with greed at the sight of the ladder. Scrambling up the slope, he pushed Kendra aside, and she began to slide downwards.

She heard Uncle Griffinskitch cry out and zap Pugglemud with his wand, but it was too late. She had already slid back into the depths of the pit, amidst the fighters.

Will I never escape?
she wondered.

Then the peryton was there, his great wings churning and beating back the gladiators. He landed before Kendra, strong and mighty. A gryphon stormed towards them, beak snapping; Prince sent it sprawling with the rack of his antlers. A gargoyle he dispatched with a kick of his hooves.

“Quickly now, Arinotta. On my back.”

Kendra looked at him in shock. “But you said—,”

“I know what I said,” the peryton snorted. “We’ve both been arrogant, none more than I. Ride now, Arinotta.”

He lowered his head as a sort of gangplank, and reaching up, Kendra used the tines of his antlers as handholds to climb onto his back.

“And now we fly.”

He galloped across the floor of the pit and up the nearest slope, gaining speed, his wings pounding. Suddenly, the ground disappeared beneath them. Kendra clutched his neck tightly. A dragon lashed out at them with its long neck and gushing fire, but Prince weaved out of the way and came back around to strike the beast with his antlers. It fell back in a squeal of pain.

Kendra looked down and saw Ratchet’s cloud ship rise from the crater; Uncle Griffinskitch was safely aboard. There was no sign of Pugglemud; she guessed that her uncle had made short work of the pesky Dwarf.

“I’ve had enough of this dreadful hole,” she told the peryton. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Fur and feathers!” he exclaimed in cheer. “I could not have said it better myself.”

Prince soared towards the hole in the dome above them. Some of the Krake soldiers who were still in the stands began firing arrows, spears, and other missiles at them, but in a moment they were through the hole, and Kendra found herself amidst a clear blue sky. She gazed downwards and saw that Krake Castle was quickly becoming nothing more than a dot on the ground. They were so high rivers looked as if they had been drawn with a pencil, the rocky crags were like crumpled balls of paper. And then Prince circled even higher, and Kendra saw nothing but a white expanse of clouds stretching into the distance. She had never felt so small, for in every direction there was nothing but space. She couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to fall from such a dizzying height—and, of course, she didn’t want to imagine it at all, and so she just kept her grip tight and let the wind whip her face.

“Ah, Arinotta!” Prince declared. “Feel the sun on your face, the breeze in your hair. Isn’t it grand?”

Kendra leaned forward and stroked his fur. She couldn’t have agreed more.