Kendra Kandlestar and the Shard From Greeve (9 page)

THIS WAS NOT THE WAY Kendra would have liked to part with old Winter Woodsong, but her anger had stolen the best of her. Even as she made her way through the tunnel, she felt her whole body seething with fury and frustration.

“Kendra, are you all right?” Oki asked timidly.

“You’re on her side, I suppose,” Kendra responded vehemently.

“I thought we were all on the same side,” Oki said.

But Kendra could only manage a grunt in response. How dare Winter not trust her? Hadn’t she always ended up doing the right thing? Hadn’t she saved Een—more than once—in her short life? She was glad that she hadn’t told the old woman about the shard from Greeve.
She would have taken that too, I bet
, Kendra thought to herself, and she patted her pouch, where the sliver of stone ached in safety.

They were not long in the tunnel. Jinx kicked open a door, and they found themselves on the bank of the River Wink. On the horizon, the sky was growing light; soon it would be dawn.“We must be quick,” Jinx declared. “Look, there’s the ferry, and that must be Lissel waiting for us.”

They scrambled down the dark bank towards the boat when, suddenly, the figure awaiting them stood tall, and Oki emitted a loud squeal. “Eek! That’s not Lissel Lightfoot! It’s Agent Lurk!”

“Back up the bank!” Jinx ordered.

But when they whirled around, it was only to find themselves confronted by Captain Rinkle and the entire Een guard.

“Eek!” Oki cried.

“We’ve been betrayed!” Jinx uttered.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she leapt forward and struck Captain Rinkle square in the chest with her long, powerful legs. With a grunt, the captain of the Een guard fell back onto the gravel, leaving a gap in the wall of armed men. Kendra and Oki didn’t need to be told what to do. Before the gap could close, they raced between the Een guards, over the fallen body of Captain Rinkle, and chased Jinx into the fading night.

“I tell you this,” Jinx hissed as she bounded ahead, “if I ever see that wretched
Burpalot Brown
again, I’m going to pull his ears out through his nose, that rotten, booger-brained, belch-spewing—,”

“You may get your chance soon enough!” Kendra interrupted. Casting a glance over her shoulder, she could see that Captain Rinkle had recovered from his fall, and now he and his men were in quick pursuit.

“Oh dear!” Oki panted. “Don’t think of pickles! Don’t think of pickles!”

The three friends raced blindly into the night, panicked and aimless as they tried to elude their pursuers. In the dim light, nothing about their landscape looked familiar, and they had no idea where they might find refuge. Suddenly, all three of them seemed to strike an invisible wall that sent them sprawling into a heap.

“What in the name of Een was that?” Jinx growled, jumping to her feet. She jabbed the air in front of her with her poker, only to have it meet the same hidden obstacle with a sharp, crackling buzz.

“It’s the magic curtain,” Oki squealed. “We’ve run right into it; we must be at the border of Een.”

Kendra rubbed her cheek, which smarted with an electric tingle from smashing into the invisible obstruction. She had been through the curtain a few times, and it had been a painless experience. But now that Burdock had sealed the curtain with his magic, it was like trying to charge through a barrier of stone; there was simply no penetrating it. If only she had kept the secret whisper to the curtain! But she had not (nor could she even begin to remember the whisper itself), and that meant only one thing . . .

“We’re trapped,” Jinx grimaced.

Slowly, the three friends turned to face their hunters. In a moment, Agent Lurk, Captain Rinkle, and the rest of the Een guard arrived.

“Kendra,” Jinx whispered, raising her poker in defense, “it’s time to use that wand of yours!”

Desperately, Kendra pulled her stick of Eenwood from her belt. Her mind was a muddle of words and incantations, but none of them could find their way to her lips. The wand pulsed faintly in her hand, but she could coax no meaningful sparkle from its living wood.

Leerlin Lurk chortled. It was the first sound that Kendra had ever heard the mysterious man utter, and it was so chilling that it made the tiny hairs on the back of her neck prickle. It was a hollow and empty laugh, sounding as if it was coming from another time or place. Kendra could imagine the smile hidden behind his hood; Lurk knew she struggled to command her wand.

Jinx guessed it too. The grasshopper cast a feverish glance at Kendra and said, “I’m going to do my best to fend them off. You and Oki flee for the river.”

Kendra shook her head. “No; there’s another way,” she murmured.

She could feel her stomach churn and boil—or was that the shard, rumbling inside her pouch? Before she could think better of it, Kendra tucked her wand into her belt and reached into her pouch to grasp the shard from Greeve. Immediately, it sent a current of energy up her arm; it was so intense that it caused her to gasp out loud—but she did not let go. She lifted the tiny dagger of stone above her head and felt its power course through her body. She had no inkling of how the shard might help them, but instantly, a dark flame erupted from the blackened rock. It scorched her hand—still, she clutched it tightly—and the whole world around them seemed to rip and rend.

“GRAB HOLD OF ME!” Kendra screeched, and Jinx and Oki latched onto her long cloak, now billowing in the storm of magic.

Lightning burst forth from the shard, striking like a vicious serpent, but it was unlike any lightning Kendra had ever seen. This flame of energy was devoid of all light; in fact, it was as if it devoured any speck of color or substance within reach of its crackling claws. It emitted a thunderous roar, like a ravenous creature that has at last discovered its prey after a long and arduous hunt.

Kendra saw Lurk’s eyes glint from beneath his hood. He pounced forward, hands outstretched like a pair of talons, and even amidst the chaos, Kendra could not help noticing his menacing ring. But before Lurk quite reached her, Kendra felt her feet wrenched from the ground. Oki and Jinx were still clutching tightly to her, and now all three were tossed through the sky like leaves in an autumn storm. Somehow, Kendra still held onto the burning shard—and then all the world around her went dark.

IT WAS LIKE WAKING UP from a fever. Kendra’s eyes flickered open to stare into the concerned faces of Oki and Jinx. Behind them, the sky was cold and gray; she had been unconscious long enough for dawn to arrive. Groggily, Kendra pulled herself to her elbows. They were in a small wooded grove, a place she didn’t recognize.

“Are you all right?” Oki asked in earnest.

She nodded but at the same time felt a throbbing pain in her hand; she gazed down to see her palm red and blistered from where she had held the shard. Then panic struck her. “Where is it?” she gasped.

“Looking for this?” Jinx asked, nudging the stone across the ground with the tip of her poker.

Quickly, Kendra reached out snatched up the shard with the corner of her cloak. “What happened?” she mumbled.

“I’ll tell you what happened,” Jinx said irritably. “Whatever that thing is, it picked us up and threw us away like rag dolls. The landing wasn’t exactly pleasant either—but you missed that, I guess. You blacked out.”

Kendra now noticed that Jinx and Oki were both covered in scratches and bruises. Her own belongings were littered about the hollow; her pack had obviously burst open upon hitting the ground. It had been a violent escape indeed.

Kendra stared back down at her scorched hand. “It saved us,” she murmured.

“Saved us?” Jinx snorted. “Is that what you call it? That
thing
nearly tore me wing to leg!”

Kendra shook her head, trying to organize her thoughts. Unlike her wand, the shard had instantly exploded with power.
All I did was touch it, and it worked
, Kendra told herself. Just remembering the experience made her heart beat faster.

“Kendra,” Jinx said loudly, snapping her clawlike fingers. “Are you listening to me? I said that thing nearly killed us.”

Kendra looked up at the grasshopper in a daze. She could barely concentrate.

Oki sighed. “Here, Kendra,” he said gently taking her hand. “Let me look at your wound.”

Absentmindedly, Kendra showed the little mouse her palm, and he began dressing it with a bit of ointment and a strip of cloth. Jinx grunted impatiently.

Oki worked calmly and quietly, but once he had completed his ministrations, he looked at Kendra intently and said, “It came from the Wizard Greeve, didn’t it?”

Kendra tried to speak, but the words stalled in her throat.

“What?” Jinx asked, glaring at Kendra then Oki. “What came from the Wizard Greeve?”

“The shard,” Oki replied.

Jinx whistled. “Is he right, Kendra? How in the name of Een did you get that?”

Kendra shuddered. She felt so confused.

“It’s okay,” Oki said. “Just take your time.”

“Sure,” Jinx muttered sarcastically. “We’re definitely safe here. Wherever
here
is.”

Oki cast the grasshopper a reproachful glare. Then at last, the words began to trickle from Kendra’s tongue. The tale started slowly, and she rambled in many places, but eventually she was able to tell the whole story of how Effryn had given her the shard and how it had been the cause of the tremble back at the yew tree house.

Jinx gazed down at the pointed stone that Kendra was still cradling in her cloak. “Dark magic!” she hissed. “You should have told us all of this before.”

“But it saved us,” Kendra murmured again.

“Stop saying that!” Jinx growled. “How do you know we’re any safer? Where did that thing blow us? How far?”

“I don’t think we’re in Een anymore,” Oki announced abruptly.

“Why makes you think that?” Jinx asked, turning to the little mouse.

“I don’t know,” Oki admitted. “It’s just a feeling I have.”

“Well, isn’t this delightful,” Jinx snarled, shouldering her poker. “You two stay here. I’m going to take a quick snoop about this wood.”

“Eek! Don’t you think we should stick together?”

“I won’t be long,” Jinx assured him.

“But what if Agent Lurk shows up?” Oki fretted. “Or some beastie?”

“I’d advise not thinking of pickles,” Jinx sneered. She turned on her long legs and hopped into the bushes, soon disappearing from sight.

Kendra felt Oki’s anxious eyes upon her, but she had no strength to soothe his fears. Her body felt exhausted, her mind muddled. Thankfully, Jinx was true to her word; in less than half an hour she bounded back into the grove.

“You were right, Oki,” Jinx declared. “We’re not in Een anymore. I found the magic curtain nearby, and we’re on the wrong side of it.”

“Are you sure?” Oki asked.

Jinx nodded. “You know how Een is invisible from the outside? You shouldn’t be able to see into it at all. But as I was creeping through the brush, I heard voices. So I crawled up close. There’s a giant tear in the curtain, and through that hole I could see into Een. That’s quite the little toy you have there, Kendra. I’ve never heard of anything so powerful that it could rip through the curtain.”

“If the shard tore a hole in the curtain, that means we can get back through,” Oki said hopefully.

Jinx shook her head. “Through the tear I saw Burdock and some of the other elders too. Looks like they are going to mend it with their magic—if they can. But that’s not the real problem. Rinkle is there with all the Een guard. They’re armed to the braids—and it looks like they are going to send out a raiding party for us.”

“Eek! What are we going to do?” Oki asked, wringing his paws. “We can’t stay out here. There’re Goojuns and Izzards and Ungers—,”

“We’re all familiar with the list of things that want to squish us—thanks,” Jinx interrupted. “Look, we probably don’t have much time before Rinkle shows up. We’ll have to make a move.”

“I’m going to Krake Castle,” Kendra announced.

“What!” Jinx exclaimed. “Are you absolutely insane?”

“My brother’s there.”

“But Krake castle is full of
. . .
of
. . .
Krakes,” Oki murmured anxiously. “And besides, we don’t even know how to get there.”

“Effryn told me,” Kendra said. “And I bet I have a map in one of my books. All we have to do is find our way through Fengir Forest and we’ll end up at the town of Ireshook. Effryn told me we could find a ship there that would take us across the sea to Krake Castle.”

“Right,” Jinx scoffed, leaning on her poker. “We have no money, no weapons, one type of magic that doesn’t seem to work, and another that would tear us to pieces. And you make it sound as if it will be easy.”

“I’m not asking you to come,” Kendra said.

“Don’t play this game with me!” Jinx shouted, shaking a fist at Kendra. “Do you think I’m just going to let you and furball here go bobbing across the Seas of Ire to some monster-infested castle? Oh stop it, Oki. You know you’ll stick with her, whatever she does.”

This sparked a heated debate between the three friends. Kendra was determined to rescue her brother from Krake Castle, while Oki wanted to return to Een. The little mouse suggested cutting a second hole in the curtain so they might sneak back into Een, but Jinx would have nothing to do with the shard.

“Besides,” the grasshopper said. “Even if the shard didn’t harm us, Burdock and the rest will be waiting for us—and we’d back to square one.”

“But what about Ratchet and your uncle, Kendra?” Oki said. “We can’t just set off on this journey and abandon them to the dungeons!”

“Winter told us she would rescue them,” Kendra argued. “They have her—and the professor. My brother has no one.”

“Let’s not forget that he’s an Unger,” Jinx said. “He might not even be on our side.”

“He’s my brother,” Kendra said adamantly. “What if someone in your family was trapped at Krake Castle? You’d go rescue them.”

Jinx sighed. “You know,” she said after a moment, “you’ve saved my life many a time, Kendra. Perhaps I owe you this. You’ve always done the right thing in the past. But I have to tell you, I don’t like it.”

“I wouldn’t think you would like the idea of sitting around here any more than I do,” Kendra said. “And we have to go somewhere—Rinkle is coming.”

“That’s why I’m going to make you a deal,” Jinx declared. “I’ll go along with this little crusade—on one condition.”

“What’s that?” Kendra asked.

“You are
not
to use the shard again. And just to be on the safe side, Oki must carry it.”

“Eek!” Oki cried. “I don’t want that thing.”

“I know it,” Jinx said. “And if I had it my way, we’d just hurl it to the bottom of a canyon.”

“We can’t do that!” Kendra cried. “Every monster between here and the ends of the earth is seeking the shard. If it falls into the wrong claws, all of Een may be doomed.”

“Exactly,” Jinx said. “That’s why Honest Oki carries it. Look what that wretched shard has done to you, Kendra. Keep away from it. Besides, you still have your wand. There has to be some magic in it.”

Kendra glared at her.

“So,” Jinx said. “Is it a deal?”

With Kendra’s nod, it was decided. She gathered up her belongings and handed over the stone to Oki, who carefully (and apprehensively) placed it in his pack.

“I don’t like the idea of carrying this shard,” Oki confided to Kendra as they left behind the wooded hollow. “But I’m glad you don’t have it. I think it hurt you when you used it—and not just your hand.”

Kendra nodded absentmindedly. Little did Oki know that Kendra had quietly and covertly used the
Fake Flakes
to duplicate the shard while sorting out her belongings. The shard he was carrying was a fake; the real one rested safely inside her pouch, where it thrummed in quiet fury, like an impatient heart.