Zahrah the Windseeker (26 page)

"Stunned," I said. I picked a thorn from my cheek and looked at my pants. They were slashed in places, and blood soaked through in others. I stuck my finger in my ear as if doing so would stop the ringing from the elgort's screeches.

"You should feel proud of yourself," the frog said. "You've done the impossible."

I grunted. Without a thought, I flicked away a large bush spider that was scrambling toward me. The frog chuckled.

"A thirteen-year-old Ooni girl who has never left her comfortable home walks into the Forbidden Greeny Jungle and masters it, and
then
successfully snatches an elgort egg to save her friend. In my three thousand and four years, I have
never
seen anything like it."

I wasn't paying full attention. Several of the trees that had scratched me must have had some mild poison in their leaves and branches, because my scratches and scrapes were itching terribly and I felt a little lightheaded. I had an idea how to make it better, and I would do that when the frog was finished with me. I looked at my hands. They were still shaking.

"Now you will head home, no?"

"Yes," I said.

"May I ask you one question?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

"What have you learned in your travels?"

I laughed. "I've learned that the sky above the jungle is safer than the ground."
Unless I come across one of those monstrous horse-eating birds,
I thought. I paused as the frog waited for me to continue. "I don't know. It's too early to think of—"

"By the time you're fully relaxed and you stop shaking, you won't remember what you've learned. Not completely.
It's best to say it out loud, put words to it. I know you are very tired, but this is a moment to reflect."

I paused as I thought about this. The answer came, but the words were hard to speak. Just like that day when Papa Grip pushed me in front of the mirror and asked me to tell him what I saw. I took a deep breath, this time not needing any coaxing.

"I've ... I've learned so much about myself, what I'm capable of, about the world ... you know, things. I'm stronger than I thought. Much stronger. I'm no longer afraid of heights."

The frog nodded.

"It has been good watching you," the frog said. "You've been great entertainment. And mark my words, you will be the talk of the jungle for many centuries to come."

I looked up from examining my wounds. "Really?"

The frog nodded.

"The Greeny Gorillas will tell their children: 'There once was a quiet, shy girl who discovered she wasn't so shy or quiet. Who discovered that she could do whatever she put her mind to. She learned this when she and her friend were playing in the forest and got attacked by an elgort. Her friend was so scared that he fainted.' They will then tell a colorful story about how the girl fought that elgort, jumping on its back and strangling it with her bare hands!"

I laughed. "That's not what I did. "

"Well, stories often change and shift when told over and over again," the frog said. It smiled and hopped off the egg. "It's all yours."

I stood and picked up the egg. Its shell was thick and hard. I realized that it could have fallen from higher up onto concrete and still not crack.

"Why don't you put it in your satchel?" the frog said.

I did so, dumping out my nightgown and a pair of pants to make room. It was much easier to carry that way. I knelt down and touched the frog's feet the way I saw the gorillas do to Chief Obax and whispered, "Thank you." Then I kissed the frog's smooth moist skin and stood up.

"Now go, wind girl," the frog said. "Your friend awaits you."

The flight home took only three days.

The actual act of flying didn't tire me at all. I stopped only because of hunger, thirst, and the need to sleep. I slept with the elgort egg held to my chest. The rest of the time I flew. I was like a migrating bird, and even though I checked my compass once in a while, I realized that I knew exactly which way to go. I didn't need it anymore.

I easily avoided the giant eagles, and even when they saw me, they didn't attack. They didn't seem interested in eating me, but they were curious. As I flew, I was delighted to learn that the sky wasn't as empty as it looked. All kinds of birds populated it, large, small, fast, slow, high flying, low flying, colorful and dull.

I liked flying higher than most birds. I found myself in the company of vultures, hawks, and the giant eagles—the birds of prey. Several of the giant brown eagles soared over to me and flew beside me for miles. Their wingspan was over forty feet and their beaks were larger than my head! Some had bright green eyes, others had purple, gold, and even blue eyes. Like precious stones!

At first I was scared and flew faster, trying to outdistance them. But they were expert fliers and kept up easily. After a while, when several more joined me, squawking gleefully to each other, I realized that they were either playing with me or trying to teach me. This was how I tested and practiced my speed.

On the second day, it rained. It was my first Greeny Jungle thunderstorm. It had sprinkled a few times before but not enough to slow me down. This was an all-out tree-shaking thunderstorm. I hovered high in the sky, watching as the enormous thunderhead rolled toward me. Its beauty was striking. The cloud was a deep undulating gray with purple lightning bouncing within its bowels. All around me I saw the birds that populated the skies descending to take cover. I quickly followed suit.

As I descended, I scanned the treetops. I knew what to look for. A root tree. Its yellow square-shaped leaves hung from long, thick stems. These grew from the tree's center like a giant golden fountain. Underneath was a series of chunky, tangled roots. It was the perfect place to seek shelter during a thunderstorm. I easily spotted one below.

By the time the storm came, I was comfortably nestled underneath some roots. They overlapped, and I wasn't surprised when I stayed completely dry. Placing my satchel with the elgort egg next to me, I brought out my glow lily. I ate a mango while watching the storm through the tunnel of roots before me. It was vicious, with rain, some hail, and winds strong enough to blow down several trees nearby.

I heard them fall but I was safe. An iroko tree, the tallest kind in the jungle, could tumble onto these roots, but they would remain undamaged. To take my mind off the storm, I took out my digi-book. My hands were damp, and the digi-book slipped out of my hand and banged against a stone on the ground. I picked it up, and more out of habit than hope I tried the elgort entry yet again.

The error message popped up again, but then the screen went black and up came the entry, this time in its entirety. I laughed loudly. "Oh
now
it decides to work."

I turned it off and laughed.

The storm was violent and swift. It passed within twenty minutes, and soon after, I was on my way again.

I landed past the jungle's border, where the trees were more spaced, where the town of Kirki began. When my feet touched the hard, even ground, I just stood there. Behind me stretched the Forbidden Greeny Jungle, a place that I no longer considered forbidden.

I had traveled well into its insides. I still had the scar on my upper arm from the whip scorpion. It would probably remain slightly blue until the poison left my body. There were healing scrapes from where the Carnigourd's vine had wrapped itself around my ankle. I had itchy scrapes and scratches from when I had escaped the elgort. And, of course, there was the throbbing bruise from where the baby elgort had grabbed and gnawed on my arm. Rubbing cool mud on my wounds lessened the itching and encouraged healing. I was very much alive and, even more extraordinary, I had an elgort egg!

A car passed by and I laughed to myself as I began walking. Then I pulled out my compass.

"Well, you're almost home, where you belong," the compass said, sounding delighted. I smiled. The best way to please a compass was to go in the direction of the place you'd programmed it to call "home." I pressed a button on the side and it announced, "It's one-twelve a.m., Saturday night."

"And what a beautiful night it is," I said, turning off the compass and putting it in my pocket. I looked down at my tattered clothes. My hair and body needed a good washing, but at least I didn't have any birds nesting in my hair. And if it weren't for the time spent in the Greeny Gorilla village, I'd have been much filthier.
Would I even be alive if I hadn't stayed there for those few days?
I wondered. I put the thought out of my head. It didn't matter. I was sure that I smelled strongly of sweat, mud, and leaves; the jungle. But I didn't care. I hadn't reached the end of my journey yet. Dari's time in a coma would reach a month in about a day or so.

I stood for a moment, wondering where to go and how to travel. My home was only a twenty-minute walk away, the hospital about an hour. But I could fly to the hospital. However, someone might see me. In Kirki, large glow-lily clusters grew alongside the road and people moved about during the night. And I didn't know how people would react to something so unfamiliar to their eyes.

I turned east, toward home.