Kendra Kandlestar and the Shard From Greeve (18 page)

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.

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!

Then she heard a noise and quickly ducked low behind one of the eggs. It was a Krake. He was bustling through the shallow mud, prodding the eggs with a long pole that had a ball of soft cloth at the end. He seemed ever so cheerful, for as he tended to the eggs he clucked, “Koochie-koochie-koo-cha, little Krakeez!”

This is no oven
, Kendra thought.
It’s one great big hatchery
. She gulped and yanked so hard on a braid that it hurt. All she could think of was hundreds of Krake eggs hatching all at once. She needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

She turned and started tip-toeing away when she suddenly felt the floor begin to tremble beneath her feet. She lost her balance and slipped into the thick, simmering mud. “Days of Een!” she exclaimed as she desperately crawled through the purple goo to take cover behind the nearest egg.

“Ooo-cha!”

Kendra froze. She wondered if the egg-keeper had heard her cry out, but when she peered from her hiding place it was to see the green beast scrambling to stand at attention. A massive, hairy shape appeared next to him, but Kendra couldn’t make out its form. To her it seemed like nothing more than a giant . . .
foot
.

Then Kendra looked up—way up.

It was the largest Krake she had ever seen.

“Greety greety, Queen-cha!” the happy egg-keeper chirped, thrusting a claw to his brow in clumsy salute.

The humongous Krake lowered her great head and grinned at the egg-keeper with a sharp and polished beak. “Erk erk erk!” she squawked.

She was so big that Kendra’s knees knocked just to look at her. The little Een girl was reminded of the time she had faced Rumor the Red Dragon, but the queen somehow terrified her even more because, simply put, Krakes weren’t supposed to be that big. She was an elephantine thing, at least thirty times the size of her Krake drones. Her neck was long and thick, like the trunk of a tree, and her body was so round and corpulent that it sagged to the ground in great folds of flabby flesh. It was on this round body that Kendra could see many bald patches, revealing gray and wrinkled skin; otherwise, the rest of the queen was covered in the same feathery fur as the Krake drones, except hers was colored deep shades of purple. She wore no crown, though she was adorned with many trinkets: gems, pearls, and bands of gold; somehow these objects of beauty seemed to only accentuate the hideousness of the giant slurping beast.

“Erk erk erk!” the great queen clucked. “Howzee Mama Krakee’s koochie-koos?”

“Ooh-cha! Ooh-cha!” the egg-keeper twittered excitedly. “Little Krakeez fine-cha, oh greatzee Queen-cha!”

The mighty Queen Krake shifted her weight to snuggle up to one of the nearby eggs. “Erk erk erk—Mama Krakee love-cha little koochie-koos,” she chirped. “Soonzee little Koochie-koos hatcha!”

“Queen-cha!” came a cry, and Kendra saw another Krake scamper out of the shadows. It was the same one who had confronted her in the upper chamber.

“Sergeant Yeeek!” the great queen bellowed. “Erk erk erk! How dare-cha disturbee Mama Krakee’s little koochie-koos?”

“Sorry-cha!” the flustered Krake replied. “But Sergeant Yeeek bring-cha newzee!”

“Newzee? What-cha newzee?” the queen demanded, rearing up high above her soldier.

“Krakeez see little Een-cha inzee castle,” Sergeant Yeeek reported. “It-cha famous Eeneez: Kandlestar-cha!”

“Queenzee alreadee know-cha!” the queen retorted. “Erk erk erk! Little Eeneez in-cha dungeon told-cha Queen Krakee!”

Kendra frowned and shifted uncomfortably in the hot mud. What Een was in the Krake dungeon? Surely she didn’t mean Trooogul.
She must mean Oki and Jinx
, Kendra thought desperately.

Then Queen Krake spoke again. “Listen herezee, Yeeeky! Little Eenee prisoner tell-cha Queeny that Kandlestar-cha havezee shard! Erk erk erk! Shard herezee! Inzee castle!”

Kendra stifled a gasp. How could her friends betray her? A moment ago she had felt fretful anxiety at the idea of Oki and Jinx sitting in the Krake dungeons. Now she felt rage. Hot and irate, the shard rattled against her chest.

“Erk erk erk—Sergeant Yeeeky, now-cha time to enactee Queeny’s plans-cha,” the enormous queen commanded, long strings of drool dripping from her beak as she spoke. “Now-cha! Go-cha dungeons, Sergeant Yeeeky. You-cha waitzee. Erk erk erk!”

“But Queeny, Yeeeky thinkcha Eeneez
here-cha,
” the sergeant chittered. “Eeneez fall-cha down and—,”

“Shutzee!” the queen shrieked. “Yeeeky obey-cha Queeny! Go-cha dungeons. Nowzee! Queeny meet-cha Yeeeky in few momenteez!”

“Yeeeky no failzee Queeny,” the armored Krake vowed, cowering submissively before the threatening lash of her long tail. He shouldered his spear and scuttled off.

Kendra didn’t hesitate. She climbed out of the purple mud and slipped into the shadows in pursuit of the sergeant. This was her chance to find her way into the dungeons, to find her brother. If Oki and Jinx were there, then she could find them too.

Though I don’t know if they even deserve rescuing
, she grumbled to herself as she left behind the hatchery.

Sergeant Yeeek scuttled quickly, turning this way and that in the complicated maze of corridors that writhed within the bowels of the castle; Kendra had to nearly run to keep up. The passageways were long and dark, and she could only go by the faint glow of a torch that Yeeek had lit to guide his way. The temperature changed rapidly, and Kendra found herself shivering. Only a minute ago she had been sweating in the inferno of the hatchery, but now she could feel the beads of perspiration freeze against her skin. She pulled her cloak tight about her.

If Sergeant Yeeek suspected that he was being followed, he did not show it. Ever downwards he wove, descending crooked staircases and crossing vast chasms by means of rickety bridges. Kendra saw no other Krakes; she guessed even those horrible beasties had no desire to linger in the dank belly of the castle. Presently, Sergeant Yeeek arrived at a tall door of wood braced with iron trusses. He opened it with great effort and made sure to close it behind him; but Kendra did not worry, for there was just enough of a gap beneath the door for her to squeeze through. However, by the time she did, Yeeek had disappeared. Hesitantly, Kendra looked about her. There were a few torches bracketed in the walls, so the passage ahead was dimly lit, but she knew instantly that something was different about this place. She could smell it in the air. It reminded her of the bottom of Dirtybeard’s galley, where the peryton had been kept. Then she noticed some gaps in the walls ahead, and each one was set with thick bars of iron.

She had arrived in the dungeon.

With an anxious yank of a braid, Kendra set forward into the gloomy shadows, gazing with dread upon each cell as she passed, hoping desperately to discover her brother.

The passage was not straight but rather kept curving to the right in one long circle, with cages on only one side. The prisoners themselves were wretched creatures to behold. They came in all manner of species: dragons, Centaurs, and things that Kendra had never seen, not even in books. Some looked as if they had suffered greatly from battles in the Rumble Pit; others looked as if they had yet to fight, and their eyes betrayed a certain desperate terror. Kendra could not blame them. Part of her—a large part—wished she could help them. But her mind was set: She must find Kiro. There could always be time for other rescues later.

The passage at last came to an end. Kendra saw a dark stairway leading down to another level. She was just about to descend when she noticed one last cage before the flight of stairs. It was a tiny cage, smaller than the others. Kendra paused and stared inside, but the back of the cell was shrouded in murky darkness. Then she saw something move; it wasn’t very big, and it was wearing a faded brown cloak, just like . . .

It couldn’t be,
Kendra thought.

Then the figure spoke, his voice empty, hollow, and sinister. “So, Kandlestar, you come at last. Just like she said you would.”

It was Agent Lurk.