Surviving the Improbable Quest (6 page)

Chapter
8

The Great Ship in the Sky

Allan panics and pushes himself back. His palms sink into the mud and he barely moves. Asantia pulls out a rope to tie Allan’s hands. He can’t look away from her rope as she approaches. Anger builds in his mind. Since he can’t run he should be able to fight. He’s got fists, one of which he clutches and holds up like a one-armed boxer. Too bad he was never taught to fight. He’s furious that he never was. The world is so dangerous. It’s only logical to teach everyone to defend themselves.

Asantia grips the rope tighter and comes at Allan. The talking dog growls. The salamander-people laugh and clap. The yellow one says, “Oh how I wish I could see this action. This is all terribly exciting. Get him!”

The orange one cries, “I hope he gets you a good bit of money. You can buy
us
tea next time.”

“Leave me alone!” Allan takes a swing at Asantia. How could he have thought these
things
would help him? How could he be so stupid? These strangers are two-faced and dangerous. Rubic had warned him. Everyone has two faces. The one face people show the world and the other they see in the mirror. When that reflection is ugly, the person becomes selfish and dark with anger. Since Allan wound up in a wheelchair, he’d see smiles and receive phony platitudes, but then hear people talking about him behind his back. Or they’d talk about his mother or father or uncle behind his back. More and more people are proving themselves to be governed by that ugly reflection.

Asantia closes in when she suddenly stops. She widens her stance for balance as the ground begins to shake. The ground rises and falls, almost like liquid and quickly loses its identity. Large trees topple as a roar echoes through the forest like a deep purr of a colossal dragon. The dog barks. His eyes widen like full moons and he turns and runs.

A crack breaks the ground apart near Allan, and another crack branches off.
No!
Allan reaches out and grabs a young sapling. Its shallow roots hold Allan as the powerful earthquake ripples through everything.

The two smaller salamander-people fall off their seats and stumble away. The servant trips and falls, gets up and falls again, but is able to follow his friends.

Allan uproots the sapling he is holding as the dirt loosens and becomes soft. He’s got to find something to hold onto. Allan spots Asantia’s thick rope. He pulls himself to the rope and holds tight. For the moment, the anchor remains hooked to a tree.

The crack that circles the area widens, causing a huge chunk of earth to fall into the darkening crevice. The ground Asantia stands upon, falls. She jumps away and grabs the edge of the table the salamander-people were sitting at. The table’s foot pedestal digs into the ground and catches Asantia. Her feet dangle into the crack, but they find a thin ledge and she stands. She holds on to the top of the overturned table and reaches for another, more secure hold, but can’t find one.

“Hey you. Help me!”
yells Asantia. “You! On the box in between the handles is a little door,” she says calmly. “Inside is a rope with a harness. Unroll the rope and toss the harness to me.” Her eyes are wide and full of fear. Dust cakes her skin, and her previous toughness seems muted like a dull knife.

The ground stops moving, but it is impossible to tell if the earthquake is over.

Allan stiffens and feels anger electrify his nerves. “Why? You were going to s-sell me.”

“I won’t.”

There is no way to know. Her intentions are locked in her head. Is she heartless? There was a girl in Allan’s class named Tammy who always tried to cheat off his tests and bullied him on the playground. She was tall and thick. Her baby-blue eyes and blond hair gave her an innocent look, but she was nasty inside. She wouldn’t steal anyone’s lunch money or start fights. She would do nasty, sneaky things to you, instead, things she couldn’t get in trouble for. Allan remembers her giving him a hug one morning. It was a bear hug that intentionally caught his lunch bag in between them. She squeezed so hard on the lunch bag his fruit cup broke and gushed all over, and his sandwich got pulverized. At lunch, everything he had to eat looked like something someone vomited up. During a field trip, she intentionally distracted Allan and led him right into a pile of dog poop. And worst of all, when Allan would answer questions or speak up in class she would fake a sneeze or cough so he wouldn’t be heard. Thinking of Tammy makes Allan’s skin crawl.

No, she is like Tammy. I’m not helping this Asantia person.
Allan looks away. An aftershock rumbles the ground.

“Please!” Asantia pleads. “I just need to get to my cable. Then I can get up to my ship. I’ll make you some Hantahen eggs and salt ham. Come on, boy!”

Allan looks up at the handles that are a couple of feet above him. They have two buttons on one end. One button points up, the other one down. Allan takes each handle. The wheels that pinch the rope don’t move under Allan’s weight. They feel solid and safe. Allan’s thumb hovers over the up button.

The table shifts and the metal creaks. If it dislodges from the ground, Asantia will fall off the ledge and into the dark crack. “I’m slipping! Hurry! I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

What is the right thing to do?
Is she wearing her other face? Is she manipulating me?
Allan pushes up. Instantly, he’s hoisted off the rumbling ground. He rises up into the canopy and, after being whacked by a few branches, emerges from the trees into the big sky.

Asantia screams.

A large craft hovers above Allan. It resembles a blimp of some kind. Different colored fabric panels are stitched to a ribcage-like frame. Propellers extend beyond the craft, and a large pipe sticks out from the side belching black smoke. Two shark fins hang below the back of the craft and one above. The front window is long and wraps around a third of the body.

It amazes Allan and it is stunning. But Allan can no longer ignore Asantia. She is in trouble, and no matter what she tried to do to him, he has to help. He pushes the down button.

“Thank you,” She says as Allan nears the bottom of the cable. “Now throw me the harness.”

Allan opens a small cubby on the copper box, unrolls the line and harness. He notices a clasp that connects the line to the box and decides on a safer course of action. He unclasps the line and reconnects it directly to the cable. He’ll get her to the cable, but he’s not going to stick around in case she grabs him. He tosses the harness at her and then presses the up button.

She catches the harness. “I need the handles to get up to my ship.”

Allan doesn’t listen. He zips to the top of the trees and stops at the door underneath the floating ship. It’s got black marks and grit staining the fabric, and the metal struts are rusty, but thick. There’s no discernible handle or lever on the door.

Now what?
How can he get Asantia to help him without her stabbing him in the back and selling him to Mr. Killian? Or Testing him? It’s impossible. At any second she could overpower Allan and take him wherever she wanted him to go. He can’t fly her ship. He can’t even figure out how to open the door. He pounds on the metal hatch in frustration.

Just as he is about to go back down to get her, there’s movement on the horizon. Glowing balloons float toward him. Their internal lights flicker like fluorescent lights. As they get closer, Allan can see faces, strange and sad faces. Their eyes look toward the horizon, and some of their mouths are wide like they’re feeding off the air itself. Below their balloon-shaped bodies are tentacles that sway in the wind.

“Come back down. I’ll get you!” Asantia yells from below.

A bluish creature floats by Allan. He can see through its translucent skin. The next one bumps into the side of the airship. “Oh my,” it says in a deep, slow voice.

Maybe they are friendly.
The balloon-like creature floats under the ship.

“C. . .can you help me?” Allan asks.

The balloon-like creature looks at Allan. “Of course I can. Grab hold of my tail.”

This is better than helping that crass Asantia girl. Allan reaches out and grabs one of the tentacles below the balloon creature. It’s soft, but strong. The end of the creature’s tentacle wraps around his hand then tightens like a boa constrictor.

Allan looks down at Asantia. Just before he lets go of the handles, he presses the down button, and the handles zip down the cable toward their owner. Meanwhile, the balloon creature bobs with Allan’s weight, but continues. There are hundreds of them in the sky, no, thousands. Some glow green, some blue.

“Okay, you can lower me down now. Somewhere safe.” Allan points toward the river. “Can you go that way? My camp is way over there.” He squints, but the ground gets farther and farther away. “I think camp is that way.” Allan doesn’t know any more. The floating creature looks down at Allan. Its sad eyes quiver, but it tries to smile. “I can only go one way.”

              It’s game over for Allan. His vision blurs as tears flood his eyes. He watches his tears drip into the wind succumbing to the lure of gravity. The same gravity he feels pulling on his legs, fighting him, is not strong enough to break the grip of the tentacle.

They soar above the clouds, bathed in the purples and reds of the sunset, though there is no sun, just a swath of remaining daylight. Come to think of it, Allan can’t remember the last time he’d seen the sun. It was when he was with Rubic.

Sun or no sun, wherever the balloon creature takes him, there’s still a possibility there’ll be a phone or a park ranger or a policeman, unless the creature has other plans. “Where are we going?”

The balloon-like creature doesn’t answer. The surrounding swarm flies at the same speed and in the same direction, to somewhere just over the horizon.

“I’m thirsty,” Allan whispers. He also has to pee, but he’s holding it as best he can. If worse comes to worse, he’ll just let it go.
Maybe the pee will rain on someone that deserves it.
That thought makes Allan chuckle.

Chapter
9

The Greatest Wall There Is

The balloon-like creature flies for hours, and eventually the night comes. The dark of deep space turns the clouds below to mere shadowy shapes, and the stars seem to flicker on. The balloon creatures appear brighter now that the daylight has completely left. They leave colored trails behind them like flags waving in the sky. Allan has never seen such beautiful color trails. Like snakes made of plasma, they trail behind then eventually fade. The balloon creatures weave in and out of formation like a coordinated dance.

Allan had seen a similar show last year during the opening ceremonies at the Olympics. Fifty thousand people held up lights in a meticulously coordinated show. Their lights created images: different flags and messages of hope, triumph and peace. It was so beautiful that his mom had made him watch it again.

Then, as a further distraction from the increasingly isolated feeling that sits heavily on his back, Allan notices a sliver of light poking up from the horizon like a nail being driven up through the clouds. It reveals itself as a sliver moon. The moon is large in the sky like a great majestic bird. It’s brighter than a sliver moon should be. Midway through its ascent, another sharp sliver peeks from the horizon. Another moon! It can’t be real. It has to be his imagination. Just like these balloon creatures. They can’t be real either, can they? As the two moons continue to rise in tandem, a third moon appears. Allan laughs out loud. If the balloon creature hadn’t been holding onto him, he’d have fallen to his death with the widest grin across his mud-splattered face.

The moons brighten the clouds below, illuminating their fluffy cotton surfaces. A lightning flash snakes through the cumulus behemoths and splits into a thousand, million branches leaving light trails in their wake. It’s such a dreamy space Allan is in and is similar to the comfort he feels when falling asleep. Allan wonders if time has stopped and whether or not he’ll hang from the balloon creature until the end of days.

Suddenly, the clouds break. The balloon creatures appear to be dropping or the land is rising. A wide river snakes through a dark forest lit aglow by the three moons and trillions of stars. Beyond the river, lights dot the land. They look like stars, but in a discernible pattern.
It’s a city.
Far away, but it’s huge. Then Allan sees a wall. It’s dark and glistening. It’s the largest wall Allan has ever seen. The balloon creatures all turn at the wall instead of flying over it. The wall extends as far as Allan can see and is made of large square bricks of varying shades of dark browns and grays. Moss grows over the stones and trees grow from the cracks. Vines as thick as bushes cling to the bricks. The river parallels the wall and in some places is diverted under it.

The balloon creature finally speaks, “Welcome to Lan Darr. This is as far as I’m allowed to take you.” He drops Allan without warning. Allan screams as he falls down until he splashes into the river. The cool fresh water washes the grime and red clay off Allan’s skin. He treads water with his hands, leans back and looks up. The balloon creatures keep going to wherever they are going, and the moons smile on everything.
This is better than being captured by Asantia.
“Thanks floating things,” Allan whispers.

Allan’s body rudely reminds him that he needs to pee, and with no other options, he drags himself out of the water and rolls toward the wall. He smashes small twigs, bushes and grasses. While lying on his side he pees on a strange looking plant. It has pointy leaves, pyramid-shaped flower buds and little purple pods on the branches. It squirms and moves like it’s alive. He studies it after he zips up his fly. Did it make a squeak? The leaves are jagged and dark green at the edges. One of the pyramid buds starts to open presenting glossy purple petals. In the center of the flower is a sharp piston. The flower shudders, startling Allan.

Pain rips through his body. His fingers fumble at his neck, and he finds the sharp piston sticking out of his skin. He pinches and pulls it, but it is stuck. Again, he yanks on the piston and it finally pulls free. As the piston releases its grip, Allan starts convulsing. He sees black and he can’t stop the spasms in his body. When the seizure ends his entire body is numb. He turns on his side crushing more grasses and plants. His arm sinks into mud. His mouth dries out. His throat screams in pain like he swallowed a potato chip sideways. Allan uses all his strength to roll one more time. A pale, gray, scale-covered head rises out of the mud. Sharp spikes protrude from its skull, like horns on a bull. When it sees Allan it hisses, displaying long sharp fangs. Allan rolls again to escape, but the mud is so slick he slides into the river. Allan holds his breath as he sinks in the water. Instantly, the pain vanishes and he can move again. He pulls his arms through the water until he surfaces and rubs his neck until the pain subsides completely. His neck is swollen, but at least it doesn’t hurt. Allan pulls himself to the side of the river and tries to relax, letting his head rest on his hand. He’s got to be careful. “Do not stop to smell the roses in Lan Darr,” he says to himself. Everything is hunting him.

He takes a sip of the river water. It’s fresh and cool and doesn’t have any odd flavors so he gulps down more. He pulls himself through the water by grabbing the reeds that grow along the bank. His feet dangle, not touching the bottom.
How deep is the river?
If he’s learned anything it’s that most likely there is something in the water following him. The water is dark and it freaks him out, but he’s got no other way to get around so he keeps going. Don’t think about what you can’t see.
They’re just shadows in your own mind.

When Allan was dangling from the balloon creature he saw that the wall surrounded a huge city, and where there’s a city, there’s a cop. Allan pulls himself toward the tunnel at the base of the wall where the water is diverted. On either side of the large hole in the wall, two birds stand on pedestals that protrude from the wall. They’ve got plumes of feathers on their heads and chainmail covering their chests. Their large thick beaks, blue-grey talons and dark red feathers make them look intimidating. They’re as still as statues.

As Allan gets closer to the birds his hand snaps a twig in half. One opens its eyes and leans out from the wall. It looks back and forth. Warning signals prickle Allan’s senses so he sinks low into the water. Allan’s father used to tell him, ‘Our guts are sometimes smarter than our brains. Trust your gut; it’ll keep you safe.’ Allan didn’t understand at the time, but now he does. His gut tells him that disturbing these birds would be a death sentence.

The other bird-guard wakes and, seeing his fellow guard looking around, pulls out a large bow made from a crooked branch. It nocks an arrow and readies it. Its vertical, piercing eyes see something across the river. It aims and shoots. The arrow whizzes through the air and lands in the back of a small rodent that scuttles by. The bird-guard leaps off its perch and beats its wings.

It grabs the little corpse then returns to the perch and devours the rodent with untamed snaps of its sharp beak.

When it finishes devouring the rodent, it cleans itself with a long thin tongue. The other bird-guard growls and sneers as it watches its partner groom itself. When the tension between the two ebbs, they lean back and close their eyes to the night and all that is around.

Allan breathes, not realizing he’d held his breath the whole time. Shivers move through his body in waves. The dark night encroaches. Crickets chirp and a loon hoots in the distance. Allan can’t see more than a dozen feet from the river, but he can see thick bushes and shadows, all dark and foreboding. He feels like he’s being watched from the shadows, and his gut tells him to get inside the city.

Allan swims quietly under the archway. A large ‘X’ is scratched into the wall. The interior of the ‘X’ is filled with red liquid that catches his attention.
Isn’t that the mark of Jibbawk?
The dangerous thing the tea-party salamander-people were afraid of? That means it’s close by and looking for food, a particular food.
Allan looks back and sees the dark forest and the river, knowing the guards are there even though he cannot see them. In the dark of the forest there is something lurking. Allan can feel it there. Something watches him. Hopefully, he’ll be safe in the city.

Trickling water and the raucous noise of the crickets hides the sound of his subtle movements. After the tunnel, the river splits into two directions. Tall, stone buildings border the river and block any view into the city. They are even taller than the wall. Steep stairways are built into the sides and snake from doorway to doorway like veins feeding organs.

Allan pulls himself out of the river. There are no bushes or grasses here, instead there are large, rough-cut stone pieces covering all the land between the water and the buildings. He drags himself to a dark spot under the nearest stairway then pulls his feet under the stairs so he’s completely hidden in the shadow. It’s too dark to go find help. He’ll have to wait until daylight. Plus, that ‘X’ mark scared him. He can’t fight Jibbawk, that’s for sure. Any creature that wants him can take him.

A noise startles him. His eyes search the darkness frantically.
What is that noise?
He’s never been so scared in all his life. He doesn’t want to die, and he sure doesn’t want some creepy creature to devour him like the bird-guard devoured the rodent.

A mouse, or what looks like a mouse, forages on nearby moss. It carefully comes up to the stairway as though it can see Allan. It must have decided Allan is no threat because it grabs a hanging plant by Allan’s leg, rips off a leaf and munches happily.

“Shoo,” Allan hisses. The creature is small, but Allan doesn’t want any odd creatures in this world near him. His instinct is right. The mouse hisses, exposing sharp fangs, and spikes pop from its fur like cactus needles. Allan freezes. The little thing looks as ferocious as a dragon. It relaxes its spikes and continues to munch on the plant. After a time, it meanders away. 

Allan remains as still as possible for the rest of the night. The darkness seems to last a lifetime, and the noises in the night are strange. His eyes remain like sliced cucumbers. If he blinks, he’ll miss something and be something’s snack.