Kendra Kandlestar and the Door to Unger (12 page)

KENDRA WAS NOT SURE how long she remained lying on the rock, staring up at the night sky.
Soon, it will be the first moon of summer
, Kendra thought.
Then it will be too late to find the Door—at least according to what the Unger Oroook said.

But she needed to find it, she reminded herself—and now more than ever. Her uncle and the others were being taken to the door—and it was all because of her. She was the reason they were on this journey and now if she didn’t find them—well, who knew what would become of them?

Many thoughts swirled through Kendra’s mind. So much had happened in a short time, and the mystery of her past was beginning to unravel. Now she understood why the Ungers had not taken her as a baby. They had captured the rest of her family—but when they had seen her mark, they must have become frightened and decided to leave her behind to die in the wilderness. She hadn’t died, of course; Uncle Griffinskitch had found her and looked after her.

But he won’t find me this time,
Kendra thought.
Because now it’s all happened again and this time the Ungers have captured Uncle Griffinskitch and everyone else. Everyone except me, of course. And it’s all because of this stupid mark!

She studied her hand for the hundredth time, hoping somehow that she could see the mark that kept sparing her from capture. She could not, of course, and in her anger, she smacked her hand against the rock.

If it wasn’t for this ridiculous mark, I’d be with Uncle Griffinskitch, and Oki, and Ratchet, and everyone else right now,
she thought.

Kendra was not sure how long she sat there in solitude. At last hunger and thirst got the better of her and she rose to go forage in the woods. She was a tiny creature in an enormous place, but there is sometimes a great advantage to being so small, for sometimes a little will do a lot. A few drops from a shallow puddle satisfied Kendra’s thirst, while a seed here and a berry there filled her tummy. Thus refreshed, she found a tiny space in the nook of a tree root and curled up to go to sleep. It was a fitful rest in a strange place, but it was far better then being bounced around in a sack. She was not sure what tomorrow would bring—but she was determined to find and rescue her companions.

For the next several days, Kendra followed the trail that Creeegun and his friends had cut through the forest. The beasts’ footprints were huge and easy to follow, and Kendra knew they would eventually lead her to the Door to Unger. That was, of course, if she survived the journey. For now that she was alone, the world seemed more frightening then she could have ever imagined. The forest creaked and groaned with strange noises, and menacing animals seemed to prowl around every corner. These were wild things, nothing like the animals back in the land of Een. Kendra had traveled in the wilderness before, of course, in her search for the Box of Whispers—but on that journey, she had been shielded from such creatures by Uncle Griffinskitch’s magic. Now she was without his protection, and Kendra wondered if she could ever reach the Door to Unger without it.

I have to,
she told herself.
Uncle Griffinskitch, Oki—and everyone—are all depending on me.

Sometimes she wondered what had become of Trooogul. She was thankful that he had saved her, but when she remembered his last words to her, they still stung. “You’re the worst thing that ever happened to me,” he had said. Well, it wasn’t quite like that, for he had said it in his Unger voice.

I wonder when I’ll see him again?
she wondered to herself.
Probably never.

But she did encounter the young Unger, and it was only a few days later. She was taking a drink at a quiet stream in the woods when he suddenly appeared at the opposite bank. He seemed just as surprised to see her, and cast an angry scowl in her direction.

“What’s your problem?” Kendra demanded. “Do you own this stream?”

Trooogul grunted at her and dipped his claw into the water for a drink.

Kendra gave her braids a pull. “Maybe you’re just following me.”

“Thatzum nonsense!” Trooogul snarled. “Trooogul despizum little Eeneez.”

“Good,” Kendra retorted childishly. “I despise you too.”

“Little Eeneez nothing but badzum luck!” the Unger growled.

“You seem to run into quite enough bad luck without my help,” Kendra returned. “That’s why you always need me to rescue you.”

Trooogul looked as if he was about to explode in anger, but just then there was a
whoosh
, and a spear suddenly cut through the air and shot right through Kendra’s cloak, pinning her to the ground.

The spear had come from behind her. With some difficulty, Kendra strained her head back, only to discover a half-dozen of some of the most surprising creatures she had ever seen running through the brush towards her. The creatures were quite tall, and, at first, Kendra thought that they must be giants, for while she had never met one in person, she had seen pictures of them in Professor Bumblebean’s books. But those books had depicted giants as big, burly beasts, and these creatures were rather slender. Indeed, Kendra decided that they looked rather like oversized Eens, except they wore no braids and their ears were round instead of pointed.

Then one of the creatures spoke.

“Hurry!” it shouted. “These Elves are slippery folk!”

“It’ll catch a fair piece of gold, that’s for sure!” another added.

Now these words would have sounded normal to someone like you or me; but to Kendra, who spoke the language of Eens, the creatures’ speech was strange and garbled. What she did understand, however, was the fact that one of the creatures had thrown a spear at her, and that’s all she needed to know that she was in grave trouble. She tugged on the spear with both hands, but when she couldn’t dislodge it from the ground she frantically began pulling on her cloak.

“Come on!” she cried, but even though her cloak began to rip, she could not pull free from the spear. She could hear the hunters; at any moment they would be upon her.

Then, suddenly, Trooogul was there. In what seemed like a single motion, he leapt across the stream, wrenched Kendra free of the spear, and lifted her up in one of his mighty claws.

“You let me go!” Kendra shouted angrily, despite how frightened she was. “I thought I was cursed!”

“Shutzum!” Trooogul hissed, his rocky face only inches away from Kendra’s. “Youzum no wantzum be captured!”

His tone so frightened Kendra that she immediately threw her arms around his thick neck.

“Why?” Kendra gasped. “What are they?”

“Humanz!” Trooogul snorted in reply as he turned and scaled the nearest tree. With a long bony claw he grabbed hold of one of the many vines hanging down from the tree’s limbs and swung towards the next tree.

“Hey!” Kendra heard one of the humans shout. “That Troll just stole our Elf! C’mon, we got to get them!”

Even though Kendra could not see them, she knew the humans were coming in pursuit, for they were making a tremendous racket—shouting and cursing as they crashed through the forest. It was up to Trooogul now to save them. As their vine reached the end of its arc, the Unger reached out with his claw to grab another dangling vine, and they were once again on the swing. In this way, they began to swoop through the forest, vine by vine. For Kendra, the world soon became a whirl of lush greens and patches of turquoise sky. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the feeling in her stomach.

She had never experienced such a dizzying trip, yet even through it, one thing pushed to the front of her mind: Trooogul had allowed himself to touch her.

“Th-thank you,” Kendra stammered, clutching Trooogul’s skin with all her might.

“Whatzum for?” Trooogul grunted, reaching for another vine with one of his great claws.

“You saved me,” Kendra murmured.

“No safezum yet,” Trooogul retorted. “Besidezum . . . what choicezum Trooogul havezum? Someonezum mustz rescuezum Eenee. Youzum goodz at findingzum trouble.”

“Ha ha,” Kendra said. “You’re almost as funny as you look.”

Trooogul grunted, and it was the type of sound that made Kendra think of one of Uncle Griffinskitch’s humphs. “Maybe Trooogul just dropzum Eenee,” the Unger said.

But he didn’t have to make good on this threat; for in the next moment, one of the humans hurled a spear through the forest and it sliced through the vine that Trooogul was holding. Kendra clung tightly to the great Unger as he plummeted down through the trees, hitting and snapping branches as he dropped. The branches helped to break their fall, but they still crashed to the ground with such force that they were sent sprawling in different directions.

It took Kendra a moment to pull herself up to her elbows. She groaned and rubbed her head. Though her ears were ringing, she could hear the whoops and hollers of the humans as they charged through the forest toward them. Kendra cast her eyes about wildly. They had landed in a small clearing, at the shore of a lagoon, but it seemed that there was no good place to hide.

As for Trooogul, he had already risen to all fours and was now pacing nervously about the clearing, sniffing at the air with a curious expression on his face. He was scratched and torn from his fall, but if he was in pain, he did not show it. On the contrary, Kendra could see the great beast’s mind at work. His brow furled as if he were trying to remember something. He picked up a broken branch and dipped it into the waters of the lagoon.

“What is it?” Kendra asked anxiously, joining him by the shore. The sounds of the humans were louder now; they would be upon them in an instant.

Trooogul’s eyes suddenly went wide with astonishment. “Cavezum!” he cried.

“What are you talking about?” Kendra gasped.

“Holdzum breath!” Trooogul bellowed—and with that, he snatched Kendra close to his chest and plunged headlong into the water.