Return To Lan Darr

Copyright 2016 Anderson Atlas

andersonatlas.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Thank you to all that supported me through this novel including my family for putting up with my writing and drawing zeal. Thank you to my critique group members: Pam, Elaine, Kate, Marilyn, and Elise.

I also need to thank my editor whose expertise helped me conquer my blind spots. Thank you Brandi Wigginds for your hard work. I recommend her editing services any day of the week. Contact her at [email protected]

Contents:

Chapter 1
The Inevitable Storm

Chapter 2
The Best Gift Ever

Chapter 3
Pointing, Snickering, Betrayal

Chapter 4
You’re Just Bat Crazy, Boy

Chapter 5
The Big ‘Duh’

Chapter 6
Let the Chase Begin

Chapter 7
Mysterious Coffee Cups

Chapter 8
Steely Eyed Cop

Chapter 9
Confessions at the End of a Gun

Chapter 10
The Really Creepy Tunnel

Chapter 11
A Good Friend of Allan’s

Chapter 12
No Way Home

Chapter 13
The Ladies Big Fight

Chapter 14
The Sleeping Song

Chapter 15
Welcome Party

Chapter 16
The Trap Closes Softly

Chapter 17
Running Again!

Chapter 18
Return to Lan Darr

Chapter 19
Reasonable Ruse

Chapter 20
Deadly Reunion

Chapter 21
Awaken the Volcano

Chapter 22
True Speed of Shadics

Chapter 23
The Heart and the Molten Rock

Chapter 24
The Great Vanishing Act

Chapter 25
A Hundred Flapping Wings

Chapter 26
Back to Katonaay? :(

Chapter 27
 
Descend into a Crowd

Author Biography

by Anderson Atlas

Chapter 1

The Inevitable Storm

The rain poured from the clouds like a punishment, and the lightning had never been so loud. A deep crash shook the home, seemingly tearing through the bricks and ripping Allan out of a cozy dream. Startled, Allan pulled the covers to his nose as his eyes darted to the window. Heavy raindrops nicked the windowpanes like tiny knives, as if something wanted in his home, something bad.

Right outside the window, a bolt of lightning nailed the old oak tree that crowded the front yard and blew apart the thick trunk in a brilliant display of sparks. The slightly parted blinds remained still, but beyond the glass there was an energy, an energy so violent it threatened to tear the house apart, brick by brick. Orange flickers of light danced in between the slats; the tree outside the window must be on fire. He was too old to be so afraid of lightning, but never before had he seen its awesome power so close.

The trunk of the tree shattered under its weight, sounding like the crack of a hundred whips, and toppled onto the house. One of its branches smashed through the window unleashing the roar of the storm into the bedroom. The branch ripped off the blinds, and rain and wind gushed inside, frightening away any lingering warmth or security.

Something else was out in the storm, coming for Allan, like beasts at the door. The air seemed electric as it clawed its way over his body, icy like dead fingers. In between the rumbling of the giants in the clouds, Allan heard a whirr. It was eerily familiar, and it frightened him. But he couldn’t tear his eyes from the gaping hole where the window once was. The whirr was something tearing its way through the storm, heading right for him.

A metal arrow shot through the window, slammed into the carpet with a force that would kill an elephant, and buried itself in the carpeted floor. A thick, black cable was attached to the arrow, and it led out the window and up into the dark, stormy night.

Allan leapt to his feet and flew backward in a leap, smashing against the door. A scream poised at the back of his throat remained pent-up, caged like a frightened animal. His hand reached behind and seized the door handle, and it wouldn’t turn. He wrenched, but it was no good.

Shadows moved all around, like angry bats, and the rain continued to flood the carpet of his room. Allan froze, pressed hard against the door, his breath trapped deep in his lungs.

The whirring sound grew louder, like the engine of a helicopter. A figure gracefully slid down the cable, holding onto a pair of handles. The figure, backlit by the burning tree, jumped like a gymnast but landed on Allan’s math textbook and stumbled.

“Jesus, Allan. Your room is a disaster. I almost broke my ankle
!
”

Allan recognized the voice immediately, but it couldn’t be her, it just couldn’t. He released the door handle and hesitated for a split second.
Could it be?
He flipped the light on. Asantia stood in the middle of his wreaked and flooded room, balancing on one leg while massaging her ankle. It is her! Allan gasped and felt goose bumps rise on his skin. Dizziness replaced the terror he’d felt a moment before, but it was fleeting. The light illuminated the flying things, which were simply leaves blown around by tornado-speed winds. Outside, the intense rain put out the last of the fire that had scorched the old oak tree.

Asantia grinned and held out her hands, palms up. “What,no hug
?”
She wore gray leather boots and tight black pants with throwing knives strapped to her thigh. Her long-sleeved orange shirt had ruffles on the cuffs and around the low-cut neckline, and a thick leather belt sat high on her hips. A strap crossed her chest holding a large sword to her back. Allan knew the sword and how sharp the blade was because she’d held it on him when he first met her. Asantia was tan and had little scars on her neck and cheek and one across her hand. All in all, she looked the same as when Allan left her on Lan Darr at the travel gates guarded by Lyllia of Meduna only four months ago.

Allan rushed into her arms and hugged her tight. It had been four long months since the flash flood that almost killed Rubic, Allan’s uncle. Four months since Allan had to crawl through the forest to get help and ended up on another planet, the planet of Lan Darr. Asantia had threatened to sell Allan into slavery but had later saved his life and become his friend. He’d learned that her edgy persona was just a front, a mask that kept her safe in a tough world. She was really very smart and compassionate. Oh, and beautiful too. She couldn’t have been more than a couple of years older than Allan, but even she didn’t know her exact age. Sh
e’
d appeared on Lan Darr as a baby, her mother and father nowhere to be found.

Asantia pulled from Allan’s hug
.“
Miss me much
?
”

Allan nodded. “You told me when I was eighteen yo
u’
d come get me and w
e’
d go on an adventure together.
I’
m only fourteen.”

Asantia smiled. “Well,
I’
m
so
sorry to come early. Maybe I should go
.
” She turned to the shattered window and the heavy, splattering rain.

“
No! Not a day goes by that I do
n’
t think about you, and Lan Darr, and Mizzi.”

Asantiamoved to Alla
n’
s nightstand, lifted his cup of water, and gulped the contents. She looked around and shook her head. “How do you move around in this mess?” she said, kicking a crumpled pair of pants toward the closet door. “Do Earth houses not have drawers or closets
?
”

The thunder was farther away now, the rain less intense, and the wind died down, letting the leaves settle. Allan surveyed the sopping wet carpet, the broken glass, the tree branches, and the broken blinds. It was serious damage. Uncle Rubic would not be happy.

Asantia sat on the edge of Allan’s bed and clasped her hands together
.“
This is
n’
t a social call
.
” Water soaked Alla
n’
s blanket.

Allan stiffened. “No? So yo
u’
re not going to take me somewhere amazing
?
”

She shook her head. “Jibbawk survived exile on Plethiomia. When we banished that killer psycho there, we thought the beasts would tear it to bits like itdeserved. That did
n’
t happen. Itsurvived. Even then I was
n’
t worried because Plethiomia was ten thousand light years away. Mizzi said there was no way for Jibbawk to get off that planet because there were no Hubbu flowers growing there any longer
.”
Her radiant, exotic, golden eyes locked with Alla
n’
s
.“
Mizzi was right, but Jibbawk did escape, and itwants revenge
.
”

“
Revenge on Mizzi
?”
Allan asked.

“
On you
.
”

Allan’s forehead furrowed. This was definitely not a social visit. He looked away from her, his jaw tightening. Allan glanced at his legs. They were working, healthy and strong. “Awe man, this is a dream.” It was the first dream of Lan Darr since returning to Earth, and it sent anxiety through Allan. The memory of Jibbawk and the evil Killian Crow made him shake and sweat, but still, he didn’t want to wake up. He wanted to see Asantia again, to explore distant planets with her.

Asantia continued, unaware she was a figment of Allan’s imagination. “I can see you’re having trouble with this. So, I’m going to have to show you.” She slipped her sword off her back. The sheath of the sword was sewn onto a small, stuffed backpack. She unclasped a bronze fastener, opened the top flap, and took out a smooth, dark-brown, wooden box. The only opening seemed to be a four-inch slit on the side. “Four moons ago, Mizzi sent a total of six image capturers, I think you call them video recorders, to Plethiomia. He wanted to check up on Jibbawk. Mizzi did not like what the last one showed him.”

“What did he see?”

Asantia handed the smooth box to Allan. Allan turned it over and over. He didn’t know what to do with it.

“Jeez, I thought you weren’t helpless,” she mumbled, snatching the box and showing Allan how to look through the slit in the side. “See for yourself. It’s bad.”

Allan rolled his eyes. “Like I know what this thing is.”

“I forget you’re from Earth.” Asantia emphasized ‘Earth’ like it was an insult, but she smiled.

Allan peered through the slit. At first it was only darkness. Asantia took the box and shook it lightly. The next time Allan looked inside he saw a light spark. The spark caused two sparks which led to four, which led to eight. The chain reaction continued exponentially until the box was filled with light. In that light, a picture formed.

He could see huge rocks and outcroppings. Some of the stones resembled honeycomb structures. All the rocks were covered in thick black moss or algae. The sky was light blue like Earth’s, but there were no plants on the surface, only acres and acres of moss. The camera moved over a large stone.

“Who’s holding the camera?” Allan asked.

“A calibrut. They’re real smart. You can compare them to crabs, as big as Earth’s king crabs. It’s looking for Jibbawk.”

Allan watched the recording. The calibrut scuttled around as quickly as a cockroach. It approached a vast shoreline where large waves crashed into the rocky beach. Plethiomia seemed like a desolate place.

The calibrut paused next to a large boulder, then moved over the rock slowly. There was Jibbawk. It was on its back with its arms splayed out, looking dead.

Jibbawk, when Allan had run across it in Lan Darr, was a ghost who was made up of thousands of black beetles. In an effort to capture Jibbawk, Mizzi delivered Jibbawk’s preserved body to the ghost. The beetles vanished, and Jibbawk’s flesh and bones awoke. Jibbawk looked like it did now: dark, thin, bird-shaped, long sharp beak, eyes with vertically slit irises, spines like porcupine quills, and thin, strong legs like an ostrich. Allan didn’t think anything could look more frightening than the beetles, but he was wrong. Jibbawk’s real body had an edge to it, a hardness that made it look tough. Its eyes radiated ruthlessness. It was a killer, through and through, and now it seemed unstoppable. Banishing it to Plethiomia was only a minor inconvenience, not a death sentence.

A dark, round object peeked out of the waves. So it wasn’t desolate after all. The object had no eyes and no visible mouth or nose. It watched Jibbawk closely. Then, it hurled out of the water, a serpent body trailing behind it. Its round head opened up, exposing not teeth, but sinewy, stringy filaments like the inside of a pumpkin but without the seeds. Moments before it came down on Jibbawk, Jibbawk’s quill-covered arms sprang up and impaled the serpent’s mouth. Jibbawk leapt to its ostrich-like feet and grabbed the serpent by the neck. It dragged the serpent off the beach; all the while the serpent squirmed and flailed around like a fish out of water.

Jibbawk stabbed another one of its quills into the serpent’s head and waited for the creature to die. Jibbawk then tore a chunk of flesh off the serpent’s back and another chunk off its side like a giant piece of string cheese. The serpent’s blood was as black as ink, and it splattered everywhere.

Allan gagged for a moment, but continued to watch.

Jibbawk strung the chunks of flesh on a thin, flexible root it pulled from the ground. It walked over to a pile of roots it had collected earlier and set them up in a fire pit. With two rocks, it sparked a fire and began to cook the meat.

The offshore wind picked up and blew snow flurries onto the moss-covered land. Jibbawk held its hands near the flames to protect it from going out. The spikes on its arms fluffed up and attempted to block the wind.

After Jibbawk devoured the serpent meat, it curled up next to the embers of its fire and slept. Snow built up on the beach and on Jibbawk’s shoulders and back. It didn’t seem to care.