The Shaktra (26 page)

“But Drash has two trials yet to pass. Where will they come from?”

Ali nodded to the tunnel opening. “One of them is down there.”

His red eyes flashed. “How do you know?”

“I’m Geea, queen of the fairies. I know.”

“But the river . . . the water . . . Drash does not want to go down there.”

She put her left hand on his smooth rubbery hide. The pain in her burnt right hand continued to come in waves, like stinging ocean swells that contained long and huge sets. She tried not to think about it. What else could she do?

“Drash has to trust, to have faith,” she told him. “That’s how a koul becomes a dragon. There is no other way. You know what I say is true. You leave here, you leave us, and you will wander lost in the wild, with no goal, no friends, and no way to ever become what you were born to be.”

Drash stared at her. “Drash is afraid.”

Ali patted him and then took her hand back. “It would not be the second trial if you were not afraid,” she said.

The descent down the spiraling stone stairway that led to Tiena was an exciting experience for Ali because for the first time she got a close look at fairy handicraft. The walls of the stairway were tiled with white rectangles, squares, and triangles—each etched with what could have been Egyptian hieroglyphics. She could not read the lettering, but it definitely looked familiar.

The way grew dark. Fortunately they had their flashlights, but Ali sought to save their batteries, and lit a handful of torches that were positioned along the way. The orange light of the flames cast lonely shadows throughout the tunnel, and their footsteps echoed before them like the feet of ghosts who had fought and died in a cruel battle. Even before they reached the river, Ali could sense the place had already been invaded, not just from the air, but by a force of scaliis. The air remained fresh but there was a deep tension to it. She felt it on her forehead, like the pressure of an invisible hand.

They reached the river, and it was as she had feared. The boats had been holed and sunk. They limped wearily in the dark water like cracked logs. Yet the area was silent, empty of any scaliis. Even the running water of Tiena was much calmer than its cousin up above. Here the river moved like a long black stage—or so it seemed to Ali, who could feel the rich history of the place without remembering the details. Again, she had to force herself not to shed a tear in front of the others. They were all looking to her to make the next decision, even Drash, although he was holding back from the water.

“We’re not going to be able to fix any of these boats,” Ra said.

Ali shook her head as she walked the shore of the river. “It doesn’t matter, we don’t need a boat,” she said.

Ra was exasperated. “I thought that was your plan? That we would ride the river into Uleestar, and so come at it from below?”

“We’re going to ride into Uleestar, and we’re going to take
this river.” Turning suddenly, she nodded in the koul’s direction. “Drash is going to take us.”

With her remark, the others looked dismayed, not the least of whom was Drash, who quickly retreated several paces up the winding stairway. The gang could see the koul was terrified at the prospect.

“I don’t even think he can swim,” Ra said.

“Aye. Paddy has never seen a swimming koul before,” the leprechaun said.

“Bad idea,” Farble mumbled, saying perhaps the most intricate sentence of his entire life.

“That’s the point,” Ali said. “I didn’t have to be told that water was the scariest thing a koul could face. That’s already obvious to all of us. But simply because it
is
the scariest thing, that makes it the key to a dragon’s second trial.” Ali raised her voice and addressed Drash. “To complete your path to adulthood, you must face your greatest fear. It was like that for me when I was regaining my fairy powers.”

Drash cowered. “You expect Drash to carry you all the way to Uleestar?”

Ali gestured. “You can see all the boats have been sunk. To me that’s a sign that you were meant to take us.”

Drash moved farther up the stairway. “Drash will end up drowning you all!”

“That’s not true,” Ali said. “We’re going to take this test with you. We’re going to show our faith in you by climbing on your back right now. We’re going to take the plunge at the same time you do.”

Ra shook his head. “That’s nuts! Let’s at least see if he sinks first!”

“Aye. Kouls have nothing to paddle with. He’ll sink like a stone,” Paddy said.

“He has legs now,” Ali said.

Paddy gave them a doubtful look. “Kind of scrawny, they are.”

Ali spoke. “Trials like this are not based on reason, but on courage. I know this from what I went through. We have to help Drash find his courage by taking the risk with him. But I don’t want any of you to be afraid. I know he is going to make it.”

“Have you
seen
this?” Ra asked.

Ali hesitated. “Not exactly.”

There was a long silence, and it must have seemed the longest to Drash. The koul had unwound his long dark body from the stairway, and crawled to where the bulk of the ruined boats lay floundering, but he was unable to force himself closer to the water. Ali walked up to his side.

“Your father is not here to know if you pass or fail this test,” she said. “But if you do pass it, and the next one, I’m sure that one day soon you’ll be able to face your father and confront him about the horrible things he’s doing with the Shaktra. He might listen to you then, because you’ll no longer be just a koul.” Ali added, “You’re tired of being one, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “Drash is too old to remain in this type of body.”

“Then let’s climb on your back, and you slip into the water, and we will be on our way to Uleestar. When we get there, and you rest this night, you will change again, and in the morning you will be capable of breathing fire.”

Drash stared at her in wonder. “But you admit you have not seen this in a vision?”

Ali shook her head. “Visions have their limits. They can’t always save you when your back’s to the wall, and our back is to the wall now. It’s your heart and your courage that’s going to allow us to continue on our quest.”

Drash was curious. “What exactly do you seek, Geea?”

Ali hesitated. “Peace.”

They climbed on Drash’s back, even Farble, who seemed to understand they were in a desperate situation. Ali rode up front, near the koul’s head, like the night before, but she did not give him any more time to think about what he had to do. When they were all settled, she told him to swim. Drash crawled to the edge of the gently flowing black river and carefully touched the water.

“But I don’t know how to swim,” he said.

“It’s like riding a bicycle. No one knows how to do it until they do it.”

Drash glanced up at her. “What is a bicycle?”

Ali laughed. “I don’t think it’s something a dragon would be interested in.”

Drash appeared to believe her, in all ways. Turning toward the water, he slid off the shore and into the river, and it was only for a moment, a few heart-stopping seconds, that it seemed he would sink and they would all drown. But then he lifted up his head, a dozen feet above the water line, wiggled his long smooth body, and slipped into the flow of the current, and they were finally on their way to the heart of the fairy kingdom.

They were led down a dark stairway, into a wide basement, and from there they took another stairway that was covered with dust and made of rusted metal, and which appeared much older. As they went deeper into the earth, Karl holding the switchblade at Steve’s neck, Steve saw that they were entering a series of damaged caves that must have spread out like an ant farm beneath the old power plant. If he looked closely, he could see signs of the explosion: burnt gas tanks, twisted and darkened pipes, piles of ashes. How weird, he thought, that Ms. Smith had seen fit to build her mansion on the town’s old scar. There was a cruelty in the woman that went way beyond reason.

Not that Karl was in a friendly mood. Whenever Steve stumbled, the jerk kicked him and pressed his blade deeper into his neck. For that matter, Karl had already cut him. Steve could feel the faint trickle of warm blood drying on the sweating skin of his throat.

Ms. Smith had a grip on Cindy, and wasn’t treating her any better, although the woman appeared strong enough to not need a weapon. As if she were dragging a paper doll into her own private
dungeon, Ms. Smith held Cindy by her hair and was happy to yank it when the mood struck her. Yet Steve was proud that Cindy did not cry out. Their courage was probably all they had left, and Steve was not sure how long that was going to last.

He just hoped Ali was able to rescue them soon.

In a poorly lit reddish cave that looked like it could have been carved out of a Martian mountain, they were chained to the hard walls with iron shackles that might have been a popular item back during the gold rush. Their arms were locked above their heads and out to their sides, in a vague crucifixion posture, although their feet remained planted on the ground. Karl was the one to lock them up, and when he was done he took a step back to admire his handiwork. What struck Steve was how little Karl had changed. With his blond hair and blue eyes, and substantial muscles, he looked like the same jock Steve had always despised at school. Karl even appeared to have on the same clothes he had worn when they had hiked up the mountain together a month ago.

Yet Karl was not the same, or else Steve was finally seeing him for the first time. He had the identical cold light in his eyes as Ms. Smith, and the way he clapped his hands and grinned at their discomfort, Steve knew he was dealing with a psychopath who was capable of anything. But hadn’t Ali warned them? The guy had kidnapped her mother, after all. They’d had plenty of warnings from the start that they were getting in over their heads. Now look where they were. Steve could not get over the guilt he felt at dragging Cindy into this situation.

“How do you feel?” Ms. Smith asked sweetly, as Karl paced behind her.

“Lunch was good,” Steve said. “Things have sort of gone downhill since then.”

“Why are you doing this to us?” Cindy demanded.

“I told you, I don’t like spies,” Ms. Smith replied.

“We are not spies,” Steve said.

Ms. Smith came closer, and once again, like upstairs, he had trouble focusing on her. He assumed it was the poor light—there was a kerosene lantern in the corner and that was it—or that there was something wrong with his eyes. But the more he stared at her face, the less real it seemed, and the more fluid it appeared.

He felt as if he was gazing at a TV screen.

“I think Ali sent you here,” Ms. Smith said.

Steve considered carefully. He did not want to drag Ali into their mess—unless it was to fry this monster—but he needed some type of leverage.

“She knows we’re here, but so do other people,” he replied. “Cindy was telling the truth when she said we have another appointment in town. If we don’t show, people will come looking for us, and those same people know we were supposed to have lunch with you this afternoon.”

Ms. Smith smiled thinly. “Your friend has a gift. Perhaps she has told you about it, perhaps not. She might have been afraid to make you uncomfortable in her presence. That gift is the ability to hear when the truth is spoken. I have it myself, and I know you’re lying to me. You’ve just told me that Ali suspects you’re here, but that she’s not sure. As far as other people knowing about your lunch date with me, that’s another lie.” Ms. Smith paused. “Am I right?”

Steve shrugged. “If you’re so sure of your gift, why do you need to ask?”

Ms. Smith reached out and touched his chin with her gloved hand, and he flinched at the contact. It was as if she had used a sharp nail to cut him, but she had barely brushed him. Her pretty mouth showed amusement, her green eyes showed nothing.

“You’re a smart young man, I can see that. I like that,” she said. “But smart is not the same as being wise. You have been caught, you are in a precarious position. The wise thing for you to do right now would be to cooperate with me.”

Steve met her gaze. “And if we don’t?”

“You’ll experience pain. Horrible pain.” Ms. Smith added, “Do you know what that is like? No, you’re young, of course you don’t. But I can assure you that it does not matter how brave you are, how strong your will is. There is a limit to how much pain any human being can withstand. After that they crack—they all crack. You understand what I’m saying?”

Steve swallowed, nodded. “What do you want?”

“Information about your dear friend Ali. Give it to me and I’ll let you go. I’ll even let you finish your lunch. How does that sound?”

“Ali keeps her private business to herself,” Steve said.

Ms. Smith chuckled, and looked at Karl. “This boy is much more interesting than you let on to me, Karl. He never answers a question directly.”

Karl stopped pacing and glared at Steve. “Because he’s a fat coward.”

Ms. Smith shook her head. “I think there is more to him than meets the eye. I think the same about Cindy here. Honestly, I admire you young people, trying to help Ali save the world. But at the same time I do need to know certain things, and I want your answers to start flowing soon.” Ms. Smith paused. “Where is Ali right now?”

Steve coughed. “Beats me.”

Ms. Smith glanced at Cindy. “Where is Ali?”

Cindy snickered. “Go stuff yourself!”

Ms. Smith nodded slowly to herself. “Ali has entered the elemental kingdom, in search of her mother. I know this already.”

“Then why did you ask?” Steve asked.

Ms. Smith was cheerful. “Think of it as a test, one you just failed. That is okay, the first test was not so important to me. But here comes the second one, and it is very important. If you fail it, you will start that horrible suffering I told you about. Ready?”

“Ali really does keep what is important to herself,” Steve said quickly.

“How far do Ali’s suspicions of me go?” Ms. Smith asked.

“I do not understand the question,” Steve said.

“It is a pretty vague question,” Cindy added.