World's End (9 page)

"That's all right," replied Hill. Suddenly, he began reciting the verses of the poem where Bilblox left off.

 

...and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared
and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark, or even eagle, flew.

 

Hill placed his arm tenderly around Bilblox.

"You knew the prayer?" asked Bilblox. "How?"

"You forget, my old friend—I too was once a pilot," said Hill with a smile. "I used to say it before every flight during my air force days." He looked up at the angry gray sky. "We've laid Snej to rest, and we'll mourn her later. But now it's time to go home. This weather won't hold much longer. "

Bilblox nodded somberly. "Let's go."

***

Although Alfonso and Bilblox were both exhausted and more than a little shaky, they blocked out their pain and trudged through the deep snow of the mountain's flank, following Hill, Colonel Treeknot, and the soldiers. Bilblox put a harness on Kõrgu and she led him expertly through the snow and then across fields of ice-covered rocks. At one point, Alfonso asked Bilblox how he was feeling and whether his headache had gone away.

"I'm better now," said Bilblox cheerfully, but there was an undeniable trace of weariness in his voice.

Snow began to fall and as the wind grew stronger it whipped at them in fierce gusts. Alfonso's cheeks grew numb and his eyes stung. Colonel Treeknot, who led the group, appeared to be zigzagging along an invisible path. There were no markers, and the route they followed was incredibly steep. And yet it appeared as if she were out on a Sunday stroll. Her calm confidence reassured Alfonso, as did the thought of seeing Somnos again.

They pushed on for several hours until the night lightened into an early, sullen morning. The snow began to fall more heavily, obscuring the razor-sharp peaks of the high Urals that surrounded them. Colonel Treeknot made several subtle hand gestures, and her soldiers took positions around Alfonso and Bilblox. In polite but insistent fashion, they grabbed the two by their elbows and helped them walk even faster. Apparently, Colonel Treeknot was starting to get nervous about the blizzard.

"Almost there," said Hill with a kindly smile.

Alfonso peered into the murky light ahead of him. As they rounded a bend, Treeknot walked up to a tall boulder that looked exactly like all of the other boulders surrounding it. She stood next to the rock and then somehow disappeared inside of it. Alfonso gasped.

Hill clapped him on the shoulder. "You see!" he whispered. "The stone gate we entered last time is for Wanderers and, of course, Great Sleepers. But we have another secret entrance—much smaller, of course—that offers access to Somnos. Only the really high muckamucks know about it."

"And you too?" asked Alfonso with a smile.

Hill proudly stood up straight. "It's because of my new position, dear nephew," said Hill. "I've been appointed foreign minister of Somnos. Isn't that something?"

"You're a diplomat?!" exclaimed Alfonso. "I thought Somnos didn't have any dealings with foreign countries or the outside world."

"Typically it doesn't," said Hill cryptically. "But this is a relatively recent appointment. Strange times have come to Somnos."

One by one they followed Colonel Treeknot into the mountain. As he drew nearer, Alfonso saw that Treeknot had opened a four-foot-high door that was recessed within the boulder. The doorway led down a narrow, hand-carved passageway. At first, they could see dimly as they walked forward, but then one of Treeknot's soldiers shut the door behind them and firmly locked it. They were plunged into absolute darkness, and only the sound of dripping water echoing from somewhere in front gave them any sense of perspective.

As he stumbled forward, Alfonso felt the passageway growing warmer. He wanted to take off his scarf and jacket, but it was too narrow to move around. Bilblox was just barely squeezing his way through. After another ten minutes of walking, Colonel Treeknot paused and warned everyone to shield their eyes. She opened another hidden door and the golden sunlight of morning shone through. The sounds of birds chirping and wind rustling through leaves filled the passageway.

Alfonso walked into the blinding light and blinked furiously to adjust his eyes as quickly as possible. The sky above him was radiant. There were clouds, to be sure, but the clouds seemed to pulse with a powerful iridescent light. In front of them appeared a world of emerald green. They were standing on a cliff covered with tall zebra grass. Beneath them lay an incredible jungle. The tops of millions of trees with electric-green leaves formed a canopy that covered much of the valley. The trees themselves were all enormously tall and their branches were so thick that they created their own individualized ecosystems. Just one branch appeared to contain its own layer of soil, grasses, and even smaller trees.

Vines linked these branches and trees together, and along them ran, slithered, and hopped animals of all shapes and sizes, including monkeys, snakes, toucans, and tree frogs. Several wide rivers cut through the jungle and only here, along the riverbanks, was it possible to glimpse the jungle's floor. Giant ferns and orchids, thirty feet in height, reached upward toward the murky shafts of light that made their way through the surrounding treetops. The floor of the jungle itself appeared to be one continuous carpet of moss, which exuded a thick steam, as if it were being cooked. In the foreground, just below them, Alfonso spotted an animal that appeared to be an elephant, only it had an extremely narrow head and a pointy snout instead of a trunk.

Hill saw his nephew eyeing the animal and he offered an explanation. "Looks like an elephant, but it's about three times the size," explained Hill. "It's actually an anteater."

"You're kidding me," said Alfonso. "How big are the ants?"

"Some of them, the most troublesome kind, have the size and athleticism of a mountain lion," Colonel Treeknot explained nonchalantly. She was now fully awake. She took off her hat, scarf, and winter jacket, fully revealing her face and slender, athletic figure. Alfonso saw that she was quite attractive, although her face was a bit too sharp to be considered conventionally pretty. It was the kind of face that invited you to stare at it. Her eyes in particular sparkled with defiant exuberance.

"It's become a problem," continued Treeknot. She reached into her pocket, pulled out an apple, and began to munch on it as she talked. "Ever since your Founding Tree took hold, the ecosystem has gone wild, and animals with certain types of metabolisms have become outlandishly large. Apparently this happens whenever a new Founding Tree first takes root. It lasts a few decades before stabilizing. It's been challenging for us—we've had to fight back the ants a few times. They're tough and they're organized, but it's all in a day's work. Besides, there are worse things in this jungle than the ants."

"Worse things?" asked Bilblox. "What kinda worse things are we talkin' about, ma'am? I ain't scared, just curious. You know, I have a pet to look after."

"Have a look at your tree," said Hill with a smile, trying to change the subject. "She's a beauty."

Alfonso looked out across the jungle, deep into the valley, and saw that the trees eventually thinned out and turned into fields of corn and wheat. Just beyond this was Somnos—the shining city of pink marble, with its proud towers and thick walls. It was impossible to see the damage that had been inflicted three years ago when the Dragoonya had invaded. Apparently, the Dormians were wizards when it came to rebuilding.

In the middle of the city stood the Founding Tree. Its branches and leaves extended out to cover the entire city like a massive umbrella. Even from this distance Alfonso could identify individual leaves. This was his sapling, now a fully fledged Founding Tree. This was the tree he had grown near a nameless stream in the middle of the north woods in Minnesota. It was the one he had carried across North America, across the polar icecap, across the Urals. It was the sapling that Spack and General Loxoc had died to defend. And here it was, pumping life into the soil. It seemed unimaginable that on Alfonso's previous visit all of this landscape had been covered in snow.

Alfonso's thoughts were interrupted by shouts and the sound of swords being withdrawn from their scabbards. He saw that Colonel Treeknot's men were in a classic Dormian defensive arrangement, fast asleep with their eyes half-shut.

"What's goin' on?" asked a frustrated Bilblox, who had been unable to take in any of his surroundings.

"Not sure," said Alfonso.

A moment later, something large and red leapt out of the zebra grass and lunged for Alfonso. Two of Colonel Treeknot's soldiers immediately attacked, throwing their bodies into the creature's hard shell. Their swords plunged into the creature's body. Alfonso stumbled backwards, nearly falling off the cliff, and then regained his balance. On the ground lay a bright red ant that must have weighed two hundred pounds. Its legs were still twitching. Green ooze leaked out of its head. Another ant scurried out of the grass and headed toward Bilblox. Kõrgu sprang into action. The wolf leapt through the air with dazzling speed and slammed its weight into the ant's body. The ant flew backwards, as if struck by a cannonball, and toppled over the edge of the cliff.

"That's some Seeing Eye dog," observed Hill.

"She's a good pup," replied Bilblox with a smile.

"We better get going," said Treeknot as she continued to eat her apple. "The scouting ants always travel in packs of ten or twelve. And not far behind them there's bound to be a foraging party. It's at least an hour's hike down to the river."

They began walking single file toward the jungle. Bilblox, Hill, and Alfonso were in the middle, and Dormian soldiers guarded them front and back. The closer they drew to the forest, the stranger it appeared. The sound of flowing water also grew louder. Alfonso could see a river forming to his left. It was made up of several dozen streams that came together just above the jungle, and that undoubtedly were made up of melt from the high-altitude glaciers that he could see above them. Some of the jungle trees looked perfectly ordinary, but others, Alfonso knew, were unique to Somnos. All of them were much larger than any but the largest and oldest trees in Minnesota. The trunk of one tree was covered with thick black bark that glistened like oil. Alfonso looked inquiringly at Hill.

"Isn't it a wonder?" Hill said. He continued hurrying along, huffing and puffing as he spoke. "Once we planted the bloom, the entire valley transformed itself in six months. And all these trees appeared within a few days! That one with the black bark actually secretes a type of combustible oil, just like a maple tree would secrete maple syrup. And there are many other plants I've never seen before. For example, the
Arboris pierratus
drops leaves every fall that are as light as a feather and as strong as steel. We use it to reinforce the pink limestone. It would be the perfect material for building planes, but the Dormians are wary of inventions from the outside world."

They entered the jungle along a dirt path that contrasted strangely with the light greens and yellows of the incredible plant life. As they hurried down the path, Hill pointed out a heavy, looping vine that weaved and coiled around the branches of several trees. "That vine grows everywhere," said Hill. "I've seen some that are at least a mile long. It's actually delicious if grilled properly."

At that moment, butterflies the size of Frisbees began to flutter and take off from the floor of the jungle.

"What now?" asked Bilblox.

"Butterflies," explained one of the soldiers nervously. He appeared to be asleep. "They tend to take flight before the ant hordes come."

"I ain't afraid of ants," muttered Bilblox.

Not far behind them, Alfonso could hear a persistent scampering noise. It sounded like hundreds and perhaps thousands of feet moving quickly.

"Gentlemen, I don't mean to be an alarmist," announced Treeknot as she nodded off to sleep, "but let's run along, shall we?"

The entire group, except for Alfonso and Bilblox, drifted off to sleep and sprinted down the path with their eyes half-closed. Alfonso didn't trust himself to fall asleep. Out of habit, Alfonso worried about how Bilblox would manage without being able to see, but Kõrgu was leading him along beautifully. The two were very well matched, and Kõrgu seemed to anticipate Bilblox's every move.

A few minutes later, they came upon the river Alfonso had seen before. Along the riverbank was a narrow dirt road presently occupied by three gargantuan anteaters. Each of the beasts stood a good forty feet tall and was saddled with open-air riding cabins, equipped with seats.

"Wake up!" declared Treeknot. "Everyone up the ladders! Don't forget the Great Sleeper's baggage! Someone help Bilblox get his footing! Drivers, steady your anteaters! Hurry now!"

Everyone in the traveling party scurried up the rope ladders that ascended to the riding cabins. Bilblox, who carried Kõrgu on his back, was the last one up. He joined Alfonso, Hill, and Treeknot in the lead anteater. The colonel leaned out and barked orders to her knights. Alfonso reached into his backpack and took out his sphere, but the colonel caught his eye and gave him a stern look, which seemed to suggest that this was
her
fight and he shouldn't intervene.

"Hoist up the ladders!" she yelled. "Fall asleep at will and ready for battle!"

Moments later, a wave of ants crashed through the forest. There were at least a hundred of them. Most were big, about six feet in length.

The anteaters immediately broke into action, waving their snouts about violently and sucking the ants in whole. The anteaters grunted greedily and appeared to be having a good time of it. The ants charged in waves, but each time they were either eaten or pummeled by the anteaters. Using bows and arrows taken from the riding cabins, the Dormian soldiers fired round after round at the ants. Alfonso was amazed at their skill; not once did they need anything more than one arrow per ant.