Black Water

JOURNAL #17
(CONTINUED)
EELONG

Segen’s body lay in the mouth of the flume. An hour after Boon delivered the bad news, four of us stood over him, staring down at the former Traveler from Eelong. It was me, Boon, Yorn, and of course, Kasha. His daughter. Seegen was a big cat. He was mostly gray, with many white spots. Even in death I could tell he was a formidable creature. But no longer. We stood there silently. I think we were all waiting for Kasha to speak first. I glanced at her to see that her eyes were tearing up. But she was strong. She didn’t break down or anything.

“How did he die, Yorn?” she asked.

The old cat sighed and said, “I don’t know. As I told you, he left here for Second Earth, looking for Pendragon. When he came back through the flume, he was dead. What happened there I can’t say.”

Boon did a quick examination, checking for signs of injury. He found nothing.

Kasha looked to me and said, “You told me klees are treated like gars where you come from. What could have happened?”

“I can only guess,” I answered. “If Seegen appeared in my home town, they’d try to capture him. They’d probably shoot him with a tranquilizer to make him sleep. As a last resort they might shoot him with a gun that was more deadly, but there are no wounds. I don’t think he died on Second Earth.”

“But he left here alive, and now he’s dead,” Kasha said, trying to contain her emotions.

I felt horrible for her. I knew what it was like to lose a loved one. And I also knew what lay ahead for her.

“I don’t know how he died, Kasha,” I said sympathetically. “And I know you don’t believe in the battle against Saint Dane, but I promise you, it’s real. Your father’s death is proof of that.” I knelt down to Seegen and gently removed his braided necklace. Dangling from the loop was his Traveler ring. I held it up for Kasha to see.

“You’re the Traveler from Eelong now,” I said. “I’m not asking you to change your beliefs, but I am asking you to help us stop Saint Dane.”

“And why should I?” Kasha asked.

“Because it’s what your father wanted, and I guarantee Saint Dane had something to do with his death. If you want justice, you’ll join us.”

Kasha looked at the dangling ring. She glanced to Yorn. Yorn gave her a slight nod of encouragement. She looked to Boon. Boon gave her a weak smile in return. Kasha tentatively reached out and grasped the ring, examining its dark gray stone and the symbols that circled it.

“I believe in things I can see,” she said. “Everything I’ve heard about you, Pendragon, must be taken on faith. But my father is dead and that’s about as real as can be.” She gave me a piercing look and continued, “What I do is for him. Not you.

Not Yorn or Boon or some misguided mission. As long as you understand that, I’ll help you.”

“Understood” was my simple answer.

She then dropped the ring in the dirt. “But I am not a Traveler,” she said with disdain.

Boon and Yorn looked at me, waiting for my reaction. I didn’t get ticked or anything. All I did was bend down and pick up the ring.

“Whatever works for you,” I said. I dusted off the ring and added it to the two I already had on the cord around my neck.

It was a tense moment. Yorn broke the silence by saying, “Seegen was my best friend and I was his acolyte. I may be old, but I can still be of use.”

“Absolutely,” I said.

“Good,” Yorn said. “We should first attend to his body. After that we can set our sights on Saint Dane.”

We struggled to bring Seegen’s body from the underground cavern out to the jungle where a zenzen-powered wagon was waiting for us. We had traveled to the flume tree in this wagon because we knew we would have to bring Seegen’s body back. We gently loaded the big cat’s body onto the wagon, covered it with a blanket out of respect, and began the long journey back to Leeandra.

“Will there be a ceremony?” I asked. “And a burial?”

“A ceremony, yes,” Yorn explained. “But we do not bury our dead on Eelong. Bodies must be burned to keep them from scavenger tangs.”

“Like with Gunny’s hand,” Boon reminded me.

“Yes, Gunny’s hand,” Yorn added. “I was surprised to have found it after he was attacked. I thought for sure the tangs would have devoured it.”

Yorn dropped his head and fell silent, as if the conversation was upsetting him. It wasn’t doing much for me, either. The whole subject was depressing and gross. I didn’t mind that we didn’t talk for the rest of the journey. I was too busy watching out for tangs, anyway. Luckily for us, we didn’t run into any. I suppose I should be grateful for that small bit of luck, because it seemed as if the only luck I had been having lately was the bad kind.

Back in Leeandra, I stayed at Kasha’s home while the others attended to Seegen’s body. I wanted to go, but we all figured it would be tough to explain why a gar was there. It gave me time to collect my thoughts, eat something, and start writing this journal. I didn’t get very far. No sooner did I start writing, than I conked out. My body really needed the sleep. The last thing I remember was that it was still daylight when I put my pen down to rest my eyes. The next thing I knew it was dark, and I was looking up at an excited Boon who was shaking me awake.

“Pendragon! You have to come, now!” he said, barely able to contain himself.

“Huh, what?” I asked groggily.

“Kasha told me to get you quickly.”

“Why? What’s going on?” I asked, trying to kick-start my brain.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet, saying, “It’s about Black Water.”

A bolt of adrenaline shot through me. Suddenly I wasn’t so sleepy. Boon ran out of the tree house without waiting for me, but that was okay, because I was ready to roll. I caught up and we jogged across several sky bridges. He didn’t put restraints on me, and I didn’t remind him to. It was nighttime and there weren’t many klees around to see us.

“Where are we going?” I asked as we ran.

“Kasha has many friends in government,” Boon answered. “She found out where the Inquisitors are questioning the gar about Black Water. We have to hurry.”

Excellent. Kasha had only been a Traveler for a short time and she was already helping out. I was very curious about Black Water. Not because it was an interesting fable or anything, but because the klees were so interested in it. A few minutes later we arrived at the tree that held the Circle of Klee. Boon took me to an elevator that brought us much higher into the tree than we had been before.

“Be quiet now,” he whispered. “We aren’t supposed to be here.” He led me along a sky walk that circled the tree, and into a doorway. Inside was a dark corridor that traveled around the inside of the tree. We moved quickly and quietly until we came upon…Kasha. She was peering through a small window into the center of the tree.

“We’re here!” Boon announced in a loud voice.

“Shhh!” Kasha scolded.

“What’s happening?” I whispered to Kasha. I moved to look through the small opening, but Kasha stopped me.

“You must be prepared for this,” she cautioned. “You will not like what you see.”

“Okay,” I said. “Prepare me.”

“There’s no good way to say this,” she said coldly. “They are torturing the gar. Unless he tells them what they want to know, I fear he will die. He may anyway.”

“What do they want to know?” I asked.

“They want to know where Black Water is,” she answered.

“So it’s real?” Boon asked, a little too loud. He quickly clamped his own furry hand over his mouth. He shrugged an apology.

“The Inquisitors seem to think so,” she answered. “Are you prepared?”

“Yes,” I answered. I took a deep breath and peeked into the hole. Turned out, I wasn’t prepared at all.

We were high overhead, looking down through small slits near the ceiling. We must have been in an observation area for those who didn’t have the stomach to be too close to what was happening below. I was one of them. Beneath us was a large room with a table in the middle. Tied to the table was the gar I remembered from the prison. He was naked from the waist up. My stomach twisted when I saw that his torso and arms were covered with hundreds of bleeding cuts. There were two klees in the room. One lashed at the gar with a thin strap that made a sharp, uglycracksound. The poor gar cried out in pain. It left an ugly, bleeding cut on his chest. I had never seen anything this cruel before, and hoped I never would again.

“This can end,” the klee said calmly. “If you tell us where to find Black Water.”

The gar whimpered, but didn’t answer. If he knew where Black Water was, he wasn’t saying.

“Don’t you have laws against this?” I whispered to Kasha.

“Well…no,” she said. “They are animals. They aren’t protected like klees.”

“They aren’t animals!” I whispered back angrily, straining not to shout. “And even if they were, that doesn’t make it okay to torture them.”

“Uh-oh,” Boon said. “This just got more interesting.”

I looked back down to the torture room. What I saw was only a small surprise. It made perfect sense and confirmed my interest in Black Water. Stepping up to the gar was the klee called Timber.

“Saint Dane,” I said under my breath.

“It isn’t,” Kasha whispered. “That’s Timber, from the Council of Klee.”

“That’s what he wants you to think,” I answered, keeping my eyes on the demon Traveler. “I tried to tell you before. He can transform himself into anything he wants.”

I didn’t explain further. It wasn’t the time to start educating Kasha on the evil ways of Saint Dane. I watched as the klees backed away from their torture victim and let Saint Dane approach. He held something out for the poor gar to see.

“What is this?” Timber asked in a calm, friendly voice.

It was one of the small amber cubes. I knew it had something to do with Black Water, but didn’t know what. Neither did Saint Dane. But it was important enough for him to torture a gar to find out.

“Tell me what this is,” he said to the gar soothingly. “And your pain will end.”

The gar’s eyes were wild. Even from where we were, I could tell that he was shaking. It would have been easy for the gar to tell Timber what he wanted to know, but he kept silent. Brave guy.

Timber leaned down to the gar and asked, “Tell me, when will you go home?”

A strange thing happened. As soon as the gar heard the word “home,” it was like his pain went away. The word had a calming effect on him. He looked at Timber, and laughed. Right in his face. Whatever “home” meant, it gave him the strength to stick it to Timber. It was a brazen move, but not a smart one. Saint Dane didn’t like being dissed. What happened next was something that surprised even the klees in the torture room.

“Tell me!” Timber ordered the gar angrily.

The gar suddenly stopped laughing. His body went stiff. He snapped a surprised look at Timber. Their eyes met and he slowly arched his back as if straining against a heavy weight. The klees looked at each other with curiosity. They didn’t know what was going on.

“What’s happening?” Kasha asked.

“It’s Saint Dane,” I said sadly. “He’s doing this.”

The poor gar strained against the cords tying him to the bench. His whole body went red with the exertion. He lifted up off the table, defying gravity.

“Tell me what this is!” Timber bellowed, losing his cool.

The gar screamed in pain. The two klees backed away. I was pretty sure they had never seen anything like this. I didn’t want to watch, but I had to. So did Kasha. This was her first lesson on the evil depths that Saint Dane could sink to. Finally the gar let out a guttural, anguished cry. I heard a sickeningcrack. The gar went limp and fell back to the table. One of the klees felt his neck.

“How did that happen?” the klee asked in wonder. “He’s dead.”

“No!” Timber screamed in frustration. He grabbed the klee by the throat and shouted, “Find out the purpose of these cubes or you’ll be the next one on this table!”

“Y-Yes, I understand,” the frightened klee babbled.

Timber tossed him aside and stormed out of the room. I turned away from the small window and looked at Kasha. She was shaken. Boon bent over and puked. It wasn’t a kittycat hair ball gaak, either. He totally ralphed.

“Welcome to the wonderful world of Saint Dane,” I said to Kasha, trying to control the quiver in my voice. “Was it real enough for you?”

Kasha took a step back and cleared her throat. She tried to speak calmly, but her voice was shaky. “I need to go to my father’s home. You are welcome to come. Maybe we will find something of use there.”

“Good,” I said. I had to get out of there. I was sweating and shaking. Boon’s puke didn’t smell so hot either. We left the tree quickly and made our way across to the far side of Leeandra, and Seegen’s home. None of us spoke. I think we were in shock. I know I was. I wondered if after seeing that horrifying scene, Boon was still enthusiastic about doing battle with Saint Dane. When we arrived at Seegen’s tree house, Yorn was waiting for us outside.

“What are you doing out here, Yorn?” Kasha asked.

“I didn’t want to go inside until you arrived,” the old klee answered.

“That’s silly,” Kasha said. “You’re like family.”

Yorn smiled sadly. With the loss of Seegen, their family had just gotten smaller. We all went inside and I saw that the place was set up very much like Kasha’s.

“You won’t believe what we just saw,” Boon exclaimed. “The Inquisitors were torturing a gar to find out where Black Water is.”

“Black Water?” Yorn asked with surprise. “Seegen spoke of Black Water. He seemed to think it was real.”

“So do the gars,” Boon said. “And so does Saint Dane,” I added.

“Saint Dane?” Yorn asked, surprised. “He was there? With the Inquisitors?”

“Yes,” I answered. “He’s taken the form of a klee named Timber.”

“Boon told me,” Yorn said, shaking his head sadly. “It’s frightening to think he has found his way onto the Council of Klee. Why is he interested in Black Water?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” I said.

Kasha didn’t say a word. She kept looking back and forth between all of us, trying to understand what it all meant.

Boon asked, “And what are those little brown cubes the gars have? Saint Dane was real interested in those, too.”

“Maybe your father has some answers for us,” Yorn said.

Huh? Now it was my turn to be confused. “What do you mean?” I asked.

Kasha reached into a fold of her tunic and pulled out a small, wooden key. “My father gave this to me the last time I saw him. He said that if anything should happen to him, I needed to use it right away.” She went to Seegen’s kitchen table and pulled it away to reveal a bench that was built into the wall. She ran her hand along the bench, just under the seat, until she found a small hole.

“This is where my father kept his most valuable possessions,” Kasha explained.

She inserted the key into the hole, turned it, and I heard theclickof a lock. Kasha lifted the seat to reveal a hollow area beneath. There was only one item inside. It was a wooden box about the size of my mom’s jewelry box. I wanted to make a comment about how Seegen didn’t have many valuable possessions, but figured that wouldn’t be cool. Kasha removed the box, dropped the seat back down, and placed the small chest on the table. I noticed that on top of the box was a folded piece of paper. Kasha opened the note and read it aloud:”For my daughter, Kasha.”

“It’s for you!” Boon exclaimed.

Kasha gave us all a quick, nervous look, then opened the box. She pulled out another note that was on top. She first read it to herself. A tear welled up in her eye. None of us said anything. That wouldn’t have been cool. Kasha sniffed, stood up straight, and turned to us, saying, “You should all hear this.” She read the letter aloud.

“My dear Kasha, If you are reading this, it means I am dead. Please do not grieve for me. This was the way it was meant to be. I know you do not believe in the Travelers, and our mission. I don’t blame you. But I’m afraid you will soon discover that it is all true. Eelong is in grave danger. If Saint Dane succeeds in his quest to destroy the gars, our home will be crushed. As difficult as this is to believe, Eelong being destroyed would be a small catastrophe compared to what would follow. Saint Dane must not succeed. If you choose not to follow your destiny as a Traveler, I would understand. The fault is mine. I have not done enough to prepare you for this responsibility. But I will ask one thing of you. It is something you must not refuse. A gar will arrive one day who goes by the name of Pendragon…”

Kasha looked at me. I stared back silently, though I was dying to shout: “Keep reading!” She continued.

“Share with him the contents of this box. I wish I knew more about Saint Dane’s evil plan, but I’m sorry to say I do not. I did discover this much: The gar legend of Black Water is true. It exists. I know, because I’ve been there.”

Whoa, that officially made this note a shocker. We all exchanged looks, then Kasha continued.

“I believe Black Water is central to Saint Dane’s plans. So does the Traveler named Gunny. He is waiting for Pendragon at Black Water.”

I stood up straight. My heart raced. Gunny was alive.

“I need you to help Pendragon get to Black Water. This is my request to you. Please, please honor it. I’m proud of you, my daughter, but more than that, I love you.

Kasha lowered the note. Nobody could speak. Seegen had reached back from beyond death to finish his duties as a Traveler. My first thought was that I wished I had known him. My second thought was voiced by Boon.

“So what’s in the box?” he asked.

Kasha reached inside and picked up another piece of paper. She stared at it for a moment, as if not believing what she was seeing.

“What is it, Kasha?” I asked softly.

She handed the paper to me, and I examined it to see hand-drawn symbols and numbers that made no sense.”Idon’t understand this,” I said.

Yorn took the paper, gave it a quick look, and smiled. “Could it be?” he asked.

“Ithink so,” Kasha answered. “What?” I demanded to know.

“It’s a map,” Yorn answered. “From what Seegen wrote, I’d say it’s the route to Black Water.”

“Yeah!” shouted Boon.

I was so surprised, I couldn’t breathe. We had a piece of information that Saint Dane was desperate to get his hands on. Or should I say, his paws on? He tortured and killed a gar trying to get it, and here it was, right in our laps.

“There’s something else in the box,” Yorn said.

Kasha pulled out a roll of pages that were tied together with twine. She unfurled the pages and read,”Journal Number One-Eelong.”

“Seegen’s journal!” I exclaimed.

We were now complete. We had the benefit of knowing everything the previous Traveler discovered; we knew where Gunny was; and we were a couple of steps ahead of Saint Dane. For the first time since I landed on Eelong, I felt as if we had a fighting chance. But there was one important question that needed to be answered.

“Kasha,” I said. “Where do you stand?”

Kasha thought for a moment, glanced at her father’s note, and said, “I’ll get you to Black Water, Pendragon.”

This is where I’m going to end this journal. I’m feeling better now, though the experience of being a caged animal will stay with me forever. I’m going to use those memories to give me the strength I need to help save the gars from Saint Dane. They’ve suffered enough. Tomorrow, Kasha, Yorn, and I will leave for Black Water. We’ve decided that Boon should stay in Leeandra to watch what happens with Saint Dane and the Council of Klee. Hopefully he’ll find out more about their plans for the gars.

I’ll close this journal by saying I hope Kasha’s head is in the right place. I’m going to have to rely on her if things get tough, and based on history, thingsalwaysget tough. It goes with the territory, so to speak. By the time I write to you again, I’ll have news about Gunny. Good news, I hope.

Please be well. Think of me. And though I know I don’t have to remind you… do not use the flume. There’s no telling what will happen if you do.

END OF JOURNAL #17