Kendra Kandlestar and the Crack in Kazah

by Lee Edward Födi

  Then, to make matters worse, an entire section of the wall behind the egg seemed to shift and move and—to her horror—Kendra realized it was no wall at all, but rather the gargantuan shape of Queen Krake.

  The great bird-like beast towered over her eggs like a mountain next to a field of pebbles. She was so large, in fact, that all Kendra could really see of her was her massive head. This was covered in feathery purple fur, except at the top, where three long tendrils snaked upwards like crooked weather vanes. Then there was her beak, lined with serrated teeth and dripping with strings of drool. Worst of all were her eyes. She had one on each side of her head like a chicken, and they gleamed like mirrors.

  Kendra could sense an “eek” building in Oki. Quickly, she cupped her hand over his mouth and pulled him back, searching desperately for the shadows.

  But the queen didn’t spot them. Indeed, she seemed to have eyes only for her hatching babies. She lowered her giant head and chirped, “Erk erk erk! Mama Krake love little koochi-koos! Mama must go watchee Rumba Pit, but little hatcheez comezee watch after munchee-munchee!”

  Then, with a cackle, she lumbered away into the darkness.

  “Munchee-munchee?” Oki worried, pulling Kendra’s hand away from his mouth.

  “I think she means dinner,” Kendra whispered.

  “That means owie-owie for us,” Oki said.

  “Krakes don’t eat Eens,” Kendra replied.

  “Oh, good—I’ll make sure to tell these hugongous babies before they gobble us up,” Oki groaned.

  “Come on. We better shake a braid.”

  She turned in the mud, slipped, and fell. It was then she realized she was still wearing the Kazah stone. It was so fractured and delicate that she knew she needed to take extra care with it. Gently, she slipped it inside her robe.

  You just need to last a little longer, she thought.

  “Eek!” Oki suddenly squealed.

  Kendra looked up. In an explosion of shell and slimy green yolk a baby Krake burst from the nearest egg, followed by the next, and so on and so on, as if each one was triggering the next like a row of firecrackers. In only a matter of seconds they were surrounded by hundreds of squealing Krakelings. Then, suddenly, they went quiet. Every neck went erect as the creatures lifted their beaks to the air and sniffed.

  “They can smell food,” Kendra guessed.

  “Us?” Oki gasped.

  It was something else; Kendra could smell it too, a disgusting, rotten stench wafting in from behind them. Then, as if on a signal, the Krakelings tore across the chamber in a stampede of claws and snapping beaks.

  “We’re in their way!” Kendra screamed.

  She desperately waved her wand to raise some sort of shield, but she wasn’t quick enough. They were caught up in the swell of baby Krakes, pushed ahead as if at the front of some dreadful tidal wave. They were bounced and jostled (it was all Kendra could do to hang onto her wand) until at last they found themselves pushed right into some sort of giant trough filled with what one could only describe as slop.

  Whatever it was, the Krakelings found it delicious. Their sharp beaks zipped in and out of the trough, pecking for every last morsel. It seemed by miracle alone that Kendra and Oki weren’t torn to shreds. Kendra tucked her wand in her belt, grabbed Oki by the paw, and scrambled frantically towards the corner of the trough, trying to find safety. Down came the beak of another Krakeling—this time Kendra’s cloak caught on one of his jagged teeth, and the next thing she knew, she and Oki were jerked upwards and sent sailing through the air.

  They landed right on the backs of a pair of Krakelings.

  “EEK!” Oki screamed.

  “Hang on,” Kendra told him. “This might be the safest place for us yet.”

  She squeezed her knees into her Krakeling and now it seemed the feeding frenzy was over. The babies were on the move again, this time charging through an open doorway and down a dark passageway. The Krakelings they were riding squawked murderously, trying desperately to reach them with their claws and beaks. Kendra and Oki clung on for dear life and the Krakelings, not wanting to be left behind by their brood, had no choice but to keep moving.

  Onwards and upwards they went through the network of castle passages. This took considerable time, but eventually they reached a large open gallery. Ahead of them, Kendra could see the metalwork of a giant, dome-shaped cage—and she knew at once where they had arrived.

  The Rumble Pit.

  Their Krakelings had fallen to the rear of the brood, so just as they reached the top of the arena seating gallery, Kendra and Oki jumped off and let the disgruntled babies rush after their fellow hatchlings.

  “Thanks, little snappers,” Kendra muttered.

  They could hear the roars and shrieks from the Rumble Pit and Kendra’s mind instantly flooded with a thousand terrifying memories. Desperately, she jerked on a braid.

  “Kendra, we have to get out of here,” Oki implored, trembling head to foot.

  “F-first, I have to see it,” Kendra said bravely. “If Kazah worked the way we wanted it to, then this should be the rumble we were at last time.”

  She crept a few steps forward and found herself at the very top of the arena’s seating gallery. In front of her were rows of spectators—all Krakes—and past them, in the pit, was the terrible battle. But it wasn’t the action in the pit that caught Kendra’s attention—it was what was occurring on the royal balcony, where Queen Krake’s throne stood. For here was a far more tumultuous battle, and one that Kendra knew all too well. Because it was her battle.

  There, standing right in front of her eyes, was herself. Trooogul—her brother in Unger form—was there too. She watched in stunned fascination as the events unfolded before her. She watched as Trooogul charged amidst a hail of arrows and knocked the Queen’s throne over in a crash of stone. She watched herself find the shard from Greeve lying on the ground and pick it up. She watched as Agent Lurk appeared and a fierce argument raged between Trooogul and Lurk, each of them clamoring to seize that dark piece of stone. Then Queen Krake rose from the wreckage of her throne and began pounding her tail against the pavilion, smashing it to bits.

  A sudden realization struck Kendra. She remembered this moment in the Rumble Pit—and so do you, reader, if you were there the first time with Kendra. Something strange had happened, something that had spooked the Krake warriors and caused the queen to disappear. Kendra had never known what it was—until now.

  “I’m here for a reason,” she declared. She spun around and looked at Oki. “Stay put.”

  “What are you going to do?” he squealed. “Don’t interfere in the timeline again.”

  “This time I have to,” she said. “Trust me.”

  She bounded down the stairs and through the seating gallery, Krakes marking her progress with squawks of surprise. Then she jumped and landed on the crumbling pavilion, just as the other Kendra was sent sprawling backwards into the seats, surrounded by a swarm of Krakes. Kendra pulled out her wand and now everyone—Queen Krake, the drones, even Trooogul—was staring at her in surprise. Kendra knew they were all wondering the same thing. How could she be in two places at once?

  And then, because Kendra knew she could do it—because, from her perspective, she had already done it—she performed magic beyond her humble means. Falling to her knees, she cast the words inside her mind and brought her tiny wand against the stone pavilion. There was a loud crack and a blinding flare of light—then the opposite end of the platform split into massive angular slabs. These toppled downwards, smashing through the dome over the Rumble Pit and into the fracas below. With them went the queen. For a desperate moment she clawed and scraped at the side of the pit, but all was in vain. She plunged into the middle of that terrible battle, now no longer a spectator, but one of the many fighting for survival.

  The rest of the Krake drones—those surrounding the other Kendra or watching this whole scene unfold—now scattered in a terrified cacophony of shrieks and squawks.

&nb
sp; The remaining part of the pavilion was tilting, threatening to follow the other half into the pit. Agent Lurk was nowhere to be found, but Kendra could see Trooogul balancing himself on a chunk of unstable stone. The great Unger was still staring at her with enormous eyes, bewildered beyond all belief.

  Kendra didn’t wait for him to react. She knew he would save himself. She leapt back into the seating gallery, near to where her other self was still lying on her back. She didn’t give that Kendra a chance to see her; quickly she bounded up the stairs, back towards Oki. She knew her other self would be confused. She would pull herself to her feet to find the pavilion destroyed, Queen Krake gone, and her drones scattered.

  Just as I remember it, Kendra thought.

  Two days later, Kendra and Oki were sitting on a mountain ridge, staring out across the Seas of Ire. They had found their way out of the castle (not without some difficulty) and had wandered across the craggy cliffs until their legs could carry them no further.

  Even though she had not stayed to witness it, Kendra knew everything had unfolded in the arena as she remembered. Ratchet’s cloud ship had come with Uncle Griffinskitch to save the peryton—and herself—from death. Now, somewhere out there, the Big Bang was flying across the skies, headed for the City on the Storm in search of Trooogul. And eventually it would be attacked by Agent Lurk and his skarm.

  That Kendra’s adventure is about to start, Kendra thought. Mine is coming to a finish.

  “What now?” Oki asked.

  “I think we have to go back in time and steal that letter from my mother,” Kendra said.

  “Why?” Oki asked. “If we’re in this timeline, doesn’t that mean everything’s all right?”

  “Maybe,” Kendra pondered. “Or maybe it’s just like what happened in the Rumble Pit. I saved myself. If I hadn’t, then everything might have turned out differently.”

  “So we have to snatch the letter,” Oki said. “It’ll solidify the timeline.”

  Just how my hundred-and-twelve-year-old self would put it, Kendra thought. Then she sat cross-legged on the rocks, closed her eyes, raised her wand, and breathed deeply. Her mind settled, she sent a magic whisper across the wind:

  Hear my call, one to reign

  In time of need, time of pain

  Then wing across wind and rain

  Oh, come to me, Aurius Feyn.

  “What was that about?” Oki asked after she had opened her eyes.

  “Don’t worry,” Kendra answered. “Everything is all right.”

  “Not exactly,” Oki fretted. “If we’re going to get that letter from your mother, we have to find our way to the Forests of Wretch. And between us and where we need to go there’s an entire sea. How are we going to cross it?”

  Kendra saw a small dot appear on the skyline. “Why, that’s simple,” she told Oki with a smile. “We’re going to fly.”

  IT WAS THE PERYTON. Kendra watched in awe as he soared towards them, across the clouds. He was a bold and beautiful creature, and she wondered if she would ever cease to be amazed by his majesty. He circled above them, once, twice, then at last landed next to them, gracefully as a feather.

  “Arinotta!” he exclaimed, calling Kendra by his pet name for her. “Were those your words I heard on the breath of the wind?”

  Kendra nodded.

  “Fur and feathers!” he uttered. “I am confused. Only an hour ago I bid farewell to you on that flying ship.”

  “It’s a bit hard to explain,” Kendra said. “But from my perspective . . . well, that was much longer ago than an hour.”

  “You can say that again,” Oki added.

  “By the King’s wings!” the peryton snorted. “Some underling magic, I suspect.”

  Kendra smiled. “I need your help, Prince.”

  “My wings are yours, Arinotta. What foe might I vanquish for you?”

  “Just distance,” Kendra replied. “We need to go to a place far away from here. Can you take us?”

  “Certainly,” said the peryton. “Climb aboard my back, and we shall make all speed.”

  They used a nearby outcropping of rock to climb aboard the back of the regal stag. When they were secure, the magnificent peryton rustled his wings, and with a snort he galloped into the air.

  This journey did not happen all at once, of course, nor did it happen without incident. It was winter, after all, and they fought not only weather, but hunger, and exhaustion too. For five days they travelled over sea and mountain, forest and valley, finding shelter and food on the ground below whenever necessary. At last, one bleak afternoon, Oki recognized some peaks in the distance.

  “Those are the Crags of Dredge,” he called to the peryton. “Be careful; it’s where the skarm nest.”

  “Perytons are kings of the sky,” the great deer declared. “My heart shudders not at the thought of skarm.”

  “If those are the Crags of Dredge, then below are the Forests of Wretch,” Kendra said. “We’re where we need to be.”

  The peryton circled to the ground and landed in the drifts of snow.

  “I smell danger,” the stag remarked. “Some creatures hunt nearby.”

  “Eek!” Oki squealed. “Probably Goojuns.”

  “Worry not,” Prince declared. “They are no match for my antlers.”

  “We won’t be here long,” Kendra said.

  She tried to send the peryton on his way, but he would not leave until he was sure they were safe. So Kendra said her good-byes, warned him of the magic she was about to perform, and settled down in the icy shadows of the forest to call upon the power of Kazah.

  With Oki holding tight to her cloak, Kendra thought of her mother, the tempestuous Teenling whom she had left in the very spot she was now sitting. She thought of the letter that she had written to her. More importantly, she felt the emotion that she had poured into that letter. It took only moments for the Kazah stone to tremble to life; indeed, its crack was now so wide that it quickly sucked Kendra and Oki through its fissure.

  In an instant they found themselves in the warm summer sun. The peryton, of course, was no longer anywhere to be seen, for they had traveled into the past.

  “Gayla?” Kendra called out.

  “Braids?” Gayla appeared from behind a tree trunk. “What are you still doing here? Aren’t you going back to your own time?”

  “In a moment,” Kendra said, charging up to Gayla to embrace her. As she did so, she snuck one hand into the pocket of the Teenling’s robe and, with a sigh of relief, felt the scrap of parchment. Stealthily, she plucked it out and slipped it down her sleeve.

  “Hmph,” Gayla grunted, as she wriggled free of Kendra’s grasp. “Another hug? That’s what I get for letting you hug me the first time. You come back for more. Yeesh.”

  “Gayla!” came the sound of Uncle Griffinskitch’s voice from beyond the bushes.

  “Look, I ought to go,” Gayla declared. “Maybe I’ll see you twiddle-twins around sometime.”

  Kendra nodded. “Gayla?”

  “What?”

  “Just . . . just be you,” Kendra said.

  “Sure,” the girl said, casting her a strange look.

  Then she was gone. Kendra quickly turned to Oki and triumphantly showed him the letter.

  “Thank the ancients,” Oki sighed. “I guess we can leave now.”

  “Just a minute,” Kendra said, putting a finger to her lips. She wanted to hear what would happen between Uncle Griffinskitch and her mother. She ducked down low in the bushes, pulling Oki with her.

  “Gayla,” came the sound of Uncle Griffinskitch’s voice. “Where in the name of Een have you been?”

  “Relax,” Gayla said. “Hey—what’s he doing here?”

  Kendra and Oki looked at each other in surprise. Burdock? Kendra mouthed to Oki, but the little mouse only shrugged. Though they couldn’t see through the foliage, Gayla’s next words solved the mystery.

  “Krimson, don’t you know there’s Goojuns prowling around out here?” the spirited Teenling gi
rl demanded. “They could pluck you like a rose.”

  “Humph,” Uncle Griffinskitch muttered. “Leave the boy alone.”

  “Since when are you on his side?” Gayla asked.

  “Since he told me that you like to sneak out here,” Uncle Griffinskitch replied. “Which, by the way, is going to come to a stop. But we can discuss that later. For now, let’s get home. The boy promised to cook us dinner if we actually found you.”

  “Er . . . what about Burdock?” Gayla asked.

  “Humph,” came Uncle Griffinskitch’s reply, and Kendra knew that type of humph all too well. It meant, “Don’t worry about that. Don’t worry at all.”

  “Well, garden boy,” Gayla said cheerfully. “I sure hope you know how to cook. Because let me tell you, I’ve got a monster of an appetite. And when I say monster, I mean monster . . . .”

  Her voice faded away. Kendra smiled at Oki. “Everything should be put right now. Let’s get back to when we belong.”

  “Foogiewunda!” Oki cheered.

  The Kazah stone was still on Kendra’s finger, and she closed her eyes and concentrated once more. Oki clutched her sleeve.

  The ring rumbled and grumbled. Even as she thought of her time—the cloud ship, Uncle Griffinskitch, Ratchet, the professor, and Jinx—she could feel Kazah rip, rend, and roar upon her finger. Suddenly there was a resounding snap—and when Kendra next opened her eyes the stone was completely split in two, burst open like a kernel of popcorn on her finger. She knew the last of the ring’s magic had been exhausted.

  “Oh oh!” Oki exclaimed when he saw the ring. “I hope we’re in the right time.”

  “Me too,” Kendra said, tugging on a braid. “Because no matter what, we’re here to stay. Well, come on. Let’s see if we can find the cloud ship.”

  The snow was deep, but if you’re as light as an Een and the snow has had time to form a crust, you can walk right across it, which is exactly what Kendra and Oki did, all the while staring up through the branches to see if they could catch a glimpse of the Big Bang. Kendra remembered that they had originally time-jumped from the ship during the night and she suspected that their friends hadn’t even noticed them missing until the morning. She wondered how long ago that was from the crew’s perspective. One day? Two? She had no way of knowing.