"Zeel's Journey"
Zeel stared in
dismay at the huge gulf of empty air spread out before him. Beyond the edge of
the cloud he hovered above, there was not another cloud in sight. Far below,
what looked like dense jungle was baking in the hot afternoon sunlight. To the
east, and approaching rapidly, was a broad expanse of ocean. Zeel shuddered at
the sight of so much open water. It was very difficult to maintain his hover
field over water without tiring quickly.
He contemplated
the cloud surface below his tentacles. Normally, clouds would not be dense
enough for him to lift himself above their surface, but these strange Eliwan
clouds were made of sturdier stuff somehow. He looked across the broad horizon
and found himself wishing for more clouds. It was a very long way down to the
ground, and he was by no means certain he would be able to bounce his hover
fields in such a manner as to cushion his fall and lower him to a suitable
distance above the surface. Such a maneuver was in the realm of special
tactics, and he had never received such training.
Still, there no
place left to go…unless he wanted to return to the horrid Eliwan. Looking back
into the dense forest of strange cloud plants through which he had just passed,
he wondered at his easy escape. It had been effortless, too easy, in fact, to
be believed without suspicion.
Perhaps they
mean for me to discover that there is no safe way off their clouds! Looking
down, he gauged the distance to the ground and then eyed the swiftly
approaching ocean. Well, it’s now or never, he thought. I’ll show
them that their little clouds will not be a prison for me! Then, before he
could change his mind, he slid from the edge of the cloud and felt his fields
slip away into nothing. He balled his tentacles up in the way he had seen the
AGA sky-troopers do, and watched the rapidly approaching ground. There were big
trees down there—trees which could hinder his descent if he was not careful.
But the trees could also help give him some indication of how near the actual
ground itself was—assuming that these were average trees.
The leafy green
treetops grew bigger and bigger in his field of vision. Soon, he could discern
individual leaves and he judged himself close enough to try to bounce his
fields off the ground below. In theory, the fields would reach out below until
they touched the surface. They would be stretched terribly thin and very weak,
then grow quickly stronger as he approached the surface. The fields would
actually pick up energy through the compression lent by his rapid descent,
reaching a point where they would slow him down and then "bounce" him gently
back upward until he could readjust them to take him to the proper height above
the actual ground.
Zeel snapped out
all of his tentacles at once, and poured all of his energy into the hover
fields. The energy just vanished into thin air, he felt no contact with the
surface. And then he smashed through the tops of the trees and realized his
mistake. The trees were huge. Gigantic in proportion, the individual
leaves being more than five times his own length. He had attempted to bounce to
soon and now his energy reserves were depleted!
He knew his time
was short now, as he crashed down between huge branches, the sky closing off
above him as he entered the sticky humidity of the jungle. Any moment now it
would all be over. He saw the ground at last and gave his fields a final push.
Nothing, not even a fizzle. He simply had no energy left.
Suddenly, the
view beneath him was obscured by a fluffy white substance. A cloud! He touched
the soft surface of the cloud, which was apparently descending only slightly
slower than his own velocity. The cloud began to slow its descent the moment he
touched it. Zeel felt the strong pull of gravity as he decelerated. And then,
before he even had time to question his good fortune, the cloud halted just
above the surface and tilted so that he slid off. He caught himself just in
time, his shaky fields holding him barely above the heavily overgrown jungle
floor.
He looked at the
cloud in amazement. It stared back at him with two eyes made of crackling
lightning, blinked once and then shot skyward once more. As his gaze followed
it up, he caught sight of a winged figure launching itself from a high branch.
One of the winged Eliwan! Were they finally coming to get him? But then he saw
the distant figure flap its wings energetically as it climbed in pursuit of the
strange cloud which had rescued him.
v
"Well, that was
certainly close!" exclaimed Shimmer, standing before the Mirror of Knowledge in
the Hall of Scholars.
"Close? It was
almost killed!" exclaimed Nimbulo, distraught by the Invader’s narrow rescue,
which they had all just witnessed in the Mirror. "Just another second or two
and…well, just think of how much knowledge could have been lost to us all!"
"Now, now,
Elder. Calm down." Jaela said soothingly to the much older magi. "We all agreed
that this plan was our best chance to discover the creature’s intentions here
in our world."
"Yes, yes. Just
so. But I don’t have to enjoy the spectacle!" Nimbulo’s frown deepened the
creases in his lined face. His long bony fingers toyed nervously with his
prominent chin. "I think I shall retire," he announced with a weary sigh. "Let
me know the moment anything unusual happens!"
Jaela nodded
acknowledgement and then turned her attention back to the Mirror. The creature
was floating only a few inches above the ground, listing slightly to one side.
It was stationary, but seemed to be looking around itself.
"I don’t know,
Regis…he, I mean it, doesn’t look so good. Do you think that maybe the fall
hurt it after all?" Shimmer’s voice was full of concern.
Jaela eyed the
adept, slightly surprised at Shimmer’s depth of concern for their strange
visitor. "I don’t know," she replied. "I was surprised when it decided to drop
from the cloud, but I have a feeling that it wasn’t trying to kill itself."
Shimmer turned
from the Mirror to cock a questioning brow toward Jaela.
"Yes. I think it
thought it could manage that sort of drop…and maybe it could have, were it not
for its injuries. There is still much we have to learn about this being."
Shimmer didn’t
reply, she just nodded and turned back to the image. She gasped, the Invader
was looking straight at them—or at least it was looking straight into the
Farsight gem dangling from Yeepo’s torso.
"Yeepo! No! What
are you doing?" Shimmer cried. "You’re supposed to stay out of sight!"
"Shhh…look. It’s
doing something? Jaela pointed to the creature.
The image in the
Mirror showed the Invader growing larger as it hovered slowly toward the
Farsight Gem and Yeepo. It’s huge eye narrowed as it approached. Slowly, it
raised one of its tentacles, which was grasping a big stick.
"Uh-oh," said
Shimmer.
The creature
waved the stick back and forth, and the image in the Mirror followed the
motion. Suddenly the Invader threw the stick off to one side. The view reeled
as Yeepo flew after the thrown stick. Shimmer groaned and put one hand to her
head. "Yeepo can never refuse a game of fetch? she wailed. Suddenly the image
went blank.
Jaela whirled to
look at Shimmer. "What happened?! Is Yeepo?"
Shimmer
concentrated. She could still feel her energy channeling though the little
vellup. There did not seem to be any lessening of the connection.
"No. I think
Yeepo is alright. She’s still invoked, anyway, and I can’t feel any distress
coming through the link." Shimmer looked back up at the blank Mirror. "But I
think our little friend just trashed the Farsight Gem!"
Jaela looked
very upset. "Perhaps trusting this job to an alaban kit was not the best idea we’ve
ever had?
"Hey, now?
began Shimmer, but Jaela waived aside her protest.
"I’m sorry,
adept. Do you think it would be wise to call Yeepo back here?"
Shimmer
considered, finally shaking her head. "No. Yeepo seems to be fine so far. I
think I’ll let her stay with Zeel a while longer. At least maybe we’ll have
some warning if they get into trouble—I should be able to feel it through the
link."
Jaela nodded.
"She’s your creature." The Regis turned to leave, saying, "I’ll send a few more
of the Guard to keep an eye on them from nearby…just in case."
v
They are
watching me! Zeel was furious. They’re just toying with me! He
smashed what was left of the spying crystal against the nearest trunk. The
strange little flying creature who had been sent to watch him was now buzzing
circles around him, every now and then diving in to give him a playful little
prod.
"Go away!" he
yelled, tossing the stick for what seemed like the millionth time. He watched
as the beast flitted off after the stick, knowing it would return all too soon.
He had tried clubbing it with the stick instead, but the creature was too fast
and seemed to think it was all a game of some sort.
They should
have just let me die, he thought. Why did they save me? He
remembered the strange cloud creature which had cushioned his fall, and now
understood that it had been summoned by his unseen caretakers to rescue him. Why
didn’t they just take me back up to their city in the clouds?
His reverie was
broken by the approaching buzz of the annoying little flyer. He decided to try
ignoring it instead. Maybe it would grow bored and fly off on its own. At least
he had destroyed the spying crystal. Zeel eyed the tangled branches over head. There
are probably plenty more where this one came from! How am I ever going to be
free of these monsters?
Tired of questions without answers, he decided to
take a further look at his new surroundings. The forest floor was covered in
dense underbrush. He could now lift himself high enough to avoid the worst of
it, but he was still covered in itchy scratches from the taller brush. The
light seemed to be dimming, although it was hard to tell since the dense
foliage cut off all view of the sky.
He slid silently between the towering trunks of the
alien trees, trying hard not to become alarmed by the strange forest sounds all
around. The little flyer kept pace with him, having long since given up trying
to get him to throw the stick again. Now it just hummed along beside him,
keeping a companionable silence. Oddly enough, he found its continued presence
reassuring.
Gradually the light dimmed, and the forest shaded
from rich emerald hues to pale indigos. Nocturnal animals scurried through the
underbrush below his unprotected tentacles, and he shuddered at the thought of
what manner of nasty beasts were hiding in the shadows just below him, waiting
to reach up and snatch him out of the air for a quick snack. The darkness was
unnerving, but with the use of his sub-oculars, he found he could see well
enough.
Eventually, he grew very tired and felt he could
not go further without rest. He searched around and found an old tree with a
large hollow. Tossing a stick inside the dark opening in the tree, he waited as
the little flyer eagerly dashed after it. He listened for the sounds of a
threat from within, but all he heard were the happy chirps of his companion.
Soon, the little creature came flitting out of the darkened trunk, stick in
mouth, humming happily. It dropped the stick at his tentacles and waited, eyes
gleaming in the darkness.
Zeel felt a little guilty for having used the innocent
creature as bait for some unseen monster lurking in the darkness. He shrugged
it off and, ignoring his companion, floated silently into the hollow tree.
Inside, it was warm and dark and smelled of rich earth and wet wood. The flyer
followed him inside, subdued. Maybe it was tired too, he mused. Settling
himself, he closed his great ocular on the enveloping darkness and tried to
calm his shattered nerves enough to get some sleep. Luckily, sleep came easier
than he had thought it would, and he soon drifted off into a peaceful slumber,
accompanied by the gentle humming lullabies of his little alien companion.
What happens next? Read Part 8 "Morag's Discovery" |
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