“How dare you?” he roared, his full strength returning along with the fiery color of his scales. “Treacherous human! I should never have listened to you.”
Bruised and scraped, Kate rose to her feet and declared, “I will never help you. Never.”
“Then you shall die, like all the other forest creatures,” raged Gashra. “I already have enough power to rule the world from here to the ocean. Hmmmmm! I don’t need you or the Fragment to destroy my enemies once and for all.”
Squeezing the glowing sphere in his enormous hand, Gashra waded into the lava lake. Whipping his massive tail back and forth so rapidly it propelled him across the churning surface, he stepped onto the steeple-shaped island. With three great bounds, he ascended the black rocks and stood atop the pinnacle. There he stood, laughing, looking down upon Kate.
Holding the Broken Touchstone in his outstretched hand, Gashra leaned back his head and cried, “The time has come, O mountain of wrath. Break your bonds, free your power. Explode in triumph!”
Again the mountain rumbled and shook, though this time it vibrated down to its deepest roots. The lava lake seethed with new energy, spitting fire high into the air, as hot winds swept around the chamber. Powerful explosions under the earth rocked the walls arching overhead, drowning out every sound but the gurgling laughter of Gashra.
In that instant, Kate did the only thing left to do. She picked up a fist-size stone. There was no time to take proper aim. Her legs wobbled from the vibrations and her eyes stung from perspiration, but she knew she would never make a more important throw. Rearing back like a practiced shortstop, she hurled the stone at the small sphere resting on Gashra’s hand. She watched expectantly as it sailed through the air, straight at its target.
But it missed. The stone passed just above the Broken Touchstone, striking a giant stalactite hanging down from the ceiling. With a plop, the stone fell harmlessly into the bubbling lake of lava.
Seeing this, Gashra laughed still louder. Kate was crestfallen. She knew that she had lost her last chance to separate the sphere from its greedy master. Then, as she backed nearer to the rock wall to escape the surging lava, she saw the stalactite swaying precariously.
Dislodged by her stone, the huge formation broke loose from the ceiling with an ear-piercing crack. Gashra looked up just as the stalactite crashed down onto his outstretched arm, knocking the sphere from his hand. It fell, bounced off the rocks at the base of the island, and landed in the frothing lake. With a shriek of terror, he leaped down from the pinnacle and swung his long arm toward the precious object.
Suddenly, from the shadows behind the treasure hoard a white-winged creature appeared. Soaring like an arrow, it flew toward the floating sphere, clasping it in its talons only an instant before Gashra’s hand reached the spot.
“Kandeldandel!” cried Kate, her voice mingling with the violent rumbling of the mountain.
“Take it,” called the Tinnani as he flew over her head and dropped the Broken Touchstone into her hands. He then landed on the narrow ledge beside her and pulled on her arm. “Follow me,” he cried, ducking into one of the dark tunnels.
Kate darted after him, even as the volcano erupted with a deafening roar.
29
torrent of fire
GUIDED by Kandeldandel’s wide owl eyes, which could sense contour and shadow where Kate saw only blackness, the pair hurried through the lightless tunnel. Knowing that Kate could not run in such darkness, the Tinnani walked as briskly as he could without leaving her behind. Staying no more than a few steps behind him, she clasped the sphere in both hands, aware of nothing but her desire to escape and the insistent throbbing of her left hand. Kandeldandel hooted frequently, perhaps to keep her aware of his exact location, perhaps to frighten any Slimnis lurking ahead in the dark passage.
The tunnel, narrower than the cave by which she had entered Gashra’s lair, sloped gradually downward. Soon Kate discovered a smooth trail running along the middle of the tunnel floor, scraped away by countless Slimnis slithering over the rocks. Feeling more confident, Kate accelerated her pace, keeping her feet within the bounds of the smooth trail, so that she was striding almost on Kandeldandel’s heels.
A powerful tremor rocked the mountain, knocking loose some rocks from the roof of the tunnel. One of them grazed Kandeldandel’s wing, causing him to step suddenly to the side. Kate, following closely, moved likewise. Her foot caught on something protruding from the floor and she fell forward, plowing into the rock wall.
“Uhhh,” she exclaimed, sprawling on the tunnel floor. “The Touchstone! I dropped it.”
“I don’t see it anywhere,” panted Kandeldandel, scanning the darkness for any sign of the sphere. “It can’t be lost.”
“All I feel are rocks,” said Kate as she groped with both hands in the debris. “Where is it?”
At that moment, a dim illumination began to fill the tunnel. From somewhere behind them, a gentle glow expanded, casting a few flickering rays of light on the pair and their surroundings. Kandeldandel stood bolt upright, facing the source of the strange light, but before he could speak Kate spied a familiar round object hidden behind a rectangular rock.
“There,” she cried, seizing the Broken Touchstone once again. She lifted it into the air to show Kandeldandel, but his attention was focused on the tunnel behind them.
“Lava,” declared the Tinnani, his yellow eyes swelling. He grabbed Kate’s shoulder with the talons of one hand and jerked hard to make her stand. “Let’s get out of here.”
They dashed through the tunnel with all the speed they could muster. Darkness posed no problem now, since the orange glow behind them grew stronger and stronger. Hurtling down the jagged-walled corridor, they started to hear the sizzling of lava pressing closer, destroying anything it touched. Even as she ran, Kate noticed that the back of her neck felt increasingly warm.
“The way out,” hooted Kandeldandel, pointing to a pinpoint of gray light far ahead.
Running still faster, the pair practically flew down the tunnel, leaping over dislodged rocks every few steps. Kate held tightly to the sphere, while the gurgling and hissing behind her grew steadily louder. She huffed for breath, her throat burning from the caustic taste of sulfur.
Just as he reached the narrow crack in the rocks that was the exit, Kandeldandel stopped suddenly and whirled around. Kate bumped squarely into his feathery chest. Then, seeing the bright illumination on his face, she turned around herself. What she saw made her gasp and nearly drop the sphere. Not ten feet away flowed a thick tongue of incandescent lava, filling the entire tunnel with sizzling igneous fluid, bearing down on them fast.
“Let’s go,” cried Kate, pushing the Tinnani toward the opening.
Kandeldandel slid through the narrow exit, his fluffy plumage pressing close to his body. “Come on,” he shouted from the other side.
“I’m coming,” answered Kate, glancing back at the moving wall of fire.
She ducked her head, since the opening had not been made with humans in mind, and turned sideways to pass through more easily. Sliding into the crack, she felt the scorching heat of approaching lava on the hand that held the Broken Touchstone. Even the rocks around her were growing warmer, reflecting the volcanic heat.
The passage was narrower than she thought. Squirming, she edged still deeper, but the rocks pressed ever more tightly upon her chest and back. She dug in her feet and pushed as hard as she could, succeeding only in wedging herself more firmly. She pushed again. No motion. She tried to back up, but could not move. Her heart pounded and perspiration rolled down her brow and stung her eyes. But she could not lift her arm to wipe her sweaty face.
She was stuck.
“Come on,” called Kandeldandel. “What’s taking you so long?”
“I’m stuck,” moaned Kate. “Can’t move! And the lava—it’s like fire. Help me!”
The wall of molten rock moved steadily closer. All she could see was the orange light dancing on the rocks next to her face. She drew in he
r legs as far as possible, but the simmering lava advanced irresistibly. Hotter than a blazing furnace, the fluid flowed nearer. In another few seconds it would incinerate her, drowning her quest forever in a river of fire.
Then, above the lava’s spitting and crackling, Kate heard a new sound. Low, mellifluous notes flowed into the opening, like the call of an owl but somehow mellower. She recognized it at once.
“Hey,” she cried to Kandeldandel, “are you crazy? I need your help, not your music!” The leading edge of the lava advanced toward her sneakers, and the treads on her soles started to melt. “Please,” she pleaded, feeling the heat on the bottoms of her feet. “Help me.”
The Tinnani merely continued to play on his flute, filling the air with cheerful song.
“Kandeldandel,” gasped Kate. “This is no time for games. I’m going to die!”
All at once the orange light around Kate faded. The heat of the rocks swiftly diminished, while the treads of her sneakers stopped burning. The lava in the tunnel grew quickly colder and harder, congealing within seconds into solid rock.
“What—what happened?” she asked, her heart still racing.
Kandeldandel, having lowered his flute, replied, “I never thought my little flute could come in so handy.”
“You did that?”
“Guess so,” the Tinnani answered in his laughing voice. “You gave me the idea when you said the lava was like fire.”
“I’m still stuck, though. Even your magic flute isn’t going to pry me out of this crack.”
“Try this,” suggested Kandeldandel. “Take as deep a breath as you can, then when I say, blow out all the air. And hurry, before the lava heats up again.”
Inhaling as instructed, Kate waited for the command, then exhaled completely. At that instant, powerful talons clutched her forward arm and pulled. She felt herself move, but only slightly. Again Kandeldandel tugged, budging her only a fraction of an inch. The rocks around her face and hands grew steadily warmer, reflecting the first flickers of orange light. Just as she was about to gasp for air, the Tinnani pulled a third time. She slid forward and tumbled out of the opening, landing right on top of him.
“You did it!” she shouted, hugging Kandeldandel no less tightly than she clutched the sphere of red obsidian in her hand.
“Owww,” he screeched, pushing her away. “You hurt my wing.”
“Sorry,” said Kate, rolling away. She sat on the rock-strewn ridge, drinking in the cool mountain air. “I never thought I’d be glad to see this place again, but I sure am.”
“I’m not,” answered Kandeldandel, struggling to his feet. He tried to move his left wing, then winced in pain. “I think something’s broken.”
“Gosh, I’m—”
A loud rumbling filled the air, cutting short Kate’s apology. She looked up, noticing for the first time the heavy black clouds darkening the sky above them. Yet she knew they were not clouds of rain or snow, just as the rumbling was not thunder. Turning toward the summit, she realized they had exited below the hissing steam vents, still pouring clouds of hot vapor into the air. Beyond the steaming crevasses she saw a gargantuan pillar of smoking, smoldering ash rising out of the top of the peak, lifting its billowing burden skyward.
The rumbling expanded to an ear-splitting roar. Suddenly the mountain shook with an explosion so violent it knocked both Kate and Kandeldandel to the ground. Struggling to regain their feet, they saw the entire summit above the steam vents rip itself apart in a catastrophic burst of orange flame. Bubbling lava surged out of the gaping crater, while incandescent globs rained down on the ridge like a torrent of fire.
“Let’s get out of here,” cried Kate.
Hurtling down the slope as fast as they could, the pair raced to outrun the lava flowing out of the seething summit. Disregarding the danger of slipping on the jagged and slippery stones, they ran with one thought and one thought only: to escape. More explosions rocked the mountainside above them, flinging lava high into the darkened sky, fueling the outpouring of molten rock.
They dashed ahead of the all-consuming avalanche, but it gained on them rapidly. The ridge line began to level out, and soon they reached the upper edge of the forest. Kate scanned the twisted trees, survivors of countless brutal storms, knowing that in no time they would perish in a flood of fire. As they continued downward, the jumbled rocks of the ridge were replaced by a soft mat of mosses and ferns. Before long, mighty trees towered over their heads, their branches laden with nests and cones and needles.
The air grew thick and smoky, and Kate realized they were entering the Dark Valley. Though her step faltered for an instant, she quickly picked up speed again. She had no choice.
The ground shook again, as the rumbling to the rear grew ever louder. Kate glanced over her shoulder to see a tidal wave of superheated lava descending on the forest, snapping tall trees like toothpicks, instantly cremating trunks and branches. In a matter of seconds, the wave would be upon them. She held the Broken Touchstone close to her chest, consoling herself that at least she had robbed Gashra of his greatest prize.
Just ahead, Kandeldandel halted at the base of an especially grand fir tree. He moved close to the trunk, whose girth almost equaled that of the Ancient One, and laid the hand that held his flute against its gnarled bark. Kate ran over to him, sensing that the Tinnani had chosen this tree as his place to die.
He turned a solemn face toward her and reached out his other hand. Kate took it wordlessly, stepping close to his side. They stood together by the trunk of the great tree, their feet upon its massive roots, as the hot wind of the onrushing lava blew against their faces. Trees cracked and swayed and burst into flames all around them.
Kandeldandel released a long, low hooting sound. The earth under them started to quiver and quake. Closing her eyes, Kate whispered some words of good-bye to Aunt Melanie, hoping that somehow, some way, she might one day hear them. As she started to say the same parting words to Laioni, the roots of the tree suddenly buckled and spread apart.
30
torchlight
THEY dropped swiftly down, landing with an echoing thud on the earthen floor of an underground cavern. Gnarled roots lined the walls around them. Kate looked up just in time to see the fir tree consumed by a rolling wave of flames, barely an instant before the roots above her head closed tight again. She turned to Kandeldandel, sitting beside her on the dirt floor, his face illuminated by the light of a torch affixed to the wall. The playful half grin had returned.
“Thought I’d keep you in suspense,” he hooted casually.
“You did that all right,” declared Kate. “Where in the world are we?”
“Can’t you guess?”
As she scanned the hollow cavern around them, Kate’s first thought was that this was yet another underground tunnel leading to the mountain. But if that were so, why wasn’t it already filled with lava? No orange glow in here. The only light came from the slender torch suspended high above them.
Then Kate peered directly at the torch itself. It seemed familiar in some way. It burned some sort of incandescent gas, but bore no markings at all except the lacy metal band that held it to the wall. Suddenly she remembered where she had seen torches like this before.
“Ho Shantero!” she exclaimed. “This must be one of your Tinnani tunnels.”
“Indeed,” answered Kandeldandel. “If you hadn’t broken my wing back there, I could have taken you back by an easier route.”
“You mean by the seat of my pants, like you did Jody.”
The half grin broadened into a smile. “With you, I thought I could hoist you by your braid.”
“No way.” Kate beamed. “I’d pluck out all your feathers first.”
The Tinnani’s round eyes widened. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Kandeldandel waved a hand toward the gleaming sphere. “Anybody who could get that away from the Wicked One is too much for just one little Tinnani.
”
Gazing into the luminous Touchstone, Kate hefted it in her hand. It felt remarkably light for an object of such unfathomable power. She caught Kandeldandel’s eye. “Nobody’s more surprised than me,” she confessed. “Besides, I couldn’t have done it without you.” Nudging his leg, she added, “Guess I’ll let you keep your feathers. For now, anyway.”
Kandeldandel hooted happily.
Then Kate furrowed her brow. “What do you think happened to Gashra? Is he dead?”
“I doubt it,” answered her friend. “He’s been defeated before, only to rise again later. His plans are ruined, and he’ll need some time to regain his strength, but he’ll be back someday. You can count on it.”
Kate, thinking of a time far in the future, nodded sadly. “Then let’s go back to Ho Shantero. At least the Broken Touchstone can help your people repair the forest after the eruption.”
Kandeldandel bobbed his head thoughtfully. “I hope there’s some forest left to repair.” He indicated the sphere, and his voice brightened. “Don’t get me wrong, though. There will be plenty of happy people when you march in with that little item in your hand.”
“Especially the Chieftess—if, like she said, the Touchstone will make her daughter well again.”
“That’s right,” agreed Kandeldandel. “Just to hear Fanona sing again…Believe me, that would be worth all our trouble.”
“So what are we waiting for?” asked Kate, jumping to her feet.
Kandeldandel, wincing slightly from his injured wing, followed suit. “Let’s go,” he said, his deep voice echoing inside the cavern.
Since the tunnel had been designed to accommodate many Tinannis, both in flight and on foot, Kate could easily stand with ample headroom. Holding the sphere in the palm of her right hand, she passed beneath the glimmering torch. Suddenly, it flamed much stronger and brighter than before. Seeing this, Kandeldandel half grinned at her.
Kate returned the favor. “For someone who calls himself ‘just one little Tinnani,’ you sure managed to do your part for your old family name back there.”