Fractured Worlds (Book 1 of the Fractured Worlds Trilogy) Read online

  13: THE BIRD CAGE

  The small single window in the cabin faced rearward from the blimp, and was only large enough for two of the children to look out of at a time. It was just big enough for the smallest of them, Sarah, to crawl through if they broke it out, but there was no place to go. Even since their first moments aboard, the back end of the ship had hung out over the canyon, and now they were even higher up as the craft steadily rose. Plans to escape the birds were being tossed around. Joshua’s first big idea was to rush the birds when the door opened, but the plan only got a laugh from the others.

  “Come on William, you and I could take a couple of those big green squawkers out.” He urged.

  William’s eyes got big at the thought of that, “You know they’d make dog meat out of us Josh! Sorry buddy, you’re on your own there.”

  Joshua nodded passively at the truth of it. Becky’s idea to hide somehow was no better.

  Then Leena took charge, “Look, were just a bunch of scared kids, OK? Nobody is going to try to escape, or do anything else that might make our non-hostile captors, hostile!” She glared at each of them, including William. “Understand?”

  They all nodded sullenly, a little shocked by the sudden command.

  After several moments Josh explained, “Holy cow Leena, we were just trying to help.”

  She realized the outburst wasn’t really called for. “I’m sorry, it’s just that this is no game. Don’t you guys get it?”

  “Sure.” Josh replied.

  Leena wasn’t convinced, “Do you realize that Tristan and Penny are gone? We might not ever see them again!” the tone in her voice conveyed the serious nature of their predicament.

  No one said a word for a long while. They all just sat on the round mattress like things, and moped.

  After she saw how somber she’d made the mood, Leena tried to spark up a conversation. “The days seem longer here, don’t they?”

  As none had a watch, no one responded. After a long while she tried again, “It seems like we’ve been flying for hours, doesn’t it?”

  Again there was the same utter lack of reaction, so Leena quit trying.

  Several hours later the pitch of the engines changed, and they could see by the shadows shifting in the cabin that they were changing direction. Becky was the first to the window to see what was happening, followed by William.

  “Hey look!” Becky shouted back to the others, “We’re right by the Ocean!”

  “Wow! It’s really blue.” William added.

  “Let me see!” Sarah insisted, and Becky easily backed away to make room for her.

  After everyone had a look, Sarah took a vigil at the portal, and after another half hour or so she called their attention. “You’ve got to come see this. There is a city down there.”

  “A City?” Leena repeated, and she jumped up to look.

  Sure enough there was a sprawling metropolis below. Spanning from the hills they’d just descended from, as far inland as they could see from their rearward view, and extending somewhat near to the coast line, though not right up to its edge. A large river came into view cutting through the middle of town, and wound its way down to a small delta as it joined the sea. Though none of the buildings seemed very tall, two or three stories at the most, it was a big urban area none the less. They were all startled by the door suddenly opening behind them, and two of the birds cautiously looked in on them. The children all smiled naturally. One of the birds made a subtle squelching noise to the other, and then they closed the door again.

  “Yeah, we’re not going anywhere.” Joshua spoke.

  William and Leena turned their attention back to the city below.

  “I don’t see any cars.” William stated as if surprised.

  Leena looked hard, and saw only some large animals of some sort like cattle, pulling large carts down some of the avenues.

  Then she noticed, and voiced; “No smog either.”

  William smiled a large grin. He was from LA after all.

  There were quite a number of small boats on the river, and Leena looked off to the shoreline of the sea, searching for docks, piers, or anything resembling a port. She saw none, nor did she observe any ships or ocean going vessels at all. That made her wonder, and she mentioned it to the others. Then the craft started to descend slowly, and as they got closer to the ground a strange noise rose up from below, a noise like many birds chirping all at once. As they went even lower they could see many birds waving their wings above their heads, and some doing a sort of dance. Most of the birds were of the green and blue color, but here and there speckled amongst the others were birds of different feathers. Bright purple ones, some orange, a few yellows, and even a couple of white ones.

  “Looks like a welcoming party.” William thought out loud.

  Joshua nudged Leena away from the view port, and watched the scene. After a moment he wryly said, “I saw a thing on National Geographic, where these natives did a weird dance welcoming home a successful hunting party.”

  “Oh shut up Josh!” Becky reprimanded.

  When the blimp was almost on the ground, they could see ropes being tossed down to waiting birds below, and these quickly moored the craft. The landing area was paved with some flat stones similar to flagstone, and there was a large circular area directly below them that was more lightly colored than the rest. After the engines were shut off, the door again opened and several birds entered. This time they had the spear like weapons with them again. They motioned with the weapons for the children to exit the cabin with them, and right then Joshua was thinking just how close to the mark he might be about the hunting party, but it sure wasn’t funny anymore.

  Leena went first, and tried to console the others. “It’s going to be OK. Just follow me you guys.”

  “Yeah,” Josh added, “And don’t anybody make any sudden moves. These guys look kind of nervous.”

  Becky got after him again, “Josh!” But he wasn’t trying to be funny, he meant it.

  The birds led them off the ship towards some close by stone buildings, and several other guard birds followed. The gathering crowd of avians had been quite noisy up to the point when they saw the children, and then they all became deathly silent. This scared the kids, and Sarah started to cry again.

  Leena took her under her arm, and led her along. The crowd parted easily as the lead guard advanced to the entrance of a large two-story building. There wasn’t a proper door, rather there was a thick woven mat hung above the entrance, and the lead bird held this aside for them. It was very dim inside and it took a few moments for their eyes to adjust. There were at least fifteen other green and blue birds inside a large room with hardly any furnishings. The little light there was filtered down from some hidden windows that ran around a thin ledge near the ceiling. Large maps hung from almost every wall, and Leena tried vainly to study these, trying to learn anything of where they were, but she could recognize nothing on them.

  After the guard birds chirped at the others inside, and received some communication from several of them in return, they took position by the entrance, while the others there came close to scrutinize the children. The children returned the observation, as this was the first real chance they’d had to simply study these strange creatures in the calm of the environment. Each stood about the height of a tall man, and had two sets of appendages other than their wings. These each had two flexible joints that ended in a four toed claw, with one claw opposing the other three. In the dim light they looked mostly green, but in the sunlight the birds shimmered with a rich vibrant blue speckled pattern over the bright green. Their beaks were a dull gray, and were small for the size of their heads. The eyes were close set above the beak, and were very large; giving the birds a rather friendly appearance.

  An obvious spark of intelligence gleamed from these solid brown eyes. For the most part
the avians had kept their large wings folded behind, and the children had only seen them unfurled briefly before. The birds observing them began to talk amongst each other. Their language could sound like beautiful song at times, and then it could degenerate into awkward squawks and squeals. Some pitches were quite high too, and on several occasions it actually hurt the children’s ears. Then one of the talking birds pointed to a corridor behind themselves and whistled twice. The guard birds moved up, and led the kids down this, to a set of stairs at the end of it. These steps were hard for the children to climb as they were unusually far apart, but they seemed just right for the birds large feet claws.

  Upstairs they were led to a small room that had another woven mat for a door, and it too was dim inside from a single high hidden window. Then the guard birds left the room.

  “What are they going to do with us?” Sarah asked, and instantly realized that no one knew.

  Leena went to the doorway and pulled the mat back. A guard bird right outside in the hall turned to look at her. She smiled and closed the mat.

  “Well, we aren’t going exploring on our own.” She told the others.

  Joshua rubbed his stomach and said, “I’m hungry.”

  “I have to go to the bathroom.” Becky said urgently.

  As the children looked around the room they found several more of the roundish rough mattresses like had been onboard the blimp, but slightly smaller in size, and one corner of the room had a stone pit with a smallish hole leading down in a pipe. The top of the pit was formed like a bowl.

  “I bet this is where they go.” William speculated.

  A minute later several birds came in, one carried a large bowl of strange looking fruit, and what seemed to be nuts. The other carried a large pitcher filled with water, and a tray with five small wooden cups on it that were carved to look like folded leaves. The first bird left, while the second pointed to the pit and cooed. All of them could understand the pit was just as William had guessed. Then the bird just stood right there, as if waiting for them to go. When it saw that they weren’t going to cooperate, it lifted its tail feathers and squatted over the bowl, and it pooped right there. Joshua started laughing, and the bird started making funny noises almost grunting like. It took the pitcher and poured some into the pit washing the poop down. Then the bird stood aside, and again waited for them to go.

  Leena walked up near the bird and said, “OK. We get it. Now you leave please.” She pointed to the doorway.

  The bird got a confused look on its face as it gazed to where she pointed, then it squawked almost indignantly and briskly left the room.

  Leena laid the ground rules; “Becky you go first. Everyone else face the other way, and let’s talk about something.

  The other kids didn’t have a problem with the arraignment, but it was obvious that Leena and William were definitely embarrassed of each other.

  Sarah though it was funny. “Leena likes William.” She sang teasing them.

  “OK, Sarah!” William tried to get her to stop.

  “William likes Leena.” She sang in retort.

  Later that evening the same bird attendants returned with more water, and an even bigger bowl of fruits, nuts and berries. This time they also brought a plate of some large worm like bugs that were still alive, but upon seeing the utter look of disgust on the kids’ faces, these were quickly removed. The attendant birds seemed to be very friendly towards the children, trying to cater to them as best they could.

  Soon it was dark, and the five young adventures went to sleep on the four mattresses in the room. Becky and Sarah shared one, as they were quite used to each other by then. The bedding wasn’t the most comfortable, as the covering was thick, stiff, and whatever they were stuffed with felt like twigs, but they managed to doze off to sleep pretty quickly anyway. Leena swore to herself before she fell asleep, that she would somehow return to the spire to find Tristan and Penelope.

  Morning found the children in good spirits, but pretty grimy by then. When the attendant birds came to them, they made sure to announce their presence by some chirping before they entered.

  ‘They’re learning about privacy.’ Leena thought, but soon she would be thinking much differently. Breakfast was of a single variety of a soft green fruit, and the attendants seemed to try to hurry the children up as they came to remove the serving bowl soon after it was delivered.

  Shortly a bunch of the guard birds came for them bearing weapons again, and these seemed to be different guards from the ones the day before. The demeanor of this group was much rougher than they had experienced yet, and William told them it would be a good idea to be on their best behavior around them. Everyone saw the wisdom in that, and so complied willingly, and completely. They were taken from their quarters and led to a nearby large circular building with a high dome roof. While they were being marched through a series of hallways, water could be heard running in the background.

  When the birds stopped them in front of a large entrance without a mat door, they children saw an indoor swimming pool inside. The lead bird squawked at them and pointed inside, then it squelched several times and pointed at their jump suits and made a sniffing sound.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Leena fearfully asked Becky with a whisper.

  Her answer came as several birds grabbed William roughly and started to remove his suit.

  “Hey! OK, OK. I get it.” He said and started to strip without their help. “Well you heard them; strip.”

  When he was quickly down to his underwear, he stopped, but the birds weren’t stopping there.

  Soon they herded five quite naked young kids into the large pool.

  “Don’t you boys even think of peeking!” Leena told William and Josh, with certainty of reprisal evident in her tone.

  “Yeah!” Becky and Sarah joined.

  So the kids cleaned up as best they could without any soap. The boys facing one way, and the girls together the opposite. In no time though, they were all splashing each other and having good clean fun.

  Soon some attendant birds showed up and cooed for them to get out, and again the modesty factor kicked in. They didn’t find their clothes in the corridor, rather several birds each held up a strange looking garment made entirely from bright green feathers for them. After they each easily slipped in to these ‘feather coats’ as Sarah had dubbed them, another bird sprayed them with a very nice fragrance that smelled of beautiful flowers.

  “Hey! I don’t were perfume.” Josh protested, but got sprayed down anyway.

  The attendant birds were carrying on amongst themselves, and really made quite a fuss pampering the kids. One even sprinkled brightly colored flowers on them. Joshua was the only one not enjoying it, as even William thought it funny, and was laughing. When the pampering was finished, the rough escort birds came back for them, and took the children for a stroll.

  As they rounded a corner the children found themselves in a bustling busy section of the city. All of the bird citizens stopped as they saw the children, and began to chirp and squawk as if amazed. Most of them were the green and blue variety, but there were a few solid bright orange ones, and even a pair of pure white ones together.

  The kids were marched through several such streets almost as if they were on display for all to see. Turning another corner they were suddenly on a much wider thoroughfare, and as with all the others, this was paved with irregular stones. At the end of the boulevard stood a grandiose looking building surrounded by a high white plastered wall. It was a good ten meters taller than any of the surrounding buildings, or any they had seen up to then, and its’ roof was decorated with a shining blue metal covering.

  Most of the other buildings they had seen were mostly square in design, but this one was very elegantly rounded with a flow to it. Twin guard towers flanked a highly decorated arched entrance, and the children could see they were headed right for this.


  “This must be a palace or something.” Leena guessed.

  “Or maybe some sort of weird church.” Becky offered.

  Just as the group approached the entrance gate, suddenly the natural sunlight changed color all around; it went from a bright blue sky to a musty dim orange tint. At the same time they each felt precipitously much heavier, each of them including the guard birds collapsing to the ground. All the other birds on the street did the same as well.

  “What the heck is going on?” Joshua screamed out.

  “This isn’t good.” William also grunted.

  Sarah gasped, “Are we dying?”

  The tough guard birds let out pitiful chirps and squeals.

  Then just as suddenly the bright blue sky reappeared, and they all could breathe much easier as their normal weight returned. The guard birds quickly got up and helped the children back up also, before hurrying to the gate. All the other citizen birds fled as if terrified, making awful noises of fright. Right away the guards were much more nervous and kept back from the children as they marched quickly.

  “I hope they don’t think that we did that.” Sarah shared.

  Leena thought back to that fateful event in the spire the day before last and said, “Maybe we did.”

  ----------

  Millie Schotner watched the funeral procession from the crystal clear top of the spire. The Andorians were very strict with their rites and rituals, and as far as she knew no non-Andorian had ever even seen one of their funerals. There was no way she could be a part of it, even though she was their sworn ruler, but she still felt honored to even be allowed to watch from a distance.

  One of the Andorian soldiers named Rolf, whom had stayed behind to slow the humans down, had been mortally wounded in the fight. It was amazing that he was able to actually walk out of there, and then even transport after the battle. He had died a short time later there on Regulus four. She had always found the Andorian’s willingness to die for her, or her plans; to be the most honorable and loyal trait the beasts possessed. In the distance she could see them light the funeral pyre.

  Everything else had gone exactly according to her plan; the ancient stash of weapons and equipment was right where they’d left it so long ago, and now they were free to finish the war that would forever change their section of the Universe. Millie would rule all the many galaxies of the ancient ones, and that decrepit race that she was exiled from would pay with their very existence. A smile came to her withered face as she thought of the cold sweetness of her long overdue vengeance.

  The smile was wiped off in an instant, as the bluish sunlight of Regulus alpha suddenly increased in brightness until it was almost white, and Millie felt herself become much lighter in weight. She looked out at the funeral procession and saw that they too were experiencing the same thing as the Apes scurried for cover. This lasted only for a few seconds and then everything was back to normal with the gravity and sunlight.

  “Oh no!” She said to herself. “Our purge device must have caused a rift.”

  Once the apes had returned she broke the bad news to them not so gently.

  “We must get the device back! If the rift is not repaired it could turn into a full on fracture.” She demanded.

  Fielder asked with an urgent tone, “How do you plan on doing that my Queen, if we don’t have a clue as to where it is?”

  She threw a sickly grimace at him, “Well all we can do with is what we do know. One; that a team of the human children have the device. Two; that they will be desperately trying to get back to Earth if possible.”

  “I don’t see how that helps us at all my Lord.” General Koko huffed.

  “If we don’t get the purge device, that set us free, back into our possession, and reconfigure it to seal the rift. The teleport spires could very well become useless, and where would that leave us?” She explained.

  The Andorians were ruffled by the idea of imprisonment again.

  “We must go back to Earth, and try to track down just where that successful team wound up.” Millie said with disgust. “Perhaps if we are lucky, those brats will have found their way home by now.”

  “Argh!” came a lament from most of the Apes.

  “Even with our standard weaponry we have retrieved, Earth will be very dangerous now my Lord.” General Koko said flatly.

  “And since when has danger become a deterrent to an Andorian, my friends?” Mille challenged.

  After a general growl of angst, the apes nodded in unison.

  “We serve at your command my Queen.” Koko affirmed. “We return to Earth.”

  ----------

  The courtyard of the palace like building was crafted into a gorgeous flower garden, complete with a fountain that featured a metallic golden fish seemingly jumping from the water.

  Once inside the building proper the children were taken down a long wide hall that ended at a huge silk looking tapestry of ornate story telling design. There was a tough looking bird with a long spear like weapon guarding each side of this curtain of sorts, and from behind the silk like barrier the children heard birds squabbling about something. One of their escorting birds made a fairly loud sounding squelch, like it was clearing its’ throat. The birds guarding the barrier didn’t seem to notice, or care.

  So the visiting group waited for what seemed like the longest time until the squabbling from behind the curtain finally stopped, and then there was a single solitary squeal from inside. The birds guarding the entrance raised their spears, and each pulled back on a side of the curtain allowing passage. The children’s escort then ushered them through. Inside was what could only be described of as a throne room. There were large luxurious pillows tossed into a heap on a raised section of the floor, and above and behind these were some of the most beautiful stained glass windows any of the kids had ever seen. All of this was at the apex of a large oval shaped room. Everything else in the room was ornate as well; intricate wooden carvings served as structural support columns symmetrically placed around the room to hold up a large vaulted ceiling with divine looking murals painted upon it. Each section of the rounded wall also had elaborate murals painted on them, seemingly illustrating stories about the green and blue birds, and their culture.

  There were birds of different colors in the paintings too, often times they seemed to show scenes of violence between the differing types. In fact several of the images were down right bloody. One showed what looked like an army of white birds marching on the green and blue birds, then the next panel showed something gray and very large seemingly dropping from the sky onto the army of white birds. The final panel of this story series showed a golden fish rising from the remains of the gray thing, and the green and blue birds bowing down to it, as if saved by it.

  “I don’t like the looks of that.” Leena said very softly, and only Becky heard her.

  Their escort birds suddenly pulled their wings over their heads and sat on the highly polished stone floor. The children looked to each other for a clue as to what to do, but they had none. The room was very quiet. Another of the green and blue birds, dressed with golden chains from which hung a large metallic golden fish, stood to the rear of the chamber, and it was rather nasty looking by its’ demeanor. This one held what looked to be a small pirates cannon from an old time movie.

  Leena glanced at William and whispered, “Do you think we ought to say something?”

  He was just about to shake his head ‘no’, when the large nasty like mean bird let out a piercing shriek. There was no mistaking that this meant to be quiet. Several long seconds ticked by, and then a human voice came from somewhere in the room; “Do you think we ought to say something? It sounded just like Leena’s voice, but it wasn’t from her. Becky started to shake, and tremble. Then a slight movement caught their eyes.

  Suddenly there was a loud “POP”, and a huge billowing cloud of green smoke filled the space right over the mound o
f pillows. Following right behind this noise there was a loud flapping sound, and green smoke curled around inwards at the sides of the cloud from a vortex that was being created. A second later a huge flapping bird emerged from the smoke, and it rose to hover above the children menacingly. Then it let an ear piercing shriek at them, and thunder erupted from a long bluish metal rod it held, like a gun shot. Next the hovering bird really let out a thunderous caw that almost dwarfed all the other noises. The children fell at their feet in terror, as they all started to cry. Then the menacing monster bird flapped backwards some and simply stopped flapping its wings, causing it to drop onto the pillows beneath. It easily landed with large powerful legs, and regally folded its’ wings behind. It took a few moments to nestle into the pillows as if making sure it was comfortable. After it was settled the bird looked the group of terrified children over, as if pleased with itself, and then let out a single mellow squawk.

  Leena found courage she didn’t even know she had, and stood up. “My name is Leena. We are from the planet Earth.”

  The bird looked perplexed.

  “That’s great Leena, this dumb bird doesn’t understand a word you are saying.” Josh quipped with tears still forming.

  Leena laughed unintentionally, but briefly.

  The main bird made a curious ‘cooting’ sound, and then it waved the metal rod in the air. Another bird entered from an unseen entrance off to their right. This one held a golden rod with the ever popular fish hanging from chains on its’ end. It also had another golden fish medallion around its neck. A long dark cape shrouded most of this bird’s body and head, but it was obvious that it was much older than any they’d seen so far; just from the grey white feathers around the face. This was the first time the kids had actually seen one of the birds wearing any sort of clothing. It approached the children with a strange quick gaiting walk, and then it paused. Followed by the quick walk again, and another pause as it stared down at them, all the while the bird’s beak was half open with its thick tongue sticking partly out.

  Just the freaky manner in which it did this made Sarah cry again. This didn’t deter the bird in the least, as it went back and forth in front of them, just pausing and staring.

  “It’s going to eat us!” Sarah whined.

  “No one is going to eat us, right Will?” Leena asked for help.

  “I’m sure they won’t” He agreed, though hoping not.

  After only a couple minutes of the strange dance, the old bird left the same way he came in.

  “See.” Leena consoled Sarah.

  Then the bird on the pillows tapped his rod on a brass like bell, hanging near him, three times.

  Another bird entered from a second hidden entrance off to their left, and this one had a full body length robe on made of brilliant yellow shinny material. It also wore a strange pointed hat that the children all recognized to be the same shape and proportions as the spire. It slowly and graciously walked up to the kids. A serene, calm manner was about the bird. When it was only a meter from them it stopped and made a very formal bow. Becky bowed right back, and then Leena followed by the others did likewise. Then the bird opened a book it held, and started speaking, but it wasn’t speaking in bird language as was immediately obvious. The voice sounded human if fact, although it wasn’t speaking English. It seemed like Chinese, or Japanese to them.

  After uttering a long sentence in the foreign tongue, the bird stopped speaking, and waited as if for a response from them. Leena felt she should say something, and glanced to the other kids for a clue. They all had blank looks on their faces.

  “We are lost here.” She motioned to herself, and then to the floor.

  The bird remained still.

  “You know, lost.” She put her hands palm up, and shrugged her shoulders. Right away Leena realized that didn’t make any sense to the bird, so she spun around in a circle a couple of times as if she were confused. “Lost.”

  The bird started talking in the peculiar language again.

  Leena nodded as it finished, “Yeah.” She turned to face the others, “I think it understands.” She faced the bird in the yellow robe again, “We need to get back to the spire, to get my brother and our friend back.” She pointed to the bird’s hat. “The spire.”

  William saw that she was getting excited as she thought the bird could actually understand her. He clearly saw that what she understood from her gestures, and what the bird got from them could be two totally different ideas. He touched her elbow lightly to get her attention.

  She looked at him with enthusiasm written all over her face. “I think it really understands me!”

  William shook his head slightly, gently trying to inform her that she was off the mark.

  “What?” Leena asked, as she was perplexed.

  “They might mistake what you’re trying to say for something else.” He told.

  She suddenly saw his point. “Oh yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  The bird in the robe and hat had become somewhat excited by all of her commotion, and it turned to talk to the King bird on the pillows very quickly in bird tongue. The King bird responded with a slow whistle.

  “I hope that’s a good noise.” Joshua said.

  Instantly the bird in the spire hat turned back to the kids, and spoke to them in the human sounding language. This time Leena kept quiet. So the bird seemed to repeat itself. Still none of them said anything.

  A sudden snap sound was made as the bird quickly closed the book. It looked the kids up and down for a long moment scrutinizing them, before turning to speak to the King bird once more. The bird King listened, and then waved his arm obviously dismissing the robed bird as it immediately left. Within a second or two the guard birds encircled the children and ushered them forward towards the King, stopping just at the edge of the pillow mound. As the King leaned forward slightly it made a low clicking noise without moving its beak at all. One of the guards roughly grabbed Leena by the arm with its claw, and quickly pinched her index finger with the sharp talons of the other claw.

  “OWW!” Leena let out.

  A good sized drop of blood oozed out, and the guard turned her wrist so the King could see this. The King puffed up a bit, and then visibly relaxed. It made a smooth chirping noise, and the guard pulled some things out of its utility belt. First it dabbed the blood with a cloth, and then it put a drop of some clear ointment on the small wound, before covering it with a small bandage. With a low whistle from the King the guard let go of Leena and abruptly left gingerly holding the cloth it had dabbed her blood with.

  Now the King seemed to speak directly to the children, and after it went on with calm sounding cackles and squawks for a minute, then he finished with a gentle wave of its claw.

  The escort birds led them from the chamber, but they didn’t take them back outside. Instead they were led through a series of hallways deep into the palace, and finally up several flights of broad stairs to a wing of the building with many luxurious looking bedrooms, or nests. The escorts left as soon as they saw that the children understood these were to be their new quarters, and the kids explored the wing, each claiming a bedroom for themselves. All of their rooms were very close to each other, and that alone gave the kids some comfort.

  Before long Leena called them all together to discuss their predicament.

  “So what are we going to do?” Sarah began.

  “I don’t know exactly, but we’ve got to find a way to get back to the spire.” Leena insisted.

  William nodded, “Agreed, but let’s not be too hasty about it. We don’t want to make the birds angry.”

  Joshua broke in, “We have to get back there as soon as we possibly can. Tristan and Penny need our help, and we know the thing is working again; so let’s plan an escape.”

  Leena looked at Josh differently then, as a true comrade in arms almost. His heart was in the right place. />
  “I know,” William nodded, “all I’m saying is that they don’t seem to wish us any harm as of yet, and let’s keep it that way.”

  “I don’t know how we’re going to avoid that Will. They didn’t seem to like us being in their spire to start with, and I sure don’t think they will let us go back willingly.” Leena informed.

  Sarah offered, “You can barely see the top of the spire from my room’s window, so I know it is a long way off.”

  “We need to steal the blimp.” Leena said thinking about the prospect.

  “Whoa, wait a minute.” William held his palm out. “Excuse me for asking, but who is going to fly the thing once we commandeer it?”

  Leena thought about that for a second, “How hard can it be?”

  “That’s just it, we don’t know.” William tried to be patient. ”What if we can’t get it to come down, or if it gets caught in some fierce wind and it blows out to sea?”

  Neither Leena, nor Joshua had an answer for that.

  “We could walk.” Josh then offered. “My leg is a whole lot better since the birds have been putting that stuff on it.”

  Becky dismissed the idea, “You saw how far we flew to get here.”

  “So?” Leena asked defiantly. “What if it takes a couple of weeks? What else are we going to do?”

  “Wait, what are we going to eat or drink for those weeks, or longer? We can’t carry that much stuff.” Sarah became apprehensive at the idea.

  “We’ll survive off the land.” Josh affirmed.

  “Not a good idea guys.” William was shaking his head. “There’s got to be a better way.”

  “Yeah? Well let’s hear it!” Leena almost yelled from frustration.

  William flinched at her outburst, but then started thinking. “You were on the right track to start with.”

  Leena blinked, “What?”

  “The blimp.” He said softly. “It has to be by blimp that we escape. We wouldn’t last a week out there on a forced march, besides the birds would easily capture us again.”

  “You just said we couldn’t fly that thing!” Sarah protested.

  “We can’t.” He looked at each of them evenly. “Which means we have to kidnap one of the birds who can.”

  All of their eyes got big.

  “Which means we’re going to have to get a hold of one of their weapons, and learn how to use it.” Joshua was seeing the dilemma clearly.

  Leena felt a lump in her throat, and she tried to swallow it. The idea of combating the birds, even just one of them, seemed ludicrous. All of them were quiet for a time as the thought of having to use violence sat upon them heavily. Naturally the notion that one or more of them might be hurt, or worse, came to mind also.

  “OK, if we are going to do this, we’re going to have to be very careful, and that means taking our time and planning it to a tee.” William looked straight at Leena.

  She dropped her head and nodded. The part about patience might kill her she thought, but William was right. If they rushed things, they might really get killed.

  Soon some attendant birds showed up with fruits, water, and their now freshly clean golden jump suits, minus the knapsacks. Leena was sure they were the very same attendants from their other quarters. The birds also seemed to indicate by motioning with their arms that the children we free to roam about this section of the complex, but not to go outside.

  These attendants had set up a table in a somewhat larger room with multiple windows facing down on the palace courtyards, and this is where they placed the food. This common area was just down the hall from their rooms on the same level, and it quickly became the place where the kids would meet as a group.

  For the next two days their routine was to try to map as much of the wing they were in as possible, paying close attention to any potential escape routes. They could easily tell where they were not allowed, as there would be an armed guard bird by any of these passages, or door ways. Leena and William focused on mentally making a list of things they were going to need for the escape attempt, and how to possibly prevent or slow the birds down from pursuing them once they did make it out.

  The morning of the fourth day at the palace, a different bird showed up with the attendant birds as they brought breakfast. This one wore a long bright yellow robe. The only other birds they had observed wearing robes or clothes of any sort had been the ones they’d seen in the King’s chamber on their second day in the bird city. This newcomer brought several books with it, and some parchment paper.

  After the children ate, the new bird set its books down on the table and laid some of the blank parchment down. It then removed a thin orange object from the robe, and grabbed it with its claw in a peculiar fashion. Slowly the bird wrote some strange characters on the paper, and then gestured to each of the symbols it had drawn in turn, looking for a response from the kids after each one. When it saw that they did not elicit any notion of recognition from the children, it wrote some more down, and then displayed these new symbols the same way, watching for a reaction after each. This routine was repeated for at least half an hour, until the bird finally looked as though it had exhausted itself.

  The robed one turned to one of the attendant birds, “Breeet.” It sounded.

  Quickly the attendant filled one of their strange cups that resembled a folded leaf with water, and handed it to the other. It drank the entire cup full in several large sips, before it turned to face the children again.

  “Chirp Swee, Chirp Cowck.” It touched its breast.

  Leena caught on first. “My name is Leena.” She said as she tapped herself.

  The bird mimicked her voice almost perfectly, “My name is Leena.” Except that it enunciated everything much more.

  “Wow.” Joshua said.

  “Wow.” The bird said.

  Leena turned to the other kids, “Wait a minute, I don’t want it to get confused. Let me talk to it.” She turned back to the bird which was patiently looking at her. “I am Leena.” She tapped herself again.

  “I am Leena.” The bird pointed at her.

  “Yes!” She nodded vigorously. “You are Chirp Swee, Chirp Cowack.” And Leena pointed at the bird.

  It puffed up its feathers and rose to bow.

  “Yeah Leena, you talk to them!” Becky excitedly encouraged.

  Joshua giggled at the bird’s reaction.

  The bird walked over to Joshua and pointed at him, “Wow.”

  Leena shook her head. “No, Joshua.”

  “No Joshua.” It said and pointed again.

  Leena shook her head and bit her lip. “Joshua.” She pointed to him.

  “Joshua.” It pointed.

  “Yes.” Leena smiled and nodded.

  Then it pointed at Sarah, and waited for a name. Leena went around to all of them introducing each to their new friend Chirp Swee, Chirp Cowck, or Cowack as Leena mispronounced it. The bird then made some more bird talk while waving its arms around at all of them.

  “Oh.” Leena quickly looked to the others and smiled. “We are humans,” and she waved her arms at all of them too.

  “We are Humans.” Chirp Swee repeated.

  “No.” Leena shook her head, and paused before saying, “Humans.”

  “Humans.” It repeated again and then wrote some things on a new sheet of parchment.

  “How come it can talk so good?” Joshua asked.

  “Silly.” Sarah answered. “Birds on Earth can talk too.”

  Joshua thought about it, “Oh yeah.”

  “What are you called?” Leena asked the bird.

  It looked at her blankly, and then Leena motioned back and forth between Chirp Swee, and the attendant birds waiting there. It followed her hand motions for a second, and then said; “Cracowck.” Chirp Swee answered.

  “Crack Ouck” Leena tried to voice, but it was difficult.

  The bird corrected her, “Cracowck.” r />
  Leena got it right the second time, and then the bird wrote some more notes furiously. Chirp Swee again asked for something from the attendant birds, and they quickly brought a small bowl of fruit, filled with the fat round yellow variety the children by now were familiar with. Chirp Swee put one on the table and pointed at it with its claw. Leena thought for a moment, she didn’t know what to call the fruit.

  “Food.” William spoke up. He then pointed to the other fruits in the bowl. “Food.” He said again.

  “Food.” Chirp Swee repeated before writing more. This learning process was repeated with a dozen more items, and though Chirp Swee didn’t freely give the bird language name for each, if Leena asked it would tell her. When Leena pointed to a sheet of parchment and the writing device, asking to use these herself, the bird seemed most amazed as she started to write notes of her own, while trying to sound out the bird name for things.

  Chirp Swee Chirp Cowck was staring at Leena when she finished jotting down all that she now knew of the bird language. As each of them looked into the other’s eyes the glimmer of compassion passed between them. The knowledge that here was another truly intelligent, sentient being that could feel love. That was the very moment when Chirp Swee and Leena became honestly true friends.

  By then the other kids had wandered off to explore and play, as they all still had a great need for play. Yet Leena and Chirp Swee stayed at it for hours, both deeply immersed in the exchange of knowledge.

  Lunch time came, and so too did the other four children as the fresh food was brought again. The others could full well see that Leena had this exchange in full control, and that they weren’t really needed. So after the meal they again went off to either explore, play, or nap.

  Even though Leena still had a need to play, just as much as any of the other kids, she had no interest in it at that moment. She saw another angle, besides a dangerous escape. If she could only communicate with the birds just how desperately they needed to get back to the spire, and why; then Leena was certain they would allow it. The look of compassion in Chirp Swee’s eyes told her that. Before she knew it the sun was starting to set, and Chirp Swee said, “Night, Leena. Chirp Swee go. Sun back, Chirp Swee back.” Then she left politely.

  The same pattern was repeated over the next several days. Chirp Swee would show up bright and early with the attendant birds, and stay all day learning English; while Leena did her best to learn Bird. The attendants were charged with the welfare of the children, as was obvious by the way they took care of Joshua’s injury. Twice a day they would clean and change the dressing while applying their medicines. Soon the wound was healing quickly.

  Every other day the children were taken to a bath house on the palace grounds, and whilst they bathed their jumpsuits were cleaned and washed. On the fourth day the kid’s knap sacks were returned to them, minus several items though. The foremost being the small multi-purpose tool that had been included in each pack. Joshua figured correctly that it was due to the sharp knife blade in them.

  While Leena was learning with Chirp Swee; Joshua and William were on the constant patrol to gather information and weapons. Information was mainly in the form of maps which they painstakingly drew on the back of some of Leena’s parchment notes. Weapons were anything heavy and blunt, or even thin and sharply pointed.

  Since the third day the birds had allowed them much more run of the grounds, even letting them have access to the vast and myriad courtyards. Once the birds had observed the kids playing incessantly, they had assumed correctly that these were indeed children, and so their demeanor changed as a whole. William found he had a knack for planning tactical adventures, and so made a game out of their tasks to either infiltrate secure Bird areas, or spy on particular birds, which they were now giving code names to. Chirp Swee, and Leena actually became known as the Professor and Mary Ann.

  As Leena had spent almost all her time with ‘the Professor’ since it had showed up; the others including Becky began to wonder about her motivation to escape. So they confronted her one evening after Chirp Swee had left for the night. Leena assured them her goal was still to get back to the spire any way possible, but that she just saw another way they might accomplish this.

  “Good enough.” Joshua had told her. “You get what you can from ‘the Professor’, and keep him occupied too.”

  “Her name is Chirp Swee.” Leena corrected him.

  ----------

  Michael and Jackie Welsh waited with the other parents of team number seven in the Dreamland hotel main lobby. The hotel had been taken over, and was now staffed by the FBI as well as Homeland Security. The strange and sometimes deadly phenomena that had occurred around the world shortly after the mysterious explosion of light at Dreamland had subsided within a day or two, but the intensity of the federal investigation of all this was truly just heating up.

  Of the three unaccounted for teams, theirs were the only parents of whom all their children, their only children; were involved, and the only parents willing to put their entire lives on hold to assist with the search. They had moved into the hotel the day before, and were now waiting for the lead investigator to arrive to take them all down to the caverns.

  Agents Stickley and Hansen had explained that there were some mysterious things which the parents possibly might be able to help them understand. Just then the two agents arrived with several other FBI personnel.

  “Good morning folks,” Agent Stickley said as he walked up to the waiting group, “I want to thank you again for dropping everything to assist us here. This is special agents Holder, and Foley. They have been assigned as the lead investigators of this crime scene.”

  “Good morning, I wish I had good news for you right away.” Agent Holder began. “With your help though, I am certain that we will be able to find, and return your children to you safely.”

  “If our children are not on the premises here agent, just where do you think they might have been taken?” A man named Ed Myers asked. His daughter Sarah was part of team seven.

  The sharply dressed, red haired female special agent named Foley answered, “We are not certain Mr. Myers, but there is a possibility that they were taken out of the country.”

  Several of the parents let out audible gasps.

  Jackie Welsh spoke right up. “How about off the Earth. Have you considered that?”

  “Honey!” Michael protested.

  There were several worried exclamations from the group. One of the other mothers, Ms. Robinson, began to cry. Her husband took her protectively into his arms trying to console her, saying; “Now, now. We’ll get Penny back. Don’t worry.”

  “Just what kind of malarkey is this?” Mr. Clarke became angry, and menacingly pointed his finger at Jackie. “You’d better control your wife’s outbursts mister!”

  Michael stepped in front of his wife and stared the man down quickly, due to his own size alone. The finger was retracted and the anger on Mr. Clarke’s face was replaced by knowing fear.

  “Now people! Please we need to focus on the task at hand.” Agent Foley tried to calm them.

  Agent Holder stepped forward. “Yes Ms. Welsh; that is actually the strongest possibility.”

  “Oh my God! Our Becky!” Ms. Johnson too began to cry.

  After everyone was able to calm down somewhat, the FBI led the parents down to the Grand Chamber. All of the blood from the horrifying battle had been cleaned up, showing no evidence of it what so ever. They were taken down one of the tunnels all the parents recognized from the video clips they had watched their children disappear down so many days ago it seemed.

  One of the tunnel entrances was cordoned off by crime scene tape, and had an FBI man standing guard with a rifle.

  “What’s the deal with the sealed off tunnel Holder?” Mr. Clarke sharply questioned.

  “That is where
we found those interesting silver statues of team two Mr. Clarke. You’ve all seen the pictures.” Holder answered curtly.

  Jackie was going to say that they were not statues to the agents once again, but then thought better of it.

  The tunnel was straight and about two hundred meters in length, opening up to a small cavern that had a dozen other tunnels leading back out of, and in front of them a smooth rounded wall of some sort of material comprised one end of the cavern. Prominent in this was an inky black entrance that was fairly large.

  “What you witness next will astonish you, but please trust me and follow me.” Agent Holder informed them. He then walked up to the strangely black entrance, and vanished into it completely. Agent Foley walked right up to the same, and asked; “Are you alright agent Holder?” She seemed very complacent by the way she asked this, as if knowing the answer already.

  “Yes, agent Foley, I’m fine. Please proceed.” He answered from the inky darkness.

  Then she too entered and vanished.

  “It is just some sort of barrier folks, nothing to be alarmed by.” Agent Hansen told, and motioned for them all to follow. Jackie was the first, and thus the bravest one as she strode purposefully through the barrier.

  “Come on Michael, it’s OK.” She called back from the dark.

  Soon the entire group was through, and beholding the gigantic towering interior of the spire.

  “What is this place?” Ms. Brown, William’s mother asked in awe.

  “And where is all the light coming from?” Mr. Clarke added.

  Agent Foley answered, “The lighting seems to be from the wall material itself, though we don’t know how exactly.”

  Then Holder told them, “We think this is some sort of transport, or rather a teleportation device.” He walked over to one of five golf carts waiting for them by the entrance, and motioned for them all to find a seat on the carts. “If you’ll please.”

  “Is it safe?” Penny’s mom asked.

  Then Becky’s mom, Ms. Johnson asked fearfully, “We don’t have to climb those stairs do we?”

  “Yes it is safe.” Foley said, and then; “No, we don’t have to climb the stairs; there is a lift to the top.”

  As they all boarded the golf carts, Michael noticed two assault rifle armed agents well off to the sides of the mysterious entry way, guarding it. They rode to a large raised disk on the floor of the massive structure, in the very center. The agents told them to all get onto the disk quickly, and move to its center. When all were aboard as he asked, the center floor of the disk lit up with a red blinking light, which soon turned blue and the disk rose up in the air; slowly at first, then with increasing speed.

  “What the heck?” Michael wondered.

  Mr. Clarke asked, “How does this work? I don’t see any cables.”

  “Anti-gravity as best we can figure, but we don’t understand how yet.” Holder explained briefly. He made sure they were all grouped toward the center as it reached the top, so none would have to duck down, and the disk settled right up against the ceiling, pushing them all up through the hole in the cathedral. It was a short step up into the cathedral from there, and they all marveled at the size of the even more gigantic hole in the ground around the spire.

  “Honey! This is the room they showed me pictures of. This has something to do with our kids!” Jackie became very animated. “Don’t you feel it?”

  “Oh, um, sure. I guess.” Michael responded, though he really didn’t know just how he felt about it just then.

  Agent Holder had them gather around the five raised pedestals on the floor, and stepped up on one of them. Nothing happened. “We don’t know exactly what the function of these daises are, but we strongly suspect they are the key to where ever your children are.” He said plainly. “We would like to see if any of you have some effect on them, or feel anything concerning them.” He stepped down and continued, “Now if we could have you each step up on these, one at a time to start with.” He then motioned to Agent Foley.

  “Mr. Clarke, you first please.” Foley invited him. He obliged, but again nothing happened. Then she went through each couple one at a time, and with each there was nothing, until Ms. Myers turn. Sarah’s mom caused the pedestal to sparkle with light at its base a little bit, but nothing else.

  “Now that’s interesting.” Holder said. “None of our agents have had any response from these things at all.”

  They took some readings with instruments before they let her get down.

  So they continued on with the others, and when Penelope’s mom stepped up on a pedestal, it instantly lit up with glowing golden light that wrapped up around her like a liquid flowing slowly.

  “Holy mackerel!” Agent Holder exclaimed. “Now that’s something. Foley! Get some readings on this.”

  Agent Foley again pulled the rather exotic looking small instruments from her blazer, and started measuring readings from the light.

  “Are you alright honey?” Mr. Robinson asked fraught with worry.

  She giggled and said, “This feels great! It’s wonderful.”

  The agents kept her up on the pedestal for at least a half hour, all the while taking readings, measurements, video, and pictures too. Then they had to practically beg her to get down, as she was enjoying the sensation so much.

  Upon continuing the trial of each parent, they came to Michael second to last. He only sparked the base of the pedestal with light similarly to Sarah’s mom. Then it was Jackie’s turn, and she lit the pedestal up fully as had Penelope’s mother.

  “You were right Ms. Robinson. This does feel wonderful.” Jackie exclaimed with delight.

  They only took video and readings for several minutes of Jackie being washed in the golden mysterious light, when they then asked Penny’s mom to step up on another pedestal along with Jackie.

  Agent Holder gave them both instructions before she did so however. “If you find yourselves somewhere else suddenly, try to come back here right away if you can.”

  “Hey! Wait a minute here.” Michael protested. “I don’t want to lose my wife too!”

  “Ditto!” Mr. Robinson added with frustration.

  Agent Foley told them, “It’s the only way we may ever be able to get your children back.”

  Both men relented, being coaxed on by the other parents too. So Ms. Robinson took the step up, and then both women were bathed in the glorious light. After several minutes it seemed the agents were mildly disappointed that nothing else was happening, until suddenly a golden sphere of the same light erupted in the center of the semi-circle of daises.

  Both Jackie and Penny’s mom could see a group of yellow, armed, and armored ape like beings with a familiar face in the center of them. It was Millie Schotner’s face.

  “What are you two doing there?” Millie asked. “You both look familiar.”

  Ms. Robinson spouted with venom, “What have you done with my daughter you evil Witch?”

  A look of recognition crossed Millie’s withered features, along with an understanding. “Get them both!” She ordered. The whole rest of the group, which could not see what was transpiring, but could hear it; watched helplessly as a large yellow furred paw reached from the sphere of light and grabbed Penny’s mom, pulling her into the sphere, and she was gone.

  “Jackie! Get out of there!” Michael yelled.

  Jackie jumped off the pedestal just as another large furry paw reached for her. The sphere of light didn’t vanish, but the light from the two pedestals the women had been on did.

  “You stay with her, the rest of you follow me.” Everyone heard Millie’s command. Suddenly there were four large yellow apes standing on the pedestals armed with some very large evil looking weapons, and almost completely covered with armor of a type unknown to any of them. On the center pedestal stood Millie Schotner herself. The FBI agents were already drawing their guns, but Millie suddenly
seemed to puff up, and the sphere of light expanded outwards, pressing all of those outside of it up against the clear spire wall. None could move, and breathing was very difficult.

  Jackie however was inside this sphere of light, and the apes turned to her. She quickly jumped down through the center hole leading up to the cathedral. The lift disk was now about a meter or so below the entrance hole, and she landed roughly with a thud.

  “Get her General Koko!” Millie barked.

  Jackie saw the stairs leading right up to the disk, and she quickly scrambled over to them and started to run down them as fast as she could. A loud thud came from behind her, and she heard an ungodly growl. She peered just over the lip if the stairs and saw the FBI men so far below, she knew there was no way she could make it all the way down the stairs.

  “Help! Help me!” Jackie screamed at the top of her lungs.

  Heavy footsteps behind came from behind her, and she ran. The ape had her knocked down in a second flat, and pinned with her head just over the edge. “You aren’t going anywhere!” It growled at her.

  Below she could see the agents go into action. “You up there, FREEZE!” came the distant shout.

  “FBI, argh!” The ape half growled, and half spat with disgust. A low mechanical whine came from just above her, and she tried to squirm away, but the paw holding her was far too strong. Then the ape muttered, “Die FBI.”

  Suddenly the whole world around her erupted in light and noise. It was a god-awful sound too, like a super-sonic jet, or rocket streaking past her head. A large fireball flashed down towards the agents below, and then the tiny looking golf carts were blown apart by a thunderous explosion. She could see several of the agents were hurt and trying to crawl away, and a couple weren’t moving at all. Automatic rifle fire burst forth from the agents near the entrance, but their bullets were far too low of their mark. The low mechanical whine came from above her again, and she twisted her head to look up.

  The ape was holding Jackie down with one paw while kneeling on her back, and aiming a large weapon down past her head. Then there was another blinding flash of light accompanied by the rocket like roar. Jackie looked down as the fireball exploded too near one of the rifle firing men, and he was thrown quite a distance. His screams reached her in a couple of seconds. The same deadly whining noise came again and she knew she had to do something to stop this beast from killing all those men below.

  As she couldn’t get loose, all she could do was bend her knees, so she kicked up hard with both heels simultaneously. She felt and heard the thudding impact, and then there was a desperate growling yell. Jackie watched as the ape fell, screaming the whole way down.

  “You wench! You die!” Came another growl from up the stairs. Jackie started to get up to run again.

  “Get her! Bring her alive!” Millie shouted.

  All too quickly another hairy paw of incredible strength grabbed Jackie, and hauled her back up the stairs. It jumped with her up in to the cathedral and rapidly pulled her with it onto a pedestal. Jackie saw her husband helplessly pinned by the light sphere against the clear wall, and each said volumes to each other with their frightened eyes alone. Another bright flash of light, and she was instantly somewhere else.

  Jackie could still hear the echo of Michael screaming, “NOOOO!”

  ----------

  Within a month Leena and Chirp Swee had started to communicate fairly well, mostly in English as Leena was not as quick to learn the difficult Bird language, called Threelt, as was her new friend was able to garner theirs. She was being taught an enormous amount of fascinating information about the Birds, and their culture though.

  They called themselves Cracowcks, and their city was known as Breek Ka Caw. The Cracowcks were a very social creature, and enjoyed a fairly unfettered society. Their King’s name was Crathra, and he was known to be mostly reclusive. Technologically speaking they were somewhat advanced in certain areas, and seemingly very backwards in others. Like their ability to build airships run by complex engines, yet not to have a motor vehicle one in the city. They had running water, but then their sewage system left much to be desired. This Leena was told was in part due to Crathra’s many idiosyncrasies, one of which was his jealous hoarding of technology.

  He had made a law that would not allow any but approved use of fossil fuels, or electricity. Then he didn’t allow any use of chemically propelled weaponry, except by his soldiers, and the spear like weapons these carried were actually a chemically propelled harpoon of sorts. Leena had thought, ‘that’s not a bad restriction.’

  However the weirdest thing she found out was that Crathra did not allow any of the other Cracowcks to use their own wings to fly with; only he could do so. He mostly stayed inside his palace as an over indulged recluse, and other than those few bizarre statutes the Cracowcks were mostly free to do as they wished. So they enjoyed the benefits of a peaceful, and cooperative society.

  During the lengthy sessions with Leena, Chirp Swee studied the children closely. She had found it very strange when Leena explained that some of the children’s games they played were competitive, instead of cooperative. This was a self-defeating concept to her. The Cracowcks were a generally peaceful race, but Leena was warned that some of the other bird races she had seen were not so peaceful, especially the white ones. There had been wars in the past, Chirp Swee had told her so with obvious embarrassment, and Leena liked the Cracowcks more all the time.

  When Leena was asked about wars where she came from, Leena had dropped her head, and was far too embarrassed to even say. She could tell that this made Chirp Swee quite nervous. The Cracowcks were male and female, and when Leena explained that their race was evolved the same way; they both found another common ground. Leena told Chirp Swee that there were many different types of birds on her world, but that they were much smaller than, and not nearly as intelligent as the Cracowcks. She left out the part about people killing, and sometimes eating them, but Leena could tell that Chirp Swee was leaving some parts out too.

  Finally Leena was able to explain to Chirp Swee with enough detail, that her brother and their friend had vanished in the spire, and that they desperately needed to go back there to try to find them. Chirp Swee had promised to look into this matter, and Leena trusted her.

  Meanwhile the other children had formed into somewhat of a crack commando unit, with William as their leader. Even though Joshua was older and bigger, it was Will’s ability to plan that really gave them competence. They had all of the guards code named, and their shifts written down. The team had even made numerous night patrols reconnoitering the palace grounds. Even though Joshua’s leg was completely healed by then; he was still the wrench in the cog of the whole squad. He was noisy, slow, and he liked to talk on patrols. Josh did however possess the keen ability to come up with booby traps for the birds. Several of these he’d even tried out. This was why the attendant birds had nick named him ‘the little monster’ in Threelt. He was also very clever at hiding any contraband they had acquired during their searches and patrols, or by the means of their fixer.

  Sarah was extremely adept at stealthily by passing guards, and sneaking around without any of the attendants seeing her. So she gave them information they otherwise wouldn’t have. Their fixer became Becky, who could procure things somehow that always left the others wondering just what she was doing to get a hold of these items.

  One of her secrets was that she’d made friends with several of the attendants, and a couple of the guards, even though there was the language barrier. She would make them little pieces of art work, or knick-knacks that she would then trade for whatever the team required, within limits of course. These birds trusted her more so than the others, as she wasn’t always sneaking around, or leaving traps for the birds to blunder into.

  Even though the birds of the palace saw that these beings were indeed chi
ldren, they still kept a closer eye on them than the kids knew, and as such they realized the children were up to something big lately. This was mainly by the extra careful manner in which they had begun to act as of late. They were of course quite correct in this assumption, as William’s commandos were planning a night reconnoiter into the city proper very soon.

  Sarah had found a way to get into the basement near their wing, and from there she had seen that they could get through a window leading to the orchards in back of the palace. The orchards were off limits to the kids, as were the vast vegetable gardens that led to the fruit tree groves. This was big news to William as he’d been desperately trying to find a way to get out of the palace unseen, and this appeared to be it. As always, William informed Leena about any secret excursions at night, and this was no exception. She was after all still a viable part of the team, and also clearly the smartest, and usually the most pragmatic.

  “I don’t think right now is a good time for that Will.” She told him.

  “Why not?” He queried.

  “I’ve finally been able to communicate to Chirp Swee that we need to get back to the spire, and why. She told me she would petition the King for us.”

  William perked up noticeably. “That’s great Leena! You think we got a chance?”

  She shrugged her shoulders, “I sure hope so. It would make life so much easier, but until we find out; let’s not blow it with any night recon missions. OK?”

  “Sure.” He said enthusiastically. Then thought about something for a second. “Say.” He continued, “Do you think ‘the Professor’ could get the King to let us out to see the town? We might be able to get the same information while right under their noses, or um beaks that is.”

  “I’ll ask.” She smiled a big grin.

  One day the next week, when Chirp Swee showed up with breakfast as usual, Leena noticed that something was wrong with her friend. She was very upset about something.

  As soon as they were alone she asked, “What’s wrong Chirp Swee?”

  Chirp Swee was a little surprised that Leena could sense her exasperation. “I’ve been to see the King about your request.”

  “Oh?” Leena didn’t like the sound of that.

  “He told me that he would personally send his best Birds in an ‘air-fish’ to investigate, but that you could not return to the spire.”

  “I see.” Leena felt the let-down sink in, but then asked, “Do his Birds know how to operate the spire?”

  “Operate the spire?” Chirp Swee was confused obviously.

  “Great. That’s what I was afraid of. They won’t know what to do to get Tristan and Penny back.”

  “That’s not all.” Chirp Swee added.

  “What else?”

  The bird dropped her head, “He was lying about sending his birds anyway.”

  “What? Why?” Leena implored.

  The same look of compassion that had first sparked between them, again flashed in Chirp Swee’s eyes.

  “I think he plans on keeping you, and your friends Leena.”

  “What? For how long?” Leena’s eyes began to tear up.

  “For the rest of your lives I’m afraid.”

  “But, why?” Leena couldn’t help but let the tears flow, and she instinctively hugged Chirp Swee. This touched the bird like nothing ever had in her life. She had felt love and loss, but she really had a strong empathy for this featherless creature.

  “It is those strange occurrences. He has linked them to you somehow.” She hugged the girl back.

  “Wait.” Leena pushed away a little. “Like the second day we were here? But you said occurrences. I only remember one.”

  “There have been reports of other things.” Chirp Swee confided.

  “Like what?”

  “There have been reports of holes in the world.”

  Leena’s eyes widened, “And he thinks we did this?”

  “Did you?”

  Leena was taken aback. “Chirp Swee! We wouldn’t hurt your world. At least not on purpose.” She remembered the small device from Dreamland sending Tristan and Penelope away, and then of the earthquake. “Maybe, I don’t know.”

  “If you damaged something in the spire, then you could fix it, couldn’t you?” Chirp Swee asked imperatively.

  “That’s it!” Leena almost shouted. “Tell the King we can fix the holes in the world, but we must go to the spire to do it.”

  “No.” Chirp Swee said plainly.

  “No? Why not?”

  “That is not the only reason the King won’t let you go.”

  Leena was confused. “OK Chirp Swee, give.”

  “It is rather complicated Leena.”

  Leena just looked at her with begging eyes. Chirp Swee relented, and motioned for Leena to follow her. They went to the furthest room away from the stairs they could, and she closed the mat behind her before telling her in a hushed voice, “There are things going on around here as of late, dark deeds, and mystery. The King is afraid he is losing his grip on the citizens, and he is correct. The main cause of this insurrection is his ridiculous law prohibiting winged flight. There are other inexcusable eccentricities as well, but not allowing a Cracowck to fly? It is what we were borne to do!” She paused and looked deep into Leena’s eyes knowingly. “However he still has the eternal loyalty of the warrior class, even though all the other social classes are more than fed up with his antics.”

  “Why don’t the rest of you depose him?” Leena questioned with naivety.

  “There are those in the process of doing just that, but this is a most delicate, and dangerous matter.”

  I don’t understand. Just go in there and kick his dirty old bird butt right out!” Leena thought better of what she’d already just let go, and apologized right away. “I’m sorry Chirp Swee, it’s just that I really need to get to the spire. I’m afraid my time is running out.”

  “Nothing to be sorry about my friend. Now listen, we don’t dare go in brutishly, that is what the warrior class would do, and they are strong fighters who will be opposing us. We must somehow break down their single minded barbaric will to uphold the sovereign. Then we can depose the old fool.”

  “I don’t really understand what this has to do with not letting us go?” Leena was confused.

  “Like I was trying to tell you, he has linked you to the strange happenings, and is claiming that you are gods from the ancient spire. That is why he is keeping you. You are his captive, protecting gods. He figures that as long as he has you, no one will attempt a coup.”

  Leena thought about it for a moment. “What if you convince him we really are gods?”

  “He already knows that you are mortals.”

  “Oh.”

  “Don’t worry though Leena. There are many others that desire your release as well.”

  “What others?”

  “I’ve already said too much, but just be aware that as you have friends here; so too there are enemies.” Chirp Swee abruptly left the room, and the children’s wing, not giving Leena a chance to ask any more questions, and questions a plenty she had; now more than ever. She wondered too about Chirp Swee, and her place in all of this. Something wasn’t right.

  ‘She knows something she isn’t telling me, about the spire.’

  The next morning Chirp Swee had some good news for the children, she said that the King had agreed to let the kids take a guided tour of his proud city, and that Chirp Swee was to be their tour guide. All of the children including Leena could not hold back their excitement. After a special breakfast of juices, some grainy bread, and the standard assortment of fruits and nuts, the kids were more than ready for their big field trip into town. They were almost stir crazy from their long confinement, but Chirp Swee had promised the King they would make a good showing in public; displaying their complete loyalty to him. She warned the children to behave as such.

  “Complete loyalty, sure.” Le
ena promised.

  A full squad of guards joined the group as they left the palace grounds, and surrounded the children as protectors. Chirp Swee told the guards in Threelt to stay well back from the young gods, and Leena understood every word clearly.

  First she took them in a northwesterly direction, and they quickly came across a wide river. They were stared at by some of the pedestrians, but most kept their eyes averted on purpose. Chirp Swee took them down to a small dock on the river. The children were all enjoying how green and lush the city was, and all parts of it they had observed up until then had a semi-natural manicured look to it, but the section by the river was all wild looking.

  Their guide hailed to another bird that was waiting by a gang-plank crossing to a medium sized boat. The vessel had a small fish head carved into its bow spar, and more ornate fish designs elsewhere. In fact as they looked around, most the other boats at the dock had similar fish designs on them. After a brief exchange where Chirp Swee confirmed the prearranged price of the transit, she paid with some small gemstones, and they all boarded the craft.

  “Cool.” Josh said as sat near the front.

  The boat master told his crew they were going up river, and they cast off. As soon as the boat was drifting free in the slow current, the crew manned, or rather birded, a strange looking metal and wooden contraption. This they quickly saw was a rowing device of sorts. The craft responded, and the boat master guided them gently up stream.

  It was a genuinely lazy river, and all the other boats seemed to be in no hurry either, though there was a lot of traffic. About twenty minutes into their journey Joshua piped up, “Look!” he pointed out toward the middle of the wide river. There were four or five of the large golden fish jumping as they swam up stream with them. These weren’t nearly as large as the one Joshua had caught however. The boat master said in Threelt, that this was a good omen, and then he brought his feathered wings up over his head. His crew did so too, and then they saw that there were birds in other boats doing this as well.

  “Why are they doing that?” Leena asked in Threelt to Chirp Swee.

  “They show their respect to the golden fish. A lot of Cracowcks almost worship the fish. It goes way back to a folk tradition. A good season for the fish means a good season for fruit harvesting. We found out several years ago that there is actual truth to this tradition. The golden fish voraciously eat the larvae of a very problematic crop destroying insect. That, and an old legend has it that the Golden Fish had saved the Cracowcks once from certain destruction.” Chirp answered in English.

  “You mean these birds worship the fish?” Joshua asked.

  “To a degree, yes.” Chirp Swee said.

  Josh thought better of mentioning that he had caught one once.

  The river spilt, and they went up the fork nearest a steep rising ridge to the north. Shortly they stopped at a long bank of piers much larger than the one they had embarked from.

  “What are you taking us to see Chirp Swee?” William asked politely.

  “The remains of a very large sea monster William.”

  “Sea monster? Alright!” Josh shouted.

  Becky chided, “Great, a bunch of bones.” But was she ever in for a surprise.

  After Chirp Swee gained them entrance to an innocuous looking park, she led them up the steep ridge. This went on for quite a while, and Sarah had to stop to rest, complaining more than once, so Joshua carried her piggy-back the rest of the way. As they finally neared the top, the kids were quite sweaty. Thank goodness it was one of the days they had their Dreamland jumpsuits on, and not one of the awkward days of wearing the silly looking bird feather suits, although those were still better than being naked. The children stopped again to catch their breaths, but Chirp Swee hurried them on, promising that their goal was just through the thicket of brush on the ridge line right above them. As excited as the bird was to show them whatever it was just over the hill, they followed with interest gaining.

  As each child brushed through the thicket on the well-worn trail, they became frozen in sheer awe at the spectacle before them. There was a wide low valley spreading out in three directions, and ending in some low hills at least twenty kilometers away. Rising up from the valley were the gargantuan skeletal remains of some ungodly huge beast.

  Individual rib cage bones rose several hundred meters from the landscape, and these looked to be well worn down by weather. The skeleton covered the entire valley floor extending to the low hills so far away.

  “No way!” Joshua breathed out hard.

  “We call it a ‘Breack Kreel’.” Chirp Swee said with obvious pride. “This is a somewhat of a sacred site. Legend says this very Breack Kreel saved our people from certain destruction long ago.”

  “This is unbelievable!” Leena gasped.

  Becky couldn’t catch her breath and coughed a bit, but then exclaimed; “This can’t be!”

  Sarah started crying, but not from fear as she told between sobs. She was happy, even filled with joy.

  Chirp Swee told them, “They still inhabit our large oceans, and that is why there is not much commerce between the continents and the races.”

  “What?” William was in shock, as well as the others. “These things are still alive?”

  “Oh yes, and they are very dangerous as well. Not too many Cracowcks have lived to tell of encountering one.” Their guide affirmed.

  William remembered not seeing any ships or port facilities on their flight in, and now he understood why.

  “Wait a minute.” He said, “Why don’t you just use your airships to fly over these things?”

  “That is how we navigate the seas, but it is still dangerous. Many times an ‘air-fish’ will still be attacked even at altitude. No one knows just how a Breack Kreel attacks, and kills the crews of these ships, but sometimes a missing ‘air-fish’ is found empty and on a course for nowhere. Most times however, the ship simply disappears.”

  “It sound like it not even worth trying to cross the ocean.” Becky said sadly.

  “You are correct Becky.” Chirp Swee confirmed with an air of sad resignation.

  “So, do you trade at all with other countries of birds?” William sounded fascinated.

  “Yes, but it’s very limited due to the danger, and the limited cargo of an ‘air-fish’.”

  Leena asked, “How many of these things are there?”

  “We do not know.”

  “Your oceans must be huge.” William said with wonder.

  Chirp Swee nodded, “Yes. It takes a craft almost a week to cross at the narrowest, if it survives the passage.”

  “How did you ever learn of other bird races on other continents then?” Becky wondered.

  “Some of the Cracowcks used to fly across, on wings alone.”

  The thought made the kids shiver in amazement.

  “How could they fly for so long?” Becky queried.

  “They could glide very high up, and catch a ride on strong currents of wind. These would take them across the seas, but only if you know how to navigate them. That was a real feat!” Chirp Swee said beaming with pride. “Our legacy amongst all the other bird races was our unequalled prowess at navigation; until the restrictions.” She let her voice trail off, as she realized the guard birds were within earshot. Not that any of them could understand English, at least not yet. She was trying to make sure of that in her partially complete reports to King Crathra, but there was always a chance. “Let’s take a walk down to the Breack Kreel’s head, shall we?”

  The children eagerly followed her on another long walk. The head of the titanic creature was a large flat bone structure at the close end of the remains. It had numerous pit like cavities in it, almost a hundred meters across each. Chirp Swee explained that these were where its’ thousands of eyes had been.

  “Are these creatures intelligent?” William asked.


  Chirp Swee swung around to look at him, pleased with the question. “That is a very interesting point William. There is some debate going on right now as to just this. Some of our archeologists say that they must be intelligent to some degree, just because of the mammoth size of their brain cavity. The cavity of this one’s is just a bit smaller than the entire size of the skull area.”

  “That is an enormous brain! They would have to be intelligent.” Leena said.

  Chirp Swee continued, “Of course there are those who say that any creature that just wantonly kills other creatures, cannot be sentient, and therefore by its actions alone it is judged to be base animal.”

  Becky nodded. “Yeah, that part doesn’t make sense.”

  “It doesn’t look like you’ll ever capture one to find out either.” William put in.

  Chirp Swee felt satisfaction knowing that the children now understood the great scientific debate that surrounded the Breack Kreel.

  “Are there any pictures of one that’s alive?” Joshua asked with zeal.

  “Why, yes. Over at the exposition center. We’ll head that way.”

  Chirp Swee could tell that the kids were enthralled, but the guard birds were rapidly becoming bored.

  ‘Good! Become complacent.’ She thought.

  The exposition center was almost a kilometer away from the front of the head, being situated at the first vertebra along the spine. When they arrived, all were glad that it had a refreshment stand, and they partook of the drinks and snacks. There was a very large mural of a Kreel painted on the inside of a long curving wall surrounding the center, and it looked like some sort of flat fish to William, whom had fished in the oceans of Earth a time or two back home. All sorts of weird tendrils were painted coming from just behind its head, and he asked Chirp Swee about them.

  “These are a mystery to us.” She walked over to a wall with several grainy black and white photographs on it, “This is a very rare picture of a Breack Kreel with its tendrils up.”

  The children crowded around it. The object was kind of fuzzy, but they could see streamer like things rising up from the sea.

  “Seeing a sight such as this is usually the last thing an ‘air-fish’ crew would ever see on this world.” She paused for effect. “Warning of a Kreel nearby is most commonly by the huge wake the creature makes by its passage, this is why you won’t find too many settlements right up on the shoreline. A safe distance or elevation is required.”

  “Wow. It must be tough living with these creatures.” Sarah said with sadness.

  “It is not that bad, once you get used to them being out there.” Chirp Swee consoled.

  Joshua asked curiously, “Do you have any color pictures of them?”

  “Color pictures? That’s impossible.” Chirp Swee looked at the boy in an odd manner.

  “What do you mean impossible?” He started to return, but Leena touched his arm, shaking her head. She didn’t think it was a good idea to go bragging about their technology when they were so far from home. Chirp Swee saw this and for the first time understood that they came from a place that was more technologically advanced that they were. It didn’t make her feel comfortable.

  When it was early afternoon they headed back to town. They stopped at a local bath house and Chirp Swee insisted they bathe before dinner. She said they were going to a fine establishment were they would enjoy some of the finest cuisine that the Cracowcks had to offer.

  It was here that Leena put her foot down, and finally insisted on them having separate bathing facilities for the boys and the girls. She had enough of the co-ed baths of the palace, and she wasn’t the only one in agreement with this. Chirp Swee was befuddled, but promised that such arraignments would be made. It was simple enough after all.

  As they all exited the bath house in fresh bird feather attire, Leena remarked to William; “Now isn’t this a much better arraignment?”

  “Um, yeah.” He said weakly, caught off guard.

  Becky started giggling and then Leena joined in. William turned beet red.

  Sarah felt for sympathy for him a little, and tried to help. “I missed swimming with you guys. I liked watching you swing your little things around.”

  That was it! Leena and Becky laughed so hard they almost burst something.

  William almost passed out from the embarrassment, and as he stormed ahead it turned to anger. Joshua caught up with him and calmed him down. Chirp Swee didn’t have a clue as to what was going on, and it greatly concerned her for her plans.

  Chirp Swee made sure to hurry the girls along to catch up with the boys ahead, and the guard birds ran along also keeping their perimeter though loosely now. It was early evening and they were travelling through a bustling street. The kids got quite a few looks here as the city was quite large.

  “There’s the café.” Chirp Swee said nervously, and Leena saw this.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Leena thought to herself.

  Just as they were entering the small but crowded building, Sarah screamed from their rear. They all spun to see another Cracowck running off with Sarah thrown over its shoulder. The guard birds reacted instantly, one of them shouting orders to the others as they all gave chase. Then the leader slowed and turned to look back at the rest of the children. Chirp Swee yelled at him in Threelt to “Keep going, I’ll watch the others.” He spun back around and continued the chase. Chirp Swee quickly turned to face a strange Cracowck that was standing right there.

  “Watch them!” She hurriedly spoke in Threelt, and the turned to Leena, “Quickly, follow me Leena!” She ordered in English.

  “What about them?” She pointed to her friends.

  “We’ll be right back.”

  So Leena followed though quite unsure of the situation. Only her deep trust of Chirp Swee allowed her to do this.

  Chirp Swee led her to an alley just across from the café. There she ran up to a small entrance with a thatched mat door. She opened it and peered inside for a moment, and motioned Leena inside. It was really dark inside, but as soon as Chirp Swee was in behind her, and the mat closed; a candle was lit.

  There was an older Cracowck with a robe much like Chirp Swee’s. It formally bowed to Leena, and she thought she recognized the bird from somewhere.

  “I am Crashooyt, principle of the spire.” It spoke in English.

  Leena bowed back. “You speak English?” she was amazed.

  “Chirp Swee is an excellent teacher, as well as a student.” He nodded to Chirp Swee.

  His English wasn’t nearly as polished as was Chirp Swee’s, but in the short time they’d had to learn, it was remarkable.

  “I am sorry to have to bring you here like this, but I need to know something from you.” He said calmly.

  “What do you need from me?” Leena sounded worried.

  Crashooyt looked to Chirp Swee and then to Leena. “What do you know about the spires, and what have you done to them?”

  “We didn’t get here through it. I’ve already explained that to Chirp Swee, but we found it anyhow, and all that happened was this device they gave us at Dreamland, and told us to activate when we found the secret chamber, went off by accident when Penny was clawing at my brother. It made the earthquake and then my brother and Penny vanished. We’ve got to go back to find them!” Leena breathed hard.

  Crashooyt was clearly confused. “Dreamland? Device?” he turned and spoke to Chirp Swee in Threelt that Leena didn’t understand. Chirp Swee whispered something to him, and then he turned back to Leena, “Can you fix it?”

  “I don’t even know how we broke it!” She lost her patience with the bird. “Now you tell me something about the spire, or you said spires! Are there more than one? Who built them if you didn’t?” She almost assaulted him with the questions.

  Crashooyt grabbed her by her shoulders roughly, and shook her. Chirp Swee only put a benign claw up in protest
, but she didn’t say a word.

  “You must listen to me Leena girl thing!” His voice was raised. “I am to guard the spire at all costs. You have damaged our world by your meddling.”

  Leena started crying.

  “You must not be allowed near the spire!” Crashooyt was resolute. He then let her go.

  Leena sobbed, “Why?”

  The old bird calmed down quickly, and continued, “We may be able to send a missionary to search for your brother and friend, but it could take some time.”

  “I keep feeling that I’m running out of time.” Leena said weakly and she crumpled to the floor. Chirp Swee picked her up ever so gently cooing to her.

  “Chirp Swee may answer any questions that you may have about us, but later. You must go now!”

  They left in the same discrete manner in which they had come, but Leena thought that she would never be trusting of Chirp Swee again.

  When they returned to the café the guards were already back with Sarah, who was unharmed.

  “What happened?” Chirp Swee asked of the lead guard.

  “The bird just dropped her, and then the criminal flew off to escape. Where were you?” he asked in return.

  Chirp Swee looked at Leena, “She ran off. I caught her myself.”

  The guard looked perplexed.

  Regardless of the kidnapping attempt, Chirp Swee and the children went into the café and ate, even though the guard Captain didn’t like the idea. The meal was spectacular, roasted fruits, vegetables, and nuts with some very tasty sauces. There was even live entertainment as several talented Cracowcks serenaded the dinners with lovely song. For most of the children it was the perfect finish for the most exciting day they had in Breek Ka Caw. For Leena it was merely a diversion to her heart aching.

  The guards then saw them safely back to the palace, and as Chirp Swee left them, she told Leena that they would talk the next day. She could feel the difference in the young girl’s attitude right away though, and she was sorry for it. Her superiors had given her no choice in the matter, but she still felt she had betrayed Leena’s trust. That night she determined to make it right somehow.

  Leena had pulled William into her room as they bid good night.

  “I think it’s time we went ahead with your escape plan.” She whispered.

  “Great. I’ll let the others know right away.” He spoke with relief. “I take it the King denied your petition?”

  She nodded.

  “Is that what all the fuss was about outside the restaurant?”

  “No, that was something else entirely.” She shook her head as she remembered Crashooyt’s icey cold claws digging into her. The look in his eyes had spoken of desperation.

  “Heck, we were beginning to think that you liked it here.” William kidded.

  “I just want Tristan and Penny back.” She was utterly serious.

  He nodded, “We all do.”

  She dropped her head, as she knew they did.

  “When do you want to try for it?” William whispered.

  “The sooner, the better.” She told him.

  “We only need a night recon to the airfield, and then a day to get together any last items we might need.” He told her. “You and I can do the recon tonight, and if everything looks doable; we can get make our break for the spire tomorrow night. Are you up for it?”

  She was about to protest about why she had to go on the recon mission, but then she thought of how dangerous it would be, and she sure wouldn’t ask one of the other kids to do it for her. “Sure.” She said.

  “Be ready an hour after we go to bed, OK?”

  “OK.”

  There was always a guard posted just at the base of the stairs leading to the children’s wing at night. William had come up with several ingenious ways to distract it. The very first time it was a simple as throwing a small pebble down the hall way past him, and it had worked. He didn’t use that method again as he figured the guard would quickly wise up to that, so the second time he had Becky knock over the table and water pitcher in the common area very noisily. When the guard came up to see if everything was alright, Becky feigned that she was sleep walking; while William and Joshua slipped past unseen. Of course getting back upstairs after their mission, was taken care of by Sarah, who would go to the guard crying and moaning. When the guard would briefly go to wake one of the attendant birds, they would run back upstairs.

  He had one more trick up his sleeve though, and he was saving that for their big break, when all of them had to slip past. Becky had gained supervised access to the kitchen by making friends with one of the cooks there. When Becky had made her first batch of cookies for the children, the birds all seemed to relish these delights. That had gotten William thinking, so he had Leena ask Chirp Swee for something to help poor little Sarah sleep better at night. Of course Sarah never drank the small vials of liquid that Chirp Swee provided for this; instead he had Becky make a special batch of cookies or rather one very special cookie. He’d told her to make sure to mark the cookie she’d slipped the contents of the vials in and not let anyone eat it. This one they were saving for their big break, or ‘operation gone fishing’ as William had dubbed it.

  That night of their last needed recon mission, William decided to use the same ruse of Becky sleep walking again. It worked just as well as the first time, and soon he and Leena were sneaking through the basement Sarah had found. They quietly snuck out the low ground floor window, and through the vast gardens that led to the orchards in the rear of the palace grounds. There was only a roving guard here sometimes, and they waited, hidden in the berry bushes, until he had come and gone. The fences were much lower here, and they quickly scaled these easily. From there it was simple to sneak out to the city streets, as the orchards were not guarded at all.

  There were no street lights in all of the city, and as the only light was from the two small moons at this hour, moving through the dark shadows kept them from any discovery. Very few Cracowcks were even on the streets at night it seemed, and for this they were eternally grateful. They easily retraced the path to the airfield, and saw that there were three ‘air-fish’ moored near each other. Also they saw that there was one guard bird on duty, and he was vigilantly walking his post.

  Several weeks earlier William had told Leena to learn the word for ‘pilot’ in Threelt from Chirp Swee, especially in written form. So they then surveyed the buildings surrounding the airfield from their hidden spot. Most of the buildings had signs over their entrances with writing on them. As it was very dark, it was hard to make out the writing. Leena strained her eyes without much luck for many minutes, and then the slight cloud covering the majority of the moons dissipated. The light from the pair of orbs shone just enough for her to see the writing on the buildings.

  “There!” she whispered loudly and pointed to a large building near the one they had all stayed in their first night in Breek Ka Caw. William looked the building over, memorizing every detail he could.

  He tapped Leena on the shoulder, and motioned for her that it was time to return. They went back virtually unobserved through the city streets, yet there was one pair of glossy, ever so black, eyes high up in a dark tree that had watched them come and go.

  The pair of golden suited children easily snuck back into the palace and made their way to the window were they would signal Becky, whom they hoped was not asleep on watch. When she immediately waved her arms back at them from her window on the second floor, William and Leena crept a quietly as they could to the ante chamber near the stairs. Soon Sarah came down the stairs crying, and moaning, feigning an upset tummy. The guard quickly went to fetch an attendant bird, and the two kids quietly, but quickly ran up the stairs past Sarah, whom gave them a big thumbs up. Leena and William each went to their rooms and she jumped into bed and tried to get some sleep for the big day ahead.

  All the
excitement of the evening left her heart pumping hard, and her adrenaline still coursing through her veins, so sleep didn’t come quickly. William had outlined his master plan to her weeks before, but the new information of a guard by the ‘air-fish’ certainly changed things. It wouldn’t be easy to overpower the bird, and what if they actually had to kill it? She didn’t know if any of them would even be able to do so, or to kidnap a pilot. There were a lot of big questions about the whole operation that worried her.

  Leena looked out her open window, and watched the galaxy rise in the distance. Getting away from the birds was just the beginning of the problems they faced. How to get Tristan and Penny back from wherever they were, and then how to get all of them home again. It was just too much.