Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (35 page)

“
His proper name is
Budd
,” Needle informed.

“You got to be kidding?
”

“It’s short for
Big Ugly Devil Dog
.
”

“
Well, that ma
kes
sense, and do you mind telling me what
he’s doing there at the bottom
of the mesa?
”

“
Budd
be one of the few
creatures in the un
i
verse
that doesn’t need a special key to travel from world to world
.
His home be on the darkest side of the
Elboni
, a place next to the
WEIN
in the spectr
um
.
Budd
has a special knack for sniffing out trouble
.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Other
worlds finding the magic
be
trouble to a
Hoogula
.
”

“
Enough about
Budd
,
” Bone said
.
“
We have a lead.
T
he
Elboni
may still be in
the
cavern.
”
He
suddenly reached out to
squeeze
Glory
’s
arm, sending heat through
h
er
puppy
pajamas
.

“Ow!
”
Glory
cried out
.
“You burned me!”

“Barely
,
and on accident,
n
ow where in
the
cavern did ye drop
the
stones?
”

“
I dropped them in a tunnel
.
A dark one.
”

Needle rolled his dark button eyes
.
“
Could ye be more specific?
”

A rooster crowed
.
The
“
elves
”
turned toward the window
.
A dim light arced over the horizon
.
White Feather took his white feather from his hat and drew an oval in the air near
Glory
’s
wall
.

“
Issatti,
”
White Feather said. A dazzling blue light appeared inside the perimeter of his drawing
, glittering like starlight on the drifting sea.

Heart thumping, in a spontaneous decision,
she
flung h
er
self to the floor at the
Wybbil
s’ feet
, wrapping
h
er
arms around the nearest leg.

“
Crimeney!
” Bone said in surprise, trying to move toward the oval White Feather had just drawn in the air. “Get off me ye
dirty
Tullah
n!”

Glory
reached for the toes of the
Wybbil
’s left boot
.
Bone limped around the room, dragging
he
r be
hind him.
“Let go
!
”

“I got you by the toe, so now you have to give me what
I
want!
M
ake me rich
!”

Unconcerned by
Glory
’s
attack, White Feather scratched his
nasty
beard
.
“I think
s
he’s trying to bind ye.”

“Ye silly creature,” Bone hollered
.
“It’s not the toe that matters in a binding, but what’s under
hand
. Now let go.”

“Not until you make me rich,”
Glory
repeated.

“
Horrid
Tullah
ns,” White Feather muttered as he pried
Glory
’s
fingers off from ar
ound Bone’s leg
.
“Elves don’t have that kind of magic.”

“
But Wybbils do,”
Glory
said
.

“Crimeny,” Bone said
.
“
She’s onto us.
”

“So it seems,” White Feather said though
t
fully
.
“Since ye know so much about us, then ye ought to know
Wybbil
s can’t
be bound just any old way
.
Our
power
comes from
the
Elboni
, and in order for us to draw it
out,
the
person making the request
must first meet
the
eight
conditions
of
the
binding ritual
.
Ye
haven’t met a one
.
And, even if ye
had
,
something like
make me rich
is too vague.
Wealth be measured in so many ways.
”

“In that case, I mean give me a never-ending supply of credits
.
”
She squeezed her hands together, giving a sheepish grin. “
So,
can ye do it
?
Can you
?
Uh, please.”

“
Ye are not listening
,” White Feather complained
.
“
The binding ritual
be
very specific
.
You haven’t met
the
conditions.”

“Conditions
?
What are they?”

“Only
us
Wybbil
s know,” White Feather said
.

“
And even if we wanted to,” Needle added, “we’re not allowed to reveal them.
”

“Why not
?
”

“Open the power to one Tullahn,” Bone said
.
“And it can never be put back again.
”

“
Now
step away
,
”
White Feather said
.
He placed a
fat sausage finger between
Glory
’s
eyes and gave a push,
making her
fall
backwards into
the
bed
with very little effort.
If it came to a physical confrontation
,
she
didn’t have a prayer.

The light within the oval was slowly fading
.
White Feather stepped in front of it, but paused to look at
Glory
.
His red brow wrinkled
as
an index finger
raised
and jabbed at
Glory
.

"If no
Elboni
be
found in
the
caverns after a second search, things shall get most unpleasant.
”

The
Wybbils
walked through the magical oval and the wall became solid again
.

Glory stared at the wall unable to pull her eyes away, barely able to move, and squeaked out
. “Most unpleasant?” Gulp.

In the past
,
talk of intruders with
magic
feathers brought nothing but trouble, so
she
kept
mum about the latest encounter
.
After breakfast
,
Grandpa
suggested
a game of Treasure Quest
.

“
I’m in,
”
she said enthusiastically.

“After your chores,”
Dad
interrupted.

“Bummer.”

She
spent the next two hours out in the yard
heaving
shovels full of wet
chicken
manure
into a wheelbarrow.
Her h
air
was
pulled
back in a
thick
braid,
but sweat poured down her neck anyway.
S
he
wheeled it behind the barn, flinging it with her shovel on
top of Mount-O-Crap, as she liked to call it
.