Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (40 page)

The
Wybbil
s stood back as
s
he dressed
.

Bone sniffed deeply
.
“I smell game.”

“Quit thinking about your belly,” White Feather said
.
“There’s more important things to worry about.”

“Aye, but
while
we’re waiting, might as well help me self.”

Quick as a wink the
Wybbil
with the bone in his hatband, dove into the brush
.
He gave an excited cry and emerged holding a brown rabbit by the ears.

The rabbit looked at him, pink nose twitching
.
Glory
cringed, knowing what was coming next.
Bone curled back his lips and
t
ook a hard snip out of the back of the rabbit’s neck
.
The rabbit's legs kicked a few seconds
.
Bone held its tummy to his face, nibbl
ing off the flesh back and forth, like he was eating the kernel
s
of
f
of
a corncob. When he got down to the bones, he popped them in,
crunching and snapping rent the night. It took him
all of
a
minute to
eat the whole thing
.

Glory
scurried away like a crab
.
She
knocked
against White Feather’s
knees
,
not taking her eyes of
Bone
,
whose
f
ace w
as
covered with blood
, l
ittle
tufts of fur
stuck in his beard
.

“
Fresh
,
”
Bone commented, smacking his lips
.
“Mmmm.”

“You
...
you’re the ones who killed the chickens
.
”
Glory
point
ed
accusingly at Bone
.
“And you have the
nerve
to call
me
a
t
hief
?
I got a whipping because of you.”

Bone seemed unmoved
.
Meanwhile, Needle took the silver
spike
from his hat
.
He bounced it in the palm of his hand and said,
“
Nonru.
”

The metal burst into a steady bright light, which got brighter each time Needle said the
mysterious
word
.
White Feather yanked
Glory
up by the collar and urged h
er
forward with a push
.
“Get going,
Stone N
apper.”

Glory
realized she’d been so bent on getting
a wish,
she
had never seriously
questioned the wisdom of her actions. H
olding the
Elboni
for ransom
from these guys could be fatal
.
Fea
r
was eating a
hole in h
er
stomach
.
Maybe it was time to spill the beans
and give up the stone’s location
.
T
he temptation
boiled
at
the tip of her tongue leaving such a bitter taste her lips puckered
.
I’m doing this for George—for all of us
.
She swallowed temptation with a gulp
.
I’ll
drag this out as long as possible
until a
new strategy present
s
itself
.

Needle led the way with his
spike
of light
.
White Feather pushed
Glory
along while Bone kept a few paces off to
the
side
.

She
had walked th
is
woods many times
and considered it
an old friend
.
Now they
approached
her favorite place
,
a
patch
of weeping willow
trees dubbed
Gl
ash
Gr
ove
by herself and Clash. It was a combination of the letters in their names.
The two of them
had burned away many summers
her
e
,
nestl
ing
in the crook of branches
, chasing each other th
rough the long sweeping braches, doing
kid
things like
dropping paper parachutes
, re-enacting scenes from
Galactic Hero
es
,
or
playing Beautiful Prince and Brave Knight.
Clash
used to braid willow reed ringlets and present them to her as royal crowns. Those were the best days ever.
She had once thought
the place held real magic
.
 

“Quit lollyg
agging back there.” Bone ordered.

“Sorry.”

As the cold wind blew through the trees,
tousling her hair,
the branches swayed and
clicked
together in angry protest at h
er
predicament
.
Did the forest see how h
er
knees trembled
?
Did it sense the fear gnawing at h
er
liver
like a squirrel on a hickory nut
?
A scream built from deep within, but
the only
sound
she
made was the crunch of leaves
under h
er
feet
.
Never take your eyes off the treasure
..
.
Grandpa’s words gave her the backbone to search for answers.
She
cleared h
er
throat
.

“Uh, are we going to Queen's
Mesa
?”

“
Aye
,
”
Needle replied.

So much for her vow to never return t
o the mesa
again. The image of a wall of thorns and teeth flashed in her mind. She sucked in a deep breath for extra courage and stared at the warm glow coming from Needle’s spike. Brighter than any flashlight, with no need of batteries, it was every spelunker
’
s dream.
Boy, what
s
he wouldn’t do for
one of those!
It cast t
he gnarled
trees
in a
mom
ent of daylight as they passed
through them. B
irds flitted out of the trees cheeping merrily until they met the perimeter of darkness
.
Then they’d circle in confusion before returning to their nests.

“This
be
a waste of time
,” White Feather snorted at Needle. “L
et’s take her to
the lady
and
be done with it.”

“
Wh
at lady
?”
Glory
asked, but
t
h
e Wybbils
ignored h
er
, speaking among
st
themselves as they weaved through the trees.

“
The girl
can’t help
being
born
Tullah
n,” Needle said
.
“
She
seems
very young, even by their standards
.
Th
ere
must be something special about h
er
;
else
,
how
would she
know not to r
emove the
Elboni
with
bare hands?”

Suddenly alarmed, she inquired.
“What would happen if someone removed
it with bare hands?”

“Instant death.”

“That can’t be right…”
She was about to tell them
of her own experience, refuting their statement, but that would give her away. She bit back the words and found new ones. “Why is that?”