Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (87 page)

“I don’t know!
”
she replied in all honestly
.
“I really don’t know.”

“
H
e’s going for help—
yes
?”

“The nearest house is two hours by foot,” Glory said
.
“The graveyard is only an hour
.
By the time he
could get help and come back with it,
we’ll be long gone
by then
.”

He growled a little and continued to
squeeze her arm
.

A minute later
,
the familiar whiz of a hovering slingboard came from the trees
.
Clash
burst through the trees on Matthew’s slingboard, speeding four feet above the ground
, stirring up a frenzy of dry
compost
.
H
e sang as a
ball of light
cast from the Nightburner gave pursuit.
Clash
duck
ed
as it
harmlessly
whizzed pas
t
him
into the forest
.
Clash l
eaning to the side,
s
teer
ing
the board in a circle
around the small clearing, singing the whole time.
Leave it to
him
to belt out the theme song to Galactic Heroes in
a
time
like this.
“
Onward, ever, onward our galactic heroes go. Riding into battle, hear their engines roar
!
”
Clash
turned the slingboard around to circle in the other direction, while
Bone hurled nets made from bony material
which
missed their mark.

If Clash fell at that speed
,
he’d snap his neck.
“
My friend had nothing to do with taking the Elboni
!
”
Glory said, trying to
intercept Needle and White Father as they darted after
her friend.
Bone
continued to hold her tight, as he used the Thunderbone in the other hand, trying to net Clash.
“
I heard Lady Gost tell you to bring him home
and nothing more. He’s
not
the one getting
extracted
.
So, please
stop
. P
lease
! Chasing him is wasting precious time. J
ust let h
im
go.
”

“Aye,
Tullah
n,
” White Feather said
cautiously
.
“F
or the first time ye make a little sense.”

“Desist,”
Bone
called to the other Wybbils
.
“
H
e’s not important
. Chasing him
will only slow us down.”

Needle and Bone skidded to a halt panting, while
Clash
and slingboard vanished into the trees, the sound of the whirring motor
and song
fading away
—“The mission is freedom from governments and kings in every world and galaxy where tyranny reigns
.
”

Glory felt inspired by her friend’s spirit in the face of danger
.
My mission is to save my
family;
I can do this, Onward, ever onward.

“
T
he Tullahn trash we ordered them to carry out of the
Bamboozle
turned out to be transportation
.
” Bone
wrinkle
d
his nose.
“
It sped over the ground, weaving through trees like
Kalida’s
white-crested reeloo
bird
s
.”

“I noticed,” White Feather said
.
“At least n
ow we know what
the
Slivers
were chatting about
—escape.
”

“Make a note in the log back home
regarding
how fast technology has changed here on
Tullah
,” Bone said. “
I don’t understand how we could have been so far off.
When we searched the Rock Collector’s home the technology there was decades behind what we’ve seen here today.”

“Well, there’s your mistake,” Glory offered
.
“My family can’t afford the latest technology
,
and my father’s paranoid about the government listening in
,
so whatever you found at my house WAS decades behind
the rest of the planet
.
I’m surprised you guys didn’t know that
.
Don’t you keep track of such things?
”

“
The universe be a big place and Tullah ranks very low on the list of important
things to
know about
.
So the answer be NO, we don’t keep track of such things.”

Glory took in a sharp breath, feeling insulted.

“
We
’ve underestimated
Tullah advancement
twice now
,” Bone said. “A
nd
I do not want to
make that mistake again.”

He took the red Sliver, tossed it in the air, and batted it with the Thunderbone.
It sailed over the trees and disappeared into the darkness.
Next, he
slapped a
fat
-fingered hand slapped over Glory’s
wrist
, forcing her to let go of the blue Sliver.

“Hey!”

With that, Bone hit it into the air with the end of the Thunderbone. It
soared impressively
high over the trees.
She wouldn’t be surprised if it landed a mile away.
“Hurt or not,
” he shoved her
forward
. “T
ime to get a move on.”

A
white fluff
floated gently to the ground
.
Then another and anothe
r
.
Glory used to love the first snowfall of the year, but tonight it only served to make the world seem colder and more indifferent than ever
.
Needle’s
light
chased away the night as they navigated through the woods
.
Snow
drifted lazily
in a swirling breeze
, coating tree limbs
in white icing, but melting upon contact with the ground.
Now that she was on her own world,
her
courage
was gaining
strength
.
That was a brilliant move by
Clash
.
The slingboard would give h
im
a huge head
start and time to put the circle in
to
place.

"Father Winter comes in a few nights
,” she said
to fill the awkward silence.
“
At least I think so
.
What day is it anyway?"

The
Wybbil
s
said nothing
, so
s
he kept talking. Mindless chatter was part of the strategy.

“Do
es Wybb have any legends about
an
old man with
a
white beard
who brings children gifts in the middle of the night?
”

No answer.

They walked through the woods in silence for another ten minutes before Glory found her spunk again
.
“If this is going to my last holiday on
Tullah
, I want to make the best of it, so I’m going to pretend that you three are sugar plum elves from Father Winter’s castle.”

Knowing
Clash
seemed to have come throu
gh gave her confidence a boost
.
A
ct defeated, but prepare for victory
.

"How much further
to the grave
?
”
Bone grumbled
.

"Not far.
”
Glory
took them over the ridge where they looked upon a lonely cemetery surrounded by a wrought iron fence and gnarled trees
.
The
re on the ground,
the Nigh
t
burner’s light bounced off something sparkly blue.

Could it be? She preten
d
ed to tie shoes,
and on the sly
picked up the
blue
Sliver.
Fingers wrapped around the polymer case.
She felt the dent rather than saw it. The thing was probably ruined, but surely
,
some of the data was retrievable. She slid i
nto
her pocket
, praying nobody would notice
.