فصل 37

CHAPTER 37

THE HEAVENS EXPLODE

PETER AND THE OTHERS watched as the sparking, sputtering flame crawled along the fuse. It reached the rocket and crawled up the side, disappearing into the hole.

For a moment, nothing happened. Peter wondered if the fuse had gone out.

And then all thought was driven from his mind as the desert exploded with a roar that sounded and felt like a thousand thunderclaps all at once, and a brilliant light that left him temporarily blind. When he could see again, he barely believed what his eyes showed him: the rocket, which had seemed so massive, so immobile, was shooting into the sky like an arrow with a fiery tail, growing smaller each second.

He felt a hand grip his shoulder and turned to see Glotz looking down at him, his face flushed with excitement.

“Be ready,” Glotz said.

“What on earth is that?” said Leonard Aster. He had been awakened by a rumbling sound in the distance, like thunder, although it couldn’t have been thunder, not on this cloud-free desert night. He and Bakari were now standing by the tiny window of their cell, watching a bright streak of light ascend into the sky a few miles away.

“It’s like a shooting star,” said Aster. “But it’s going in the wrong direction.”

Bakari frowned. “That reminds me,” he said. “I had a report from one of our people in Rundoon concerning—”

But before he could finish his sentence, the heavens exploded.

Suddenly, the entire sky was red, from horizon to horizon, and then an iridescent purple, and then the brilliant blue-green of a sunlit tropical lagoon, and then red again, the colors not blending but changing one into the other in an instant. At the launch site the boys cried and the soldiers cowered and the horses whinnied and reared in panic. King Zarboff got on hands and knees and crawled underneath his carriage.

Glotz, standing next to Peter and staring at the spectacle in the sky, was delighted.

“Exactly as I calculated,” he said. “The Fall is taking place very near us. Can you feel anything yet?”

“No,” said Peter. “I…”

At that instant, the heavenly colors suddenly disappeared, as if a giant candle had been snuffed. The sky was all star-studded blackness, with the edge of dawn just barely appearing in the east. A moment later, Peter stagger-stepped backward as he felt an invisible wave of heat—not hot air but a surge of warmth that went into him, through him, taking his breath away.

“Now you feel something, yes?” Glotz said eagerly.

“Yes,” gasped Peter.

King Zarboff had crawled out from under the carriage and was waddling over.

“Does he feel it?” the king asked.

“Yes,” said Glotz.

“Where?” Zarboff shouted at Peter. “Where did it fall?”

“Give him a moment,” said Glotz quietly, his eyes on Peter. “He will find it.”

“He had better find it,” growled Zarboff.

Peter inhaled, trying to get his breath back. He could still feel the warmth, but now it was only on one side of him, his right side. He felt as though his skin was burning; he wondered how Glotz and Zarboff could not feel it.

Glotz was watching him closely.

“Which way is it?” he said. “Which way is the Fall?”

“That way,” said Peter, pointing to the right.

“Good, good,” Glotz said. “We will start moving that way. You will fly ahead and locate the exact spot. It will be easy for you to see when you get closer. But you must not get too close. You must locate the Fall and fly back immediately to tell us where it is. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” said Peter.

“If you are not back within an hour,” said Zarboff, “I will put Kundalini in the cage with your friends.”

“But what if I…” began Peter.

“Find it!” thundered Zarboff. “Now!”

Peter took a step and launched himself into the slowly brightening sky. He rose about fifty feet and hovered for a moment, looking down at the cage containing his friends. He could see their pale faces looking up at him through the bars. He gave them what he hoped was an encouraging wave, then made his body horizontal and began swooping over the desert toward the source of the heat.

The four pursuers were quite close now. Molly and George could hear their shouts and, when they turned around, see the fury on their faces.

Molly glanced at the sky. The strange lights were gone. She had never seen anything like them, nor had George, who was an amateur astronomer. The lights had energized Tinker Bell, who had pointed at the sky and chimed a series of excited statements, giving up in disgust when it was clear that Molly and George did not understand her.

The pursuers had also reacted to the lights, slowing down to point at the sky and yell to each other. For a moment Molly hoped that they would abandon the chase, but when the lights stopped, they resumed galloping at full speed. They were excellent riders, and they gained steadily. Molly saw now that each of the men had a sword. She wondered what they did in this country to camel thieves.

The men drew closer, closer. Tink chimed constantly to the camel, but it was clearly overmatched. Molly was reluctant to turn around now, for fear that the next time she did, the men would be upon them. Ahead, the desert stretched endlessly into the empty distance, offering no help, no safety. The pursuers’ shouts grew more excited; they had their prey almost in hand, and they knew it.

Molly felt something. It was a sensation of warmth at her throat—quite intense, almost painful. Her hand went under her robe, to her neck, to…

The locket. She pulled it out; it was glowing. Tink was fluttering in her face, chiming something over and over.

“Look out!” George yanked Molly forward. She felt something brush against her hair. She turned and saw one of the camel riders, who had drawn even with her and George. It was his sword she had felt; he was drawing it back for another strike. And he would have struck Molly this time, had not Tink, who made up in speed what she lacked in size, delivered a kick to his nose that made him yelp in pain and veer sideways, his blade harmlessly slicing the air.

But he was coming right back, and his cohorts had now drawn alongside Molly and George as well. Tink was in Molly’s face again, chiming something and gesturing frantically toward…

The locket! Of course! As Molly fumbled with the clasp while she balanced on the bouncing saddle, Tink bought her some time by zipping back and forth among the camel riders, fluttering in their faces and making a sound that their camels apparently found upsetting. But she could not stop all four at once, and it would not be long before one of their swords found its mark.

Molly finally got the locket off her neck. “George!” she said. “Lean sideways!”

“Why?” said George, eyeing the angry swordsmen on either side.

“Do it!” shouted Molly, giving George a hard sideways shove with her left hand. George wisely obeyed, leaning out of the way. With her right hand, Molly flicked her locket open and dumped its contents onto the camel’s neck. Molly had not opened the locket since she had retrieved it months ago from under the bed in her room: it had wound up there during a struggle on the awful night when Ombra had kidnapped her mother. Thus, Molly did not know how much starstuff the locket contained. And she had no idea how much starstuff it took to make a camel fly. As she watched the glowing golden stream pour onto the camel, she desperately hoped it was enough.

There were shouts from both sides, as the four pursuers, organized now, all lunged toward George and Molly at the same moment, their swords flashing out and striking…

…air.

One of the riders had thrust so hard that he fell sideways off his camel. The other three could only gape as Molly and George rose swiftly out of their reach on the back of what was, at that moment, the happiest camel there had ever been.

Peter flew as fast as he could, which was very fast indeed. He had not flown for what seemed like weeks, and despite the unhappy circumstances, it felt good to once again have the wind streaming past his face and to see the ground racing beneath him.

The fallen starstuff pulled him. He couldn’t see it yet, but he knew it was there because of the warmth, and also because he just knew. He swooped down to gain still more speed, then soared up high, coming over a huge dune that overlooked a valley.

And there it was.

He couldn’t actually see it, any more than he could see the sun at midday; its light was too bright to be viewed directly. But the fallen starstuff was there at the bottom of the valley, filling it with brilliance, turning the sand into gold for a mile and more in every direction. Peter leaned and turned left in a long graceful curve, getting his bearings, making sure he would be able to lead Glotz and Zarboff to this place.

As he headed back toward the caravan, Peter tried to think only about James and the others. He was doing this for them; he had to do this for them. He tried not to think about the price that would be paid for saving his friends—the unimaginable glowing power in the valley behind him, which was about to be turned over to Glotz, to Zarboff, to the Others.

To Ombra.

Peter tried not to think about it, but it wasn’t easy.