Up on Top
? Chapter Twelve
THE STORY SO FAR: With the injured mayor needing help down the mountain from the other official Emissaries, Rainera and Dalton are given the adults’ blessings and instructed to represent the People and meet with the Eagles themselves.
Rainera’s father put his arms around his daughter and held her. He seemed bigger and more solid than ever.
“I will remember him like this,” Rainera said to herself, “always.” She hoped such a thought wasn’t a sign or premonition that they might not meet again. She felt she couldn’t bear that – to never again see him, or Mother, or Bilt. Maybe her father sensed her thoughts, or maybe he feared the same. For he said, “Till we meet again, Rain.” Then he wiped his eyes and added, “Trust your road.”
Jenson muttered the traditional parting words, “Go steadily and safely.” Rainera could see he was trying to be helpful. Then he added, “And watch out for tricks – “
“You represent us all,” said the mayor, cutting Jenson off. “We’ll wait for your report.”
“Good-bye,” said Rainera.
“Good-bye,” added Dalton. “And good luck.”
With her heart in her throat, Rainera took her friend’s hand. Together they set off up the winding path to the mountaintop – and to the Eagles.
The last sight Rainera and Dalton had of the men was her father and Jensen lifting the mayor and starting to make their way back down the slick and dangerous trail.
“Can you believe what just happened?” said Dalton. “Can you believe that we’re now – “
“I know,” interrupted Rainera breathlessly. “We’re now the Emissaries. We’re going to meet the Eagles and talk with them, not just sneak and spy. It’s all so weird.”
“Yeah,” agreed Dalton. “Scary weird.”
They continued in silence, climbing higher, taking in what had just taken place and wondering what lay ahead.
“Hey, this is weird, too,” said Dalton. “The top of the mountain should be the coldest and the snowiest. Instead, it’s getting warmer.”
“I know,” Rainera answered. “And brighter, too.”
“Well, at least that makes sense,” he said. “We’re getting above the clouds.”
At that moment there was a bright flash from above followed by a sizzling crash – seemingly very close by. Rainera and Dalton both jumped, and she gripped his hand more tightly.
“That’s them,” Dalton said, with a definite edge of panic in his voice. “The Eagles are right above us, and they’re up to something, something unnatural.”
“It might not be unnatural for them,” said Rainera. “Maybe they can make the mountain warmer, like us flipping a switch and turning on our crystalline torches. Maybe they just use very advanced technologies.”
“Okay, maybe. But what about the thunder and lightning?” said Dalton.
Rainera couldn’t answer that. Who really knew what Eagles could do, or why? And now she and Dalton were about to meet them. The road Rainera had thought they were on had turned into another, as her father and the mayor had said. She and Dalton would be entered in the records forever – if they came back. “If,” she thought ominously, remembering the early encounters in which people had died, “we live to tell the tale.”
“I don’t know, Dalton,” Rainera whispered at last, in reply to his question. “Maybe this is all a mistake. Maybe we should go back down and get an Elder. We could get down and back up pretty quick.”
“No, Rain. It would be dark by then,” Dalton answered. “We’d never be able to climb up in the dark. Even crystalline lanterns wouldn’t help in this fog. It would be slow going. Too slow.” He took a deep breath. “I think we have to continue.”
Dalton’s steadiness fortified Rainera. Her own faltering courage began to return. “Yes,” she said. “Let’s keep going. Together.”
That was when she realized that she didn’t need Dalton simply as her guide. She needed him with her as her friend. Together they were helping each other do what neither of them could have done alone.
Rainera’s fear fell away like mist melting in sunlight. And now, as the clouds parted, she and Dalton stepped out into bright sunshine near the mountain’s peak.
Rainera gasped. She knew this meadow, had been here many times. But now, although it was deep winter, the meadow was in bloom! The grass was tall. Wildflowers grew in a dazzling profusion of colors – red, orange, yellow, and purple! Butterflies fluttered about. Birds sang and flew overhead. Bees buzzed from flower to flower.
Rainera and Dalton looked at each other in amazement.
“Do you see what I see?” Rainera asked, now pointing off in the distance.
“Yup,” answered Dalton. “Very advanced technologies.”
At the far end of the sunlit meadow, maybe half a mile away, a great, round, glistening silver dome sat on three short, sturdy legs. A silvery stair reached from it to the ground. As the two young people watched, a jagged spear of electricity shivered up from the ship’s surface, then leapt into the sky with a flash; it was followed by a sizzling, crackling boom!
Before the silver dome was an open bower of fresh-cut timber wreathed with branches, vines, and flowers. Within the bower was a table, and at the table sat three gigantic figures. Even from this distance, Rainera could see that they were huge. She could also see their shiny, feathery skins catching the light. They were clearly the Eagles. But something was wrong, very wrong.
The Eagles’ great-eyed, open-beaked heads weren’t sitting on their shoulders, where heads are supposed to be. Instead, they were resting on a low table to one side.
Rainera grabbed Dalton’s arm. They looked at each other in a kind of stunned terror. What was going on?
• NEXT WEEK: Face-to-face