PALE MOONLIGHT PLAYED over the sleek exterior of the Desert Express train,
washing it silver as it sped along its course through the Lost Desert.
The same moonlight shone on the dark face of
a shadow Shoyru, who knocked quietly on the door of the train's last private
compartment. "Come in," a voice snapped.
The Shoyru opened the door and slipped inside,
its dark eyes remaining unblinking as it faced the pirate captain. "What news
from the captives?" Captain Blackwing inquired.
"None," the shadow pet replied. "I can see from
their faces that they recognise the name, but they refuse to give any information
on the whereabouts of the Zafara."
The Eyrie nodded. "They are loyal, but seeing
as they are his friends, I do not think they would travel separately without
him. No, the Zafara must still be on this train; we shall have to search for
him ourselves."
"Aye," the Shoyru confirmed. "We'll send search
crews out to scout the train immediately."
***
A young blue Zafara knelt on the floor of the train, the cloak that one of
the kidnappers had dropped held tightly in his paw. It was so black it seemed
to absorb light, but was fastened with an odd silvery clasp of the same design
that he had seen on the waiter's paw, a triangle with a jagged line down the
centre.
A part of MakiKai's mind wondered what the design
could mean, but he was mostly occupied with other matters, particularly the
fate of his two friends.
The sound of low voices broke into Maki's thoughts;
he turned to see more dark figures at the opposite end of the corridor. One
knocked on the door of a sleeping compartment and began to question the passengers
inside.
Maki gave a quiet sigh of relief; they hadn't
seen him. Bringing a paw up to feel for the familiar shape for his amulet, he
backed against the door of a compartment to think of what to do next.
His relief was short-lived; a moment later, the
door opened and a heavy paw clamped across his mouth. A second paw pulled him
backwards into the compartment, the door closing softly behind him.
***
The spotted Gelert's teeth were bared in a fierce snarl; its eyes blazed as
it pressed the gleaming blade of a knife against Maki's throat. The blue Zafara
tensed and closed his eyes, waiting for the end.
Suddenly the knife blade relaxed; the Gelert's
eyes cleared with realisation as they flicked over MakiKai's face and came to
rest on the shining amulet about his neck. "I thought you were one of them...
it is good fortune indeed that I found you, MakiKai!"
Maki took the Gelert's proffered paw and stood
up, a flood of questions coming to his lips. "Who-? What-? How-?"
"My name is Dunari," the Gelert explained, turning
his back and shoving the knife blade deep into the crack between the sill and
the windowpane in a vain attempt to lever it open; the slightly scraped wood
from repeated attempts told Maki that the compartment window was firmly stuck
shut.
"I was appointed by the Faerie Queen to protect
you and make sure you could get the job done and destroy that amulet. Help me
here; I'll explain everything as we go along." Maki caught the note of urgency
in the Gelert's voice; striding over, he joined in the effort to open the window.
"Unfortunately, the arrival of the Ketseran has
complicated matters quite a bit; it looks like my help was needed sooner than
any of us could have expected."
"The Ketseran?" Maki questioned, getting a firmer
grip on the bottom of the windowpane and trying to shake it loose.
Giving up on gentler methods, the Gelert signaled
for Maki to step back, then dealt the window a tremendous blow. The frame shuddered,
but otherwise held in place. Maki winced at the noise; Dunari dropped into a
crouch, listening.
From out in the hallway, more knocks and the
sounds of voices could be heard; the shadowed pets were coming closer. "Blast,"
muttered Dunari. "We're running out of time. It looks like it's time for Plan
B!" The spotted Gelert produced a small leather pouch. "Catch!"
The green Chomby plushie landed in Maki's paws,
and he looked quizzically at Dunari. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Just hold it for now," the Gelert called back,
removing more items from his bag. Maki looked back at the plushie, then rubbed
his eyes. Had it just winked at him? He eyed the plushie suspiciously, but its
stitched features simply smiled serenely back.
MakiKai looked over at Dunari, who was busy doing
something with a jar. His attention was soon brought back to the plushie, which
was glowing a bright, unearthly green. "Uh, Dunari... this plushie..."
The Gelert was donning a brown tweed coat which
had been laying across the bed. "Don't panic! It's all part of the plan."
Not feeling very encouraged by his companion's
advice, Maki could do little but stare at his paws holding the plushie as they,
too, began to glow. He stifled a yelp as his fingers melted together and his
paw broadened. He fell to all fours with a heavy thump as everything seemed
to shift and change shape; it was the oddest sensation he'd ever experienced.
As the last of the glow faded from his limbs,
Maki caught sight of his reflection in the window. "What did you do to me? I'm
a... a..."
"A Chomby," Dunari finished for him. "You'll
understand why later -" He broke off as a loud knock sounded on the door. "They're
here!"
***
"Hide your amulet!" Dunari hissed.
MakiKai twisted his neck to look down; it had
indeed fallen off during the transformation. He tried to pick it up, but it
was rather hard to do without fingers. Thinking quickly, the green Chomby tilted
his head down and closed his mouth around it.
"Let me do the talking," the spotted Gelert whispered;
Maki couldn't agree with him more. Dunari opened the door; outside stood three
shadow-painted pets.
"Good evening," the head Shoyru said, its eyes
darting past the pair and scanning the room. "Your names and tickets, please?"
"Why, certainly," Dunari boomed. He made a great
show of placing horn-rimmed glasses upon his muzzle and digging into his leather
pouch, finally producing a pair of fake ticket and identification cards. "I
am Professor Arthur Tenek of the University of Neopia, on my way to study the
fascinating life cycle of the Grackle Bug with my colleague here, Professor
Binns."
The Shoyru scanned the documents for a moment
before handing them back to the spotted Gelert, apparently satisfied. "Do you
have any luggage?"
"No, we sent it all ahead a few days ago," Dunari
improvised smoothly. "We wanted to get right down to business as soon as we
arrive. Professor Binns here is just dying to get an interview with the owner
of the Desert Foods store, isn't that right?" He nudged Maki, who took his eyes
off the Shoyru and nodded, trying to look sincere and excited. He'd caught a
glimpse of that same strange symbol that he'd seen on the cloak and the waiter's
paw on the inside of the Shoyru's wing.
"Have you seen a blue Zafara on this train today?"
the shadow pet plunged on, determined not to be side-tracked from his questioning.
"No, I've been too busy trying to track down
my lost Scarabug; I don't suppose you've seen it anywhere?" Dunari questioned,
surreptitiously opening the lid of a jar behind his back while continuing to
chat animatedly. "Scarabugs are close relatives to the Grackle Bug, you know;
they migrated to the Lost Desert around 300 BN. Grackle Bugs can also be trained
as pets; I met a chap once who taught his tricks..."
The Gelert tipped the jar over and kept rambling
in the dry tone of a true professor, carefully timing his next few lines. "Of
course, there are natives of the Lost Desert who swear that Scarabugs have the
sweetest meat around, but most people prefer plain Grackle Bug."
In fact, it looked like all three of the pets
bore the mark of that symbol, the Chomby noted. Out of the corner of his eye,
he could just see the last Grackle Bug fall out of the jar behind Dunari's back;
there were now nearly a dozen making their way towards the trio standing in
the open doorway. The three shadow pets were starting to look decidedly uncomfortable
as the "professor" continued.
"There are almost as many ways to prepare the
seven different species (and three subspecies) or Grackle Bug as there are grains
of sand in the desert. You can fry them, use them as stuffing for a turkey -
a real delicacy, I've been told - or just stick a toothpick through them and
enjoy them as a light snack. The latter is my favourite; when you bite into
it the shell goes -"
CRUNCH! The horrified Shoyru looked at
its footpaw in disgust, which was now covered in green goo.
"Oh, look at that!" Dunari exclaimed happily,
plastering a huge grin across his face. "Fresh ones! It must be an infestation...
now where are my toothpicks?"
There was a mass scramble for the door as the
three Ketseran clutched their stomachs and bolted for the door; a few seconds
later, Maki and Dunari were alone again.
Turning to the Chomby, Dunari gave a broad grin
and opened his paw to reveal a small slip of parchment that the lead Shoyru
had previously been holding.
***
A quiet knock on the compartment door snapped Captain Blackwing out of a light
doze. "Come in," he ordered, and the door slid open to admit the three Ketseran.
"What news from your search?"
"We've searched the entire train from top to
bottom, and for what?" the shadowed Shoyru started angrily. "To be attacked
by some batty old professor and his Grackle Bugs, have my leg nearly chewed
to shreds by that Acara's precious little Angelpuss... and no sign of that Zafara
anywhere. Are you sure he's even on this train?"
The Eyrie shook his head sorrowfully, frowning
deeply. "The only thing I'm sure of is that Borulaar will have my head if we
fail. We'll take the two prisoners to him at the planned time, perhaps they
will prove useful."
The Shoyru nodded and left the room, closing
the door behind him.
To be continued... | 
