Fawfulfan's Disclaimer: The Pendragon Series is the creation of D.J. Machale.

~ Eelong ~

It had been a long day of traveling, but Leeandra was once more in sight.

The massive party of zenzens, carrying both klees and gars, was heading back for the great treetop city. The zenzens seemed exhausted, and some of them were stumbling, their spindly, multi-jointed legs wobbling alarmingly. They had taken very few breaks on their journey, intent to arrive back in Leeandra as soon as possible. Boon now suspected that it made little difference—as the zenzens tired, they started to slow down. But it didn't matter now; they had reached their destination.

And something was definitely wrong.

"Smoke!" shouted Boon, pointing at Leeandra.

The group attempted to spur on their zenzens, but the beasts had had enough. They refused to go any faster.

"Dismount the zenzens! Proceed on foot!" said Boon, sliding off his mount. The klees and gars hastily copied him, and sprinted in the direction of Leeandra, the smell of smoke filling their nostrils.

"The outer wall has been breached!" exclaimed a gar.

He was quite right. The wall seemed to have been knocked down in places, creating large gaps. The sound of crackling flames reached Boon's ears, in addition to the sound of ferocious snarling. The smell of smoke tickled his throat, and he thought that he could smell something else underneath...something like rotting fish...

Boon's stomach plummeted. He had a feeling that he knew exactly what was going on. And as he stepped through one of the holes in the wall, feeling a searing wave of heat wash over him, his fears were confirmed.

Tangs.

For the first time in living memory, the monstrous, reptilian, green-haired, beasts seemed to be carrying out a complex, strategic assault on Leeandra. They had smashed through the walls and were rampaging through the city, destroying whatever they could lay their vicious claws on. From the looks of things, they had even started a fire.

Boon wheeled around. "There's no time to lose." he said. "We can't send signals over the system in the Center anymore, but does anyone have a two-way link communicator?"

One of the gars raised her hand.

"Good. I'll take one of them and enter Leeandra in search of the leader of Ravinia. You stay out here—all of you—and when I give the signal, I'll need the gars to call off the tangs with those whistles of yours. Then, I'll need the klees to go inside and rescue as many citizens as possible. Got that?"

Everyone nodded. Boon took one of the two small amber cubes from the gar's hand, and sprinted forwards into the inferno.

He sprinted past burning buildings and ravenous tangs, heading for the Circle of Ravinia. He wondered whether the leader of Ravinia would be willing to listen to what he had to say. Boon hoped so. He was, after all, an old friend of Kasha's. But it didn't really matter whether or not he would listen or not. No matter what happened in Boon's search, he would give the signal eventually.

The Circle of Ravinia was completely engulfed in fire. Ignoring the searing heat, Boon grabbed onto the side of the great tree on which the building had been constructed, and began to climb as fast as he could.

When he reached the top, he immediately saw his quarry. A large klee with gray fur, and the blue tunic and carved staff of viceroy, was dangling from the edge of a platform which seemed to be giving way. On the ground, several tangs had clustered beneath him, looking hungry. Boon stepped across the burning platform towards the klee, whose eyes widened in shock as he saw who was coming towards him.

"Boon." he whispered.

"Durgen." replied Boon. "I'm here to save you." he held out a paw.

Durgen made no move to seize the paw, but glowered at Boon, fangs bared. "Do you think I'm not aware of what you've done?"

Boon stared at Durgen, puzzled.

"You have committed crimes against Ravinia. You led the klees of the Horizon Compound out of the city, to incite revolution. Such an act is treason."

A flaming chunk of wood fell past Durgen. Neither of the two klees paid it any heed.

"You've backed the wrong side, Durgen." said Boon calmly. "You always have. Ravinia is finished. Not just on Eelong, but on every world. Saint Dane is dead. His spirit ceased to exist when the Ravinians of Third Earth rejected his philosophy. All over Halla, Ravinia will crumble, and the worlds will return to the way they were before."

Every word Boon spoke seemed almost like a physical blow to Durgen. He dropped his gaze.

"But you don't have to die with it, Durgen. Take my hand, and we can make things right. Eelong can once again flourish. But first, you must accept that the gars are an equal race."

Durgen looked up, silently staring at Boon's outstretched paw. His expression darkened.

"No! No, I can't do it. They are animals! ANIMALS! And if the society of the new world says anything else, I don't want to be a part of it!"

With that, Durgen let go, and plummeted to the ground. Boon watched as he fell, hit the forest floor, and was immediately pounced upon by the tangs.

Suddenly, the platform underneath Boon's feet shuddered and cracked. Boon lunged and caught a vine hanging from another tree, and swung onto another platform. The new platform, however, seemed just as unstable as the old one, and, with a crunch, gave way entirely. Quickly, Boon grabbed another tree, held on fast with the claws of his left paw, and turned on the amber cube in his right hand. "NOW!" he shouted.

At once, a faint whistling sound started. The tangs stopped in their tracks. Then, they began to scamper away, out of Leeandra.

Boon quickly climbed down the tree and spoke into the cube once more. "The tangs are gone. It is time to save as many klees as we can."

The task that was facing them was daunting. Boon was well aware of that fact. Not only did they have to rebuild Black Water, they would also have to rebuild Leeandra. However, Boon knew that it would be possible.

The spirit of cooperation in the air was almost tangible. Klees and gars worked together, rebuilding both the city of Leeandra and the village of Black Water. The Circle of Ravinia was once again renamed the Circle, and Boon had been chosen as one of the viceroys. The other viceroy was a gar by the name of Gursh. Under their leadership, the two great settlements were slowly looking more like their old selves. The innovative ideas and inventions of the gars made the task easier. Boon found himself journeying back and forth between each settlement almost every day. Each time he arrived at one, he marveled at how much things had progressed there.

But the best part was that it seemed the tide really was turning. Ravinia had fallen on Third Earth, and now it had fallen on Eelong. Surely it was only a matter of time before the other worlds began to turn. Or perhaps they already had.

Boon was flying above the forest canopy in a gig, heading for Black Water. It was an overcast day; the catcher crystals would not be able to absorb any sunlight for power. Until recently, this would have meant that the gigs were grounded, but thanks to a gar invention, the gigs were capable of storing energy caught in the crystals, so the gig could still fly.

So much has changed, thought Boon, as the mountains slowly came into view. And we're just getting started.