Well, here is chapter four. Obviously, this is another installment of Bobby's latest journal.
I... don't... own... Pendragon.
Just a little bit of clarification: The first chapter took place directly after The Quillan Games. Then, we move onto The Pilgrims of Rayne, only Bobby takes a little detour. He goes to Eelong, instead of directly to Ibara. And now he's on Ibara. What a surprise.
And Mark and Courtney are on the Queen Mary, so we're well into the eighth Pendragon book by this point.
And... I didn't really go back and look anything up. I just made this all up according to what I remembered. So if there's anything that doesn't totally match the book... well, sorry. It's fanfiction, so don't get your panties in a bunch.
So, enjoy chapter four of "The Truth".
Chapter Four: The Journal Part Two - Ibara
The trip back to the flume was a lot faster since now I knew where I was going. And I was desperate to make ground. I didn't want to give Gunny and Spader any chance to catch up.
I crawled into the flume-cave and saw a white rectangle on top of my Third Earth clothes. It looked like an envelope. It was (duh). I probably would have ignored it if something else hadn't caught my eye.
"Pendragon" was scrawled across the front in neat, cursive-y handwriting.
The writing looked vaguely familiar. When I opened the envelope, I realized why.
That same hand had written "With my compliments – S.D."
Yeah, it was Saint Dane's handwriting.
I don't really want to go into detail about what the letter said. But get this:
It was a love letter.
I was in shock after reading it. I mean, this had to be a joke, or some kind of trick, right? There was no way that Saint Dane could love me.
I read the letter a few more times. No matter how many times I read it, it still didn't make sense. The only thing that happened was the nauseous feeling in my stomach got worse.
"Ibara!" I shouted into the flume.
I brought the letter along with me. I don't know why I did. Maybe it was because I thought I would want to prove to myself later that it was real and not something I had made up.
The first thing I found out about Ibara was that it was hot. It had to have been 120 degrees. The clothes were cool, though. They were made of some really light fabric. The clothes that were set out to wait for me were a lime green.
The second thing I found out about Ibara was that the quigs here are bees. Seriously, quig-bees. I'm not kidding. They attacked me the moment I got out into the open.
The flume was in a little cave, like the one on Eelong. I have to dive underwater to get out of this one, though. And then, when I surfaced, the quig-bees attacked.
I got out of the water as fast as I could, and then I started running. I wasn't fast enough, though. They stung me. A lot.
I started feeling heavy and slow. I saw someone off in the distance. I tried to scream to her, but no sound came. I fell, and I blacked out.
- -
"I don't think I can read any more, Mark…" Courtney mumbled, handing out the journal to him. "You finish."
"C-Courtney… you… r-really dumped B-Bobby?" he asked.
She nodded, noticing the stutter. He was nervous.
"For… m-me?"
She nodded again.
He didn't think this day would ever come. Mark had always thought that Bobby would end up with Courtney, even though he also had a crush on Loor... who was also a Traveler. But Courtney was from Second Earth. And, sure, Loor was a warrior, but Courtney was... well, Courtney.
He had had a crush on Courtney for as long as Bobby. Bobby just happened to make it clear first. And Mark had never thought that Courtney would even notice him. She hadn't noticed he existed until recently. He had even taken the same ballroom dancing class as her to be near her, in hopes that she would notice him. It hadn't worked.
And now, she had dumped Bobby, for him, of all people.
"I love you, Mark," Courtney muttered in the silence.
"I love you, too, Courtney." He took a breath and continued reading from where she left off. "When I opened my eyes again..."
- -
When I opened my eyes again, I saw that I was in a hut. A big hut. I was also in a lot of pain. But, hey, I had just blacked out after being attack by quig-bees. Of course I was in pain. And I felt nauseous.
I couldn't really move, either. I felt almost paralyzed, and moving hurt a lot.
"I didn't think you'd wake up this quickly!"
I turned my head (which hurt) toward the sound. It was the woman I saw earlier. She seemed pleased that I had recovered.
"I actually didn't think you'd wake up at all..." she continued. "I'm amazed that didn't kill you. That much poison would kill a normal person."
So quig-bee stings were poisonous. That was good to know.
"By the way, I'm Telleo."
"Pendragon," I rasped. I tried to clear my throat. That hurt, too. "How long... have I... been... out?"
"Three days."
Three days. Well, that was just great.
"I'll go get you some water, Pendragon," she said, turning to leave. "You must be thirsty."
She left me alone in the hut. I closed my eyes, hoping to fall back asleep, but I knew I wasn't going to be getting any sleep when heard an oh-so-familiar voice.
"Hello, Pendragon."
Saint Dane.
- Kuramastrass -
