The Acolytes of Crane (Theodore Crane, #1)(82)

Gads. I had just survived a crash on a bizarre new planet, after escaping by the skin of my teeth from the wrath of Zane. This was all too much for me, right now. ‘I have been through so much, that I can barely stand up and keep awake. Can I rest before facing those things?’ I asked.

‘You can rest here, but in one week’s time we will need to take you to your ultimate destination. I have to go tend to my wife. She is with child,’ Pike said. Jezra nodded, then retreated into a corner of the cave that was dark and brooding. He went up to the wall, pulled on some pulleys, and a swath of curtains enveloped the exit where Jezra had withdrawn.

I looked to Ed. ‘Ed, what is, with child?’

‘With child, refers to a pregnant woman. Jezra is going to bear children,’ he said.

I heard morose crying down the hall, causing me alarm. Ed was about to relapse due to lack of power, so I plugged him into a type of generator Pike gave us.

I slowly made my way through the cave to find the source of the sorrow. It was at the tunnel where Jezra had secluded herself. I felt as if I was invading her privacy, but Pike was following me closely and did not object, so I continued on. When I lifted the curtains, I found Jezra lying upon the floor blanketed in a mossy substance that was a deep shade of green. The sunlight beamed through as I pushed aside the curtains. She was bound to the ground through newly grown roots sprouting from all over her body, and Pike went over to kneel by her side. Vines twisted and intertwined over her body. It was a weave of branches, twiglets, and active buds.

‘Pike, what is happening to her?’ I cried out, thinking Jezra had been attacked by a strange protoplasmic creature. Weeping—with joy, to my great surprise—he stood up quickly, then grabbed me by my shoulder.


‘Theodore, you are about to witness the most glorious display of life you have ever seen,’ he said. We were waiting. For what, I wasn’t certain.

Pike reveled in ecstasy, standing up to watch side by side with me. To him, it was the cusp of a new birth of life. This moment, today. Glowing purple flowers, swiveling in perfect harmony from tendrils all over her healthy body, were blooming, boasting a phosphorus-like glimmer. Then, in the space of a few minutes, these flowers morphed into seed-bearing fuzz balls as my astonished eyes looked on.

Now, the seeds, at their perfect ripened moment, were ready to lift off and propagate. As if on cue, a slight brush of wind crept in through the tunnel and sent the seeds in flight. Thousands of the seeds parachuted about, dotting the inside of the cave.

The seeds stuck to the walls, budding and sprouting flowers of their own within precious minutes. From these flowers, thousands of glowing ambient bulbous fruits formed. They were growing larger by the second.

Pike lowered down to his overjoyed wife and held her tenderly. He said as he kneeled, ‘Come, Theodore, I must tell you. I am a Rangier. My role on Tritillia was to develop the culture of the Elons. For years, I lived in the solitary peace of the jungle, until a princess wandered into the deep of the woods—in search of freedom from the evil Elon King Quasikeum. My Jezra. When we met, her beauty drove me near madness. I love her.’

‘Is she then the Queen of Tritillia? How?’

‘She was indeed born into royalty,’ Pike answered. ‘It was this Dark King that usurped her power and drove her away from the palace. Everyone suspects he imprisoned and murdered her parents.’ He sighed. ‘Now you see this Queen, living in a cave. A decent one, at that. But it is no palace for the rightful Queen of Tritillia. You are going to help, and she is going to supply you her army. Once you succeed, she will reclaim her throne in Jaakruid.’

He looked on at the enlarging bulbs, his eyes transfixed at the walls where they lay.

I tried to get his attention again. ‘The Dark King. Did Zane send him in to conquer the planet?’

Pike didn’t look at me, and I got the impression my pressing questions weren’t of concern to him now. ‘No. The Dark King is an Elon too and is of this planet. He was one of the senior guards of the parents of Princess Jezra, before he became corrupted by Odion. Sorry, I will tell you more later. Just look at that!’ He pointed at the foliage, excited.

It was as if I was watching time-lapse in real time. The bulbs grew, and I stepped back because the glory was incredible. Pike grabbed my arm and pulled me toward a hidden corridor of the cave.

‘Where are we going? That was incredible. I have never seen anything like that before in my life. What were those things? What happened to Jezra?’ I asked. A barrage of questions flowed out of my mouth, because next to Tez standing in my doorway, that was the most beautiful experience I ever witnessed.

Pike looked at me as if he was about to show me a grand secret and said, ‘I have something to show you. You are going to love it.’

He brought me into a hidden area. He pulled a vine woven tapestry aside and for about three thousand feet, as far as my eyes could see in the dark, there was a barracks: a large cavern full of bunk beds, fashioned from logs.

‘What is this?’ I asked.

‘Ha! You don’t see, our lives were meant for this—for you?’ He asked, ‘These bulbs that you saw in the cave are going to grow, and into what? They will become young Elons! They are coming, Theodore. Soon these beds will be filled with around a thousand Elons, and Theodore, they will train and fight with you, because they are of my wife. My wife believes in you. They will be undeniably drawn to you, and you will have to lead them. I have something I want to show you, just one more thing. It is something that my Jezra helped me develop in my lab. It took me my entire life with Jezra to complete. Come this way.’