Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (27 page)

“
This is really important
.
Please.”

“Okay, I guess.”

“
Great.
Look up something for me
.
”

Clash
pressed on the display. A picture of a row of reference books appeared on the screen
.
A pair of cartoonish lips appeared on the top half of the screen, moving in time with a computerized female voice:

Greetings from your neighborhood data center,
Mr.
Vandish
.
Our sponsor of the day is Low’s Supermarket
.
If you’re not shopping Low, then your bill
i
s too high
.

Please, use your keyboard or speak into the microphone, then press or say, SEARCH NOW.

Even on full volume
,
the Sliver
was difficult to hear
over the din of dozens of simultaneous conversations
.
Clash handed it over so
s
he could do the rest, but he leaned in closer to observe.

She
over-
annunciated for the sake of the Sliver
.

“
Elboni
. Search Now.”

The Sliver ticked like a clock as it searched
.
A few seconds later
,
an article about the
Elboni
appeared on the display
.
The Sliver gave the option of silent or voice rendition.

“Voice Now
,
”
Glory said.

Words appeared on the screen
.
Glory
and
Clash
read along
on the display
as the
computerized voice narrated
.

The
Elboni
Stone is a mythical object of power and magic
.
The legend is believed to have originated in the northeast region of Liropa in the present day county of Cloverdale
.

“Hey, Cloverdale, that’s us
.
”
Clash
stated the obvious. She wanted to swish him away, but it was his Sliver.

According to ancient lore
,
the
Elboni
Stone is guarded by magical creatures called
Wybbil
s,
humanoid creatures who
roam through a secret network of tunnels under an unnamed mountain
.
The
Elboni
Stone is sacred to the
Wybbil
s
.
They worship it as the source of all life
, magic and happiness.
The
Elboni
Stone is said to not be made of stone at all, but of shades of light spann
ing the colors of the rainbow
.

Glory
looked away from the display and leaned back in h
er
seat
.
The
spherical thing
from
the cavern
looked like stone, but was it? W
hen
s
he touched it the first time
,
something magical had
happened
.
Maybe
s
he’d been too quick to dismiss it
to
the Cold Crazies.

“Picture of the
Elboni
.
Search Now.”

No Data Found.

“
Elboni
And Queen’s Mesa.”

No Data Found.

There was one entry for
Elboni
and five hundred for Queen’s Mesa, but none contained both terms.

“
Wybbil
AND
P
icture
.
Search now.”

Spelling, please.

Letter by letter,
Glory
made h
er
request
.
After a few seconds
,
it slowly loaded.
She
licked her
lips in anticipation.

A
n
image
of a painting
came into focus on the display
.

“What the
heck
is this?”

The
artist
’s
version of a Wybbil
bore little
resemblance to the bums
.
The
creature on the display had
huge
red eyes
that reminded h
er
very much of
the
devil-dog
s
he’d encountered
.
The pink face looked very Wybbilish though
.
The
body
in the picture
was
round and
covered with white feathers
.
A
single silver horn, like a
silver spike, stuck out the center of its forehead
.
The Wybbil
’
s
nose was pierced with a bone
.

White
f
eathers, a spike and a bone—
hmmm.
Those were the
very
tools the bums carried in their hatband
s
.
Maybe t
he
artist had
mistakenly
morphed the
legendary
Hoogula
and
Wybbil
s
into one
creature
.

“Why are you looking up
Wybbil
s?
”
Clash
asked.

“You don’t wanna know
.
Voice Now.”

According to legend,
Wybbil
s are small hairy creatures who live deep underground in caves
.
Ancient people both feared and venerated them. It is said that
Wybbil
s leave their tunnels at night to snatch
Tullahn
children from their beds and bring them to their lair
.
There, the
y
eat the children alive
.
Yet, spotting a
Wybbil
is supposed to be a harbinger of good luck
.
Wybbil
s are thought to possess magical powers
.
They can walk through walls and pull assorted weaponry out of thin air. It is said
Wybbil
s can grant wishes
.
If a person catches a
Wybbil
by the toe and forces it to swear an oath over the
Elboni
Stone, the
Wybbil
is obligated to perform a magic deed on that person’s behalf.

Glory
white-knuckled the Sliver and read it again, concentrating on the important part.

“A
c
cording to this,”
Glory
said in amazement. “If someone catches a
Wybbil
by the toe
,
he
has to give h
er
whatever
s
he wants.”

“Like a wish,”
Clash
replied.
“Eanie meanie minie moe catch a Wybbil by the toe.”

Glory
’s
heart beat a little faster. This was getting more and more interesting
.

“How
t
o
t
rap
a
Wybbil
.
Search Now,”
Glory
said.