3. Comrades without King

A gray figure stood before her, with spiky fur and floppy paws. His large claws were frighteningly sharp, but his face stood kind. Ismaraldah rolled onto her front paws. Why does his voice sound familiar? she thought. Why does it feel like I’ve known him for years?

“A badger? In Baroke? Don’t you guys live in Traferia?”

“Well, the Second Conflict brings many creatures together. Ironically so, really. We want the same as everyone—for the fighting, quarreling, and plundering to stop.”

“Then why did you pull me from the battle?”

“You, a cute panda, against a hundred bloodthirsty pigeons? With half-apes in their claws? Don’t make me laugh.”

Irritated, she wiped the mud from herself and ripped plant stems out of the dirt. Everyone keeps calling me small and cute, she thought. If only they knew what I can do and have done!

She chewed on the plants. “What do we do now?”

The badger studied the battlefield, looking over a shrub. “Come up with a plan to stop this battle.”

“I was kinda hoping you already had a plan.”

“I need your powers.”

Always the same! Everyone only saw her powers! Oddly though, she couldn’t really get mad at him.

“If you don’t want to,” he continued. “Then don’t. I won’t force you. But think of all those creatures you could save.”

“Hmpf. First I want to know who you are.”

“I’m Didrik, one of the last remaining members of the Comrades without King.”

“I–I thought they were just a legend? I’ve searched for those comrades many times, in many time periods, but never found them.”

He grinned smugly. “We do our best. You have to be a tremendous spy and fighter to become a comrade. I’m only telling you this because I trust you.”

“Why’s that? You don’t even know me?”

“You’re Ismaraldah, Goddess of Time. You always travel with your sister, Jacintah, a very powerful Spacefolder.”

“She’s not a Spacefolder. She’s the Spacefolder. Goddess of Space and Place. Just like I’m the only Timefolder. A little respect, please.”

She pulled up more plants, but spit them out immediately. “How do you even know this?”

“I’ve seen you often, sitting in the bushes, looking for me and my comrades. Those binoculars and telescope were a nice addition.”

Irritation and respect grew side by side with every sentence. His appearance was frightening, with his muscular body. Yet he felt soft and familiar, with friendly eyes set in his small elongated head.

“First step: rescue your wooden clock. Or, what do you call it again?”

“The Clangor of the Madames?”

The badger laughed. “No, the other one.”

“Oh, the PATAT—Place And Time Addressing Teleporter.” She laughed too. “Though I haven’t used that name in a long time. Now it’s just my Timecore, or Woodhome. Because that’s what it is, my one and only home, forever.”

She jumped upright. “Jeez, Didrik, how many times have you been eavesdropping on me?”

“Just as often as you’ve tried to eavesdrop on me.”

The badger cast a shadow over her. When she stood upright, with her arms stretched above her, she was nearly as tall as him. Now she made herself small and subconsciously leaned against his soft belly. She yawned.

“This is what we’ll do,” Didrik said. “You’ll freeze time in a bit. Then we’ll merrily walk amidst the battling beasts and grab your house. We’ll go inside and teleport to the other side. Then we’ll steal—hopefully unseen—all the archers’ arrows.”

“You can’t time travel. No one else can time travel.”

Ismaraldah tried never to think about this, but saying it out loud made tears well up. She pushed those away too. “There are rules for non-divine beings. Make one mistake and you’ll ruin your timeline and die. Or break your brain.”

“I know this. I can do this.”

“Shouldn’t we wait for your comrades?”

“They’re all on their own missions. I’m doing this one alone.”

“Some comrades they are.”

“Believe me, this was the easiest mission of the ten.”

He darted off. Ismaraldah, her thoughts still somewhere else, shuffled in the general direction of the battle.

The noise had lowered, but the clouds stayed filled with arrows and birds, leaving the sky pitch black. Here and there, a creature swooped down to attack someone. To her surprise, they also often flew right into each other.

Once closer, she saw the pigeons had found an opponent—the owls. She searched for Didrik but found no trace. He was surely hidden far too well, as usual. Show-off.

She closed her eyes, blew an exceptionally long breath, and everyone froze. She ran straight through the bushes and quickly reached the other side. The wolves were nowhere to be seen. Their shields lay scattered across the heath, often in multiple pieces, or with a dead body underneath.

Her house wasn’t among them.

Next to her, a paw erupted from the bushes … very slowly. She still rolled away in fright. When her time bubble ended, the rest of Didrik also emerged from the leaves.

The arrows crashed frighteningly close. They instantly sped up, too many to dodge, sharp points cutting both plant and animal with ease. Ismaraldah rushed to a wolf shield, but it was too late.

The air cleared suddenly. All the arrowheads teleported to somewhere else, thunking into treetops out there. Thank goodness, my sister must be nearby.

The fox, who’d saved her from the apes earlier, ran up to them. “Found your sister yet?”

“No! The dove attack interrupted me. Everyone’s asking things of me! Just give me a minute, okay?”

She knew how stupid that sounded, coming from the Timefolder. Jacintah has to stop aing her own plans, she thought. When I see her again, I’m going to tell her exactly that.

The fox grimaced. “Did you know the word dove comes from devil? We’ve already lost nearly a hundred soldiers.”

She pushed her snout towards the tall trees in the distance. “The apes took your house. According to their Apex Codex, they had to. And you know how they are about their oh-so-important Apex Codex. There’s an entrance to the monkey kingdom, the Apire, but getting inside is impossible.”

“Oh, that’ll be fine,” Ismaraldah and the badger said simultaneously. They frowned at each other but could guess what the other was planning. Without discussing it, they ran off.

“Make sure you come back safely,” the fox called after them, “and help us.”

Ismaraldah couldn’t keep up with Didrik. Pandas weren’t built for running. And he was surely descended from those speedy honey badgers. Unnoticed, she kept freezing time just a tiny bit, so she could dash past him again.

Soon a wall of conifers stopped them, taller and greener than all the trees in the area. No clear entrance was visible.

“What’s your plan?” Didrik panted.

“Weren’t you the badger with the plans?”

“First rule of the comrades: everyone’s equal and thinks along. Or no, that’s the second rule. The first rule is: never tell anyone you’re one of the comrades.”

“Sounds like you’ve got some things to learn from your own rules.”

“Shh.”

A crack. Another crack. A large hole formed underneath the conifers as something seemed to pull down the trees. This disappearance revealed a glass gate. She knew the wooden gate on the other side of the Apire, but had never seen this one before.

No apes stepped outside. She looked to the left—Didrik had already disappeared.

Rustling sounded behind her. Her ears swiveled, but she was already grabbed, and now stared into the eyes of four gigantic apes.

“Aha, there’s the little spy.” They laughed, deep and rumbling. “Nice of you to come visit our front door.”