"I'll pass around some walrus butter to make sure our eyes are open to the magical creatures of Obsidian Waste," Trask said. "We'll speak more at the house." He returned to his seat as a prolonged vibration rattled the aircraft.
Kendra didn't need magical milk or walrus butter to pierce the illusions that shielded most magical creatures from mortal eyes, so she passed it back to Elise without sampling any. Kendra checked her seat belt and peered out the window. Down below, the shadow of the jet fluttered over uneven ground. She observed mostly flat terrain, with scrubby bushes, low ridges, and shallow ravines. A pair of jeeps caught her eye, the vehicles kicking up dust as they moved along a dirt road on a diagonal course to intercept the descending jet. She was low enough to see a figure driving each open-topped jeep, but their features were unclear.
Gazing along the road behind the jeeps, Kendra noticed a wall. Actually, it was more the idea of a wall. At regular intervals, pyramids of stones stood in lonely piles, stretching away from the road in opposite directions. Nothing connected the rock piles, so they formed a boundary without creating an actual barrier. But Kendra recognized a shimmer in the air above the line formed by the rock piles, and she realized that it must be the distracter spell shielding Obsidian Waste.
Beyond the orderly stacks of stone, Kendra could see the sweeping loops of a meandering river, and, in the distance, a huge black stone shaped like a shoe box, its rectangular lines unnaturally regular. A tremor ran through the aircraft, and for a moment the jet wobbled sickeningly left and right. Kendra turned away from the window, facing forward, her hands gripping the armrests. The plane bucked and shuddered again. Kendra felt the tingling sensation that accompanies the initial plunge of a fast elevator. She had never been on a flight with this much turbulence!
Glancing across the aisle, she saw that Trask appeared unperturbed. Of course, he was tough to ruffle, and would probably wear that same impassive expression if the airplane disintegrated and his seat were plummeting alone toward the outback. The thought made Kendra smile.
Despite a few more bumps and jiggles, a minute or two later, the private jet landed smoothly. After taxiing shortly, the aircraft came to a stop. Kendra shouldered her backpack and waited while Tanu opened a door that swung out and down to become a short staircase. Kendra followed Seth down the steps. The isolated airstrip had a single runway, a ramshackle hangar, and a small office topped by a flapping wind sock.
After deplaning, Trask, Tanu, and Vincent started retrieving gear from the luggage compartment. Mara wandered off to one side and began a fluid routine of elaborate stretches. From the door of the plane, Elise studied the area through hefty binoculars. The sun hung high and bright overhead.
"Welcome to Australia," Seth announced in his best local accent, gesturing at their barren surroundings. After surveying the area for a moment, he frowned. "I expected more koalas."
"Which way to the baggage claim area?" Kendra asked. Seth chuckled. "Not one of the fancier airports I've seen. This is more like some smuggler's hidden landing strip."
"What do they smuggle?"
"Boomerangs, mostly. And kangaroos. Poor little fellas."
"Here comes the welcoming crew," Elise reported. "Two vehicles, each with a single occupant."
Before long a pair of jeeps rumbled into view. Painted a military green, the rugged vehicles had oversized tires and growling engines. After the jeeps pulled to a stop beside the luggage compartment, the Indigenous Australian drivers climbed down. One was a young man, the other a young woman, both in their early twenties, dark-skinned and long-limbed. The woman had white ribbons tied in her innovative hairdo.
Vincent charged over and greeted them with enthusiastic hugs. He was half a head shorter than the woman and a full head shorter than the man. Kendra and Seth drifted over for a closer look. Trask approached the drivers and shook hands with them.
"I'm Camira," the woman said to everyone, "and this is my brother Berrigan. Don't pay any attention to him. His head is full of pudding."
"At least I'm not a know-it-all with a poisonous tongue," Berrigan replied with an easy smile, one hand resting on the large knife strapped to his waist.
"We're here to escort you to the house," Camira went on, ignoring her brother. "I suggest the ladies ride with me, or his smell might be the end of you."
"I recommend the guys ride with me," Berrigan agreed, "or you'll arrive at Obsidian Waste with no self-esteem."
"You two never stop going at each other," Vincent laughed. "You're exactly as I left you!"
"And you're still about the size of a termite," Camira teased, rising up on her tiptoes.
Kendra noticed that Camira wore colorful sandals decorated with flashy stones. "I like your shoes."
"These?" Camira asked, holding up a foot. "I made them myself. They say I put the 'original' in 'Aboriginal.'"
"I say we should get on the road instead of chirping about footwear," Berrigan groaned. "These people are tired."
"Forgive my brother," Camira apologized. "We don't normally let him out of his cage when guests are present."
Working together, it did not take long to transfer the luggage to the jeeps. True to the drivers' suggestions, Trask, Tanu, Seth, and Vincent piled in with Berrigan, while Kendra, Elise, and Mara rode with Camira. Aaron stayed behind to perform maintenance on the jet.
Camira hit the gas hard, and her jeep roared onto the road first. Glancing back, Kendra saw the guys choking on their dust. Open-topped vehicles were not made for caravanning along dusty trails!
The jeep rocked and jounced as Camira sped along the imperfect road. She swerved to dodge the worst rocks and ruts, heedless of the huge plumes of dust kicked up by her wild maneuvers. The other jeep fell back, leaving room for some of the dust to dissipate before they passed through it.
Despite the bouncy ride, Kendra studied the arid landscape as best she could. The scraggly shrubs and barren rocks looked no more hospitable than the terrain surrounding the Lost Mesa preserve in Arizona. She supposed the people who had hidden these sanctuaries would have kept an eye out for unfriendly environments that might deter visitors.
Up ahead, the row of piled rocks came into view. Kendra did not mention the rocks or the shimmer in the air, because she knew that an ordinary person would not have been able to focus on them.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Elise shouted over the road noise.