World's End by Jake Halpern Read Free Book Online Page B

himself in a quandary. Of course, the sensible thing to do was to say no. The chances that Leif Perplexon was alive—and that they would find him—were infinitesimally small. Not to mention, it seemed inconceivable that they would even find their way back to Dormia. Then there was the matter of Judy Perplexon. What would she say about all this? Bilblox knew that the whole plan was utterly boneheaded from start to finish.
    And yet...
    And yet Bilblox felt a powerful desire to help his friend. Nothing mattered to Bilblox more in life than loyalty. Riches meant very little. Sure, it was nice to have comforts, but what meaning did they have without companionship, without brotherhood? Truth be told, ever since he had to stop working as a longshoreman because of his blindness, he had been unbearably lonely. He desperately missed being part of the Brotherhood of Magrewski Longshoremen back in Fort Krasnik. He missed the singing, the joking, the rough horseplay, and even the sound of his fellow brothers snoring away in the night. Above all, he missed the feeling of devotion and loyalty that existed among the Magrewski longshoremen. He missed the feeling that if one of them got into a fight, or lost a bet, or suddenly grew ill, that all of them would close ranks and come together. This was the stuff of life—not luxury planes and fancy cars. This was the same feeling that connected him to Alfonso. Again and again, Alfonso had stuck up for him, even when all others believed that Bilblox had become an untrustworthy villain who was addicted to the purple ash of the Dormian bloom.
    But there was more to it than just this.
    There was Estonia and what had happened there all those years ago, when he was just a boy. This is what really gave Bilblox pause.
    Bilblox had grown up in the port town of Väike Kunda. He lived with his mother and older sister, Loviise, in a ramshackle cottage on a cliff overlooking the Gulf of Finland. His father, Hillar, had left them when Bilblox was a baby to seek his fortune in Fort Krasnik. Whatever he earned, he sent back to them, and it was just enough for all three to survive.
    Väike Kunda was a poor town and the only real wealth existed in the home of the local sheriff. He was a corrupt and ruthless man, who was known simply as the Käskija, which simply means "lord" when translated directly from Estonian. The Käskija was an older man, in his late sixties, who had been married five times and had outlived all of his wives. Rumor had it that he had beaten several of them to death. The Käskija had an eye for pretty girls, and eventually he set his sights on Loviise, who was a striking beauty. As carefully as she could, Loviise tried to avoid the Käskija, but when it became clear that this would be impossible, her mother made arrangements for her to join a Bridgettine convent in the mountain town of Tam-salu. The convent had been in operation since 1412 and it had a tradition of taking in girls in trouble. The abbess general of the Bridgettine order had taken a special interest in Loviise's situation.
    Loviise was to leave by bus in the middle of the night. Bilblox accompanied his sister to the town's small bus station that night and, to their horror, they found the Käskija and several of his goons waiting for them there. They grabbed Loviise roughly and threw her into the back seat of a nearby car. Bilblox tried to intervene, but he was just eight years old, and the goons quickly stuffed his face into the dirt.
    As soon as the Käskija's car had motored away, Bilblox began to yell for help. "Appi, appi, appi!" Frantically, he knocked on the door of every house he could find. He explained what had happened and demanded that they help him rescue his sister at once. The neighbors listened patiently, shook their heads sadly, and uttered the same words: "Pole midagi parata."
It cannot be helped.
Bilblox was enraged. This wasn't true, of course. It could be helped. All they needed to