“A not-so-instant watercraft!” Max said.
Keeah whispered to the pilkas. They each nodded and trotted quickly back toward the Lumpy village.
One by one, the five friends stepped into the boat. Digging their palm-leaf paddles into the water, they launched the boat from the shore. It sped instantly down the river.
“Whoo-hoo!” said Neal. “What a good turban. Now we’re really moving!”
Even as the boat approached the first of the landmarks the Snitchers had mentioned, Eric couldn’t help but study the Ruby Orb. Snow filled the inside of the glass ball, but it was still just white snow.
Maybe they aren’t far enough north yet, he thought. Blue snow was part of the legend.
Max peered into the Orb and sucked in air between his teeth. “They have already gone far beyond the Ice Hills of Tarabat.”
Eric remembered how, on their very first adventure in Droon, Keeah had taken them to the Ice Hills. Now he really wanted to retrieve the treasure from the Snitchers, but the north called him, too. He wanted to go on every journey in Droon, to do everything he possibly could.
As they kept paddling in the direction the Snitchers had gone, the river began to drop.
“The twin valleys,” said Keeah. “Hold on!”
The river suddenly cascaded wildly down a slope and into a valley, then into a second valley identical to the first.
The boat thudded at the bottom of the drop, then whirled around and around until the kids managed to steady it. As they rounded a bend in the river, they lifted their oars, staring at the twin mounds of sand flanking the river.
“Either people in this part of Droon look a lot like stones,” said Max, “or we’ve found the rocks that look like faces.”
Two squat stones stood nearby, like guards at attention. A bulge in the upper part of each stone looked like a nose with an eye on either side of it.
“Uh-oh,” said Neal, peering at the faces. “The stones may not be alive, but those snakes are!”
Everyone looked to see long black snakes crawling out of the eyes and ears of the two head-shaped rocks. The snakes snarled and bared triple rows of long green teeth.
“Sand stingers!” said Keeah.
“I knew it!” yelped Max. “The stingers are Ko’s deadly pets. The emperor truly is behind this —”
“Paddle for your lives!” said Keeah. “Go!”
But no matter how quickly the children dug their paddles into the water, they couldn’t escape the snakes. Dozens slithered down the bank and splashed into the water, hissing and snarling with tongues that flashed like whips.
“Blast them, Keeah,” said Eric. “Together!”
The two children’s fingers sparked and they sent bolt after searing bolt onto the attackers.
Blam! Ka-blam!
The air lit up with explosions. The two wizards managed to keep the snakes at bay for a while, but more and more crawled down the banks and into the river. All of a sudden, a trio of stingers leaped up onto the boat and coiled around Max’s legs.
“No, no! I’m caught. Help!” he cried.
It was over in a moment. The snakes dragged Max off the boat. He splashed into the water, then flailed wildly as the stingers dragged him up onto land.
“Help me!” he cried.
But there was nothing that Eric and his friends could do. They couldn’t risk hurting their friend by fighting back! Holding Max tightly, the snakes slithered swiftly across the sands toward the black mountain.
“After him —” said Julie, digging her paddle into the water with determination. “Hurry!”
Suddenly, the boat quivered from port to starboard, and waves heaved and splashed over the side, drenching the children. With a terrible sucking sound, the little craft was lifted clear out of the water.
“Uh-oh!” said Neal, grabbing tight to the sides of the boat. “We’re going over …”
SPLASH! In a single move, the snakes flipped the boat over and tossed it hard into the water. It shuddered from stem to stern, broke apart, and sank straight to the bottom.
Glub! Blub! The four friends flailed in the churning waves, desperate to stay afloat.
The river was filling with snarling snakes.
Eric gulped air and went down. Taking aim, he blasted under the water, hurtling a slew of snakes back up onto the riverbank. Then he did the same on his other side.
Take my hand! Keeah called to him silently. Eric reached out to her and rose to the surface.
Neal’s head was visible, but he was splashing around wildly. “If only I had my turban, I could get us out of here!” he said.
“Your turban?” said Julie, gasping for air. “We’re drowning in your turban —”
Neal blinked. “Oh, wow, I totally forgot!” Diving deep, he reached out with both hands as if to grab the water tightly. Then he pulled.
Sloooorp!
The river vanished beneath the friends in a flash. They found themselves sitting on dry sand amid a coil of silky blue cloth.
With two more quick blasts, Eric and Keeah chased the remaining snakes back over the sand to the twin stone heads.
Then their eyes fell upon what lay in the distance.
“Well, take a look at that,” said Eric, his mouth gaping open.
A range of brown mountains stood not far away. Rising gloomily behind it was a single black peak, its top jagged and jutting high over the sands.
Eric recognized it as a volcano. Its charred summit rose high over the lower mountains. Near its peak was the dark opening of a cave. There, flames flickered like a jewel on a necklace.
“I think we found Zoop,” said Neal, giving a low whistle. “People, the snakes took Max to Zoop. The Snitchers are in Zoop. The treasure is in Zoop. I think we’d better get to Zoop.”
“You like saying Zoop, don’t you?” asked Julie.
“I do like saying Zoop!” said Neal. “But I’ll get over it. As soon as we save Max.”
“Then let’s do it,” said Keeah.
Pulling themselves together, the four friends set off once more, this time on foot.
The friends journeyed across miles of desert. They were tired and hungry. The afternoon came and went. But they didn’t slow down. They had to rescue Max!
Finally, as day edged into night, they came to the foot of the ash-covered mountain. Cliffs rose straight up from the ground to a gnarled summit.
The volcano seemed alive with fires flaring in its many smaller caves and its large, central opening near the top. Torches glowed up and down the rocks, signaling that dozens of bandits patrolled the mountainside.
Thumpety-thump!
The sound of hooves rapidly approached. The children darted into hiding and watched as hundreds of whiskered bandits tore over the dunes and up into a twisting mountain pass they knew was called the Pretzel.
“We’re even more outnumbered than before,” said Julie. “How many Snitchers are coming together in this place?”
“Too many to guard one small treasure, no matter how priceless,” said Keeah. “Something big is going on here. We could use some help. Maybe we should contact Galen. Eric, let’s use the Orb.”
Eric took the Ruby Orb from the wizard’s pouch and held it in his hand. The sphere felt lifeless, heavy. Nothing showed in its center. “I don’t know. Maybe they’re in the dark?”
Julie leaned in. “Galen? Can you hear us?”
There was no image, no movement in the Orb, no change at all.
“Maybe they got separated from the Orb,” said Neal. “Maybe the Sapphire Star is lost.”
Keeah eyed the unending stream of bandits working their way to the summit of the volcano. “Then we’ll have to go up alone.”
“There’s one way to get Galen,” said Julie. “It’s a long way, but if I fly north, maybe I can see him. I’ll be back before you miss me.”
“Are you sure?” asked Neal. “I mean, not about missing you, but the north is one giant storm. And you’d be all alone —”
Juli
e gave him a smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”
Neal frowned. “Just be careful.”
“I will.” Glancing around to make sure that no Snitchers spied her, Julie leaped up into the air. As if caught by a gust of sudden wind, she soared up into the air like a bird. Her friends watched her circle the mountain. Night was falling swiftly, and they soon lost sight of her.
“First we climb. Then we wait,” said Keeah.
The three friends climbed through a series of mazelike passes as quickly as they could. They approached the Snitcher camp in time to see several bandits hustle Max into the large cave near the summit.
“He looks okay,” said Eric. “He’s Max, after all. But if Julie doesn’t come back soon, we might have to go in ourselves —”
Crunch! The children fell silent. They saw a head moving among the rocks below them.
“A spy!” said Neal. “Nobody move.”
They watched the figure climb one rock after another until he was directly below them.
A troop of Snitchers raced up through the pass. Instead of hailing them, however, the figure jumped behind a rock and went still.
“He’s hiding from the bandits,” whispered Keeah. “Maybe he’s a friend….”
The Snitchers passed, trailing a peculiar smell behind them.
“Hold on a minute!” whispered Neal. He sniffed from left to right, and back again. “Guys, I smell cheese!”
“Neal,” said Eric. “This is not the time —” Then he stopped. “Wait. I smell cheese, too.”
Then they all smelled it.
As the figure climbed again, it passed through a shaft of moonlight, and the children realized that it was an Orkin.
These were creatures who were once angry Ninn warriors, but who had reverted to their original state — plump, cheese-loving, mild-mannered, blue-faced Orkins!
Not only that, but this was an Orkin they knew.
“Djambo!” whispered Eric, jumping down to him. “Djambo! It’s us!”
The blue-faced friend blinked when he saw Eric and the others, then grinned from ear to ear. “My friends! It’s been forever!”
“It has been forever,” Keeah agreed. “But what are you doing here?”
“In Zoop?” added Neal.
Djambo sighed as he glanced toward the Snitcher camp. “I’m searching for something. A treasure has been stolen from its hiding place.”
The children shared a look.
“Is it in a small wooden box?” asked Keeah.
Djambo blinked. “It is!”
“We’re looking for it, too,” said Eric. “We were there when the Snitchers stole it from a magic sand castle. They also stole Max!”
Djambo clucked his tongue. “Bad, bad bandits,” he muttered.
“What is the treasure, exactly?” asked Keeah.
“A gift from above,” said the Orkin. “A very special object. A blue snowflake.”
Eric’s heart skipped a beat. “A blue snowflake? I dreamed of blue snowflakes!”
Djambo smiled at Eric. “Then you are blessed with great vision, my boy. For while we know what the treasure is, only one person has ever seen it. We Orkins vowed to protect it from the moment it was found a hundred years ago — hush!”
Brum! Brumma-brum! The bandits marched loudly to the sound of the troubadour’s song.
“Please tell us what you know,” said Keeah, once they realized they wouldn’t be overheard.
As the fire crackled in the caves above, Djambo began. “It started exactly one hundred years ago, with an army of Ninns on a mission for Lord Sparr in the far north. From nowhere comes thunder and lightning. The earth shakes. The sky shakes. The stars move! A tremendous storm falls on the army. One of the Ninns sees a serpent — a blue serpent — falling through the sky. Then, there is a crash as it strikes the frozen wastes.”
“That’s where Galen is now,” said Keeah.
The Orkin nodded somberly. “No soul remains from that time. What does remain is a single scale from the serpent. It is in the shape of a blue snowflake. It fell from the sky. The moment the Ninn caught it, he instantly became an Orkin! He was my great-uncle. He was known as Mudji, ‘the one who changed.’ He is why it’s called the Orkin treasure.”
“Incredible,” said Keeah quietly. “But how did it get to Lumpland?”
“Ahh,” said Djambo. “Knowing that the snowflake was magic, and fearing that Sparr would want it for his own uses, Mudji escaped. He vowed to hide it where it could not be found. Armed with a special key and an unbreakable box, he buried it in Lumpland, under magic sand that a peddler had sold him —”
“The living sand of Pethkaloo,” said Keeah. “We saw that magical sand castle.”
Djambo nodded. “And it was hidden. Evil hands did not possess the treasure, until today. I fought the Snitchers once. I will do it again.”
Keeah scanned the camp above them. “The question is … why do the Snitchers want the treasure?”
Djambo frowned. “I know only one thing. I must steal it back at whatever cost —”
“The cost is going to be high, with just four of us against hundreds,” said Neal.
Eric removed the Ruby Orb from its pouch again. Now it was whirling with wind and waves of snow. He hoped Julie would find Galen soon. He was sure their journey in the desert and Galen’s in the far north were connected. And both journeys were becoming far more serious than Eric had imagined.
“I think I know how to get us into their camp,” said Eric.
“And back out again?” asked Neal.
Eric smiled. “If we’re lucky.” He turned to Djambo. “You said you’ve tangled with the Snitchers before. What if you became their prisoner?”
Djambo blinked. “I’m sure they’d like that very much, but I wouldn’t like it at all.”
“Even if we capture you?” asked Eric. “Disguised as beasts?”
The Orkin frowned at first, then he began to smile. “Oh, I see! By capturing me, we get into their camp. Very clever!”
“I know a beast spell,” said Keeah. “It only lasts half an hour. But it may be our one chance to find Max and get that treasure.”
“Please don’t turn me into a fish again,” said Neal. “Sparr once changed me into a fish that shouted really loudly. I didn’t like it one bit.”
Keeah smiled. “I’ll try my best to avoid it.”
Djambo laughed. “Are we ready, then?”
Keeah closed her eyes, spoke a long string of words, then waved her arms over herself, Eric, and Neal. At once, they began to change.
Eric tried to stand, but slumped over on all fours. He realized that he was covered in thick green fur, and had eyes in both the front and back of his head. He remembered he had been this shape before!
Keeah sprouted feathers and long, graceful wings, with an ungainly pair of antlers growing from her forehead. She struggled to keep her head from falling forward.
Neal was not as lucky. He shrank to the size of a dog, but remained upright, was covered with scales, and had a tail and three feet.
“OH, NO!” he shouted. “NOT THE FISH AGAIN! KEEAH, YOU PROMISED!”
“Sorry, Neal,” she said. “I said I’d try.”
“Think of it this way,” said Eric. “Your shouting might scare the Snitchers.”
“WHY NOT?” Neal shouted. “IT SURE SCARES ME!”
Holding Djambo gently by the arms, the three children disguised as beasts marched straight into the Snitcher camp.
“MAKE WAY! MAKE WAY!” Neal yelled. “WE HAVE A PRISONER!”
The Snitcher guards jumped when they saw beasts entering their camp and shouting at the top of their lungs.
“OUT OF THE WAY, BANDITS! WE FOUND US AN ORKIN SPY!”
“An Orkin!” cried the robber named Corporal Smeed. He scurried over to them with a squad of Snitchers. “And beasts! Beasts who have come into our humble camp! Did the great Ko send you?”
The children looked at one another.
“SURE, HE SENT US!
” Neal shouted. “WE’RE HIS SPECIAL FRIENDS. YOU’D BETTER DO WHAT WE SAY!”
The Snitchers shrank back. Corporal Smeed quaked in his boots. “Please don’t hurt us!”
“Then don’t make us mad!” Eric growled in a voice as deep as he could make it.
“Please come,” said Smeed. “Captain Plundit will want to see you immediately.”
Keeah and Eric held Djambo loosely as the friends tramped noisily through the camp.
They found Plundit standing on a small stool amid a circle of mesmerized robbers. He wore a pair of wide-barreled pistols in his belt. He held the treasure box high while inventing the story of how he’d gotten it.
“One thousand Lumpies with cutlasses! Hundreds of spark-shooting wizards! Hah! I vanquished them all!” he declared.
“Yay!” cheered the Snitchers.
“I sank a navy, too —” he started.
But then his eyes went wide when he saw beasts in his camp. “Yikes!” he cried, jumping down from his stool “How … how … wonderful that you have joined us today. With a prisoner! This Orkin will tell me exactly what I need to know. Bring him forward, if you please.”
Djambo whispered to the children. “I have a plan. One of you stay with me while the others search for Max. I’ll try to trick Plundit into letting go of the treasure, even briefly.”
“You got it,” whispered Eric. “Neal, I volunteer you. And be loud. You’re a beast.”
“HOW CAN I FORGET?” Neal shouted.
He pretended to push Djambo, while Keeah and Eric backed away, step by step.
“So,” said Plundit, his grin revealing several missing teeth. “I want to unlock this treasure box! Tell me, or I will force you to!”
“YEAH, FORCE YOU!” shouted Neal.
Djambo closed his eyes. “The … oh, I cannot lie! The box is under a magic spell. Unless the box is opened the right way, it will explode into a million pieces!”
“Ahhh!” Plundit set the box on the ground and jumped away from it. “What kind of treasure is that? Ko can open it himself when he comes for it —”
When he comes? thought Eric. So we were right. Ko is definitely behind the theft.
But why?