Why does he want the blue snowflake?
Plundit pushed his whiskery face into Djambo’s great blue one and scowled. “Wait a second! You must know the spell. You can open it, can’t you? Of course you can! It’s an Orkin treasure. You’re an Orkin. I demand that you open it!”
“He demands it!” snarled Smeed.
“WE ALL DEMAND IT!” said Neal.
Djambo tried to look frightened. “I know the spell, but everyone must help.”
Djambo turned to wink at Neal, then turned back. “If it works, the box should begin to float off the ground. Snitchers, repeat after me: ‘Hoola-moola-moola-hoola.’”
“Hoola-moola!” said the Snitchers. “Moola-hoola!”
With a discreet twist of his fingers, Neal used a genie trick to make the box turn slowly in the air.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” snarled Plundit. “Do more of that!”
“YEAH, DO MORE!” said Neal.
Good luck, Eric spoke silently to his friend. Then he and Keeah sidled away from the campfire. Moving carefully backward, they made their way to the mouth of the giant cave and darted inside before anyone saw them.
The passages twisted and turned, dipped and rose as the two friends hastened farther and farther into the depths of the volcano.
“Max? Max!” they whispered at every corner. Hearing no answer, they hurried on.
“Eric, we don’t have much time,” said Keeah. “I feel my spell wearing off a little.”
“Me, too,” said Eric. “Besides, Plundit is a little nutty. If he suspects he’s being tricked, he’ll capture us all. Max, do you hear me?”
A shaft of moonlight as narrow as a flashlight beam shone into the passage ahead.
“Oh my gosh,” said Keeah. “Is that the shaft of the volcano?”
Eric gulped. “I’m glad this mountain is dormant. Let’s keep going.”
But they couldn’t keep going. The moment they crossed the light, the mountain around them trembled, and rocks — little ones at first, then larger ones — began to tumble down the shaft, carrying a cloud of ash with them.
“It’s raining rocks!” said Keeah. “Move —”
All of a sudden, the shaft darkened, and a big rock dropped toward them.
A very big rock.
“Keeah, run back!” said Eric.
“I can’t see!” she cried.
They tripped over each other and tumbled to the ground.
Just as they tried to get up, they were struck squarely on their heads by the giant stone.
THWUMPPP!
Except that it wasn’t a giant stone.
It was Julie.
“Oww, my foot!”
“Oww, my face!” Eric moaned. He opened his eyes to find a pink sneaker on his forehead. “Hey,” he grumbled, pushing it off.
Julie jumped to her feet. “Beasts!”
“It’s us!” said Keeah.
Julie stared at her friends. “Oh, sorry. I thought I would sneak into camp the back way. When I saw the mouth of the volcano, it seemed perfect. Who knew that you two were playing explorers down here?”
“We’re not playing explorers,” said Keeah, dusting herself off. “We’re exploring for real. Trying to find Max.”
“What about Galen?” said Eric.
“And my mother?” said Keeah. “We really need them. And I mean really.”
Julie let out a deep breath. “About that. They’re sort of … not coming.”
“Not coming!” said Eric.
She shook her head. “I saw a snowstorm as big as a hurricane north of the Tarabat Hills. Galen, Friddle, and the queen tried to push through it, but they got more and more lost. Finally, the storm drove them into a deep chasm. I tried to help, but the winds kept blowing me away. I couldn’t get near them.”
Eric shook his head. “It’s been like this all day. We keep losing help. We’ll have to find Max, steal back the treasure, and battle the Snitchers by ourselves.”
Keeah took a breath. “We’re on our own.”
“Except that Captain Plundit and his boys aren’t your biggest worry right now,” said Julie. “Just before I flew into the volcano, I saw something that nobody’s going to like.”
Eric groaned. “Don’t tell me. No, go ahead.”
Julie gave him a look. “I saw —”
“No, wait. Don’t say it,” he said.
She frowned. “Eric —”
“Never mind. It’s okay. Tell me.”
“I saw two —”
Eric groaned. “I know it’s going to be bad!”
Julie looked at Keeah. They both shrugged.
“All right,” said Eric. “Wait … okay —”
“I saw two horns spouting fire!” Julie blurted out. “It’s Ko! He’s coming right now!”
Eric hung his head. “You see? That’s exactly what I didn’t want to know. I knew Ko was involved. But why? Why does he want a little snowflake? I don’t know why, but he wants it —”
“Shhh!” said Keeah, tilting her head. “My beast ears must be really good, because I hear something coming.” She closed her eyes.
Eric heard it, too. It was the sound of feet bounding rapidly toward them along the passages. “Get ready to fight!” Eric whispered.
All of a sudden, a shape ran by. But it wasn’t a Snitcher. Or a real beast.
It had eight legs and wild orange hair.
“Max!” said Julie. “You’re free!”
“I’m free!” the spider troll exclaimed, staring at Eric and Keeah in alarm.
“Max, it’s us,” said Keeah. “We’re beasts.”
He looked relieved. “I just fought off a crew of silly Snitchers,” he said. “They won’t go gallivanting for a while, that’s for sure.”
“Max,” said Eric, “Galen’s not coming. No one is coming to help us.”
“Except for Ko,” said Julie. “He’s coming. But not to help us.”
Max started pacing up and down the passage. “Things aren’t going well, are they?”
“No,” said Eric, pacing up and down the passage with him. “No, they aren’t.”
“On the other hand, it could be worse,” said the spider troll. “I could still be a captive. There must be a way five smart friends can take back that treasure and get out of Zoop.”
“Six friends,” said Keeah. “Djambo is here.”
Max grinned. “Our numbers grow!”
Eric stopped pacing. “I have it, I think. Max and Julie, listen. Plundit and the other Snitchers don’t know you’re free. I say we keep it that way. You go to the top of the shaft and get ready to surprise the baddies from above with some kind of distraction.”
Max grinned. “I have a few tricks in mind.”
“Meanwhile,” said Keeah, “Eric and I will help Neal and Djambo get the treasure back.”
Eric nodded. “That’s the idea.”
“It actually sounds like a plan,” said Julie. “I just hope it works.”
Eric smiled. “We all hope it works.”
While Max climbed, and Julie flew up the shaft and out its opening at the top, Keeah and Eric quietly and carefully made their way through the passages.
“I really don’t feel good about my plan,” said Eric.
“It needs a lot of luck,” said Keeah. “But it’s the best we have. Besides, we’re still in beast disguises. So as long as you watch my back and I watch yours, we should be okay.”
“It’s actually not your back I’m worried about,” said Eric. “It’s your nose. Your beak is fading and your real nose is starting to show through.”
Keeah put her hand to her face. “I’ll keep my head down. Let’s do this fast.”
But the moment they left the passage and entered the camp outside, they froze.
A great golden chariot pulled by two lion-headed beasts raced up the mountain pass and into the Snitcher camp. The lions growled three times like thunder, then went silent.
Standing in the chariot was the towering figure o
f Emperor Ko himself. His twin horns blazed with green fire.
“Max sure was right when he said things weren’t going well, wasn’t he?” said Eric.
“He’s smart that way,” whispered Keeah.
“Where is my treasure?” boomed Ko, his three red eyes coldly scanning the camp.
As the bandits backed away, step by step, Neal and Djambo joined Eric and Keeah, leaving Plundit standing mesmerized by the floating treasure chest.
“Plundit!” shouted Ko.
The bandit leader jumped, then squealed loudly. “Ko? Oh! All hail the emperor!”
“ALL HAIL!” Neal added.
Ko leaped from his chariot and fixed his eyes on the children. Green, foul-smelling flames spurted noisily from his horns into the night sky.
“You beasts, halt where you are!” he shouted at the children, stomping straight toward them.
“I’m going to be honest,” whispered Keeah. “Not only do things not look good, they look downright bad.”
Eric nodded. “You got that right.”
“OH, YEAH!” said Neal.
“Halt where you are,” Ko repeated. “And come to my special chamber! We will eat and discuss old times!”
“EAT?” said Neal. “AS IN … FOOD?”
“Uh … okay,” said Eric. Glancing up, he saw Max and Julie on a ridge high above them. He shook his head.
Wait. Not yet! he said silently to Julie.
She nodded in agreement.
“Plundit!” Ko boomed. “Bring that Orkin and the treasure box inside with us!”
The little group went into the large cave together. Ten paces in, they entered a chamber far larger than the others, outfitted with furniture too large for the Snitchers.
Wall torches flared brightly, then dimmed, as if the flames themselves were afraid of Ko.
“My home away from home,” grunted the emperor, slumping into a throne. “Ha, ha!”
While four Snitchers held Djambo, Plundit placed the treasure box in Ko’s giant hands. Then he backed away until he bumped the wall and stopped.
“Arthus!” said Ko. “Come sit by me.”
The children glanced at one another. No one moved.
“Arthus?” Ko repeated. He swiveled toward Eric. “Why do you not move?”
“Oh! Me!” said Eric. “Of course, me. Arrgh!” He shuffled over to Ko’s side.
“Arthus, do you remember when you battled the rebel monkeys of Parnesh?” asked Ko, drawing a bone from a nearby bowl and starting to chew on it.
Eric nodded slowly, aware that the spell was starting to fade. His great green paws were shrinking in front of his eyes. “There sure were a lot of them that day,” he said.
Ko narrowed his eyes at Eric. “There were only two little monkeys.”
“Two? Really? That few?” said Eric. “Well, it sure seemed like a lot more.” He was aware his voice was losing its growly edge.
Ko’s eyes narrowed even more, especially his middle one. Finally, his lips widened to show a row of dark, fanglike teeth. “Ha, ha!”
“HA!” said Neal, sniffing a bone from the bowl and dropping it back in.
Plundit laughed nervously. “Hee-hee.”
Eric was inches from Ko’s face. It was the first time he’d ever been close enough to see beyond Ko’s terrifying expression. What he saw when he looked into the beast’s fiery eyes frightened him. He had long felt that Ko suffered defeats because he had weaknesses. But as he gazed at Ko, he saw that when the emperor failed, it was because he had relied on others. The ruler of the Dark Lands himself was both strong and extremely powerful.
More than that, there was a cleverness about him that Eric had not seen before.
“Come closer, my Arthus,” said Ko, his voice softening. “I shall tell you a secret.”
A secret! From Ko! Eric hoped his disguise lasted long enough to hear it. “Yes?”
“Do you know what I have just done?”
EATEN A CLOVE OF GARLIC? Neal yelled silently to his friends. THE GUY’S BREATH IS WAY BAD —
Shhh! said Eric, slapping his paws on his ears. He felt his disguise fading more quickly by the moment. He had only minutes left.
“What have you done?” he asked Ko.
“This treasure, this single tiny treasure that I have obtained, is a key that unlocks one of the greatest secrets in the history of Droon!”
Eric trembled. “What … secret?”
“Ah …” whispered the emperor. He leaned even closer to Eric while his giant hands pawed the little treasure box.
“It was Gethwing who first told me about it. At first, I did not believe. Yet again and again, I studied the legends, the texts, the stars overhead, the seas below, the sun and moon and the slow turning of time itself, and the answer was always the same!”
Staring into Eric’s eyes from only inches away, Ko began to speak in an ancient tongue that Eric had never heard before. It was no more than grunts and clicks and snarls. Yet, Eric understood every word.
“Once you see this tiny treasure, you will wonder why I have sought it,” Ko said. “You will wonder why I have come to Zoop myself to take possession of it.”
“Yes,” said Eric.
“It is because,” said Ko, “this tiny treasure will do no less than unite all the sons of Zara in a single place and time. A place and time when they are most vulnerable. And one of them … listen here … one of them … will fall….”
Eric’s heart thundered inside him. Zara’s sons? All her sons? Galen, who was in the far north? Sparr, who was who-knows-where? And Urik, the eldest brother, who was lost in time?
Fearful his disguise would fade right then and there, Eric quickly spoke in the same language of clicks and grunts. “So, by fall, do you mean … sort of … trip and hurt himself?”
Ko grinned cruelly and shook his head. “No, no, my old friend, I mean … die.”
The cave was silent.
Eric’s ears buzzed. He felt faint. Reaching secretly for the orb in his pouch, he clutched it tightly. It vibrated in his fingers.
Galen … Galen … he spoke. Did you hear that? Did you? Gethwing told Ko the meaning of the treasure. The sons of Zara will unite. One will … one will … just be careful. Be more careful than you’ve ever been before!
“If he had lived,” Ko went on with normal words, “Gethwing would have tried to steal the treasure. I knew he longed to take my place. But Gethwing is gone, vanished in the Underworld. And I have this small treasure that means so much!”
Eric felt his anger flare up. Rage rose in him and would not let him just sit there.
“Arthus!” said Keeah, staring at his feet. “Time to go!”
“YEAH!” said Neal. “TIME … TIME …”
But Eric couldn’t go. Never had Ko been so close to him, and so vulnerable. He could make a move now. He could do it.
He stood up. “Ko!” he shouted.
But it was a tiny, frail shout. It was the shout of a boy, not a beast. In the same moment, his disguise evaporated completely, and he was Eric Hinkle once more.
Keeah’s spell faded. Neal’s did, too.
“Uh-oh,” said Neal.
“Spies! Children —” Ko cried out.
Ko tried to leap from his chair, but as if their minds were one, Keeah and Eric blasted the emperor’s throne into a hundred pieces, and Ko tumbled to the floor of the cave. In the confusion, Neal grabbed the treasure box.
“Snitchers! Capture them! Destroy them!” Ko shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Let’s get out of here!” screamed Keeah. She grabbed Djambo and scrambled out of the cave to the camp outside.
“Uh-oh!” Neal cried. “Uh-oh, uh-oh! And I know we’re saying that a lot today!”
“Here’s something else we’re saying a lot today,” shouted Eric. “RUN!”
Emperor Ko bounded out of the cave, his horns spouting flames high over his head. “Retrieve the treasure!” he bellowed.
“Not likely!” said Neal. Cradling the treasure bo
x, he slapped his turban back on and leaped high over the campfire to a distant ridge.
At the same time, Keeah and Eric spun on their heels and leveled a double blast at Ko.
Blam-ka-blam! The ground at the emperor’s feet exploded into rocks and ash, hurtling him flat on his back. Before he could get up, Max dropped a thick mesh of spider silk from the ridge above, and Julie flew down and twisted it around Ko so tightly that he could barely move.
“Now that’s more like it!” said Keeah.
Djambo barreled into the stunned Snitcher leaders in a single move, tackling both Plundit and Smeed. This sent the other bandits squealing and running in circles.
“Cowards!” yelled Ko, struggling to escape from his bonds.
All of a sudden, there was an explosion in the camp, then another and another. Searing bolts of light flew about the rocks.
“Halt!” came a tremendous shout. “Stop where you are!”
In a flash, everyone stopped moving.
Campfires flickered out one by one, until only a single flame blazed. It cast a giant shadow of four jagged wings and a horned head against the mountain wall.
The emperor went still. “Gethwing? The moon dragon? Is it you? But … you died in the Underworld!”
“How dare you?” hissed the raspy voice. “You knew nothing of this treasure before I told you! Be gone now! Leave this place!”
With a blinding bolt of light, the moon dragon threw Ko — still bound in chains of spider silk — into the cliff face, stunning him.
A second bolt of light hoisted the emperor into the air and dropped him roughly into his golden chariot.
“Gethwing!” Ko shouted. “You traitor! The prophecy will come true without me — and without you! I shall triumph!”
A final blast of light — ka-boom! — snapped at the twin lions. They charged out of the camp, twisting down the mountain pass and skidding all the way to the Dark Lands.
Emperor Ko was gone.
The moon dragon remained.
“And now Snitchers … I will deal with you,” growled the voice.
Captain Plundit squeaked, “Oh!”
For a short moment, possessing the treasure of the Orkins had made the Snitcher Captain bold. But faced with real power, he cowered and quaked.