The story began in the Upper World. And in many ways it began with Salamandra.
Her flight through the Portal of Ages had landed her city of Pesh in the very place and time that Galen and Eric found themselves at that moment. She had come for one reason alone: to steal magic.
Learning of Salamandra’s evil intentions, the wizard Zara, Queen of Light, along with her young sons, Urik and Galen, and their infant brother, Sparr, had come to stop her.
Unknown to them, Ko, the beast emperor of Goll, was drawn to the Upper World by tales of Zara’s astonishing magic. He built the terrible Dark Stair from Droon to this world. That very night, Ko would find Zara’s camp outside Pesh. He would kidnap her and her infant son and take them back to Droon.
Now Eric and Galen were in Pesh just before all that happened.
Before all that happened.
Eric realized something he had not before. “Ko hasn’t yet attacked your mother’s camp yet. It hasn’t happened yet, so …”
The wizard frowned. “Yes, at this very moment, my mother is safe in her camp among the hills. My infant brother, Sparr, still sleeps in her arms. Urik and I slumber nearby, ignorant of any danger.”
Eric trembled at the thought that he had next. “So … you can stop Ko….”
Galen breathed in sharply. “If I witnessed his terrible deed, I would have no power to stop myself.”
“You shouldn’t stop yourself. It was evil —”
Like a sudden storm, Galen grew angry, though Eric could tell he was not angry with him. “No! That terrible kidnapping was the one event that brought our worlds together! If I reversed it, if I thwarted Ko now, none of our history — as painful as much of it has been — would have happened. Remember this, Eric. What befell us that night — Ko’s coming into this world, his stealing of Zara and Sparr and bringing them to Droon — was all a surprise.”
“It was terrible,” said Eric.
“But listen here!” Galen went on. “Would Droon ever have been known if I hadn’t devised the rainbow staircase to search for my mother and Sparr? Would it?”
Eric was dumbfounded. “I … I …”
“You struggle with the answer,” the wizard said gently. “I have struggled with it every day of my life. Remember that we are in the past. The tiniest change here could affect the future in startling ways. The single flap of a butterfly’s wings can grow and grow until it becomes a storm. Remember that. Let us do what we came for and no more. No more.”
Eric nodded. He was glad Galen was with him. He knew that when the time came he could tell the wizard about the loss of his powers. He would tell him.
Not yet, he thought. But soon, very soon …
All at once, there came a sound of footsteps slapping across the rooftops above them, and a glimmer of green light moved across the cobblestones ahead.
“Goblins!” hissed Galen. He crouched, his fingers flashing with sparks.
Eric stumbled in the shadows, and the green light flooded over him.
“There! There! Spies!” cried a goblin.
All at once — whooomf! — a heavy black net fell toward them from the rooftop above.
“Eric, run! Find the thorn!” Galen cried.
“What? No, both of us —”
“It’s too late!” said Galen. He pushed Eric to safety, then fell under the net himself. It slithered over him as if it were alive, trapping his hands so he couldn’t blast his way free.
As goblins leaped down from the roofs, Eric pulled Galen to his feet and hustled him into a side alley. “I … I can’t free you from the net!” he said, nearly in tears. “I lost all my magic. I made this mess. I should have told you —”
“I knew,” said Galen, stumbling forward.
“What?”
“The moment you entered Droon, I knew.”
“Then why did you save me on the mountaintop?” Eric asked. “Why not Neal or Julie or Keeah? They all have powers! They could have helped!”
Galen groaned as the net tightened on him, and the goblins hurried closer. He fixed his eyes on Eric and smiled. “Why do you think?”
“But I … I … have no magic anymore!”
“Nothing great is ever easy,” said the wizard. “But of all the magics I possess, being human is the most powerful. And that is what is needed here. Ignore my mother’s tent. Find the thorn. Do your best. Remember everything we have said. And go!”
The wizard spun around haltingly and drew the goblins away. Eric stared after him for a moment, then turned and ran as fast as he could down the side alley.
Just before he climbed to the nearest roof, he saw the goblin horde trap Galen, hoist him up, and carry him roughly toward the palace.
When Eric reached the city wall, he turned. “Thank you, Galen,” he whispered. “I’ll be back for you.”
Then he climbed over the parapet and jumped ten feet to the damp ground outside. Breathing hard, he set his sights on the plains stretching out darkly beyond.
Pull the veil aside, he thought. Reveal what is hidden. Ignore the tent. Wings of a butterfly!
He was pretty sure he didn’t understand any of it.
“Well,” he said to himself, “if nothing great is ever easy, and this sure won’t be easy, maybe it’ll turn out to be great!” He nearly laughed at his own words, but the wail of goblins from inside the city startled him back to himself. He decided to put those thoughts away and do what had to be done.
“Try to do what has to be done,” he said to himself. “Find the silver thorn.”
Eric moved quickly away from the city. A path, not well defined but passable, zigzagged into the foothills. He ran up it until he reached the peak of the lowest hill. From its far side he saw black plains rolling away as far as the horizon.
Searching the ground below, he spotted a small campfire smoldering under a broad shelf of rock, its embers blinking like cats’ eyes in the dark.
“Have I found Ko already?” he wondered. “Or more goblins?” Then he saw three horses with golden saddles, and his heart fluttered.
He crept carefully down the hill until he could see directly under the ledge. A large blue tent sat nestled at the foot of the hill. Its billowing silken walls and upthrust posts were nearly hidden among the rocks.
Eric stared at it for minutes in silence, then whispered softly to the night. “Queen Zara is in there! And young Galen and Urik, and even Sparr, no more than an infant!”
As always when Eric spoke the name of Galen’s mother, he felt an ache in his chest. He had often thought of it as something like being pierced by an arrow, but that wasn’t right, for it both hurt and did not hurt.
Then he remembered Salamandra’s words about pulling aside the veil, and they seemed not so much about the cloth over the library’s display case as about the silken tent flap.
He felt drawn to the little camp with every part of his being. He knew he was only a few hundred feet away from seeing something he had never imagined he would see: all of the wizards together.
Galen had told him to ignore the tent, but he could just as soon stop breathing!
He darted from rock to rock until he was on the ground not twenty paces from the tent. The horses raised their heads to gaze at him, then lowered them again, making no noise.
Eric moved lightly over the ground until he stood at the tent’s flap. He reached out his hand and pulled the cloth gently aside.
He nearly cried out.
Queen Zara was asleep, the baby Sparr at her side. Young Galen slumbered nearby, wrapped in silken blankets. But Urik, the eldest of the three brothers, sat at a makeshift desk, a tiny lit candle by his elbow.
He was writing with a feathered quill, pausing, writing some more. And the book he was writing in … was … was … the big brown book at Eric’s own library!
Eric’s knees gave out, and he sank to the ground. He stared at the book. Was it the same book? It was the same! How could it be? How could Urik’s book be at his own library?
Urik’s book!
How did it get there? How!
He rose to his feet and leaned forward to speak, to tell Urik what was coming, when a faint sound came from the hill above him.
Looking up, Eric saw a spurt of green fire.
He released the tent cloth. It fluttered closed.
“Ko’s horns!” Eric said to himself. “He’s here. The horrible beast is here!”
Stepping silently away from the tent, Eric scrambled back up the hill and saw Ko storming this way and that in the pass above, waving his four arms in every direction over the countryside. A trio of red-faced Ninn warriors stood nearby, watching their leader nervously.
Eric knew that the Ninns were part of the story, too. Legends told of how Ko had forced the peaceful, blue-skinned Orkins to build the Dark Stair. Under Ko’s influence, the Orkins turned evil and became Ninns.
Ko shuddered from horns to hooves, then began to speak. “O Queen of Light!” he said. “O Wizard Mother of the Upper World, I have heard of you. I have come for you. My charms shall bind your great magic to mine!”
“Where is she, O master?” one Ninn asked.
“Near!” said Ko. “We shall find her!”
Eric’s heart ached when he thought about the sad history to come. Ko had found Zara. He had charmed her, and the charm had ended her life.
Eric could feel anger rising up in him. All the history of Droon would be changed if he could stop Ko right here, right now.
Could he do it? Should he do it?
“Emperor, look there!” said one of the Ninns. “A caravan in the night! With magic!”
Ko swung his giant head to the east. A narrow line of torches slithered in the distance, coming toward the foothills.
Eric stood as tall as he could on the hilltop. Squinting, he saw a group of twenty or so goblins tramping in a line. The middle ones carried a small jeweled chest.
“Goblins bring more magic to Salamandra of Pesh!” said the second Ninn.
“It shall be mine!” said Ko. His horns spouted flames again, and Eric guessed that the beast’s greed for magic had gotten the better of him. “First the treasure, then the queen!”
It all happened in the blink of an eye. Ko and his Ninns rushed to the pass’s far end and swooped upon the unsuspecting caravan. Salamandra’s forces were no match for the emperor’s magical fury. He sent a storm upon them. Many goblins ran away in fear. Those that didn’t were charmed by Ko into a tangle of their own tails. While the Ninn warriors chased the goblins into the plains, Emperor Ko knelt down by the small chest.
Eric crept to the end of the pass and saw that the chest was covered by a silver cloth.
Pull the veil aside! Again!
Ko’s mighty claws were about to do just that when Eric stood up and called out. “No you don’t, Ko! That chest belongs to Salamandra, and I need it!”
Though he felt no electricity in his fingers as he normally did, his heart was pumping wildly as he ran toward Ko. He leaped off the hill right down at the horned emperor. The force of his leap knocked Ko to the ground, but the beast was up in a flash.
“Who dares attack the great Ko, Master of Droon?” the beast boomed. Not waiting for an answer, he sent a blazing fireball through the air. Eric dived to the dirt, and the blast struck the ground behind him. Ko charmed a second fireball, larger than the first, but Eric hurled himself at the little chest, ripped its cloth aside, and was nearly blinded by the silver light. He plunged his hand into the light and grasped the thorn that lay inside the chest.
It sliced his fingers, but he held it tight.
“You shall not steal from Ko!” shouted the emperor, rushing forward.
Eric turned on his heel and ran blindly in the night, then nearly choked when he realized he was running straight for Zara’s tent.
He stopped short and turned.
“No!” he cried out. “You can’t! You can’t!”
But it was too late. Ko had seen Zara’s tent.
With a flick of his massive fist, Ko thrust the boy aside like a rag doll. Eric hit his head on a rock and was out for a moment. When he came to, Ko and his Ninns were ripping fiercely at the tent. It happened in flashes of green fire and yelling. There was a baby’s scream, a groan of pain, then it was over.
“Back to Droon with the queen and her son!” cried Ko, cradling the limp forms of Zara and Sparr in two arms, while pounding his chest in a howl of terrifying joy with the others. Moments later he and his Ninns descended the Dark Stair and were gone.
“No!” Eric cried, staring at the tent, its posts broken, its silks tattered. He knew that Urik and Galen were frozen in a trance inside the tent. When they came out of it, they would search Pesh for their mother, not knowing she had been spirited away to Droon.
Eric fell to his knees and slammed the ground with his fists. “No! No! Why?”
But it had already happened. It was over.
His heart heavy, full of anger, he knew he could do nothing but continue his mission. He turned away from the foothills and ran all the way back to Pesh. He knew the weight of silver in his hand was magical. He could feel it pulsing in his palm. He knew it was Salamandra’s magic and not his own that allowed him to enter Pesh unseen and walk the streets as if he were invisible. Twice he thought goblins had spotted him, only to walk on unhindered.
Unseen, he entered the dark palace; unseen, he found Galen’s dungeon. He unlocked the heavy door and led the wizard through the narrow passages. When Galen emerged from the palace, Eric was already running ahead into the shadowy streets.
“You have done well,” Galen said when they finally reached the spot where they had entered Pesh.
Eric breathed deeply, then hung his head. “Let’s just get out of here.”
The wizard held him by the shoulder. “Eric, your face tells me you could do nothing.”
“Wrong,” said Eric angrily. “I did do something! I led Ko right to your tent! I did it! I did it! It’s all my fault —”
Galen turned away for a moment. “You …” Then he shook his head. “No. It happened as it had to happen. If you had had your powers, you might have tried to stop Ko. You might have alerted my brother, my mother, me. You and I would now be strangers. You would not have become the wizard you are!”
Eric’s heart thumped in anger. “Well, I’m not a wizard! I’m nothing now —”
“As if flashy powers make a wizard!” said Galen, with a hint of a smile on his lips. “But you will see that more clearly in time. Here is the corner where we saw ourselves in the drawing. Move this way … that way … yes …”
The moment the two of them moved as they had in the drawing, the picture dissolved around them, and they were back in the library, Galen looking like Neal once more.
Seeing the book safely back in its case, Eric told Galen what he had seen in the tent.
“Urik’s book?” said the wizard. “But how did it come to be here? Eric, we must know —”
But they could not linger. Mrs. Kroger entered, and the crowd came in behind her.
With great effort, Eric smiled at her, though his smile disappeared as soon as she turned away.
“That crusty book is totally whoa,” Galen said to her. “I can really learn a lot!”
Mrs. Kroger seemed surprised. “Maybe it will help you get an A in Spanish.”
“Maybe I’ll get three As!” said Galen.
Eric pulled him away. “Which means we’d better go study now! Bye, Mrs. K!”
They rushed quickly out of the library, the smile on Mrs. Kroger’s face lasting longer than Eric had ever seen.
Eric raced home, with Galen following hard on his heels. They saw no one, didn’t stop to catch their breath, and were soon in his basement closet. When the stairs appeared, they descended. All this was done without saying a word.
Eric could think of nothing to say.
So this was his life without powers? Messing up? Doing things that only went wrong?
If this was being plain old Eric, he hated it.
He rushed
headlong down the rainbow stairs. Obedient to Galen’s command, the flying carpet still hovered in the air next to the stairs. Eric plopped down on it, followed by the wizard. A short, silent ride later, they arrived at the foot of the Pink Mountains of Saleef.
“Eric, wait —” Galen started, when they hopped off the carpet together. But he couldn’t get the rest out, for suddenly — ba-boooom! — the pink stone erupted violently.
Galen just managed to wrap the carpet around Eric protectively when a wave of dust rolled over them. Before the dust cleared, someone spoke.
“Master!”
Max stepped out of the dust, coughing. He ran straight to Galen. “It was … it was …”
“Awesome!” said Keeah, running out next.
Neal and Julie stumbled out with her, followed by Salamandra and the little starfox.
“It was amazing!” said Neal. “I drove Ko’s beasts nuts by floating over their heads every time they tried to grab me.”
“I was nearly caught,” said Julie, “but Salamandra saved me with her staff. Then I changed into a snake and scared the beasts.”
“We escaped them!” said Max. “Yay!”
“Not quite,” said Galen. “Look there.”
Deep in the mountain’s hole a crowd of beasts, their eyes glimmering in the darkness, were rushing out toward the friends.
Even as Galen raised his sparking fingertips, Salamandra whirled on her heels.
“I’ve got it!” she said, shaking her staff.
Blam! — a hedge of thorns grew instantly over the hole, sealing the beasts inside.
“They’ll soon find another way out,” the queen said. She turned toward Eric and her eyes fell on the silver thorn. “Ooh, my magic! Now stand aside, everyone, and see what I can do!” She snatched the thorn from Eric and strode away. Placing the silver thorn on the ground, she began to murmur words under her breath.
“You’re welcome,” Eric grumbled.
Galen turned to Julie. “And what have you found there?” he asked.
Julie shrugged. “I’m not exactly sure,” she answered. Cradled in her hands was a heavy black stone the size and shape of a softball. It was veined with blue and red threads of light, and it seemed to shimmer from inside.