The other beasts, as fearsome as they were, seemed afraid of Ko. Still bowing, they quickly shifted away to give him room.
Ko loomed over the model of Droon, his three eyes resting on a single white castle nestled in a region of flat meadows.
“Then … the key is there!” Ko breathed with a deep rumble. “Zorfendorf!”
Keeah’s face went pale. “Zorfendorf?” she whispered. “That’s one of Droon’s royal castles. It has a long and glorious history. What does Ko want there?”
“I’m sure he’s not interested in checking out a book from its famous collection!” Max snarled.
Eric remembered their one brief visit to Zorfendorf Castle. Its massive library of thousands of books was the finest in all of Droon.
Zorfendorf? But why? What’s there for Ko?
As the beasts bent over the tiny castle, Eric felt Julie tense up beside him.
“Look …” she said softly, staring wide-eyed at something moving above Ko’s head.
The largest of the ceiling cauldrons — the unlit one — was beginning to swing back and forth. And when it swung, it squeaked.
Errch … errch …
“Someone’s hiding up there!” said Julie.
“Not for long,” said Eric. “That cauldron’s going to … to …”
All of a sudden — whooom! — the cauldron dropped from the ceiling, slammed onto the model, and rolled onto the floor with a tremendous crash.
The beasts leaped back as a boy with fins behind his ears tumbled out and bounced up among them. “Uh, sorry. Did I do that?”
“SPARRRR!” Ko roared. Black flames spurted out of his horns.
Gethwing stretched himself to his full, terrifying height. Then he leaped for the boy.
“Sparr — watch out!” cried Keeah. She jumped out from behind the tapestry and aimed her fingers at the moon dragon.
Kla-bamm! A violet beam struck Gethwing’s chest, pushing him back against Ko.
“Sorry to blast and run,” said Eric, “but —” Blam! Blam! He sprayed sparks at the other beasts. Then he rushed to Sparr, grabbed him, and pulled him to the door.
“That’s our cue to run!” shouted Julie. She and Max dashed out the door.
Keeah followed them, then turned one last time and sent blasts across the ceiling. Whoom! Whoom! The cauldrons fell and spilled flame everywhere.
“Thanks for the save!” said Sparr as the kids charged down the corridor.
“We’re not saved yet!” said Keeah. “Khan! Khan —”
But the little Lumpy king was already there, racing around the corner with Neal.
“We found the engine room!” squeaked Khan. “This palace runs on lightning, you know —”
“Not for long!” said Neal. “I don’t think the jam will hold forever —”
Sparr blinked. “Jam? What did you do?”
Neal shook his head. “Don’t ask!”
Vrrrrr! The great flying palace tilted suddenly. It wobbled and dipped.
“Ha-ha!” laughed Khan. “It’s working!”
But the hallway soon filled with beasts, drooling and growling. Ko was at their head, his three eyes blazing with rage.
“Sorry,” said Keeah, “but we can’t stay!”
Sparr pointed to where the floor and the wall met. “Eric, Keeah, blast right there!”
Together, the three of them blasted a small hole through to the outside. Kla-blammm!
Warm air rushed into the corridor.
“They say Lumpland has the softest sand of all!” cried Khan as the palace lurched again. It was plummeting toward the desert below.
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough!” shouted Keeah. “Jump!”
As the beasts charged, the kids squeezed through the opening and leaped from the flying palace, yelling at the top of their lungs.
“Ahhhhhhh —”
Luckily, the kids didn’t have far to fall.
Ko’s palace was just a few feet above the ground at the moment they’d jumped. Eric, Keeah, Julie, Neal, Max, Khan, and Sparr plopped onto the soft desert dunes and rolled to a stop.
As the palace jerked wildly up again, Eric saw it from the outside for the first time. It was large and black and ugly, a flying city with high walls and tall towers coiling up from its shiny surface.
Khan bounced to his feet. “The beasts will squeal when they see we’ve used all their spoons!”
Julie sat up. “Beasts use spoons?”
“Not anymore!” said Neal with a chuckle.
Dusting herself off, Keeah hurried to the top of the nearest dune and whistled. A moment later, a group of six-legged, shaggy-haired creatures trotted up to them.
“Pilkas!” exclaimed Eric. “Our rides to Zorfendorf.”
Keeah jumped onto the back of one pilka. “They brought us from Jaffa City this morning. When I left, my parents were trying to find out clues about the Ring of Midnight.”
“Perhaps we shall meet up with them soon,” said Khan, climbing up next to Max on the smallest pilka. “For now, I suggest we ride like the wind to Zorfendorf. Hi-ya, ho!”
With Keeah in the lead, the seven friends raced over the sandy wastes of Lumpland. Before long, the desert gave way to miles of wide and rolling meadows.
As they galloped through plains of high grass, Eric turned to Sparr. “Ko wants you for something,” he said. “Do you know what it is?”
The boy quickly shook his head. “Whatever it is, Gethwing said the time hasn’t come yet. I just hope … I mean … I don’t want to go back to Ko. Ever.”
Eric shared a look with Keeah.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “You won’t. We’ll make sure of that.”
They soon spotted the tip of a large tower peeping over the crest of a valley. As each mile passed, more of the giant white castle came into view. It stood in the center of a wide green plain. Its highest tower was surrounded by smaller towers and circled by thick walls of white stone.
“It’s so beautiful!” said Julie.
“And centuries old, too,” said Max. “So much history has happened here.”
“Maybe that’s why Ko wants to get in so badly,” said Neal. “Maybe he left something here ages ago. Something mysterious.”
Eric nodded. Zorfendorf was certainly mysterious. With all the adventures he and his friends had had in Droon, they had never met the castle’s current ruler. In fact, Prince Zorfendorf had not been seen by anyone for as long as they could remember.
“Some say the prince is an explorer!” said Khan as the pilkas descended into the valley. “Or that he is trapped somewhere.”
“Others say he never existed!” said Max.
Eric turned to Sparr as they rode. “Did you ever meet him?”
The boy shook his head. “I don’t think so. But then, I’m beginning to forget some things I did as a grown-up. Instead, I remember more of when I was little. Like Ko’s flying palace. I must have played there as a boy. The moment I saw it, I knew exactly how to get to his war room.”
Keeah looked at Eric again. “Well, no matter what Ko wants here, Zorfendorf has been safe for centuries. We have to keep it that way.”
When the castle guards saw the little group approaching the high walls, they opened the gates wide and cheered.
Keeah raised her hand, and the cheering stopped. “Zorfendorf is in danger —”
“Beasts are coming!” chirped Max.
“Led by Emperor Ko himself!” added Khan.
At that, the doors of the inner castle swung open, and a giant nearly twenty feet tall strode out. “Did someone say danger?”
“Thog!” cried Julie, spurring her pilka over to the giant.
Thog’s kindly features brightened when he saw the children. He had large eyes, three floppy ears, and a big bald head. A long fur wrap hung from his shoulders to his knees. Thog was the keeper of Zorfendorf’s library.
“Emperor Ko is coming,” Keeah told him. “He wants something in Zorfendorf. But we don’t know what it might be?
??. Wait — Thog, what’s wrong?”
The giant frowned, scratched his ears, then looked up at the tower. “There is something,” he said. “Follow me. To the Great Tower!”
As the castle’s guards began arming themselves with staffs and shields, preparing for Ko’s arrival, Thog led the children into the tower. It was flooded with sunlight. A set of stone steps spiraled up the inside of the tower, from the ground all the way to the open top, where a patch of blue sky was visible.
“There’s nothing here but steps,” said Neal, looking up. “What is the tower for?”
“A riddle I have never been able to answer,” said Thog. “But come. Look at this.”
Up the tower stairs they went, around and around, until they came to a narrow platform that ran around the top. The warm wind of the day blew across the tower with a low whistling sound.
“The view is incredible!” said Max, his orange hair blown back. His small cape flapped in the breeze.
“Thog, why are we here?” asked Keeah.
“You said we are in danger. I discovered this only last week,” said Thog. “I think it was hidden here for a moment such as this.”
He paced four steps from the stairway, bent to the platform, and pulled up a loose stone. Underneath sat a large red book. Embossed in gold letters on its cover were the words The History of Zorfendorf Castle.
“A thick book!” said Max, rubbing his paws together. “It’s because the castle’s history goes way back. It should tell us everything!”
“Everything about what Ko wants here,” added Julie.
Thog removed the book and laid it heavily on the tower wall.
“Maybe it will refresh my memory even more,” said Sparr eagerly. “Let’s read it.”
As the guards called out more commands below, and the preparations for battle continued, Keeah lifted the book’s large cover and turned to the first page.
It was blank.
So were the second and third.
In fact, all the pages of the big red book were blank except for the last one. Scribbled there were only a few lines in pale blue ink.
Max gasped. “I know that ink! I know that handwriting! My master Galen wrote that!”
“What does it say?” asked Sparr, leaning in.
Keeah moved her fingers across the page and began to read.
“‘It is the eighth orbit of the second moon —’ ”
The princess stopped. “That’s … six … no, seven years ago. Seven years ago.”
She went on. “‘I write this quickly, before I, too, fall under the spell….’ ”
“What spell?” asked Eric.
“Keeah, keep reading,” urged Sparr.
“‘Among the tall grasses and sweet sea breezes of this valley, I discovered the Fifth River —’”
“What’s the Fifth River?” asked Khan.
Thog blinked. “There are no rivers here.”
“‘Knowing that none other must ever find the river, I conjured a great castle from nothing —’ ”
“Conjured a great castle?” said Sparr, looking around at the massive stone walls. “Does he mean Zorfendorf? Conjured from nothing?”
“‘Then I cast a spell over all of Droon. From this day forward, everyone will think this castle has always been here. And so, the Fifth River will remain a secret. The riddle of Zorfendorf Castle will be kept secret forever. The riddle of … the riddle of … what riddle? Ah, the spell has taken me now…. I go from here … this strange old castle … so old … so very … old….’ ”
The writing trailed off, and Keeah stopped. She gazed at the vast white castle below them. “Does this mean that Zorfendorf is only … seven years old? Galen created this castle? And he made everyone think Zorfendorf has always been here?”
“Is that even possible?” asked Julie.
Neal frowned. “One thing’s possible. Galen conjured me a headache. I’m having it now.”
Sparr stood suddenly and stared out beyond the castle wall. Just coming into view was the tiny black smudge of Ko’s palace.
“I don’t know what it means or what it is,” said Sparr, trembling. “But if Galen conjured Zorfendorf to hide the Fifth River, then that’s what Ko is after.”
“But how does Ko know about it?” asked Eric. “Galen made everyone forget.”
“Even me,” said Thog, scratching his head.
Sparr touched his ear fins lightly. Then he snorted a tiny laugh. “Of course! Everyone did forget that Zorfendorf wasn’t old. Everyone except a creature that was under an ancient spell. A beast that was deep asleep. A beast named Ko.”
Eric bent to the book again and noticed a tiny sketch at the bottom of the page. It showed four wiggly lines coming together like an X with a tiny circle in the center.
Under it were the words: The Fifth River.
“I don’t get it,” Eric said softly. “If these lines are four rivers coming together, where’s the fifth? Besides, Thog says there aren’t any rivers here. It’s all too weird —”
“Weird, perhaps, but look!” exclaimed Khan. He pointed to a faint shadow wandering across the meadows. It looked like a forgotten path no one traveled anymore. Khan traced it all the way to Zorfendorf, where it disappeared under the castle walls.
“Maybe a river once flowed there,” said Thog.
“Or still flows underground,” said Keeah.
“There’s one, too!” shouted Neal. He was standing across the platform, squinting at the ground below.
“And another one,” called Julie, pointing at a third shadow wandering across the earth.
“Here, too!” Khan called out.
There were four shadows in all. The kids searched for signs of a fifth, but found none.
“Four is better than nothing,” chirped Max. “Four underground rivers —”
“All leading under the castle,” said Thog, looking from the ground to Galen’s sketch. “And I know where they meet. Quickly! Follow me!”
The second-to-last thing the kids saw before Thog hurried them down the tower was the vast army of castle guards that had assembled along the wall.
The very last thing they saw was Ko’s flying palace lurching and dipping in the sky, slowly approaching the castle.
“By my calculations,” said Khan, “the tape will come undone in about an hour —”
“Tape?” said Thog.
“Don’t ask!” said Julie.
When the kids reached the bottom of the tower, Thog hurried them into the main castle. He took a torch from the wall and descended a set of stairs that led under the floor.
As they wound their way through passages to the deepest levels of the castle, the group passed a dark room that was completely empty.
Thog stopped. “For as long as I can remember, this room has been called The Wizard’s Sneeze.”
Neal made a face. “What does that mean? That Galen came here when his nose was itchy?”
The Lumpy king peered in and chuckled. “Zorfendorf does have its riddles, doesn’t it? Thog, if you please. Lead on!”
The giant continued down through the castle’s dungeons. The halls became narrower and tighter. The stairs twisted and curved back on themselves, but always drove deeper into the earth.
“I still can’t believe it,” said Julie, running her hand along the ever-darkening walls. “The castle looks hundreds of years old!”
“Galen’s charm is amazing,” said Max. “Well, of course it is. He can do anything!”
The passages finally ended in a dark chamber that was completely closed at the end.
Thog stopped, his eyes full of fear. “Here.”
The children looked at one another.
“This looks like a dead end,” said Sparr.
“Not quite,” said Keeah.
In the wavering shadows cast by Thog’s torch, they could see marks carved into the wall in the shape of a high, arched doorway.
“Holy cow!” said Julie. “A magic door?”
The giant stepped back
, a frown on his face.
“It’s okay, Thog,” said Eric. “We’ll take it from here. The more we find out, the better we can all defend Zorfendorf against Ko.”
The giant nodded firmly. “I’m needed to help defend against the attack. I’ll come back when Ko is near.” He left his torch with Keeah, then disappeared the way they’d come.
Julie stared at the marks on the wall. “I wish Galen had written more about the Fifth River before his spell made him forget.”
“I think we’ll find out soon,” said Neal.
Holding the torch close with one hand, Keeah ran her fingers along the carvings.
The spider troll crouched next to her. “This is one of my master’s spells. Princess, read it.”
Eric listened closely as Keeah read the words aloud. She started backward from the bottom right, up and around the top of the arch, and back down to the bottom left.
The words sounded like the calling of birds.
“Beautiful,” said Khan.
“And powerful,” added Max proudly. “My master Galen knows all kinds of spells.”
Suddenly, the wall that looked hundreds of years old quivered, as if waves of heat rose from the floor in front of it. The dark stones went pale, almost white, then turned as clear as glass and vanished.
“Keeah, you did it,” said Neal.
Even with Keeah’s torch, the children could barely make out what lay beyond the opening. The sound of dripping water echoed inside.
Khan sniffed here and there. “Hmmm. It certainly smells old. And quite damp.”
“Like a wet basement,” said Julie, peering into the dark. “Kind of like the beasts’ smell.”
“Maybe,” said Eric. He squinted ahead, trying to make out a shape in the gloom. His heart was thudding with excitement, as if something were about to happen.
And then it did.
At the exact moment that the children passed through the doorway — whoooosh! — a burst of cool, wet air blew Keeah’s torch out.
They heard the low roar of water. As they entered the chamber, they felt it beneath their feet like the constant rumble of thunder.
Even in the darkness, the children could make out the shapes of four channels cut into the floor. One came from each corner of the room and met in the center to form a giant X.