Crown of Wizards

  Seconds later, the carpet swept through the sky after the yellow car.

  “We need to stop Gethwing from using whatever is in that chest,” said Sparr. “I fear it’s some old magic that has lain hidden on the ocean’s floor for ages. We cannot risk Gethwing getting his claws on it!”

  “His creepy, ugly claws,” said Neal.

  “Well said,” Sparr agreed.

  Keeah urged the carpet faster and faster, and soon it pulled up behind the yellow car. Neffu turned. “Well, look who’s trying to pass us. Lose them, Ungie.”

  Ungast swung his head around and saw them. He narrowed his eyes at Sparr. His mouth dropped open. “You —”

  With a swift turn of the wheel, the dark prince plunged the car downward. As it dipped and slowed, the carpet shot above it, and Ungast flipped over and swooped up behind them.

  “I like this view better,” said Neffu. “Prepare for an ice storm, kiddies!”

  “What, that again?” said Neal. “Don’t you have anything new to offer?”

  Neffu narrowed her eyes at him. “All right. How about — birdies?”

  “That’s fine. We love birdies!” scoffed Julie.

  Neffu’s fingers twitched and flicked. Suddenly, a flock of birds appeared. Giant black birds. With clawed feet and long, jagged beaks and great leathery wings. At Neffu’s command, the birds swarmed the little carpet.

  “Except we don’t love those birdies!” cried Neal. “Dive!”

  As Neal and Julie did their best to swat the birds away, Keeah steered the carpet down, then banked sharply, pulling alongside the car. She steadied it, then leaped out, grabbing on to the spare tire behind Ungast.

  “Hey, no extra passengers,” snapped Neffu. “You’re gonna pay for this ride!”

  The snotty witch had just raised her hands to blast at the princess when Ungast turned the wheel abruptly to avoid hitting a giant black bird. The quick movement threw Neffu across the seat, and her shot went wild, exploding near the birds and scaring them off.

  “Hey, whose side are you on!” Neffu snapped.

  “The side that wins!” said the prince, giving Keeah a hard stare. “Finish her off!”

  At that moment, Keeah saw in Ungast’s face something that reminded her of Eric. She snatched at the treasure chest, but Neffu knocked her hands away from it.

  “Eric!” Keeah shouted. “You will come back to us. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “Whatev,” snarled the prince.

  “You will!” she said. “You can’t stop the future —”

  “Blah-blah,” snapped Neffu. “How about you just land that carpet? In Gethwing’s lair!”

  “No, thanks,” called Neal. “Beaglebutt is your hideout!”

  “Ha! You mean Blunderbuss!” Ungast shouted.

  For an instant, Keeah saw a trace of a smile on Ungast’s lips.

  “Really?” said Neal. “And all this time I thought it was Bubblebath!”

  “Cut it out, you two!” said Neffu.

  As Keeah reached for the treasure chest once more, Ungast shouted, “Get away from that!” He twisted the wheel violently, and Keeah fell back onto the carpet.

  In a moment she would remember forever, Keeah saw Sparr struggle to his feet and leap — twenty feet! — through the air and into the car.

  “Sparr!” Keeah gasped.

  “No!” cried Neffu.

  Sparr fell into the seat next to her and grabbed the chest. Without pausing, he flung the chest onto the carpet.

  Neffu cried out and dived after it. She landed hard on the carpet, next to Julie and Neal.

  Before Keeah, Julie, or Neal could react, the witch had stolen the treasure away again. Grasping it tightly to her chest, she stepped off the carpet into empty air.

  “Birds!” she cried. The giant black birds swept under her and bore her up, still clinging to the treasure chest.

  As the car soared into the sky, Ungast and Sparr grappled with each other. The old sorcerer tried to get control of the steering wheel, but he was no match for the young prince. The car zoomed away toward Barrowbork. Neffu and the birds followed it, leaving the carpet far behind.

  “Oh, my gosh!” said Julie. “Sparr is gone! Ungast has him!”

  By then it was too late to chase them. A pack of wingwolves joined the car, and they vanished into the smoke-filled skies over Barrowbork.

  “This is terrible!” Keeah cried. Her heart quaked. No good could possibly come of the old sorcerer being Gethwing’s captive.

  Julie righted the carpet. “We have to return to Lubalunda. We have to tell Galen!”

  The three friends raced across the skies toward the Saleef mountains. They circled once and spotted Max and Galen in the mayor’s tree tower. Max was perched at the highest lookout, scanning the landscape. He waved to them, and they descended.

  Keeah was the first to notice Galen’s grim expression. “What’s wrong? What has happened?”

  “Lumpland,” said Max, wiping tears from his cheeks. “Lumpland has fallen to the wingwolves. King Khan has led the Lumpies into hiding. The wraiths attacked the Orkin homeland. Our blue-faced friends have fled, too.”

  “Five times we have tried to meet up with Zello’s armies,” said Galen. “And five times, we have been driven back. We are besieged!”

  Max nodded. “Tell us what you have seen.”

  The children told them everything.

  Galen mumbled under his breath when he heard of the loss of Sparr and again when he was told of the sunken chest. “Magic treasure often contains the darkest forces,” he said. “Gethwing grows in power. Ancient and new. And now Sparr is lost to us.” The wizard’s face was ashen with worry.

  Suddenly, Max stiffened. “Something moved down there. I saw it.”

  The children crowded up the ladder to the highest lookout post. They saw a flicker of light on the plains below the Saleef mountains. It vanished. Another flicker, closer this time. And again. Again.

  “Gethwing’s armies are coming,” Keeah said. “We’re not safe here anymore.”

  “Coming?” said Max. “To the spider trolls’ home? But we have never … oh, dear!”

  “So Gethwing’s forces have tightened their web around us, cutting us off from the rest of Droon,” said Galen. “Wingwolves have clouded the sky. The moon dragon’s wraiths have darkened the land. Beast forces have united under the banner of ancient Goll. Zello’s armies are far away. A web of evil surrounds us, a web of power and cunning —”

  “Ahem!” said a voice.

  Everyone turned to see Mayor Tibble, his silver hair standing straight up from his wrinkly forehead.

  “A web, is it?” he said. “Perhaps you forget the best websmen in the world? Spider trolls! Webs cannot harm us. Webs can help us prevail!”

  Galen paused, his eyes wide. “So, my valiant friend. You have a plan?”

  Tibble smiled. “I certainly do!”

  “They’re coming now!” cried Max, peering below. “Gethwing’s forces are coming! Lubalunda is being attacked! To arms!”

  The mayor quickly issued orders to his people, while Galen took command of the children and helped prepare the village for attack.

  No sooner had the walls been made secure than the call came. “Ninns! At the base of the foothills. Thousands of them!”

  “They shall not enter the perimeter of our village,” called Mayor Tibble.

  But his rallying cry was answered from below by the shouting of Ninns.

  “Charge!” they boomed. “Up the Pink Mountains! Batter down the secret door! Take the spider troll village!”

  As the children raced forward to defend the secret entrance, the trees beyond the summit were alive with the sound of slithering snakes.

  Only they weren’t snakes.

  They were wraiths!

  And at their head was none other than Prince Ungast himself. “Charge!” he cried.

  As noisy as the Ninn warriors were — huffing and stumbling up the mountainsides, their weapons clattering — the w
raiths were as silent as sleep, surrounding the village quickly and quietly. The air grew icy cold as they advanced.

  Using wands that glowed with purple light, the wraith warriors froze the little trolls where they stood.

  “Defend Lubalunda!” Max shouted from below.

  “You shall not enter the city!” shouted the mayor. “You will not come an inch closer —”

  A passing wraith touched his shoulder with a glowing wand and slithered on. Little, silver-haired Tibble froze in mid-yell, his mouth open, his hands raised in tiny fists.

  “Stop them in the trees!” yelled Julie.

  Keeah ran to the tower. “Galen, we need your magic at the village entrance. The Ninns are battering the outside walls —”

  She stopped.

  Galen, his forehead wet with perspiration, his cloak ragged from the first attack of wraiths, nodded his weary head. In his hand was the orange fabric. It was nearly worn through.

  “The time is wrong. I am needed here. Why take me away?” he whispered to himself.

  “Galen, what is that?” Keeah asked. “Who are you talking to?”

  At the same time, an explosion rang through the village. It came from the secret entrance.

  “Galen! The door!” Keeah cried.

  The old wizard threw the fabric to the floor of the tree tower and took Keeah’s arm. “Come with me! Now!”

  The two wizards flew down from the tower straight to the secret entrance just as a troop of Ninns burst through the rock and into the village.

  “You shall not pass!” boomed the wizard.

  Flang! Clonk! Galen swung his mighty staff up and down as if he were drawing on the air. The troop of attacking Ninns toppled into itself and fell back outside the door.

  “Seal up the doorway!” Keeah cried.

  Together the two wizards sent a beam of brilliant light at the broken entrance and sealed it shut.

  But the number of attackers was far too many for the small band of defenders. With another explosion, the Ninns burst through again.

  “Fall back!” Galen shouted, retreating to the safety of a ledge on the inside of the hollow peak. “Fall back to the tree house!”

  The children, Max, and Galen were soon safely inside the tree tower. When they looked down, they saw the hillsides below moving with thousands of Ninns and wraith warriors. The wraiths slithered up the crags while the Ninns clambered up the pink stone to the summit.

  The old wizard’s features were drawn and worried. “Gethwing’s power is nearly complete.”

  Keeah searched Galen’s face. What if … what if this war proved too much for him?

  “What can we do?” she asked. “We have to do something now.”

  While the battle raged below, Galen paced and nodded, paused, nodded, and paced again. He scanned the trees, looked at the sky, stroked his beard.

  Suddenly, he smiled. “This reminds me of a time, oh, long ago….” He drifted off.

  “Galen?” whispered Keeah.

  The wizard started, as if woken from a deep sleep. He turned to the children. “What can we do? Together, perhaps not much. We don’t have the strength to defeat Gethwing’s armies. But separately? Separately we may hold the key. While Max and I do our best here, you must go to the Upper World.”

  “The Upper World?” said Neal in surprise. “Aren’t we needed here? Why should we go there?”

  Galen released a long breath. “I am learning, hour by hour, moment by moment, that the prophecy of Emperor Ko is coming true, regardless of Eric’s accidental wounding. Go to Eric’s home. To Eric’s home …” He drifted off again.

  “What do you want us to do?” asked Julie.

  Galen blinked at something on the floor. He picked up the orange fabric, which lay at his feet.

  “Ah, yes,” he said. “Go to Eric’s home and discover if his mother knows a secret about him. She may not realize how important what she knows is. Tell her what happened to Eric. Tell her everything, if you must. She may be our only hope of saving him. There must be a secret from his past….”

  “Like the Pearl Sea?” said Neal.

  The wizard nodded. “Like the Pearl Sea.”

  Keeah breathed deeply. “If we can’t battle Gethwing, we have to bring Eric back to our side. If this quest has any chance of helping him, we have to go. Now!”

  “Then go,” said Galen, scanning the countryside below. “And our blessing be with you. I will remain here and try to keep Lubalunda free.”

  With a quick move of his hand, Galen sprayed sparkly dust into the air. It caught the light like silver rain, then fell lightly to the ground. When it did, the shape of steps shimmered before them, and the rainbow stairs appeared.

  Galen gave the pouch to Keeah. “Ah, well, I can still do this, it seems,” he said. “The stairs will bring you back exactly where you need to be. Now go. And may all good things go with you.”

  With that, he began to pace the tree tower once more.

  Keeah, Neal, and Julie looked at one another. Without a word, they raced up the glittering stairs to the Upper World.

  With a brief look back at the dark forces swarming the spider troll homeland, Keeah, Julie, and Neal rushed up the rainbow stairs.

  Although they hadn’t thought for a long time about the strange jewel known as the Pearl Sea, they knew its story by heart.

  One of the most powerful objects in either world was the wondrous Moon Medallion created by Zara, Queen of Light, mother of Galen, Sparr, and Urik.

  The Medallion was an encyclopedia of ancient knowledge, a device of untold power, and the artifact that united the wizardry of Zara’s magic dynasty.

  But the real strength of the object came from the parts created by each of her sons.

  Galen fashioned the Ring of Midnight, which circled the Medallion.

  Sparr made the Twilight Star, which twirled within the Ring.

  And Urik created the Pearl Sea, which glowed from its center.

  When all three parts fit into the Medallion, completing it, it became a device of immense power unmatched by any other.

  Urik had long been lost in time and so was his Pearl Sea. Until one day, Gethwing invaded the Upper World seeking it, and the Pearl turned up.

  In Eric Hinkle’s house.

  How had it come to be there? When had it arrived? And why was the Pearl hidden there, of all places?

  These were the mysteries that the children needed to answer now.

  They scrambled up the last few steps and into the closet of Eric’s basement.

  While they were in Droon, no time had passed in the Upper World. Mrs. Hinkle was still knocking on the closet door, just as they had known she would be.

  “Eric? Eric!”

  Keeah closed her eyes and murmured the words she had spoken earlier that day and — zing! — she looked just like Eric.

  Neal removed his turban, folded it into his pocket, and put his hand on the doorknob. Ready? he asked silently.

  Ready, said Julie.

  The three friends each took a deep breath, then opened the closet door and stepped out into the basement.

  Mrs. Hinkle stood there, clutching the kids’ soccer ball. She stared at Neal and Julie, then looked Keeah up and down.

  “Hi … Mom,” said the princess.

  Eric’s mother shook her head, slowly at first, then more rapidly. “You’re not Eric. You’re not him. Where is my son?”

  Keeah’s heart thundered. “Uh …”

  Neal gulped. “No, seriously, this is Eric,” he said. “Really. Hey, Eric, tell your mom about the reason you got detention in math class. Only the real Eric knows that.”

  “Uh … right … detention,” said Keeah. What’s detention?

  Mrs. Hinkle gazed at each of the children in turn, then shook her head again. “I saw this ball fly all by itself. And I know my son. You aren’t Eric. Where is he? What happened to him?”

  Seeing from Mrs. Hinkle’s face that they shouldn’t — couldn’t — lie to her anymore, Keeah snapp
ed her fingers. Instantly, her long blond hair returned, her T-shirt and jeans became her usual blue tunic, and the glasses vanished from her nose.

  Mrs. Hinkle dropped the soccer ball. “Oh … my … How did … Was that … magic?”

  She slumped into an old stuffed chair near the workbench.

  “We’ll tell you the truth,” said Julie.

  And they did.

  In fact, they told her everything from the beginning. They told the whole saga of Droon, from the day Julie, Neal, and Eric first discovered the staircase to Droon to the time Eric was wounded by Emperor Ko’s magical ice dagger to the moment Eric battled his dark side in the City of Dreams and only Prince Ungast emerged from the wreckage.

  “I … I …” Mrs. Hinkle started. She couldn’t go on.

  “It’s hard to understand, we know,” said Neal. “Sometimes we don’t even believe it ourselves.”

  “But there can’t be a whole other world … down there!” Eric’s mother said.

  “There is, and I’m princess there,” said Keeah, “at least until the beasts take over. That’s why we’re here.”

  “But I need Eric to come home!” Mrs. Hinkle cried.

  “We do, too,” said Neal. “We’re in trouble without him. We need him to come back.”

  “But is he … gone?” Eric’s mother asked.

  “No,” said Keeah, her eyes welling up. “He’s not gone. Not really. But he’s trapped and in danger. We need to find something, anything, maybe a secret that only you and Eric know, that will help draw him out from the prison of Prince Ungast. Droon will fall if we don’t.”

  Mrs. Hinkle listened to the princess. Then, without a word, she left the basement and hurried straight upstairs to the second floor.

  The children followed her into her bedroom closet and watched as she took a small wooden chest down from a high shelf.

  She opened the chest and frowned.

  “It’s empty. I was going to show you something. It’s the only secret I know,” she said, “but it’s gone.”

  “The Pearl?” said Keeah.

  Mrs. Hinkle turned to her. “How did you know that?”

  “Because I was here when Eric found it,” Keeah said.