Because he’s immortal, thought Eric.
With a few deft moves, Max and the children were able to land the chariot roughly on the silver plains. The horse galloped onward without a stop.
“Remember what Ko said about traveling to the Cave of Night,” said Keeah.
“I remember,” said Julie.
“The trick is knowing where to start,” said Galen. “There is a statue of Gethwing in the easternmost range of blue mountains. We start there!”
The chariot roared into the blue mountains. Finding the statue of the evil dragon towering over a dark valley, the four children recited what the beast emperor had said.
“East beyond the light, west behind the shadow, north of the farthest valley, south of the tallest peak….”
The chariot and its crew thundered across the icy plains, turning and racing, mile after mile, until south of the tallest of the blue mountains they spied a patch of ominous darkness among the jagged ledges.
Gethwing’s secret lair, the Cave of Night.
The children tugged hard on the silver horse’s reins. The chariot slid to a halt outside the black cave.
“The moon dragon has nearly landed!” said Max, looking back. “And his flying wolves are still with him!”
“Children, enter the cave,” said Galen. “Find the dragon’s wheel of life while the moon still shines. Dawn approaches in less than an hour. My brothers and I — and my mother — will take up the battle!”
The slowly brightening skies erupted with Gethwing’s howling even before he set his feet on the icy ground.
“Eric, take the Medallion,” said Zara.
“And my sword,” Sparr added, and he tossed it high.
Eric grabbed both tight and discarded Ungast’s lesser blade. “Thank you.”
Neal, Keeah, and Julie entered the jagged arch of the cave’s mouth. Darkness surrounded them.
All Eric heard were the age-old words of Gethwing’s prophecy.
Five shall pass away, four shall wear the crown, three shall fall, two shall rise together, and one …
“Eric?” Keeah said.
Turning once before plunging in after his friends, Eric saw Urik embrace his family, then stand firm. The moon hung in the sky even as the sun began its rise.
“Eric, come,” said Keeah, pulling him into the mouth of the cave. “We need you. No one more than you.”
He gripped the sword, took her hand, and followed her into the darkness.
The Cave of Night was a filthy darkness, thick and heavy with the smell of burning.
No more than five feet inside the entrance, the passage turned and became impossibly narrow and close. More than once Eric felt as if his breath was stopped in his throat.
Which was not a bad thing, as the air was damp with age and despair and the unmistakable smell of something dead.
“This is different from my vision,” said Neal, his voice sounding thin and small. “Way colder and creepier.”
“That’s because this is real,” said Keeah. “Visions are just that, visions. Real is real.”
Eric recalled his vision of a golden future, knowing that, like Neal’s vision, it was not real, either. He brushed it from his mind.
Gethwing’s prophecy is being fulfilled now.
This moment.
There is only this moment.
In they went among the cold rocks, drawn by the sound of stone grinding stone. It was Gethwing’s wheel of life.
“Look!” said Julie. “There’s something on the tunnel floor.”
Eric flicked his fingers, and a spark flared in the air. Before being extinguished, its reflection flashed on the floor up ahead.
“A pool,” he said. “Water.”
All things connect …
The children crowded around, and the water became translucent. Images swam across its surface.
The great world of Droon, every acre, every square mile was spread out in a panorama of darkness and fire.
“This is Demither’s doing,” said Keeah. “She’s telling us that time has run out.”
The roofs of Jaffa City flamed with red and green fire, and the stones of its great palace rang with the assault of thousands of beasts.
Towers crumbled. Bridges fell. Water from a broken seawall flowed through the streets.
They saw Queen Relna run across the battlements, a colored staff high above her head. King Zello tripped backward up circular steps toward her, his twin clubs flailing, while dozens of lion-headed beasts pursued him.
“Lumpies, to the walls!” the king shouted.
“The Lumpies are gone!” came the queen’s response. “Lost in the battle —”
“Not the Lumpies!” said Julie. “That means they never made it to the Bangledorn Forest.”
Flames engulfed the royal palace’s giant tower, and the children saw for the first time how the tower was positioned in the exact center of the city. The walls surrounded it in an almost perfect circle. It reminded them of the strange spoked circle sketched on Galen’s old map.
Eric gasped. “It’s like … a wheel.”
“Droon’s wheel of life!” Neal said. “In my vision of the future, Zabilac — I mean old Zabilac — told me that Droon had a wheel of life. It’s right under Jaffa City. And the palace tower is its axle! If the tower falls, the wheel stops!”
Tears ran down Keeah’s cheeks and fell into the pool, sending deep ripples across the surface and dispelling its terrifying scene.
She turned, her face tight with sorrow and anger. “Stop Gethwing’s wheel. If it’s the last thing we do —”
But when they entered the innermost cave, they discovered that the dragon’s wheel of life was far more enormous than they had imagined. A giant flat disc nearly the entire size of the chamber swept around a central axle, and the sound of its turning was like a voice repeating Doom, doom, doom, doom….
There were seven different-sized handprints placed equidistantly around the wheel.
And there were words.
Eric recited the prophecy from memory.
“Five shall pass away, four shall wear the crown, three shall fall, two shall rise together, and one … Gethwing told me the five meant the five cycles of Droon’s millennial calendar that passed since his birth….”
“What if the four with crowns is, you know, us?” asked Neal. “We’re kind of like royalty. Keeah’s already a princess. I’m the genie king. Julie’s always been the Oobja princess. And, well, you’re one of Zara’s sons. Which I still can’t believe.”
“If we’re the four wearing the crown,” Julie said, “who are the three who fall?”
Eric frowned. “Salamandra was bothering me before about different people understanding prophecies differently. You know how strange she is. But maybe she was trying to tell me something.”
“If the three are not Gethwing’s enemies,” said Keeah, “maybe they’re our enemies. Gethwing and Ko. And, for sure, Neffu!”
“Then which two rise together?” Eric asked.
“This math is making my head hurt,” said Neal, gazing at the moving stone. “But the number we need to add up to right now is seven. The wheel has seven handprints around its outside edge. We’re only four. I’m going to guess and say that the other hands belong to Galen, Sparr, and Urik. I’m getting them —”
Neal ran to the mouth of the cave, where there was a muffled noise, then the clashing of blades. Julie and Keeah shot to the entrance to see what had happened.
The moment Eric tried to join them, a great dark form crashed from the jagged ceiling, and he was thrown to the ground. When he struggled to his feet, the odor of dragon filled his nose.
“Ungast,” said Gethwing, moving out of the shadows. “We are alone now. Come to me. I want to see the face of a traitor.”
The word struck Eric like a blade.
So, Gethwing knows. Maybe he always knew. Maybe he lured me here. Maybe he’ll try to destroy me right here and now.
“I said … come!”
As if a powerful hand had grabbed his arm, Eric was dragged across the floor and dumped at Gethwing’s feet.
“As I suspected. You are no longer my Prince Ungast,” the dragon said, gazing at him. “You are merely … him … again.”
Struggling, Eric stood up straight, his hand gripping Sparr’s sword, and he realized he was thinking of what Keeah had said.
No one more than you.
“Yeah, I’m Eric Hinkle. And glad to be,” he said, tossing his dark helmet to the ground.
“No matter,” said Gethwing softly. “The bracelet keeps you in my control.”
“The bracelet?” said Eric. And the moment he sought to remove the stony black hoop from his arm, he found he could not. It seemed to have fused with his skin.
“Two shall rise together,” said the dragon. “You see, we did rise together. I had such hopes for you. Alas, you betrayed me. Even so, you will do my will.”
“I won’t … ,” Eric said, but he could not move. His sword remained frozen at his side.
Gethwing grinned coldly. “You asked before about the one. The prophecy shall now be fulfilled. On the very hour of Jaffa City’s fall, it happens.”
Eric’s heart skipped. “What happens?”
Gethwing took a breath. “One shall stand in the ashes and never see the end of days. There. Now you know. Look there. These words were inscribed on that stone the night of my birth. These are the words that govern me. That govern Droon.”
The great wheel turned and turned, and at its very center, around the axle’s point, deep marks were carved into the stone.
“Where are the ashes?” Eric demanded, recalling the ashes he had seen on his flight on the dragon’s back so many hours ago. “Where are your ashes?”
“Behold!” Gethwing said. With a flick of his claw upward, the ceiling of the cave opened, and a bold silver light fell directly on the stone.
Gethwing stood, full of his own power, and put his arm into the moonlight. His scaly flesh began to burn with a silver flame.
“Look! Look, Eric Hinkle! I burn, yet I do not die! The prophecy is fulfilled! I have conquered. Jaffa City falls even as I speak. Now, do what you must do! Destroy your friends! You — have — no — choice! Do it. Now!”
At that instant, Keeah, Julie, and Neal reentered the cave, and Eric felt himself turn toward them and raise his sword.
“No … no!” he said. “I won’t. I —”
One step, another, another. He struggled against the dragon’s will, but could not resist it.
“Eric —” Keeah said, raising her hands.
The cave floor quaked suddenly, dust fell from the ceiling, and the jagged walls exploded.
All at once, Emperor Ko appeared.
Behind him stood a battalion of green-skinned goblins, armed and standing at attention.
Salamandra sidled up to Ko, her thorny hair coiling in tangles and lit with green fire.
“You!” gasped Keeah. “What —”
“I told you Ko needed to be here,” Salamandra said. “It’s all part of the prophecy. I’m sorry we’re late for the get-together. I had … stuff to do. Catch me up?”
Ko roared. “Queen Salamandra rescued me from the Underworld and death. Now my goblins will destroy you all — you, too, moon dragon, and your stone wheel — and as the prophecy states, I will take my rightful place. If one shall never see the end of days, that one is me!”
“You lie!” Gethwing boomed.
In the standoff, Eric noticed something odd about one of the goblins behind the emperor.
Dangling from the goblin’s shoulders, amid the knobs and bumps of green skin and bone, were golden threads, coiled and shiny.
Braids? thought Eric.
Then it came to him. The goblin was wearing tassels on his shoulders. Across the length and breadth of Droon, Eric had seen such tassels only once. On the shoulders of a friend.
Khan! King of the Lumpies! But how —
Then farther back in the distance, he spotted Jabbo. The pie maker’s apron was stained with berry juice, and his paws were dusted with flour. Was he working with Salamandra?
Eric’s mind flashed, and his heart leaped.
Jabbo’s pies! They turn people into goblins. Salamandra asked him to bake pies to turn the Lumpies into goblins! They weren’t lost! Salamandra brought them here! She hasn’t betrayed us. There is hope after all —
With a single swift move, Eric struck the bracelet with the side of Sparr’s sword. The bracelet fell to the cave floor.
“Goblins, attack!” boomed Ko.
“Attack?” said the goblin with shoulder tassels. “You want us to attack?”
“My commands are law!” shouted Ko.
“All righty, then,” said Khan. “Boys?”
And the entire army of goblins rushed at Ko from behind, kicking him directly into Gethwing. The two beasts went at each other like a world at war. The cave thundered from wall to wall. Stone dust covered everything.
“To the wheel!” shouted Keeah.
The children leaped to the giant stone disc, and Eric felt magic flow in him as he touched its rough surface. “Galen! Urik! Sparr!”
The cave entrance blasted loudly, and the wizards, Max, and Kem streamed in. As one, Galen, Urik, and Sparr added their hands to the wheel.
The stone wheel began to slow.
“NEVER!” bellowed Gethwing. He pummeled Ko on the back and tore away from the emperor. Then he slammed his claws on Galen’s shoulders and tossed him down.
Without every hand upon the wheel, it began to gain speed as before.
“He’ll win!” cried Sparr. “Stop him! Urik, Mother, with me! We must stop Gethwing!”
“No!” cried Max. “Do not release your hold on the wheel. Do not lift your hands away!”
As if his entire life had led to this one moment, Max yanked Sparr’s sword from Eric’s belt and leaped at the dragon.
He wrapped his legs around Gethwing’s neck and brought the flat of the blade down on the beast’s head, battering him again and again, yelling at the top of his lungs.
“Leave him! Leave him! Leave him —”
Enraged, Gethwing tried to push Max off, but the spider troll would not be thwarted. He kept bashing the dragon’s head as Gethwing stormed around the cave. Finally, the moon dragon was forced to drop Galen.
“Ha!” Max cried. He leaped away, and Zara, Urik, and Sparr together blasted the dragon to the ground.
They did the same with Ko, and Khan and his Lumpies bound the emperor and Gethwing with chains of magic thorns, courtesy of Salamandra.
As soon as Galen’s fingers were back on the wheel, it slowed once more. When he faltered, Max was there to keep the old wizard’s hand firmly on the stone.
Gethwing collapsed under the weight of Salamandra’s thorny chains and began to choke as the wheel ground more slowly.
“It’s happening!” said Keeah.
The longer they held the wheel, the slower it turned, and the more Gethwing suffered.
As the stone wheel slowed to nearly nothing, Eric could not take his eyes off the dragon. Gethwing’s immortality was draining away from him. The moon dragon was dying right before their eyes.
His giant lungs heaved, his massive limbs twitched and shuddered less and less. At last, Gethwing went still.
The cave mouth rustled with a sudden flutter of wings, and Urik’s three birds flew in, calling out tidings of peace.
“The beast armies have sensed their leader is defeated!”
“King Zello’s forces have turned them back. Jaffa City’s tower has fallen, its rubble hidden by flames and smoke. But the beasts are gone!”
“The war is over! It is over! Over!”
Eric’s heart quaked to hear that the tower had fallen. As the axle of Droon’s wheel of life, it meant the wheel was stopped.
Droon was finished.
He knew then that their final quest was over, too. It was the moment of peace in Droon. The moment that signaled the end o
f war, the end of danger, and the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy.
“We … can’t … ,” he said. “We can’t end it like this. Kill Gethwing? We cannot kill. We do not kill. If we do, we’re no better than beasts ourselves.”
The wheel turned as slowly as possible without stopping completely.
Urik locked eyes with Galen, then with Sparr, and one by one they let go of the wheel.
Gethwing coughed, his eyelids flickered.
“The unbreakable bond,” said Zara. “Sons, with me.” Using their combined powers, the Queen of Light and her three powerful sons bound Gethwing together with Ko in adamantine chains that shimmered in every color of the rainbow.
“They cannot be breached or broken,” Sparr said.
“Eric, you have spoken well,” said Galen. “Few might have been as kind. Or as just.”
“You would have been,” said Eric. “Galen, you taught us what justice is, exactly as your mother taught you and Sparr and my great-great-great grandfather Urik.”
“Before we get all mushy here, can we get out of this cave?” asked Neal. “It’s giving me the creeps.”
Eric smiled at first, but then his smile faded.
Even the creeps. We’ll miss them, too.
“Where does our quest take us now?” asked Max.
Home, thought Eric. The quest is done.
“I know,” said Julie. “To the land of the lost. To Agrah-Voor.”
Agrah-Voor. How long ago the children had visited the famed underground city! It was the domain of ghosts, where every fallen hero throughout Droon’s long history waited for the coming of peace.
“I knew we’d see it,” Julie said. “I knew we’d go there one last time.”
One last time.
The words drained all the fire from Eric’s heart. He knew that even in the victory of good over evil, their time in Droon was ending. The final quest was just that. Final. Finished. And the long story was over.
A few hours later, they were back in Droon, watching the city of Agrah-Voor from the vantage of its highest wall. Shago, their longtime friend and master thief, stood with them, tears in his eyes, as did the ghostly city’s diminutive ruler, Queen Hazad.