In the Ice Caves of Krog

  Relna darted into the tiny back room. Errk! She pulled on a creaky floorboard. Curving away under the cottage was a dark tunnel.

  “The wraiths are on some new mission from Sparr,” she said. “Keeah, you must go. Take your harp. It may help you stop Krog. Hurry!”

  Keeah’s eyes showed fear, but she nodded sharply, tightened her harp on her shoulder, kissed her mother, and dropped into the hole.

  Julie, Neal, and Max followed next.

  Then Eric dropped his legs into the hole.

  “Eric, wait,” said the queen. “The wraiths are after Keeah, just as the beast is after our villages. Stop Krog, and keep Keeah safe!”

  C-c-crashhhhh! The shattering of glass made Relna turn. “Eric, I’m depending on you!”

  He gulped. “I’ll do my best!”

  Sliding into the hole, he pulled the board back into place. The smell of earth surrounded him.

  My best? I can’t even control my sparks!

  “Eric, are you there?” Keeah asked from the darkness ahead.

  “Coming,” he said, crawling his way to her.

  “Stop Krog? Keep Keeah safe?” he muttered, looking once more at his hands. “I wish!”

  As the small band squirmed deeper into the ground, the sounds of fighting grew quieter. Finally, the tunnel ended in a round wooden wall.

  “I think we’ve come out in a tree,” chirped Max. “Come along, my friends.”

  Pop! The door swung open to the outside.

  But as warm as the cabin had been, the night air was freezing. The cold seemed to slap their faces harshly as they crawled from the tree.

  Keeah turned back. Two wraiths were tumbling out of the cottage window. “I should stay to help my mother and the knights.”

  Relna’s words still in his mind, Eric pulled Keeah deeper into the woods. “Your mom will be okay. She’s superpowerful. Right now she wants us to find Krog. And help Droon —”

  “Help the queen, help Droon?” boomed a voice. “How about helping me?”

  The kids turned to see the top half of old Rolf poking up through the tree hole, his bottom half still stuck in the tunnel. “Just a little tug, please?”

  Laughing, Neal and Julie grabbed one arm, while Keeah, Eric, and Max pulled the other.

  “Thankee!” Rolf boomed as he plopped free. “Now, our queen and my knights are more than a match for wraiths,” he said. “Our job is to stop Krog and shut down his dreaded ice caves —”

  “Uh … ice caves?” asked Neal, stepping back. “But my toes are frozen already!”

  Max burst out with laughter. “The beast lives in the place that gave winter its name! I will weave us all some warm clothes.” With a swift blur, the spider troll spun four pairs of thick silken boots and fuzzy coats to match.

  “Thank you, Max,” said Keeah. She looked one last time at the cottage, then turned to her friends. “Okay, then, everyone. If my mother wants us to find Krog, then we’ll find Krog.”

  “And stop him,” said Julie.

  “I’m ready,” said Neal. “Where is this beast?”

  “In the North!” Rolf boomed. He didn’t move.

  Everyone looked at him.

  He still didn’t move.

  Eric frowned. “But North is a big place.”

  “North!” The Knight of Silversnow put a finger in his mouth, licked it, then stuck it triumphantly in the air. “North … is … it’s … North is … well … it should be … it’s near …”

  “It’s there,” grumbled Max, pointing over his left shoulder. “North is that way.”

  “Of course!” said Rolf, turning entirely around and hitching his shield on his back. “To the ice caves of Krog, everyone, for an old-fashioned beastie quest! Under the cover of night, too!”

  Max made a face. “It’s always night in the North, you know. Come on. Bundle up tight.”

  He followed Rolf across the first of many snowdrifts leading north.

  The children shared a look.

  Keeah slung her harp on her shoulder and sighed. “Oy.”

  Eric grinned. “That’s pretty much what I was going to say.”

  With no more words, the children ran to catch up with Rolf and together bent to the fierce weather ahead.

  To find Krog in the cold, dark night.

  The very cold and very dark night.

  One hour … Two hours … Rolf led the small band into the North. Whatever lights they saw soon twinkled away to nothing, while the wind blew snow deeper and deeper around them.

  “I thought the blizzard at home was bad,” said Neal, tightening his coat. “This is way worse!”

  “Krog will be worse still,” said Max.

  “Krog,” Eric mumbled. “I hope we’re a match for him. I nearly zapped us all in the cabin.”

  Keeah turned. “I’ll help you practice before we find him. Galen teaches me how —”

  Rolf stopped at the top of a tall snowbank.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Julie.

  The knight peered ahead. “Well, it’s that teeny-weeny little path. I saw it just a minute ago….”

  “Wait!” Max thrust up a furry hand and went still. He sniffed the air. “That smell …”

  “Do you smell burnt cheese again?” asked Keeah, whirling around. “Is it wraiths?”

  Julie shook her head. “No, smoke.” She pointed to where the snow was clearing. “There …”

  Eric shuddered to see it.

  Ahead of them, plumes of black smoke rose from a small village. Or what had once been a village. House after house was now no more than a smoking, charred pile of blackened lumber.

  “What did the harp sing about Krog?” said Neal. “His deadly bright fire? He sure must have used it here.”

  As they made their way into the village, Eric looked up. Over the noise of the whirling snow, another sound seemed to move in the air.

  Was it whispers? Were wraiths following them? Or was it something else?

  “I see a light,” gasped Julie. “Hide!”

  The friends scurried behind a broken fireplace as a dim orange flame jerked toward them. It dipped and halted, then came forward again.

  “Wraiths don’t advertise like that,” whispered Keeah. “Come on, but let’s be careful.”

  They crept along a snowy street, then stopped.

  Out of the distance came a young girl holding a candle. Her face was dark with soot. Draped over her shoulders was a tattered black shawl.

  She stopped, too. “Please, don’t hurt me.”

  Neal shook his head. “We’re after Krog.”

  “Who are you?” asked Julie.

  “My name is Motli,” said the little girl.

  “Did you see the monster?” asked Eric. “Where did everyone go? Where did Krog go?”

  The girl looked down. “Krog came and everyone ran away, except one….” She stopped.

  “One?” grunted Rolf. “One who?”

  “The prince,” she said. “The Prince of Stars.”

  Max frowned. “Prince of Stars? Well, I’ve been around for a while, and I’ve never heard of him.”

  “Oh, he was mysterious,” said Motli. “And magical. His eyes glowed as green as emeralds. He fought Krog all the way to the ice caves.”

  “The ice caves!” snorted Rolf. “We can’t seem to find them —”

  As if in response — ploing! — the harp suddenly struck a note and started singing.

  Find the wild street of fish.

  Step upon the floating dish!

  Motli’s eyes widened. “Your harp is magical!”

  Keeah nodded. “It is. But often it doesn’t make any sense. Like now, for instance. Street of fish?”

  Suddenly, Neal exploded. “I’m a genius!”

  Julie laughed. “That’s a stretch.”

  “Okay, so I’m not a genius,” said Neal. “But I think I understand part of the song. A street is where people go, right? Where do fish go? In water. In a river!”

  Motli laughed brightly. “There
is a river not far from here. Come. I will show it to you.”

  Neal beamed as he rushed after the girl. “You see? I am a genius. We got a river!”

  As everyone jumped after her, Eric paused and listened to the snow spinning around him. Then he looked at the sparks beaming from his fingertips. “There’s something too easy about this,” he murmured. “A few minutes ago, we were lost in the blizzard. Suddenly, we know the way. It’s almost —”

  “Magical?” said Keeah, slowing to a stop.

  Eric turned to her. “Yeah. And I keep hearing something, but I don’t know what it is.”

  “Me, too,” she said. “But it’s not wraiths. Let’s get to the others and be on our guard.”

  Splash! Splurshhh! Motli led them to the banks of a heaving, wild river. Waves crashed up and down in the icy black water.

  Rolf put his hands on his hips. “Humf! Genius or no, Neal, that’s too rough to cross.”

  “Wide, too,” said Neal. “The harp said wild street, but that’s more like a wild highway!”

  “Maybe there’s another way?” asked Julie.

  “The prince used a raft to cross when he first came to the village,” said Motli. “Here it is.”

  She pulled aside some weeds where a crisscross of wooden planks lay hidden. The moment Motli untied the raft — shoosh! — the roaring water went suddenly calm, making a glassy path across the river from the bank.

  “Awesome!” whispered Julie. “I guess the Prince of Stars knew about magic, all right.”

  Keeah gave Eric a look as, one by one, the small group piled onto the raft, and it began to glide calmly across the water.

  “Ha!” said Rolf. “Good thing the words of the harp are telling us how to find Krog. I’d get us lost. But no fear, we’ll soon face the beast.”

  Eric nodded. “Soon. Maybe too soon.”

  As the raft moved over the river, Keeah turned to him. “Galen once told me that real power is knowing when to use it and when not to use it.”

  Neal chuckled. “Eric isn’t using it too well.”

  “Words control your magic, Eric,” said Keeah. Then she whispered in his ear and pointed across the water.

  He raised his hands. “Seepo-ta-la-moo!”

  Zannng! A blast of silver air burst from his fingertips in a bright arc of light. It hung in the sky.

  Eric’s heart leaped. “This is so amazing. It did what I wanted it to. These sparks light up everything!”

  “Even that,” said Max. “Look —”

  Under the blaze of Eric’s beam, they all saw a circle of land floating in the middle of the river. On it stood a mountain twisting to the sky.

  “An island!” said Neal. “That’s what the harp was singing about. Step upon the floating dish. Krog is there!”

  Even as the children cheered, Eric’s eyes were drawn back to the shore. Under the fading light of his sparks, he saw a branch stir. Snow spun suddenly. A soft hissing drifted across the water.

  “Guys, I think I have some bad news,” he murmured. “Look at the riverbank. The wraiths followed us. Neal, get us to the island right away —”

  “Me?” said Neal, turning. “I’m not steering this thing. I thought Rolf was steering!”

  “Me?” boomed the knight. “But isn’t Motli?”

  “No one’s controlling this thing!” cried Julie.

  Even as the raft sped on, a dozen wraiths dived from the bank and into the river. In seconds, they grasped at the side of the raft.

  Eric jumped up. “Keeah, I’ll protect us — oh!”

  He never had a chance to use his sparks.

  K-k-krash! The raft knocked up against the island’s shore. In seconds, the river grew wild once more, the wraiths went hissing back into the water, and the kids toppled into one another.

  “Help!” shrieked Motli, tumbling over.

  Instantly, the icy water swallowed the girl.

  “I’ll save her!” cried Max, scrambling up.

  “But, Max!” yelled Keeah. “Max!”

  Splash! The icy water swallowed him, too.

  Even as Rolf and the children jumped to shore, the wild black waves pulled Max and Motli swiftly down the river.

  Blam! Keeah’s sparks sent the wraiths back farther. “Eric, use the words —”

  “Seepo-ta-la-moo!” he cried out.

  Zannng! His sparks exploded high, casting a light over the far bank. The wraiths were gathering there for another charge at the kids.

  “They’re coming back for more,” said Julie.

  Rolf jumped. “But there, everyone … look!”

  From the waves, as if shot from below — sploosh! — Motli burst up and out, her black shawl billowing with air as if she had wings.

  “My gosh!” said Keeah. “She’s flying!”

  “M-m-m-me, to-o-o-o!” Max was clinging to Motli’s back as she soared higher and higher.

  Eric stared, astonished. “There is magic here.”

  Suddenly, Motli dived, scattering the wraiths back into the dark night.

  “Children, go!” cried Max as they flew up again. “S-s-stop … K-K-Krog! I’ll be okay-y-y. I think-k-k!”

  “Max!” said Keeah. “Oh, Max —”

  As Eric’s silver sparks faded over the wild water, the strange little girl, the spider troll, and the wraiths themselves vanished into the snowstorm. Moments later, the winter night surrounded the children again.

  Julie stared at the sky. “That was so amazing.”

  “One thing I know,” said Rolf, scanning the spot where their friends had vanished. “Max will return. He must! Who else would poke fun at me?”

  As they all stood silently on the island’s shore, Eric recalled the spider troll’s words.

  Stop Krog.

  They were the same words Relna had said to him. He turned to his friends. “Come on, people. Our group is smaller, but we have to go on.”

  Without looking back, Eric headed up the steep slope of the island’s icy mountain, the others following.

  With every step, the wind grew more fierce, and the path snaked and looped around the mountain, seeming to double back on itself.

  “Have we done this before?” asked Julie, trudging after Rolf. “These drifts seem familiar.”

  The old knight slowed and licked his finger.

  Neal stopped short. “No more!” he snapped. “Give me palmtrees, give me beach chairs, give me french fries. I’ve had it with the cold and snow and ice and being lost —”

  Pling-g-g-g!

  Everyone hushed.

  “The harp!” gasped Keeah. She pulled the magical instrument around. The wind seemed to brush the strings, and it began to play.

  The ribbon ties, the ribbon breaks.

  Pass the test of the stomachaches!

  Julie frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “I’m too cold to think,” grumbled Neal.

  Eric peered ahead. “I’m not the best at figuring out songs, but I think it means that!”

  Out of the whirling snow before them, they could see that the path continued for a while up the mountain.

  Then it didn’t.

  Just visible in the snow ahead was a deep chasm, cut into the earth. Drooping across the chasm, wide enough for only one person, was a creaking bridge of ice, barely two inches thick.

  Keeah gulped. “The harp sang about ribbons. Ribbons are for presents. This is no present.”

  “Yeah,” said Neal, “but a ribbon’s any kind of skinny strip. Like a ribbon of ice. Like a bridge.”

  Julie made a face. “Neal, you’re good at solving riddles. Too bad you don’t have good news.”

  Eric looked up. He felt a tingle down his neck.

  “You’re all good at this,” grumbled Rolf. “You remind me of Galen when he was young. But if I step on that bridge, I’ll crack it in two!”

  Keeah nodded. “We already lost Max. We’re not going on without you. Maybe there’s another way across the chasm.”

  But the moment they turned —
whoomf! — snow exploded from the ground, and a large, shaggy warrior, covered with white fur and long icicles, lurched up from the earth.

  “Groooo!” the creature growled, showing white fangs as long as pencils. “No one passes this way unless they answer my riddles!”

  “Holy cow!” gasped Eric. “Who are you?”

  “I am the iceman!” the creature replied, picking up a giant rock of ice in his clawed hands.

  “You look more like a snowman,” said Julie.

  “Yeah, why don’t you melt?” snapped Neal.

  The iceman glared angrily at Neal. “For that, you must answer my riddles!”

  Neal stepped back into Eric. “Me?”

  “You!” said the iceman. “First, what happens when you cross a flimple with a plabb?”

  “A what with a who?” asked Eric.

  Keeah jumped. She used her magic to speak silently to Neal.

  “Um … you get a moople?” said Neal.

  “Correct!” shouted the iceman, shaking his fur. “Second, what happens when you kleep?”

  Rolf laughed. He whispered in Neal’s ear.

  Neal grinned. “You get a very sore bungle!”

  “Groooo! Correct! And now for the last —”

  “This isn’t fair!” said Neal. “Ask something regular. Something from the Upper World.”

  Julie made a face. “Neal —”

  The iceman howled. “Regular? Okay. What’s five hundred and sixteen divided by forty-three?”

  Everyone looked at Neal.

  “Math?” He gulped. “What am I, a genius?”

  Eric grumbled. “Neal, you said you were —”

  “No answer? Wrong!” The iceman lifted his giant rock and shook his fur.

  “Back, everyone!” yelled Rolf. “This is my moment!” In one quick movement, he herded the kids to the ice bridge. Then he slid them one by one to the far side as if they were bowling balls.

  “Stay put over there!” he said. “I promised the queen you wouldn’t get hurt — and you won’t! Save your fancy powers for Krog!”

  Then he turned. “Okay, shaggy! Here I come!”

  But the iceman was ready for him.

  Whoom! — It hurled its giant boulder fast.

  “Rolf!” Keeah cried.