The Genie King

  “That was strange, wasn’t it?” said Julie. “Why did she come here? Just to bother us?”

  “Of course it was strange,” said Neal, fluffing his turban to its full height. “It was Neffu.”

  “She can’t be any other way,” said Keeah.

  “Come on,” said Max. “We’re losing time.”

  Trekking northward toward the mountain’s summit, the four friends soon found themselves in a clearing surrounded by tall peaks. The white air howled outside the peaks, but was oddly calm within them.

  They had been in this place before.

  “You know where we are,” said Keeah. “This is where the magical Castle of Silversnow will appear when a single word is spoken.”

  As she lowered her fur hood, Neal spied a small silver vial around her neck. It held a single drop of fazool, the mysterious liquid that was the poison that caused — and was the cure for — Eric’s terrible curse. “We all know what that word is. Neal, care to do the honors?”

  “Thanks,” he said. Taking a deep breath, he spoke the word that contained such power.

  “Zara!”

  As soon as the name left Neal’s lips, the icy surface began to tremble under their feet.

  “It begins!” said Max.

  Neal knew that whenever Eric spoke Zara’s name, he felt a pain deep in his chest. Zara, known as the Queen of Light, was the mother of the three wizard brothers, Galen, Sparr, and Urik. She meant something special to Eric, too, though no one knew exactly what. It was one of the deepest and longest-held secrets in all of Droon.

  VOOM! — the ground split open, and a jagged wall of ice shot up from below.

  Voom! Voom! Voooooom! A second, third, and fourth wall appeared. Then an archway. A balcony. A flight of stairs.

  Tower upon tower erupted from beneath the icy crust, and a fabulous castle grew before the children’s eyes.

  By the time the last parapet rumbled into place, the Castle of Silversnow stood tall and gleaming, a stout fortress of snowy white, a palace of frosty frost.

  “When Galen took the Medallion from Jaffa City,” Keeah said, “he hid it somewhere. Inside this castle is a magic room. In it, if we are lucky, we’ll discover where the Medallion is!”

  “I hope it tells us when the Medallion is, too,” said Julie. “In my vision, Galen said no one would find it in a hundred years.”

  “If I know my master,” said Max, “that is a riddle we must solve. If we cannot, then our friend Eric will be lost, and so will Droon itself. Come to the doors. Let us enter!”

  Neal trembled to hear someone say the word he would barely let himself think.

  Lost.

  Ever since they first crashed their tricycles into each other, he and Eric had been the closest of friends. In school, at home, hanging around, they were always together, always joking.

  The day the two boys and Julie discovered Droon and met Keeah, they had become as close as four people could be. Neal felt they were a family, meant to stay together always.

  When Eric became a wizard, Neal was thrilled. He knew his friend deserved amazing powers more than anyone else. Eric was destined for great and wonderful things.

  The idea that his best friend might be lost — lost — sent a chill down his spine. He would fight to the death to bring Eric back.

  At the big wooden doors of the icy castle, Keeah took a large iron knocker into both hands, raised it, then let it fall.

  THOOM! The sound echoed through the halls within. Soon the children heard footsteps, then the creaking of ancient hinges, then the doors swinging wide.

  Standing inside was a giant dressed from his boots to his helmet in dented, rusty armor.

  “Old Rolf!” said Max. “Greetings!”

  With an enormous hand, Old Rolf, the leader of the famous Knights of Silversnow, patted each of them on the shoulder.

  “Enter our humble abode!” he said with a bow. “I know why you are here. Long ago, Galen built a secret room in Silversnow to speak with his long-lost mother, Queen Zara. This room is known as the Winter Room.”

  Outside a door at the end of the hall stood the two other knights, Lunk and Smee. Like Rolf, both wore old battle armor.

  Nodding in unison, the three knights took hold of three identical knobs and turned them. The moment the big door opened, snowflakes drifted from the ceiling, cascading onto a little stool carved completely out of ice.

  Neal trembled. “The Winter Room!”

  “The meditation stool is magic,” said Lunk. “Tried it once myself. Fell asleep. Froze to the stool.” As he looked at the stool, he yawned.

  So did Smee and Rolf. Neal remembered that the knights were usually asleep and woke only when they were needed.

  “Julie, try to remember as much of your vision of Galen as you can,” said Keeah. “We need a clue to help us solve his riddle and find the Medallion.”

  “Julie, if you please,” said Rolf, “sit on the stool and close your eyes. That’s how Galen used to do it.”

  “You’ll feel the wizard,” said Smee. “His age-old spirit will commune with yours. Look around in your trance. Try to see everything.”

  Julie sat on the stool and closed her eyes. At first, her features were calm. Then her eyelids began to flutter. “Smoke … purple smoke everywhere,” she murmured. “Like a kind of … visible … perfume … and … light….”

  “What else do you see?” asked Keeah.

  Julie’s face darkened. “Galen … I see him….” She shook her head. “It’s already fading!”

  “Maybe I can help,” said Neal. “I read something in my scroll. There’s a trick….”

  He paused, noting his use of the word trick again. Why didn’t he call them powers the way Julie, Keeah, or Eric always did?

  “Just be careful,” said Julie.

  “I always am,” said Neal, even though he knew he wasn’t always careful.

  A moment later, Neal felt himself drifting out of his body and into a bright room with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. It looked just like a library. When he turned, he saw a lettered sign that read JULIE’S BRAIN.

  Neal’s chest fluttered. “This is so cool!”

  Then he saw Julie herself, walking toward him from the other side of the room.

  “I know the book you want,” she said.

  “You do?”

  “It’s a memory I can’t quite reach,” she said. “The purple book. Way up there.” She pointed to a high shelf. “Please hurry!”

  With a nod, Neal crossed his arms and floated up to the shelf. He removed the purple book, opened it, and began to read.

  “‘Galen appeared with wisps of purple smoke on his shoulders, cloak, and hat. He walked as if he were pushing his way out of purple flame. Only it wasn’t flame, and it wasn’t hot. It was perfumed smoke. Galen said he stole the Moon Medallion. Then he said, “To keep it safe … none shall lay eyes upon it … for a hundred years!” Just before he faded away, Galen said one more thing….’”

  Neal had to squint because the letters were so tiny. Concentrating on Julie’s memory, he was finally able to read the word.

  “Twins,” he said. “Galen said ‘twins.’”

  Purple smoke? A hundred years? Twins?

  “I’ve got it!” Neal said.

  In a flash, the bright little library of Julie’s brain vanished, and both he and Julie were back in the Winter Room with everyone else.

  Blinking her eyes open, Julie glared at him. “Neal, were you just rummaging around inside my head?”

  He grinned. “I wiped my feet before I went in,” he said. “But thanks to you, I discovered where the Medallion is. Purple smoke was one clue. A hundred years was another. Twins was the third. Together they mean only one thing.”

  “Please don’t say pie,” said Julie.

  Neal’s stomach pinched for an instant. “No, they mean … the City of Ut. You remember Ut, right? Its walls are made of purple smoke. It appears only once every hundred years. And its rulers, Duke Snorfo and Duchess
Dumpella, are exact twins of the two of us. Galen was in Ut when he hid the Moon Medallion!”

  Duke Snorfo was indeed Neal’s exact twin. They looked identical, though Snorfo had a bad attitude. On the other hand, Snorfo’s sister, Dumpella, resembled Julie exactly, and she was as nice as could be. The Duke and Duchess’s resemblance to Neal and Julie had caused a lot of confusion the first time the children were in Ut.

  “The City of Ut?” said Max. “The city in the bottle? The city on the Saladian Plains?”

  “All of the above,” said Neal, nodding. “All we need is the magic bottle of Ut, and a little genie trick I know, and we’ll be in and out of the city in a flash.”

  Julie smiled. “For the second time today, I’m forced to say that might actually work.”

  “And … you’re welcome,” said Neal.

  “The bottle containing Ut is hidden safely in Galen’s vanishing tower,” said Max. “It lies on the plains at the foot of the Ice Hills of Tarabat!”

  “Let’s go get the sled!” said Rolf.

  “I guess we’re going to Ut,” said Keeah.

  “To Ut!” said Julie.

  “To Ut!” said Neal. “By way of Galen’s tower!”

  A loud shriek brought them to the castle doors. In the swirling snow overhead, they spied a dense swarm of winged beasts.

  “Wingwolves,” said Julie. “Not good.”

  Rolf licked his finger, stuck it in the air, and silently calculated the wolves’ flight plan. “If I’m not mistaken, those beasties are headed directly for the Saladian Plains.”

  “Right where Ut is,” said Julie.

  “Sounds like you’ll be wanting some backup,” said Lunk. “You need us knights!”

  Smee clapped his large hands together. “Ooh, I feel like wrestling a wolfie or three.”

  “It will soon be noon,” said Rolf. “But I’m ready for a little knight music.”

  “The snow is picking up again,” said Max.

  “Not to worry,” said Rolf. “Our sled will take you to Galen’s tower. After that, we’re off to the Saladian Plains!”

  “Let’s do it,” said Keeah.

  The three knights tramped around the side of the castle to an enormous wooden sled that sat under an icy arch like a car in a garage. Ten feet long from stem to stern, the sled had two sets of runners on each side and sported wings that coiled up like crazy antlers.

  “So very cool,” said Neal. “Who made it?”

  Smee blushed. “It’s my design, thankee.”

  Lunk patted the sled’s seats. “Climb in.”

  Once they were all in, Rolf loosed the brake, pushed a lever, and the sled leaped into the snow, careening away from the great frosty castle and down the Ice Hills of Tarabat.

  They sped across the plains, traveling southwest at great speed toward the thick mass of trees known as the Farne Woods.

  Finally, the sled slowed, and Max jumped up in his seat. “Oh, it’s good to see these woods again! Hidden among the trees is Galen’s invisible tower. All we must do now … is find it.”

  “We’ll leave that to you,” said Rolf. “We’re sledding right to the Plains of Saladia. We’ll meet you there. Smee, old chap, set the course, if you please.”

  Smee engaged several levers. “Ready.”

  “And we’re off!” said Lunk.

  With a great whoosh of snow, the sled bounced over the plains and out of sight.

  “Let’s head into the trees,” said Julie, scanning the sky. “Time is passing quickly.”

  Together the children and Max entered the Farne Woods. Almost at once, the sounds of the forest took over, creaking and sighing and breathing like an ancient person. A friend.

  “I’ll never forget the first time I saw Galen’s invisible tower,” said Neal. The wizard’s vanishing tower was fashioned from the trunk of a giant tree that had turned to stone over hundreds of years. “I didn’t even see it. I felt it. When it smashed my poor nose.”

  Neal smiled, remembering how that had happened on his first day in Droon. The memory made him think of Eric again.

  Keeah smiled, too. “Maybe we should send you in first, Neal. I see an empty clearing just ahead. Maybe it’s not exactly empty?”

  Neal knew they could spend hours trying to find the invisible tower. “Okay, leave it to me,” he said. “Besides, it’s only a nose.”

  Pulling his turban tight, Neal moved into a broad clearing among the trees. His friends hung back and watched him slowly enter.

  It was fine, really.

  Neal knew he was the funny one. Always hungry. A little silly. Sometimes forgetful. Often afraid. It was just how he was. Being a genie was also a bit funny. You had odd powers. You could levitate, but not fly long distances. You could travel in time, but had to have your turban on to do it. You had sharp senses, but were easily distracted.

  But as Neal stepped forward into the empty air, he also knew he was more than a funny kid with a stomach that was always empty.

  Like now, for instance.

  Remembering his first day in Droon led to thinking about everything that had happened since. The more he remembered, the heavier his heart felt.

  Eric had been Prince Ungast for only a short while, and yet it seemed so long since they’d joked around together.

  As he made his way forward, Neal knew he’d give anything to have things back the way they were. It could happen.

  Maybe by the end of the day they would see Eric.

  Maybe he would even — wham!

  Neal staggered back as a flash of pain shot through his face. “Owww!”

  An instant later — shooom! — a massive tower rippled into view.

  Max jumped. “Yes! Great job, Neal!”

  “You found it!” said Julie.

  Neal rubbed his nose. “No problem. The nose always knows.”

  As quickly as they could, the four friends raced up the tower’s spiraling passages to the room at the top, where Max leaped to a high shelf and clasped a glass bottle etched with strange symbols.

  “The bottle of Ut!” he exclaimed gleefully. “Just where Galen left it!”

  His nose still aching, Neal gazed in awe at the purple smoke swirling inside the glass. He knew that the entire City of Ut — one of the five magic cities of Droon — lay inside the bottle, waiting to emerge.

  “It’s like a living snow globe,” said Julie. “Beautiful in its own way.”

  “We’ll soon be walking its streets,” said Keeah. “We have until sunset to find the Medallion and get back out. I suggest we fly one of Pasha’s magic carpets. There’s no faster way to the Saladian Plains.”

  Among Galen’s collection was a narrow red carpet with yellow fringes. Wasting no time, Neal, Julie, Keeah, and Max clambered on board and zoomed out of the tower.

  For the next hour, the carpet raced across the skies. When they spied the hilly plains east of Bangledorn Forest, the friends knew they had arrived in Saladia.

  “The bottle of Ut has to be placed on its exact spot or the city won’t appear,” said Neal, gazing at the purple bottle. “One inch to the left or right, and Ut won’t come. Max, the map.”

  “Have it right here,” said the spider troll. He quickly unrolled an ancient map he had brought from Galen’s tower.

  Holding a pen in each of six of his eight legs, Max sketched a few lines on the map, starting from the edge and working to the center. All the lines met at a single point.

  “There!” he said, pointing to a shallow valley midway between three dusty hills.

  Neal peered down at the spot Max had located. The same wingwolves they had seen flying over Silversnow had joined with others. Now they numbered in the thousands.

  “Okay, look,” Neal said. “Ut usually appears once every century. The sun strikes the bottle, it shakes like crazy, and out it comes. Today, we’ll need a temporary spell to make it appear. I’m pretty sure there’s one in my scroll.”

  “While you conjure Ut, I’ll create a shield to keep the wingwolves out,
” said Keeah.

  “And I’ll create a dust storm,” said Julie.

  Max wheeled the carpet around. They bounced once and landed under one of the three hills out of sight of the wolfen army. Over the rise they spotted the Knights of Silversnow, their sled flying as if on the wings of the wind. While Smee and Lunk waved their clubs high in the air, Rolf boomed a laugh.

  “Onward! To the ridge!” he called. “Let no beasties harm our heroes!”

  The three giant knights plowed right into battle with the wingwolves.

  “And now — Ut!” said Max.

  Julie jumped into the air and began to fly around in a wide circle. A wall of dust grew in her wake. It rose higher and higher, allowing Keeah time to work her magic.

  Bowing her head and raising her arms high, the princess chanted until a nearly invisible shield of light formed between her hands.

  “That’s it!” said Max, jumping up and down. “You’re doing it! Now, Neal!”

  With Max’s map in hand, Neal set the bottle on the exact spot and spoke the words he’d found in his tiny scroll. The little purple bottle began to shake. It wobbled. It trembled.

  “Everyone, stand back!” he said.

  All at once — pop! — the cork shot out. Max leaped and caught it as blasts of purple smoke billowed from the bottle’s spout.

  Neal had seen this once before — they all had — but the sight astonished him in a way few things could, for there, right before his eyes, the plains that were even now ravaged by battle gave way to giant purple walls.

  “Here it comes!” he cried. “The City of Ut!”

  Jumping out of the way, Neal watched the fanciful swirls and coiling waves of smoke slow and harden into purple stone.

  Walls and towers, bridges, parapets, and ramparts — all billowed up from the bottle’s spout and became as solid as the plains around them.

  It was beautiful. It was exciting.

  It was the magic of Droon!

  How he wished Eric were there to see it.

  “Ut may be the most amazing of all magic cities,” said Max. “It is certainly the purplest. O city of adventure. O city of the unknown!”