Suddenly, a blinding flash of light burst behind his eyes. “Whoa!” He slid off his pilka and tumbled to the ground.
“Way to ride, cowboy,” said Neal, turning to him. “Wait — he’s having a vision! Eric, are you all right —” Neal’s voice faded away.
Out of the blinding light of his vision Eric saw a shape. It was the zigzag shape of a stairway leading upward. But it was not the rainbow stairs that brought them to Droon.
This stairway was made of shiny black stone. It stood on a bed of white earth and shot straight up into the clouds. The steps were covered with frost, and on each one were strange hoofprints.
“Eric, can you hear me?” said a voice.
He kept his eyes closed and tried to see if there were any other clues to what he was seeing. But the more he tried, the less clear it became. Finally, the stairs vanished.
When Eric popped his eyes open, his friends were on the ground staring at him. He told them everything he’d seen. “The stairs looked familiar, but I don’t know from where.”
Julie frowned. “Black stairs. We saw black stairs in the wall paintings in Ko’s palace.”
Eric thought back to the black stone palace of Emperer Ko, ruler of ancient Goll. It was there that they’d found the wand. “Maybe. But why —”
“WHAT’S THAT CHATTER-R-R-R!” thundered a voice from the clearing just ahead. “C-C-COME FORWARD RIGHT NOW-W-W!”
The five friends entered a small clearing surrounded by withered trees. At the back was a large gray boulder with a hole in the middle of it. The hole was shaped like a mouth.
“WHO D-DARES D-DISTURB PORTENTIA?” boomed a voice coming from the stone. With each sputtered syllable, a spray of wet pebbles scattered over the children.
Keeah brushed the pebbles from her clothes and stepped forward. “Excuse me, Portentia. It’s me, Princess Keeah, and my friends —”
“I KNOW-W-W WHO Y-Y-YOU ARE!” the rock thundered. “And, boy, have I got a lot to tell you! So pull up a rock and listen!”
Eric smiled to hear the oracle’s cheery voice again. Neal had once said she sounded like his grandmother, and that was true. After all she’d done, Portentia was like family to them.
The five friends drew nearer to the boulder.
“First, so I don’t feel so dumb, tell me exactly why you have come,” said the oracle, sprinkling a small spray of gravel.
“Earthquakes have thundered all over Droon,” said Max. “They’re messing up everything! The queen has sent us to find out why.”
Portentia sucked in a breath. “Sparr rides a fiery snake! It causes our poor Droon to quake!”
“You mean — Kahfoo?” asked Keeah.
“Bless you,” said Portentia.
Eric laughed. “No, she means Kahfoo, the snake Sparr is riding through the underworld.”
“The very same,” said the oracle. “And if you stop them, it’ll be a treat. Because when the ground rumbles it tickles my feet!”
“Stones have feet?” Neal whispered.
“I heard that!” said Portentia with a chuckle.
“Why is Sparr in Goll?” asked Keeah.
“Well, it’s not to shop at a pastry stall!” the oracle replied. “Sparr has gone away to Goll to find a weapon feared by all. His power grows, so does his might, while Galen’s trapped in a cave of night.”
Max jumped. “My master! In trouble? How can we help him?”
“To the Ice Hills you must go, where lies the castle of Silversnow. Asleep for years within its wall, three noble knights await your call. They fight with axes and a shield. Their bravery will never yield!”
“Silversnow!” said Keeah, reaching for her notebook. “I’ve heard of it. An old legend talks of the Knights of Silversnow. They are great and noble warriors who have slept for centuries, waiting for the hour when Droon needs them most.”
“Yeah, well, thanks to Sparr,” said Neal, “that hour is coming fast —”
“So does another earthquake blast!” snapped the oracle as the earth trembled again. “Hide, my dears! Someone’s coming near!”
All of a sudden, the ground exploded in a shower of dirt and rocks. The kids dived behind Portentia, then peeped around to the clearing.
A black hole split open in the earth, and three winged creatures crawled up from the depths.
Their skin was scaly and lizardlike, but their heads had wrinkled old faces, with pointed red noses, scraggly beards, long gray hair, and teeth that were chipped and broken.
They shook out their wings, scattering mud and dirt all around.
“Haggons!” gasped Max. “Hag dragons! Galen told me of them once. Bad, bad creatures!”
“Where to?” said the largest haggon, with a voice that squealed like a pig’s.
The second one nosed the air. “The weather is turning cold. We must follow the chill air.”
“I’m getting a chill,” said the third, sniffling.
“Here, I’ll warm you,” said the first. “Ha-roooooo!” A blast of flame blossomed from the dragon’s mouth and engulfed the other.
“Singed my wings, you did! Why, I’ll —”
“Stop it, you two!” snarled the middle one. “Deep in Goll, Sparr continues his quest, but he told us what we must do —”
“I was there, I heard him!” snarled the second.
“So what are we waiting for?” said the third. “Fly, sisters, fly to the Ice Hills!”
“To do Sparr’s nasty chores!” said the first.
With a terrible wet flapping noise, the three haggons lifted from the pit. They circled the forest once, twice, then took to the clouds.
“I guess we know where we’re going,” said Keeah. “To the Ice Hills, everyone!”
“Wait,” said Max, bowing to the oracle one last time. “Portentia, what about the marmets? They’re wrecking the palace looking for cheese!”
“Tell them where the cheese is, if you please!” she replied.
“And where is that?” asked Keeah.
“You know, Keeah, I haven’t the faintest idea!” said Portentia. “But here is something else I’ve seen. I don’t know exactly what it means. A strange and golden light, a jeweled door, leads to adventure in the time before!”
“Adventure,” said Neal. “We like that.”
“And jewels are cool,” said Julie.
Eric frowned. “The time before? The time before what? Here comes my headache again — it’s so confusing.”
“Sorry it’s all jumbled, it’s not my choosing,” said the oracle. “But now for a big thundering finish — PORTENTIA HAS SP-SP-SPOKEN — GO!”
Even before the last spray of pebbles struck the ground, the children were back on their pilkas and riding away from the grove.
As they rode, a chill wind swept into the forest. Leaves quivered and tore away from their branches. Then, just as they looked up, the children shivered to see the first snowflakes floating down through the thick trees.
Across the wind-torn plains Max and the children raced, Keeah and Eric sharing the lead.
The sky above them was as gray as iron. The first scattered flakes of snow gave way to larger blotchy shapes as they rode to higher ground.
“It’s definitely getting colder,” said Julie, shivering and wrapping her arms around herself.
“The Ice Hills have winter all year round,” said Keeah. “We’re already getting closer.”
“Poor me!” said Neal, clapping his hands to keep warm. “I didn’t wear my blizzard clothes!”
“I can help with that,” chirped Max. Stopping for but a moment, he quickly wove coats and boots for the children with his thick spider silk.
Putting them on, the kids discovered that the coats were not only lightweight and snugly, but invisible.
“Cool!” said Neal. “I mean — warm!”
Soon, they galloped away again.
After an hour, Keeah raised her hand. The children tugged their reins, stopping the pilkas at the crest of a snowy ridge.
B
elow them was a winding channel left by a once-deep but now dried-out river. In the distance stood five white-topped peaks of enormous height, completely covered in ice.
“The Ice Hills of Tarabat,” said Keeah. “We’re nearly there —”
Errrk! Errrk!
A sudden creaking sound echoed up from the riverbed below.
“What’s that?” said Max. “It sounds terrible!”
“Something’s coming around that curve below,” said Eric. He jumped from his pilka and made his way carefully to the crest of the ridge. “Holy cow! It’s Ninns. Lots of them!”
Marching along the riverbed below were hundreds of Sparr’s red warriors. Tugging thick ropes behind them, they pulled a giant wagon whose misshapen wheels creaked and squealed over the dried bed of stones.
On the wagon was a tower.
It was enormous — a crazy, crooked tower, made of wooden planks and logs nailed sloppily together, teetering and wobbling as it rolled.
“It’s as tall as a mountain!” said Neal.
“And getting taller all the time,” said Keeah.
Using ropes dangling down from the tower’s top, the Ninns were hoisting up more wood. The clatter of hammers at the summit was nearly as loud as the creaking wheels below.
“What’s the tower even for?” asked Neal.
“For falling over!” snarled Max. “Look at that sloppy work. The Ninns never could build a proper tower!”
Keeah’s eyes grew large. “I know what it’s for. I’ve seen pictures of it in Galen’s Chronicles. It is a war tower, to get Ninns into high places —”
“Like the Ice Hills?” asked Julie. “Do you think that’s where they’re going?”
“Let’s find out,” said Keeah with a sly grin. “Galen wrote about spying in his Chronicles, too. Julie, come with me. The rest of you keep going to the Ice Hills. We’ll meet up after we discover the Ninns’ plans.”
“Don’t get caught!” chittered Max nervously.
The princess laughed. “You can’t catch something you don’t see!” Then she whispered some words and waved her hand over herself and Julie. Julie giggled as the air whooshed all around them in a swirl of misty, pink-colored fog.
Soon the two girls were invisible.
“Julie, come on,” said Keeah from within the fog. “The Ninns will never know we’re there!”
The pink mist floated down the steep side of the riverbed to the end of the Ninn caravan.
“I wonder if they have a blue fog for boys,” said Neal.
Eric smiled. “Yeah, magic is very cool. Well, it is if you know what you’re doing.”
He glanced at the wand in his belt. Its purple flower remained dull, its petals folded.
“Let’s keep going,” said Max.
Taking the girls’ pilkas with them, Eric, Neal, and Max rode carefully along the high, snowdrifted bank of the riverbed.
Suddenly, Max stopped. “Oh, no. Look down there!”
The riverbed made a big loop across the land below. Hidden in the curve of the bed was a small village. Tiny houses made of mud were stacked one on top of another.
“We’ve seen that kind of village before,” said Neal. “Lumpies live there, don’t they?”
“Quite right,” said Max. “And the Ninns will roll that huge tower right through their village!”
Eric shuddered all the way down to his invisible boots. The Ninn caravan rolling like a slow red river across the land was bad enough. But to watch it destroy a peaceful village?
“No way,” he said. “We can’t let it happen.”
Errrk! Errrk! The Ninns wound their way farther through the riverbed.
“What should we do?” asked Neal.
Eric shook his head. “Well, for starters, you can stop nudging me.”
Neal blinked. “I’m not nudging you.”
Eric turned around to see Neal standing several feet away. Then he looked at Max.
The spider troll’s eyebrows went up. “Don’t look at me, Master Eric. I never nudge. I tap.”
“Then who — hey!” Eric looked down at the wand. Its purple flower was full and bright and it was wiggling in his belt. “What —?”
“The Wand of Urik wants you to use it,” Max said. “It wants you to save the Lumpies!”
“No way,” he said. “I messed things up in my world. Besides, I promised Keeah —”
“Keeah is not here right now,” said Max. “You must make your own decisions. And quickly!”
Eric pulled the wand from his belt. The purple flower was glowing fiercely now. As he clutched the wand, a strange tingling sensation flowed into his hand and up his arm.
Errrk! Eeeek! The tower rolled faster.
“Hurry, Eric,” said Neal. “The Lumpies!”
“Here goes whatever!” Eric held the wand over his head. He made the same flourishing moves he had made earlier at Julie’s house.
“Ninns in river. River turns. Ninns turn!”
Eric staggered back as the wand’s flower shot out a wave of trembling purple light.
“Oh, yes!” Max squeaked with delight as the light struck the earth just ahead of the Ninns.
The riverbed wobbled and twisted and jumped and dipped. Finally, it wrenched itself away from the Lumpy village, making a wide loop across the plains, leaving the tiny village unseen by the Ninns.
“You did it!” said Max, jumping up and down. “Our little pillowy friends are safe!”
“You are one awesome wizard!” said Neal.
Eric stood there, amazed at how the wand had carried out his spell. But as he tucked the wand back into his belt, he watched in horror as another petal dropped, vanishing as it hit the ground.
He suddenly felt sick and scared. “No, no,” he muttered to himself. “I’m killing it….” But, as before, his friends didn’t see the petal fall.
A moment later, Keeah and Julie came floating back, their pink fog dissolving around them.
“We saw everything!” said Julie. “Good job, Eric. You’re really getting the hang of this magic stuff.”
He nodded. “Um, yeah. Thanks.”
Keeah gave him a bright smile. “You really are becoming a master at it, Eric. Too bad we can’t celebrate just yet.”
“Right,” said Julie. “We found out the Ninns are too chubby to be good climbers.”
Max frowned. “Climbers? Oh, you mean —”
“Yes, Max,” said Keeah. “They’re going to the Ice Hills. Just like the haggons.”
“They’ll use the tower to climb up the icy cliffs,” added Julie.
Neal made a face. “Man! It’s like, let’s get every bad guy in Droon to meet at Silversnow!”
“Ah, but thanks to Eric, we slowed the Ninns down,” said Max. “Wait until Galen learns of his new powers —”
Eric glanced again at the folded wand flower. “We should just hurry and find Galen. We need him more than ever.”
Keeah nodded firmly. “All together, then!”
She snapped the reins and the pilkas took off as the ground beneath them trembled once more.
Two hours later, amid a howling snowstorm, the children arrived at the foot of the Ice Hills of Tarabat. The ground rose steeply to the summit of the tallest peak. Its slope, even at the base, was slick with pearly white ice.
Keeah whistled softly under her breath. “It sure seems a lot steeper from up close. I think we’ll have to go on foot from here.”
“Everyone take supplies,” said Max, sounding very efficient. “Rope, picks, and food —”
“I’ll be in charge of the food!” said Neal, pulling two leather sacks from his pilka and heaving them over his shoulder.
“Just remember,” said Julie, “the food is for everybody, you know.”
Neal chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Keeah turned to her pilka. “Leep, return to Jaffa City. We’ll find another way.” Leep nodded and led the other pilkas back across the plains.
“So, we’re stuck here?” asked Eric. r />
“Galen has always said we must have hope,” Keeah replied. “I’m hoping he’ll lead us home.”
Moments later, the five friends were trekking up the slippery sides of the mountain. Snow whipped in from every direction at once, filling their footprints as quickly as they made them.
“Silversnow,” Julie said breathlessly, climbing over a craggy rock. “It sounds so mysterious. I mean, a castle frozen at the top of the Ice Hills of Tarabat? What do you think it will look like?”
“All ice,” said Neal. “Cold and frosty.”
“With glittering snow everywhere,” said Max.
“I know it will be beautiful,” said Keeah.
Hour after hour, over jagged rocks and deep chasms, the small troop made its way to the highest of the five peaks, where the legendary castle was said to be.
Finally, the five friends reached the summit. Wind flew across the mountaintop as one by one they pulled themselves up over the last ledge. What they saw stunned them.
What they saw was … nothing.
“Where is Silversnow?” asked Neal, looking around. “I see the snow, but I see no castle.”
“Did we climb the wrong hill?” asked Julie.
Eric stared at what lay before them. It was a broad, flat shelf of ice surrounded by jagged outcroppings of rock. There was no castle.
“Now what —” A sudden gust of wind forced his eyes closed. Kkkk! Light flashed in his head. He stumbled back toward the edge. “No!”
“Eric!” Keeah leaped over and grasped his hand as he fell. Max, Julie, and Neal rushed to either side, pulling him safely back over the edge.
“Is it a vision?” asked Julie. “What is it?”
But Eric’s eyes were tightly closed. The light flashed only once, yet he saw the black stairway again. This time, a woman was coming down. She held a small bundle in her arms.
Eric recognized her from paintings on the walls of Ko’s palace, where he’d found the wand.
Her name was Zara, Queen of Light.
She was the mother of Lord Sparr.
Eric gasped in his vision. “You?”
The woman turned to look at him.
He stepped toward her and spoke again.
Kkkk! The silvery light flared, then faded, and the vision was over. Eric opened his eyes.