As we approached the forest, Kem halted in midstep.
“What is it?” I asked.
He sniffed the air. “What Ko said. Beasts would come. Or, actually, one particular beast. I think you know who.”
No sooner had Kem said this than we saw a dark blotch in the sky, its four wings flapping swiftly, closing in on us.
I sighed. “It was just a matter of time.”
Gethwing landed with a thump. He stomped forward slowly, staring at me.
“You have … changed,” he said.
“I’m more like you now,” I said.
A grin moved horribly across his dragon jaws. “But still an unruly child at heart. You know, I have lived in Ko’s horned shadow forever. Today, I saw the dragon ship flying into the clouds. I know he has left us. Now it’s my turn. To put it plainly, with Ko gone, I am naming myself emperor.”
Kem growled. I said nothing.
The dragon went on, “I have been watching you. You are powerful, Sparr.”
I liked hearing that. “Go on.”
“Few could do what you have done. I tested you. Ko tested you. Life tested you. I dare say carrying your mother’s body has tested you the most. Now that you have both the powers of a wizard and those of a beast, you can be a great sorcerer. Under my command, of course.”
He paused to glance at my cloak. It was almost as if he was trying to see into its pocket.
“Not long ago, I heard a prophecy….” he began.
I remembered the strange, long-haired girl on the dragon’s balcony. “Yes?”
“A girl foresaw the future and predicted your part in it. Now, as Emperor Gethwing, I order you to hand over a certain secret stone that has come into your possession.”
I fixed my eyes on the moon dragon. It was my turn to smile.
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” I said, sounding to my own ears like my brother Galen.
The dragon’s expression didn’t change, as if he expected me to refuse him. “You think your mother will protect you? Look at her. She is dead. It’s only you and me now.”
“And me,” said Kem. “But mostly you …”
At Gethwing’s words, my whole body tensed. My tail arched up behind me. Its jagged tip hovered over my head, ready to strike. “You, Gethwing, are not prepared for the power I now have!”
His awful grin vanished and he lunged at me, his claws drawn.
With barely a thought — tail, strike! — the ragged tip of my tail whipped out. It struck his neck. He pretended to fall in pain but leaped up suddenly. I tumbled back, and the black stone flew from my cloak to the ground. Its fall sounded like a chorus of bells to my ears.
Then Gethwing called out, “Sallo-netta-kem!”
A swarm of wingsnakes dived suddenly from the sky, snapping and clawing at Kem.
My pet cried out in terror. “Sparr!”
It was all I could do to scoop him out of the way. Together the wingsnakes pinned both of us to the ground. Half laughing, half snarling, Gethwing snatched up the stone. He stood over us. “I was wrong about you, Sparr. Your soul is too soft to be a great sorcerer. Risking the power of this stone to save a puny dog!”
“With two heads!” Kem scowled.
“Gethwing —” I raged.
“Yes? Are you going to threaten me now?”
“Soon I’ll come into all my powers, Gethwing, and you and I will have a battle. To the death!”
The dragon did not laugh then. He whistled shrilly, and a moment later, he and his force of flying snakes soared away to the south.
“I’ve lost my mother’s stone!” I said.
“But look!” said Kem, pointing.
As I looked into the southern sky, I saw Gethwing and his wingsnakes begin to falter. First one, then another, then all of the beasts plummeted from the sky. One by one they sank through the clouds of the Dark Lands.
I was sure I saw the tiny black stone fall loose from the dragon’s claws and vanish, too.
At the same moment, a great loud wind rushed across the plains, then subsided.
“I can’t believe it — they’re gone!” I cried. “The beasts are gone!”
“That’s how that happened, too,” said Kem, nudging his bowl across the floor to Beffo’s feet. “More, please. What happened was that far away on the Isle of Mists, Ko had achieved his greatest magic, even without Zara. He conjured himself to sleep. And the beasts —”
“And the beasts,” I said, “followed the emperor into his charmed slumber, waiting four centuries for the day when I would raise them all again. For the moment, all the beasts were gone.”
“Not quite all,” Kem said softly.
I sighed. “No, not quite all.”
I stood on the plains looking into the sky, then bowed my head. My horrible head.
Ko was gone. Gethwing was gone. The dreaded beasts were gone. But I remained.
Again I took up my mother’s body. We journeyed toward the forest for two more days, then came to a marshy place. Trying to find a way across, Kem and I heard splashing. We turned and saw a girl standing soaking wet among the rushes.
She had dark hair and wild eyes.
I gasped. “I know you!”
“They call me Demither,” she said, moving toward me.
“You told Gethwing about the stone!” I said. “He stole it, and now it’s lost. How did you know about it? How do you know any of it? The future is all darkness to me.”
She stopped a few steps away. “I can’t see everything. Only fragments of what is to be, not why or how or if it is good or bad. Gethwing forced me to tell him what I know.”
“That stone was a gift from my mother,” I said, beginning to cry.
“You’ll see it again,” she said softly.
I wiped my face on my cloak. “I will?”
Stooping to the marsh, she cupped some water in her hands. “You are sad,” she said. “Here. Wash your face. It will help.”
I bowed my head to her cupped hands. The water seemed clear and cold to begin with, but as I splashed it on me, I felt my face burn like fire and my temples thunder in pain.
“What’s happening?” I cried.
Moments later, however, I saw my tail — my horrible tail — shrink and disappear behind me. The scaly hide on my arms melted away until only skin remained. Every part of me that resembled a beast vanished away.
I was a boy again, just as I had been!
“This … is … wonderful!” I said.
“This marsh is fed by a magical spring,” she said. “Its water runs all over Droon. I swim in it, even under the ground. It’ll refresh you. Remember that, when you return to that terrible form again!” With that, she sank among the rushes, and the marsh itself disappeared into dry ground, leaving only a small puddle behind.
“Strange girl,” said Kem, sniffing at the puddle. “Demither. I wonder if we’ll ever see her again.”
The water had more than refreshed me. The terrible monster I had been had faded away. I was back to the boy that I was. I whooped with joy, but stopped when I saw Kem staring up at me, not moving.
“What?” I said. “Don’t you love it? I’m human again!”
“Eh, not quite human,” he said quietly. His four eyes flicked up toward my ears. I reached up.
“Oww!” I pulled down my hand. There was a drop of blood on my finger. Looking at my reflection in the puddle, I saw a pair of fins still growing behind my ears. They were tiny and pale to begin with, but as I watched, they grew darker until they were nearly black.
“So,” I said, “are these to remind me that I can never go back? That I will always have the poison of the beast in me?”
Kem had no answer.
In silence I took up my mother’s body. In silence we moved toward the forest. I would hide her among its dark trees.
I would hide there, too.
As we approached, the leaves rustled like the soft jangle of chimes, and out filed a host of little creatures. The tallest was three feet from his curl-toed
slippers to his wide-brimmed hat. All were dressed in bright-colored robes.
I knew who they were.
“Droomar,” I said. “I have come to bury my mother.”
“Your mother is welcome, child,” said the tall one. His voice was soft, as if coming from a great distance.
“Child?” I growled, running my fingers gingerly over my fins. “Don’t you mean … monster?”
“We have watched you for a very long time, Sparr,” he said. “Without knowing it, you have brought your mother where she longed to be. Bangledorn Forest is a land of peace, a place without magic.”
“I want to live here,” I said.
The creature was quiet for a moment, then smiled. “And yet, you know in your heart … you cannot. You have a curse upon you.”
I stared at him, trembling. My heart sank. The curse of the beast was in me. The poison of dark magic ran in my veins.
He went on, “Do you know what they call your mother?”
“Of course. She’s the Queen of Light.”
“It follows then,” the creature said, “that, even with fins, you cannot be the Son of Darkness! Sparr, we shall honor your mother as no one else could.”
I felt so very tired. “But where will I go?”
“Your own way, for now,” he said. “The Dark Lands are empty.”
I turned to the south. He was right. Ko’s beasts were gone. For now.
“The Dark Lands, then.”
The ghostly figures took my mother’s body lovingly from me and returned to their forest. I did not — I could not — turn away from their solemn caravan. Then, at the very edge of the trees, their leader paused. Removing his floppy hat, he fixed his gentle eyes on me.
“There is a legend among the droomar. If buried with love, a spirit lives as a tree grows. Its branches grow high in the sky and reach beyond the world of death. In like manner, its roots grow deep into the earth. So deep, they can emerge on the far side of the world!”
Finally, one after another, the droomar faded among the trees, until I neither saw nor heard them anymore.
Night came, then the following day. I did not move. I stared into the depths of the forest where I could not go, not daring to follow the little creatures, not daring to leave.
And all the time I cried.
Finally, on the third day, Kem tugged my cloak. “Time to go, master, like the odd little man said. To the Dark Lands. It’s our home now. We’ll make it comfy. You’ll see.”
With every step toward the Dark Lands I drew farther from my mother. The darkness of Ko’s curse weighed more and more heavily on me.
My chest burned with pain. With longing. With emptiness. I felt hollow. Finally, I felt nothing at all. I could not enter the place where my mother was. Not like this.
On the very edge of the Dark Lands, I raised my fists into the air. “The days of the beasts are over?” I cried. “Then the days of Lord Sparr have come!”
Beffo had stopped stirring the soup and was listening. “The days of Lord Sparr …”
Kem sniffed at the hut door. “Yes. He wasn’t very nice after that, with Ko’s dark power growing in him, year after year. First he united the Ninns. Why they remained loyal, I’ll never know. Then he led them in a midnight attack on Nerona, destroying that golden city. He spread the Dark Lands farther west than they had ever been. He made friends with Kahfoo, the serpent. He even enslaved Demither. It was she who, as a child, had tried to free him from Ko’s curse!”
“Enough!” I snapped, standing in the hut’s doorway. I looked out at the water and saw that the storm had passed. Then I turned and set my eyes upon the misty summit of the island. Finally, I pulled the small stone from the pocket of my cloak.
“I didn’t have then what I have now,” I said. “Somehow, my brother Galen found this stone, and that wizard boy, Eric, gave it to me. Now my mission — my real mission — has begun!”
No sooner had I said this than the island echoed with the sudden sounds of beasts squealing, howling, and baying.
Kem jumped. “The beasts are finally here!”
“We’re finally here, too, Kem,” I said.
At that, Beffo stood up on his stool, shook the soup from his ladle, and twirled it in the air. Sparks shot from the ends of it, and it lengthened and became a staff.
I staggered. “But that’s … that’s …”
“Galen!” yelped Kem, backing away from the troll. “Galen used to do that —”
The moment Kem said my brother’s name, the little old troll began to change. He grew as tall as the ceiling. His pudgy round face lengthened and was draped by a frosty white beard. With a sharp toss, he cast aside his island rags to reveal a cloak of wondrous midnight blue.
“Galen?” I cried. Without thinking, I leaped to embrace him. “Galen!”
“The very same, brother,” he affirmed, when we finally pulled apart. “Our mother speaks not only to you, you know! I was drawn to this strange island, too, exactly halfway across the world from our mother’s resting place. Forgive my little disguise, but only by remembering your past could you hope to know your future. I believe this is the place you have been seeking all these years!”
The stone tingled in my hand. My mind swam with my mother’s words.
A place of warm sun, and yet of showering snow. Of gentle quiet amid the baying of beasts. Of wondrous trees, yet not of branch or leaf or trunk.
I knew it was true. “It is here!”
“Nor have I been idle,” said Galen. “That bird from before is none other than Flink, my messenger. The king and queen will soon land with an army larger than you have ever seen. But we are not alone right now, either.”
I looked around. “What do you mean?”
He smiled his usual smile. “Friends?”
All at once, the tiny green monkeys began to change — pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!
In five seconds, the creatures were not the playful jungle animals they had been. There stood Princess Keeah and the children from the Upper World, Eric, Julie, and Neal, and right there among them, the little spider troll, Max.
“We’re here to stop Ko!” said Eric.
“Gethwing, too,” said Neal, pulling a gigantic blue genie turban over his brow.
“And whoever else we need to,” said Julie.
“Sorry we don’t have cake like the Ninns did!” said Keeah.
“Children! Max —” I began.
The low, angry sound of Ko bellowed from the shore. “Roarrrr!”
“Yes, well, let’s save the touching reunions for later!” said Galen, leaning out the door of the hut, his eyes darting in all directions. His expression was as knowing and intelligent as when we were boys.
My years — centuries! — of being his enemy melted away like snow in the sun.
“Come on, heroes,” he said. “Let’s be off!”
Heroes? I liked the sound of that!
The moment we left the hut, we heard Ko’s war drums thundering, and the splashing and thumping of beasts and serpents on the shore.
“This way to the summit!” chirped Max.
Following their lead, Kem and I rushed through the undergrowth, careful to stay hidden.
“We’re very close, boy,” I said to Kem. “Our long journey is nearly over.”
“I just hope we make it!” he panted.
In a short while, the jungle thinned enough for us to see the massive, seaborne forces of beasts. It stunned me to realize that Ko had mustered such a huge army just for me.
“I guess they really want to find you,” said Kem.
“Never fear,” said Galen. Then he stopped before a wall of tangled growth. “Well, never say ‘never.’ But we’ll help! Eric, Julie, Keeah, follow the next path to where Zello has moored the Jaffa Wind. Lead him to the summit. Max, Neal, double back with me. I have some tricks up my cloak sleeves for Ko. Sparr and Kem, if I’m not mistaken, through these gnarly roots is the way for you! Good luck!”
“Thank you, brother,” I said.
/> It was short and simple, but that’s all there was time for. The children and Galen were gone in a flash, and Kem and I pressed farther into the jungle.
High above us stood the peak shrouded in white mist. For once, I knew where I was going. I was being called to go to the island’s summit.
No, not to go to it.
To come to it.
The deeper into the jungle we went, the more words began to fly inside my mind like trapped birds. I pulled the stone from my pocket, and sense formed from the words.
Left up the gorge. Under the black vines. By the path along the chasm.
“This way, Kem!” I said. “My mother is using the stone to tell me which way to go!”
“I’m glad someone is!” he grumbled, running as fast as his legs would carry him.
Watch out for the last rock. It wobbles….
“Whoa!” I leaped clear at the last moment.
“Akkk!” cried Kem, barely jumping off the rock before it slid down the chasm. “You could share some of those words, you know!”
“Ah, yes, sorry!” I said. “Come on. The beasts are getting closer!”
“Didn’t we start the day pretty much just like this?” scowled Kem.
“We did! We did!” I laughed, even as I rushed on. We battered through the undergrowth and came to a clearing. Looking down from the height, I saw hordes of beasts spilling up the hillsides below.
No one cared anymore that I no longer had the Viper. I had betrayed Ko. I could not be allowed to live. And Gethwing knew that now that I had the stone again — the secret stone whose power was foretold to him — I would become stronger than him.
Kaww! Kaww! A troop of Gethwing’s wingsnakes swooped down from the sky.
“This way!” yelled Kem, tearing a hole through the hedge and dragging me through to the other side. The wingsnakes couldn’t follow and flew on.
“You couldn’t have done that alone,” said Kem. “Good thing we have three heads! One of them is actually thinking. This way!”
We raced all the way to the misty peak, where frost and fog surrounded us. All of a sudden, the stone tingled in my hands.
I grabbed Kem and screeched to a halt.
“What —” he said.