Keeah nodded. “The shores of Panjibarrh. They call it the land of dust.”
Neal gulped loudly. “Just so everybody knows,” he said, “I’m allergic to dust.”
The submarine rumbled out onto the beach and stopped on the sand.
Pop! Everyone piled out of the top hatch.
Before them stretched a row of small hills. Behind that was a range of larger hills. Beyond that were even taller hills. As far as the eye could see, everything was dusty, brown, and smooth.
“Panjibarrh seems kind of boring,” Neal said.
“Let us hope it stays boring,” Max chirped. “But this is Droon. Anything can happen.”
Galen turned to the ship, uttered a short command, and the ship rumbled back into the water.
Keeah scanned the hills. Then she took a deep breath and clutched her feather necklace.
“Lord Sparr is somewhere in these hills,” she said. “I can feel him nearby. Let’s find him.”
For the next hour, the small band climbed through narrow passes that ran between the hillsides. From one range to another, the six travelers slowly wormed their way upward.
Entering one steep pass, Galen stopped. He turned his head slowly. He narrowed his eyes.
“There …” he murmured. “That shadowy hole in the rocks. There is something in there.”
Max began to quake. “What is it, master?”
Galen gazed deeply into the shadows. “A cave. And — he is there.” He turned to Keeah.
“Princess,” he said, “I sense something evil in there. If what I feel in my heart is true, Sparr’s plan is even more terrible than we thought. I must go in. You and the others wait here.”
“Be careful, master,” Max chittered.
The wizard smiled at the spider troll. “My time has not yet come, my friend. Don’t worry.”
With that, Galen wrapped his robe around him and entered the cave alone.
Strange sounds echoed suddenly from the hills above. Low, rumbling sounds. Then the air went still. Silence fell over the pass.
“That’s weird,” Julie whispered. “It’s like all the sound in the world just stopped.”
Neal squinted up at the hills. “Do you think it’s Lord Sparr —”
Whoosh!
A burst of wind swept up from the dusty ground. It spun faster and faster. It coiled around in the air, forming a dark, whirling funnel.
“Yikes!” said Eric, shielding his eyes. “Let’s get out of here!”
But the wind struck quickly. As if it were alive, the coil of spinning dust leaped upon the five friends, scattering them.
“Take cover, everyone!” Keeah cried out, grabbing Max and pulling him to the shelter of an overhanging rock.
Julie tried to join them but stumbled on the rocky ground. She struggled to her feet, but the funnel tore after her, whirling and spitting dust.
“Help!” she cried, trying to outrun the wind.
Neal bolted from his hiding place. “Julie!”
Keeah, too, leaped from shelter to face the furious funnel. She clutched her feather and cried out, but her words were lost in the fury of the storm.
The wind swept around Julie, surrounding her. “It’s got me!” she shrieked.
The wind pulled her inside itself.
Eric stumbled toward the funnel, his arms outstretched. “Julie! Here!” he shouted. The spinning dust stung his face. “I’m coming!” he cried.
But the wind wouldn’t let him come.
The twister spun Julie around and around. It roared up the side of the pass. Up and up it went, spinning Julie away with it, until her cries were lost.
“JULIE!” Eric shouted for the last time.
A moment later, the dark funnel was gone.
The wind in the pass died down to nothing.
The storm was over.
And Julie was gone.
“The storm went that way!” Keeah said, pointing to the highest range of hills. “We have to find Julie. And we need to hurry. Come on!”
“What about Galen?” Neal asked.
“He is Droon’s greatest wizard,” said Max, already scampering up the hillside after Keeah. “Galen Longbeard can take care of himself!”
The four friends raced into the hills, following the track of the dust storm. Hill after hill they climbed. Higher and higher they went.
“What if we can’t find her?” said Neal, breathing hard as he scrambled up a rocky hillside.
“No way!” Eric snapped. “Julie’s special. We’ll find her. We’ve got to keep going. We’ve got to.”
Max spun a spider silk rope and swung from ledge to ledge, moving ahead of everyone.
Suddenly, he stopped and pointed his pug nose in the air. He sniffed. “Smoke,” he said.
“Smoke usually means people,” said Keeah.
Neal nodded. “Be careful. Careful is good.”
They followed the smoky smell until they came to a break between the hills. Clustered along one hillside were dozens of small houses. They had domed roofs made of dried mud.
Smoke wafted up from their chimneys.
“A village,” Eric whispered.
In the exact center of the village was a large round platform.
It looked like a giant wheel lying on its side.
And in the exact center of the wheel was —
“Julie!” Keeah said.
Surrounding Julie were hundreds of small creatures covered in red fur. Each one was about three feet tall. They had doglike snouts covered with whiskers, except for small black noses at the tips. Their ears were pointy and very long.
“She’s a prisoner,” Neal said. “And we’re outnumbered. Any ideas?”
“Perhaps a little magic will help,” Keeah said. She waved her hand over the four of them. The air turned a misty pink.
“The fog of invisibility!” Max chirped. “Galen taught you well, Princess. Come, let us enter.”
Hidden by the pink fog, the four friends crept quietly into the village. No one saw them.
The largest of the strange, furry creatures stepped across the giant wheel to Julie.
“Now …” he said, curling and uncurling his nose whiskers, “… now, you will get it!”
Julie shook her head. “No … please …”
Eric stole a look at Neal and Keeah. “She’s in trouble. We need to get her out of there — now!”
“Bring the black helmet!” the furry creature commanded. “I, Batamogi, King of the Oobja, shall put it right on her head!”
Eric couldn’t stand it anymore. He jumped out of the pink fog and ran up to the platform.
“Stop!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. “Julie is our friend. You leave her alone!”
All the pointy-eared creatures turned.
Julie blinked over their heads. “Eric?”
The small, furry king turned. “Who is Eric?”
“I’m Eric!” said Eric. “And if you hurt Julie, we’ll be all over you like … like …”
Neal jumped out of the fog next to Eric. “Like cheese on a pizza!”
“So don’t hurt her!” Keeah shouted, jumping out of the fog with Max.
Batamogi stumbled backward. “Hurt her? But … Julie is our new princess! She has come to help our people. We are going to crown her.”
Eric frowned. “What? Oh, sure. Crown her. With something nasty called the black helmet?”
The fox-eared leader held up the shiny helmet.
It was covered with beautiful jewels.
“Black goes better with her hair,” the king said. “We have a nice pink helmet and two powder-blue ones. But I think black is her color.”
Eric blinked. “Oh … um … well …”
Julie laughed and jumped over to her friends. “These people aren’t hurting me,” she said. “The storm set me down in their village. They’ve been really, really nice! And it’s just like my dream!”
She turned to the crowd. “Everybody, meet Eric, Neal, Keeah, and Max.”
&nbs
p; The furry king bowed nearly to the ground. “I am Batamogi, King of the Oobja. We are the mole people of the Panjibarrh hills.”
Batamogi bowed again to Keeah. “Welcome, Princess. All of Droon knows you. But there is another princess here, too. Princess Julie.”
He handed Julie the shiny black helmet encrusted with jewels.
Julie laughed. “I’m really just a regular kid.”
The king tapped his furry head. “All mole people can sense things. We can tell when someone has powers even before they do. And believe me, Julie, you have powers. You will help us, you’ll see.”
Julie blinked as she slid the jeweled helmet on. “Cool,” she said. “But I still don’t believe it.”
Keeah turned to the fox-eared, red-furred king. “We have come here to find Lord Sparr.”
The mole people gasped and pulled back.
“Sparr!” Batamogi snorted with anger. “We do not like him. We are peaceful people. But Sparr demanded we show him where Zor’s tomb is. We have known for ages that Zor lies in the ancient realm of Goll. It is right under these hills. When my brothers refused to tell Sparr, he took them away. He said that he would hurt them if I didn’t show him where the giant was buried.”
Batamogi sniffled and wiped his snout on his furry wrist. “I had to do what he asked!”
“That’s why we’re here,” Eric said. “We need to stop Sparr from bringing Zor back to life.”
The Oobja king sniffled once more, then stood up straight. “Then I will show you where Sparr and his Ninns are. Yes! But first, we feast. Come, my people. Click-clack!”
The Oobja people laughed softly to themselves and scurried away on their short legs. Moments later they were back, carrying a flat, round bread as big as the big wooden wheel itself.
“Flat bread baked with red sauce and cheese,” Batamogi said. “We like them big. Sometimes we sit in the middle and eat our way to the crust!”
Neal’s mouth dropped open. He stared at Eric. “Whoa! I guess I did dream of Droon last night. Only I didn’t know it.”
Eric smiled as he chewed. He wondered if he, too, had dreamed of Droon without knowing it.
“Eat up!” Batamogi urged. “Our mission is dangerous.”
He ripped off a piece of cheesy bread and, bowing his head, handed it to Princess Julie.
“And Lord Sparr will do everything he can to stop us!”
Batamogi led the children down from the big round platform. His people joined him.
“What is the big wheel, anyway?” Eric asked.
The Oobja king smoothed his whiskers. “Ah, yes, well, let me explain —”
“There’s a big stick here,” Neal said, peering around the wheel. “Like a control stick. What happens if you push it —”
Errrch! The stick squeaked as Neal touched it.
At once the wheel began to spin. Then a loud whooshing sound came from nowhere. A whirling storm of dust exploded up from the ground. It encircled Neal and swept him up in the air.
“Whoa!” he yelled. “Help me!”
Batamogi quickly pushed the stick back down.
The dust storm disappeared and — plop! — Neal landed in a heap on the ground.
Julie laughed. “That’s how I got here!”
Batamogi helped Neal up and brushed him off. “We call this our Wind Wheel. We use it to make dust storms to keep others from finding our village. Too bad it didn’t keep Sparr from stealing my brothers.”
Then the king led the children to the edge of the village. He turned and waved to his people.
They waved back from the big wheel.
“Where are your brothers?” Keeah asked.
The king tapped his forehead again. “I don’t know. But something tells me they are alive.”
Sunlight slanted across the dust hills as Batamogi led the troop into a narrow pass. The hills on either side rose hundreds of feet in the air.
The fox-eared king pointed up ahead. “Sparr brought his Ninns through this pass. They came to dig up the giant. We are not far now.”
Eric shared a glance with his friends. They were heading straight for Lord Sparr.
“I know I say ‘careful’ a lot,” Neal said. “But maybe now is a good time. You never know when something might —”
Fwap! Fwap! The sound of wings filled the air.
“Hrooooo!” came a loud cry.
“Groggles?” Neal yelped.
“No! Worse!” Batamogi replied. “Hide!”
The air grew hot, and a burst of blue flame shot across the hills above them. Then a giant blue wing flapped overhead. It was scaly and rough. A spiky arm clawed at the sky.
“A dragon!” Keeah whispered, touching her feather necklace. “It’s all blue!”
Dust and rocks crumbled from the hillsides and into the pass in front of the kids. The shadow of the dragon’s wing glided over them.
“Hrooooo!” The dragon’s call coiled down once more. Then the shadow vanished.
Sunlight flooded the high walls again.
The dragon was gone.
Batamogi waddled to the middle of the pass and looked up. “This dragon has been here since Sparr arrived, frightening my people. The hills used to be quiet. I hope they will be quiet again.”
Clank! Clong! From nearby came the sounds of metal and stone banging together.
“Digging?” Eric whispered.
The king nodded. “Come, we’re nearly there.”
Quietly, they tiptoed to the end of the passage. Beyond the last range of hills lay a small valley.
“Holy cow!” Julie said.
The valley lay torn open. Piles of sand-colored rocks were strewn about. Flying lizards called groggles whined loudly as they helped to pull large stones out of the ground.
Lord Sparr stood by while hundreds of his red warrior Ninns dug away at the earth.
“They’re digging up the whole tomb,” Keeah said. “They’ve dug up the resting place of Zor.”
“He won’t be resting long,” Max said. “Look!”
Two Ninns dragged a heavy box across the dirt. Eric and his friends recognized that box. It contained Zor’s amulet. Sparr had stolen it when he turned Jaffa City to ice. With the amulet, Sparr could bring the dead giant back to life.
The Ninns opened the box. Sparr took out the large black amulet. The jewel in its center glistened in the sunlight. The sorcerer began to laugh.
“He’s going to do it!” Neal whispered.
Sparr stepped down into the open tomb. Slowly, he strode across the giant’s dark chest.
He set the amulet into a spot near Zor’s neck.
Click! It fit perfectly into place.
The air grew hushed in the valley.
“Now what?” Eric whispered.
They heard a grunting noise behind them.
“Uh-oh,” Neal mumbled.
The group turned around to find a fat, red-faced Ninn warrior standing over them.
“I’ve been expecting you!” he growled.
“That’s it, we’re doomed for sure!” Max chittered, scurrying behind his friends.
Then the Ninn smiled. And his fat red face began to change. It went pale, and a long white beard grew from his chin. His warrior’s armor shriveled away and became a long blue robe.
“Galen!” Keeah said. “How did you get here?”
The wizard motioned them into the shadows as he spoke. “The cave I saw was an old entrance to Goll. To avoid being captured, I pretended to be a Ninn. My friends, it’s worse than we thought. Sparr wants to raise Zor for one reason only.”
Keeah trembled. “What reason?”
“Ages ago, Zor came under the power of something called the Golden Wasp,” Galen said. “Only the giant knows where it lies hidden.”
“The Golden Wasp!” the princess exclaimed. “One of Sparr’s Three Powers!”
Eric, Neal, and Julie shared a look.
They all remembered the first time Galen told them about Sparr’s Three Powers. They were magical obje
cts the sorcerer created so that he could take over Droon. When Galen found out, he put a spell over them to change their shape.
Now they were hidden; no one knew where.
The First Power was a jewel called the Red Eye of Dawn. It controlled the forces of nature.
“What does this Wasp thing do?” Neal asked.
“The Wasp is even more dangerous than the Eye of Dawn,” Galen told them. “It controls the minds and thoughts of others.”
Neal snorted. “Ha! It won’t control my mind.”
“Right,” said Eric. “Only pizza does that. And ice cream. And peanut butter. Also nachos.”
Neal frowned. “You’re making me hungry.”
Julie turned to Galen. “What can we do?”
But the wizard didn’t answer. His eyes were filled with fear. “Look now!” he said.
Sparr stood over the giant’s body. “By the stars of Droon, rise, O ancient Zor! Rise!”
The ground began to rumble and quake.
Then, all at once, the giant’s huge arms burst up from the ground, sending rocks flying everywhere. His legs kicked suddenly, shattering the earth. Then Zor lifted himself out of his tomb.
He struggled to his feet.
His tremendous shadow fell over the valley.
“Uh-oh,” said Julie. “We have a problem.”
“A big problem,” Max chirped.
The dark eyes of the giant stared at the sorcerer beneath him. A simple lift of his foot would crush Lord Sparr in an instant.
But Zor did not crush him. He knelt before Sparr and bowed his head to him.
“Master!” the giant boomed. “What would you have me do?”
“Holy cow!” Eric whispered. “How are we going to stop that thing?”
“We can’t!” Max chittered. “We’re doomed!”
Sparr’s face twisted into an evil grin. “Zor, I command you to find the Golden Wasp!”
Zor turned his head and stared at the sun. His dark eyes took on a fiery glow.
“With the Wasp, I, Lord Sparr, shall conquer all of Droon!” the sorcerer shouted. “Then I shall rise to the Upper World and conquer it, too!”
The Upper World! Eric thought. My world.
Sparr thrust his hand into the air. “Go, my giant! Find the Wasp!”