In the Ice Caves of Krog (The Secrets of Droon #20) Read online

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1: The Blizzard Wizard?

  2: Of Harps and Happenings

  3: Whispers Without Words

  4: A Torch at Midnight

  5: The Iceman Comes … and Goes

  6: Palace of Doughnuts

  7: Lots of Loot

  8: I Only Have Ice for You

  9: Racing the Wraiths

  10: Star Sparkle

  The Adventure Continues …

  Also Available

  Copyright

  Eric Hinkle sat with his friends Julie and Neal at a table in the art room at school. He was rocking quietly in his chair. He was smiling.

  “Will you sit still?” said Neal, pushing a paintbrush across a piece of paper. “I have to paint your picture. But with all your wiggling, you’ll end up looking like a monkey!”

  “I can’t sit still,” said Eric.

  “At least take your gloves off,” said Julie, dipping her brush in a cup of water. “It’s cold out, but you’re inside now. Besides, Mrs. Michaels said we should paint. You’d better get started.”

  Eric looked down at his gloves and smiled again. “I can’t get started. Look at this.”

  He glanced around the room. The other kids were busy painting or talking quietly while their teacher strolled between the tables. Making sure no one was watching, Eric took the little cup of water in front of him, lifted it high overhead, and turned it upside down.

  “Eric — !” Julie shielded her picture.

  But the water didn’t splash out.

  Thwap! A small block of ice slid out of the cup and landed in his hand.

  “Whoa!” said Neal. “How did that happen?”

  Eric grinned. “I touched it. And that’s not all. Since I woke up yesterday, my wizard powers have been totally nuts. I think they’re getting stronger….”

  Wizard powers.

  That’s right. He was Eric Hinkle. Boy wizard.

  As Julie and Neal leaned toward him, their eyes wide, Eric recalled how he got his powers.

  He loved to remember the exact moment.

  It was in Droon, of course. Where else could such a magical thing happen?

  Droon was the fantastic world the three of them had discovered one day in his basement. It was a land of danger, mystery, and adventure.

  Droon was also a place of amazing friends. It was there that Princess Keeah, their best friend, had saved Eric from falling into a bottomless pit.

  Blam! She shot a blaze of blue wizard light.

  And suddenly he was safe.

  But that moment changed Eric’s life forever.

  Soon after, he discovered blue sparks shooting from his own fingertips. Then he began having visions of things that hadn’t happened yet. And strange words popped suddenly into his head.

  Magical words.

  At first, he thought it had all been a weird mistake. But the great old wizard Galen told him, “I do not believe you won the powers by accident. There is a greater purpose here.”

  Eric knew part of that purpose, of course.

  With magical powers, he could help Droon win its terrible battle against Lord Sparr.

  Sparr, the sorcerer. Sparr, the ruler of the Dark Lands. Sparr, the creator of the Coiled Viper, the Red Eye of Dawn, and the Golden Wasp. Sparr the weird, Sparr the creepy, Sparr the —

  “So come on already!” said Julie. “Tell us!”

  “Oh, sorry.” Eric took a deep breath. “Well, first of all, yesterday morning, I felt my hands getting really, really hot. A minute later, I pulled the bathroom door completely off its hinges!”

  Neal gave out a low whistle. “I’m pretty sure your dad will take that out of your allowance.”

  “No kidding,” said Eric. “Then, clearing the kitchen table last night, I broke three dishes —”

  Julie winced. “I hate the sound when dishes hit the floor!”

  “They didn’t hit the floor,” said Eric. “They hit the ceiling! That was just after I became my own personal microwave and zapped a slice of pizza to dust — right in my hand!”

  Neal blinked. “Pizza? What kind of pizza —?”

  “Never mind about that,” said Julie. “Eric, did your parents see anything?”

  He shook his head. “No. They just think I’m the king of klutziness.”

  Neal laughed. “Then maybe you can hang this in your palace —” He showed them his painting. Eric’s head was tiny but his eyes were huge.

  “Thanks a lot,” Eric said with a laugh. “But here’s the weirdest part of all. You know how I always shoot off blue sparks? Well …”

  Keeping his hands under the table, Eric carefully tugged his gloves off. The instant he did, bright silver sparks blazed from his fingertips and sprayed wildly to the floor. “Cool, huh?”

  “Silver sparks?” said Julie. “That’s new.”

  “New and way more powerful,” said Eric, tugging his gloves on and quickly painting a picture of Neal. “Even Keeah doesn’t have sparks like these. I feel as if I can do anything —”

  “Except maybe paint,” said Neal, looking at Eric’s paper. “Now I look like a monkey!”

  Mrs. Michaels tapped her desk. “Please finish up. Put your paintings on the back table to dry.”

  Julie slid her watercolor kit and some paper into her pocket and went to the back of the art room. On a recent adventure in Droon, she had been scratched by a wingwolf and had gained the ability to fly and sometimes to change shape.

  “I thought flying was weird,” she said. “It’s a piece of cake compared to Eric’s new powers.”

  “Cake?” said Neal. “What kind of cake?”

  Eric laughed as he put his painting on the table. “I have to show Keeah what I can do. I sure wish we could go to Droon right now —”

  Kkkkk! A sudden crackle came over the school intercom, and a voice began to speak. “Due to the weather, school will be dismissed early. Buses will be called in five minutes!”

  Eric’s eyes became as huge as they were in Neal’s picture. “Weather? What’s going on?”

  Everyone rushed to a window overlooking the courtyard. The air outside was white. Thick squashy snowflakes were swirling everywhere.

  Neal gasped. “Holy cow, Eric, did you … ?”

  “No way!” He shook his head. “I didn’t do this! I couldn’t do this. Could I?”

  But his hands … his hands were blazing hot.

  Julie frowned. “Eric, this is weird. You wanted to go home, and now we can. If your powers did this, there’s only one way to find out —”

  Neal’s face broke into a wide grin. “To the bus, to Eric’s basement, and then … to Droon! That is, unless Eric zaps us with a hurricane!”

  “Cut it out!” said Eric as they raced out.

  Ten minutes later, the three friends tumbled off the bus and ran across the yard to Eric’s house.

  Already the kids on the street were laughing and shouting as they dragged their sleds and saucers into the spinning snow.

  “Looks like fun,” said Julie. “Makes you want to have a snowball fight, doesn’t it?”

  Eric nodded, then saw silver sparks spring from the seams in his gloves. “We can play later. Keeah needs to see this right away. Come on!”

  The friends tramped down to Eric’s basement. They pushed aside three large cartons blocking a door under the stairs.

  Inside was a small closet, empty except for a single lightbulb dangling from the ceiling.

  They piled in. Neal closed the door behind them, and Julie pulled the light switch. Click.

  The room went dark, but only for an instant.

  Whoosh
! The floor beneath them vanished, and in its place stood the top step of a staircase, shimmering in every color of the rainbow.

  “I hope we never have to stop doing this,” said Julie excitedly. “Droon is so awesome.”

  Eric couldn’t help but smile. He loved it, too.

  “Come on, people. To Droon!”

  The three friends started down the stairs together. Passing through a layer of thick clouds, they entered a blue-black sky dotted with stars.

  Icy cold air swept up around them, spinning powdery flakes of snow onto a forest below.

  “It looks like Eric made it snow here, too,” Neal said with a chuckle.

  In the distance were the twinkling lights of a vast city of turrets and towers.

  “Jaffa City,” said Julie. “Keeah’s hometown. These must be the Farne Woods under us. It’s all so magical. I’m glad I packed my watercolors.”

  Barely visible through the many fir and pine trees crowded below was a faint orange glow. It was coming from a small cabin built into the trees. As the kids got closer, they saw wisps of smoke drifting up from the stone chimney.

  “Keeah’s cottage,” said Eric. “I hope she’s in there.”

  They all remembered the first time they had seen Keeah’s house in the woods. She told them that she and her parents, King Zello and Queen Relna, had lived there when she was small.

  “I hear voices from inside,” said Neal.

  Eric felt his neck tingle. A soft whisper flitted through the upper branches and swirled down with the flakes.

  “It sounds like voices here, too,” he said.

  “It’s the wind,” said Julie. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

  “Let’s get inside,” said Neal. “Whispers give me the chills. And I’m already cold enough!”

  With the snow falling more heavily around them, the three friends padded quickly to the cottage door.

  Eric lifted his hand to knock.

  Suddenly — wham! — the door came blasting open, and an enormous giant leaped out.

  A giant covered entirely in fur.

  A giant holding a long, sharp spear.

  A giant yelling, “Ahhhhh —”

  “Ahhhhh!” Eric screamed, too. He jerked back into Julie and Neal as a blast of silver blew out his gloves — zannng! — and turned the giant’s spear tip to dust.

  “Oyyyy!” growled the giant loudly. “That was my muffin on there! You blew up my muffin!”

  Julie gasped. “Rolf? Is that you?”

  The giant bent over slowly and squinted from behind a great furry beard. “I am Rolf, official Knight of Silversnow, and you are … wait … oh, my! It’s the children!”

  Instantly, he scooped up the three kids and carried them inside, plopping them down before a blazing fireplace. “Everyone, lookee here!”

  “Welcome!” boomed a chorus of low voices. Squeezed into the small room were two more giants, heating muffins over the fire.

  “The Knights of Silversnow?” Neal yelped. “Holy cow! It’s so cool to see you guys again!”

  The first time the children had met them, the three legendary knights had been sleeping for centuries before Keeah woke them with a spell.

  “We’ve been called,” grumbled the knight named Lunk. “When there’s trouble in Droon, everyone knows you call the best of the best!”

  “Best of the best, and sleepiest, too,” said the third knight, whose name was Smee. “I only woke because they said there were muffins. Well, and the monster —”

  Julie blinked. “Monster? What monster?”

  “Better let me tell you about that!” said a voice behind them. They turned to see a girl leap down the stairs from the room overhead. She had a gold crown twined in her long blond hair.

  “Keeah!” said Eric.

  “It’s so good to see you all,” said the princess, hugging them. Behind her on the stairs was her beautiful mother, Queen Relna, and Max, a spider troll with eight legs and fluffy orange hair.

  “We’re all glad you came,” chirped Max. “We have a dangerous new situation in Droon!”

  Eric glanced at Julie and Neal, then at his gloves. “Did somebody say monster?”

  The queen nodded. “Galen and King Zello are on a mission to find Sparr. As you know, he discovered the magical Coiled Viper. And now he wants his two other great Powers — the Red Eye of Dawn and the Golden Wasp. ”

  Smee shivered. “Until that terrible Golden Wasp vanished, it had been stinging more and more people, turning them into wraiths!”

  Lunk made a face. “I saw one once. Eeeww!”

  The children remembered the wraiths, whispering, faceless creatures, stung by the Wasp and forced to hear only Sparr’s evil voice.

  “But even as my father and Galen search for Sparr,” said Keeah, “there is a new problem.”

  All eyes turned to the princess.

  “Yesterday morning, my harp began to play by itself. Strange songs, and only for me.”

  She went to a shelf and pulled a bow-shaped instrument from it. Though small, the harp was full of magic. Eric remembered how its playing strangely controlled even Sparr’s own Golden Wasp.

  As soon as Keeah touched the strings, the harp hummed and a voice sang out. Pling! Thrum!

  Where the water grows teeth

  He wakes to new power!

  All Droon fears the truth

  Of his deadly bright fire!

  A moment later, the harp went silent.

  As much as Eric tried not to, he remembered how his sparks had burned the pizza the day before and how the ashes had crumbled right through his fingers. “What does it mean?”

  “An old beast has woken up,” said Keeah. “It has already attacked a village and destroyed it.”

  “The water grows teeth,” said Neal. “Icicles are like teeth. Is the monster up where it’s cold?”

  Rolf beamed. “Good, Neal. Yes. The beast has awoken in northern Droon. He has many names, but we know him by his most ancient one —”

  “Krog,” said the queen.

  The children shivered to hear the name.

  “If only we could draw you a picture of Krog,” chirped Max. “Then you’d be really afraid —”

  “Ooh!” said Julie. “Use my paints!” She pulled her watercolor case out of her pocket.

  Relna smiled. “Good idea.” She dipped Julie’s brush in a cup of water and touched green paint to a piece of paper. “The face is half like a growel, half like a stumble.”

  “A what?” asked Eric. “I’ve never heard of —”

  “With scales like a dracnak,” grumbled Lunk, dabbing on black paint. “And quogg feet!”

  “The harp sang to me of a moomflod’s fiery breath,” said Keeah, adding a splash of red.

  Rolf, Smee, and Max added more to the painting until what emerged was a terrifying beast of great size, with fur, wings, long teeth, huge arms, thick legs, and a massive jagged tail.

  “Whoa!” said Neal. “That’s one ugly beast!”

  “Quite right,” said Smee, swallowing a whole muffin. “Only a great power will defeat Krog.”

  Eric suddenly felt electric. Was this it? Was this the reason for his silver sparks?

  “A great power?” he asked. “Like this?” He pulled off his gloves, and the room shone silver.

  Keeah’s eyes grew huge. “Eric, this is wonderful! Even I don’t have silver sparks yet!”

  Relna stared at Eric as if she wanted to say something. Then she turned and swiftly pulled two giant clubs off the cabin wall. “Silver sparks mean your magic is growing, Eric. With Sparr more powerful than ever, we’ll need your help. Starting with Krog.”

  “I’m ready,” said Eric proudly. “Let’s go —”

  “Hush!” said Max excitedly. “Listen!”

  Beyond the light tapping of flakes on the window, they heard another sound.

  Sss … ssss!

  Rolf turned. “I smell — whispers!”

  Keeah and Eric ran to the window and pulled the curtains aside. On
e after another, dark shadows streaked across the snow toward the cabin.

  “Attackers?” said Neal, stepping back with Julie and Max.

  “I knew it!” said Eric. “It wasn’t the wind in the branches. It was them, the faceless ones —”

  An instant later — blam! — the cottage door burst on its hinges, and a shadow blurred into the room.

  A shadow … without a face.

  “My gosh!” cried Keeah. “It’s — wraiths!”

  Fwit-fwit-fwit! A trio of shadow men leaped past the first one and pounced into the room.

  “This is Sparr’s doing!” cried Relna, pulling the children back across the floor. “Wraiths, Sparr is your leader now, but I was once your queen. Tell me — why are you here?”

  The faceless heads seemed first to stare at her, then hiss like water striking a hot stove. Ssss!

  “They don’t talk a lot, do they?” yelled Neal.

  Eric jumped forward. “Maybe they’ll understand this —”

  Kla-bam! Silver sparks lit up the inside of the cabin. Eric was blown to the floor, while his wild shot set the curtains on fire. “Oh, man, sorry —”

  “Never mind!” Max quickly threw a pitcher of water on the bright flames, putting them out.

  “Friends, get back!” cried Keeah. She sprayed a beam of blue sparks from her hands — blam!

  It went straight for the wraiths, but the shadow men ducked low, then shot a thick fog of red sparks, scattering Keeah’s light.

  “Ukk!” yelled Smee, waving at the cloud. “Smells like burnt cheese. I hate that smell!”

  “Where are they?” Lunk coughed.

  “One touched me!” shouted Neal, tumbling to the floor and trying to scramble away.

  “I’ll help you!” Julie dashed across the room, grabbed Neal, and flew straight up to the ceiling. “Stay away from my friends, you icky wraiths!”

  Sssss! More shadow creatures blurred into the room, pointed at Keeah, then lunged at her.

  “Oh, no you don’t!” Queen Relna sent a second beam of blue sparks at the wraiths, scattering them long enough for her to pull Keeah into a corner. “They’re after you. This way, come —”

  “Fellows, form a line!” cried Rolf, chomping one last muffin. “Knights of Silversnow, charge!”

  The warriors leaped up, shoulder to furry shoulder, and pushed the wraiths to the door.