Knights of the Ruby Wand Read online

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1: Hunting the Hunters

  2: In the Dusty, Dusky Morning

  3: Beasts, Beasts Everywhere

  4: Sisters, Sisters

  5: Ambush in the Bushes

  6: The Terrifying Patio!

  7: Keeah’s Plan of Plans!

  8: All Those Phases!

  9: Mayhem!

  10: What Happened with the Wand

  Also Available

  Copyright

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  “And that’s why they call me Zabilac,” said Neal Kroger as the door of his elementary school swung open. “Genies can open most locks with a simple spell.”

  “Break open most locks, you mean,” whispered his friend Julie Rubin, following Neal into the dark school. “This is so wrong.”

  “Wrong, maybe,” said Mrs. Hinkle, mother of their friend Eric, slipping inside behind Julie. “But it’s the right thing to do.”

  “Okay, who brought the flashlight?” Eric’s father asked as he quietly shut the door behind them.

  The two children and two parents stared at one another in the dim light of the main school hallway.

  “Don’t look at me,” said Neal. “I’m a genie, not a genius.”

  “Never mind,” said Mrs. Hinkle. “A flashlight might give us away. We want to surprise the Hunters. Let’s move.”

  The Hunters were a mysterious trio of Kindu tribesmen — tall and ghostly and evil — who had been sent into the Upper World by the moon dragon, Gethwing, to find something.

  Or someone.

  No one knew exactly what the Hunters were after. And that was what worried the children.

  “Wait,” said Mr. Hinkle, pausing to listen. “Do you hear anything?”

  Neal shook his head. “It’s pretty quiet.”

  “Are they gone?” asked Mrs. Hinkle.

  “Probably not,” said Julie. “The Hunters specialize in being quiet. Let’s keep going.”

  As they tiptoed through the dark A-Wing hallway, Julie and Neal sensed that they were not alone in the school.

  Since their last adventure, Julie had discovered that she possessed a unique third power. Besides being able to fly and change shape, she could now see visions of events from the past — the long past and the very recent past.

  Minutes before, she’d had a vision of the Hunters breaking into her school. If they were still there, she and Neal — and Eric’s parents — would find them, try to discover what they wanted, and stop them.

  Stop them? Really?

  Neither Julie nor Neal knew if such a thing was even possible. But they had to try. Sending the Hunters to the Upper World was only one part of Gethwing’s vast evil plan.

  Not long before, Eric had been wounded by a poisoned ice dagger. As he lay ill, the moon dragon cast a spell on him, drawing him out of his wounded state and into the person of Prince Ungast, a powerful boy sorcerer.

  Ungast was Eric’s evil side and one of the “jewels” in Gethwing’s Crown of Wizards. The other jewels were the wicked Princess Neffu and the sorcerer Lord Sparr.

  “Maybe Keeah and Max have already found a cure for Eric’s wound,” said Mrs. Hinkle as they turned the corner into B-Wing.

  “I sure hope so,” said Neal. “We need him.”

  “Droon needs him, too,” said Julie.

  It certainly did.

  Things were getting worse by the hour.

  On the heels of Eric’s transformation into Ungast, their friend the wizard Galen had been spirited away on a journey by the mysterious genie Anusa.

  No one knew if or when he would be back.

  “Maybe the Hunters have already gone,” said Mr. Hinkle. “It’s just so quiet —”

  Mrs. Hinkle stopped suddenly.

  “Honey?” said Eric’s father.

  Mrs. Hinkle stared at the fifth locker from the corner. “It’s … his … ,” she murmured.

  She stepped toward it and reached out, turned the combination lock until it clicked, then pulled open the narrow door. She covered her face with her hands.

  “We’ll see him soon,” said Mr. Hinkle, his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure of it.”

  Eric’s mother nodded slightly, then removed her son’s backpack from the locker. Inside, she found a crumpled lunch bag, a small notebook, and a thermos.

  “I’ll keep these at home,” she said, slinging the backpack over her shoulder.

  Creeeeek — thud. A nearby door closed.

  “The gym!” Neal said. “Quietly …”

  The friends crept down the hall.

  Gently opening the gym door, they spotted one of the climbing ropes swinging back and forth, as if someone — or something — had just brushed against it.

  “The Hunters are still here,” Julie said.

  All at once, three shadowy figures raced across the gym floor toward a door on the far side.

  “Cut them off!” shouted Neal. He jumped for the climbing rope and swung all the way across the gym. “Whoa!”

  The three figures sprang to one side, and Neal crashed to the floor. “Owww —”

  “Here I come!” Mr. Hinkle ran across the bleachers and helped Neal to his feet.

  The ghostly figures whizzed past both of them to the far door.

  “Oh, no, you don’t!” said Julie. She flew across the gym and blocked the door.

  One Hunter breathed a command, and all three tore open the sacks they carried over their shoulders. The first unsheathed a short dagger and slashed the air in front of Julie. The second removed a spiked ball and sent it spinning through the air.

  “You want to play ball?” said Mrs. Hinkle. “Two can play that game!” She grabbed a bag of basketballs and began hurling them at the Hunter menacing Julie.

  “Vatosh!” the third Hunter hissed.

  The spiked ball whirled at Mrs. Hinkle, narrowly missing her but knocking Eric’s backpack from her shoulder and scattering its contents across the floor.

  “Hey!” yelled Mr. Hinkle. “That’s rude!”

  Before Mrs. Hinkle could pick up the backpack, the third Hunter donned a pair of silver boots, took a step, and blurred out of the gym.

  He was back in a flash. “Kethar —”

  With one great leap, all three Hunters sprang to the high windows, where something glinted in the moonlight.

  “He’s got a bomb!” Neal shouted. “Duck —”

  “It’s not a bomb,” said Mrs. Hinkle. “It’s … Eric’s thermos!”

  “What?” said Julie.

  A moment later, the three figures had burst through the windows and were outside, dashing across the playground. The woods behind the school swallowed them in an instant. They were gone.

  “Why did they steal Eric’s thermos?” asked Mrs. Hinkle. “That is just … strange.”

  “I don’t know,” said Neal. “It was totally empty. I made sure of that a long time ago.”

  Julie gazed at the place where the Hunters had been. There were watery footprints on the floor. “Guys, the Hunter in the silver boots must have left these. Let’s follow them.”

  Together they tracked the prints from the gym down the hall to the school’s swimming pool and stared at the rippling water.

  “How very odd,” said Mrs. Hinkle.

  “And evil,” said her husband. “We need to plan our next move.”

  “And I think we have to go to Droon,” said Neal. “Look what just found us.”

  A black-and-white ball rolled across the wet tiles and stopped at his feet.

  “The magic soccer ball followed us here,” Neal continued. “Julie, we’re needed.”

  Twenty minutes later, Eric’s parents were pacing their kitchen floor and plotting while Neal and Julie hurried
down the basement stairs.

  “Bad things are piling up,” said Julie as they stuffed themselves into the closet under the stairs. “We need Eric and Galen back.”

  “We’ll get them,” said Neal. “I mean, we’re an amazing team, right? Wizards, genies, magical powers? We can do anything. As a matter of fact, I’ve even come up with our own theme song. Want to hear it?”

  “Uh …”

  “Make way for Zabilac,” Neal sang softly. “His turban he will pack. From here to Droon and back. Amazing Zabilac! Do you like it?”

  Julie turned to him. “How is that our theme song? It’s all about you.”

  “I’m working on a second verse,” said Neal, tugging his big turban over his ears.

  Julie sighed. “Keep working.”

  She turned off the light.

  Whoosh! The floor of the closet disappeared, and in its place stood the top step of a staircase leading down and away from the basement. The stairs gleamed with all the colors of the rainbow, as if light shone from every step.

  “And here we go!” said Neal.

  Droon’s golden sun peeked over the horizon as the two friends descended the stairs.

  “We know this place,” said Julie, scanning the landscape below. “I see the plains south of Lumpland. Come on, hurry —”

  But no sooner had they reached the bottom step than a giant coil of dust appeared out of nowhere and tore across the ground toward the stairs.

  Julie frowned. “That storm looks like it’s coming straight for us.”

  Neal looked over his shoulder. “I’d say we should run back up the stairs, but they’re already fading —”

  The storm barreled faster toward them.

  “Then just plain — run!” cried Julie.

  “Heeeeelp!” Neal cried as the storm nipped at his heels.

  “Don’t forget about me,” said Julie. “I need help, too!”

  Then, just as the swirling coil of dust descended over them —

  “Whoa!” cried a voice.

  “Whoa — faster!” cried a second voice.

  There came a terrible screech and — poof! — the storm vanished completely, and a giant spoke-wheeled ship with a big blue sail skidded to a stop inches from the children.

  “Hello! Hello!” called two small voices.

  Standing on the front deck of the ship, clutching the giant sail’s elaborate rigging, were Khan, the pillow-shaped king of the Lumpies, and Batamogi, the fox-eared ruler of the Oobja.

  “Children, hop aboard our windwagon!” urged Khan. “We’re fleeing for our lives!”

  “Fleeing what?” asked Julie, climbing up to the deck.

  “That!” said Batamogi, pointing across the plains to the distant castle of Zorfendorf. Its walls were surrounded by an army of angry, red-faced Ninn warriors, and circling overhead on the back of a winged black pilka was none other than the evil sorcerer Lord Sparr.

  “Oh, no!” Julie gasped.

  “Exactly,” said Batamogi. “Now, jump downstairs to the main cabin. Keeah’s waiting for you. We set sail again!”

  “Hoist the hipyank!” called Khan. “Raise the blunderbill! Off we go!”

  The ship’s sail filled with air, the giant wheels began to roll, and the windwagon shot swiftly across the plains, kicking up a dust storm in its wake.

  When Julie and Neal entered the main cabin, they found Princess Keeah, Max the spider troll, and Hob the mask-making imp hovering over a fiery stove top littered with test tubes, pots, and beakers.

  Keeah hugged her friends. “I’m so glad you got my message. We need your help.”

  “Friends, we’re doing it!” said Max. “We’re finding Eric’s cure. Our work is nearly done!”

  “No thanks to Lord Sparr!” added Hob, tossing water from a beaker onto a sudden high flame. “The evil one launched a surprise attack on Zorfendorf early this morning. We barely escaped with the fazool —”

  “And with our lives!” said Max. “We had to take our laboratory with us in order to finish our work!”

  Max and Hob had begun experimenting the moment the tiny drop of fazool had been found. They hoped to discover a cure that would restore Eric to himself.

  “Keeah!” Khan called down from the upper deck. “I see the red hills. We must be close!”

  Keeah, Julie, and Neal clambered upstairs to the main deck in time to see Batamogi tugging the rigging this way and that. The great sail went slack, and the wagon slowed.

  “Why are we stopping?” asked Neal.

  “I received a message this morning from Anusa,” said Keeah, searching the far plains.

  “Anusa?” Julie said. “She took Galen away on his journey. I saw her in my vision.”

  “Which is why we must meet her,” said Keeah. “Hold on …”

  The princess climbed hand over hand to the top of the main mast that towered over the windwagon. Producing a spyglass, she scanned the brightening sky.

  “This is it,” she called down. “We’re here!”

  With a ferocious squeak, the wagon slid to a stop.

  To Julie and Neal, there seemed little difference between the spot they were in and any other spot on the grassy plains.

  “But how do you know?” asked Neal.

  Keeah smiled and pointed directly overhead. A circle of stars was fading quickly from the morning sky. “Anusa’s signal.”

  “Beautiful!” whispered Julie.

  “Beautiful, yes,” said Max, scrambling on deck with Hob. “But I suspect something is not right. Why is Anusa here, and not with Galen on his genie journey?”

  The air around the windwagon twinkled suddenly, and a tall figure dressed in long scarves and veils appeared.

  It was the genie Anusa. She wore curly tipped slippers and a jeweled pink turban. She floated through the air and halted a few feet above the wagon.

  Neal bowed. “Greetings, Second Genie of the Dove!”

  Anusa bowed to everyone, then twice to Neal. “Greetings, Zabilac!”

  “Do you have news of our beloved wizard?” asked Max, trembling. “How is his journey going? Well, I hope? Please say yes.”

  Anusa lowered her lovely hazel eyes. “Alas, it was not I who led your wizard away.”

  “Not you?” said Keeah.

  Julie gasped. “But I saw you in my vision!”

  “It was someone else you saw, an imposter,” said Anusa, her voice echoing in the cool morning air. “It was not Galen’s hour to leave you. The beloved wizard was spirited away to a place by someone — and for a reason — I do not know!”

  “I should have known!” said Julie. “I remember how worried he looked in my vision. He knew something was wrong.”

  “This is totally not good,” said Neal. “Not only is Eric in trouble and Gethwing attacking Jaffa City and Sparr laying siege to Zorfendorf and the Hunters messing around upstairs, but Galen’s been kidnapped, too?”

  “Who would do this?” asked Keeah.

  “Who could do this?” asked Max.

  “Only magic born in the dark days of the long past could trick our wizard so,” said Anusa. “Since genies travel in time, I have gone back to Galen’s youth and discovered that there exist three objects from his past which — when combined — may help us find him and free him. We need Galen back before Gethwing attacks Jaffa City.”

  “According to what Eric told me there are only four days before that happens,” said Keeah. “What are the objects?”

  “Magical, no doubt?” said Khan.

  “Magical, indeed,” said Anusa. “Long ago, Galen defeated Ko’s demons with three weapons.

  “The first is a tongue of flame, which bestows knowledge of secret languages. The second is a silver arrow, which can strike anything the shooter desires, either to wound or to heal. The last is the fabled Ruby Wand. The stone in the wand has great power, which renders its possessor nearly invincible. It is this wand that I am asking you to find and bring to me —”

  The earth shook, and in the distance a plume of sm
oke rose over the walls of Zorfendorf.

  Hob grumbled. “Time runs short.”

  “Indeed,” said Anusa. “To have any hope of saving Droon, we need Galen back on our front line. The Knights of Silversnow have pledged to find the tongue of flame. I myself will search for the silver arrow. I ask you to find the Ruby Wand.”

  “We’ll do it,” said Julie.

  “I expected no less,” Anusa said with a smile. “Galen lost the wand ages ago in the wizard wars. But it has recently turned up in a tiny jungle near the shore of Doobesh.”

  “We’ll take the windwagon as far as the cliffs south of Agrah-Voor,” said Keeah, “then continue on foot from there. Max?”

  “Good plan,” said the spider troll. “We will keep up our work and hope for success —”

  “And, remember, no more stove-top fires!” said Hob.

  “Beware of Gethwing’s armies,” said Anusa. “If Galen’s enemies learn of the wand, they will stop at nothing to possess it. Friends, go!”

  And go they did.

  As the genie Anusa faded into the sparkling morning air, Keeah’s windwagon bounced its way swiftly toward the southern coast.

  Soon the friends spotted black smoke coiling from the Panjibarrh caves to the east. All up and down the dusty hills, they spied the glinting blades of Ninn warriors.

  “My poor homeland,” said Batamogi. “Invaded. Spoiled. Someday we will return.”

  “Gethwing is destroying Droon,” said Neal. “I can’t wait until we’re back together again. Eric. Galen. Everyone. We’ll stop that creep.”

  As they often had before, Keeah found her thoughts turning to Eric. She imagined her dear friend in thrall to the moon dragon, in the guise of Ungast but lingering as himself deep inside.

  She knew that Eric was still there, because she had spoken to him. But time was running out. For him. For Galen. For Droon.

  “Look there,” said Batamogi. “Something is flying toward us from the west.”

  A twinkle of light zigzagged across the blue sky. As swiftly as a bird in flight, it coiled all the way down the main mast and circled Keeah, sprinkling beads of light in her hair.

  “Flink!” gasped Keeah. “Please show yourself!”

  Flink was Galen’s messenger, a rare and friendly sprite who flew at the speed of light. With a shake of her tiny wings, she settled on Keeah’s shoulder. There was a kind of song to Flink’s words. Keeah listened closely, then nodded.