The Chariot of Queen Zara Read online

  “I’ve got it,” said Eric. Taking aim, he let loose a narrow silver beam from his fingertips. Sizzling through the air like a thread of light, it wound down to the head of the Ninn band, where it landed with a small pop.

  The red warriors scattered in surprise just as the beasts fired their catapult. A large flaming rock exploded harmlessly in the path where the Ninns had just been.

  “Excellent!” cried Max. “You saved them!”

  “Uh, yeah,” said Neal. “Except who’s going to save us? Guys, we have company….”

  Before they could hide, the friends were surrounded by a second band of Ninns. Their leader pushed his face right into Eric’s.

  “You save Ninns with fingers!” the leader boomed. “Why? Why you help Ninns?”

  Keeah gulped softly as she moved next to Eric, whose mouth was hanging wide open.

  “Well, we didn’t exactly help,” she said. “We just didn’t think the beasts were fighting fairly.”

  Eric nodded. “Uh-huh. What she said.”

  The Ninn straightened and looked down at Plud. He made a moaning sound that Eric thought might have been a sigh.

  “Plud is … our home,” he grunted. “One night, beasts come. They push us out. Now they use Plud to make weapons for Ko.” He pointed to the plume of fire and smoke rising from the main tower. “Not good.”

  “Man,” said Neal, “I never thought I’d think of Sparr’s time as the good old days.”

  “Sparr,” the Ninn murmured, that same moan in his voice. “Long time, no Sparr.” He shook his head and looked down at the ground sadly.

  “What’s your name?” asked Keeah.

  Slapping his six-fingered fist on his chest armor, the Ninn said, “Captain Bludge!”

  “Captain Bludge,” said Keeah, “Sparr told us that something in Plud will help us find our friend. He’s up there … on the moon.”

  Bludge followed Keeah’s gaze to the sky, then saw the Medallion around her neck. “There is door in Plud. Moon is above door.”

  “Roooo!” howled Kem.

  “That must be where Sparr wants us to go!” said Julie. “Bludge, can you get us to this door? Can you show us this moon?”

  The Ninn’s face twisted into a strange expression. Eric wondered if it was a smile.

  The warrior pointed his sword to the base of the fortress near the frozen lake. “We help you get in. You help us free Plud.”

  “Well, well,” said Max, shaking his head. “We help the Ninns, and the Ninns help us? I suppose there’s a first time for everything!”

  In a flash, the Ninns assembled. Careful to remain hidden from the beasts, Bludge led the children, Max, and Kem down the side of the valley and around to the shore of the giant frozen lake. There they joined the first group of Ninns whom Eric’s spark had warned.

  “Princess of Droon,” said Bludge. “You make … fog? Fog hide Ninns. We sneak in under beasts’ noses. You sneak, too.”

  He pointed to a dark opening at the base of the fortress across the frozen lake, then made a gargling sound like laughter. “The sewer.”

  Neal frowned. “Excuse me? The sewer? The sewer of Plud? Do we have to?”

  Keeah smiled. “I can make fog. Our friend on the moon taught me how.”

  With a quick wave of her hands and a brief whisper, she blew a breath out across the ice.

  At once, a white mist rose up from the lake. It thickened and swirled until the kids could barely see the fortress in the distance.

  Bludge chuckled softly. “Now, we slide!”

  Together, Eric, Neal, Julie, Keeah, Max, Kem, and the Ninns slid unseen across the frozen lake.

  Before long, they were on the opposite shore under the battlements. On Bludge’s command, everyone pinched their noses and slipped one by one into the dark sewer opening. In no time, the band was through the sewers, up some stairs, and passing room after room filled with beasts forging swords and arrows.

  “Ko make Plud worse,” whispered Bludge, his eyes fixed on the black passage ahead.

  Eric and Neal paused outside one chamber where some beasts were bowing before a figure all in black. “All hail messenger who speaks the words of Emperor Ko!” they said.

  Then the dark figure spoke in a low voice.

  “Beware tomorrow morning’s fight!

  Beware the flying silver light!

  Beware a —”

  “Who do you think that is?” asked Eric. “He’s giving the beasts Ko’s advice!”

  “I don’t know, but he rhymes,” said Neal. “Plus, he sounds weirdly familiar —”

  “You guys, come on. We found it!” whispered Julie, pulling the two boys down the hall to where everyone was crowded by a small door.

  Carved over the door was a moon surrounded by a circle of stars. Eric recognized it as one of the marks on the Moon Medallion.

  “We never go in here,” said Bludge.

  “Because you’re afraid?” said Keeah.

  “Because we too big to fit through door.”

  “Well, it’s just my size,” said Max. “Now behold something Galen taught me!” He fiddled with the lock. Then there was a soft click. Max grinned. “That makes two for the spider troll!”

  “Good work, Max,” said Neal.

  Keeah turned to the Ninn leader. “Thanks, Bludge. Good luck in winning back Plud.”

  Bludge nodded once, then hurried away.

  “And now we find what Sparr wants us to find,” said Eric. Grabbing the knob, he leaned against the door and pushed.

  The little door opened into a room that was dark except for a dull glow in the back corner. Squirming past everyone, Kem went straight for a small pile. He tugged out two objects shaped like birds. Holding them between his front paws, he began to bite them.

  “Chew toys,” said Neal, smiling. “Puppies are puppies no matter how many heads they have!”

  Several old pieces of baby furniture were neatly stacked together, as if carefully preserved. But it was the light from the back that most drew their attention. Nearing it, they saw that it was actually a large black cloth, and the light was coming from under it.

  “Well, what are we waiting for?” said Eric.

  Taking hold of the cloth, the five friends gave a single, quick pull.

  Whooosh!

  The chamber blazed with sudden light.

  “Ohh!” gasped Keeah, staggering back.

  Once their eyes adjusted to the brightness, they all beheld a magnificent silver chariot hitched to a great, motionless silver horse. Both the horse and chariot had giant, sweeping wings.

  “It’s so beautiful!” gasped Max.

  Eric glanced at the strange markings swimming across the chariot’s silver surface. Without knowing how or why, he knew them as words and knew what they meant.

  “It says, ‘For my sons.’ I think Zara made this chariot for Galen, Sparr, and Urik. I think this is what Sparr was talking about. This chariot will help us find Galen!”

  On the chariot’s railing, which started in the front and ended in the rear, was a round blank place.

  “What if the Medallion fits here?” said Keeah. Removing it from her neck, she inserted it into the railing. At once, the horse bristled as if it were alive. The chariot rocked on its wheels.

  Suddenly, the small door burst open behind them. A bearlike beast yelled into the chamber. “Look! Children in Plud! And look! Silver for Ko’s armor! Let’s melt it!”

  “No!” cried the voice of Bludge, who tore the beast away from the door. “Children, go!”

  “Go?” cried Max. “But how?”

  At the sound of thundering feet and yelling beasts, a tremendous clanking erupted from the back wall, as if a massive chain were being wound on to an iron wheel. Suddenly, the wall lifted to reveal a great spiral corridor, winding up inside the wall of the tower.

  The silver horse quivered to life and began to pull the chariot to the open wall.

  “This is how we go!” said Julie, scrambling into the moving chariot.<
br />
  The instant everyone else piled in, the silver horse galloped into the black corridor and flew up inside the fortress tower, leaving the beasts and the Ninns far behind.

  “Ahhhh!” the kids and Max screamed as the silver horse charged up and around the pitch-black corridor to the top of the tower.

  “What happens when we get to the top?” cried Julie.

  “We’ll probably fall,” said Neal. “Again!”

  Suddenly, the ceiling flew open and — vooom! — the chariot shot out into the light.

  The beasts on the tower shrieked in surprise and anger when the chariot blasted right past them and away from the fortress. Up it flew, mile after mile, leaving the ground far below.

  “We’re flying! We’re flying!” said Julie. “We’re going straight to the moon!”

  “But who’s driving this thing?” cried Neal.

  “Eric, you found the Pearl Sea,” said Keeah, pushing him in front. “You drive!”

  The moment Eric put his hand on the Medallion and turned it — whoooosh! — the chariot soared straight through the black air of the Dark Lands and entered a gleaming sky of midnight blue, shimmering with stars and the big, bright face of the silver moon.

  “So this is what it’s like way up here, over the Dark Lands,” said Eric. “It’s awesome —”

  “Hey, driver, pay attention!” cried Max, pointing at a large cloud that was drifting toward them. “Watch out for that cloud!”

  “No problem,” said Eric. Though he didn’t know why, he knew instinctively what to do. He turned the Medallion left, and the chariot veered left. “There —”

  But the cloud suddenly went left, too.

  When he steered the chariot right, the cloud went right. In fact, whichever way Eric drove, the cloud was there, closing in on them.

  “Is that cloud following us?” said Neal.

  Finally, the cloud surrounded them like a pair of hands trapping a lightning bug.

  “Whoa, chariot!” said Eric, removing the Medallion. At once, the silver horse pulled the chariot to a stop on the floor of the cloud.

  The little group sat waiting, surrounded by thick white air.

  “Okay, this is weird,” said Keeah.

  “So now what?” said Neal.

  “So now … me!” chuckled a pleasant voice.

  A large red turban came floating out of the cloud toward them. Under it, dressed in colorful robes of green and white, waving at the mist with both hands, was a short, plump man with a wide grin on his face.

  “Hoja?” said Eric, stepping out of the chariot and walking carefully across the cloud. “Hoja, the Seventh Genie of the Dove? Is that you?”

  “Hoja, it is!” said the stout man.

  “Yes!” said Keeah, jumping from the chariot and running to the short man.

  The grin on the genie’s face as he hugged the princess was nearly as large as the monstrous turban on his head.

  “The last time we saw you was in the city of Ut,” said Max. “You left us to follow Galen!”

  “I did follow Galen,” said Hoja, laughing under his turban. “But I couldn’t save him alone. That’s why I’ve been waiting for you!”

  Neal frowned. “You were waiting for us? How did you know we would come here?”

  “As you may recall from our time in Ut,” said Hoja, motioning them to follow, “genies roam freely through time. I simply went from today to tomorrow and discovered that you would be coming here today, so I went back to yesterday and waited until tomorrow, which is today!”

  Everyone stared at him.

  Hoja shrugged. “Or something like that.”

  The cloud’s floor was springy and made a soft warbling sound as the friends left the chariot and followed the genie. At the edge of the cloud, Hoja reached his hand into the mist, opened a misty door, and walked through into a second white room. In the center stood a table with dozens of maps and scrolls spread out on top.

  “You see, my friends,” said Hoja, “while Galen is not a genie himself, he has always had the love of one. Anusa, the beautiful Second Genie, took him on a journey to restore his youth.”

  “Would that be a … genie journey?” asked Neal with a laugh.

  Hoja chuckled. “A journey of a thousand and one stops, actually. But as hard as I tried, I was never quite able to catch up with him.”

  “When the Pearl Sea showed us where Galen was, we saw black snow falling behind him,” said Eric.

  “Quite right,” said Hoja, opening a scroll and pointing to a spot on it. “And the black snow flies right here in the city of Parthnoop!”

  “Parthnoop?” said Max. “We’ve heard of that. It’s where the flying urns come from!”

  Hoja nodded. “Parthnoop is a place filled with wonders. It is — or was — a haven for many kinds of magical creatures from all over Droon, especially genies. But now Galen is in grave danger there. I might even say, all of Droon is in danger.”

  “Tell us what you know,” said Keeah.

  Hoja breathed deeply. “For ages, Parthnoop basked in the light of the sun, a glittering white city on the silver face of the moon. Until one day — or rather, one night — Fefforello, the Fifth Genie of the Dove, went a little — how shall I put this? — nutty, batty, loony, zany. As quickly as day turns to night, he turned to the dark side of his power. He wanted only to take control of everything!”

  “So, the usual,” said Julie.

  “Exactly,” said the genie. “Fefforello — or the Sultan, as he calls himself now — became a dark genie, turning Parthnoop dark, too. He moved the entire city to the far side of the moon, where the endless black snow falls. And he trapped Galen in his palace tower!”

  The children were speechless.

  “I agree!” said Hoja. “Perhaps even worse is that the Sultan plans to attack Droon from there. When I visited tomorrow, I found out that unless we stop him today, Droon will only be a yesterday.”

  Max grumbled angrily, “We must do something! For Galen! And for Droon!”

  “Zara’s chariot can get to the far side of the moon faster than anything,” said Neal. “Hoja, will you come with us? Right now?”

  The genie smiled an enormous smile. “While it is wise to know the answer, it is truly wise to know the question. The answer to your question, Neal, is yes, I will come!”

  In a sudden blur, Hoja gathered the scrolls and maps from the table and stuffed them into his cloak. Then he folded the table to the size of a cookie and popped it into his turban.

  “Now that is awesome!” chirped Max.

  “What a way to clean a room!” added Neal. “I wish I could do that.”

  “Oh, tsk, tsk!” said the genie, giggling. “Just a little thing genies can do. Now watch this!”

  Hopping with the others into the waiting chariot, Hoja clapped his hands once, twice, three times, and the walls, ceilings, and floors of the cloud quivered, hooted, and flew apart — they became a fluttering flock of snow-white doves!

  “That’s amazing!” Julie gasped.

  “I suppose,” Hoja chuckled. “Let’s go!”

  Eric slipped the Medallion back into the chariot, and the silver horse soared like a giant bird straight on to the silver orb of the moon.

  In no time, the chariot was sweeping above the moon’s bright face, across craters, mountains, and the slithering remains of long-dry rivers to its dark side, where a storm of black flakes surrounded them instantly.

  Keeping one eye on a scroll, the other on the ground below, Hoja pointed. “There it is!”

  A giant city loomed below. While its buildings were white and fanciful, its towers whimsical and amusing, the darkness and the swirling black snow made it seem like a sad place.

  “Parthnoop,” said Hoja. “The home of the enchanted urns. And also home of the Sultan and his fearless urn men, imps who ride atop the flying urns looking for people to attack. They carry little whips and are always humming!”

  “Sounds like fun,” said Neal, petting Kem and raising his e
yebrows.

  Julie pointed to a tall white tower spiraling up from the city. “What’s that?”

  “The Sultan’s palace, where Galen is trapped,” said Hoja. “Come, be watchful of flying urns, and let’s land. Quickly, now!”

  Eric twisted the Medallion and the chariot descended into the streets of Parthnoop, surrounded by a whirlwind of ashen flakes.

  Eric drove the silver chariot into the stormy streets of Parthnoop, swooping low whenever anyone spotted a flying urn.

  “Look there, a stable!” said Max, pointing through the flakes. “Perhaps we can hide the chariot there?”

  “Good eye, Max,” said Keeah. “Eric?”

  “I see it.” Eric dipped the chariot into an alley, landed gently, and drove up to a building with stone arches in front and a long row of stalls inside. Trotting into a stall, the silver horse stilled, as if asleep.

  “Until we need you again,” said Keeah, petting the horse. She and the others draped blankets over the chariot and horse until they were both completely hidden.

  “And now … Parthnoop,” said Hoja. He peeked out into the street. “Since the Sultan moved the city to the dark side, tourism has gone way down. That will make it more difficult to move through the streets unseen. But we must stay clear of the urn riders. Don’t use your powers unless you have to, or we’ll risk being seen and captured, just like Galen.”

  “Got it,” said Keeah. “Use our brains, not our powers.”

  “Or our stomachs,” murmured Neal. “Kem, no munching, or we won’t understand each other.” The puppy grumbled, but nodded both his heads.

  Hoja led the children out of the stable and into the alley. “Our first order of business is to find Anusa. She remained free and has been trying to rescue Galen since his capture.”

  Darting to the end of the alley, the little band slipped down a narrow, snowy street and scrambled quickly to its end.

  “Anusa is the Second Genie of the Dove,” Julie said, turning to Hoja. “Fefforello is the Fifth. And you’re the Seventh. So are you the youngest?”

  “Oh, no. It doesn’t work quite like that,” said Hoja as they entered the cross street, careful to keep the tall palace tower in sight at all times. “As I told you, genies roam freely through time, so we haven’t come about in any particular order. Of the seven of us, Anusa is called the second. The third and fourth are the twin babies, River and Stream. Fefforello is the fifth. And the sixth lives in the far east. She is a very old water genie named Jyme.”