Voyagers of the Silver Sand Read online

  “Blegg,” he said. “Come …”

  “We need to go!” whispered Max.

  “No, wait,” said Eric. “I have to know what he’s got up his scaly sleeve. Two minutes —”

  Eric crept along the gallery until he was over the center of the room. He stopped behind a post in the railing and peeked around.

  Shh-lump! Shh-lump! A small gray creature with knobby skin and a large head limped into the room.

  Quill leaned forward, his scroll open.

  The beast bowed, then seemed to have trouble raising its heavy head again. “Blegg, master thief, reporting, Emperor Geffwink!”

  The moon dragon eyed the beast coldly. “No, no, Blegg. Ko is still the ruler of the beasts. For now, at least —”

  “Holy cow,” whispered Eric. “Gethwing wants to be emperor!”

  “But tell me,” the dragon said, “did you find the treasure to help me on my quest?”

  The little beast grinned, showing two big teeth and no more. “The Talos is in the Chamber of Fear, awaiting your instructions.”

  “The Talos,” whispered Keeah. “That must be our first treasure. Let’s go find it.”

  “No, wait!” said Eric. “What quest is Gethwing going on? We need to know —”

  But Neal, Max, and Keeah were already creeping back down the gallery to the stairs.

  Quill stayed with Eric. “I’d go myself,” he whispered. “But I must write it all down!”

  “Thanks,” said Eric. He watched Keeah pause at the top of the stairs, turn to him one last time, and mouth the word “Now!”

  He shook his head and she quietly descended the stairs with Neal and Max. They slipped out of the room together.

  “Maybe we should go, too,” said Eric.

  Suddenly, Gethwing spoke again.

  “The prophecy says that a boy shall find it. Well, I ask you, Blegg, what boy is there but him? Little boy. Little baby. Little … Sparr!”

  It was all Eric could do not to yell. “Quill! Gethwing must want Sparr to help him on his quest. That’s why he followed Sparr to the Upper World!”

  “But we’re deep in the past,” whispered Quill. “Gethwing and Sparr are in your world now.”

  Eric thought about that. “Okay, but what if Gethwing never got his chance? What if Ko put him and all the beasts to sleep before Gethwing got to the Upper World with Sparr? But now that Sparr is a boy again, and Gethwing’s awake, he finally has his chance.”

  Quill made a sound like a gulp. “Then I’d say we’re all in trouble.”

  “The boy will show me where it is,” said the dragon. “Oh, the power of the thing —”

  Errch! A distant heavy squeak meant that the front gate was being hoisted up.

  “What thing?” hissed Eric. “Come on, you fangy monster! You chased Sparr into my world to get something. What is it?”

  A sudden commotion among the guards was followed by the loud tread of footsteps echoing in the hallways.

  Quill and Eric looked at each other.

  “Uh-oh!” said the pen. “The phantom? Is he here? Is Saba already here?”

  Gethwing spun on his heels and faced the door. “If it’s Ko, he will take the Talos!”

  “But what about Emperor Geffwink?” asked Blegg. “Your plans to rule Droon —”

  The doorway was suddenly filled with the shape of an armor-wearing beast with a bull’s head. Blegg flattened completely to the floor, and Gethwing bowed.

  “Ko!” boomed the moon dragon. “I didn’t expect you in my house, great Emperor —”

  Only it wasn’t the emperor. The creature at the door cast no shadow.

  “Where is it?” roared the phantom. “Where is the Talos?” His voice sounded to Eric like thunder in a tunnel.

  Still bowing, Gethwing replied, “The Talos? Why, it’s in the Chamber of Fear waiting for you. I had one of my beasts steal it for you!”

  Saba scanned the room slowly. He was about to turn away, when he raised his twin-horned head toward the gallery. His three eyes blazed when he spotted Eric.

  “A boy!” Saba roared.

  Gethwing raised his head now and saw Eric, too. “A … boy?”

  “Uh, sorry. Time to go!” cried Eric. Grabbing Quill, he leaped over the railing, landed on the floor, and shot out of the room before either Saba or Gethwing could make a move.

  He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. “Quill!” he gasped. “Please tell me this story has a happy ending!”

  The sound of yelling and the stomping of feet echoed close behind them.

  “Sorry!” said Quill as they ran. “We’re making it up as we go!”

  Eric slid around the corner seconds ahead of the roaring phantom and the moon dragon. “Oh, well, I had to ask!”

  Eric raced down one hall after another, his desert robes flying. Quill was busy trying not to fall out of his turban. “This is shaping up to be a great story!” he squeaked.

  “I hope it gets better than this!” cried Eric.

  “I doubt it will,” said Quill. “We’re going to the Chamber of Fear, remember — left now!”

  When they shot left into a narrow passage, Eric glimpsed Saba’s horns blasting black fire behind him.

  “Arrrh!” the phantom roared.

  At the end of the passage was a steep spiral staircase. Eric leaped down the stairs and wound around and around until he jumped off the last one onto the ground.

  “Okay, now which way —”

  “In here!” said a voice.

  A fuzzy gray flipper jerked out of the shadows and pulled Eric into a tiny dark space.

  “Julie!” said Eric.

  “Hush! Here he comes!” she said.

  The phantom thudded down the spiral staircase and paused for a second. A moment later, he stormed away to another part of the dragon’s palace.

  “Thanks for the save!” sighed Quill.

  Whoosh! A spark lit up the tiny room, and Eric saw Keeah, Max, and Neal huddling next to Julie. Keeah’s fingertips blazed with sparks.

  “Awesome, you guys,” he said. “Thanks.”

  “And for the best part, look!” said Max.

  They moved aside to show two bearlike beasts bound up in spider-silk ropes. Standing over them was a young boy in a blue cloak, a pile of loose chains around his feet. He grinned at Eric.

  “Galen!” Eric exclaimed. “That’s even awesomer!”

  “I think so, too,” said the young wizard.

  The kids had seen young Galen only once before. It was when they had traveled up Ko’s Dark Stair to the Upper World and found themselves in the year 1470. At that time, Galen was almost exactly their age.

  “Your friends told me everything about the future,” the young wizard said to Eric. “I still can’t believe the staircase is gone.”

  “The Guardians are sure that if we find the treasures, we can bring it back,” said Julie. “If the Talos is the first treasure, it’s in the Chamber of Fear.”

  Galen nodded, then peeked out of the room and looked both ways. “The Talos belongs to an ancient people called the droomar,” he said. “They’ve kept magic and wisdom alive in the dark time of the beasts.”

  “I’m a droomar!” said Keeah proudly. “Well, I become one in the future.”

  Galen smiled. “Good. I’m beginning to think that Droon needs all the help it can get.”

  “What does the Talos do?” asked Max.

  “It shows what’s happening in the heavens,” said the young wizard. “The stars, the moon, everything.”

  “Well, Gethwing had it stolen for some quest,” said Eric. “Now, back in our time, he and Sparr are in the Upper World.”

  Galen frowned. “Let’s find the Talos and get those stairs back. By the way, the Chamber of Fear is what beasts call the kitchen —”

  “The kitchen?” said Neal. “Stand aside for the kitchen expert. I’ll nose it out!”

  With that, Neal shot out of the room and jumped back up the spiral stairs, taking two steps at a time.
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  Eric blinked at his friends. “Things sure do move quickly around here.”

  “Especially us,” said Keeah. “Let’s go!”

  Julie twirled quickly, and she became herself again. “Next time, Plan B. I really mean it.”

  “And Plan B is … we run!” said Max.

  At the top of the stairs, Neal led them away from the beasts and into a tangle of narrow passages and rooms.

  With every step, Eric was becoming more and more convinced that the reason Gethwing chased Sparr into the Upper World was because of his quest to find something.

  The sooner we get the staircase back, he thought, the sooner we’ll know.

  Neal darted down a hall, up a short set of stairs, paused, turned, and suddenly held up his hand. “Hear that?”

  Shink! Shink!

  “I know that sound,” he whispered.

  Sidling up to a door, the friends peeked in and saw two snail-like beasts huddled over a big stove. They were using long daggers to scrape chopped vegetables into a giant steaming pot.

  The room was bathed in red light. Looking up, Eric saw that the ceiling above them had a large round red window. He knew at once that it was one of the palace’s dragon eyes.

  “There it is,” said Keeah.

  On a table across the room were a bowl, a spoon, a pair of twisted spectacles, and a short golden cylinder dotted with green jewels.

  Galen stared at the table. “The Talos. Now, how to get to it without the snails seeing us?”

  “And get out again, too,” said Max.

  Neal chuckled softly. “I wonder …”

  “I won’t do it!” hissed Julie.

  “No, I’m thinking of a little distraction,” said Neal. “And I think I can … wait …” He pulled his hood low, puffed up his robes, and leaned over. “There —”

  “Neal, what are you thinking?” said Eric.

  “I’m not thinking,” he said. “I’m doing!”

  Looking like a large old man, Neal waddled slowly into the room. “You there, kitchen beasts!” he said in as low a voice as possible.

  The giant snails turned and stared at him.

  “Huh?” said one, raising its dagger.

  “I am Zabilac the Magnificent, the new cook for Emperor Ko!” said Neal. “Gethwing sent me to get your recipe for” — he sniffed the big pot — “beastie soup!”

  The beasts looked at each other.

  “Okay,” said the second one. “First you start with garlic….”

  “Neal is perfectly fearless!” whispered Quill. “And it makes for a great story!”

  While Neal huddled closely with the snails, the others slipped silently over to the table. Eric reached up and pulled down the golden shaft. It was about a foot long and covered with sparkling jewels.

  “It’s really beautiful,” said Julie. “What does it do?”

  Galen smiled. “It makes a little shooshing noise when you shake it. Blegg must be in a beastie band. This,” he said, picking up the twisted pair of spectacles, “is the Talos.”

  Keeah peered through the glasses, then pulled her head back. “They’re blurry! And they hurt!”

  The wizard smiled. “They’re very old. Maybe if you buff them up —”

  Suddenly, the kitchen doorway was filled by a dark, shadowless figure.

  “Uh-oh, it’s him again!” chittered Max.

  The phantom’s three red eyes burned when he spotted the children. “Beasts, be gone!” he boomed. “Children, give me the Talos!”

  Surprised, the beasts slithered away from the boiling pot and out the door. With a swift move, Saba bolted it behind them.

  “I don’t like that,” said Galen.

  Saba stepped slowly toward the children.

  “Guys!” whispered Neal, pulling everyone back with him toward the stove, “this soup is really hot. We could spill it and … and …”

  “Climb out the eye,” said Eric, looking up.

  Max’s paws began to move. “I’ll make a rope —”

  “Give me the Talos!” Saba thundered again. He took another step toward them.

  “Now!” cried Keeah. “Off the floor!”

  In a flash, everyone jumped to the counter.

  Eric, Julie, and Neal kicked over the giant pot. It splashed down to the floor just as Max tossed his spider-silk rope to the ceiling.

  “Ahhh!” yelled Saba as the soup washed around his feet. He jumped back to the door.

  The kids leaped to the rope, pulled it down, and — boing! — it bounced them right up to the red eye in the ceiling.

  Up, up, up they went until — crash! — they burst through the window and clambered out onto the cheek of the dragon’s head.

  But no sooner had they escaped than blue lightning began to crash and crackle over the golden sands, and the pilkas raced around the top of the dune, whinnying loudly.

  “It’s time for the next story,” said Quill.

  “Arrrh!” Saba appeared in the window. He wasn’t far behind them.

  Suddenly, Gethwing and his beasts burst out of the gates and began to climb up over the dragon’s chin. The kids were surrounded!

  Galen frowned. “All in all, getting in was so much easier —”

  “I have an idea,” said Neal, looking up.

  “Three in one day?” asked Max.

  Neal smiled. “It really must be the slippers. I’m thinking it’s time to lower the flag.”

  Julie looked at him. “Lower the flag?”

  “Pole,” said Neal. “Lower the flagpole. If we knock it over, it’ll be a bridge to the pilkas!”

  As Saba’s horns burst through the window, and the beasts charged up the dragon’s snout, the six friends pushed the flagpole back and forth until — ka-foom! — it crashed like a falling tree onto the surrounding dune.

  “Time to run!” said Julie. “Let’s go!”

  Saba roared and the beasts howled as the kids scurried across the pole to the sands. The pilkas raced straight to them.

  “Great escape, Neal,” said Galen, handing him the spectacles. “Since the first time I set foot in Droon, I knew this place was magical. You’ve just proved it again. Good luck, friends!”

  As the kids, Max, and Quill jumped on the pilkas, Galen dashed away between the dunes and was gone.

  “Onward!” said Max. “To our next stop in Eshku!”

  “Caravan, ho!” yelled Neal.

  As Saba charged across the dunes after them, and the beasts followed close behind, the pilkas galloped directly into the storm.

  Dark winds and swirling sand engulfed them completely, and still the pilkas raced faster and deeper into the storm.

  All of a sudden, the winds ceased to blow, the darkness vanished, and the voyagers galloped out into a valley of golden sand.

  “We did it!” cheered Julie. “We made it into the second story!”

  Suddenly — thwank-thwank-thwank! — a ring of flaming arrows struck the sand all around the little caravan, trapping them in a blazing cage of fire.

  “I think we made it into something else, too!” said Keeah.

  All at once, the dunes ran red with the shape of plump, angry warriors.

  “Ninns!” cried Max. “We’ve been captured by Ninns!”

  Keeah and Eric didn’t even have time to send out a quick spray of sparks, and Neal could barely stuff the Talos in his robe before the Ninns had forced the whole band from their pilkas.

  The fight was over before it began.

  Whinnying loudly, the pilkas reared, then galloped off into the distance in a flash.

  Eric sighed. “They really are fast. Too bad we’re not on them.”

  “For the record,” said Neal, “this time being captured was not my idea.”

  “Hoo-hoo!” cheered the Ninns. They beat their armor with their fists. Then they marched the children and Max, with Quill still in Eric’s turban, back up the dune in single file.

  When they reached the top, the children gasped. Spread out across the open sand below
them was a vast number of red tents. Paths and alleys crisscrossed and curved among them. Colorful flags and banners curled from every one, snapping musically in the hot breeze.

  “A Ninn city,” said Julie.

  “It looks like thousands of them here,” said Keeah. “I wonder if they’re on a mission for Ko.”

  Quill leaned down from Eric’s turban. His feathers twitched. “Ko, perhaps. But we must be something like a hundred years later than last time. Look!”

  He motioned into the distance. Crawling slowly over the distant sands was the giant turtle again, its short tail curled high. But the city on Tortu’s back was larger this time. A blue wall, eight feet tall in some places, circled the buildings. Three towers twisted up from the center of the turtle’s dome.

  “It’s later in Droon’s history,” said Keeah.

  “Later in the day, too,” said Eric, looking up. “Maybe three o’clock. Nine hours left.”

  Neal frowned. “And four treasures to go.”

  “And four Galens,” said Max.

  No sooner had they started down into the tent city than the warriors pointed up at a dark shape streaking across the sun.

  “Dragon ship!” shouted a Ninn.

  “Ko is coming!” cried another. “Our leader!”

  Eric turned to Keeah. “The Ninns are looking for the dragon ship. This is amazing. It must be four hundred years ago.”

  They all knew the story of how, long ago, Ko was near death and fled on a dragon-shaped airship, charming himself to sleep for four centuries. It was when Ko woke that Sparr became a child again.

  “If a century has passed since our last stop,” Quill whispered, “then Ko has just gone to sleep. The Ninns don’t know it, but they have been left all alone!”

  The dark shape was not the dragon ship. It was only a cloud drifting across the sun. Blown about by the wind, the cloud dissolved and passed away into nothing.

  The Ninns looked for a moment longer, then lowered their heads, grunted, and marched into the tent city. They pushed the children into a tent and used a stout rope to tie them to a thick post in the center.

  “You wait!” grunted one of the Ninns.

  “For what, exactly?” asked Keeah.