The Chariot of Queen Zara Read online

  “But who’s the first?” asked Neal.

  Hoja paused at the end of the next street and looked out on a large white courtyard that was piled from end to end with black snow. The palace was on the far side.

  “The First Genie?” said Hoja. “The last time I saw him was long ago, and he was very old. But he may not be so old now. Hard to tell.”

  The children looked silently at one another.

  Hoja chuckled. “It is said that only he passed the ancient genie test of the Four Wonders in a single day. Not just that, but he performed a Fifth Wonder also!”

  “What are the Wonders?” asked Max.

  “I’m glad you asked,” said Hoja. He cleared his throat and said, “To give to another, and yet receive. To follow another, and yet lead. To find another, and yet be found. And, perhaps the greatest of them all, to die for another, and yet live.”

  Neal nodded as he listened. Then he frowned. “A genie has to solve riddles, too.”

  “He does!” said Hoja. “In fact —”

  “Roooo!” Kem yelped suddenly and raced into a side alley where a storm of black flakes whirled swiftly between the buildings.

  “Hey!” said Neal, jumping after him. “Kem, get back here. We have to stay together —”

  All at once — whoosh! whoosh! — there was a sound in the street behind them.

  “Oh, no,” said Max, spinning on his heels. “Is that what I think it is?”

  In seconds, the street was filled with flying urns. On the urns sat dozens of impish creatures with turbans, flowing robes, shiny slippers, and tiny whips. The creatures were humming.

  “Da-da-la-dum! Da-da-la-dum-dummm!”

  “Urn riders!” hissed Hoja. “Hide!”

  The urn riders raced up the alley just as everyone slipped around the corner. Everyone, that is, except Neal and Kem. They stood together, entranced by the whirling black flakes.

  Whoosh! The urns zipped closer.

  Neal! Eric called him silently with his powers, wanting to blast the riders but not daring to. Get down!

  “They’re going right for him!” hissed Julie.

  All of a sudden, the black flakes swarmed over Neal and — whoosh! — the urn riders flashed by to the end of the alley, swerved around the corner, and disappeared without seeing either the boy or the dog.

  Eric jumped to his feet. “I can’t believe it!”

  Just then, the snowstorm dissolved, and there in the street, not three paces away from Neal and Kem, stood a woman in white. A woman they had all seen before.

  Keeah gasped. “Anusa!”

  It was Anusa, the Second Genie of the Dove. She was dressed in flowing white robes, and she moved along the street toward them as if she were floating over the ground.

  Her black hair glistened under a small white turban. It was braided with tiny bells that jangled softly when she moved.

  Neal couldn’t take his eyes off of her. “Uh, thanks, Anusa. I guess you saved me!”

  Anusa smiled, speaking in a soft voice. “Because you saw me, the riders didn’t see you.”

  “Anusa!” said Hoja, bowing to her.

  “Hoja, it’s good to see you,” she said. “I’ve been expecting you all. Every attempt to free poor Galen has failed. But come, all of you. Time is passing quickly, even for us genies. Come.”

  While everyone followed, Anusa wove through the streets around the courtyard like a quick, gentle wind.

  “The Sultan is clever,” she told them. “I don’t know what turned him suddenly evil, but clever and evil are a bad combination.”

  “Like it being lunchtime and not being able to eat,” murmured Neal, scruffing Kem on the head.

  “Indeed,” said Anusa. “But unlike lunch, what the Sultan is planning is terrible — and it’s going to happen soon.”

  “Which makes it even more important for us to get into the palace,” said Julie.

  “And look!” said Max, pointing to the front of the palace. Four large urns were being rolled up to the gates by a dozen riders. They lifted a big black knocker on the gate, let it fall — boom! — and waited.

  “It looks to me like urns are being delivered to the palace,” the spider troll continued. Then he smiled. “Urns without passengers …”

  Hoja nearly burst into laughter. “Well said, Max! With our little band of wizards, genies, a two-headed puppy, and a spider troll —”

  “And me!” said Neal.

  “And Neal,” said Hoja, “we should be able to get into the palace in style — by urn!”

  Helped by Anusa’s whirling mass of black flakes, the little band of wizards, genies, a two-headed puppy, a spider troll, and Neal moved very close to the front steps.

  Then, under the cover of a gust of snow, the kids hopped into the urns — Eric, Max, Neal, and Kem into one, Julie and Keeah in a second, and Anusa and Hoja in each of the last two.

  When the gates finally opened — errr! — the urns were tipped on their sides — thud! — and the friends were rolled straight into the palace.

  “Oh, my lunch!” groaned Neal as he dropped onto Eric, Max, and Kem.

  “What lunch?” whispered Eric.

  “The one I wish I was eating now instead of being rolled in an urn!” groaned Neal.

  Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! went the urns as the little men rolled them one by one into the Sultan’s giant palace.

  One moment Eric felt as if someone were dropping sandbags on him, and the next moment he felt as if he were the sandbag.

  Thumpety-thumpety!

  Finally, the rolling stopped.

  “Heavy, these urns,” squeaked one of the Sultan’s urn men.

  “Come on,” said another. “Let’s find out if the Sultan wants them here or on the Raven.”

  “The Raven, right,” laughed another. “Caw! Caw! Boom!”

  Several sets of feet padded down the hall.

  “Feel … sea … sick …” groaned Max.

  “Wait,” whispered Keeah. She and Julie popped their heads out of their urn and peeked around. “All right. It’s clear.”

  “The Raven?” said Anusa, hopping out. “I don’t like the sound of that. Let’s find Galen and figure out what the Sultan is planning before it’s too late.”

  Together the friends slipped down the hall and into a passage painted pink with purple polka dots and wavy yellow stripes.

  “It’s awfully colorful,” whispered Julie.

  “Yes, well, colorful or not,” said Max, “I don’t want any dark genie finding us here!”

  Hoja paused. “Or will he find us, anyway?”

  “What do you mean?” asked Keeah.

  Anusa nodded. “I think Hoja means that because the Sultan is still a genie, he could have gone into the future to see what we’ll do, and he could be waiting for us.”

  Eric looked down the next long hallway. “So you think we should do something totally unexpected?”

  “I think,” said Anusa, “that perhaps we should be … invisible!”

  Hoja smiled from ear to ear. “Invisible? Oh, just the thing to fool a time-traveling genie.”

  Anusa pulled several tiny bottles from her turban, each containing what looked like a single drop of blue liquid.

  “Swallow this, and you’ll be invisible for as long as you need to be,” said Anusa. “Cough three times and you’ll be visible again —”

  “Too late!” squeaked a tiny voice suddenly. “The Sultan knew you would try to become invisible! So we arrived just before you did!”

  Everyone turned to find the hallway filling with floating urns, each one crowded with a half-dozen turbaned riders.

  “And now,” squeaked the chief rider, “I believe you are our prisoners —”

  “Not yet!” cried Anusa, flying up to the ceiling. “Children, run! Hoja, dive at the riders, scatter them!”

  While the two genies swooped swiftly at the urn riders, the children raced down the hall as quickly as they could.

  “Here!” said Anusa, tossing the kids
a bottle of blue liquid. Before anyone could catch it, a rider snapped out with his little whip, and the vial smashed on the floor — crash!

  “Rooo!” Kem ran over, licked up the blue liquid, and — plink! — he vanished.

  “Yay, Kem!” Julie yelled. “Run, boy, run!”

  “Here’s another!” said Anusa, tossing a second bottle. Neal leaped high and caught it.

  By now a dozen more urns zoomed into the hall. Half of them soared after Hoja and Anusa, trapping them against the ceiling, while the other urns jetted after the kids like little rockets. In a moment, they surrounded Keeah, Max, and Julie. But Eric and Neal blasted between two attackers and kept running.

  The two boys zigzagged through the passages and all the way back to the front gate before they realized their friends had been captured. They finally stopped behind the giant urns they had hidden inside to enter the palace.

  “Oh, man!” said Eric breathlessly, peeking back down the hall. “They captured our friends! All of them! Now what’ll we do?”

  Neal looked out to see the riders sweep into the hall. He nudged Eric’s shoulder and held out the blue bottle. “There’s only one drop. Eric, you be invisible. I’ll hide behind you.”

  Eric stared at his friend, then blinked. “Neal, if I’m invisible and you hide behind me, I’m pretty sure they’ll see you.”

  As the riders floated closer and closer, Neal shook his head. “You’re a wizard.”

  “I’ll be an invisible wizard!” said Eric.

  “I heard that!” snarled a sudden voice.

  Suddenly, there he was, hovering cross-legged amid the approaching urn riders — the dark genie, the evil Sultan himself.

  He was dressed all in black, from his robes to his slippers. Instead of a gem, he wore a rough black stone in the center of his black turban. It was so dark that it seemed to draw light into it.

  “Riders,” he snarled, “the two wizards are hiding behind those urns. Watch as I trap them!”

  “One wizard and a Neal,” whispered Neal. “Take the potion, Eric. It’ll save us both!”

  “I don’t think so, but okay!” said Eric. Just as he drank the potion, the Sultan zoomed up over the urns and hovered above them.

  “What?” He looked behind the urns. He looked around the urns. He looked into the urns. He saw no one. “Where are they?” he bellowed.

  “See?” said Neal, crouching behind his invisible friend. “He really can’t see me!”

  Eric sighed. “But he can hear you! Run!”

  The two friends shot off down the hall and were around the corner in a flash.

  “You won’t get far!” boomed the angry Sultan, shaking his fists. “My tower is wizard-proof, so you’ll never free Galen!”

  “Dun-dun-dunnn!” chanted the riders.

  “Not only that, but my secret, bird-shaped rocket, which I call the Raven, is nearly ready to attack Jaffa City! Soon you shall not just be invisible, you shall be no more!”

  “Dun-dun-dunnnnn!” said the riders.

  “But first, I shall go back in time and help the evil beasts win their war against Droon!”

  “DUNNNNNN!”

  Moments later — whoosh! — the Sultan and his men flew down the hall and were gone.

  Eric and Neal stopped running and stood side by side, trying to catch their breath.

  “That Sultan is one crazy guy,” said Eric.

  “But at least the two of us are free,” said Neal.

  Eric frowned. “Two is a small team.”

  “Well, yeah,” said Neal, stepping down the hall and peeking into a side passage. “But half of our team is an invisible wizard.”

  “You’ve got a point,” said Eric, staring at his hand but not seeing it. “So let me get this straight. We need to find Galen —”

  “That’s first,” said Neal, tapping a finger.

  “Free all of our friends, and stop the Sultan from shooting off his weird rocket —”

  “Which is shaped like a bird and called the Raven,” said Neal. “That’s two and three.”

  “Find invisible Kem,” said Eric. “And finally drive Zara’s chariot back to Droon.”

  Neal nodded, counting on his fingers. Then he frowned. “You forgot one.”

  “I don’t think so,” said Eric.

  “You didn’t say to duck,” said Neal.

  “Why should we duck?” asked Eric.

  “Because a bunch of urn riders with whips are flying straight for us?” said Neal. “I think we should duck or we’ll both have instant haircuts. Duck now. Eric — duck now!”

  He pulled Eric to the floor as — voooom! — a troop of riders roared overhead, chanting the Sultan’s name. “Feffo — Feffo — Feffo — rello!”

  After they were gone, Eric stood and dusted himself off. “Not liking Parthnoop so much right now. Come on.” He stepped past Neal and started down the hall.

  “Right, except it’s this way,” said Neal, pointing to the side passage he had just noticed. “There are steps at the end of this hall. They probably lead up to the tower.”

  Eric sighed. “I’m glad someone’s paying attention around here. Come on!”

  Afraid for his friends but hoping he would soon find Galen, Eric led the way into the narrow passage and up the stairs, with Neal following swiftly behind him.

  When Eric and Neal were halfway up the tower stairs, they realized that the stairs curved around in an ever tighter spiral, and the ceiling lowered with each step closer to the top.

  “It’s getting a little cramped here,” said Eric, bumping his head and scraping his shoulders against the stones. “I’ll have to crawl.”

  Neal looked up at where Eric’s voice was coming from. “I can’t tell you how weird it is to be talking to an empty space.”

  “I wish I were an empty space,” said Eric. “Then maybe I could fit in here!”

  When they had finally inched up the last few steps on their stomachs, they stopped. At the top of the stairs stood a solid wall.

  Eric blinked. “What is this, a joke? I’m going to blast it —”

  “Eric, don’t,” said Neal. “Crazy Feffy said the tower is wizard-proof.”

  “We’ll see about that!” Eric aimed up at the wall and shot a single blast at it. Blammm! It bounced off the wall, ricocheted off the ceiling, and exploded over the boys’ heads, nearly frying them.

  Neal groaned. “Well, that didn’t work.”

  “Sorry,” said Eric. “I thought nothing was wizard-proof.”

  “If it wasn’t wizard-proof, would Galen have stayed locked up in there for so long?”

  Eric made a face. “You with the questions. Maybe we should just go back down —”

  “Except that when you blasted the wall, I think I saw something. Let me try….” Neal reached up and moved his hand over the wall. Then he chuckled. “Ah, yes. The door.”

  “The door?” said Eric, annoyed. “Cut it out. There is no door. That’s the whole problem.”

  “Oh, yeah?” said Neal. He turned his hand with a slight twist. There was a soft click, a squeak — errrr! — and a door-shaped opening appeared on the wall. “Ta-da!”

  Eric gasped. “How did you do that?”

  “Doorknobs turn,” said Neal.

  Eric shook his head. “No, really, how did you —”

  “Maybe it’s the tangfruit helping me. You should eat more fruit, Eric. It’s good for you.”

  “Uh-huh,” said Eric, squirming up in front of the door. “Or maybe it’s because this tower is wizard-proof, and I’m a wizard?”

  Neal looked thoughtful. “So we’re saying that sometimes it’s good not to be a wizard?”

  Eric shrugged, pulled open the door, and walked into a room blazing with light. Neal followed closely behind his invisible friend.

  “Neal!” said a voice. “You found me!”

  There, in the middle of a small room, stood a tall man in a blue robe.

  The man was Galen.

  Or rather, it was Galen as he m
ight have looked a hundred years earlier.

  The wizard was younger. His face was hearty and smiling. He seemed taller. His beard, while still white, was shorter, as was his hair. He wore his familiar wizard cloak and hat, but they looked new, as if they had just come from the cleaners. Around his waist was a short, curved staff, softly shimmering in green, then in blue, then red, then silver.

  He grinned. “Neal! After all this time, it was you! I’m so happy to see you —”

  “Hey, I’m here, too!” said Eric.

  Galen blinked. “Eric? I can’t see you.”

  “Oh, sorry.” Eric coughed three times, and — plink! — he was visible again.

  “My wonderful friends!” boomed Galen, hugging them both. “It’s been far too long —” Just then, Galen saw the sword at Eric’s side and gasped. “My mother made that sword!”

  “That’s just the beginning!” said Neal.

  The two boys told Galen as quickly as they could everything that had happened since they last saw him — how Sparr had become a boy, how Ko and Gethwing emerged as new villains, how the magic staircase had vanished and how they had helped to restore it, how Eric had found the Pearl Sea and Zara’s sword — until Galen finally had to tell them to stop.

  “Boys, boys, too much information! There’s a time and a place for all of those tales of the past. And I do want to hear them, in fact I’m quite anxious to hear them, but right now we must leave this place. The Sultan is up to something large and terrible. Tell me what you know!”

  As they made their way down the stairs, the boys told Galen as much as they knew about the rocket called the Raven that was set to attack Jaffa City. They also told him how Keeah, Julie, Max, Hoja, and Anusa had been captured by the Sultan’s evil urn riders.

  “Anusa,” said Galen, smiling, when they stepped from the stairs and into the passage. “It was her love that saved me. I only hope that now mine can save her. Friends, this isn’t good. Not at all. We must get that black stone out of Fefforello’s turban. It is that stone that turned him to the dark side.”