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  “She’s got everything she needs!” said Julie.

  “There is one thing more she needs,” said Queen Relna. “Long ago, Galen discovered — as Salamandra soon will — a secret about the dragon ship.

  “A secret?” asked Khan.

  The queen nodded. “Only a wizard’s power can make Ko’s ship fly. Lightning shall strike, the ship shall rise, and the wizard’s power will be drained away … forever.”

  The children went silent.

  Neal’s eyes got huge. “Uh-oh. I just remembered another thing Salamandra said.”

  “What?” asked Eric.

  “Keeah is in Plud, too.”

  Standing in the flagless square of Jaffa City, Relna turned to the king. “I will free Galen and Max as quickly as I can, then come to Plud.”

  Eric’s heart raced. “We’ll rescue Keeah and stop Salamandra. We have to.”

  “And we will,” said Julie firmly.

  Eric nodded. He only hoped they’d be in time.

  As the queen sped off to the wizard’s tower, King Zello called his guards. A moment later, they brought a giant, multicolored balloon. It had a large basket underneath, with shiny pipes on each side.

  “Cool!” said Neal. “It looks jet powered.”

  Zello beamed. “Friddle the inventor made it. It goes very fast. And we need speed. Pile in!”

  With a roar of flame, the balloon shot into the air. At once Zello set a course for Plud, while Hob set to work making him a mask.

  “We must stop that ship,” the king murmured under his breath. “We simply must.”

  Julie nudged Eric. “Go ahead. You ask.”

  Eric frowned. “Um, King Zello, do you know where the dragon ship flies to?”

  The king stroked his golden beard, then sighed. “I will tell you what I know, even though parts of the story are hard to believe.”

  As the balloon sped over the plains and hills below, he began. “You know that Emperor Ko was a sorcerer of great power. His empire of Goll spread evil over half of Droon. And yet, in his younger days, Galen was able to defeat him.”

  “Galen was very cool,” said Neal. “He still is.”

  “Cool, indeed,” said the king. “But, this is the part of the legend that’s hard to believe. It says that when Ko came near to death, the dragon ship flew him to his birthplace, the source of his dark power.”

  “Where is that?” asked Julie.

  “Beyond the Serpent Sea, on the Isle of Mists, a place so old it doesn’t appear on any map.”

  Khan quivered on his feet. His eyes grew big.

  “What happened there?” asked Eric.

  The king frowned. “Here the legend has nothing to say, and we are left to wonder. I will only say that Ko’s body has never been found. If his birthplace does exist, not even Salamandra will be prepared for what she finds there.”

  The balloon dipped into thick, smoky air. The ragged ground beneath them was charred black.

  “Welcome to the Dark Lands,” said Neal. “There’s just nothing like them.”

  “Thank goodness for that!” said Hob, handing the king his completed mask. “You’ll need this.”

  Within moments, they saw the forbidden city itself, a mass of black stone, its one surviving tower jutting up through the air like a dead tree.

  Eric thought of the army of large, red-faced Ninn warriors that filled Plud’s dark hallways. “It’s the home of evil,” he murmured.

  “And total opposite of Jaffa City,” said Julie.

  Zello pulled a cord, and the balloon landed gently on the shore of Plud’s frozen lake.

  The smell of burning wood filled the air.

  “I know that smell,” said Khan. “The Ninns are heating their furnace. Soon we’ll hear —”

  Clank! Klong! Pling!

  “The sound of hammers,” said Neal. “It’s like when my dad fixes stuff at home. Well, he tries. It usually doesn’t work after he fixes it.”

  “Well, we’ll fix Salamandra!” said Zello. He pulled an enormous wooden club out of the balloon and gave it a pat. “Eric, Julie, Neal, go with Khan and Hob to where the Ninns are rebuilding the ship. Do what you can to stop them.”

  “Where will you go?” asked Julie.

  “To find Keeah,” he said, scampering off. “And I’ll whup any Ninns who try to stop me!”

  Silently and carefully, the children, Khan, and Hob wormed their way through the burned walls and out into the vast courtyard. The giant, Thog, lay inside, sleeping with his back against the wall.

  “All he wanted was to read books,” said Neal.

  “I hope he will be able to again soon,” said Khan, sniffling. “As I hope to read to my children soon.”

  Eric put his hand on the Lumpy’s shoulder. “You will. We’ll get out of here. Keeah, too.”

  Khan sniffed up his tears. “Quite right!”

  The sound of heavy hammers banging and crashing drew them to the deepest chamber of the fortress, where the Ninns’ workshop was.

  The black room blazed with light. Giant flames leaped from a large pit against the back wall. On a round stone platform beside it stood the flying ship, glimmering in the flame light.

  Eric shivered with fear.

  The ship’s sleek wings jutted out from the scaly silver hull. On the front stood the figurehead of the dragon, its fangs as sharp as daggers.

  “That thing is pretty scary,” whispered Neal.

  “The scary part is that we’re too late,” said Julie.

  Using ropes and pulleys, one group of red-faced Ninns hoisted the flagpole onto the deck and another group hammered it into place.

  Then, giving a gargily shout, the Ninns stood back as the platform slowly began to rise. The ceiling opened up, and the ship passed into the room above. Its ceiling was opening, too.

  “The ship is going to the top of the tower,” said Eric. “I bet that’s where Salamandra is.”

  “Let’s get up there,” said Khan. “Now!”

  As they rushed up through the tower, they heard the crackling boom of lightning overhead.

  “Didn’t Keeah’s mom say that you need lightning to transfer power to the ship?” asked Neal.

  “Salamandra’s conjuring a storm,” said Julie.

  Ka-boooom! The tower walls shook.

  Hob squealed. “A lightning storm? With thunder? Hob doesn’t like lightning. Hob must flee!”

  With that, he leaped away down the stairs.

  “Wait! Hob, stop!” Julie called. “Oh, I’ll get him. You guys keep going to the roof. Hob!”

  As she ran off after the imp, Neal, Eric, and Khan looked at one another grimly.

  “We started this mission with a whole lot more people than we have now,” said Neal.

  “I noticed that,” said Eric. “No Keeah, no King Zello, no Hob, no Julie. How about we make a pact? The three of us have to stay together, okay?”

  “Real together,” said Neal. “Like triplets.”

  Khan smiled. “After all, we are like family. Now, come. Let us do what needs to be done!”

  They raced step-by-step, floor by floor, up through the tower. As they approached the summit, they began to hear the sounds of a vicious fight — clank! whumpf! blonk!

  The three friends burst onto the tower’s roof at the exact moment that Keeah herself, her golden hair flying, blasted a gang of bony ghost riders.

  “You can’t keep me tied up!” she snarled.

  Eric felt his heart leap. “Yes! You’re free!”

  “Just barely!” she said, shooting Eric a smile. She swung her father’s wooden club at two ghost riders, sending them reeling back down the stairs. “Daddy, behind you — catch!”

  The king whirled around, caught the club, and sent another three ghosts crashing backward.

  “Get the ghosts. They can’t see us!” Eric shouted. He jumped into the fight, shooting blast after blast of blue sparks from his fingertips.

  Between them, Khan and Neal tripped three ghosts who crashed sideways
into four others.

  Keeah and Zello charged another band that came climbing up over the walls.

  The fight was fierce. But it didn’t last long.

  In a puff of foul-smelling smoke, Salamandra appeared on the tower and thrust her staff high.

  Ka-booom! A huge blast shook the tower.

  Neal flew back into Eric and Khan. All three went tumbling behind a broken section of wall.

  Groggily, Eric peered over the jagged stones.

  King Zello was in a heap, his head raised to look at Salamandra. His mask sat glinting on the ground. His eyes were rolling slowly in his head.

  Keeah struggled to get up, but a troop of Ninns charged from behind and surrounded her.

  Salamandra sauntered over and stood staring at her. “So … here we are, princess to princess!”

  “You don’t deserve the title,” said Keeah, struggling. “And you’ll never be queen, either. My mother is the only queen of Droon. And right now, she’s setting Galen free of your wicked spell. He’ll be here soon —”

  “Not soon enough,” Salamandra interrupted. “I should have captured the old wizard when I had the chance. But if the ship needs power to make it fly, I suppose you’ll do. Look, it begins!”

  Grrr-vrrrrt. Part of the floor spiraled open and the dragon ship rose up from below, turning slowly on its stone platform.

  The ship was as sleek and swift-looking as the most powerful ship of the sea, and Eric shuddered to think that Salamandra just might fly it.

  To Ko’s legendary Isle of Mists.

  With a nod, Salamandra commanded the Ninns to tie Keeah onto a sort of pedestal on the ship’s deck. “I have a long way to go, princess. I only hope you are powerful enough.”

  “Let me go and you’ll see how powerful I am!” Keeah said, even as she was strapped in.

  “We have to help her,” Eric whispered.

  “I’ll help you,” said Khan firmly. “And so will Neal. Isn’t that right, Neal?”

  Neal breathed in deeply. “I didn’t like it when Crazy Hair took over my mind. I’ll do anything to keep her from messing with it again. I might need it someday.”

  Eric gave his friends a smile. “Okay, then, here’s my plan….”

  But even as he told them, Salamandra howled at the sky, and bolt after bolt of jagged lightning exploded over Plud’s black tower.

  Kkk — boom-oom! Lightning crashed everywhere at once, turning the black sky white.

  “That’s your plan?” said Neal when Eric had finished. “Run fast and save Keeah from getting fried?”

  Eric nodded. “Except instead of running fast, I said we should run really fast!”

  “Still,” said Khan, “it’s not very … plannish.”

  “Did I mention the distraction?” asked Eric.

  Neal’s eyes lit up. “Did you say … distraction? Whoa, am I the guy for that!”

  Neal whispered briefly in Khan’s ear.

  The Lumpy king smiled. “I can do that!”

  “Then what are we waiting for?” said Eric. “One, two, three — go!”

  At Eric’s signal, Neal and Khan jumped up and started to run, screaming at the top of their lungs. “Blaga-blaga-yee-yee-yee! Go-team-go!”

  “What?” said Salamandra, turning to them.

  At the same time, Eric leaped for the ship, his fingers raised and sparking wildly. “Keeah, get ready to move —”

  All of a sudden, a voice cried out.

  “STOP!”

  Everyone — the Ninns, the ghost riders, the children, even Salamandra herself — stopped what they were doing and turned to the tower stairs.

  There stood a small, spotted creature.

  Hob.

  The grin on his face stretched from one fuzzy ear to the other.

  “What is he doing?” asked Khan, tiptoeing up to Eric and Neal. The two boys shook their heads.

  Salamandra sneered, even as the lightning continued to crackle overhead. “You silly little imp — you are not needed here. Be gone!”

  Hob held up his hand. “Hob has a question for Salamandra.” He took two steps toward the sorceress, then stopped.

  “I thought Hob was afraid of lightning,” whispered Neal. “He must be up to something.”

  The imp went on. “Hob wonders why Salamandra wants to power her flying dragon ship with the small powers of a junior wizard … when she can have the greatest wizard of all.”

  The thorn princess narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you saying?”

  “Hob is saying,” the imp went on, stepping closer, “that instead of Princess Keeah, you could power your ship with … Galen himself!”

  With that, Hob waved his arm in a flourish toward the tower stairs. A figure in a long blue robe, tall coned hat, white beard, and a sad face marked with age strode slowly up the stairs.

  “Galen?” Eric gasped. “What … what?”

  “It is I,” said the wizard, looking sadly at Eric and the others. “Max, come.”

  A moment later, trembling and whimpering, the eight-legged figure of Max bounded up the stairs and took his place next to the wizard.

  “Galen! Max!” cried Keeah. “Get away from here — now! Salamandra is too powerful!”

  The next moment, a dozen stern-faced Ninns followed the wizard and the spider troll up the stairs, brandishing long swords.

  “Captured!” said Salamandra, her eyes beaming with cruel delight. “Hob, you imp! What a clever idea!”

  Eric stared at Hob. “How could you do this? I thought you were on our side! How could you turn on us like this?”

  The little imp gave Eric a mischievous smile. “Hob knows where the real power is. Hob must look out for … Hob!”

  The wizard turned to the children. “Alas, it is true. I am sorry to have put you in such danger.”

  “Queen Relna freed us from the tower,” Max whimpered. “We were coming here to rescue Keeah, when Hob surprised us in the halls with this band of Ninns. We were caught off guard … and caught for real!”

  Salamandra howled. “Yes! I achieve all my goals with one single act! The great wizard Galen loses his power, and I fly my ship all the way to the Isle of Mists. There I shall discover the greatest power Droon has ever known!”

  She pointed her staff at the Ninns. “Make the switch! Give me … Galen!”

  Swiftly, the Ninns released Keeah and strapped the old wizard onto the ship’s pedestal.

  Then, as she had before, Salamandra lifted her hand and — flang! — no one could move.

  “And now!” Salamandra raised her staff high.

  Kkkkk! Lightning struck the pedestal and the transfer of power began.

  Everyone stood frozen to their places as a thick stream of blue light flowed from the wizard into the flying ship itself.

  “Stop this!” said Eric. “Stop it!”

  “No one can stop me,” Salamandra snarled.

  A moment went by. Then another.

  Rr-rrr! Fwing! Fwing-g-g!

  The giant wings flapped once … twice … and the ship began to rise from the platform.

  “You see? See? Ko’s dragon ship flies!” Salamandra howled as she leaped onto the deck. “To the Isle of Mists. To the greatest secret of ancient Droon. To my new power — forever!”

  The ghost riders quickly piled onto the ship.

  With great ceremony, Salamandra took her place at the big, jeweled wheel. She turned it.

  The giant golden wings fluttered more rapidly, and the ship lifted higher, circling the black tower of Plud.

  As the children watched, bit by bit, all the light left the old wizard and entered the ship itself, which began to glow brightly.

  Keeah gasped. “No … no … no …”

  With a shudder of wings and a roar from its dragon figurehead, the ship rose up and away and into the sky.

  “To the Isle of Mists!” Salamandra bellowed.

  Her yellow eyes blazed with evil as the enchanted flying ship left the Dark Lands and set a course to the coast of the
Serpent Sea and beyond … to the birthplace of Emperor Ko.

  Clank-ank-ank! As the big ship drove away, the spell was finally lifted, and the bewildered Ninns dropped their swords.

  Eric raced over to Keeah. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine!” she said, first seeing that her father was unhurt. “But someone won’t be!”

  She stomped over to the little imp.

  “Hob!” she said angrily. “What have you done? How could you do this to Galen? The first wizard of Droon! His powers are gone!”

  The little imp tried to back up, but Eric, Neal, Khan, and King Zello surrounded him.

  “What should we do with him?” said Khan.

  “Wait!” said Max. “Before you do anything, I have something to show you. Watch!”

  Everyone turned to the furry spider troll.

  Suddenly, he began to twist and wiggle and shake and spin. A moment later — ploink! — the spider troll was no longer a spider troll.

  Max had become …

  “Julie!” cried Keeah. “But … wait … Julie?”

  “The very same!” said Julie, blinking her eyes and stretching her arms. “It was never Max. It was me all the time —”

  “But how?” asked Eric, not quite believing his eyes. “How could you even do that?”

  Julie laughed and pulled the small yellow book from the pocket of her shorts. “Remember the book Thog let me borrow? It has a page about the powers of wingwolves. We already knew they could fly, but they also have the ability to change shape —”

  “I was right!” said Eric. “I told you you might have other powers!”

  Julie grinned. “When Hob told me about his plan, I became Max!”

  Keeah frowned. “But where is the real Max?”

  “In the tower with the real Galen!” said Hob.

  Eric glanced up at the flying ship that was fast disappearing over the horizon. “Then who did Salamandra just zap all the wizard power out of?”

  At that, Hob did a little dance. “That, my friends, was none other than a certain pretend wizard named … Nelag!”

  “Wait a second,” said Zello. “Nelag is sort of … opposite. If the ship has his power, then —”

  Vrrrrroom — eeeekkk! The flying ship wobbled sharply, spun almost completely around, and made a steep dive.