The Magic Escapes Page 4

  Eric wondered, too. What would those plans be? Could they really take over? Would Sparr find this Coiled Viper he was seeking? And what was it? Judging by its name, it didn’t sound very good. Maybe if it were called the Fluffy Bunny instead. Eric wished he could ask Keeah or Max or even Urik about it. But thanks to Sparr’s spell, he couldn’t even form the words.

  I’ll get you for this, Sparr, he thought. I’ll —

  Leave me alone! Sparr’s voice snapped suddenly. I have my own problems.

  Ha! said Eric. What kind of problems?

  This … Salamandra … she is …

  What? said Eric. Tell me —

  But the voice faded as quickly as it had come.

  “Hey, Earth to Eric,” said Julie. “You’re mumbling to yourself. Is everything okay?”

  Eric blinked. “Yeah. I mean, I think so.”

  There was a sudden splash ahead of the boat.

  “What was that?” asked Neal, sliding over to Max.

  “Ah, yes, I remember now,” said the boatman. “These canals are the home of the kraken.”

  Keeah looked at her friends. “Please tell me krakens are nice creatures in your world —”

  “Um, what exactly is a kraken?” asked Julie.

  “Well, you might call it a sea monster,” said the boatman.

  “And what would you call it?” Urik asked.

  “I’d call it a sea monster, too,” the old man said. “But you can see for yourselves what a kraken is like. Here it comes!”

  Roooaoooow! Two jaws full of giant teeth exploded up through the waves.

  “Akkkk!” cried Eric. “It’s going to eat us —”

  The kraken’s head was large and its skin rough and gnarly like bark.

  Crunnnch! It took a bite from the boat’s side, munched a bit, then came back for seconds.

  “Down, boy!” the boatman roared, striking the kraken’s knobby head with his pole.

  But the kraken wouldn’t stay down long. Its two enormous eyes glowed under the water as if they were on fire.

  “It’s coming back!” Max squealed.

  The monster’s spiky tail thumped the boat hard, throwing it against the canal wall.

  The old man lost his balance and fell back.

  Moving quickly, Urik saved him from toppling into the water. “Hold tight, everyone!”

  “Not so easy!” yelped Julie, clinging to Neal on one side and Max on the other.

  Urik whacked at the spiky beast with the captain’s pole, but the kraken merely snapped off the end of the pole and swallowed it.

  “I think Salamandra is trying to tell us something,” said Neal. “Like — keep out!”

  “I have an idea,” said Keeah. She aimed her hands at a flaming cauldron on top of a nearby wall and sent a bolt of blue light at it.

  Kkk-blam! The cauldron tumbled over, spilling its flaming coals into the water.

  Ssss! The water hissed and bubbled for a moment before the coals were extinguished.

  Kkk-blam! Keeah toppled another cauldron into the canal. Then another and another. Five, six, ten cauldrons of flaming coals spilled into the water, blasting the creature with jolts of heat.

  “Take that, kraken!” said the princess.

  Roooaoooow! The monster howled once, then dived beneath the bubbling surface.

  The water went silent and still.

  “Keeah,” said Eric, “I think you did it.”

  “She did it, all right,” said Urik, staring into the water. “She made it mad. Neal, watch out!”

  The monster burst through the surface again, whipped its tail out, and knocked Neal over the side. Splash!

  “Neal!” Eric shouted, clutching wildly at his friend’s hands.

  The kraken wrapped its tail around the boat and lifted it up into the air. Roooaarrrr!

  When the creature let go, the boat thudded down to the water, and the children and Max were thrown out — splash-splash-splash!

  The boatman and Urik still clung to the side, batting the kraken with the remains of the pole.

  “Go to the fortress!” cried Urik. “Find my young brother, Galen. And stop Sparr!”

  “We’ll — blub! — try!” Eric shouted back.

  Then the children and Max bobbed up one last time before they were swallowed by the deep, cold, fudge-thick black water.

  Eric struggled to get to the surface, but the weight of his cloak dragged him down.

  He flicked his fingers, but no sparks came.

  Eric! Use your power! a voice whispered.

  I can’t — blub! blub! — my magic is —

  The power is … in your pocket!

  Eric clawed at the water. Sparr? I’m not using your dumb evil powers!

  Eric groped upward until he thought his lungs would burst. Finally — splash! — he broke through the surface and drew in a huge breath.

  “Eric!” cried Keeah, pulling herself up to the island, then crawling over to help him. “I was trying to talk to you, but you didn’t answer.”

  Eric panted heavily as he took her hand. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I was on another line.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” he said. “I couldn’t hear you. In fact, my powers haven’t worked right ever since I saw Sparr.”

  Eric slipped his hand into his pants pocket. The gem was still there. Instantly, his head began to hurt again, and he grew hot, as if he might faint.

  He knew his powers wouldn’t work as long as Sparr’s magic was in his pocket.

  “Over here!” yelled Julie as a black wave pulled her away from the craggy shore.

  Keeah and Eric ran to help her. Neal and Max bobbed up nearby and swam to Julie. Together, they pulled her up onto the island.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “Where’s Urik and the old guy?” asked Neal.

  “Still fighting the kraken,” said Max, shaking the water from his spider fur.

  The children looked back over the water. The boatman was struggling with the sea monster’s tail, while Urik was using the wand to try to hypnotize it. But the kraken wouldn’t slow down. Instead it dragged the little boat back into the canals.

  “Urik told us what to do,” said Julie. “We need to find Galen’s younger self before we can stop Sparr and Salamandra —”

  Thomp … thomp ….

  “Goblins!” said Keeah. “Hide!”

  The kids scrambled to the shelter of a low rock as a troop of mean-faced goblins passed by. Each carried a bundle of stolen objects just like Urik’s satchel.

  “Thieves,” Neal whispered. “Stealing magic from our world.”

  A minute later, the goblins were gone.

  “They went in there,” said Max, pointing to an outline on the rocks that looked like a door.

  “And exactly how do we get in?” said Julie.

  “Allow me,” said Keeah. She turned to make sure there were no more goblins approaching. Then, murmuring a few words, she aimed her right hand. A single blue spark shot from the tip of her finger.

  Pop! Errk! The door scraped open.

  Lighting the way with a stream of blue light, Keeah led the group into a narrow cavelike passage under the fortress.

  “All right, then,” chirped Max. “Let’s find my master, before he was my master!”

  The passages zigzagged through the rock for a long while, then circled up in a long, coiling stairway.

  “Oh, man,” said Neal as they made the long trudge up the steps. “Getting a little dizzy here.”

  “Neal,” said Julie, “you sort of always were.”

  “I guess that’s sort of true,” he said.

  Max scampered along with Keeah. “To think that my young master is a prisoner in this awful place. And that Urik and — Sparr — are Galen’s brothers, and all of them from this world! How is one to take all that?”

  Keeah shook her head. “Old Galen has a lot of explaining to do. Talk about secrets. All this time, we’ve been battling his brother.”

  “He mu
st feel terrible about it,” said Julie.

  Eric wondered if what Urik said was true. Was there hope for Sparr? Was there good in him?

  “Wait —” Keeah stopped and leaned forward. “I see something. A light …”

  “Is it the dungeon where my master is being held prisoner?” asked Max.

  Thwack! Wump! “Arrrgh!”

  A goblin came tumbling down the hall and rolled into a heap at their feet.

  “A little boy!” it groaned. “And — oww! — so strong!”

  “Um, prisoner may not be the right word,” said Julie.

  An instant later, a young boy in a bright green tunic and green boots tore down the passage toward them.

  “Galen!” said Keeah.

  He screeched to a halt and blinked at the kids. “Well, yes, but — excuse me!” He grabbed the goblin by its ears and pulled it up. “Try to put me in chains, will you? Talk! Or grunt or sing or do whatever goblins do, but tell me what’s going on!”

  The goblin wriggled to get free but couldn’t. “The one named … Sparr … is in the throne room … with our princess!”

  “Sparr?” snapped Galen. “That’s nutty. He’s just a baby —”

  “What are they planning?” Keeah interrupted.

  The goblin glared at her. “Something about … a Coiled Viper — arrrgh!” With one swift move, the goblin wiggled free of Galen’s grasp and shot down the passage into the darkness.

  The young wizard looked at the children. “What is going on here?” he demanded. “Sparr is in this fortress? And what is this Coiled Viper? I’ve never heard of it!”

  “I have,” said Eric.

  Say nothing! Sparr hissed in his head.

  Eric ignored the words and the ache in his forehead. “The Coiled Viper is why Sparr came to our world,” he said. “It’s something with lots of power, and he’s after it.”

  Galen put a hand on Eric’s forehead. “Um … the last time I checked, Sparr wasn’t playing with vipers of any kind. He’s still a baby!”

  The children looked at one another. They shrugged, they sighed, then they told Galen everything they had told his older brother, Urik.

  How they had come up the Dark Stair, how long ago for them, but just recently for him, Ko had kidnapped his mother and brother. How over the years Ko taught Sparr to be a master of evil powers in Droon. And how they were following the grown-up Sparr now because they feared he would join with Salamandra to conquer both worlds.

  Galen stared at them. Then — wham! — he angrily slammed his hand at the passage wall and broke a small hole in it with his fist. “I … I … What you say is unbelievable. Sparr on a quest for magic? This is not good —”

  “But maybe it’s not so bad,” said Eric. “Whatever the Coiled Viper is, it’s in some other time. Sparr came to the wrong time and place. He’s stuck here.”

  Galen frowned. “Except that he’s not.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Keeah.

  “Well,” said the young wizard, “just before the goblins cornered me, I discovered Salamandra’s secret. I know how she has become so powerful and so feared.”

  “How?” asked Eric.

  Galen stepped down the passage to the next tunnel. He looked both ways. “You’ll understand better if I show you,” he said. “And judging by how long I’ve been here, it must be nearly dawn. So we need to hurry. Follow me!”

  The boy wizard scampered down the passage.

  The kids looked at one another.

  “I guess we follow him?” said Julie.

  “I guess we do!” said Keeah.

  A moment later, Eric, Keeah, Neal, Julie, and Max all raced into the passage after the young wizard, Galen Nobeard.

  The small band wormed its way up through the lower levels of Salamandra’s fortress.

  At every turn, they heard the echo of goblins howling.

  “That noise is driving me nuts,” said Neal, holding his stomach. “I think I can understand some of what they’re moaning about. And believe me, it’s not good.”

  “Salamandra controls their minds,” said Galen, pausing a moment, looking both ways, then heading on again.

  “Urik told us a little about Salamandra,” said Keeah. “But we didn’t have time to hear it all.”

  “From what my mother could discover in early histories of the world,” Galen said, darting up a narrow set of stairs, “there was a city long ago called Pesh. It was one of the earliest cities on Earth, and one of its worst. Its princess was called Salamandra, a young and very wicked sorceress. Stories say she gained power by stealing it from others.”

  “Not a nice person,” said Julie.

  “No,” said Galen.

  “Was she the great-great-grandmother of this one?” asked Julie. “Because this princess looks pretty young.”

  The boy paused and turned at the top of the stairs. “It’s the same person,” he said.

  “What?” said Eric. “She can’t be that old. She looks like a teenager.”

  “She is but a few years older than me,” said Galen. “Salamandra devised a way to make the city of Pesh fly through time. It steals magic from wherever it lands, then moves on to the next place and time.”

  “Fly through time?” said Eric.

  Yes! whispered the voice of Sparr in Eric’s head. Through time! Right to where the Coiled Viper is hidden. And you, Eric, will help me. You must!

  Eric’s forehead throbbed. You again? I won’t help you!

  But Salamandra … is … ahhhhh!

  The voice faded.

  Sparr? said Eric. What’s happening?

  There was no answer.

  Max was trembling. “Excuse me, my master-to-be, are you saying that Salamandra has brought Pesh — all of this — out of the past?”

  Galen nodded slowly. “And if Sparr has become as wicked as you say, then Pesh is the very worst place for him to be. Because from here, he can go anywhere, anytime.”

  As they ascended through the passages, the walls around them grew hot. The floor thundered suddenly. Then came the sound of loud hammering.

  “What’s going on?” asked Neal.

  “You’ll see.” Galen led them through one twisting passage after another until they came to an opening onto a narrow ledge. The ledge overlooked a deep pit.

  Ssss! Plumes of hot vapor hissed up in clouds from the bottom.

  Max waved away the mist and, clutching Neal and Julie, looked over the edge. “Oh, my!”

  “Holy cow!” said Eric. “What is that?”

  What stood below them was a giant machine.

  Blam-chunka-chunka-blam-blam-ssss!

  Huge hammers rose and fell with a thundering noise. Giant rods pumped, great open pipes plumed clouds of steam, wheels turned, chains clattered, and gears ground noisily.

  “What is it for?” asked Keeah. “What does it do?”

  Galen tried to find the right words. “This machine creates a portal, a sort of door through time. Soon it will move Pesh to a new time and place, to steal magic from there, too.”

  “Holy moly, she’s got her own personal time machine!” exclaimed Neal.

  “Exactly,” said the wizard.

  Ssss! Another cloud of steam puffed up and the machine seemed to work a little faster.

  “Pesh landed here as an island exactly a year ago,” said Galen. “Salamandra sent her goblins out to collect all the magic they could find. Now, after a year of stealing, they have come back. Pesh’s next stop — whenever and wherever that is — will suffer even worse.”

  The kids peered down into the noisy pit.

  “So this is why there’s almost no magic left in our world,” said Julie.

  Keeah took a deep breath. “How can we stop such a huge machine?”

  Galen grinned at his new friends, laced his fingers together, cracked his knuckles, took a deep breath, and said, “Well, that’s just the thing about machines, you know. They break down.”

  Eric glanced at the young wizard. “Let me guess. You’re
going to help it along a bit?”

  “Just a bit,” said Galen. “Now, does anybody want to volunteer to help me shut down this time machine?”

  “I will!” Max chirped loudly. “I want to save our friends’ wonderful world. And my own. Besides, this is our first adventure together. We must get to know each other.”

  “Adventure?” said Galen, raising his eyebrows. “You just said the magic word.”

  “Oh, if only my old master were here to see this!” said Max.

  Young Galen smiled. “If what you say is true, then I guess I was here to see this. Everyone ready? Then here we gooooooo!”

  With a running start, the young wizard and his new spider troll friend leaped together into the grinding, thumping, hissing, thundering pit.

  “Good luck!” Keeah called down to them.

  An instant later — ssss! — a puff of steam rose up, and Galen and Max were lost in the mists of the giant machine.

  Julie bit her lip. “I sure hope they make it.”

  “They better,” said Eric. “The future of both worlds depends on them.”

  “Or on us, if they don’t succeed,” said Keeah.

  Neal raised his hand. “What happens if Galen and Max actually do bust up that hunk of junk? I mean, will Pesh, like, self-destruct?”

  Everyone looked at one another.

  “Uh-oh,” said Eric. “We’d better hurry up and find Sparr.”

  “But how?” asked Julie. “The place is swarming with goblins. They’re not going to let us just march into Salamandra’s icky old throne room. Anyone have any ideas?”

  Neal made a strange face. “Uh … I just have one thing to say … roooorrroww!”

  The others stepped back.

  “Neal?” said Keeah.

  “Uh, what I actually mean to say is … roooorrroww!”

  Neal blinked, he frowned, he twitched, he shivered, then he began to change.

  His face grew long. His skin turned a sickly shade of green. And his nose, the one that was so good at sniffing pies, stretched into a snout — long and bumpy and tipped with whiskers.

  With one great final shudder — ploink! — Neal had become a goblin.

  Neal looked closely at his green, clawed hands.

  “Uh-oh,” he said. “This can’t be good. It was the pie, wasn’t it? It was the pie. Oh, that Jabbo! If I ever get my hands on him again — my weird green hands — oh!”