by Tony Abbott
“It did!” said Khan. “It was wondrous!”
“We almost got caught!” said Max.
“Sparr, children, everyone,” said Relna, “into the castle. There is something we need.”
“We’ll explain as we go,” said Zello. “Guards, be ready! There is no time to waste!”
The group entered the castle at a run. Relna led them down one set of stairs after another.
“Here is what we know,” she said, sliding into a tight passage. “As we guessed, the Ring of Midnight is made of silver.”
Zello pulled the large, bracelet-sized object from the pocket of his cape. “But it is unlike any silver known in the free part of Droon.”
“Is it from the Dark Lands?” asked Keeah.
“It may be,” said King Zello. “But that is not the amazing thing. While the Ring of Midnight has magical properties of its own, it is actually a part of another magical object.”
The king and queen stopped above a set of stairs lit by the glow of a torch on the wall.
Zello held up the Ring, and Relna pulled a round white stone from inside her cloak.
“The Moon Medallion!” chirped Max.
Eric shivered. The Moon Medallion was a disk-shaped stone carved with strange symbols. He had seen it only once before, but he was aware of its awesome force.
Sparr stared at it. “Is that the magical medallion that belonged to Urik? It was his, wasn’t it? It’s beautiful.”
“Yes,” said Relna.
Eric knew that the Medallion’s power was bound up with all three sons of Zara — Urik, Galen, and Sparr. He remembered too that it was Sparr himself who had fought Urik for the Medallion in the Upper World and had tried to use its power against Galen.
“The Ring of Midnight revealed little until we combined it with the Medallion,” said Zello. “Now look at this!”
The king and queen joined the two objects, sliding the Medallion inside the Ring.
Click. The Ring fit around the Medallion as if it were a frame, holding it snugly. All of a sudden, the Medallion pulsed with a silvery light from within, and its shiny surface swam with tiny words.
“Wow!” said Neal. “It’s like a whole book written in really small words —”
“A whole library!” said Zello. “There are millions of words here. From what we can tell so far, the Medallion, among other things, is a vast history of an old and forgotten magic!”
Gazing at the words flickering on the disk’s surface, Eric realized that they were in the same language as those they had seen on the fountain.
“The Ring of Midnight is like a key,” said the queen. She began to descend the stairs. “It unlocks some of the Medallion’s many secrets and translates the words into a language we can understand.”
Zello nodded. “There are, perhaps, other pieces yet to be found. So not all the Medallion’s secrets can be revealed yet. It may take years to understand it all. But one story is clear….”
The queen stopped at the bottom of the stairs to look at Sparr.
Trembling, he asked her, “What story?”
As the rumble of Ko’s flying palace grew louder, Relna spoke. “We know that Galen created Zorfendorf to hide the fountain. But the fountain itself was created five centuries earlier in a moment of great need.”
“Great need?” said Keeah. “What need?”
Now Relna and Zello were both looking at Sparr.
“The Medallion tells of a wizard long ago in Droon,” said the king, picking up the story. “This wizard needed to send her innocent child to safety, to free him from a terrible beast —”
Sparr turned pale. “Her innocent child!”
“You, Sparr,” said Zello. “You and your mother, Queen Zara, were kidnapped by Ko from the Upper World and brought to Droon because of your powers. Zara sought to send you away from him, to free you —”
Sparr nearly choked. “My mother was … here? She made the fountain … for me?”
The queen nodded sadly. “Zara was more powerful than we could ever believe. She charmed rivers from each corner of Droon to meet here. From them, she conjured the Fifth River and built a magical fountain.”
“For me?” said Sparr again.
“For you,” said Zello. “But she never got a chance to use it. She died in this very spot.”
Sparr began to tremble. “Oh … oh …”
“Zara knew Ko was coming. So she made the fountain invisible with her final breath,” continued the queen. “She must have hoped you could use it someday. After five hundred years, her invisibility spell faded. That was when Galen found the fountain.”
“So he built the castle to hide it,” said Julie softly. “This is too amazing!”
Looking at Sparr, Eric felt chills. The boy sorcerer wobbled as if ready to collapse.
“This attack is all my fault!” Sparr said finally. “My mother created the river to save me. Instead, I grew up evil. I woke up Ko. And now he’s coming here to find the river! Right here, where my mother died!”
Taking the Medallion from Relna’s outstretched hand, Sparr began to sob. “Zara … Mother …”
Eric had always felt a strange ache when Zara’s name was spoken. But it was nothing compared to what he felt now.
As he watched Sparr, sobbing his mother’s name over and over, the king and queen and Keeah holding him up, Eric saw something they did not see.
Something no one else saw.
It nearly made his heart stop.
As Sparr clutched the Moon Medallion, the little fins that grew behind his ears shrank and dwindled away.
His fins were gone.
But when the cries of wingsnakes echoed into the passage, Sparr’s grip on the Medallion loosened. It slipped from his fingers, and Relna caught it. In an instant, Sparr’s fins were back, and they were burning red.
“Our time is nearly up!” said Zello.
They hurried down more stairs, turned a corner, and finally stopped in front of the room Thog had shown them before.
“The Wizard’s Sneeze?” said Max.
“Why here, your majesty?” asked Khan.
“The Medallion contains Zara’s spell to destroy the fountain,” said Relna. “But Galen thought that one day the fountain might be needed. Before he fell completely under his own spell, he conjured something to help if Zorfendorf were ever attacked.”
Neal peered into the dark room. “Did he catch a cold in here or something?”
The queen did not answer. Instead, she read from the Ring of Midnight — and the room burst with sudden light.
The stones from three of the walls floated out, lifted in the air, turned around, and slapped down on one another — foom-foom!
The children staggered back, amazed.
It reminded Eric of the way the fountain’s stones had moved into a new shape. “They’re building something!” he cried.
When the stones finally stopped moving, a giant stone head stood on wheels before them.
It was the head of Galen himself.
It bore a big stone beard, bushy eyebrows, and long curly hair. From inside the head came the sound of powerful winds rushing around, as if trying to find a way out.
And the long nose was twitching.
Max laughed. “The Wizard’s Sneeze? Could it blow down Ko’s palace?”
The cries of the wingsnakes became louder.
At once, the fourth wall slid away, revealing a long ramp leading up to the light.
“Care for a ride?” rumbled the head, slowly rolling itself up the ramp. “All aboard!”
“Come on, everyone!” cried Sparr. He leaped onto the back of the platform supporting Galen’s head. “Ko is attacking! My mother made the fountain for me, we can’t let Ko use it! Defend it — forever!”
As the children, Sparr, Max, Khan, and the king and queen rode the rolling head out from the castle, they saw Ko’s black palace swooping very near the walls.
“Oh, man, here it comes!” said Julie.
It was so clo
se they could see the angry faces of beasts peering out of the portholes.
Keeah took command. “Galen, go left!”
“Yes, yes,” muttered the big head. It turned left. Then it stopped. Its nose kept twitching.
Ko’s flying palace dipped toward the walls.
“Wait … a bit longer …” said Zello.
“Not too long!” said Sparr, trembling more with every inch that the ship drew nearer.
“And now!” chirped Max. “Galen, sneeze!”
The big stone face wrinkled, the nose wiggled, the eyes shut, and the cheeks heaved.
Suddenly — ahhh-choooo! — an explosion of wind blew out of the face and over the walls.
Whoooom! It struck Ko’s palace hard, flipping it over and over until it dipped, dropped, and finally smashed into the ground.
“Yes!” cried Eric. “Direct hit!”
The palace flipped twice again and landed upright, its walls dented, its towers crumbled.
“Unbelievable!” whispered Khan.
“You’re welcome!” rumbled the stone head.
A minute went by. Two minutes. Nothing happened.
“Is it too soon to cheer?” asked Neal.
Suddenly, a large door burst open, and an army of big-boned, gray-skinned, red-eyed beasts poured out. Bringing up the rear was Ko himself, his four arms raised in rage. “ATTACKKK!” he boomed.
“Too soon!” yelled Keeah.
“Here they come!” yelled Thog from the top of the wall. “Straight to the gate —”
An instant later — wump! wump! — the castle’s walls thundered and quaked. The beasts were hurling themselves over and over at the gate.
“I feel another sneeze coming along,” said the head. “Aim me at the gates.”
Eric laughed as they wheeled the big head into position. “Sorry about this, beasts —”
Wump! The great wooden doors creaked and heaved and finally burst open.
The entrance filled with growling beasts.
“Sneeze!” yelled Keeah.
Ahhh-chooooo! A blast of air shot through the line of beasts, blowing them back in a heap of fur and scales and tails.
“Brought down by a sneeze!” cheered Neal.
“It takes a great wizard to battle beasts with just an itchy nose!” cried Khan.
“Guards!” boomed King Zello. “Attack now! Send the Red-Eyes back to their palace!”
As one, the guards gave a cheer, raised their curved staffs, and swirled them in the air.
They charged to the gate with Zello in the lead.
Relna turned to her daughter. “Keeah, I don’t want to take the risk that Ko might get the Medallion. Protect it and protect the tower. With any luck, we’ll send Ko and his army straight back to the Dark Lands!”
Keeah took the Medallion, and her mother ran to the gate. “Yes! Send the beasts packing!” the princess shouted.
Max and Khan whooped as another mighty sneeze from Galen’s head sent the beasts tumbling far outside the gate.
Eric cheered. “This is so awesome! Sparr, we’re protecting your mother’s fountain. We’re keeping Ko from getting in —”
But Sparr wasn’t looking at the battle.
He was squinting into the distance, his head tilted as if he were trying to hear something.
“Sparr?” said Julie. “The gate is ours —”
“Ko isn’t at the gate,” said the boy. “Gethwing isn’t, either. They’re already inside. Everybody follow me — now!”
As the battle pushed farther outside the walls, Sparr turned and ran into the maze of streets that surrounded the castle’s towers.
Eric looked at Keeah. “He knows something. I think we’d better —”
“Follow him! Right now!” said the princess. “Go!”
Eric and Keeah raced after Sparr. The others followed hard on their heels. They chased the boy through one street after another until they found Sparr standing by a deserted section of wall, staring at its big white stones.
“Oh, how could I have been so blind!” he groaned. “Ko taught me this trick. Look!”
He waved his hand and the wall blurred, then came clear again. This time, they saw several large stones broken on the ground and a hole in the wall five feet high.
“He’s inside,” said Sparr. “With Gethwing.”
Suddenly, Eric caught sight of a swift movement to their left. He turned and saw the tip of a black wing edge out from around a corner.
“Ahhh!” Khan shrieked. “Him!”
It was Gethwing.
Arching up, the dark beast stretched to his full height — eight feet tall. His red eyes glowed with anger.
He made a low hissing sound. “Sparrrr!”
At that, Emperor Ko entered the alley.
“Holy cow,” Julie gasped. “Runnnn!”
The kids hurried down one narrow alley after another. They zigzagged through every street around the Great Tower.
But whenever they raced down one way, Gethwing appeared at the end of it. When they turned, Ko was coming right behind them.
On and on they ran, dashing around corners into dark, shadowy lanes. At last, they entered a twisting alley from which there was no escape. With a noisy flap of his wings, Gethwing dropped in front of them. Then Ko stepped in from behind and cornered them.
“Oh, no,” said Eric. His fingers sparked as he kept Gethwing at bay.
Keeah levelled both hands at Ko. Max, Khan, Neal, and Julie huddled around Sparr, protecting him.
But even as the young sorcerer tried to turn away from Ko, it was clear he couldn’t. The emperor’s three eyes fixed Sparr in his dark gaze. It was as if Sparr were hypnotized by the beast-master’s stare.
For minutes, Ko said nothing. He moved no closer.
“What’s happening?” whispered Keeah. “Why doesn’t Ko try something?”
“No, it’s okay if he doesn’t,” Neal squeaked.
Gethwing made no move, either.
Eric heard the moon dragon breathing.
It was a slow, calm breath.
Gethwing’s loyal to the emperor, thought Eric. Sure. But there’s something else, too. Something in his eyes. Something weird going on. What is this? Some new kind of riddle?
Eric felt confused. He couldn’t move. He knew they had to do something — but what?
Finally, Ko turned on his heels and left the children untouched and alone in the alley.
Glancing one last time at each of the children, Gethwing leaped to the top of a building, and then he, too, was gone.
The children stood shaking in the street.
“Why did they just leave?” asked Khan.
Sparr breathed out. “Ko got what he came here for.”
“But he didn’t hurt us,” said Keeah. “And the beasts are being pushed back. The fountain is safe. He can’t get into the castle —”
“He’s not going through the castle,” said Sparr. “He’s going through the sewers under the castle. There’s a secret passage to the fountain.”
Max jumped. “Who told him about that? Who even knew about that? Who told Ko —”
Sparr hung his head. “I did.”
The sound of Zello’s whoops, the fading clatter of sticks, and the blasts of the Wizard’s Sneeze told them that the beasts were being pushed farther and farther outside the walls.
But the children stared at Sparr.
Eric couldn’t believe it. “You told Ko about a secret passage? How could you do that?”
“How did you do that?” asked Keeah. “How did you even know about a passage?”
Sparr breathed deeply. “When you were all in the Upper World, I went back to the fountain. I tried to read that last symbol. While I was there, I discovered another of Galen’s protection spells. It hid the passage that he must have used to leave the chamber once he set his own spell.”
Eric stared at the boy. “Okay. But how did Ko find out about it? You didn’t say a word.”
Sparr looked at him. “He … read my
thoughts. It’s like he went into my head —”
“Well, get him out of there!” said Neal.
“I can’t!” said Sparr, touching his fins. “Our minds are linked in a way I can’t control. I wasn’t like this when Ko kidnapped me. But he changed me. I’m part beast, like him. You can see that.”
They heard the sound of crashing below them.
“The secret passage,” said Julie. “Ko will find the fountain!”
Sparr’s eyes glowed suddenly. “Maybe not. Ko wants the fountain and the Fifth River, but he also wants me. If I use myself as bait, and you aren’t around to shield me, maybe I can lead him away. You can protect the fountain! I’ll go to him —”
He began to back away down the alley.
Eric’s heart was racing. “No, no, no … this … this isn’t right … no! Why does Ko want you? Gethwing said it wasn’t time yet. Time for what? What will happen?”
More sounds came from below the street.
Sparr turned back. “I don’t know. It hasn’t happened yet. I don’t know everything.”
Eric remembered what had happened to Sparr when he held the Moon Medallion. And he smiled. “Maybe that’s a good thing. Look, Sparr, you’re part beast. But you’re not all beast. And you’re not going back to Ko.”
“But the fountain —” the boy began.
“We’ll protect it together,” said Julie, moving next to him. “We can do it.”
“Together,” said Keeah. “It’s the only way we can save Droon.”
Neal, Max, and Khan nodded in agreement. Everyone surrounded Sparr.
The boy looked at them all, one by one. For a long moment, he said nothing. Then he began to smile, too. “I didn’t tell you that there’s a good thing about Ko being in my head….”
Max blinked. “There’s a good thing?”
“Yeah,” said Sparr. “Since our minds are linked, if he’s in my head, I can also be in his.”
Neal made a face. “I’d wear boots in there, you know. And gloves. Maybe a helmet, too.”
“Oh, I’d be very careful,” added Khan.
“I am being careful,” said Sparr, closing his eyes. “And I’m delaying him. I’m throwing him off the track, for a few minutes at least. We can still get to the fountain before him. The only thing is … Keeah, I need the Medallion. I need it to shut down the fountain.”