by Tony Abbott
Next to her was Max, the pug-nosed, orange-haired, eight-legged spider troll.
“Keeah! Are we glad to see you!” said Julie.
“Yeah,” said Neal. “Another minute and we would have been snake snacks!”
The princess gave her friends a hug. “We were on our way to find Galen and join my parents’ hunt for Salamandra when we saw you getting attacked.”
Max stooped to the snoozing green pile. “Trouble with meadow snakes? This is new. With Sparr lost in the Upper World, I thought Droon would have some peace.”
“Not if Jabbo can help it,” said Eric. “The snakes were chanting his name. If my dream is right, he’s using the Eye of the Viper.”
Keeah shot a serious look at Max, then turned to the kids. “Jabbo has appeared in our dreams, too. It started two nights ago.”
Max shuddered, his bright orange hair standing straight up. “I’m afraid to sleep. Everyone’s upset about the scary dreams.”
“We’d better find Galen,” said Keeah.
“Can we travel with that light spiral you used to get here?” asked Julie.
“No need!” said Max, pointing over the edge of the cliffs. “Galen’s right down here. In his secret cave!”
With Keeah in the lead, the little band clambered over the edge and down the rocks to a small opening cut into the face of the cliff.
In the center of the cave, surrounded by books, maps, and several strange scientific instruments, was Galen himself.
He sat perched on a stool, his eyes clamped shut, singing in a scratchy old voice.
O, come to me, my Faraway!
Your voice as soft as feathers seems,
Come share your wisdom night and day
In wondrous visions and in dreams.
He stopped singing, but did not move from the stool.
“Ahem, master?” whispered Max.
Galen’s finger shot up. “A moment, please!”
They waited for several seconds before the wizard’s eyes popped open.
“Nothing!” he snorted. “I’m sorry, but I often get visions from someone I call the Faraway. It is only a dream voice, really. But I haven’t dreamed lately. Not good dreams, at least. Ah, well …”
“That’s exactly like the voice I heard,” said Eric. “Faraway, but close, too, right? At least, I heard it until Jabbo started using the blue jewel he stole.”
Galen bolted up from the stool. “So, you dream of Jabbo, too? That little pie maker is everywhere. Quickly now, tell me your dreams!”
One by one, Neal, Julie, and Eric told him the dreams that had woken them that morning.
“But that’s not the really amazing part,” said Neal. “Go on, Eric. Show them what you got.”
Eric slid his hand into his pocket and pulled out the silver stone. “My dream was more real than any I’ve ever had. I woke up with this.”
The stone glistened in the sunlight.
Keeah’s eyes widened. “It’s beautiful.”
“I once woke up with a peanut butter sandwich!” said Neal.
Julie laughed. “You fell asleep with it, too.”
Galen chuckled, even as he took Eric’s stone and examined it. “Max, please find out what you can about such stones.”
“Yes, master!” chirped the spider troll. He scampered to a tall stack of books.
“Now, Eric,” said Galen, “can you remember the words Jabbo spoke?”
“I think so.” While Eric recited the words, Keeah wrote them, and Galen stroked his beard.
At last, the wizard spoke. “The words date back to the earliest days of Goll. They mean, ‘Go, Hakoth-Mal, hunt my enemies. Our day is coming.’”
Eric shivered. Our day is coming. Those were the same words Sparr had spoken to him when they last met. They didn’t sound good then. They sounded even worse now.
The wizard sighed. “The warrior you saw in your dream, Eric, is part of a tribe of ancient hunters known as the Hakoth-Mal.”
“The ha-ha what?” asked Neal.
“The Hakoth-Mal,” said Galen. “I wish they were a laughing matter, but they are not. It is an old Droon word meaning wingwolves. They hunt down the enemies of their ruler.”
“If their ruler is Sparr, then they’re hunting us,” said Keeah. “We have to be on our guard.”
“I think so, yes.” Galen strode to the cave opening and looked out over the sea. “Before the dreams stopped, the Faraway told me that this Coiled Viper of Sparr’s is the third of his Three Powers, and perhaps the most dangerous of all.” He frowned. “Sparr … my brother …”
The kids looked at one another. It was the first time Galen had called Sparr his brother.
“Sadly, I know nothing of what the Viper does,” Galen went on, “but if a simple gem from it can cause so much trouble, we must fear it. Eric, your dream has told us much. It was a good thing.”
Eric frowned. “It nearly scared me to death!”
“I’m pretty sure you can’t get hurt in dreams,” said Keeah. “At least, I hope not —”
Max suddenly gasped. “Uh-oh …”
“What is it?” asked Julie.
“As I feared,” the spider troll said, tapping a small purple book. “The kind of silver stone Eric has is found only in the Dark Lands of Lord Sparr.”
The children shivered to hear the words.
Eric took the stone and gazed at it closely. “Why would a stone with my name on it come from the Dark Lands? Is that where Jabbo is, too?”
Hrrrr! Hrrrr! At that moment, a strange whinnying sound echoed in the cave.
Keeah turned to Galen. “It sounds like a pilka. Someone is coming.”
“Let’s go up!” said Max.
Rushing back to the cliff top, they saw four pilkas galloping hard toward the cliff. The shaggy six-legged beasts were hitched to a chariot driven by a tall green-furred creature.
Keeah jumped. “Is that … yes! It’s Ortha!”
Ortha was queen of the monkeys who lived in the mysterious Bangledorn Forest. The children had met her once before.
Hrrrr! The pilkas galloped over and stopped.
Ortha leaped from the chariot. She was very tall and slender. Her green fur was the color of spring grass. Around her neck was a blue cape, and on her head a crown of purple leaves.
She looked worried, but her expression softened when she saw the children. “It is so good to see you again. I wish it were a happier time.”
“Ortha, what brings you so far from your forest?” asked Galen.
“You know Bangledorn Forest as a calm, friendly place,” she said. “But two days ago, birds came with stories of burning trees in the east. Last night, a fight began among the ground animals, all growling out a strange word I’d never heard before —”
“Let me guess,” said Neal. “Jabbo?”
“Yes!” said Ortha. “Our forest has always been a place of peace. Now it is a place of nightmares.”
Keeah, Eric, and the others told Ortha about the little dragon, while Galen unrolled a map of Droon and spread it on the ground. Running one finger along the boundary of ancient Goll and another around the forest, his fingers met.
“I see it now,” he said finally. “One small part of your forest crosses into the Dark Lands. If Jabbo is making trouble in the forest, then that is where we shall find him.”
He then turned to Eric, a smile creeping over his lips. “And perhaps the mystery of your silvery stone will be solved there, too. Yes, this excites me like the old days! Keeah, I think Salamandra can wait. In the meantime, I will send your parents a friend. Behold!”
The wizard opened his fist and, with a brief sizzling sound, something light and swift left his hand, fluttered up, and spun around the group.
“What is it?” asked Julie. “It’s beautiful!”
“This is Flink, my friendly messenger. Flink, go to our king and queen. When they need me, come, and I will return with you.”
“Yesssss, Galennn!” Flink’s voice was like music as the creatu
re spun around their heads. A moment later, it shot low over the waves and out to sea.
“That may be your last bit of magic, for a time,” said Ortha. “Where we are going, there is no magic.”
The kids knew what Ortha meant.
Bangledorn Forest was one of the few places in Droon where no magic was allowed.
“Come on, everybody,” said Keeah. “We have a pie maker with a sorcerer’s power. The longer we wait, the more trouble Jabbo can do.”
With a gentle motion of the reins, Ortha turned the chariot to face the rising sun.
The small troop piled in and set off quickly for the great forest empire of the Bangledorn monkeys.
For two hours the pilkas thundered across the plains. When the sun was nearly overhead, Ortha began to slow the chariot.
Before them stood a vast wall of trees. In the middle were two giant oaks whose upper branches arched and met to form a gate into the forest.
“It’s magnificent,” said Keeah.
“Bangledorn Forest is the most ancient area of all,” said Galen. “How long it has weathered the storms of Droon!”
“Let us hope it continues to,” said Ortha grimly.
As the pilkas trotted under the arch, fat green leaves flicked and fluttered, and warm breezes swept through the trees. Vines dangled from above like long strands of brown and green hair.
And high overhead, through a canopy of lush leaves, was the sparkling light of the sun.
“It’s like a wild jungle in here,” said Neal, looking all around. “So cool.”
Ortha smiled. “Nature is everything to the Bangledorns. Even though magic is not allowed here, we find magic wherever we look. Behold!”
As the chariot drove in, they looked up to see tree houses everywhere. Some had many levels among the branches. Others were small, with neat thatched roofs and flowers growing in front.
“Bangledorn City,” said Galen, his eyes wide with wonder. “It makes my heart sing to see it again.”
In the center of this big treetop city was the most gigantic tree house ever.
“Ortha’s palace!” said Max. “There is no grander home in all of Droon!”
The queen’s palace had many levels leading to a main hall that stood open to the air on all sides. Its roof was held up, not by walls, but by the branches of giant trees.
“My ancestors built Bangledorn City,” said Ortha, “because of a dream they had of a place of peace, far from the struggles of Droon —”
Clack! Crash! Blamk! Flidd! The sounds of crashing sticks came from high above them.
“I think that peace is under attack,” said Eric. “It sounds like fighting —”
“Now we see what Jabbo’s scary dreams have done,” said Max. “Look up there!”
In the high trees near the palace, one group of little green monkeys was throwing nuts at a second group in the palace’s main hall.
“In my home, of all places!” said Ortha.
“Children, Max,” said Galen, “you go up one tree. Ortha, you and I shall go up the other!”
In a flash, the children scrambled up a long vine ladder that led to the queen’s palace. Reaching the main hall first, they stopped. The large room was empty.
“The monkeys were just here,” said Julie.
“Wait,” said Eric, tilting his head.
Thump … thump … Soft padding noises were coming from above them.
Keeah grinned. “The monkeys are on the roof! Let’s go!” Quickly, she led them up a narrow set of steps and peered over the roof’s edge.
One group of furry green monkeys, whose leader wore a purple scarf around his head, was carefully making its way across the thatched roof. They carried thick, curved sticks.
Two trees away was a second group, led by a tiny monkey wearing a red sash. They were armed with large brown nuts.
All of a sudden, the second group pierced the air with wild shrieks, leaped onto the roof, and began hurling nuts at the first group.
Bamph! Clonk! Thud!
“I am Jabbo, and I say, we fight you!” the red-sashed monkey cried.
“What?” cried the purple-scarfed leader. “Everyone knows I am the true Jabbo! We’ll beat you!”
The first group threw their sticks at the others.
“Nuts versus sticks?” said Neal.
“And Jabbo versus Jabbo!” said Julie.
“This is bad,” said Eric. “Let’s get the leaders down to the main hall. Ortha and Galen should be there by now.”
“Good idea,” said Keeah. “Come on. But no magic, remember.”
Eric nodded. “I’ll put my powers on standby.”
The children climbed onto the roof.
“Ready … now!” said Keeah. The kids rushed the monkeys. Most of them scurried off into the trees. But the two leaders tried to escape through the palace’s main hall — where Ortha was waiting for them.
“Got you!” she said, reaching out her long arms and catching both of them. “Now then! What is the meaning of this?”
“Woot started it!” said the purple-scarfed one in a high voice, pointing to the red-sashed monkey. “She threw a big brown nut at me.”
“Because he waved that stick!” said the other, in an even higher voice.
“Enough!” said Ortha, glaring at the two monkeys. “Twee and Woot! Brother and sister! How disgraceful! You two have dishonored my house and yourselves! What really started this? … Twee?”
The monkey named Twee hung his head. “My dreams went all dark and scary. Then I saw the dragon, Jabbo. I can be powerful and take over, too, just like him.”
“And Woot?” said Ortha, frowning darkly.
“I didn’t dream any nice dreams at all last night,” Woot said, beginning to sniffle. “Jabbo was in my head. Big feet clomping all around. It made me sad, then mad, then … bad!”
The two monkeys bowed before the queen.
“We are so sorry,” said Woot.
“We truly are!” squeaked Twee.
Ortha’s stern face softened. “Well, I can see that you are. And perhaps the best way to keep the peace is … to bring you with us!”
“A journey?” asked Twee.
“With our queen?” asked Woot.
Ortha nodded. “We are going to find Jabbo, and stop him from disturbing and stealing your good dreams.”
“Besides, there are better things to do with sticks and big nuts,” said Neal. “A little game called baseball is way more fun than fighting.”
“Teach us! Teach us!” Twee and Woot cheered together.
Galen laughed. “Later. But tell us now, where was Jabbo when you saw him in your dreams?”
Woot blinked at Twee. “The temple?”
Twee nodded. “Yes! The big lost temple!”
Ortha shook her head. “Stories tell of an old temple of silver stone deep in the forest, but if it ever existed, it has been swallowed up by time.”
“Silver stone?” asked Eric. “Like this?” He pulled the dream stone from his pocket.
“Just like that!” said Woot.
“I see, then,” said Galen. “There is no doubt now about where we must go.”
“The Dark Lands?” asked Keeah.
“The Dark Lands,” he said. “Are we ready?”
“Almost!” Twee scampered over to a barrel on the palace deck and began shoving golden squares into the pockets of his belt.
Neal froze. “Wait. Is that … food?”
Woot’s large blue eyes lit up. “Bangledorn monkey biscuits. Made fresh daily. Try some!”
Julie laughed. “If you let him, he’ll try all of them!”
Neal grinned and filled his own pockets with the golden biscuits. “Now we’re ready.”
Keeah cheered. “Then — we’re off!”
Ortha gathered the travelers on the high deck of her palace overlooking the city. “The way to the Dark Lands is east,” she said. “And the only way to travel swiftly is to take the vine roads.”
“The vine roads?” aske
d Max. “What are they?”
Twee and Woot laughed merrily. “Keeah knows! But we’ll show you! Follow us — up!”
The twin monkeys scampered up a winding staircase from the palace to the top of a high tree. Ortha, Galen, and Max followed closely, with the children bringing up the rear.
When they reached the top, they stopped, amazed by what they saw.
Bright sunlight shone down upon a glittering sea of green treetops. And stretching away as far as the eye could see were bridges — bridges made of vines and branches, looping and dipping from one treetop to the next.
“This is amazing!” said Julie, as the leaves quivered in the warm breeze. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Keeah, you knew about this?”
Keeah laughed. “Last year, I came to camp here to learn to control my powers. I spent lots of time in the high trees. I almost didn’t want to come down.”
“A camp to learn to control your powers?” said Eric. “I think that’s what I need.”
“We could do this back home,” said Neal. “If we hung rope bridges from my backyard to your backyard, then over to Julie’s house, we’d never have to touch the ground again!”
With a musical shout — “O — lee — lee! O — lee — lee!” — Ortha began the long journey.
The first bridge dipped between two of the very highest trees in the forest. From there, the roads twisted and turned, including many offshoots down to lower trees, houses, and even small villages built among the branches.
All day they traveled. The farther they went, the fewer animals they saw. The birds weren’t chirping or cawing, and only a few monkeys played in the high branches.
“Jabbo’s been stealing dreams here, too,” said Keeah. “I can tell that the animals are upset.”
“We monkeys live for our dreams,” said Twee.
“My brother and I agree on that,” said Woot. “We all feel lost and unhappy without nice dreams at night.”
“Me, too,” said Neal. “And if I have a nightmare, I wake up scared, too.”
“Galen and Ortha are also worried about the dreams,” said Julie.
The wizard walked the bridges, gazing into the misty distance or studying his map. Ortha was close behind, her tall frame bending to his.