by Tony Abbott
His friends walked completely around him.
“Oww!” he squealed. “Who stepped on my tail? I mean — yikes! — I have a tail! Oh, this is not good at all!”
Keeah laughed suddenly. “No, it is good. In fact, it’s perfect!”
“And just how do you figure that?” Neal asked, carefully running his new claws down the length of his new snout.
“Because,” she said, “you just found us a way into Salamandra’s throne room.”
“Oh, no. No way. Keeah, you have to change me back.” Then he gasped. “Wait. You can change me back, can’t you?”
“Of course I can!” she said. “Or Galen can. Or maybe Urik. I think. But anyway, not just yet.”
“Keeah’s right,” said Eric. “Looking the way you do, we’ll get into the throne room easily. We can stop Sparr and Salamandra from joining forces. And we can take Sparr back to Droon.”
Neal grumbled. “Sure, sure, use the poor kid who turns into the ugly goblin. What I don’t do to save the world! All right. Only don’t step on my tail. It’s sensitive. And actually, so is my hearing. I hear someone coming —”
Fwit-fwit-fwit! Before they could move, a figure flitted down the hall toward them, his face lit with a purple glow. He smiled when he saw them.
“Urik!” said Eric. “You made it. You got free of the kraken!”
The man held up his wand. “Of course. Did you find Galen?”
They told him where his brother was.
“Good,” he said. “With a goblin as a cover, I don’t think you’ll need my help. I’ll go find Max and Galen. Funny, that old boatman told me to take good care of Galen. He said his own future depended on it. Strange old man. Anyway, I’d better get going. See you later!”
He raced away as quickly as he had come.
“Okay, then,” said Neal. “Let’s do this!”
Five minutes later, the four friends were heading down a passage toward the throne room. The hoots and howls from the end of the hall told them that they had come to the right place.
Two goblins guarded a large black door.
Keeah nudged Neal. “We’ll keep our hoods low. You tell the guards we want to go in.”
Neal sighed and marched up to the guards. “Hey, fellow ugly goblins, I’m looking for Salamandra. You know, about this tall, yellow eyes, bunch of thorns instead of hair?”
The guards eyed him from head to foot.
“What are the magic words?” one asked.
Neal grinned, showing two rows of bumpy teeth. “My mommy taught me those. Please and thank you!”
“What and what?” said the second guard, reaching for a sword.
Julie whispered into Neal’s large green ear. “How about …”
“Oh, yeah!” Neal nodded, coughed, then said, “Would the magic words be … Om — yee — Pesh?”
“Oh! At once, sir!” both guards said, bowing low and thrusting the doors open instantly.
“Thank you, my good sirs,” said Neal.
“Good and ugly,” said Eric under his breath.
The friends entered a giant room.
Wild, thorny plants grew up in every corner and hung down from the walls.
Blazing fiery cauldrons sat on platforms on each side of the room, casting golden light on hundreds of goblins standing at attention.
“Salamandra!” they chanted. “Salamandra!”
Their chanting echoed around the room and up to an enormous crystal dome at the top. Visible beyond the dome was the brightening sky of morning.
Eric stiffened suddenly as they made their way along the wall. In the center of the room, under a canopy of long, curving thorns, at the top of a set of stairs, was the throne they had seen in the street.
But this time Salamandra wasn’t in it.
“Holy cow,” Eric whispered.
Sitting on the throne was … Lord Sparr.
The sorcerer glared out at the army of goblins, his hands clutching the arms of the throne.
Keeah gasped. “Look at him. He’s already made a deal with her. An evil deal, no doubt!”
A trumpet sounded, another set of doors opened on the far side of the room, and all the goblins bowed. “Princess Salamandra!” they bellowed.
Ssss! The flames in the giant pots flared and leaped up when she entered, but the room itself seemed to darken and go ice-cold.
“Is she evil or what?” whispered Julie.
“Evil,” said Eric. “Even the fire knows it.”
“I’m going to have nightmares about this for a long, long time to come,” Neal murmured.
“You have done well, my goblins!” said Salamandra, slowly approaching the throne, holding her thorny staff high. “My treasure rooms are full. My power continues to grow. We’ve robbed this time of nearly all its magic. The hour has come — it’s time to move on.”
Deep in her voice was a sound like the howling of dogs or wolves wailing in the night.
“She’s just like Sparr,” whispered Keeah. “It figures he would join together with her. They’re two of a kind.”
Eric eyed the sorcerer. Maybe, he thought.
But there was something else in Sparr’s look as he gazed from the throne. It was almost as if …
No, it couldn’t be….
Sparr, can you hear me?
Salamandra spoke again. “I have learned the riddles of the ancient rulers of earth and sea. I have stolen the great magics of every age. And yet you, Lord Sparr of Droon, have told me a tale of a Dark Stair and of a great magic that lies hidden in another time….”
Sparr did not rise from the throne. “As we agreed,” he said, “I shall use your time portal to find it. And you shall take whatever magic remains —”
Sparr sat up high in Salamandra’s throne, and the princess herself circled slowly beneath it, but something was wrong.
Eric could feel it.
Eric …
Sparr’s voice sounded faintly in his head.
What’s going on here? Eric asked.
Salamandra paused, then rose, step-by-step, toward Sparr. Her long cape flowed behind her, its thorns scratching the stairs like fingernails scraping a chalkboard.
“What is the Coiled Viper, Sparr?” she asked.
“All in due time,” the sorcerer replied.
The princess stopped. “No,” she said. “Now!”
Flang! A thorn shot from her staff and struck the floor at Sparr’s feet. In an instant, thorns sprouted from the floor and whipped around him, trapping him in a cage of thorns.
“What?” boomed Sparr, struggling. “You lied to me! You gave your word! You — tricked me!”
The thorns circled up to his shoulders and stopped there, enclosing him on the throne.
“Whoa!” said Neal. “Talk about plans backfiring. She’s doing our job for us! This is good.”
“Um … I don’t think it’s so good,” said Eric.
Salamandra rose to the throne. “Perhaps now you will tell me what I want to know. What is this great magic Viper hidden in this world?”
Sparr said nothing.
Nothing … out loud.
His words filled Eric’s head.
Eric! hissed the voice of Sparr. Eric. She is pushing her way into my mind … getting nearer to our secret…. Her power … is strong….
“You cannot resist me,” said the princess.
“Oh, my gosh!” Eric pulled his friends to him. “Salamandra wants what Sparr’s looking for. She’s sort of breaking into his mind. He’s trying not to tell her that he has part of the magic with him. And that … I have part of it. I think he’s trying to protect me, to protect us.”
“Sparr is protecting us?” said Keeah. “What do you mean? How do you know?”
Eric breathed in deeply, then thrust his hand into his pocket. The blue gem burned his fingers, but he ignored the pain. He dragged it out of his pocket and showed the gem to his friends.
Eric’s hand trembled as he held the tiny stone. “Sparr gave this to me. It’s one
of the eyes of the Coiled Viper —”
For the first time since Sparr had given the stone to him, Eric felt like himself again. It was as if the spell were suddenly lifted. Bright blue sparks flickered from his fingertips.
Instantly, Sparr’s eyes sought him out.
She is too powerful for me! he whispered.
Salamandra howled suddenly. “So! Yes! Your mind cannot lie. I do not yet know what this Viper is, but I know when it is! Prepare now to witness my power, Lord Sparr of Droon. Goblins of the Time Portal — come! I know where we shall go next!”
The six tall goblins the kids had seen following Salamandra in the street entered the room chanting, “Om — yee — Pesh! Peshhhh!”
A giant flying lizard loped in after them.
It was the same lizard the kids had once seen flying over their town. It had many wings and legs.
As the chanting grew louder, the giant machine in the rooms below grew louder, too.
Blam-chunka-chunka-blam-blam-ssss!
And the crystal dome above them began to open.
“Behold the Portal of Ages!” said Salamandra.
The golden disks hovering above the city shot beams of light from one to the other, forming a giant circle of light overhead.
A sudden rushing wind swept into the room.
“Come, my goblins,” Salamandra shouted. “We shall find what Lord Sparr seeks. My empire will rule in every age!”
A storm of air grew above the dome, like the funnel of a tornado, spinning around and around until its hugeness covered the entire city.
The children could feel the floor moving and quivering. The machine was thundering and booming down below.
“Portal, open!” Salamandra commanded.
Everyone, even the goblin army, looked up, transfixed by the sight. It was hazy at first, then gradually became clearer as the funnel of whirling air grew deeper and deeper.
At first, there were the shadows of caves carved into hills, then rough stone buildings.
There were giant pyramids and great statues, then sailing ships crashing over vast seas, and carriages drawn by horses on country roads. Finally, there were paved streets and tall buildings made of glass.
“It’s going into our time!” said Julie, trembling.
“Come on, Galen and Max,” Neal whispered. “Come on, Urik. Break that machine. Break it!”
“I see a street,” said Julie. “Cars whizzing by.”
Sparr was staring at Eric through his cage of thorns. You know … you’ve always known.
“No … no …” Eric whispered.
But he already knew what he would see. He didn’t know why or how, but he was sure of it. He stared into the whirling winds. And there it was. A valley surrounded by three hills, covered with fruit trees.
And in the distance he saw a house.
A light brown house with a garage, a driveway, a blue door, and blue shutters.
Eric staggered back. “Oh …”
What he saw scared him to death.
What he saw … was his own house.
“I know when the Coiled Viper lies hidden!” Salamandra shouted. “And now my prisoner, Sparr, shall help me find it!”
The portal spun around faster and faster, and the city of Pesh rocked below it, as if it would lift right out of the sea and fly up into the swirling funnel. And into the future.
“Salamandra, in our time, in our neighborhood?” said Julie. “We can’t let that happen!”
Eric gasped. “But it did happen. We saw those goblins come to our street. And that big fat flying lizard, too. They did get there! We saw them! Only now that we’re in the past we have a chance to stop them from ever getting there. And the only way to do that is by letting Sparr win. At least this once. Guys, we need to help Sparr.”
“Help Sparr?” said Neal. “But he’s been our enemy, like, forever —”
“Look,” said Eric. “I don’t know what this Viper thingy is, but if somebody doesn’t stop her, Salamandra will go after it, taking Pesh to our time — to our town! There won’t be a lot of magic there, but she won’t need it. If she finds the Viper, she’ll have even more power. Maybe more than all of us put together.”
As the time portal widened, Keeah looked at Eric. “I think you’re right.”
“Me, too,” said Julie. “All of us together, including Sparr, might be able to stop her.”
“Hey, I’m just a goblin, and I believe you,” said Neal. “But we’re way outnumbered here. We need some kind of distraction. To get Sparr free, we need to surprise everyone.”
At just that moment — errrrk! — a giant cart heaped with purple pies squealed into the room.
Behind it huffed the little dragon, Jabbo. His apron was splattered with fruit smudges, and there were flecks of flour on his bumpy snout.
“Oh, dear,” he squealed. “Is Jabbo late again?”
The goblins all turned to the cart, and another rumbling started in the room. The rumbling of stomachs. All the goblins were hungry.
Eric grinned. “We need a surprise, huh? Well, what’s more surprising than a pie in the face?”
Neal’s green lips edged into a smile. “I like it. But I get to go first!”
“It’s a deal,” said Eric. “Keeah, you and I have to free Sparr.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m ready.”
While Jabbo was staring up at the spinning portal, and Salamandra was closing in on Sparr once more, Julie and Neal snuck over to the cart and slid several big juicy pies from it.
“Everyone ready?” asked Julie.
They nodded.
In a flash, Julie and Neal leaped to the top of the cart and heaved the pies toward the center of the room. The pies whizzed through the air. Everyone saw them coming.
Everyone except the evil princess.
Salamandra turned at the last moment and — splat-splat-splat-splat!
Four pies smushed her right in the face.
Salamandra screamed. Jabbo screamed. The goblins screamed.
“Good shot!” said Julie, high-fiving Neal.
“Not bad yourself!” he said. Then, cupping his green hands to his mouth, he shouted, “Pie fight!”
Jabbo shrieked. “Not my beautiful pies —”
But in a flash, pies were flying everywhere.
“Keeah, let’s go!” cried Eric.
Two goblins sprang at them, but Eric leaped over their heads, kicking out with both feet.
Wump-wump! Both goblins fell flat.
“Hey! I flew just like Urik,” Eric shouted. “My powers really are back!”
“And not a minute too soon,” said Keeah. “Behind you!”
Three more goblins charged them, but Keeah sent out a spray of blue sparks. The goblins crumpled in a tangled heap on the floor.
Meanwhile, Neal and Julie became a pie-throwing machine. Splat! Splat! Splat! Pies soared, flew, dived, and dropped everywhere!
Dodging the flying fruit filling, Eric and Keeah raced to Sparr’s cage. With twin bolts of blue lightning, they blasted the thorns — kkk-blam!
Sparr sprang from the crumbled cage like a wild animal. “I told you you would help me!”
“Goblins, stop them!” cried Salamandra, wiping purple goop from her purple face.
“No, we’re going to stop you!” said Eric. “Sparr, Keeah, all of us — together!”
For the first time ever, Sparr stood between Eric and Keeah. Grasping their hands in his own and extending them, Sparr turned to Eric.
“Now you will see our power … together!”
Whooooom!
The room exploded in purple light as the blue flashes from Keeah and Eric mixed with Sparr’s flaming red lightning bolts.
Ka-whammm! Salamandra was thrown across the room, her magic staff’s fiery thorns skittering wildly at the walls.
Sparr laughed as a river of red flame blazed from his fingertips. “Now, give me the gem!”
Eric looked into the sorcerer’s eyes. He stared as deeply as Sparr h
imself had looked into his in the sewers. He wanted to find what Urik hoped to see. He wanted to see hope.
But he saw only coldness and darkness. He almost regretted helping him, setting him free.
No, thought Eric, grasping the jewel tightly. If there was any goodness there, it was buried so deep … so deep….
“Forget it, Sparr,” he said, backing away. “You can’t mutter in my head anymore. Just go! But you won’t get the jewel. I’m keeping it.”
Sparr sneered. “You’re no longer under my spell?”
“The minute I told my friends, it was broken.”
“Friends, Sparr,” said Keeah. “Something you don’t have and probably never will.”
Sparr glared at the two young wizards. “We shall meet again. And when we do, I shall be more powerful than you can possibly imagine!”
“We’ll be waiting,” Eric murmured.
“Together,” said Keeah.
With a strange look on his face, Sparr smiled. Our day is coming, Eric Hinkle!
With that, Sparr whirled his cape around him and flew straight up into the whirling funnel.
“Noooo!” cried Salamandra. “That boy, that girl, they did this! It’s their fault. I’ll get you —”
Suddenly — rrrrrr! The portal quivered and wobbled. The whirling tunnel of air began to collapse at the far end.
Salamandra fell to her knees, howling.
At that instant, young Galen burst in, with Max skittering behind.
“We wrecked the Portal of Ages,” Galen yelped. “Pesh is going back to where it came from. The ancient past!”
“And we don’t have much time left!” said Max.
“No pies, either,” said Julie. “We’re out.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m here!” said a voice.
And there was Urik, leaping in, his purple wand flashing into the crowd of goblins, sending them reeling back to their princess in a squirming heap of green and purple.
“Where’s Sparr?” asked Galen. “Was he here?”
Eric pointed up to the wobbling portal. “He’s gone … into the future.”
“But thanks to you,” said Keeah, “the portal will collapse before he gets too far. He’ll be lost in time.”