by Tony Abbott
Eric looked at the blade. He knew now why he felt there was something magical about it. He also understood why Sparr had become evil when his two brothers had fought so long against it. Zara had died before she could fully protect him from it.
“Plus,” said Sparr, “the sword’s power wouldn’t help you. It can only help —”
There was a sound in the back of the gym.
“What?” said Eric. “It can only help who?”
Hush! He’s here! Sparr said silently. Eric, my work isn’t done. You have to trust me —
What? Eric replied silently. What do you mean?
With a sudden thwapping of wings, Gethwing was in the room with them. “Sparr,” he said, “do what you promised to do!”
At once, Sparr swiveled on his heels, blasted at the floor near Eric, then leaped, and pushed Eric down. “Give it to me. Give me the Pearl Sea!”
“What? No!” cried Eric in surprise, trying to fight back. “You’re crazy. No!”
But Sparr kept him pinned down and finally ripped the Pearl from Eric’s pocket. “I’ve got it now!” the boy yelped. Jumping up, he blasted at Eric once more and dashed out of the room, yelling, “Gethwing, come on!”
“The Pearl Sea is ours!” bellowed the moon dragon, flying after Sparr. “Knights! Follow us! The real battle can now begin!”
Instantly, the sound of knights tramping away echoed through the halls. Dumbfounded and dazed, Eric staggered to his feet. He could hear the knights running to the veil in the cafeteria.
“No … no …” he stammered. “What just happened here?”
A moment later, his friends ran into the gym.
“Eric!” said Julie, running to him.
Keeah saw Eric’s ripped pocket right away. “Oh, no! Sparr stole the Pearl Sea? He played a trick on you!”
His mind still spinning with what Sparr had said silently to him, Eric turned to Keeah. “He played a trick, all right. But I’m not sure on who!”
“We have to follow them,” cried King Zello, storming in. “We have to get that Pearl back!”
“And Sparr, too!” said Eric as he jumped toward the door. “Run! Now! Everyone! Follow the knights. Follow Sparr!”
Neal played Pikoo’s horn to keep the cafeteria veil open, and everyone charged into the shadow land once more.
“Uh-oh!” cried Julie, skidding to a stop.
Everyone stopped behind her. They stared into the distance, silenced by the sight of thousands, hundreds of thousands — millions! — of dark knights moving across the scorched earth toward them.
Gethwing raised his claw, the earth quaked, and the vast army halted. Sparr took his place next to Gethwing.
“We have the Pearl Sea,” the dragon said slowly, turning to address the townspeople. “In a few moments, my Blackdark Knights will begin their real conquest of your world. Sparr and I shall return to Droon together, and that will be ours, too. I guess you could call this a bad day for you.”
Eric clutched Zara’s sword, not knowing what to do. Could they possibly stop the invading knights from taking over?
Gethwing turned to the boy sorcerer. “Sparr, give me the magic I seek,” he said. “Then everything will be ours.”
Sparr lifted his hand. The Pearl Sea sat in his palm, splattered by the rain. But he wasn’t looking at it. He was staring at Eric’s sword.
Eric looked down. The blade glowed ever so slightly in the dark air.
When Gethwing raised his claw toward Sparr and reached for the Pearl, Eric heard words in his head.
Blast me, Eric. Blast me, or he won’t believe I’m helping him. Trust me. We can do this!
Without thinking, Eric dropped to his knees and sent a blazing silver blast right at Sparr. It struck the boy’s shoulder hard.
“Ahhhhh!” Sparr screamed. His sword flashed once, then he fell to the ground, howling loudly. As he did, his hand struck the earth and — splash! — the Pearl dropped into a stream of rushing rainwater.
“No! No!” cried the moon dragon. He leaped into the stream, but the water seemed to clutch the tiny Pearl in its grasp and pull it swiftly under.
“My Pearl! My Pearl!” Gethwing wailed, full of rage. The moon dragon spun around at Eric. “You made this happen! You —” Still kneeling by the stream, the dragon shouted, “Knights, attack! Attack, and take their world now!”
Thomp! Thomp! The dark troops charged toward the veils once more.
“Stop them!” cried Mr. Kroger, rushing forward with a shovel.
“Stay where you are, Dad!” shouted Neal. “I’m closing the veils!” As the knights charged, Neal put the little horn to his lips and blew into it.
Ooo-weee-ooo-weee!
The openings between the worlds vanished one by one, sealing the real world away.
Before Gethwing could open the veils again, Eric felt the sword in his hand rising higher and higher until he was holding it over his head. The blade beamed.
When its light fell over them, the warriors quivered and wobbled, they teetered and staggered, and then — pop-pop-pop! — the faces of every last one of them softened and wrinkled. Their shoulders slumped. Their armor lost its shine. They shrank and grew older, and their number dwindled from millions to a mere handful. Gethwing’s curse was broken. They were the Ancient Knights of Pim once more.
The moon dragon uttered his dark curse again, but Eric’s sword continued to shine on the knights, and they remained old.
“Ahhhhh!” roared Gethwing, pounding the black earth over and over. “Nooooo!”
“Gentlemen!” said the chief knight, sounding as he had the first time they saw him. “It’s past our bedtime. Let’s go back to the mountains and do what we do best — sleep!”
As the old knights mumbled in agreement, they turned away from Gethwing and stumbled slowly — very slowly! — toward the distant hills, leaving everyone standing in the pouring rain.
Staggering finally to his feet, Gethwing turned to the children. “Next time,” he snarled. “Next time, you will not win. Boy, come. We have work to do!” He pointed a claw at Sparr, who leaped onto the dragon’s back, and together they swooped over to the massive pit the kids had seen from the castle’s roof.
“Hurry!” cried Keeah.
The kids rushed to the pit. They watched Gethwing and Sparr dive down through the hole, and beyond it into the smoky sky over Sparr’s volcano palace.
Looking back up through the pit, Sparr shot a look at Eric and spoke silently to him.
Eric, the Pearl Sea is part of the Moon Medallion. So … do you trust me now?
As the boy and the moon dragon flew away into the smoky air, Eric answered him.
Yes. I do.
The kids stared down at Sparr for as long as they could. The moment he vanished into the dark sky, Eric heard a tiny splash from the ground. Looking down, he saw a small white stone gleaming at the bottom of the black stream at his feet.
“I can’t believe it!” he gasped. He picked up the stone. It was the Pearl Sea.
“Believe that,” said Keeah. “Look.”
Meredith was standing far downstream. Giving them a wave, she dived into the water and was gone in a flash of silvery light.
Eric gasped. “Everything does connect.”
“We should follow Sparr,” said Julie.
“And we will!” boomed Zello from the top of the crater. “Neal, your final veil music of the day, please. Let’s get everyone home!”
Neal smiled. “You got it!” As he played the strange tune once more, the king, Max, and Khan led the people back into the light of their town. At the same time, Queen Relna carefully cast a forgetting spell on all of the townspeople.
Spying his mother in the crowd, waiting to walk through the veil, Eric ran to her. “Mom. Mom! You have to tell me. Where did this pearl come from?”
Mrs. Hinkle stared at the gem, and her eyes lit up. But, almost immediately, the light began to fade. The spell was already working. “Eric,” she said, “don’t you remember?”
“Remember what?” he asked.
“You …” she said haltingly, “… you told me … you met … you met …”
“Met? Met who?”
But Relna’s spell had its effect. Mrs. Hinkle forgot the experiences of the day, and so did the rest of the townspeople. She looked blankly at Eric for a moment, then headed through the veil to town.
Behind her, Eric’s father blinked as he passed Zello. “I have a shirt just like that!”
One woman smiled at Khan as she went through the veil. “I want a sofa in your exact color!”
When all the people were back in town, the veil closed with a whisper, while Eric and his friends remained in Calibaz. The link between the worlds was sealed once more, and the townspeople headed off about their daily business, forgetting everything that had just happened.
“So,” said Keeah, turning to her friends, “we follow Sparr and Gethwing?”
“Yeah, but I have just one question first.” Eric turned to Relna. The Moon Medallion hung around the queen’s neck. “It’s all about this, isn’t it?” he said. “Sparr said so.”
Relna took the Medallion from her neck and handed it to him. Eric gently inserted the Pearl Sea into a small dimple in the center of the stone. At once, the Medallion seemed to grow around the Pearl like a frame. The shapes within the Pearl moved and swirled like waves. Then, a face appeared in the milky-white depths. It was the face of a man with a white beard.
“It’s my master, Galen!” chirped Max. “Oh, it’s been so long!”
The face in the stone smiled. “It has been. And now the time has come for you to find me. I’m waiting!”
The image of the wizard vanished into a storm of flakes the color of midnight.
“Black snow!” gasped Relna. “I know that place! It always snows black flakes on the far side of the moon. That’s where Galen must be. That’s where we must go!”
Zello laughed. “The far side of the moon? Oh, what an adventure awaits us now!”
The children looked at one another.
Eric smiled. “Well, what else have we got to do?”
Then, leaving behind any borrowed clothes, the eight friends held hands, leaped down through the pit, and entered the dark, moonless sky over Droon.
Eric Hinkle looked down into the fiery volcano and knew he was falling too fast.
“We’re supposed to be flying,” he said. “You said you would fly us down here.”
“I know that,” said his friend Julie Rubin, clutching him tightly by the hand and trying to slow down.
“But we’re not flying,” yelled Eric, starting to feel the volcano’s heat. “We’re falling!”
“I know that, too!” said Julie.
Eric and Julie, along with their friends Neal Kroger; Princess Keeah; King Zello; Queen Relna; Khan, the king of the Lumpies; and Max, the spider troll, had just jumped through an opening in Calibaz, the strange shadowland next to Eric’s town in the Upper World. They were descending into the magical world of Droon, where Julie had agreed to fly them.
“Are we going to crash?” cried Khan, holding on to Relna and Keeah for dear life. “Because it feels like we’re going to crash!”
“Not if I can help it!” said Max, busily spinning a web of spider silk.
Eric really hoped they wouldn’t crash.
Just minutes before, he had found the mysterious Pearl Sea, a part of Queen Zara’s awesome Moon Medallion. From the Pearl Sea they had learned that their long-lost wizard friend Galen was trapped on the far side of Droon’s moon.
Eric and his friends were all determined to rescue the great wizard.
If only they survived their fall.
“Are you even trying to slow down?” asked Neal.
“I am!” said Julie, struggling. “But I’ve never flown so many people before!”
“We’re in the Dark Lands,” said Relna. “Remember that your powers may turn against you. Maybe we can help. Keeah—”
Together, Relna and her daughter aimed their fingertips at the ground, showering the air with sparks in an effort to slow their fall.
Right, thought Eric as they began to tumble even faster. There’s the whole power thing.
Since he, Julie, and Neal had found a magic staircase in Eric’s basement that led them to Droon, powers had come to them, too. For instance, Julie had gained the ability to fly, which she was usually really good at. And even though Neal didn’t seem to have any powers, he had been transformed into several different creatures, including a bug and a goblin.
Best of all, Eric himself was becoming a major wizard. He could shoot silver sparks from his fingertips. He had visions of the future, and he could read weird old languages without even trying. He even suspected that the strange Sword of Zara he found in Calibaz was magically keeping him safe.
But the oddest thing was finding the mysterious and wonderful Pearl Sea in his house. His own house!
Eric couldn’t understand that at all.
In fact, he hardly understood any of it.
Why me? he thought. I mean, really! Why me?
But looking down, he realized he never would understand, unless they slowed down very soon.
“Eric, we need your help!” cried Keeah, her long blond hair flying across her face. “Blast the air. Try to slow our fall —”
But when he added his own sparks to hers, the friends only seemed to fall faster.
“Noooooo!” he screamed.
All of a sudden — flooop! — a vast wispy canopy of spider silk billowed above them, slowing them immediately. In an instant, the eight friends were drifting gently to the ground.
“So much for wizard tricks!” said Max. “Good old spider silk comes to the rescue!”
“Thank you, Max,” said King Zello as they floated softly to the base of the great volcano.
The children shivered to remember the first time they had seen the eerie black mountain called Kano. It had long been the palace of the once very powerful — and very evil — sorcerer known as Lord Sparr.
Recently, however, Sparr had been transformed into a boy, and he was helping the kids battle two even worse enemies — Emperor Ko, ruler of the beasts, and the wicked moon dragon Gethwing. In fact, Sparr was with the beasts right then, secretly hoping to defeat their armies from within.
Like the sorcerer’s other former lairs left behind when he became young, the volcano palace lay deep in Droon’s Dark Lands, surrounded by thousands of square miles of black earth, charred trees, smoky air, and evil.
“The Dark Lands always remind me of Calibaz and the hoobahs who live there,” said Neal, gazing back up toward the cloudy world they had just come from.
Everyone remembered the froglike hoobahs. A legend said that they were doomed to wander the shadowland until a hero led them into the light. “Someday,” Neal added, “their dream will come true.”
“Yes, and our dream to find Galen can only come true if we hide,” said Max, pointing with one of his eight legs. “Look who’s coming!”
Eeee! Eeee! Three snakelike beasts with wings of fire soared over the distant black hills and swooped quickly toward them.
“Wingsnakes,” said Relna. “Probably spies for Emperor Ko. Everyone, hide. In the volcano!”
“In the volcano?” said Neal. “Oh, man!”
The eight friends scrambled over broken rocks to an entrance at the base of the fiery mountain. They dived in just before the wingsnakes were close enough to see them.
The walls inside the volcano were charred black. Plumes of smoke rose into clouds that were lit with flickering flames and the glow of molten lava. Beyond the smoke, the children could make out ominous dark passages twisting deep into the mountain.
“Very nice place,” grumbled Khan.
Kano had always been home to the Ninns, Sparr’s former army of large red warriors. But looking around, the friends saw bent and broken Ninn weapons strewn across the volcano floor, along with cracked pots and the remains of hastily abandoned cooking fires.
Zello shared a look with Relna. “Perhaps the Ninns were forced to leave. Maybe the beasts took over and live here now.”
Eeee! Eeee! The wingsnakes called to one another, circling the volcano.
Neal groaned as they all moved away from the entrance. “I knew this was a bad idea. We’re trapped in here.”
“Trapped, but not caught yet,” said Julie.
Khan frowned suddenly. “Don’t speak too soon,” he whispered. “Look there —”
As an odd-shaped shadow slid along the wall, they realized that something else was inside the volcano, moving in one of the passages. Lit from behind by the flames, the thing — whatever it was — drew closer, and its shadow grew larger until it dwarfed the friends.
King Zello raised his club. Eric drew the Sword of Zara from his belt and held it aloft.
“Point your fingers, Mom,” said Keeah as she and Relna aimed at the silhouette of a big head moving across the wall.
“Please make it go away,” whispered Neal.
A second head moved next to the first.
“Please make them go away!” said Neal.
“Maybe there are a hundred of them!” cried Julie.
Eric’s sword quivered in his hands. “All in all,” he said, “I think I’d rather be falling —”
Then came an inhuman wail and a sudden rush of feet, and the beasts charged into the cave.
Text copyright © 2006 by Tony Abbott.
Illustrations copyright © 2006 by Scholastic Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
SCHOLASTIC, LITTLE APPLE, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First printing, January 2006
Cover art by Tim Jessell
e-ISBN 978-0-545-41839-3
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