by Mark Crilley
“No, Your Majesty, I—I . . . ,” Admiral Frutz stammered nervously, “I . . .”
There was a heavy silence as Queen Pwip stared Admiral Frutz down. Finally his little face loosened up and his jaw dropped a few notches, leaving him looking like a sad little puppy dog. He stared down at his shoes and bowed obediently.
“I’ll be just outside the gate, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you,” Queen Pwip said, sighing to herself before turning to face me again. She smiled and waited while Admiral Frutz retreated into the palace, his boots clinking and clattering as he marched across the polished marble floor.
“You’ll have to forgive old Frutzy,” she said at last, turning to me like an old friend. “He means well, really. But he does get a little overprotective at times, I’m afraid.” I was pretty impressed with the way Queen Pwip had ordered Admiral Frutz around. She didn’t look mean or tough at all, but she spoke in a way that made people listen to her.
“Come follow me, Akiko,” she said, “and bring your friends. There are some people I think you should meet.’’ I watched as she descended a spiral staircase off to one side of the balcony and reappeared just a foot or so from where I was standing. She was so small she barely came up to my ankle, but she didn’t seem frightened of me in the least.
She showed us to a gateway in the back of the palace and began leading us into a whole new section of the palace grounds. Gax, Poog, and I followed close behind.
“Thank you, Queen Pwip,” I said.
“Why, whatever for, dear child?” she asked with a laugh.
“For not, uh, beheading us or anything,”
This produced an even louder laugh, and Queen Pwip dismissed my words with a wave of her hand.
“Akiko, my dear girl!” she said cheerfully as she turned a corner and led us beneath one final decorative arch. “No one has ever been beheaded in the Sprubly Islands! Admiral Frutz makes that sort of thing up just to impress his men.”
Queen Pwip came to a stop before a large iron gate. It stood about six feet tall and barred the entrance to a walled courtyard filled with miniature trees, colorful gardens, and . . .
. . . Spuckler and Mr. Beeba!
I couldn’t believe my eyes. There at the far side of the courtyard sat Spuckler and Mr. Beeba, leaning against a wall and resting in the sun. When they saw me looking in at them they scrambled to their feet.
“Akiko!” they both cried together, dashing across the courtyard as fast as they could.
Queen Pwip smiled as we all chattered excitedly.
“Thank heavens they found you!” Mr. Beeba said.
“How ya doin’ there, Gax?” Spuckler asked, stretching a hand through the bars of the gate to touch Gax’s helmet.
“I’M STILL IN GOOD WORKING ORDER, SIR,” Gax answered. “I DIDN’T FEEL QUITE MYSELF WITHOUT YOU, THOUGH.”
“Course ya didn’t!” Spuckler said proudly.
“But how did you guys get here?” I asked. “I thought you were still out in the forest somewhere.”
“Yes, and we thought the very same thing about you,” Mr. Beeba replied, scratching his head vigorously. “Your Majesty, perhaps some explanations are in order?”
“All in good time, friends, all in good time,” Queen Pwip said. She then clapped her hands together twice quickly and made a high-pitched whistling sound through her teeth.
“Jorrah!” she cried as loudly as she could. “Come on, girl!”
A soft pattering noise echoed through the complex. It was a galloping sound, like some kind of animal. A fearful look came over Mr. Beeba’s face, and Spuckler seemed to brace himself for a fight.
I turned my head to follow Mr. Beeba’s gaze and saw a big spotted animal trotting in our direction. It looked something like a leopard and was around six feet long from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail. Its fur was yellow with gray spots, and its tail was two or three times longer than its entire body. It had big sharp teeth but somehow appeared very tame. Coming to a stop at Queen Pwip’s side, the creature sat down and waited obediently.
“Stand back, Akiko!” Mr. Beeba shouted. “That beast is unstoppable! She uses that tail like a weapon!”
“Oh, calm down, Mr. Beeba,” Queen Pwip said, stroking the animal’s whiskers. “She’s as gentle as can be, provided she doesn’t see you as a threat.”
“Now, Jorrah,” Queen Pwip went on, directing the animal to face me, “I want you to meet Akiko.”
The animal leaped forward with a jerk and gave my face a thorough licking with her big wet tongue. I tried to turn away, but that was pretty much impossible, so I just gave in and tried to enjoy it. She reminded me a little of my uncle Koji’s dog, John, who was just as affectionate (and smelled the same too).
“Heavens!” Mr. Beeba exclaimed. “I wish this beast had been so docile when she came across me!”
“No way!” I said. “This is the animal that attacked you in the forest last night?”
“The very one,” Mr. Beeba answered ruefully. “She coiled that tail around me so tightly that I was scarcely able to breathe. Then she dragged me all the way back here to Queen Pwip’s palace.”
“She’s a fast little critter too,” Spuckler joined in. “I almost lost the trail a couple times tryin’ to keep up!”
“I see,” I said. “So that’s how you both got here!”
“Yes,” Queen Pwip explained. “You can imagine my surprise. Jorrah has been known to bring home the occasional forest animal, but never anything quite like these two.” She laughed and turned to Spuckler and Mr. Beeba.
“I’m terribly sorry I had to keep you under palace arrest all night,” she explained to them. “One never knows, though. Not all Big People are as civilized as you, I’m afraid.” She pulled out an ornate silvery key and used it to open a lock at the very bottom of the gate. Spuckler pulled the gate open with a loud squeak.
“We certainly understand, Your Majesty,” Mr. Beeba replied with a smile as he and Spuckler stepped out of their place of confinement. “I’m sure we’d have done the same thing had the circumstances been reversed.”
“And I owe you an apology as well, Akiko,” Queen Pwip said with an embarrassed smile. “When Mr. Beeba told me about you and your friends still out there in the forest, Admiral Frutz insisted that I let him capture you with his army. I felt rather sure that it wasn’t necessary, but old Frutzy does so love to capture things. I hope he didn’t frighten you.”
“No, he didn’t,” I answered, grinning. “Well, not very much, anyway.”
“You must let me make it up to you, Akiko,” Queen Pwip announced decisively. “Please join me for tea.”
“We would be delighted to, Your Majesty,’ Mr. Beeba answered excitedly. “Your generosity is most appreciated!”
“I wasn’t inviting you, Mr. Beeba,” Queen Pwip explained bluntly. Mr. Beeba’s jaw dropped a little.
“If you don’t mind,” she continued, “I’d like to speak with Akiko and Poog in private.” A weird feeling came over me. It was like being sent to the principal’s office at school, except I was pretty sure I wasn’t in trouble.
“B-but of course,” Mr. Beeba stammered.
“In the meantime, perhaps you and Spuckler and Gax could do a bit of housecleaning for me.”
“Housecleanin’?” Spuckler asked, rubbing his jaw doubtfully.
“Do you see those domes on the palace wall?” she asked, indicating dozens and dozens of golden structures all along the wall that surrounded the grounds.“They’re terribly hard for my men to reach. By the time they’ve cleaned them from one end of the wall to the other, they have to start all over again from the beginning.”
I followed the entire wall with my eyes, trying to imagine the hundreds of little men it would take to polish all those domes. Queen Pwip was right. Spuckler and Mr. Beeba would be able to do the job a lot faster, especially if Gax helped out.
“But, Your Majesty . . . ,” Mr. Beeba began.
“No problem, Queen Pwip!” Spuckler announced chee
rfully. “Jus’ give us a handful of cleanin’ rags and we’ll go t’ town on them suckers!”
“Thank you, Spuckler,” Queen Pwip said with a smile, followed by a disapproving glance at Mr. Beeba. “I’ll have Admiral Frutz supply you with everything you’ll need.” She clapped her hands and Jorrah jumped to her feet.
“Come along, then,” Queen Pwip said to me and Poog. “The three of us have got quite a lot to talk about.”
After ordering Admiral Frutz to give Mr. Beeba and the others a large supply of cleaning materials, Queen Pwip led Poog and me to a different section of the grounds. After passing through a big decorative arch, we came to a small circular building with a wide stained-glass dome on top and a little round door in front. It stood in the center of a large circle of grass that had been allowed to grow high and uncut. The whole structure looked much older and more weather-beaten than the rest of the palace. There were lots of cracks in the walls, and the pale gold surface of the door looked like it would probably never shine again no matter how much anyone polished it.
“This is the oldest building in the Sprubly Islands,” Queen Pwip said to me in a reverent tone. “It stood here long before this palace was built. It’s called the Seeing Room. This is where I go to find out about all manner of things kept secret from me by time and space.” She looked me up and down from head to toe, as if measuring me with her eyes.
“It’s going to be a tight squeeze, but I think you’ll just manage to fit inside.”
She reached into her robes, pulled out a very old, rusty-looking key, and unlocked the ancient door with a loud creaking noise. She pulled the doors open as far as possible. Even then the doorway was only about two feet wide, and I felt a little like I was being asked to get inside a doghouse or something.
“Come on, now,” Queen Pwip said with a grin. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid to get your hands dirty.” I gave Poog a nervous look. He just smiled and nodded.
So I got down on my hands and knees and carefully crawled through the narrow passageway into the dimly lit room within. The first thing I noticed was how cool it was. The temperature must have been at least ten degrees lower than it was outside. The circular room was about six feet from one side to the other, and the ceiling was no more than four feet above the floor. I crawled to one side, trying as hard as I could not to bump my head on the ceiling. There was just enough space for me to sit crouched against the wall with my legs pulled up underneath me.
A pale purplish light filtered in through the stained glass dome above, revealing tiny specks of dust drifting through the air. There was no furniture or object of any kind, except for a pool of water held in a round stone basin in the middle of the floor. The smell of incense hung in the air. There was something very—I don’t know—peaceful about the place. It was as if any troubles you might have would just disappear as soon as you entered.
I sat and watched as Poog slowly floated in after me. He glided right into the center of the room, pausing for a moment to observe his reflection in the pool of water, then chose a spot in the air next to me and hovered there without making a sound.
Queen Pwip closed the doors behind her and walked to a spot opposite Poog and me, resting her hands on the rugged surface of the stone basin. She raised her eyes and gave me a very serious look for what seemed like a long time, then smiled and chuckled to herself. Then she stared into the water and said nothing at all for about five minutes. I probably should have just kept quiet, but my curiosity got the better of me.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “What are you looking at?”
“Hush, Akiko,” she answered gently. “There are no questions in the Seeing Room. Only answers.”
She continued staring at the water, resting her hands on the edge of the basin without making the slightest movement. Then something very odd happened.
PLIP!
There was a little splash in the center of the pool, as if a single drop of water had fallen into it from above. I looked up into the stained-glass dome, thinking there must have been some kind of leak. I stared at the glass, trying hard to keep my eyes wide open.
PLIP!
This time I was sure I hadn’t blinked. Nothing at all had fallen into the pool of water, and yet it looked and sounded as if some thing had. I stared at the pool of water, watching the circular ripples spread outward to the edge of the basin, distorting the reflection of the stained glass above. I glanced quickly at Poog and saw that he was staring at the water just as intently as Queen Pwip.
“Alia Rellapor,” Queen Pwip said suddenly in a hushed voice.
It startled me to hear that name again. My stomach tightened and I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
“You’re trying to find Alia Rellapor’s castle. You need to rescue someone.”
“Th-that’s right,’’ I answered. My heart was beating very quickly now. It was a very weird feeling, like being excited and scared at the same time.
“Don’t worry, Akiko,” she said, never once taking her eyes off the pool of water. “You’ll reach her castle eventually. But it won’t be easy.”
PLIP!
The surface of the water once again rippled gently outward from the center.
“There’s a wall,” Queen Pwip announced in a slightly louder voice.
“A wall?’’
“You must climb the wall and cross the bridge,” she continued mysteriously. She seemed to be describing things she could see in the water, things that were completely invisible to me. I looked over at Poog. Could he see things in the water too? It was hard to tell.
PLIP!
“Throck,” Queen Pwip continued. “Beware of a man named Throck.”
I certainly didn’t like the sound of that. I almost wished she wouldn’t tell me about the bad stuff. I tried to memorize all the things she was saying, though, so that I could tell Spuckler and Mr. Beeba all about it when we were done.
PLIP!
“There is also a friend,” Queen Pwip said. “He will help you.”
“Whose friend?” I asked “My friend?”
For the first time Queen Pwip shifted her gaze from the pool of water and looked directly into my eyes. I saw a brief look of annoyance that quickly softened into an expression of great patience.
“No questions, Akiko,” she said again. “Only answers.”
She returned her gaze to the water and waited.
PLIP!
“The boy,” she said, the purple light reflecting up into her face. “The boy you’re trying to reach. He’s in good health. But he’s sad and very lonely. He’s almost given up hope of ever being rescued.”
Several more minutes passed without a sound.
“That’s all I see,” Queen Pwip announced. I let out a loud sigh and leaned back against the wall behind me. Poog turned to me with a slight smile and blinked once or twice.
PLIP!
“Wait,” Queen Pwip whispered urgently. “There’s more.”
My heart felt like it skipped a beat. I closed my eyes and hoped she wouldn’t say anything scary.
“Your parents,” she said. Her face was nearly expressionless, but there was a warmer tone in her voice than before. “I see your parents, Akiko.”
“You do?” I asked excitedly. Suddenly my mind was racing. There were so many things I wanted to know!
“What are they—” I stopped myself in mid-sentence. “Sorry. No questions.”
Queen Pwip looked at me and smiled.
“Well . . . ,” she said, choosing her words carefully, “I don’t see how one question could do anybody any harm.”
I swallowed and thought hard. One question. I’d better make it a good one. I thought and thought and finally settled on the one thing I most wanted to know.
“Are they okay?”
Queen Pwip stared into the water and smiled.
“They’re fine, Akiko,” she answered. “They’re just fine. It’s very sweet of you to worry about them.”
I sighed and sat back ag
ain. Queen Pwip continued staring into the pool. I really wished I could see what she saw.
“They would be very proud of you, Akiko, if they knew about all the things you’ve done since you came here,” she said, sounding almost as if she was the one who was proud of me. “Not every child could do what you’ve done.”
My face became very warm. I was blushing again. Poog and Queen Pwip were no longer looking at the pool; they were both looking at me.
“You need to keep going, though, Akiko,” Queen Pwip said with a serious look. “It’s natural for you to think about your parents, to wonder how they are and what they’re doing. But don’t forget about that little boy out there in Alia Rellapor’s castle. He’s depending on you to rescue him.”
“I’ll . . . I’ll do my best, Queen Pwip,” I said.
“I know you will,” she replied, smiling brightly and blinking. “I know you will.”
One by one we crawled out of the little room. Queen Pwip led Poog and me back to the front of the palace grounds, where Admiral Frutz was waiting.
“Admiral Frutz,” she said to him, “I’ve got a little job for you. I want you and your men to draw up a map showing the way from here to the Great Wall of Trudd. My friends need some help in getting where they’re going.”
Admiral Frutz winced a little when he heard Queen Pwip refer to us as friends, but he didn’t hesitate to follow orders.
“I’ll have my men get to work on it immediately, Your Majesty!” he said, clicking his heels and marching away from us.
“Make it a big map, Frutzy!” she shouted after him. “I don’t want them straining their eyes!”
She turned back to me and smiled.
“Come now, it’s time for that tea I promised you,” she said.
“Um, Queen Pwip,” I said, remembering Mr. Beeba and the others, “are you sure we couldn’t invite the rest of my friends to join us? I think I’d enjoy the tea a lot more if I could share it with them.’’
Queen Pwip looked at me and rubbed her chin as if she was taking the matter into serious consideration. Actually, it looked as if she was acting like she was taking the matter into consideration. I don’t think Queen Pwip was the sort of person to worry very much about breaking her own rules.