by Gary Paulsen
“Maybe later.” Chris held out the necklace. It didn’t glow anymore. “We must be inside the palace.”
They went through a heavy iron door and up some stone steps. A second door led to a large hall. At the end was a set of double doors.
Chris pushed the doors open. “This must be the throne room.”
Inside, standing gracefully on some steps at the end of a red carpet, was another statue. Chris held his breath. It was the girl in the fountain back home. She was holding out her hands in a pleading gesture.
On either side of the statue were fierce stone lions. One had its mouth open as if snarling at any unwanted visitors.
“What do we do now?” Shawn asked. “I don’t see any princess.”
“On the contrary,” boomed a loud voice that made Chris’s ears ring. “You’re looking at her.”
There was a cloud of blue smoke at the front of the throne room, and in the midst of it a giant appeared. He had two heads and long feathery wings growing from his sides. He put one of the wings around the statue. “This,” the giant laughed, “is the great Princess Darvina.”
Chris tried to turn invisible, but it didn’t work.
“Your feeble magic is no match for Mogg. You have failed, warrior. Give me the crystal.”
“You mean this crystal?” Chris pulled it out of his shirt. “Heads up!” He tossed it across the room to Shawn.
Both of the giant’s faces turned purple with rage. “Give it to me!”
Shawn tossed it to Jimmy. “Sorry, your Moggness. I don’t have it anymore.”
The giant pointed one of his clawlike fingers at Shawn. Instantly the boy turned to stone.
“Separate!” Chris shouted. “Don’t let him get the crystal.”
Jimmy hid behind one of the lions. “What should I do with it?”
Chris pulled his sword and was about to charge the giant when he remembered the clue. “The old woman at the beginning of the game. Remember, Jimmy? She told us the only way to save the princess was in the lion’s—”
“Nooooo,” Mogg thundered. Jimmy watched in stunned horror as Mogg shifted his finger in Chris’s direction. Chris was turned to stone in the middle of his attack.
The giant turned to Jimmy. The small boy cowered behind the statue. He reached around the lion and put the crystal in its open mouth for safekeeping.
Mogg’s form started to change, as if he were melting, and he screamed in agony. Instead of a giant he was now a two-headed eagle. He spread his wings and flew through an open window, disappearing from sight.
Chris was the first to change back. “What happened?”
Shawn was next. Jimmy explained that Mogg had turned them both to stone and was just about to get the crystal when Jimmy had stuffed it into the lion’s mouth.
Chris grinned. “That was the clue I was about to give you. The old woman said the lion’s mouth at the palace was the only way to save the princess. You did it, Jimmy!”
“Yes, Jimmy, you did.” A soft voice came from the steps. The statue had turned into a beautiful girl. She walked down the steps and kissed Jimmy lightly on the cheek. Then she moved to Chris, her flawless face inches from his. “I am forever in your debt, warrior. How can I repay you?”
Chris turned red and looked at the floor.
“I can’t believe this.” Shawn stepped up to the princess. “He wants to get out of this stupid game.”
The princess looked puzzled. “Game?”
“Yeah, you know, as in go home, scram, outta here.”
“I see.” The princess gently took the gold chain with the stars from Chris’s neck and placed it around her own. “Is it your wish to go home, warrior?”
Chris nodded shyly.
“Remember this, warrior. The people in the country of Gothan and the Palace of Zon are deeply grateful. We will always be here if you need us.” She put both hands on the magic stars and closed her eyes.
Suddenly Chris felt as if he were traveling backward against the wind, spinning faster and faster—until he blacked out.
CHAPTER 14
Chris’s eyes fluttered open. He had on his usual clothes, and he was lying in the grass near the fountain. He sat up and stared. The statue was gone. All that was left was the marble platform where the girl used to be.
Jimmy and Shawn were crawling to their feet.
Shawn looked around. “We’re back!” He sat on the edge of the fountain. “That was some wild trip.”
“I wonder how long we’ve been gone?”
Jimmy sat down near Shawn. “My mom is probably going nuts.”
Chris looked at his watch in disbelief. He wasn’t sure when the adventure had started, but the whole thing hadn’t lasted more than a few minutes.
“Where you been, man?” Cliff trotted up the sidewalk. “I’ve been looking everywhere. Are you ready for me to trash these dudes?” He doubled up his fist and shook it threateningly at Jimmy.
Shawn paused. He looked from Chris to Jimmy, stood up slowly, and put his face close to Cliff’s. “Get lost, dweebo.”
Cliff’s mouth fell open.
“Don’t you understand English? I said get lost.” Shawn helped Chris to his feet. “Or I’ll sic the warrior here on you.”
Chris tried to hide a smile.
“You’ve lost it, Shawn.” Cliff spat on the ground and turned to go. “Me and you are through.”
“That’s fine with me. I’m hanging with a new gang now—the Three Musketeers.”
In the Middle Ages, when a boy reached the age of seven he could become a page and begin training to become a knight. He would be sent to the castle of a relative to learn about weapons, tend falcons, and run errands. He would also spend part of his time with the lady of the castle, learning courtesy. A page’s main training took place in the tiltyard, where he would run, wrestle, and learn to use a blunted sword, wield a lance, and ride a horse.
At the age of fourteen a page became a squire. He would then be sent to serve a particular knight. During this time he would work on perfecting his fighting skills, but his main duty was to attend the knight. His duties included helping the knight to dress, carving his meat, and sleeping on the floor beside his bed. The squire accompanied the knight to tournaments, and even to war.
When he reached the age of twenty-one, if the money was available for his initiation and for the necessary equipment, a squire could become a knight.
Several squires were usually dubbed knights during one ceremony. The initiation began with a ceremonial bath. Then the young men had their beards and heads shaved. Each candidate was clothed in a white tunic, black hose, and a red cloak.
They were now ready for the vigil, in which they would spend the entire night awake, standing or kneeling in a church at the altar steps.
The formal initiation took place the following morning. The candidate’s sponsor would fit him in his armor, including his golden spurs and his sword. The new knight would then kneel and receive the dubbing, a light tap on each shoulder with the flat part of a swordblade, which proclaimed that he was a true knight and warrior of the realm.
Don’t miss all the exciting action!
Read the other action-packed books in Gary Paulsen’s
WORLD OF ADVENTURE
The Legend of Red Horse Cavern
Will Little Bear Tucker and his friend Sarah Thompson have heard the eerie Apache legend many times. Will’s grandfather especially loves to tell them about Red Horse—an Indian brave who betrayed his people, was beheaded, and now haunts the Sacramento Mountain range, searching for his head. To Will and Sarah it’s just a story—until they decide to explore a newfound mountain cave, a cave filled with dangerous treasures.
Deep underground, Will and Sarah uncover an old chest stuffed with a million dollars. But now armed bandits are after them. When they find a gold Apache statue hidden in a skull, it seems Red Horse is hunting them too. Then they lose their way, and each step they take in the damp, dark cavern could be their last.
Rod
omonte’s Revenge
Friends Brett Wilder and Tom Houston are video game whizzes. So when a new virtual reality arcade called Rodomonte’s Revenge opens near their home, they make sure that they are its first customers. The game is awesome. There are flaming fire rivers to jump, beastly buzz-bugs to fight, and ugly tunnel spiders to escape. If they’re good enough they’ll face Rodomonte, an evil giant waiting to do battle within his hidden castle.
But soon after they play the game, strange things start happening to Brett and Tom. The computer is taking over their minds. Now everything that happens in the game is happening in real life. A buzz-bug could gnaw off their ears. Rodomonte could smash them to bits. Brett and Tom have no choice but to play Rodomonte’s Revenge again. This time they’ll be playing for their lives.
Escape from Fire Mountain
“… please, anybody … fire … need help.”
That’s the urgent cry thirteen-year-old Nikki Roberts hears over the CB radio the weekend she’s left alone in her family’s hunting lodge. The message also says that the sender is trapped near a bend in the river. Nikki knows it’s dangerous, but she has to try to help. She paddles her canoe downriver, coming closer to the thick black smoke of the forest fire with each stroke. When she reaches the bend, Nikki climbs onshore. There, covered with soot and huddled on a rock ledge, sit two small children.
Nikki struggles to get the children to safety. Flames roar around them. Trees splinter to the ground. But as Nikki tries to escape the fire, she doesn’t know that two poachers are also hot on her trail. They fear that she and the children have seen too much of their illegal operation—and they’ll do anything to keep the kids from making it back to the lodge alive.
The Rock Jockeys
Devil’s Wall.
Rick Williams and his friends J.D. and Spud—the Rock Jockeys—are attempting to become the first and youngest climbers to ascend the north face of their area’s most treacherous mountain. They’re also out to discover if a B-17 bomber rumored to have crashed into the mountain years ago is really there.
As the Rock Jockeys explore Devil’s Wall, they stumble upon the plane’s battered shell. Inside, they find items that seem to have belonged to the crew, including a diary written by the navigator. Spud later falls into a deep hole and finds something even more frightening: a human skull and bones. To find out where they might have come from, the boys read the navigator’s story in the diary. It reveals a gruesome secret that heightens the dangers the mountain might hold for the Rock Jockeys.
Hook ’Em, Snotty!
Bobbie Walker loves working on her grandfather’s ranch. She hates the fact that her cousin Alex is coming up from Los Angeles to visit and will probably ruin her summer. Alex can barely ride a horse and doesn’t know the first thing about roping. There is no way Alex can survive a ride into the flats to round up wild cattle. But Bobbie is going to have to let her tag along anyway.
Out in the flats the weather turns bad. Even worse, Bobbie knows that she’ll have to watch out for the Bledsoe boys, two mischievous brothers who are usually up to no good. When the boys rustle the girls’ cattle, Bobbie and Alex team up to teach the Bledsoes a lesson. But with the wild bull Diablo on the loose, the fun and games may soon turn deadly serious.
Danger on Midnight River
Daniel Martin doesn’t want to go to Camp Eagle Nest. He wants to spend the summer as he always does: with his uncle Smitty in the Rocky Mountains. Daniel is a slow learner, but most other kids call him retarded. Daniel knows that at camp, things are only going to get worse. His nightmare comes true when he and three bullies must ride the camp van together.
On the trip to camp Daniel is the butt of the bullies’ jokes. He ignores them and concentrates on the roads outside. He thinks they may be lost. As the van crosses a wooden bridge, the planks suddenly give way. The van plunges into the raging river below. Daniel struggles to shore, but the driver and the other boys are nowhere to be found. It’s freezing, and night is setting in. Daniel faces a difficult decision. He could save himself … or risk everything to try to rescue the others too.
The Gorgon Slayer
Eleven-year-old Warren Trumbull has a strange job. He works for Prince Charming’s Damsel in Distress Rescue Agency, saving people from hideous monsters, evil warlocks, and wicked witches. Then one day Warren gets the most dangerous assignment of all: He must exterminate a Gorgon.
Gorgons are horrible creatures. They have green scales, clawed fingers, and snakes for hair. They also have the power to turn people to stone. Warren doesn’t want to be a stone statue for the rest of his life. He’ll need all his courage and skill—and his secret plan—to become a true Gorgon slayer.
The Gorgon howls as Warren enters the dark basement to do battle. Warren lowers his eyes, raises his sword and shield, and leaps into action. But will his plan work?
Captive!
Roman Sanchez is trying hard to deal with the death of his dad—a SWAT team member gunned down in the line of duty. But Roman’s nightmare is just beginning.
When masked gunmen storm into his classroom, Roman and three other boys are taken hostage. They are thrown into the back of a truck and hauled to a run-down mountain cabin, miles from anywhere. They are bound with rope and given no food. With each passing hour the kidnappers’ deadly threats become even more real.
Roman knows time is running out. Now he must somehow put his dad’s death behind him so that he and the others can launch a last desperate fight for freedom.
Project: A Perfect World
When Jim Stanton’s family moves to a small town in New Mexico, everyone but Jim is happy. His dad has a great job as a research scientist at Folsum Laboratories. His mom has a beautiful new house. Folsum Labs even buys a bunch of new toys for his little sister.
But there’s something strange about the town. The people all dress and act alike. Everyone’s too polite. And they’re all eerily obedient to the bosses at Folsum Labs.
Though he was warned not to leave town, Jim wanders into the nearby mountains looking for excitement. There he meets Maria, a mountain girl with a shocking secret that involves Folsum Laboratories, a dangerous mind control experiment, and—most frightening of all—Jim’s family.
The Treasure of El Patrón
Tag Jones and his friend Cowboy spend their days diving in the azure water surrounding Bermuda. It’s not just for fun—Tag knows that somewhere in the coral reef there’s a sunken ship full of treasure. His father died in a diving accident looking for the ship, and Tag won’t give up until he finds it.
Then the ship’s manifest of the Spanish galleon El Patrón turns up, and Tag can barely contain his excitement. El Patrón sank in 1614, carrying “unknown cargo.” Tag knows that this is the ship his father was looking for. And he’s not the least bit scared off by the rumors that El Patrón is cursed. But when two tourists want Tag to retrieve some mysterious sunken parcels for them, Tag and Cowboy may be in dangerous water, way over their heads!
Skydive!
Jesse Rodriguez has a pretty exciting job for a thirteen-year-old, working at a small flight and skydiving school near Seattle. Buck Sellman, the owner of the school, lets Jesse help out around the airport and is teaching him all about skydiving. Jesse can’t wait until he’s sixteen and old enough to make his first jump.
Then Robin Waterford walks in with her father one day to sign up for lessons, and strange things start to happen. Photographs that Robin takes of the airfield mysteriously disappear from her locker. And Robin and Jesse discover that someone at the airfield is involved in an illegal transportation operation. Jesse and Robin soon find themselves in the middle of real danger and are forced to make their first skydives very unexpectedly—using only one parachute!
Cool sleuths, hot on the case! Look for these upcoming books from Gary Paulsen’s hilarious Culpepper Adventures.
Dunc and Amos Go to the Dogs
Anyone who knows Amos knows that in his case, dogs are definitely not man’s best friend. Even
his own dog growls and shows his teeth whenever Amos is around. Amos isn’t exactly fond of Scruff either. But when Scruff gets mixed up in a dognapping scheme, Amos and Dunc have to spring him. Join Gary Paulsen’s cool sleuths as they go undercover at the city pound.
Amos and the Vampire
Amos’s big sister, Amy, is always dating rejects. But this time her boyfriend was rejected by the grave! He’s got pale skin, dark hair, mesmerizing eyes, and an annoying tendency to disappear, and he wants to have the Culpeppers over for a late-night Halloween snack. Can Amos and his best friend, Dunc, stop the vampire before he starts to bite? Or will Amy and her man do a little necking she will never forget? Join Dunc and Amos on their creepiest caper yet.