by Tony Abbott
The moment Saba saw the stone, he roared.
“That’s it!” said Quill. “Throw it!”
With all her strength, Julie hurled the tiny stone. When it struck the sand, the stone burst into a river of bright, churning water. It roared like a dragon and swept around Saba, pulling him under for an instant. He came bobbing up and dragged himself to the River Dragon’s far bank.
“We stopped him!” said Neal. “That’s awesome!”
“The other treasures,” said Eric.
Max pulled the seed from the pocket of his robe. “With a little water, I can grow a tree and show Galen where we are. I can send a signal!”
“Oh, this is good,” said Quill, scribbling on his scroll. “Use the seed, use the seed!”
Quickly scooping a hole in the sand, Max planted the seed. In seconds, a gizzleberry tree sprouted up from the ground and grew whole. Its berries — purple, rose, yellow, ruby, green, blue — gleamed like jewels in the dark night and sprayed light into the dark air.
“It’s like a rainbow!” said Keeah. “I hope Galen can see it —”
All at once, Neal jumped. “Ahh! The Talos!” he cried. The spectacles jumped off his head, flipped and turned and wiggled and clicked in the air until both lenses stood end to end on their wire frame, facing each other. The Talos shot into the air and hovered over the blazing tree, shining the berries’ light with a powerful force. A sharp rainbow-colored beam of light shot up into the night sky, reaching nearly up to the stairs.
“Whoa!” gasped Neal. “The Talos is like a supersonic spotlight.”
“The ripple stick!” said Quill, scribbling furiously. “Theesha’s musical stick must do something, too!”
Keeah took the little stick covered with metal rings from her belt. The moment she shook the stick — shing-a-ling! — the splashing, tinkling sound of the tiny rings rippled into the light shooting up from the Talos and formed the shape of steps.
The shape of steps!
“Unbelievable!” Eric gasped.
The stairs of rainbow light kept rolling upward farther and farther as Galen’s stairs kept coming down. Then, as if drawn by their own mirror image, Galen’s stairs curved away from Ko’s revolving disk.
“The staircase is turning,” said Julie. “Of course it is! From the very first time we found it, it curved through the air to Droon.”
The two sets of stairs met in midair, high above the earth. When the steps joined, they formed a single staircase much brighter than each half had been separately. At that moment, the moon edged up over the horizon, and turned the desert sand to silver.
Now, young Galen came racing down from the very top of the gleaming staircase. At first he descended two steps at a time, then in longer, faster strides.
Meanwhile, Saba was still trying to cross the water, but the River Dragon churned more violently, tossing him roughly back to its far shore.
“No!” Ko roared. He leaped up from his throne. With his thunderous voice, he bellowed at the children. “You shall not win! You shall not —”
He leaped across the sand to Saba’s side. Together, the eyes of the Emperor and his phantom burned like a furnace.
“Blast the beasts, Eric!” shouted Keeah. “Blast them as you never have before —”
Eric joined Keeah at the top of a dune overlooking the charging emperor and his phantom. His hands were raised and sprinkling silver sparks.
Finally, he let go with all the power in him.
KA — WHAMMM!
The sound of the explosion rocked the desert. Ko was knocked back a hundred feet, landing facedown on his black disk. Saba was hurled across the ground until he was completely covered in silver sand.
The emperor of the beasts and his phantom howled on the ground but were not able to get up.
Neal, Julie, and Max dashed to their friends. Quill leaped up from Eric’s turban.
“We did it!” cried Neal.
“So did he,” said Keeah, turning.
They all looked back just in time to see Galen jump from the bottom of the stairs into Droon for the very first time. Looking back up at the stairs, he smiled and waved the wand. The staircase twinkled, sparked, and faded into the silver night.
A moment later, Galen leaped easily over the river, raced across the shimmering sand, and was gone.
Quill wiggled. “A happy ending. And a new beginning. I like that!”
Ko climbed to his feet, and Saba melted into him. When the emperor saw that both the stairs and Galen were gone, he sank to the ground again. Bowing his horned head, he began pounding his four fists on the sand. Thump-thump … thump-thump …
“Maybe we should leave now,” said Neal.
Julie rushed to the river, put her hands into it, and pulled. The river vanished and was a stone again.
“One last thing.” Eric ran to where the staircase had been. Lying on the sand was a small purple object. Trembling, he picked it up. It was the petal from the Wand of Urik he had seen fall the moment Galen had created the staircase.
“The fifth treasure,” he said. “We need this to make the staircase come again.”
“Speaking of coming again,” said Quill. “I think we all know what’s coming now!”
KKKK! Light flashed across the night sky. The magical storm was upon them again.
Keeah gave a sharp whistle. “To the pilkas, everyone!” she shouted. “Let’s ride!”
The enchanted pilkas charged toward them, and together the five friends leaped into their saddles and raced into the storm.
No sooner had they flown into the whirling wind than they flew out again, right into the Kalahar Valley. It was nearly midnight. The city of Ro was tilting out of the clouds and diving toward the children. From the sight of King Zello and Queen Relna waving from the Tower’s top, the kids knew they were back in the present again.
“Hurry!” cried Vasa, waving next to them, “our time is up —”
As the enchanted pilkas flew up from the ground and into the city, the clouds tore open again. And the black palace of Emperor Ko dived at them, too, its fires blazing.
The flying city of Ro zigzagged away from the emperor’s speeding palace, its engines sputtering and smoking.
Whoosh! The enchanted pilkas soared straight to the top of the Tower and circled while the kids hopped down one by one. Along with King Zello, Queen Relna, Khan, and the Guardians, were row upon row of the Zorfendorf royal guard.
“You’re safe!” cried Relna, hugging Keeah.
“With all five treasures,” said Max.
“Archers!” boomed Zello.
With one swift motion, the soldiers aimed their arrows, and Relna ran along the wall, zapping the tip of each one with a spark of sapphire light. The points blazed in the midnight air.
“Wizard fire!” gasped Quill. “Ko won’t like that.”
Keeah nudged Eric. “Shall we give Ko a little wizard fire of our own?”
Eric smiled. “Oh, yeah!”
Just as Ko’s terrifying black ship bore down on them, the two wizards joined with Relna.
“Wait …” said Zello, holding his hand up. “Wait … wait …”
All at once, the flying city turned and faced Ko’s palace.
“And … now!” shouted the king.
WHOOOOM! Fifty sizzling arrows — and the combined blasts of Relna, Keeah, and Eric — lit up the midnight sky.
At once, Ko’s palace plummeted toward the earth. A wailing stream of beasts shot out the ship’s back door just before it slammed into the ground and burst into a thousand flaming pieces.
“Bull’s-eye!” yelled Eric.
A cheer went up from the Tower of Memory. Ko’s terrible floating palace had been completely destroyed.
As the flying city of Ro hovered above the wreckage, Ko staggered to his feet on the ground below. He roared a command to his beasts.
Massing together, they collected what was left of his ship and dragged it back across the ground to the Dark Lands.
“
I can’t believe it,” said Keeah. “We did it!”
“He’ll be back,” said Zello. “But not tonight. For the moment, this battle is over.”
“While another battle begins in the Upper World,” said Relna. “Let’s hurry.”
* * *
The next ten minutes — before the hour of midnight struck — were a blur of activity. The beautiful flying city of Ro landed safely in the Kalahar Valley, and the Rovians cheerfully began the work of collecting diamonds.
As they did, Bodo and Vasa called the children and Max to the front steps of the palace, where the voyagers returned their caravan clothes.
“You have protected Droon’s history today,” said Bodo. “Each of you, in his or her own way, has played a part. All of Droon is thankful.”
“There are so many stories and legends in Droon’s past,” said Vasa. “And you have been characters in quite a few of them.”
“Don’t I know it!” said Quill. “I’d have a cramp from writing them all down, except that I don’t have hands!”
Neal grinned suddenly. “If we’ve been in legends, does that mean that we’re legendary?”
Bodo laughed. “It does! But we’ve known this for a long, long time!”
“All right!” Neal cheered.
With a signal from the little Rovian with the yellow helmet, Vasa nodded. “So the time has come. Our diamonds are on board; the Tower of Memory is safe. Droon’s history is repaired. The treasures must be restored.”
Bodo opened the empty chest.
Max placed the gizzleberry seed in the very bottom, and Keeah laid Theesha’s ripple stick next to it. Neal handed over the Talos, which had transformed itself back into a pair of spectacles, while Julie put the small stone by its side.
When Eric held out the petal from the Wand of Urik, Vasa shook his head. “Not yet. This petal is the greatest treasure of them all. It serves another purpose as well. The time has come to bring the staircase back.”
As the moon rose right overhead, the friends gathered in a small circle in the courtyard of the Guardians’ palace.
“This is it,” said Eric, glancing at Neal and Julie and Keeah. “I hope this works….”
“I hope so, too,” said Julie.
“Hey, you gotta have faith,” said Neal.
Together, the five friends held the petal.
It jiggled and wiggled.
It flew out of their hands, dropped to the ground, and — whoosh! — the rainbow staircase curved up before them, rising to the sky more blindingly bright than ever before.
“Yes! It’s back!” cried Eric.
“And it’s as beautiful as it was the night Galen created it,” said Julie.
Keeah smiled. “We should know. We were there.”
“Helping Galen through five hundred years has made this one moment possible,” said Max. “It’s so … magical!”
Neal shook his head slowly. “Five hundred years. Man, we are old!”
Eric’s heart was racing. “Are we ready?”
Khan jumped. “Me, for sure!”
“And me!” added Max.
The queen smiled. “We’re all going!”
Looking at his friends, Eric laughed. “Why do I feel another adventure coming?”
Keeah laughed, too. “Because there’s always another adventure!”
The moon glowed brightly as the small army of Droon’s heroes said good-bye to Quill, the Guardians, and the citizens of Ro and raced up the stairs to find Sparr and Gethwing and bring them back to Droon.
Before they were halfway up, the city of Ro began to rise quickly under the silver moon. Its thousands of lights twinkled and flashed and finally dissolved into the night sky.
Leaping up the stairs again, Eric remembered — just like Galen had — the very first time he had entered Droon. He had been so full of excitement and wonder at his new adventure.
Now, as they all raced up the stairs together — up beyond the clouds of midnight and through the morning stars — he felt the same about his home.
It was full of adventure now, too.
“To the Upper World!” Eric called out.
“To the Upper World!” everyone cheered.
Call me Sparr. I am a sorcerer. An enchanter. A conjuror. Dark magic sings in my veins. My powers are nearly limitless. Spells, charms, curses — I’ve used them all to achieve my goals.
My enemies call me “pure evil.”
Still, I didn’t start out that way, did I?
I like to think I was a friendly little child, very much like you. I loved to run and play and climb and jump. I even had a cute puppy who followed me everywhere.
What could make me turn so bad? Why do I use dark powers? Most important, how did I really become Lord Sparr?
Hold on tight, my friend, and I’ll tell you. It’s a bumpy ride. A thrilling adventure. There are some funny parts. Perhaps you’ll even shed a tear or two.
Most of all, look closely and you’ll see … everything. Let’s begin with this morning. Look there. There. In the sky!
* * *
Whoosh-shoosh! Rough winds stung my weathered face. Waves crashed and spat icy water into my piercing eyes. Arrows, flaming and deadly, whizzed swiftly past my head.
“Faster!” I cried. “Into the clouds! Fly!”
I dug in my heels and — zzzt-zzzt-whoooosh! — the great shiny wings of my Golden Wasp blurred with speed. Up we swept over the stormy waves.
“Excuse me, but they’re catching up, you know,” grumbled a voice at my shoulder. “I can smell their bad breath.”
That was Kem, my two-headed pet dog. Nearly as old as me, Kem had been my companion almost from the beginning. We had been through a lot together.
We were about to go through more.
Fwing — clang! A flaming stinger struck the Wasp’s tail and shot off into the clouds.
Sneaking a look behind me, I spied a sky nearly black with tangled swarms of fiery wingsnakes. The fearsome, four-winged moon dragon called Gethwing led them through the air.
Down below, slicing across the dark waves of the Serpent Sea in his ship, was the twin-horned, three-eyed beast ruler himself, Emperor Ko. Behind him swam a vast force of beasts.
They were all after me.
“You shall never escape me and my army, you traitor!” the emperor’s thunderous voice boomed.
“Unless my wingsnakes and I destroy you first!” cried Gethwing.
Kem held on more tightly. “Hmm. You and me against a million bad guys. Nice odds. Too bad we don’t have many friends.”
“Many friends?” I snorted. “Try any friends!” In the far distance, I saw the royal fleet of King Zello and Queen Relna, sailing away across the dark seas. I had battled them and their daughter, Keeah, for many years. I’d fought the master wizard Galen and the children from the Upper World — Eric Hinkle, Julie Rubin, and Neal Kroger — for a long time, too. None of them were about to help me.
My thoughts and feelings stormed inside me as I watched the fleet fade into the distance. For a time — a brief time — I had been a boy again and had become their good friend.
I would lie if I said that meant nothing.
But while they were leaving, my enemies were gaining on me, closing in faster, faster.
“Sparr, I will find you!” shouted Ko. “I will stop you! I will have my Coiled Viper back!”
Ah, yes, the Coiled Viper.
Perhaps the most dangerous of my Three Powers, the Viper was a large gold crown in the shape of a snake twined upon itself.
I had used the Viper to bring Ko back from his four-century sleep. It was the Viper that gave him his awesome power. It was the Viper that transformed me from a sorcerer into the ten-year-old boy who became the children’s friend. And it was the Viper that finally turned me back into my bad old self again.
Right now, the magical crown was hooked safely on my belt.
“I’d get rid of that thing,” yelled Kem. “Maybe Ko will even let us go. Maybe?”
I grimaced at the dog. We both knew that wasn’t true. I had betrayed Ko by stealing the Viper from him. Now he would pursue me to the ends of the earth.
And the ends of the earth, it seemed, was just where we were going.
“Faster, Wasp!” I cried. “And take a left!”
Whoosh! We made a vast loop away from the sea, soared over a mountaintop, then dived out of the clouds and over the rugged land below. In the distance lay the hollow of a deep valley.
Ah! I thought. The Valley of Pits!
The ruins of a great old palace lay almost hidden under the sands of the valley. They were the remains of Ko’s old empire of Goll. Ko needed the Viper to help him bring his dark empire back.
“Look there,” said Kem, craning his necks as we swept over the ruins. “The Ninns. They’re waiting for you to return to them.”
I glanced down. Camped out in an oasis among the palace ruins was a small troop of plump red-faced warriors called Ninns. The Ninns are a tribe that goes back to the very beginning of Goll.
“Never mind them,” I said, as we headed out to sea again. “I have the Skorth now.”
Kem snorted. “Oh, yeah. Fun guys, the Skorth. Always a riot.”
The Warriors of the Skorth were not fun. They were a ruthless race of soulless skeleton soldiers. Right now they sailed below us in their fleet of ghostly ships. Nearly unconquerable, they had agreed to help me fight Ko. Their numbers were in the thousands.
I swept low and hailed them. “Skorth! Turn your ships. Stop Ko from coming any farther until I escape!”
The ghost ships slowed, turned, and formed an unwavering wall against Ko’s advancing serpents. A fierce battle began.
This didn’t stop Gethwing, however. The moon dragon’s flock of wingsnakes banked suddenly behind us and swooped like a tattered, windblown scarf across the air.
“Faster, Wasp!” I cried.
My buzzing creature redoubled its speed while I swung around, flicked my fingers, and sent off several powerful blasts at our pursuers.
Blam-blam-blam! The wingsnakes arched up to avoid my blasts, then responded with an attack of flaming stingers.
“Dive, quickly!” I yelled.
The Wasp spun violently out of the way, and my hand clutched instinctively at my cloak pocket. When we righted again, I pulled out a little stone and held it tight in my fist.