“This just can’t get any worse,” yelled Mayor Gordon in despair.
Just then, a group of savage-looking red dragunos appeared at the ledge.
“Master Simon,” Holo said quickly from within Simon’s pocket, “did I fail to mention about the red dragunos?”
“Yes, what about them?”
The red dragunos opened their mouths and took a deep breath.
“They breathe fire.”
Chapter 25
The Final Battle of the Dragunos
“Ahhhh!” screamed Thornapple as the red lizards sprayed a barrage of fire from their mouths.
The first stream hit the spiders above, but the second one headed right towards the party. Before the flame made contact, the rope slipped off the stalactite, and the group swung towards the other side of the cliff. Just as they struck the wall, Harr extended his legs and absorbed most of the blow, but upon impact, Thornapple lost his grip and fell. With quick reflexes, Little Har shot out his hand and grabbed the small boy in midair.
“Hold on,” Har said slowly as he pulled Thornapple onto his back.
“That was a close one. You saved me!”
“Go!” Grog urged Tonya to climb.
She peered down at the hot lava and clung desperately to the rope. “I can’t,” she cried. “I’m not strong enough.”
“It okay,” Grog said, pulling himself up the rope. He climbed past Tonya without even using his legs and got onto the ledge above. “I help.”
The giant man grabbed the rope and started to pull the entire party upwards. His enormous muscles flexed as he heaved, and beads of sweat ran down his face. Dr. Troodle just stood there and watched the amazing feat in awe.
Suddenly, a spider web wrapped around the giant’s bare arm. He looked up just in time to see another thread strike his shoulder. The acidic web steamed as it burned into his flesh.
Grog grabbed the thin strand on his shoulder and gave it a good snap, which in turn threw the web’s owner into the neighboring spiders. He continued to make the spiders collide into each other by whipping the thread around and around.
“Little man,” he barked at Dr. Troodle, “get knife!”
Dr. Troodle grabbed the dagger from Grog’s belt and jumped on the man’s back. “I promise I’ll never eat another one of you again,” he vowed while cutting vigorously at the white thread attached to the giant’s shoulder.
When the doctor had finally severed the web, Grog gave the remaining strand a huge tug, which caused the silky thread to release itself from the ceiling. The unsuspecting arachnid fell down the cliff but stopped before hitting the lake, while the rest of the spiders scattered.
Now Grog held the party with one hand and a giant spider with the other. The spider began to climb, so Grog jerked the acidic thread up and down, forcing the eight-legged creature to slide down its own web.
Dr. Troodle leaned over Grog’s shoulder and sliced the thread with the knife. He sighed in relief as the huge spider fell into the molten lava below.
On the other side of the chasm, the red dragunos were mowing down the remaining spiders with their fiery breath. This gave Grog some free time to help his companions.
The big Pud pulled Tonya to safety. Mayor Gordon and Simon came next, followed by Little Har—with Thornapple still clinging to his back.
Harr climbed onto the ledge last. For a few seconds, he just lay there, wheezing and holding his side. He forced himself to stand, but after taking one step, he collapsed.
“Are you all right?” Dr. Troodle asked. He grabbed the giant’s wrist and felt for a pulse. “You saved my life, you big oaf. You can’t quit now.”
“Legs,” Harr groaned.
The doctor quickly inspected Harr’s legs and said, “Looks like you fractured them. Well, there’s only one thing to do now… I’ll have to put you out of your misery.”
Harr’s eyes grew big.
“I’m just joking!” Dr. Troodle said, laughing. “Look, about what I said earlier. I get a little cranky when I’m nervous. Can we just… can we just forget about our past and be friends?”
The small Pud reached out his hand. Harr stared for a long and awkward moment at the tiny hand extended to him, the hand that represented years of oppression and cruelty, the hand that, as fate would have it, now pleaded for reconciliation. How could a hand such as this ever change? He looked up to see Little Har beaming with pride; Thornapple was thanking him profusely for saving his life. The innocence and selflessness of his son brought a tear to his eye. With forgiveness in his heart, he clasped Dr. Troodle’s hand and said in a slow, deep voice, “Friends.”
“We’ve got company,” Tonya shouted.
Simon glanced up to see scores of smaller spiders clambering down the wall. Grog picked up Harr and followed the party into the tunnel. An iron grate obstructed the pathway.
“Oh, no,” Thornapple said.
“Stand back,” Simon yelled. “Tonya, give me your wand.”
The young woman pulled up her baby doll dress and brought out her wand.
“Wow! You bring that thing everywhere,” Thornapple said.
Simon grabbed the wand, tapped the iron bars, and yelled, “Open!”
The huge grate split open from the middle and rolled to each side like flimsy chicken wire. At that same moment, the army of baby spiders came racing into the tunnel. Just beyond the grate stood an open doorway leading to a brightly lit chamber. As they entered the strange room, the party soon discovered that it had no exit. They were trapped.
“How do you shut this?” Thorn cried.
He pressed a button nearby, and the doorway vanished into the wall—not a second too soon.
“What is this place?” Tonya mumbled in her native tongue.
The spacious room was in the shape of a cylinder with round walls and a circular top and bottom. Artificial light emanated from behind the paneling, and hundreds of colorful buttons adorned the white walls.
Holo poked her head out of Simon’s pocket and responded, “I really couldn’t tell you, young lady. This wasn’t here before.”
Tonya jumped in surprise. “Simon, your little friend’s speaking to me.”
“Well, if you would have told me you speak Chamelean, I would have spoken to you earlier. By the way, my designation is Holo-649.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Tonya.”
“Tonya—what a lovely name. And I assume you’re from Chamel? I once suggested to my previous master that he marry a woman from Chamel, but he insisted on marrying someone from Pudo instead. Tonya, I just love your hair.”
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “I’ve been growing it out since birth—or at least, it seems like it.”
Tonya’s hair turned to its natural green color.
“That’s what I like about Chameleans: You wear your feelings on your sleeve.”
“Will you two stop chattering?” Dr. Troodle broke in. “I’m trying to concentrate here.”
“I think it’s some sort of puzzle,” Mayor Gordon said. “Our ancestors probably used this room as a filtering process to keep unwanted guests out. I bet that—” He stopped in midsentence when he noticed Little Har reaching for one of the buttons. “Uh, son—Har, isn’t it?—please don’t touch that.”
It was too late. The floor began to spin around.
“Get to the center of the room,” the mayor yelled. “Don’t touch anything!”
The room spun so fast that they struggled to stay on their feet. After losing his balance, Thornapple rolled across the floor and crashed into the wall. Unfortunately, when he hit the wall, he accidentally pressed some more buttons. Laser bolts ricocheted in every direction.
Dr. Troodle ran for his life as a row of lasers chased him down. When he reached the outer edge of the room, he tried to turn, but his momentum carried him into the wall—just as his son had done a moment earlier.
The floor slowed down, and the lasers stopped firing. Dr. Troodle cautiously moved his hand away from the button he had inadvertently pressed.
Overcome with dizziness, he fell to the ground and rested. Everyone else appeared to be suffering from vertigo as well.
About the time the room finally stopped rotating, a compartment opened, and two flying disks emerged. At first they seemed harmless, but then a row of sharp blades extended out of the spinning saucers, revealing to everyone how dangerous they really were.
“Oh, boy,” Simon moaned as the spinning blades grew even longer.
Little Har started to run, and the disks followed close behind.
“Duck!” Simon shouted.
He did as he was told, and the disks whizzed over him, scraped against the wall, and then headed towards Dr. Troodle, who was also trying to get away. Tonya and Thornapple split up and ran to the opposite sides of the room, which caused the disks to veer away from the doctor and chase after the two teenagers. Before Thornapple reached the wall, he fell to the ground, and as a result, the spinning saucer immediately turned around and zoomed towards Tonya.
“No move,” said Harr, who had been lying on the floor, watching the whole thing.
“He’s right,” exclaimed the mayor. “They’re motion sensitive.”
Upon reaching the side wall, Tonya turned and froze. Spinning like saw blades, the disks whizzed through the air and stopped right in front of her face. The terrified girl whimpered as the sharp blades moved dangerously close to her forehead.
“Tonya, listen to me,” Simon said in a soothing voice. “Just relax. Everything is going to be okay.”
A white streak ran down her hair, and in response, one of the saucers cut off several of her beautiful, long ringlets. As the green and white locks fell to the ground, the disks reacted to the movement by dicing the strands into tiny pieces.
“Tonya, close your eyes,” Simon instructed. “Listen to my voice. Don’t think about anything else.”
Two more streaks of white appeared in her hair. The deadly saucers jumped from the floor, but by the time they reached her shoulders, the movement was gone. Like insects studying an object, the spinning disks observed her hair closely for any sign of further movement.
Tonya could hear terrible humming noises as the sharp blades spun ever-so-close to her bare neck. One false move and she would be dead. Although her eyes were closed, she could feel the tears start to well up.
“Tonya!” Simon called out in panic, fearing that he was about to lose his best friend. His voice sounded a bit shaky, but he tried to console her anyway. “Remember the time, back on Earth, when I grabbed your wand and tried to stop that sports car? You told me later that I was holding it backwards.”
A troubled yet faint smile appeared on the young girl’s face. The saucers were too busy examining her damaged hair to notice the subtle movement.
“Remember the time when you were teaching me how to dance? We were all alone, and you started to hum… How did that song go?”
The helpless girl began to hum nervously.
“Yeah, that’s it.” Simon hummed along.
“I remember how beautiful the sky was that day. The ocean seemed to go on forever, and I never wanted the moment to stop… I remember how beautiful you were…” Simon paused in deep reflection and then, without even thinking, spoke his inner thoughts aloud. “I almost kissed you.”
Tonya opened her eyes and stopped humming. At that same moment, the spinning disks slowly moved away and returned to the compartment where they had come from. Everyone in the room exhaled at the same time.
“Whew! That was too close for comfort,” Mayor Gordon said. “All right, everyone, get into the center of the room while I try to solve this puzzle.”
“While we solve this puzzle,” Dr. Troodle contended.
Tonya moved from the wall and sat next to Simon. Neither of them said a word, but they seemed to understand one another, nonetheless. Simon reached over and gently held her trembling hand.
“I’ve got it,” declared the mayor. “Look! There’s twenty-nine green buttons, eleven red ones, and thirty-one yellow ones. Each set is a prime number. When you add them all together, what do you get?”
“Seventy-one!” Dr. Troodle exclaimed. “Another prime number!”
“Precisely. Now none of the other colors seem to follow that same pattern. Furthermore, if we take into consideration that red and yellow are also primary colors, we can now delve further into the equation by examining the distinctiveness of the green buttons…”
“So you almost kissed me,” Tonya said without looking at Simon. “What stopped you?”
“Well, you know.” Simon squirmed. “I didn’t know if you wanted me to, and then Thorn showed up, and we started doing magic, and I just kinda never thought about it again.”
“Oh.”
“Did you want me to kiss you?”
Tonya rolled her eyes.
“So there we have it!” Mayor Gordon exclaimed.
“Excellent work,” Dr. Troodle said.
“So which one is it?” asked Simon.
“This one.” The mayor pointed to a purple button.
“Are you sure?”
“Well, 99.3 percent sure.”
“Close enough,” Dr. Troodle added. “Everyone ready?”
Tonya squeezed Simon’s hand as the doctor pressed the purple button. In a flash, several dozen shafts of metal—each with sharp, pointed ends—sprang from the ceiling. Some of them pierced the floor, but most of them stopped a few feet short of the ground.
“How perplexing,” Mayor Gordon said. “Is everyone all right?”
No one was hurt, but Grog had gotten scared when one of the spikes thrust into the ground between his legs.
“All right,” the mayor said, getting everyone’s attention. “Sorry about that. Now I’m almost certain the correct button is actually this one.”
“I was going to suggest that button, too,” Dr. Troodle noted.
“Okay, one more time. Everybody get ready.” Mayor Gordon pushed the button, and the long shafts of metal started to slowly retract back into the ceiling. “See! What did I tell you?”
Suddenly, a grinding noise screeched throughout the room. The spikes halted and then began to tremble.
“Looks like they’re stuck,” Dr. Troodle said.
“Frankly, I’m surprised these traps are still functioning in the first place,” the mayor said. “After all these years—”
“Watch out!” yelled Thorn.
Several of the spikes fell from the ceiling and struck the floor, shattering the hard surface. As the grinding noise got louder, smoke began to collect at the borders of the ceiling.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Tonya said, standing up.
“Tonya!” Simon yelled in shock.
Her long, greenish white hair—at least, what was left of it—was slowly rising up into the air.
“What’s going on?” Thorn cried as his feet left the floor. Soon, the entire party was floating in the air.
“Amazing!” Mayor Gordon exclaimed. “Our ancestors discovered how to manipulate gravity.”
Just then, the ceiling began to descend upon them. Everyone grabbed the spikes to hold themselves in place, but every time a spike touched the floor, the metal would buckle and then break loose from the ceiling. It was all they could do to hang on.
“Don’t anybody panic,” the mayor said. “We just need to readjust our equation a little.”
Simon felt as though he were falling, but he didn’t know which direction: up or down. Tonya hugged a spike with all her might, while Dr. Troodle spun out of control, banging into the metal spears as he went. The altered gravity didn’t have as much effect on the larger Puds, who were bouncing off the floor like floundering fish, but everyone else continued to struggle with the zero gravity.
Thorn climbed upside down to reach the floor again, but the shaft he held broke free from the ceiling. Like a monkey jumping in slow motion, the little Pud leapt from the spike and maneuvered himself between two other shafts. With his body parallel to the ground, he felt like he was flying.
Panic-stricken, Thorn looked up to see the round ceiling still closing in on them. He glanced at the curved wall, and for a second, the colorful buttons reminded him of stars in the sky. The awkward viewpoint afforded him the ability to look at the puzzle with a brand-new perspective and, literally, from a new angle. Just as the two spikes he held were about to touch the ground, Thornapple finally exclaimed, “I see it! It was right there all the time!”
“What do you see, son?” asked Mayor Gordon from behind.
“Look at the white buttons. They form an arrow.”
“I don’t see it,” the mayor said in a discouraged voice.
Simon looked across the room and laughed when he saw the outline of a white arrow pointing to a solitary button. Using the zero gravity to his advantage, Thornapple swung himself to the wall—almost sliding across the floor as he did so—and confidently pressed the button.
The ceiling immediately stopped moving, and an opening appeared in the wall. The gravity in the room returned back to normal, and everyone slid down the spikes.
“I don’t see it either,” Dr. Troodle said, brushing himself off and gazing intently at the colorful buttons.
Tonya picked herself up and laughed. “I guess I was wrong about you, Thorn. Maybe you do have some creative abilities after all. Miracles never cease.”
Dr. Troodle and the mayor continued to stare at the wall while the rest of the party exited the room. Little Har stood next to them for a moment and then declared before leaving, “Har see arrow!”
“What arrow?” the doctor growled.
“This is the most frustrating puzzle I’ve ever come across,” Mayor Gordon mumbled.
“Dad, are you coming?”
“In a minute, Thorn.”
“Dr. Troodle, we really need to go,” Simon said.
Reluctantly, the two small Puds left the room and followed the rest of the party. The group walked down a dim corridor and found themselves facing yet another door.
“Simon, will you do the honors?” Mayor Gordon asked after struggling with the doorhandle.
“Of course.”
The young wizard pulled out Tonya’s wand from his pocket, tapped the door, and was about to cast the Open spell when he sneezed. Simon regained his composure and then tapped the door again and said loudly, “Open!”
Paraworld Zero Page 28