by Tracey West
“We have found no sign of Mordred,” Cador told him. “But a new villain has emerged—the Binary Bard. He is the creator of the hideous mechanical beasts we have found.”
“But isn’t that the same thing Mordred is famous for?” Alice pointed out. “He made robot beasts, too.”
The two knights looked stumped. Sir Gawain shrugged. “Listen, we’re just trying to find the Princess. Does it really matter who kidnapped her?”
Alice realized there was no use arguing with the knights. Simon looked at her and shrugged, then slid back into the pilot’s seat. He hit the LAUNCH lever and piloted to their next destination: the Fire Planet. Through the window, it was easy to see how the planet got its name. The whole globe pulsated with red and orange flame.
They landed on a small rock sticking out of the bubbling lava that covered the planet’s surface. Through the window, they could see the landscape, studded with volcanoes and geysers spewing steaming lava.
“I think we should check out that big volcano just over there,” Simon said, pointing.
“How?” Alice asked. “That bubbling liquid will melt us like cheese fondue.”
Simon pointed to the geysers. “See how there is a flat stone on top most of the geysers? We can jump on the first stone, and then when the geyser pushes us up, we can jump to the next and then the next, until we get to the volcano.”
Alice nodded. “That should work.” She turned to the two knights. “Let me guess. You guys want to stay here and guard the ship, right?”
“We will guard it with our lives!” Sir Gawain and Sir Cador promised.
“Right,” Simon said. He took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s go save the Princess!”
“She’s got to be here,” Alice said hopefully. “It’s our last stop.”
A blanket of blazing heat hit Simon and Alice as they stepped out of the rocket. Red-hot lava bubbled all around them. The nearest geyser was a short jump away, but the lava raised the stone on top up and down, up and down.
Working together, Simon and Alice crossed the lava by timing their jumps from stone to stone perfectly. The last jump deposited them at the mouth of the big volcano. It wasn’t steaming, like the others on the planet.
“It must be dormant,” Alice guessed. “That means it won’t erupt. At least I hope it won’t.”
Simon grabbed her hand.
“There’s a ledge down there,” he said. “Let’s jump.”
They jumped together and landed on a ledge of dark brown stone.
“It’s like a maze in here,” Alice remarked, gazing down into the belly of the volcano. Ledges of rock jutted out from the volcano’s walls, creating a treacherous, zigzag passage to the bottom. “We might as well go down.”
Alice jumped down to the next level. Simon jumped down next to her—and was immediately hit by a hot wave of steam that glittered with yellow flecks.
“Hey!” he cried, ducking. “I thought you said this volcano was dormant.”
“I guess there are updrafts coming from the magma way down below,” Alice said. “When we see one coming, we’ll just avoid it.”
Luckily, the yellow flecks in the hot steam made it easy to spot when an updraft was coming. The two friends jumped and ducked, jumped and ducked, until they reached a long, cool passageway at the bottom of the volcano.
“What’s that?” Simon asked.
A strange creature was blocking their path. It looked like a snake made of brown rocks linked together. Each rock had one unblinking eye.
“I don’t know,” Alice admitted. “But at least it doesn’t have a mouth or fangs. I think we can jump over it.”
Alice took a running leap, and the rock creature formed itself into a circle and blocked her path, knocking her backward. Then the rocks broke apart and quickly began to reassemble.
“Tricky little critter,” Alice said, dusting herself off. “Hurry, Simon! Before it puts itself back together.”
They both ran as fast as they could and leaped over the creature. They both landed on the other side and kept going—and ran right into a knight wearing orange armor.
“Greetings, strangers,” he said. “I am Sir Pelleas. I was sent to find the Princess, but alas, I have failed.”
“We know,” Simon said. “The king sent us to find you. We found Sir Gawain and Sir Cador. They are safe and waiting in our ship.”
Sir Pelleas raised his helmet. “I thought you two looked familiar! I’m glad you’re here. A fearsome beast dwells in the cave, and I believe he holds the Princess captive. The beast is too strong for me, but perhaps the two of you can defeat it. Here, take my arrow.”
The knight handed Simon the blue Ice Arrow. Another mystical weapon! Simon studied its blue, shining arrowhead in wonder.
“You should use the weapon this time,” Alice said. “I’ll back you up.”
“Godspeed, warriors!” Sir Pelleas called after them.
Simon and Alice slowly made their way into the dark cave.
“Do you think it’s another trick?” Alice asked.
“Probably,” Simon said. “But we have to try.”
Boom! A fireball came out of the darkness, landing at their feet. The cave lit up, and they saw the creature that had thrown it—a green mechanical dragon with spikes on top of its serpentine body. Instead of legs, the bottom of the beast was made up of the treads of a battle tank.
“Oh no!” Simon wailed. “It’s a fire-breathing dragon!”
Chapter Eighteen
The Crystal Gate
Boom! Boom! The dragon, which sat on a high platform, shot two more fireballs at them. Simon and Alice each jumped in a different direction to avoid it.
Simon waited until the dragon stopped shooting fireballs and then hurled the Ice Arrow at it. The arrow struck the dragon but didn’t seem to do any damage. Then it magically appeared back in Simon’s hands.
“It didn’t work!” Simon cried, dodging another fireball.
“Try shooting it into its mouth!” Alice yelled back. “The fireballs are coming from inside the dragon’s belly, right? I bet the arrow will cool them down.”
Simon waited until another fireball whizzed by and then jumped out from the safety of the cave wall. He hurled the arrow again, but the dragon quickly closed its mouth.
“It’s impossible!” Simon wailed. But then he spotted something over by the dragon’s tail—a lever.
“Alice, I have an idea. Can you jump over the dragon and pull that lever?” he called out to his friend.
“No problem!” Alice answered.
She jumped up and grabbed a metal chain hanging from the cave ceiling. Then she swung from chain to chain until she was safely behind the dragon. She ran underneath its tail and pulled the lever.
The dragon’s mouth opened, and Simon leaped forward and hurled the arrow into the fiery opening. Steam came from the dragon’s nostrils, and a fireball popped out—but this one was weak and fizzling.
“I think it’s working!” Simon said as the arrow magically appeared in his hand again. “Again!”
Alice pulled a lever, and Simon aimed another arrow at the dragon’s mouth. This time, the beast began to tremble. More steam came out of its nostrils.
“One more time!” Simon yelled.
Bam! With the help of Alice, Simon got one more Ice Arrow down the dragon’s throat. The mechanical beast began to rumble and shake.
“Alice, get out of there, quick!” Simon warned.
Alice jumped up and grabbed a chain just as the metal platform holding up the dragon cracked in two. The beast slid into the bubbling lava below. Then she swung across the chains and landed safely next to Simon.
“We did it!” she cheered, and the friends hugged.
They left the cave and approached Sir Pelleas.
“We defeated the beast,” Simon reported. “But there’s no Princess in there.”
“We have been fooled by the Binary Bard!” the knight said. “He must be hiding the Princess elsewhere. We must find her!”
Without waiting for Alice and Simon, he began to swiftly climb out of the volcano. They caught up to him and led him to the rocket, where the knights welcomed Sir Pelleas with hearty slaps on the back. While the three knights talked about their adventures, Simon slid into the pilot’s seat and quickly checked the ship’s stats.
“Let’s go back to the Pewter Moon and recharge our shields,” he said. “We need time to figure out a plan, anyway.”
He steered back to the Pewter Moon. While Simon worked on the shields, Alice walked over to the knights and politely curtsied.
“Excuse me, noble knights,” she said. “We need your help. We looked for the Princess on three different planets, and all we found were three traps set by the Binary Bard. Do you have any idea where he might be?”
“I have heard that he lives in another galaxy,” Sir Cador offered.
“Yes,” agreed Sir Gawain. “To enter the galaxy, one must have a Key to the gateway.”
“Well, I heard that the Key to the gateway is on a large asteroid,” Sir Pelleas said.
Alice looked at Simon, who nodded. “Okay. So to find the Binary Bard, we need to get this Key.” He hit the LAUNCH lever. “Let’s go hunting for an asteroid!”
As they launched into space once more, Alice and the knights gathered around the control screen.
“The screen says we’re approaching an asteroid belt,” Simon explained. “Everybody hang on!”
The rocket lurched as Simon took a sharp turn to avoid bumping into an asteroid. Through the ship window, they could see a maze of bumpy brown rocks floating in space.
Sir Gawain turned a light shade of green. “I much prefer battling on the good earth of Arturus,” he said.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get home soon,” Simon said confidently. “Look!”
In the distance, they could all see a large asteroid with a crystal tower embedded in it.
“That looks like a magical gateway to me,” Alice said. “Simon, I think you’ve found it!”
The ship lurched again, sending Alice and the knights tumbling across the rocket ship.
“Oh, dear!” Sir Gawain moaned, gripping his stomach.
“Huzzah!” Simon cheered, straightening the ship as an asteroid zoomed past. Then she steered straight for the large asteroid and landed safely on the bumpy surface.
“To the gate!” Sir Pelleas cried, rushing to the door, and the others followed behind—including Merlin this time.
They climbed up the jagged side of the Crystal Tower. At the very top, they found a gold Key embedded in a large chunk of crystal. Words were inscribed on the large crystal tower behind the Key:
“When the five knights of the Quest are gathered, the Chosen Ones may pull the Key from the stone.”
“Ah, yes, that must be us,” Sir Gawain said. He put a hand on the Key, and Sir Cador and Sir Pelleas quickly added theirs.
“For Arturus!” they cried as one, and then they pulled with all their might.
The Key didn’t budge.
Sir Gawain frowned. “There must be some mistake. Once more, men!”
The knights pulled at the Key until their faces were red as lava, but they could not move it.
Alice cleared her throat. “I mean no insult, good knights, but I think the Chosen Ones must be me and Simon,” she said politely. “After all, we’re the ones who defeated the beasts.”
The knights looked at one another uncomfortably.
“How can that be?” Sir Pelleas asked. “You are not knights.”
But Sir Cador bowed to them.
“You have proven your bravery many times over,” he said. “You are, indeed, the Chosen Ones.”
Simon and Alice looked at each other and grabbed the bottom of the Key.
“One . . . two . . . three!” Simon cried, and they pulled up on the Key. It slid effortlessly from the stone.
“Incredible . . .” Sir Pelleas said in disbelief.
The writing disappeared from the crystal tower, and a swirling vortex appeared on the tower’s face. Alice grabbed Simon’s hand.
“Here we go!” she cried, and they jumped inside with Merlin flying behind them.
The vortex spat them out in what looked like a medieval city with stone towers and buildings. They jumped from a rooftop onto the street, where they found a pretty young woman wearing a purple and yellow gown and a conical hat with a white veil flowing from it.
“Hooray, you’ve found me!” she cried.
“Princess Elyana!” Simon yelled.
“Yes, and I am being held captive here,” she replied. “I need the Three Mystical Weapons to destroy this place so that we can all escape.”
“Of course,” Simon said. He took the Force Shield from his neck and handed it to her, along with the Ice Arrow. After another curtsy, Alice handed her the Laser Lance.
The Princess began to laugh—and then her voice became deep and evil. Before their eyes, she transformed from a beautiful girl into a man wearing a purple and yellow jester’s costume. Half of his face looked like a metal robot face, with one glowing red eye.
“You’re not the Princess,” Simon said accusingly. “You’re the Binary Bard!”
“Ha-ha-ha!” the bard laughed. “I must thank you for bringing me the Three Mystical Weapons!”
Chapter Nineteen
Mecha Mordred
“He tricked us again!” Alice yelled angrily.
“With the power of the weapons I’ll create the ultimate energy source,” the Binary Bard crowed. “Now nothing can stop me from taking the kingdom—and the universe! Bwaaa-ha-ha!”
Then it looked as though he simply faded away, disappearing behind a stone door with twenty rectangular panels. Alice pounded on the door with her fist.
“Come on, open up!” she yelled.
The panel she hit flipped over, along with several other random panels. The flip side revealed what looked like part of a picture.
“It’s a puzzle!” Simon exclaimed. “I bet if we solve it we can get in.”
He and Alice took turns pressing on the panels, watching carefully to see which ones flipped each time. Seconds later they had solved it, revealing a picture of the Binary Bard wearing a king’s crown. Underneath were the words, “King Mordred, Master of the Universe.”
“I knew it!” Alice cried triumphantly. “The Binary Bard and Mordred are the same person! He’s the one who attacked Arturus. And he’s the reason the Princess is missing.”
“Maybe now we’ll find out why she went with him,” Simon said.
They easily pushed open the door and found themselves in a large room that looked like a medieval cathedral with ornate stained-glass windows. But the room was filled with strange machines. On a platform in the center of the space was a cylinder filled with green liquid—and the Princess was inside!
“Help!” she screamed. “Mordred captured me and plans to make me his bride so he can rule the universe as king!”
“So you didn’t escape with him because you were in love?” Alice asked.
A dark look crossed Elyana’s face. “Mordred was not the man I thought he was. And now he must be stopped. Please hurry!”
“We can climb up and save you!” Simon said bravely.
“It might not be that easy,” Alice said, pointing.
A giant robot marched into the room. The friends quickly realized it was a robot suit with a human pilot inside. Through the dome on top of the robot’s head they could see Mordred working the controls. A green glowing orb floated above the dome, and the mecha robot held a jagged green sword in e
ach metal hand.
“You fools! Nothing can stop the power of my creations!” Mordred cried.
Hoot! Hoot! Merlin flew off Alice’s shoulder and soared toward Mordred.
“Merlin! You traitor!” Mordred cried. He moved the robot’s arms so that the swords twirled in front of him, protecting the dome.
Merlin kept trying to fly near the green orb, but Mordred swatted it away each time.
Merlin crashed into the robot’s body again, and this time, several round bombs tumbled out. The owl swooped down and grabbed one of the bombs and then flew up above the mecha’s head and dropped the bomb on the green orb.
Boom! The orb flashed red and then turned green again.
“Huzzah for Merlin!” Alice cheered.
Merlin swooped down again and picked up another bomb.
Boom! He hit the green orb again. Annoyed, Mordred shot a red laser beam from the mecha’s forehead. The beam hit the robot owl and sent it spiraling across the room.
Alice looked horrified. “Merlin, no!” she yelled. The owl might be made of metal, but she had grown as fond of it as she would any living pet.
While Alice stared at Merlin, hoping for some sign of life, Simon ran to the platform. The sides were smooth and slick. “There’s no way to climb up!” he yelled.
“Climb up the robot to get to me!” the Princess called down.
“How are we going to do that?” Simon asked, looking nervously at the spinning sword blades blocking his way.
Alice tore herself away from the owl and looked at the robot.
“I think it’s like a lot of the traps Mordred has set,” she said thoughtfully. “Like the lava geysers and the platforms in the jungle. It’s all about timing.”
Simon nodded. “You’re right. We can do this.”
They cautiously approached the Mordred Mecha-Bot. The two swords were spinning in circles. Simon watched carefully, and when the swords were pointing to the ceiling, he hopped in front of the robot. Then he jumped up onto the robot’s body, below the dome, and then hopped up to the dome. His last jump landed him on the platform with the Princess. Alice landed right behind him.