by Tony Abbott
“Wait … look!” said Julie. “Something’s moving down there!”
Gray and blue feathers flashed across the ground among the lower trees. Then there came another flash of feathers and another.
“Feathers? In the woods?” giggled Nelag. “Well, that’s just as it should be….”
“Which means it is not as it should be!” said Galen. “I have a fear. Hold on tight. We land!”
The wizard brought the tower down with a resounding thump. When everyone rushed out, they found the oracle’s lovely grove strewn with broken branches. The place where Portentia normally sat was an empty hole.
“Holy cow!” said Neal. “Maybe she took a walk?”
“She has been stolen!” whispered Galen. He unsheathed his staff and held up his hand.
All was still for a moment — until something fluttered among the trees behind them.
They spun around. A twig snapped. A whistle pierced the air. Then a voice spoke.
“Yoo-hoo, friends! Up here! I’m baaa-ack!”
Perched on a branch high up in an oak tree was an odd creature. From the waist up, it was all black feathers, sharp talons, piercing eyes, and giant beak. From the waist down, it wore a scabbard, leggings, and colorful sandals.
It was none other than Prince Ving, the sweet-talking ruler of the terrible hawk bandits.
“You!” Galen snarled, gripping his staff firmly. “So it’s you who has conjured the Purple Dawn to come to the present! Well, take a good look around. You won’t be here long enough to enjoy it!”
“Nice to see you, too,” said the hawkman.
Ving lived in the past, but the children knew him from the time he had conjured the ancient city of Tarkoom into the present.
“But seriously, folks,” he said, his voice calm and quiet. “I just couldn’t wait to see you all again. It’s so wonderful to be here!”
Like Nelag, Ving never said what he really meant. Though his words sounded friendly, the children knew that his meaning was quite the opposite. Unlike Nelag, though, Ving had only bad things on his mind.
Wings fluttered suddenly and branches cracked, and a flock of bandits leaped up through the trees, carrying a giant net of chains. Caught in the net was Portentia herself.
“Help, friends!” she called. “I’m stolen from my home! And rocks aren’t made to roll or roam!”
Galen stepped forward. “Unclaw her, you flying fiends, or I’ll —”
“Tut, tut,” said Ving. “We are blustery today, aren’t we? Besides, we like your talking stone. In fact, I predict we’ll have a regular crush on her very soon. Icthos! Let’s make our friends … comfortable!”
A branch cracked and there stood Ving’s captain, Icthos. His wings were disheveled, his leggings were loose, his sandals tattered, and his eyes wild.
“At yer service, Prince Ving,” he said. “We’ll feather their beds! Hawks, come!!”
At his call, no less than fifty feathery creatures dived out of the trees. The children backed up. Max trembled. Nelag yawned.
Galen turned to Keeah. “Princess, you are in command today. Anything to suggest?”
Keeah gulped. “Well, there’s one thing,” she said, raising her fingers. “How about a good old spark fight?”
“Good choice!” said Galen. “Eric, care to join us?”
“My pleasure!” he said.
Before the bandits had time to react, Galen, Keeah, and Eric sprayed the clearing with sizzling sparks. The bandits yelped in surprise.
Eric’s fingers grew warm for a second blast when he heard Max cry out — “Eric, behind you!”— and he was tackled from behind by a pair of hawkmen. They flew him up into a tree and left him marooned in the branches.
“Hey!” he yelled. “Not fair!”
Below, the battle wasn’t going well for his friends. While Keeah and Galen tried to stop the hawk creatures, the bandits proved to be swift and wily targets. They leaped, dodged, and fluttered clear of every blast.
Icthos let out a battle cry, then jumped directly at Max, swiping his claws wildly. He forced the spider troll back into Nelag and sent them both tumbling over a fallen tree trunk.
Meanwhile, Ving dived at Galen, tripped him up, then swooped at Keeah. “Princess! Nice hairdo today. Are those shoes new?”
“Stop your friendly talk, you fooling fiend!” she snarled. “We know the real you!”
But Ving was quick. He pushed Keeah into Neal and Julie, tangling all three of them in a thicket of briars and thorny vines.
“Sorry to steal and run,” the bandit prince crowed. “But we’re on a tight deadline. Hawks, now! The big job is still to come!”
With a roar of wings, the whole troop of bandits took to the skies.
“After them!” yelled Galen, charging back toward his tower.
But before they could get close, there came an awful crunch, and the tower began to wobble. That’s when they saw a crew of bandits flying a chunk of Galen’s tower into the sky.
“Thieves! Stealers!” cried Max. “You dare attack the wizard’s magic home?”
Ving just laughed. “Toodle-oo, friends!”
The tower teetered and tottered. Then it began to fall.
“I’ll stop it!” cried Neal. In a flash, he was gone. In another flash, he was back, out of breath, his turban nearly undone. The tower was now hanging motionless by several thick ropes tied to the tops of the surrounding trees.
Julie blinked. “What just happened?”
Neal grinned. “Simple. Genies travel in time. I went into the future to when Keeah learned a really cool spell to conjure magical ropes. Then I went into the past and tied up the tower before it hit the ground.”
“Well done, Zabilac,” said Galen. “But now we see how clever Ving is. While we have been busy with this, he and his bandits have taken Portentia far away. And we still do not know where —”
“Ahem!” said Nelag, raising his hand.
Everyone looked at the pretend wizard.
“I know where they are going,” he said. “I understood that hawky fellow perfectly. Ving said the bandits will have a crush on Portentia. Thus, they can be taking her only one place. Where magical stones are crushed to dust. To the stone mills of Feshu.”
Galen drew in a long breath. “Feshu!”
The children had first heard of Feshu from Gryndal, the king of the hog elves. When Sparr was his former evil self, he had imprisoned the pig-nosed elves in the stone mills and forced them to work there for a full year before his curse faded.
Galen turned to Keeah. “Well? What do you think? How shall we get there?”
Keeah blinked. “You want me to try this?”
“Even in the midst of trouble, your lessons cannot stop,” the wizard said with a smile. “You never know when there will be a quiz.”
Neal wagged his head. “Some things don’t change no matter what world you’re in.”
Keeah frowned for a second, then nodded to herself. “Okay. But this is a big one.”
Taking a deep breath, she made what seemed almost like animal noises. When she finished, something that sounded halfway between a purr and a whinny came from the trees. Suddenly, five blue-furred animals scampered through the woods to them.
Julie smiled. “Blue pilkas! Our rides!”
The children had ridden blue pilkas once before. The six-legged beasts could not only run very fast, they could also fly.
A sixth pilka trotted in backward, tail first.
“That one’s not mine!” said Nelag, leaping straight onto its back. When he landed, he was sitting backward on the backward pilka, so he actually faced forward over its head.
“I have no idea where Feshu is,” Nelag said. “So follow me!” He nudged the pilka and it took off, galloping through the woods.
Giving one another looks, the small band mounted the other pilkas — Max sharing Galen’s ride — and raced after Nelag. They headed out of the woods and flew up across the plains toward the Dark Lands.
And the
growing purple cloud.
While their magical blue pilkas soared high over the plains of Droon, the children’s gaze was fixed on the faraway horizon. Before long, they saw a faint purple fog moving in the air.
“There it is!” said Max. “Right over Feshu!”
“The thought of those bandits stealing Droon’s magical stones fills me with dread,” Galen called to the others. “I only hope we arrive in time. A challenge indeed. Ving is dangerous and clever. Let us be clever, too.”
“What about dangerous?” asked Neal.
Nelag laughed. “We’re in danger, for sure. Look!” He pointed down to where flaming arrows were flying at them like a swarm of bees.
Fwing-fwing-fwing!
A troop of red warriors was firing from a hilltop below.
“Ninns!” said Keeah. “We should dive and stop them —”
“Are you sure?” asked Galen, sounding very much like a teacher. “We have a mission. It may not include Ninns.”
“I guess you’re right,” said the princess. “Pilkas, away!”
But no sooner had the pilkas veered from the hilltop than there came a sudden shout. “Wizards, no! Do not leave. Help us!”
Eric tugged his reins. “They sound like they’re in trouble. We don’t refuse calls for help, do we?”
Galen smiled. “Good answer, Eric. We never refuse anyone help. Let us descend.”
Driving their magical creatures downward, the friends soon landed on the hilltop. Lord Sparr’s former warriors rushed over.
“Apologies,” said the captain, removing his black helmet. “We’re sorry for firing at you. We thought you were enemies. We couldn’t see clearly. Our eyes are too misted by tears.”
“Our minds are misted, too,” said a second Ninn. “Because we’re so hungry.”
“And sad!” added a third.
The children knew that the big warriors had long been evil fighters. But now that Sparr was gone, their tribes wandered aimlessly across the length and breadth of Droon. When they were not forced to fight, Ninns were often gentle, though sometimes as hard to understand as Nelag.
“Tell us what happened,” said Keeah.
The Ninn captain wiped his nose on his sleeve. “We were in our ships, searching for Sparr and his two-headed dog, Kem,” he began. “But now all we have are big tears. And each one was stolen!”
“Your tears were stolen?” asked Max.
“Our ships!” said a third, lowering his bow to his side. “They’re called the Nono, the Pintsize, and the Sink-No-More-Really.”
The children shared a quizzical look.
“Sounds familiar somehow,” said Julie.
The captain frowned. “You’ve had something stolen, too?”
Julie shook her head. “No, I mean —”
“Ahem! Excuse me, I shall question them!” said Nelag. He turned away from the Ninns. “So, who exactly stole your ships?”
“Pirates!” said the Ninn captain. He pulled something long and soft and red from his belt and held it up.
Galen took the object. “A feather? A hawk feather? It can’t be….”
“When did they come?” asked Nelag.
“While we ate our potatoes,” said the captain. “Tasty ones. They had giant wings!”
Neal blinked. “The potatoes had wings?”
“We peeled them first, of course,” said the second, scanning the rolling black waves. “They came out of the clouds. With butter!”
“And how many were there?” asked Nelag.
“Two against each of us!” said the third. “Plus one carrot. And a dash of salt.”
“They splashed when they struck the water,” added a fourth. “They were nice and clean before we cooked them.”
“Each one had very sharp claws,” said still another. “Sometimes we eat them raw.”
“They really scared us,” said the captain. “Just thinking about them makes me hungry.”
“We gobbled up what we could,” agreed another. “Then they flew away into the purple cloud. But we still have room!”
The children stared openmouthed during this whole conversation.
“I understand perfectly,” said Nelag. “The Ninns were having a lunch of carrots and potatoes when hawk creatures from the purple cloud dived into the water and surprised them, stealing their ships. The potatoes were nice with butter and salt. The hawks were not.”
Galen’s face turned paler and paler.
“Hawks at sea?” he said. “Ha! Impossible! The hawk bandits hate water. They never go near it. They have always been land bandits. They are not — not! — pirates.”
“Master —” said Max.
“Do not say it!” said Galen, scowling.
“Master,” said the spider troll softly. “Could it possibly be … you-know-who?”
“Pah!” Galen turned away, muttering.
Keeah stamped her foot. “All right, you two, what is going on?”
Max made as if to zip his lips closed, while Galen stared at the sea, grumbling.
Finally, the wizard sighed and spoke. “The hawk bandits of Prince Ving do not fly over water or swim. They never have and they never will. They hate water in all its forms. But … there are hawk creatures who love the water.”
“Hawk pirates, in fact,” said Max.
“Pirates?” asked Eric.
“Arrrh!” said Nelag. “Ving has a twin!”
The children were stunned.
“A twin?” said Neal. “You mean there are two of him? Is he as nasty and ruthless and nutty and mean and dangerous and mean as Ving is? Is he?”
Max sighed. “Ving’s twin is not a he.”
“He’s a … she?” said Keeah.
Galen’s face turned white. “She is a trickster of the most evil sort. Her name is Ming. A long time ago, Ving and Ming divided their territory. Ving’s bandits stole on land, and Ming took to the sea with her pirates. He became the bandit prince and she the pirate princess.”
“The pirate princess,” whispered Julie.
“She tricked Galen once,” said Nelag with a smile. “Boy, that was something!”
“Nelag!” said the wizard angrily. “You have been told never to mention that!”
Eric glanced at Keeah and his friends. He knew they were all wondering the same thing he was. How had Ming tricked the wizard? Why wouldn’t he talk about it?
“But listen here,” said Galen. “The twins dislike each other. Only the most sinister reason can explain them working together —”
The Ninn captain pointed suddenly to the horizon. “Our ships! The Nono! The Pintsize!”
As they watched, the first two of the three Ninn ships sailed into view. Their usual red flags had been torn away and replaced by banners the color of the dawn.
When the masts of the third and largest vessel edged over the horizon, Nelag frowned. “Here come the presents. But I don’t think they are for us.”
Lying across the deck of the third ship were giant white stones. They looked like long, curved columns that came to a point. They were, in fact, big stone tusks stolen from the Horns of Ko, the giant crushing rocks named after the beast leader.
“Holy cow,” said Eric. “Stealing from Ko. They don’t even care if the emperor gets mad. Why are they stealing all these stones?”
“We know one thing,” said Keeah. “The pirates are sailing those ships to Feshu.”
The Ninn warrior’s broad red face drained of color. “Feshu. That is a place of dark doings.”
“We know,” said Julie. “That’s why we’re going there. To stop the hawk bandits — and pirates — from doing whatever they’re doing!”
The Ninn nodded firmly. “Then we will go to Feshu, too. We need our ships to keep searching.”
“For Sparr?” asked Keeah.
“And potatoes,” said the second Ninn. “We miss them. Especially his little doggie, Kem.”
“I understand completely,” said Nelag.
As the Ninns started their long march along
the coast to Feshu, the pilka fliers continued their journey high across Droon.
Hours passed until the purple cloud was overhead. And there below it stood a vast hulk of chimneys and towers. In its center was an enormous black iron wheel.
“The Feshu stone mills,” said Galen. “The sight I was dreading.”
No sooner had the pilkas landed unseen behind a rise in the land when there came a terrible roar like thunder — foooom! — and a shriek of iron against stone — kreeeee! — and the terrifying black wheel began to turn.
When the small band crept over the hill and looked down, Julie gasped. “How horrible!”
It was horrible. The mill wheel was a thick, iron disk that must have stood a hundred feet high. Ranged all along its edge were fierce, jagged gears. When the wheel turned, it made the most terrifying sound.
The children knew why. With every movement of the wheel and every smoky belch from the chimneys, stones were being crushed and ground to dust.
“Stones are stones, but magical ones are different,” said Galen softly. “If it takes the rest of my days, I will find a charm to reverse this destruction.”
“I’ll help,” said Keeah.
“We all will,” added Neal.
Max shivered as he scanned the vast millworks. “The Ninns are not the only ones afraid of this place,” he chirped. “The hog elves knew the terror of it. Poor Gryndal was trapped here with his friends for a full year.”
As the small group watched, the mills grew shrouded in a haze of swirling ash. Down below, armed bandits patrolled a big open yard of stolen rocks and stones. There were broken columns, cobblestones, walls, and every manner of stone stacked high.
In the center sat a plump rock they knew well. It was Portentia.
A shout from the shore called most of the bandits from the yard. They flew down to help unload the approaching ships.
“How nice, look!” said Nelag, pointing.
A half-dozen bandits stayed behind to hoist Portentia into a wagon. They rolled it toward a wide door in the mill.
Eric smiled. “Nice is right. We can follow Portentia into the mill before the gate closes.”
