by Mark Crilley
“Yes, Akiko,” said Mr. Beeba. “In view of the, er, revelations regarding Alia Rellapor, perhaps you’ve had to reassess your attitude toward the mission?”
He was right. Knowing that Alia Rellapor was the Prince’s mother changed everything. After all, she had as much right to keep the Prince with her as the King did. But she was locking him up in that horrible little room all day! What was she, crazy? Then again, the Prince had said he was getting all the food he needed. Maybe she was just trying to toughen him up, as she’d said. It was a very difficult decision.
“Well, guys,” I said at last, “I hate to say it, but I think we’ve just got to give up the mission and get out of here. I don’t like Alia Rellapor any more than you do. But she is the Prince’s mother, and as long as she’s not hurting him, I guess she can raise him any way she likes.”
Spuckler looked disappointed, but he nodded his agreement. Mr. Beeba looked very relieved.
“It’s agreed, then,” Mr. Beeba announced. “Our mission is at an end. Now we must focus all our energies on getting out of this infernal castle.”
So we all crept back down the hallway toward Alia Rellapor’s chambers. I kept half expecting Throck to jump out and grab us, but he seemed to have disappeared, at least for the time being. When we neared Alia’s throne room, Gax went ahead and took a peek to make sure the coast was clear.
“THE THRONE IS EMPTY, AS IS THE ROOM,” Gax told us in a mechanical whisper. “NO ALIA. NO THROCK. NO TORGS.”
“Well, c’mon then,” Spuckler said impatiently. “Let’s go.”
We tiptoed along the edge of the wall toward the heavy red curtain at the back of the room. Before we got there, though, Poog noticed something. He spoke quickly, in his warbly garbled language, stopping us in our tracks.
“What is it?” I asked. “Throck?”
“No,” Mr. Beeba. “It’s Alia. She’s somewhere in this room. Poog says . . . But no, I must have misheard him.”
Poog spoke again, saying what sounded like the same thing, only he said it a bit more loudly and insistently.
“Come on, Beebs!” Spuckler whispered. “What’s he sayin’?”
“He says . . . ,” Mr. Beeba began, his eyes squinting in disbelief, “Poog says Alia needs our help.”
“What?” Spuckler and I asked simultaneously.
“I know, I know!” Mr. Beeba said, pointing defensively at Poog. “It doesn’t make any sense to me, either! But that’s what Poog said, and he seems quite convinced of the idea.”
“Well, let’s find her and see what Poog’s talking about,” I said. The idea of Alia Rellapor’s needing our help seemed beyond ridiculous, but I’d learned by now never to doubt Poog.
Upon searching the room, we found a small, dark alcove off to one side. There, on a large rectangular block of marble, lay Alia Rellapor, sound asleep. She was on her back with her hands folded across her chest, like Sleeping Beauty in the old fairy tale. Her face was almost drained of color, though, so she also looked
a bit like a vampire. A very pretty vampire.
“What’s going on?”
I whispered. “What’s wrong with her?”
Poog floated over to my side. He looked very strange all of a sudden. He turned to face me and gazed deeply into my eyes.
Bit by bit the room seemed to tilt, first to one side, then to the other. My body began to feel very sleepy, but my mind had never been so wide awake. I was vaguely aware of Mr. Beeba and Gax and Spuckler, but they seemed to fall away into the distance while Poog expanded to fill my entire field of vision.
What happened next is almost impossible to describe.
It was as if Poog were sending images directly into my brain. I could see them in front of my eyes, but I could also see them inside my head. It was like dreaming and being awake at the same time.
I could see Alia Rellapor. She looked younger, happier. She was back at the palace with King Froptoppit and the Prince, smiling, laughing, perfectly content. Then I saw Throck. He was also younger, with less armor and machinery covering his body. I saw him staring at Alia Rellapor from somewhere outside the palace. I saw him mixing potions and casting spells like some kind of warlock or voodoo doctor: chanting, whispering, sometimes shouting.
Suddenly it became very clear to me: Alia wasn’t evil. She had been made evil. She was being controlled by Throck!
I wanted to tell everyone my discovery, but Poog wasn’t finished with me yet. He kept sending images into my brain. Now I saw scenes of our journey, little flashes of things that had happened to us before we got to Alia Rellapor’s castle. I saw Spuckler throwing the stone at the Torg. I saw all of us crossing the Moonguzzit Sea on the superlong bridge. I saw myself climbing up the Great Wall of Trudd. I saw Queen Pwip. I saw Admiral Frutz. . . .
Then I saw one scene that was especially clear and vivid. Poog and I were in the forest in the middle of the night. Poog was teaching me words in his own language. It seemed so real I could almost hear the insect sounds coming from the forest and smell the wood crackling on the fire.
The words. Poog was repeating the words to me, making me memorize them. Over and over he drilled the words into my brain. I felt them forming on my tongue. I opened my mouth. I heard the words coming out, echoing off the walls.
The walls?
I opened my eyes. I was back in Alia Rellapor’s castle. Spuckler and Mr. Beeba were looking at me with great astonishment.
“Heavens!” Mr. Beeba said. “Well, I’ll be dagnabbed!” Spuckler said, rubbing the back of his neck agitatedly with one hand.
Poog was gazing at me with supreme pride.
“What?” I asked. “What?”
“Akiko, my dear child,” Mr. Beeba said. “You just said something in Poog’s language. You said it loudly. And with a very convincing accent, I must say.”
I shook myself vigorously. It was as if I’d just come back from a very long journey.
Chapter 17
“Where am I?”
It took us a moment to realize that Alia Rellapor had asked the question. She was awake but still lying flat on her back on the big block of marble. There was something different about her voice. It was softer and a little weak, but also more natural and relaxed-sounding.
We all remained silent. I don’t think any of us knew quite what to say to her.
“Mr. Beeba!” Alia said, straining to turn her head toward him. “Is that you?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Mr. Beeba said with a confused look on his face. “Are you quite all right, Alia? You look gravely ill.”
“I feel . . . I feel weak,” she answered.
“Don’t worry, Alia,” I said to her. “You’ve just woken up from some sort of trance.”
Spuckler and Mr. Beeba stared at me with blank expressions, clearly not understanding a word I’d said.
“Wh-who are you?” Alia asked, rising on her elbows to get a better look at me. “Where did you come from?”
“My name is Akiko,” I answered, seeing from the look on her face that she had no memory of our earlier meeting. “I come from . . . well, it’s a long story. I’m sure we’ll have time to talk about that later. Right now we’ve got to get you out of here, you and your son.”
“My son?” Alia asked, a look of alarm coming over her face. “Where is he?”
Mr. Beeba and Spuckler were thoroughly confused. How could Alia not know where her son was? Me, I knew better. I figured Alia probably had no memory of anything that had happened in a very long time.
There was a sudden burst of garbled syllables as Poog said something to all of us. I couldn’t understand what it was, but somehow it seemed a little more—I don’t know—familiar than it had been before.
“Heavens!” cried Mr. Beeba. “It’s Throck! He’s preparing to leave Smoo at this very moment. An escape ship is docked and waiting for him at the other end of the castle. And that’s not all,” he added. “He’s taking the Prince with him!”
“No!” I cried. “We’ve got to st
op him!”
Poog opened his mouth and produced another string of garbled sounds, this time staring intently at me.
“Quickly, Akiko!” Mr. Beeba shouted. “Get on top of Poog!”
“On top of him?” I asked.
“This is no time for questions, Akiko! Do as he says!”
Mr. Beeba was pushing me from behind with both hands, forcing me over to a spot where Poog was floating just a few feet above the floor. I put both my hands on top of Poog’s head and hoisted myself up, resting my stomach squarely on top of him.
“Hang on tight, ’Kiko!” Spuckler called out as Poog lifted me ten or fifteen feet into the air. “The Poog Express is fixin’ t’ fly!”
With that, Poog carried me straight across the room. I struggled to keep my balance as we blew through the heavy red curtain and across the throne room. Zipping through the nearest doorway, Poog carried me through a maze of corridors at lightning speed. I wished he would slow down a little, but he only flew faster and faster. Hallways and staircases sailed past in a blur. (To tell the truth, if I hadn’t been scared half to death, I’d probably have thought it was a lot of fun!)
After a few more minutes of zooming this way and that, we suddenly came to a stop near an open-air platform in one of the highest parts of the castle. Snowcapped peaks stood in the distance beneath a cloudless sky of pale blue. The tops of several towers were visible below. We must have been sixty or seventy stories up. I climbed off Poog and stood there at the base of the platform. An icy breeze blew across my arms, and I immediately regretted having thrown my coat into the lava.
The platform was about ten feet wide and built of white stone. It jutted out into the air a hundred feet or so, like a bridge leading to nowhere. At the very end of the platform was a spaceship. It was about the size of a small school bus, floating in midair like a boat moored to a dock. Throck was about halfway across the platform. He had Prince Froptoppit tucked under one arm and was walking briskly toward the spaceship. The Prince lifted his head and saw me.
“Akiko!” he shouted.
Throck spun around. I’ll never forget the look on his face. He looked shocked. He looked angry. But above all he looked scared. Not scared of me, of course. Scared of Poog.
Poog moved slowly out across the platform, and I cautiously followed him. The wind blew so hard my arms felt numb. Remembering what had happened to me on the Great Wall of Trudd, I ordered myself not to look down. And believe it or not, I actually managed to follow my own order. But I couldn’t help being aware of how high up in the air we were. There were no guardrails or anything! Fearing that one good gust of wind would be the end of me, I bent my knees as much as I could and kept very low to the surface of the platform.
Throck just stood there, waiting, the Prince firmly gripped under one arm. Every so often his heavily
armored suit sent up a huge cloud of steam that was immediately carried off by the wind.
HHSSSSSSHHHH!
When we reached a spot ten or fifteen feet away from Throck, I came to a stop, allowing Poog to float forward until he was just a few feet from Throck’s face. As they faced each other, I sensed that years and years of conflict had brought them to this place. One thing was for sure: This time, Poog was not going to negotiate.
From where I stood I had a pretty good view of Throck’s face. He looked tired and frightened, as if he were about to give up. I think he knew he was no match for Poog. For a minute there I thought he was going to just hand the Prince over and beg for mercy. But then his eyes widened and a sort of panic seized his face. Twisting his body back to one side, he gripped the Prince fiercely with both hands. Then he threw him off the platform.
Chapter 18
“Nooooo!” I cried, watching helplessly as Prince Froptoppit flipped through the air.
Poog didn’t waste a second. He shot down after the Prince, racing against gravity to catch him before he hit the ground. I was watching breathlessly to see if he’d get there in time when suddenly I felt icy fingers close around my neck.
HHSSSSSSSSSHHHHH!
“Say goodbye to your beloved Prince, little girl,” I heard Throck whisper in my ear as he lifted me into his arms, “and while you’re at it, bid this wretched planet farewell. You’re coming with me!”
I wanted to scream, but my throat was suddenly so dry I could barely make a sound.
“Relax, my child,” he said as he carried me over to the spaceship, opened the hatch, and tossed me roughly inside. “Soon we will be far, far away from here.”
Time seemed to slow down as I watched Throck step into the ship after me and reach up to close the hatch. I stared back across the platform toward the castle. Poog and the Prince were nowhere to be seen. The hatch was halfway closed. Three-quarters closed . . .
I don’t know what made me do it. Maybe it was Poog communicating with me or something. Maybe it was just total desperation.
I opened my mouth and said the words Poog had taught me back in the forest, the words that had brought Alia Rellapor out of her trance. They came out as little more than a hoarse whisper, but the effect on Throck was immediate and devastating. He shuddered, groaned, and let go of the hatch. Then he dropped to his knees and crawled back onto the platform.
There, just over Throck’s shoulder, I saw the Prince rise slowly over the edge of the platform, holding on to Poog with both hands. If Throck had his eyes open at that moment, it was probably the last thing he saw.
We all stared in horror as Throck came grinding to a halt. Bit by bit the color of his skin faded to gray. Then the color of his armor also drained away, and within seconds Throck was entirely covered in ghostly gray from head to toe.
He had turned to stone.
The Prince ran over and gave me the biggest hug his little arms were capable of.
“Thank you, Akiko!” he cried, his voice trembling with emotion. “Thank you!”
We both walked cautiously over to Throck and joined Poog in examining him up close. When I touched his body, it felt as cold and hard as a statue. As far as I could tell, it was a statue.
“Did . . . did I kill him?” I asked.
Poog smiled and said something in his warbly language. I couldn’t understand exactly what he said, but somehow I knew that the answer was no. Perhaps I’d just frozen Throck into this form temporarily. Poog said something else, then turned and flew back into the castle.
“He must be going to get the others,” I said to Prince Froptoppit.
He had a slightly sad look on his face, as if he’d just recalled something that was troubling him.
“Akiko,” he said to me, “did you see my mother? Is she going to be okay?”
“I’m pretty sure she will be, Prince Froptoppit,” I said. “She’s been through a lot, just like you have. But everything’s going to be okay now. I can feel that in my heart.”
And I could, too. All the tension and fear and misery of the past few hours had suddenly melted away. For the first time in a very long time, I felt as if I could just relax.
The Prince and I ran back to the base of the platform. The wind was a little less strong there, but it was still pretty cold. Prince Froptoppit took off his white cape and gave it to me to wrap around myself. He was very shy about it, but also very gentlemanly. I pulled the cape tightly around my arms, thanking the Prince.
After a few minutes Poog returned with Spuckler, Mr. Beeba, Gax, and Alia Rellapor. When Alia saw the Prince, she hugged him as though she hadn’t seen him in years.
It was then that it really hit me: We’d done it. We’d rescued the Prince. Not only that—we’d rescued his mother at the same time!
There was a brief discussion about what should be done with Throck.
“I say we should just push him off th’ platform,” Spuckler said, staring angrily at the strange white statue that Throck had become, “and watch him smash into a million kajillion pieces.”
“I appreciate your sentiments, Spuckler,” Mr. Beeba replied, “but we must keep in mind t
hat Throck is still very much alive, immobilized though he may be in his current state.”
“Maybe we should just leave him where he is, then,” I said.
“No, Akiko,” Mr. Beeba replied. “The spell you’ve cast upon him won’t last indefinitely. I believe we should take him back with us to the palace. He must be carefully preserved and allowed to atone for his transgressions. With any luck, he may eventually learn his lesson and renounce his evil ways.”
“So how are we going to get back to the palace?” I asked. “Don’t tell me we have to go back and climb the Great Wall of Trudd again!”
“Oh dear, Akiko,” Mr. Beeba replied, scratching his head and pacing back and forth. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“With all due respect,” said Alia Rellapor, “I believe the answer is right before our eyes.” She pointed a finger in the direction of Throck’s escape ship, still hovering at the end of the platform.
“I was kinda hopin’ you’d say that, Alia,” Spuckler said with a sly grin as he trotted across the platform to take a better look at the ship. “I’ve always wanted to get behind the wheel of one of these!”
The only thing left to do was to carry Throck from the end of the platform into the hull of the ship. Together Spuckler, Mr. Beeba, the Prince, and I had just enough muscle to get Throck’s stony mass on board.
Once we were all inside the ship with the hatch closed, everyone seemed to relax into a celebratory mood. Spuckler got the ship moving, and soon he and Mr. Beeba were bickering about one thing or another, just as they always did, only this time they really seemed to be enjoying themselves. Alia and the Prince chattered happily about all the good food they’d have once they got back to the palace. Poog sang a little tune for us, a cheerful melody that seemed to chase away any fears or worries that might have remained. I sat back in a heavily padded chair in the back of the ship, closed my eyes, and almost immediately nodded off to sleep.
