Kendra Kandlestar and the Door to Unger (4 page)

YOU HAVE PROBABLY BEEN TOLD that it’s rude to stare. If that’s true, then the town of Faun’s End was a very rude place as Kendra and her uncle crossed the bridge from the Elder Stone and entered the busy town square. Everyone seemed to suddenly stop and look at them.

“Humph,” Uncle Griffinskitch grunted. “What’s going on here?”

“Oh, you won’t like this!” said Gilburt Green, the town baker.

“Eh? What’s that?” the old wizard asked.

Gilburt turned and pointed to a large board that had been nailed to a signpost in the center of the town square. Kendra and her uncle quickly pushed their way through the crowd and looked upon the sign. It had been freshly painted, and read:

By order of the Council of Een Elders

The magic curtain has been sealed

by magic enchantment

FOREVER.

This measure has been taken

to protect the Land of Een

from the outside world.

Anyone who attempts to break the magic of the seal,

or tries to leave the Land of Een, will be considered a traitor

and will be imprisoned immediately.

Signed, Burdock Brown

“Oh no!” Kendra gasped. “We’ll never find my family now! We’ll never find the Door to—,”

“Hush now, Kendra,” Uncle Griffinskitch said quickly, ushering her away from the crowd that was gathered around the sign. “Everywhere there are ears. We must be careful with our words. We can trust a precious few now.”

“Everything has changed,” Kendra whispered to her uncle as they headed back to their home. “Almost overnight.”

“Humph,” Uncle Griffinskitch grunted in agreement. “A tree will rot for fifty years—and then suddenly it falls.”

Later that night, as the white moon gazed down upon the tiny land of Een, a secret meeting took place in the yew tree house where Kendra and her uncle lived. Six in all crowded around the candlelit table in the small kitchen. Joining Uncle Griffinskitch and Kendra were four important friends. The first of these, of course, was Honest Oki the mouse, who was Kendra’s closest companion. Next was Juniper Jinx, the fiery grasshopper who just that morning had been fired from her job as the Captain of the Een guard. Jinx was the smallest creature at the table, but she was also the strongest, for as a young child she had accidentally swallowed a potion that had given her super strength. Next at the table was Professor Bumblebean, a tall and well-mannered Een who was the head of the famous Een Library in Faun’s End. Professor Bumblebean was quite bookish in appearance, for he had a small pair of glasses perched precariously on the end of his large nose and he had a stubby pencil tucked behind his ear. Last, was Ratchet Ringtail, the outspoken raccoon who fancied himself an amateur wizard and extraordinary inventor. He was also known as somewhat of a troublemaker, but he was a close and loyal friend to Kendra.

Despite their differences in appearance and personality, everyone at the table had one thing in common: They had all journeyed together in the world outside of the magic curtain. Now Uncle Griffinskitch had a plan to lead them on another adventure, this time to find the mysterious Door to Unger.

As the candle burned down through the night, the old wizard told the company of the strange visit by the Unger, and of the creature’s mysterious message. There were many gasps and looks of astonishment, but all were quiet as Uncle Griffinskitch spoke.

At last the old and whiskered Een finished by saying, “So, now you see my purpose in calling you all here this night. Kendra and I are leaving Een to find this Door to Unger. Hopefully this will lead us to our family. And we need your help.”

“I’m in,” Ratchet said immediately. “I’ll go with you, Kendra, wherever you would go.”

“Thank you,” Kendra said, feeling better just knowing that the large raccoon would be at her side.

“You can count on me too,” Jinx said, raising her sword in salute to the mission. “I’d rather fight monsters along you, Kendra, than end up in Burdock’s dungeon—which is sure to happen if I stay here. It’s taking all my will to stop myself from charging into the Elder Stone and sticking my swords, one by one, into Burdock like the fat pincushion that he is.”

Kendra smiled in the candlelight. Good old Jinx; her tongue was sharper than her swords, but her courage and strength would be a welcome addition to their quest.

“I do say, you won’t go on this journey without my company,” Professor Bumblebean declared. “I suspect you will need my books and great learning, after all.”

That left only Oki. Everyone turned to look at the small gray mouse. “There’s nothing I can do,” Oki squeaked. “Of course I’d like to come. But my parents will never let me leave Een again. Not after all the dangers we ran into last time.”

“But Oki,” Kendra spoke up. ”You’ve already had your twelfth birthday.”

“I don’t see how that helps,” Oki said.

“Once you’re twelve you can apprentice with a master,” Kendra explained. “And if your master goes somewhere, then you
must
follow him.”

“But I don’t have a master,” Oki said.

“I would certainly take you,” Professor Bumblebean remarked. “However, I’ve been engaged in teaching our Captain Jinx—or should I say former Captain Jinx—now just Jinx, I suppose, in learning the art of letters.”

Everyone just stared at the professor, for he loved to use such big words that few could ever understand him.

“I think what Professor Bumblebean is trying to say is that he is teaching Jinx how to read,” Oki said after a moment.

“Of course that’s what I said,” Professor Bumblebean remarked. “I do say, how could I have been much clearer? Our poor Jinx never learned properly how to read, so I have taken it upon myself to instruct her.”

“All right, that’s enough,” Jinx said shyly. “I don’t know how I manage to spend so many hours with you at once,
Bumblebore.
”

“My word,” Professor Bumblebean said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I thought we discussed, dear Jinx, that you would no longer make fun of my name.”

“Sorry,” Jinx said with a shrug. “Old habits die hard.”

“The point is, we need a master for Oki,” Kendra said.

“Well, heck I’ve always wanted a slave,” Ratchet declared. “I’ll take Oki.”

“No, not a slave, Ratchet,” Kendra told him. “An apprentice. You have to teach him things.”

“Oh, of course,” Ratchet said.

“Well, what are you going to teach him?” Uncle Griffinskitch asked.

“Inventing of course,” Ratchet said indignantly, with a slight scowl on his masked face.

“Oh dear,” Oki murmured.

“Look, do you want to come with us or not?” Ratchet said. “And besides, who wouldn’t want to learn from me? I’m a wizard of sorts, after all, and an inventor of—,”

“Yes, yes, we know,” Uncle Griffinskitch interrupted. “An inventor of extraordinary talent and magical inspiration.”

“Exactly,” Ratchet said.

“Well, it’s settled then,” Professor Bumblebean declared cheerfully. “We’re all agreed to form a company to go out and find this Door to Unger!”

“Er . . . Uncle Griffinskitch, there’s just one problem,” Kendra said, tugging her braids nervously. “If the curtain is sealed, how are going to actually leave Een?”

“It’s a grave problem,” Uncle Griffinskitch admitted, leaning back in his chair and stroking his long whiskers. “But I am hoping that I can rupture the enchanted seal with my own magic.”

“But if you’re caught, Burdock will imprison you,” Kendra warned.

“It’s a chance I’ll have to take,” the old wizard said.

“You know, there just might be another possibility,” Professor Bumblebean declared. “You all know, of course, of the statue called the
Fallen Faun
, which stands near the Een Library? Well, beneath the statue is an ancient crypt.”

“What’s a crypt?” Ratchet asked.

“An underground burial chamber,” Professor Bumblebean explained. “It’s here where Flavius Faun was laid to rest. Flavius, as you know, was the creature that Faun’s End was named for. I have given tours of this crypt. It’s very grand, and has many statues and artifacts—,”

“To the point, professor,” Uncle Griffinskitch said.

“Well,” the professor continued, as if he hadn’t even noticed the interruption, “legend has it that somewhere within the crypt is a secret tunnel that leads to the outside world.”

“I’ve never heard of this legend,” Jinx said.

“Humph . . . neither have I,” Uncle Griffinskitch said. “But, as a friend recently pointed out to me, I don’t know everything. How do you know of this legend, professor?”

“Why, I read about it of course,” Professor Bumblebean replied happily.

“Do you think this tunnel really exists, professor?” Kendra asked eagerly.

“Certainly,” Professor Bumblebean said. “We’ll have to make a thorough search of the crypt, of course. The story says that the door to this tunnel is well concealed.”

“What does that mean?” Ratchet asked.

“It means, dear friends,” said the professor, “that you just won’t find it sitting beneath your nose.”