The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet (3 page)

Neal started running along the path.

He rushed into a clearing.

And he bumped his nose on something that wasn’t there.

Five
The Vanishing Tower

“Oww!” Neal whined, cupping his hands over his face. Then he stared at the empty space in front of him. “Wait. I bumped into…nothing?”

Eric stood next to Neal and put his hands out. “No, there’s something here. Something hard.”

“Hard?” Neal grumbled. “Tell me about it.”

“It’s over here, too,” Julie said as she walked to the other side of the clearing.

Eric went around the other way. “It’s round. It must be some kind of – whoa!”

As the three of them stood there, a giant tower shimmered into view. A wooden tower. In fact, it was a tree. But when they touched it, the bark was as hard as stone.

“Hmm,” Julie said, biting her lip. “This tree has petrified. It turned to stone because it’s so old. We learned about petrified trees at camp.”

“I don’t remember that,” said Neal.

“You were too busy eating snacks,” Julie said.

“All that hiking made me hungry,” Neal said.

“Guys!” Eric interrupted. “Can you please –”

“Who dares approach the tower of Galen Longbeard!” cried a voice above them.

They all looked up and gasped.

Crawling slowly down the side of the tower was a large spider with eight long arms and legs. Only it wasn’t an ordinary spider. It had a big, round face with large eyes and a pug nose.

And bright orange hair.

Neal nudged Julie. “I sure don’t remember anything like
him
at camp,” he whispered.

“You aren’t Ninns!” the creature squeaked.

“Uh, that’s true,” Julie said. “Very true.”

“In fact, the Ninns are after us,” Eric said. “And we have a message from Princess Keeah.”

“From the princess?” said the spider. “Then come inside quickly!”

Ploink!
A door-sized section of the stony bark swung open.

“I’m Max, a spider troll,” he said, jumping into the tree ahead of them. “We must go to the top!”

The three friends piled into the tree.

Together, they crawled up a winding passage and into a large, round room.

The room was cluttered beyond belief.

“Looks like your basement, Eric,” Neal said.

Old leather books were stacked up everywhere. Hundreds of tiny colored bottles were collecting dust on deep wooden shelves. A big, ancient mirror leaned against one wall.

And in the center of everything stood a man.

He was tall and thin and very old. He wore a long blue robe and a high cone-shaped hat. His white beard hung down to his belt.

“Behold!” cried Max. “Galen Longbeard, first wizard of Droon! He’s more than five hundred years old.”

The old man coughed. “Yes, well, welcome to my tower,” he said. Then he stroked his beard. “By the way, did anyone see Leep on the way up? Leep is my pilka.”

“Uh, what’s a pilka, sir?” Julie asked.

Galen cleared his throat. “Well, it’s a…it has a…it goes like…” He waved his arms about, trying to describe the lost thing. “Oh, never mind. Leep will turn up somewhere. Now, what brings three Upper Worlders to my tower?”

Eric told Galen what had happened in the forest.

“Here is Keeah’s message.” Eric handed the paper to Galen. “It doesn’t make sense to us.”

The wizard frowned. “Nor to me. Hmm…”

“I was thinking,” Julie said, looking at the message again. “Maybe it’s code. So if the Ninns captured us, they wouldn’t understand it.”

Galen laughed. “Princess Keeah knows that the Ninns are quite simple. Brains like walnuts. You might even say they are backward.”

“Backward?” Neal said. “That’s it! I bet Keeah’s message is written backward. My sister tries that all the time. But she can’t trick me!”

Neal scribbled out the message again, reversing the order of the letters from front to back.

“So…” he said. “ ‘Thginot Dekcatta Eb Lliw Frodnefroz’ becomes ‘Zorfendorf Will Be Attacked Tonight.’ Does that make sense?”

Galen’s eyes flashed suddenly. “Zorfendorf Castle! Lord Sparr plans to attack it tonight. I must warn King Zello immediately!”

Before another word was spoken, a blue mist rose around the wizard. Sparks of light streaked through it. Then he mumbled strange sounds.

“Kolo…bembo…zoot!”

An instant later –
zamm!
He wasn’t there!

“Whoa!” Eric gasped. “Where did he –”

But –
zamm!
– Galen was already back. “I’ve just been to Jaffa City,” he said. “King Zello is sending his army to defend Zorfendorf Castle.”

“Mission accomplished!” Max chirped. “Sparr is stopped – for the moment.”

Galen turned to the children. He looked grim. “You have entered a troubled world, my young friends. Tell me, how did you come to be here?”

Julie told him how she found the steps in the little room in Eric’s basement.

Galen sighed deeply. “Ah, the enchanted staircase. I wondered when it would appear again.”

Eric blinked. “So you know about the stairs?”

The wizard walked slowly to a glove of Droon standing against the wall. Half of the globe was dark, half light. He stared at it for a long time.

“Ages ago, Lord Sparr created the Three Powers,” Galen said finally. “Objects of unimaginable might. Fearing he would use them to take over your world, I sealed the stairs that once joined our two realms.”

“I didn’t know we lived in a realm!” said Neal.

“Indeed you do,” Galen said. “But now I am old. My ancient spells grow weak. That is why the stairs are visible once again.”

“They faded after we came down,” Julie said.

Max chittered excitedly. “Keeah can help you find them. She has powers!”

Eric remembered how the princess cured his sprained ankle. “Is Keeah a wizard, too?”

Before Galen could answer, a buzzing sound came from across the room.
Zzzzt!

Everyone turned to the old mirror. The rippled surface was flickering with a strange glow.

“A big-screen TV!” Neal joked. “How many channels do you get on this thing?”

“I use it to keep watch over Droon,” Galen said. He waved his hand, and a scene moved hazily across the surface of the glass. “Like me, this mirror is old. But with it I can see most of what happens.” The wizard’s eyes widened suddenly in fear. “Oh, dear!”

“What’s the matter?” Julie asked.

Galen pointed at the scene coming onto the mirror. It showed a vast black castle.

“Plud!” he gasped.

“Lord Sparr’s evil fortress!” Max chittered.

The mirror zoomed in on the fortress.

In the courtyard were two red Ninns. Between them was a girl, struggling to get free.

“It’s Keeah!” Eric cried. “The Ninns must have captured her in the woods.”

And now she was a prisoner of Lord Sparr!

Six
Home Must Wait

“The forbidden city of Plud,” Max said. “The Ninns have taken Princess Keeah to Plud!”

Eric stared at the mirror. “She seems really afraid. What are we going to do?”

“We must go to her!” Galen said, pulling a large sword down from the wall. “Plud is an evil place. It is where Keeah’s mother, Queen Relna, fought her last battle against Sparr.”

Neal shivered. “You mean, she’s dead?”

“She was never seen again,” Galen said as he slid the sword into his belt. “But that is not the worst of it. Sparr now seeks from Keeah the Red Eye of Dawn. It is one of the Three Powers I told you about. It is a jewel that commands the forces of nature.”

“Does Keeah have it?” Julie asked.

Galen grabbed a helmet from a shelf. “I do not know. Even Keeah doesn’t know. To stop Sparr from using the Powers for evil, I cast them to the winds and charmed them to change their shapes. No one knows what they have become.”

“But Sparr will stop at nothing to have them again!” Max chittered, scurrying toward the passage to the ground. “I fear for Keeah. Hurry!”

Zzzzt!

“Wait,” Julie said, turning back. “The mirror.”

The hazy glass showed a city of bright towers as light and sunny as Plud was dark. In the distance, a black cloud of groggles was descending.

“Sparr has tricked us!” Galen boomed. “His Ninns are attacking Jaffa City! Oh, I hope the princess can defend herself against Sparr until I return. I must go to Jaffa this instant.”

“Wait,” said Eric, turning to his friends. “Keeah helped me in the forest. And she was going to get us home. Now she’s in trouble. I mean, we
have
to help her.”

“How can we get to Plud?” Julie asked Galen.

“Hey!” Neal yelled suddenly. He jerked back, tumbling over a stack of books and hitting the floor with a thud. “Something just licked me!”

“Leep?” cried Max. He sprang up and landed in midair. “The pilka! I’m sitting on her!”

Galen quickly pulled at the air under Max. As he did, a silken fabric seemed to collect in his hands. And a creature took shape in the room.

It was an animal the size of a horse. But with long white fur. And six legs. And a friendly face.

It looked like a shaggy camel.

“Pilkas are quite friendly,” said Max. “And quite fast! Leep seems to like you, Master Neal.”

Hrrrr!
The creature whinnied loudly. She plodded to the passage door and turned her head back, as if beckoning the children to follow.

Eric looked around at his friends.

“We’re running out of time,” Julie said.

Neal nodded. “Plus, we’re a team, right?”

Eric felt his heart began to race. “I guess we’re going to Plud!”

Seven
The Forbidden City