Treasure of the Orkins

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1: Out of the Blue

  2: North of Jaffa

  3: The Magic Pyramid

  4: The Big Attack

  5: Storm of Snow, Storm of Sand

  6: Zoop, Zoop, and More Zoop!

  7: Hoola-moola!

  8: A Gift From Above

  9: Enemies in High Places

  10: Into the Blue

  The Adventure Continues …

  Also Available

  Copyright

  “Hurry up for breakfast, dear!”

  Eric Hinkle didn’t answer his mother’s call. He was in bed, fast asleep and dreaming.

  In his dream, a blinding snowstorm whirled all around him. It showered him with icy cold snowflakes.

  Icy cold blue snowflakes!

  “Waffles!” called his father.

  Eric didn’t hear him, either. “This must be Droon,” he said to himself as he watched the flakes fly over his head. “Where else would I see blue snow?”

  Droon was the magical world that he and his friends Neal and Julie had discovered one day under his basement stairs.

  It was a land of strange and fabulous places and people, a world of adventure and mystery, and it was the only place where the snow would ever be bright blue!

  Whooosh! Sudden gusts of wind magically spun the snowflakes around Eric’s head into a crown of glittering blue.

  “How cool!” he said, his breath becoming visible, then fading in the frosty air.

  As a magical world, Droon was full of strange secrets and odd mysteries.

  What had happened to the once-evil sorcerer called Lord Sparr?

  Did the word Reki-ur-set, which the sorceress Salamandra had told him again and again, mean something special to him or was it just nonsense?

  Was the moon dragon Gethwing alive, or had he perished in Droon’s Underworld?

  And perhaps most important of all, what did the future hold for him and his friends?

  Strangely, Eric loved the mystery of these questions. He almost didn’t want them to be answered. Once they were answered, he thought, the magic of Droon might come to an end. And that was something he couldn’t bear to think about.

  Ever since he had developed his own powers, magic had become a part of Eric’s life that he never wanted to go away.

  His friends had developed magical abilities since then, too. Neal had become a genie, and Julie could fly like a bird.

  Eric sometimes felt that together, the friends’ powers were nearly as strong as those of the old master wizard, Galen Longbeard.

  Wait … Galen? Galen!

  As Eric peered through the whooshing snow of his dream, he thought he saw the great wizard himself, trekking slowly through the deep blue drifts.

  Eric took a step. “Galen? Is that you?”

  The figure stopped and turned. It was Galen. His face was pale, his long white beard blown wildly by the wind.

  He fixed Eric with his eyes.

  He opened his lips to speak.

  “Eric, hurry. Hurry —”

  Eric jumped from his bed, completely awake. “Galen?”

  “— or I’m going to eat your breakfast for you!” his father called up from the kitchen.

  Eric blinked awake, then laughed. “Whoa! My dad’s words in Galen’s mouth. It’s like Galen called me himself! And blue snow? We’re totally being called to Droon. I need to get dressed right away —” He hurried to his closet door and pulled it wide open …

  … only to see the face of his friend Neal, hanging upside down from the ceiling.

  “Did somebody say ‘waffles’?” Neal asked.

  “Ahhhhhh!” Eric screamed.

  “Shhh!” hissed Julie, whose face bobbed down right next to Neal’s. “Don’t let your parents hear you!”

  Eric staggered back. “You guys scared me! What are you doing up there?”

  “I floated through the attic window,” said Neal, pointing up. “Did you know that there’s a trapdoor in your closet ceiling?”

  Eric looked up. Sure enough, there was a door there. “No, I didn’t know that. Listen, we have to go to Droon. I just had a dream about blue snowflakes. Galen called me, sort of. There’s a new adventure waiting for us.”

  “Cool,” said Neal. “I’m so ready to be a genie again.”

  “Wait,” said Julie. “It’s Saturday. Don’t your parents have chores for you to do?”

  Eric groaned. “I forgot about chores.”

  “So let’s float back outside and then sneak in your basement window,” said Neal.

  Eric shook his head. “My mom and dad are waiting for me. But I have an idea. You guys come over and pretend to surprise me. If you really beg me to hang out, maybe I can get out of doing my chores for a while.”

  Julie smiled. “Sounds like a plan. But first, take that oversized blueberry off your head, Neal. People will talk.”

  Neal pulled his genie turban off, folded it into a bite-size shape, and slid it into his pocket. “Don’t be scared. I’m just me again.”

  Julie laughed. “Now I’m really scared!”

  After checking to make sure that no one could see them, Neal and Julie linked hands and drifted through the attic window and down to the ground. Eric quickly washed and dressed, then ran into the kitchen.

  He plopped down at the table with his parents and waited anxiously for Neal and Julie to come to the door.

  “One more minute and that waffle would have been mine!” his father said as he set a plate in front of him. “Besides, you’ll need your strength. It’s chore day, after all.”

  Eric frowned. “Thanks. Did you hear anyone at the back door?”

  “I don’t think so,” said his mother. “But speaking of chores, you won’t believe what I found in the basement.”

  Eric grew nervous. “The basement? What did you find in the basement?”

  Mrs. Hinkle set an old photograph by his plate. It was a picture of a middle-aged man standing by a large white building. Eric pretended to be interested, but all he could think about was getting to Droon.

  “Do you know who this is?” she asked.

  Eric shook his head. “No. Hey, did anyone hear a knock?”

  “It’s my grandfather’s grandfather,” Mrs. Hinkle went on. “He flew a racing plane. It had funny curved wings and was painted blue. He won a lot of races in his day.”

  Eric remembered hearing about him. He had once done research on his great-great-great-grandfather for a school project. He was interested. He really was. But Galen had called him to Droon. Wasn’t that more important right now? “Uh-huh … that’s neat….”

  Using silent words, he called to his friends. Neal! Julie! Where are you guys?

  Knock! Knock!

  Eric jumped up and tore open the back door. “Oh! Neal and Julie!” he said. “What a surprise to see you here!”

  “ERIC!” Neal practically shouted. “Can you hang out? PLEEEEEEASE?”

  “Oh, I’d love to!” said Eric, turning toward his parents. “But I have chores to do.”

  He nudged Julie secretly.

  Julie smiled sweetly at Mr. and Mrs. Hinkle. “Is it all right if the three of us go to the basement for a little while?” She smiled again.

  There was a pause as Eric’s parents stared at the three friends.

  “Actually,” said Mrs. Hinkle, “I want you to go downstairs. That’s where Eric’s chore is. It’s finally time to clean the basement!”

  “Clean the basement?” repeated Neal. “This is like déjà vu all over again!”

  The three friends remembered that their first visit to Droon began when they were supposed to be cleaning the basement.

  “But, Mom —” Eric started.

  “N
o buts,” said Mrs. Hinkle. “Your father promised to remodel the basement a long time ago. And he’s decided to start today!”

  Mr. Hinkle looked up from his newspaper, chewing his last piece of waffle. “I habbb?”

  “You have,” said Mrs. Hinkle. “It’s time that we built a proper playroom down there.”

  Mr. Hinkle swallowed his waffle. “You know, you’re right. I’ll start this morning, or maybe just after lunch. This week, for sure —”

  “Today is part of this week,” said Mrs. Hinkle, smiling. “I’ll get your work gloves.”

  As his parents began to get things ready, Eric took his friends downstairs. “This is the worst! What are we going to do?”

  “I’ve been afraid of this since the beginning,” said Julie. “If the basement is remodeled, the magical staircase in the closet will be revealed. And Droon won’t be a secret anymore! We have to think of a way to stall your dad.”

  Neal whipped out his turban and planted it on his head. “Thanks to my thinking cap, I already have an idea.”

  Eric looked at him. “What?”

  “Let’s say we do ‘help’ your dad,” said Neal. “But we do such a bad job helping that we get nowhere. With all of us doing our worst, it will take forever!”

  Julie smiled. “That just might work! Let’s think it over in Droon. Since no time passes here once we’re down there, we’ll work out the details in a flash.”

  “Good idea, guys,” said Eric. “Let’s move.”

  The three friends piled into the small closet under the basement stairs. Eric switched off the light and — whoosh! — the floor became the top step of a stairway leading through a bright pink sky to the world of Droon.

  But as soon as the kids started down the stairs, winds buffeted them this way and that. Clouds barreled out of nowhere and thickened the air around them. They heard blasts of thunder and the crackle of lightning.

  “A storm!” cried Julie. “Hold on tight —”

  Rooooarrrr! A terrifying noise filled the air.

  Before the children could move, a huge shape with fluttering wings dived from the clouds with amazing speed — and charged right at them!

  Roooaaarrrr!

  The dark-winged creature swept so close that Julie lost her footing. “Whoa! Help —”

  “Got you!” said Neal, grabbing her arm and pulling her safely back to the staircase.

  Eric tried to steady himself, but his fingers sparked suddenly and — blam! — he shot a blast of silver sparks at the shrouded shape.

  At the same moment, a gust of wind cleared the sky. The dark creature revealed itself as none other than Keeah’s four-winged, long-bodied flying ship, the Dragonfly!

  Eric’s blast sizzled across the air toward it.

  “No, no!” he said. “Please go wild!”

  His shot was not wild. But just as it reached the plane, the Dragonfly’s nose popped open and — slurrrk! — the entire blast was swallowed up inside. The ship jumped and bumped, it wobbled and bobbled, then righted, slowed, and hovered mere inches from the rainbow stairs.

  Pop! The cockpit dome sprang open and out peered the green-haired head of Friddle, the airship’s inventor. “Welcome, old friends!”

  “I’m so sorry!” said Eric hurriedly. “My sparks have a mind of their own sometimes.”

  “Not to worry,” the inventor said over the sound of the sputtering engine. “I’m just happy my new antiblast system works. Come. You are wanted!”

  No sooner had the three children climbed into the plane than Friddle turned to a seat beside him. “Are you ready, copilot?”

  “Aye-aye!” chirped the familiar voice of Max the spider troll, who turned to wave at the friends. Then, pushing one lever after another, Max banked the Dragonfly smoothly away from the steps and began to steer it toward the ground.

  Eric saw that snow was beginning to powder the fields below. He realized at once that this was like his dream, only the snowflakes here were normal and white.

  “Landing!” Max chirped. He flipped a red switch, and two giant snow skis slid down from under the wings and popped into place. The Dragonfly dipped, bumped, and then slid across the snowy ground to a stop.

  Within moments, two riders galloped toward the plane. Galen, in his tall hat and midnight-blue cloak, rode his shaggy pilka, Leep. Queen Relna, dressed head to foot in snow-dappled furs, raced by his side. Together their pilkas’ twelve hooves sprayed wild plumes of snow behind them.

  “Our passengers have arrived!” said Galen, jumping to the ground and striding quickly to the ship.

  “After testing the Dragonfly’s latest improvement,” said Friddle, “we’re ready for anything and everything!”

  “Which we shall undoubtedly encounter,” added the wizard, “once Keeah joins us.”

  “Are we going on a journey?” asked Julie, when the children climbed from the plane.

  “To the land of constant snows,” said Relna. “Beyond the Ice Hills of Tarabat.”

  “I dreamed about snow,” said Eric, looking from the queen to the wizard. “Blue snow. Maybe we’ll see some on this adventure.”

  Galen’s brow wrinkled in thought. “Blue snow. The legend speaks of blue snowflakes.”

  “Really?” said Eric. “There’s a legend?”

  The queen nodded. “One hundred years ago exactly, a great storm ravaged the far north of Droon. It is said that snow — blue snow — fell from the sky like jewels.”

  “Perhaps more important,” said Galen, “the storm caused a rift between our two worlds, allowing anyone to pass between them.”

  Neal gasped. “Even bad guys?”

  The wizard nodded. “Even them. A storm just like that one has formed in the north. It is our duty to guard the passage between the worlds to make sure it remains unused.”

  “Where’s Keeah?” asked Julie.

  Relna smiled. “Keeah has gone to Lumpland to recruit a special friend.”

  “Khan, king of the Lumpies,” added Max. “He’s perfect on an adventure!”

  The children all remembered the noble, pillow-shaped ruler of the Lumpy clan. Besides being a good friend, Khan was a gifted traveler. His ability to sniff out danger made him a big help on any mission.

  “I didn’t exactly dress for snow,” said Neal, shivering under his turban. “Genies are desert folk, mostly.”

  “No matter,” said the spider troll. “We have a full wardrobe of winter gear!”

  No sooner had he showed them a compartment on the plane that was filled with furs, boots, hoods, and gloves than Relna called out, “And look! Our journey begins.”

  The children could just make out their friend Keeah, racing across the plains on a pilka. Her long blond hair flowed in the wind behind her. She galloped up and leaped to the ground breathlessly.

  “We can’t go north!” she exclaimed. “Lumpland is completely surrounded by a sandstorm. My father and I couldn’t get through it. He sent me to bring reinforcements.”

  The children all looked to Galen.

  “We cannot wait, either,” the wizard said. “Our window of time is closing as we speak. Soon, the passage will be open. Evil elements may enter your world … or discover ours. It’s very dangerous. Relna, what do you say?”

  “We must undertake both journeys,” the queen said. “Galen, I will come with you to the north.”

  “And I will go with the children to Lumpland,” said Max.

  The wizard nodded. “So, two journeys instead of one. All the more reason to use these.” He pulled a pair of saddlebags from his pilka. When he set them on the ground, the packs jumped, fell over, and wiggled as if whatever was inside wanted to get out.

  Neal stepped back and wrinkled his nose. “Squirrels?”

  “No, no,” said Galen with a chuckle. He carefully opened both packs. “Old friends.”

  He removed two balls, one red, one blue. Both were glowing as if they were alive.

  “The magical spheres of Doobesh,” said Galen. “The Ruby Orb and the S
apphire Star.”

  “I don’t like that red one,” said Max, sidling away from the Ruby Orb. “It was very cramped in there.”

  Everyone remembered how the Ruby Orb of Doobesh had once imprisoned Max inside it and had flown him halfway across the world.

  “I have tamed them,” said Galen, handing the Ruby Orb to Eric and giving him a small pouch to carry it in. “Since the twin spheres seek each other, they will help us stay connected on separate journeys. We go today to the snowy north, you to the sandy south.”

  Eric’s heart thumped in his chest. If he was going south with Keeah, then why had he dreamed about blue snowflakes? If they were part of a legend, why wasn’t he going north, where he might see them?

  Were his dreams playing tricks on him?

  Vroooom-pop-pop! The clattering of the Dragonfly’s engine set the two groups in motion. The wizard and the queen joined Friddle in the cockpit of the plane, while the children and Max climbed onto their pilkas.

  “Everyone ready?” Galen asked, holding his hand up. When the children nodded, he lowered his hand quickly. “Let’s be off!” he cried.

  With a great roar, the four-winged Dragonfly lifted and skimmed over the ground, picking up speed by the second.

  On the fields below, the pilkas nosed one another, and Keeah, Eric, Neal, Julie, and Max galloped off to the sunny, snowless southern lands.

  Mile after mile, the five friends rode — past royal Jaffa City, beyond the Singing Forest, through the diamond-strewn Kalahar Valley, and toward the golden seas of desert sand.

  Twenty, fifty, a hundred miles and more.

  By noon, they ventured across the border of Lumpland, between two ranges of high dunes, and headed straight south.

  “I’m scared,” Keeah admitted, urging her pilka up the ring of tall dunes that protected the Lumpy capital. “The sandstorm I saw was terrible. I’m afraid of what we’ll find — oh!”

  Coming over the last rise, the five friends stopped. The sandstorm Keeah had seen was gone. But in its place was something even worse.

  The royal village was a shambles. The bustling home of the purple Lumpies was utterly lifeless. Its houses were wrecked. Its dunes were trampled by thousands of hoof prints. The domed palace of Khan, the king, which was no more than a small house to begin with, was nearly destroyed. Two of its five walls were crumbled to dust.