The Riddle of Zorfendorf Castle

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1: At the Beach

  2: Playing with Models

  3: The Big Red Book

  4: A Bunch of Riddles

  5: The Magic Word

  6: Up, Up, and Away!

  7: The Ring of Midnight

  8: Big Head, Big Nose

  9: Some Things Never Change …

  10: … And Some Things Do

  The Adventure Continues …

  Also Available

  Copyright

  It was noon on a warm Saturday when Eric Hinkle sat down on a sunny beach with his friends Neal and Julie.

  He looked around and smiled. “Guys, this is the life.”

  “I know,” agreed Neal. “This beach has all my favorite stuff. Sun and fun and … what’s the third thing? Oh, yeah. Cheeseburgers, hot dogs, onion rings, curly fries, potato chips, and vanilla shakes —”

  Eric laughed. “That’s like … six things!”

  “Not the way Neal eats,” said Julie. “He’s the original human blender!”

  Neal looked thoughtful for a moment. “Blender Boy. I like it!”

  The beach near Eric’s house was a narrow strip of sand at the edge of a small pond. On one side was a tiny concession stand. On the other was a parking lot. In between were kids and parents from his neighborhood, sunning and playing and having fun.

  “The water is so beautiful,” said Julie, gazing out at the far side of the pond, where their gym teacher, Mr. Frando, was tossing a large net into the water. “It’s kind of like the color of sapphires.”

  “It’s kind of like the Sea of Droon,” Neal whispered. “Only in our world.”

  Eric smiled again. Droon was the mysterious and magical world he and his friends had discovered under his house one day. Droon was where they had met Princess Keeah, a powerful young wizard. It was where they helped her battle an evil sorcerer known as Lord Sparr.

  And it was where Eric and Julie had gotten magical powers. Julie had gained the ability to fly and sometimes to change shape. Once, she had pretended to be the spider troll Max. Another time, she changed into Neal’s mother, the town librarian. Eric himself was fast becoming an actual wizard with a full range of awesome powers.

  Each time the friends descended the rainbow-colored staircase in his basement — and they had gone down those steps many times — things in Droon had gotten more fabulous, more exciting, and more dangerous.

  Julie sighed. “Keeah would love this. Too bad she doesn’t have much time to just hang out. Especially now that things are a little weird —”

  “A lot weird,” said Neal. He looked at the concession stand and frowned.

  Eric felt the same way.

  Things in Droon really had gotten strange.

  First of all, Sparr had recently woken a four-armed, three-eyed, bull-headed beast named Ko from a four-century nap. Now, Ko ruled over an empire of fearsome beasts.

  Stranger still, in waking Ko up, Sparr himself had been transformed into a boy. He was now on their side, helping them stop Ko from turning Droon into his smelly Dark Lands.

  But there was more.

  The great wizard Galen, who had helped Keeah and her friends keep Droon free since the very beginning, was now gone. He had disappeared months before in a city called Ut.

  “I can’t wait for Galen to come back,” said Eric. “We sure need him now.”

  “The Ring of Midnight will help us find him,” said Julie.

  Right. The amazing Ring of Midnight.

  That was another weird thing.

  The kids had recently discovered a large silver ring. They had no idea what the Ring was for, but when an image of Galen himself had appeared in the middle of it, everyone realized that the Ring might be the key to finding him.

  Eric expected to be called back to Droon at any minute to start the search. “I packed the magic soccer ball in case Keeah sends for us.”

  “At least some things haven’t changed,” said Julie. “The ball still calls us to Droon. And the staircase still takes us. I can’t wait to go —”

  “Maybe I’ll get in line now,” said Neal.

  “Get in line? For the staircase?” asked Eric.

  Neal shook his head. “For lunch. The concession stand is getting really busy.”

  He bounced up from the blanket, then pointed across the pond. “But call me if Mr. Frando catches any fish sticks out there!”

  Eric and Julie sat watching as Neal worked his way inch by inch to the head of the food line. He was nearly at the counter when Eric turned his head and caught sight of a tall girl standing on the beach behind them. She had long, wavy hair and the darkest eyes he had ever seen.

  Julie saw her, too. She made a low growling noise. “Meredith! She’s everywhere.”

  Eric had to admit it. The girl was everywhere. She had just moved into a house on his street. She went to their school. She had even come to his house once. Meredith had only been around for a few days, and already Eric was certain she had heard them talking about Droon.

  “Whenever I even think about Droon, she’s there,” said Julie. “We have to be careful.”

  Eric kept his eyes fixed on the girl. “Right,” he whispered. “Careful. Because Droon has to stay a secret —”

  Suddenly, Julie grabbed his arm. “Oh, my gosh, Eric, look —”

  Eric turned to see Neal, his arms filled with trays and boxes and giant cups, heading straight for a hole some little kids had dug in the sand.

  Eric nearly choked. “Oh, no! Neal!”

  Neal peered over his food. “Coming!”

  “He’ll fall in!” said Julie.

  Without thinking, Eric flicked the index finger of his right hand.

  Zzzzzt! A single silver spark flew across the sand, whizzing past coolers and around beach chairs. Just as Neal lowered his foot — pooomf! — a small explosion of sand filled the hole.

  Neal stepped on it firmly and kept walking.

  Eric grinned. “Ha! That was awesome!”

  “Not so awesome!” said Julie. “That nosy girl saw you! Meredith saw you! She’s coming over here! And — look — the soccer ball!”

  The magical soccer ball had begun to float up and away from the kids’ blanket.

  “Oh, no!” cried Eric. He tossed a beach towel over the ball and wrestled it to the ground.

  Neal plopped down next to him, slurping a large milk shake. “Hey, what’s going on?”

  “Everything!” said Julie. “The new girl saw us! We’re in really deep trouble now!”

  But just when they expected her to stop at their blanket, Meredith ran past them and dived into the water. “That man needs help!” she yelled.

  Everyone looked to the far side of the pond, where Mr. Frando was up to his neck, splashing around. “D-d-d-deep!” he cried.

  The beach lifeguard jumped down from his chair and was in the water in a flash.

  But before he was even halfway to Mr. Frando, Meredith was at the gym teacher’s side, pulling him through the water toward the far shore.

  Eric blinked. “She may be nosy, but she’s an amazing swimmer. Mr. Frando is sure lucky.”

  “We’re lucky, too, this time,” said Julie. She had begun throwing their beach stuff into her bag. “Maybe Meredith didn’t see your spark, and maybe she didn’t see the ball. But Keeah needs us. Neal, bring your food. We’re going. Now!”

  Without another word, the three friends took off from the beach, racing through backyards and darting down driveways until they bounded up the back steps of Eric’s house.

  Out of breath, Eric entered his kitchen and paused to listen. “The coast is clear. Let’s go!”

  They hustled down the basement stair
s. Eric set the magic soccer ball on his father’s workbench and turned to his friends. “Sorry, guys. Using powers at the beach was dumb. I know I need to be more careful.”

  “We all have to be careful,” said Julie as they piled into a small closet under the stairs. She closed the door behind them. “We can’t let anyone know about Droon. Ever.”

  “True,” said Neal. “But I’m glad you saved my lunch, Eric.” He popped the last onion ring in his mouth, dusted his hands, and flicked off the ceiling light.

  Whoosh! A bright light blazed, and the closet floor became the top step of a staircase glittering with every color of the rainbow.

  “So awesome!” Eric whispered.

  The three friends descended the stairs. Before long, they were surrounded by a thick fog. When the staircase ended, they found themselves in total darkness. They stepped onto a floor.

  “We’re in a room of some kind,” said Julie.

  Neal pinched his nose. “A smelly room. We aren’t in a supply closet, are we?”

  When their eyes had adjusted to the dark, the three kids spied a faint outline ahead of them.

  “We’ll know soon enough,” said Eric. “There’s a door.” He groped around carefully until he found a handle, then turned it slowly. The door opened on a corridor that was all black except for bright green flames leaping up from a cauldron at the ceiling.

  “Green fire,” whispered Neal. “Don’t beasts like green — oh!”

  Just then, a giant gray snail with dark red eyes slithered around the corner, heading straight toward them.

  For the third time that morning, Eric nearly choked.

  “Oh, no!”

  Just as the giant snail raised its beady red eyes — fwoop! — the kids were yanked back into the room they had just left.

  “Whoa —” gasped Eric.

  “Hush!” said a quiet voice. “It’s only us!”

  Flish! A violet spark sizzled in the darkness. In its glow, the three friends saw the smiling face of a girl with long blond hair.

  “Keeah!” whispered Julie.

  “And not a moment too soon!” said the princess. “I think we almost lost you!”

  “We?” said Neal.

  “Ahem! Khan at your service!” squeaked a purple, pillow-shaped creature by Keeah’s side. Khan was king of the Lumpies of Lumpland.

  “Me, too, of course!” chirped a third voice. The smiling, pug-nosed face of Max, the spider troll, leaned into the spark’s tiny light. He wore a small cape of bright green cloth.

  “So, you got my message on your soccer ball,” said Keeah as she pressed her ear against the door.

  “Everyone else almost did, too,” said Eric. “Because of me —”

  “Because of saving my lunch,” said Neal.

  “Because sometimes,” said Julie, “Eric’s not very careful!”

  “We all have to be careful now,” said Khan, sniffing the door. “We are in the palace of Emperor Ko himself!”

  Neal gulped loudly. “Ko’s home? Where he lives? Oh, man. I think I just swallowed my brain!”

  Julie chuckled. “Neal, I always knew your brain was in your stomach!”

  Peeking out the door next to Keeah, Eric saw the giant snail glide down the corridor and pass out of view.

  Ko’s beasts were fiercer than anything they had battled in Droon before. They seemed to have very dull brains, but they were large and nasty. Their skin and fur and scales were mostly the color of ash. Eric had noticed that they smelled like something stored in a wet basement.

  But perhaps most frightening was that each beast had fiery red eyes.

  “Shouldn’t we be getting out of here?” asked Neal. “I mean, like, now?”

  Max chuckled softly. “Interesting thing about Ko’s palace. It happens to fly five hundred feet in the air. Keeah —”

  The princess went to the far side of the room and flicked her fingers at the wall.

  Pop! A tiny porthole opened, and a blast of warm air rushed in from a desert far below.

  Neal nodded. “Okay. Fine. Never mind!”

  “Besides,” said Khan, peering into the corridor, “we must find out what Ko is planning. The coast is stinky but clear. Let’s move!”

  Since Lumpies have a strong sense of smell, Khan led the others into the corridor. He sniffed, nodded, and pointed left. “This way!”

  Eric, Julie, Neal, Keeah, and Max started down the hallway after Khan.

  “How did you get inside this place anyway?” Julie asked.

  “Last night, I spotted something streaking across the night sky,” the Lumpy king whispered. “It landed in my desert.”

  Neal glanced at Eric. “Like a flying saucer!”

  The little group turned another corner.

  “Of course, Khan came to Jaffa City right away to tell me,” said Keeah.

  “Indeed,” said Khan excitedly. “And we all came back here. Sparr came, too. No sooner had we all snuck aboard, when — zoom-zoom! — this butter dish took off again!”

  “Flying saucer,” Neal corrected him.

  “Exactly!” said Khan. “Sparr knew instantly it was none other than Ko’s flying palace!”

  “So Sparr is here somewhere?” said Julie.

  Max nodded as they followed Khan around the next corner. “As soon as we crept on board, Sparr said he began to remember things. Things about Ko. He left us right away to investigate!”

  “I hope he hasn’t gotten himself into trouble,” said Keeah.

  Eric shot a look at the princess. “No kidding. I keep hoping that being a kid again and being with us will keep him out of trouble.”

  They all hoped that Sparr would not grow up to become the sorcerer they had once known. But they had to admit that the boy was mysterious. He had knowledge of things they knew little about.

  Over the weeks they had been together, Eric had felt that there were two different sides of Sparr. One good. One bad. And the two Sparrs were battling each other to see who would win.

  Keeah stopped outside a large hatchway. “I don’t have to be a Lumpy to smell the beasts in here. Their scent is too strong.”

  “Beasts aren’t big into showering, are they?” said Neal.

  “Not so much,” said Keeah. She leaned on the hatch, opening it a crack, and they all peeked in.

  Inside was a giant, round room. The ceiling was high and black. Dark-colored tapestries were draped on the walls, and black cauldrons hung from the ceiling. All but the center cauldron were blazing with the same deep green flames.

  The giant snail they had seen earlier was standing erect now, looking down on something in the center of the room. Next to it stood a gray-furred beast that looked like a lion with spikes running down its back. Other beasts were crowded together, too. They were all facing away from the door and following the snail’s gaze.

  “What’s so interesting?” whispered Julie. “A foosball game we can’t see?”

  “I see that plain enough!” snarled Max.

  He was pointing at the terrible symbol of Ko. It was an upside-down triangle with two horns curving up from it. Three smaller triangles set inside the larger one were like the three eyes in Emperor Ko’s head.

  The symbol was on everything. It was woven into the tapestries, emblazoned on the flaming cauldrons, tiled on the floor, and painted on the ceiling.

  “Ko sure likes to label his stuff,” said Julie. “It’s like don’t touch — or else.”

  “Well,” said Khan with a low chuckle, “I’m going to touch! If most of the beasts are in this room, no one will stop a little purple pillow from messing with Ko’s flying soup bowl —”

  “Saucer,” whispered Eric.

  “Exactly!” said Khan. “Every ship runs on something. I’ll find out what Ko’s ship runs on — and I’ll wreck it! Neal, come with me. We have a little bit of touching to do!”

  Neal grinned. “Anything to leave this beastie playroom. Don’t save me a seat —”

  “We won’t,” said Julie. “Good luck!”
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  Neal and the Lumpy king trotted to the corner, edged around it, and disappeared.

  While the beasts’ backs were still turned, Keeah slipped into the room and hid behind one of the tapestries. She held it open for the others, and one by one they followed her.

  Once they were safely hidden, they popped their heads out again. And they finally saw what all the beasts were staring at. In the middle of the room, on a large table, sat a miniature model of Droon, with tiny castles, cities, rivers, deserts, and mountains.

  Even from his hiding place, Eric knew the model was magical, for everything on it moved. Tiny birds flew over Jaffa City. Golden monkeys swung through the trees of the Bangledorn Forest. Wind rippled the Sea of Droon, whipping up little white waves.

  “Oh …” Keeah groaned. She pointed to a thick mass of smoky air that was building up at the border of the Dark Lands. It was edging slowly toward the free part of Droon.

  As Eric watched, he felt his wizard power moving into his fingertips.

  “Keeah, it won’t happen. We won’t let it,” he whispered.

  The beasts’ mumbling quieted as a four-winged dragon entered from a far door.

  “Gethwing!” grunted the beasts.

  It was the terrible moon dragon the kids had seen twice before. His black scales glistened in the light from the green flames, and his red eyes glowed fiercely.

  He hissed a sharp command, and the beasts bowed instantly to the floor.

  “Oh, dear,” whispered Max, shuddering.

  Gethwing turned to look over his shoulder.

  Eric felt his knees weaken. A chill ran down his neck. The room went suddenly cold.

  Ko, Emperor of the Dark Lands, ruler of the beasts of Goll, swept into the room.

  Ko was eight feet tall, with massive shoulders, four arms, and a great big bull’s head. Between his two fiery horns sat a golden crown in the shape of a snake.

  Ko spoke. “Meth-ka-tahna-ro-Sparr?”

  His voice sounded like muffled thunder.

  “Sparr?” whispered Julie. “Did he say Sparr?”

  “Emperor,” Gethwing replied in a low, hissing snarl, “the time for the boy has not yet come. It will be soon. Not much longer …”

  “Soon?” Eric muttered. “Soon for what?”

  Nodding once, Ko moved to the table.