City in the Clouds (2 page)

The world of Droon.

Pop!
Neal’s other sneaker began to split.

“Oh, man!” Neal moaned loudly. Too loudly.

Sparr bolted up from his throne and turned around. His dark eyes flashed when he saw the children. “Spies! Seize them!”

Instantly three large Ninns rushed over and grabbed the children.

The red guards’ grips were like steel.

“Let us go, Sparr!” Julie exclaimed.

Sparr laughed. ‘That’s exactly what I intend to do! Ninns, take them to the platform!”

The sorcerer’s bald head gleamed as if it had been polished. And small dark fins grew behind each ear.

“Do you expect us to talk?” Eric asked.

“No, I expect you to… fly!” Sparr replied.

Without another word, the big red warriors hustled them roughly into the corridor.

“Where are you taking us?” Neal asked.

“You’ll find out!” one Ninn laughed. He pressed a button on the corridor wall and —
whoosh!
— a door in the side of the ship opened.

The children found themselves on a small metal plank jutting out from the ship.

The wind howled around them.

“Okay,” said Eric, “I’m guessing that this platform is not a good thing.”

“We call it the tossing platform!” one of the guards said with a grunting sort of laugh. His black eyes seemed like tiny marbles in his puffy red face.

“We toss, you fly!” another Ninn said.

“And what if we can’t fly?” Julie asked.

“Splat!” The third Ninn laughed.

The kids all looked at one another.

“Okay, now I’m worried,” Neal said.

“And you weren’t up till now?” Julie cried.

Suddenly —
zzzzzz-blam!
— the ship rocked.

Ka-blam! Boom!
The sky lit up with sparkling blue beams. Dozens of plump purple ships swooped out of the clouds.

The ships were small and round and very fast. Two wings stuck out on each side of a clear bubble.

“The Lumpies!” Julie shouted.

The Ninns grunted and ran inside. The iron door closed behind them. The kids were trapped outside the ship.

“Now I’m really worried!” Neal said. “We really are going to go splat!”

Suddenly one of the purple planes swept underneath the platform. It pulled up sharply. Its cockpit bubble opened.

There were two figures inside. “Jump! Quickly!” yelled the pilot.

They did. “Oomph! —whoa! —yeow!”

The ship circled up and away into the pink clouds as the kids tumbled onto soft purple pillows. They landed right next to a small purple creature who looked like a chubby pillow himself.

The creature’s cheeks bulged like bubblegum bubbles.

“Khan!” Eric cried.

“King of the Lumpies, at your service!”

Khan said, his short arms flying over the controls.

Zzzz — blam!
The back end of the little ship roared with the sound of blasting. A helmeted creature behind them leaned over a strange gun.

Sparkling blue beams of light burst on the giant silver ship below. Sparr’s airship changed direction and veered away.

“Lumpies one, Sparr zero!” Khan cheered.

“Nice blasting from your helper back there,” Julie said to Khan. “Amazing, whoever that is!”

“She ought to be,” Khan said with a twinkle in his eye. “That’s Princess Keeah!”

Three
The Flying City of Ro

Princess Keeah tore off her helmet. Her long blond hair tumbled to her shoulders.

“I’m so glad to see you!” she said. “We were on our way to meet my father when Sparr attacked us. But why are you here?”

Neal held up his claw. “The spell from last time sort of… came back.”

“Oh, my!” the princess gasped.

“Plus,” Eric added, “then we heard that Sparr plans to steal diamonds from a place

called Ro!”

Keeah glanced at the Lumpy leader.

“We have no time to waste,” Khan muttered. He pulled on the lever and they soared up into the pink clouds.

“What’s going on?” Julie asked.

Keeah turned to her friends. “My father and I were supposed to meet Galen and Max at the city of Ro to find out where my mother is.”

Eric nodded. On one of their previous journeys, they had learned that Keeah’s mother, Queen Relna, was not dead as everyone had thought. A witch had told them she was alive.

“Where is this city of Ro,” Julie asked.

“Everywhere!” Keeah answered. “Ro is a flying city. It flies constantly over all of Droon.”

“Cool! “ Neal said, scratching his neck.

“Very cool, as you say/’
Khan said.
“And on any other day Sparr would not be able to attack it. “

“Why is today so important? “ Eric asked.

Khan pulled the purple ship higher. “Ro hides itself under a spell of invisibility. “

“Except,” said Keeah, “that one day each year Ro becomes visible. It lands in the Kalahar Valley to collect diamonds. The magic jewels hold the power of invisibility. “

“Those are the diamonds Sparr is after,” Julie said.

Eric was drawn to the small ship’s front windscreen, where a large white bird soared along with the purple ship.

“The white falcon!” he said. He remembered all the times he’d seen it before in Droon.

Keeah smiled. “The falcon is always nearby, watching over what we do. “ Then she turned.

“Neal, I’m sorry the spell came back,” she said. “But you’re in luck. The Guardians live in Ro. They are very old and very wise. They know more than anyone about, well, anything! They can help you. “

Khan sniffed. “But we must hurry. At midnight, Ro vanishes again. Once it does, it will be impossible to leave for a whole year! “

The small winged craft shot over a range of snowy mountains and dipped to a desert plain.

A few moments later. Khan landed on the outside of a ring of tall hills.

“The Kalahar Valley is beyond these hills,” Keeah said, stepping from the ship
.
“Come.”

As the sun lowered into afternoon, the small band crept through a narrow pass in the hills.

“Oh, my gosh!” Julie exclaimed as they tramped out to a ledge on the other side.

The valley below teemed with hundreds of Ninn warriors. They were armed with bows and arrows and swords. With them were dozens of winged lizards called groggles.

Suddenly, a great cry rose up from the red warriors. They looked skyward to see Sparr’s silver airship circling the valley.

But that was nothing compared to what happened next.

On the far side of the valley, the drifting pink clouds slowly parted.

Over the hills came a giant city. It looked as if it had been uprooted from the earth. Slowly, it floated downward into the center of the valley.

“Ro!” Keeah whispered excitedly. “I hope my father made it there safely. And Galen and Max, too.”

““It’s awesome,” Eric exclaimed, looking up.

The city was built on an enormous floating disk that seemed to stretch for miles across.

Strangely shaped towers spiraled to the sky. Bridges soared from one side of the city to the other. Domes of green, pink, and blue topped buildings of every shape and size.

And the lights! The whole city gleamed and sparkled as if every inch of it were lit!

“Ro is a city of peace, ruled over by the wisest of people, the Guardians,” Khan said.

“But now Sparr is waiting for it,” Keeah said with a shiver.

The city finally rumbled to the ground, nestling into the valley as if it had always been there.

As soon as it landed, a white ray of light shot from the city to the valley floor.

“They are drilling for the diamonds,” Khan whispered.

A moment later, millions of tiny glittering rocks flowed back through the light to the city.

“They’re drilling with light,” said Neal.

“How can we get in?” Eric asked.

“There’s an army of Ninns between us and the city.”

The Lumpy king sniffed suddenly. The kids remembered that Lumpies were expert sniffers.

“We’re in luck,” the purple king said. “I smell a flock of wild groggles roosting nearby. And the Ninns don’t know about them.”

“Groggles?” Neal muttered. ‘Those flying lizards eat bugs like me. Anyone have a Plan B?”

“But Khan’s a groggle whisperer!” Keeah said.

“A what?” asked Eric.

“I talk softly to them/’ Khan said with a chuckle. “And the groggles listen. The wild ones who live in the mountains are actually quite nice.”

The five friends crept slowly up to a flock of groggles nesting on the edge of the valley.

In the sky above, Sparr’s silver airship circled the giant city and swooped down into it. As if this were a signal, the Ninns jumped onto their own groggles. A moment later, Sparr’s flying army swarmed up from the valley floor.

“Quickly now!” Keeah cried. “Ro will soon take flight.”

“Psss!” Khan whispered soft words into one lizard’s ear. It grunted, dipped for everyone to climb on its back, then lifted from the ground with a great flapping of wings.

With the kids clutching the groggle tightly, it soared up to join the others.

Four
Into the Palace

“Psss-psss-psss!” Khan whispered. The groggle obeyed, circling high over the city.

“There it is!” Keeah exclaimed. “The Guardians’ palace has the tallest tower.”

Below them stood a palace of shiny gray stone. From its top a tower coiled up to the sky. It was the tallest and strangest of all the buildings in the city.

The groggle landed clumsily on a small street near the palace and the kids piled off.

The streets were deserted.

“The people of Ro are peaceful,” Khan said. “They will likely be hiding.”

“First things first,” said Eric. “We need to find a cure for Neal.”

“No,” said Neal. “First we stop Sparr.”

“Finding the Guardians will help us do both,” said Keeah.

Julie pointed into the air. “We’d better find them soon. Here comes Sparr’s silver ship.”

They watched from the corner as Lord Sparr’s airship landed in a large square in front of the palace. Almost immediately, a hatch opened and Lord Sparr himself appeared.

“Princess Keeah,” Khan whispered, “I will try to find your father and tell him where we are. With my nose, I should be able to sniff myself past Sparr and his chubby guards.”