8 Race Against Time

CHAPTER Eight Race Against Time Julie and Eric hitched up reins and saddles on three shaggy pilkas while Neal wrestled open the large city gate. "Let's find the king!" Eric said firmly, snapping the reins of his pilka. "Giddyap!" Neal shouted, jumping on his own. At once, the pilkas took off. They raced past the city gates and out over the crunchy ground. The storm wrapped around them swiftly. Soon, the palace was out of sight. "King Zello!" Eric cried.

His voice was lost in the howling wind. "The storm is getting worse!" said Julie. "And it's nearly nighttime!" Neal shouted. "Perfect time for this kind of nightmare!" Still, the six-legged pilkas galloped on. They stormed through an icy forest. Icicles fell like daggers from frozen branches. Tall trees cracked in half, their black limbs heavy with silver ice. "This place really is cursed," said Julie. Neal cupped his hands together. "King Zello!" he yelled. "Oh, man, he'll never hear us. He could be miles away. He‐could even be—" "Don't say it!" Eric cried, standing in his saddle. He called out even louder. "Zello! Zello!" The wind roared like Sparr's deep laughter. Eric's arms and legs ached. He felt cold. He felt like going to sleep. Frost began to form on all their cheeks. It was getting darker. And colder. "No!" Eric cried, snapping the reins again. "We have to do this! We have to make it right! Keep yelling, everybody! Keep yelling!" "King Zello!" they shouted at the top of their lungs. "King Zello!" Then, they heard it. A faraway sound. A familiar noise above the wild snowstorm.

Hrrr! "Hey! I'd recognize that sound anywhere!" Julie shouted. "It's Leep!" "Yes!" Eric cried. "And where Leep is, there's—King Zello! Zello!" A dark shape galloped suddenly toward them. It was Leep. And on the sled behind him, King Zello. The king pulled up sharply on the reins. "Galen is frozen!" Eric cried, jumping from his pilka. "And Sparr and Keeah are fighting! There are lots of Ninns, too. A whole army of Ninns!" "I have an army, too," the king said. He waved his hand behind him. "Whoa!" Eric exclaimed. Behind the king, riding on their own sleds, were dozens of men and women. But mostly there were children. Lots and lots of children.

"Wow, an army of Droon kids!" Neal said.

"But how will we fight the big Ninns?" one young girl asked. Julie jumped down from her saddle. "Hey, I just thought of something. With this curse, we almost forgot the best thing about snow." Neal frowned. "What's that?" Julie dug her hands into a high drift and grinned. "The good old Upper World… snowball!" The children of Droon crowded around them. "We'll help, too," one of them said. "We want to keep our city free." "And maybe we can use these!" one boy said. From his coat he pulled a Y-shaped stick. "A slingshot?" said Ned. "Cool! But you have to remember rule number one. When you're fighting Ninns, you pack your snowballs hard!" The children of Droon dug into the snow eagerly. Soon‐everyone had made dozens of snowballs. They filled their pockets with them. "To the palace!" the king called out. At once his sled thundered across the snow. "Yahoo!" Eric said as he snapped the reins of his pilka. "Sparr and his Ninns will never know what hit them!"