10. One Last Thing

CHAPTER Ten One Last Thing Kla-blam! A bolt of blue light shot across the hills and exploded next to Sparr. The kids turned. "Hooray!" they cheered. Through the dust strode Galen and Keeah. Their hands were raised at Sparr. Their fingertips sizzled with blue sparks. "Begone, Sparr!" Galen said. "You have lost!" Eric grinned. "This just isn't your day, Sparr." "Hrooooo!" The dragon swooped overhead. And from the village came hundreds of Oobjas. They marched at Sparr, looking angry. The sorcerer growled like a captive animal.

He raised his arms to the sky, flapped his cloak like a set of wings, and shot up into the air. "Come, my Ninns," he called out bitterly. "We live to fight another day! Victory will be ours!" Instantly, his red-faced warrior Ninns took to their groggles. The sky darkened over the dust hills as they swarmed after their leader. Moments later, Sparr and his army were gone. "Yahoo! We beat him!" Neal shouted, jumping up and down. "We won today! We won!" "Excellent work, my friends," Galen said. The giant lay motionless before them, his dark eyes crusted with dust. "Your plan worked," Keeah said to Julie. The Oobja king smiled broadly. "I told you she had powers. The powers of imagination!" Julie smiled. "Well, the dragon sure helped." Princess Keeah looked up. The dragon was perched quietly on a hill overlooking the village. Its deep green eyes met Keeah's. An unspoken word seemed to pass between them. Then Keeah gasped. "Oh, my gosh! Mother?" "Hrooooo!" the dragon cried. "I knew it!" Max chirped. "It is Queen Relna! That's why she helped us so much. My princess, the dragon is your

mother!" Keeah ran over as the blue dragon fluttered down and landed softly at the edge of the village. Keeah seemed to understand the soft, deep sounds her mother was making. "A dragon queen," said Neal. "That is so awesome." Galen smiled. "They are together once again." "Families should be together," said Max. Batamogi sniffled once. "I wish my nine brothers were here to see this day." Julie looked at the furry king. "Wait. Did you say nine brothers? You have nine brothers?" Batamogi nodded. "We ruled our village together. We were all crowned at birth." Julie blinked. "Nine brothers, nine kings, nine… crowns?" Eric gasped at Julie. "Your dream!" "My dream!" Julie repeated. "I was floating over a hilltop and saw nine crowns… oh, my gosh! I understand it now. I understand it!" Julie ran over to Keeah and her mother. "Can your mother take us someplace?" The dragon murmured to Keeah. Keeah laughed. "She'd be delighted!" Julie jumped. "Come on, everyone. King Batamogi, get ready for a family reunion!"

Everyone piled onto Queen Relna's back. Julie pointed over the hills. The queen flapped her long wings once and lifted off the ground. "This is just like my dream," Julie said. "I was floating high over Droon." "And you wore a crown," Neal said, tapping Julie's black helmet. "Just like you are now." The dragon dipped over the green lake and came to rest on the hilltop where Eric, Julie, and Neal had begun their journey. On top of the hill was the circle of nine strange trees. They stood like statues in the fading sunlight. Their tangled branches reached to the sky. Julie turned to Batamogi. "In my dream," she said, "there were nine crowns sitting on a hilltop. Here there are nine trees. When your brothers refused to help Sparr, he must have enchanted them. He changed them. Into trees!" "When they grabbed us, they weren't trying to hurt us," Neal said. "They wanted us to help them!" "There is a spell to free them," Galen said. "And Keeah, you must help me." The two wizards joined hands. Together, they began to murmur, "Teppi—qualem—bratoo!" A blue mist wrapped around the trees. The branches twitched and creaked.

The trees shrank to the size of bushes, and their leaves bunched up and became red fur. Their thick roots became squat legs. Their upper limbs became arms. Then, the circle of trees quivered together and became Batamogi's nine brothers. "Oh, my! Oh, my!" Batamogi cried. "You see, Julie, you did help us. Now we do the dance of joy!" The ten squat kings hugged one another. They linked arms and twirled around, laughing.

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