Chapter 10

Chapter 10 "This is awful," Princess Pulverizer whispered to Lucas as she spit a piece of apple pie into her napkin. "Sir Surly was right. Madame Zucker is an awful baker." "It's better than a banquet of slugs and centipedes," Lucas reminded her. "Not by much," Princess Pulverizer insisted. Burp! Dribble let out a belch. A dragon belch. Which came with a little flame, and a little stink. "Sorry," he apologized. "Must be something I ate."

Princess Pulverizer leaned back in her chair and looked up at the stage where the King of Yabko-kokomo was sitting in his throne, droning on. "That guy sure can talk, can't he?" she whispered impatiently to her friends. "With Sir Surly in prison, the apple orchard belongs to our kingdom once again. And Madame Zucker has returned to bake apple pies for us all," the king was saying. "Are you sure that one was a good deed?" Dribble joked, pushing the tasteless pie farther away from him on his plate. "At least Dr. Cuspid was able to finally brush his teeth," Princess Pulverizer pointed

out. "That's a good thing—for everyone in this kingdom who has a nose." Just then, Lucas stood up. "Where are you going?" Dribble asked him. "Nowhere," Lucas assured him. "I just need to stretch for a minute. We've been sitting for hours. My rear end hurts." "Sit down," Princess Pulverizer whispered to Lucas. "No one is allowed to stand up until the king does. That's a royal rule." "Oh. Sorry," Lucas apologized. He started to sit down. But before Lucas could reach his seat, someone pulled the chair out from under him. Clink. Clank. Clunk. He landed right on his bottom. Everyone turned and stared. Even the king stopped speaking. The only sound in the room was Nate Jape's hysterical laughter. "That wasn't funny," Lucas hissed at the practical joker. "Won't you ever learn?" Dribble asked him.

Nate shrugged. "Probably not," he admitted. Ahem. The King of Yabko-kokomo cleared his throat to bring the attention back to himself. He rose to speak. "Now, will our three brave heroes please come up onstage with me." Princess Pulverizer walked proudly onto the stage along with Lucas and Dribble. "As a token of our gratitude, I present you with this golden mace," the king said, handing Princess Pulverizer a heavy metal stick with a golden apple on the top. Princess Pulverizer took the stick graciously. Her knees buckled slightly. The mace was heavy. She probably would have been better off keeping the crown of worms as evidence of a good deed. They were wiggly, but at least they didn't weigh a lot. "That is not just any mace," the king continued. "It is one of our crown jewels. And as such, it has magical powers."

Princess Pulverizer brightened. That was something the worms didn't have. At least she'd never heard of a magic worm before. "The mace of Yabko-kokomo can be used to heal the wounds of anyone who fights on the side of what is good and right," the king explained. "But a word of caution: It is important to be sure that the person you are healing really is a good person," the king warned. "If you try to use the mace's power on

someone who is deceitful or evil, its magic will disappear." "Thank you so much," Princess Pulverizer replied. "We're just glad we could rescue the prisoners and return your orchard." "Now let the banquet continue!" the king declared. As Princess Pulverizer and her friends walked down the stairs from the stage, the king continued speaking. "The rescuing of our fellow countrymen reminds me of a story I heard when I was just a young prince," he said. "Once upon a time, there was a princess who was trapped in a tower by an evil beast. She had long, long hair, because no barber was ever allowed in the tower..." "Uh-oh," Dribble whispered to Princess Pulverizer. "We could be here for hours if he starts telling stories. Do something." "Like what?" Princess Pulverizer whispered back.