Akiko and the Great Wall of Trudd (2 page)

After a long
pause, during which Mr. Beeba folded his arms and tapped his foot impatiently on the ground, I cleared my throat and began to tell them everything I could.

“First of all, she told me something about our mission to rescue Prince Froptoppit,” I said, trying to recall the Seeing Room and how Queen Pwip had gazed into the strange basin of water like a fortune-teller staring into a crystal ball. “I think she could see the future of our mission.”

I took a deep breath and looked out into space. Remembering all this stuff was harder than I’d thought it would be.

“Go on, girl!” Mr. Beeba said impatiently. “Don’t leave us all hanging here!” I could tell he wasn’t used to other people knowing more about something than he did. He was like a hungry kid waiting for me to give him a bite of my sandwich.

“Let’s keep walking,” I said. “It’ll help me remember things better.”

Poog smiled approvingly and Mr. Beeba scowled as I strode down the road, leaving them all to hurry after me. Spuckler and Gax positioned themselves on either side of me as I walked along, and Mr. Beeba scurried in front so that he could get a better look at my face, even though it meant walking backward (and occasionally stumbling in the process).

“She told me there was no need to worry,” I said finally. “We’ll get to Alia Rellapor’s castle eventually, but it won’t be easy.”

“We’ll
get
there,” Mr. Beeba repeated, sounding like a newsman taking notes for his big story, “but it won’t be
easy
.”

“Some fortune-teller!” Spuckler snorted. “
I
coulda told ya
that
.”

“Hush, Spuckler!” Mr. Beeba snapped, clearly not wanting anything to interrupt my train of thought.

“Oh, I remember!” I said. “She warned me about a man. His name is Rock, or something like that.” I knew that wasn’t the exact name, but it was the best I could do at the moment.

“A man called Rock?” Mr. Beeba asked, sounding very puzzled. “A very
peculiar
name, that. . .”

“It wasn’t Rock, though,” I continued, walking a little faster as if to speed up my brain. “It was more like Thorp or Thork or something . . .”

There was another long pause, during which Mr. Beeba became increasingly short of breath as he struggled to move as quickly backward as I was moving forward.

“She
warned
you about this fellow, eh?” he muttered, as much to himself as to anyone else. “Oh dear.
That’s
not good. That’s not good at all.”

“Throck!” I shouted, suddenly coming to a complete stop. “His name was Throck!”

Poog got a strange look in his eyes, a very serious look, as if the mere mention of Throck’s name was troubling to him.

“Throck? You’re sure?” Mr. Beeba asked anxiously, panting quite heavily now.

“Throck,” Spuckler repeated. “Pretty cool name, I gotta admit.”

“What else did she say about him, Akiko?” Mr. Beeba prodded. “Is he short? Tall? Stout? Svelte?” I didn’t even know what the last two words meant. Fortunately I didn’t really need to.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Beeba,” I explained as I began to walk again, “but Queen Pwip didn’t tell me what he looked like. She just told me we’d need to watch out for him.”

Spuckler stepped close to my side and put his hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t worry, ’Kiko,” he said with a reassuring wink. “If I ever run across this Throck rascal, I’ll pop him a good one right inna jaw!”

Gax clicked and whirred proudly. Even Mr. Beeba looked somewhat comforted by Spuckler’s boast.

“She also said there’d be a friend,” I continued, “someone who would help us out.”

“A friend? Only
one
?” Mr. Beeba asked, sounding slightly disappointed. “What’s his name? Or is it a she?”

“I’m pretty sure Queen Pwip said ‘he,’ ” I said, rubbing my jaw and trying my best to remember. “She didn’t give a name, though. She just said ‘a friend.’ ”

“Yes, well,” Mr. Beeba replied, stumbling a bit over a large clump of grass, “I suppose we’ll know him when we see him.”

“There was one last thing,” I said, glancing up at Poog as if to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. “She said Prince Froptoppit is okay. She said he’s in good health, but he’s very sad and lonely. I guess he’s almost given up hope of ever being rescued.”

“At least we know he’s all right,” Mr. Beeba said, sounding very relieved.

“Well now, hang on a second,” Spuckler said, wagging a finger in the air. “We don’t
know
nothin’.”

“
Anything
,” Mr. Beeba corrected.

“Exactly,” Spuckler replied, as if Mr. Beeba were simply agreeing with him. “How can we be so sure ol’ Queen Pwip was tellin’ the truth? What’s to say her whole fortune-tellin’ routine wasn’t just a big hoax?”

“Spuckler!” I said disapprovingly. “Queen Pwip was so nice to us! How could you be suspicious of her?”

“I ain’t bein’ ’
spicious
of her, ’Kiko,” he protested. “I’m jus’ sayin’ she mighta been a big
fake
, that’s all.” He kicked a stone off the road with his peg leg, as if to emphasize his point.

“
I’M SO SORRY TO INTERRUPT,
” Gax announced suddenly, “
BUT IT IS MY DUTY TO ALERT ALL OF YOU TO A HUMANOID PRESENCE IN THE ROAD AHEAD.
”

“Humanoid presence?” Mr. Beeba repeated.

We all froze in our tracks, startled to realize that we were no longer alone.

Gax continued, sounding
slightly alarmed (in his own robotic way): “
HE IS APPROXIMATELY SEVENTY-FIVE FEET IN ADVANCE OF OUR CURRENT POSITION. I ESTIMATE THAT WE WILL HAVE VISUAL CONFIRMATION UPON REACHING THE TOP OF THE NEXT HILL.
”

A shiver ran through my body and I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. All at once a strange sensation came over me, a feeling that we were in very real danger. I looked at Poog. He had a terribly serious expression on his face, as if he, too, knew that something was wrong. I saw myself reflected in Poog’s shiny eyes and was startled by how frightened I looked.

“You guys stay here,” Spuckler said. “I’ll go up and have a look.”

“No, Spuckler! Don’t go!” I said rather too loudly, my voice quivering.

Both Spuckler and Mr. Beeba looked at me in astonishment. I felt a bead of sweat run down my face.

“Akiko,” Mr. Beeba said, putting his hand on my arm. “What’s wrong? Are you all right?”

“I . . . I’m fine,” I said, glancing nervously at Poog. “I just have this feeling that we shouldn’t go any nearer to . . . any nearer to . . .”

“Any nearer t’
what
?” Spuckler asked, his eyebrows drawn together into a look of great concern.

“Any nearer to whatever’s up there in the road ahead,” I said, my voice still shaking. “It’s something—or someone—dangerous,”

There was a long pause as Spuckler and Mr. Beeba looked at each other, then back at me. Spuckler scratched the back of his neck.

“Look, ’Kiko,” he whispered. “I ain’t exactly sure what you’re talkin’ about, but it seems t’ me that I oughta at least go up there ’n’ take a
look
.”

“A look,” I repeated. “
Just
a look?”

“I’m just gonna take a quick peek, that’s all,” he said. “Then I’ll come back here an’ tell ya what I seen.”

I looked at Poog. He still had the same serious expression on his face. He nodded very slowly.

“Okay,” I said after another very long pause, glancing up the road to where it disappeared over the hill. “
But be careful
.”

Mr. Beeba, Gax, Poog, and I all watched Spuckler crawl along the edge of the road up toward the top of the hill. He crept much more carefully and quietly as he approached the point where he would be able to see the mysterious figure. My heart was pounding, and there was a part of me that just wanted to turn around and run. Instead, I bit my lip and forced myself to stand there and wait.

Spuckler stayed at the top of the hill for a minute or two, flat on his belly, before turning his head and motioning for us to join him. Mr. Beeba and I gave each other a nervous glance.

“No!” I whispered angrily. “I’m not going up there. He said he’d come back!”

“Now, Akiko,” Mr. Beeba said quietly, trying to calm me down. “Spuckler is an unpredictable sort, I know, but he wouldn’t encourage us to join him up there unless he thought it was perfectly safe.”

I looked again at Poog but found his face oddly expressionless, as if he were leaving the matter entirely up to me.

“Okay,” I said, swallowing hard. “But let’s go
slowly
.”

Mr. Beeba went first, Poog and I went next, and Gax followed along behind, moving as carefully as he could to muffle the squeaking noise made by his wheels. Crawling on his hands and knees, Mr. Beeba led the way to the spot where Spuckler was lying among the weeds at the side of the road. I crawled as low to the ground as I could, which unfortunately meant getting poked in the elbows over and over by all the rocks and pebbles on the road. My heart was beating even faster, and I found it very hard to breathe properly. It almost felt as if I were under water or something.

Eventually we reached Spuckler and had a clear view of the “humanoid presence” in the road. As soon as I saw him, I knew it was Throck. I felt so sure, it was as if he had the name written across his back.