Astro-Knights Island (4 page)

Chapter Six

A Mystery . . . and a Mouse

The King raised an eyebrow. “You? A stable boy?”

“I may be a stable boy now, but I don't plan to be one forever,” Simon said, once again surprised by his own words. It was like a can of courage and confidence had been opened up inside him, and now it was all spilling out. “And none of your guards are brave enough to go, but I will. I'm not afraid.”

The King stood up, walked over to Simon, and carefully studied his face.

“No, I don't believe you are afraid,” he said. “Very well, then. Find my daughter, and I shall make you a knight!”

“A knight?” Simon couldn't believe it. All his life he'd dreamed of being a squire . . . but a knight? He tried to imagine himself riding tall on one of the stable's finest horses, clad in shining armor.

Of course, he'd have to find the Princess first.

Simon bowed. “I will not fail you,” he said, in the most important voice he could muster.

The queen approached him. “You will need these,” she said, slipping three sheets of paper into his hand.

Simon studied them. Each one had strange markings. X-73, Y-83. X-15, Y-15. X-83, Y-20.

The queen noticed his puzzled expression. “They are coordinates. The knights left them with us.”

“Coordinates . . . you mean like points on a map?” Simon asked.

She nodded. “Before they left in the flying disk, the knights charted a course to three planets in the heavens. The Princess must be on one of them.”

This is too good to be true
, Simon thought.
I just have to follow the coordinates, and I'll find the knights—and maybe even the Princess.

“Great!” Simon said. “So I just need to hop in a flying disk, and I'll be on my way.”

“Did you think it would be that easy?” the King asked. “You must find a way to get to space on your own. The knights took the only working flying disk the invaders left behind.”

Simon's heart sank. How could he rescue the Princess from outer space if he couldn't get there?

The Queen frowned and turned to her husband. “Richard, perhaps the boy may find some solution in Mordred's old laboratory.”

The King's face darkened. “How dare you mention that name in this Castle? That evil man's darkness cannot help us now.”

“But Elyana's life is at stake,” the Queen pleaded. “Surely we must—”

“Arguing does not become you, my love,” the King said firmly. “I will hear no more of this. Let us see what the boy can do.”

Simon instinctively bowed again. “Yes, Your Highness,” he said. “Is there anything else you can tell me about the kidnapping? Do you know who took the Princess, or why?”

The Queen sadly shook her head. “Elyana had been acting very strangely of late, spending long hours in her room. But I do not know why.”

“Thank you,” Simon said. “So I guess I'll be on my way then.”

The Queen smiled at him. “Godspeed, young man.”

Simon turned to leave, then quickly turned back.

“I almost forgot something,” he said. “My friend Alice works as a scullery maid in the Castle. Can she come with me?”

“If you wish,” the King said.

Simon turned again but changed his mind once more.

“And when we bring back the Princess, can she become a knight, too?” Simon asked.

The King sighed. “You may be a mere stable boy, but you negotiate like a lawyer. Yes, if you and your friend succeed, you shall both be knighted.”

“Thanks!” Simon said. “You can count on us!”

Simon bounded out of the throne room and back down the stone stairs, his mind spinning. What was he thinking? He had no idea how to get into space, and when he did, how was he supposed to find the Princess? The knights had tried and failed. What made him think he could succeed?

“Alice is never going to believe this,” he muttered. Or Edmund, for that matter.

Thinking of Edmund made Simon more afraid than the thought of going into space. Edmund was going to be pretty angry that Simon was leaving work to look for the Princess. If he succeeded, it wouldn't matter. But if he failed, he'd have to go crawling back, begging for his job.

I won't fail,
Simon told himself.
I can't fail.

As he made his way to the basement kitchen, he saw a young woman in a blue gown walking into one of the first-floor rooms. She wore a crisp white scarf draped over her head, held in place by a blue band.

It was Rose, the Princess's lady-in-waiting. He had seen her a few times with Princess Elyana, when she had come to the stables to ride. He suddenly remembered what Alice had said—that a half robot, half man had kidnapped the Princess. Maybe she knew something that could help him.

Simon gently knocked on the door.

“Pray, come in.”

Inside, Rose was seated at her dressing table, staring into the mirror with a forlorn look on her face.

“Pardon me, miss,” Simon said. “But the King has sent me to find Princess Elyana, and I thought maybe you could help me.”

“You?” Rose asked sharply, snapping out of her melancholy.

“Yes, me,” Simon said. “I heard that you saw who kidnapped the Princess.”

Rose shuddered. “I dare not speak of it further. That day feels like a terrible nightmare now.”

He could see that Rose didn't want to talk. But he knew that she and the Princess were good friends. At the stables, they were always talking and whispering secrets to each other.

“But don't you want to help find the Princess?” Simon asked. “You must know something.”

Rose turned to Simon, her eyes wide. “Promise you will tell no one?” she asked.

“Promise,” Simon said, crossing his fingers behind his back. He would have to tell Alice, of course, but he didn't feel like explaining that now, not when Rose was ready to talk.

“I . . . I fear I may have played a part in the Princess's kidnapping!” she said and then broke into a sob.

“What do you mean?” Simon asked.

Rose dried her eyes with a handkerchief. “Elyana was using me to deliver messages to a secret society.” She opened her drawer, took out a piece of paper, and handed it to Simon. “This is the last one, but I never got to deliver it.”

Simon studied the message.

We must change our password. I fear my parents suspect what we are doing.

Things were getting interesting. “Secret society? Where? Did you see them?” Simon asked.

Rose shook her head. “No. I left them at the fountain in the town square.”

The same fountain where Alice and I saw those purple-robed people,
Simon thought.

“Thank you,” he said. Then he got an idea. “Hey, do you think I could look in the Princess's room? Maybe she left some clues there.”

“It is locked,” Rose informed him. “The King and Queen have forbidden anyone to enter. In their grief, they want to keep it as she left it. Even I cannot get in.”

“Okay,” Simon said. “Then I'll just be—hey!”

He jumped as something skittered across his foot. Looking down, he saw a silver mouse darting under Rose's bed. Simon knelt down to get a better look.

“Is that a mechanical mouse?” he asked.

“One of Mordred's creations,” Rose explained. “Horrid little thing. I can't seem to get rid of it.”

“That's too bad,” Simon said. “Guess I'd better be going.”

“Good luck!” Rose called after him. “I hope you find her!”

Simon went down another flight of stairs and entered the busy Castle kitchen. He spotted Alice on her hands and knees, scrubbing the floor with a rag. Mary, the plump Castle cook (Alice always said she had the shape of a tomato), was standing over her.

“You missed a spot! Honestly, Alice, I don't know what to do with you sometimes,” she said with a click of her tongue.

“You don't have to do anything with her,” Simon said, stepping up. “She's coming with me. By the order of the King.”

Alice looked up at him, a mix of curiosity and admiration on her face.

Mary shooed him away with her hand. “Get out of here, you smelly stable boy. And stop talking nonsense.”

“It's not nonsense,” Simon said. “The King said that Alice could come with me to find the Princess.”

“He did?” Alice asked.

Simon nodded. “I am serious. Come on, let's get out of here.”

Alice tossed the rag on the floor and jumped up.

“You don't have to ask me twice!”

Chapter Seven

The Disciples of Mordred

Simon and Alice raced up the stairs as the cook yelled after them.

“Come back here, you lazy good-for-nothings!”

They didn't stop until they exited into the bright sunshine. Then they leaned against the Castle wall, panting and laughing.

“She's just upset because she hasn't scrubbed a floor herself in twenty years,” Alice said. Then her face grew serious. “I'm glad to be out of there, but you had better not be fooling me, Simon Cobb. I may hate slaving away in that place, but I need that job.”

“I'm telling the truth, I swear,” Simon replied, recounting everything that had happened since he first stepped into the throne room.

Alice shook her head. “That's pretty brilliant, Simon. At least we have an excuse to stay out of work for a while. But what if we don't find the Princess? I doubt Mary will let me go back to work.”

“We can't think like that,” Simon said. “I honestly believe we can do this. We just need to find a way to get to outer space. The Queen seemed to think there might be something that could help us in Mordred's lab, but I don't know how to get there.”

Alice frowned, thinking. “I bet those creepy followers of Mordred know how. But they're supersecretive.” Then her face lit up. “Hey, I bet we could find out more over at the mill. Nobody there can keep a secret.”

“Good idea,” Simon said with a nod. “Rose, the lady-in-waiting, mentioned a secret society, too. Not that I'm anxious to meet them or anything, but I think it's our best bet right now.”

They headed to the windmill, past the Castle and the stables, climbing over haystacks along the way. Simon felt bold and full of adventure, but as they approached the windmill entrance and the sound of chatting voices floated out, he suddenly grew shy.

“You go in first,” he said, nodding to Alice.

Alice shook her red curls. “Honestly, Simon, they're not going to bite.”

Simon shrugged. “I'm used to horses. People, not so much.”

Alice pulled him by the arm. “They're harmless. You'll see.”

Inside, the mill was cool and dim. About a dozen teenagers from the village were hanging out there. The young girls wore flower crowns with dresses to match, and the boys wore simple peasant shirts, trousers, and scuffed leather shoes.

A bucktoothed boy waved to Alice. “Hey there, Allie! What's up?”

Simon turned to her. “Allie?”

Alice shrugged. “I hang out here sometimes. No big deal.” She approached the boy. “So, Garth, what's new?”

“I heard that Sir Gawain wears green underwear,” Garth reported.

Simon rolled his eyes. “Seriously? This is not helpful at all,” he complained.

Another boy with an acne-pocked face sidled right up to them. “I know some good stuff,” he said. “For example, I heard that the king and queen are keeping one of the invaders locked in the dungeon.”

Alice leaned into Simon. “That's a pretty interesting clue,” she whispered.

“How, exactly?” Simon asked, frustrated. “Listen, you talk to these people. I'll be hanging around in the rafters.”

“Fine,” Alice said, turning back to the gossips.

When he was a young boy, Simon learned to climb the windmill rafters. It was peaceful up there, away from the stench of manure and Tobias's off-key singing and Edmund's yelling. He hoisted himself onto a wooden shelf, and then climbed to the loft just above. The shelves on the wall of the windmill were perfect for jumping to the top of the structure. Then he jumped to the third floor, which held all the giant gears that turned the blades of the windmill. There was a rope hanging from one of the gears, and Simon jumped up to grab it.

Creeeeaaaaaak!
The gears slowly began to turn.

“Uh-oh!” Simon said, and he jumped back down to the second level. To his surprise, he found himself face-to-face with a peasant girl. She had black hair, a long black dress, and a belt with a skull. A star necklace dangled from her neck.

The girl eyed Simon.

“Tell me your secret, and I'll tell you mine.”

Her voice was like a creaking door in a haunted house, and Simon felt a chill run through his body. But he had come here to learn about the secret society, and the star around her neck reminded Simon of the designs on the fountain. He decided to play along.

“I have this secret message,” Simon said, handing it to the dark-haired girl. “It's from the Princess.”

The girl studied the message. “I can see you are a member of the order,” she said after a moment. “Here's the password for the entrance.”

She slipped a piece of paper into Simon's hand. There were three symbols drawn on it: a moon, a ringed planet, and a star.

The order! The password! This is just what we need!
Simon thought, trying to contain his excitement. He coolly slipped the paper into his pocket.

“Thanks,” he said. Then he quickly jumped to the first floor. He found Alice and grabbed her by the arm.

“Come on,” he said. “I found out something good.”

“What is it?” Alice asked eagerly once they were outside.

Simon showed her the paper with the symbols. “This spooky-looking girl gave it to me. She said it's the password to the order.”

Alice gasped. “The secret order! Now we have a way in. But where is it?”

“I've been thinking,” Simon said carefully. “These look like the symbols on the fountain. And remember when we saw those people in the purple robes? They disappeared near the fountain.”

“A secret entrance! Of course!” Alice cried. “Let's go!”

The sun was quickly slipping below the horizon as they made their way to the town square, and a cold chill began to creep into the air.

“I miss the bright lights,” Alice said wistfully. “And I forgot to bring a candle with me.”

“We're almost there,” Simon assured her.

When they got to the fountain, they both jumped in. Simon took out the paper with the code again.

“So do we say the password out loud or something?” Simon guessed. “Moon, planet, star?”

He paused, waiting for something to happen, but the only response was the chirp of a cricket.

“Let's try pressing them,” Alice said. She pressed on the moon, and the symbol receded into the stone. “Hey, it's working!”

She pressed the planet, then the star, and they both receded into the plaque. Excited, they waited for some kind of door to open or to get some kind of message to appear, but nothing happened. Alice frowned.

“I guess it's not working after all,” she said.

“Maybe there's a final step,” Simon suggested. “Try pressing that big sun in the center next.”

Alice obeyed, and the sun receded into the stone. Then the whole plaque slid up, revealing a dark hole in the fountain's base. She peered into the chasm.

“It looks really dark down there,” she said apprehensively.

“I'm starting to get the idea that you're afraid of the dark,” Simon remarked.

“Hey, you don't like people, and I don't like the dark,” Alice said with a shrug. “We've all got our thing. Besides, I bet there are people down there, too.”

Now it was Simon's turn to be worried. “I forgot. That girl gave me the password because she thought I was a member of the order. We're going to have to act like we know stuff.”

“I'll do the talking,” Alice promised. She took a deep breath. “Let's get this over with.”

They shimmied down a rope and found themselves in a dimly lit underground room. Posters of constellations decorated the crumbling walls, and in the center of the space, surrounded by candles, stood a large statue of Mordred.

A small group of people in purple robes were huddled around the statue. When they noticed Simon and Alice, they walked toward them.

“Oh no,” Simon whispered to Alice. “They're going to eat our brains or something.”

“Relax!” Alice hissed back.

“Welcome, seekers!” said one of the purple-robed people. Simon realized it was the girl from the mill. “Hail Mordred!” she said.

“Um, hail Mordred,” Alice said.

“Yeah, what she said,” Simon added.

“It won't be long before Mordred returns to Poptropica and brings peace and prosperity,” said the dark-haired girl.

A man with a gray beard approached them. “The King and Queen say that Mordred perished in space, but we know that he lives.”

“One of our members has made contact with him, but we cannot tell you her identity,” added a red-haired guy.

Does he mean the Princess?
Simon wondered. Rose had secretly been delivering messages from her to the order. He nudged Alice. They needed more information.

Alice gazed around at the creepy decorations. “So, you know, my friend and I are new to this whole secret-order thing. It looks like you've got a lot of, er . . . exciting stuff happening.”

“We believe that Mordred was hiding something on top of the windmill,” answered a kind-looking old woman. “We're going to investigate tomorrow night when the moon is full! You must join us.”

The redheaded boy walked over to a small wood table. “We found this Key in Mordred's house, but we don't know what it goes to,” he said, holding it up.

“That's very interesting,” Alice said, walking toward him. “Can I see it?”

As Alice examined the Key, the old woman took Simon by the hand. “You two need to get fitted for your robes.”

“We, uh, we already have them,” Simon lied nervously. “They're at the tailor's. Right, Alice?”

Alice spun around. “Yes, the tailor,” she said, smiling at the old woman. “So we'll just go get them and meet you later, okay?”

The woman nodded. “Hail Mordred!”

They quickly climbed back up the rope and emerged onto the fountain.

“Whoa, those guys were weird,” Simon said with a shiver. “But you were great with them. Thanks to you, they gave us an awesome clue about the windmill.”

“That's not all they gave us,” Alice said, holding up the Key.

Simon grinned. “Awesome.”

Alice shrugged. “My dad was a thief. Every once in a while, those skills come in useful.”

Simon looked up at the black sky. The moon, just a sliver away from being full, lit up the path ahead of them.

“It's late,” he said, “and we need to get up early. We've got to get back to the windmill before they do!”