The Secrets Of Droon: Prince of Jaffa

5. Plud, Ho!

There was no time to protest. Eric and his friends were whisked away in a swirl of wind (Ortha assured them it was not magical), and they soon came to rest at the smelly, dank entrance to Plud.
The sight that lay before them was not the old ruins they had seen as Sparr grew old, but an entire city of darkness and depth, wrapped in a fog of evil.
The kids were stunned. A breeze of stink wafted past, and blew a dirty fragment of paper into Neal's face. "Hey!" he spluttered.
Laughing softly, Eric pulled the piece of paper off Neal's nose.
There was a note on it, left for them. Eric read through it in silence, skimming through the words. He paled when he was done.
Keeah gently took the paper out of his hands. Eric showed no sign he had noticed, staring at the space where the paper had been. Keeah showed the note to the others.
They read through it together.

Those who are fools, come to find, come to use. Those who now flee, make it to their safety. Those who are you - well, your lives are through. He who is my twin, well, only one can win. I await you. - Ungast

Julie turned to Eric. "He's bluffing. He can't know you are actually here. The note was left here to scare us off. It won't work".
Eric turned to Julie. "Chances are he doesn't know we're here. He obviously left the note here to frighten away anyone that stumbled upon this place. But, also... the note was left for me". His friends noticed how his voice sounded broken, shattered. He was really scared.
Julie tried again: "Eric, even if you're right, we have to do this. You do want to be a Droomar, don't you?"
This was enough to knock sense into his head. He gave a slow nod.
Neal thought he heard Eric mutter "I'm not ready". But his face was a mask of determination, so Neal assumed it was his imagination.

They set off at a steady pace. Of course, none of them knew where they were setting off to, but they walked on anyway, heading further into the dank wastelands.
They finally reached a castle shaped like a lightning bolt - the whole building! "It must be Sparr's", whispered Julie.
Somehow Eric knew it was not so. This castle gave him thew creeps more than anything from Sparr's reign.
The castle was Ungast's.
Swallowing his fear, Eric turned to his friends. "How do we get in?" The question was taken out of his mouth before he could speak it.
He turned to Keeah to answer her question. "I think we get in the top. Just a hunch. Julie, Neal, air assistance?"
The flying duo came over to Keeah and Eric, grabbed thier hands, and flew to the top. They landed on the slanted roof, and searched around the roof for a way in.
It didn't take long until Eric found the trapdoor. "I wonder if Ungast can fly", Julie whispered. "Well there's a front door", Eric pointed out, "so it wouldn't matter.
The four descended through the trapdoor. "Why, hello, there", called a voice. "I've been waiting for you".