Akiko in the Sprubly Islands by Mark Crilley

Royal Decree.
    “ ‘Instead, Admiral Frutz and the SIRAR . . .’ ” He stopped briefly to explain. “That’s the Sprubly Islands Royal Army and Reserve, mind you. It’s an acronym.” He cleared his throat again, taking a moment to find the spot where he had left off.
    “ ‘Admiral Frutz and the SIRAR,’ ” he began again, “ ‘are to escort the trespassers back to Queen Pwip’s palace for her personal interrogation. There they will be detained until such time as Her Majesty deems it fitting and proper that they be granted freedom. Her Majesty has spoken!’ ” He made a quick little bow before rolling up the scroll and carefully replacing it in its container.
    I glanced quickly at Poog, who was smiling peacefully as if this were all part of some plan he had. I wish I could have been so calm about things. All I could do was think about how I’d promised that we’d stay right there in that same spot until Spuckler returned with Mr. Beeba. What if they came back and found us gone? They’d probably think we’d panicked and abandoned them or something. The possibility of the five of us becoming permanently separated was almost too scary to consider. I figured I had to at least
try
to delay our departure as long as possible.
    “Look, uh, Mr. Frutz—” I began.
    “It’s
Admiral
Frutz, you meatheaded monstrosity!” he bellowed, stabbing one of his little arms into the air. “And besides, I have
not
given you permission to speak!” There was a long pause as Admiral Frutz turned to face his men, who had stood obediently at attention the entire time. He raised his sword as if he were about to call out a new order, then stopped, replaced the sword at his side, and slowly turned to face me again.

    “Oh, all right, what
is
it, then?” he asked with an exasperated sigh.
    “Couldn’t we stay here just a
little
bit longer?” I pleaded. “I promised my friends that I wouldn’t leave until they came back.”
    “What do you think I am? A
baby-sitter
?” he shouted angrily. “I will allow
no
such delays!’’ He spun around, raised his sword, and called out to his troops.
    “Prisoner Escort Formations! Right! Left! Center!’’
    The troops swarmed around us into an entirely new series of rows and columns, all facing in one direction. Suddenly I felt like Gax, Poog, and I were giant floats in a miniature Thanksgiving Day parade, with all the men ready to march us down the middle of Main Street. There was no real street, of course. But looking carefully, I could see a narrow path running through the forest that had been entirely invisible the night before. The path was covered with millions and millions of tiny footprints from all the tiny soldiers.
    “Prisoners!” Admiral Frutz shouted up at Poog, Gax, and me. “On your feet!”
    I knew there was nothing I could say that would change the admiral’s mind, so I slowly stood up. There were a few muffled gasps from the soldiers as they became aware of my full height. I’ve never felt so tall in my entire life! It was like I was looking down at them from the top of a skyscraper or something.
    A trumpet blast sounded and the soldiers began marching forward. They were so small, though, that they couldn’t move very fast. I had to take little baby steps just to be sure I wouldn’t leave them all behind or accidentally squash one of them like a little bug. I glanced back at Gax and Poog, who were quietly following me. Then I looked up into the trees, half hoping to see Spuckler and Mr. Beeba floating back down to rejoin us, but all I could see was the hazy morning sun light coming through the leaves. I shuddered a little as I realized we might never see them again.

Admiral Frutz’s army marched us through the woods as fast as they could, which is to say, at a snail’s pace. Eventually we came to a clearing in the trees. At that point the narrow path became a slightly wider dirt road, and the pace of the soldiers picked up just a little. On either side