Akiko in the Sprubly Islands by Mark Crilley Page B

ornate golden pedestals.

    I heard a muffled clattering sound as Admiral Frutz’s soldiers dropped to their knees and bowed their heads. Admiral Frutz marched forward through the gates and got a foot or so into the palace grounds before stopping and turning impatiently to me.
    “Come on, then!” he said in a loud whisper. “And don’t touch anything!”

Gax, Poog, and I followed Admiral Frutz through the gates, leaving his army outside. As soon as we passed through them, the gates quietly closed behind us, shutting out all the sounds of the surrounding city. The only noises remaining were the squeak of Gax’s wheels as he rolled along behind me, and the echoing clank of Admiral Frutz’s boots as he marched up the tiny marble steps in front of us. When we got within a couple of feet of the palace, Admiral Frutz ordered us to stop.
    “No
funny
business, now,” he warned. “An audience with Queen Pwip is a very auspicious honor, and you are expected to behave accordingly.’’ I wasn’t even sure what the word
auspicious
meant, but I got the general idea of what Admiral Frutz wanted from me. I nodded solemnly and kept my mouth shut.
    Admiral Frutz clicked his heels and marched into the palace through a side door. There was a minute or two of absolute silence as we stood there all alone. I took the opportunity to ask Poog a question.
    “Poog,” I whispered, “Queen Pwip isn’t real
mean
or anything, is she?’’
    Poog just smiled and said nothing. It was hard to tell if he could understand anything I’d said, I suppose even if he
had
understood, there was no use in his answering me, since everything he said came out in that weird garbly language of his. I sighed and wished Mr. Beeba were still around. I started worrying about Spuckler and Mr. Beeba again but made myself think of something else.
    Minute after minute passed, and still there was no sign of Queen Pwip, I turned around and started to examine a decorative little lamp just a foot or two behind me. It was built entirely out of a beautiful brass-colored metal and covered with decorative carvings. I ran my fingers over its surface and found it surprisingly cool to the touch.
    “DO BE CAREFUL, MA’AM,’’ Gax cautioned me. “THE ADMIRAL TOLD US NOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING.”
    “I know, Gax,” I answered, leaning over to see my own reflection in the highly polished surface. “But it’s all so
pretty
.”
    “It had
better
be pretty,” said a tiny, high-pitched voice in reply, “what with all the trouble I had to go through to get this thing built!”
    I spun around and looked every which way to see where the voice had come from.
    “Over here, my child!” called the voice, and this time I realized that it was coming from inside the palace. My eyes darted around until finally I saw a tiny figure deep inside one of the balconies, half hidden in the shadows cast by the late-morning sun. The figure glided forward into the sunlight, revealing a beautiful little woman no taller than Admiral Frutz. She was dressed from head to toe in satiny white robes with blue embroidery, and wore a large round hat that made her head look even smaller than it was. Her eyes were shiny and black like two tiny drops of ink, and her hair was long and straight, falling over her shoulders and about halfway down her back. She wore a happy little smile on her lips that told me at once I had nothing to fear. I smiled back at her and she gave me a wink.

    Admiral Frutz stepped forward from behind her, bowed, and spoke to me in a very stiff voice as if he was reciting something from memory.
    “It is a profound honor and privilege to present to you the Greatest Monarch of this or any age, the Fairest Ruler ever to grace the surface of the Sprubly Islands, the Brightest Shining Beacon of virtue and beneficence ever to—”
    “Frutz!” the woman interrupted impatiently. “Can’t you
abbreviate
this introduction of yours? I’d swear it gets longer every time you do it.”
    “I,