Akiko and the Great Wall of Trudd by Mark Crilley Page A

times, and he always concluded by carefully folding it back up again, clearing his throat, and making the exact same pronouncement. I wiped the sweat out of my eyes and gritted my teeth a bit as I waited for him to say it.
    “Well,” Mr. Beeba said after a moment, “we
seem
to be on the right road. All we can do is keep
walking
, I suppose.”
    “That does it!” Spuckler said, coming to a stop and spinning around to face us. “Gimme that map!”
    “I will do nothing of the sort!” Mr. Beeba replied, holding the map against his chest like a child clutching a favorite rag doll.
    “Give it!” Spuckler said through his teeth, bending over so that his face came down to Mr. Beeba’s level. “I’m sick ’n’ tired of hearin’ you say the same darned thing over an’ over!”
    Suddenly there was a gurgly, warbly sound, and we all looked up at Poog. He was silhouetted against the pale blue sky, his big black eyes reflecting the four of us like little circular mirrors, his oval mouth chirping and whistling.

    “Hmmm,” Mr. Beeba began after a moment, scratching his head thoughtfully as he prepared to translate what Poog had just said. “Poog says you have something to tell us, Akiko.”
    “Me?” I asked as everyone turned to stare at me. “What? What does he want me to say?”
    “He says it’s time for you to tell us about the little conversation you had with Queen Pwip,” Mr. Beeba explained, an expectant gleam in his eye. He looked as if he’d wanted to grill me on this subject for quite some time and had merely been waiting for Poog to give the go-ahead.
    “Well, okay, sure,” I said, glancing nervously at Poog. “I mean, I’d have told you all sooner, but it just didn’t, um, occur to me.”
    Mr. Beeba and Spuckler looked at each other and smiled, clearly not believing a word I’d just said. I coughed and rubbed my forehead, trying to concentrate so I could remember everything Queen Pwip had said to me, word for word.

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,