Perda stared at the tiny frozen woman.
"That must be the Roodian queen!" she exclaimed.
Zann spun around, his eyes searching the icy cave.
"But where are my parents?" he cried. "They should be here!
The queen was with them in my dream!"
"Let's get the queen free, and maybe she can tell us."
Venna turned to Wyssa. "What do you think? Should we try an Extraction spell?"
Wyssa frowned and stroked her chin. "That could injure her if there are any imperfections in the ice. What about a Supplanting spell?"
"Do you think you can manage that?" Venna sounded doubtful.
"If we don't get the dimensions exactly right . . ."
Zing bounded over and sniffed at the trapped queen.
He whistled curiously, and a wisp of flame escaped his mouth.
"Careful, Zing," Darb said. "Don't burn her."
"No, wait, look." Gliss pointed. "He's melting the ice!"
"Go, Zing," Zann urged. "Keep melting it!"
The little dragon breathed on the block of ice, which quickly melted. Within seconds the queen was free.
Perda grinned. "Good job, Zing. That was much easier than using any of those complicated spells."
"Thank you!" the queen said breathlessly, shaking icy droplets from her clothes.
"But please! You have to stop him!"
Venna nodded. "We know. Morb already tried to take over Magica once."
The queen shook her head. "He's not trying to take over your world this time," she said. "He's trying to destroy it!"
"What?" Gliss exclaimed.
"Destroy it?" Zann said. "How?"
Venna shook her head. "Impossible," she said.
"Yes, the Horn of the Otherworld is one of the most powerful relics known.
But Morb is crazy if he thinks he can use it to destroy an entire world. It doesn't have that much power."
"Not on its own," Wyssa said slowly.
"Don't you know where the Horn came from originally?"
Venna shrugged. "A faraway world of powerful magic.
That's all the ancient texts say about it."
"Where did it come from?" Perda asked Wyssa.
Wyssa looked grim. "From the head of the Beast of the Otherworld."
"What?" Gliss shuddered. "You mean that horrible thing outside?"
Darb frowned. "But the Beast didn't have any horns."
"Exactly," Wyssa said. "It originally had two horns growing from its head.
According to legend, it fought a terrible battle long ago with a Forellian deathshifter.
That's how it lost the horn you've seen, the one that later became a relic in Magica."
"And the second horn?" Zann said.
Wyssa shrugged. "That part is a mystery.
The legends don't mention anything about the second horn.
So as far as I know, the Beast still had it until very recently."
"Yes," said the Roodian queen. "Recently Morb disabled the Beast long enough to cut off the remaining horn."
Zann remembered the dark stuff dripping from the Beast's head and realized it must have been blood.
"But how did Morb disable the Beast?" asked Darb.
The queen pointed to the mibbit, which was peeking out from Darb's arms. "He used that creature."
"Of course, I should have guessed," Wyssa muttered.
"The mibbit is probably the only creature in all the known worlds that could overcome the Beast's powerful magic."
"What about a scatter beast?" Venna said.
"Well, yes, that would work too." Wyssa looked thoughtful.
"But Morb would have trouble controlling a scatter beast safely.
Since he's a Void, a mibbit would be—"
A sudden whooshing sound cut her off.
Gliss screamed. "Something just ripped my sleeve!"
Zann ducked as a tiny shape zipped past his face, missing him by the width of a dragon's scale.
Spinning around, he saw a lizard with a sharp blade for a snout, which was embedded in the icy wall. It was already pulling itself free.
"Blade lizards from Redsea," Wyssa said. "Morb has always liked those."
"Run!" Perda cried.
"No, join hands!" Wyssa ordered. "Blade lizards are too fast. We have to zap away."
Zap!
Splash!
"Drat!" said Zann. "I always . . ." His whole body froze before he could finish.
Constant shocks were passing through him, making it impossible to move or even think.
"Zann!" Perda cried. "What's wrong?"
"Hold on, boy," Wyssa called. "I've got you."
Zann felt himself being levitated out of the water.
By the time he landed, the shocks were wearing off.
Finally he could look around. The whole group was in a small courtyard with an ornate fountain in the middle.
"What happened?" Zann asked.
"Paralyzer pythons," Wyssa said. "It's a good thing you were the only one who landed in the water."
"Yeah," Zann muttered, glancing at the creatures writhing in the fountain. "Good thing."
"This is bad," Wyssa said.
"It sure is!" Gliss exclaimed. "How many creatures does Morb have guarding this place, anyway?"
"I'm not talking about the pythons, girl."
Wyssa waved a hand dismissively. "I'm talking about Morb's plan.
If he gets his hands on both horns at the same time, his power will be absolutely unimaginable."
"Yes." Venna sounded anxious. "And thanks to that Possession spell he placed on me, the second horn is probably already here in Rood.
But I still don't understand. How is he planning to use the horns to destroy Magica?"
The Roodian queen spoke up. "I think I know.
The servants here in the fortress have been whispering about a terrible contraption Morb is building. He calls it a Memory Eater."
"That sounds familiar." Venna bit her lip.
"I think it's mentioned in the ancient texts. But I'm not sure how it works."
"Do you know any more about this contraption?" Wyssa asked the queen.
"Only that Morb has brought prisoners from his home world to power it," the queen said.
"A man and a woman named Nax and Asta."
Zann gasped. "My parents!"