Akiko and the Great Wall of Trudd Read Free

Pwip warned us about this fellow.”
    Since Throck had his back to us, it was hard to see what he was doing. It was obvious, though, that he was
working
on something. When he was all done, he stood back and crossed his arms, as if to inspect his handiwork. There in front of him was some kind of signpost. He’d hammered it right into the middle of the road so that it would be clearly visible to anyone coming this way. Something was written on the sign in jagged little letters, but they were too small for us to read.
    Suddenly Throck turned until he was almost facing us and took a few quick steps in our direction. A horrified gasp escaped from me, and it felt as if my heart was about to stop beating altogether. I watched, paralyzed, as Throck slowly looked left and right.
    His face was wide and white as marble, his eyes small and pale. His mouth was concealed by a black metallic cup with several gray tubes attached to it. Each tube led to a different canister attached to his chest. He was just about the scariest-looking man I’d ever seen.
    Once or twice he seemed to be looking in our direction and I was sure he’d spotted us. But then he’d continue looking left and right as if he hadn’t seen us at all. He turned and looked at the sign one more time. Then he walked off the road and into the tall grasses, eventually disappearing into an area of overgrown, weedy shrubs. As he walked farther and farther away, I felt my body relax. My heartbeat slowed back down to normal speed, and it was a lot easier to breathe.
    “I’ll be darned,” Spuckler said, raising himself to a squatting position, “if that wasn’t th’ feller Queen Pwip was warnin’ us about.”
    “See?” Mr. Beeba replied. “She
was
telling the truth!”
    “Well, if that was Throck,” Spuckler said, jumping to his feet, “then I’m a-goin’ after him!”
    “No, Spuckler!” I said, grabbing hold of his arm. “Absolutely not. That man is
very
dangerous. I don’t know how I know it,” I added, staring Spuckler right in the face,
“but I know it.”
    Spuckler looked at me with squinty eyes and a big frown. He could have kept going. It wasn’t as if a little girl holding on to his arm was going to stop him. But he just stayed where he was.
    “Akiko’s right,” Mr. Beeba said, stepping forward. “We have no quarrel with this fellow. Let him go about his business. If we’re lucky, this will be the last we see of him.”
    I looked at Poog, hoping for some sign that this really
was
the last we’d see of Throck. Poog just stared back at me with a blank expression.
    Suddenly there was a slamming noise, like a car door being shut, followed by the sound of a powerful engine firing up. The noise came from the shrubs where Throck had disappeared a moment before. The ground began to shake, and then, in the blink of an eye, a small spaceship rose out of the grasses and shot up into the sky. It moved so fast that I couldn’t get a good look at it. Spuckler shielded his eyes with his hands as he watched the ship vanish into the clouds.
    “That’s right, Throck,” Spuckler said. “Git on outta here.”
    After we felt reasonably sure that Throck was gone for good, we all stood up and walked down the hill to look at the sign. It read:
    WARNING : THIS ROAD LEADS TO THE REALM OF ALIA RELLAPOR. TRESPASSERS WILL BE EXPELLED BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY. THIS MEANS YOU.
    “Oh dear,” Mr. Beeba mumbled, examining the dark, scraggly letters with the utmost care. “Oh dear oh dear oh dear!”

    “Hey now, come
on
, people,” Spuckler said in exasperation. “It’s just a
sign
, for cryin’ out loud. This ain’t nothin’ to get worked up about.”
    Poog’s warbly gurgling voice filled the air. He continued for a second or two, then stopped abruptly. Mr. Beeba began translating almost immediately.
    “Poog agrees with Spuckler,” he announced, sounding as he if were surprised that anyone in his right mind would ever do such a thing. “This is indeed just a