Astro-Knights Island Read online

  POPTROPICA

  Published by the Penguin Group

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  © 2007–2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by Poptropica, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. Printed in the U.S.A.

  ISBN 978-0-448-46199-1

  Contents

  Copyright

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Sneak Preview

  Chapter One

  Strange Disks in the Sky

  Cock-a-doodle-doo!

  Simon Cobb groaned at the sound of the rooster’s loud morning crow.

  If he had a pillow, he would have pulled it over his head, rolled over, and gone back to sleep. But the young stable boy slept on a thin mattress stuffed with straw, without a pillow or even a blanket. Besides, he didn’t want to be late for work. That always put Edmund, the stable master, in a bad mood—and working in the stable was bad enough without Edmund stomping around.

  He yawned and stood up, brushing a strand of brown hair from his eyes. The rooster strutted through the hut’s open door and stared at Simon with accusing yellow eyes.

  “Give me a break,” Simon told the rooster. “The sun’s not even up all the way.”

  A red-haired girl poked her head inside the hut. “Aren’t you up yet, Simon?” asked Alice.

  “It’s not even daytime yet,” Simon protested. “Anyway, why aren’t you in the Castle?” Simon didn’t know much about Alice’s job in the Castle as a scullery maid, but he knew she had to be up even earlier than he did to help make breakfast for everyone in the royal court.

  “I snuck out,” she said, stepping inside. Her green eyes were shining. “I thought you’d want to know—the knights are riding out today!”

  The news jolted Simon awake. Nothing much exciting happened out in the stables, but he always loved it when the knights came. Sir Pelleas, Sir Cador, and Sir Gawain were the superstars of Arturus. They were tall and strong, and they lived exciting lives, protecting the kingdom from danger.

  Simon had been eagerly awaiting their next visit to the stables. He hoped to impress them so that one of them might make him a squire. Then he’d be able to leave the muck and horse manure behind and travel with the knights, helping them—and maybe even riding his own horse.

  “They’re riding out? Where?” Simon asked. He ran past Alice to the water bucket outside and splashed cold water on his face. The hut didn’t have a mirror, so he gazed at his reflection in the water. He scrubbed a patch of dirt off his cheek and used some more water to smooth down a lock of hair sticking up on top of his head.

  Alice shook her head. “Are you actually trying to impress them?”

  “Just watch. I’m going to be a squire someday,”

  he said confidently. “I’m not going to spend my whole life mucking out stables. I’m going to have a horse of my own.”

  “Well, you’d better let me ride it, then,” Alice said. “I never get to do anything fun.”

  She thrust a hunk of bread and a hard-boiled egg into his hands.

  “From the kitchens,” she said. “Those royals have more food than they need.”

  “Thanks,” Simon said.

  His friend grinned. “No problem. Good luck impressing the knights! I’d better get back before they figure out I’m gone.”

  Alice ran off, and Simon shoved the breakfast in his mouth as he headed in the other direction. He sprinted across the field, the moist grass squishing under his bare feet. He lived close to the stables, which was a good thing when he was late and a bad thing when a breeze sprung up, sending the smell of manure his way. Simon swore he’d never get used to the smell as long as he lived.

  When he arrived at the stables, he saw Edmund, the stable master, carrying a heavy bucket of water.

  “I’ll take that,” Simon said quickly, but Edmund pushed him away.

  “Go find Tobias,” Edmund said gruffly. “He needs some help mucking out the stalls in the back.”

  Simon sighed and made his way to the back stalls. Three horses were tied to posts outside, and from inside the stalls Simon heard a familiar song.

  “Muck, muck, muck, oh yes, it’s time to muck.”

  Simon grabbed a shovel and headed toward the song. Tobias, the other stable boy, greeted him with a cheerful smile.

  “Good morning, Simon,” he said. “Isn’t it a beautiful day?”

  It wasn’t right to call Tobias a stable boy, exactly. At twenty-seven years old, he was practically an old man. He’d been working in the stables since he was five, and he loved his job more than anything.

  “Um, yeah, it’s nice out, I guess,” Simon mumbled. “So, Tobias, I heard the knights are coming today.”

  Tobias nodded. “That’s right. Gotta get the stables nice and clean!”

  “Do you know where they’re going?” Simon asked.

  Tobias shrugged. “Agnes down at the mill said that the King was sending them to look for Mordred again. But you know how it is. You never can believe everything you hear at that mill. It’s a regular rumor mill, it is.”

  Simon nodded. The lazy gossips at the mill spread a lot of crazy stories around Arturus, but the stories about Mordred the inventor were the
craziest. Simon never paid too much attention to them. Some people in the village practically worshipped the guy, but Simon thought Mordred’s fans were fools. In his eyes, Sir Pelleas, Sir Cador, and Sir Gawain were the only heroes that Arturus needed.

  “Well, if the knights really are going after Mordred, I’m sure they’ll get him,” Simon assured Tobias.

  A dark look crossed Tobias’s face. “If you ask me, I hope he stays lost,” he replied. Then his smile returned. “Best get back to mucking! Muck, muck, muck! Muck, muck, muck!”

  Simon lifted his shovel and began to fill a wheelbarrow with mounds of stinky horse manure. The more he shoveled, the dirtier he got. He’d never make a good impression on the knights now.

  “We’re full up!” Tobias called out, dumping one last shovelful into the wheelbarrow.

  “I’ll take it,” Simon offered. He grabbed the wood handles and pushed away from the stables.

  All the manure was composted in the muddy field behind the windmill. In the spring, the farmers would use it to cover the fields. Until then, it was just one big, stinking mess.

  At least it’s a nice day, Simon thought as he pushed the wheelbarrow. There was nothing worse than mucking out a stable in the rain. He looked up. The yellow sun shone against a blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds and shiny silver disks.

  “Shiny silver disks?” Simon stopped in his tracks and shaded his eyes against the sun. What were those things? Birds?

  The disks got closer and closer to Arturus, and Simon saw that they didn’t look natural. They looked man-made.

  He stared, frozen, as the flying disks hovered in the Arturus sky. Then round, flaming balls shot out from the disks, and Simon realized they were aimed right at the kingdom.

  Something deep inside him kicked in, and he ran behind the nearest manure pile and ducked, covering his head with his hands.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  All around him, the world began to explode.

  Chapter Two

  Attacked!

  After the first blast of fear subsided, Simon’s natural curiosity took over. He cautiously peeked around the manure pile and gazed at the sky.

  The flying disks had swooped down closer, almost grazing the tall turrets of the Castle. Beams of fiery red light shot from the disks, and whatever the light touched exploded into bits.

  Is it fire? Simon wondered. Maybe the disks were some kind of strange dragon. But the red light was much more powerful and controlled than fire. Once again, he got the feeling that they were dealing with something unnatural.

  “To the horses!”

  A rousing cry came from the direction of the stables. Simon recognized Sir Cador’s voice immediately, and he realized that the knights were mounting up to fight the invaders. He had to help them! He darted out from behind the manure pile and raced for the stables.

  Boom! One of the fiery blasts hit the ground just a few feet to Simon’s right, sending dirt and muck flying. His heart beat faster than it ever had before. This was danger like he’d never seen. But he couldn’t fail the knights.

  He pounded the dirt, running as fast as he could. Boom! Another blast rocked the earth behind him, and Simon dove through the stable door, landing in a soft pile of hay.

  The commotion inside the stable was almost louder than the chaos outside; the horses were bucking and rearing, terrified. Edmund stomped around them, screaming for them to calm down, which only made things worse.

  “Quiet, man!” Sir Pelleas barked angrily. “We must ride out immediately to save the kingdom!”

  Simon quickly raced to the sturdy chestnut warhorse Edmund was tormenting and grabbed its bridle.

  “It’s okay, Roland,” he said, gently stroking the horse’s nose. “Sir Pelleas needs you. The kingdom is in danger.”

  The horse immediately calmed down, and Tobias quickly moved to help Sir Pelleas mount the horse. The knight lifted his visor and nodded at Simon.

  “Good work, boy,” he said approvingly. “Now see to the others.”

  “Yes, sir!” Simon replied, bursting with pride. Sir Pelleas had actually spoken to him! Next he calmed Sir Gawain’s white steed and Sir Cador’s black one.

  The three knights looked magnificent mounted on their horses, Simon thought: Sir Pelleas in his shining orange armor, Sir Gawain in his ice-blue armor, and Sir Cador in his green armor.

  Then a loud cry came from outside the stables. “The invaders are attacking the Castle!”

  “We must save our king!” Sir Pelleas exclaimed. “Let us ride!”

  The knights spurred on their horses, and they galloped out of the stables toward the Castle. Simon started to run after them.

  “Where are you going, boy?” Edmund barked. “It’s not safe out there!”

  “I’ve got to find Alice!” Simon called back as he raced off to look for his friend.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! The flying disks—about a dozen of them, Simon guessed—were focusing their attack on the Castle now. He watched in horror as one of the stone turrets crumbled to pieces, sending chunks of rock tumbling to the ground below.

  “Alice!” he yelled, picking up his pace.

  “Over here!”

  To his relief, he saw Alice waving to him, safe behind a haystack. He quickly ran to her.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  She nodded. “We thought we’d be safe down in the kitchen. But then one of those blasts came right through the ceiling! Missed me by inches. So I got out of there, fast.”

  “So who’s attacking us?” Simon asked. “And what do they want with the Castle?”

  Alice shrugged. “I don’t know. But they definitely don’t seem to like Arturus very much.”

  Simon watched, holding his breath, as the knights charged at the invaders with their lances. Although the flying disks were hovering lower than before, the knights still couldn’t reach them. The invaders shot fiery blasts at the knights, but the skilled horsemen rode circles around the attacks.

  “We can’t reach them!” Sir Gawain cried out.

  Sir Cador eyed the large crossbow stationed on a landing above the Castle door.

  “Oh yes, we can!” he called back.

  Sir Cador galloped to the door, dodging blasts, and then jumped off his horse, grabbing the ledge above the door. He swung up to the platform and loaded the crossbow with a long, heavy arrow. He pulled it back, aiming for a disk hovering above one of the Castle towers.

  Ziiiing! The arrow zoomed through the air, penetrating its target with massive force. The disk careened wildly in the air before crashing into one of the towers, sending a billowing plume of smoke into the blue sky.

  “Huzzah!” Sir Cador cried, and then he loaded the crossbow again.

  “Go, Cador!” cheered Simon and Alice from behind the haystack.

  Sir Pelleas rode up beside Sir Gawain. “We must combine the power of our arrows,” he said. Sir Gawain nodded with understanding. They loaded their bows and then hit another of the disks with a barrage of arrow fire. The smaller arrows didn’t have the same power as the arrow in the crossbow and couldn’t penetrate the flying craft’s metal shell.

  But the rain of arrows seemed to confuse the disk. It lurched to avoid the arrows and knocked into a tree, sending sparks flying. Damaged, the craft wobbled away from the Castle and flew toward the windmill.

  Simon and Alice high-fived each other.

  “Another one down!” Simon exclaimed.

  Then Alice nudged him. “Look! They’re flying away!”

  It was true. The remaining disks zoomed up and away from the Castle into the blue sky, leaving plumes of black smoke streaming from the Castle. Simon and Alice cautiously stepped out from behind the haystack, along with other curious villagers.

  “The knights have defeated the invaders!”

 
some yelled, and a cheer went up from the crowd. Simon joined in with a loud whistle. Nobody could beat the knights!

  But the onlookers suddenly quieted down as the Queen stepped out of the Castle door. Her red robe was singed and dirty, and tendrils of her usually neat blond hair stuck out from behind her crown.

  “The Princess has been kidnapped!” she cried.

  Chapter Three

  The Mystical Weapons

  Word of the missing Princess quickly spread throughout Arturus. Soon the Castle grounds were crowded with the puzzled and concerned citizens of the kingdom. Dairymaids stopped milking cows, peasants stopped weeding the fields, and bakers left their ovens empty as they gathered to hear the news.

  After the disks flew off, Simon had gone back to the stables to tend to the horses, panting and sweaty after their charge. When they were watered, fed, and groomed, Simon hurried back to the grounds to find out what was happening.

  The murmuring voices of the villagers rumbled like thunder across the grounds as everyone talked at once.

  “The invaders blew my roof clear off!”

  “They came from beyond the stars!”

  “I’ll bet Mordred had something to do with this!”

  Simon scanned the crowd, quickly spotting Alice’s mop of red hair. He squeezed past a group of pitchfork-wielding peasants and tapped her on the shoulder.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Hey,” she replied. “You should see what’s going on inside. The Castle guards are telling crazy stories. One guy says he saw little green men inside those disk things.”

  “Leprechauns?” Simon asked. “I didn’t know they could fly.”

  Alice shrugged. “Who knows? Another guard says the disks were empty, like they had minds of their own.”

  “Metal dragons!” Simon guessed. “I knew it!”

  “But the lady-in-waiting has the craziest story of all,” Alice went on. “She’s the one who saw the Princess being kidnapped. She says the man who took her was half human, but the other half of him was made of metal!”

  “Really?” Simon asked, his eyes wide. “Do you think she’s telling the truth?”