Read Online Kendra Kandlestar and the Door to Unger by Lee Edward Födi - Free Book Online Page A

ya?”
    “Rough!” cried Jinx, who was still ensnared within the knot of tongues. “Who do you think is in trouble here, anyway?”
    “Eh, what’s that?” the Dwarf asked, looking upon Jinx as if he was just noticing her predicament. “Oh, righty! Okay, Pooky-Wooens, ya can let the little shrimp go.”
    At once, the skerpent dropped Jinx, and she fell into the water with a splash. The skerpent cast a glare in the direction of Kendra and the others before slithering off into the dark corners of the tunnel. As for Jinx, she swam to shore to join her friends, an angry scowl upon her face.
    The Dwarf now approached Kendra and the rest of the company and looked upon them with interest. He had a gleam in his eye, and Kendra for one could not tell if his intentions were good or ill. “Well, yer tiny folk aren’t ya?” the Dwarf said after a moment. “We’re used to havin’ bigger sl—well, that is, we ain’t used to seein’ folks smaller then ourselves here in the Kingdom of Umbor.”
    “The Kingdom of Umbor!” Professor Bumblebean exclaimed. “Do you mean to say we have arrived in the fabled land of the Dwarves?”
    “You know it, do ya?” the Dwarf asked.
    “Aye,” Uncle Griffinskitch replied. “We met a Dwarf on our last journey. Perhaps you have heard of him? His name is Pugglemud.”
    The Dwarf eyed the old wizard closely, and scratched his beard as if in deep thought. He jingled as he scratched, and now that she was closer, Kendra had a better look at the character’s strange assortment of keys. These were keys of all kinds: some were long, some were short, some were new and sparkling, some were old and tarnished. It seemed as if the Dwarf had a key for every type of lock she could imagine.
    “Well, I don’t know any Pugglemud,” the Dwarf said after another moment. “But I’ll have to bring ya before King Reginaldo now. I can’t be leavin’ ya to be wanderin’ around his dominions.”
    “And who are you?” Uncle Griffinskitch asked the Dwarf.
    “You can call me Crumpit,” the Dwarf replied. “I am the Key Master, on the account that I carry all these keys.”
    “Who would have guessed?” Jinx sneered, for she was still cross from her fight with the skerpent.
    “Well, come on, then,” Uncle Griffinskitch said to Crumpit. “Lead us on to your king.”
    The company quickly gathered their belongings, which were still strewn about the rocks from their fight with the skerpent, and after a few moments, were in line behind the peculiar Key Master.
    “I’m pretty sure I could invent a better system for this fellow to carry all those keys,” Ratchet remarked. “Add that to the list, Oki.”
    “The list of what?” the tiny mouse asked.
    “The list of all my great ideas,” Ratchet replied. “Aren’t you keeping a list? Just what kind of slave are you?”
    “Ratchet!” Kendra exclaimed as she shouldered her pack. “How many times do I have to tell you? He’s your APPRENTICE. Not your slave.”
    “Yeesh,” Ratchet muttered. “The way you fuss over words, you’d think you were Bumblebean, Kendra.”
    “You can all jus’ quit yer chatter,” Crumpit called over his shoulder. “We have a bit of a journey ahead of us.”
    The Dwarf led them down the tunnel a short way before coming to a stop before a section of the rocky wall. To Kendra, the wall seemed no different than any other part of the tunnel, but Crumpit now unhooked a key from just below his knee and inserted it into a small hole in the rock. Then with a groan, a section of the wall pulled away, revealing a dark set of steps.
    “Down we go,” Crumpit said.
    “Oh, great turnips,” Oki murmured to Kendra. “Aren’t we ever going to start going upwards ?”
    “It’s okay,” Kendra said, taking the mouse’s paw. “Just stay close to me.”
    The stairs seemed to wind down into the very center of the earth, but they had only taken a dozen or so steps when Crumpit suddenly stopped, bent to his knees, and took a small