"Help!" Gliss shrieked. The wind had knocked her down and was whipping her hair over her face.
She was now struggling to hang onto the edge of the chasm.
"Hold on!" Darb lunged toward her, but he ended up almost falling over the edge himself.
Zing flew overhead, whistling with alarm. A gust of wind grabbed the dragon, tossing him end over end.
"To me!" Wyssa shouted.
Suddenly Zann felt himself being grabbed by magical energy.
It yanked him backward, away from the terrifying drop-off.
Soon the entire group was safely out of the wind's reach.
"Wow, that was close!" Perda exclaimed.
Venna nodded. "No wonder Prince Doni warned us that the Gray Gorge was very dangerous."
Darb stared up at the stone tower. "That looks like Morb's kind of place."
"Yeah," Zann agreed. "And my parents are in there!"
His heart pounded at the thought that they might be so close.
After all this time, was he finally going to be with them again?
"How are we going to get in there?" Gliss wondered.
"Good question," Zann muttered. The tower was perched halfway across a narrow, ancient-looking stone bridge spanning the Gray Gorge.
"Prince Doni said Morb built this place," Perda said.
"It must have taken a lot of magic to do that, especially in a spot like this."
"Indeed." Wyssa sounded grim. "It seems he must have figured out a new way to steal magic. Lots of magic."
Zann studied the tower. "The wind will make it hard to cross the bridge without falling into the gorge," he said.
"But otherwise, it doesn't look that bad.
The gate is small enough to step over."
He pointed to a short gate blocking the entrance to the bridge.
"I suppose it's only meant to keep Roodians out," Venna said.
"Yeah. Or keep them in," Gliss added.
"I doubt they're thrilled to be Morb's servants."
"So what are we waiting for?" Perda took a step toward the bridge.
Wyssa narrowed her eyes. "It seems odd that there's no sentry."
"Yes, it does," Venna said. "I'm sure Morb must have some sort of Shield spell on the place."
"There's only one way to find out. Come on!"
Zann hurried toward the bridge. Bracing himself against the gusty wind, he stepped over the gate. Perda was right behind him.
"Wait," Wyssa called from the other side of the gate. She pointed past Zann. "What's that?"
Zann peered through the fog. Something was sitting on the bridge just ahead. It was small and fluffy.
"Oh!" Zann exclaimed. "It must be the missing mibbit!"
"Aw, it's cute." Perda smiled and stepped forward.
"Wait," Zann said. "It looks kind of tense."
"Here, mibbit, mibbit!" Perda cooed. She grabbed for the creature. It squawked and leaped back.
"Careful, don't panic it or—" Zann gasped as a shock wave of magic energy hit him. He saw Perda collapse to her knees.
The mibbit was sending out confusing energy waves, just like Vee had described!
Zann had never felt anything like it before.
He couldn't move or think clearly. Unlike with the scatter beast attack, though, there was no pain.
Still, he felt completely helpless. What if Morb looked out a window and spotted him and Perda on the bridge?
He heard moans from behind him. With great effort he turned his head far enough to see the others.
Venna was clinging to a tree, gasping for breath.
Gliss was on the ground, helpless—and sliding toward he dizzying drop-off! Zing wasn't far behind her.
Zann wanted to save them. But he still couldn't move.
In fact, he realized he and Perda were dangerously close to the edge too.
He looked for Wyssa, hoping she could help them.
But she looked just as helpless as the others.
She'd stopped herself from rolling over the edge by clutching the gate.
But Zann could see that her grip was weakening.
Another wave of magic struck them all.
Zann felt himself teetering on the edge of the bridge.
Was this the end for him—for all of them?
Then he saw movement near the gate.
He couldn't turn his head, but he rolled his eyes far enough to see what was happening.
It was Darb! He was jumping over the small gate.
Dodging Zann and Perda, Darb hurried over to the mibbit.
"Easy, little fellow," Darb said soothingly.
He gently picked up the mibbit and stroked its ears, just as Vee had taught them.
A moment later the energy waves were gone.
"Whoa!" Perda gasped, sitting up and moving herself away from the drop-off.
Zann did the same. "Thanks, Darb," he said.
"But why didn't the mibbit's magic affect you?"
Darb shrugged, cuddling the mibbit. The fluffy creature looked happy and relaxed now.
"Maybe it's because I'm a Void," he said.
"I don't have any magic for the mibbit to affect."
Wyssa nodded. "I think you must be right, boy."
Zing flew toward Darb. He circled him, sniffing at the mibbit curiously.
"Down, boy," Zann told his dragon. "That mibbit is not a snack!"
Venna brushed the dirt off her clothes and frowned at the mibbit.
"I'm guessing that thing was supposed to be Morb's security guard," she said. "Shall we proceed?"
Zann opened his mouth to say yes.
But his words were lost as an eerie howl echoed from the depths of the gorge.
Gliss' eyes widened. "What was that?"
Before anyone could respond, a huge head on a long, snakelike neck arose from the dark gorge.
The orange glow of its eyes cut through the fog like flames.
With a loud roar, the creature exposed a mouth full of sharp fangs.
Wyssa went pale. "It's the Beast of the Otherworld!"