Free Akiko and the Great Wall of Trudd by Mark Crilley

concentration, as if he was very deep in thought. I couldn’t help wondering what he was thinking about, and I was dying to know what Throck had said to him. My mind was full of questions, but I decided to save them for later. We had other things to worry about.
    The snow had started to let up a bit, but we were still stuck without a place to sleep. The sky was now pitch-black, and it looked as if we’d have no choice but to keep walking straight through the night. It was
not
a very pleasant idea.
    “Wait a minute!” Mr. Beeba said, snapping his fingers. “The bridge!”
    “What about it?” Spuckler asked.
    “It’ll be the perfect shelter,” Mr. Beeba said, scampering back through the snow to where we had just come from.
    “Come on, ’Kiko,” Spuckler said, smiling. “I think I know what Beebs has in mind.”
    Spuckler, Gax, Poog, and I all followed Mr. Beeba down the snow-covered seashore alongside the bridge. A large section of beach was partially enclosed by some stone pillars that held up the bridge. Mr. Beeba led us underneath the bridge and into a little cavelike space that was almost completely cut off from the snow. It was still pretty cold, but at least we had some kind of roof over our heads. We all sat down and tried to get used to the idea of spending the night in such a dark, cold place.

    “A li’l fire’ll make this place a lot more homey,” Spuckler said, pushing a button on Gax’s body. Out came Gax’s torch, with its bright, steady flame. Suddenly the frozen beach and the underside of the bridge were bathed in a warm yellow light. Spuckler was right. Just a simple thing like a bit of light made a pretty big difference.
    That was just the beginning, though.
    We all started gathering pieces of driftwood that had collected under the bridge. We put them all side by side and watched as Gax dried them with his torch. Some of them were pretty wet from all the ice and snow, and you could see steam rising into the air as Gax went to work on them. It took a while, but eventually Gax was able to make each piece of wood as dry as a bone.

    Spuckler took the pieces of wood and carefully arranged them into a teepee shape. Then Gax stuck his torch down at the bottom and set the whole thing aflame. Soon we were delighted to find ourselves huddled around a bright, crackling fire, warming our hands and feet and just generally making ourselves as comfortable as we could possibly be.
    Then Spuckler pulled out the brown paper bag Yabby had given to us when we left his restaurant.
    “Anyone hungry?” he asked.

We stuffed ourselves with the sandwiches Yabby had packed for us. They were absolutely delicious, filled with all kinds of colorful vegetables and sweet slices of meat. There were also several purple pieces of fruit, and a whole bag full of Moolo Rings. We ate and ate and ate, devouring it all happily and
very
noisily.
    After dinner we threw a few more pieces of wood on the fire so that Spuckler and Mr. Beeba could entertain us with hand shadows on the underside of the bridge. It was pretty amazing, all the different kinds of shapes they were able to make!
    “Now,
this
, Akiko,” Mr. Beeba explained, “is a frimbo bird. I haven’t
quite
got the wingspan right, but you get the general idea. . . .”
    “And
this
is a flyin’ saber-toothed mungasaurus,” Spuckler growled, “comin’ in to
eat
the frimbo bird!”
    “Really, Spuckler!” Mr. Beeba chuckled. “Control yourself!”
    They went on and on like that for more than half an hour. I even joined in here and there, making the shape of a dog’s head and a couple of other tricks I learned from my uncle Koji back in Middleton.
    After Spuckler and Mr. Beeba’s little show was over, we all sat back and listened while Gax told a story about a giant spaceship he’d once been trapped on, and how he’d led a bunch of robots in a daring escape. He was really good at bringing the story to life, especially because he could make all sorts of cool