Free Kendra Kandlestar and the Door to Unger by Lee Edward Födi

Kendra replied. “Maybe a hundred.”
    “It feels like a thousand, if you ask me,” Oki said.
    In any case, a hundred or a thousand, the small party was to pass through several more doors yet before Crumpit finally brought them to a halt. Before them stood a simple door of iron and wood and the Key Master now spoke his first words in many hours.
    “Well, we’re here, don’t ya know,” he declared, reaching into his black beard and producing one last key. “On the other side of this here door is the land of Umbor.”



YOU HAVE PROBABLY NEVER BEEN to visit a king, let alone one who is a Dwarf. Well, let me tell you, what Dwarves may lack in grace, manners, and charm, they do their best to compensate with gold, silver, and jewels. This was something that Kendra and her friends were to discover firsthand; for now, as Crumpit unlocked the last of the doors, they passed into an enormous world of bedazzling riches.
    At first, Kendra mistakenly thought that they had come to the surface of the earth, for the space was so vast that it went as far as her tiny eyes could see. It was only when she looked upward that she noticed a vaulted ceiling, high above them.
    “Why, we’re not outside at all!” the tiny Een girl declared.
    “No indeed,” Professor Bumblebean said. “It’s one gigantic subterranean cavern and, as I’ve read in my books, it houses the entire Kingdom of Umbor.”
    “And what a kingdom!” Ratchet murmured with a low whistle. “Everything here seems to be made of gold!”
    Kendra could not have said it much better herself. Everywhere she looked, she was met by the glimmer of gold. The streets were paved with gold stone. The houses were built with gold bricks. Even the trees were gold, with gold bark and leaves made from large green emeralds. Kendra turned slowly around to take in the sights, rubbing her eyes at the brilliance. After the darkness of the tunnels, the glimmering wealth of Umbor was quite blinding.
    “Well, c’mon now,” Crumpit declared. “I reckon I should present ya to his majesty.”
    They set off through the golden streets, the key master leading the way with a noisy jingle. They could now see a great many Dwarfs bustling about, and many of them stopped to stare at the small party.
    “I reckon most Dwarves ain’t see no Eens before,” Crumpit commented.
    “I do say,” Professor Bumblebean remarked as he looked about. “Don’t you have any women or children here, in the Kingdom of Umbor? All of your fine citizens seem to be men.”
    “Of course, we got women and children,” Crumpit replied. “Why, here’s a playground of younguns right here on yer left.”
    “Why, they all have beards!” Kendra declared.
    “Of course they do,” Crumpit said. “Every Dwarf has one! Even younguns!”
    “I ought to invent an easy way for these folks to shave,” Ratchet said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “Add that to the list, Oki.”
    “I haven’t had time to start a list yet,” the mouse said.
    “Well, what in the name of turnips have you been doing?” the raccoon asked as they ambled down the street.
    “I’ve been kind of busy trying not to die,” Oki explained. “You know, what with the bottomless stairs, the three-headed skerpent, and all the rest.”
    “Excuses, excuses,” Ratchet muttered.
    Before long they arrived at the palace of King Reginaldo. Unlike the rest of the buildings in the cavern, which were short and squat, the palace was tall and graceful, with golden walls and gleaming panes of silver glass. Crumpit led them up some stairs to a pair of tall golden doors that were studded with large red rubies. The Dwarf unlatched a key from his elbow and used it to knock on one of the doors.
    “Eh?” came a scratchy voice from behind the door. “Who’s that knockin’?”
    “Why, it’s me, the Key Master,” Crumpit replied.
    “Well, whatcha want?” the gatekeeper asked. “Shouldn’t ya be patrollin’ the tunnels and keepin’ the locks