The Stones of Fire and Water

Previously…Crown Prince Torren of Ponderia had been kidnapped by a mysterious magician and hidden away in a mini-plane of reality, called a Bubble. His friend, Pettic, and his sister, Princess Lucenra, have discovered, with the help of Blundo, the court magician, that the only way to enter the Bubble and rescue the prince is with four keys corresponding to the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. To get the keys, Pettic must enter the four elemental worlds and find a gem corresponding with that element. he cannot return without it. He has already entered the world of Terra and found a sword bearing the magical emerald. Before he found it, though, he had to slay what the people called a phantom boar that was killing their animals and also on occasion, their people. With the help of his wolfhound, Cledo, and a young man he met there, he managed to kill the boar, and also help his friend to win the young woman of his dreams. The next full moon arose, and Pettic once more set off through the arch of the standing stones outside the city. This time he found himself in the world of Air, called Aeris. Here he found the people were divided into two distinct groups. One group, the Aerials, lived in flying cities, kept in the air by magic. The others, Groundlings, lived on the ground and were more-or-less slaves. Pettic fomented a rebellion of the Groundlings and succeeded in brokering a better life for them. Princess Eloraine of the Aerials tried to persuade Pettic to stay on Aeris, and when she found he was determined to return to his own world, she gave him a pin with a diamond, the magical gem he required. Blundo has helped Pettic by giving him an amulet that allows him to understand and be understood by the people of the worlds he visited, as they spoke different languages, and also an earring that warms when he is near the gem he needs. At the beginning of this book, the false Torren has been sent to a monastery by his father, the king, as a punishment for his poor treatment of the daughter of a Duke and her friend. Now read on.