but...but whenever she’s around, you act like...”

“Like?”

“Like I don’t exist.”

“I do, huh?” As was his habit, Baloo rubbed the back of his neck anxiously.

Kit flicked his finger against another mushroom. Brokenly, he mumbled, “I miss you, Papa Bear. I miss the fun we used to have, just you and me. And...and now...”

“Yeah?”

With a sigh, Kit admitted, “I don’t know if I want a father if it means losing my best friend.”

After a momentary pause, Baloo murmured contritely, “You’re right, Li’l Britches.”

Astonished, Kit looked over at the big bear.

Baloo smiled sadly and put a hand on Kit’s shoulder; this time, he wasn’t shrugged off. “Gimme a second chance?”

Before Kit could say anything, their attentions were arrested by something crashing through the forest nearby. “What was that?”

Baloo and Kit hurried to the clearing just in time to see a knight astride his noble, yet slightly saggy steed emerge from the forest. The sunlight glinted off his shining armor as well as the scabbard that hung from his side. In his hand, he carried a long, deadly-looking lance. He and his horse made a semi-circle circuit of the seaplane once, then twice.

“What ho, dragon!” the knight called to the Sea Duck. “Prepare to be vanquished.”

When Baloo had picked his chin off the ground, he whispered, “What’s ‘vanquished’?”

Kit made a slashing motion across his throat.

Baloo gulped. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

The knight backed his horse to the very edge of the clearing, brandished his lance, and charged the Sea Duck.

“No! Not my baby!” Baloo shouted, running towards the knight.

Before the pilot could get halfway across the clearing, the knight’s lance struck the seaplane’s back hatch, but the horse kept going. The knight fell off the horse and landed on the grass where he lay there, helplessly flailing his metal-clad limbs. “Helpeth! I havest fallen and I canst gettest up!”

Kit rushed past Baloo to the knight’s aid.

“Wait, kid!” Baloo said, jogging after his son. “You don’t know if he has more of them pointy sticks.”

“We can’t just leave him there. Besides, he can tell us where we are.” To the knight, Kit said, “We’ll help you, mister.”

As they helped him struggle to a sitting position, the knight said in a muffled voice, “Thank thee, O noble sires. Canst thou please removest my helmet so I mightest view the visages of my kindly rescuers?”

Baloo tugged and tugged on the helmet, but it would not budge. He panted, “It’s no use. It’s stuck tighter’n a burr in a dog’s fur.”

“Where’s a can opener when you need one?” Kit murmured. Getting an idea, his eyes lit up. He ran to Sea Duck, and returned with tube of liniment. “What if we tried this?”

Baloo shrugged. “Give it a go.”

Kit liberally squirted some around the seam where the helmet met the neck. Then, Baloo twisted the helmet and pulled upwards. This time, it slid off.

“Dunder?” Baloo and Kit cried, surprised.

“How didst thou knowest my name?” the familiar-looking warthog exclaimed.

“Lucky guess,” Kit said sheepishly.

“Thou must be great sorcerers to divine such knowledge,” Dunder said, awe-struck, as he took in the bears’ odd-looking clothing.

“Not prezactly,” the big bear said, assisting the knight to his feet. “Name’s Baloo. I’m a pilot. If it’s got wings I can fly it. Sometimes if it doesn’t. This here’s my plane.” He gestured proudly to the Sea Duck.

Astonished, Dunder’s eyes moved from the pilot to his plane. “You are master of the great yellow dragon?”

Baloo grinned. “Guess you could put it that way.”

“Are you also a master of the yellow dragon?” Dunder asked Kit.

“I’m sort of a master in training,” Kit said proudly.

Dunder nodded solemnly. “I, too, am in training. Verily, I wish to be a true knight, but, alas, I have yet to pass my final challenge.”

“Challenge?” Baloo echoed.

“Aye, I must slay the dragon that lives in the Dragon Den.”

“Gee, sounds rough,” Kit said sympathetically.

“If I fail, I become a court jester, the most disgraceful and disagreeable position in all the land.” Dunder examined the liniment used to get helmet off. He ran his finger around the rim of his helmet and licked it off his finger. “This...”

“Liniment,” Kit supplied.

“Aye. It has a goodly taste. May I havest more?”

“Knock yourself out.” Baloo gave him the tube.

“Knock myself out? Why wouldst I do that?” Dunder said, fascinated by the tube’s screw-on cap.

Baloo chuckled. “Never mind.”

They all turned when they heard rustling and clanking behind them. Soon, a donkey bearing a short knight came crashing through bushes. The knight’s lance dragged on the ground.

“Must be winter. The knights are gettin’ shorter,” Baloo joked.

“Knight-in-training Dunder!” the second knight said in a lisping voice. “What is the meaning of this? Why aren’t thou practicing thy knightly duties?”

“I was meeting new friends, sire.”

“Knights don’t have friends. How many times must I tellest thou that? And when we get home, I needest thou to dry off the inside of my helmet again. It’s all dampeth.”

“Yes, sire.”

When the donkey came to a stop, the diminutive knight snapped, “Dunder!”

“Sorry, sire.” Dunder removed the shorter knight from the donkey’s back and set him gently on the ground, then raised his helmet’s visor.

“Spigot?” Baloo and Kit said simultaneously.

“That’s...” Spigot’s tone of voice changed from annoyed to pleased. He preened and stood as tall as his short stature would allow. “Yes. It seemest my reputation hast preceedeth me...as it shouldst. I am Sir Spigot, Dragon Slayer Extraordinaire, Bravest Knight in all of Hammalot.”

“Hammalot?” Baloo and Kit echoed wonderingly.

Sir Spigot pounded his breastplate with his fist. “Standeth back whilst I dispose of yon dragon permanently. Knight-in-Training Dunder, my lance.”

“But your knightship,” Baloo interjected. “ This ain’t a dragon. It’s an airplane.”

“Air...plane?” Sir Spigot stumbled over the word uncertainly. “Ah-ha! A new noble beast for me to conquesteth! The king will be so please-ed.” With a grunt of exertion, he brandished his sword, but couldn’t swing it, because it was too heavy. Its point dropped to the ground.

Baloo threw himself between Spigot and the seaplane. “But I’m tellin’ ya. That ain’ no beast.”

“Does thou...” Clank! went his visor. Irately pushing up the visor, he continued, “Does thou darest defy Sir Spigot?”

“Well...yeah!”

“Knight-in-training Dunder! Seize them!”

“How come?” Baloo asked.

“For preventing a knight from performing his knightly duties. Our glorious king will decideth your punishment.”

“Way to go, Baloo,” Kit sarcastically as they were gently led away by Dunder.

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault that that watch landed us here.”

Hammalot

From far away, Hammalot appeared to be a place where peace and prosperity reigned. The white stone castle, complete with many turrets that reached towards the blue sky, sat on a verdure hill overlooking a serene river. Gathered under the protective wings of the castle was a picturesque village consisting of thatched-roof huts. Both the castle and village were securely surrounded by a high wall with many guard-posts. The only means of entry into Hammalot was through a drawbridge in the wall.

As they walked across the drawbridge, Baloo commented, “It looks like somethin’ outta one of Molly’s storybooks.”

Upon closer inspection, Hammalot wasn’t so picturesque. Pigs, dogs, and chickens as well as dirty children ran rampant in the squalid streets. Serfs in drab clothing skittered out of their way in deference to knights as they passed.

Spigot, who seemed to be oblivious to the filth and poverty surrounding him, preened with pride. “Welcome to Hammalot, fairest city in the land.”

Kit couldn’t help contrasting the rag-clad serfs and lowly huts with the shining castle. Just like Thembria, only in a warmer climate.At that moment, he almost wished for the freezing temperatures of Thembria if only to mask the stench that couldn’t have only been attributed to the livestock.

Baloo and Kit were marched into the castle, down a long corridor with high vaulted ceilings and colorful tapestries lining the walls. Two ladies-in-waiting of warthog persuasion clad in bright silk gowns and pointy hats with streamers trailing from the top curtsied and stared after the strangers with large eyes.

At the end of the hall was a pair of tall, double doors that reached to the ceiling. They all waited as Spigot spoke a few words to the man guarding the door.

The guard peered at Baloo and Kit for a few moments before opening one of the doors and announcing in a booming voice, “Sir Spigot, Knight-in-Training Dunder, and two captives.”

Before entering the throne room, Dunder and Spigot removed their helmets and carried them under their arms. Spigot licked his palm to slick back his

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