Summary:The Knights of Crystallia

This page contains a chapter by chapter summary of Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia. We hope this summary will make it easier to find specific areas of the book, as well as providing a quick plot refresher for anyone who doesn't want to take the time to reread the entire book.

Foreword

Alcatraz Smedry continues his quest to convince readers he is terrible by telling them how awesome he is.

Chapter 1

Alcatraz and his grandfather, Leavenworth Smedry, stand upside-down on another flying glass contraption, this time in the shape of a bird. They are headed back to Nalhalla. Alcatraz sees a continent approaching covered with castles and towers. He notices a large, black castle (that turns out to be his home), a pyramid-shaped white castle in the middle of the city, and tall crystalline structure shaped somewhat like a mushroom. Then there's an explosion.

Chapter 2

The right side of the Hawkwind explodes, sending Alcatraz and the piece of glass his boots are attached to spinning toward the ground. He breaks the glass attached to his boots so he'll stop spinning, but he doesn't have any way to prevent falling to his death. So he tries to break gravity. It doesn't work. He realizes that Grandpa is making him arrive late to his fall. He and Grandpa smash together and fall into the ocean safely, but then Grandpa has to release the delayed effects of falling all that height, so they are repeatedly plunged into the cold ocean water, over and over. Alcatraz passes out. He wakes up with Bastille looking at him angrily. She accuses him of causing the problem on purpose. They have managed to land on a tower of Keep Smedry. Attica emerges from the craft and has another awkward conversation with his son. Australia tells Alcatraz that Bastille jumped from the Hawkwind in order to save him. Sing Sing arrives and tells Grandpa that there are Librarian ambassadors in the city and that the High King wants to sign a treaty, giving up Mokia to end the war. They call for a crawly so they can get to the Council of Kings and try to intervene.

Chapter 3

Grandpa explains to Alcatraz about the political situation in the Free Kingdoms, including the Smedrys' abdication of the throne. However, they are still royalty with peerage and hold a seat on the Council of Kings, a united governing body of all the various Free Kingdom countries. The "crawly" arrives, which turns out to be a wingless dragon named Tzoctinatin with a gondola for carrying several people. It is made of Orientation Glass so the dragon taxi can crawl over and on buildings without worrying about throwing the occupants about. Bastille and Alcatraz talk about their suspicion that Bastille was purposely set up to fail. Bastille can tell that something is bothering her mother, possibly regarding her sword. Sing explains to Alcatraz that the Wardens of the Standard, a Librarian sect, is the one here negotiating the treaty. The Smedrys know the Librarians will break the treaty. Alcatraz promises to help. They arrive at the royal palace.

Chapter 4

Alcatraz enters the royal palace and marvels at its beauty. Bastille looks very reluctant to go in. They enter the main room and Pattywagon Smedry, his aunt, interrupts the proceedings of the council to greet him and Grandpa. With Librarians in attendance, Grandpa announces that he has forged the Lenses of Rashid. The king grants a recess and comes to greet his family -- his daughter Bastille and his wife Draulin, which reveals Bastille as a princess of sorts (because she has renounced the throne by becoming a knight). Alcatraz approves and Bastille gives him an "unprovoked, unregistered" hug for not being mad at her for hiding it. Brig and Grandpa argue about the treaty. Grandpa has figured out what the Lens from the tomb is and gives it to Al. He is unimpressed that they are only Truthfinder's Lens, hoping instead that they were offensive Lenses. Grandpa also gives him Disguiser's Lenses.

Chapter 5

Alcatraz asks Patty where Folsom is so he can gather intelligence on what the Librarians have been doing, so they grab a horse-drawn carriage. As they ride along, Alcatraz notices a lot of people paying attention to him and taking his picture. Hundreds of books have been written about him. Alcatraz begins to bask in his new-found fame. They arrive at an ice cream shop.

Chapter 6

Alcatraz enters the ice cream shop and is immediately surrounded by people wanting to shake his hand, get an autograph, etc. He decides to grant all their requests and enjoy his celebrity. As Patty goes to get Folsom, Alcatraz starts to relate the tale of his first infiltration with Grandpa. Patty comes back and "rescues" him by warning the audience about strange Hushland diseases they might get from him. Alcatraz meets Folsom and his defector Librarian that he is watching over, Himalaya Rockies. Folsom shows Alcatraz the latest fantasy book featuring him as the protagonist. He's often the subject of such books because of his fame. Himalaya idly plays with some mints on the table as they chat, and she is later chagrined when she realizes that she has sorted them into neat rows. It's difficult to break the Librarian habit of organizing things. Folsom reports that the Librarians arrived six months ago with the proposal for a treaty. They spend their time mingling with the social elite. They decide to check some of them out at the prince's lunch party.

Chapter 7

As they travel by carriage to the party, Folsom explains that Rikers Dartmoor, the High King's son, is throwing the party. Alcatraz pretends to think the fantasy book is silly, and he's disappointed to find out that Folsom has removed his "theme" music from the book. They arrive at the party without an invitation, and the butler is quite reluctant to let them in because Folsom is a critic who has panned the prince's latest book. Alcatraz breaks his clothing to prove who he is, and he let's them in. After being announced, Riker takes Alcatraz around to be introduced. Once again, he is enchanted by people fawning over him and forgets why he's there. He eventually runs into his father who is entertaining two sycophantic ladies and has little time for Alcatraz. He meets back up with Himalaya who has provided a nicely sorted list of all the Librarians at the party. Someone named Fletcher is on the list, and Alcatraz sees his mother leaving with the Translator's Lenses on. He decides to follow her.

Chapter 8

As they follow Shasta out. Himalaya reveals that she learned that She Who Cannot Be Named is coming to the city to help with the negotiations. Alcatraz commandeers a carriage and commands the driver to follow Shasta's. Unfortunately, he pulls right up next to hers. There isn't room for all of them to hide, but it finally dawns on Alcatraz that he has the Disguiser's Lenses. He puts them on and decides to look like his sixth-grade teacher. It works; she doesn't recognize him. They eventually arrive at the Royal Archives (Not a Library!) and she loses them. Alcatraz decides to head back to Keep Smedry to get Grandpa's help.

Chapter 9

They arrive, and Alcatraz is surrounded by people again. Folsom offers to get rid of them, but Alcatraz wants the attention. He grants every request for interviews and other things, like performing weddings, until at last there is only a group of sycophants he met at the party. They just want to hang out with him, so Alcatraz invites them in. They lounge about for a while before Alcatraz realizes he hasn't gone to talk to his grandfather as planned. Alcatraz goes to find him and instead runs into his father, busy writing on some parchment. Alcatraz mentions that Shasta was at the party, but Attica didn't notice and is quite dismissive of his son. He goes back to the room where the "friends" are finds his grandfather there. He smacks Alcatraz to try to get him to snap out of his selfishness. He suggests using the Truthfinder's Lenses on his friends, and Alcatraz sees black stuff come out of their mouths as they proclaim their adulation. Grandfather suggests that Alcatraz hang out with his real friends, including Bastille who is at this very moment on trial. Alcatraz realizes what an idiot he's been, and they hurry off to testify in her behalf.

Chapter 10

Grandpa leads Alcatraz to a guarded room with a large metal box with chunks of glass at the corners. He explains that it is Transporter's Glass -- a box the same size is in Crystallia, and when both are activated at the same time by brightsand, the boxes switch places. They transport to Crystallia, normally off-limits to outsiders. When they arrive at the room of the trial, the guards inform them that the trial has already begun and were not allowed in. Despite every reasonable attempt to talk their way in, the knights refuse entry. Grandpa then provokes Alcatraz so his Talent will activate, threatening to bring down the entire tower. The guards let them in and Grandpa explodes.

Chapter 11

Grandpa and Alcatraz find three knights sitting in judgment as Bastille stands by a far wall at attention. They are: Bastille's mother, Draulin, an old knight who looks very intimidating, and a knight with a big chin named Archedis. Grandpa argues that her failure was not her fault. Alcatraz claims that he broke her sword and that Bastille was exemplary in protecting them. After he has his say, they vote, with the elderly knight deciding on a punishment in between the harsher sentence of Draulin and the lighter one of Archedis. She is to be cut off from the Mindstone for two days and stripped of knighthood for one week, after which her status would be reevaluated. Alcatraz gets angry and considers using his Talent, but Grandpa perceives this and convinces him to back off. They transport back to Keep Smedry where Folsom is waiting for them. She Who Cannot Be Named is there and wants to talk to Grandpa.

Chapter 12

She Who Cannot Be Named turns out to be a little old lady. Grandpa coldly asks her why she has come, then she gives Alcatraz a plate of cookies. She says she's there to speak in behalf of the treaty before the final vote. She makes some threats in a sweet voice and leaves. Alcatraz suspects that the cookies are some sort of trap, but Grandpa simply eats them. Himalaya returns to the room, and Alcatraz wonders if she's the one who planted the bomb. Bastille transports over from Crystallia. She appears dazed and weak, the effects of being cut off from the Mindstone. They discuss a plan. Himalaya will read the treaty to find some trick in the fine print. Sing urges Grandpa to speak to the kings again, but he'd rather do some dangerous infiltration. Alcatraz figures that Shasta will try to steal something from the Royal Archives (not a library) since it probably has texts in the for Forgotten Language. He, Sing, and Bastille will go there to investigate, while Grandpa will try to persuade the kings from signing the treaty.

Chapter 13

Alcatraz enters the Royal Archives and is surprised to see Archedis there along with a small army of soldiers guarding the books. He is there overseeing a shift change. He offers a personal guard for Alcatraz while they search, but he declines. He goes into the room and finds the books completely unorganized and in mountainous heaps. He starts rummaging around but quickly grows frustrated. About to give up, he suddenly hears a scraping sound near the walls. He figures his mother is trying to tunnel in rather than try to get by all the guards. He warns the guards then decides that he really needs to find the book that his mother is looking for and take it first. But to find it, he'll need a Librarian to organize the mess.