by Adam Blade
“We don’t have much, but we’d be happy to share.” Belco went on. “Won’t you join us in the town hall?”
“I have a feeling we will have to move on soon,” Tom told him. “But thank you all the same.”
Belco nodded. “Well, if you change your mind, you’re always welcome,” he told them, and turned to go back inside.
“Whatever path you take, may it bring you fortune,” said Randall grandly, before ducking into the town hall with the others.
Tom and Elenna shared a glance, then they grabbed each other’s hands and swung around in a dance.
“We did it!” cried Tom. Now that the danger was over he felt overwhelmed by both exhaustion and relief.
“We did!” agreed Elenna, gasping with laughter. As they swung around and around, a figure appeared before them. They stumbled dizzily to a halt. It was the wizard!
“Aduro!” Tom breathed.
“Congratulations, my young friends,” Aduro told them. “I have been watching your progress from the king’s castle.”
“We’ve freed the third Beast,” Tom told him proudly.
“And you have received Cypher’s enchanted teardrop for your shield,” Aduro observed. “It will give you magical protection. Should you ever find yourself plunging from a great height, hold the shield above your head and it will slow your fall.”
Tom looked at his shield. “Fantastic!”
“You have done well,” Aduro told them. “But the greatest dangers still lie ahead. Will you continue with your Quest?”
Storm chose that moment to whinny, and Silver barked in response. Elenna beamed at them both.
Tom nodded firmly. “We will see this Quest through to the end.”
Aduro smiled. “Then travel on to the plains at the center of the kingdom,” he told them. “Tagus the Night Mare awaits you there.”
“We will find him,” said Tom. “And whatever harm he’s doing, we’ll stop it.”
“Good luck,” the wizard said, as his image faded away to nothing.
“Do we have to go right now?” Elenna wondered, smoothing her hair from her forehead. “A warm dinner sounds good. We haven’t had a meal in a long time.”
Tom’s stomach growled at the thought of food. In the distance, he could hear voices and the tolling of the town bells as Colton slowly returned to life.
“Maybe we should stay here for just one more night,” he decided. “I have a feeling Aduro is right. The biggest challenges lie ahead — and we’ll need all our strength to meet them.”
They stood there silently for a moment, Storm and Silver by their side. Elenna turned to Tom, and he smiled at her.
Whatever dangers lay ahead, they would face them together.
Copyright
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Working Partners Ltd., Stanley House, St Chad’s Place, London WC1X 9HH, United Kingdom.
Beast Quest series created by Beast Quest Ltd., London. BEAST QUEST is a trademark of Beast Quest Ltd.
Text copyright © 2007 by Beast Quest Ltd.
Illustrations copyright © 2007 by Scholastic Inc.
Cover art by David Merrell
Cover design by Tim Hall
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement with Working Partners Ltd.
SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First printing, June 2007
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
e-ISBN: 978-0-545-29406-5