by Adam Blade
With special thanks to Michael Ford
For Alex McAteer
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Dear Reader
Prologue
Chapter One: Leaving the Forbidden Land
Chapter Two: A Land of Ice
Chapter Three: Ambushed
Chapter Four: A Village in Need
Chapter Five: The Hyenas of Rokwin
Chapter Six: A Night Attack
Chapter Seven: At the Crater’s Edge
Chapter Eight: Epos Imprisoned
Chapter Nine: Shadow Warrior
Chapter Ten: Face-to-Face with Malvel
Character Guide
Also Available
Copyright
* * *
All hail, fellow followers of the Quest.
We have not met before but, like you, I have been watching Tom’s adventures with a close eye. Do you know who I am? Have you heard of Taladon, the Master of the Beasts? I have returned — just in time for my son, Tom, to save me from a fate worse than death. The evil wizard, Malvel, has stolen something precious from me, and until Tom is able to complete another Quest, I cannot be returned to full life. I must wait between worlds, neither human nor ghost. I am half the man I once was and only Tom can return me to my former glory.
Will Tom have the strength of heart to help his father? Another Quest can test even the most determined hero. And there may be a heavy price for my son to pay if he defeats six more Beasts….
All I can do is hope — that Tom is successful. Will you put your power behind Tom and wish him well? I know I can count on my son — can I count on you, too? Not a moment can be wasted. As this latest Quest unfolds, much rides on it. We must all be brave.
Taladon
* * *
CRIES OF PAIN DRIFTED FROM THE OPEN door of the hut, but Derlot hurried on past toward the herb garden. He was one of the lucky ones — the terrible sickness had spared him so far. When the first shepherd had fallen sick from a hyena bite, no one in Rokwin had dreamed that the disease would spread. Derlot had been away at the market in Stonewin for two days but by the time he returned the illness had touched almost every family in Rokwin. People were dying, and Derlot prayed that it was still in his power to help.
His father had been a medicine man, whose fame spread as far as the Plains. He’d claimed that one of his herbs, horn-fern, could cure any sickness in Avantia.
Derlot unlatched the gate to the herb garden and picked his way over the plants. Many of the herbs were withered and the weeds grew tall, but then he saw it — the horn-fern, its dark green leaves tipped with red.
Derlot stooped among the plants and took out his pruning knife. The blade was poised against the herb’s stalk when a howling sound cut through the still summer air. Was it more hyenas?
Derlot stood up and looked around. Something was coiling through the trees toward him — a strange, dark shape, like the trailing smoke from a campfire. A sense of unease gripped him as he realized that it was moving too fast to be smoke.
Derlot felt his mouth drop open, as his eyes showed him something that his mind refused to accept. It was a dragon, but not one like those described in children’s tales. Black and red scales covered the creature’s snakelike body. His long tail swayed back and forth and appeared to propel the dragon through the air. The Beast opened his jaws and revealed icy blue fangs.
Derlot stumbled backward toward the open gate but tripped and landed on the path. The dragon hovered in the air above him, smoke coming from his nostrils, and opened his mouth. Derlot threw his hands up to protect himself — he knew what was coming.
Fire.
But suddenly a blast of freezing air enveloped him. He lowered his hands and saw that the garden had changed. The plants — including the precious horn-fern — were white with frost. The ground at his feet — even the laces of his boots — had frozen solid. The dragon had breathed ice.
The Beast hung lower in the sky, and Derlot was pinned by the dragon’s gaze. There was something in the Beast’s golden eyes — something almost human. Was this a Beast or a man? Or some terrible mixture of the two?
With a shriek, the dragon whipped his tail onto the ground. The earth shook with the impact and the plants shattered like glass.
The icy fragments became mist, blinding Derlot. As it cleared he saw the dragon flying toward the volcano in Stonewin.
Derlot surveyed the ruins of the garden and gave a low wail of despair. Without his herbs, the villagers in Rokwin were doomed.
And as for the people of Stonewin, they had their own terrors to face.
THE SUN WAS JUST A SLIVER OVER THE HORIZON when Tom and Elenna left the Dark Wood. Tom was tired. The battle with Luna the Moon Wolf had tested him to the limit — and Elenna, too.
“Perhaps we should rest,” suggested Elenna.
Tom glanced at his friend. Her knees were scuffed from where she’d stumbled and fallen earlier. He then looked at their brave animal companions. Silver, the wolf, trotted on ahead with his head low, and Tom’s horse, Storm, staunchly plodded forward.
“I wish we could,” Tom said regretfully. “But not yet.”
He fingered the leather thong around his neck, where the pieces of the Amulet of Avantia hung. So far he’d retrieved four amulet parts and defeated each of the Ghost Beasts that had guarded them. But not until he had all six would his Quest be completed. Only then would he be able to bring his father, Taladon, back for good.
His next Quest, as his father had told him, was to defeat a dragon called Blaze.
“Well, we need to stop and check the map,” said Elenna. “We can drink some water at the same time.”
Tom nodded and sat down on a boulder. Elenna took their flask from Storm’s saddlebag and drank, while Tom stretched out his hand in front of him.
“Map!” he commanded.
The air rippled as the ghostly map appeared in front of him. Without this gift from Aduro, they’d never have been able to find their way through the Forbidden Land or locate the Beasts.
A glowing line, like a thread of gold, snaked from where they stood at the edge of the Dark Wood, across the eastern fields, past a small village called Rokwin, and toward the town of Stonewin. It ended on the slopes of the volcano.
“Stonewin is where Epos lives,” said Elenna, handing Tom the flask.
“I hope she’s not in danger from this dragon,” said Tom, taking a swig of water. Epos the Winged Flame was his loyal friend. Tom placed a hand over his eyes and gazed in the direction of Stonewin. His golden helmet, though kept in King Hugo’s castle, gave him the power to see across great distances. He could see the volcano rising above the other mountains, but something was wrong.
“The crater isn’t smoking,” he told Elenna. “The volcano has smoked since the day I was born. Something is wrong.”
“Then let’s not waste any more time,” Elenna insisted.
Now that Tom had seen their Quest set out on the ghost map, strength returned to his heart and they sped toward Avantian soil. As if sensing his urgency, Storm and Silver seemed to find new reserves of energy.
But even though his determination to complete his Quest was as hard as granite, another worry tugged at his mind. Each time Tom defeated one of Malvel’s Ghost Beasts, a piece of his magical armor vanished, too. Now he had only two powers left.
Tom shook his head. The people of Stonewin, and maybe even Epos herself, needed him. He would not let them down. He would not let Malvel, the Dark Wizard, win.
Tom and Elenna reached the high wall that separated the Forbidden Land from Avantia. They passed silently through the unmanned gate.
“I’d forgotten that the sky could be so blue and the land so gr
een,” said Elenna.
Storm whinnied and wheeled about, bolting off across the lush grass. Silver spun in wild circles of joy.
“If we don’t succeed in this Quest,” said Tom, “Malvel’s Beasts will take over Avantia, too — everywhere will be dead like the Forbidden Land.”
“We won’t let that happen,” said Elenna.
A fork of lightning suddenly split the sky, which had rapidly darkened.
“The Forbidden Land may be behind you.” Malvel’s voice rumbled like thunder above their heads. “But the curse of the Ghost Beasts is still strong. Four you have faced, but the Beast to come will be your end. No mortal can defeat the dragon’s breath.”
“I do not fear Blaze!” shouted Tom.
Malvel laughed again. “Blaze will not be your only enemy this time. You will face two adversaries as one.”
The storm ended as quickly as it had begun and Malvel was gone.
“Two adversaries!” said Elenna. “What does he mean?”
“I don’t know,” said Tom grimly. “But I’m not afraid to find out.”
TOM AND ELENNA MOUNTED STORM AND galloped across the plain while Silver streaked beside them. Soon they were deep in Avantian territory, making good progress toward Stonewin.
Tom scanned the road ahead for danger, but to his surprise they saw no one at all. There weren’t even any sheep grazing on the plains. Tom slowed Storm to a canter and, once they were on the grass, vaulted off the horse and crouched to inspect the ground.
“There’s frost on this grass!”
Elenna frowned. “But it’s summer.”
Tom shrugged and mounted his horse again, before they continued their journey, passing lush green fields and bushes heavy with berries. A short while later, they came to a pond and Tom guided Storm and Silver over to the water to have a well-earned drink. But as they approached the edge, he saw that the surface was frozen over.
“This is no ordinary cold weather, Elenna,” he said. “Some places are green and alive, while a few paces away the ground is frozen solid.” Using the base of his shield, Tom smashed a hole in the ice so that Storm and Silver could drink.
“How can that be?” said Elenna. “Stonewin’s volcano has always made the surrounding areas warmer than usual, not colder.”
They raced on. Soon, though, they came to a path that was covered with a great swathe of ice.
“We’ll have to go slower,” he told Elenna. “We can’t risk injuring Storm on the slippery ground.”
Picking their way carefully down the path, they passed a copse of trees bejeweled with frost and saw stone walls covered with ice.
Soon they came upon a signpost. One arm pointed toward Errinel, Tom’s village, and the other to Rokwin, which he knew was on the way to Stonewin.
“Let’s hope we can find someone to tell us what’s going on,” said Tom.
But he soon saw that the road toward Rokwin was deserted as well.
“People should be trading along this route,” said Elenna. “Where is everyone?” Tom shared her bemusement. Even in the worst of weather the people of Avantia went about their business.
Up ahead, Tom heard a noise. Something was approaching from around the bend in the road. Tom’s hand fell to his sword hilt. Wild animals roamed Avantia, and he wouldn’t be caught off guard. His friend, who sat behind him, had already unhooked her bow.
“Ready?” she asked, nocking an arrow.
Tom nodded and held Storm’s reins a bit tighter.
A mare trotted around the corner and her rider, who lay close against her back, steered her.
Tom breathed a sigh of relief and he let go of his sword. “Stop there! I need to talk to you.”
But the horse didn’t slow.
“Stop. Please!” Tom guided Storm to stand sideways across the path.
The horse drew up in front of them. The rider was slumped in the saddle and only now turned his head slowly toward them. Tom recoiled when he saw the scabs covering the man’s face.
Silver let out a whine of unease.
“Are you all right?” Elenna asked the man.
“Go back,” the sick man whispered. “Rokwin is doomed.”
With those words, his eyes closed and he slipped from the saddle like a sack of grain. Tom could see that he was dead before he hit the ground. Silver took a few nervous steps toward the body, while Elenna got ready to dismount.
“No!” said Tom, guiding Storm between the man and the wolf.
“What’s wrong?” said Elenna.
“I think this man died of an infection,” Tom replied. “We mustn’t touch him.”
Tom steered along the edge of the path, as far as the bend in the road. There he dismounted and used his magical sight to look into the town of Rokwin. No smoke issued from the chimneys of the low houses, and no one walked the streets.
A flash of movement caught his eye. Behind a large storehouse, a crowd of townspeople were gathered. But something was wrong. They walked in aimless circles, bumping into one another and falling over. Their faces were like the dead rider’s — pale, with oozing sores. Some awful disease had infected the whole village.
With a troubled heart, Tom walked back to Elenna.
“What did you see?” she asked.
He told her the fate of the unfortunate villagers and she gasped. “What can we do for them?”
“First, we have to find out what caused this horror,” said Tom.
And make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to us, he thought to himself. His current Quest had just become twice as dangerous.
“PERHAPS I CAN HELP THEM,” SAID ELENNA. “My aunt taught me how to use herbs as medicine.”
Tom shook his head. “You can’t, Elenna. You might become infected, too.”
“I can’t just leave them, Tom,” she replied hotly. “What about Epos’s feather?”
Tom looked at the golden feather embedded in his shield, a reminder of his last Quest to Stonewin, when he freed Epos the Winged Flame. The feather’s healing powers had helped him many times, but this was different.
“The feather works on cuts and bruises,” he explained. “The emerald I took from Skor in Gorgonia heals broken bones…. But this is an illness … a disease. There’s nothing we can do. We must focus on our Quest and hope there’s time to help afterward.”
Tom saw Elenna clench her fist with frustration. He put a hand on her shoulder and she ducked her head sadly.
“Is there another route to Stonewin?” she asked after a moment, her voice hoarse.
Tom summoned his map again, and studied its shimmering surface.
“We can skirt the lower reaches of Rokwin, instead of going directly through it,” he said, pointing to a thin line on the map. “Behind the forest there.”
They set off on their new route and found that this way was deserted as well. Soon Rokwin dipped out of sight behind a bank of tall trees. Elenna was quiet as they rode and Tom could tell that, like him, she felt guilty at leaving the suffering villagers behind.
The road gradually became rougher, the ground covered in loose rocks and hidden dips. Silver scouted the way, nose to the ground, and guided them onward, but the wolf stopped as he came to a fallen tree that blocked the path.
Tom halted his horse.
“The locals must have been cutting down trees for timber,” said Elenna. “The illness meant that they had to stop.”
“Or they blocked the road on purpose,” said Tom.
The trunk was as wide as he was tall. Skirting the fallen tree would be almost impossible, as the path was narrow and the land bordering them on either side was sheer and rocky.
“We’ll have to turn back,” said Elenna.
“We can’t,” Tom replied. “There’s no other way to Stonewin.” He patted Storm’s neck. “What do you think, boy? Think you can clear that trunk?”
Storm tossed his mane, and stamped his front hooves. Tom knew he could rely on his horse’s bravery every time.
“Hold on tight,” he
said to Elenna, and she gripped his waist.
Tom dug his heels into Storm’s flank and the stallion bolted forward, hooves scattering rocks everywhere. As the fallen trunk loomed, Tom lifted the reins and gripped Storm’s sides with his knees. Suddenly, they were airborne and he felt his weight slam back in the saddle.
Storm’s hooves cleared the bark by a finger’s breadth, landing with a jolt on the other side. “Well done!” cried Tom, slapping his horse’s neck. He looked back and saw Silver scramble over, and stand on top of the trunk, panting.
“Catch your breath, boy,” Tom called to the wolf. “You deserve —”
Something whizzed past Tom’s ear, fast and hot, and he saw Silver spring away from the trunk and into the trees ahead.
“Take cover!” shouted Elenna.
Tom dragged Storm’s reins around, as a flare of light appeared between the trees ahead.
A flaming arrow.
The blazing shaft shot from the cover of the forest. Without a thought, Tom raised his shield-arm in defense. The arrow buried itself in his shield with a thud.
Suddenly, dozens of orange pricks of light were visible in the forest, all illuminating angry faces.
Elenna sprung off of Storm, and Tom vaulted out of the saddle as well. He hit Storm’s rear with his shield. “Go!” he shouted.
Storm bolted into the trees just as a hail of flaming arrows descended. Tom dragged Elenna behind him and threw up his shield, hearing the arrows slam into it.
The volley ended, and someone shouted, “Fire again!”
Tom held up one hand, showing them he was not a threat. “We mean you no harm!” he shouted out. “We’re on a mission of peace.”
Some muttering followed; then a voice called back, “Then turn around and go. You’re not welcome here.”
“We must get to Stonewin,” Tom said. “The main road is filled with sickness.”