by Adam Blade
“There’s no sickness here, boy. We mean for it to stay that way.”
Tom suddenly understood their anger and took a risk in lowering his shield. A row of desperate faces looked back.
“This is our only option,” said Tom. “Please … let us through. We’re not sick.”
One of the men stepped out of the trees, his bow lowered but the string taut with a loaded arrow. “Come forward, then,” he said. “Both of you.”
Tom and Elenna took a few steps, side by side, drawing within ten paces of the group. Tom felt his confidence returning. Now that he wasn’t being shot at, he could reason with these people. Show them that he wasn’t a threat.
The ground beneath him suddenly seemed to rise up, and Tom and Elenna were lifted off their feet and pulled up into the air. They were caught in some sort of net that hung from a tree.
It was a trap.
Beside him Elenna gave a scream of rage and fear and began to lash out at the net. Tom’s eyes focused on the man below, who pointed his arrow straight up at them.
This time there was no escape.
THE BOWMAN’S HAND — POISED TO RELEASE the bowstring — shook with nerves.
Tom struggled to right himself in the net, but his legs kept on slipping through the gaps.
“Don’t shoot,” Tom implored. “Look at us — we’re not sick.”
“We can’t risk it,” said a voice from the woods. “Kill them.”
“Very well,” said the archer, holding the bow firmer now.
A scuffling sound came from the trees. Tom saw the man’s eyes drop to his right and his lips part in surprise. Silver suddenly leaped from the shadows and sank his teeth into the man’s arm. The archer screamed and dropped the bow and arrow.
Their enemy now distracted, Tom managed to draw his sword and hacked at the net.
“Hold on to me,” he shouted to Elenna, and he felt her grip his waist. As the net fell open, he clutched a rope with one hand and they swung out toward the archers who were still among the trees. Tom let go and they dropped onto their enemies.
Elenna was up in a flash, her hunting dagger at the throat of an elderly man. Tom rolled across the ground, and pointed his sword at the chest of the injured archer.
Silver came to stand at Tom’s side.
“Lower your bows!” shouted Elenna, pressing the point of her knife against the elderly man’s skin. Tom knew his friend would never harm an Avantian, but she was playing the role very well.
He got to his feet, keeping the injured archer at the end of his sword. One by one, the flaming arrow points were extinguished.
“Don’t hurt him,” said the elderly man. “He’s only frightened, like the rest of us.”
“We won’t hurt anybody,” said Tom. “I only want to talk.”
Elenna released the man, who warily hobbled forward to Tom. His eyes were dark with lack of sleep and his skin gray like old parchment.
“My name is Derlot,” he said. “And I come from the village of Rokwin.”
“I know the place,” said Tom.
Derlot’s face clouded. “You wouldn’t recognize it now. Disease has ravaged it.” He waved his hand at the faces between the trees. “We’re the only ones who escaped.”
The clop-clop of Storm’s hooves made Tom turn. His stallion came out of the shelter of the trees and walked to his side.
“Where are you and your companions heading?” asked Derlot.
“Stonewin,” said Tom, cautiously. “We are trying to reach the volcano there.”
Derlot’s eyes widened, and he lowered his voice. “If the volcano is your destination, you must know of another threat to Avantia.”
“What do you mean?” Tom asked.
Derlot stepped closer. “The plague is not the only curse to afflict this land. There’s a dragon, too!”
Elenna looked at Tom in surprise, but Tom kept his face expressionless. The good wizard Aduro had told him to never, ever reveal the truth of his Quests to anyone.
“A dragon!” he said. “Do they really exist?”
“I saw it with my own eyes,” said Derlot. “A dragon that breathes ice instead of fire. My herbs to cure the ill were destroyed because of him.”
Elenna and Tom shared a look. Did this explain the frozen ponds and icicles on the trees? Was Blaze responsible?
“If you don’t believe me,” said Derlot, “I can show you my herb garden. I just hope the dragon doesn’t return.”
“Let’s go,” said Tom.
Derlot led the way through the dense forest. Tom pulled Storm by his reins and Elenna came behind with Silver at her side.
“No one in the village believes me,” said Derlot, stooping under a branch. “But I know what I saw.”
As they penetrated deeper among the trees, slowly climbing the lower slopes of Rokwin, Tom noticed the air becoming colder.
Storm snorted and air formed white clouds at his nostrils. Tom could see his own breath, too. They’d been traveling for some time, and Tom wondered if the old man was lost.
“Not far now,” whispered Derlot, pulling his cloak more tightly around him.
They emerged into a clearing and Elenna gasped. Tom saw that the ground was white with frost, and crystals of ice glittered like tiny diamonds on the tips of broken stalks and ruined shrubs.
“This was the herb garden,” said Derlot, “and my only hope of curing the sickness that afflicts my people.”
“Poor thing!” Elenna pointed to a rabbit among the encrusted plants. It was frozen mid-jump, its ears sticking up and its body stretched out as it had tried to flee. This was more than just unseasonably cold weather.
Silver sniffed at the frozen rabbit, and then turned his head to Elenna, as if confused that his prey was not running away.
“Do you believe me now?” asked Derlot. “About the dragon?”
Tom nodded, feeling a chill in his heart that had nothing to do with the freezing cold air. “I believe you,” he said.
This time Malvel and his Beasts had gone too far.
AS THEY LEFT THE COLD CLEARING BEHIND, Elenna fell in beside Derlot. “How was the sickness caused?” she asked.
“Five days ago,” Derlot said, “one of the shepherds, Adam, was attacked and bitten by a hyena in the dark. He only managed to escape by beating the animal off with his staff and then climbing a tree.”
Elenna held out her arm to help Derlot across a narrow stream.
“A hyena?” asked Tom.
“Yes,” Derlot continued. “It was strange because they don’t normally come so close to Rokwin.” The old man sighed. “Adam became sick in the night, sweating and mumbling in his sleep. By the next morning, the nurse looking after him was beginning to show signs of the same illness.”
“It was spreading,” said Tom, guiding Storm among a collection of boulders.
Derlot nodded. “The following dusk brought more hyenas. A dozen of them made a home in the thickets on the south side of the village. Their howls kept everyone awake, and we posted archers and slingers around Rokwin’s fences, but under the full moon they attacked.” Derlot shook his head mournfully. “They snuck into houses and bit whomever they could find.”
“Did they kill many?” asked Elenna.
“That’s the strange thing,” said Derlot. “It was almost as though these hyenas didn’t come to kill. They would bite only once, and then slip away back to their den in the thickets. By the morning, half of the village was ill. Those who weren’t decided to flee….”
This sounds like Malvel’s magic, Tom thought. Were these hyenas the second adversary the Dark Wizard had spoken of?
When they reached the path again, it was almost dusk and the other villagers were waiting.
Elenna took Tom aside, while Derlot went to talk with his followers.
“Tom, we have to help these people,” she whispered. “Even if it means delaying the Quest.”
“You’re right,” he said. “I think Malvel is behind this, and we have to fight him where
ver he appears. But what can we do about this plague?”
Elenna frowned for a moment, and then her face lit up. “My aunt always taught me that powdered willow bark was good for animal bites. Perhaps it’ll work here, too.”
“Do you have any?” Tom asked.
Elenna shook her head. “But the villagers may know where to find some.”
She turned to the frightened group and asked them if any willow trees grew nearby.
“Down by the river,” replied a stout young woman. “It’s a fair walk, but the trees are plentiful.”
As Elenna gathered the villagers to head to the riverbank, Tom jumped onto Storm.
“Where are you going?” asked Derlot.
“To deal with the hyenas,” said Tom. “On the south side of the village, you say?”
“Yes,” said Derlot, “but there are many. A boy like you will be torn to pieces.”
Tom smiled. “I’ve faced hyenas before. They don’t frighten me.”
Elenna was ready to go. “Be careful,” Tom warned her. “There may be hyenas by the river, too.”
Elenna crouched beside Silver and stroked the thick hair behind his neck. “I have Silver to look after me. He’s not scared of a few mangy hyenas — are you?”
Silver growled and bared his teeth. Tom felt much better knowing the wolf was at his friend’s side.
He spurred Storm into action and galloped off along the road toward Rokwin.
Night was falling and every sound was magnified in Tom’s ears. The forest on either side seemed to press down upon him. Owls seemed to hoot in welcome as he passed the outskirts of the village of Rokwin.
Soon the road disappeared and Tom found himself surrounded by thorny bushes. This must be the thicket that Derlot talked of, he thought. Storm slowed, tossing his head with a whinny. Tom stroked the horse’s mane and slipped off his back. There were tracks on the ground, large paw prints — hyenas.
A low growling from within the thicket reached his ears.
“Stay here,” he whispered to Storm, and set off in a crouch, following the sound. The belly laugh of hyenas drifted over the night air as Tom creeped between the sharp, thorny branches. Then he saw them.
A pack of mangy creatures, their ribs showing through their hides, were in a clearing fighting. Grass and dust flew up as they tore at one another with teeth and claws. Saliva drooled from their jaws and they howled and gnashed their teeth. Tom counted them: ten in all. He would have to form a plan to deal with so many at once.
Tom felt his nose twitch. A rank smell, like rotten meat, had filled his nostrils. Then he heard a tiny shuffle nearby. Tom twisted, drawing his sword just in time as a snarling hyena leaped from behind him. He thrust his sword toward the animal and it died on his blade. With his foot, Tom pushed the dead creature off his weapon.
The growls from the clearing had stopped. Tom looked back.
Ten pairs of eyes were on him, like twenty silver coins sparkling in the moonlight. One by one, the hyenas loped forward.
Then they broke into a run, coming straight for Tom.
There was death in their eyes.
TOM KNEW HE COULDN’T FACE THEM ALL AT once and sprinted back toward Storm. He no longer had his ability to jump great distances, so he threw himself onto Storm’s back and scrambled into the saddle. The hyenas surrounded him.
“Go!” he yelled, kicking his stallion’s sides. Storm charged straight through the hyenas, causing them to scatter. One was trampled beneath the stallion’s hooves and yelped out.
The other hyenas regrouped and howled into the night, flashing their long yellow fangs.
A plan formed in Tom’s head, but he’d have to make the hyenas follow him for it to work. Storm reared on his hind legs in alarm as the scavenging creatures came closer, but Tom calmed him down.
“It’s all right, boy,” he said. “We’re going to get out of this.”
The hyenas paced back and forth, arching their spines, the hair on their necks standing straight up.
Again, he rode Storm directly at the mangy creatures. One leaped up, but Tom swiped at it with the flat of his sword. The others dodged aside, thin black lips curled in snarls.
Tom galloped back along the road, past Rokwin and through the forest.
Behind him, he could hear the yapping jaws of the hyenas as they pursued. They were close. Storm charged between the trees fearlessly, the branches whipping at Tom’s face.
A bank of solid trunks blocked the path and Tom changed direction. Two hyenas moved quickly through the underbrush and threw themselves at Storm’s flank. Tom took his hands from the reins and beat one away with his shield, stabbing at the other.
Storm burst through the far side of the forest. They were out in the fields again, heading back toward the Forbidden Land. Sweat soaked Storm’s hair and his mane streamed in the darkness, but he galloped on. When it seemed they were pulling away, Tom slowed the mount to keep their pursuers in the chase. He couldn’t afford to lose them now. Not when his plan was nearly complete.
They passed the frozen pond where he and Elenna had reentered Avantia and then plunged back into the Dark Wood.
From his last Quest, Tom recalled and used the complicated paths that led between the trees of Luna the Moon Wolf’s home. It was as if they’d been etched into his brain. The yellow jewel he won defeating Narga the Sea Monster gave him a perfect memory. He threaded between the bare silvered trunks. The padding of the hyenas’ paws grew softer. Tom risked a look behind, and saw only a four or five of the animals slinking through the shadows. They looked uncertain. His ruse had worked. They were disoriented now and in unfamiliar land. And several of the hyenas had already gotten lost in the forest.
Tom’s legs ached from gripping Storm’s flanks, but he did not slacken his grip. He crisscrossed the woods, until the last of the hyenas fell to the ground, its tongue lolling from its exhausted mouth. Then Tom galloped away, leaving it deep in the maze of the dark trees. With any luck, none of the hyenas would return to spread their illness ever again.
It was the middle of the night when Tom trotted back down the forest path toward Rokwin. Gray smoke curled into the sky from the small fires that lit the outskirts of the village. The uninfected villagers whom he’d seen in the forest were huddled at the firesides, boiling a foul-smelling broth in iron pots. Tom found Elenna beside one. Silver lay patiently at her feet.
“You’re back!” she said.
Tom slipped from Storm’s back. “The hyenas will no longer be a problem.”
“We’ve been busy here as well. We found the willow bark,” Elenna said, and they walked to where two thin and bedraggled women were sleeping soundly. Another was sitting up, sipping from a wooden cup.
“These women were all sick not long ago.”
Tom smiled through his weariness.
“Your friend is very skilled,” said a voice he recognized. Tom saw Derlot coming toward them. “We’ve enough medicine to heal everyone. Soon all of Rokwin will be cured.”
Tom was happy, but he couldn’t allow himself to relax. One obstacle was overcome, but Malvel’s Beast still awaited them.
“We should go,” he said.
“No!” exclaimed Derlot. “We must give you a feast. The both of you have saved our lives.”
“I’m afraid that we have another problem to deal with,” said Tom. “And it cannot wait.”
“The dragon?” Derlot whispered.
Tom nodded, unable to lie. He climbed onto Storm, and helped Elenna up behind him. “Goodbye, Derlot,” he said.
“Farewell, young heroes,” the old man replied.
The villagers cheered and waved them off, shouting their thanks. Storm galloped along the rocky path toward Stonewin, Silver at his side, and soon the crackle of the fires and the smell of wood smoke were far behind.
Tom felt as though he was returning home when he saw the volcano rise up ahead in the distance. He smiled as he remembered the last time he had visited this place — his Quest to free Epos. A
t first, the sight of the gigantic winged flame with her blazing feathers had filled him with dread. Little did he know then that, once rescued from Malvel’s spell, Epos would become one of his most loyal friends. But the volcano had lost its bitter smell of sulfur, and the air wasn’t warm as it should be. He frowned. It was as if the great volcano had become dormant, and sapped of life.
Using his magical sight, Tom scoured the slopes for Malvel’s fifth Ghost Beast. Nothing stirred in the darkness. “We should stop for the night,” he said. “We can look for Blaze when the sun rises.”
Elenna seemed happy to rest, and lay with Silver in the shelter of a large boulder. Storm lounged by the side of the path and Tom sat against his soft underbelly, determined to keep his eyes open in case danger approached.
His mind returned to Epos. Was the winged flame in danger? If Malvel had harmed her, Tom vowed that his revenge would be swift. But his anger couldn’t keep him awake. The stars began to drift in front of his eyes, and he felt sleep envelop him.
He woke with a start. An icy feeling choked his chest.
Tom looked down and saw something moving across his torso. His hands touched the black and red scales, thick as saddle leather, which coiled around him.
Blaze!
PANIC AND PAIN CHOKED TOM’S THROAT AS THE dragon’s length tightened around him. He tried to stand up, but he couldn’t move his legs. The dragon had looped his snaky form around Tom’s lower body, too. A pair of gleaming eyes set in a narrow head on a long neck swung around to look straight at him.
Tom stared as a forked tongue, black as night, flickered in and out between the Beast’s bloodless reptilian lips. The dragon brought his head right up to Tom’s face. Tom wanted to look away, but he couldn’t. There was something about the dragon’s eyes. They weren’t like any Beast’s he’d seen before. They looked … human.
And Tom was sure he’d seen them somewhere before. He tried to call out to Elenna, but a thin wheezing sound was the only noise that came out of his mouth. He writhed, fighting to free his arms. He twisted his shoulders and jerked his hips, anything to loosen the dragon’s death hold. As if in response, the scaly body contracted and Tom felt his ribs begin to crack.