by Adam Blade
“Stop it!” Gwen said. “Tanner, give him the mask.” She gave him a long, hard look. “We know what Firepos’s blood has done to you. And don’t think I didn’t notice how you fought today. You couldn’t wait to get into that battle,” she said quietly. “Wearing that mask helped us, but it’s best that someone else looks after it, Tanner. You know that.”
“You’re right,” he admitted. Tanner found the three pieces. He held them up: They were ragged, soggy from the rain, and blood-streaked. When he held them together like this, they covered all but the forehead and a strip down the center of the nose. The mask was almost complete. “We almost have it,” Tanner said. “The mask is …”
“I know,” Rufus said.
No you don’t, Tanner thought. I could put the mask on now, return to that gray, terrible, world, and never take it off.
A sense of danger ran through him. Give him the pieces. That was Firepos. She’d never tried to tell Tanner what to do before, only guided him. But he gave the pieces to Rufus, who slipped them into his tunic; they vanished into the fabric.
Castor sighed and stepped back to the edge of the cliff. “The soldiers have gone,” he said.
The rain clouds were clearing, but the sun had gone down and the sky was opening into blackness and stars. The valley stream was overflowing, and Tanner looked back at the bodies piled in deep puddles of mud.
“There’s only one more piece,” Tanner said. “We almost have the whole mask.” He tried to sound hopeful, but none of them looked back at him. They were all tired, staring at the valley and distant mountains. Tanner couldn’t see Gwen’s face, didn’t want to. We’ve given up so much, Tanner thought. What else can we possibly sacrifice?
“Where is this going to end?” Castor said. He frowned back at Tanner. “Down there, with Geffen? Is that where we’re going?”
They all watched Tanner, waiting.
“Do you trust me?” Tanner said, and when no one spoke, he said, “Do you love your homes, your families?”
Gwen said, “Of course we trust you.”
“We have to fight together,” Tanner said. “We have three pieces of the mask, but there’s one more. Derthsin knows we have them now. Do any of you think he’s going to let us find the last piece? If we’ve pushed him back, he’ll only fight harder. We had a saying in my village, ‘Beware the cornered dog.’”
“What are we going to do, Tanner?” Castor asked.
“We’re going to win,” Tanner said more loudly. “We’re going to end all of this. It’s time.”
Castor glanced at Gwen and Rufus, and crossed his arms. “Time for what?” he said.
Tanner looked at Firepos, Nera, Gulkien, and Falkor, and he felt the slow tension again, as if their lives were strings waiting to be cut.
“What is it?” Gwen said.
Could he tell them what he’d seen when he’d worn the mask? The dark shadows, the screams for help, the heartbeat slowing? “I’ve glimpsed death. I think, I think … One of our Beasts,” Tanner said, and he wiped the rain from his hair. His hands smelled like blood. “One of them will die.”
He turned his back on them and gazed out over Avantia. No one said a word — what could be said? Out there were General Gor and Vendrake. Varlot was still alive. And Tanner remembered the man he’d glimpsed in fiery visions, talking to Gor: Derthsin.
Tanner shuddered. Death was waiting. The evil warlord had a hold over Firepos through her ancient scar. And now Firepos’s blood ran in Tanner’s veins. What did that mean for the two of them?
“But I have hope,” he murmured. “I can’t stop believing.” Tanner and his friends had come so far. Only one more piece of mask to find, and then … Avantia would be free of evil.
Castor and Rufus stood beside Tanner. Gwen put her hand on his shoulder. “Stay strong,” she told him.
Tanner smiled. “Always.”
As I perch on the ruined wall and watch him speak, I feel Tanner’s heartbeat — my heartbeat. Tanner has a Beast’s blood in his heart, making him strong. But this makes me weak, too — I have lost the power to heal myself.
And now my companion has worn a piece of the mask. Combined with the Beast blood that runs through his veins, this means my boy enjoys the fight like never before. This is dangerous, and I fear for the future. Will Tanner’s quest be his undoing?
Tanner smiles up at me, his eyes proud and shining. He believes that he is strong enough to win. Death is waiting for us. I can feel it watching overhead. But we have to continue together.
Tanner thinks, We won’t stop until Derthsin is beaten.
I send a message back: While my heart beats, I am by your side. Always.
He will need me. We enter our greatest challenge yet. Tanner is a hero, bloody and exhausted, but a hero. Still, he does not yet understand all that he is fighting. Derthsin, Vendrake, Varlot … These are enemies whose strength is growing, just as Tanner’s courage swells. And me? My strength fades by the day. I must dig deep within me, and call on the aid of my Beast friends, to face this new dawn.
Avantia is on the cusp of great things or eternal ruin. One boy and his friends will decide which way the fates swing. Four Beasts will fight alongside them.
It is time to stand strong. We are about to travel to the heart of evil….
WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO
STEPHEN CHAMBERS.
Growing up, ADAM BLADE was fascinated by an ancient sword and shield that hung in his father’s office. His father told him they were a Blade family heirloom. Adam spent all of his time creating imaginary adventures around the true owner of these weapons. As an adult, Adam decided to bring these tales to life by writing about the dangerous land of Avantia. Adam Blade is also the author of the Beast Quest series.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Blade, Adam.
Call to war / by Adam Blade.
p. cm. — (Chronicles of Avantia; 3)
Originally published: London: Orchard, 2011.
Summary: Tanner, his companions, and the Beasts continue their quest to retrieve the pieces of the Mask of Death, but Lord Derthsin’s evil armies swarm over the land and his control over the people of Avantia continues to grow, until it seems that only the Beasts and their riders stand in his way.
ISBN 978-0-545-36156-9 (alk. paper)
1. Human-animal relationships — Juvenile fiction. 2. Quests (Expeditions) — Juvenile fiction. 3. Adventure stories. [1. Fantasy. 2. Human-animal relationships — Fiction. 3. Quests (Expeditions) — Fiction. 4. Adventure and adventurers — Fiction.]
I. Title. II. Series: Blade, Adam. Chronicles of Avantia; 3.
PZ7.B5347Cal 2012 823.92 — dc23
2012017288
Chronicles of Avantia is a registered trademark of Beast Quest Limited.
Series created by Beast Quest Limited, London.
Text copyright © 2011 by Beast Quest Limited.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.,
Publishers since 1920, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement with Working Partners Ltd.
SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First printing, September 2012
e-ISBN: 978-0-545-46966-1
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, 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 hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
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