by Adam Blade
Elenna looked up. The thick canopy of leaves was blocking her view of Tom. He whistled again. Getting to her feet, Elenna moved to a piece of clear ground — and grinned with relief when she saw him.
Tom placed a finger on his lips, warning her to stay quiet. He could smell Claw’s stench; the Beast wasn’t far away. Shadows danced on the ground from the branches high above, playing tricks on Tom’s eyes. He whirled around, his eyes darting from shadow to shadow. Where was the giant ape?
At last, Tom spotted him. High in the canopy above Tom’s head, Claw’s long tail lazily swung back and forth. It looked as if the creature was asleep. The chain mail glimmered and chinked around his neck. The sound made Tom think of tiny bells. His heart quickened. The armor seemed to call out to him, shining softly in the sunlight. Tom hesitated, glancing back at the crater.
Elenna first, he thought.
He looked at the vertical walls of the crater. There was no way down or up. And it was too deep for any of the nearby vines to reach the bottom.
He had no idea how to get Elenna out.
A hissing sound made him look down. Elenna was gesturing something. At last, Tom realized what she wanted — her bow and arrow!
Tom began a careful sweep of the ground where Claw had dragged Elenna to his lair. Silver kept watch at the mouth of the crater while Storm quietly cropped the grass.
At last, Tom spotted the familiar leather quiver holding Elenna’s arrows. Beside it lay her bow. They hadn’t fallen into the crater but they were teetering dangerously close to the edge.
Tom reached for the weapon, but it was just too far from his grasp. He couldn’t creep any closer to the edge, or he would tumble over and all would be lost. He watched in dismay as a gust of wind caused the quiver to gently seesaw over the chasm. There wasn’t a moment to lose!
Wrapping one hand around a nearby gum tree, Tom leaned as far as he dared toward the weapons. His fingertips brushed the quiver, but he wasn’t close enough to grasp it. He uncurled his fingers slightly from the tree and dug his toes into the damp ground. Just a little farther …
Suddenly, Tom felt his fingers slip from the gum tree. His toes scrabbled for a grip, but it was hopeless.
Tom was falling. The Quest was lost.
Aduro! Tom thought. Aduro, I’m sorry….
But then, just as he was about to tip over the edge, something grabbed his leg and held him fast. Tom glanced over his shoulder to see Silver gripping his trouser leg in his jaws.
Grasping the bow and arrows firmly in his hand, he rolled back from the edge of the crater with a hammering heart.
“Thank you, Silver,” he whispered, throwing his arms around the wolf’s strong neck.
He tied the bow and quiver of arrows together with a vine and threw them down to Elenna. Without a word, she took the arrows in her quiver, fitted them to her bow, and began firing them into the walls of the crater.
Everything became clear as Tom watched where the arrows fell. The arrows had formed a ladder up the crater wall that she could climb to safety.
Tom fell back with a gasp of relief. The ground was cool under his back. He knew how lucky he was to have such a quick-thinking companion on this Quest. Elenna would climb out of the sleeping volcano and then they would face Claw.
Together.
CHAPTER SEVEN
FACING THE BEAST
WHEN HE HAD CAUGHT HIS BREATH, TOM glanced up into the canopy. He was wearing the helmet and could see that Claw was still sleeping, his limbs hanging like thick ropes from the branch overhead. They were safe — but there was no way of telling for how long.
He wriggled back to the edge of the crater and watched as Elenna stepped up onto the first arrow. The arrow bent slightly beneath her weight, and she struggled to keep her balance.
Tom cut down a length of vine with his sword. He looped it around a tree trunk and threw the other end to Elenna. It reached halfway down. If she could get there, he could pull her up the rest of the way with a little help from Storm and Silver.
Elenna nodded gratefully, understanding what he was trying to do. But first she had to get to the vine.
Tom looked on with admiration as his friend grasped the arrow above her head, then climbed on to the arrow just below, repeating this movement until she had reached the vine. Each time she took a step up, she reached down to retrieve the arrow she had left behind.
Silver ran back and forth along the mouth of the crater. To Tom’s relief, the wolf seemed to know that he should be silent.
Soon, Elenna reached the vine and grabbed the end of it. Together, Tom, Silver, and Storm pulled the vine up the side of the crater. Tom wanted to shout for joy as he felt the grasp of his friend’s warm palm.
“We did it!” he whispered fiercely.
They were back together!
But now it was time to face the Beast and retrieve the golden chain mail.
“If I climb into the trees,” Tom said in a low voice, “I might take Claw by surprise. It’s the only advantage we have.”
Elenna nodded, her eyes wide and fearful.
Tom walked to a nearby tree and tested it with his weight.
It was the wrong thing to do.
The tree groaned and started to sway. Then, to Tom’s horror, its roots began to pull up through the soft ground.
“It’s dead!” Elenna gasped, backing away as the tree began to topple.
Tom grabbed Storm’s bridle, Elenna grasped Silver’s pelt, and they all ran clear as the tree thundered to the ground.
Then they heard a scream from the canopy.
Claw was awake.
“We just lost our advantage,” Elenna panted.
Tom watched with awe as the Beast leaped from tree to tree, screeching and beating his chest.
“I still have to fight him, Elenna,” he said. “I have to get the chain mail.”
“I know,” Elenna replied unhappily. “But be careful!”
Tom tucked the golden helmet back into Storm’s saddlebag, then gave Elenna his shield. “Use it to protect yourself,” he said, setting foot on the sturdiest tree he could see.
Soon he was climbing high into the canopy, his sword swinging awkwardly by his side. Above him, Claw roared in fury, lashing out with his tail.
Tom ducked behind branches as the Beast’s razor-sharp tail whistled toward him. Leaves and twigs rained down on the jungle floor. The tree he was climbing shook and shuddered. Grimly, Tom kept scrambling up, then tucked himself into the cleft of a branch and pulled out his sword, swinging it hard as, once again, the cruel claw whirled toward him.
Then a stroke of pure luck: The base of the branch on which Claw was standing broke away from the tree. Screeching, the Beast fell through the leaves in a flurry of matted fur and thrashing limbs, his face contorted with rage.
But as he fell, he lashed out at Tom’s branch.
Tom’s heart lurched as the branch splintered beneath him. Instinctively, he reached for his shield — remembering too late that he had given it to Elenna.
Tom fell after the Beast, his arms and legs flailing, and landed on a bed of broken branches.
On the ground, just a few feet away from him, Claw was lurching wildly from side to side, roaring with anger and making a clumsy retreat to the nearest tree trunk. But as soon as he leaped onto the tree, his agility and strength seemed to return.
Frustrated and exhausted, Tom prepared to follow. But before he could move, Elenna grabbed hold of him.
“Tom!” she said, her eyes alight. “Did you see how Claw couldn’t keep his balance on the ground?”
“I thought he had been injured in the fall,” said Tom as he gazed up at the canopy. “But he seems as strong as ever. Elenna, I don’t know how I’m going to do this.”
“No,” Elenna said. “He wasn’t injured. It was his curved claws. They give him no grip on the forest floor. You can’t defeat him off the ground — we’ve both seen how he swings through the trees. But if you can somehow get him on the ground, you�
�ll have a chance. A good one.”
Tom glanced up at the Beast. Elenna was right. His curved claws were perfectly adapted for swinging among the treetops. But walking on the ground was another matter.
But how could they coax Claw down to the jungle floor? It was impossible!
Tom was exhausted now. He groaned. There was no way he could do this on his own.
Dimly he heard Aduro’s voice in his mind: “Don’t give up hope, Tom. Have you forgotten the help you have with you?”
Yes! he thought. I’m not alone. I have the great Beasts of Avantia on my side.
Without Sepron the Sea Serpent’s help, Tom knew that they would never have retrieved the golden helmet from Zepha the Monster Squid. It was time to call on the help of another Beast. And Tom knew exactly whom he needed this time. The thought both thrilled and terrified him. For this Beast was one of the mightiest in all of Avantia.
Ferno the Fire Dragon.
CHAPTER EIGHT
FERNO RETURNS
TOM SEIZED HIS SHIELD FROM ELENNA AND quickly rubbed the dragon scale set deep into its surface. He felt a rush of exhilaration when he heard Ferno’s roar. It filled the air with heat. The sky above the jungle shimmered. Creatures in the darkness of the jungle shrieked in fear and fled.
The mighty dragon of Avantia soared over the jungle canopy, his black leathery wings beating hard and his eyes glowing red in his coal-black face.
Exhilarated at the sight of their old friend, Elenna and Tom watched as smoke began to fill the jungle. The air darkened. Branches crackled. Trees exploded.
Claw was being smoked out!
The Beast screamed in defiance at the dragon. He swung from a branch with one massive arm and beat his chest with the other. But it was a useless display. Ferno swooped again. The blazing fires gleamed on his polished scales. Claw bellowed and fled through the canopy.
Ferno flew above the giant ape, following his progress through the branches. The dragon’s tail struck the trees and brought them crashing down in the giant ape’s path. Screeching parrots fluttered into the air, their colors dulled by the smoke. Everywhere, the tops of the trees were burning.
“Go, Ferno!” Elenna screamed.
Tom willed the dragon on with all his heart.
Claw was struggling for breath, his chest heaving. He held his great curved claws over his head, batting uselessly at the smoke. It was everywhere, curling and billowing through the sky. The only place that remained smoke-free was the jungle floor. In desperation, Claw dropped to the ground, snarling.
As soon as the Beast hit the dirt, Tom struck. Claw stumbled, trying to get away, but his clawed feet weren’t quick enough. Tom gave chase, leaping through the undergrowth. The Beast hobbled pitifully, stumbling and groaning.
Elenna unleashed a volley of arrows. Claw howled in pain.
“Go, Silver!” she shouted.
The wolf nipped at the Beast’s legs in a whirl of silver fur, and Storm joined the fight, his hooves sharp and deadly.
With the help of his friends, Tom closed the gap between himself and the Beast.
Claw was cornered.
Tom thrust hard with his sword, aiming for the clasp on the golden chain mail, which was hanging around the Beast’s neck.
But Claw was not helpless after all. The great clawed tail slashed through the air and flicked him away. Tom tried again. And again the Beast’s tail knocked him away. No matter how Tom approached, he could not reach the chain mail with his sword.
Desperate to distract the Beast, Tom whistled sharply for Storm. As the stallion crashed through the foliage, Claw reared back — and Tom seized his chance. He raced up close and leaped onto a branch to raise himself to the level of the Beast’s neck. Then, in the blink of an eye, he slid the tip of his sword into the chain mail’s clasp and pulled. It half-opened.
Then the Beast’s eyes flicked back to Tom and he lunged forward, wrapping his tail around Tom’s waist. The tail’s grip grew tighter as Tom struggled. He could feel his insides being crushed. His sword arm was pinned to his side, the weapon useless. The Beast prepared to leap once again into the few remaining trees that weren’t yet burning.
“No!” Tom bellowed helplessly.
Then he heard Storm whinny a high-pitched challenge and turned to see Elenna galloping toward him on the black stallion, a splintered tree branch in her hand. She aimed the sharp tip of the branch at Claw, and hurled it like a javelin. It crashed into the half-open clasp on the chain mail and loosened it further.
Claw’s grip slackened for a moment and Tom pried himself free. He crashed back onto the jungle floor, gulping deep breaths of air. There was no time to check for injuries. Every second counted.
Claw had dropped from the trees again. Screaming at Tom, the hideous Beast’s tail whipped through the air.
“Ferno!” Tom shouted in desperation, holding his shield above his head.
The huge scaled head of the fire dragon darted down through the trees. Tom caught a glimpse of a blood-red eye. A jet of fire plumed from Ferno’s mouth, bounced off the shield, and hurtled toward Claw.
The giant ape pulled up his tail and leaped back, screaming in fear, as Ferno’s flames consumed the ground in front of him. The shield protected Tom from the heat, but he and his friends would soon be choked by the smoke.
“Again, Ferno!” Tom called, as his eyes stung and watered in the thick gray air.
Ferno roared, and there was another jet of bright flame. Tom almost fell backward as the force of the fire hurtled into the shield and changed direction — straight toward Claw.
CHAPTER NINE
VICTORY
CLAW SCREECHED, LURCHING AWAY FROM THE flames. There was nowhere left for him to go. The trees all around were burning, opening great charred gaps to the sky. The Beast fell to his knees. Tom threw himself at Claw’s exposed neck and tore open the loosened clasp. At last, the golden chain mail slithered to the ground.
Ferno’s roar shook the jungle. One last column of fire, as wide as a tree trunk, blasted into the ground, hiding Claw behind a thick black cloud of smoke.
Stiffly, Tom reached for his sword again, ready to protect everything that he held dear.
The smoke began to clear. But where the great shaggy body of Claw should have been, something extraordinary met Tom’s eyes.
A group of small, excitable monkeys were clustered together on the ground. They chattered, jumped into the lower branches of the unburned trees, and happily groomed each other.
Where had the Beast gone?
Elenna looked as puzzled as Tom felt. He gazed again at the empty space where Claw had cowered just a few seconds earlier. Then he stared back at the trees where the monkeys were sitting. He’d never seen anything quite like it before.
He collapsed to his knees, his lungs suddenly raw: It was all over. Dimly, he heard Elenna’s voice.
“Tom!” she called. “Tom, you’ve done it!”
Ferno gave a piercing cry. Tom looked up. Above the burned wreckage of the Dark Jungle, the vast wings of the dragon were beating.
“Thank you, Ferno,” he whispered.
The dragon cried again, a sweet, fierce sound that Tom knew he would never forget. As Tom watched, he swooped away. Soon, Ferno was no more than a black speck in the distance.
The next thing he saw was Elenna’s face, grimy and bright with triumph.
“The chain mail, Tom!” she said. “It’s yours!”
Climbing slowly to his feet, Tom stumbled over to the golden chain mail, the second piece of the precious armor. It was warm to the touch. He lifted it up, almost staggering at its weight. For a moment, he panicked. It was too heavy. He would never be able to lift it over his shoulders.
But as he did, the links slithered into place. Immediately, Tom became aware of a magic pulse in his chest, and the chain mail felt as light as a feather. Energy surged into his tired muscles. He felt as brave as a lion.
He looked at Elenna, who was standing in the clearing with Storm and Silv
er at her side. “Extra strength of heart,” he murmured, stroking the chain mail. “The helmet gives me sharper sight, and the chain mail makes me feel as if I could face any battle. I could fight ten new Beasts right now, Elenna. Twenty!”
Elenna grinned. “Well done, Tom.”
“I would never have called Ferno if you hadn’t suggested that we had to fight Claw on the ground,” Tom admitted.
“Hey,” said Elenna, looking pleased. “I always knew I was the brains of this team.”
Storm whinnied softly and pushed at Tom’s hand. Tom stroked the stallion’s dusty black coat as Silver lay panting at Elenna’s feet.
Then he took off the chain mail and laid it gently across Storm’s back. Tiredness seeped back into his muscles. “Now I could sleep for a week,” he said. “But we still have more pieces of armor to find, and more Beasts to defeat. And Aduro …”
His voice trailed away. Soberly, Elenna met his gaze. Was King Hugo’s wizard still alive? Was he holding out against Malvel’s evil magic?
“We must leave this place,” Tom said. “We have to finish the Quest as quickly as we can so that we can rescue Aduro.”
They began walking back the way they had come. Everything looked different, blackened and twisted by the force of Ferno’s fire.
Soon they reached the thick green trees in the heart of the Dark Jungle. Ferno’s flames had not touched this place. They moved slowly through the maze of plants and vines. Monkeys, small and unthreatening, chattered and swung through the branches above them.
“Watch out for snakes,” Tom warned Elenna, remembering the snake he had killed. “They are everywhere.”
Suddenly, there was a strange thickening in the air.
“You’ll have to watch out for more than that,” came a mocking voice.
Tom gasped. He reached for his sword as a shimmering image of Malvel appeared against the canopy of leaves above them.
“We have two pieces of the golden armor, Malvel!” Tom shouted defiantly. “We defeated Claw! It won’t be long before we find you and rescue Aduro — and then there will be nothing you can do.”