The Case of Firebane's Folly

by Liam O'Donnell

  The gem continued to pulse. Below us, the Abyss raged. The threat it once held paled in comparison to the one looming over us now.

  “What is the meaning of all this, Firebane?” Queen Azelia shouted. “We have an agreement. We share power in the Dark Depths. What you’re doing is a disgrace!”

  Firebane rose to his full height to tower over the spider queen.

  “Wrong. This is revenge!” Firebane laughed while his dragonkin soldiers surrounded us. “Your forefathers mocked my design for the braces many years ago. They called it Firebane’s Folly and refused to make me king of the Dark Depths. But could they create a better way to save our mountain from falling into the Abyss? No, they could not!”

  Firebane stamped his foot. The walkway shook, and the braces trembled but remained standing. “I waited patiently, sharing the crown with the spiders and dwarves. I let you rule this land when I should have been its master. But while you ruled, I learned all there is know about the crown. In my search, I uncovered the secret to unlocking its true power.”

  “Family,” Aleetha gasped. “When two members of the same family hold the crown, its true power is released. That’s why you wanted Principal Weaver to meet Queen Azelia down here. They’re sisters.”

  “A gold star for the little wizard.” Firebane’s eyes danced with delight. “And now that power belongs to me. I am claiming my right as ruler of the Dark Depths and soon all of Rockfall Mountain. With every passing moment, my army grows. Monsters once shunned by the spiders and dwarves are answering the call of the crown. The Fallen Ones are drawing near. Soon I will lead them across the Dark Depths, past the Vale of Webs and all the way to the Shallows.” Firebane spun to me. “Where a crowded metropolis awaits.”

  “You wouldn’t.”

  “I would.” Firebane flashed a fang. “When this day is finished, Slick City will be mine, and all in Rockfall Mountain will bow before Firebane Drakeclaw!”

  “Never!” Queen Azelia shouted. “My spiders will fight you down to our last webs, Firebane!”

  “Not a wise choice, Spider Queen.” The stone in the Crown of Peace glowed more brightly. “Join the dwarves in my crown!”

  My heart felt like it had been chucked into the Abyss. Suddenly that gaping void of destruction swirling around us seemed to be the least of our worries.

  Firebane Drakeclaw was on the rampage, with my entire class packed along as a mid-havoc snack. We had worked so hard to save Rockfall Mountain, but all we had really done was guarantee its doom.

  It was times like these that really put that pile of unfinished homework back home in perspective.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Secrets in the Stone

  The Abyss roared.

  Around us, the walkway was now suddenly very empty. Every single spider and dwarf, from queen to servant, was now trapped inside the Crown of Peace. Screams from the streets of Lava Falls echoed down the shaft Firebane had blasted into the bottom of the mountain.

  “Sounds like the havoc wreaking has begun up there,” I said.

  “We need to get up there and stop Firebane,” Hugo said. The spider scurried along the metal walkway. He shot several strands of web at the edges of the shaft running up to the surface. Each shot was swallowed by the Abyss before it could even stick. “My webs won’t stick and we’ll get sucked into oblivion if we try climbing up that thing.”

  “We need to get the elevator back,” Tank said.

  Aleetha stood by the reset mechanism. “Maybe this thing controls it.”

  Up top, Lava Falls was falling apart.

  Dragonkin swarmed the streets, rounding up spiders, dwarves and every other monster unlucky enough to get in their way. High above it all, Firebane soared. The dragon flew a wide circle around the city. The Crown of Peace rested on his scaly head, and the gem at its heart continued to pulse as he sailed over the chaos. In his claws, my class dangled in their cocoons. Their cries for help echoed across the lake and under my scales.

  We stood in the doorway of the town hall and watched. I felt as helpless as a booger in a tissue.

  “We have to do something!” Tank moaned.

  “There’s no point.” Hugo slumped against the doorframe. “The battle here is over. You should listen to Firebane and return home. There is still time to warn them he is coming.”

  “Even if we wanted to, we can’t return,” Aleetha said. “The teleport ring needs a full day to recharge before it can be used again.” The lava elf looked at Tank and me. Her eyes twinkled. “Besides, I came here to stop Firebane. We aren’t giving up until we knock some sense into that scale-brain.”

  “I was afraid you were going to say that.” I sighed. “How are we going to fight a laser-shooting dragon carrying a grudge the size of this mountain?”

  “With knowledge.” Aleetha turned to Hugo. “Where’s the wizards’ outpost in town?”

  Getting across a town surrounded by lava and crawling with lizards was slow going. We moved as a group, picking our way carefully through the streets of Lava Falls. Dragonkin were everywhere, herding innocent monsters into the town square. Firebane was up to something with these poor creatures, but we didn’t have time to find out. Apparently, we had a date with a library. I didn’t get it, but I’d learned to trust Aleetha and her wizardy brain.

  Many long minutes later and after much dragonkin dodging, we stood in front of the Lava Falls wizards’ outpost. Les the Magnificent answered the door.

  Aleetha zipped through the pages on the screen with expert speed. From book reports to group projects, the lava elf was always a school star. Just standing next to her made me feel smarter. Now that she was studying to be a wizard at the Shadow Tower, her academic skills were supercharged.

  “Ever since I got your message I’ve been thinking about this crown.” Her eyes stayed glued to the screen as she read page after page of text. “I did some research, and I thought I understood how it worked.”

  “Firebane said it had to do with dwarves who forged the crown long ago,” Tank said.

  Aleetha shrugged. “Yeah, they had wizards enchant the metal as they made the crown. But gold is a pretty dumb metal.”

  “Aren’t all rocks and minerals dumb?” I said.

  “Don’t say that to Les the rock elf.” Aleetha smiled and kept reading the screen. “What I mean is that you can’t really put powerful spells into gold. Not the kind of spells that swallow monsters and shoot lasers.”

  A deep roar sounded outside, followed by the sound of buildings crashing. My tail curled. Firebane’s army was destroying the town, and we were in here using our library privileges.

  “Who cares how Firebane is zapping monsters!” I snapped. “What matters is that he’s doing it, and he’ll destroy the whole mountain if we don’t stop him.”

  Aleetha spun in her chair and faced me. All laughter was gone from her face.

  “The how of something is always important, Fizz,” she said. “It’s not the crown that is letting Firebane do all this stuff.”

  “Then what is it?” Tank asked.

  Aleetha pointed to the screen. “It’s that.”

  I wished I had a camera to capture the look on Aleetha’s face. Her eyes popped out like a pair of loomerbugs. She jumped out of her chair.

  “Where did you get that?”

  Tank’s ears wiggled. “It’s a long story.”

  “But it’s really panzantium,” I said. “Trust us.”

  Aleetha carefully took the gem from Tank. “It looks different than the one in the crown,” she said.

  “The one in the crown has been cut to look pretty,” Hugo said. “That one is how it looks when it’s pulled from the ground.”

  “It’s from Firebane’s vault,” I said. “He used it to trick us.”

  “Then it’s only fair we repay the favor.” Aleetha studied the stone like she was reading her spell book.

  Outside, Firebane howled again. We had to act quickly. The dragon would soon be bored with tormenting the monsters of Lava Falls.
Whatever the dragon was up to, there was no doubt he’d soon fly off to wreak havoc in the rest of the Dark Depths.

  “We need to get this stone to touch the one in the Crown of Peace,” Aleetha said. “That will drain them both of their powers. I hope.”

  “That crown is on his head. How are we going to get the panzantium to hit the crown?”

  Hugo danced on the spot. “Perhaps I can help with that problem.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Rise of the Fallen

  Firebane’s plan became clear from the top of the wizards’ outpost.

  As Les led us up a narrow staircase to the roof, Tank and Hugo discussed their plan to hit Firebane’s panzantium. Once we got to the top of the tower, we could see across the Dark Depths, and it didn’t look good. The planning stopped and the panic began.

  “I’ve never seen so many monsters in one place,” I said.

  In the distance, the Swamp of Sorrows crawled with lagalanders. Hundreds of the big-eyed fish-heads were gathering on the edge of their swamp. More arrived every second.

  Closer to the walls of the city, in the fire fields around the lava lake, more monsters moved.

  The others turned to me.

  “That’s what Mr. Ravel said in my dream,” I said. “The signal from the panzantium is calling to all the fallen monsters in the Depths.”

  Aleetha jumped on my thought. “And the more spiders and dwarves he zaps with the stone, the stronger the signal grows.”

  “And the more beasts join his army,” Hugo finished. “The lagalanders and fire folk have been treated badly for many years. With Firebane leading them, they probably see a chance to get revenge on the spiders and dwarves.”

  “And then he’ll take this army to Slick City and the rest of the mountain,” I said. “We need to warn everyone.”

  “Les is sending a message back to the Shadow Tower,” Aleetha said. “Hopefully, the wizards will get Mayor Grimlock to listen and be prepared.”

  “Grimlock is a stubborn old ogre,” Tank snorted. “He won’t believe the wizards until Firebane is breathing fire on the Slick City town hall.”

  Aleetha grinned. “That’s why we have to stop Firebane here in Lava Falls.”

  “Then we better get to work, Tank.” Hugo moved to the far side of the tower. The spider spun a thick thread of web and worked it into shape with his front legs. “We should set up right about here.”

  Tank peered over the edge of the tower. “That’ll do.”

  She took one end of Hugo’s web and tied it to the tower’s ledge. Hugo raced along the ledge and stuck more bits of web along the tower’s wall until their web contraption was complete.

  Thick strands of web stuck to the walls like pieces of rope. Each piece ran back to a larger patch of web shaped like a bucket.

  “It looks like a hammock for spiders,” I said. “Are we napping our way to victory?”

  “Very funny, Fizz.” Tank rolled her eyes.

  “It’s a catapult!” Hugo said. “It will launch the panzantium at Firebane.”

  I pointed to the bucket of the catapult. “That scoop is way too big to hold the stone. It’ll just fall out.”

  “That’s exactly what we thought,” Tank said. “Our original plan was to shoot the stone at Firebane.”

  Hugo tied another thick strand of his web to the catapult. “But now that we’ve seen how fast that dragon can fly, we knew we’d never hit the stone in the crown. On the way up here Tank had a brilliant idea.”

  The troll’s ears wiggled, and a grin spread across her face.

  “What if someone carries the stone to Firebane?” she said. “Then they climb along the dragon’s body to the crown and touch the two stones.”

  “So we adjusted the size of the catapult to make it bigger.” Hugo stood by the web bucket proudly.

  “Bigger for whom?” I said.

  Tank rolled her eyes. “For the monster that’s getting shot onto Firebane’s back, silly.”

  My gut tightened as my friend’s plan became more clear. “And who exactly is that going to be?”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  How NOT to Ride a Dragon

  I didn’t know which was worse, dangling below a flying dragon or being so close to Rizzo Rawlins and his stinky breath.

  “Wake up, Fizzle!” Rizzo growled. “You’re the one that got us into this mess. Now get us out!”

  The smell of kibble sandwich snapped me to my senses. I made a mental note to thank the kobold and his terrible dental habits for that. But first I had a dragon to climb.

  I tightened my grip on the strand of web hanging from Firebane’s claw and let my head clear. Far below me, Lava Falls roared by. Above me, Firebane’s wings beat with a steady rhythm. The big dragon hadn’t noticed a little goblin smacking into his side, but my luck wouldn’t last long. Each second I hesitated, the closer the dragon came to ordering his army of fallen beasts to march across the Depths.

  My free hand went to my pocket and touched the panzantium tucked safely away. The stone was small and didn’t weigh much, but with the fate of the mountain on my scales, it felt like I was carrying a boulder. At my feet, my classmates wriggled in their wrappings. I hung on to the web tendril just below Firebane’s claws. A hole appeared in the web at my toes. Henelle, the octoclops with attitude, glared at me through the gap with her one eye.

  “This is all your fault, Fizz Marlow!” she shouted.

  “Henelle,” I snapped, “give it a rest. I’m trying my best.”

  “I’m still reporting you to Principal Weaver when we get back!”

  “The principal is in Firebane’s crown!”

  Above me thunder rumbled, but it wasn’t from the sky.

  “What have we got here?” The dragon turned his long neck in our direction. “Fizz Marlow. Here to save the day, are we? You are a determined detective, little goblin.”

  “So they tell me,” I croaked.

  Henelle had vanished. Probably reporting Firebane for bad behavior.

  The dragon flew toward the town hall. The building’s roof had been destroyed when Firebane blasted his way up from the Abyss. Now, all that remained was a gaping hole leading down to the Abyss. I could see the glow of the deadly opening from up here.

  “But the question is, Fizz Marlow, can you fly?”

  Firebane opened his claws, releasing the web strands in his grip.

  We fell. Obviously.

  The last thing I saw as my class fell into the Abyss was Rizzo Rawlins’s orange snout poking through the hole in the web.

  “I’ll get you for this, Fizz Marlow!” he shrieked.

  Considering how many times I had wished for this to happen to the kobold, I wasn’t enjoying it. But I had no time to worry about my classmates. I was too busy jumping from the falling web.

  The moment Firebane let go, I leaped. My hand snagged a claw, and I climbed. As much as I hate gym, climbing is the one thing I’m good at. I pulled up again from the dragon’s claw and grabbed a leg. From there it was as easy as climbing to the top of stinkhorn stalks back home. I got halfway up the leg when I felt Firebane’s gaze on me.

  “Really Fizz,” the dragon said. “This is getting boring.”

  “Too bad.” I scrambled onto his back and locked in with my claws. “I’m just getting started.”

  I had figured something out.

  I knew what Firebane was going to do next. In the time it took me to get to his back, I had guessed the dragon’s every twist and turn. He climbed, and I was ready. He barrel-rolled, and I hung on. I knew his next move just like I had seen through his disguise as Mr. Ravel and Gilthil. It was like we were connected. Firebane had known it all along, of course. The trouble with fighting the smartest monster in the mountain is, well, he’s smart.

  “I see you’re figuring it out, Fizz. We have a bond, you and I. There is no use denying it.”

  The dragon’s words chilled my claws.

  “I don’t want to bond with you,” I shouted. “I want to stop you!�
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  I also wanted to get as far away from him as possible. But first I had a stone to bash. I scurried along Firebane’s spine until I could see the crown resting on his big, fat, scaly head. Even with our newfound “bond,” getting close enough to put the two panzantium stones together wasn’t going to be easy.

  We soared out over the fire fields. The fire folk were gathering on the edges of the fields bordering the dwarf lands. They were an army of fire and destruction, ready to march when the order came from their dragon master. The creatures of flame cheered as Firebane flew by.

  “Soon, my soldiers,” the dragon roared. “Soon we march!”

  Firebane turned back toward Lava Falls. I raced up to his massive shoulders. I pulled the panzantium stone from my pocket. Soon was right. Soon Firebane would pay for his chaos. Soon the power of the panzantium in the dragon’s crown would be finished.

  I jumped to my feet as we soared back over the Abyss. I held the stone in my hand, ready to jump onto the dragon’s neck.

  The dragon’s shoulder suddenly jerked. Instead of jumping forward, I fell backward. I tumbled down Firebane’s back with his laughter ringing in my ears.

  “You can’t read my every move, Fizz Marlow,” he called. “And you cannot win this battle.”

  I rolled down the dragon’s tail and made the mistake of looking down.

  Far below me, in the hole that was the town hall, I saw the purple stone falling toward the Abyss.

  Firebane swooped low. He whipped his tail, sending me falling to the ground. I landed with a crunch. Pain spiked through my scales.

  “I do not wish to harm you, Fizz Marlow,” he said. “Go home. Rana is worried.”

  “Rana?”

  “Home is where you belong, Fizz.”

  He was in the air by the time my brain got back online. Did he just say Rana? As in, my mom? My scales went cold. I didn’t have time to think about that. I had bigger problems.