Earl, Elloriana, and Lita, seeing Dagdron’s tactic, joined him in picking up clumps of dirt and throwing them into the whirling funnel. The air elemental roared as if tempting the invaders to come closer, but it never left the center of the room. In retaliation, it sent short, powerful gusts at the four attackers, knocking their throws off target.
After ten minutes of clods, Dagdron saw no noticeable difference in the speed at which the air elemental was twisting. They would be there hours at this rate, he thought, so he scanned the cave for an alternate approach. As soon as a plan formed in his head, Dagdron darted forward. Earl, Lita, and Elloriana stopped throwing, watching him in surprise.
Unlike Earl and Lita’s charge, Dagdron’s stayed on the edge of the winds, where he was met with minimal resistance. The air elemental gazed down at the tiny rogue. When Dagdron neared, the elemental reached out its hand. Dagdron felt himself being sucked toward the air monster, so he turned to the right and pumped his legs as fast as he could. Dagdron successfully escaped the pull of the air, but then the elemental changed tactics. It thrust both its hands toward Dagdron, sending a gushing air stream at his back. Dagdron, expecting this form of attack, jumped as high as he could when he heard the rushing winds coming after him, and the current of air lifted him upward before carrying him to the side of the chamber and slamming him into the wall. Jolts of pain ran through Dagdron’s limbs from the impact, but he clung to the dirt, steadying himself, before climbing the short distance to the ceiling.
Earl, Lita, and Elloriana had been watching Dagdron intently and finally saw what their rogue friend planned to do. They snapped themselves from their gawking and resumed their own attacks on the air elemental. Earl and Lita darted in, swinging their swords, and Elloriana cast spell after spell, with the sole intention of distracting the air elemental from Dagdron.
As soon as Dagdron saw his companions attacking, he reached backward with his right hand, grabbing a tree root. Leveraging his feet against the wall, he twisted his body and whipped his left hand around. With a two-handed grip on the root, he pushed off the wall and began maneuvering from root to root across the ceiling, always grabbing the following one with his right hand, then quickly zipping his left for a firmer hold. The air elemental remained mostly preoccupied with the attackers below, but it still took time to send the occasional rush of wind upward. During these spurts of air, Dagdron had no other choice but to grasp the root he was hanging from with all his might as his legs were blown upward, forcing him to cling horizontally until the wind died down.
Dagdron’s arms were aching by the time he reached the center of the ceiling directly above the air elemental. He clutched a thick root tightly with his left hand so he could whip out his dagger with his right. As soon as he had his trusty dagger in hand, he jabbed it up over and over again, causing dirt from the ceiling to fall down onto the elemental.
By the time the air elemental realized what was happening above, Dagdron had jabbed out large area of dirt. The elemental lifted an arm skyward, so Dagdron swung to a neighboring root, climbing as close to the ceiling as he could before continuing to stab his dagger upward. Dagdron felt the tug of the elemental’s power swirling around him, so he replaced his dagger, clung to the root with both hands, and wrapped his legs around it as well.
Right when Dagdron knew he couldn’t hold on any longer, the suctioning force of the air elemental pulled out a chunk of the already weakened ceiling. Dagdron fell, along with a landslide of dirt, directly into the funnel body of the elemental. For a few moments, he felt the dizzying motion as he was scrambled around inside the whirlwind, but then the motion began to slow. Dagdron shifted his body, leaning backward in an effort to stick his arms in a direction that would poke them outside of the elemental.
In the meantime, Earl and Lita, as soon as they saw the elemental slowing down, charged forward once more. Not wanting to harm Dagdron, they resisted the temptation to slash at the whirlwind. But when Dagdron’s hands poked out of the funnel, Earl timed the rotation and readied himself. He grabbed both of Dagdron’s hands, yanking him out of the air elemental.
As Earl knelt at Dagdron’s side, making sure he was okay, Lita hacked at the rock base where the funnel of the elemental was twisting. Elloriana strode forward as well, casting blast-bolts, and the girls succeeded in severing the energy source. The air elemental, now loosed from the ground, roared as it rushed upward. Its strength broke a hole through the now thin ceiling, elevating the tree whose roots Dagdron had been hanging from. Once outside of the cave, the winds of the air elemental diffused with a loud whoosh in the unconfined space of the forest.
Earl and Lita each grabbed one of Dagdron’s arms and set him on his feet. Dagdron’s hood has been ripped from his head and his cloak was twisted awkwardly around his body. When she saw Dagdron covered in dirt from head to toe, Elloriana couldn’t help smiling and letting out a small chuckle.
“Quiet, wench,” Dagdron said.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Elloriana said. Unable to completely hide her smile, she turned back to the stone base she and Lita had broken. She cast a detect magic spell, and the now expected wooden box appeared. “Stand back,” she said, backing up herself.
Earl, Lita, and Dagdron backed up as Elloriana cast open spells, trying to trigger Mazannanan’s trap from a distance. After each failed attempt, Elloriana inched closer, repeating the spell. A few feet away, her spell finally connected with the lock and activated the booby trap. The blast of blue light knocked her backward, but since they were in an open chamber, Earl and Lita stopped her momentum without the three of them crashing into anything.
Dagdron darted forward, flipping the lid of the box open. He grabbed the scroll as Earl, Elloriana, and Lita surrounded him to read it.
“I’ll take that,” a sinister voice said from above.
The four young adventurers looked skyward. The Backer, completely shrouded in his black robe and hood, was peering down at them from the hole in the ceiling.
Chapter 15: Cave Conflicts
Dagdron dove to the side as the Backer cast a fetch spell, aimed at stripping the rogue of the scroll. Earl, Lita, and Elloriana joined Dagdron in rushing toward the entrance tunnel, but before they could reach it, the Backer levitated through the hole and cast a blast-bolt partway down. The blue ball hit above the tunnel with such force that dirt avalanched down, blocking their exit.
Earl and Lita drew their swords as they turned around to fight. Elloriana and Dagdron moved along the wall to the right, spreading out to make it harder for the Backer to focus his spells. The Backer shot lightning balls at Earl, Lita, and Elloriana, with an occasional one at Dagdron. But, for the most part, the black-robed enchanter cast racing fetch spells at Dagdron, trying to rip the scroll from where it was hidden beneath his cloak.
Dagdron made a few attempts at climbing the wall, but the Backer brought him back down each time with a blast-bolt loosening the dirt he was clinging to. Changing tactics, Dagdron ran back along the wall of the cavern and began clearing out the avalanche, throwing the clumps of dirt at the Backer.
After the Backer had been hit by two dirt clods, he lost patience and added more power to his spells. Earl and Lita were disarmed by blast-bolt spells and thrown against the wall. Elloriana made an attempt at keeping him at bay with her own spells, but the Backer’s lightning bolt spells overpowered her, so she took cover, crouching against the wall.
Dagdron gave up his dirt attacks, pulled his dagger, and dodged the spells that zoomed toward him. He circled sideways, forcing the Backer to turn along with him. The enchanter realized what Dagdron was doing and, as soon as his back was to where the warrior and lady warrior were retrieving their swords, he strode forward. Dagdron clutched his dagger, ready to give his best shot at stabbing the tall enchanter.
Before the opportunity came, a cloaked figure leapt from above. He landed roughly but composed himself quickly enough to jump on the back of Backer before the enchanter could turn around.
�
��It’s your dad, Dagdron!” Earl yelled.
Dugan was hanging onto the Backer, trying to rip the hood from his head.
“Let’s get his hood off!” Dugan yelled.
Earl and Lita charged without hesitation. Before Dagdron and Elloriana could join the fight, the Backer cast a stun spell over his shoulder, blasting Dugan to the ground. Earl and Lita were in striking distance, but before they could swing their swords, the Backer cast a levitation spell and whizzed upward and through the ceiling.
“Your third year is less than two months over and you’re already in trouble?” Dugan said, looking suspiciously at Dagdron. “What are you searching for?”
“We’re tracking the Backer,” Dagdron said. “We’re helping the wench with her quest to stop Byron.”
“You saved us,” Earl said, interrupting the rogues. “How did you find us?”
“I just got here,” Dugan explained. “A tornado was ripping trees out of the ground, so I ran to see what was going on.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Dagdron said. He returned to the caved-in tunnel and started digging it out. The others joined him and, as they worked, Earl explained to Dugan about their encounter with the Backer.
“You should be so proud of Dagdron,” Earl said. “He climbed up the wall to defeat—”
Earl’s storytelling was brought to a halt as a dirt clod from Dagdron hit his forehead.
“Why did Dagdron climb up the wall?” Dugan asked.
“The Backer trapped us down here,” Earl said, stumbling over his words. “Dagdron climbed up the wall to distract him, and the Backer brought down the ceiling with his powerful spells.”
Dugan gave Earl a bewildered look, so the young warrior set to work clearing out the dirt more swiftly, and the tunnel was reopened shortly after.
Dagdron, Dugan, and Elloriana squeezed back through the crack in the rock with ease, and then Dugan and Elloriana helped pull Earl and Lita out.
“Why wasn’t Wendahl with you?” Dugan asked.
“Wendahl?” Earl said. “We haven’t seen him. It’s too bad Egon didn’t show up, though.”
“You haven’t seen Wendahl?” Dugan said.
“What do you mean?” Dagdron said.
“Wendahl left Coastdale in August. I had to harvest all his crops. He said he was headed north to help protect you from the Backer.”
“He hasn’t contacted us,” Elloriana said.
At that moment, a rustling sounded in the forest, and Wendahl, dressed in his magenta robes and using his hoe as a walking stick, appeared from behind a tree. His gray hair was frazzled and he was gasping for breath.
“Are you all right?” Earl asked.
“Yes,” Wendahl said. “My leg still hurts from my tumble in my garden during the summer, but I ran as soon as I felt that wind. I was far away, but with a wind that strong, I think it must have been an air elemental.”
“An air elemental?” Dugan said, eyeing Dagdron and Earl.
“The Backer was casting whirlwind spells,” Dagdron said.
“He’s here?” Wendahl said.
“You said you were coming to protect them from the Backer,” Dugan said.
“Well, I’m here now,” Wendahl said. “I was just traveling slowly. How did the harvest go?”
“It took you two months to get to Bodaburg?” Dugan said, refusing to drop the subject.
“I had to stop a lot.” Wendahl held out a hand and his hoe helplessly.
“We better get going in case the Backer comes back,” Elloriana said.
Dugan nodded, but Dagdron could tell he was still suspicious. They passed through the forest and went over the wall into the graveyard. Mercer was still standing at his doorway, and he glared at the group as they passed.
“I don’t want Gwydion to know I’m in town,” Wendahl said when they were nearing the academy. “Come up to the cave in a few days and we’ll discuss the Backer, but make sure he doesn’t follow you.”
“Oh, good,” Earl said. “I’m glad you two are here. I bet Egon can use your company.”
“Wait, what?” Wendahl said.
“Egon,” Earl said. “He’s the most amazing warrior we’ve ever met. You’ll see.”
Wendahl, usually so carefree, looked extremely disgruntled. Without saying anything else, he turned around, using his hoe to assist him in walking more rapidly around the fence of the academy to head up the mountainside. Dugan cast one last suspicious look at Dagdron and then followed.
In the back yard of the academy, Lita grabbed Dagdron’s cloak, refusing to let him climb the quest tree until he showed them the scroll they had recovered from the air elemental.
Dagdron, not wanting anyone to invade his tree, relented and unrolled the scroll. Earl, Lita, and Elloriana scrunched around him to read it, Earl doing so out loud.
“The trial of air rages and whirls,
But soaring above, the subsequent test unfurls.
The arch will now lead to the west,
Where life-giving liquid will rise to a crest.”
Dagdron flung the scroll to the ground when he finished, but Elloriana cast a fetch spell to retrieve it.
“Life-giving liquid. It has to be a water elemental next,” Earl said.
“At least we can study about them and be a little more prepared,” Elloriana said.
“What’s the point, wench?” Dagdron said. “You’ll stand back and let us deal with it.” He scurried up the tree before Elloriana could respond.
“A magic user’s best strategy is from a distance!” Elloriana shouted, casting flame spells up into the tree.
Earl, Lita, and Elloriana decided that they should tell Headmaster Gwauldron about their encounter with the Backer immediately. Dagdron agreed but didn’t say so. If there was any way the headmaster could get rid of the Backer, Dagdron thought reporting it would be worth it.
Headmaster Gwauldron grew a worried expression when Earl told him the story in his office. Elloriana, not wanting Earl to give away any information about the treasure quest, kept cutting him off, but the young warrior just couldn’t help himself and added more and more details about the experience.
The headmaster requested they show him the cavern the following day, but when Dagdron, planning to spend the afternoon his tree, declined the offer, Headmaster Gwauldron fetched him down with a spell.
“His spells did this?” Headmaster Gwauldron said when they were peering over the edge of the enormous hole.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Elloriana said.
“Even my whirlwind spells aren’t that strong,” the headmaster said, worry creasing his face, making his thick eyebrows stick out even more.
Dagdron observed the headmaster from under his cloak. In his very first day at the academy, he recalled, the headmaster had cast a whirlwind spell that had cleared the entrance hall of students and slammed the heavy front doors. The headmaster looked concerned, but Dagdron couldn’t tell if he was really buying the story. The last thing they needed was for the headmaster to learn any details about the treasure quest.
“Does Rance ever do wind spells?” Dagdron asked.
“No,” the headmaster replied firmly. “Perhaps I have underestimated the Backer. I stand by what I said, that all four of you have proven resourceful, but I think it best that you finish your third year of the academy focusing on the quest teachings inside the school.”
Earl’s look of sheer disappointment and Lita’s grunt were enough to convince the headmaster that they had really been searching for the Backer, Dagdron thought.
“Do not fret,” Headmaster Gwauldron said to the warrior and lady warrior. “Plenty of students have flourished as adventurers with what the academy teaches alone. Your additional quest experiences will surely only add to your future success.”
Earl and Lita were comforted, but Dagdron, annoyed at the lounging time he had wasted, left at once to return to the academy.
For the rest of the week, Dagdron spent his afternoons and evenings in h
is tree. He was still finding his mini-quests enjoyable. He was still recovering the pouch while avoiding thorn bushes using the wooden shelves and ropes. Each day, Flip changed the shape and arrangement of the shelves. Sometimes they were narrower, while other times they were crooked or slanted. Regardless of the condition, Dagdron knew the classes were aimed at testing his balance and ability to react on unstable footing. The ropes were always twisted in a maze, making it difficult to discern which could hold weight, which were decoys, and which would burst into flames once the pouch was picked up. Especially after his experience with the air elemental, Dagdron saw how the mini-quests were helping his jumping, climbing, and reaction in different scenarios.
Earl joined Dagdron in the afternoons, loudly telling him about fighting mini-quests Warrior Sawkett was setting up for him, and asking questions about Dagdron’s daily quests. The few details Dagdron responded with made Earl jealous because, with more warriors in class, the quests were less complex, usually only entailing battling with mannequins and facing Warrior Sawkett at the end.
Elloriana and Lita always showed up in the evenings. They discussed Mazannanan’s treasure quest a little but mostly practiced their adventurer skills so as not to appear conspicuous to the headmaster. They didn’t want him learning about their activities regarding Wendahl’s quest.
On Friday night after dinner, they finally headed up to the mountainside to visit Dugan, Wendahl, and Egon. In spite of the blazing fire inside the cave, there was a very chilly atmosphere. Wendahl, his arms folded, was sitting on one side of the fire, glaring across the flames at Egon. The warrior, in turn, was reciprocating with a steely glower. Regardless of his two disgruntled cave companions, Dugan was tending the cooking sausages on the fire.
“Finally,” Wendahl said, standing and taking his hoe from where it leaned on the wall. “I need to ask you specific details about the Backer.”
“Not before I do,” Egon said. He jumped to his feet and drew his sword. “I have assisted them multiple times already and should be informed first.”
The Howl of Avooblis Page 14
