“Trials by fire, earth, air, and water demand,
To face the elements under Avooblis’s command.
But creatures also obey his debts,
And now you must meet my pets.
One for the dwelling, one for the trove,
One by my bone will lead and rove.
My pets may live or may pay the price,
Or perhaps you will be the sacrifice.
Touch not except the key to my final realm,
To fulfill my quest and Avooblis you will helm.”
“Looks like we’re facing off with the spumasaur once and for all,” Earl said.
“Great,” Dagdron said. He tossed the scroll at Earl and pocketed the bone.
* * *
Dagdron saw, heard, and smelled Byron, Landon, and Gordon as they did their best to spy on him, Earl, Elloriana, and Lita throughout the rest of March. He spotted the three Broodavians peeking at them around the corner of the academy during their evenings at the quest tree. He saw them trying to seat themselves strategically in the eating hall so they could leave discreetly moments after Dagdron and Earl did. And he even saw Landon and Gordon skipping classes so they could follow him, since he finished his rogue mini-quests so quickly. Dagdron was unbothered by the followers because his routine hadn’t changed. As long as they never approached his tree, he didn’t care. Earl, on the other hand, was furious.
“This is disgraceful,” he told Dagdron one evening at the dinner table during the first week of April. “They’re skipping classes to spy on us. There are only two months left of our third year at the academy. These are arguably the most important times in the life of any adventurer. I can’t believe the headmaster is allowing this. I know he permits the royals to attend the academy because connections between them and adventurers are extremely important in serving the land, but this is just too much. Byron, Landon, and Gordon couldn’t be adventurers if they tried. It dishonors what the academy stands for.”
“It took me three years to convince you, but you’re finally agreeing that all richies should be sliced,” Dagdron said.
“That is not what I’m saying at all. It has nothing to do with wealth. It has to do with the integrity of the academy.” Earl crammed a piece of beef in his mouth, chewing it in a feisty fashion.
“Then you must be saying the headmaster is ruining the reputation of the academy.”
“No need to rub salt in my deepest wounds, Dagdron,” Earl said, but then his face and voice dropped. “Why is the headmaster so obsessed with the arches? No one would want to be an ambassador.”
Dagdron turned his head to Earl, observing his friend. He gave him a jab of encouragement in the side with his dagger. “The headmaster doesn’t know about Mazannanan’s pets,” the rogue said. “He’ll have a hard time turning you into an ambassador without the bone.”
“I know,” Earl said. “And after this weekend, we’ll have the key to the treasure. I’m sure Headmaster Gwauldron knows what we’re up to, but even when it’s him, I have to uphold the standards of honor of the academy. We need to get the treasure to save your mom as much as to stop him from summoning Avooblis.”
As Dagdron opened his mouth, Earl grabbed the front of his cloak, whipped off the hood, and put his face inches from Dagdron’s.
“It is your mom,” Earl said, seething.
Dagdron kept his face expressionless but, for once, he thought he might be getting sliced himself by Earl’s sword if he said anything else, so he let the subject drop.
Friday night after dinner, Dagdron, Earl, Elloriana, and Lita left the grounds of the academy even though they knew Byron and Gordon were following them. Landon had stayed behind to alert the headmaster.
They headed to the west in the direction of Mazannanan’s crumbled dwelling, figuring the spumasaur might have returned to its old stomping grounds. There was no sign of the beast, but while Earl, Elloriana, and Lita remained nervously behind, Dagdron crept forward. He slipped the bone out of his pocket, wiggling it back and forth as he inched closer and closer to the opening. He ducked down to peer into the dark hole, checking to see if he could catch the shape of the spumasaur.
“Dagdron!” Earl yelled as Elloriana gasped and Lita grunted.
The warning came too late. The spumasaur had darted from behind a rock above the dwelling in the same place Dagdron had jumped on the creature months earlier. Dagdron had no other choice but to brace himself as the weight of the spumasaur crashed onto him, knocking him down and banging his head against the ground. Dagdron looked up in horror as the diamond-shaped face snarled down at him. The acidic spittle foamed out of the beast’s mouth. Dagdron struggled to free himself, but the pressure from the giant lizard kept him immobilized. Right when the spit was about to drip onto Dagdron’s face, the spumasaur slurped it back into its mouth and then sat up on its hind legs.
Earl, Lita, and Elloriana had raced forward but slackened their pace as they saw the spumasaur, its eyes fixed on the bone in Dagdron’s hand. The creature kept drooling foaming spittle from its mouth and then sucking it back inside, never taking its eyes from the bone.
“It really is Mazannanan’s pet?” Elloriana said. “I thought he was just being creepy by saying he had pets.”
Dagdron backed up, scooting on his backside to put a little distance between himself and the spumasaur. The spumasaur moved forward, but Dagdron was able to get back to his feet.
While Earl, Elloriana, and Lita were busy sizing up the spumasaur, Dagdron heard branches cracking to the east.
“We might as well see if it works,” Dagdron said. “Go!” He pointed in the direction of the sound, and the spumasaur bolted away, growling and spitting foam as it went. Byron and Gordon, screaming like schoolgirls, burst from their hiding place. The spumasaur chased them for a short distance before circling back around and taking its position on its hind legs close to Dagdron and the bone again.
“Let me see that,” Elloriana said, reaching out for the bone. The spumasaur snarled, and Elloriana jerked her hand away. Instead, she leaned forward to examine the bone. “Mazannanan must have enchanted it to tame the spumasaur. I guess they’re not completely magic resistant.”
“He’s supposed to take us to the key,” Earl said.
Dagdron shrugged and said, “Take us to the trove.”
The spumasaur darted up the mountainside, and Dagdron, Earl, Elloriana, and Lita were forced to sprint after it. The thudding and crashing through the forest allowed them to follow, but then the noise stopped. They spotted the spumasaur in the distance. The creature waited until they were within twenty feet before bolting again. They tracked the spumasaur in this manner until they came upon the giant lizard resting on its hind legs as it repeatedly foamed out of its mouth before slurping the goop back in through its fangs.
This time, when they were next to the spumasaur, it slipped into an opening. Dagdron, the bone still in hand, crawled after it, followed by Earl, Lita, and Elloriana. The passage was so constricted that the four young adventurers were surprised the giant lizard could fit. Earl and Lita struggled to maneuver their large frames along the passage, but eventually everyone made it to a widened cave, where the spumasaur was waiting in the eerie light of a torch on the rock wall next to an ancient stone doorway in the form of an arch. In the middle of the arch was an impression the exact shape of the bone.
Dagdron stepped forward without hesitation and placed the bone in the indentation. The archway rumbled before opening and exposing a chamber filled with piles and piles of riches and gems, as well as rows and rows of jars of mysterious ingredients that put the witch in the woods’s collection to shame. The cavern was illuminated by the uncanny blue glow they had experienced in the elemental chambers, lighting up the pathways that curved between the gold and jars.
“Don’t touch anything,” Earl said as he scanned the room. “Mazannanan warned us, and I believe him.”
“Let’s hurry and find the key and get out of here,” Elloriana said.
T
hey entered the chamber, carefully treading on the pathways between the treasures, searching without touching for any sign of a key. Dagdron glanced behind him once and saw the spumasaur waiting obediently next to the archway.
It wasn’t until Earl and Lita reached the middle of the chamber that anyone spoke.
“Look at this,” Earl said. His voice carried to Dagdron and Elloriana, and they joined their friends.
Earl and Lita were examining a petrified tree trunk standing as tall as Earl. A wooden staff stuck out of the top, and the shape of a creature that Dagdron had never seen before was sculpted in the base of the tree. It had skinny arms and legs and spindly fingers. Even made of stone, its bulbous eyes bulged menacingly. Encrusted in stone on the creature’s chest was a key.
“I think it’s an imp,” Earl said.
“Thank goodness it’s stone,” Elloriana said. “They’re nasty.”
Dagdron, not caring what it was, jabbed his dagger into the stone to chip out the key.
Crack!
Dagdron jerked his dagger back as one of the imp’s pale blue hands broke through the stone, but he was too slow. The creature clamped down on Dagdron’s wrist, squeezing with his bony fingers. Elloriana screamed as crack! crack! crack! resounded throughout the cavern. The rest of the imp’s body was freed from its petrified state, and it opened a mouth filled with spiky teeth.
“Master’s key,” he seethed. They heard the spumasaur bolt from the chamber, and the imp lunged toward Dagdron’s neck with its mouth of fangs wide open.
Chapter 28: Master’s Key
Earl swung his sword but lost his balance as the imp disappeared in a flash of blue light. Dagdron felt his neck with his hands, then rubbed the welts on his wrist where the imp had clutched him.
“Where did he go?” Elloriana said, looking in all directions.
“Master’s key,” the imp growled.
They turned to the right, where the nasty creature was perched on a stone platform, the key still hanging around his neck. He picked up a jar of black liquid and hurled it across the chamber. Dagdron and Elloriana dodged to the right as Earl and Lita stumbled to the left.
“How do you kill an imp?” Dagdron asked.
“Just normally, I think,” Elloriana said. “But to do that, you have to get close enough.”
“You think?” Dagdron scowled at her. “You’ve been trespassing under my tree to study magic for three years, and you think?”
“Enchantress Higgins said they were basically extinct, so we learned very little about them,” Elloriana said, glaring at Dagdron. “Imps can teleport to certain places within their abodes.”
“Split up,” Dagdron called. “Earl, go get the imp. We’ll see where he teleports.”
Earl, his sword still drawn, ran along the pathway in the direction of the creature. The imp held his hands together and thrust them outward. A white spell, shaped like a comet, shot from his palms. The comet spell hit Earl’s sword and exploded in a round of stars, launching the young warrior backward, where he landed in a pile of gems.
Dagdron, Elloriana, and Lita watched as the staff in the petrified tree blasted a red beam directly at Earl. He had been stunned by the imp’s spell but was still able to roll out of the way and back onto the pathway.
Lita sprinted forward, helped Earl up, and escorted him back to the center of the chamber.
The imp bared his fangs and his creepy guttural laugh echoed across the cavern.
“You’ll have to get close to him, Dagdron,” Earl said, gasping for breath. “You can dodge better than the rest of us.”
Dagdron darted up the pathway toward the imp, slowing halfway there. The imp cast a comet spell, but Dagdron, expecting the attack, dodged to the side and ran forward. The imp rapidly sent another spell his way. Dagdron jumped to the side, missing the comet, but his foot stepped on the edge of a pile of coins, and a red beam shot at his back. Dagdron somersaulted to avoid the blast, using the momentum to get back to his feet. The imp, realizing he was about to be accosted, picked up a jar of green liquid. He flung it at Dagdron and then disappeared. Dagdron evaded the jar, and it crashed on the pathway behind him, where the liquid bubbled and wafted a rank smell into the air.
Dagdron rushed the rest of the way to the shelf, where he turned around to see where the imp had teleported on the opposite side of the cave.
“Earl, come over here,” Dagdron called.
Earl ran to join Dagdron.
“Guard this spot and I’ll go after the imp again,” Dagdron said.
Earl held his sword at the ready as Dagdron sprinted off. Elloriana cast blast-bolt spells at the imp in the meantime. The imp growled as he ducked her spells but cast his own at Dagdron. The rogue was able to dodge them again and raced to the platform. This time, the imp teleported to a ledge on the opposite side from where they had entered.
Dagdron motioned for Lita to come over this time, and she stationed herself on the left side of the chamber. As Dagdron sprinted along the trails, heading toward the imp again, the creature cast a comet spell and then instantly disappeared. Earl, who had been watching Dagdron, was caught by surprise as the imp appeared behind him. The creature latched his hands around Earl’s neck, squeezing tightly. Earl whirled around, but the imp hung on, swinging with him. Gasping for breath, Earl whipped his head down in front him, flinging the imp back onto the platform. Earl, taking in a huge breath, grasped his sword with both hands and brought it down on the spindly creature. The imp teleported just in time, but Earl’s weapon clanked against the stone, cracking the ledge in two halves.
The imp cried out as he reappeared behind Lita. The lady warrior was prepared and swung her sword, but the imp disappeared. Dagdron lunged with his dagger, anticipating the appearance of the imp, but he teleported back to the center. Elloriana launched a series of blast-bolt spells, but one of the imp’s comet spells crashed through them and knocked Elloriana to the ground. The imp threw himself on top of her, snarling with his pointy teeth exposed. Before he could sink his teeth into the enchantress, the staff shot a beam where Elloriana had fallen, so the imp rolled off her to avoid it. Elloriana was zapped by the beam but was spared the imp attack.
Earl rushed across the chamber, helping Elloriana up, and then they stayed together, protecting the center area as they watched the imp teleport behind Lita, then to Dagdron’s position, and back to the center. Each time he appeared, the young adventurers were ready to attack, and the imp never stayed in one place long.
“Break the platforms,” Elloriana said. “He hasn’t teleported to Earl’s station since he cracked it.”
Lita, in one fluid motion, lifted her sword and split the platform in two with the force of her blow. The imp, appearing at Dagdron’s station, cried out in rage as another of his teleportation locations was destroyed. Dagdron jumped backward to avoid a comet spell, but Lita raced across the cavern to help him attack the imp. As soon as the creature disappeared, Lita cracked her sword against the stone, breaking the third platform.
The only location left for the imp was in the center, where Elloriana cast blast-bolt spells and Earl slashed with his sword. The imp evaded the attacks and, laughing gutturally, ran off the trail, climbing and jumping off the piles of gold and jewels. From there, he began launching comet spells at the trespassers, growling and baring his teeth all the while.
“I don’t think we have any other choice,” Earl said when Dagdron and Lita returned to the middle. “We’re going to have to chase him and dodge the staff attacks.”
“Let’s get this annoyance,” Lita said, grunting.
Following Lita’s lead, Dagdron, Earl, and Elloriana sprinted toward the imp, spreading out as they went. As soon as they were off the path, the staff began firing red beams, and they were forced to dodge the imp’s spells in front and beams in back.
The imp circled the cavern so as not to be surrounded, picking up jars as he went. Glass shattered at their feet, spraying different-colored concoctions. Elloriana’s robe was drench
ed with a yellow liquid, while Earl’s entire body received a bath from a sticky brown substance. Dagdron did his best to dodge the jar attacks, but even his cloak got splattered with a foul-smelling orange liquid that ate through portions of his already ragged attire. Lita alone appeared impervious. She accelerated after the imp, jumping off piles of gems as she dodged and slashed jars and beams alike.
“Master’s key!” the imp snarled when Lita finally caught up to him. The imp lunged with his hands to choke Lita, but she slapped the creature sideways with her sword before dragging him back to one of the pathways, where she restrained him on the ground.
“Master’s key!” the imp repeated, kicking and howling.
Dagdron, Earl, and Elloriana closed in, and Dagdron hurried to slit the cord around the imp’s neck, grabbing the key.
“What should I do with him?” Lita asked, pointing her sword at the imp.
“Don’t kill him,” Earl said. “I’m sure he was just following Mazannanan’s orders.”
“Master?” the imp said, calming his kicking legs.
“Yes, he sent us,” Earl said.
“Master’s in trouble?” the imp said.
“Well, yeah,” Earl said.
Lita lifted the imp with one hand and set him on his feet. The creature darted off toward the center of the room, hiding behind the petrified tree, peering out every once in a while.
Earl, Lita, and Elloriana gathered around Dagdron to look at the key. He twisted it in the eerie light so they could examine the bony structure of the ancient key.
“Where do we use the key?” Earl yelled to the imp.
The imp poked his head from behind the column and yelled, “Master’s key!”
They spent the next while searching the cavern and dodging the occasional comet spell from the imp, but they never found any scroll or other clue as to where the key should be used.
The Howl of Avooblis Page 25
