Earl beamed at her, nodding, so Dagdron moved to the side to examine the scroll more closely, but the magical seal prevented him from opening it.
Grizzard came back shortly, walking on the bridge with Elloriana and lowering a rope. Dagdron climbed up first and then helped Grizzard and Elloriana hold the rope for Earl to ascend. The combined effort of the four was required as Lita climbed, but the lady warrior carried her own weight upward quicker than the others would’ve thought possible.
When they were back on the ledge, Dagdron took out the scroll and his dagger, ready to unroll it by force.
“Dagdron, don’t,” Earl said, grabbing his arm. “That incantation will sear your brain.”
“Old Grizzard agrees with rich sonny, sonny,” Grizzard said. “Magic is a nasty business.”
“Wendahl can open it,” Elloriana said with an offended air as she glanced at the old rogue.
Dagdron shrugged, pocketed the scroll, and led the others up the stairs through the tunnel. Upstairs, the three goblins were now in the greenish-yellow liquid, dunking themselves and blowing bubbles while they were submerged.
“How foul,” Elloriana said, hurrying to the secret doorway.
“Finally!” the bartender said, scowling as he saw the slimy purple footprints Dagdron, Earl, Elloriana, and Lita were leaving behind. “You’re lucky this gem is so valuable, otherwise you would be cleaning the tavern.”
Exhausted from their battle, they all ignored the bartender and left the tavern. The spring night air was pleasant as they left Bodaburg and climbed the valley to the academy.
“Psst.”
The group looked toward the sound and saw Wendahl, behind a tree, waving his hoe at them, so they hurried over.
“What’s happening?” Dagdron asked.
“Am I allowed to speak?” Wendahl said, looking Grizzard.
“Keep it short,” Grizzard replied, brandishing his dagger.
“Dugan and Egon went to find out what the Backer’s up to. Did you get the incantation?” Dagdron showed the scroll to Wendahl. “Good. Keep it safe. I have the net all packed up.” Wendahl pointed his hoe at a canvas bag on the ground. It lurched and squirmed of its own accord.
“Quiet,” Elloriana whispered urgently. She pointed to the academy.
Headmaster Gwauldron, his spiked goatee and bushy eyebrows illuminated by the torch he carried, walked across the front yard of the academy and through the gate before heading to the west.
“Where’s he going?” Earl asked.
“I’ll find that out,” Wendahl said. “But I think it’s time for you four to get the Arches of Avooblis. Do you want to go with them, Grizzard?”
“No, old Grizzard’s going to keep the net safe.”
“Get the arches and join Grizzard,” Wendahl said. “I’ll check on the headmaster and then find Dugan and Egon and decide how to proceed.”
Dagdron headed off without responding, so Earl, Elloriana, and Lita went after him. Wendahl left to the west, leaving Grizzard to guard the lurching net.
“Has anyone thought about how we’re going to get into the headmaster’s office?” Elloriana asked as they started on the staircase of the boys’ tower.
“We’ll have to find a way,” Earl said. “Dagdron’s mom needs us.”
“It’s not my mom,” Dagdron said.
Earl yanked Dagdron’s hood off from behind, pushing him in the back to keep up the fast pace.
Elloriana tossed out ideas about what spells she might be able to try to unlock the headmaster’s door, but when they reached the sixth floor, they immediately saw that no spell was necessary. Headmaster’s Gwauldron’s door was already cracked open.
Dagdron, without hesitation, hurried forward and pushed the door open. Behind the headmaster’s desk, the black-robed Backer was fiddling with the drawers.
“We have to stop him,” Earl said. “The fate of the land depends on us.”
“Charge!” Lita yelled.
Even Dagdron and Elloriana joined Earl and Lita in rushing forward. The Backer looked up, lifted his hands, and cast lightning spells. Earl and Lita swung their swords to deflect them, but the yellow balls passed right through their weapons, as well as their bodies. Confused, they stopped charging at the same time as the office door slammed shut. The four young adventurers whipped around to see the Backer standing in front of the closed door. He lifted his hand and cast a fetch spell at Dagdron. The sparkling circle zoomed toward the rogue, making contact with the right side of his cloak, ripping a section and carrying it back to the Backer, who unfolded the cloth to expose the glowing scroll they had just recovered.
“Thank you very much, Dagdron,” the Backer said. He raised a hand and took off his hood.
“Headmaster Gwauldron?” Earl, Elloriana, and Lita said together.
The office door suddenly burst open behind the headmaster, and Wendahl rushed in.
“I forgot!” Wendahl exclaimed. “Gwydion’s a master of illusions.” He saw the headmaster right in front of him and then saw the Backer, still casting intangible lightning spells behind the desk, so he didn’t say anything else.
Chapter 33: The Backer
“Headmaster Gwauldron?” Earl repeated, his mouth dropping open in disbelief. “How could you?”
The headmaster didn’t reply as he crossed the office. He gave a single clap of his hands and the fake Backer disappeared. Then he moved his hands over his robe, draining the black color and returning it to his robe’s natural blue hue.
“Why are you doing this?” Earl continued. “Why are you against Lordavia?”
“I am not against Lordavia,” the headmaster replied, moving behind his desk.
“Yes, you are,” Elloriana said, glowering. “You’re going to cripple Lordavia and help Broodavia.”
The headmaster shook his head. “Both cities will benefit once the kingdom is established at Central Crossing. Both would have benefited more if you hadn’t gotten the notion in your head to become an adventurer.”
“What?” Elloriana said.
“If you had been willing to settle down like any royal should, then you and Byron could have reigned over the new kingdom together. I tried my best to give you and Byron all the necessary social time to establish a relationship, but the call of adventure was too great for you.”
“Nice going, wench,” Dagdron said.
“Be quiet,” Elloriana said. “Adventurer or not, I would never choose Byron. Just for the record, any contact I had with him was to find out what he was up to. I was never interested in him.”
“We’ll never believe that,” Dagdron said.
“But why?” Earl asked again as Elloriana scowled at Dagdron. “You still haven’t told us why.”
“I told you at the beginning of the school year. With a centralized city and the power of Avooblis, we can control the darkness and evil. The strife between Broodavia and Lordavia will come to an end. Peace will spread throughout the land.”
“Gwydion,” Wendahl finally spoke, shaking his head. “I know you’ve had these ideals for so long, but you’re not thinking clearly. Avooblis is not the answer. Your academy, your adventurers. That’s what makes a difference. Not controlling an ancient being and the economy of the land. That won’t bring true peace.”
“We no longer share the same ideals, then,” Headmaster Gwauldron said. He looked down, cast an open spell, and lifted three pouches from the drawer.
Dagdron sprang into action, grabbing the pouches from the headmaster. Earl and Lita jumped to shield Dagdron from Headmaster Gwauldron’s spells as the old enchanter cried out.
Wendahl stepped to the side, flinging the door open completely, and Dagdron ran straight into Scar. The muscled first-year rogue teacher ripped the pouches from Dagdron’s hand and gripped him around the neck, lifting him off his feet.
“I’ll crush your throat,” Scar said. He let Dagdron’s face turn red before tossing him back into the office. “The carriage is ready, headmaster.”
“You’
re on his side?” Dagdron said, rubbing his neck.
“He’s my boss,” Scar said with a shrug.
Headmaster Gwauldron walked calmly across the office to join Scar.
“You’re not even going to tell us how you did it?” Elloriana said.
“Nice try, Princess Elloriana,” the headmaster said, looking back. “Stall tactics won’t work with me.”
“Just tell us how you created the illusions of the Backer,” Elloriana said.
“I only had to do it a few times,” the headmaster said. “Once when you arrived at the academy. I had to make sure you saw both the Backer and me, so I waited behind the cemetery wall as I cast the illusion. I fled after the fire elemental, changed my black robe to blue, and created an illusion as if I was fighting the Backer. You almost caught me by surprise in the entrance hall earlier this evening, so I created an illusion of my real self heading back up the classroom tower so I could battle you as the Backer.”
“You followed us to Thornrim?” Earl said.
“Yes, and I would have continued to follow you to Coastdale and Lordavia if I hadn’t been stabbed in the leg.” Headmaster Gwauldron glowered at Dagdron. “I failed to realize Wendahl had enchanted your weapons.”
“Gwydion, I’ve told you time and time again to let the arches be. Don’t do it,” Wendahl said.
“After tonight, the Arches of Avooblis will be in the past,” the headmaster said. He nodded to Scar, and the stocky rogue slammed the door shut. The brilliant blue door glowed, sealing them inside.
“Why didn’t you realize sooner that the headmaster was creating illusions?” Dagdron said, drawing his dagger and pointing it at Wendahl.
“I didn’t expect the headmaster and the Backer to be the same person,” Wendahl said, eyeing Dagdron’s dagger. “But then I finally accepted that no one other than Gwydion, Rance, or myself knew enough about the arches for it to be anyone else.”
“We’re all stupid. Who else would it have been?” Dagdron said. “The headmaster has been the most obsessed with the arches from day one. And we should’ve realized that the only way Byron, Landon, and Gordon could sneak out of the academy was because the headmaster’s been telling the guards to let them out the past two years.”
“And that’s why his hands were burned,” Earl said. “He wasn’t running trials with the arches. Everyone knows the headmaster doesn’t like to cast lightning ball spells, so he wasn’t used to them.”
“Can we just get out of here?” Elloriana said. She cast an open spell, but the ball ricocheted off the handle.
“Let’s try it together,” Wendahl said, stepping to Elloriana’s side and lifting his hoe.
The enchanter and enchantress cast open spells at the door, but Wendahl’s magenta balls and Elloriana’s light blue ones kept bouncing off with no effect.
“Come on, Earl and Lita,” Dagdron said, heading back to the headmaster’s desk.
“What?” Earl said.
“We’re not going to let the headmaster lock us in here without consequences. Let’s teach him a lesson while Wendahl and the wench get the door open.” Dagdron started rifling through the papers on the desk and lifting up the trinkets to see if they were of any value.
“Dagdron, just because Headmaster Gwauldron’s gone off the deep end doesn’t mean we’re going to give up our own honor.”
“Grrrrr!” Lita growled, running to the opposite side of the desk and using all her might to toss it onto its side. “I’m sorry, Earl. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I agree with Dagdron. The headmaster’s gone too far. Let’s give this place a Thornrimian crush.”
Earl furrowed his brow pensively. “You’re right. If he’s not going to honor the academy, then we’re going to take it over.” He walked over and gave one heavy boot stomp to the turned-over desk. “We’re doing this for honor, Dagdron. Not as thieves and plunderers,” Earl said when he saw a smile twitch on the rogue’s face.
Dagdron didn’t care about the reasons behind it as long as they ransacked the headmaster’s office, and he busied himself rummaging through the headmaster’s possessions. Earl, though not as destructively as his lady companion, joined Lita in knocking over every piece of furniture and tossing all pieces of parchment they could find.
After Dagdron had found a pouch of coins, pocketed anything that appeared of value, and tossed any magical trinkets to the ground, he looked toward the door, where Wendahl and Elloriana were still casting spells. Open spells were still shooting from Elloriana’s hands, but Wendahl’s hoe was now shooting blast-bolts in an effort to break through the magical barrier.
Dagdron, Earl, and Lita only stopped their plundering once they heard a loud crash against the door. Wendahl and Elloriana moved back as crash after crash sounded, and shortly after, the door burst off its hinges.
“Egon saved us!” Earl exclaimed as Egon struck a manly pose in the doorway.
“Our magic weakened the barrier before he got here,” Wendahl said, shaking his head at his brother.
“Sorry, Wendahl,” Egon said. “The barricade was on the outside, and I destroyed it with my sword.”
“With your Wendahl-enchanted sword,” Wendahl interjected.
“But then my manly warrior’s strength is what broke down the door.”
“Step aside,” Grizzard growled, pushing Egon aside. The old rogue was carrying the bag with the net in it, and Dugan was waiting behind him. “I saw the headmaster leave, so I rounded up these other two. We need to leave now to catch them.”
“We can’t catch them on foot,” Earl said as everyone filed out of the room.
“We’re going to wrangle us a carriage, rich sonny,” Grizzard said.
Earl’s face dropped. He had given in and ransacked the headmaster’s office, but he wasn’t willing to straight out steal.
“We can use my parents’,” Elloriana said to calm Earl down. “It’s in the stables at the inn.”
“The quest continues!” Wendahl said, twirling his hoe as they descended the tower.
Egon scowled at him, but Grizzard pulled his dagger and herded the group in silence out of the academy and down the path to Bodaburg. When they neared the village, the front gates were suddenly flung open by a blast-bolt spell. The group scattered as a cart pulled by two horses hurtled by. Dagdron picked up a rock and threw it at the cart when he saw Rance, Kas, and Wally seated in it.
“They’re going, too?” Elloriana said.
“Let’s hurry,” Dagdron said.
Elloriana took the lead, walking down side streets until they reached the Glorious Quest Inn. The stables were on the opposite side from the inn, and, with Earl and Lita’s help, she pulled the heavy door open.
“Stay back!” a voice yelled from the shadows of the inn’s porch.
Earl and Lita drew their swords as two Lordavian enchanter guards stepped forward.
“The horses and carriage of King and Queen Loftloomburg of Lordavia are housed there. You have no business here,” the same enchanter said.
“I am the princess of Lordavia,” Elloriana said, stepping into the dim light.
The enchanters looked surprised, but before they could say anything, two magenta blast-bolts shot across the street, knocking them against the porch so forcefully that they fell to the ground in a daze.
“Wendahl,” Elloriana said.
“There’s no time,” Wendahl explained, casting a proud look at Egon, who scowled in return. “Magic needed to take charge of the situation.”
Elloriana rolled her eyes. Earl and Lita hurried into the stable, guiding the horses to the carriage and hitching them. As they pulled the carriage out, the front door of the inn burst open, and, dressed in their night clothing, King and Queen Loftloomburg hurried out.
“Slothful guards,” the king yelled, kicking each guard in turn. “The princess is missing.”
“I am not missing,” Elloriana yelled.
“Elloriana,” Queen Loftloomburg said, surprised.
“Get back inside
this instant,” King Loftloomburg said. “I cannot believe that you snuck out the same night we came to get you.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Elloriana said. “We have to save Lordavia!”
“Save Lordavia?” the queen said. “What in the land are you talking about?”
While Elloriana struggled to explain to her parents that the world was in danger without going into details about how the headmaster planned on summoning an evil being called Avooblis, Grizzard rounded up Earl, Lita, Wendahl, and Egon into the carriage, tossing the bag with the net to Wendahl before climbing in the front with Dugan. Dagdron climbed on the back, finding a secure hold.
“Dagdron, come sit up here,” Dugan called.
“I’ll never ride in this richy carriage,” Dagdron called back.
“Is that that rogue?” King Loftloomburg exclaimed, pointing at Dagdron as Grizzard turned the carriage.
“Yes, he’s helping save Lordavia. You’ll understand later.” Elloriana rushed toward the carriage, jumping in the door that Earl held open.
King and Queen Loftloomburg cried out for her to stop, but Grizzard, with a mighty cackle, shook the reins.
“Bye, richies!” Dagdron yelled as the carriage sped off.
As soon as the carriage was through the gates of Bodaburg, Grizzard whipped the reins forcefully, starting the horses galloping.
Over the following three days, the caravan bolted along the road to the southeast. Along the way, above the rattling carriage and in between his and Egon’s spats, Wendahl explained what he felt was the best course of action to deal the headmaster while rescuing Twyla and preventing Avooblis from being summoned.
In spite of Grizzard’s threats, Egon insisted on adding his own suggestions to the quest. This led to the inner compartment being quite tense, so Dagdron was content to ride on the back or climb up to lie on top when he was tired.
Regardless of their fast pace, they never caught sight of Rance, Kas, and Wally or the headmaster and Scar, so they traveled all through the night with Grizzard and Dugan rotating as driver. They only stopped for brief times to refresh themselves and the horses and to find food and water before continuing the chase. On their first stop, Wendahl cast a spell at the animals’ hooves, making their horseshoes glow magenta. Dagdron tried to ignore the conversation, but when Elloriana asked, Wendahl excitedly explained how his spell would allow the horses to gallop more comfortably.
The Howl of Avooblis Page 29
