Beast Quest #3: Cypher the Mountain Giant (2 page)

“Run! Run for your lives!”

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A
T THE CREST OF THE FOOTHILLS,
T
OM AND
Elenna came to a fork in the road. The road to the east continued along the ridgeline toward the farms of Avantia. The road to the north disappeared into the mountains.

Tom knew which one they needed to take to find the next Beast.

But Elenna hesitated. The towering mountains were wrapped in dark, ominous clouds, and Tom could sense his friend’s nervousness. He knew this was going to be even more dangerous than the last mission.

“Don’t worry, Elenna. We’ll be okay,” Tom said.

Then, smiling, he added, “I mean, I’ve got you and the mutt for protection, don’t I?”

“Thank you
very
much!” Elenna beckoned her pet wolf, Silver, who was sniffing some bushes nearby. “Come on, boy — time to teach our friend a lesson in manners!”

Silver shot to her side like a sleek gray arrow. Elenna pointed at Tom and the wolf playfully nipped at his heels as they set out on the road to the north.

“Ow!”
Tom cried.

“Take it back!” Elenna demanded.

“All right! All right! I take it back!” Tom exclaimed, holding up his shield as Silver leaped up at him. “I’ll never call him a mutt again!”

Elenna gave a short whistle. Silver immediately left Tom and trotted to her side. Elenna shot Tom a sideways look.

Tom smiled and nodded. They were in this together.

Before he’d met Elenna, Tom had been chosen by King Hugo and his royal advisor, the wizard Aduro, to go on a quest. He was to save the kingdom of Avantia from the Beasts, who were under the evil spell of the Dark Wizard Malvel. Before the Quest, Tom used to think the Beasts only existed in legend. But now that he had fought two of them himself, he knew just how real they were — and how deadly they could be.

Ever since Malvel had gained control of the Beasts through his dark magic, they had been carrying out acts of terror and destruction. Tom’s mission was to stop them. He had to break Malvel’s hold over the Beasts.

So far, Tom had faced the fiery wrath of Ferno the Fire Dragon, and the horror of Sepron, a monstrous sea serpent. He and Elenna had only survived by working together. Now Aduro had warned them that a new danger lurked in the mountains of the North.

Giant
danger.

Tom brought Storm to a halt and reached into one of the horse’s saddlebags. “Let’s check that we’re going the right way.” He jumped down and unrolled the magic map that Aduro had given him. Trees and hills and mountains rose up from the old parchment paper, standing as tall as Tom’s thumbnail. Near a hillside, a part of the path was glowing.

“That’s where we are now,” Elenna said, as Storm rested his muzzle on Tom’s shoulder. “Another day’s ride and we should reach Colton.”

Of all the towns nestled among the peaks of the northern mountains, Colton was the biggest. Tom looked at the drawing of the town on the map. It was surrounded by five mountains that rose up on all sides, jagged and forbidding. The road leading to the town was long and winding, and in one part it looked as if it was blocked. This meant they would have to find a way around. Tom had never tried to
climb a mountain before and wondered if it would be as steep and dangerous as he imagined.

“We’d better make camp soon,” Tom said. “We’re going to need all our energy to get up that mountain pass tomorrow.”

Elenna mounted Storm and Tom led the way with Silver. As they picked their way up the hillside, the mountains towered all around them.

When they reached the top of the hill and paused to catch their breath, they couldn’t believe what lay before them. Mountains stretched as far as they could see. Dark shadows filled their cracks and gullies, while the peaks seemed to glow in the late afternoon sun. Like rows of sharp teeth, the mountains stood out against the deep blue sky. In the distance, near where Colton would be, dark clouds were beginning to gather.

“It’s beautiful,” said Elenna. Tom nodded. He’d seen many things on his Quest so far, but nothing as breathtaking as this. He swallowed hard.

As they were getting ready to continue on their way, they noticed a raggedy group of men coming down the trail toward them. Tom gripped his sword.

One of the men called out a greeting as the group drew nearer. Tom could make out that one of them was carrying a young boy over his shoulder.

When the group reached them, Tom and Elenna could see that the men were traders. They looked dirty and tired, and the boy appeared to be injured, his head wrapped in a bloody strip of cloth.

“Can you help us?” the man carrying the boy asked desperately. “Do you have any water? All our supplies were destroyed.”

Tom passed him his water canteen. “What happened?”

“We were part of a trading caravan, bringing supplies to the town of Colton,” the man explained. “And then the ground started to shake and a rockslide
came down the side of the mountain — we were lucky to survive.”

“What triggered it?” asked Elenna.

“We don’t know. The mountains are usually very stable. But the weather was unusual and —”

“The giant —” sputtered the injured boy. “There was a giant —”

Tom and Elenna exchanged glances.

“Don’t mind the boy,” one of the men said quietly. “He got a bump on his head.”

“No, I saw it. I swear,” said the boy. In a trembling voice, he described the violent shaking and the sound of trees being snapped as boulders tore down the mountainside.

When the boy had finished, one of the men said grimly, “I hope you two aren’t going into the mountains.”

“I’m afraid we are,” said Tom.

The men looked at each other, concern on their
faces. “The mountains are a dangerous place, even in the best conditions,” the leader warned. “The main route is blocked now and the weather’s been bad for weeks. I’d turn back.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Tom said bravely.

The trader seemed to understand. “Well, if you must go, take this.” He handed Tom a short length of rope. “It’s not much, but it’s all I have. It may come in handy.”

It was now growing late and the sun was close to setting.

“You’d better get going,” said the kindly trader. “There’s a good place to make camp not too far north from here.”

“Thank you,” said Tom and Elenna. They gave the traders some more of their water and all the food they could spare, then bid them good-bye.

Tom and Elenna took one last look at the mountains. Tom wondered if something so
beautiful could be as dangerous as the traders had warned.

Elenna mounted Storm and the four of them made their way down the other side of the hill. On their way down, the sky grew dark and it began to drizzle.

“We’d better hurry up and make camp!” Elenna cried out. “We’re going to get soaked.”

At the bottom of the hill, they crossed a small stream in the gully. The mountain water was crystal clear and ice cold.

Tom knew it would be dangerous to sleep in the gully. If it kept raining, the stream might overflow and their camp would end up underwater. He scanned the next hill and spotted an outcropping of rock that would provide good shelter for the night.

As they began their way up the next hill, Silver tensed and started to growl.

“What is it, boy?” Tom crouched beside the
wolf. He looked all around, but the whole area was deserted.

Elenna shivered. “Let’s get going.”

They set off again, picking a path between the trees scattered along the hillside.

Silver growled again. Storm nickered nervously, his ears pricked up straight as his hooves skidded on the wet grass.

Storm lunged forward and then stopped dead, all four hooves planted firmly on the ground. “Come on, Storm,” Elenna said, touching her heels to his sides. “It’s all right….” She broke off with a gasp. Storm was slowly moving down the hillside, even though he was standing still. “Tom!” Elenna cried as a rumbling noise started up. Storm started to slide more quickly. “The ground’s not safe!”

“Get off Storm!” Tom yelled as the horse fought to keep his balance. Elenna jumped, just as Storm’s hind legs slipped from under him. With a crash,
the horse fell heavily onto his side. His hooves sent great clods of mud flying into the air and Elenna fell to the ground with a cry.

“Storm! Elenna!” Tom yelled, his voice filled with panic.

Her eyes were wide in horror as she pointed up the hill, past Tom.

“Mudslide!” she screamed.

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