Epos the Winged Flame (5 page)

As if Epos had understood him, she circled back toward Tom, swooping low. This was his chance! Before the Beast could knock him into the fiery crater, Tom twisted around and grabbed hold of her leg. It was like holding a burning log. Tom shouted in pain but he couldn’t stop now.

Epos gave a bellow of rage and tried to shake Tom free. The lava bubbled greedily below them. “I won’t let go!” Tom shouted. But now Epos was flying toward the volcano’s rim. Tom realized she was planning to break his grip by smashing him against the face of the rock! It loomed closer and closer.

At the last moment, Tom let go of Epos and twisted through the air. He seemed to fall for
ages — but at last he landed on a narrow ledge, the impact jarring his whole body as he scrambled for a handhold. The rock was burning hot and scorched his skin. But, with the last of his strength, he managed to cling on.

Epos was still circling above him, screeching in fury, and Tom knew he didn’t have a hope of climbing over the edge of the rim.
I’m trapped,
he thought.
An easy target.
But then he saw a crack in the rock — a long, smoldering split. Was it wide enough for him to fit through? His arms and legs ached, and his skin felt so raw that every movement was agony. But somehow, Tom started to squeeze through the gap. If he was fast enough, Epos might think he had simply fallen to his death, and give up on him.

All I need is a chance to get my strength back,
he told himself,
to work out a plan.
…

With a last, exhausting effort, Tom wriggled
through the split in the stone and fell a short way onto another, cooler ledge — outside the volcano and out of the great flame bird’s reach.

Tom lay on the shuddering, smoking ground, gasping for breath. He was overlooking a small, rocky plain close to the volcano’s summit. He had no weapons and nowhere to take cover. A dark, steep slope towered above him, leading back up to the mouth of the volcano.

Tom realized then that the crack he had squeezed through was part of a thick black split running horizontally across the slope.

A desperate hope flared up inside him. Above that split were balanced thousands of tons of rock — which seemed to be leaning back into the volcano. If only there was some way of bringing it crashing down, it might plug the fiery heart of the volcano — and ruin Malvel’s plans.

“You are too late, boy,” came an icy whisper. “Your Quest ends here.”

Tom spun around to find that the sinister, hooded figure of Malvel had reappeared on the plain in front of him.

Then Epos came swooping down from the rim of the volcano. Tom saw two red eyes glaring down at him. The Beast’s giant beak snapped open. Her dark, glowing wings unfolded, and her talons glinted in the dim, crimson light.

The flame bird lunged forward, ready to tear Tom to pieces.

W
ITH A GRUNT OF EFFORT, TOM THREW
himself out of Epos’s path. The Beast was going too fast to stop and crashed into the rock face. Tom scrambled back up.

Tom tried to escape from the ledge. But Epos was too fast. She lashed out with one wing and caught Tom on the back of the neck. Tom gasped as he was knocked forward, landing with a thud. Before he could rise, Epos grabbed him with her enormous beak. Tom shouted out with pain — it was like being gripped in a vice. Then the Winged Flame flung him to the ground. Every muscle ached. His body burned with bruises.

But still he forced himself back to his feet.

Tom stared as Epos hovered above him. Even in his fear, he found the giant flame bird a breathtaking sight.

Suddenly, Epos dropped down and grabbed Tom’s chest in her huge talons.

Tom cried out in pain as the giant Winged Flame began to squeeze, crushing his ribs.

“Look at the great young hero,” Malvel sneered. “You are as weak as your father.”

“You’re not fit to speak of my father,” Tom gasped. He wrestled with Epos’s claws, trying to weaken the Beast’s grip. The pain was incredible, and the world was starting to spin. “I believe in him,” he said through gritted teeth, “as I believe in the Beasts’ right to be free!”

Epos’s grip on Tom grew tighter still. The ground groaned and shook as the volcano prepared to explode.

“And I believe,” Tom croaked, clutching

desperately at the Beast’s leg, “that it’s my destiny … to beat YOU!”

Tom’s right hand — the one on which he wore his father’s chain mail gauntlet — closed on the locked golden band around Epos’s neck.

To Tom’s amazement, it tore through the band as if it were wet paper. He stared at the scraps of gold in his hand.

Epos let go of Tom and shrieked. It was a noise like the earth’s core cracking open. She shook violently, thrashing her wings, then rose up gracefully into the air, released at last.

“No!” bellowed Malvel, backing away. “It is not possible!”

Then Epos flew straight at Malvel, grabbing him with her lethal talons and lifting him up above the volcano.

“This is not the end, Tom!” Malvel screamed. “We shall meet again!”

Epos held the dark, struggling figure above the flames exploding from the mouth of the volcano.

Then the Dark Wizard disappeared in a haze of white light, and the Beast’s talons were left clutching empty air. Had Malvel’s dark magic destroyed him? Or had he somehow transported himself to safety? Tom didn’t know.

With a rasping shriek, Epos plunged down inside the volcano. Tom heard the echoes of the shriek hang in the air for a few moments. Then they too were gone.

“I’ve done it,” Tom murmured. His body was burned and bleeding, but he couldn’t stop smiling. “Whatever has happened to Malvel, his plans have been defeated — because I’ve set Epos free!”

Just then the ground bucked beneath him, and a split opened up, belching fire and thick yellow smoke. Tom sat up in sudden terror. This was no
time to congratulate himself. The volcano was about to blow. The kingdom of Avantia was still in danger!

Panting for breath, Tom stared at the steep slope of rock shielding him from the fiery force of the volcano. So many cracks were running across it, and he remembered his desperate plan. If he could topple all that rock, it just might plug the volcano!

Tom yanked off his father’s leg armor. Each piece had a pointed end. He placed one end against a narrow crack and grabbed a rock to use as a hammer. He just had to drive the spikes into the cracks to widen the splits. With luck it might bring the rock face tumbling down.

Choking on smoke, he struck the pointed armor again and again. The cracks started to widen — but the rock face didn’t move. Desperately, Tom scooped up the other piece of armor and wedged it into another crack.

I can do this,
he told himself, swinging his rock hammer again and again. Tears of frustration welled up in his eyes. The piece of rock slipped from his numb fingers.

It was no good. Tom simply wasn’t strong enough.

Suddenly, he felt something watching him. He spun around.

Epos was hovering in the sky above. The Beast’s eyes were no longer red. They shone like the purest gold.

As Tom stared in amazement, the Beast flew down and crashed into the rock. Again and again, Epos hurled herself at the stone. Huge splits opened up in the rock as Epos drove her beak into the stone.

“You understand!” Tom cried in amazement. “You saw what I was trying to do, and you’re helping me!” He felt torn. He was so grateful for the Beast’s help, but it was awful to watch her
flinging herself against the rocks, violet sparks flying from her body.

With new hope, Tom grabbed another lump of stone and used it to drive his crumpled leg armor deeper still inside the cracks. Working together, he and Epos might just succeed.

At last, the huge slope of rock began to crumble! Black zigzags were spreading across it. “Yes!” Tom cried.

With a last, roaring shriek, Epos flung herself into the center of the rock face. With a grating, grinding noise, it collapsed.

Tom was standing at the edge of the slope, but the giant bird had no time to get clear.

“Epos!” Tom yelled as the Beast disappeared beneath the falling rocks and into the mouth of the volcano.

T
OM WAS KNOCKED TO HIS KNEES AS THE
ground rocked beneath him. He covered his ears as huge crashes echoed all around.

Then the tremors died away. Smoke, mixed with dust, rose up into the black sky. For a long, stunned moment, Tom wondered why it was suddenly so much darker. Then he realized that the fierce glow of the molten lava had been buried beneath thousands of tons of rock. The volcano’s fires had been put out.

The kingdom was safe at last!

But Epos was dead. The noble Beast had sacrificed herself for the sake of Avantia.

“No!” Tom shouted, scrambling over the fallen rock, trying to find some way of reaching the flame bird. But there was no way through.

Tom barely noticed when some of the swirling smoke began to shine and sparkle, and a familiar, red-cloaked shape appeared beside him. At last he turned.

“Hello, Wizard Aduro,” Tom whispered.

The old man smiled down at him. “You have done well, Tom. You have defeated Malvel — and saved the kingdom.”

Tom cast a glance at the base of the volcano where the village used to stand. The lava had begun to cool, turning a dark red. The forest fires had burned themselves out, and each tree was now a black skeleton. “I still don’t understand how I broke the band to set Epos free,” he admitted, removing the chain mail gauntlet and drawing out the wizard’s key from around his neck. “I didn’t even need the enchanted key.”

Aduro smiled. “It was your faith in your father and your friends — and your faith in yourself — that allowed you to break the evil charm. Malvel did not understand goodness or loyalty. So his charms had no defense against one who prized those things so highly.”

Tom’s gaze fell to the ground. “But I couldn’t save Epos. She’s dead.”

“Are you sure?” the old wizard said gently. A deep rumbling sound rolled around them. Before Tom could react, an enormous ball of light rose up from the sealed volcano. Something stirred inside it — the golden shadow of a bird. Then the ball of light burst apart and, with a mighty squawk, a gigantic, majestic creature appeared.

“Epos!” Tom cried.

“She is a phoenix,” Wizard Aduro reminded him. “She must allow herself to die in flames, so that she can rise anew from the ashes.”

The Beast circled above them, flapping her golden wings, leaving trails of golden fire in the air.

“Now that she has thrown off her old form, all trace of Malvel’s evil has died with it,” Aduro murmured. “Thanks to you, Tom, she will be free forever.”

“Wait,” whispered Tom. “There’s something in her mouth….”

Epos opened her beak. A smoking sword and a blackened, wooden disc fell out, landing with a clatter at Tom’s feet.