Beast Quest #3: Cypher the Mountain Giant (4 page)

T
OM AND
E
LENNA AWOKE LATE AS THE SUN
shone brightly into the mouth of the cave. Every muscle in Tom’s body ached. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he looked around at the cave walls. It had been too dark — and he had been too tired — to notice them the night before.

On the walls were drawings made with ancient charcoal. They seemed to be telling a story. Tom recognized what looked like jagged mountains, and simple pictures of men with spears and clubs. On another wall were the same mountains and
what looked like an enormous hand. Tom took the key from around his neck and looked back at the drawings on the cave wall. This key had freed Ferno and Sepron — would it free Cypher as well?

As Tom was studying the cave drawings, Elenna woke up. “What are they?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” said Tom. “But it looks like someone knew about the giant long ago.”

“It’s late. We should get moving,” Elenna said, gathering up her bedroll.

“All right,” Tom agreed, tearing his eyes away from the cave’s walls. He took hold of Storm’s reins and followed Elenna to the mouth of the cave.

They stood blinking in the sunlight. The mudslide had left a thick scar on the landscape, blocking the main trail. To get around it, they would have to follow the muddy scar down into the next valley. Then it was a long climb back up
to the other side of the trail. Tom and Elenna walked beside Storm with Silver bounding at their heels.

When they reached the top, they found themselves looking upon a range of mountains stretching toward the horizon.

Elenna gasped. “That’s amazing!” Tom led the way down a path in the shadow of the mountains. The hill was steep, with a cliff on one side. There were lots of loose pebbles and Tom had to pick his way carefully. One wrong step and it would be a very long fall.

Tom looked at his map. Then he looked around. “This is strange,” he said. “We should have reached Colton by now. But it’s nowhere to be seen.”

“Maybe we’ll see something from the top of this hill,” said Elenna, pointing at the gentle slope in front of them.

They climbed carefully, their feet slipping and sliding in the silt and rubble. Then, suddenly, a
loud crack rang out from beneath Storm’s hooves. Tom put a hand on Storm’s neck and they all froze.

“What was
that?”
Tom asked, crouching down. He quickly cleared away some of the dust. His hands scraped against something — it was a piece of slate, neatly overlapped by others surrounding it.

“Roof tiles,” he said, realizing where they were. “Elenna — we’re standing on a roof!”

“Then, this isn’t a hill at all!” Elenna said. She looked up at the mountainside and the bare face of rock covered in angry cracks. “This is a house that’s been buried by a rockslide. It could collapse any minute!”

“Look,” said Tom, pointing over to a shape farther up the hill. It was the top of an archway, the gateway to the mountain trade routes. “I think there’s a whole street buried under this rubble!”

“Come on, let’s get down quickly before we crash right through this roof.” Treading as lightly
as they could, Tom and Elenna led Storm and Silver back down the slope.

Using the roof and archway as marker points, they worked out roughly where the street must have been. They made their way over the rocks and rubble until they found a part of town built into the hillside. The rockslide hadn’t buried these buildings. The houses were grand and tall with wooden fronts, and the streets were neatly paved with cobblestones. Tom looked around him and whistled.

“Looks like a nice part of town,” said Elenna. There weren’t any houses like this in Tom’s village. But the place was deserted. “I hope everyone got to safety.”

Suddenly, Silver looked toward the mountains, sniffing the air. He growled uneasily and started stalking back the way they had come. “What’s wrong, boy?” Elenna took hold of his collar, but
he strained against her grip. Silver never disobeyed Elenna. She frowned and pointed down the street. “We’re going
this
way.” She looked at Tom. “What’s wrong with him?”

But as she spoke, shouts and the sounds of a commotion came from somewhere close by.

Tom looked at her. “Silver must have sensed trouble.”

“Stop, thieves!”
someone shouted. Tom jumped onto Storm and Elenna leaped up behind him. He drew his sword out of one of Storm’s saddlebags and pressed his heels against the horse’s sides. Storm didn’t need telling twice. He bolted off along the cobbled street toward the sounds of trouble.

“Silver isn’t following us!” Elenna cried. She pointed after the wolf, who was running in the opposite direction.

“We’ll go back for him later,” Tom told her. Storm thundered over the cobblestones, making it
difficult for them to hold on. “Right now, someone needs our help.”

They turned into a narrow back alley. Three men with bulging pockets and sacks slung over their shoulders were blocking the way. “Whoa, Storm.” Tom eased his horse to a standstill. “What’s happening here?”

The tallest man noticed Tom’s sword and smiled. “Well, well, a bold, little knight.”

An old man came puffing and panting around the corner, pointing a finger at the three men. “Don’t let them pass!” he cried, leaning heavily against the wall of a house as he caught his breath. “They’re stealing food from the houses!”

“What else can we do?” snapped a small, tubby man, shifting the heavy sack on his shoulder. “We have families to feed.”

“This month’s supplies never came — you know that!” said the tall, thin man next to him. “We need
something
to eat.”

“But those things are not yours to take, Randall!” said the old man sternly. He turned to the short man. “Michael, put them back and take shelter with the others.” The three men looked at one another. Their expressions hardened.

“No, Belco, we have to get away!” cried Michael. “How long before the next rockslide flattens the rest of town, too?”

Tom looked at these men. They didn’t look like robbers. He saw the desperation in their faces. Thanks to Malvel and the chaos he was causing, good people had to steal just to survive.

Randall bunched his fists and turned to look at Tom. “Get out of our way, boy,” he said. “Or you’ll live to regret it!”

 C
HAPTER
F
IVE
 

T
OM JUMPED DOWN FROM THE HORSE, TENSING
himself for a fight. Elenna stood beside him, readying her bow.

A sudden growling made Tom turn. It was Silver! The wolf bared his teeth as he stalked toward Randall and the others, his fur bristling. Even Tom felt a moment of awe when he saw Silver’s glistening fangs.

“A wolf!” cried Belco. “It must have come down from the mountains.”

Silver crept toward the men, narrowing his eyes and growling deep in his throat. Randall’s eyes grew
wide with fear, then he fled with the others, the stolen belongings scattering behind them as they ran.

Belco leaned against a broken wall.

“Good, erm, dog,” he whispered to Silver. But Tom could hear the tremble in the man’s voice.

“The wolf won’t hurt you,” Tom told Belco. “He’s with us. Are you all right?”

“I’ll be okay in a minute,” gasped Belco, getting his breath back. “I am the Mayor of Colton. Welcome to my town,” he said. A loud crashing echoed through the back alley. There were screams in the distance.

“Another rockslide!” Belco cried out wearily.

Elenna jumped down from Storm. “Hurry!” she said. “I’ll catch up with you.”

“Come on!” Tom called out to Belco. He helped the old man onto Storm, then jumped up in front of him. There was no time to lose! Tom kicked his
heels into Storm’s side and they cantered down the alley.

As they turned onto a larger road, Tom brought Storm to a stop. A group of townspeople stood before a crushed home. From inside, they could hear muffled cries for help.

“What happened?” Belco asked someone in the crowd.

“The house collapsed!” said the villager. “Randall, Michael, and Edward are trapped inside.”

“Serves them right,” said another. “I hear they’ve been stealing food from the houses.”

“Aye, they ought to be left in there to die!” called out a man in the crowd. Others murmured in agreement.

Tom listened as the angry crowd drowned out the cries for help from the trapped men. He had to do something.

“No!” he yelled. The crowd quieted down and
everyone turned to look at him. “We must save these men. It is our duty as citizens of Avantia to help those in need.” Tom walked over to the crushed house.

There was a huge pile of stones. Tom could see the rafters of the house poking out at sharp angles between some of the rocks. There was a loud groan as the frame of the house buckled under the weight. They would have to hurry and free the men before the house collapsed further.

“Help me!” came a muffled voice from inside.

“Don’t worry!” Tom shouted. “We’re going to get you out!”

A sudden screech of anger echoed down from the mountains like a gust of icy wind.

“What was that?” gasped Belco. Tom could guess.

Cypher!
he said to himself.

Belco looked away, his face deathly white as another fearful howl tore through the stormy sky.

 C
HAPTER
S
IX