Sting the Scorpion Man Read online

  After half a day of moving through the arid heat, they found themselves back on a stony path, and Tom spotted a cluster of dull red towers in a cleft between two mountains. Tom took out Malvel’s map and looked at the image of the Western City, which flitted across the map like a ghost. Its walls were red just like the towers he could see ahead.

  “I think we’ve found the Western City,” Tom said eagerly, reining in Storm so that the stallion could rest.

  Elenna and Silver both sat down on the hot, dry ground. As Tom replaced the map in the saddlebag, he felt Storm’s sides heaving. The stallion was panting heavily in the heat. Looking around, Tom saw a well a little farther on.

  He pointed it out to Elenna. “Let’s get some water,” he suggested, and led Storm toward the well. Elenna and Silver followed close behind.

  They leaned over the circular wall of the well and peered inside, hoping to see a long, dark shaft and the welcome glint of water at the bottom. But all they saw was a pile of rubble and loose stones. The sides of the well had collapsed inward, blocking it up completely.

  Tom rested his head on Storm’s sweaty flank. “I’m sorry, boy,” he said. “We’ll find some water soon, I promise.”

  Storm whinnied trustingly and pushed at Tom’s shoulder with his velvety black nose.

  “Perhaps there will be another well closer to the city gates,” Elenna said, shading her eyes from the glare of the sun as she stared up at the Western City. They were now a little closer, and the city’s dark red walls gleamed in the sunlight.

  “Hmm, I’m not sure that there are any more arou —” Tom broke off as the earth suddenly rumbled beneath their feet. Storm reared up, and Silver growled and retreated behind Elenna’s legs.

  “What was that?” Elenna asked nervously. “An earthquake?”

  Tom felt a tingling sensation rush up his arm from his shield. Cypher’s token was vibrating! The earth rumbled again. The movement seemed to be coming from the broken well. Tom leaned over the lip of the well and listened. The rumbling was an echoing roar. Tom recognized it at once.

  “It’s Cypher!” he cried.

  The giant roared again. The ground shook.

  “What is he saying?” Elenna asked.

  Thanks to the ruby set into his belt, Tom could understand the good Beasts of Avantia. Now he sensed the giant’s rage. “He’s angry,” he said, trying to explain the feelings that were running through him as he listened to Cypher. “He’s trapped somewhere underneath the Western City. He can’t breathe properly — he feels like he is choking.”

  “We have to get underground right away and help him,” Elenna said determinedly.

  “Maybe we can climb down the well shaft and look for some kind of underground tunnel that will take us into the city,” Tom suggested.

  Elenna nodded. “You’ll have to move some of these rocks,” she said. “I’ll help as much as I can.”

  The golden breastplate had given Tom the gift of great strength. He seized the boulders that blocked the mouth of the well and heaved them aside as if they were feather pillows. Elenna took care of some of the smaller rocks. Before long, they had collected a pile of rocks and cleared a dark space in the well shaft. But the old walls of the well had relied for too long on the support of the boulders, and now they collapsed. They could no longer hear Cypher’s voice.

  “It’s no good,” Tom said.

  “We’ll have to head into the Western City.” Elenna looked thoughtful. “I’m sure we’ll be able to find a way underground once we’re there.”

  “True,” Tom said. “If a giant the size of five men can be taken underground inside the Western City, then there would have to be a very big trapdoor somewhere, right?”

  “Right!” Elenna agreed.

  Together, the four companions moved on along the scrub-covered track that led to the gates of the Western City.

  Tom hoped he was right about the trapdoor. They didn’t have much time — and Cypher’s life was hanging in the balance….

  CHAPTER FIVE

  THE GATEKEEPER

  AS THEY APPROACHED THE GATES, TOM FELT all his senses sharpening. He glanced around. From the time he and Elenna had arrived in Gorgonia, Malvel had put a price on their heads. Who knew how many bounty hunters were waiting among the rocks ready to capture or kill them? The closer they came to the city, the greater the danger became.

  They won’t catch us, Tom thought fiercely. We’ll fight to the death if we have to!

  The great red city loomed up in front of them. Its defensive walls towered overhead and were streaked with slime. Skulls were set into the brickwork, and evil-looking spikes lined the tops of the walls, their tips glinting in the red sun. The city’s huge black gates were firmly closed. But there was no sign of any guards.

  Silver growled uncertainly as Tom and Elenna stopped in front of the silent gates, and Storm pawed the ground anxiously.

  Tom dismounted and gazed around. “Why are there no guards?” he asked Elenna.

  “Perhaps it’s a trap,” Elenna replied uneasily.

  There was a sudden movement from behind one of the trees that flanked the gates. A thin man in old brown robes, wearing a tattered eye patch and holding a walking stick, stepped out to stand before them.

  Tom recognized him at once. “Kerlo!” he said.

  “Hello,” Kerlo replied. “If you wish it, I will let you into the city.”

  Tom wasn’t sure that he trusted Kerlo, even though the Gorgonian gatekeeper had helped them more than once. Instinctively, his hand went to his sword. Elenna, too, held her bow and arrow at the ready.

  Kerlo shook his head sadly. “Still so suspicious,” he muttered. “Have I not been an ally on your Quest? Have I not aided you?”

  “But why do you help us?” Tom challenged. “What’s in it for you?”

  Kerlo rested his weight on the long wooden stick that he held in his gnarled hands. “I was once a good wizard,” he said quietly. “I tried to help the rebels in their fight against Malvel, but the Dark Wizard’s magic was more powerful than I had ever imagined. He condemned me to spend an eternity as gatekeeper — between worlds.” His face grew bleak. “I have not been able to cross a threshold in many years. I cannot even enter my family home.” The gatekeeper fell silent for a moment. “You must understand, home is like a jewel, but it is only once it has gone that you realize how precious it is.”

  “We thank you for all you have done, Kerlo,” Elenna said. “Will you help us get into the Western City?”

  Kerlo nodded. “Once inside, you must head to Malvel’s castle,” he said. “In the castle’s courtyard, you will find a trapdoor that leads to the cemetery that lies beneath the city. Those catacombs might be just the place to hide a giant Beast.”

  Kerlo held his hands out toward the gate. With a crash that shook the ground, the huge iron gates swung open. As they walked through them, Tom saw that the entrance to the city was set out in a series of three paths, just like the beginning of a maze. There were three possible routes into the city, but how could they be sure that they would choose the right one? And what would happen if they were wrong?

  CHAPTER SIX

  DANGER IN THE WESTERN CITY

  TOM TURNED TO ASK KERLO FOR ADVICE. BUT the iron gates had already silently swung shut behind them, and the gatekeeper was gone.

  Tom thought quickly, then pulled out his silver compass. He aimed it at the path on their right. At once, the arrow swung to Danger. Tom moved the compass until it pointed at the central path. The needle flew to Danger again, quivering slightly this time. Then Tom turned the compass to the last of the three paths.

  For what seemed an age, the needle hovered uncertainly. Tom was about to put the compass back into his pocket when the needle swung slowly around to Destiny and held steady.

  “This way,” said Tom, tugging at Storm’s bridle.

  They moved cautiously down the path. Bloodred walls flanked them on both sides. Overhead, the red sun hid behind black clouds, casting lo
ng, bruise-colored shadows that seemed to bode ill. An archway loomed up ahead. Two Gorgonian guards were patrolling it, their weapons slung casually over their shoulders. Beyond the guards, Tom and Elenna could see a city square surging with strange-looking people, whose bodies seemed to be hunched and crooked.

  “I think we need to try the direct approach,” Tom whispered.

  Elenna nodded.

  “Hail!” Tom called out, taking Storm with him as he strode toward the guards.

  “Who goes there?” called the first guard in a harsh, croaking voice.

  “Two travelers,” Elenna replied, coming to stand at Tom’s side. Silver bounded up next to her.

  The second guard narrowed his eyes. His gaze flicked to Storm and Silver, then back again. “What is your business in the Western City?” he growled.

  “Rest,” Tom replied, holding firmly on to Storm’s bridle. “Food. Will you let us pass?”

  The first guard looked as if he were about to step aside. But then the second guard jabbed his finger in Elenna’s direction. His eyes were suddenly full of greed. “I know you,” he said. “You’re wanted by Malvel. Your faces are on posters all over this city!”

  The game was up. Using the power from his golden boots, Tom leaped up and seized the guards around their thick necks, bringing their heads together with a loud thunk. The guards slumped unconscious to the ground.

  “Take their cloaks,” Elenna said, looking all around her. “We can disguise our faces with the hoods.”

  Quickly they stripped off the guards’ cloaks and flung them over themselves. After adjusting their hoods to make sure that no one would see their faces, they walked through the archway with Storm and Silver at their side.

  The city square was bustling with beings that didn’t quite look human. Their eyes were yellow, and their hair grew in ragged patches. Scarred, spotty skin hung loosely off their faces, and their teeth were black and pointed. With a shudder, Tom noticed that their hands looked like claws. Keeping their heads down and holding tightly on to Storm and Silver, Tom and Elenna walked across the glossy black flagstones of the square.

  Malvel’s castle was impossible to miss. They could see it in the distance, on the fringes of the city. Forks of black lightning like huge lizard tongues flickered in the red sky above the castle’s turrets, and Tom knew at once that it was the center of all evil in Gorgonia.

  The only way to reach the castle was to pass right through the center of the city. Tom hoped that their disguises would hold out that long. He could see several WANTED ALIVE posters displaying their faces, stuck here and there on the city’s slimy walls.

  “There isn’t much trading or bartering going on, is there?” Elenna whispered, glancing from left to right as they hurried on.

  Tom shook his head. It looked as if the creatures of the Western City seemed more inclined to fight and argue than trade. Noisy skirmishes were breaking out all across the square.

  A fight exploded between two men just as Tom and Elenna were passing.

  “Give me my money!” screamed a ragged-looking fur trader. “These are pure fox pelts!”

  “Fox pelts?” his opponent roared back. “Cats, more like. You won’t get any money from me!”

  There was suddenly a whirl of fists and kicking legs, which Tom and Elenna managed to sidestep. Silver was not so lucky. The wolf gave a high-pitched yelp of pain as the fur trader’s heavy-soled boot caught him in the ribs.

  “Silver!” Elenna gasped.

  Without thinking, she ran to her wolf’s side and knelt down beside him. As she did so, her hood fell back, revealing her face.

  There was a deathly hush in the square, followed by screams of recognition.

  “Avantians!”

  “Elenna!” Tom shouted, his own hood falling away from his face. “They know it’s us! Run!”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  MALVEL’S CASTLE

  HORDES OF GORGONIANS LUNGED TOWARD Tom and Elenna, their scaly arms outstretched and their fists swinging. With his super-strength, Tom threw off each approaching attacker as easily as if they were rag dolls. Barreling through the angry mob, he cleared a path across the square. Elenna leaped nimbly onto Storm’s back, and the horse lashed out with hard hooves while the Gorgonians tried to close in again. Elenna galloped after Tom, with Silver nipping fiercely at the ankles of any Gorgonian foolish enough to stand in their way.

  Tom grabbed his sword and flashed it left and right in warning. Elenna then galloped close enough for him to seize a handful of Storm’s mane and pull himself into the saddle. They broke free of the attackers and raced toward the castle. Storm’s black tail rippled out like silk, and Silver was a blur of gray fur as he sprinted at their side.

  As they approached the castle, Tom used his super-sight to check how many guards were on the gates. He didn’t like what he saw. Two sentries were on patrol. Various weapons hung from their waists, and they each held a wicked-looking sword.

  Keeping out of sight of the guards, Elenna turned Storm’s head, and they raced into a copse of trees at the foot of the castle walls.

  “We’ll never get past them,” Tom said, dismounting. “I’ll send my shadow in to find an alternative route.”

  “Good idea,” said Elenna, jumping from Storm’s back.

  The diamond that Tom had won when he had beaten Kaymon the Gorgon Hound had given him the gift of being able to send his shadow away from himself. However, Tom could not move while he and his shadow were separated. Tom and Elenna settled themselves behind a rock that gave them a good view of the castle.

  “Go, Shadow,” he ordered. “Find a way inside Malvel’s castle.”

  Tom’s shadow peeled away from him, slipping over rocks and between trees, until he could press himself up against the castle walls. The guards noticed nothing. Tom’s shadow glided along the walls, feeling for any nooks and possible entrances with his thin black fingers.

  “Anything?” Elenna whispered to Tom.

  “Nothing yet,” Tom said, standing absolutely still.

  The guards’ voices carried to where Tom’s shadow was standing. Through his shadow’s ears, Tom could hear that they were arguing.

  “I’m leaving,” one of the guards was saying. “You do what you want.”

  “But —”

  “Our shift’s over,” said the first guard impatiently. “So what if the next guards haven’t arrived?”

  “We’re supposed to wait till they get here….”

  The first guard snorted. “Wait all you like. I’ve got better things to do.”

  Hardly able to believe his luck, Tom watched through the eyes of his shadow as the first guard set off down the hill toward the city. After a moment’s hesitation, the second guard followed. The gateway was clear.

  Tom swiftly pulled his shadow back to him.

  “Now’s our chance,” he told Elenna, jumping up into Storm’s saddle. He held out his hand and helped Elenna up behind him. “Quick, before the replacements get here.”

  Storm burst out from the cover of the trees and galloped through the unattended gate into the castle’s courtyard, with Silver just behind.

  Tom and Elenna leaped off the stallion and gazed around in awe. Malvel’s castle was built entirely of polished black stone, and streaked with gleaming stripes of red that pulsed like veins.

  The trapdoor Kerlo had described was difficult to miss. It was so big it took up more than half of the courtyard.

  “Just the right size for a giant,” said Elenna grimly.

  “Malvel must have taken Cypher down here,” said Tom, walking over to where a huge iron ring was set into the trapdoor. “There’s no other way he would have gotten him below the ground.”

  Storm whinnied and Tom glanced up at him. “We’ll have to take Storm and Silver with us,” he decided. “It’s too risky to leave them behind. The replacement guards will be here soon.”

  Kneeling down, Tom took the huge iron ring in his hands. He braced himself, and pulled.

  Tha
nks to the great strength given to him by the golden breastplate, he was able to pull it easily, and the trapdoor opened with a gentle creak. A gigantic hole was revealed beneath it. Damp stone steps led down into darkness.

  Tom lifted the huge door to shoulder height and rested for a moment. It was taking all of his strength to hold it.

  “I’m going to have to push the door right open and let it fall,” he said to Elenna. “Keep Storm and Silver out of the way.”

  “Won’t that make too much noise?” Elenna asked, urging Storm and Silver back. “The guards will come running.”

  “We have no choice,” Tom replied as he hefted the door upward. “We’ve got to get down there and find Cypher.”

  He pushed the trapdoor all the way up, then let it fall backward to the ground with a thundering crash.

  Tom could hear shouts of alarm from deep inside the castle. “Follow the steps down!” he yelled to Elenna, grabbing Storm’s bridle. “The guards are coming!”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  THE TOMBS

  THEY RACED DOWN THE STEPS INTO THE yawning blackness of the tunnel. Tom yanked hard at the two long loops of rope that hung on the inner side of the trapdoor. Creaking and groaning, the door heaved slowly upward and then came crashing down into place. Tom, Elenna, and their companions crouched in the gloom and listened as guards ran into the courtyard above them. Their muffled voices drifted down through the trapdoor.

  “What was that noise?” one said. “For a moment, I thought the master’s castle was crashing down about our ears.”

  “Sounded like the trapdoor,” grunted another.

  Tom held his breath. What if the guards figured out that there were intruders underground?

  A third guard scoffed. “The only way to open that door is with a team of men and some of the master’s most powerful horses. It’ll be the giant, no doubt, kicking and screaming belowground.”