“The village needs you here as its leader, Uncle Henry,” he said. Quickly!” Tom looked at his uncle as the men rushed to obey. “The rest of you bring spades to the barn – if we can’t quench the fire we’ll bury it. “Please help! Our barn is on fire!” “Men! Bring your pails to the river now!” Tom’s uncle roared to the crowd. I’ll go.” Suddenly a small boy, smeared in soot, pushed through the crowd. “Send a boy on such a mission? Ha!” “The king would laugh at us for sending a child.” Tom’s uncle spoke quietly. “I’ll go to the palace.” The villagers laughed. One of us must go to the king and request his aid.” Tom stepped forward. “I don’t believe in curses,” said Tom’s uncle firmly. Then King Hugo clapped an arm around Tom’s shoulder, and Aduro walked between Elenna and Silver. The row of six jewels glowed fiercely, filling the throne room with a rainbow of light and power. Tom looked down at the purple jewel that still lay in his hand. “Avantia is impatient to welcome home her heroes.” A liveried servant walked in and draped a soft woollen blanket over Storm’s back, before leading the stallion away for food and a warm stable full of fresh bedding. “We are holding a feast in your honour in the Great Hall today,” King Hugo announced, as he stroked Storm and Silver in turn. They had escaped the swirling red fog of evil Gorgonia for ever. Brightly coloured flags and pennants fluttered on the houses in the distance. The sky was sapphire-blue, and the sun shone gently down on the green land that surrounded the castle. While the King thanked Elenna for all her help, Tom looked out of one of the throne-room windows. You are truly Avantia’s greatest champion.” Tom bowed his head. Where was Arcta? Had the giant somehow been pulled back into Gorgonia? “Arcta has returned to his rightful place – in the mountains,” said King Hugo, sensing his worry. “rubble of his own castle.” Tom felt a wave of relief surge through him as he embraced Aduro, but this was quickly replaced with panic. And now the people who sent the Robobeast are coming this way. He is not welcome here!” “No!” Lia said urgently. “The Breather brought a tech monster to our village. “Why do you return after all you’ve done?” she cried. She looked up, her eyes narrowing to angry slits as she spotted them, and her hand went to the hilt of her coral sword. Max and Lia made straight for the Astarian leader. She was pointing, and calling orders to the villagers, who were collecting scattered stones and piling them into carts. Max spotted the green-gowned form of Elra in the clearing at the heart of the village. Several of the dome-shaped buildings were little more than piles of rubble, and chunks of masonry littered the fields. From above, the damage caused by Repta was all too clear. They passed over the bright kelp and the cannon-blasted seagrass, then dived towards the village. This debut tale in an episodic chain of one-beast-per-volume battles (Tom successfully completes this inaugural quest, of course), makes for a promising start to a fantasy franchise with a likable young hero and a refreshingly wide-eyed, old-fashioned approach to the genre. When Tom arrives at the palace, he learns that problems extend well outside of his village-others report tidal waves and blizzards, all thought to be the work of "the Beasts." The king reveals that the Dark Wizard Malvel is to blame, and recognizes Tom as the son of Taladon, entrusting the boy with a silver key that can unlock the charmed collar on Ferno the Fire Dragon and release the beast from Malvel's control. The author packs a great deal of action into this brief tale. Tom (for whom "the closest he came to thrilling quests was when he ran errands for his uncle") volunteers to travel to see King Hugo and enlist his help. When the crops in Tom's village start to burn and the horses turn up dead, villagers begin to suspect a curse. Tom lives in the village of Errinel with his blacksmith uncle his mother died when he was a baby, and his father left not long after for a quest from which he never returned. This boy-vs.-dragon tale, the first in the BeastQuest series, makes for an ideal pre- Hobbit
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