Beast Quest #1: Ferno the Fire Dragon by Adam Blade

P ROLOGUE

    Q UEST’S E ND
    C ALDOR THE B RAVE STOOD AT THE FOOT OF the misty mountain. The knight’s bronze armor gleamed in the pale morning sunlight. He gripped a heavy sword.
    Turning to his squire, Robin, he used his weapon to point up the mountainside. “I’ll climb above the mist,” Caldor told the boy. “The dragon is close by. I can feel it. I just need to get above the mist so that I can
see
it. For the sake of our kingdom, it must be stopped!”
    “Good luck, sir,” Robin said in a shaky voice, as the knight turned to climb up the smooth, darkslope of the mountain. Caldor struggled to keep his footing on the overlapping plates of rock. They were as slippery as glass, but the knight was determined, and slowly but surely made his way up the mountain. He was soon lost from sight, swallowed by the eerie mist. Robin had never seen a mountainside like this before. With his master gone, he noticed how quiet it was. He shivered, although the air was warm.
    Suddenly, the mountain started to shake.
    Robin could feel the vibrations traveling through his feet and up his legs. He stumbled to one side and a huge shudder threw him to the ground, knocking his head so badly that his teeth clattered. There was a metallic taste in his mouth and he put a hand to his lips. Blood! What was happening? “Caldor!” Robin yelled, scrambling to his feet as the rocks shifted beneath him. “Come back!” But there was no way he could be heard above the grinding screeches that filled the air. The wholemountain shuddered and Robin froze. Was it about to come crashing down?
    Robin looked up and gasped in disbelief. Two huge rocks high above him started to
move.
They stretched out slowly, their razor-sharp edges catching the sunlight. Robin flinched as they swiped through the air like giant ax heads.
    Rolling out of the way, he glimpsed Caldor high above him, clinging to the dark slope of the mountain. The spiked head of a huge beast reared up behind the knight. Its face was the same color as the slippery stones of the mountain. Its eyes glinted with dark fire.
    “Come down, Caldor!” Robin yelled desperately. It all made sudden, horrible sense. The dragon wasn’t near the mountain — it
was
the mountain! And Caldor was barely holding on to the monster’s neck! “Caldor!” Robin yelled again. But a terrifying roar drowned out Robin’s words. He stumbled to his feet, his mouth open in shock.
    Glancing down, Robin realized that his own situation was nearly as dangerous as Caldor’s. He was standing on the dragon’s tail! He wanted to run, but he was frozen with fear. And as he looked up at Caldor, he knew he could not abandon his knight. Robin could only stare in disbelief as the dragon’s wings unfolded overhead, stretching out to beat the air in a deadly rhythm.
    “It’s taking off!” he shouted. “Caldor, quick —”
    “Get back, Robin!” called Caldor, still desperately clutching the creature’s neck. “Go to the city. Warn King Hugo that I have failed in my quest. Run!”
    Robin had no chance to run. The dragon flicked its tail and sent him flying through the air. He hit the ground, shaking and gasping for breath, as the terrifying beast rose up into the air and disappeared into the mist, taking Caldor with him.
    For a moment, Caldor’s screams filled Robin’sears. Then, to his horrified eyes, an empty piece of armor clattered to the ground beside him, scorched and smoking.
    The echoes of Caldor’s screams hung in the air. Then they, too, were gone.

C HAPTER O NE

    T HE M YSTERIOUS F IRE
    T OM STARED HARD AT HIS ENEMY. “S URRENDER, villain!” he cried, waving his sword above his head. “Surrender, or taste my blade!”
    The sword was only a poker, and his enemy was a sack of hay hanging from a tree in the heart of the wood. But then, Tom was not a knight. He was training to be a blacksmith. The closest he came to thrilling quests was when he ran errands for his uncle Henry, who worked the village