Epos the Winged Flame Read Online Free PDF

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 herflinging 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.

C HAPTER T EN

T HE F INAL A NSWERS
    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