The Shrine of Avooblis Read online

  Dagdron didn’t reply and the boys walked in silence back to the gates of Bodaburg. The headmaster was gathering all the first years close to Mercer’s stall. The fire had been put out, but the stand was burned and useless.

  “Oh, hello, Earl,” Elloriana said as she emerged from the crowd with her arm strung through Byron’s. Gordon and Landon were walking behind them, carrying all the bags filled with Elloriana’s purchases. “Will you please help carry my wares to the academy? I don’t want them to get crushed.”

  “Of course, Princess,” Earl said, reaching out to take some of the bags from Gordon and Landon.

  “Earl, that’s exactly what she did last year on our first visit to Bodaburg,” Dagdron said. “I thought you were over your slave phase.”

  “Why don’t you help this year, rogue?” Elloriana said.

  Dagdron, sick and tired of richies, cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled, “Headmaster Gwauldron!” The headmaster looked over. “These two are socializing a little too much. I think they’re going to end up in Bodaburg.”

  Elloriana’s mouth dropped open as she yanked her arm away from Byron’s. The headmaster, usually inclined to favor Elloriana and Byron because of their royal prestige, was forced to address the situation since the first years all looked, trying to see which students were breaking the rules. One of the first regulations each student learned at the Adventurers’ Academy was that they were forbidden from mingling with adventurers of the opposite sex.

  Byron scowled and drew his sword. Dagdron darted out of the gate and up the trail before there was a confrontation. He would let the headmaster sort out the situation.

  Dagdron spent dinner time in his tree and, as he expected, Earl brought him food later that night.

  “Why did you do that to Elloriana?” Earl asked as Dagdron ate the shredded meat and carrots with his dagger. “You know she has to pretend to be on Byron’s side if she’s going to get information from him.”

  “What does that have to do with making you her slave in front of everyone?” Dagdron asked.

  “She has to maintain a certain attitude if Byron’s really going to believe she’s interested in him.”

  “What type of attitude?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “You’re saying she has to have the snobby attitude that all richies have.”

  “Not all of them,” Earl replied formally. “Byron, yes, I’m beginning to believe he is like that.”

  “Because you think he’s against Lordavia.”

  “No, I just refuse to take your antagonistic view on life.” Earl moved to the side and practiced his sword fighting stances as Dagdron finished eating.

  When it was getting dark, Elloriana and Lita joined them at the quest tree.

  “Thanks a lot!” Elloriana said. “I had to waste an evening talking to Byron and the headmaster instead of studying magic.”

  Dagdron didn’t reply and pulled out the blue orb. Before he could give it to her, Earl forced the princess to sit down in the soft grass. The warrior and Lita positioned themselves behind her and, only then, did Earl allow Dagdron to place the glass ball in Elloriana’s hands.

  Elloriana cupped the sphere, focusing her mind on its powers. Exactly like before, the orb glowed brighter and Elloriana was thrown backward. Earl and Lita caught her fall, but her arms were spread out like before and her face was etched in a daze. Dagdron had been ready and caught the orb as it was flung in the air.

  “I didn’t expect any better,” Dagdron said as Earl and Lita hoisted Elloriana between them. They carried her body inside the academy, watching out for any teachers, and made it to the corridor of the girls’ tower. From there, Lita lifted the princess of Lordavia over her shoulders and carried her up to the second floor.

  “She’s amazing,” Earl said, a gleam in his eyes.

  “Do I need to turn you in to the headmaster as well?”

  “No, I just admire her. I’m not in love with her.”

  Dagdron and Earl headed to their bedroom. Dagdron lay down on the floor immediately, but Earl vocalized their wonderful day in Bodaburg as he got ready for bed, and then hummed happily until he fell asleep.

  Dagdron, assuming Earl was talking in his sleep, woke up in the middle of the night. He turned over to look at his roommate, but realized the sound was coming from under his own bed. Wendahl’s orb was shining through the cloth wrapping. Dagdron darted his hand under the bed and grabbed it. When he cupped the orb in his hands, it shot out a beam of light, leading Dagdron out into the hallway. Once outside the room, the orb’s beam extended down the corridor.

  The rogue followed the guiding ray to the stairwell, to the entrance hall, and over to the classroom tower, where it took him down to the rogue section. He was just about to enter the right corridor, when he stopped suddenly, thrusting the orb in his pocket to hide its light. At the end of the hallway, Headmaster Gwauldron was holding the two Arches of Avooblis as he muttered an incantation. The crystals were glowing blue but didn’t accomplish anything visible, since the headmaster, frustrated, stopped his chanting abruptly. Dagdron had just enough time to dart back to the middle corridor and hide in the shadows. He waited noiselessly until the headmaster was on his way up the classroom tower.

  Dagdron entered the right hallway, walking to the end where a tapestry with a woven dagger on it hung. He lifted the tapestry, and the sphere glowed, showering blue light even from within in his cloak.

  “What?” Dagdron said quietly. Indented in the stone wall was an archway with AVOOBLIS spelled out along its curved top.

  Dagdron stepped back, letting the tapestry fall back into place. He took a moment trying to piece together everything Wendahl had told them about the Arches of Avooblis and the fact that a wall in the Adventurers’ Academy had a magical engraving of an arch. As he walked back to the bottom of the staircase, he looked at the gray walls. In all his time at the academy, he had never given a second thought as to why the rogue’s classroom corridors were made of gray stone, while every other part of the academy was dark brown. He had always assumed the color had been chosen to suit the more sinister attitudes of rogues, but as he remembered what Wendahl had said about an ancient wizard having created the arches, Dagdron deduced that that wasn’t the case. This portion of the academy must have been built long before, he thought.

  Dagdron pulled the parchment he had carried around all summer, claiming the Arches of Avooblis had been created in Coastdale. Considering that, along with the book the headmaster had given him, and now finding this hidden wall, Dagdron could only come to the conclusion that the headmaster had also been involved with the anonymous note. But why had he wanted him to go to Coastdale? Dagdron wondered.

  Making up his mind quickly, Dagdron used his dagger to cut “No they weren’t” on the lower portion of the parchment. He made a quick stop in one of the rogue classrooms, grabbing a spare dagger, and made his way to the entrance hall and then to the sixth floor at the top of the boys’ tower. He held the parchment against the brilliant blue door, staking it in place with the spare dagger.

  Dagdron was done being the headmaster’s pawn.

  Chapter 10: The Shrine of Avooblis

  Dagdron laid low for a couple of days to see if the headmaster reacted to his dagger message. In the meantime, in the evenings, he questioned Earl about the history of the academy.

  “Why did the headmaster build the academy all the way out here?” Dagdron asked. He was lounging on his bed as Earl sat excitedly on his, happy that Dagdron was showing interest in the Adventurers’ Academy.

  “Because he thought the students could learn better without outside distractions,” Earl explained matter-of-factly.

  “There weren’t any villages here before?” Dagdron glanced down as he ran his finger along the blade of his dagger.

  “No, that’s why Headmaster Gwauldron chose it. There were never any cities established this far north because of the heavy snow during the winters. No one wanted to be stuck here, which
cut down on many people passing through. Now there’s Bodaburg, but the headmaster can run the academy without interferences.”

  “No one wants to be trapped here still,” Dagdron said. “Thanks for reminding me.”

  “I know this place is growing on you. You’re finally showing interest in the history after all the facts I’ve told you.”

  Dagdron gave no response and the boys went to dinner.

  The following afternoon, Dagdron returned to his room after a class period where the rogues were required to sneak across the room while wearing a harness of bells. Each time one of the bells jingled, the teacher, who had still never spoken a word, whipped a dagger out and stabbed it into a board he had laid across a chair. Once the rogues had crossed the room, they were forced to dodge all the daggers that had been lined up. Dagdron only had to evade three dagger throws, but Cort, who got so nervous after the teacher staked the first dagger, stumbled during the activity. The teacher pulled out at least twenty daggers in quick succession. Cort’s dodging skills were moderate at best, so he received quite a few slices.

  Dagdron usually beat Earl back to their room, but today, he found his roommate pacing back and forth in frustration.

  “You had a bad class for once?” Dagdron asked, surprised, since Earl always gave him an optimistic review of each class period.

  “No,” Earl said, his tone showing a rare anger. “Take your hood off.”

  Dagdron, unsure why, slipped his hood off his head and took a seat on his bed.

  “Tell me what you’re up to,” Earl said.

  “Nothing” Dagdron said.

  “Stop lying to me,” Earl said. “I know I give you a hard time most of the time, but I really can’t believe after everything we’ve been through that you’re still doing things behind my back. Last year when you asked me about the training grounds, I could tell you were up to something, and I know there is no way you would be asking me about the history of the academy if you didn’t have an ulterior motive.”

  “Earl, you have to accept that I don’t want to be an adventurer,” Dagdron said.

  “You are an adventurer. And you’re a darn good one!”

  “Stop saying that!” Dagdron stood from his bed, whipping out his dagger. “I didn’t want this life, okay? I’m not an honorable rogue. I’m not a hero. I’m not looking for any bard to praise my name in a ballad. All I want is to find out why the Arches of Avooblis ruined my life, and then I can go back to Cliffmount and live alone and happy.”

  “But, Dagdron, I’ve been helping you do that. I don’t understand why you shut me out. My sneaking can’t be that bad, can it?”

  “It’s not that. You’re telling me all the time that things aren’t safe to do.”

  “I’m just trying to be the voice of reason.”

  “That’s the point. You are being reasonable. But, I guess being a rogue, I don’t care. If I have to use other people or secretive means to get what I want, then that’s what I’ll do. I’m never going to be an honorable adventurer. I don’t care if the orb fries Elloriana’s brain.”

  “I know I give you a hard time about living more honorably, but I’ve never admitted to you that using rogue habits is a valid way to fulfill quests. If Headmaster Gwauldron didn’t believe that, then he wouldn’t have put a rogue with the warrior and enchanter statues in the entrance hall. He wouldn’t even allow them in the academy. You can be a rogue and an adventurer at the same time. The way you handled the goblins at the farm was so instinctive. I would’ve just rushed in there with my sword swinging. But your rogue instincts led you to a different solution.”

  “I still don’t want to be an adventurer. I started the tally on my tree to make things more interesting, not because I wanted more quests. Fulfilling that quest for those old people was so awkward. In the stuff I returned to them, they found their dead daughter’s locket that the goblins had stolen. I had to stand there while they blubbered their thanks to me, and then, instead of just giving me my sausages, they watched me eat the entire time. It was horrible.”

  “You didn’t tell me about the locket,” Earl said, suddenly calmed down.

  “I wasn’t supposed to.”

  “You’re a true hero. You healed those villagers’ pain. Every time I think your heart is shrouded in darkness, you prove me wrong. I’m sorry I got so upset at you.”

  “That doesn’t change anything.”

  “Why won’t you tell me what you’re up to?”

  “Because I don’t want your life to be in danger.”

  “You’re serious,” Earl said, placing his hand over his heart. “You’re really trying to protect me.”

  Dagdron quickly put his hood back on to hide his face. “The arches ruined my life, and I don’t even know why. Rance is after us, and who knows if Mercer and Kemp still hate us. Maybe the headmaster is even our enemy. I found something a couple of nights ago that made me realize the secrets of Avooblis are probably much deeper than we thought.”

  “At least tell me what you found.”

  Dagdron explained how the blue orb had led him to the dungeons and about the arch indentation he had found there.

  “If the arches were created by an ancient wizard, how could that insignia be on the walls of the academy?” Earl asked.

  “That’s why I was asking you about history. I’m sure you know the academy is made of dark brown stone except—”

  “For the basement of the classroom tower!” Earl interrupted excitedly. “I always thought rogues just preferred the gray stone. But maybe it was here before the Adventurers’ Academy was built.”

  “Wendahl acted very surprised when we thought the arches had been formed in Coastdale. And so I left a message for the headmaster.” At Earl’s goading, Dagdron explained exactly what he had done.

  “Dagdron, Headmaster Gwauldron is going to be so upset,” Earl said with a terrified face.

  Dagdron shrugged. “He’s been our enemy from day one, so who cares?”

  “Do you think he really gave the note to Chesna?”

  “If what Wendahl said is true, it was either the headmaster or Rance. And Rance had just been impaled with my dad’s dagger. I don’t think he stuck around Bodaburg to do it.”

  “Do you think Wendahl’s in on all of this?”

  “I thought he sounded pretty sincere. He’s strange, but why else would he have sent the blue orb after us?”

  The two boys stood in silence, pondering the facts they had just discussed.

  “Dagdron?” Earl asked, pausing until the rogue looked at him. “Will you please promise to let me help you? I will try to not hound you so often about being honorable, but please don’t hide what you’re doing from me. I know how important finding out about the arches is to you, and that makes it important to me.”

  Dagdron strove to keep his expression blank as he saw tears well up in Earl’s eyes.

  “I know I always talk about how exciting it is to be an adventurer. The fame and riches and being lauded as a hero. But another of the main reasons I knew I could be an adventurer, is because they’re always alone. They don’t need anyone as they travel from quest to quest. I know what you’re going to say, because you love being alone, but that wouldn’t be my first choice. I mentioned it in passing in Lordavia, but I’ve never had any friends. Not any real ones. I’ve tried not to be such a loudmouth and so annoying, but I just can’t. I always bother people.” Earl threw his hands in the air in frustration, looking away from Dagdron. “Even the other warriors make fun of me because of how clumsy I am when I’m not fighting. But you’re the only person who’s put up with my personality and idiosyncrasies. I’m sorry if I annoy you but, in spite of my always optimistic attitude, I really need you as a friend.”

  “I promise,” Dagdron said quietly.

  He knew it was going to happen, but Dagdron still couldn’t prevent it. Earl strode up to him and grabbed him in a huge bear hug. Dagdron, still with dagger in hand, jabbed it into Earl’s abdomen until he released the embrace.r />
  “Other warriors make fun of you in class?”

  “Yeah,” Earl said, shrugging his shoulders.”

  “You always talk about how much you love your classes.”

  “I do,” Earl said urgently. “I love sword battling. I love learning new moves, new stances, different ways to block or parry. I just ignore the other warriors when they jeer at me.”

  “Which warriors make fun of you?” Dagdron asked.

  “Well... All of them,” Earl said.

  “All of them?”

  “Yeah, obviously Byron starts it, but the whole class always joins in.”

  “Okay.” Dagdron shrugged.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Dagdron...”

  “They’re going to pay. Don’t try and stop me.”

  “If you insist.” Earl tried to keep the smile from his face, but he couldn’t.

  “We better go get dinner. We have to make plans for tonight,” Dagdron said.

  Earl freshened up his tear-stained face, and they headed out the door.

  “Can I ask you one more favor?” Earl said.

  “No.”

  “Can you at least try not to enjoy it so much when you’re stealing, pickpocketing, or picking a lock?”

  “No,” Dagdron said, scowling. “Those are the things I like most.”

  “Maybe someday,” Earl said, shrugging his shoulders.

  Close to midnight, Dagdron and Earl headed down the classroom tower. Dagdron lifted the tapestry as he held the blue sphere close to the wall, revealing the arch depression.

  “Wow,” Earl said. He grabbed the tapestry so Dagdron could lift the orb. The ball lurched out of Dagdron’s hands as if it craved to be united with the arch in the wall. The two boys watched, fascinated, as the orb rolled from the left leg of the arch to the right, before dropping out of the indent. Dagdron snatched the ball back up as the wall opened of its own accord.

  “Oh my gosh,” Earl said.

  They entered the chamber at the top of a stone staircase that curved along the wall to the right. Torches cast an eerie light over the chamber below. Against one wall, there were stone shelves with bottles of a variety of colored substances, but their eyes were quickly drawn to the center of the room. An altar was built there with a closed book lying upon it. Surrounding the altar were three arches. They were each taller than Earl, and made of the same gray stone as the rest of the fixtures. One arch stood directly behind of the altar, while the other two had been constructed to the right and left.