Quest for the Arcane Crown by Yajat Sharma (good inspirational books TXT) 📕

the animals here. They will be more than eager to eat fresh meat.

“We accept!”

There was a momentary silence before the voice spoke again.

The first test is a riddle! I just love riddles. They are exciting and -

“Will you just get on with it?” The Scavenger cut short his blabber.

Here you go…

It gives us warmth, it gives us light,

We light it in the darkest night,

Do not take it easy, for it has might -

James got the answer to the riddle even before it was over. “It’s fire!”

My, my, that was quick. Now for the second test. I will sing a song for you. Once you hear the song, you will have to find a thing that the riddle in the song will mention. And, beware, I am not going to repeat it. Just remember what you can. So, here it is…

Listen, O friends, listen careful-e

If you get confused, don’t blame me

You won’t get the chance again,

Don’t try to give me pain.

Look around, and notice the trees,

One of them has what you seek,

But you won’t get it, unless you say please

To me, Oh yes, to meeeeeeeeeee!

To pass the second test, you have to think,

Combine the puzzle pieces and connect the link.

You have to rack your brain,

So that you can win and gain.

This forest is full of dangers,

There’re some park rangers,

But hidden very deep,

Protecting a trunk to peep.

Get that,

And you will be blessed,

Go and hurry; I don’t have time,

Escape a monster, covered with slime

You will find the place on the cliff,

You have to be a master sheriff.

You have time till sundown, don’t fail.

Or you will be drowned, by deadly hail.

The voice went silent.

“What was that?” Matt asked, looking at James expectantly.

James nodded. “Don’t worry. I have captured the lyrics in my mind. We have to find a trunk of sheep, which are protected by guardians. And the place is in the Cliff, wherever that is. We have to get that trunk to the Joker before sunset, and if we don’t, we will drown by a hailstorm. Also, there’s a slimy monster involved…”

The earth rumbled, a growl erupted from the bushes, and a monster about ten feet tall tumbled out. It was covered with slime and its features were indistinguishable.

“RUN!” the Scavenger yelled. The monster was hot on their trail.

“Where to?” Archer shrieked, racing fast. He was thankful now for the training sessions the Scavenger had made them undergo.

“To the Cliff!” the Scavenger shouted as he whizzed past the trees and bushes, manoeuvring their path to fool the monster.

The Scavenger’s strategy was working.

The monster was slowly catching up with them. It was a rare species – a type of Cartoraz. The only way to defeat it was to dry its protective layer, the slime.

The Scavenger knew the Cliff was at least a two-hour run and the monster would surely catch them at this rate.

He directed the children away from the monster and waved a sword at it, provoking it to make it come after him. The Scavenger raced towards a tree, but just before he could hit it, he jumped and stretched his legs forward, and that gave him momentum to somersault backwards, landing behind the monster. The monster was coming with full speed. It couldn’t stop, and it crashed against the tree with great force. The tree toppled and fell on top of the monster.

The Scavenger instructed fast, “Daniel, I want you to bind the tree with roots, vines, branches, trees… anything... to keep the monster under.”

Daniel nodded and extended his hands and closed his eyes, but nothing happened.

“Too… much… pain,” Daniel said, trying to calm his breathing. “The spirits of the trees are in pain with dryness, and they need -”

“Water?” James said, stepping forward. “I am on it.”

He sprayed water on the trees. The grey leaves and branches turned green. Daniel at once summoned his creepers, roots, branches and trunks, which captured the monster beneath the tree. Matt threw powerful bursts of wind at the monster, keeping it under the tree.

“Archer, I want you to burn the trees,” the Scavenger shouted.

Archer was confused. “But then won’t the monster escape?”

The Scavenger shook his head. “The trees of this species are fire resistant. The fire will slowly desiccate the slimy coat, and the monster will burn to death. Just do it!”

Archer nodded and did just that. The monster shrieked and howled as he burnt to ashes.

When the monster was completely converted to ashes, they restarted their journey.

They soon emerged in a clearing and saw a trunk lying in the centre. The trunk was shaking, probably due to the movement of sheep inside it.

Archer was about to step forward when the Scavenger stopped him. “Wait. Looks like there is a trap.”

The Scavenger was right. Suddenly, warriors carrying swords shot out from the bushes.

They slashed their swords at the Scavenger’s head, but he ducked, quickly unsheathing his Lightning Sword.

The warriors backed away from the Scavenger, and the trio circled each other.

“Who are you?” one of the warriors questioned.

“Don’t bother!” The other warrior cut him short, waving his hand in the air. “I know what’s going to happen. You are going to try to take the trunk, and we will kill you in the process.”

The Scavenger laughed. “I won’t be so sure. I bet you are the rangers the Joker spoke about.”

The first one banged his fist into his other hand. “Rangers! I hate that word! It’s always rangers, not protector, not guardians, not defenders, never! He just needed some word to rhyme. Couldn’t he have used our names?”

“Anyway,” the other warrior broke in, “my name is Ling. And this is Ming.”

“We want the trunk,” the Scavenger said.

The ranger sighed. “But we just can’t let you take that. We are cursed by Arcane to obey the Joker’s wishes.”

“I see,” the Scavenger said. He was stalling for time as he planned his attacks. “Why did he curse you?”

“We were two mischievous twins, causing trouble everywhere. It was the time when Arcane was assigning protectors to guard the pieces of the Crown. He assigned Joker as one. But