© 2012 Mark L. Forman.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Shadow Mountain ®. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of Shadow Mountain.
All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Forman, Mark, 1964–
Albrek’s tomb / M. L. Forman.
pages cm.—(Adventurers wanted, book 3)
Summary: Newly-named wizard Alexander Taylor joins a familiar company of adventurers on a new quest to discover the fate of the legendary dwarf Albrek, find his mythical tomb, and locate the lost talisman that could be the key needed to save the entire dwarf realm.
ISBN 978-1-60908-892-7 (hardbound : alk. paper)
1. Young adult fiction, American. [1. Orphans—Fiction 2. Teenage boys—Fiction. 3. Wizards—Fiction. 4. Dwarves—Fiction. 5. Magic—Fiction.]
I. Title. II. Series: Adventurers wanted ; bk 3.
PZ7.F7653Alb 2012
[Fic]—dc23 2011028997
Printed in the United States of America
R. R. Donnelley, Crawfordsville, IN
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my family, who is always there for me
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
A New Quest
Reunion
Thraxon
Benorg
East by North
The Lost Fiddler
The Paladin's Tale
Road to Danger
The Nagas
Dunnstal
Across the Open Sea
The Isle of Bones
Salinor
The Road to Kazad-Syn
The Third Bag
The Hellerash
The Cursed City
Necromancer
Return from Darkness
To the Golden Rocks
Albrek's Tomb
The Dragon Returns
The Oracle Returns
The Crown of Set
A New Home
Discussion Questions
Acknowledgments
Well, it’s time for acknowledgments again, and I’m still not certain how this is supposed to work. How do you really thank so many people for everything they’ve done? Well, I’ll give it a go, and if I leave someone out, I’m sorry.
Right up front I want to thank you, the reader. You are the people who make this all possible, and without you these stories would just sit in a computer file gathering . . . well, whatever the electronic equivalent of dust is. I thank you all and hope that the stories never let you down.
Special thanks to my editor, Lisa Mangum, who saves me from myself and makes people believe I know what I’m doing when I write. I should do more than just thank her, I should probably apologize for all the headaches I’m sure I’ve given her. Lisa, the next bottle of aspirin is on me.
Thanks to Chris Schoebinger, the big cheese at Shadow Mountain. I still don’t know what his real title is, but he’s still getting things done. Somehow he always finds time to answer my questions, read my work, and point out some of the bigger problems before the story ever gets to the editor. (Lisa, you might want to split that bottle of aspirin with Chris.)
Credit should also be given to Brandon Dorman, the illustrator. I’m always surprised and excited to see what the new cover looks like, and somehow it is always better than what I imagined.
Special thanks to Richard Erickson, Art Director. I’ll be honest and say that I don’t think I’ve ever met Richard, and I have to take other people’s word that he’s out there. I think Shadow Mountain must keep him locked in his office, working on projects all the time, but I’m glad he had time to work on mine.
And finally, a big thank-you to all the folks at Shadow Mountain who didn’t get their names put into type. I know there are a lot of people doing a lot of hard work to make this happen, and I thank you.
Chapter One
A New Quest
The heat from the furnace was intense. Alex stood close, sweat dripping off his nose as he watched the small porcelain bowl filled with several lumps of true-silver ore. He was working in the smithy that his father had installed inside his magic bag, but no matter how hot the furnace got, the ore in the bowl simply would not melt. Alex moved back to the workbench, checking the book he’d been reading.
Alex had taken up working in the smithy as a hobby on the advice of his teacher, Whalen Vankin.
“Focusing on something nonmagical will give you a chance to work with your hands as well as relax your mind,” Whalen had said. “If you think about magic all the time, you might not notice the normal things that are going on around you.”
As Alex reread the page that explained how to work with true silver, he heard an odd tutting sound. He straightened up and looked around the room. The furnace hissed, the bellows pumped, and the true silver remained unchanged. He returned to the book, but he’d already read the information three times. He snapped it shut in frustration.
Another sound met his ears: a soft humph.He looked at the furnace again, but nothing had changed and the sound wasn’t repeated. He moved closer, checked the status of the true silver again, and finally shut off the waterwheel that worked the bellows. The smithy was quiet, except for the furnace that continued to hiss and moan as it cooled.
Alex carefully removed the bowl from the furnace and poured the lumps of true silver onto the sand-covered table. He tried to bend the lumps or twist them—he even took one piece to the anvil and hit it with a hammer—but nothing he did made a dent.
The tutting sound came again, much louder now that the waterwheel and the bellows had stopped. Alex felt someone—or perhaps something—was watching him. Turning slowly, he scanned the smithy. He was alone, but the feeling of being watched remained.
“Who’s there?” Alex asked out loud.
Silence.
“I know there’s someone there,” said Alex. “You might as well speak up because I willfind you, one way or another.”
He heard a soft humphfrom the far side of the room, a humphthat said, “I doubt it.”
“Come now, show yourself,” said Alex. “I won’t hurt you.”
Again there was no reply.
Alex sent out a bit of magic to search the room as he tried once more to coax the hidden watcher out. “I’m being as nice as I can about this. Please, show yourself before I have to force you into the open.”
The silence remained, but Alex’s magic had found something. There was a small creature standing behind the books on the far side of the room. Alex had no idea what the creature was, but he didn’t think it was dangerous.
“Very well, if you will not show yourself, I will have to use magic to force you into the open,” said Alex.