Fireball

A Mountain of Surprises

The two went around the mountain to the opening. Almost immediately, Fireball could see that the inside of the mountain held many caverns, varying in size. The strangest thing he noticed was that parts of homes were embedded in the walls and protruded out into the caverns. If the mountain was not here before but was somehow made right in the middle of this community, the dragon was sure many wizards must have died.

The pair moved swiftly through the rooms, searching for any injured, but Fireball was sure Amos' main concern was his friend, Alexander.

They ran into a few wizards who were unscathed or had minor injuries and several dead wizards, but no prince. Making sure the injured were stable, they moved on, promising to come back and help bury the dead. As they travelled farther into the mountain the two noticed more barriers. Amos tripped over several objects protruding from the floor that turned out to be pieces of furniture. He slowed his pace to avoid falling.

Finally, Amos came to a halt in a large open area. The dragon knew the wizard sensed something.

"This way!" Amos pointed to the right. "I think the prince is just over there. Since we don't know whether Marcello or any of his wizard friends are here, we must be careful."

The two continued through the large cavern to a small passageway on the right, passing pieces of furniture and part of a castle turret that Amos clearly recognized. Amos looked very worried, unsure of what was around the next corner, so Fireball stayed alert and flew a little ahead of his friend. There was lots of stone and other debris on the floor, but fortunately no more dead wizards. Amos did not want to see any innocent casualties, but he knew the enemy would stop at nothing. As they reached the end of the passageway it split in two directions. Unsure, Amos asked Fireball to choose. The two turned right again and walked only a few steps before they reached a door. Amos opened the door and they entered.

Amos recognized the room immediately. It was the prince's great room, but something looked different. Amos took a few steps forward but then he ran into something. Fireball also flew into something that blocked him. Amos tried, but he was not able to remove this invisible barrier. Fireball looked past Amos, and he was sure he saw another wizard on the other side of the barrier. The wizard was on its knees but appeared to be moving. Suddenly the figure turned to face them, wand raised. Pausing only a second the wizard swirled the wand and Fireball saw the brightest blue light he had ever seen, racing toward them. The dragon was sure he heard Amos say something with his wand raised, but the explosion of blue light reached them first.