Free The Secret of Ashona by Kaza Kingsley Page A

until you force them out as the new king with your scepter.
    I’m still trying to find out exactly where Tarvos is located. As soon as I know, we’ll round up a big group to get Trevor. Do that next quest—I’m sure the Fates know what they’re talking about. Let me know if you need anything, ever.
    Your friend always,
    Rosco
     
    Erec crumpled the letter in his fist. He wanted to do his next quest right now—but here he was chained to his bed. Resting was the last thing he wanted to do. His whole life was being ruined, andeverybody else’s, too, because he was stuck here. Locked up by his mother, sabotaged by his best friend.
    He banged the wall behind the bed and shouted for Bethany, and then his mother. Neither came—they probably didn’t want to argue with him when they had no intention of changing their minds. This was ridiculous. All they had to do was keep him a prisoner here until after noon and he would never get to do his quest.
    He eventually stopped trying to call them, and examined the cords holding him down. They definitely had some sort of magic in them. He couldn’t stretch or break them, even though they were small and soft. So he flopped back onto his bed and tried to resign himself to his new fate. A short life ended by turning evil and then into a Golem.
    Erec must have shut his eyes for a moment, because he almost jumped a mile when he heard laughter right next to him. He turned to see who was there, but couldn’t find anybody. Anger filled him again. Was it Bethany, stupidly trying to cheer him up?
    Then laughs erupted from the other side of the room, startling him again. Nobody was there. Soon chuckles echoed off and on from different corners of the room. Nervous, Erec called his mother and Bethany again.
    They did not come. But out of nowhere, a small, dark man appeared, standing in front of Erec right on his bed. He laughed a sillier version of the more ominous laughter that had been filling his room before. “Are you ready to go? Because you look ready to me. What’s holding you up, boy? Afraid of the dark?”
    It was the Hermit, the strange little guy assigned by King Piter to watch over Erec during his quests. He had a mysterious way of appearing right when Erec was ready to start or end his next quest. Erec had never been happier to see him than right now.
    Today the Hermit was wearing a puffy pink and blue polka-dottednightgown that was far too big on him. It was bunched up around his ankles, and the sleeves hung past his hands. On his head was something that looked like a bright orange diaper. He crossed his arms and tapped his feet impatiently. “Is your life tying you down, Erec Rex? Find you can’t go all the places you want to go?” He giggled.
    Erec held his hands up. “Can you get these things off me? I need to make it to the Diamond Minds of Argos—wherever that is—by noon.”
    The Hermit pursed his lips, hopping off the bed. “Hmm. So I take it that you want to do this quest after all, even though you have gone to all this trouble to keep yourself here?”
    “I do want to go! My mom did this to me. Can you get these off?”
    The Hermit reached under the orange diaper and scratched his bald head. “I don’t know. Let me see.” He whistled a moment, inspecting the cords and tapping them. “Silly boy. All you have to do is blow on these things. Give it a try.”
    Erec blew on one of the cords just as the Hermit snapped it off. “Wow! I didn’t know I could do that.” He blew on the other three in turn, even though he was sure that the Hermit was doing his own magic on the cords before he even blew.
    Soon he climbed out of the bed, exhilarated that he was free. But a moment later he remembered what he had to do next. He was about to go give his life up. How could he do it? Was he really ready?
    “Hermit, am I making the right choice?”
    The Hermit eyed him skeptically. “Do you really think that there is a right choice, Erec Rex? There is no right answer, only