122
School hero
🎓

It takes you just an instant to decide.

Whipping out your wand you cry "Fiel fresa fusila fuego!" and flames shoot out, bathing the dungeon in flickering light. No way are you going to let Slumblebore down and the insects take over - you are going to save the school!

You were aiming your magical fire at Azog but he is too nimble and leaps out of the way.

"You will regret your choice Arthur," screams the spider king in outrage. "Insects, attack!"

From out of cracks in the walls, ceiling and floor crawl millions upon millions of arthropods: beetles, woodlice, ants, millipedes, earwigs, spiders in a great stream heading straight for you.

This time you don't hesitate. You turn and flee.

Your heart pounding, you run back out of the dungeon up towards the school. But you are not running out of cowardice. You have a plan.

When you reach the enchanted door that leads down into the dungeon you dash through and slam it shut. You can hear the enchanted locking mechanism clicking shut.

There's only one way for the insects to get past the door now - through the keyhole. You turn and wait, your wand at the ready.

As soon as you see the first hairy little leg poking out of the keyhole you use your wand as a flamethrower shouting "fiel fresa fusila fuego" again and again until your voice is hoarse.

The air is full of the harsh high pitched cries of dying arthropods and the sizzle of roasting chitin. But still the insects come, propelled onwards by the Great Azog's iron will.

You are getting tired now, your arm is sore from being held up so long and you can feel your reserves of magical energy running out. You cannot hold out much longer.

For a moment the magical fire from your wand flickers and dies.

Then three things happen simultaneously:

One: Azog, sensing his chance, launches himself through the keyhole aiming straight for your face.

Two: Aaron and Slumblebore run round the corner to see you standing alone against the numberless insect foe.

Three: You draw your compass from your pocket, thinking that even as your magic fails you will be able to stab a few more of the blighters with the pointy end before you are overwhelmed.

Then...

Azog flies through the air, fangs at the ready, just as your arm holding the compass comes up. He impales himself on the point of the compass, which buries itself deep in the spider king's abdomen.

The last words of Azog the Great are "Arthur... you have broken my heart...". Then a trickle of blue blood seeps out of the wound and Azog is no more.

With Azog a gonner the rest of the arthropod hordes lose all cohesion. When Slumblebore cautiously opens the door to the dungeon they are fleeing in all directions, and will trouble the school no more. Slumblebore lets off a few more blasts of fire to encourage them on their way.

"You did it Arthur!" cries Aaron. "You saved the school - the evil has gone!"

You stand still and listen carefully. Aaron is right. You cannot sense evilness any longer. The dungeons have been cleansed.

"Well done indeed Arthur," and Slumblebore, turning back to you. "I had a feeling that you were the special one. Without you I fear we would have been overrun by insects by now."

"It was Eric Knid," you say to Slumblebore. "It was Professor Knid who summoned the insect army, with Azog the spider king. He is down in the dungeon now unconscious. Azog bit him."

"Eric did you say? Well I'm not surprised. He always struck me as a bit of an odd fish. Nevermind we will pick him up in the morning and I shall give him an official reprimand. And if he does it again I will have no choice but to put him on a performance improvement plan."

"But you Arthur, what else can I give you but my most heartfelt thanks." You can't suppress a broad grin and feel a warm glow in your heart at Slumblebore's praise. "You truly are a hero, a hero of Hogsnorts School."