94
School hero
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It takes you just an instant to decide.

No way are you going to join forces with a bunch of insects and take over the school! The school is just fine the way it is. The only problem is... you are not sure how Azog is going to react when you tell him you are not joining his insect army.

You fiddle nervously with something in your pocket and realise it is the golden ring that dropped out of Kensley's pocket. Almost without you noticing it slips onto your finger.

Immediately there is uproar in the dungeon.

"Where did he go!" Azog is roaring out. "Where is the chosen one!"

Insects are scuttling to and fro, Azog is still shouting, but not one of them is looking at you.

Then it dawns on you: the ring must be have made you invisible! You remember that the writing on the ring said 'In ghostly darkness shroud you' and now you are completely hidden by its powerful magic.

"Never mind the boy!" roars Azog. "We rise without him - follow me!"

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 for the dungeon door and up into the school.

Back flat against the wall and hardly daring to breathe, you wait for them all to pass - a great river, a torrent of arthropods - and when the last millipede has marched out of the door, you wait another five minutes and then quietly tip toe after them.

Sometime later when you emerge out of the dungeon door into the school, the atmosphere is still, quiet, menacing. But there is a faint hum of noise - coming from the Great Hall.

You quietly slip into the Great Hall from a side door, and have to jam your fist into your mouth to stifle a shriek of horror.

The insects, led by Azog, have wasted no time in herding all the students and teachers out of their beds and into the hall. The students are sitting on their benches looking terrified, and at the front of the hall you see the teachers. They are wrapped up in an impossibly large spider web, stuck fast. Surrounding them all on the walls and the ceiling is the numberless insect army.

You look up and this time you can't prevent a little gasp. Slumblebore himself, the greatest wizard of the age, is spun up like a dead fly and is dangling upside from the ceiling, slowly spinning on an enormously thick silk thread fixed to his ankles.

On the stage Azog is haranguing the crowd with his harsh, strident voice.

"...and no more will insects be trodden on, squashed and abused. The Order of the Arthropods has begun and you will all acknowledge me, me me..." Azog's voice echoes strangely around the room.

Despite your crippling fear you know what you have to do.

Walking softly around the edge of the Hall, you creep on to the stage and behind Azog, the spider king.

Protected by the invisibility of your magic ring, no one notices you as you quietly, oh so quietly, step towards Azog, who continues to cajole and threaten the students.

You raise your foot and bring it down in one swift movement, right on top of Azog.

Squelch.