The Fire Thief Fights Back - Softcover

Terry Deary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0753417014 ISBN 13: 9780753417010

Publisher: Kingfisher, 2009

Synopsis

Eden City, 1785. Sam's mother's Magical Medicine Show is going down a storm, especially with Prometheus helping them out. Suddenly they are rumbled. Luckily for them, Zeus is in Eden City looking for the Avenger, and saves them. In return Sam has to help Zeus defeat seven terrifying monsters who have descended on the city. Will Sam overcome the monsters, and can Prometheus survive all this to find a human hero? In the "Fire Thief trilogy", Terry Deary reinvents the myth of Prometheus, the Titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to the human race. To escape the gods' revenge, Prometheus travels through time to the murky metropolis of Eden City. There he befriends a motley assortment of comic characters and learns what use humans have made of his gift.

About this title

About the Author

Terry Deary writes both fiction and non-fiction. The Fire Thief was his 150th book published in the UK, this was followed by Flight of the Fire Thief. The Fire Thief Fights Back completes the trilogy. Terry's books have been translated into 28 languages. His Horrible Histories (Scholastic) series has sold 20 million copies worldwide. Terry has won numerous awards, including Blue Peter's Best Non-fiction Author of the Century.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One

Ancient Greece—But I'm not sure when

The first part of my tale is from a book of legends. "Ha!" you say. "Legends
are just old lies. I want to know the TRUTH." Well, I have met one of the
legends, and I know that HIS story is true. So why shouldn't the other
legends be true? Anyway, it's the only way we can explain what happened to
me when I was a young boy. And THAT was true, because I was there at the
time. SO let's start with ancient Greece, and stop interrupting me with your
moaning about the "truth," will you?

"What do you want, fat face?" the young god asked. He wore a winged
helmet and had wings on his sandals. He carried a rod with a snake wrapped
around it. Even the snake looked shocked.

"You can't sss-speak to your mother like that, Hermes!"

"Oh, go shed your skin, you rattail of a reptile," Hermes replied and polished
his nails on his white tunic.

"You'll be sss-sorry you sss-said that," the snake hissed. A goddess lay on
a golden couch and scowled at the winged god. She was so beautiful that
you could hardly bear to look at her. Her dark hair fell in a curling cloud over
her shoulders, yet she never used curlers and hardly ever had to dye it.
If you could bear to look at her, you'd have seen her face turn red with rage
and her lips pull back tightly over her gleaming teeth. (And she never had to
go to the dentist.) Somehow she controlled her temper.

"I am Hera, queen of the gods, wife to the mighty Zeus, and ruler of the world.
Speak to me like that, and I will punish you like no god has ever been
punished, Hermes."

He blew on his nails and gave a warm smile. "Oh, knock it off, Mom. You
won't punish your dear little Hermes."

"Why not?" she spat.

"Because you need me! I am the messenger of the gods. If you didn't have
me to run errands, you'd be tramping from here to the Caucasus Mountains,
from Troy to Atlantis, just to make mischief."

She narrowed her eyes. "Mischief?"

"Yes. You know you like to go around making trouble, because you get
bored, don't you, Mom?"

She raised her beautiful chin and looked through the window of the marble
palace to the lake below and the mountains beyond. "Mischief is my job. It's
what gods do."

Hermes walked across the shining marble floor, his winged sandals fluttering.
He leaned over the goddess. "Anyway, you must want something or you
wouldn't have called for me."

"Maybe."

"Oh, come on. What is it? You want me to kidnap some human maiden
who's caught Zeus's eye? It wouldn't be the first time."

Hera glared at him, and then her face became softer and almost tearful. Her
voice was low. "It's more serious than that, Hermes. Zeus is gone."

The winged god threw back his head and laughed. "Gone? So? He's always
off somewhere, the old goat. He'll be back. He always comes back to
Olympus."

Hera blinked away a tear. "Not this time, Hermes. Not this time."
She looked around to make sure that there were no servants watching and
reached underneath the couch. She pulled out a scroll of yellow parchment
and unrolled it carefully. Hermes peered at it. There was a message there,
but not in the usual stylus and ink.

"What's this?" Hermes asked. Even the snake stretched its neck to look.

Hera explained. "Someone has taken another scroll, cut out the letters, and
stuck them onto the parchment."

"They've ruined the scroll!" Hermes said and sighed.

Hera shook her head. "What has that got to do with anything, idiot boy? The
point is that they sent this message."

"But why didn't they just write it?" Hermes asked.

"Because they didn't want us to know who sent it!" Hera said wisely.

Hermes nodded and read the message:

"Dear Hera,
I have captured Zeus. I cut out the tendons in his wrists and knees. He
cannot run. He cannot throw his thunderbolts. He is helpless. He is a
prisoner in Delphyne's cave. I will not tell you where he is unless you bring
me his crown so that I can rule the world. You have until sunset to obey, or
Zeus will lose an eye, an arm, or a leg every day till, on the last day, he
loses his head. I mean it. The crown, or your hubby gets it . . . and I don't
mean a vacation in Crete.
Your sincerely,
The secret kidnapper—Typhon"

Hermes turned as pale as his feathers. "The Typhon? The most hideous
creature in the whole world! And now he's going to rule the world."

"Not if you set Zeus free," Hera said softly.

"Not if I set Zeus free," Hermes agreed. Then he swallowed hard. "ME!" he
squawked. "This is a job for a hero—Hercules or Prometheus. Someone who
doesn't mind being blasted by a hundred dragon breaths. I'm a messenger,
Mom! Why should I go? Why can't someone else rescue Zeus?"

Hera grabbed her son by the front of his tunic. "Keep your voice down. Listen.
Everybody hates Zeus . . ."

"Well, I wouldn't say everybody, Mom. I know you do . . ."

"If Hades in the underworld gets to hear about this, he'll be up here like one of
your father's thunderbolts. He's always wanted to rule Earth. And Poseidon
down in the sea would leap like a dolphin at the chance. We've already had
to defeat the revolt of the giants . . ."

"Ugly brutes," Hermes agreed. "Their mother, Gaia, was furious!"

Hera nodded her head quickly. "And that's why Gaia created the Typhon—for
revenge." She shook the letter under Hermes's nose. "This is it."

"But you still aren't saying why I have to go after the Typhon, Mom. He's a
monster."

"He's half human." Hera shrugged.

"Oh, yes!" Hermes squawked. "It's not the human half that I'm worried about!
It's the half that has a hundred fire-breathing dragon heads under his arms
and the serpents that are wrapped around his legs!"

"Nothing wrong with sss-serpents," Hermes's snake hissed.

"There is when they can stretch out as high as his head—and he's as tall as
this palace!" Hermes moaned.

"Sss-sorry, I'm sss-sure!"

"Every one of those dragon heads spits fire," Hera explained. "He can heat
rocks with his breath and throw them at you."

The snake sighed. "I can't do that."

Hera turned to Hermes. "You are the only one I can trust. If Poseidon or
Hades takes over Olympus, they'll destroy you."

"Me? What have I ever done? I'm only a poor little messenger of the gods. I
never did anyone any harm. Not one single god," Hermes whimpered.

"You are the son of Zeus, and that is enough," Hera explained. "They will
crush you—or shut you down in Hades's underworld forever."

Hermes shuddered. "But how can a little old feathered fool like me beat a
serpent-snapping, fire-frizzling fiend like the Typhon?"

Hera lay back and thought. "First you have to find your father . . ."

"But the Typhon says in the letter that he won't tell where Zeus is hidden."

"The letter also says that Zeus is a prisoner in Delphyne's cave. The Typhon
isn't very bright."

Hermes looked miserable. "Are there no heroes brave enough to fight the
Typhon? Someone who could battle with the monster while I sneak inside the
cave?"

Hera shook her head. "When the Typhon first appeared, the gods all fled to
Egypt or disguised themselves as animals."

"Chickens," Hermes mumbled.

"Yes, chickens—or rabbits or ducks," Hera agreed. "Only Prometheus would
have been brave enough to tackle the Typhon."

"Even Prometheus is hiding," Hermes said with a sigh.

"Ah, but he's not hiding from the Typhon," Hera said. "He stole fire from the
gods and gave it to the humans. He is being hunted by the eagle-winged
Avenger."

"Can't we bring him back? Offer to pardon him if he rescues Zeus?"

Hera shook her head. "He's traveled through time—he's thousands of years
into the future. If the Avenger can't find him, then we have no chance. Only
Zeus could track down Prometheus . . . and Zeus is a prisoner of the Typhon.
It's your job. You're Zeus's son."

Hermes puffed out his cheeks and blew. "And a son's got to do what a son's
got to do. I'll go and get my maps," he said and fluttered sadly out of the
great marble room.

***
The god Prometheus was also flying. Flying far out in the galaxy of stars. A
strange monster flew by his side. A man with 50 heads on top of his square
body and 100 arms—50 down each side. He was the guardian of the gates of
the underworld—the Hecatonchires—and he was escaping.

The two legends slowed as the...

Edition details

• Publisher: Kingfisher
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0753417014
• ISBN 13: 9780753417010
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224