The Emerald Quest (2 page)

Eight years! She could hardly remember anything from her human past. She did remember her father's voice calling, ‘I'll find you, Tia… and bring you back.' But there had been no sign of him.

Perhaps he thinks I died when Andgrim dropped me,
she thought sadly.

Tia had forgotten almost everything about her parents – even their names. The only reminder she had was a locket on a chain that she'd been wearing
on the day she was kidnapped. Inside were portraits of her mother and father. They looked so kind.

Most of the dragons were good to her. She was respectful to them and never complained about how cold and hard it was living in the mountains. She worked at her lessons and obeyed the dragons' orders.

But she was a hostage: until the witches returned the DragonQueen's necklace with its jewels of power, the dragons wouldn't return Tia to her parents. And Andgrim insisted that she was dangerous. Freya had told her, ‘Andgrim's brother, Thor, disappeared trying to recover the necklace from the High Witches. Because some of your family are witches, Andgrim thinks you are dangerous too.'

But Thor had also been Freya's husband, and Freya didn't believe Tia was dangerous. She sighed again and went back to writing runes. The book was almost full; she'd need a new one soon.

She jumped up. The Traders were due to arrive today and Freya would buy her a new book from them. She always made sure the Traders provided everything Tia could want: food and clothes, blankets and cushions, books and pens – even a special iron claw to fit over her finger so that she could write runes in the mud of the teaching cave floor just like
the dragonets. The Traders had also taught her how to ride horses, defend herself, light fires, use a sling shot, and cook what she could catch and gather.

She had once asked them to help her escape from Drakelow but they said they couldn't; they needed to be friends with everyone – dragons, ordinary humans and the High Witches – so that they could trade freely in the whole island of Tulay.

Tia ran to Freya's cave, keeping a look out for Torkil on the way.
I hope Torkil and his friends don't take it out on Finn
, she thought. Poor Finn was tormented by the other dragonets because he was her foster brother. Worse than that, he was small for his age and a strange colour. He wasn't green or blue or red as the other dragons were; he was a sort of coppery shade, and he sometimes changed colour, which none of the other dragons did: that really made the dragonets laugh and the more they laughed, the more the colours swirled over Finn's hide.

Tia reached her foster mother's cavern. Although it was huge inside, Freya kept it warm and cosy; a fire burned in a hearth at the centre of the cave and blue smoke curled straight up and out through a vent in the roof. The green dragon was dozing against the far wall when Tia burst in.

Freya opened her glittering golden eyes. ‘What's the matter?' she asked kindly. ‘Have the dragonets been chasing you again?'

Tia nodded. ‘I don't mind,' she said quickly in case Freya thought she was complaining. ‘But I don't want Torkil to bother Finn.' She told Freya what she'd done to Torkil.

‘That wasn't very sensible,' Freya said getting up from her couch. ‘But don't worry about Finn; he'll stand up for himself. And as for you, my little
DragonDaughter…' Freya nudged Tia gently with her nose. ‘Be patient.'

Tia climbed up onto the high ledge of her sleeping platform so that she was level with Freya's head, and showed her the runes book.

‘You've filled it up,' Freya said.

Tia held up her pen. ‘This is wearing out too.'

‘Then it's a good thing that the Traders have arrived.'

Tia flung her arms round Freya's green muzzle and kissed her nose. ‘Can I go and see them?'

‘Of course. I'll go with you as far as the flying ground to see how Finn is doing.'

Tia laughed. Torkil and his friends wouldn't dare torment Finn in front of his mother – Freya was the DragonQueen's sister, after all!

T
he Traders had settled on the edge of a grassy plateau encircled by the lower slopes of the Drakelow Mountains. Their tents and stalls, decorated with brightly coloured flags, were pitched close to the dragons' stony caverns in the mountainside. The flags snapped in the spring breeze and the Traders' shaggy little horses happily munched the grass behind the tents.

Tia saw her friends, Kizzy and Florian. She ran up and hugged them.

‘My DragonMother's given me some silver coins to buy a new book and a pen.'

The three of them went to Kizzy and Florian's tent where their mother welcomed Tia with a big hug.

‘And how is my favourite DragonChild?' she asked with a big smile.

‘I'm fine thank you, Zora. I hope you're well too and that trading is good?'

Zora pressed a sweet drink and a piece of honey cake into Tia's hands. ‘Trading is not as good as it used to be,' she said sitting down on a bench covered in bright rugs. ‘The High Witches have made the country wretched and poor. Now they're quarrelling among themselves and things are getting even worse.'

Zora shook her head angrily. ‘Malindra, the High Witch of Drangur, makes things hardest for us. You know that she took the DragonQueen's emerald and uses its power to talk to animals?'

Tia nodded. Drangur was the nearest of the six towns to the Drakelow Mountains, and Malindra's ways were well known.

‘She combines it with her magic and forces the animals to do as she wants,' Zora went on. ‘She sends dogs and wolves to worry our horses so they take fright easily and then she says they're not worth paying a good price for.'

‘We won't sell our horses there now,' Florian blurted out. ‘She treats them badly.'

‘She sends rats to chew the goods on our stalls,'
Kizzy said. ‘They make our leather and cloth look shabby. People think we're trying to cheat them into buying poor goods.'

‘Don't you explain to them?' Tia asked.

‘They don't want to listen. They're afraid of Malindra's spies,' Zora said.

‘Animal spies,' Kizzy added. ‘They follow you on quiet little feet. You never know if the dog or cat you see in the street is a pet or one of her spies.'

‘The birds are the worst. They can look down on you from anywhere and you never even know it,' Florian said.

‘Those High Witches have a lot to answer for,' Zora said. ‘But take heart – they are falling out because they can't get the jewels to work properly. They can keep the dragons away from the lands of the six towns, and force the people of Tulay to do what they want, but they have to work hard at it. They don't enjoy their power.' Zora laughed.

‘Do you think the High Witches will ever be defeated?' Tia asked.

‘Only if the jewels are restored to the DragonQueen,' Zora said. ‘Enough of these sad tales. What have you come to the Traders for, Tia?'

‘To see my friends,' Tia said, hugging plump Zora. ‘And to buy a book for writing in, and a pen.'

‘Come with me, we have just the thing!'

Zora's husband, Hanzi, rummaged among the hats and jewellery and jackets and belts and books heaped in piles on his stall. He pulled out a beautiful leaf-green, leather-bound book.

‘Oh, it's lovely!' Tia took the book and turned it over and over.

‘And here's a pen to go with it,' said Hanzi, holding out a black pen with a pale grey point that shimmered in the sunshine. ‘The point is made of silver and will write for as long as you need it to.'

Tia paid him then turned to Zora. ‘I'd better go now. Thank you for the honey cake and drink.'

Kizzy caught her hand. ‘You'll come to the bonfire tonight to hear the stories and songs, won't you?' she asked.

‘Of course, I wouldn't miss it for anything!' Tia said. The Traders were famous for their stories. She waved goodbye and ran home to Freya's cavern.

T
he bonfire lit the night sky, flames roaring upwards as though they were reaching for the stars.

All two hundred dragons had settled around the plateau; some crouching on the ground and some looking down from their caverns. There were big dragons, nearly five centuries old, and small ones not much older than Tia. Even the Queen and King's little dragonets were allowed to lie between their parents' feet and listen.

The Traders picked up their instruments and Hanzi started to beat a drum, the sound booming round the plateau. The dragons' eyes glittered in the firelight like rubies.

‘Listen!' Hanzi said, ‘and I'll tell you tales and sing you songs of dragon deeds and dragon lore.'

The dragons roared in pleasure as Hanzi began his stories, and when he sang the old ballads they rumbled along in their deep voices.

At last Hanzi stopped for a drink to soothe his throat. ‘Are there any requests?' Zora called out.

‘Tell us about Thor's battle with the High Witches and how they stole the Queen's jewels,' a voice called. It was Torkil. He sat opposite Tia and he was looking straight at her with a sly smile on his face.

‘Tell us! Tell us!' the other dragonets chanted, flapping their wings and stamping their feet.

So Hanzi told the story of how the six sisters, the High Witches of Holmurholt, took gifts to the DragonQueen in the garden of the Eldkeiler Keep where the Queen guarded her precious eggs.

‘The DragonQueen had surrounded her clutch with the necklace bearing the jewels of power,' Hanzi said. ‘The sisters stood in a circle round the eggs, one next to each jewel. As they bowed and put their gifts on the ground, each one of them seized a jewel.' Hanzi stooped swiftly and mimed snatching a jewel in both hands.

‘They chanted a spell that spirited them away – and the necklace with them!'

The dragons roared. Torkil glared at Tia and she heard him say to the dragonet next to him, ‘If she knew what we know!' The other dragonet sniggered.

‘She's nothing but a witch-brat!' Torkil clicked.

Tia couldn't say anything; she wasn't supposed to understand the private language of the dragons, but she had learned it by listening carefully.

Hanzi carried on with his story. ‘Knowing that the High Witches would use the jewels of power against them, the DragonQueen gathered up her eggs and flew to the safety of this ancient Keep deep in the Drakelow Mountains. The DragonKing and his brothers, Thor and Andgrim, searched all Tulay for the sisters. Thor found them in their home at Holmurholt, but the High Witches raised a wicked spell and Thor was blown far away over the Southern Seas. He has never returned.'

The dragons rumbled and roared again.

‘Worse was to come,' Hanzi said. ‘The witches used the jewels of power to cast a spell covering the lands of the six towns. It is so terrible and so strong that the dragons can never return until the spell is broken.'

Hanzi raised his arms and began the Chant of Warning that all the dragons knew by heart. One by one they joined in too.

If the jewels of power see a dragon walking warily

On the lost lands of the six towns

The spell will toss them away, tumbling

Like a leaf in a storm.

If the jewels of power see a dragon soaring secretly

Over the lost lands of the six towns

The spell will blast them away, blowing

Like a feather in the wind.

If the jewels of power see a dragon creeping cautiously

Beneath the lost lands of the six towns

The spell will crush them cruelly

Like an eggshell beneath a foot.

By the time Hanzi reached the end all the dragons were chanting loudly: even the littlest dragonet knew the spell-warning by heart. As Tia chanted, she remembered the dreadful force that made Andgrim drop her when he tumbled through the air. She was still very scared of being up high but she was careful not to let any of the dragons know.