The Pearl Quest (7 page)

Tia thought of sunshine and warmth. Instantly the storm was gone. The smashed hailstones turned to puddles and steamed in the sunshine.

She put her foot on the sapphire. Before Andgrim could blink she was behind him, on a ledge above his head.

‘Where are you?' the red dragon bawled.

Tia sat on the ledge, regal as a monarch on her throne. ‘Here. Now will you grant me an audience with their majesties?'

‘Never!'

Andgrim drew a breath to hurl a stream of fire at Tia. She put her foot on the ruby. Strands of red light shot from it and enclosed Andgrim. He was frozen inside a time bubble. His astonished, angry face stared out as the bubble floated in front of Tia.

‘Release him!' an imperious voice said.

The DragonQueen and her mate had flown in to see what the commotion was about. More dragons and dragonets landed behind them.

‘Yes, majesty,' Tia said reverently. She kept one forefoot on the ruby and stabbed the bubble with a claw on her other. The bubble turned to red powder and Andgrim fell to the ground in an undignified heap.

Tia glided down to land in front of the royal dragons. Finn hurried to her side. They dipped their heads in a respectful greeting.

One of the dragonets nudged another. ‘What's the copper freak doing with that gold dragon?'

It was Tia's old enemy, Torkil the bully. He was Finn's enemy too. Soon he was going to be very surprised indeed.

‘Help me with the necklace,' Tia said to Finn.

Her DragonBrother carefully unhooked the chain and the necklace slid to the ground.

‘I have taken back the jewels of power from the High Witches and now I return them to the DragonQueen.'

‘Who are you?' the DragonKing asked.

A green dragon standing next to the queen spoke up: ‘I know her.' It was Freya, Tia's DragonMother.

If the occasion hadn't been so solemn, Tia would have rushed up to Freya. She'd missed her dreadfully. Instead she stood proudly in front of the DragonQueen.

‘Welcome home, beloved DragonDaughter,' Freya said formally. She turned to Finn, ‘And to you, my dear DragonSon.'

‘Didn't know he had a sister,' Torkil muttered. ‘They're two freaks together – gold and bronze, huh.'

Andgrim had recovered his dignity well enough to cuff his son. ‘Quiet!' he hissed.

‘It's time for you to reveal yourself,' Freya said to Tia.

Tia stretched out her clawed forefoot for the last time and gripped the opal. She thought of herself as she really was.

A huge gasp went up as the golden dragon vanished and human Tia stood in her place.

‘It's the witch-brat!' Torkil screeched. It earned him another cuff from his father.

The DragonKing scooped up the necklace and fastened it around the queen's neck. The dragons trumpeted their triumph till the sound threatened to dislodge the snow from the mountain tops.

When the tumult died away the DragonQueen beckoned to Tia. She stepped forward and the DragonQueen shielded her with a wing.

‘Let no-one call Tia Freyasdaughter, a witch-brat. From henceforth she is to be known as Tia, the DragonChild.'

The mountains rang again with the exultant bellowing of dragons and Tia thought she would burst with pride. She was truly a DragonChild at last.

Tia, Finn and Loki sunned themselves on the rocks at Drakelow. The other dragonets lolled about too, watching the large dragons gathered in a meeting on the plain below.

‘What do you think they'll decide to do about the High Witches?' Tia said. ‘I mean, apart from Ondine. She's allowed to stay in Holmurholt because she helped me.'

‘I heard that as soon as we go back to our keeps in the Eldkeiler Mountains, the witches are going to be banished. They're each being sent to an island off the coast. They're going to be forbidden to do magic,' Finn said.

He nudged Tia with his nose. ‘Have you decided what you're going to do?'

‘I've decided to go and stay with Mama for a while, so we can get to know each other. But I'm a DragonChild now. Mama will have to understand that even though I love her, I love my DragonMother
too.' Tia sighed. ‘It's hard dividing yourself between two mothers.'

‘You're lucky,' a dragonet snarled. It was Torkil. ‘Some of us don't even have one mother, thanks to your precious Ondine and her sisters.' The young dragon launched himself angrily from the rock and flapped away.

‘What did he mean?' Tia asked Finn.

‘His mother was killed in the war for the jewels,' Finn said.

Tia had known Torkil was motherless but not why. It would explain why he disliked her.

‘I'm sorry about that, she said, ‘but it wasn't Mama's fault. And she lost me and Papa. I wish I'd found him too, then Mama wouldn't be lonely when I'm not with her.'

Finn sent out dense swirls of smoke. ‘And I wish I could find
my
father. Don't forget, he vanished during the war with the High Witches.'

The two friends looked at each other.

‘Finding our fathers can be our next quest!' Tia said.

Loki cawed in protest. ‘Haven't you had enough adventures?'

Tia and Finn didn't hear him. They were too busy making plans.

Deep in a cave in a faraway land, a sleeping man woke, as he had once in every year for eight years. Candles flickered all around him, bathing the cave in soft yellow light.

He sat up and wondered where he was. He rubbed his face and noticed a ring on his finger. It puzzled him until he remembered:
I have a wife, and I have a daughter
, he thought wonderingly.
A fearless little child who loves nothing better than to run barefoot through the woods
.

‘I must go to them,' he said. He struggled to feet. What was that shape in front of him, blocking the way out of the cave?

With a jolt he realised it was a dragon. An enormous sleeping dragon.

A cold wind blew through the cave. The candles guttered and died. A profound cold seeped through the man's bones. He sank to the floor as his eyelids drooped, closed.

He began the ninth year of his slumbers.

First published 2014 by A & C Black,
an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square
London WC1B 3DP

www.bloomsbury.com
Bloomsbury is a trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Copyright © 2014 A & C Black
Text copyright © 2014 Gill Vickery
Illustrations copyright © 2014 Mike Love

The right of Gill Vickery and Mike Love to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.

eISBN: 978-1-4729-0451-5

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