The Pearl Quest (6 page)

Ondine's face flickered with hope, despair, disbelief, anger. She lowered her arm. ‘Prove it.'

Tia reached for her locket. But that, like the emerald, was gone.

‘I thought so.' The lightning appeared in Ondine's hand again.

A soft thud near Tia's feet made her look down. Her locket and chain lay in the grass.

‘Wait!' She scooped up the locket, clicked it open. She pulled off the scrap of paper covering Ondine's face and turned the locket to her mother. ‘See, you
and Papa gave me this when I was little. Do you remember?'

The bolt fizzled out. White-faced, Ondine took the locket. She looked from Tia to the pictures and back again. ‘Oh, my child, what have I done?'

Tia ran into her mother's embrace.

As they held each other tightly, the pearl on Ondine's forehead glowed, pure as moonlight. It didn't fade until the hurt that Tia and her mother had carried for eight years was healed at last, and the broken bond between them was mended.

O
ndine gave the locket back to Tia. ‘Where did it come from? It just dropped from the sky.'

Tia thought she knew but she had more important things to deal with. ‘I'll tell you later, Mama,' she said hurriedly, fastening the chain round her neck. ‘First, please heal Finn. He's my DragonBrother.'

Ondine gave Tia's hand a gentle squeeze. ‘Of course.'

This time Ondine didn't stop until Finn was fully restored, his skin back to its healthy coppery sheen.

Ondine opened her eyes and Finn promptly disappeared. ‘Where is he?' Ondine said, bewildered.

Tia was surprised her mother couldn't see the little dragon, since Ondine was such a powerful witch.

‘He's still there,' Tia said. ‘He's disguised himself so the spell can't see him and hurt him again.' She glared at Finn. ‘He didn't realise that your spell was especially powerful.'

Ondine glanced up at the shadowy snake still slithering around the hilltops. ‘The attack on Finn weakened it. If he's careful, he'll be quite safe.'

She sat on the grass and patted a place next to her. ‘Come, tell me all that's happened to you.'

Tia told Ondine about being kidnapped, about her life with Freya, Finn and the other dragons, and about her quest to recover their jewels so that she could prove she was a true DragonChild.

‘My sisters are powerful and wicked,' Ondine said. ‘You must be very wily and brave.'

Tia couldn't believe her ears. Ondine was criticising her sisters. ‘But Mama, if they are so wicked why did you help them steal the necklace?'

‘They tricked me,' Ondine said. ‘I travelled to the Eldkeiler Mountains with a swansdown coverlet for the DragonQueen's new eggs. I had agreed to meet my sisters there. We approached the DragonQueen, each of us with a gift. She'd put the necklace round the nest. As we drew near, Malindra pushed me. I put out a hand to break my fall and touched the pearl. Immediately each of my sisters grasped a jewel.
They chanted a spell and I found myself transported with them here to Holmurholt.

‘My sisters worked together to shrink the necklace. They divided the jewels between them and offered the pearl to me.' Ondine shook her head. ‘I wouldn't take it. But the next day they came and told me that the dragons had killed you and your papa in revenge for the theft. I vowed to be the dragons' enemy from that moment on. I gave all my love to the pearl.' Ondine stroked Tia's cheek. ‘As though a jewel could take your place, or Elio's!'

Tia hugged her mother. ‘I'm alive, Mama, and Papa will be too. I'm sure of it.'

‘Perhaps,' Ondine said sadly. She gave herself a little shake and held Tia at arm's length. ‘Now, beloved child, you said that the dragons would send you home if the jewels were returned?' Tia nodded. ‘Then, as you are already restored to me, the jewels should be re-set in the necklace and taken to the DragonQueen. My sisters threw the necklace away: they weren't interested in mere gold. But I thought it was beautiful and kept it.'

Finn sprang to his feet, his sharp dragon ears twitching. ‘I can hear horses coming this way!'

‘It will be my guards,' Ondine said. ‘We'll go back to the palace with them and retrieve the necklace.'

‘I should be with Finn,' Tia said, even though at that moment she wanted to stay with her mother more than anything.

‘I understand,' Ondine said. ‘I'll return as soon as I can.'

Two mounted guards, leading a riderless horse, rode up. The horses started to shy. The leading guard quickly dismounted and gave the horse's reins to his companion.

He ran to Ondine and dropped on one knee. ‘You are safe, Lady! When the horses bolted we were afraid the dragon would overpower you.'

‘Overpower me, the High Witch of Holmurholt!' Ondine said scornfully. ‘As you can see, there is no dragon here.' Tia choked back a snort of laughter. ‘It escaped,' Ondine went on. ‘Your horses are afraid of the smell it left behind.'

Finn huffed. The horses pricked their ears and rolled their eyes.

The guard stood up. His eyes flickered to Tia. ‘You caught the thief, Lady!'

‘She's no thief,' Ondine said and to the guard's astonishment, the High Witch of Holmurholt embraced Tia.

The bemused guard escorted Ondine to her horse and locked his hands into a stirrup. She mounted,
waved goodbye to Tia and galloped away with the guards.

Tia listened to the sound of hooves until all she could hear was wind in the leaves and a wedge of swans honking as they flew down to the lake.

‘She's gone then?' a voice said overhead. Loki was perched on a branch above Tia's head. He held the pouch in one foot.

‘Loki! I knew it was you who dropped the locket. How did you get the pouch?'

‘I unpicked the cord round Finn's neck when the spell caught him. It was a good job I did. When you were talking to the witch I held the emerald and listened. I knew I was right – you had to convince her you're her daughter. That's why I dropped the locket.'

‘Thank you, Loki.'

Loki shook his feathers. ‘And I was listening just now. Trusting her is a mistake. She'll take one look at the jewels and want them all for herself. Then Tulay will be in worse trouble than ever.'

‘But Loki…'

‘I'm keeping them.' The jackdaw gripped the pouch and flew higher into the trees.

‘Loki!' Tia called. It was no use. The bird and the jewels were gone.

T
ia and Finn went safely through the spell boundary to another copse of trees, this one with a stream winding through it.

‘Loki won't give me the pouch,' Tia fretted. ‘He said Mama wants to keep them for herself.'

Finn laughed. ‘Loki always thinks the worst. Don't worry, DragonSister.'

Ondine rode back in the early afternoon with the necklace wrapped in a bundle of soft leather.

‘You need the pearl to complete the necklace.' Ondine took off the diadem and put it in Tia's hands. ‘This was never rightfully mine. The jewels were not intended for human use. You were right to get them back for the dragons – I'm proud of you.'

Tia gave the delicate circlet to Finn. He carefully unpicked the pearl with his claws, gave the jewel to Tia and held out the diadem to Ondine.

‘I have no need of it now,' she said.

Finn flung it far away.

Ondine untied the bundle. Kneeling on the grass, she peeled back layers of cloth and revealed the necklace. Sunlight glinted on the intricately forged pattern of rose-gold. At one end was a chain, at the other, a link with a hooked clasp. In the front were six empty spaces.

‘Now you can put the jewels in place,' Ondine said.

‘No, I can't. I haven't got them,' Tia said.

‘Who has?' Ondine asked, bewildered.

A familiar cawing made them both turn. Loki was perched on Finn's shoulder, the pouch in one foot.

‘Him,' Tia said.

As she reached out for the pouch Loki hopped higher up Finn's shoulder. ‘I still don't trust the witch.'

‘I do, and so does Finn.'

‘Are you and the bird talking to each other?' Ondine asked in surprise.

Tia explained about the emerald. ‘But it's no use when he won't listen to me.' She glared at Loki.

Finn shot a burst of small flames over the jackdaw's head. He sprang into the air and dropped the pouch in his haste. Tia snatched it up.

‘Don't blame me if
she
runs off with the jewels,' Loki mumbled. He settled back on Finn's shoulder, hunched up in a sulk.

Taking care not to be dazzled by the jewels' power, Tia placed each one in in its true setting: the emerald, the opal, the topaz, the sapphire, the ruby and the pearl. When the necklace was complete, the jewels flared with an unbearably intense light. Ondine and Tia threw their hands over their eyes; Finn and Loki thrust their heads under their wings.

The blaze died away. Tia squinted through her fingers at the necklace. She dropped her hands and stared in dismay.

‘It's huge!'

The necklace had reverted to its proper size. It was much too large for Tia to handle.

‘Only a dragon can carry it,' Finn agreed.

Tia sagged in disappointment. After all she'd done to steal back the jewels she wasn't going to be able to return them after all; Finn would have to do it.

‘You'll just have to turn yourself into a dragon again,' Finn said.

‘But…'

Finn held up a forefoot. ‘This is your quest – you ought to finish it properly.'

Ondine smiled. ‘Listen to your DragonBrother. You've earned the right to return the jewels.' She gave Tia a gentle push towards the opal.

Tia bent and touched it. She thought of being a dragon. Instantly, Dragon Tia appeared. She cracked her red-gold wings and spouted a stream of flames. In a burst of elation she sprang into the air, dipping and swooping through the sky.

The spell. She'd forgotten the spell. She curbed her wild excitement and spiralled cautiously back to earth.

She glanced around. ‘I can't see the spell,' she said in surprise.

‘Once the necklace was restored to its true form the spell died,' Ondine said. ‘All the towns and their lands are free of it. The dragons rule Tulay once again, although they don't know it yet.'

Tentatively she reached out and touched Tia. ‘You are a magnificent dragon,' she said, ‘strong and wild. Your DragonMother will be proud of you, as I am.'

‘All dragons are magnificent. That's our nature,' Finn said.

He sat on his haunches and helped fasten the necklace around Tia. He slotted the hook into the first link of the chain to shorten it and draped the rest over her shoulder. It lay low down on her chest but she would be able to fly with it.

Tia snaked her head round and gently nudged Ondine. ‘Will you ride to Drakelow?'

‘Not yet. The dragons will have to know they can trust me first. Besides, I have to go back to Holmurholt. I am still a High Witch and I can use my magic to help people, even without the pearl. If they will let me.'

‘It was the pearl they were afraid of, not you. They'll like you better without it,' Tia said.

‘Perhaps. Now, let me see you fly away.'

‘I'll come back to you, soon' Tia said.

Ondine took a few paces back. ‘Goodbye – for now.'

Tia sprang into the air with Loki flying around her. Finn followed. Higher and higher the dragons went, beating their wings in the sky. They were on their way at last to return the necklace to its rightful owners, the mighty Dragons of Tulay.

A
s the snow-topped Drakelow Mountains rose before Tia she couldn't help thinking of the first time she'd been here. Then she'd been a small child stolen from its parents, clutched in the fist of a great red dragon, Andgrim, brother to the DragonKing. She'd been tired, cold and afraid. Now she was a dragon herself, afraid of nothing. Joyously she spiralled in the air, dived and sailed upwards again, revelling in the freedom of the sky.

A thunderous roaring made her backwing. A flight of dragons, led by Andgrim, was arrowing towards her and Finn. The formation split and gathered in a circle around Tia and her DragonBrother. They had no choice but to allow the Drakelow dragons to shepherd them to the plain at the foot of the mountains.

The whole flight landed in a flurry of churning dust.

Andgrim thundered towards Tia. ‘Who are you? Why are you wearing the DragonQueen's necklace?'

He doesn't scare me
, Tia thought. She drew herself up and said haughtily, ‘I demand an audience with their majesties, the DragonQueen and DragonKing.'

‘How dare you demand anything, you slip of a dragonet!' Andgrim roared, little flames licking his fangs.

‘I dare because I have the jewels of power.' Tia gripped the topaz and thought of a storm. Thunder boomed, lightning cracked, hailstorms the size of boulders crashed around. Even the biggest of the dragons crouched under the onslaught.