The Sapphire Quest (2 page)

Tia had never heard of so much money. No-one would help her if that was the reward Skadi offered for her capture. She'd have to hide quickly – but where?

A scraping noise from the end of the street made Tia put out the flame and spin round. To her astonishment a trapdoor rose up and three children, one of them very small, climbed out into the street. They closed the trapdoor and scurried off.

Tia wondered who on earth they could be. She hurried to the end of the road and saw an alley running behind the houses. Feeling sure that the children had gone that way and wouldn't see her, Tia hauled on an iron ring set into the trapdoor. It lifted to reveal a gaping black hole.
Let's see what's down there
, she thought.
It might be a useful place for me to hide
.

She clicked another small flame onto her fingertip and leaned into the hole. Inside it looked like a cellar; maybe an old store for fire-rock. There were stools and a table and shelves. As she wriggled forward to take a better look, something shoved her in the back and she tumbled into the blackness. She banged her head as she landed, and fell into an even deeper darkness.

‘Is she dead?' a small voice asked.

‘No,' another voice answered. ‘She knocked herself out. Serve her right for breaking into our cellar. It's a good job we heard the trapdoor creak and came back to see what was happening.'

Tia's head ached, but she was glad to know she was alive. She opened her eyes. Sitting in front of her, their backs against the wall, was a girl of about her own age and a very small boy. Light came from an oil lamp standing nearby.

‘You're awake then,' the girl said.

Tia struggled up and discovered that her wrists and ankles were tied. ‘I'm not dangerous,' she said. ‘I was just looking in your cellar because I need a place to hide.'

‘That's because you're a thief, running away from Skadi. We saw the poster. There's a big reward offered for you.'

Even though Tia's head was hurting, she thought quickly. The children wouldn't be able to turn her in to the High Witch without being caught themselves. ‘You're hiding as well, aren't you?' she asked.

The girl glared.

‘Does Skadi want you?' Tia went on, trying to sound friendly.

The girl nodded slowly. ‘She wanted our family,'
she said, hugging the little boy, ‘to punish our father for daring to ask her not to take people. Father was her steward and she made him go and haul marble in the quarry. He was killed. She made Mother her maid and my older brother, Ingvar, and me chimney sweepers.' She hugged the small boy tighter. ‘And she said she'd take Sindri to be her son.'

Tia thought about her DragonMother, Freya, who'd brought her up as her own DragonChild. She was kind and Tia loved her. Skadi wasn't like that. ‘What happened to your mother?' she asked.

‘The High Witch took her. She tried to run away with me and my brothers but Skadi appeared. Mother struggled with her and Skadi had to let go of us. Mother shouted, “Run!” So we did. I looked back and saw Skadi take her. We're going to wait until Mother finds us again one day.'

Tia remembered her father promising to find her when the great dragon Andgrim snatched her away.
I'll find you, Tia! I'll find you and bring you back!
he'd called. She was still waiting.

‘I was stolen too,' Tia said.

The girl's eyes widened. ‘Who took you?'

Tia couldn't tell the truth, that Andgrim had kidnapped her because her mother was one of the High Witches who'd stolen the dragons' jewels of
power. ‘Malindra,' she said, ‘the High Witch of Drangur. I'm good with animals and she wanted me to help look after her menagerie. When her emerald of power was stolen and the people caught her, I ran away. My parents are Traders and they'd moved on. I've been going to all the towns trying to find them.'

Noises from overhead put an end to the conversation. The trapdoor opened and a boy swung down, locking it behind him.

‘Ingvar!' The little boy leapt up and hurled himself at his brother. ‘Have you brought us lots to eat?'

Ingvar put a sack onto the table. ‘Plenty of food!' he said. ‘But I couldn't finish all the tasks by myself. It's a shame you had to stay behind after I pushed her in here.' He jerked his thumb in Tia's direction. ‘Now we need to decide what to do about her.'

He and the girl went into a corner and talked in low, urgent voices while Sindri rummaged in the sack. Tia wondered where the food had come from and what Ingvar had meant by ‘finishing tasks'.

Ingvar and his sister nodded in agreement and came back towards her.

‘Bryndis says she trusts you – that's good enough for me,' the boy said. He untied her bonds. ‘You can hide here while you look for your parents.'

‘Thank you.' Tia rubbed her tingling wrists and ankles. ‘Can I do anything in return?'

‘Maybe tomorrow night. Now we eat and then we sleep while it's day.'

The food Ingvar had brought was very good. There were steaming pies wrapped in cloth to keep them warm, crusty bread, cheese and fruit.

When they'd finished and cleared away Bryndis showed Tia to a heap of blankets by the wall. Her bag was on the top. ‘You can sleep here.'

Tia thanked her and lay down. She wished she was snuggled up to Finn with the stars overhead and Loki nearby, sleeping with his head under his wing. But she was warm and safe here. Now she'd be able to look for the sapphire and plan how to steal it from Skadi.
It's strange, though
, she thought as she drifted off to sleep,
they live in a cellar but their food is good and these blankets are thick and warm – and clean
. Before she could puzzle about it any more she was fast asleep.

‘Wake up!' Tia opened her eyes to find Bryndis shaking her. ‘We need to get going. Ingvar wasn't able to finish the tasks by himself yesterday and we'll have to start as soon as possible tonight to make up for it.'

Tia scrambled to her feet, wondering what the mysterious tasks were.

Ingvar went first, unlocking the trapdoor and peering out cautiously before pulling himself up into the street. Tia, Sindri and Bryndis followed. They ran silently down the shadowy alley and round the streets until they reached the back of the castle. It was encircled by a moat with water plants, lush shrubbery and trees growing around it.

They stopped at the water's edge.

‘How are we going to get in?' Tia whispered. ‘We can't swim the moat, we'll get soaked.'

Bryndis rolled her eyes at her elder brother as if to say,
What a weakling!
Ingvar laughed and reached into some shrubbery. He untied the end of a hidden rope knotted to a branch, and tugged. A small boat floated out from among the reeds. Tia and Sindri climbed into the back while Ingvar and Bryndis took the oars. They rowed across the moat, leaving silver ripples in their wake.

As they drew nearer, the bright moonlight lit up swarms of grotesque marble creatures covering the castle. They peered from window frames and round corners, from roofs and sheer walls that they clung to with long claws. Their hideous faces grinned down. Tia shivered and looked away.

The boat bumped against a narrow gateway barred by a locked iron gate. Bryndis expertly kept the little boat steady while Ingvar stood and picked the lock. The gate swung open without a sound.
They must keep the hinges well oiled
, Tia thought approvingly.

With the boat moored tightly to the watergate they ran up a flight of stone steps and into the castle. The four of them moved swiftly through shady corridors lit by flickering torches. Tia memorised landmarks
as they rushed past tapestries and fantastic statues, all as ugly as the sneering gargoyles on the outside of the castle.

Abruptly they stopped. Ingvar cautiously opened a huge door and stuck his head round it. He looked out again and waved cheerfully to show it was safe to enter.

Inside was an enormous kitchen illuminated by wavering tapers and a glow of fire-rock from two
great hearths. Shadows danced on a vaulted ceiling supported by smoke-blackened beams. Cupboards lined the walls and a long table with benches on either side ran down the length of the room. There was a heap of clothing at one end and foodstuffs laid out on a white cloth in the middle.

Bryndis tugged Tia's sleeve. ‘Come on.' She led the way to one of the hearths. ‘We need to get the fire going.'

Tia pumped a pair of bellows and Bryndis heaped fresh fire-rock on the embers. When the flames were burning well she put a large pot of water on a rack over the top.

‘Now what do we do?' Tia asked.

Bryndis grinned. ‘We do our tasks,' she said.

The night passed in a whirl of work. The four children washed pans and pots, scoured the flagstone floor, mended clothes, washed laundry and scrubbed shoes. Tia was weary when they'd finished, and hungry.

Ingvar put the last shoe neatly by the hearth and said, ‘Done! Now let's wash and eat.'

Bryndis warmed up slices of cold pie in the stone ovens in the hearth and pushed fish wrapped in wet leaves among the ashes of the fire while Ingvar cut up bread and cheese. Sindri and Tia laid plates,
knives and goblets on the cloth and poured water from a jug. Then they sat at the table and dined in style.

When Tia felt she couldn't eat another crumb, she said, ‘I don't understand – who leaves you this work? Why do they feed you and why do they serve you food on such fine plates?'

The children laughed. ‘It's the castle servants – they think we're night elves who do their work in exchange for food and clothes,' Bryndis told her.

‘Don't they ever try and catch you?' Tia asked.

Bryndis shook her head. ‘They know the elves will leave if anyone tries to trap them.'

Tia had heard stories about elves from the Traders. If you annoyed them they made mischief, so people were always respectful, just in case.

‘And we make sure to leave well before dawn,' Ingvar said, getting to his feet. ‘That way we're never seen.'

Tia was disappointed. She'd hoped to have time to explore the castle and find out where Skadi was and, more importantly where she kept her sapphire.
I can do that another time
, she thought as she followed Bryndis and Ingvar back to the watergate.

In the boat Sindri leaned against her and fell asleep. She woke him when they reached the other
side of the moat and he held her hand all the way back to the cellar.