by Gill Vickery
To the DragonTwins, Issy and Ellie
Contents
Map
The Story So Far…
Chapter One The Mines of KulaFoss
Chapter Two The Rescue
Chapter Three The Crystal Shaper
Chapter Four Yordis
Chapter Five Into KulaFoss Castle
Chapter Six Chimneys
Chapter Seven The Secret Passage
Chapter Eight The Crystal Cavern
Chapter Nine The Water Traders
Chapter Ten The Opal
Map
The Story So Far…
Tulay was a peaceful land until a family of High Witches stole the DragonQueen’s necklace, set with six jewels of power. The High Witches divided the jewels between themselves and used their power to drive the dragons away.
In revenge, a dragon took the youngest witch’s daughter, Tia. Raised by dragons, Tia now wants to prove she is a true DragonChild by recovering the jewels and returning them to the DragonQueen. Her DragonBrother, Finn, is with her on the quest.
Tia and Finn first stole back the emerald, which grants the power to talk to animals, from the High Witch Malindra who ruled the town of Drangur. Now they are on their way to recover the opal, which grants the power to shapeshift. The jewel is kept by the High Witch Yordis in the town of Kulafoss.
Chapter One
The Mines of KulaFoss
Tia and Finn had been walking from Drangur for three days.
‘Those valleys and mountains don’t look any closer to me,’ Tia grumbled, staring at the horizon where the hills rolled away in a blue haze. She was very tired after walking through endless grassland.
‘They are, really,’ her DragonBrother said. ‘We should reach Kulafoss by nightfall.’
‘We’d get there a lot quicker if I could ride you,’ Tia said.
As she knew he would, Finn stopped in his tracks and glared at her.
‘I’m a dragon, not a horse,’ he said. ‘I’ll carry you in an emergency and that’s all.’
Tia patted his soft hide. ‘I know.’ He’d rescued her when she’d fallen from the top of Drangur castle and flown her to safety. It hadn’t been easy; he was only a small dragon, though strong.
Tia knew she shouldn’t tease him. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I just need to rest a bit.’
They sat on the grass and Tia flopped against him. ‘Tell me about Kulafoss.’
Finn had been there when he was very young, before all the dragons had fled to Drakelow to hide from the High Witches. ‘At the end of a valley is a cliff and a huge waterfall plunges down it – it’s the biggest in the whole island. The water comes from snow-melt off the Eldkeiler Mountains.’ Finn sounded wistful: the mountains had been his home until the witches drove the dragons away.
‘Where’s the castle?’ Tia asked.
‘It’s carved out of the rock half-way up the cliff-face. The waterfall is right next to it. The castle’s ugly but very impressive.’
Tia jumped to her feet. ‘Let’s go – the quicker we start, the quicker we can see it.’
Finn puffed out a few smoke rings. ‘I’ve been saying that for ages,’ he objected.
‘Come on then!’ Tia strode ahead as if she’d never complained of being tired. Finn followed, smoke streaming from his nostrils.
By the time they arrived at the open end of the valley it was night. Moonlight shone on the river flowing down it, and on the grassy slopes scattered with rocks and scree. There were trees growing further down the valley, though it was hard to see them properly; it was very dark in there.
‘Shall we stop here until it’s light?’ Tia asked.
Finn agreed but as they made their way towards the valley entrance Tia began to feel uneasy.
‘I think the spell to keep dragons away will cover the whole valley. You ought to change yourself so the spell can’t see you,’ she told her DragonBrother.
Instantly his hide rippled with shadows that matched the darkness they had walked into. ‘It’ll be hard work to camouflage myself all night. Let’s go above the valley and sleep there. If you think it’s outside the spell boundary,’ he added.
‘That would make sense, wouldn’t it?’ she said. She didn’t tell Finn that she could see, from the corner of her eye, a faint shimmer like a gossamer thread running round the rim of the valley. When she looked at it straight on, it disappeared. She didn’t want to tell Finn because she feared he might tease her and say she could only ‘see’ the spell because she was a witch-brat: that was what the other dragonets had called her, and she was afraid it might be true.
They settled in a dry hollow a short distance from the edge of the valley and Tia leaned against Finn’s warm hide.
She was dozing off when he sat up suddenly, and she slithered down with a bump as he pointed to the other side of the valley. ‘What’s that?’
Tia peered into the darkness and saw a line of wavery yellow lights.
Dragons had sharper eyes than humans and Finn soon saw what the lights were. ‘They’re lanterns – people are coming this way.’
As they got closer Tia could make out a group of women walking in a straggling file. She and Finn watched as the line came to a halt and the women held their lanterns up high. The lights illuminated a dark hole in the hillside framed by thick wooden beams. ‘What’s that?’ Tia said.
‘There are crystal mines here,’ Finn said. ‘I think that’s the entrance to one.’
‘Look, someone’s coming out of it.’
There was a murmur of excitement from the group as the first miner emerged.
‘It’s a child!’ Tia said.
More and more children stumbled out and were hugged by their mothers.
‘They look very tired,’ Finn said.
‘It’s not right!’ Tia said. ‘How can their parents allow it?’
‘Perhaps the witch makes them do it with the power of the opal,’ Finn said.
Tia thought about that as the filthy, exhausted children were collected and led away down the valley. She clenched her fists and vowed that she would not fail to steal the opal and set the children free.
A horrible grinding noise made her jump, and she looked across at the mine entrance. Rocks were sliding down the slope towards it.
One woman still waited there. ‘Magnus!’ she called. ‘Where are you?’
A little boy appeared. He was so tired that he swayed and rested against the wooden frame. His mother ran forward to help but before she could reach him, a shower of rocks and boulders tumbled over the entrance with a horrible rumbling.
‘Magnus!’ the woman screamed. ‘Magnus!’
The little boy was trapped inside the mine.
Chapter Two
The Rescue
The boy’s mother pulled frantically at the rocks piled up in front of the mine entrance. The other women and children ran back to help her.
‘We’ve got to do something!’ Tia said to Finn.
Finn didn’t argue. He grasped Tia in his claws, changed his skin to the colour of night and flew across to the other side of the valley. As they landed, Tia said, ‘I’ll go down and help. Wait here.’
She scrambled off along a path winding down the rocky hillside, her feet slithering on loose shale. She reached the mine and started to help pull away the smaller rocks. Everyone was too busy to ask who she was. Soon only one huge boulder was left, wedged up against the entrance.
‘Magnus!’ The little boy’s mother beat her hands against the stone.
‘Mama!’ a tearful voice called faintly from inside.
A big, strong woman put her arm round Magnus’s mother. ‘Now, Solay,’ she said, ‘let’s all push together and see if we can move this rock away.’
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sp; The women and children arranged themselves around the boulder and put their hands on it. ‘Push!’ Solay shouted. Everyone heaved at the rock but it wouldn’t budge. They pushed and pushed until they were exhausted. It didn’t move an inch.
They stopped and stood, panting. ‘It’s no good,’ Solay sobbed.
Tia looked up to the top of the valley and could just make out Finn amongst the shadows. ‘We can do it,’ she said. ‘Let’s have one more try.’
Now the women and children looked at her curiously. ‘Who are you?’ Solay said.
‘I’m Nadya. I’m a Trader. I got lost during a fog and I’m searching for my people.’ Tia had used this story before. ‘I saw what happened and came to help.’
‘A little slip like you!’ said the big woman who’d comforted Solay.
‘Leave her be, Halla,’ Solay said, choking back a sob. ‘At least she tried to help.’
‘I’m sure I felt the rock move, just a little bit,’ Tia said. She smiled at Solay. ‘Let’s try again.’
Halla shook her head. ‘It won’t move.’
‘We have to try,’ Solay said and braced herself against the rock. One by one all the women and children joined her. Tia made sure she was last. As Solay shouted, ‘Push!’ Tia waved at Finn, in a gesture that meant, Come and help.
He glided down on silent wings, hovered and dug his claws into cracks in the stone. He pulled hard just as everyone pushed. The rock swayed to one side.
‘Push again!’ Tia shouted. They heaved, and Finn strained at the boulder tugging as hard as he could. He flapped his wings fast for balance and a whoosh of air swept over the group round the boulder. Some people looked up, startled, but then Solay shouted desperately, ‘Push!’ and the strange draft of wind was forgotten as shoulders and hands shoved at the stone. With a mighty effort Finn wrenched it away, and Magnus tumbled out into Solay’s arms. Finn let go of the great rock and soared up to the top of the valley, out of Tia’s sight.
Halla clapped Tia on the back, almost knocking her over. ‘You were right, Trader girl – thanks to you, we got Magnus out.’
‘It was working together,’ Tia said. That was true, but only because Finn had been on their team.
‘You’re on your own then, while you look for your parents?’ Halla said.
Tia nodded. She was tired, and hoped she wouldn’t make a mistake if Halla started questioning her.
The big woman hugged her. ‘Come back with me for a meal and a bed. You’ll have to sleep with the animals but as you’re a Trader you won’t mind that.’
After Solay had thanked Tia, the exhausted women and children made their way back to the town of Kulafoss, trudging down a stony path halfway up the valley side.
As they went further into the valley and through the trees Tia heard a muffled roaring sound. ‘What’s that noise?’ she asked Halla.
The woman laughed. ‘Wait and see!’
One by one the women and children left the line to enter small houses built into the hillside. Soon only Halla and Tia were left. ‘Not far now,’ the woman said. They walked on and the roaring noise grew louder.
‘Look.’ Halla pointed towards a steep cliff forming the end of the valley.
Tia gasped in astonishment at a white sweep of waterfall thundering down the cliff into the foaming river below. A moonbow stretched from side to side in a shining silver arc. Tia stood rapt until clouds drifted over the moon and the moonbow faded.
‘Come on, girl – I’ve not got all night,’ Halla called. Tia hurried after her into a little house set amongst trees.
What was that noise?
Tia yawned and opened her eyes. A bright sunbeam shone into the tiny room. The noise that had woken her sounded like a rushing wind.
It’s the waterfall, she thought and sat up.
‘Mind your elbows!’ a voice said.
‘Sorry,’ Tia apologised to the young goat she’d accidentally prodded.
The goat looked at her in astonishment. ‘You understand me!’ he said.
‘Oh!’ Tia’s hand flew to the emerald she kept on a chain under her shirt. The magic jewel allowed her to speak to animals but she wanted to keep it a secret.
Another goat got to her feet. ‘She’s probably a witch like Halla,’ she said.
‘I’m not a witch,’ Tia insisted. She hated the fact that her birth mother was one of the High Witches who’d stolen the DragonQueen’s jewels of power.
‘You must be,’ the nanny goat said, ‘or you wouldn’t be able to talk to us.’
‘Just a minor witch,’ Tia mumbled reluctantly. Minor witches could only do simple magic like sparking fire or charming warts; they weren’t dangerous, so no-one took any notice of them. If Tia pretended to be one, it would stop the goat wondering how she could talk to animals.
She brushed straw from her clothes and crossed to the window, carefully avoiding a curled-up little sheep and the mice scurrying from under her feet.
She leaned out of the window and the thundering of the waterfall sounded even louder. Halla’s house overlooked it, and in the bright morning sun a rainbow arched across the misty river and hundreds of tiny droplets shimmered in the spray.
But though it was beautiful, Tia was more interested in the grim and forbidding castle carved from the rocky cliff.
She shivered and looked away, towards the big stone houses, shops, inns and other buildings rising up on either side of the river. Above them, built into the hillside, were smaller houses like Halla’s, all linked by stony paths. Trees grew up the hillside wherever there was space. Not many people were about, just a few who were opening up their shops.
Halla poked her head through the curtains dividing the living rooms from the beast fold. ‘Come and have breakfast,’ she said.
Tia had been too tired to eat much the night before and felt empty. ‘I’m coming!’ she said and rubbed her stomach as it rumbled loudly.
Chapter Three
The Crystal Shaper
‘My, you have a good appetite!’ Halla said as Tia pushed away her empty plate.
‘I’m always hungry,’ Tia said. ‘Can I do some jobs for you, to repay you for the food and bed?’
‘I do need more fuel gathering for the fires,’ Halla told her. ‘But wait until the men and children have left for the mines.’
‘Why do children work in the mines? And where do the men work? I didn’t see any last night.’
‘The men work in newer mines where the crystal is easy to get at,’ Halla said. ‘The children are used in the old mines where you can only find crystal that’s hard to reach and it’s an advantage to be small.’
‘But it’s so cruel!’ Tia’s life with the dragons had been hard and lonely but she’d never been forced to labour.
Halla nodded. ‘It is. And we don’t want to allow it but there’s nothing we can do. The High Witch Yordis uses the DragonQueen’s opal to force us to obey her.’
‘How?’
Before Halla could tell her there was a knock at the door and she went to let in Solay and Magnus.
‘Magnus was too tired to speak to you last night but he insisted on coming this morning to thank you,’ Solay said with a big smile.
The little boy looked at Tia shyly and said, ‘Thank you for helping Mama to roll away the rock. I was very scared in the mine.’ His eyes filled with tears and he turned to his mother. ‘Mama, do I have to go back?’
‘Yes, but I’ll make sure to be early and come inside the mine to fetch you. That won’t be as scary, will it?’
Magnus shook his head.
Solay picked Magnus up and hugged him. ‘That’s my brave boy.’ Tia could see that Solay’s own eyes were shiny with tears. What could the witch Yordis do with the opal that frightened people so much?
A low sound like lots of drums beating sounded from the stone streets running by the river. ‘We have to go,’ Solay said and hurried out with Magnus. The drumming noise grew louder and louder.
‘What’s that?’ Tia asked.
Halla laughed grimly. ‘The sound of people going to the mines.’
Tia ran to the door and looked out. Dozens of men and children, some with their mothers, were tramping in wooden-soled shoes towards the end of the valley.
‘Aren’t you going with them?’ Tia asked Halla as they watched the workers trudge away, heads down, not talking.
She shook her head. ‘I only went with Solay yesterday to keep her company – she’s my sister.’
‘What do you do?’ Tia asked her, hoping Halla would tell her about being a hedge witch.
‘I’m a washerwoman,’ Halla said. ‘That’s why I need a lot of fuel for my tubs, to heat the water.’
Halla took Tia outside and showed her a crude sledge pulled by two straps. She gave her a large ball of leather strips.
‘When you’ve loaded wood onto the sledge, tie it down with these. Now, off you go and fetch me as much timber as you can.’
The sledge wasn’t too heavy and Tia pulled it along the pathway and up into the trees quite easily. But instead of starting to collect wood she left the sledge and went back to the town to look round.
Now the miners had gone the town was busier: servants in the grand houses hung bedding out of windows to air and others scrubbed away at stone doorsteps. Well-dressed people went in and out of the shops, chatting happily and buying all sorts of goods. The fine shops had wonderful things for sale: jewellery and beautiful clothes and more kinds of cheese and pastries than Tia had known existed.
The most fascinating places were the crystal-shapers’ workshops. Their windows had displays of uncut crystal that looked like jagged stones encrusted with blue frost. Amongst them were shaped crystals of different sizes, from tiny to several inches across. All were rectangular and as clear as polished glass.
As Tia stared through one of the windows a man carefully placed a crystal, mounted like a little mirror on a gold stand, in the middle of the display. He smiled at Tia and beckoned her in. Curious, she went inside.