by Gill Vickery
To Alex, a true DragonChild.
Contents
The Story So Far...
Chapter One: The Ice Storm
Chapter Two: Dragonchild
Chapter Three: Into Stoplar
Chapter Four: The Saffron Fields
Chapter Five: The Work Badge
Chapter Six: Purple and Gold
Chapter Seven: Luona the High Witch
Chapter Eight: Loki in Trouble
Chapter Nine: The Ice Prison
Chapter Ten: Stealing the Topaz
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 them and used their power to drive the dragons away.
In revenge, a dragon kidnapped the youngest witch’s child, a girl called Tia. Raised by dragons, Tia 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 High Witch Malindra who ruled the town of Drangur. Next they went to Kulafoss and stole the opal from High Witch Yordis. The opal lets its possessor change into whatever creature they wish.
Now they are on their way to recover the topaz which controls the weather. High Witch Luona has it and she lives in the town of Stoplar.
Chapter One
The Ice Storm
Tia stared in horror at the shrieking ice-storm blocking the pass into Stoplar. She had walked a long way to reach the town and its lands hidden deep in the forbidding Eldkeiler Mountains and now the way was barred by the storm. Raging wind threw splinters of ice like broken sword blades against the towering, frost-coated sides of the pass.
The screaming storm made it impossible to talk to her friends so she pointed to a grove of stunted trees huddling by the river flowing past the foot of the mountainside. The little dragon and the jackdaw nodded in understanding and flew into the thicket.
Tia stumbled after them over the rocky ground, the bitter wind pushing her along like a cold hand. ‘It’s not fair,’ she grumbled. ‘If they’d let me be a falcon again I could move as fast as they can.’
When she reached the trees she found that her DragonBrother, Finn, had started a campfire and pushed a mossy log close to it. She sat on it and warmed her hands at the fire.
‘DragonTeacher warned us that High Witch Luona uses the topaz to control the weather and rule Stoplar, but he didn’t tell us about that ice-storm,’ Finn said. He nudged Tia anxiously with his nose. ‘We need to find another way to get you in.’
Tia patted him. ‘Don’t worry so much, Finn.’ She turned to the jackdaw perched on a rock next to her. ‘As we can’t use the pass, what do you think we should do, Loki?’
‘I think I’m going to find myself some food,’ he said, and flew off.
Tia realised she was hungry too and rummaged in her bag. ‘I’ve only got stale bread and a lump of cheese.’ She skewered the food on a stick and toasted it over the flames.
When she’d finished, she licked melted cheese off her fingers. ‘That was good but I wish I’d brought some sweet pies from Kulafoss before we left.’
‘You were too busy turning yourself into a bird and showing off,’ Finn said.
Tia touched a large opal set into a collar round her neck. She’d used the jewel to turn into a falcon.
‘Don’t change now!’ Finn said.
‘I’m not going to. I was just thinking, I could become a falcon again and fly over the mountains.’
Little puffs of smoke burst from Finn’s nostrils. ‘It’s far too high for a small bird. And you mustn’t use the opal in Stoplar – what if you were seen changing?’
‘I wouldn’t be,’ Tia said indignantly. ‘But I won’t use it.’
Leaves rustled above their heads and Loki flew down.
‘You’re talking about the opal aren’t you?’ he said.
Tia nodded. Though Loki didn’t understand Finn Tia could speak to the jackdaw because she kept the magic emerald with her. It gave her the power to speak to any animal.
‘After you’d been a bird in Kulafoss,’ Loki said, ‘you wanted to be one all the time. If you change into a falcon to get into Stoplar you won’t be able to resist doing it again once you’re there. Remember how Yordis ended up more like a bear than a woman? It was because she couldn’t stop using the opal, and you won’t be able to either.’
Her friends didn’t understand, Tia thought. It wasn’t turning into another creature that was tempting – it was being able to fly!
‘What do you two think I should do, then?’ she asked.
‘I’ll disguise myself and carry you over the mountains,’ Finn said.
Tia flung her arms round the little dragon’s muzzle. ‘No! That’s too dangerous. I know you’ve practised camouflaging yourself but if you make a mistake, even for a second, the spell will catch you.’
She knew the power of the spell cast by the High Witches around each of the lands of the six towns. The dragon who’d snatched her from her parents when she was very small had been caught up in it and tossed through the air like a rag. He’d dropped her and only just managed to scoop her up again before she crashed to the ground. She shivered at the memory and hugged her DragonBrother even harder. He shook her off.
‘It’ll be quite safe,’ he insisted. ‘I’m very good at disguising myself now.’
It was true. Finn could change his colour to match his surroundings perfectly. Not even the spell could ‘see’ him when he did that.
Finn stubbornly stuck to his plan and finally Tia agreed.
‘All right, that’s what we’ll do. When shall we go into Stoplar?’
‘At night time – it’s easy to make myself the colour of shadows,’ Finn said.
Tia looked up at the dusky sky. ‘Shall we spy out the lie of the land by daylight first, to find the best way in?’
Her friends agreed and they settled down for the night.
By the time the stars were out Finn and Loki were sound asleep but Tia was wide awake. Thoughts of flying drifted through her mind: how she hadn’t been afraid high in the sky and how the wind whistled and blew around her; how warm drafts of air lifted her up as easily as a dry leaf and how much she could see looking down from the sky.
She saw herself as a dragon. She couldn’t help it; it was what she wanted more than anything else in the world. When she was very little she’d used a piece of old rope as a tail and flapped her arms pretending they were wings. The dragonets had laughed at her, especially the bully, Torkil. ‘You’ll never be a dragon – witch brat!’ he’d jeered.
Tia snuggled closer to the comfort of her DragonBrother’s warm, soft hide.
When she was in Kulafoss she’d discovered that Torkil was right – she was a witch child. She could raise fire and see spells sparkling in the air. It wasn’t fair! She didn’t want to be a witch – she wanted to be a dragon.
She touched the opal lightly and made up her mind. She’d sneak away before dawn while Finn and Loki were still asleep and turn herself into a dragon. They would never know because she wouldn’t start using the opal all the time as they feared. She could stop whenever she wanted. And anyway, it was all right for them to talk – they could fly.
Chapter Two
Dragonchild
Tia crept out of the clump of trees, taking care not to wake her friends, and scrambled quickly up the lower slopes of the mountain to a big, flat-topped shelf of rock. It was harder to reach than she’d thought and by the time she clambered onto it the moon had disappeared and a few rays of amber and gold light were spreading over the horizon.
She walked
as close to the edge of the big rock as she dared and looked down. At once her head swam and she began to tremble and sweat. Being a falcon hadn’t got rid of her fear of heights: human-Tia was just as afraid as ever.
She stumbled backwards and leaned against the wall of the mountain where she waited until the trembling steadied and her heart stopped pounding like horses’ hooves.
As soon as she was calm she touched the opal and thought of dragons. Images flashed through her mind – red, blue and green dragons, roaring, flying, snorting smoke and breathing fire. In an instant she changed. Her skin became scaly, her nails grew into claws and wings sprouted from her back. She was a dragon.
She roared in excitement and smoke poured from her nostrils, fire from her mouth. It was hot! She hiccupped and the smoke went backwards into her throat, making her cough until her eyes ran.
When she could breathe properly again she strode towards the edge of the rock. It didn’t seem at all strange to be walking on four limbs. And when she looked down to the land below, her dragon self wasn’t in the least bit afraid.
She shook out her wings and flapped them gently. She felt a press of air beneath them lift her slightly. At that moment the sun slid over the horizon and bathed her in full sunlight. It glittered off her scaly hide and to her astonishment she saw that she was a golden-red colour. She’d turned to the colour of human-Tia’s hair. Without another thought, she dived from the rock and soared into the sky.
Being a dragon was wonderful. She slipped through the air as easily as a fish slips through water.
She dived and twirled and swooped. She flew fast, she flew slowly. She flew upside down and ran into a skein of geese making its way towards the far-away lakes of Holmurholt. They honked in alarm and their V-shape formation broke up.
‘I’m sorry,’ Tia called to them but they took no notice, just re-formed and flapped away.
Stupid geese, Tia thought a bit guiltily. She really should’ve looked where she was going. And that reminded her; she had a job to do – finding the best way over the mountains and into Stoplar. She wheeled round and found herself flying dangerously close to the spell she could see shimmering like spider silk in the sun. She thought of the warning chant all dragons knew by heart:
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.
She turned away and flew at a safe distance round the towering spikes of black rock enclosing Stoplar and its lands. She didn’t see another pass during her long flight and her muscles ached as she neared the place she’d started from. It’s hopeless, she thought, there’s definitely no other way through. We’ll have to do what Finn suggested and let him fly me in.
A tremendous groaning startled her into back-winging furiously. The storm ground to a halt with a great creaking and moaning, splinters of ice crashed to the ground, and the mists parted. Tia hovered in surprise as a line of people with horses and carts made their way out of the pass.
‘Traders!’ Tia scanned the faces of the people below and saw her special friends, Kizzy and Florian. They’d be amazed to see a small golden dragon flying above them – and even more amazed if they knew it was her.
She glided down. Kizzy spotted her and pointed, wide-eyed. Tia couldn’t resist breathing fire. She only meant to show off a little, but a great stream of flames shot from her mouth. The terrified horses squealed and threw their riders or kicked at the traces of the carts.
Tia couldn’t believe what she’d done – she’d acted like Torkil who enjoyed making trouble for the Traders. But I didn’t mean to do that, she thought. I’ll change back and see if I can help. She looked round for a place where she could turn into her own form without being seen and realised, too late, she’d flown into the spell.
It caught her by the tail and shook her until her wings crumpled. She tumbled helplessly away from the mountainside, over the foothills and towards the river. And then she was falling.
She’d reached the edge of the spell’s power and it had dropped her but she was too exhausted to flap her wings and save herself. She plunged towards the river.
In desperation she gripped the opal with a scaly foot and thought – fish! She instantly changed into a salmon, twisting and turning as she hurtled to the river.
Splash! Salmon-Tia hit the water and was torn away by raging currents. Frantically she dodged the clashing ice floes streaming wildly along in the torrents of freezing water. Two floes closed in on either side and she leapt out of the water just as they crashed together. Down she came again, dodging jagged lumps of ice flashing by. She dived deep, right to the bottom of the river bed, and powered along with ice swirling above her.
She swam for what felt like miles before the current grew weaker and the floes moved more slowly. Then she drifted along until she reached shallow water. At last she changed back into herself, stumbled to the bank and fell to her knees, shivering violently.
A shadow fell over her. It was Finn, puffing out agitated little bursts of smoke. ‘Are you all right?’
‘I’m fine,’ she said through chattering teeth, ‘just cold.’ She wrapped her arms round herself and tried to stop shivering.
Finn grasped her in his claws and flew back to the campsite in the trees. While he flopped by the fire Tia changed into dry clothes. Neither her DragonBrother nor Loki said a word to her.
Chapter Three
Into Stoplar
The fire crackled and Tia felt warmth gradually returning to her bones. Steam rose from her clothes drying in front of the fire and she tugged her spare jacket tightly round herself. ‘How did you find me?’ she asked Finn and Loki.
‘When we realised you’d gone we went to look for you. I saw you fall and change into the silver fish,’ Finn said.
Loki shook his wings. ‘You were easy to find – you were a very shiny dragon and you breathed a lot of fire.’
‘I couldn’t help the fire...’ Tia was going to say that her dragon power of breathing fire had unexpectedly combined with her witch-power but realised she couldn’t, not if she wanted to keep it a secret. Besides, she had been very, very foolish.
She sighed. ‘I wanted to be a dragon so much.’
‘I knew you’d use that opal,’ the jackdaw said. He pecked Tia’s hand sharply.
‘Ow! What was that for?’ Tia rubbed her hand.
‘To remind you not to be so stupid in the future.’
Tia hugged her throbbing hand and said nothing; she knew it served her right. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I really am.’
Finn swung his head round and looked at her steadily with his green eyes. ‘If you mean it, give me the opal.’
Tia’s hand flew protectively to the jewel. ‘But I promise not to use it,’ she said.
‘You promised before. Do you really think you’ll be able to resist it now you know what it’s like to be a dragon?’
Finn understood her better than anyone and she knew he was right: she’d be constantly tempted by the opal. Slowly she unfastened the collar and handed it to her DragonBrother. With his claws he delicately unpicked the metal hooks holding the jewel in its setting, threw the collar away into the trees and wrapped the opal in leaves.
‘Give me your book bag,’ he said.
Tia fetched the little green and silver sack and gave it to him. He dropped the opal inside. ‘Have you still got that ball of leather strips from Kulafoss?’ he asked. When Tia nodded he asked her to tie the strips to the bag and then loop them round his neck. Once she’d finished, the sack lay snugly against his throat.
‘I need to keep the emerald,’ Tia said, ‘so I can talk to Loki and send him with messages.’
‘Oh, that’s right,’ the jackdaw said. ‘Loki do this, Loki do that and never mind the danger.’
Tia stroked his ruffled feathers. ‘You know how important you are – we couldn’t have stolen the emerald or the opal without you,’
she said. ‘And Finn lets you ride him.’
She grinned at her DragonBrother. ‘You could let me ride you over the mountains into Stoplar.’
‘Never!’ The little dragon’s eyes glittered in the firelight. ‘I’ll carry you – be ready just before dawn. And this time don’t go missing.’
‘I won’t,’ Tia said meekly.
It was freezing in the dark spring morning and it grew steadily colder as Finn flew higher and higher over the mountains through buffeting winds and flurries of snow. Just as Tia thought she was going to freeze to death Finn began to fly downwards to where the air grew warm and the howling wind changed to a gentle breeze.
They landed on the edge of a huge circular plain that they could easily make out in the fading moonlight. ‘What a strange place,’ Tia whispered.
Loki hopped from Finn’s shoulder. ‘The sun’s going to rise soon – he’d better go,’ the jackdaw said to Tia.
She hugged Finn and he breathed smoke over her. ‘Be careful,’ he warned.
‘I will.’
The gust of air from Finn’s take-off blew into her eyes and she shielded them with a hand while she watched him fly up into the mountains.
When he’d gone Loki cocked his head to one side and said, ‘It’s odd you can see him when no-one else can.’
Tia didn’t want to tell the clever jackdaw it was because of her witch powers. ‘I suppose it’s because I know him so well,’ she said.
‘Hmm.’ Loki didn’t sound convinced. He flew into a tree growing nearby and hid amongst its leaves. Tia settled with her back against the tree meaning to watch the sun rise. Gradually she fell asleep in the balmy, sweet-smelling air.
She dreamt she was back in the Drakelow Mountains, in the teaching cave. DragonTeacher watched as she wrote runes in the sandy floor of the cave with a metal claw that fitted over her finger. Freya, her DragonMother, had asked the Traders to make it especially for her.
‘No, no, no!’ DragonTeacher said and swept away the shaky runes with his tail. ‘Try again!’