‘But I have to! If Amy’s gone there to get Ralick, then I must too.’
‘Wolfgang’s right, Copper. Granite’s never forgiven you,’ said Questrid. ‘Copper freed Amber from Granite’s clutches. She forced him out of the Rock. She outsmarted him.’
‘If he seeks revenge, Copper, that’s dangerous,’ said Wolfgang. ‘Much better you go home.’
‘Never!’ said Copper. ‘I’m not going back without Ralick. He’s my, my … everything!’
‘Wood madness,’ laughed Wolfgang. ‘Wood shavings for brains. Well, then … I believe the wolf cub is prisoner in the mountain peak.’ He paused to pack his pipe and relight it. ‘In the Crystal Crown.’
‘How do you know, Wolfgang?’
‘I have lived inside that mountain,’ he said. ‘When I was a boy. It was a place for wolves and dwarves. In those days few rockgoyles and not so ugly or mean.’
‘Rockgoyles?’ said Questrid.
‘What’s a rockgoyle?’ asked Copper.
‘What’s a …? Think ugly gargoyle with a bit of ogre and you have rockgoyle. They live in the mountains. Are grown there, like mushrooms, in the composting room deep in the mountain. Granite keeps them ugly so they won’t leave.’
‘OK, OK, enough about rockgoyles. What about this crystal place?’ Questrid said. ‘Do you know how to get up there, Wolfgang?’
‘I do.’
‘Then what are we waiting for? The fog’s cleared! Let’s go!’
Squitcher let out a little squeak. ‘Not me, please. I’m sorry, but Boldly Seer is so much puffed-out-exhausted. I must stay and care for her. And I am scared – frightened, it’s true. But it’s true also we’ll need the dragon strong to carry us all home again.’
‘Of course you must stay here with Boldly,’ said Copper. ‘You’ve been brilliant. Without you we’d never have got here, Squitcher.’
Wolfgang insisted that he come as a guide. The wolves, he assured Questrid and Copper, would be fine without him.
‘We’ll go round by the waterfall,’ Wolfgang told Questrid and Copper. ‘Over the hanging bridge and take the path up the back of Malachite Mountain, away from prying eyes.’
Wolfgang led the way. They followed the path Amy had taken (Questrid saw her tracks), then they turned off into the forest. They pushed their way through dense pine trees and leathery-leaved bushes up the mountainside. When they broke out of the dark woods at last, the sun shone down on them warmly. They blinked in the brilliant light. The snowy slopes around them glistened and twinkled. Now they could see the shape of Malachite Mountain rising up in front of them. It was all sharp crags, black crevasses and smooth green ice. Tiny odd-shaped windows were dotted all over it, glinting brightly.
‘Green is the malachite shining through,’ Wolfgang said. He pointed to the very top. ‘See that? That’s the crystal globe!’
Copper squinted up into the sky. The great crystal ball was like a Christmas tree decoration perched on the apex of the mountain. The sunlight bounced off it so it shone like a small sun.
‘Poor Ralick,’ whispered Copper. ‘I hope he’s all right.’
They trudged through the snow. Soon Copper heard the trickle of running water. ‘That’s the waterfall,’ said Wolfgang. ‘There’s a bridge across the gorge. I told you, remember?’
The waterfall was fantastic: half of it was frozen into a massive white-blue frozen wave, like a thick fringe of human hair. It hung way above their heads, suspended over the side of the mountain.
Beneath the cloud of ice, water rushed down the rock. Over the years the running water had cut a deep gorge. Below them the water tumbled and splashed as it made its way down to the valley.
A bridge hung over this gorge.
‘We need to cross here,’ said Wolfgang. ‘The path goes on the other side up to the top of the mountain. No one sees us there.’
Copper stared at the narrow bridge and deep gorge with horror. The bridge was a thin, insubstantial thing made of rope and iron. It looped over the ravine like a bit of string. The wooden planks of the walkway were wet and slimy, constantly sprayed by the waterfall. It did not look safe.
‘You first, Copper,’ Wolfgang said.
‘It looks very rickety,’ said Copper.
‘It’s been there for years. But anyway, you are the lightest and if it breaks, then you are over it and can find the cub. You are most important.’
‘That won’t break!’ said Questrid, laughing.
‘I hope you’re right,’ said Copper.
Gingerly Copper stepped onto the bridge. It swayed a little. She held on to the rope, letting it slide through her hands as she edged forward. She took five steps and then she was hanging over the ravine. She sensed the great depth below her, it was horrible. Empty. She shivered.
‘Don’t look down!’ shouted Wolfgang.
At her next step, the bridge began to tremble the way a strand of cobweb trembles when a fly is caught on its sticky surface.
‘I don’t think—’
‘Go on! It’s fine!’ yelled Wolfgang.
Copper went on. The further she got, the more the bridge wobbled and swayed. She was so frightened she closed her eyes. Think of Ralick, she told herself. Think of Ralick. Go on! Go on! You can do it!
She opened her eyes. She began to hurry. She could hear Questrid and Wolfgang shouting encouragement.
The planks were spaced in such a way that her boots caught on them. The ropes beneath her hands were wet and slippery. The whole contraption felt unsafe and wobbly. The other side was looming up. She was nearly there. She ran. She made a flying jump at the end and fell into the deep snow on the far side.
‘Done it!’
Her heart was pounding. Blood raced hotly round her limbs. She turned round and waved triumphantly.
‘You next, Questrid,’ said Wolfgang. ‘I follow then behind.’
Questrid jammed his hat down firmly, wrapped his scarf tightly round his neck and set off. He was scared of heights; he felt queasy. He didn’t like the way the bridge swayed.
Questrid was halfway across when the wood beneath him dropped with a jolt. He stopped. His fingers curled round the rope rail. He stared down at the wooden planks, willing them to stay still.
A strange whining sound, like a cloud of mosquitoes, filled the air. Something made a popping noise.
Suddenly strands of rope burst out, fraying like bunches of whiskers, all along the length of the bridge. The ropes snapped. The metal rings holding the ropes into the ground clanged and rang as they popped out.
The bridge jolted another stomach-sickening drop. The wooden treads began to shatter, spurting out of their fastenings. They tossed into the air and fell, tumbling into the water below.
‘Questrid!’ Copper screamed at him.
Wolfgang was shouting. Questrid did not know which way to go. He turned to go back. Wolfgang was sprinting out to help him. He moved and then – there was nothing to run on, his feet were paddling thin air.
The bridge exploded into a thousand shards of wood and rope and iron. Questrid and Wolfgang fell. They hung on to the rope but that snapped. They dropped. They tumbled down and down and disappeared into the black hole below.
Copper screamed. ‘Questrid!’ Her scream bounced backwards and forwards like an invisible ball round the mountains. She rushed to the edge of the chasm and held onto the remaining post. ‘Questrid! Wolfgang!’
But there was absolutely no sign of either of them. It was as if they’d never been. There was no movement. The broken rope bridge lay flat against the gleaming sides of the gorge. The only sound was the soft, rushing noise of the water down the rock face.
‘Questrid! Wolfgang!’
She called again and again. She could not leave without them. What was she to do? At last, from far, far away, she heard the faintest shout.
‘… all right … go on …’ It was Questrid.
‘Thank goodness. Are you OK?’ she yelled back.
OK OK OK, the words echoed around her.
‘I’m going on!’ she yelled. ‘To Ralick!’ Ralick, lick, lick…
There was nothing more she could do. Thank goodness they were alive. Copper peered into the gorge for one last time, hoping to glimpse her friends. There must be a way out, through the caves or along the river bed, or even up inside the moutain. But she had to leave them to find their own way out.
I’m on my own, now, she thought. She stood up and turned round. She was not alone.
Three pale-skinned, long-haired Rockers stood behind her, grinning.
She was trapped.
23
Saving Ralick
Amy was going up the spiral stairs to the Crystal Crown. She felt sure Ralick would be there. It was the sort of thing Granite would do, lock him up where he could be on show and not easy to rescue. But she was going to save him.
Her feet slap, slapped on the cold, smooth stairs. Her breath clouded in front of her. Every few yards, a foul-faced stone gargoyle leered down at her from the wall. She tried not to look at them.
‘It’s not my fault,’ Amy said to the rat. ‘I didn’t know. I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.’ The gargoyle’s eyes seemed to follow her. Blaming her.
She was wondering about Granite too. Why did Granite – trickster, cheat, liar – want Copper? Why?
Amy pushed open the trapdoor to the Crystal Crown very cautiously and went up into the room. The brilliant sunshine bounced back off the white peaks and blinded her. She shielded her eyes, blinked. And when she could see again, she wished she couldn’t.
It was awful.
Ralick was dangling from the centre of the glass ceiling on a hook and chain. He was flapping feebly.
He was hanging head down. His back legs were tied together. Amy remembered rabbits hanging outside the butcher’s with their heads wrapped in brown paper bags … It looked so unnatural to see him like that. It was all wrong, as if the world was upside down. His legs were red raw from where they’d rubbed against the rope. On the pristine marble floor beneath him were five drops of blood.
Ralick twisted round feebly, half-opened his eyes and growled faintly at Amy.
‘Oh, Ralick!’ she murmured. She had never felt so ashamed, so sad, so awful.
‘I’m sorry! I’m so sorry. Oh, I’m so sorry…’ She held out her hand and went towards him. Ralick snapped his teeth at her. She stopped. ‘I didn’t do it. It’s not my fault! Don’t blame me! Don’t! I would never—’
She waited for him to speak, but he was silent.
‘What can I do?’ She reached out a trembling hand towards him. ‘How can I help?’ Ralick growled and snarled and spun on the rope. Two more drops of blood splattered to the floor.
‘Maybe the pain has made him mad?’ she said to the rat. ‘Ralick, Ralick, don’t you understand? I want to help!’
‘Pss eek pss!’ the white rat called. Snap, snip, snap, he flashed his sharp teeth.
‘Oh!’ She understood. ‘You’ll bite the rope! Clever thing!’
Amy got as close to Ralick as she dared, then gently put the white rat on the rope. He clung on like an acrobat. Immediately he began to gnaw it.
‘I wouldn’t hurt you, Ralick,’ Amy told the wolf cub, gently. ‘I know I was going to kidnap you, but that was before I knew. Before I liked Copper. When I thought Granite was good – oh, no, that’s not completely true either. I always knew Granite wasn’t good.’ She stepped nearer, hating the way the wolf cub spun about, knowing how sickening it must feel. ‘I just wanted to have something. Someone.’ She touched Ralick gently, enough to stop the spinning. ‘Oh, trust me, Ralick, trust me.’
The rat bit through the last fibre of the rope. Amy reached out to catch Ralick. She half-expected fierce growls and gnashing teeth, but Ralick tumbled into her arms like a dead thing.
Amy had never even held a puppy dog before. The wolf cub was solid and warm and alive. She stroked him, the way she’d seen Copper do. She smoothed the dark hairs which patterned his snout up between his closed eyes. She gently caressed between his ears. She murmured apologies.
‘Oh, Ralick, what did they do to you?’ She pulled the rope from his sore legs. ‘Poor Ralick.’
And she thought she heard a tiny whisper, a growl: ‘Thank you.’
Then he lay still.
There was a noise behind her. Shane Annigan burst into the room.
Quick as a flash, the white rat darted up Amy’s dress and snuggled down into the safety of the fur lining of her jerkin, squeaking.
‘No, no! You won’t hurt him!’ cried Amy, clutching Ralick to her.
‘Ah, now, don’t carry on so,’ drawled Shane Annigan. He flicked imaginary dust from his jacket and beamed at her. ‘I’m just come to tell you that Copper is here, so she is. She wants to see you. We told her how you were after looking to her cub.’
‘What?’
‘Come on. Come down, do.’
Amy felt suddenly so exhausted she didn’t know what to do. Her shoulders sagged. ‘I—’
‘Come on. Everything is going swimmingly. Let’s away.’
Shane held open the trap door. He shivered as Amy passed him, clutching quickly at his heart, as if in sudden pain.
‘Are you ill again?’ Amy asked him.
‘No, sure, I’m dazzling!’ Shane laughed. ‘Go on, now, you lead the way.’
Granite and Copper were waiting in the Reception Chamber, sitting at the long table. Copper jumped to her feet when she saw Amy and rushed at her. She grabbed Ralick.
‘Give him to me!’
Amy sank down on the nearest hard iron chair. Her arms felt sadly light and empty without the cub. She put her hands on the cool table top and stared at them as if they didn’t belong to her. I wish I had never come here, she thought. I wish I’d never left Aunt Agnes and never—
‘What have you done to him?’ Copper was examining Ralick’s bloodied legs. ‘Is he all right?’
‘Well, well, girls, aren’t you friends any more?’ Shane grinned. ‘Fickle females.’
Granite chuckled. ‘Wood and Rock can never mix.’ He was rolling a lump of blue rock backwards and forwards over the table as he spoke. ‘No alliance there. Never.’
‘What about Rock and Air?’ asked Copper. ‘You two seem very good friends!’
Granite snorted. ‘When it suits.’
Amy felt the white rat snuggle against her. He tucked his head into her armpit as if it were a cosy rat hole. You still like me, ignorant, stupid creature, she thought, stroking his back. Dear, silly Rat.
‘You’ve hurt Ralick!’ Copper said to Granite. ‘You big cowards. You’ll pay for this.’
Shane Annigan laughed.
‘No, Copper, sure and you’ll pay for this!’ he said.
Copper frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Isn’t it obvious, Copper?’ Granite’s voice was deep, slow and menacing. ‘You must know.’
Copper shook her head. ‘I just know two things: One, Amy cheated us—’
‘I didn’t—’ Amy tried to speak, but no one was paying her any attention.
‘… and two, you bullies have hurt Ralick.’
‘But why, eh?’ said Granite. ‘Why have we gone to all this trouble, eh? Can’t you guess? Don’t you know what we want …’ He paused. ‘We want something only you can give us, Copper. You or your mother … We want gold.’
Copper snorted, ‘Well that’s all right, ’cos I certainly don’t have any. I thought you had all the gold there was. Don’t you make the rockgoyles dig it out of the mountain for you?’
‘I do.’ Granite nodded. ‘But there’s never enough. Never. You can pretend all you like, Copper, but it won’t work with us. Shane Annigan has seen you at work in Spindle House. You can make gold! You can knit it out of rock, just like your mother could, and you’re going to do it for me.’
‘No. Rubbish! I won’t! I can’t!’
‘Won’t you …? Really? Think about that very stupid boy you call Questrid. Think about that daft old man with a beard … I have
them here, Copper Beech. They were caught by my Rockers in the gorge. Now they are my prisoners.’
‘Where …?’
Granite ignored her. ‘And, think about it. I can easily take the wolf cub from you again. He’s a strong little fellow, isn’t he? Able to withstand a great deal of pain, so it seems—’
‘Stop it!’ Copper tightened her hold round Ralick. She laid her chin on his head. Amy could see her breathing in his scent. ‘You’re evil, Granite. Truly you are. And wrong! I can’t do any magic.’ She turned back to Shane Annigan. ‘You didn’t see me make gold! You didn’t see me do anything. You saw the scrap of wood I’d carved, that’s all. You didn’t see my mother do anything like that either. You lied if you said you did!’
‘She’s lying,’ said Shane Annigan, smiling. ‘True, I never saw them do it with my own fair eyes, but gold there was, plenty of it. Gold and silver thread. I’d bet my life it was knitted, sure I would. It was so fine and delicate. Where did it come from, if not from her?’
‘From the Rock, of course,’ said Copper. ‘You know it does, Granite,’ she added, fiercely. ‘Now Ruby is there, she’s sending us gold and silver. Every metal one could wish for is being dug out of the Marble Mountains. Woods and Rockers are trading again, like they used to.’
‘No, no, that won’t do, my little Stick,’ chuckled Granite. ‘There is too much gold to be accounted for in that way. It’s too pure. Too fine. Amber is making it – and so will you.’
‘You’re wasting your time,’ said Copper, shaking her head. ‘I wouldn’t do it, not even if I could. My mother wouldn’t either.’
‘Your mother’s a very stubborn woman,’ said Granite. He ground his teeth. ‘You won’t be so hard to bend. You’re the soft-hearted one, I know it. You and your cuddly little creature with its disgusting mucous membranes slobbering all over the place and its smells and fur, and … You wouldn’t want it more hurt, would you? Broken, blinded? Damaged forever? And you’re fond of your friends too, I know you are. You all want to go home, don’t you? So … Let’s show her just what I mean about our prisoners, eh? Think they’ll be strung up by now, Shane?’
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