by Perry Aylen
She looked at him, puzzled. ‘Was it? Or did he know what was about to happen, and that my life would be in danger?’
Jacob gave her a hard look. ‘What are you talking about, Elya?’
‘I don’t know how it came to be in my hand when those raiders boarded the Voyager. I’ve never held a sword before in my life, yet... ’ she tailed off, still wondering, and Jacob fidgeted impatiently.
‘Are you saying that Isambard cast some sort of magic spell on this sword and it killed the raiders of its own accord?’
Elya was still staring at him with the same unsettling expression in her eyes. Just when he was beginning to wonder whether her experiences had sent her a little mad, she seemed to rouse and drag herself back to reality. ‘No,’ she said, sounding more like her old self. ‘That would be silly. There’s no such thing as magic!’
It was her turn to quiz the others then, about the building of towers on the other islands, and the final challenge of the ice tower, and the fair. When she heard how Grim was attacked, she stared in dismay.
‘How could anyone do that to him? Poor Grim! You’re saying Gabriel organised that? I can’t believe it!’
‘It gets worse,’ Aulf told her, and related the incident of the fire on the Aurora.
Elya gaped at Ingar in horror. ‘Ingar, what an awful thing to happen! You must have been terrified!’
Ingar pulled a face. ‘I thought it was all over,’ she admitted. ‘Might still have been if Aulf hadn’t turned up with Tomas and Noah when he did.’
Elya let her eyes trail around the interior of the cabin as if she was looking for evidence of that dreadful day. ‘I can’t say I ever thought much of Gabriel, but I would never have believed him capable of murder.’
Aulf pursed his lips. ‘He gets other people to do his dirty work. He’s too clever to be caught on the spot. Like today.’
‘Today? What about today?’ asked Jacob. ‘Mayor Sleetfoot said Gabriel wasn’t here because he was praying to the Vajra. To keep the fair safe.’
Aulf shook his head and told them what he and Grim had witnessed earlier. ‘It’s my belief that this whole attack today was arranged by Gabriel.’
Jacob frowned as he thought that over. He nodded slowly. ‘It would make sense. At the joint council meeting, he was the one who went on about the dangers of the fair being attacked. He was dead against it to begin with, then he seemed to come round. I bet the idea had already occurred to him.’
‘What did he hope to achieve though?’ Elya drew her brow down in a puzzled frown. ‘Why would he want to destroy the fair.’
Ingar narrowed her eyes. ‘Lots of reasons. To undermine Jacob, for a start. Talk about jealous! Gabriel would do anything to make Jacob look like a fool and try to reassert his own authority.’
Aulf nodded his agreement. ‘Plus the fact that all this island co-operation threatens his position of power over poor old Mayor Sleetfoot. Face it, it’s Gabriel who runs Quayven, not Sleetfoot. And Tomas and Noah say it’s Gabriel behind a lot of illegal trading with the raiders, and that’s a business that will definitely suffer if the islands become more united.’
‘Then we need to tell someone what’s going on.’ Elya stared round at them all with wide eyes. ‘We can’t let him get away with this.’
‘Who do we tell?’ Aulf shrugged. ‘Kaya Potts already suspects him of underhand scheming, but there’s never any proof.’
‘But Ingar heard Ivor and Thorold say it was him behind the attack on Grim. And she knows it was them who burnt the Aurora and tried to kill her.’
Ingar gave her a sad smile. ‘There’s the problem, Elya. It was only me who saw and heard those things. And nobody is going to listen to me. The sheriff made that abundantly clear.’
‘So he’s just going to get away with it!’ Elya raised her hands in disbelief.
‘No,’ said Jacob. ‘He’s not. Look at it this way, Elya. All his plans have come to nothing. Ingar’s still alive. The Aurora is still in one piece. You’re back, safe and well; thanks to Isambard, you’re quite the heroine. The wizard towers are all up and running. The ice fair is a success. And, best of all, Thorland and the other islands are on the verge of making peace with each other. Seems to me that Gabriel has lost at every turn.’
Elya looked at him in some surprise while she considered his answer. ‘You’re right,’ she admitted, finally.
Ingar grinned. ‘And in spite of Gabriel’s meanest efforts, here we are, the four of us, back together again, and celebrating. Ma is going to be over the moon!’
Aulf leapt up with a cry of dismay. ‘Oh no! Ma!’ he exclaimed, jumping to his feet, realisation dawning of the time they had spent talking. ‘I’d forgotten about her!’
They hurried back towards the fair. As they drew nearer the festivities, and the sounds and smells began to nudge at their senses, Jacob found himself looking back wistfully at the silence and stillness of the open ice. There were things he still needed to say to Elya, things he would never be able to voice if he didn’t say them now.
Ahead, he could see the bright splash that was the ice fair. Drawing his eye towards the distant spread of colour was the line of vertical stakes, stretching away in a long curve.
‘Aulf, can you go via the Dragon’s Teeth, and drop me and Elya there?’ he called over, and Aulf nodded.
Jacob rummaged in a locker and drew out two pairs of skates. ‘We’ll meet you later at the tower,’ he told Ingar.
Aulf slowed by the teeth, and Jacob lowered himself onto the ice and held out his hand to his sister. Together they skated away between the stakes while Aulf let the sail take the wind again, speeding away towards the fair.
Embedded deeply in the ice, two of the Dragon’s Teeth were distinctly paler than the others. Jacob wheeled around on his skates and drew up in front of them.
‘Isn’t this...?’ began Elya, and stopped as Jacob nodded. She looked all around, but there was nothing to be seen but flat, unforgiving ice. Jacob pulled her closer and pointed at the left hand tooth. She peered curiously, noticing the inscription carved deeply into it.
‘In memory of Marius,’ it read, ‘a loving father who died saving his children. In their hearts forever.’
Jacob frowned. When he had put the post there, it had felt right. Now it seemed woefully inadequate. He shuffled his skates on the ice. ‘I wanted to do something,’ he explained. ‘I wanted to ask you, but... ’
He tailed off, but Elya said nothing. He looked round at her. There were tears trickling down her face, already freezing on her pale cheeks.
Hand in hand, they stood in silence. In his head, Jacob tried to form the words he had been hoping to say to his sister; how he had missed her, how she was all that really mattered to him now their father was gone; how he would never underestimate her again. But even as he rehearsed his little speech, he realised he didn’t need to say anything. Elya already understood. Surrounded by the white stillness, he sensed that she knew. He let out his breath in a long drawn sigh of relief, and she gave his gloved hand a tight squeeze.
It was cold, standing still on the exposed ice. They did not linger for long.
‘You know,’ he said, as they skated towards the fair, ‘when I was building that tower on Spinnyridge – must’ve been about the time you caught a glimpse of those flashes – it was harvest time here. We had to stop building for several days, my workforce dwindled so low. It made me think that back home on Snawdon, it would have been time for the Applechase.’
He realised Elya had come to a halt. He slid to a stop himself and skated back to be level with her. The exercise had infused her face with a gentle colour. Her green eyes shone brightly above her rose-flushed cheeks.
‘Our birthday,’ she said, and he nodded. The slow smile that crept over her face was reflected in his. She shook her head slowly. ‘I can’t believe I didn’t remember.’
‘A lot’s happened.’
‘Sixteen!’ Elya’s smile broadened into a wide grin. ‘We’re officially grown up!�
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Jacob took her hand again. ‘That’s a frightening thought!’ He laughed. ‘Come on. Aulf and Ingar will be wondering where we’ve got to.’ He gave her arm a tug, and together they skated off, along the line of the Dragon’s Teeth, towards the fair.
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