Legend of the Three Moons

by Patricia Bernard

  `Sorry,' she gasped as the three of them went sprawling backwards almost squashing a barking Nutty.

  `It wasn't your fault,' said Chad, scrambling up. He untied her right stilt while Lyla undid the left one.

  Clarissa dragged the beribboned dress and petticoats over her head and flung them and the bell bracelets, the flower crown and the stilts at the stilt man.

  `Now,' she yelled, with her hands on the hips of her patched tartan skirt. `Give me my tickets or I'll get my Grandnono to write a spell that will stop you from walking on the ground, let alone on stilts.'

  `If he could do that he would have done it already,' sneered Arnolt Beetlehead, throwing five tickets at her.

  Scrambling to pick them up before someone else did, Clarissa whispered for Lyla and Chad to follow her. Then dodging behind the rickshaw and the pink-clad umbrella holder she disappeared between two balloon and toffee apple stalls. Chad, Lyla and Nutty raced after her.

  `It is always a gamble as to what I'm paid,' she gasped, after they caught up with her at a singing toad stall. `And always a gamble that I will get the tickets home before someone bigger than me steals them. But I have them now and we will soon be at my Grandnono's house. When he finds out how you saved me from breaking my neck he will give you what you want.'

  `I doubt that,' said Lyla. `We want a boat.'

  Clarissa nodded knowingly. `That's what my Grandnono said. But as you aren't fisher people and as no one on the Ifraa Peninsula is allowed to put into any port other than their own, I don't understand why.'

  `Does that mean that Mussel Cove fishermen aren't allowed to visit other M'dgassy ports?' asked Chad.

  Clarissa nodded again. `That's how my father died. He sailed into Tsal Harbour in search of my mother and the Raiders sent a Bulgogi to eat him.'

  Chad and Lyla looked shocked then sympathetic, so Clarissa added, `It was when I was a baby so I don't remember him.'

  `What's a Bulgogi?' asked Chad.

  `One of the High Enchanter's becamed night monsters. Even the Goch are afraid of them.'

  Lyla tried, and failed, to imagine something so terrifying that it would frighten a Goch. So she asked Clarissa why the Raiders had taken her mother.

  `After I was rejected, the Raiders took her to sing for General Tulga. My mother comes from Whale Island where the women are famous for their singing.'

  Lyla looked at Clarissa curiously. `Why were you rejected?'

  `Because I have Mer blood. Which is good for me, as I did not want to leave my Grandnono but bad for me because the Mussel Cove people whose sons and daughters were taken, hate me because I wasn't. That's why Arnolt Beetlehead treats me the way he does. They took his twin sons.'

  `So what's Mer blood?' asked Chad.

  Clarissa laughed. `You really are outlanders aren't you?'

  She gave him a quick hug to show she wasn't making fun of him. Chad turned red, but she didn't notice. `Mer comes from the Merpeople who live in the sea. Raiders hunt them the way Mussel Cove fishermen hunt whales. Most Whale Islanders have some Mer blood which means they can't be Raiders.'

  Hoping that she would hug him again Chad asked her to describe a whale.

  `It's a very big mammal that lives in the sea,' she told him. But she didn't hug him even when he asked what a mammal was. `It looks like a giant fish almost as big as a Goch.'

  By the time they reached her grandnono's cottage Clarissa had told them about how, when he was young, her father's boat had been wrecked close to Whale Island, how he had met and fallen in love with her beautiful mother, how he'd brought her back to Mussel Cove to be married, and how homesick she'd become.

  `All she did was stand at the seawall and sing to the sea. The Mussel Cove people thought her daft in the head.' Clarissa stopped in front of a cottage, opened the gate and beckoned Lyla, Chad and Nutty to follow her through a garden of red geraniums and lilac bushes.

  The front door of the cottage was open. The main room was so small that there was just enough space for a small wooden table, a rocking chair, a low bench made from a split log and a tiny fireplace.

  Sitting on the rocking chair was an old man, who looked up and smiled as they entered. `I've been waiting for you. I am Sebastian Ull. And you are?'

  `Spear and Tree,' answered Lyla.

  He gestured for them to sit on the bench before the fire. After they did, Lyla asked him how he'd known they were coming.

  `My Grandnono is a sand reader,' explained Clarissa, standing behind the old man with her hands resting lovingly on his stooped shoulders. `The day before yesterday the sand told him that two strangers, one with black hair and one with brown braids, would save me from an accident on market day. I think I was expecting grown-ups, so when we first met I didn't realise it was you two.'

  `And yesterday the sand told me that I was to offer you Bengg's boat,' Sebastian said. `After you have stolen it.'

  Chad looked worried. `If we are caught stealing a boat we could be chopped up and fed to the fish!'

  Clarissa screwed up her freckled nose and nodded. `True. But my Grandnono didn't see you being caught when the boat was stolen.'

  `What about when we bring it back?'

  Clarissa screwed up her nose even more. `That bit didn't make sense. Did it, Grandnono?'

  `Not a bit,' agreed the old man, leaning forward to pick up Nutty to pat him. `The sand showed me an exploding mountain, a storm so terrible it was as if it had swallowed the world, and someone imprisoned in an underwater cave. None of which had anything to do with Bengg's boat.'

  Lyla glanced meaningfully at Chad. `Was the prisoner in the underwater cave a merwoman?'

  Sebastian shook his head. `The sand did not say. But if it was, then the exploding mountain would have to be on Whale Island, because it is near Whale Island that the Merpeople live.'

  `Is Whale Island near Tartik Island?' Lyla asked.

  Clarissa shook her black curls and pointed to the west. `No. Tartik Island is west and Whale Island is north. But if you are sailing to Whale Island then you must be careful. Whale Islanders are famous for wrecking and stealing boats.'

  `Talking about stealing,' said Lyla, `why do we have to steal your uncle's boat if you are lending it to us?'

  `Because if the Mussel Cove fisherman saw an outlander unlocking the padlock of Bengg's boat, they would call the Raiders and you would be thrown into prison,' explained Sebastian.

  `Now, as the sand has not been spoken to today would you like to ask it a question?'

  `Yes,' answered Lyla and Chad together.

  With Clarissa's help, Sebastian stood and shuffled over to the small table on which sat a silver tray covered in sparkling white sand.

  `Gaabi Desert sand,' explained Clarissa in a hushed voice.

  `Hard to come by,' added Sebastian, sitting in front of the tray. `Which is why I treasure every grain. What would you like to know?'

  `Is the merwoman in The Three Moons' Song the one who is imprisoned near Whale Island?' said Lyla.

  `Ah, The Three Moons' Song,' repeated the old man, his hands moving across the sand making it hum like bees in a honey-leaf bush. `Many have talked about it but I have never met anyone who has heard it.' Then he wrote Lyla's question in the sand.

  For a moment nothing happened but then, one by one, strange symbols began to appear. Sebastian bent over the tray to read them. `Is the prisoner of royal blood?'

  Lyla and Chad nodded.

  `Then it is she.'

  Lyla moved closer. `Can we save her?'

  Sebastian wiped the sand clean. `I am sorry but the sand only allows one question per day. I will ask it tomorrow. But for now I think it best if you eat before Clarissa shows you which boat belongs to Bengg.'

  Back in front of the fire with a bowl of soup and a thick slice of bread each, Lyla and Chad told Clarissa and Sebastian how they'd left the Forest, found the palace, fought the snake trees and visited Edith.

  `Pretty Edith!' exclaimed Sebastian. `We often met at the magic markets. When those
who dabbled in magic were allowed to attend such markets. That was before the High Enchanter cast his greedy eye on Ifraa. My goodness she was a pretty, I remember her distinctly.'

  Lyla sipped her soup and try to imagine wrinkled up Edith as being pretty, then she asked the old man what M'dgassy had been like when he was young.

  Sebastian smiled wistfully. `It was a fine country full of peace and happiness, and with a king and queen who used their magic wisely. Mussel Cove fishermen were explorers then. There wasn't a land we hadn't sailed to. I've even been to Giantium and seen the Giantium warriors and their women who have large butterfly wings growing out of their heads.'

  Chad's brown eyes grew large with amazement as he whispered, `Go on.'

  `Wartstoe Village farmers were wealthy. Belem was a city of fashion. The Shambala River towns were bursting with produce and Mizzen Bee… ah Mizzen Bee was the prettiest village in the world. Then came the Raiders, the Goch and the Bulgogi.'

  The old man's voice broke and he looked apologetically at Lyla and Chad. `I'm sorry to be so silly, but next year I will be a hundred summers and many things worry me. Things like who will look after Clarissa when I am gone, and who will I leave my Gaabi Desert sand to. I haven't found a sand reader you see.'

  Chad put down his empty bowl. `Can't Clarissa read the sand?'

  Sebastian patted his granddaughter's hand affectionately. `Alas no. No one with Mer blood can read the sand.'

  `Can I try?'

  `Yes. But the sand has told me that its next owner will be female. Now if you will pardon me, a hundred summers is very old and I tire easily. I must rest.'

  After Clarissa helped Sebastian from the room Chad sat in front of the sparkling white sand and wrote, `Will I find my parents?'

  Nothing happened so Lyla leant over him and wrote the same question. As her finger touched the sand it began to hum. And before she'd finished writing, ten crowns appeared. Chad was trying to understand what they meant when Lyla wiped them away.

  `Why did you do that?'

  `They didn't make sense.'

  `Ten crowns could mean our parents, Princess Elle and us!'

  `Or it could mean ten crowns are going to be stolen, or sold or made!' snapped Lyla.

  `But the sand answered you. Maybe sand reading is your magical gift and not dream flying or dream riding.

  Maybe if you had some Gaabi Desert sand you could ask it a question every day.'

  Lyla's black eyes turned stubborn. `No I couldn't, because I don't want to be a sand reader Chad. I want to be a dream-flyer, so you'd better not tell the others.'

  Chad's expression turned stubborn. `Why not? We never keep secrets from each other.'

  `Well this time we will, because if you tell, I'll tell them that you like Clarissa; that your eyes go all gooey when you look at her and your face turns red.'

  Chad blushed. `I do not! It does not.'

  `You're doing it now.'

  They were staring into the fire ignoring each other when Clarissa returned with a bag of supplies and a key on a chain. `Inside is a pan with coals, a box of sulphur-tipped sticks for lighting the coals, a cooking pot and a cask of water,' she told them.

  `And Grandnono says that if you do go to Whale Island, remember that sea serpents love jewels. So if you have something bright and shiny, take it with you. He also thanks you for the cheese. And now before it gets dark, I'll take you back to the wharves.'

  Lyla and Chad, carrying the sack between them, followed Clarissa back to the port where she pointed to the tenth boat moored beside the fifth wharf. `When you return it, anchor it in Pebble Cove to the right of the town. Uncle Bengg will find it there.'

  Then with a quick wave and two blown kisses she was gone, and so was Nutty who raced up the Wartstoe Village road to find Lem.

  They were half way up the hill when Chad, unable to stand Lyla's silence any longer, promised that he would not tell the others about her sand reading.

  `And I won't mention how Clarissa blew you a kiss,' she grinned.

  `She did not.'

  `Did so.'

  `Did not.'

  Lyla rolled her eyes to the darkening sky. `Alright she didn't. Stop arguing, I want to ask you something.'

  `What?'

  `If the merwoman in The Three Moons' Song is royal, which one do you think she is Queen Ona, Queen Hail or Princess Elle?'

  Chad stared at her blankly while he twisted one of his braids until it was so tight it hurt. So she stamped her foot impatiently. `Chad! Do you think she's your mother or mine?'

  Another twist, a grimace and, `It's possible.'

  Lyla shifted the supply sack to her other hand. `You see if she is your mother or mine, then it might mean that the dragon, the poisoned tree and the chained eagle are the rest of our family and not just enchanted things that we have to get talismans from.'

  Chad stopped twisting his hair. `That's possible too. Except I don't like the idea of my mother being imprisoned under the sea and it would definitely upset Celeste.'

  `Then we won't mention it yet,' said Lyla.

  Lem and Nutty were hiding in the long grass at the top of the hill as Chad and Lyla walked by. Lem grabbed Lyla's ankle and she jumped with surprise.

  `Lem!'

  `Nutty told me you were on the way. Smart dog, eh?'

  Lyla plopped down beside him. `Very smart. What have you been doing?'

  `We found a hiding place and Swift and Celeste slept most of the day while I watched the town. What happened in the market? It looked like a big fight. The Goch came galloping down the hill so fast that I thought they were going to crush everyone.'

  `We'll tell you later. But first we have to plan how you and Celeste are going to steal a boat.'

  `And if you are caught how you'll be chopped up and fed to the fish,' grinned Chad.

  `Only Clarissa's Grandnono didn't see you being caught,' added Lyla quickly, while shaking her head at Chad to warn him not to frighten the others.

  `Who's Clarissa?' asked Lem.

  `A stilt walker,' explained Lyla. `Her grandnono is a sand reader. His sand told him we were looking for a boat, and it showed him a merwoman imprisoned in a cave under Whale Island. Which, before you ask, is not near Tartik Island.'

  Lem rose up on his elbows and eyed the five lamp-lit wharves below. `Which boat do we steal?'

  `It's blue and the tenth one moored along the fifth wharf. You unlock the padlock and chain with this.' She handed him the key on its chain. `Now, before I go to sleep right where I am sitting, show us your hiding place.'

  Lem woke Celeste at middle night. After wrapping his rope around his waist and ordering Nutty to stay, and after Celeste had tucked Splash into Swift's pocket and hung Bengg's boat key around her neck, the cousins crept down to the seawall where they lowered themselves into the sloshing waves.

  They crossed the bay, swimming as quietly as possible, and reached the fifth wharf where Bengg's boat was anchored alongside a metal ladder. Celeste climbed up and crept over to the nearest bollard.

  Bengg's padlock was hard to turn and the wharf's lanterns were so bright, that twice she had to flatten herself like a crab against the bollard to avoid being seen by fishermen walking past. Worse still, when she did manage to unlock the padlock, it and the chain slid with a splash into the sea.

  `Did you hear that?' asked a voice from the next boat.

  `Sharks. I've seen four today,' muttered another.

  Neck deep in water, and hidden in the shadow of Bengg's boat, Lem and Celeste waited until they were sure that the fishermen were asleep again before Lem tied his rope to the boat's rudder and pulled, and Celeste pushed the boat's prow into the bay.

  `When will we get in and row?' whispered Lem.

  `When the fishermen can't hear the oars splashing.'

  `What about the four sharks?'

  `I'll warn you if I see them.'

  That will be a great help, thought Lem, as he searched for fins sticking out of the black water while wondering if his gift of tal
king to animals included sharks.

  They were trembling with the cold by the time they got far enough away to climb into Bengg's boat to row, and exhausted when they reached Pebble Cove where the others were waiting.

  Lyla, Chad and Swift were drenched and shivering by the time they'd waded out with their bags, food sack and weapons.

  `Did the stilt girl tell you how to sail it, Lyla?' asked Lem, cuddling a wet Nutty.

  Lyla shook her head.

  9

  Lord Shamash

  During the night the waves grew rougher and higher. They broke over the prow and flooded the boat, forcing Lyla and Celeste to tie Chad and Swift to the mast and tie themselves and Lem to the benches. The next day was no better, nor was the second night or the third day and night. Each hour's sailing depended on a capricious wind that either blew so hard they feared it would capsize them, or didn't blow at all, leaving them to rise to the frothing peaks and drop into the troughs of the enormous oncoming waves.

  Their food and water lasted two days then Swift was given the task of fishing. Cooking was impossible. All of them, including Splash, ate the fish raw washed down with dew collected each freezing night in their leather capes. The further west they sailed the more leaden became the sky, the wilder the sea, and the colder their noses, ears and hands. So it was with great joy on the fifth day that they saw, silhouetted against the evening sky, a huge pyramid of blue ice surrounded by swirling ice floes.

  Suddenly, the wind that had fought them since they'd left Mussel Cove changed its mind. Filling their sail it shoved them into the floes that surrounded the boat and eventually halted it. Lyla swung the anchor wide, embedding it in the nearest floe, while the others pulled down the sail so that they could shelter beneath it.

  Lem squeezed in between Chad and Lyla. `What's the plan?'

  Lyla wrapped her cape around the three of them. `Edith said it was you that should go, so tomorrow two of us will go with you and two will stay with the boat to keep it moving so it doesn't freeze to the ice.'

  `Which two? demanded Swift, who'd been complaining for days that he never got to do anything other than fish.

  Lyla took the box of sulphur-tipped sticks out of the jewelled casket and broke one stick in half. Holding the two halves and two more sticks in her fist she held them out. `Short sticks go. Long sticks stay.'