The Dragon's Gold

by Alex English

  Gerund stared at her and cocked his head inquisitively. ‘Have you solved it?’

  ‘Time!’ she said. ‘If you’re to find the map in time. It’s been staring us in the face all along.’ She jumped up. ‘It’s not in a book at all. It’s in the clock.’ She turned to him. ‘How do I get up there? Is there a stairway?’

  ‘A ladder.’

  ‘With seventy rungs?’ Echo’s heart skipped.

  ‘Yes,’ said Gerund. ‘But you don’t really mean you’re going to—’

  ‘Yes. Just tell me how to get up there.’

  ‘But I couldn’t possibly allow it,’ said Gerund. ‘It’s completely unheard of.’

  ‘Gerund,’ said Echo, thinking quickly, ‘there is information inside that clock. Are you telling me you’re going to withhold that from me? Isn’t that against the rules? Isn’t it your duty to help me?’

  ‘No, no, I don’t mean…’ Gerund twisted his hands nervously. ‘Of course I must help you, if that’s what you want. It’s just… are you sure?’

  ‘Positive,’ said Echo. ‘Come on – we don’t have much time!’

  ‘I haven’t had cause to use the ladder for many a year. I don’t know what shape it’ll be in,’ said Gerund.

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Echo. ‘I have to get up there. Now, are you going to help me find my information or not?’

  Gerund pulled open the door to the clock tower with a creak and revealed the ladder inside – a tall and rickety affair, held together with what looked like string and sticky tape.

  Echo put her head through the doorway and peered upwards, where the long pendulum swung back and forth inside the body of the clock. Gilbert sprang on to the ladder rail and shimmied up into the darkness. Echo took a deep breath, slung her satchel over her shoulder and followed him.

  Gilbert, whose sticky toes gave him a natural advantage, made much quicker work of the climb than Echo did. When he reached the top, he turned and looked back at her with an encouraging chirrup.

  ‘Coming!’ Echo’s arms and thighs were burning with the effort, and the ladder creaked and wobbled ominously, but she gritted her teeth and continued ever upwards. Risking a glance back down, Echo immediately regretted it as her head swam at the sight of the distance she’d climbed. She closed her eyes and gripped the rungs with all her might.

  There was another chirrup from above her. She squinted up to see Gilbert navigating his way back down to her, head first.

  ‘I’m okay,’ she muttered, as Gilbert crept up her arm and gently prodded her cheek with his snout. ‘Just a little further.’

  She took a deep breath and started to climb again, one sweaty hand over the other, until she finally dragged her body over the top rung and lay panting on the blissfully horizontal wooden ledge behind the clock face. Up close, the tick and tock was so loud it seem to reverberate through Echo’s bones.

  Gilbert cocked an enquiring eye at her as she pushed open a little door and crawled out to the bracket beneath the clock face.

  ‘How do we open it, Gilbert?’ Echo knelt up and pulled at the rim, but it didn’t budge. Could the map really be inside? Perhaps this wasn’t the answer after all.

  Gilbert ran up her arm and peered at the clock too, then shook his head and curled his tail into a question mark. He leaped lightly on to the minute hand of the clock. As the hand crept up to twelve and began its descent again, Gilbert’s weight forced it forward with a clicking sound.

  ‘That’s it!’ Echo tickled the little lizard under the chin. That was the final part of the clue.

  Face up to me and hold my hand. A trio and quarter’s the place to land.

  She grinned and gently turned the hour hand to three. There was a gentle grinding of machinery from inside as something slipped into place. ‘That’s the trio, now for the quarter.’ She scooped Gilbert off the minute hand and turned it to three as well.

  Echo held her breath as, with a click, the clock face swung silently open.

  Inside was a dark chamber. Echo peered in, but she couldn’t see anything. If only she still had the glow jar! She reached in blindly, half expecting to find spiders’ webs, or worse, but the inside of the cavity was cool and as smooth as glass under a fine layer of dust. Emboldened, Echo reached in further until finally her fingers closed over something wrapped in paper. But what was it? It was no map, that was for sure. She pulled the little package out. It fitted comfortably in the palm of her hand and was solid and weighty.

  She swung the clock face closed and sat on the ledge to examine what she’d found. It was wrapped in crumpled brown parchment and tied with string. Gilbert jumped lightly on to her shoulder and cocked an enquiring eye as she fumbled to untie the knots.

  But, when she finally peeled off the parchment wrapper, her heart sank with disappointment. It wasn’t a map at all, but an old silver pocket watch, mottled and tarnished with age.

  ‘This isn’t a map,’ she said, her voice almost breaking into sobs as she glanced at the clock face again. Only half a bell till noon! ‘Oh, what are we going to do?’

  Gilbert ran down her arm and raced over to the discarded parchment. He grabbed it between his jaws and dragged it back.

  ‘What are you doing? That’s just the… Oh!’ Echo scrubbed her tears away with her sleeve and picked up Gilbert and the parchment in delight as she saw the outlines, faded outlines, but outlines all the same, on the inside of the paper.

  ‘This is the map. Gilbert, we’ve found it!’

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  The clock gave a loud bong that startled Echo so much she almost toppled off the ledge she was balancing on.

  ‘Young lady, please hurry!’ Gerund called from far below on the library floor. ‘It’ll be high tide at any moment.’

  High tide? Echo still didn’t know quite what the librarian meant, or why it was so important, but she could hear the worry in his voice. Whatever it was, it was urgent, and she had a deadline to meet too.

  ‘Coming!’ she yelled. She shoved the parchment and the pocket watch into her knapsack, put out an arm for Gilbert to leap on to and made her way back down the rickety ladder, half climbing and half slithering to the library floor.

  As she jumped down from the last rung, she found herself splashing into a puddle.

  ‘Oh mercy me! The stacks! The stacks!’ The librarian leaped on to his tricycle and pedalled off through the water to the bank of wheels. He began spinning them frantically. As he did so, the bookshelves revolved on their axes again and disappeared into the ground, and only just in time, as foamy waves of clear seawater came surging across the library floor.

  ‘Quick, to the exit!’ he panted, as the final shelf clanked into position and Echo found herself in the centre of a vast, open, shelfless library. The librarian pedalled away with Echo splashing after him, Gilbert clinging on tightly to her shirtsleeve.

  The water was soon ankle-deep and perfectly clear, with just the odd piece of seaweed or crab or stray book floating on its surface.

  As the water reached Echo’s knees, it became harder and harder to run or even walk. Even the librarian had to stop his tricycle. But the exit still seemed miles away across the huge atrium.

  ‘How high does the water get?’ panted Echo.

  ‘Right to the top,’ said Gerund. ‘You’ll have to jump on the back.’

  Echo stared for a moment at the little red tricycle, then shook her head in disbelief and got on.

  He pulled a cord on the tricycle’s framework and, with a whoosh, three balloons inflated round the wheels and Echo let out a yelp as the little tricycle, or hovercraft, or whatever it was, bobbed up on to the surface of the water.

  ‘Right, let’s get you to the exit,’ said the librarian. ‘Usually, I have visitors out before high tide. This is all completely against protocol.’ He made to pedal towards the far end of the hall, away from the ventilation shaft.

  ‘Er, I came in that way,’ said Echo, pointing back towards the stairway.

  ‘I see.’ Gerund raise
d one white eyebrow and spun the tricycle round.

  There was a deafening roar from behind them.

  ‘Hold on!’ shouted the librarian. ‘Sounds like a big ’un!’

  Echo gripped his waist and turned to see a huge, white-crested wave, as tall as a house, surging towards them. She squeezed her eyes shut and held on tight as they were thrown forward, water slapping them, foam soaking her clothes and plastering her hair to her head. She held her breath as they were buffeted about, but then the wave carried them forward at an alarming pace.

  Echo spat out seawater and dragged the hair from her eyes to see the long, gilt-railed balcony, now at sea level, up ahead.

  With one final burst of speed, the librarian pedalled the tricycle forward and landed on the balcony.

  ‘You’ll need to hurry,’ he said, dismounting. ‘But I’ve got something for you before you go.’ He reached into his gown and drew out a small blue rectangle. ‘Your library card. Should you ever need the services of the Aqualiber Vaults, you are now a member.’

  ‘Thank you!’ Echo took the card and carefully stowed it in her knapsack.

  ‘And some jelly beans, for the journey,’ said Gerund. ‘I find them very useful on adventures.’

  Echo grinned. Then another roar of surging water sounded.

  ‘Now, hurry!’ said the librarian.

  Echo shoved the jelly beans into her knapsack and raced off up the balcony towards the ventilation shaft.

  ‘Bye,’ she yelled over her shoulder, ‘and thank you again!’

  * * *

  Echo climbed back up through the ventilation shaft as quickly as she could, trying to outrun the waters that were rising below her. Finally, just when she thought she could climb no more, she reached the top and emerged blinking into daylight and fresh sea air.

  She hauled herself out and collapsed, panting, on the rocks by the feet of a startled Thunder Shark, whom she identified as Stanley. Water streamed from her hair and clothes and Gilbert climbed out of her pocket, shaking droplets from his scales.

  ‘She’s back!’ he exclaimed. ‘Oi, boss, she’s back!’ He turned to Echo. ‘You got it? You better ’ad.’

  ‘She is?’ Old Gus’s eyebrows shot up in astonishment, but his familiar glare soon returned. ‘You’re late,’ he snarled, storming across the rocks towards Echo. ‘Hand it over.’

  A flicker of fear ran through her as she unfastened the straps of her soaking knapsack. Would all that water have ruined the map? But, as she reached inside, she realized that, by some miracle, the paper was only damp. She paused as she smoothed out the crumpled parchment, trying to take in every detail of the spidery outlines, but she didn’t recognize any of the names, and the coastlines were unfamiliar too. She couldn’t just hand it over to Old Gus, not just like that. She should be taking it to Lil! Then the Black Sky Wolves could find the treasure. But, she realized with a sinking heart, she had no choice. If she didn’t give it to Old Gus, Horace would die a horrible death. Guilt weighed heavily in her stomach. No, she would have to give it up. But somehow she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it.

  Before she had a chance to ponder any further, Old Gus snatched the parchment from her hand. He studied the map. ‘Tarakona Canyon, eh?’ he muttered to himself. ‘Right in the heart of the Dragonlands. I shoulda known!’ He shoved the parchment into his jerkin and clapped his large hands together, a mad glint in his eye. ‘Right, lads and lasses!’ he bellowed. ‘Full steam ahead to Tarakona Canyon. The race is on!’

  He turned on his heel and marched back to the ship, the other sky pirates hurrying after him.

  ‘Hey, wait a minute!’ shouted Echo. ‘Haven’t you forgotten something?’

  Old Gus waved his hand at her without looking back. ‘Yes, yes, you’re free to go.’

  ‘But what about Horace?’

  ‘Horace?’

  ‘My friend. You said if I brought you the map, you’d let him go.’

  ‘Ah, we’ve had a slight change of plan.’ Old Gus chuckled cruelly. ‘Turns out young Horace is a useful crew member. Good at readin’. We’ll be keepin’ ’im.’

  Keeping him? Echo felt dizzy. How could she have been so stupid? She’d trusted a pirate, and the leader of the dreaded Thunder Sharks at that! She felt sick. She should have known he wouldn’t keep his word.

  ‘But you can’t! You promised!’ she shouted.

  ‘I think yer’ll find I can do whatever I like.’

  Echo’s shock turned to rage and she whipped Stinger from her boot, brandishing it at him with one shaking hand. ‘I won’t let you take him.’

  Old Gus smiled a horrible smile. ‘Really?’

  ‘I’ll fight you.’ Echo shook the little sword at him again.

  ‘Oh, will yer?’ In one swift movement, Old Gus whipped his cutlass from its scabbard and flicked Stinger out of Echo’s hand. It arced through the air and landed on the rocks with a clang. Echo stumbled sideways, lost her balance and fell backwards, skinning both palms and landing on her bottom with a thud.

  Old Gus marched off, laughing, towards Obsidian. ‘Fire up the engines, lads!’ he yelled over his shoulder as he stomped up the gangplank.

  ‘You can’t take him!’ Echo shouted after him, but he didn’t turn round and neither did any of the other Thunder Sharks, who were racing here and there, frantically readying Obsidian for take-off.

  Echo was still sprawled on the rocks, sobbing, when the engines roared and the Thunder Sharks surged into the air in a cloud of foul-smelling smoke. Off they soared, far into the distance, taking the map, and Horace, with them.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Echo watched helplessly as Obsidian got smaller and smaller, until finally the ship shrank to a dot on the horizon and disappeared. Panic washed over her as she glanced round the deserted island. Stranded! And what would happen to Horace? Things were getting worse and worse. He might be safe from the shark tank, for the moment, but how would she ever get him back?

  ‘Oh, what are we going to do?’ she wailed.

  Gilbert clambered up on to her shoulder and touched her cheek gently with his snout in a way that said, Don’t worry – we’ll figure something out.

  ‘I guess we will,’ she said, smiling weakly and tickling his crest. But inside Echo had no idea how she’d manage it. There was no way off the island. Across the waves, she could see the stone buildings of Aqualiber, but, even though Bulkhead had taught her to swim in the last few weeks at Sleepy Palms, she knew it was much too far for her to manage. The ventilation shaft that led back into the library was still full of gurgling water, so that route was out too.

  Echo sighed and sat down on the rocks, her head in her hands. She was trapped, at least until the tide went out.

  She felt a nudge to her shoulder and looked up to find Gilbert flashing his crest.

  ‘What is it?’ she said.

  She followed the little lizard’s gaze to see a small black shape on the horizon. She squinted at it. Another airship. Of course! The other sky-pirate clans must have worked out the clue by now. Her heart lifted for a moment. Could it be the Scarlet Margaret? Had Lil solved the first part of the clue too?

  Echo continued to watch as the airship approached. But, as it got closer, she realized with a sinking heart that it wasn’t the Scarlet Margaret at all. It was another ship – smaller and sleeker with a green-silk balloon and, at its prow, a flag with a skull and crossbones entwined with snakes.

  Echo wracked her brains. Which of the sky-pirate factions had the snake emblem? The Scurvy Sea Snakes – that was it! She watched as the ship approached the entrance to the Aqualiber Vaults, several hundred metres away across the water. She heard its engines hum as it slowed to a hover, before flying over to the harbour and weighing anchor near the sailing boats.

  After a few moments, a hatch on the side of the ship popped open and a metal gangplank slithered out. Echo stared as the flame-haired figure of Miranda Vossberg stepped out. She wore high-heeled green boots, dark breeches, a frilly white shirt and an
emerald cape that billowed in the salty air. Echo squinted in the midday sun. There was a brilliant-green something round Vossberg’s neck as well, a scarf perhaps, although Echo couldn’t make it out exactly.

  Echo reached for her knapsack and drew out Horace’s spyglass. When she focused in on Vossberg, she drew back in surprise. The scarf wasn’t a scarf, but a vivid green snake, its head swaying from left to right and its tongue aflicker. Vossberg strode over to the blue-lacquered library entrance and Echo saw her rap sharply on it with her knuckles. But Echo knew there would be no answer. Where did Gerund even go at high tide?

  After waiting for a few minutes, Vossberg stamped her foot impatiently. Echo saw her take her own spyglass from the pocket of her breeches and scan round the bay. Too late, she realized Vossberg was going to see her and, for one brief moment, they were staring down their spyglasses at each other.

  Echo gasped and dropped the spyglass. It fell with a clang and rolled along the rocks. Echo glanced around for somewhere to hide, but there was nowhere. She dropped to the ground, trying to make herself as small as possible.

  When she looked up, Vossberg was still looking through the spyglass across the water, staring straight at her.

  Echo watched as Miranda Vossberg disappeared back into her ship. There was a distant click click click as the gangplank coiled up and a hiss-clunk as the hatch closed behind it. Echo heard the engines fire and tried to hold down the fear that swelled in her stomach as the ship turned its nose towards her and approached the little island. Not another sky-pirate clan to deal with! What if the Scurvy Sea Snakes were even worse than the Thunder Sharks?

  Gilbert nudged her shoulder.

  ‘Perhaps she’ll help us,’ Echo said, her voice wobbling. ‘She’s part of the Seven Skies Alliance after all.’

  Gilbert bobbed his head, but his scales were pale and, as the ship weighed anchor and the hatch hissed open, he scrambled into her knapsack and hid.