by Linda McNabb
‘Are you going down to see Aggie?’ Sanelle asked Toby as they walked down the hall.
‘I am,’ Toby said, knowing it was best not to put it off any longer than necessary. She would be cross if he didn’t visit her first.
‘We’ll meet you up in the rooms Kaylene had the last time she was here,’ Sanelle said, taking both Riko’s and Kaylene’s arms and leading them away. ‘Good luck.’
Toby’s mouth went dry as he slipped into the servant’s corridors and worked his way down to the kitchens below. He paused at the door, and when Aggie caught his eye he remained where he was. He had no idea how or where to even start explaining what had happened in the past few days.
Aggie’s grin fell away instantly as she saw the look on his face, and she ordered everyone out of the kitchen. As the last of the servants hurried out the door, she waved him in.
‘Your eyes are grey,’ she said simply.
Toby knew he didn’t have to say anything. She had worked it out for herself, but there was far more to it than she could possibly guess.
‘I’m sorry, Aggie,’ he said, dropping his gaze to the floor. ‘It’s all my fault.’
‘What is, son?’ she said, stepping closer to hug him close. She was much taller than him and she had to bend down to do so. ‘You’ll find another trade.’
‘It’s more than that,’ he replied and looked up to meet her eyes. ‘I have destroyed Dragon Valley and doomed all the dragons to death or exile from their homeland.’
Aggie did not speak for a few seconds as she took in what he had said. Then she took a deep breath before speaking. ‘Can it be fixed? Can I help?’
Toby had expected anger and questions about how it had happened, but instead she stood calmly waiting to see how she could help.
‘I don’t think anyone can help. We need to find a stone, shaped like a dragon, and return it to Dragon Valley,’ Toby explained. ‘But nobody knows where it is.’
‘A gemstone?’ Aggie said slowly. ‘King Herat hasn’t allowed real gems in this kingdom for as long as I can remember. Are you sure there is no other way?’
‘It is the only way. If we don’t find the stone, the valley will be destroyed,’ Toby replied. He turned away, unable to look his foster mother in the eye. She had done everything to bring him up to help others, and now he had destroyed a whole world without even trying.
‘You look like you could do with a good sleep. I’m sure things will look better in the morning,’ Aggie said, turning back into the bustling, business-like self that he knew so well. ‘Come down for a good breakfast when you get up.’
Toby nodded numbly. He knew there was nothing else he could do. He just had to hope someone found the dragon stone soon.
**
It was an odd sound that invaded Toby’s dreams and woke him in the early hours of the morning. It was several hours until sunrise, but he was suddenly wide awake. He sat up and listened, trying to work out what had woken him.
It was music, somewhere off in the distance. It was off-key as if the musician had mis-tuned his instrument. It sounded, familiar but before he could identify the tune it stopped. He listened for it to restart, but he only heard the sounds of the night and slowly he slipped back off to sleep.
He woke again just as the birds began to welcome the new day and saw Riko looking out the window.
‘Klel and Tryx just flew back to the castle,’ Riko said, pointing down into the courtyard below.
‘I think we should go talk to them before breakfast,’ Toby suggested.
He knew his mother would have been up for hours. She would probably be waiting for him to come to breakfast, but he was still embarrassed at the trouble he had caused. He wanted to wait and go down with the rest of his friends in a while. Besides, he wanted to know where Klel and Tryx had been. Maybe they had found out something new that would fix Dragon Valley.
The two boys walked silently down to the courtyard. Only a handful of servants were up and the castle was quiet. When they emerged into the courtyard, the two dragons looked up eagerly. A sparkle in Klel’s eyes told Toby that the dragon had some good news.
Stone here! Tryx blurted out before they were halfway across the courtyard.
‘Here?’ Toby queried, he glanced around, half-expecting to see it laying on the cobbles.
Somewhere close, Klel added. Felt it for short time.
‘So you don’t have it?’ Riko asked.
No, close by — somewhere, Tryx replied. Very close.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE PARCHMENT
Toby heard a door open across the courtyard. It sounded loud in the stillness of the morning, and he turned to see Sanelle and Kaylene hurrying to join them.
‘Did you hear those vibrations in the night?’ Sanelle asked Klel. ‘It was a very powerful gem.’
Dragon stone, Klel agreed. Nearby. Must find.
‘Where do we start searching?’ Kaylene asked.
We search town, but we too big to see many places. Need small hands to search for stone, Klel said.
‘We’ll go look now,’ Riko said eagerly.
Klel and Tryx rest for short time. Come search soon, Klel said, sinking onto the piles of hay.
The four children started walking across the courtyard to the main gate. The guard saw them coming and stood to attention. Toby saw that it was Nathan.
‘Word came up from the town last night that Blaise has arrived. He hasn’t made any attempt to come up to the castle though,’ Nathan told them. ‘The king is going to send guards to fetch him soon.’
‘Blaise,’ Sanelle muttered. ‘Klel said he felt many gems back in Northport, near where Blaise was staying. Now Blaise arrives and we feel the vibrations of a strong gem.’
‘So he has the dragon stone?’ Riko asked.
‘I don’t know, but I think we should go and check,’ Toby suggested.
‘I wish I could help,’ Nathan said, ‘but I can’t leave the castle.’
‘Can you tell Aggie that I’ll be late for breakfast?’ Toby asked Nathan.
‘You tell her,’ Nathan said with a good-natured jab in the rib. ‘She’s been waiting to see you for ages. You can get a ride on the wagon over there if you’re in a hurry.’
Nathan pointed to an old wagon that was used to bring supplies up from the town. An old horse pulled it slowly towards the gate.
‘Thanks, Nathan,’ Toby said as they all jumped on the wagon. The horse was so old that it wasn’t much faster than walking, but it was all downhill so it didn’t take too long.
‘Aggie will understand when I tell her why I’m late,’ Toby said as they arrived in the town below the castle. They leapt off the wagon, thanked the servant who was driving it, and hurried towards the market.
The sun was peeping over the horizon now and quite a few merchants were setting up for the day’s trading.
‘If Blaise is going to be anywhere, it will be here.’ Sanelle was scanning the wagons and stalls for any sign of her brother.
‘Well, there’s his friend,’ Riko said. He pointed through the crowd to where the small dog was racing about excitedly. Then Toby saw Lark. The dark-haired man was walking through the crowd, pausing to talk to everyone.
‘What is he up to?’ Kaylene asked.
Toby watched as Lark went up to a woman carrying a basket of apples. He held a small piece of parchment in front of the woman. She looked at it briefly and nodded. Lark seemed pleased by the woman’s response and he pointed at the parchment and then asked another question. It was too far away to hear what he asked but, whatever it was, the woman shook her head slowly and then shrugged.
Lark moved on through the crowd and stopped another person, showing them the piece of parchment also.
‘Lark!’ Blaise’s voice came from just behind Toby and he jumped. They all moved quickly behind the nearest stall and peered out around the side. ‘Get set up!’
The short man shoved the parchment in his pocket, picked up his little dog, and headed across the mar
ketplace. Blaise strode a dozen paces behind him, and Toby and the others followed as well. The old healer’s wagon was parked at the edge of the market, and Lark put the dog in the wagon before setting up a table next to it.
‘It looks like he’s going to try the same thing here as at the other towns,’ Kaylene said as green bottles of liquid were lined up on the table.
‘We need to search the wagon,’ Toby said. ‘While they’re busy scamming the crowd would be the perfect time.’
‘I’ll go with Toby,’ Sanelle offered.
Toby watched Blaise walk up to the table and then wait as the crowd began to gather with interest. Blaise’s face was hidden by his cloak hood. ‘Riko and Kaylene wait out here and distract him if it looks like he’s going to go in the wagon.’
‘I think that dog might give you away,’ Riko pointed out.
‘I have an idea,’ Toby said thoughtfully. He dug in his pocket for the silver coin he had earned on the caravan and hurried over to a stall. He came back a minute later with a something wrapped in a cloth. ‘Let’s go.’
He and Sanelle hurried around the edges of the crowd and behind Blaise’s wagon. They lifted the sides of the wagon and gently stepped up. Oska instantly sat up and began to growl. Toby unwrapped his bundle and threw a large bone to the dog. Oska leapt on it with a delighted yelp and ignored them completely.
‘Well done,’ Sanelle said quietly.
‘I saw how food settled the dengols on the caravans. I figured it might do the same for Oska,’ Toby said with a shrug, glad that his idea had worked as he had had no back-up plan.
‘Look for anything that might hold gems,’ Sanelle said. ‘It’s odd — I should be able to feel them, but I can’t feel any vibrations at all.’
Outside Blaise had begun his speech to the crowd. He must have left his hood over his face, as nobody seemed to have recognised him as the notorious disgraced prince.
His claims of a healing potion were being met with the expected jeers and laughter, and Toby tried to ignore it as he searched the messy wagon. He spotted something shiny in the corner and worked his way slowly over so as not to rock the wagon.
‘Sanelle,’ he hissed as he moved a cloth, exposing a gem-encrusted chest. It was the same chest in which Blaise had kept Klel’s neckband over a year ago. He knew that the gems on the outside were really only cut-glass, but he was willing to bet that there were real ones inside.
Sanelle came to join him and her eyes lit up at the sight of the chest. Toby gently pulled at the latch. He expected it to be locked, but it came open easily. The chest was filled almost to the top with gems.
‘The metal of the chest would stop me feeling any of the gems inside,’ Sanelle said with a nod. ‘That is why I couldn’t feel them before, but now I can.’
Toby stared at the gems. Surely if he had the tiniest amount of magic left in him he would know it now. The music he had heard earlier must have been just that — music. He picked up a gem and felt nothing. He heard no sweet music, and with that his last hopes of his magic returning faded away.
‘What colour is it?’ Toby asked a little woodenly as he sorted through the gems of varying sizes.
‘I never asked. I think sapphires are usually blue,’ Sanelle said, also digging into the gems. ‘But if you see one shaped like a dragon’s head, it’ll be that one.’
They almost tipped the entire contents of the chest out as they searched, keeping one ear on the conversation outside. Blaise was now trying to convince the crowd about dragon sickness and his warnings were again answered with jeers.
As Toby threw the last gem back in the trunk, he and Sanelle looked at each other in despair. The dragon stone wasn’t there. Something rubbed against Toby, and he saw that the little dog had come looking for more bones. It licked his hand, and then, seeing there was no more food on offer, darted out the wagon to play.
‘If he had the dragon stone, it would have been in there.’ Toby felt deflated; his hopes of fixing the gateways had been dashed. ‘Who else could have it?’
Kaylene’s voice carried easily into the wagon and drew their attention. ‘Tell us about the potion again!’
She was clearly stalling for time, and Toby decided it was time they left. He didn’t have to say anything to Sanelle as they both dived for the side of the wagon. They slipped out, letting the flap fall just as Blaise’s voice came from within.
‘They’re not going to be so easily convinced,’ Blaise muttered. ‘You’ll have to poison the water again. We need to turn them against the dragons.’
‘I’ll go do it now,’ Lark replied.
‘Did you find the woman?’ Blaise asked. ‘We need that stone if we are to succeed.’
A woman. They knew who had the dragon stone? Toby sat silently, holding his breath, hoping they would tell more so he could go and find it before them. Oska came running up and jumped at him. He patted the dog absent-mindedly.
‘People remember her from many years ago,’ Lark answered, ‘but nobody knows where she is now. One person said she died years ago; another said she moved away.’
‘What about her child?’ Blaise was sounding impatient. ‘If you find the child, you’ll find the mother.’
Just then Oska began to bark, wanting Toby to come and play. Toby tried to pat the dog to calm it down, but it only barked more.
‘Quick, we have to go,’ Sanelle said, grabbing Toby’s sleeve and dragging him away from the wagon. Toby had wanted to hear the rest of the conversation, but the voices were quickly out of range. They met up with Kaylene and Riko, who were waiting a short distance away. The crowd had quickly dispersed, still laughing at the claims of the hooded prince.
‘Did you find it?’ Kaylene asked hopefully.
‘No, but they’re looking for it as well,’ Sanelle replied. ‘And Lark is going to poison the water here, too.’
‘I’ll stop him,’ Toby said, watching Lark leave the wagon with his little dog on a leash.
‘I’ll come and help, Toby,’ Riko offered.
‘The girls can stay here and keep an eye on Blaise. Lark will notice if too many of us are following him.’
Toby and Riko hurried off after the short man and his dog. The well was in the middle of town so they would have to hurry if they wanted to stop him. He ran down a side street to take a shortcut. Toby had no idea how they were going to stop Lark, though.
They emerged from a side alley just as Lark wandered into the central square. Lark was once again showing the parchment to people as they passed by, but each one shook their heads and moved on about their business. Blaise’s friend seemed to have forgotten about poisoning the water as one old woman started nodding when she saw the picture that Lark showed her. She continued nodding as he asked more questions. They were across the far side of the square and Toby wished he knew what they were saying. If he could find out who the mystery woman was, he could beat Lark to the stone.
The old woman was pointing out across the town towards the markets and, out past them, to the castle. Lark appeared to be thanking the woman profusely as he put the parchment in his pocket. Then, as she went to move off, the dark-haired man dug into his pocket and gave the woman a silver coin. She looked astonished and kept looking back as she walked off, as if she wasn’t sure he was going to let her keep it.
Lark walked off and headed straight for the well. A dozen people were hanging around, taking turns at winding the wooden bucket up to fill their jugs and containers. Lark paused, pretending to be watching a bird in a tree, and waited for them to finish.
‘We should just go out and confront him,’ Riko suggested.
Toby was just about to agree — surely the two of them could stand up to one short man? — then he put his hand on Riko’s shoulder and pulled him back into the shade of the alley.
‘No, I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ Toby said quietly. He pointed to Lark, who was facing in their direction. ‘Look at his eyes.’
‘They’re purple,’ Riko muttered. ‘He’s a sorcere
r?’
‘It looks like it,’ Toby said a little tensely. Why would a sorcerer be hanging around with Blaise, trying to convince people that dragons were making them sick?
‘We’ll have to do something pretty quick,’ Riko pointed out. Lark was almost at the well. He had taken a small purple bottle from his other pocket and had his arm stretched out to drop it in the well.
Toby picked up a child’s small ball that was stuck in an aqueduct in the alley. He drew his arm back, whistled, and threw the ball as hard as he could.
The ball shot across the square, missing Lark and rolling off down another alley. But his target hadn’t been Lark. Oska looked up at the whistle, saw the ball, and almost yanked Lark’s arm from its socket as he shot off after the ball. Lark threw the small bottle at the well as he was dragged off. It was a direct shot and the bottle vanished down the well. As Lark disappeared down the alley after his dog, Toby felt his shoulders sag.
‘We didn’t stop him.’ He was angry with himself for not coming up with a better plan.
‘Maybe if we draw a few buckets of water and tip them away it won’t be so bad?’ Riko suggested. ‘It may not have seeped deep into the well yet.’
‘Good idea,’ Toby agreed. They hurried over to the well and Toby quickly wound the bucket up. It was a very shallow well and it only took a couple of turns of the wooden handle. To his surprise, floating in the top of the bucket of water was the small bottle of purple liquid.
‘Look!’ Riko cried, gently putting the bucket on the cobbled ground.
‘It didn’t break,’ Toby said with a grin. He snatched the bottle out of the water in case the cork came free. ‘He didn’t have time to uncork it.’
He put the bottle in his pocket, and the two boys hurried off in case Lark came back that way. As they crossed the square, the wind blew a folded parchment in front of them. Toby picked it up.
‘Lark must have dropped it,’ Riko guessed. ‘What’s on it?’
Toby unfolded the parchment. On one side was a faded advert for a travelling minstrel. He turned it over and saw that a drawing had been done on the back. It was of a pretty, young woman with long, straight, sandy-brown hair and grey-green eyes.
