by Linda McNabb
‘Who do you think she is?’ Riko asked as he twisted the parchment his way to look at it.
‘I don’t know, but I think she’s the one who has the dragon stone,’ Toby said, folding the parchment up and putting it in the same pocket as the bottle of poison. ‘We should get back to the others.’
When they arrived back at the marketplace, Sanelle and Kaylene were sitting under a tree at the edge of the market. Most of the stalls were now open and the market was crowded.
‘Did you stop him?’ Sanelle asked.
Toby held out the bottle of poison with a grin. ‘Where’s Blaise?’
‘He hasn’t come out of the wagon,’ Kaylene replied.
‘We should go and tell Klel that we couldn’t find the dragon stone,’ Sanelle suggested. “I don’t think Blaise is going to cause much trouble here.’
‘Aggie will be wondering why I didn’t come for breakfast, too,’ Toby said, knowing his mother would be cross, but hoping she would understand.
**
They found Klel dozing in the courtyard, but he looked up as they approached. The look on the dragon’s face said that he knew exactly what they had come to tell him.
Blaise not have dragon stone, Klel said flatly.
‘No, but he has a chest full of other gems,’ Toby replied.
Felt them for a few minutes. Nothing like dragon stone, Klel looked tired as he sank back down to the hay. He looked duller than he had the day before, and his eyes had lost a lot of their sparkle.
‘Are you sick?’ Sanelle asked, also having noticed the dragon’s poor colour.
Magic being sucked from world to world. Not stable. Draining dragons of magic wherever they are, Klel said sadly. Tryx, lying next to the larger dragon, looked a little faded, too.
‘We’ll keep looking for the dragon stone,’ Kaylene told the dragons, in an effort to cheer them up. ‘I’m sure we’ll find it soon.’
‘Show Klel the picture,’ Riko suggested, digging Toby in the side with his elbow.
‘What picture?’ Sanelle asked.
‘Lark dropped it,’ Toby replied as he took it out of his pocket, being careful not to knock out the poison. ‘He seems to think the woman has the dragon stone. Maybe you know who she is?’
Toby flattened out the picture and held it out for Klel to see. The dragon looked at it for a few seconds, then shook his great head slowly.
No, never see before, Klel said and laid his head on his front legs.
‘We’ll search again after I’ve been to see Aggie,’ Toby promised. He had no idea where they were going to look, but they had to keep looking until they found the stone.
Tryx and Klel fly south soon, after resting. Woman with stone maybe left town? Tryx suggested and Klel nodded in agreement.
The four children left the dragons in the courtyard and headed down to find Aggie in the kitchens.
‘Back me up if she’s angry at me for being late,’ Toby asked as they reached the corridor that led to the lower kitchen. He pushed open the door, expecting to see a busy, hot kitchen, but instead the fires were all out and the room was in total darkness except for a small lamp on a table. Sitting at the table was Aggie, and it looked like she had been crying for some time.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
DRAGON STONE
Toby paused in the doorway as he stared at his mother. He had only ever seen her shed about a dozen tears in his entire life. Surely him not turning up to breakfast wasn’t that bad?
‘What’s wrong?’ Toby asked as he walked into the room. The others followed slowly, unsure if they were intruding.
Aggie pulled herself together a little and drew herself up a little straighter in the chair. She rubbed the tears away with her hand and then waved them closer. ‘Come, sit down. We need to talk.’
All four sat down in silence and waited for Aggie to start talking again. In front of her on the table lay a small, rectangular box. It was unpainted and looked to be made of some sort of grey, flattened metal. She sat with her hands resting on the box; her gaze cast down onto the wooden table.
She took a deep breath and then looked up and stared straight at Toby. A tear formed in the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek unchecked. ‘I only did it because I thought I was doing the right thing.’
‘Did what?’ Toby asked.
‘Your mother, Danella, was scared. She didn’t want your father to find her,’ Aggie continued as if Toby hadn’t spoken.
Toby frowned. This was the first time Aggie had spoken of his birth-mother. Toby had always thought she had died without speaking to anyone at the castle. He hadn’t even known her name until now.
‘When she realised she was dying, she asked me to destroy it. She made me promise never to let you try to find him.’ She paused and another tear rolled down her cheek. ‘I tried never to talk about your parents much, so that you wouldn’t want to find him.’
‘Why shouldn’t I find him?’ Toby asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Aggie said with a shrug. ‘But your mother was terrified, so I took her word for it.’
‘What did you destroy?’ Sanelle asked quietly.
Aggie turned to face Sanelle, and the older woman’s face crumpled up into floods of tears. Toby jumped up and hurried around to comfort her. He put his arm around her shoulder and waited for her shuddering sobs to stop. She wiped her eyes again, and slowly pushed the tin box to one side. ‘It’s in here. This is all your mother left.’
Toby sat on a chair next to his mother and reached out for the box. He let his hand rest on the badly made lid for a second and then opened it. He had no idea of what to expect, but he was glad he was sitting down.
Instantly music flooded the room. As Toby let the lid fall back onto the table, he stared into the box, not believing what he was seeing.
A brilliant purply-blue stone, broken into three pieces, lay half-hidden by a crumpled parchment and a necklace. Toby took the parchment and necklace out and laid them on the table. The stone sparkled in the flickering light cast by the lantern, and the music softened to a gentle tune that allowed Toby to think straight. The tune was off-key — it seemed to be several tunes trying to play in harmony but missing by several notes. The stone, if complete, would have been in the shape of a dragon’s head.
Toby heard two howls off in the distance: Klel and Tryx could feel that the dragon stone was nearby. What they didn’t know was that it was broken.
Toby’s three companions stood up and leaned over to look into the box as well. He could tell by Sanelle’s expression that she knew what was in the tin before she had even looked. When Sanelle saw that the stone was in pieces, her face went pale and she sat down with a horrified expression. Toby picked up one of the pieces and held it briefly before dropping it back into the tin.
Nobody spoke and Aggie wiped at fresh tears. Toby reached out and touched her arm. ‘It’s okay. We’ll find another way to fix things,’ he said comfortingly.
The door had swung shut, but now it burst open as Morgain came rushing through it. The bright excitement in her eyes dimmed as she looked around, taking in the unusual lighting and the sobriety of the people in the room. She hesitated as she stepped further into the room, where her eyes fell on the box on the table.
‘Is it the dragon stone?’ she asked tentatively. ‘I felt it from upstairs.’
‘Yes,’ Sanelle told her mother sadly.
‘Why the long faces, then?’ Morgain looked confused.
‘It is damaged,’ Kaylene explained.
‘Maybe it can be fixed?’ Riko’s voice didn’t carry any conviction, though.
Morgain walked slowly forward until she could see into the shallow box. When she saw what was in it, she gulped back a shocked cry.
Toby put the necklace and parchment back into the tin and closed the lid. He knew staring at it wouldn’t help, and the off-key music was driving him mad.
‘We must tell the dragons,’ Morgain said woodenly. She looked ill as she sat down next to Toby.
‘We’ll tell them,’ Sanelle said, getting up and dragging Kaylene and Riko up with her. ‘Come on, Toby. My mother can stay here with Aggie.’
Toby stood up, reluctant to leave his mother so upset, but knowing Morgain was far more likely to help console her. He left the box on the table, but Aggie pushed it towards him.
‘Take it. I can’t bear to look at it any longer,’ she begged.
Toby picked it up and slipped the small box into his pocket. It rattled against the poison, so he took the bottle out and put that on the table instead.
‘Can you get rid of this? Blaise’s friend was going to poison the water with it,’ Toby said. When his mother nodded, he turned and left the room with his friends.
The four friends walked the corridors of the castle in total silence. Only the sound of their footsteps echoed up ahead of them. Toby clutched the tin box in his pocket, wishing there was some way to put the dragon stone back together but knowing there wasn’t. He dreaded telling Klel and Tryx that the only hope of saving their world had been destroyed.
As they emerged into the courtyard, Klel and Tryx were waiting with anticipation. They hurried over towards the children. Toby tried to pretend nothing was wrong and smiled at the dragons, but Klel stopped a few paces away, not fooled by the fake smile.
Something wrong, he stated.
Before Toby could reply, a commotion at the front gate drew their attention. Toby turned and saw Blaise and Lark standing at the gate. Blaise, as usual, was yelling.
‘Let me in! I am a prince of this kingdom and I have the right to enter the castle!’ Blaise bellowed at the young guard who had taken over from Nathan. An older guard hurried from the guardroom and helped the younger one pull open the double gates.
Blaise stormed in, followed a step behind by Lark. He went to enter the castle, but Lark pulled him back. The short man pointed over to where the dragons and children stood.
Where dragon stone? Tryx asked, not seeming at all interested in the arrival of the two men.
‘In this tin,’ Toby replied quietly. He opened it briefly and moved aside the parchment — just long enough for both dragons to see it — and then closed it again.
The dragons did not speak for a few seconds, and then Klel’s head dipped low in what seemed like defeat. Must tell Brax.
Without another word, Tryx and Klel leapt into the air and flew off, leaving the four children standing in the courtyard watching. Toby knew where they were heading as the nearest gateway to the castle was on a hillside not far from there. It was the gateway he had used to visit Aggie when he was living in Dragon Valley.
He stared up at the hill in the distance. He knew the spot to watch, as there was a large oak tree just to one side of the small waterfall. The dragons were flying slowly, but it wasn’t far away and a minute later they saw the golden glow of the gate as it opened and allowed the dragons to pass through to Dragon Valley.
Toby watched until the gate had closed again. When he slowly brought his attention back to his immediate surroundings, he saw that Blaise and Lark were watching the gateway as well. Lark looked delighted by what he had just seen, and he and Blaise were talking quietly to each other. Toby moved a little closer to eavesdrop.
‘I’d forgotten about that gateway. The dragons must have taken the stone with them,’ Lark said, a shadow of annoyance crossing his face. ‘We’ll have to find another way to open the gate.’
‘You should have found her earlier,’ Blaise snapped, not looking at all happy. ‘Where is she anyway?’
Blaise looked around the courtyard but could see only his sister, Sanelle, Toby, Kaylene and Riko.
‘Apparently she died in childbirth about thirteen years ago,’ Lark said with a shrug. Lark frowned and then peered a little more closely at the four youths. He stared at each one in turn, his gaze finally resting on Toby. An odd look crossed the little man’s face before he turned away and dragged Blaise off into the castle, the little dog following close behind.
**
Toby sank down onto the cobbled courtyard. Suddenly he was very tired.
‘We should go and see what Blaise is doing,’ Sanelle said, tugging at Toby, but he didn’t get up. He wanted to say that it didn’t really matter what Blaise was up to anymore — they couldn’t fix Dragon Valley and soon it would be destroyed.
‘I’ll stay here a few minutes in case Klel or Tryx come back,’ he said instead. ‘You all go ahead and I’ll catch up.’
Sanelle hesitated for only a second and then hurried off after her brother. Riko and Kaylene followed, leaving Toby alone in the courtyard. He held the tin in his lap and stared at it for several long minutes, his mind totally blank. Then he frowned — something was nagging at his mind.
He placed the box on the ground in front of him and opened it. The song of the stone was just as loud and off key. He ignored the broken stone and took out the parchment. Toby closed the box and put it aside. Then he reached into his pocket and drew out the parchment that Lark had dropped.
He spread the two pieces of parchment side by side on the cobbles and stared at them. He felt light-headed as he compared the two and saw that they were identical.
Announcing Another Enthralling Musical Performance by
LARK AND HIS PLAYERS
Including his wife Danella, renowned lute player of the North.
Formerly minstrel to royalty and now coming to a town near you!
DON”T MISS OUT!
Toby read the words out loud slowly, pausing as he read out his mother’s name. He turned over one of the parchments and looked at the picture of the young woman. This must have been his mother. He knew what that also meant but he didn’t want to think about it.
If Danella was his mother then Lark was more than likely his father.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
DEFENDING LARK
Toby picked up both pieces of parchment, folded them carefully and put them in his pocket. He put the tin in his other pocket and stood up. Even though there was little hope of Dragon Valley managing to survive, he had to make sure that his father didn’t succeed in whatever his plan was. He headed into the castle to find Sanelle. He wasn’t sure how much he was going to tell his friend just yet. He wasn’t ready to admit that someone who hated dragons as much as Lark seemed to was, in fact, related to him.
The castle seemed deserted as he walked slowly along the corridors. He knew the castle well, and he knew that if the king was going to give an audience to his son it would be in the main throne room.
As he approached the throne room, Toby could hear the combined voices of many people. It sounded like a flock of birds as they all spoke animatedly.
The main double doors into the room were open, and there were so many people crowded into the room that they were spilling out into the corridor. Apparently the attraction of Blaise returning was too much for the people to miss.
The throne room wasn’t large, as usually the king only held private audiences in it. His majestic red-velvet throne stood on a dais at the far end of the room. Toby could see Blaise standing to one side of the throne, waiting impatiently. There was no sign of King Herat.
Sanelle, Riko and Kaylene were standing on the opposite side of the throne and Blaise was ignoring them.
Toby slipped into the room and worked his way along the back of the room until he had a good view of the throne. He stood with his back to the velvet-draped walls and waited. There was no sign of Lark anywhere, and Toby wasn’t sure if he was pleased or disappointed at this. Now that he knew the dark-haired man was his father, Toby had wanted to see if there was any resemblance between them.
A single trumpet sounded, cutting through the babble of the crowd and bringing instant silence. A door opened behind the throne, and King Herat made a sweeping entrance as the trumpeter held the last note. The trumpeter stopped as King Herat sat on the throne. Total silence filled the room.
The king ignored the two parties on either side of him and stared across the room, a little puzzled to
see so many people in his throne room.
Then he turned to Blaise and his face drew into an angry scowl. ‘You have been causing trouble again.’
‘The dragons are causing the trouble, Sire,’ Blaise replied calmly. ‘I am merely trying to warn people.’
‘Nonsense,’ King Herat said, shaking his head. ‘Dragons are not interested in our world. They have one of their own.’
‘They are spreading a sickness,’ Blaise insisted.
‘No, they aren’t,’ Sanelle argued back. ‘You and your friend have been poisoning the wells and blaming it on the dragons.’
‘Me?’ Blaise’s face was all innocence. ‘What reason could I have for doing such a thing?’
‘I don’t know, but you’re trying to convince everyone that dragons will make them sick,’ Sanelle retorted.
‘Does anyone else think the dragons are spreading a sickness?’ King Herat demanded, turning to face the small crowd of gentry watching.
There was silence for a few seconds, and then one man near the front cleared his throat and stepped forward. He looked nervous at speaking out, and he cleared his throat again as the king turned to look at him.
‘I travelled from Belmoor yesterday on the barge. The whole town was talking about the dragon sickness. Everybody knew somebody who was sick from it,’ the man said quietly, but his voice could be heard easily at the back of the totally silent room.
‘See, Father, the dragons are causing the sickness,’ Blaise insisted. ‘They should be banished forever. I am willing to go to the valley and take control. I will make sure they won’t come here again. What will it take for you to believe me? Are you going to wait until you fall ill yourself?’
‘We should talk in private,’ King Herat said, looking far less sure of himself now.
Toby wondered if the man in the crowd had been paid by Blaise to back him up. Everyone in the room began to whisper quietly among themselves. Blaise stepped closer to the throne, looking delighted at how things were proceeding.
