Quest for the Sun Gem

by Belinda Murrell

  ‘Well, your highness, are you waiting for the royal grooms to come along and hand you down? Or are you waiting for your maid servants to lay down a rug for your delicate royal feet?’ Ethan asked sarcastically.

  Roana flushed. ‘No, I am not,’ she flashed. ‘It is just … it is just that my ankle is still rather sore and it is quite a long drop down, and …’

  Ethan scowled. Saxon dropped his saddle blanket and went over to help lift Roana to the ground. Roana muttered a low thanks and hobbled over to the stream to water her horse.

  A moment later she had her head under the saddle flap, struggling with the buckles. Roana’s slim white fingers were slick with sweat and grime. The buckles refused to budge.

  Lily finished rubbing down Nutmeg and tethered her securely, then came over to Roana. Her strong arms easily hefted the girth buckles undone. She showed Roana how to secure the stirrup leathers and girth, lift the saddle off and undo the bridle.

  ‘Here, rub her down with some grass to help dry off the sweat,’ Lily instructed. ‘You mustn’t mind Ethan. He’s not usually so touchy. I think it’s just the worry of Mama and Dadda and home and everything.’

  ‘I know how he feels,’ agreed Roana, hiding her face in Moonbeam’s sweaty flank.

  When the horses were all tended, the children drank greedily themselves then curled up in their cloaks and quickly fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

  A few hours later Lily woke. The grey gloom was gone, replaced by a beautiful morning. The sun shone hot from a deep blue sky. Small jewel-coloured birds dipped and flitted through the air, singing and chattering. Their wings flashed ruby, emerald, and sapphire in the sunlight.

  The clearing was bathed in a rich golden light. Lily sat up, rubbing her eyes. The others still slept deeply in a tight huddle, curled up in their cloaks with Aisha at their feet.

  Lily stretched and yawned, delighting in the warm sun on her face, the birds, the horses snuffling and munching and the sound of the brook tumbling and gurgling over the flat white pebbles. Aisha opened one eye and cocked a black-tipped ear at Lily. Then she padded over to lick Lily on the face.

  Lily hugged her and buried her face in her tawny red flank. ‘Oh, Aisha,’ She sighed. ‘What are we doing here?’ Lily wandered down to the stream to drink some water and splash her face. The water felt so refreshing on her hot face that she took off her boots, stockings and long blue dress, and hitched up her petticoat for a paddle.

  A big splash of cold water drenched her back. Lily squealed and swung around in alarm to see Ethan chuckling as he splashed her again right in the face. Lily screamed and splashed him back. The shrill squealing woke the others, and Saxon waded in to join in the water fight, splashing furiously.

  Roana hesitated on the bank.

  ‘Come on, last one in is a hairy toad!’ shouted Saxon.

  A huge splash from Lily quickly had Roana joining in the fray. Aisha barked and splashed in delight, shaking her coat so that shining droplets of water flew through the air. Everyone laughed and squealed. After the terror and strain of the last few days, it felt wonderful to be wet and cool and having fun in the sunshine.

  Saxon collapsed on the bank laughing ‘Enough, enough, I give in!’ The cold water had washed away the grime and exhaustion of the night, and everyone was in high spirits, their hope restored. They all climbed out, giggling and laughing.

  ‘Some food and then we hit the road again, folks,’ grinned Ethan, rummaging in his pack. ‘A veritable feast – we have cheese and apples and bread.’

  ‘And hot tea brewed with wild mint,’ added Lily, stirring her green concoction as she hung it over the crackling fire Saxon had made.

  When the food and tea were ready, they laid it out on a blanket and then dug in.

  ‘By the mighty Sun Lord, I think the princess lost all her manners when you lopped off her hair, Lily,’ teased Saxon laughingly. ‘She certainly doesn’t eat like a princess!’

  Roana stopped cramming a piece of cheese into her mouth. She squirmed a little. ‘I am rather hungry,’ she said apologetically. ‘I never felt this ravenous in all my life.’

  ‘It’s the fresh air and exercise,’ Lily laughed. ‘Swimming before breakfast is a very special way to start the day.’

  ‘Thank goodness for that, you do all smell a lot better!’ smiled Roana shyly.

  After breakfast, Lily taught Roana how to saddle and bridle Moonbeam.

  ‘You need to walk her around a bit so that you can tighten the girth properly,’ Lily instructed. ‘You heard what happened to the guards last night! Here, it might be easier to climb up in the saddle if you stand on that log. You do look a bit odd riding in a sidesaddle with breeches on, you know!’

  ‘Thank you for your help,’ Roana murmured. ‘I have never had to prepare the horses myself before. I did not realise quite how many buckles and straps there are! However, I am sure I will learn quickly.’

  Everyone was stiff and sore and wet when they climbed back into the saddles, but the sun quickly dried their clothes and warmed their cramped muscles.

  The trees thinned and the track meandered out into open meadowland. A huge stone archway, with a fiery sun carved in the middle of the arch, marked the boundary of the Royal Forest. They rode through it and continued on their way.

  The land rolled away to the horizon with fresh green fields, dotted with snowy sheep and black cows. Other fields of dark black earth were ploughed, ready for sowing. Stone walls and flowering hedges lined the roadway. In the distance they could see a small village of stone cottages and scented gardens.

  ‘Let us gallop the horses!’ cried Roana.

  She leaned forward and urged Moonbeam into a fast gallop. Her heart sang with happiness as her horse flew over the ground, kicking up clods of mud with her hooves. Roana could hear the sound of the other horses thundering behind her. The countryside whirred by in a blur of greens and browns.

  This is wonderful, she thought. This is what it feels like to be free!

  Eventually the horses slowed down as the road wound up a hill. They trotted up the last rise, puffing and panting at the exertion. At the crest, they stopped and looked out over the land rolling out below – green fields, patches of woodland and, in the very distance, a deep smudge of blue – the sea!

  Their eyes scanned the horizon anxiously.

  ‘Look, Ethan,’ cried Lily. ‘Smoke!’

  Over to the right a thick column of ominous black smoke rose straight in the air. Their hearts sank. At the base of the smoke column was a small village – in flames.

  ‘The Sedahs!’ shouted Saxon.

  Grimly they urged their horses on. All joy was sapped from the beautiful day. They rode on and on across the countryside, oblivious to the landscape. The fields stretched to the edge of the very clifftops. As they rode closer the enormous blueness of the sea rose to meet them, stretching to the horizon as far as their eyes could see.

  Ethan and Lily had never before seen the ocean. They couldn’t believe the immensity of it – the rolling, swaying, ceaseless power of the sea. The blue-green, white-capped waves changing colours. The pounding, thunderous, never-ending rumble of water crashing into cliffs and rocks and sand. It was one of the most beautiful sights they had ever seen.

  They sat awestruck on their horses as they absorbed this new experience. Their lungs filled with the salty, briny tang of fresh sea air. It filled them with new resolution.

  ‘It’s so beautiful,’ Lily gasped. ‘It goes on forever!’

  Saxon broke the spell. ‘It may look beautiful, but the sea is dangerous,’ he warned. ‘It can change in an instant – from calm and sunny to wild and furious. It can smash a boat or a body to smithereens. And there are all sorts of strange creatures that live there – the magical Merrow folk, who sing enchanting songs of love and death, and huge deadly sea monsters, like Octomons and sea serpents that can snap a ship in two!’

  ‘Do you really believe all that?’ demanded Roana scornfully. ‘Magic Merrows and sea monsters
. It all sounds like superstitious nonsense to me!’

  Saxon flushed. He ignored Roana’s interjection and pointed over to the left.

  ‘Over there is Goldcoin Cove – it’s called that because a smuggler’s ship was wrecked there years ago by a sea monster, and the locals said that the sand was awash with golden coins and jewels,’ Saxon whispered quietly.

  ‘I imagine that could be where the invaders have anchored their ships,’ he continued. ‘It is the best harbour around here. There’s a track that winds down to the cove. We should tether the horses in the copse of trees over there and creep down to see what we can see.’

  Moonbeam, Nutmeg, Caramel and Toffee were safely tied up and left to lip the long grass in contentment.

  The four children crept to the cliff edge and peered over. The cove below was as busy as an ant’s nest with soldiers scurrying to and fro loading barrels and crates onto boats, lashing cargo and herding animals down onto the sand.

  Moored out in the cove were six ships. Closest to shore was a crimson ship, the colour of blood.

  ‘Our ship – the Queen Ashana,’ whispered Roana through gritted teeth, clenching her hands so tightly her nails cut deep sickle moons in her palm.

  The crimson ship was trapped by five huge black tri-masted ships, their massive yellow sails furled and decks alive with crew and soldiers. The stern of each ship was ornately carved and painted gold, gleaming brightly in the sun, with three rows of square-paned windows across the back.

  Long, thin vermilion flags fluttered from the masts, making the scene look almost festive and gay. Yet peeking from the side of each ship were the evil black muzzles of cannons pointing ominously to the shore, five on the top level and nine on the second level of each side.

  Even more chilling, from the stern of each ship flew the red, black and grey banner of Emperor Raef – two cutlasses crossed with a red eye glowing above. The tip of each cutlass dripped with tear-drops of bright red blood. Lily shivered at the sight of them.

  ‘Somehow we need to get on board those ships,’ murmured Ethan. ‘Somewhere Mama and Dadda must be being held prisoner with Queen Ashana and Prince Caspar. But how are we going to get on board without being discovered and thrown to those sea monsters?’

  ‘We need to get down onto the beach without being seen, then hide ourselves in the cargo so we can be rowed over to the ships,’ Saxon suggested. ‘We can hide until darkness, then search the ship.’

  ‘What then?’ asked Roana sarcastically. ‘I guess we singlehandedly defeat the crew of bloodthirsty invaders, take over the ship and sail away to safety, armed only with a peasant dagger? You are all completely mad.’

  ‘Well, I suppose you have a better idea, your highness,’ muttered Ethan irritably.

  A distant sound caught their attention – the rumble and thud of many feet tramping. Far behind them from the road came a billow of dust and the dark shadow of a vast crowd of people, animals and wagons coming in this direction.

  ‘Quick. Hide,’ breathed Ethan. ‘This could be our chance. If we can just create a diversion, we could stop the cavalcade and creep into the cargo.’

  ‘We cannot. We will be discovered for certain,’ asserted Roana. ‘This is madness.’

  ‘I know,’ Ethan retorted. ‘Of course it is dangerous. But we have not come all this way to just watch quietly while the ships sail away with our parents. We have to do something.’

  ‘I have it,’ snapped Saxon. ‘Roana’s right. It is too dangerous to try to creep onto the boat with the cargo. What we need to do is wait until darkness falls, then borrow a boat and row ourselves out to the ship in the depth of night. Then we could probably climb up the anchor lines and search the ship while everyone sleeps.’

  ‘It might work, but where could we borrow a boat?’ Ethan interrupted.

  ‘I’m pretty sure the smugglers or one of the local villagers must keep a rowboat around here somewhere. It’s just a matter of finding one and launching it.’

  ‘Smugglers?’ asked Lily. ‘Why would smugglers keep a boat around here?’

  Saxon shrugged with a sheepish look on his face. ‘I don’t know. We’re by the sea. Somebody must have a boat. Anyway, who it belongs to doesn’t matter. We just need to find a boat somewhere!’

  The others grudgingly agreed this was the best plan so far. So the children split up into two groups – Ethan and Roana would search east and Saxon and Lily would go west.

  The cavalcade of Sedahs marched down onto the beach at Goldcoin Cove. At the front was a young soldier carrying a fluttering black and red flag. Behind him marched Governor Lazlac and Captain Malish, followed by hundreds of soldiers in black armour. In the middle huddled farmers and foresters, men, women and children, whimpering and sobbing, their eyes wide with hopeless terror.

  Lord Lazlac smiled in satisfaction at the sight of the menacing black warships anchored in the cove, surrounding the lone crimson Tiregian ship.

  ‘Get the prisoners on board, on the double,’ he ordered. Captain Malish turned to bark this order at the men behind him.

  ‘Any news from Sniffer yet?’ Lazlac asked, his eyes hooded and dangerous.

  ‘Not yet, sir,’ replied Captain Malish nervously. ‘I expect a report at any time.’

  ‘Make sure you let me know as soon as he comes in.’ Lazlac swatted a fly, crushing it with his black-gloved hand. ‘Our friend Mortma is very anxious about that princess.’

  At that moment Sniffer was in the clearing where the children had slept for a few short hours in the early morning.

  He noted the five flat patches where bodies had lain. He stirred the wet embers of the extinguished fire and then smelt the damp ashes. He measured the four sets of bare footprints running in the wet sand on the river bank – Saxon’s large and broad, Ethan’s slightly smaller, Roana’s narrow with a high arch and Lily’s small and sturdy.

  He found the dried twists of grass, sticky with horse sweat and matted with horsehair – one white, two chestnut and one darker brown. He examined the hoofprints.

  Finally he surveyed the piles of greeny-brown horse dung. He knelt carefully beside one and pushed his finger down into the heart of the dung pile. It was still lukewarm.

  Sniffer snuffled softly in delight. He stooped at the brook to rinse his hand and take a deep draught of water. Then with a quick grin he loped off back up the track following the hoofprints. This is just too easy, he thought.

  Saxon and Lily led the four horses, skirting the eastern clifftops for twenty minutes, keeping a sharp eye out for boats and Sedahs. Aisha bounded along beside them. Saxon seemed to know this section of coast quite well. Finally he found a sheltered copse of trees off the track where they could safely tether the horse; then he led Lily and Aisha back to the cliffs.

  ‘There is another little cove down here,’ Saxon whispered. ‘It’s little more than a crack in the cliff but I am sure the smugglers use it from time to time.’

  ‘Sax, this cliff doesn’t look like anyone would go down there – smugglers or anyone else,’ Lily argued.

  ‘Come on – we might as well take a look,’ Saxon replied obstinately.

  There was no path leading down. Aisha slithered down first in a tumble of falling pebbles and sand. Saxon and Lily had to climb down a thin cleft in the cliff, gripping onto rocks and ledges and shrubby roots.

  At last they landed safely on the small sandy beach at the bottom. At first glance there was nothing to see except waves surging around the cliff base, piles of rotting seaweed and a mass of huge boulders. A flock of white gulls flew screaming into the air. Crabs scrabbled sideways over the boulders.

  ‘Sax, let’s go,’ Lily called. ‘There’s nothing here, and definitely no boat.’

  ‘Wait – I was so sure …’ Saxon poked around for a couple of minutes, scrambling among the rocks at the base of the cliff.

  ‘Lily, look,’ he hissed. Saxon pointed to some scratch marks on a huge boulder and a tiny scrape of black.

  Lily frowned. ‘So?’
r />   ‘It’s paint. Black paint,’ Saxon replied.

  Saxon poked around more, then tugged aside a curtain of hanging greenery. Behind the vegetation was a small cave above the high tide mark, perfectly hidden behind boulders. The entrance was little more than a low hole just large enough for a small rowboat to be stowed.

  Saxon wriggled into the dimness. Lily followed hesitantly. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but then she saw the outline of a small black boat and, beyond, a number of crates stored on a rock ledge.

  ‘Lily, look,’ Saxon cried in excitement. ‘Ropes, lanterns, candles and weapons – daggers, swords and cutlasses. There’s even some long black cloaks and knitted fishermen’s caps, which will help to hide us in the darkness. I doubt any smugglers will be wanting these tonight with all the invaders about. No doubt they’ll be laying low – that’s if they haven’t been captured and taken aboard the ships already.’

  ‘It’s perfect,’ Lily replied, rummaging through the pile. ‘Let’s send Aisha to fetch the others and bring them here. We can tie a note to her collar. I don’t fancy trudging all that way back to find them.’

  Lily found some paper in her pack.

  ‘We should write it in code just in case anyone finds it,’ Saxon said. ‘Here, I’ll write it.’ He scrawled a quick message.

  Lily peered over his shoulder. The note said:

  Ylil dna xas. Evoc niocdlog fo tsae setunim

  ytnewt evoc llams eht ot ahsia htiw emoc.

  Taob a dnuof evah ew. Nahte.

  ‘What does it say? Where did you learn the code?’ Lily asked curiously.

  Saxon laughed. ‘Ethan and I made it up so we could write notes to each other like, “Come to the treehouse and don’t tell Lily”.’

  Lily punched Saxon on the shoulder. ‘No, really, how does it work?’

  ‘I’ll show you,’ Sax promised. ‘But first let’s tie the note onto Aisha’s collar and send her off to find Ethan.’

  Aisha galloped off eagerly.

  She found Ethan and Roana scouring the western cliffs for likely hiding places.