by Gill Vickery
‘What she mends, she can un-mend. What she heals, she can un-heal,’ Orn muttered.
‘Is that true?’ Tia asked.
Orn shrugged. ‘So they say.’
Tia remembered how the people of Askarlend had reacted when they saw her use the ruby to defeat High Witch Skadi. They had been afraid of her. They’d thought she might turn on them and use the ruby against them.
I would never have done that, Tia thought. But a High Witch would.
Chapter Seven
The Book of Shadows
Her work done, Ondine returned to the palace. She told Grimmar to summon Thora.
‘You,’ she said Tia. ‘Come with me.’
The witch’s chambers were modest and simply furnished. She led Tia through the entrance hall and the living rooms and into a side corridor ending in a locked door. She turned the key and went in.
On the other side of the door was a magic laboratory lined with books. They ran from floor to ceiling except where a high, wide window overlooked the lake. Beneath the window was a long table covered with familiar-looking phials, dishes, glass tubes and bottles of magic ingredients. They resembled the ones Tia had seen in Drangur where the High Witch Malindra had practiced her evil magic.
Ondine’s no different from her, Tia thought. It was only then she realised she’d begun to think Ondine might not be as bad as her sisters after all.
A huge book lay open on a stand in the middle of the table. In front of it was a white marble dish lined with swans’ down. Ondine unfastened the diadem from her hair and laid it wearily in the dish. The creamy pearl glimmered in light from the window. Ondine stroked it with a reverent fingertip and smiled at it like a parent might smile at a child.
She really loves that pearl, Tia realised with a shock. She took a step nearer. Ondine spun round. ‘Do not approach my pearl!’ she commanded.
Tia stumbled back. ‘I didn’t mean any harm, Lady,’ she said wondering why the witch had brought her here if she was so protective of the pearl.
Ondine encircled Tia’s shoulder. ‘Give me your hands,’ she said.
Tia held them out and Ondine gripped them in her free hand.
With Tia pinioned, the witch took her a few steps closer to the table until she could see the pearl clearly. It cast a white sheen like glowing moonlight touched with the blue-grey shadows of a cloudy night. Tia longed to pick it up.
Ondine’s hands gripped tighter. ‘Can you read?’
Tia shook her head, although she could read perfectly well.
Ondine shook her head, mockingly. ‘Oh dear. If you were able to, you would see what is written in my Book of Shadows here. Never mind, it doesn’t matter.’
The witch seemed to lose interest. She pulled Tia away and closed the book.
They left the magic laboratory, Ondine carefully locking the door behind her, and went back to the living chambers. Ondine dropped the key onto a chest by her bed.
‘I’m tired. Sit with me until Thora arrives.’ Ondine lay on her bed and Tia perched on the end. ‘Amuse me, tell me one of your Trader tales.’
Relief washed over Tia. She could easily do that; she’d had plenty of practice telling stories to the High Witch Yordis. She told the tale of Prince Kaspar and the Skrimsli bear. Ondine was laughing delightedly at Tia’s funny voices and extravagant gestures when there was a knock on the door.
‘Come in,’ she called, still laughing.
Thora entered with her usual bob. Ondine waved her to a footstool. ‘Finish the story then you may go,’ she told Tia.
Tia wound up the tale as quickly as she could then slid off the bed and left the room.
Outside Ondine’s chambers she sagged against the wall. Did the High Witch know she was the thief? If not, why else would Ondine have tempted her with a close sight of the pearl and watched her reaction so carefully? And Tia had read the runes written across the open page of the Book of Shadows. They said: To Catch a Thief.
Tia lay awake early the next morning, thoughts racing through her mind: should she try and steal the pearl now, or wait for a better opportunity? She hadn’t planned to take it yet but the chance might not come again, not if Ondine suspected that Tia was the thief.
A faint flush of yellow light seeping through the window told Tia that sunrise was coming. If she was going to steal the pearl it had better be now. She dressed quickly, opened the door, and crept past Thora who was snoring loudly in the outer room.
Tia climbed to the top of the dizzying spiral staircase and sped through dim corridors to Ondine’s chambers.
There weren’t any guards at the witch’s door. She must feel very safe if she hasn’t got guards, Tia thought.
She opened the door a crack. Dawn light filtered into the room through closed shutters. It glinted on the laboratory key still lying where Ondine had dropped it on the chest beside her bed. She had her back to Tia.
Holding her breath, Tia crept forward. She picked up the key. Ondine stirred, turned over. Tia froze, expecting the witch’s eyes to open and widen with anger at the sight of the thief. With a soft sigh Ondine settled again.
Tia relaxed. She made her way silently to the magic laboratory, turned the key in the lock and went inside.
The pearl shone pure and clear in its feathery nest. Tia leaned forward to see it better. Its soft radiance seeped into her. She felt as though she were glowing too. She reached for the pearl and found herself unable to move for rapture.
Tia wondered vaguely if she was dreaming – or perhaps floating underwater. She couldn’t think clearly, her sight was blurred, her hearing muffled. And she didn’t seem able to move. A figure she vaguely recognised wavered indistinctly in front of her. It spoke, the words seeming to come from very far away:
‘This spell of mine I now negate
Return her to her rightful state.’
Immediately Tia was wide awake. It was full daylight. Ondine stood in front of her, with Thora beside her, smiling in triumph.
Chapter Eight
Dragon Spell
Tia had fallen into Ondine’s trap. She’d been tempted into trying to steal the pearl before she was ready, and caught by Ondine’s spell.
‘Did you really think you could escape me, thief?’ Ondine jeered.
Tia was stiff from standing in one position while she’d been ensnared by the spell. She moved awkwardly to pull herself upright. ‘I’m not the thief,’ she insisted. ‘I only wanted to look at the pearl – it’s so beautiful I couldn’t help myself.’
‘Liar!’ Thora sprang forward, waving Tia’s green book. She must have searched Tia’s belongings. ‘There are plans in here of Drangur and Kulafoss castles. And you’ve torn pages out – I bet they were plans too.’
Tia glared at Thora. ‘How dare you go through my things!’
‘I instructed her to,’ Ondine said. ‘All Tulay knows the jewel thief is a Trader girl. I told Thora to look for proof it was you. And she has found it.’ The High Witch leaned forward. ‘But there was no sign of the jewels. Where have you hidden them?’
Tia knew only too well how the jewels overpowered any human who handled them. She had been temped into using some of them and the results had been disastrous. Ondine couldn’t hope to control all the jewels. Only dragons could do that.
Greed blazed in Ondine’s eyes. The look on her face made even Thora step back.
Suddenly a hideous noise screeched through the palace. The glass in the window cracked in a zigzag from top to bottom. Ondine, Tia and Thora clapped their hands over their ears.
‘The spell!’ Ondine shouted above the tumult. ‘The spell has caught a dragon!’
Tia flew to the window. High above the hills rose the great spell snake. It was holding something in its jaws. It shook its head from side to side, dropped the thing in its mouth and plunged after it. The dreadful shrieking died away into a throbbing hiss.
Fear gripped Tia as tightly as the spell had gripped the thing its mouth. Finn – the spell snake must have caught Finn!
<
br /> Ondine stared at Tia’s stricken face. ‘You are in league with a dragon!’
Tia couldn’t speak – all she could think of was Finn in the jaws of the snake spell. Ondine seized Tia’s arm. ‘And the dragon has the jewels, hasn’t it?’
Tia still couldn’t speak. She shook her head.
‘Pah!’ Ondine shoved Tia towards Thora.
‘I’ll deal with you later,’ she hissed at Tia. ‘First I have a dragon to attend to and the jewels to claim.’
She rushed out, slamming the door behind her.
Tia hung her head. Why hadn’t she confessed to Finn she was a witch-child who could see the snake spell? Then he wouldn’t have flown into it, even if he had despised her for being a witch. What could she do to help him now?
She clenched her fists. She couldn’t do anything while she was a prisoner. Tia turned and ran. Thora flung herself in front of the door and spread her arms.
‘No you don’t!’
There was only one thing that would frighten Thora. Tia conjured up the biggest fireball she could. It sizzled in her palms, writhing with flame. She took aim. Thora screamed and ran for cover.
Tia doused the fireball, wrenched the door open and sped to the stairs. Three of Ondine’s guards had reached the top. Tia didn’t have time to make another fireball. She dodged between the guards and leapt onto the polished wooden stair rail. She didn’t look down. She was afraid of heights and knew if she so much as glimpsed the floor far below she’d lose her grip and fall. She kicked at the rail and began to slide. Faster and faster she went, spiralling downwards. She whizzed past Grimmar on his way up. ‘Stop!’ he boomed.
She couldn’t have, even if she’d wanted to: she was going too fast. She reached the bottom, shot off the end of the rail and hurtled into a servant. They tumbled onto a thick rug and rolled over like ninepins.
Grimmar was racing down the stairs. ‘She’s a thief – don’t let her go!’ he bellowed.
Tia shot to her feet and pelted out of the door, down the steps and along the road to the lake’s edge. Startled swans honked in alarm, puffing themselves up and beating their wings.
‘Sorry!’ Tia called as she careered on.
She reached the jetty and jumped into one of the small boats tied to it. She fumbled with the knot. It wouldn’t come loose.
Tia heard the pounding of feet and shouting. Grimmar’s voice rose above the tumult. ‘Catch her!’
The clumsy knot slipped free as Grimmar bounded onto the jetty. Desperately Tia grabbed an oar, braced it against the jetty and pushed. The boat spun out sideways and she dropped the oar into the water. Grimmar knelt and reached for her. She snatched the second oar. She thrust it at him, overbalanced and stumbled backwards into the stern. The oar flew from her grip and joined the other one in the lake.
Tia scrambled into a sitting position and gripped the sides of the boat. More people were joining Grimmar on the jetty and it thundered and swayed as they ran towards her.
‘Give up.’ Grimmar grasped the painter and pulled the boat closer. ‘There’s no-one to help you now.’
All at once the air was full of swans. They honked and dived, wings thrumming. A flock of them landed on the jetty, puffed themselves up and charged towards the men, wings and necks outstretched. Half the men jumped in the water to get away, the other half ran back up the jetty. Neither group escaped. The men on land faced more swans charging towards them. The men in the water found themselves surrounded by a flotilla of furious birds.
Two swans glided towards Tia’s boat.
‘Why are the men attacking you?’ one honked. Tia recognised the swan she had rescued.
‘I’m trying to get to my friend in the hills. He needs help. The men want to stop me.’
The swan clacked her beak angrily. ‘You saved me from the foxes – we will save you from the men.’
The two birds pushed the oars back to Tia and escorted the boat as she rowed across the lake to the bank and jumped out.
The swans rose in the water, flapped their wings and honked in salute. ‘Goodbye and good fortune. May you find your friend.’
As she ran towards the hills, Tia hoped against hope it wasn’t too late to help Finn. She would never forgive Ondine for this.
Chapter Nine
Healing and Mending
Tia ran from island to island and on into the lower slopes of the hills. She dropped to her knees on the grass, exhausted.
I’m not going to reach him in time, she thought.
And if you did, what could you do to help? a mocking little voice said in her mind.
Tia ignored it. She’d defeated five High Witches already. She’d find a way to get the better of this one too. But she had to reach Finn before Ondine killed him. She got to her feet and forced herself to jog steadily up into the hills.
A fast drumming sound ahead caught her by surprise. A riderless horse, bridled and saddled, came galloping down the hill and flew past her, its nostrils flaring in fear.
‘Tia!’
Loki barrelled out of the sky and flapped round her head. ‘You’ve got to hurry. That witch has almost reached Finn. She’d be there already if her horse hadn’t been afraid of the smell of dragon and thrown her.’
‘I’m going as fast as I can,’ Tia protested.
She felt as if a stone had lodged in her chest. What if she was already too late to save her DragonBrother?
‘Hasn’t the witch brought anyone with her?’ she panted.
‘Hah! She brought two soldiers. Their horses ran off in different directions as soon as they got a whiff of Finn.’
Tia nodded. She’d found her second wind and wasn’t going to waste it on speaking. She kept going steadily until Loki said, ‘Finn’s on the other side of this hill. He fell by some trees.’
Tia dropped onto her stomach, elbowed herself to the top of the hill and looked over. Finn lay stretched out under the trees. His eyes were glazed and dull. His skin was a strange yellowy green instead of its natural copper. Smoke trickled weakly from his nostrils.
‘Oh no,’ Tia whispered. Ondine was leaning over the little dragon, her arms outstretched. Her eyes were closed and the pearl on her brow gleamed.
‘Is she doing a spell?’ Loki asked.
‘Yes, a healing spell with the pearl.’ Tia’s breath caught in her throat. She’d expected Ondine to kill Finn. Hope, like a small bird, fluttered inside Tia. Perhaps Ondine felt pity for the little dragon? Maybe she wasn’t completely wicked after all.
Loki’s beady eyes fixed suspiciously on the witch. ‘I thought she hated dragons?’
‘She does.’ Tia began to crawl over the hilltop.
‘Wait!’ Loki hopped in front of her. ‘You can’t fight the witch – she’s a lot stronger than you. Throw yourself on her mercy and tell her that you’re her daughter. It’s your only hope – you have to do it.’
Tia wanted to believe what Loki said but she didn’t dare. Silently she wriggled down the hill until she was as close to Finn and Ondine as she could be without revealing herself. She crouched in the thin undergrowth around the trees and spied through the leaves.
Ondine was concentrating hard but the pearl only shimmered palely. Finn drew a rasping breath, coughed and opened his eyes.
Ondine dropped her hands and the pearl instantly dimmed.
Finn lifted his head. Tia drew in a sharp breath. The pouch wasn’t round his neck.
‘Where are the jewels of power, dragon?’ the High Witch demanded.
‘I don’t know what you mean about jewels.’ Finn’s head dropped back onto the grass.
Fury brighter than a fireball burned away Tia’s hopes. Ondine wasn’t showing pity for Finn. She’d healed him just enough to talk, but not enough to fight or fly away.
‘Do something’ Loki demanded.
Tia’s mind worked furiously. ‘Give me a minute – I’m thinking.’ She was too full of anger and crushing disappointment to think clearly.
Loki cocked his head to one side. ‘I�
�ll help you.’ The jackdaw squawked, flapped his wings noisily and fluttered up and down.
‘Stop it, she’ll see me!’ Tia hissed.
Loki screeched louder and started to peck at Tia. She held her arms over her head to protect herself and stumbled to her feet.
‘You!’ Ondine glared unbelievingly at Tia.
Loki flew into the trees, still racketing.
Ondine made hauling movements with her hands. Tia felt herself being reeled in like a fish. As she was dragged along the grass she vowed she would never to do what Loki wanted and tell Ondine that she was her daughter.
Instead she pleaded, ‘Please, Lady, don’t hurt the dragon. He’s done no harm.’
‘Dragons always do harm. It’s their nature,’ Ondine said. ‘As for you, I don’t know how you managed to escape but since you did, I’ll make use of you. Tell me where the jewels are and I’ll spare this creature you seem so fond of.’
‘I don’t know,’ Tia said. ‘I really don’t.’
Ondine tutted. ‘Oh dear, I seem to have only one choice left.’ She stared down at Finn. ‘Tell me where you’ve hidden the jewels or I’ll kill this child.’
She thrust out her arm and a lightning bolt appeared in her fist. The bolt sizzled, making Tia’s hair crackle and stand on end.
‘No.’ With an enormous effort Finn raised his head again. ‘You can’t do it, you mustn’t. She’s your daughter.’
‘My precious child was killed by dragons! By your kind!’ Ondine shrieked. ‘How dare you speak of her?’ She raised the lightning like a spear and aimed at Finn.
‘Don’t!’ Tia flung herself at Ondine. ‘I am your daughter Tia. The dragons took me when the necklace was stolen. They cared for me. They were going to return me when the witches gave the jewels back.’
Ondine’s face flickered with hope, despair, disbelief, anger. She lowered her arm. ‘Prove it.’
Tia reached for her locket. But that, like the emerald, was gone.
