The Emerald Quest

To Mary and Fran, true DragonFriends

Prologue

Chapter One In The Drakelow Mountains

Chapter Two The Traders Arrive

Chapter Three Around The Traders' Fire

Chapter Four The Great Forest of Drangur

Chapter Five The Great Spell

Chapter Six Into the Town of Drangur

Chapter Seven Malindra

Chapter Eight The Magic Laboratory

Chapter Nine Trapped!

Chapter Ten Back to the Forest

T
he little village of Hamar had never heard such a tumult! A great roaring echoed round the houses and a hot wind shrieked through the narrow streets. People hurried to see what was happening.

‘Stay inside the house,' Tia's father ordered as he ran to join the other villagers.

Tia scrambled onto a chair so that she could look out of the window. In the fields on the edge of the village was a huge red dragon, bellowing and spouting flames.

Tia had seen lots of dragons, but she'd never seen one lose its temper before. Why was he in Hamar? And why was he so angry?

She wanted to find out. She scurried out of the house and ran to the corn field. There, she hid behind a hedge and watched as the red dragon turned round and round, churning up the corn.

‘Where is Ondine?' he roared at the villagers.

Tia's father stepped forward and bowed.

‘I am Elio, mighty one,' he said. ‘Ondine is my wife. What do you want with her?'

The dragon hissed, hot little flames licking his cruel mouth. ‘She is one of the scheming thieves who have stolen our jewels of power!'

The villagers gasped in horror.

‘No! Ondine would never steal from the DragonQueen!' Elio said.

‘Then why isn't she here?' roared the dragon.

‘She went to the DragonQueen's Keep to bring a gift – a swan's down coverlet for her new eggs.'

‘And there she stole the jewels of power! Where is she now?' the dragon demanded.

‘I don't know!' said Elio desperately.

‘You lie!' The dragon thundered towards Tia's father, the ground shaking with his angry steps, and snatched up Elio in his claws.

‘Stop it!' Tia burst from her hiding place and ran towards the dragon.

‘No, Tia! Run!' Elio cried.

Tia took no notice. She beat at the huge scaly foot holding her father.

‘Leave my Papa alone!'

The dragon roared again, dropped Tia's father,
and grasped her. She screamed and kicked at the iron-hard claws.

‘Enough!' the dragon growled. He turned to Elio. ‘Ondine helped take our jewels of power, so I will take your witch-brat.' He gathered himself into a crouch and sprang up and away into the sky.

Far below, Tia saw her father cupping his hands to his mouth.

‘I'll find you, Tia!' he called. ‘I'll find you and bring you back. Remember!'

His voice faded and the village of Hamar grew smaller as the dragon flew up and up, his huge wings beating with a steady rhythm that boomed in the air.

All of sudden and from out of nowhere, a great blast like an invisible storm sent the dragon spinning over and over in the sky. He flapped his wings frantically in an effort to stay in the air – and he lost his grip on Tia. Down and down she fell, the wind rushing past her, whirling her closer and closer to the ground.

Through her screams, she heard the dragon roar. He was hurtling down towards her, but he was flying again, not falling.

Just as she was about to hit the earth, the dragon scooped her up.

‘It was a spell!' the dragon thundered. ‘The High Witches have used magic to drive us away from our lands.' He was angrier than ever. He tightened his grip on Tia, wheeled around in the sky and flew swiftly towards the distant Drakelow Mountains.

It was dusk by the time the red dragon landed at the ancient Keep where the dragons had gathered for safety.

‘I could not find Ondine, but I have her child,' he said and opened his foot. Tia stumbled out; even though she was tired and afraid of the huge creatures towering over her, she kicked the dragon as hard as she could.

He prodded her forward. ‘Bow to the DragonQueen,' he ordered.

Tia bowed solemnly to the golden-green dragon.

‘You're very small,' the DragonQueen said. ‘How old are you?'

‘Old enough not to be scared of dragons!' Tia said. But she began to shiver; it was bitterly cold in the mountains.

‘She's shaking – she
is
scared, really,' a young red dragon laughed.

‘No I'm not,' Tia said, ‘I'm just cold.'

‘Be quiet, Torkil,' the DragonQueen said. ‘She has spirit; that is surprising in such a young one, though perhaps not in a witch-child.'

‘I'm not a witch-child!' Tia insisted.

‘Yes you are,' Torkil said. ‘Witch-brat!'

‘The DragonQueen told you to be quiet.' The mighty red dragon cuffed Torkil. ‘Go to your cave.'

The dragons began to speak in strange clicks and hisses that Tia knew was their private language. She wished she knew what they were saying.

The DragonQueen spoke in human language again. ‘Freya will take you.'

‘I want to go home!' Tia said.

‘It isn't possible.' A green dragon grasped the back of Tia's jacket in her mouth and carried her away to a cavern where a copper-coloured dragonet slept in front of a fire.

Freya dropped Tia gently next to him. ‘Get warm,' she said, ‘while I find something for you to sleep on.'

Tia curled up next to the warm, spicy-smelling hide of the dragonet. Soothed by his even breathing she almost fell asleep herself and didn't protest when Freya picked her up again and placed her on a rocky ledge covered in moss and leaves. Tia burrowed under them so that if she cried Freya wouldn't see her.

Her makeshift bed was prickly but warm. She'd almost fallen asleep when she heard a soft voice say, ‘DragonMother? Who is that human child and why is she here?' It was the dragonet.

‘Her name is Tia and she's a witch-child,' Freya said.

‘Like the High Witches who have the DragonQueen's jewels!' the little dragonet said.

‘Yes, Finn, but this child has done nothing wrong. Andgrim couldn't find the High Witches so he stole her away instead.'

‘That's kidnapping!'

‘Yes,' Freya agreed. ‘The DragonQueen wanted Andgrim to take Tia back but the High Witches have cast a powerful spell that prevents dragons from entering the lands of the Six Towns. So the DragonKing and Queen have decided to keep Tia until the spell is broken and the jewels are returned to us.'

‘How long will that be?' Finn asked.

Tia held her breath.

‘It may be many years,' Freya said. ‘Tia will be lonely. Will you be a good DragonBrother to your new foster sister?'

‘Yes, I will,' Finn promised.

‘Good. Now, go back to sleep.'

Tia heard the scrape of two scaly hides as the dragons settled down together. Very soon all was quiet except for the crackle and hiss of the fire and the soft breathing of the dragons.

Tia watched shadows dance on the cave walls and puzzled over why the dragons thought she was a
witch-child. She wasn't, she knew she wasn't – her mother and father were just ordinary villagers. A fierce, empty feeling reminded her that she might not see her parents again for years.

Tears fell down her cheeks. She wiped them away angrily. The dragons would never know she cried, never ever, she promised herself.

At last she fell asleep. In her dreams she heard a voice calling to her –
I'll find you, Tia! I'll find you and bring you back. Remember!
And in her sleep she whispered another promise: ‘I won't forget you, Papa. I'll never forget.'

‘O
w!' Torkil, the red dragonet, squealed as Tia's pebble bounced off his ear. He wobbled in the air and the dragonet behind flew into him. All the other young dragons had to wheel in the sky to avoid crashing.

‘What are you doing, Torkil!' the flying master called, flapping his blue wings angrily. ‘Land immediately!'

Torkil landed right in front of the rock Tia was hiding behind. She couldn't resist letting fly with her sling again. This time she hit him on the nose. He roared and spun round.

Tia jumped up from behind the rock, waving her sling. ‘Got you!' she yelled.

With another roar, Torkil launched himself at her. She dropped behind the rock and wriggled away down a tunnel as fast as she could. He was too big to squeeze down the narrow passageway.

She wriggled on until she came to a small cavern lit by sunlight streaming from openings in the roof.

The cavern was Tia's secret den. She wound up her sling and put it with her bag of pebbles on a rock shelf. Then she lit her fire, sat on a pile of cushions and picked up her runes book.

She meant to practise writing but she couldn't concentrate.

That morning she'd asked Freya, ‘How long have you been my DragonMother?' and Freya had told her, ‘Eight years.'