The Sapphire Quest (5 page)

‘I can't see the carvings properly, can we get any closer?' Sindri whispered.

Ingvar nodded. ‘We can dodge behind these pillars if we're very careful.'

The four children went silently from column to column until they were as close as they dared go. Master Zeno kept looking from a drawing he held in his hand to an unfinished sculpture of a strange creature hanging upside down from the top of the
fireplace. It had a body like a giant mouse with wings sprouting from its back. Its open mouth was filled with fangs and each wing ended in a bony finger tipped with a claw.

Sindri's mouth formed an ‘O' of astonishment. His eyes grew even rounder as he stared at the other strange and sinister marble animals creeping over the fireplace. Tia wondered why Master Zeno had created such ugly creatures. It must be because that was what Skadi had ordered him to do.

It was cold in the hall and Sindri began to shiver. Bryndis tapped his shoulder and pointed back up the long corridor. The sister and brothers tiptoed away but Tia stayed where she was. Halfway up, Bryndis turned, a puzzled look on her face. She flapped her hand urgently at Tia to signal she had to hurry and catch up.

Tia mouthed,
Sorry
, and stepped out into the hall. She went up to the sculptor. ‘Master Zeno?'

He turned and rocked back on his stool in surprise. He swiftly looked Tia over, his eyebrows bunching darkly above the bridge of his curved nose. Tia thought he might shout at her for disturbing him, and got ready to run. But a warm friendly smile spread over his face. ‘Why, it's a child. What can I do for you, my dear?'

Tia smiled back. ‘I'd like to ask you a question.'

‘Of course.'

‘Are you from over the Southern Sea, Master?'

‘Yes, I am.'

Tia took out her locket and opened it. ‘This is a picture of my father, Elio. He's from the same place as you and I wondered if you'd heard of him.'

The sculptor rose from his stool and reached out. But instead of taking the locket in his hand as Tia expected, he seized her arm and yelled, ‘Guards! Guards!'

Tia struggled but the man's grip was hard. The more she wriggled and kicked the tighter he held her.

Two guards rushed in. ‘This is the thief girl, Nadya, wanted by the Lady Skadi – summon her immediately!' Zeno shouted.

One of the guards ran out in the direction of Skadi's tower and the second seized Tia's other arm. She couldn't believe what had happened. The Master Sculptor had looked so kind with his smiling face. She had put her friends in danger for no reason – and got herself captured.

Skadi swept into the hall escorted by several more guards. Her cloak flew out behind her and her hair streamed down her back, making the white streak look more like a bolt of lightning than ever. The sapphire glittered from the bracelet on her arm.

‘So, this is our little jewel thief,' Skadi said, a note of triumph in her voice.

Tia glared at the sculptor as he pushed her forward and bowed extravagantly to the High Witch.

‘Indeed it is, my lady. And I claim my reward of five hundred silver marks.'

That was all he wanted! He'd tricked Tia for money. Why had she allowed her eagerness to find out about her father blind her to danger?

Skadi waved him away. ‘I shall question the girl first and then we shall see.'

‘But, Lady...'

Skadi swung round and snapped, ‘I said, we shall see.'

‘Of course, Lady.' The sculptor bowed again and hurriedly backed away.

If Tia hadn't been scared, she'd have laughed. Zeno's expression was a mixture of fury, frustration and resentment. All trace of the friendly smile was gone. He left, darting evil glances at Tia.

Skadi ordered the guard to let go of Tia and all the soldiers withdrew to the edges of the hall. Then she touched Tia's shoulder. For a moment she wondered if the witch was going to ‘take' her but she simply drew Tia inside her cloak and smiled down encouragingly. It didn't fool Tia for a second.

‘I think you should give me the jewels, Nadya – the emerald, the opal and the topaz.'

‘I'm not Nadya and I haven't got any jewels, Lady.'

‘Shall we see? Empty your pockets.'

Skadi kept her hand tightly on Tia's shoulder as she turned her pockets inside out. There was nothing in them.

‘Hmm.' Skadi pointed to the locket Tia clutched in her hand. ‘What's that?'

Tia reluctantly showed her. ‘This is a picture of my father.' Tia's mouth went dry. Elio was married to Skadi's youngest sister – what if she recognized his portrait? ‘Papa went missing and I've been searching all Tulay for him,' Tia gabbled. ‘I've looked in Drangur, Kulafoss and Stoplar – that's probably why I got confused with this thief. I reached Iserborg a few days ago and saw Master Zeno with your beautiful statue.'

Tia snapped the locket shut and rushed on with her explanation of why she'd spoken to the sculptor, hoping that Skadi would lose interest in the locket if she chattered enough.

‘Enough!' Skadi held up her hand. ‘I don't believe this story of a lost father.' To Tia's relief she waved away the locket. ‘You are Nadya the jewel thief, and you will tell me where they are.'

‘I'm not so I can't!' Tia twisted free and shot away from the witch. She swerved around a guard and ran up the hall. Suddenly Skadi appeared in front of her. Tia skidded to a halt, her heart jumping into her throat. She backed away and bumped into a column. Skadi sneered. Tia swung round the column only to find herself face to face with the witch again. Skadi threw back her head and laughed. Tia ran down the hall and up the stairs with the witch's laughter
echoing at her back. And then the mocking laughter was in front of her as Skadi appeared out of nowhere.

Though it was hopeless, Tia still ran. She sidestepped and sprinted this way and that but Skadi was always ahead of her, always laughing. When Tia had no breath left for running, she knew she had lost. Her legs folded and she slumped at the witch's feet.

Skadi reached down and touched Tia's arm. Instantly they were in the middle of a field of geysers, gushing out steam and squirting boiling water high in the air.

Skadi had taken Tia to the edge of an isolated plain. They stood on top of a high boulder in the middle of a tumble of rocks sloping down towards the geysers. All around them the geysers steamed, spraying out a vile smell, or threw spouts of boiling white water with a tremendous whooshing into the night sky.

Tia was dizzy and sick. Being ‘taken' felt horrible. To make things worse, the ground suddenly shook and Tia almost lost her footing. An eerie red glow lit up the darkness.

Skadi laughed. ‘This is the edge of my land of Iserborg and behind you lies Askarlend and its volcanoes. No-one, not even my sister, Hyldi, who
rules there, knows when they will erupt.' The witch sounded amused that her sister lived in constant danger. She spun Tia around. ‘And there is her castle, the one you will never reach now that you are in my power.'

Tia couldn't help gasping in amazement. Hyldi's castle rose up on the other side of the empty land lying between Iserborg and Askarlend, and it was enormous. But what astonished Tia more than its size were the lights that covered it, flashing in every colour imaginable.

‘You'll have plenty of time to stare at my sister's ugly castle.' Skadi shuddered with distaste, though Tia thought her castle was just as horrible as Hyldi's. ‘And don't imagine you can escape or you'll end up caught by the geysers like those poor fools.' Skadi sneered down at moonlit white bones scattered on the ground.

Tia bit her lip to stop herself from crying out. She wasn't going to show fear in front of her cruel aunt.

‘I'll be back in two days,' Skadi said. ‘By then I'm sure you'll have remembered where you've hidden the three jewels.'

‘I told you, I don't know...' Tia protested but found herself talking to thin air. Skadi had transported herself back to Iserborg.

Tia passed the rest of the night on top of the rock. She sat hugging her knees, her chin propped on top of them and tried to think of a way around her problem. Finn and Loki couldn't help; they didn't know she'd been taken. Nor did it help that she had witch powers, except for being able to make fire to keep warm.

Gloomily Tia waited for the sun to rise and watched the geysers jetting water into the moonlight. Mesmerised by their rhythmical dance, she nodded off to sleep. With a start she woke from her doze. She mustn't fall asleep again and risk falling down the boulder into a geyser.

She shook her head. She must have slept for quite a while as the sun was lighting up the horizon. It was all the geysers' fault, she thought, with their hypnotic pulse lulling her to sleep. She glared at the nearest one as though it was doing it on purpose: whoosh-spout, whoosh-spout, pause, pause, whoosh-spout! It was enough to make anyone drift off.

As Tia scowled, a narrow gap opened between the geysers just in front of her and also the ones behind them. They'd spouted and paused together. Tia jumped to her feet. She watched carefully and saw that the geysers all gushed and stopped in a sequence. And sometimes they cleared, just for a
second, one after the other. Perhaps there was a way through after all.

Tia counted carefully over and over again. Eventually she worked out the pattern. If she was right she would be able to run through the geysers as they paused one after the other. She counted a few more times. Yes, she could do it – she was sure!

She waited for the beginning of the sequence and, just as it was about to start, ran down the sloping boulder and into the geysers as the first row sank into the hot ground.

She stumbled as the unexpectedly crusty surface cracked under her boots. Frantically she scrabbled upright and ran as the geyser behind whooshed up again. She pelted forward, always reaching the geysers in front of her as they sank into their pools of glopping mud, and the ones behind shot upwards. It was hard to breathe in the stifling air smelling like a thousand bad eggs, but she didn't pause for a second.

And then she was breathing cool, fresh air and her feet were running on grass.

She carried on sprinting until she was sure it was safe to turn and look back.

Yes! She'd made it! She'd escaped! That would show Skadi. Tia yelled in triumph and turned cartwheels till she ran out of energy and flopped onto the grass.

Now all she had to do was find her way back to Iserborg town and steal the sapphire.

Tia used the position of the sun to guide her back to Iserborg. The way was over gently sloping hills dotted with thickets of trees and though the walk was long it wasn't difficult. She kept up a steady pace all day and at sunset she settled by a stream running through a small wood. After she'd drunk the cool, clear water she made a fire to curl up next to. She ignored her hunger pangs.
It's better to be hungry and warm than fed and cold
, she thought, and quickly fell asleep.

As soon as she woke the next morning she started off again. She arrived at Iserborg, hungry and footsore, that evening. She joined a bunch of
quarrymen hurrying down the avenue of beasts towards the town. The raggle-taggle group surged through the gates as the guards were drawing them closed. No-one took any notice of Tia as she rushed through with the latecomers. Nor did they give her a second glance as she sauntered across the square and into the side road.