The Opal Quest (2 page)

‘You're on your own then, while you look for your parents?' Halla said.

Tia nodded. She was tired, and hoped she wouldn't make a mistake if Halla started questioning her.

The big woman hugged her. ‘Come back with me for a meal and a bed. You'll have to sleep with the animals but as you're a Trader you won't mind that.'

After Solay had thanked Tia, the exhausted women and children made their way back to the town of Kulafoss, trudging down a stony path halfway up the valley side.

As they went further into the valley and through the trees Tia heard a muffled roaring sound. ‘What's that noise?' she asked Halla.

The woman laughed. ‘Wait and see!'

One by one the women and children left the line to enter small houses built into the hillside. Soon only Halla and Tia were left. ‘Not far now,' the woman said. They walked on and the roaring noise grew louder.

‘Look.' Halla pointed towards a steep cliff forming the end of the valley.

Tia gasped in astonishment at a white sweep of waterfall thundering down the cliff into the foaming
river below. A moonbow stretched from side to side in a shining silver arc. Tia stood rapt until clouds drifted over the moon and the moonbow faded.

‘Come on, girl – I've not got all night,' Halla called. Tia hurried after her into a little house set amongst trees.

What was that noise?

Tia yawned and opened her eyes. A bright sunbeam shone into the tiny room. The noise that had woken her sounded like a rushing wind.

It's the waterfall
, she thought and sat up.

‘Mind your elbows!' a voice said.

‘Sorry,' Tia apologised to the young goat she'd accidentally prodded.

The goat looked at her in astonishment. ‘You understand me!' he said.

‘Oh!' Tia's hand flew to the emerald she kept on a chain under her shirt. The magic jewel allowed her to speak to animals but she wanted to keep it a secret.

Another goat got to her feet. ‘She's probably a witch like Halla,' she said.

‘I'm not a witch,' Tia insisted. She hated the fact that her birth mother was one of the High Witches who'd stolen the DragonQueen's jewels of power.

‘You must be,' the nanny goat said, ‘or you wouldn't be able to talk to us.'

‘Just a minor witch,' Tia mumbled reluctantly. Minor witches could only do simple magic like sparking fire or charming warts; they weren't dangerous, so no-one took any notice of them. If Tia pretended to be one, it would stop the goat wondering how she could talk to animals.

She brushed straw from her clothes and crossed to the window, carefully avoiding a curled-up little sheep and the mice scurrying from under her feet.

She leaned out of the window and the thundering of the waterfall sounded even louder. Halla's house overlooked it, and in the bright morning sun a rainbow arched across the misty river and hundreds of tiny droplets shimmered in the spray.

But though it was beautiful, Tia was more interested in the grim and forbidding castle carved from the rocky cliff.

She shivered and looked away, towards the big stone houses, shops, inns and other buildings rising up on either side of the river. Above them, built into the hillside, were smaller houses like
Halla's, all linked by stony paths. Trees grew up the hillside wherever there was space. Not many people were about, just a few who were opening up their shops.

Halla poked her head through the curtains dividing the living rooms from the beast fold. ‘Come and have breakfast,' she said.

Tia had been too tired to eat much the night before and felt empty. ‘I'm coming!' she said and rubbed her stomach as it rumbled loudly.

‘My, you have a good appetite!' Halla said as Tia pushed away her empty plate.

‘I'm always hungry,' Tia said. ‘Can I do some jobs for you, to repay you for the food and bed?'

‘I do need more fuel gathering for the fires,' Halla told her. ‘But wait until the men and children have left for the mines.'

‘Why do children work in the mines? And where do the men work? I didn't see any last night.'

‘The men work in newer mines where the crystal is easy to get at,' Halla said. ‘The children are used in the old mines where you can only find crystal that's hard to reach and it's an advantage to be small.'

‘But it's so cruel!' Tia's life with the dragons had been hard and lonely but she'd never been forced to labour.

Halla nodded. ‘It is. And we don't want to allow it but there's nothing we can do. The High Witch Yordis uses the DragonQueen's opal to force us to obey her.'

‘How?'

Before Halla could tell her there was a knock at the door and she went to let in Solay and Magnus.

‘Magnus was too tired to speak to you last night but he insisted on coming this morning to thank you,' Solay said with a big smile.

The little boy looked at Tia shyly and said, ‘Thank you for helping Mama to roll away the rock. I was very scared in the mine.' His eyes filled with tears and he turned to his mother. ‘Mama, do I have to go back?'

‘Yes, but I'll make sure to be early and come inside the mine to fetch you. That won't be as scary, will it?'

Magnus shook his head.

Solay picked Magnus up and hugged him. ‘That's my brave boy.' Tia could see that Solay's own eyes were shiny with tears. What could the witch Yordis do with the opal that frightened people so much?

A low sound like lots of drums beating sounded from the stone streets running by the river. ‘We have to go,' Solay said and hurried out with Magnus. The drumming noise grew louder and louder.

‘What's that?' Tia asked.

Halla laughed grimly. ‘The sound of people going to the mines.'

Tia ran to the door and looked out. Dozens of men and children, some with their mothers, were tramping in wooden-soled shoes towards the end of the valley.

‘Aren't you going with them?' Tia asked Halla as they watched the workers trudge away, heads down, not talking.

She shook her head. ‘I only went with Solay yesterday to keep her company – she's my sister.'

‘What do you do?' Tia asked her, hoping Halla would tell her about being a hedge witch.

‘I'm a washerwoman,' Halla said. ‘That's why I need a lot of fuel for my tubs, to heat the water.'

Halla took Tia outside and showed her a crude sledge pulled by two straps. She gave her a large ball of leather strips.

‘When you've loaded wood onto the sledge, tie it down with these. Now, off you go and fetch me as much timber as you can.'

The sledge wasn't too heavy and Tia pulled it along the pathway and up into the trees quite easily. But instead of starting to collect wood she left the sledge and went back to the town to look round.

Now the miners had gone the town was busier: servants in the grand houses hung bedding out of windows to air and others scrubbed away at stone doorsteps. Well-dressed people went in and out of the shops, chatting happily and buying all sorts of
goods. The fine shops had wonderful things for sale: jewellery and beautiful clothes and more kinds of cheese and pastries than Tia had known existed.

The most fascinating places were the crystal-shapers' workshops. Their windows had displays of uncut crystal that looked like jagged stones encrusted with blue frost. Amongst them were shaped crystals of different sizes, from tiny to several inches across. All were rectangular and as clear as polished glass.

As Tia stared through one of the windows a man carefully placed a crystal, mounted like a little mirror on a gold stand, in the middle of the display. He smiled at Tia and beckoned her in. Curious, she went inside.

‘Hello, Trader girl,' the man said cheerfully. ‘I'm Hannes – what's your name?'

‘Nadya,' Tia said.

‘What are you doing on your own? I wasn't expecting your people to arrive just yet.'

Her heart beat fast in excitement. If Traders were arriving she might be able to see her friends Kizzy and Florian. She explained her story to the crystal shaper.

‘Ah, you got lost on the grasslands – so you're a land Trader. We're expecting the Water Traders.'

Tia was disappointed that she wasn't going to see
her friends but still excited at the thought of meeting Water Traders for the first time; they travelled the rivers of Tulay and over great seas to other lands. ‘When are they arriving?' she asked Hannes.

‘In a few days, we hope; that's why we shapers are all busy displaying our best sunstones.'

‘What are sunstones?'

‘What do they teach you young people?' Hannes said. ‘Water Traders and seafarers use them to find their way. Even in cloudy weather the sunstones gather hidden light and point sailors in the right direction. He reached towards the big crystal. ‘Look.' He swivelled it so that the sun shone directly on it and brilliant beams of light instantly radiated from its core.

‘Oh, it's beautiful!' Tia said.

The crystal shaper looked proud. ‘This is my best one,' he said. ‘I hope the Traders will give me a good price for it.'

Tia wondered if the price of little children working the dangerous mines was too high. She decided she'd seen enough of the beautiful crystals. She said goodbye to Hannes, went back to the sledge and pulled it all the way to the top of the valley.

Tia found Finn in the hollow, lying on his back and warming himself in the sunshine.

‘I came as fast as I could,' she said. She explained about Halla, Yordis and the miners. ‘You were so brave, helping to free Magnus,' she added. ‘It must've been very hard to keep yourself safe from the spell
and
lift the boulder.'

‘Yes, it was, though it's easier to disguise myself now I've practised,' he said.

Tia patted his snout. ‘Now we've just got to decide how to get that opal back and save all the children from the mines! What do you think the High Witch does to frighten people so much?'

‘The opal lets her change into whatever she wants. Perhaps she becomes a monster?' he guessed. ‘A really horrible one.'

Tia shuddered. ‘She must keep the opal in the castle. I'll have to get in there somehow.'

‘Be careful,' Finn said anxiously.

‘I will.' Tia jumped up. ‘I have to go – I'll come back as soon as I know more.' She waved goodbye and went back to Halla's sledge. She worked fast and collected a big pile of branches. She knew how to tie strong knots and soon had the wood fastened down. She pushed the ball of leather strips into her pocket and sat on the edge of the sledge to have a rest before she started hauling it back to Halla.

A voice squawking above her head nearly made her jump out of her skin. ‘Run! Run as fast as you can!'

A jackdaw perched on a branch above her head, flapping his wings furiously to get her attention. It was the bird who'd helped her defeat the High Witch Malindra and steal the emerald.

‘Loki! You've come back!'

‘Never mind that – run! A bear is coming!'

At that moment Tia heard a great crashing sound, and the ground juddered as though something huge was tramping swiftly through the trees towards her. She leapt up and ran as fast as she could, jumping over fallen logs, scudding down paths, and all the time she could hear the dreadful thundering steps
behind her getting closer and closer. Something caught at her jacket and jerked her off her feet. She landed on her back with all the breath knocked out of her. She was too terrified to do anything but lie still with her eyes tightly shut.

‘What have we here?' said a harsh, deep voice. ‘A little Trader girl. I wonder what she'd taste like.'

Quaking with fear Tia opened her eyes. Rearing over her on its hind legs was a huge brown bear. It dropped onto all fours, poked its head close to Tia's face and sniffed.

As it reached forward Tia saw a collar around its neck, almost hidden by fur, and in the middle shone a milky-white opal glittering with shifting flecks of every colour.