Quest for the Sun Gem (15 page)

The bandit howled in pain and confusion. Ross ran to his aid, his red eyes still streaming with tears, trying to grab Toffee’s reins and beat off the ferocious dog. Saxon pulled out a stout cudgel he
had tied to his pack and thwacked that down across Ross’s shoulders, causing him to stagger and fall, knocking over his accomplice. Aisha was on top of both of them in a flash, growling and nipping.

The two bandits screamed for mercy.

‘Call off your mongrel, it’s gonna kill us,’ screamed Duglass.

‘Come on, let’s go,’ yelled Ethan, kicking Toffee into a gallop. The others followed quickly, kicking up clods of mud over the unfortunate highwaymen. The two men’s screams followed them down the forest track. Lily turned to see Aisha still biting and shaking the robbers like rats. She gave a shrill whistle.

Aisha looked up with ears pricked and started padding after the horses. She paused reluctantly and looked back longingly at Ross and Duglass as if keen to take just one more bite of the attackers. The bandits cowered into each other in terror.

‘Come on, Aisha!’ Lily roared. Aisha obeyed immediately and bounded down the track, tongue lolling out in delight.

Ethan paused and turned in the saddle. ‘Sorry, me laddies, but we’ve changed our minds about the luvly ’orses, it’s a bit far to walk to Tira,’ he shouted in a very polite voice, imitating perfectly the rough
accents of his attackers. ‘Surely you’ll understand. Have a luvly day, now, won’t you?’

The two highwaymen cursed loudly, scowling after the escaping horses as they rubbed their wounds. Their easy prey had just made complete fools of them.

The four children laughed in relieved, nervous excitement. They all waved cheekily at the disconsolate highwaymen, as they galloped out of the clearing.

When they were far enough away from the ambush, Ethan slowed down to stow his bow safely over his shoulder again.

‘So Lily, what
was
that you threw at the highwayman?’ Saxon asked Lily curiously.

‘Well, it was a little potion I brewed up at Saira’s house,’ Lily laughed. ‘I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I steeped some red chillies and peppers in alcohol. Chillies can really burn, especially eyes! But he should be all right – eventually!’

The others laughed appreciatively. Roana looked at Lily with new respect.

‘That was clever,’ she murmured.

Lily smiled.

‘Thanks,’ she replied.

The next morning dawned grey and drizzling. Everything was wet – the packs, the saddles, the supplies. Ethan unstrung the bows and stowed the flax bowstrings inside his clothes to try to keep them dry.

Animals and children all huddled together trying to keep warm, as they ate a sparing breakfast of soggy oat and fruit biscuits. The kitten, Charcoal, wriggled deep under Lily’s cloak trying to stay dry. Aisha stared mournfully up at Lily, her eyebrows raised beseechingly – she hated the rain.

‘Nothing for it, Aisha, but to hit the road,’ Lily murmured sympathetically. ‘Let’s find those caverns under Tira – at least they should be dry!’

Hoods up and cloaks wrapped tightly around them, they saddled up and rode on miserably. Mud splashed up from the track. Water dripped from the trees and branches, trickling down everyone’s necks and backs.

For a few hours they rode on in silence. There was no cheerful whistling or singing today. Even Aisha had lost her usual zest for smells and trails, plodding along miserably in the mud, her tail between her legs. They left the forest for the open plains, where the rain was heavier and they were completely unprotected.

Roana pointed out a blur in the distance. ‘There it is,’ she exclaimed in excitement. ‘Tira!’

Through the drizzly mists of the plain, the white spires of Tira could be seen, soaring into the grey sullen sky.

‘No gorgeous sunset today, Roana,’ remarked Lily, huddled into her cloak.

‘All right, now remember – if we are stopped we are simply villagers hoping to find work in Tira,’ Ethan reminded them. ‘Where should we be heading, Roana?’

‘Tira is built on an island,’ Roana explained. ‘Sheer cliffs rise straight from the sea, soaring high into the air. The River Bryn gushes down a chasm on either
side of the island. There are three bridges built across the chasm – one to the north, east and west. The gates are locked at dusk, and opened at dawn.

‘The bridges are always heavily guarded and I imagine the Sedahs will have them guarded too. We are approaching from the east. The entrance to the cavern is at the base of the cliffs on the southeastern side, near where the river meets the sea. We need to approach Tira unseen, climb down the sheer cliffs, cross the River Bryn, then find the entrance on the other side.’

The others breathed deeply, absorbing all this information.

‘We also need to find somewhere to hide the horses and their saddles safely,’ Lily added. ‘We don’t know how long we will be so we need somewhere with plenty of food and water.’

‘And somewhere where they hopefully won’t be stolen, so we can find them when we come back,’ Saxon said.

‘Right,’ Ethan agreed. ‘So horses first. Any ideas, Roana?’

Roana thought quietly for a few minutes, her brow furrowed in concentration.

‘It is not ideal but I cannot think of anything better. There is a small wood quite close by, with a
little stream that runs through it. I often ride there in the mornings. There is a clearing by the stream that should have plenty of grass for the horses, at least for a couple of days. The horses could be hobbled and perhaps we could hide the saddles somewhere protected.’

‘Well, I guess that will have to do,’ agreed Ethan.

So the horses were carefully hobbled and the saddles and tack stowed under a fallen log. Hoisting their packs, bows and quivers on their backs, they set off on foot through the interminable rain.

The approach to the city of Tira was uncomfortable, wet and painstakingly slow. To avoid detection from the city walls they had to climb down to the sea quite some way from the city and climb around the base of the cliffs. The rocks were slick with spray and often crumbling away, so it was a dangerous and exhausting scramble, up, down, over, round and down again.

Aisha had to be hauled and pushed up a couple of steep scrambles.

The sea was dark grey, whipped into white crests by the wind. Low black clouds scudded across the horizon. Down on the beach, their feet sank into the deep soft sand, making their breath pant with the exertion. Piles of shaggy brown seaweed lay
along the tide line, smelling pungently of brine. Small shells crunched under their feet. Stinging sand whipped their faces. Aisha went crazy, snapping at the waves and bounding through the water with high, springy leaps.

‘Look,’ cried Lily, pointing past the breaking surf.

A triangular grey fin surged through the water. The fin disappeared, then a sleek grey body leapt from the water, falling back with a splash.

‘A dolphin,’ called Ethan.

‘I feel that’s a lucky omen,’ Lily smiled. ‘Dolphins must definitely be our lucky animals now.’

‘Good – we need all the luck we can get,’ replied Saxon brusquely.

The dolphin swam along beside them a few metres offshore, until they reached the cliffs at the mouth of the river. Then it caught a wave in towards the shore, flicking off just as the waves crashed towards the beach. It leapt out of the water and was gone.

The children watched it disappear, then turned to face the churning surge of river water roaring down to meet the sea.

‘The River Bryn,’ said Roana.

The others could hardly hear her over the relentless noise of water crashing, thundering and pounding on cliffs, rocks and sand.

As they rounded the base of the cliffs coming into the river chasm they had to climb high up the cliff face to avoid the water. By this time it was nearly dusk, yet even in the falling light they could all see how wild, powerful, wide and dangerous was the chasm they still had to cross.

The wind on the cliff howled around them, threatening to toss them all into the sea.

‘At least in this weather no-one is likely to see or hear us,’ joked Lily, her teeth chattering with cold and nerves.

‘How on earth are we to cross this chasm?’ asked Roana. ‘We’ll never be able to swim it. We’d be swept out to sea and drowned in a moment!’

‘No, we probably couldn’t swim it – but perhaps Sax could,’ Ethan replied. ‘Sax can swim like a fish. If we tied a rope around your waist, Sax, we could haul you in if you get swept away. If you make it across the river without trouble you can tie the rope to something sturdy on the other side and we can climb across.’

Saxon agreed that it was worth a try. He stripped off to his underclothes, shivering in the wet, cold wind. He tied one end of the rope securely around an old tree trunk and the other end around his waist, using his newly acquired fishermen’s knots.

Ethan, Lily and Roana took the slack of the rope, ready to let it out slowly around the tree trunk. Saxon grinned impishly at the others.

‘So let’s go. For heaven’s sake don’t drop me, will you?’

Saxon slithered down the cliff, using the rope as a brake to control his descent. The others took his weight and let the rope out slowly, their heels digging into the soft mud.

The rope cut into their hands, burning the flesh, and they fought against the dead weight on the end of the rope, their muscles aching. When Saxon was halfway down Ethan slipped in the soft mud, suddenly letting the rope out a few metres. Saxon fell, bumping against the rock face, his legs scrabbling wildly for a foothold. Ethan, Lily and Roana hauled desperately on the rope and managed to stop the fall.

Aisha whined pitifully, running back and forth along the top of the cliff, watching for Saxon.

The descent only took a few minutes but the time stretched agonisingly with the burning on their palms and the slow trickle of rain down their necks. At last they felt the rope stop and go slack as Saxon reached the foot of the gorge. He tugged twice on the rope to let them know he was safely at the bottom.

The slack of the rope gradually uncoiled as Saxon moved away from the base of the cliff. Peering through the rainy darkness, the others could see Saxon’s dark shadow picking over the tumbled rocks then plunging into the icy river. The rope jerked and uncoiled rapidly as Saxon’s body was buffeted downstream by the rushing water.

Soon it was impossible to see where Saxon was, and whether he was successfully swimming across the river or simply being swept straight out to sea. The rope uncoiled to its limit and lay still and taut, stretched down into the darkness, trembling with the strain.

There was no sound but the wind, rain and river. There was nothing to see but the white-capped waves and the black shadows of rock and water.

‘I feel sick,’ whispered Lily. ‘We should never have let him try it.’

‘Let’s pull him back to this side,’ Ethan called urgently. ‘He’s safe as long as the rope holds.’

Ethan, Lily and Roana bent to haul on the rope, pulling with all their weight. There was a huge tug from the other end in response. The rope tugged three times – the signal that Saxon had made it safely to the other side! The three friends collapsed into the mud with relief, laughing hysterically.

‘He made it,’ shrieked Lily, tears welling in her eyes. ‘Thank the Moon Goddess, he made it!’

A few moments later the rope tugged again three times to signal that Saxon had secured the rope to something on the other side.

Ethan jumped up and tested the rope. It strung taut and strong across the chasm, sloping steeply down to the other side.

‘You know, Lily, I think we can fly across this chasm,’ Ethan grinned.

Roana and Lily looked at him quizzically.

‘Do you remember the flying slide Dadda set up for us in the barn last spring?’

Taking off his belt, Ethan tied a long thin rope to the buckle. The belt was thrown over the thick rope that stretched across the chasm and then buckled to form a strap.

Gripping the belt tightly with both hands, he lifted his feet off the ground and slithered towards the cliff edge. Hurriedly he braked with his feet on the ground before he slid off the cliff into thin air.

‘A bit of speed should make it work beautifully.’ He smiled with satisfaction. ‘Lily, take a running leap off the cliff and you should fly across the chasm like a great sea eagle. But for the Moonmother’s sake, hold on tightly!’

Lily rubbed the pearl nestled inside her shirt for good luck. It gave her courage. She tucked Charcoal safely inside her pocket and took a deep breath.

Lily gripped the belt with both hands, took a few steps backwards, then ran as fast as she could towards the cliff edge. Stones tumbled off the edge of the cliff and her feet kept running but there was no longer any ground beneath her. She was hurtling through space at incredible speed.

The roar of the river below thundered in her ears with the pounding of her own heart. Spray flew up, drenching her legs and splashing her body. Long tendrils of honey hair whipped her face and salt spume filled her nose, her mouth and her eyes.

The flight was exhilarating and too short. In seconds the shingle of the beach was flying up to meet her feet and she landed with a thud that knocked her over and left her breathless.

Saxon ran to help her up. He was saturated and shivering with cold, with a bloody scrape down one leg.

Three tugs on the rope and the belt went slithering back into the darkness, hauled back by the thinner rope. Moments later all the packs came flying down on the belt. Aisha came across in a sling
made from a blanket and two saddle girths, with the belt attached to her collar.

At Lily and Saxon’s end she struggled out of the blanket, shaking herself in indignation at the unfamiliar sensation of flying. Dogs were meant to stay firmly on the ground!

Roana followed, then finally Ethan. Aisha capered around the four of them, her tail wagging furiously, licking each one of them in turn.

‘Well, that was easy,’ grinned Ethan. ‘Now to find the entrance to the secret tunnel.’

‘Easy! It was terrifying!’ exclaimed Roana, her eyes shining with excitement.

‘Easy for you lot,’ retorted Saxon. ‘What about me? You dropped me down the cliff, almost breaking my leg, then I was swept nearly out to sea and thought I was going to drown for sure!’

‘Poor Saxon, we thought you were going to pull us all down the cliff after you, you great lump!’ laughed Lily, thumping him on the back with delight.

‘So, Roana, where is the entrance to this secret tunnel?’ Ethan asked, jerking everyone back to the present.

Roana frowned. ‘On the map in the palace library, it showed a narrow cave at the base of this cliff,
facing the river but not far from where the river meets the sea, with a tree above it.’

‘We daren’t use a candle or someone will see us,’ Ethan said. ‘We will just have to split up and look carefully around the base of the cliff. For goodness sake, be careful in the darkness. You can hardly see one foot in front of the other.’

They split into two search parties – Lily, Ethan and Aisha went downstream towards the sea, while Roana and Saxon headed upriver, scrambling about the base of the cliff. Lily and Ethan had just reached the bend where the river met the sea, when they heard a shrill bird whistle signal from Saxon, repeated three times.

They hurried back upriver as quickly as they could in the darkness. They found Roana sitting on a huge pile of rocks with her head in her hands. Saxon had his foot up on a huge old tree trunk on the shale beach, its spreading roots a blacker shadow against the dark cliff.

‘Roana thinks this must be the place,’ called Saxon softly.

Roana looked up, tears welling in her eyes and despair etched onto her face. She rubbed her face, leaving a streak of mud across her cheek.

‘There seems to have been a landslide,’ Roana
said. ‘The tree has collapsed and there is an enormous pile of rocks blocking where the cave entrance might be. We could never move them all, and we don’t even know if this is the right place. It’s so difficult to see in this darkness.’

‘Well, we didn’t find anything either up or down river that fitted your description any better, so this is the most likely spot we’ve found,’ Ethan replied in a forced cheerful tone. ‘I guess we had better get to work!’

Roana stared at him in amazement. ‘But … but all these rocks …’ she stammered.

‘Dadda used to say that the only way to climb a mountain is one step at a time,’ Lily said softly. ‘So the only way to move a pile of rocks is one rock at a time.’

Ethan nodded. ‘Exactly, but we need to be careful we don’t start another landslide, so we’ll have to work slowly and carefully.’