The Emerald Quest Read Online Free PDF Page B

language of the Traders.
    â€˜Harvin village, near to the town of Kulafoss,’ Tia replied in Trader speech. She was very glad that her friends had taught her their language and told her tales of the towns and villages of Tulay.
    Malindra tugged on the chain and the jackdaw looked down at Tia.
    â€˜Shall we believe her, Loki?’ she asked the bird. The jackdaw cawed. ‘Very well.’ The witch turned her back on Tia and went to inspect the rest of the animals.
    The Beast Master gave Tia a little push and said quietly, ‘Go now. The town gates will be locked soon and you don’t want to get caught in here at night. I’ll expect you first thing tomorrow.’
    Tia slipped out of the castle and sprinted down the winding streets, thinking about Malindra as she ran. She touched the place where her locket lay under her shirt. Malindra didn’t look like the picture of her mother. Just for a moment Tia was sure she could remember her mother’s arms around her, making her feel safe and happy. It couldn’t be – she was sister to Malindra who tormented animals for amusement and killed them for fur to decorate her clothes!
    Tia ran faster. No wonder the dragons – and everyone else in Tulay – hated the High Witches. It made Tia ashamed to be related to them. By the time she reached the inn she was more determined than ever to take back the jewels, starting with her aunt Malindra’s emerald.
    She was very tired that night but after she’d eaten she took out her rune book and silver point pen and sketched some maps of the castle. It was so huge and the corridors were so complicated that Tia wondered if she would ever learn how to find her way around it.
But I must if I’m going to steal that emerald
, she thought as she settled down at last to go to sleep.

    Tia worked hard at the menagerie, cleaning out the cages and feeding the animals. After a while they came to trust her and be soothed when she talked to them.
    â€˜You’re good with the animals but don’t get too fond of them,’ Tryg warned. ‘It’ll only make it harder when SHE has them taken away.’
    Tia didn’t want to think about that. She thought instead about how to get the emerald back. She listened to what Tryg and the other servants said about Malindra. The witch had rooms on the third floor of the castle, one of them a laboratory where she worked her magic when the moon was full. When she made magic she took off the ring so thatit wouldn’t be affected by the potions and poisons she used.
    I could steal the emerald when Malindra’s busy with magic
, Tia thought, until she learned that while Malindra worked at her magic, the great jewel was watched over by a guard who never slept. Now Tia couldn’t work out how to steal the ring.
    But then something happened that made her realise she had to do it soon.
    Tia was sweeping out the courtyard when two men came in carrying a cage. In it were two frost-foxes. ‘Oi, Tryg,’ one of the men yelled. ‘We got some new customers for you.’
    It was the fur trappers that Tia had fought in the forest! She hid behind a stone column and watched as the men handed the cage to Tryg. The Beast Master took it and told them to collect their pay from Malindra’s steward.
    When the trappers had gone Tia rushed up to the frost-foxes. They were the little cubs Tia had helped escape. ‘Oh, you silly things,’ she said. ‘Why didn’t you run far away from those horrible men?’
    â€˜You’d better put them in one of the cages next to the lynx,’ Tryg told her.
    Tia made the foxes as comfortable as she could. ‘I’ll have to give you names,’ Tia said. ‘You’re Lalli,’she told one, ‘and you’re Torfi,’ she said to the other.
    â€˜I told you not to get fond of the animals,’ Tryg said. ‘SHE wants these for their fur. SHE’s going to be down here any