The Equen Queen Read Online Free PDF Page B

the colour of your blood, of course.’
    Many members of the council chuckled behind their hands.
    ‘Let's all just calm down,’ Storm said. ‘It seems to me the only problem we have is these.’ She rolled a mood stone across the table. ‘We have no further obligations to the sky-traders. We taught them sports, as agreed. I say we pack up our toys and say goodbye. We dump these stones on the first world we find, and carry on. Tab said that we don't have anything that they want. They should have no problem with us leaving. Isn't that right, Tab?’
    Tab bit her lip and nodded. ‘May I be excused?’ she asked in a small voice.
    ‘No!’ Florian snapped.
    ‘We don't need to dump the gems, surely!’ Drass protested. ‘These Loraskians might be pipsqueaks! Why are we listening to this girl?’
    Tab sighed. Here we go. Back to the beginning again!
    Verris took pity on her. ‘You can go. Rest. Have something to eat, but don't go far. We'll call for you if you're needed.’
    Tab smiled gratefully as she slipped out of her chair. She was tired, and she would get something to eat just as soon as she had seen Melprin.
    She ran across the square. There were still skytraders sitting in the street stalls playing joy tiles and sharing a drink and a meal with Quentarans who were oblivious to the danger they were in.
    Tab dashed down the alleyways skidding around corners, ducking past carts and crates as shopkeepers stacked away their wares or craftspeople took new inventory.
    She reached the tower. Round and round she climbed. Every dozen steps there was a narrow opening in the wall that looked out between the rigging over the city. Through one of these openings Tab saw a group of roofies sitting cross-legged. A slender man had a lute and was singing a sweet tune, while the others swayed in time.
    Up and up she climbed. Her legs were heavy and her lungs started to burn. She pushed off the stone wall. Not far to go now.
    When Tab reached the door at the top she rested, hands on knees, catching her breath. She put her hand on the doorhandle. Suddenly she felt Melprin's mind-speak, metallic and crackling, and somehow hot, like a knife blade inside her head.
    >>>Wait! The situation is somewhat delicate here
    Tab held her hands to her temples, suppressing a yelp.
    >>>I'm coming around to the window
    She slipped out through the opening onto the narrow shelf on the outside of the building, tucking her fingers into the cracks between the stones and clinging on strongly. She took a deep breath, held it and then dared to look out at the nightscape of Quentaris spread out before her. She could see the lights within the masts, making them glow like festival lanterns. Huge lamps swung around from the crow's nests, lighting the sails that whipped and snapped in the night air like great flags. It would have been quite beautiful if it wasn't so scary.
    There is a whole spider web of cordage between me and the ground, she told herself. She would be able to grab a hold of something before she hit that hard, cold surface. Her head spun, but that might have been from the shock of hearing Melprin's voice so loudly in her mind after such a long period of humming noise.
    Tab shuffled slowly around the tiny ledge, gripping with her fingers and curling her toes inside her boots. Finally her fingers found a deeper crevice, and Tab peeked inside the opening.
    Stacked around the room were boxes, crates and hessian sacks. Melprin stood against the far wall, back arched and tail lashing, her eyes burning with rage.
    Standing with her back to Tab was the sky-trader Chak – Kel's second in command. She held an oval object, slightly larger than a hooey ball, over her head.
    It's an egg, Tab thought. Melprin's egg. That's why she has been so quiet up here!
    Melprin's tail whipped again, hitting the floor with such force it cracked the flagstone.
    ‘Temper, temper,’ the sky-trader taunted, holding the egg closer to the window.
    Tab could see what was happening.