The Sapphire Quest Read Online Free PDF Page A

you, elves. I shall leave you in peace till tomorrow.’ She went out and the children tumbled from the cupboard.
    â€˜Who was she?’ Tia asked.
    The older brother and sister exchanged a glance. ‘It was our Aunt Tinna,’ Ingvar said, ‘our mother’s sister.’
    â€˜She looked nice,’ Tia said. Tinna had a round, friendly face and if she hadn’t been worried Tia wassure she’d have been smiling. ‘Couldn’t she care for you?’
    Ingvar shrugged. ‘I think she wanted to after Mother was taken – she was always very kind – but it would’ve put her in danger so we didn’t ask.’
    She won’t be in danger after I take the sapphire
, Tia thought. She was relieved to know there’d be someone to care for her friends once she’d stolen the sapphire and left Iserborg. But first she wanted to know more about Zeno, the Master Sculptor. He looked so like her father, he had to be from over the Southern Sea. He might even know Elio, or at least have heard of him.
    She paused in her work and patted the locket under her shirt where she kept her father’s picture. It might be risky but if she spoke to Master Zeno alone, if she was ready to run at the first sign of danger, then surely it was worth taking a chance to find out about her father?
    She scrubbed away at a muddy boot, more determined than ever to speak to Master Zeno as soon as she could.
    Her chance came a few days later. They were in the cellar, waiting for night to fall, and Sindri was drawing a wolf. He’d used Tia’s silverpoint pen and a sheet from her book.
    â€˜That’s very good,’ Ingvar said. ‘You’ll be an artist one day.’
    Sindri beamed. ‘I can be like Master Zeno and make carvings. Can we go and see his new ones in the Great Hall?’
    His brother and sister exchanged a glance.
    Please say yes!
Tia thought.
    â€˜I don’t see why not,’ Bryndis said. ‘Aunt Tinna always brings back Master Zeno’s tray at the same time. We could wait until she’s done that and then go and look at the carvings.’
    Ingvar agreed. Tia heaved a sigh of relief and set her plan in action.
    She’d decided to leave the emerald behind. No matter how kind Master Zeno might be, he was bound to be suspicious of a girl who owned a huge jewel set in a gold ring. She’d already prised up a stone in the floor under her bedding and scooped out some soil. Now she took the ring off her chain, wrapped it in a piece of rag, dropped it in the hollow and replaced the stone.
    Hurriedly she tidied her blankets and re-fastened her chain.
    Ingvar was unbolting the trapdoor. ‘Hurry up, snail!’ he said to Tia.
    â€˜I’m coming.’
    Tia followed the others through Iserborg town and into the castle. Her heart beat fast. Tonight, at long last, she might hear news of her father.

Chapter Seven

Trapped
    The children peeped out from behind one of the columns running down the two long sides of the Great Hall. At the far end sat Master Zeno, looking intently at the marble fireplace.
    â€˜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 thefireplace. 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