Free The Pearl Quest by Gill Vickery

Chapter One

The Shadow Snake
    T he spell against dragons wrapped itself like a great shadowy snake round the lands of Holmurholt. It whipped along the hills encircling the plain and the rivers below. The ghostly serpent’s head darted restlessly here and there, its eyes flickering, its tongue dabbing in and out. Tia shivered.
    Her DragonBrother, Finn, was looking down on Tulay’s five sparkling rivers flowing into a huge blue lake set in the middle of the plain. Dozens of small islands, crowded with buildings, dotted the water.
    â€˜I’d love a swim,’ the little dragon said wistfully.
    Tia rounded fiercely on her DragonBrother. ‘You mustn’t even think of trying.’ Finn couldn’t see the spell and had no idea how powerful it was.
    â€˜I could disguise myself. I’ve been in all the other lands and towns and never come to any harm.’
    â€˜This is different,’ Tia insisted. ‘The High Witch must know that all the other jewels have been stolen and she’ll be protecting the pearl with her most powerful magic. The spell against dragons will be even stronger than the one that caught me in Stoplar when I changed into a dragon.’
    Loki the jackdaw was perching on the dragon’s shoulder. ‘Does Finn want to go into Holmurholt?’ he asked Tia.
    She nodded. ‘But I’m sure the High Witch has made the spell stronger than ever.’
    Loki hopped onto the grass. ‘I’ll try and keep him from going into Holmurholt, though it’s hard when I can’t speak to him.’
    Tia told Finn what the jackdaw had said to her. The little dragon puffed out a cloud of hot smoke over both of them. Loki squawked in protest and flew up into a tree.
    â€˜I think you should give me the emerald to look after,’ Finn said to Tia.
    â€˜Why?’ Tia said, surprised. ‘I know the other jewels are too strong for me to use but the emerald is safe.’
    â€˜High Witch Hyldi almost snatched it from you when you were fighting her in Askarlend. This High Witch might do the same. She’d find a way to use it to work evil magic.’
    That was true. All the same, Tia didn’t want to surrender the emerald. ‘How will I talk to Loki?’
    â€˜You won’t be able to.’ Finn said. This time he blew sweet-smelling smoke gently over Tia. ‘You’ll have to give up the emerald soon anyway and give it back to the DragonQueen.’
    Tia knew Finn was right. She unfastened the chain round her neck and slipped off the emerald ring she’d kept for so long. It lay in her palm, glinting in dozens of shades from the deep green of the ocean depths to the pale jade of a newly unfurled leaf.
    Reluctantly she thrust the ring at Finn. Now her chain only carried the locket with pictures of her lost parents in it.
    Finn delicately unpicked the emerald’s gold setting with his claws and freed the jewel. He tossed the ring away. ‘Put the emerald in the pouch.’
    Tia opened the pouch Finn wore round his neck and dropped the emerald inside where it lay with the opal, the topaz, the sapphire and the ruby.
    â€˜You’d better leave your locket as well,’ Finn said. ‘She…you know, the High Witch…’ He meant Tia’s mother. ‘She might recognise it. She’d want to know how you got hold of it.’
    Tia opened the locket. She’d covered the picture of her mother but she took a last look at the portraitof her beloved father before she snapped it shut. She dropped the chain and locket into the pouch. ‘It feels strange without them.’
    Finn butted her shoulder gently with his nose. ‘Will you be all right when you see her?’
    â€˜Yes. She stole the pearl and I’m going to get it back. I don’t care about anything else.’
    Tia hugged Finn’s muzzle, picked up her bag and walked down the hill towards Holmurholt.

    Tia made good progress down the grassy hillsides and