Free PathFinder by Angie Sage

deck Snorri was showing their Visitor Pass to a pair of officials who had arrived as soon as they tied up. Down in the cabin, Oskar’s stomach was rumbling loudly.
    Over breakfast – a deliciously heavy soup of beans and fish with crusty pieces of cheesy bread floating in it – they exchanged stories. Snorri told them how she had met Nicko in his country across the water, and how after a few years she had gone back home to the Land of the Long Nights. Nicko told them about his long voyage to find Snorri and that she was now coming back to his home – which he called the Castle – where they planned to get married. Tod thought this was very romantic indeed. Oskar thought it was a long way to travel just to find a girl, but he knew better than to say so.
    Then it was the turn of the PathFinders to tell their story. Tod did the talking while Nicko and Snorri listened increasingly sombrely. She explained about Ferdie, the Garmin and Aunt Mitza. And the more she explained, the worse Tod thought things sounded. By the time she had finished, Tod was feeling seriously scared. A glance at Oskar told her he felt the same.
    Jerra, too, looked serious, but he was thinking about Annar. What would she think of him, watching her being taken away and doing nothing about it? And without Annar, they did not know where to find the Tristan .
    There was a lemonade stall set up at the end of the jetty run by a big woman with a friendly smile. After breakfast, Tod and Oskar decided to ask the lemonade seller about the Tristan . Tod made Oskar stay in the sun while she ventured into the shadows of the awning. She handed over a couple of copper pennies and the stallholder took two thick green bottles out of a tub of ice and gave them to her.
    “Excuse me,” Tod said. “We are looking for a ship. She’s called the Tristan .”
    The woman frowned. “The Tristan ?”
    “Yes. We have an, er, appointment there. I wonder if you know where –”
    The lemonade seller leaned so close that Tod could smell her sweet, lemony breath. “Look, ducks, here’s some advice. If you have an appointment on that ship, don’t keep it . Go home. Got that?” Suddenly she screamed out, “Get off, you vermin! Get off! ”
    Oskar froze. He’d been discovered – but how? He was standing in full sunlight. He turned to run but Tod grabbed him. “No,” she said. “It’s that. Look.”
    A small monkey wearing a red jacket was leaping across the pile of lemons, skillfully avoiding the lemonade seller’s swipes. It picked up a lemon and then jumped into the sugar barrel, scooped up a fistful of sugar and crammed it into its mouth.
    “Filthy, filthy animal!” yelled the woman. She lunged at the monkey and set the pile of lemons tumbling to the ground. The monkey screamed with laughter and ran off.
    “Tod!” said Oskar. “Look. Look what the monkey’s got!”
    “What?” said Tod, who was busy picking up the lemons and handing them back to the lemonade seller.
    “Thank you, ducks,” said the woman. “You see, nothing but trouble comes from that ship.”
    “Tod!” Oskar said urgently.
    Tod ignored him. “So,” she asked the lemonade seller, “is that where the monkey’s from – the Tristan ?”
    “Yes, ducks. And it’s not the only filthy creature on board, either.” She leaned forward confidingly. “There are abomin­ations on the ship. Abominations .” The woman rolled the word around her mouth like a sour lemon.
    “Sorry,” Tod said, looking at the fallen lemons, “but we have to go now.”
    Oskar was impatiently hopping around in the sun. “Did you see what was on that monkey’s arm?” he said.
    “No, what?”
    “It was Ferdie’s purple ribbon .”
    “Oh, Oskie!” Tod spotted a flash of red scuttling through the stalls. “There it is! After it!”
    Oskar dithered. “But what about Nicko and Snorri? They won’t know where we’ve gone.”
    “There’s no time,” said Tod. “We have to follow the monkey.”
    Snorri saw them