Free Quest for the Sun by V M Jones Page A

A hand like steel twisted into my collar. One jerk, and my face was mashed against the bars, Karazeel’s eyes a hair’s breadth from my own. ‘So,’ he hissed, ‘the source of skyfire lies in your world? Does the Keeper speak truth?’
    â€˜No, he’s lying —’ I choked.
    â€˜Yes!’ The mad light was back in his eyes. ‘You will take me to it! You will deliver the skyfire into my hands and lead me to the creator! I will devour his heart and drink his blood, and his power will be mine. And you …’ a cruel smile twisted his lips, and he pointed at the four children staring aghast, ‘you will remain here as hostage. Evor and the Mauler will guard you.’
    Jamie bit his lip. ‘Don’t feel bad, Adam,’ he began loyally. ‘It wasn’t your fault. You … you …’ Then his face crumpled and he burst into hiccupping sobs. Kenta threw her arms round him, glaring daggers at me over his head.
    Richard shook his head helplessly, shrugged, and turned away, his face like stone.
    â€˜Kai,’ hissed Gen, ‘you are a slimy toad! ’ She turned away and buried her face in her hands.
    None of them saw Kai shift the trident into his sword-hand and flick me an almost invisible wink.
    Â 
    Evor dragged me through the tiny door struggling and cursing, but inside I was jubilant. I couldn’t believe how well the plan had worked. I felt bad about fooling the others, but there was no way they could have faked the shock on their faces … and that had been the clincher for Karazeel.
    Protected by the potion of immortality, nothing under the twin moons of Karazan could do him harm … but things would be different in our world, or so I hoped. And that’s where he was ‘forcing’ me to take him. I was banking on him being sandbagged by the transition, the same as I always was — but I was expecting it, and I’d be ready.
    I had my pocket knife. It would be one on one.
    As for the others — judging by the look on Rich’s face he’d be more than a match for Evor. The Mauler was still chained to the wall, and likely to stay that way.
    And Kai — I stifled a grin — Kai was on our side, just as he’d always been.

Skyfire
    Evor dragged me over to the golden pedestal. The grin was gone; my heart was a swelling throb in my throat, almost choking me. What if Hannah was in the computer room? What if Evor’s modification to the VRE Interface didn’t work and Karazeel got stuck? What if despite the fact that he was from Karazan like me he didn’t find the transition as tough as I did … what if he jumped me at Quested Court and went on the rampage? What if I’d made a stupid mistake?
    Too bad. It’s done. From here on in, it’s all down to you, Zephyr. And you’ll only get one shot — so quit worrying and do your best.
    The giant screen was a rippled expanse of pink-edged cloud. Early morning. What time would it be at Quested Court? I’d soon find out. I made one last pretence at trying to escape Evor’s grip, and felt my boot connect with his bony shin with a satisfying crack. ‘Any more trouble from you,’ he hissed, ‘and I will feed the fat one to the Mauler. You do not seem to understand that the welfare of your friends depends upon your cooperation, Prince Zephyr. ’
    Karazeel’s icy hand clamped on the back of my neck — and it was only then I realised I was still wearing my backpack. I’d unpacked it earlier to find the knife and it was practically empty; I must have shrugged it on automatically, as I did at the start of any journey. Some journey, I thought grimly.
    I stared down at the keyboard. It was laid out like a normal keyboard but set in solid gold, the keys cushion-cut gems: the letter-keys diamonds as clear as water, the numbers sparkling emeralds, the function keys what I guessed must be sapphires. Four keys stood out