The Opal Quest Read Free Page B

he said.
    â€˜That was the High Witch Yordis,’ Tia said.
    â€˜I thought it might be.’
    â€˜Then why didn’t you help me? She was going to eat me!’
    â€˜I’m a bird – what could I do against a bear? Besides, there was no point in our both being eaten.’
    Tia couldn’t argue with that. ‘I haven’t got time to go back and tell Finn about Yordis. Will you take a message to him for me?’ she asked the jackdaw. ‘You’ll have to come back to town with me first.’
    Loki agreed and Tia wearily fetched the sledge and began to haul it back to Halla.

    Halla was annoyed with Tia. ‘What took you so long?’ she demanded.
    Tia told her about being chased by the bear. Halla gave her a big hug. ‘You were very brave – and lucky! Here, sit down and eat while I get on with my work.’
    Tia munched her way through bread and cheese while Halla stacked the wood under huge cauldronsof water and snapped her fingers to spark fire. While she waited for the water to heat up, she sat and made Tia tell her about the bear again. Tia described how the bear had caught her and then let her go.
    â€˜I think the bear might have been the High Witch,’ she said cautiously. ‘It wore a collar with an opal in it. Do you think it might be one of the DragonQueen’s jewels of power?’
    Halla nodded reluctantly. ‘If the Lady Yordis is interested in you, it’s best you get away from here as fast as you can.’
    That wasn’t what Tia had planned at all! ‘Can’t I stay another night?’ she asked, trying to sound tragic. ‘I’m so tired.’ She yawned.
    â€˜All right, you can help with the washing today – that’ll keep you out of sight – and be off tomorrow in case Yordis’s guards do a sweep of the town.’
    â€˜Why do they do that?’
    â€˜To collect people to work in the mines, or worse, in the castle.’
    Tia wondered how working in the castle could be worse than in the dangerous crystal mines but Halla had spoken so grimly she didn’t dare ask.

Chapter Five

Into KulaFoss Castle
    When Tia had finished helping Halla she went to the stable room, exhausted from hauling hot washing in and out of the big tubs. Loki was waiting for her on the window ledge.
    â€˜Have you done that message you want me to take to Finn?’
    â€˜Not yet.’
    She rummaged in her bag for her silver-tipped pen and wrote in her green book. She tore the page out, folded it small and knotted it to Loki’s leg with a piece of leather strip.
    â€˜Finn’s on top of the valley side,’ she told the jackdaw. ‘He’ll be glad to see you.’
    â€˜We won’t be able to talk,’ Loki grumbled. ‘You know dragons and birds don’t understand each other.’
    â€˜Never mind, I’ll come and talk to both of you when I can.’
    Loki fluffed his feathers in annoyance then dived neatly out of the window and soared up into the sky. Tia flopped on the straw and was deeply asleep in no time. She didn’t even stir when Halla brought in the animals.

    After breakfast next morning Halla sent Tia on her way.
    â€˜Go to the end of the valley,’ the woman said, ‘and follow the river. After several days you’ll reach safety.’
    â€˜Thank you,’ Tia said and set off. She waited until the washerwoman went back inside her house then scrambled up into the trees and doubled back towards the waterfall.
    She looked up past the booming wall of water and wondered how she was going to get into the castle; there weren’t any steps or ramps leading up to it. The only link between the gate and the ground was a large metal tube made out of criss-crossed bars of iron. There was an open archway at the bottom.
    Tia didn’t see how the tube could help her get into the castle – she certainly wasn’t going to climb up it!
    She wandered nearer to the waterfall