PathFinder (12 page)

Letters

The morning dawned clear
and bright. Quietly and efficiently, Nicko and Snorri weighed the anchor, raised the sails and were soon away with the rising sun behind them.

With Snorri at the helm, Nicko brought his
FlickFyre
stove up to the cockpit. Although Nicko came from an ancient Wizard­­ing family, he found
Magyk
somewhat boring. He could manage a few simple spells if he needed to, but he was a practical person and preferred to work things out for himself. The
FlickFyre
stove was one of the few
Magykal
gifts Nicko had accepted for his voyage, and he had only done so on the grounds of safety. The stove used a flame contained within a
Magykal
field, which did not allow any sparks to escape and burned steadily whatever the strength of the wind. Ten minutes later Tod, Oskar and Ferdie were up on deck drinking Nicko’s hot chocolate.

While Oskar and Ferdie talked excitedly about how happy their parents would be to see them home and how amazing it was that Ferdie had actually escaped, Tod sat quietly in the prow of the boat, stroking Ullr, who had now
Transformed
back into the small orange cat that Tod had first met. Tod watched the flat horizon growing more distinct as the
Adventurer
swished through the waves, taking her ever closer to home. Except, thought Tod, it didn’t feel like home any more. What was there left for her back at the village? Nothing more than an empty, wrecked house. And although Tod loved the Sarns and knew that they would insist she live with them, she felt she would always be a stranger. Their history was not hers. And Rosie and Jonas, however lovely they were, could never be her mother and father.

It was then that Tod realised that she had given up any hope that Dan would come back. She stared down into the fast-running water breaking from the prow and watched her silent tears drop into the salt water below.

Two hours later, as the
Adventurer
sailed past the Beacon, her crew saw columns of smoke rising above the dunes. As they drew closer they smelled the acrid scent of burning. Silently, they passed the telescope from one to another and saw to their horror the charred remains of PathFinder houses, black against the clear blue of the sky.

Snorri came in as close to the shore as she could, turned the
Adventurer
into the wind so that the boat slowed to a halt and Tod threw out the anchor. The
Adventurer
swung around on the chain so the prow was facing the shore.

Minutes later, they saw a flash of white sail and the green prow of
Skimmer
as she cut through the water, heading towards them. As Jerra drew near, his drawn expression and the soot on his clothes and face told them all they needed to know. Wearily, he took
Skimmer
alongside, let the sail down and threw a rope to Tod. Willing hands helped him aboard and he collapsed on to the deck. Snorri offered him some clear liquid that smelled of dead leaves. Jerra drank a little, spluttered at the taste and sat up.

“Fire,” he said. “Almost everything burned to the ground.”

“But … but how?” whispered Ferdie.

“Garmin – a whole pack,” said Jerra. “They came last night and set fire to the village.”

Nicko shook his head. “
Garmin?
How can Garmin use fire?”

“There were men with them,” Jerra said. “They had some kind of liquid they threw on to the stilts, then they set fire to it with what old Morris-next-door called Fire Sticks and the flames just shot up into the air – twenty, thirty feet high. No one in the attics had a chance.”

“Was anyone in
our
attic?” Ferdie asked quietly.

“It’s all right, Ferdie, no one was in the attic. Mum, Dad and Torr all got away, old Morris said. By the time Annar and I pulled
Skimmer
up the beach, most of the houses were on fire. We helped put out as many as we could but it was too late. By then they were just charred stumps.”

Tod shook her head. “Why?
Why
did they do this?”

“Revenge,” said Oskar.

As soon as he said it, Ferdie knew Oskar was right. By escaping from the Lady it was she, Ferdie, who had caused this terrible destruction.

The
Adventurer
rocked quietly on the gentle swell and the morning sun sent sparkles dancing on the top of the waves. It was – despite the destruction on shore – a beautiful day. A gust blew from the west and slowly the
Adventurer
swung around on her anchor chain so that she was facing into the wind – and towards the Castle. Nicko felt a stirring of restlessness. He wanted to set sail right now and take Snorri home.

His hands sooty and shaking, Jerra fished two crumpled folds of paper out of his pocket. “I found these,” he said. “Mum and Dad stuffed them into the old lead pipe at the bottom of the steps.” Jerra flattened one out on his knee and handed it to Oskar and Ferdie. It was their mother’s writing. Even without reading the words, the hasty pencil scrawl and the sooty smudges told a story.

Darling Jerra, Oskie, Ferdie,

In great haste. May you all be safe and with Ferdie. Garmin have come with men and fire. Do not worry, we are all right. A wise woman has come to show us a place where we can be safe for now. We will come back soon.

Love, Mum xxx

Ferdie shook her head in despair. She could not believe she had come so close to being reunited with her parents, only for them to be snatched away at the last moment.

“I want to be with them,” Ferdie said with a sob. “I just want us to be
together
again. As a family.”

Tod listened sadly. When Ferdie spoke of family, it made her feel even more alone.

Jerra held out the other sooty piece of paper. “It’s for you,” he told Tod.

Tod unfolded it and read the words with a growing feeling of wonder.

Darling Tod,

Your mother used to speak of a tower with a golden roof somewhere across the water. She wanted you to go there. This was very important to her, but I don’t know why. Dan was going to tell you on your fourteenth birthday. So I tell you now, just in case …

Love, Rosie x

Tod was sitting so still, so silent, that Oskar was worried. “Tod, what is it?” he asked.

Tod read out the letter and Nicko and Snorri exchanged glances.

“Wow,” Oskar said. “A tower with a golden roof. I wonder where that is.”

Tod shook her head unhappily. “I don’t know,” she said. “And there’s no one I can ask now.”

“It’s the Wizard Tower,” said Nicko.

Tod stared at him, amazed. “How do you know?”

“It must be,” Nicko said. “It all fits. It’s across the water and it’s got a golden pyramid on the top. Like a roof.”

“Have you been there?” Tod asked.

Nicko grinned. “Yes. It’s where my dad works. And some of my brothers.”

“Nicko has a lot of those,” Snorri said with a wry smile.

“Yeah.” Nicko said. “I lose count sometimes.”

Snorri looked at Tod quizzically. She saw a thin, dark-haired girl twisting her elflock in her fingers, staring stonily at the smoking ruins of her village. Snorri knew that sometimes you had to leave the place where you grew up. She put her hand on Tod’s and said, “The Wizard Tower is in the Castle, Tod. The Castle is a fine place, full of good people. This is where Nicko and I are going.”

Tod twisted her gold-and-silver snake ring. She thought of her mother’s wish for her. She thought of the house now wrecked by Garmin and the emptiness that awaited her on the shore. And Tod realised that, for the first time since her father had disappeared, she felt something good – a flicker of hope. She turned away from the devastation of her village and said to Snorri, “Take me with you. Please?”

Goodbye

Arms around each other
, Oskar and Ferdie stood among the charred remains of their house. Nothing was left but four blackened stilts, the tangled metal reinforcements of the ladder and the old message pipe half-buried in the ground. They watched Jerra poking about, picking out a few objects that had escaped the fire. He laid them on the flat stone and surveyed them gloomily. “Three forks, Dad’s old penknife and a couple of fish-gutters. Not much to show for the Sarn household, is it?” Jerra kicked the ground angrily and an acrid cloud of ash rose into the air, sending them all coughing. Then he saw Ferdie’s face, desolate and drawn – this was not the homecoming he had wanted for his little sister. He forced himself out of his anger.

“But we’ll show them, won’t we, Ferdie? We’ll build the house just how it was before. And Mum, Dad and Torr will be back soon and we’ll all be fine. Hey, Annar!”

Annar arrived, breathless. Jerra put his arm around her. “Annar and I want to build a house here too. Down by the marsh so that Annar can see the Trading Post lights at night.”

“Build a house?
Together?
” Oskar and Ferdie looked amazed.

“Yes. We are very happy together,” Annar said.

“Yes,” said Jerra. “We are.”

Ferdie and Oskar looked at each other – suddenly the Sarn family felt different. Oskar wasn’t sure if he liked the difference, but Ferdie hugged Jerra, then more shyly, Annar. “That’s lovely,” she said. “I can’t wait for Mum and Dad and Torr to come back. They’ll be so excited.”

“Thank you, Ferdie,” Annar said with a bashful smile. “But I came to tell you, there is a meeting. There is a house with green shutters at the far end of a track. They missed that one. People are going there now.”

“That’s Tod’s house!” exclaimed Oskar. “Oh, Jerra, do you think she’d stay if she knew her house was OK?”

Jerra shook his head. “I don’t think so, Oskie. There are bad memories here for Tod. She wants a new start.”

“But Tod loves her house. And now that Aunt Mitza is gone it belongs to her. Oh, please, Jerra,
please
can we go and tell her?
Please?
Before it’s too late!”

Jerra hated seeing his little brother so upset. “We can go if you really want, Oskie,” he said. “But I don’t think it will make any difference.”

“Please, Jerra,” Ferdie said quietly. “I miss Tod already.”

Leaving Annar to go on to the meeting, Jerra headed off to the beach with his brother and sister. But as they reached the top of the dunes and looked out to sea they saw the
Adventurer
’s
sails filling with the freshening wind.

“The tide has turned,” said Jerra. “They’re going.”

Landsman that he was, Oskar did not understand. He raced down the dune, shouting to Jerra, “Hurry, Jerra! We’ve got to catch them! Hurry, hurry!”

Jerra and Ferdie caught up with him. “The
Adventurer
’s caught the wind and the tide together,” Jerra said. “She sails fast. There’s no way
Skimmer
could catch her. It’s impossible, Oskie. I’m so sorry …”

Oskar was suddenly overwhelmed at the thought he might never see Tod again. He raced back up to the top of the dune, and frantically waving both arms he yelled, “Tod! Wait! Don’t go. Please don’t go! Tod, Tod!”

From the
Adventurer
Tod saw Oskar waving at the top of the dune. She waved back.

“Bye, Oskie,” she whispered. “Goodbye.”

To the Castle

Tod woke early the next
morning and, hearing Nicko still snoring in his cabin, tiptoed up the ladder and padded on to the deck. She stopped and took a deep breath – it was beautiful.

It was just before dawn and through the dim twilight, Tod saw a thin layer of mist hanging over a green river, enfolding the
Adventurer
in a soft blanket of silence. She stood for some minutes, listening to the
peep-peep
of river birds and the soft
slip-slop
of wavelets caused by the dive of a duck. After the restlessness of the sea, Tod was entranced by the stillness of a river. As her eyes became accustomed to the dimness, Tod saw that Snorri and Ullr were already on deck, sitting quietly at the prow. She went forward and sat down beside Snorri and her panther, sleek and black in the darkness – apart from a bright orange tip to its tail.