The Topaz Quest (7 page)

Stopping only to send the wind away and thrust the buckle into her pocket, Tia ran off down the pass with Loki soaring overhead. She sped between its towering, rocky walls until she burst out into the open on the other side of the mountain. She couldn't wait to see Finn and used the last of her
breath to run to the copse by the river. And there was her DragonBrother, waiting patiently. Tia threw her arms round his snout.

He butted her gently and blew anxious smoke rings while she got her breath back. When she was breathing normally again he said, ‘Tell me all about your adventures in Stoplar.'

Tia sat on the ground, leant against her DragonBrother and, with Loki interrupting every now and again, told him about Luona, her cats and the spice merchants who'd brought news of the stolen jewels of power. And she told him about how she'd been tempted to use the topaz to harm the soldiers.

She held out the buckle. ‘It's too powerful for me – you take it.'

Finn unpicked it from its setting and sent the buckle flying over the trees and into the river. Tia wrapped the jewel in leaves and put it in the bag around his neck.

‘I think we need to leave for Iserborg as soon as we can,' he said, ‘before news about the topaz reaches High Witch Skadi.'

Tia agreed. ‘Especially as Skadi will already know about the first two jewels being stolen.'

‘Which one does she have?' Loki asked.

‘The sapphire,' Tia said. ‘She uses it to move anywhere she wants to. If she wasn't stuck in Iserborg she could even send herself from one side of Tulay to the other.'

‘That would be useful,' Loki said. ‘Though not as useful as flying.'

Tia said, ‘Ha!' and slung her bag onto her back. ‘Since I've got to walk, let's get going.'

The three friends set off – Tia, her DragonBrother and Loki the jackdaw – on the long journey to Iserborg where High Witch Skadi held the magic sapphire.

Can Tia and her friends meet the challenge of the fourth adventure? Find out in

The Sapphire Quest

published by A & C Black
November 2013

Copyright © 2013 A & C Black
Text copyright © 2013 Gill Vickery
Illustrations copyright © 2013 Mike Love

This electronic edition published in July 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing

First published 2013 by A & C Black
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square,
London, WC1B 3DP
www.bloomsbury.com

The right of Gill Vickery and Mike Love to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.

eISBN: 978-1-4081-8826-2

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