Emily Rodda - Isle of the Dead

It will come if it can, a voice in his mind replied. And Lief’s thoughts flew back to the amethyst dragon, as it had been when he bid it farewell at dawn.

‘So you are taking the amethyst away, though I am still too weak to fly,’ the great beast had said.

Lief had swallowed. ‘I am sorry,’ he had said stiffly.

‘There is no point in grieving over what cannot be helped,’ the dragon had replied. ‘Now I am a little stronger, I feel the poison in my land. Its evil source is south of here—beyond my border. The dragon of the diamond must help you defeat it. Is that not so?’

Lief still remembered the wave of relief that had flowed through him when he heard those words, spoken so calmly, and with such dignity.

‘I pray that the dragon of strength and purity will aid you as it should,’ the amethyst dragon had continued. ‘But if it should fail you, call me to your side. If it is within my power, I will come. I will do it for love of Dragonfriend. I know he would have wished it.’

‘Thank you, dragon of the amethyst,’ Lief had managed to say. He had been very moved.

‘And if you call me, king of Deltora,’ the dragon had finished, ‘it would be best, to make sure I hear you, that you call me by my true name. It is… Veritas.’

The last words were spoken softly, so softly that Lief had been forced to bend to hear them. He had straightened, very aware of the honour he had received.

‘I thank you, Veritas,’ he said humbly. ‘I swear that never will I use your name unwisely, and that I will honour it. My true name is Lief.’

The dragon had nodded, but said nothing more. And quietly, Lief had left it where it crouched, motionless on the sand.

‘Look! Ahead! Lief, look !’

Lief’s eyes flew open at the sound of Jasmine’s voice. He blinked. His heart pounded.

They had rounded a bend in the road, and suddenly the end of their journey was in sight. Suddenly, they could see ocean not only to their right but to their left, and far ahead as well.

Before them stretched a long, narrow point of land. Like a thin flat finger tipped with rock and fringed with foam it jabbed through the blue of the sea, stretching away into the distance stretching to…

Lief eyes dazzled. Something was flashing at the end of the point—flashing like the Bone Point Light in Verity’s painting.

‘What is it?’ Barda exclaimed. ‘Can it be another lighthouse? I thought—’

Kree screeched wildly overhead.

‘It is the island!’ cried Jasmine.

And as Lief ran forward, squinting, he saw with wonder that it was so. The source of the dazzling light rose from the sea beyond the tip of the point.

High, steep and bare, the Isle of the Dead shone like glass. Every surface glittered and flashed in the sun, as if the Isle itself was one vast diamond.

In front of the great mass of light, separated from it by a strip of boiling foam, was a small gleam of scarlet.

The first island, Lief thought. The smaller one shown on the map. It shines like a ruby, just as the other is like a diamond.

And then, as his eyes moved on to the mainland, he saw something else that the brilliant light of the Isle of the Dead had caused him to miss at first glance.

A gleaming shape was floating above the ground at the tip of the rocky point, burning like a silver beacon against the blueness of sea and sky.

14 – Ava

Lief squinted at the gleaming shape. Almost instantly he realised that it was not some strange vision floating in mid-air, but a huge metal sign. The sign was attached to the roof of a small building that was so brown, low and rounded that it looked as if it had grown out of the rock.

Ava’s shop, he thought, his hand moving to the bag of Peppermint Fancies in his jacket pocket.

He knew he should be amazed to find Ava’s shop—any shop—here, in this wild and lonely place.

Yet he was not amazed. And slowly he admitted to himself what in his heart he had known all along.

Tom would not have sent that message and the gift for Ava unless he had been sure that Lief, Barda and Jasmine would pass this way. He had been certain that the companions’ goal was the Isle of the Dead. He knew his sister could help them.

… she sees more than most, and can tell you many things of use… She also has boats for hire…

Their eyes narrowed against the bright light of the island, the companions moved forward, barely noticing that their feet were now on the ground and that they were moving at normal walking pace.

The point narrowed more and more. At last they reached a place where the road curved to return to the main line of the coast. Ahead was a ragged arrow of rock pointing to the two islands.

Ava’s dwelling, topped by its glaring sign, was perched almost at the tip of the arrow. The companions left the road and began to trudge towards the building, their heads bent against the wind.

‘A very strange place for a shop,’ said Barda, shading his eyes as he scanned the rock and the sea beyond.

‘It is likely that this place was not so deserted, once,’ Lief said. ‘The coast road is very broad—and why would anyone make such a road, if there was no-one to travel on it?’

‘Besides, Ava’s sign is like Tom’s,’ Jasmine pointed out. ‘It can be read the same way from both sides, so it can be seen from the sea as well as from the road. She may have had customers who came to her in ships.’

‘If she did, she has them no longer,’ Barda said gruffly. ‘There are no ships in these seas now.’

Lief glanced at him. There had been an odd tone in his voice.

Barda had turned away from the ocean and was frowning down at his feet. A muscle twitched beside his mouth, and his fists were clenched.

Lief felt a sudden chill. He looked quickly out to sea. But there was nothing to be seen. The only dark spot on the white-flecked surface was a flabby mat of seaweed floating near the shining Isle.

If Barda had seen something else—a ship with a broken mast and slowly dipping oars, for example—it was no longer visible.

Or it was not there at all, Lief told himself firmly. It is natural that memories of The Lady Luck should haunt us. But we must not fall into the trap of believing that the ghost ship is truly dogging our footsteps. That way lies madness.

Sea spray was cold on his face. The waves seemed very loud. He looked ahead and with a slight start saw that they had nearly reached the end of the point.

Across the sea, the scarlet island glimmered and the high, shining peak of the Isle of the Dead flashed in the sun. And now Lief could see that the two islands were linked by a ragged bridge of rock—a natural arch spanning churning white water.

But closer, much closer, was the glaring sign. Ava’s shop was directly ahead.

Brown and hunched, built of rounded stones mottled with sea moss, the building was larger than it had appeared from a distance.

The front looked like a modest cottage, with a central door and shuttered windows. The back was higher, with bare, windowless walls.

The boat shed, Lief thought. Again his hand crept to his jacket pocket, as if the bag of Peppermint Fancies hidden there was a talisman.

If the diamond dragon answered his call, it might carry him and his companions directly to the Isle of the Dead. But they could not depend upon it. The dragon might not come at all. It might come, but be unwilling to carry them. They needed a boat.

Slowly the companions approached the shop. Its low roof was thatched with dried seaweed. Wind whistled about its walls, rattled the shutters that covered its windows and tore the smoke rising from its chimney into tatters of swirling grey.