Emily Rodda - Dragon's Nest

‘But Capra was destroyed before the time of Adin!’ Jasmine cried. ‘How long ago was that?’

Lindal shrugged. ‘If the Capricons would rather grieve over what is lost than live in the present, that is their own affair,’ she said carelessly. ‘They cannot be persuaded differently. The few that are left keep to themselves, and look down on everyone else.’

‘Rolf was not like that,’ Lief said, finding his voice. ‘He left the mountains and journeyed towards Del, to seek help for his people.’

And so was killed by his worst nightmare .

The thought pierced him like a dart.

‘Your friend would have found help in plenty if he had simply gone into Broome,’ said Lindal curtly. ‘He would also have learned that you were on your way there, and he had only to wait. But he would not enter Broome, oh no!’

She shook her head, striding on, her eyes fixed on the horizon. ‘He would not lower himself to speak to ordinary mortals. Only the king himself was good enough to deserve the notice of a Capricon!’

‘He had been brought up to think so,’ Lief murmured. ‘His ancestors—’

Lindal bared her teeth. ‘My ancestors were great warriors, who ate the brains of their slaughtered enemies,’ she said. ‘Do you suggest I do the same?’

‘Lindal is perfectly right,’ snapped Jasmine. ‘Rolf was cowardly, vain and foolish. Why deny it, just because he is dead? I think—’

‘I think we should stop arguing and light some torches,’ Barda put in calmly. ‘I can barely see my hand in front of my face, but there is something written on a stone ahead, and I suspect it is a warning.’

16 - Dragon’s Nest

The stone was very old, and looked unpleasantly like a tombstone. The very sight of it filled Lief with dread. He had to force himself to approach it, and lift his torch to read the words engraved upon it.

Jasmine shivered. ‘This stone gives me a bad feeling,’ she said. ‘Who made it?’

‘No-one knows,’ said Lindal. ‘It has always been here—and it has kept most people well away from Dragon’s Nest.’

‘But not you,’ Barda said gruffly.

‘Not me,’ Lindal admitted. ‘As I told you, I was a wilful, disobedient child. Still, I hated to pass this stone. I always shut my eyes so I could not see it. I do not quite know why—or why I used to have nightmares about it afterwards. The verse is ominous, but …’

‘It is not just the verse,’ Lief said slowly.

It had become extremely cold. Waves were crashing on the rocks, very near. He realised that without noticing it they had almost reached the tumble of rocks they had seen from the hills. A sickening trembling had begun deep within his body. His arm felt unbearably heavy as he held his torch flame closer to the stone.

‘It is not just the verse,’ he repeated. ‘It is the carving in the background. Do you see? Those marks are the Sister signs, repeated endlessly. And the border …’

Barda leaned forward, peered at the border, then looked up, shaken. ‘Despair and die …’ he muttered.

Filli whimpered beneath Jasmine’s collar. She put up her hand to soothe him.

‘The whole stone is a curse,’ she said softly. ‘It is an evil thing—full of hate.’

‘Come away from it,’ Lindal said abruptly, taking a step back.

Barda forced a grin, his white teeth gleaming in the darkness. ‘It seems you were braver as a child than you are now, Lindal!’ he said.

‘Only more foolish,’ Lindal retorted. ‘But still I never passed by the stone in darkness. The way to Dragon’s Nest is fearful, even in daylight. At night—’

Lief backed away from the stone gripping the Belt of Deltora with both hands. With relief he felt his mind begin to clear, and the deep trembling to ease.

‘We must stop in any case,’ he managed to say. ‘We need food and sleep. We will move on in the morning. Everything seems better in the light.’

Lindal chose a camping spot well away from the evil stone. They lit a small fire for warmth and comfort. They ate, and at last they slept, keeping watch in turns.

But their sleep was far from peaceful. The sound of the crashing waves was cold and lonely, and dark, formless shadows haunted their dreams.

They set off at first light the following day. One by one they passed the standing stone, their eyes turned away from it, fixed on the churning sea.

Beyond the stone there was no path to follow—only a wilderness of huge rocks piled one upon the other.

Lindal led the way, scrambling through the maze, more often crawling than walking upright. Lief, Barda and Jasmine soon realised that without her they would have become hopelessly lost.

Kree had still not returned. No-one spoke of it, but fear for him hung over them like a cloud.

On they went, and on. They could see nothing but cold stone, the looming mountains and the sky. They could hear nothing but the booming of the waves, beating like a great drum.

There was no sign of life at all. Everything was cold and dead.

Their fingers grew numb and clumsy. A feeling of dread was growing within them, weighing them down.

Despair and die …

Lief shook his head, trying to rid himself of the memory of the message on the stone. But it clung in his mind like an evil tick, draining his strength, spreading its poison.

The mountains of the Shadowlands border grew larger, closer. The sound of the waves grew louder. They could feel the tingling of sea spray on their faces, and taste salt on their chilled lips, but still they could see nothing.

And then, at last, Lindal stopped at the foot of a great slab of rock that slanted upward.

She waited until they caught up with her, then crawled with them to the top of the slab.

‘There,’ she said in a low voice.

Straight ahead of them the stones fell away into a vast, bowl-shaped hollow squeezed between the mountains and the sea. The hollow was so deep that from where the companions lay, clutching the edge of the slanting rock, they could not see the bottom.

The mountains brooded over the hollow, glowering and secret. Waves crashed against its far edge, spattering the rocks with foam.

Lief guessed that at high tide the hollow was flooded with swirling water, for the stones that formed its sides were rounded and polished smooth, and strands of parched seaweed trailed over them like long, tangled hair.

Dragon’s Nest …

Lief did not need to look at the emerald in the Belt of Deltora. He knew it would be as grey as the rock on which he lay. He could feel the evil crawling about him like a clammy mist, raising the hair on his arms and the back of his neck.

His mind swirled with shadows. His body was covered with freezing sweat, and the terrible, deep trembling had begun again.

Feebly he felt for the Belt, willing its magic to work for him as it had done so often before.

The topaz to clear his mind. The amethyst to soothe and calm. The diamond for strength …

‘This was my lookout. I never went closer to the Nest than this,’ Lindal shouted over the sound of the pounding waves. ‘I was reckless as a child, but not quite mad.’

She hunched her shoulders. ‘Ah—I had almost forgotten this feeling! It is as if some vile, invisible vapour rises from that hollow. It makes my skin crawl.’

‘It is the Sister of the East,’ Lief murmured through stiff lips. ‘The dragon has not been here—or has not been able to destroy it.’

A great wave thundered onto the rocks with such force that the spray flew high into the air, raining down into the hollow, and spattering the companions with icy drops.