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.
Gasping, they half slid, half clambered, back down to the foot of the slanting rock.
‘The tide is rising,’ Lindal said, shaking water from her painted head like a dog. ‘It took longer to get here than I remembered. We must move quickly—before the Nest begins to flood. Otherwise we will have to wait in this accursed place for hours until the tide turns again.’
Together they moved forward. The sound of the waves was deafening. The cruel wind whistled around them, and every now and again they were sprayed with freezing foam.
By the time they reached the hollow they were crawling on their bellies, shivering and breathless.
They hauled themselves to the very edge. And as they looked down, they all caught their breath in shock.
Whatever they had expected to see, it was not this.
The vast, stony bowl of the Nest was completely empty, except for a small, piteous figure lying huddled in the centre.
Lief stared at the dark, curly head, the slender arms, the sprawled, furred legs tipped with delicate hoofs.
‘Rolf!’ he whispered. ‘It is Rolf! The dragon must have carried him off—brought him here. But why?’
‘Any creature finds it useful to have a little of its favourite food put aside for later,’ Lindal pointed out, gazing down at the Capricon with interest.
At that moment, Rolf’s crumpled body moved feebly.
‘He is still alive,’ breathed Jasmine.
Lief’s stomach knotted.
‘Do not call to him! Do not make a sound!’ Barda warned sharply, his eyes scanning the looming mountains. ‘The beast must be about somewhere. We do not want to alert it.’
Impulsively Lief moved to hurl himself down the sloping sides of the Nest. Barda caught and held him back.
‘No, Lief!’ Barda whispered. ‘Think! Once we are down there, we will be helpless if the dragon attacks. And I am not sure that Lindal is right. To me, the Capricon looks unpleasantly like bait.’
‘Bait?’ hissed Lief. ‘Bait for what?’
Barda shrugged. ‘Possibly for other Capricons who roam the mountains. But I suspect—I fear—bait for us.’
‘Are you mad?’ Lief struggled to tear himself free. ‘What does the ruby dragon know of us?’
‘Have you forgotten the enemy who tricked us into going to End Wood Gap?’ Barda demanded, tightening his grip. ‘What did that enemy do after we went into the Forests of Silence?’
Lief grew still. His mind was whirling.
‘What if when the ruby dragon arose, our enemy’s face was the first thing it saw, and our enemy’s voice was the first sound it heard?’ Barda demanded. ‘What if they formed some sort of alliance? To trap us, kill us, and defend the Sister of the East?’
Lief wet his lips. ‘That is impossible,’ he whispered.
‘It does not seem likely,’ Lindal agreed. ‘From what the old folk say, dragons do not form alliances—even with each other. And surely your enemy hoped you would die in End Wood? As you nearly did, in fact.’
‘He might have hoped for it, but he would not have depended upon it,’ said Barda. ‘The Shadow Lord does not tolerate mistakes by his servants.’
Lief shook his head stubbornly.
‘The dragon would not harm me,’ he said. ‘Not while I wear the Belt of Deltora. And it would never agree to defend the Sister. No dragon would tolerate such a thing in its territory. Doran said—’
‘Forget what Doran said!’ Barda broke in. ‘Who knows what might have happened to the body and brain of a beast that has slept for centuries?’
He clenched his fists. ‘You cannot argue with the proof, Lief! The dragon has been here, but it has made no attempt to find the Sister and destroy it. The Nest has not been disturbed. Not a stone is out of place.’
A giant wave smashed against the rocks beyond the Nest. Icy spray rained down. Far below them, the Capricon writhed and wailed.
‘You are all wasting time,’ Jasmine snapped. ‘This argument is pointless! We are here to destroy the Sister of the East. We know that it is somewhere in Dragon’s Nest—somewhere down there, hidden under the stones. So we must go into the Nest and dig for it. It is all very simple.’
‘Simple!’ Barda growled. ‘With a dragon lurking, and Rolf moaning and squirming around our feet?’
‘Oh, we will have to get Rolf out first, I suppose,’ Jasmine said impatiently. ‘Otherwise he will get in our way.’
‘Lief will have to go down for him,’ said Lindal, peering down at the wailing Capricon. ‘It would be too much to hope that he would co-operate with anyone else, even to save his own life.’
Jasmine nodded and turned to Lief, pulling the coil of rope she carried from her belt.
‘Barda must lower you down, Lief,’ she said. ‘The stones on the sides of the Nest look far too loose to support you. Take my rope for Rolf. Then Barda and Lindal can pull you both up together.’
Lindal grinned broadly. ‘Why, how this little mouse is ordering us about, old bear!’ she jeered, digging Barda in the ribs. ‘Are you going to take that?’
‘It seems I am,’ Barda muttered, as Lief began tying his own rope around his waist. ‘I fear I have no choice.’