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  “He’ll have taken them to the forest,” said the Druid. “For safe-keeping. Which is where we need to go, too. But without Cat and the amber, I’m not sure how we’re going to get there.”

  Inanna coughed, and gestured at the amber jewel round her neck. “We have mine,” she said grandly. “You’ll just have to teach me how to use it!”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Inanna was standing in the middle of the kitchen, holding the amber out in front of her and saying, in a very cross voice, “I command you to obey me!”

  Dora was fighting the urge to giggle. It wasn’t funny, really. They needed Inanna to get some kind of control of the amber or they would be stuck in Simon and Cat’s world till the Druid recovered his strength, or someone thought to come and rescue them. But the sight of Inanna’s haughty expression as she tried to bend the amber to her will, and the way the Druid was trying his best to be patient while obviously wanting to strangle Inanna with one of her jewelled braids, was making it increasingly hard for Dora to keep a straight face. And then when Inanna finally managed to get the amber to do something, it produced not the goblet of wine it was asked for, but a rather startled-looking goat, which looked all round the kitchen in astonishment.

  After a weary gesture from the Druid, it disappeared with a plaintive ‘Meh-h-h’. Dora wanted to lie down on the floor and cry with laughter. She didn’t dare catch Jem’s eye.

  “All right. Enough for now,” said the Druid. “You’ve made it do something, at least. We’ll have a break and try again later.”

  “Maybe some food?” suggested Florence. She pulled a saucepan out from one of the cupboards and filled it with water. As she put it on the cooker, there was a loud banging at the door. They all froze.

  “Is it – could it be Smith and Jones?” whispered Dora, her eyes wide. “Could they have found us already?”

  The Druid was concentrating intently, as if he was trying to feel for the presence of the two crow men. Dora’s insides flipped as there was another loud bang at the door. She started to gather her magic, but she knew she was no match for them both, and unless Inanna managed something miraculous with the amber, they were trapped.

  The Druid, noticing her white face, patted her on the shoulder. “The house is warded,” he whispered. “Mother set the spells, and Albert renewed them last week. They won’t be able to bring their full power in here. But anyway, I don’t think it’s them …” He put his head on one side, as if listening hard, and then a broad grin lit up his face.

  “It’s Albert!” he said. “And I do believe Mother is with him!”

  At that moment there was an almighty crash at the door and almost instantly it flew open. Cat and Simon tumbled in, wearing a rather strange assortment of kingdom finery, followed by Albert Jemmet, holding two motorcycle helmets. Behind him came the silvery figure of Great-Aunt Irene.

  “Mum!” shouted Cat, and ran into the kitchen with Simon right behind her. She gave her mum an enormous hug, and then looked round the room in astonishment. “Uncle Lou! Dora! Jem! And …?”

  “Princess Inanna,” said Jem, bowing to Cat and giving Simon a grin. “We rescued her. It’s a long story.”

  “Simon!” said Florence, as she wrapped him up in a tight embrace. “Cat! You’re all right. You’re both all right. Thank goodness!”

  The introductions and the swapping of stories took a very long time. Florence made vast quantities of pasta and Albert kept everyone supplied with drinks and eventually, despite the many questions and interruptions and retellings, they managed to piece together the events of the last few days. Jem had them all spellbound at the tale of his and Dora’s adventures in Ur-Akkad, and everyone was in fits of laughter at their daring escape from St Thomas’s Hospital with an Akkadian princess and the wheelchair-bound Druid. But when Simon and Cat started to explain their encounter with the man in the ice cave, and then their trip to the palace, the laughter died. Florence got up and walked round to their side of the table, and held them both very close.

  “Oh dear,” she said. “Oh Simon, Cat – I’m so sorry. If only I’d been there …”

  “It’s all right,” said Simon slowly. “Honest. I– I’m glad in a way. I know what we’re fighting against now … And it’s funny, but it’s made Dad more real, somehow. I know where he came from, what he stood for.”

  There was a pause, and then Albert took a slurp of tea and looked round at everyone.

  “It seems to me we have plans to make,” he said. “In the forest we have had a suspicion for a while that Lukos might be involved in this whole business – but now we know that he is. Which means there’s only one reason Ravenglass wants the Amber Crown.”

  “He means to release him,” said Great-Aunt Irene, as if she could hardly believe it. “Release the Lord of Wolves.”

  “Just so,” said Albert. “And it’s up to us to stop him. We can stay here for now – even if Ravenglass finds out where we are, we have two pieces of amber. He won’t dare come against us directly. But we’re down one of our number.” He nodded at the Druid’s sling and rather rakish head bandage. “And there’s still one piece to find.”

  “I’m not done for yet, Albert,” said the Druid. “A good night’s rest …”

  Albert shook his head firmly. “You’ll be no good to anyone for a few days at least,” he said. “You look like one of the walking dead.”

  Great-Aunt Irene coughed, pointedly.

  “Er … well … Apologies for my turn of phrase, Irene,” Albert said, with a bow in her direction. “But you have to admit, he looks more of a ghost than you do.”

  The old lady put her head on one side and contemplated the Druid fondly. “Louis, my dear. You do look rather … under the weather. On the other hand,” she glanced across at Florence, “you also seem happier than I’ve seen you in years. So glad you two seem to have made it up!”

  Cat looked at her mum. Florence had gone rather pink.

  “Well, well,” said Albert, catching their glances. “Always nice to see old friends reconciled. But we need to make plans.”

  “Indeed,” said the Druid with a cough, looking faintly uncomfortable. “Plans. Good idea, Albert. And stop looking at me like that, Mother! Or I’ll make you go back in that locket!”

  Great-Aunt Irene gave him a benevolent smile and then turned to Cat. “He was so upset when they fell out, you know. So nice to see them friends again!” she said in a stage whisper.

  But just at that moment there was a tremendous bang – and on the table in front of them nine silver goblets appeared next to a large jug of Sumerian wine.

  Inanna clapped her hands in delight.

  “I did it!” she said. “I’ve mastered the amber!”

  Florence insisted on substituting apple juice for wine in the children’s goblets.

  “If it’s anything like I remember from last time you visited Ur-Akkad, Lou, it’s definitely not for children,” she said firmly.

  They had just raised their glasses for a toast, to Inanna and the fire amber, when there was another loud bang – this time at the front door.

  Florence pushed her chair back and cautiously headed up the hallway.

  “Who is it?” she called as she reached the door. The answer was muffled, but it seemed to satisfy her, because she opened the door and let the visitor in.

  Cat took one look at the tall, good-looking man standing in the kitchen doorway and immediately wished she’d had time to change out of her rather grubby kingdom tunic.

  “Sir Bedwyr!” cried Dora. “How did you get here?”

  The knight bowed and blew a kiss at Cat, with a smile that made her blush.

  “I was transported here by the magicks of the forest,” he said. “They sent me with a message for Albert.”

  He looked around the kitchen, spotted the Druid, and saluted.

  “Well met! It seems my message may be of importance to all of you. The forest has found the whereabouts of the final piece of amber, the sea amber. Fittingly enough,
it’s on a ship, and at the moment, that ship is sailing the Adamantine Sea.”

  It was nearly midnight before Cat, Simon, Dora and Jem got off to bed. Inanna had retired much earlier, claiming the effort of working the amber had left her utterly exhausted. She’d half fallen asleep on Jem’s shoulder and then insisted that he help her upstairs. Cat, seeing Dora’s expression and Jem’s hesitation, had taken Inanna in hand herself, ushering her up to her bedroom and finding her a clean pair of pyjamas. Now, finally, the others had decided to give up as well and say their sleepy goodnights.

  Florence was asleep on the sofa, and Sir Bedwyr was snoring in an armchair, but the Druid and Albert were still up, pouring over a set of old almanacs and maps Sir Bedwyr had brought with him, trying to pinpoint the current whereabouts of the Adamantine Sea. Apparently it moved between worlds. It had a predictable cycle but it required several complex calculations to pin down, and neither of them was in the best shape for getting those calculations right. As Cat left the room, she could hear Great-Aunt Irene snorting in exasperation and pointing out to the Druid that he had divided thirty by three and got twelve – again! She smiled and closed the door gently. They would work it out eventually, she was sure – and then they could use her jewel to travel there and snatch the sea amber before Lord Ravenglass could get his hands on it.

  She yawned. Inanna was fast asleep, so Cat pulled out a mattress and some spare blankets from under her bed for her and Dora to sleep on. She couldn’t be bothered to get undressed. She’d worry about clean clothes in the morning. She wrapped herself in a blanket and, as Dora settled down next to her, Cat gave her a sleepy grin.

  “It’s really nice to see you again,” she said. “We’ve done all right, haven’t we, between us? I’ve got the earth amber and Inanna’s got the dragon amber. The queen still has the sky amber, and we’ve almost got the sea amber. Lord Ravenglass will be furious.”

  Dora’s eyes were almost closed, but she nodded sleepily.

  “Mmm …” she said. She smiled. She felt warm, safe and very hopeful now that they would find the last piece of amber.

  Next door, Jem was already snoring, but Simon was still awake. He had released the little furry creature, Frizzle, from his cage and given him a few choice bits of carrot to nibble. Frizzle had chirruped and bounced up and down, flapping his stubby wings and purring madly. Now he was snuggled up in the crook of Simon’s neck, and Simon was lying, unable to sleep, staring at the ceiling. He tickled Frizzle absently and the little creature purred. Simon was thinking about Lukos, the Lord of Wolves. He had no idea what he really looked like. All he could see when he closed his eyes was a gaunt pale face with startling blue eyes. The face of his father. The image burned into Simon’s mind as he drifted uneasily off to sleep.

  Epilogue: The Kingdom

  Lord Ravenglass was not, in fact, furious. He was, on the contrary, feeling rather pleased with himself. Smith and Jones had returned, and they had good news.

  “It’s on a ship,” said Mr Smith, with an eager expression. “In the Adamantine Sea.”

  “And do we know where that is, just now?” asked Lord Ravenglass, twirling one of his dark ringlets as he contemplated his accomplices.

  “We are close to completing the calculations,” said Mr Jones, in his dusty voice. “We thought it best to let you know immediately.”

  “You did well,” said Lord Ravenglass graciously. “I commend your dedication. Get the calculations finished with all speed – and get there, before the forest sends an agent.”

  The two men bowed low and backed out of his chambers. As they did so, they seemed to shimmer and then disappear. Lord Ravenglass smiled. He couldn’t resist a few little steps of a jig. Then he reached for a pastry from a nearby bowl and popped it into his mouth. He chewed happily and then wiped a few crumbs from his moustache with a lace handkerchief.

  “Excellent,” he murmured to himself. “Excellent.”

  He strode through the palace, blasting a few servants out of the way with well-aimed hexes, just for the fun of it. It wasn’t long before he reached the depths of the palace cellars. He halted in front of the blue light of the ice cave.

  “Lukos! I have news!” he called out. “We’ve found the last piece!”

  From the ice, a man emerged. He was gaunt and pale, and his eyes were blue, but there the resemblance to Gwyn Arnold ended. His expression was mad, and a little bit dangerous, and there was cruelty in his thin lips as they twisted into a smile.

  “Did the children escape?”

  Lord Ravenglass waved his jewelled hand airily. “Of course. They took the amber with them and returned to their own world. You were right – the boy knew. He had broken the enchantment. It’s no matter – I put a concealed spell on him before he went back to his chambers. When they are all gathered, when they have both bits of amber in the same room, the spell will be activated. Then we just have to wait till he falls asleep for it to properly wrap him up in its power.” Lord Ravenglass snapped his fingers. “He’ll return to us like a lost lamb to the fold.”

  Lukos nodded and bared his teeth in an almost snarl. “And then, brother, then we will be ready to remake the crown – and destroy the worlds.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  C. J Busby grew up living on boats with her family and spent most of her childhood with her nose in a book – even when walking along the road. Luckily she survived to grow up, but she still carried on reading whenever she could. After studying social anthropology at university, she lived in a South Indian fishing village and did research for her PhD. She currently lives in Devon with her three children, and borrows their books whenever they let her.

  To find out more, please visit:

  www.cjbusby.co.uk

  Books by C. J. Busby

  The Amber series

  Deep Amber

  Dragon Amber

  The Spell series

  Frogspell

  Cauldron Spells

  Icespell

  Swordspell

  Don’t miss Jem, Dora, Simon and Cat’s final adventure together in …

  THE AMBER CROWN

  by C.J. Busby

  Out March 2015

  WHAT IF THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON WASN’T AN ACCIDENT?

  Sinister Count Cazalon is hatching a dark plot for the city of London, and Jem, a twelve-year-old servant, is at the heart of it … How can Jem compete against the count’s powerful magic?

  A TEMPLAR BOOK

  First published in the UK in 2014 by Templar Publishing,

  an imprint of The Templar Company Limited,

  Northburgh House, 10 Northburgh St, London EC1V 0AT

  www.templarco.co.uk

  Text copyright © 2014 by C. J. Busby

  Illustrations copyright © 2014 by David Wyatt

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

  The right of C. J. Busby to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act, 1988

  All rights reserved

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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  ISBN 978-1-7837-0124-7

  www.hotkeybooks.com