The Puzzle Ring by Kate Forsyth

Author:Kate Forsyth
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, fantasy, young adult, Adventure, Childrens
ISBN: 9781741984859
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2009-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

Looking Through The Hag-Stone

‘So, what’s the plan?’ Scarlett asked next morning as they chewed their way through another pot of gluey porridge. It was early, so early it was still dark outside, and bitterly cold.

‘Well, my great-grandmother says the four loops of the puzzle ring were flung in the four directions of the compass. We know my father found one . . . but we don’t know which one or how.’

‘I went with him,’ Angus said. ‘We went south because it was winter still, and the travelling would be easier that way. He found the ring in Galloway, at some old standing stones near Drumtrodden.’

‘But how did he know to go there?’ Donovan asked.

‘He looked through the hole in his fairy stone,’ Angus said, ‘and chanted some spell.’

Hannah nodded her head. ‘I wondered if that was how he did it.’ She did not mention that she had tried to locate the quarter of the ring her father had hidden at Wintersloe using the same method, and had seen nothing more remarkable than her mother sitting across the room from her, reading the paper.

‘It was an eerie place. Your dad told me it was very old,’ Angus said. ‘A local told us the stones marked the rising of the sun at midsummer and its setting in winter. We saw the sun set, a few weeks before the winter solstice, and it’s true, if you stood with all the stones aligned, it almost blotted out the sun.’

‘And the ring was just lying there, at these standing stones?’ Max asked.

Angus nodded. ‘There were three stones, just standing in some field. It was lying on the top of the middle stone. We had no trouble finding it at all, really, apart from the journey there.’

Hannah and the other three exchanged quick glances of relief. They had all spent a good part of the night worrying about the difficulties of the task that lay before them.

‘Drumtrodden is about a hundred miles south of here,’ Angus said. ‘Your dad said he thought the other quarters of the ring would be about the same distance, north, east and west.’

‘A hundred miles . . .’ That was about one hundred and sixty-one kilometres. Hannah’s heart quailed within her. From the cries of dismay and consternation from her friends, she could tell they felt the same. A hundred and sixty-one kilometres was a long way to travel without a car.

‘Your father planned to go east to Edinburgh next. He thought that was where another part of the ring had fallen. That’s not so far,’ Linnet consoled them.

‘That would be the best place to go next,’ Angus said. ‘There’s a highway that runs to Edinburgh from Stirling, so it’ll be easier walking. And it’s not a good time of year to head north, the snow will still be deep.’

‘Walking!’ Scarlett cried. ‘Couldn’t you have got us some horses to ride? It’ll take forever if we have to walk across Scotland!’

Angus looked at her as if she was mad. ‘Do you

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