The Silver Door by Emily Rodda

Author:Emily Rodda [Rodda, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781921989629
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2012-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

15 - On the Road

The trader roared with laughter. ‘So what do you say to all that?’ he boomed over the chugging roar of the wagon. ‘Suspicious strangers in the Den, and Cap willing to do anything to keep the story quiet! On the very day that old Bones drags home the finest bloodhog skull I’ve ever seen! What a piece of luck!’

Rye, Sonia and Dirk tensed in their dark corner. Who was the man talking to?

Rye felt for the crystal in the bag around his neck. Masking the crystal’s light carefully with his fingers, he pressed it against the pile of sacks rising in front of him.

A window appeared around the crystal and there was Four-Eyes sitting in his throne-like seat. He was quite alone. His shoulders were shaking. The eyes in the back of his head streamed with tears of laughter.

A shiver ran down Rye’s spine.

‘A smoked whine, my dear?’ the man chortled at last, mopping his face with a purple silk handkerchief, then reaching round to dab at the second pair of eyes as well. ‘Why not? We’re celebrating!’

He dug into a bag on his lap and dropped something spiky onto the floor by the padlocked metal box. There was an excited chittering sound, a twitching nose appeared from behind the box, and the scrap was snatched away. There was the sound of ravenous crunching.

‘He is talking to his clink!’ Rye whispered, and heard Sonia and Dirk, who by now were both looking over his shoulder, breathe out in relief.

‘I agree with you, Snaffle dear!’ Four-Eyes cried merrily. ‘Your master is a genius! We’ll be able to trade that skull for a fortune at the Diggings! Not to mention that we still have those ducks in the back. Should we offer them to the Diggings guards as well?’

The nose reappeared at the box’s corner, and the clink gave a squeak.

‘You’re quite right, of course!’ Four-Eyes nodded. ‘They’d only eat them—feathers and all, most likely—which would be a pity, in some ways. Still, Snaffle my dear, we must be practical. Who else would have the means to pay us so much?’

Rye felt Sonia stiffen and heard Dirk swear under his breath. He gritted his teeth, trying not to think of Bones, and Bones’ great hopes for the three ‘magic ones’ who had brought him nothing but grief.

The trader wriggled in his seat, arching his back as if to ease aching muscles. The clink chattered, and again Four-Eyes nodded as if he understood exactly what it was saying.

‘Just a slight cramp—nothing to worry about, my dear. But I’m tired, I admit. I sometimes wonder if I’m getting too old for this business. Still, the skull was worth it.’

He took his left hand from the wheel and tapped the metal box with satisfaction. ‘Not to mention that the Den scourings brought the jell in our crock right up to the brim! That will please them at the Diggings. Especially now, when I hear …’

He leaned slightly towards the clink and lowered his voice as if speaking to it in confidence.

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