The Rainbow Pool Read online

  The small automatic lighthouse where Lizzy had asked Arhans to meet her was set on the low headland that jutted out between the harbour and the beach at the other end of the town. Lizzy ran all the way. She hoped fervently that Arhans would be there. Though she hadn’t understood what the dolphin had been trying to tell her, there was obviously some news to tell. Was it about Kes and Morvyr? Lizzy really hoped it was, for she had not seen her mother and brother for days. They were in trouble – and the cause of the trouble was Taran, the mermaid Queen. Taran believed that Morvyr had something she wanted, and in an attempt to get it she had given an order for Morvyr and Kes to be arrested. Luckily the dolphins had warned them in time, and they had gone into hiding. But Lizzy had not heard from them since then…

  She was relieved, when she reached the top of the cliff path, to see that there was no one else around. It wasn’t seven o’clock yet; too early for the August holidaymakers or even local dogwalkers to be out. The wind blew her hair back from her face as she came to a halt beside the lighthouse’s white-painted bulk. Out in the bay she could see the departing fishing boats, though they were too far away now for her to tell which one was the Regard. Gulls screamed in the distance, and the sun was dazzling. There were a few pinky-coloured clouds low down on the horizon, but apart from that the sky was clear.

  When she had got her breath back, she moved round to the seaward side of the lighthouse and looked down. The cliff sloped steeply, and at its foot the sea slapped and foamed over the rocks. At first she thought there was nothing else there. But then a darker shape showed under the water. Expecting to see Arhans, Lizzy was astonished when, instead, a boy with jet-black hair and eyes as vividly blue as her own appeared.

  ‘Kes!’ she cried joyfully.

  Kes swam to the foot of the cliff and started to climb up towards her. He had willed himself to change from a merboy to fully human shape, and he climbed with an effortless ease that Lizzy envied.

  She reached out to help him up the last steep metre and he scrambled on to the grass beside her. ‘Oh, Kes, I’m so glad to see you! I’ve been worried out of my mind! Are you all right?’

  She was smiling happily and eagerly, but the smile faded as she saw Kes’s grim expression. ‘What is it?’ she asked in sudden alarm. ‘Is Taran still looking for you?’

  ‘It’s worse than that.’ Kes sat down. He was breathing heavily, as though he had been swimming very fast. ‘She captured us.’

  ‘Captured?’

  He nodded. ‘Arhans came to the cave where we were hiding. She told us about Father coming back. It was all my fault, Lizzy – I persuaded Mother not to wait till it was safer, but to go and find him. We left at night; we thought we could get here without being seen. But Tullor caught us.’

  ‘Oh, no…’ Lizzy had encountered Tullor, the monstrous conger eel who was Taran’s most faithful henchman, and the memory made her shiver.

  ‘We couldn’t do anything,’ Kes went on. ‘He had two giant cuttlefish with him; they caught us in their tentacles and – and took us to Taran.’ He shut his eyes briefly. ‘I think it was some time yesterday. I was unconscious – or she put some kind of spell on me to make me sleep – so I don’t know for sure.’

  ‘But you escaped?’

  ‘No. Taran let me go. There’s something she wants. If we give it to her, she says she’ll set Mother free too. But if we don’t…’ He didn’t finish the sentence, but the look in his eyes said everything.

  Lizzy whispered starkly, ‘She wants the silver pearl.’

  ‘Yes! How did you know?’

  ‘Father told me all about the pearls. There are nine of them, and they were set into Queen Kara’s crown. But when Taran stole the crown –’

  ‘So, she’s not the real Queen. She is a usurper! I knew it; I’ve always thought it, but no one would ever say – not even Mother.’

  ‘It gets worse,’ said Lizzy. ‘She’s a murderer! She killed Queen Kara. But in the struggle the Queen managed to save two of the pearls, and before she died she gave them to Mother to take care of.’

  Kes’s face contorted with fury. ‘Taran said Mother stole them!’

  ‘Of course she didn’t! She hid them, and when Taran couldn’t find them, she kidnapped me to try to make Mother tell where they were. Then she laid a false trail so that Father would go far away searching for me.’

  ‘And all the time the silver pearl was hidden in your locket…’

  ‘Yes. But, Kes, there’s another pearl –’

  ‘I know – a black one. Taran wants that too. If she gets the black and silver pearls, then her crown will be whole again – and she’ll have total power!’ He paused. ‘Father’s got the black pearl, hasn’t he? Arhans gave us his message, about the ninth one being safe. Is that what he meant?’

  She nodded. ‘I’ve seen it. He keeps it in another locket, the one he made for you. He took it with him when he went away.’ She unzipped the top of her fleece and pulled out her own locket, which hung on a silver chain round her neck. The locket was beautifully made from mother-of-pearl shells; Lizzy pressed the catch and it sprang open. Kes looked alarmed, and she said, ‘Don’t worry. The silver pearl’s in the secret compartment – it’s perfectly safe. This is what I wanted to show you.’

  Inside the locket, together with a curl of their mother’s golden hair, was a small piece of paper, tightly folded until it was hardly bigger than a pea. Lizzy smoothed it out and showed it to Kes. ‘It’s a rhyme. Father wrote it down for me.’

  He peered, then shook his head. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘It’s writing,’ said Lizzy. Then suddenly she realized why he was so puzzled. Of course – Kes had grown up under the sea, so he had never been to school. He couldn’t understand the idea of writing.

  She smiled at him a little sadly as she thought how different their lives had been, and said, ‘Father said the merfolk made up the rhyme to help them remember that Taran’s rule can’t last forever. I’ll read it to you.’

  Kes listened carefully as she recited the rhyme aloud.

  ‘Red is the sunrise, Orange the sky,

  Golden the shimmering sand.

  Green are the pools where the small fishes lie;

  Blue water rolls to the land.

  Indigo shadows hide secrets in caves;

  Violet the glow of the night.

  But Silver and Black will call them all back

  When a terrible wrong is put right.’

  There was silence for a few moments when she finished. Then Kes said, ‘Those rainbow colours – they’re the colours of the pearls in Taran’s crown. And the mirrors in her cave…’

  ‘Mirrors?’

  ‘You haven’t seen them; you wouldn’t know – they’re gateways; she can use them to reach different places. That last bit, though… “Silver and Black will call them all back”… No wonder Taran wants those two pearls so much! The rhyme says it – they’re the most powerful ones of all!’

  ‘And we’ve got them both,’ said Lizzy softly.

  Kes let out a sharp, whistling breath between clenched teeth. ‘Taran knows you’ve got the silver pearl, but she doesn’t know that Father’s come back with the black one. Whatever happens, she mustn’t find out.’ Suddenly he scrambled to his feet. ‘Where is Father? I’ve got to see him – and we have to tell him what’s happened!’

  ‘We can’t,’ Lizzy said in distress. ‘He’s not here – he went out with Mr Treleaven on his fishing boat this morning. They won’t be back till tomorrow or the day after.’

  Kes’s face fell, and Lizzy felt a surge of sympathy. He was as desperate to meet Jack as she had been; and now there was an even greater urgency.

  ‘I could go and find them,’ he said eagerly.

  ‘That’s crazy!’ Lizzy argued. ‘They’ll be miles away by now, and you’re too tired. Anyway,’ she added, ‘what about Mr Treleaven and Paul? If you suddenly appear by their boat, in the middle of nowhere –’

  Kes sighed. ‘I see what you mean.’


  ‘We’ll just have to wait till they get back.’

  ‘I suppose so. And in the meantime… Look, Lizzy, Mother won’t want us to give Taran the silver pearl. But if it’s the only way to save her –’

  ‘I don’t care about the pearl!’ Lizzy said instantly. ‘Mother’s safety is the only thing that matters.’

  ‘Then you’ll give it to Taran, if we have to?’

  ‘Of course! How could you think I’d do anything else?’ Kes sighed with relief, and she added, ‘Father would say the same if he were here. I know he would.’

  ‘Waiting’s going to be awful. I want to see him so much.’ Kes hugged himself as if he were cold. ‘What’ll we do till he comes back? I’ll ask Arhans to watch for the boat; if I go back home she’ll tell me when she knows it’s coming back. But what about you?’

  ‘I’ll just have to carry on as usual, and try to pretend everything’s normal.’ Lizzy stood up and turned to look inland. ‘There are some people coming up the path – I’d better go. Look, can we meet up at the beach later?’

  Kes hesitated, then said, ‘I don’t think we should. Until Father gets here, I think it’d be better – safer – if we stay out of sight. Just in case.’

  Lizzy didn’t want to agree, but realized that he was right. Tullor, or another creature like him, might easily be lurking and watching. And the less they had to report back to Taran, the better.

  ‘OK,’ she said reluctantly. ‘But how will I know when Arhans has seen the boat coming home?’

  ‘Listen to your shell,’ he told her with a smile. ‘When I call, come to the beach then.’

  He had given her a large and beautiful spiral shell, which she kept in her room. If she held it to her ear, it echoed the sounds of the sea – but, more than that, she could also hear the strange language of the dolphins and, if Kes called to her, she would be aware of it.

  ‘Yes – yes, I’ll do that!’ She hugged him quickly and fiercely. ‘Take care.’

  ‘I will. See you soon.’

  She watched as he slithered a short way down the cliff. For a moment he stood poised, then he launched himself into the air. His body stretched, hands and feet pointing to their full extent, and he soared upwards and outwards in a breathtaking arc before plunging into the sea. Surfacing, he waved to her before turning and vanishing under the water.

  Lizzy stood for a minute staring at the tide surging against the cliff base. Then she stepped back from the edge and turned on to the path in the direction of the town. The people she had seen were walking the other way, towards the harbour. They hadn’t noticed her and Kes, or, if they had, they hadn’t seen Kes disappear.

  But someone else had.

  ‘Lizzy?’

  Lizzy jumped as Rose appeared in front of her.

  ‘Oh!’ She felt the colour draining from her face and tried to hide her dismay under a show of anger. ‘What are you doing, jumping out at me like that? I thought you were going to watch for the dolphin.’

  ‘And I thought you were going home,’ Rose retorted, looking at her sister curiously. ‘That was Kes at the lighthouse with you, wasn’t it?’

  ‘What if it was?’

  ‘All right, all right; no big deal!’ Rose had been on her way back from the harbour when she’d seen Lizzy and Kes together talking very earnestly. She wasn’t close enough to hear what they were saying, but it looked important, and that, combined with Lizzy’s recent weird moods, had made her want to know what was going on.

  Lizzy started to walk on, and Rose followed.

  ‘So what’s so deadly secret between you two?’ she asked bluntly.

  ‘Don’t be stupid.’ Lizzy didn’t look round. ‘There isn’t any secret.’

  ‘Then why do you have to sneak up here to talk? Come on, Lizzy: something’s up with you, I know it is. We’re supposed to be friends, so why won’t you tell me?’

  Lizzy drew a deep breath, fighting her emotions. She would have given so much to be able to confide in Rose. They had always been close and shared each other’s troubles. But this time, for the first time, it wasn’t possible. That upset her, and so, though she didn’t want to, she lost her temper.

  ‘Just leave me alone, will you?’ she snapped. ‘There’s nothing wrong and, even if there was, it wouldn’t be any of your business! All right?’

  And before Rose could say any more, she ran on along the path.

  Rose stared after her, perplexed. Why did Lizzy keep biting her head off this morning? The first time, at the harbour, Rose had been annoyed, but now she was starting to feel worried. Something was up, no doubt of it. And that boy Kes was involved too.

  She looked back at the lighthouse and frowned. Where had Kes gone? He hadn’t come this way, and she hadn’t seen him go towards the harbour, either. Was he still up here, waiting for her to go so that she couldn’t ask him any awkward questions?

  Well, she thought, we’ll see about that. Moving quietly, she hurried back to the lighthouse, walked round it to the seaward side, then right round.

  Kes wasn’t there.

  So where had he gone? Rose peered over the edge of the cliff, thinking that there might be a lower path. But there was only the rocky drop to the sea, and hastily she drew back as it made her feel dizzy. How on earth had Kes managed to get away without her noticing? Anyone would think he’d dived off the cliff and swum away!

  She laughed to herself at the craziness of that thought. But she was still baffled as she gave up and started to follow Lizzy back home.

  Chapter Three

  Morvyr had been dreaming that she was swimming through the oar-weed forest near her cave home. She was looking for something, but when she tried to remember what it was, her mind was strangely blank. The forest seemed to be denser than it should be; when she pushed against the weed strands they pushed back, and she had to fight to make any progress. Then suddenly she couldn’t move at all. The oar-weed was pressing in on her, strangling, choking –

  She woke with a start, to find herself bathed in a strange, dim indigo light.

  Where was she? Her head ached and her thoughts were vague, but deep down there was a nagging feeling of danger. Had something happened? She couldn’t remember…

  She rolled over in the water and stared around. The indigo light wasn’t just dim but seemed dense too, the water thick and sluggish, like the seabed when a current churned up the sand. Then, as her head at last began to clear, her memory came back. Jack – he was back, and she and Kes had left their hideaway at dead of night to find him. They had thought they would be safe – but Tullor and his sidekicks had captured them!

  ‘Kes!’ Morvyr cried in distress. ‘Kes, are you here?’

  Her voice echoed back as though she were in a confined space, but there was no reply. The water swirled as anxiously she started to search in the gloom. She had only gone a metre or two when her outstretched hands met a solid wall and, when she explored it, she found that it curved round her in all directions, so that she was trapped in a small cave-like space.

  Quickly she turned right round, and saw that a part of the curving wall was glassy, like the surface of a mirror. In that moment she realized where she was. This was the cave of the rainbow pool, and she was behind one of the mirrors!

  Morvyr had visited the rainbow pool many years ago, when the old mermaid Queen, Kara, was alive. Then it had been a happy and delightful place; now, though, it was Taran’s lair. Tullor must have brought her here. But why? And where was Kes?

  She called Kes’s name again. Still no one answered – but suddenly she heard something else. It sounded like laughter. Morvyr swam to the glassy wall and pressed her face against it, peering through.

  The scene on the far side was blurry, but she could make out the pool and the other mirrors, glowing with the different colours of the rainbow. On the rock couch at the pool’s edge sat Taran herself. She was wearing the circlet of pearls, and in one hand she held up a small looking glass with an ornate gold rim, in which she was admiring her reflection
. Morvyr felt a surge of anger. She had seen the looking glass before. The merfolk had found it many years ago, after the wreck of a great sailing-ship, and had given it as a gift to Queen Kara.

  ‘Thief!’ she whispered bitterly. ‘Thief, usurper! What have you done with my son?’

  Taran did not hear her; sound carried only one way through the mirror, it seemed. Then, as Morvyr watched, the water of the pool stirred suddenly and the ugly head of a giant conger eel rose above the surface.

  Taran put down the looking glass. ‘Ah, Tullor,’ she said. ‘Is your task completed?’

  Tullor writhed; it was his way of bowing. ‘Yes, Your Majesty,’ he said. ‘The boy has gone, and will take your message to his sister.’

  Morvyr gasped. Gone? A message to his sister? They must have set Kes free… But what was the message? What did Taran want with Lizzy?

  Taran tossed her black hair and leaned back more comfortably on the rock. ‘Excellent! Now all we need to do is wait for them to bring us the silver pearl.’

  Morvyr froze, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. Taran must have found out that Lizzy had the pearl. But how? Had she forced Kes to tell her? He and Lizzy wouldn’t bring her the pearl! They couldn’t, they mustn’t –

  Taran was speaking again, and she strained to listen.

  ‘Eight pearls,’ the Queen said with satisfaction, ‘and then there will only be one more to find.’

  ‘You will find it, Majesty!’ Tullor assured her, fawning. ‘You are wiser and more cunning than anyone – once you have the silver pearl, the black one can’t escape you for long!’

  She laughed with pleasure. ‘That’s true! And when I do have the black pearl, I’ll make sure everyone in my realm knows about it.’ She paused, then a cruel smile spread across her face. ‘And I mean everyone.’

  As she said that, she turned her head and looked towards the indigo mirror. Luckily Morvyr was quick-witted enough to close her eyes and relax, so Taran was fooled into thinking she was drifting in the water and still asleep.

  ‘And will that include your other prisoner, madam?’ Tullor asked.