Read Online The Equen Queen by Alyssa Brugman - Free Book Online Page A

queen? Who was this mysterious giant with six axes that Fontagu had talked about? What had happened to Melprin? And Quentaris was on the verge of battle with not one, but two sky-cities! There were so many things to worry about that Tab's head spun. She had to sort it all out, but where to begin?
    She closed her eyes. After a moment she heard a tiny ping noise.
    The egg bounced. Tab crept closer on her hands and knees. The egg sat in the middle of the floor gently smouldering. She stayed still and stared until her knees started to hurt. She had been gawping at it for so long that she began to think she had imagined it moving, when it bounced again. Then there was a pop sound. The shell cracked. A piece fell out of the side and a foot emerged from the hole.
    Tab scrabbled back against the wall. The clawed toes flexed and relaxed. Smoke drifted out from the hole around the foot and accumulated in a dirty cloud on the ceiling. A trilling coo came from inside the egg, or it could have been inside her head. Tab wasn't sure.
    The claws curled up again and Tab could hear a pock, pock, pock hollow sound, like someone tapping a tin bucket. Her heart raced.
    She heard footsteps on the stairs again. ‘Hurry!’ she called. Philmon and Amelia joined her at the bars.
    ‘We don't have the keys. We couldn't find the jailer,’ Philmon panted. ‘Can you get her out with magic?’ he asked Amelia.
    Amelia shook her head, her face miserable. ‘These dungeons were made to hold people with skills. They're enchanted.’
    There was a second pop and a clank from the egg as a new piece of shell fell out and hit the floor. Another leg emerged.
    Amelia grabbed Tab's hand through the bars. ‘You can do it, Tab. You can talk to it.’
    Next came a loud crack and the egg shattered. Broken pieces hit the flagstone with a clink and a clatter. The cell filled with smoke. The three friends and the other prisoners all began to cough.
    With every breath, Tab drew the hot smoke into her lungs. She choked on it, but she needed air, and took a deeper breath. She coughed again and again, so much that her sides hurt. She started to panic. She couldn't breathe, but she couldn't stop breathing. Every breath was making her head hurt, inhaling a stench that made her stomach churn, and she still had no air.
    ‘Get down!’ shouted Philmon.
    Tab sprawled to the ground. The air was clearer closer to the floor and she took a deep breath. Even musty dungeon air tasted clean after the dragon smoke.
    She heard an excited buzzing, trilling, squeaking coming from the baby dragon and the leathery sound of the dragon's limbs as it thrashed about the cell. She felt a burning pressure in the small of her back as it scrabbled over her.
    Then came a thunderous crash. Tab covered her head. A shower of debris and dust fell over her. The shrill warbling sound faded away.

     
    When she looked up the smoke had cleared a little, although her eyes still stung and watered. All that was left were some broken pieces of shell, chunks of bluestone, and a large hole in the wall. The baby dragon was gone.
     



A Secret Chamber
     
    ‘Where has it gone?’ Philmon asked, pressing his face against the dungeon bars. ‘Did you see it? What did it look like?’
    Tab shook her head and a shower of dust fell around her. She crept forward and felt around the edges of the hole in the wall where the baby dragon had burst through. She poked her head through, waving her hand in front of her face trying to clear the smoke. ‘There's a corridor. I can see a wall on the other side.’
    ‘More dungeons?’ asked Amelia.
    ‘Where does it go? What do you see?’ Philmon insisted, hardly able to contain his curiosity.
    Tab peered in each direction. ‘I don't see anything. It's dark.’ Ark, ark, her voice echoed in the hollow opening.
    She climbed through into the dank space – wobbling as she tried to keep balance on the broken rocks and debris scattered on the floor. ‘I don't see any more cells.