The Storm Dragon by Paula Harrison

Chapter One
The Golden Songbird
    Sophy hurried out of the castle door carrying a heavy wooden chair. She stopped at the bottom of the steps to get her breath back. Her arms ached from lifting things all morning!
    A gentle breeze blew across the castle battlements, ruffling her wavy golden hair.
    “Hurry up, Sophy! There’s no time to dawdle.” Mrs Ricker marched down the steps, her eyes bulging behind her spectacles. “And tie your hair back at once. I don’t want the queen to see you looking so messy.”
    Mrs Ricker was the Royal Housekeeper. She was the kind of person who could spot untidy hair or a dirty apron from miles away!
    “Yes, Mrs Ricker.” Sophy searched her apron pocket for a hair bobble and quickly plaited her hair. Her parents had died when she was little and she’d worked as a maid at Greytowers Castle ever since. She was used to the housekeeper’s strict ways.
    Mrs Ricker went back inside. Sophy picked up the chair again and walked across the wooden drawbridge. The castle was circled by a moat filled with water and the drawbridge was the only way to get across.
    When she reached the other side, Sophy set down the chair and gazed around. Greytowers Castle stood on a hill and the view from the top was amazing.
    The Kingdom of Arramia stretched out in every direction, with its thick forests, bright rivers and majestic, snowy mountains.
    Two planets hung together in the sky, a green one and a smaller purple one. Sophy loved the story of how the planets grew by magic in the air.

    Storytellers visiting the castle would often tell the tale and she would hide behind the door to listen. Sometimes the storytellers would talk of magical animals like unicorns, star wolves, cloud bears and dragons. Then Sophy would promise herself that one day she’d leave the castle and go to look for the creatures in those stories!
    She shaded her eyes to peer into the distance. Beyond the fields was a huge forest that stretched for miles. Away to the west, a silver river wound along the valley. Sophy had heard of many magical animals but she’d never seen any of them! Could there be a star wolf in that forest … or a unicorn by that river? She was too far away to see and it wasn’t likely the creatures would ever come closer to the castle.
    Not everyone was kind to magical animals, although Sophy didn’t really know why. The queen’s favourite knight, Sir Fitzroy, had once declared he thought it was wrong for creatures to have magical powers at all.
    Sighing, Sophy dragged the chair round the corner to the gatehouse. The ground was covered with tables, chairs, wardrobes and boxes. Queen Viola had decided to get rid of some palace furniture, along with the old king’s belongings. King Rupert had died the year before. He’d been a great collector, so there were an awful lot of things the queen wanted to throw away!
    A boy with a freckled face leaped out from behind a wardrobe. “Hey, Sophy!”
    “Tom!” Sophy gasped. “Don’t make me jump like that!”
    “Sorry!” Tom grinned and wiped his hands on his muddy trousers. “Is there much more to fetch?”
    “No, that’s it.”
    “Good. I don’t think I’d be able to fit anything else on the cart.” Tom went off, whistling.
    Sophy walked around the mountain of stuff. The old furniture was going to Ingleton villageto be sold at the market. Tom, who worked in the gardens, would be taking it there in the cart. Among the worn-out chairs and tables, Sophy could see the old king’s belongings. There was a pile of rolled-up maps and a huge telescope, and towers of old books with titles like Paths Across the Heskia Mountains. It made Sophy feel sad seeing the unwanted books piled up on the ground.
    Then she noticed something else and caught her breath.
    On the grass, under a table, was a small black chest with a silver lock. Sophy recognised it straightaway. The king had collected crystals and kept them in that chest. She’d only seen them once, when the king had