Puffin Books Australia

Chapter One

Trouble

Rif and Grandpa Larrikin headed up the track to the mountain village of Tallowtrees, after a very good morning's fishing. Rif carried a big silver fish on his shoulder.

When they reached their cottage, Rif looked up into the tree where his pet owl, Took, was sleeping. 'Took, little friend,' he called. 'What leaps yet cannot walk, and gleams like silver?'

Took opened one golden eye and looked down at him.

'Owls don't care for riddles,' said Larrikin. 'Come on, let's show your mother your catch.'

Rif's mother, Laila, could hardly believe her eyes. 'It's the biggest silverfin I've ever seen! I'll make fish-head soup to share with everyone.'

Rif grinned. Larrikin made smacking noises with his lips.

There was a knock at the door. When Laila opened it, she saw their leader, Thod.

'Good morning, Thod,' she said. 'Come and see the silverfin Rif has caught.'

But Thod looked past her to Rif and Larrikin. 'I've just come back from the grasslands. I found the body of the bull under the fireleaf trees.'

'Body?' said Rif.

'Dead body,' said Thod. 'He was killed by tiger wolves, I think. The griffins and vultures were feasting by the time i got there. That bull was in his prime. Good for another twenty-five years.'

'Where were the herd guardians?' asked Rif, puzzled.

'Who were the herd guardians?' asked Laila.

'They must be punished,' snapped Larrikin. 'Dunked in the dunking tub! Without that bull, the herd will fail. We'll have no calves, no milk, no cream, no hides, no meat, no hoofs, no horn, no bone, no sinews. Nothing for us, and nothing to barter with other tribes. Oh, I curse the guardians, whoever they were.'

Thod frowned.

'It wasn't us, Thod,' said Rif.

'We're rostered on tomorrow.'

'But you swapped with Tunk,' said Thod. 'Remember?'

There was a long silence.

'Oh my,' said Laila, white-faced.

Larrikin clutched his chest.

Rif gazed at the silverfin. His joy in catching such a magnificent fish vanished. The fun of spending a splendid morning with his grandfather disappeared. The power of feeding his tribe faded. Pain and guilt oozed into all the spaces. He tried to say he was sorry, but his mouth went as dry as a leaf in winter.

'Laila's going to make silverfin soup for everyone,' said Larrikin weakly.

'I don't think that will make them any happier,' said Thod.

They heard distant shouting. Angry villagers were coming up the track.

Reluctantly, Thod and Laila went to meet them.

Larrikin slumped into the nearest chair. 'Well, that's the end of me. At my ripe old age, I can't survive a dunking.'

'What can we do?' groaned Rif.

'Nothing,' said Larrikin gloomily. 'After the dunking we'll be cast into the wilderness. I shall get sad and thin without your mother to look after me. You'll be ragged and smelly . . .'

'Stop,' hissed Rif. 'We have to fix it, Grandpa. We must make everything right. We must get a new bull.'

'We?' squawked Larrikin. 'Do you expect me to go to Tremble Mountain and ask Gillitum the Beast keeper for a new bull? I'm too old for such a quest.'

The shouting grew louder.

Laila hurried back inside the cottage and slammed the door behind her. She began bolting the window shutters.

'Then I'll go,' said Rif. 'I'll ask Gillitum for a new bull.'

'You can't!' cried Laila. 'It's too dangerous.'

'I must,' said Rif.

'He must!' yelled Larrikin. 'He must save the family name. Save me from a dunking.'

'He's just a boy,' wailed Laila.

'It's what his father would expect if he were alive,' muttered Larrikin.

Outside, it sounded now as if the whole tribe was gathering.

Rif grabbed his boots. 'How shall I reach Gillitum, Grandpa?'

'Go through the forest,' said Larrikin, 'then take the swinging bridge across Whitewater River and the tunnel under Tremble Mountain.' He shook his head. 'After that, I don't know.'

'We'll ask Thod,' cried Laila over the hubbub outside.

'No!' shouted Rif. 'He might try to stop me. I'll go, and make the best of it.'

Laila took off her moonstone necklet. Rif's father had won it in battle, and he had given it to Laila on their marriage day. 'This might help.'

The moonstone was shot with flashes of blue fire. Rif mumbled his thanks as he slipped the necklet over his head.

'Use it wisely,' said Larrikin. 'That's all we have to remember your father by, and there isn't another like it in the whole world.'

Laila bustled Rif to the back door. 'We'll stall for time while you're away, but it won't be easy. The people will want their revenge.'

'Keep a cool head, boy,' said Larrikin. 'My life is in your hands.'

Rif gulped. 'I'll do my best.'

Fists began pounding on the front door.

'I'll brush up on my bluffing skills,' said Larrikin. He opened the door and gave the angry mob his biggest smile. 'How lovely of everyone to visit. It's not my birthday, is it?'

The tribe howled its answer, and Larrikin staggered backwards.

Rif ran, his heart hammering.

As the noise below her grew louder, Took, up in the tallow tree, tucked her head further under her wing. Some days it was just impossible to get a good sleep.