Deep Amber by C.J. Busby Read Free Book Online Page A

the light in the forest became incredibly bright. Dora could feel hot sun on the back of her neck, and her feet appeared to be crunching across yellow sand. She clutched Jem, both of them dazzled momentarily by the reflections of sunlight on water. There appeared to be people not far away, and Dora could see rocks. Great blue waves were crashing down on the rocks and sending up plumes of spray.
    But before Dora and Jem had a chance to move, or say anything, the dim greenness of the forest closed in around them again, and there was just soft leaf-mould under their feet, and no sound but the branches rustling gently in a faint breeze. Where the sea had been crashing down on the rocks, there a little bit to her right, there appeared to be nothing but mossy green undergrowth and trailing brambles.
    Jem looked at Dora, and she looked back, wide-eyed. Neither of them quite dared to say a word. But the forest continued to stretch out silently around them with no apparent changes, and suddenly Dora realised she was still clutching Jem’s arm. She let go hurriedly, and moved away.
    Jem straightened up, and took his hand off hissword hilt. “Shall we… er… carry on?” he said, in a slightly shaky voice.
    Dora nodded. She didn’t trust herself to speak.
    And then they both heard a rasping, snorting sound that was very, very close indeed.
    They froze.
    The snorting got louder, and suddenly they could see the shadow of a huge creature moving between the trees, right next to where they were frozen to the spot. Jem started to ease his short sword out of its scabbard again, and they both started to slowly back away down the path.
    Dora could see flashes of grey between the trees, and hear the crack of branches snapping. Whatever it was, it was enormous, and it wasn’t disappearing. In fact, it seemed to be getting closer, and Dora was pretty sure Jem’s sword was not going to be of any use at all. Her legs were feeling like they didn’t quite belong to her, and she rapidly started reviewing the possible spells she could use.
    At that moment an immense wall of grey flesh came crashing out of a clump of trees ahead of them, and Dora screamed. The creature was like nothing she’d ever seen before. It was the size ofthe castle gatehouse, and it had four massive thick grey legs and huge flapping ears. Some kind of grey arm was waving angrily from the front of its face, while two huge white fangs curved out of the front of its mouth. It was screeching like a hundred horses neighing all at once, and they could hear the sound of trees splintering and cracking as the creature hurled itself towards them.
    â€œRun!” shouted Jem. “I’ll try and hold it off!”
    Dora watched in horror as Jem threw himself in front of her, waving his sword and shouting. The creature hesitated for a moment, as if confused, and then lowered its head and charged at the tiny figure.
    Dora raised her hands. She gabbled the words of a shrinking spell, threw all the magic she could muster at the huge grey beast, and shut her eyes tight.
    There was a sudden silence. When Dora opened her eyes, the creature seemed to have disappeared. But unfortunately, so had Jem.

Chapter Six
    Simon woke suddenly, with a sense that something was very wrong. His room was silent, and dark, but he had a feeling that he had been woken by the crash of something falling. The silence around him seemed to shiver with the aftershock… He held his breath and lay still, trying to work out what had happened. He had been dreaming of a mountainous land, with sheer cliffs plummeting to deep stony rivers, and there had been reddish creatures with leathery bat wings, swirling in the sky above him…
    Simon jumped, startled. A small, rasping sound was coming from the direction of his wardrobe. He heard it again - it was like something being rubbed along the edge of the wooden door. There was a small flutter, like air whispering throughthe central