The Promise (The Seekers Book 1) Read online

Quark took that as a yes and transforming himself into something that looked like liquid gold he poured himself into the top of the stone. They watched mesmerised until he was all gone, and, of course, the light with him.

  “Great,” Oliver muttered, “alone again.”

  It seemed like an age, but in reality it was probably only a few minutes before he reappeared. Millie was very pleased to have him back. “Well?”

  He bowed again, “It seems someone called The Defender of the Faith removed most of the treasure from the Abbey.”

  Oliver was quick to spot the Title, “Do you mean Henry the Eighth?”

  “Indeed.” Quark sat on the stone.

  “What does that mean?” Millie was becoming more impatient with the two of them.

  “You know,” said Oliver, turning to face her in the orange glow, “The dissolution of the monasteries in the 1500’s. You did do that history lesson?”

  “Of course, he stole the church’s money and got rid of them all, but what has that got to do with us?”

  Quark smiled at their recollections. “It was 1539 actually. I’ve just been there.”

  Oliver was well impressed, “You can time travel too?”

  Quark started to explain, “Of course, time is a ...”

  “Relative dimension in space ...” Millie interrupted, “I do watch Dr Who too you know.” She made a funny face at Oliver, “Please can we get on Quark?”

  “Of course. Well, all rather gory that period of your history. Much of the wealth of the Abbey was indeed sent to the King’s Treasury in London. The records are quite detailed.”

  “So is one of them the Cornerstone?” Millie wanted to get to the point.

  “I’m afraid I have no idea.”

  Oliver squatted down next to Quark, “So, another dead end then.”

  Quark patted him on the shoulder, “Oh no, we will simply go to the present day Defender and ask them about it.”

  Millie laughed, “Right ... and that is?”

  Oliver stood up. “He means the Queen.”

  Well... fancy that. As one Highness to another do we get an invite to tea?

  26

  At last the weekend was here. Millie had never known a school week to go so slow. Still, Becky had forgiven her and they had made some progress on their project, so all was not lost. Quark had not gone into any more detail following their return from the Abbey so she was looking forward to hearing what he had to say. The Queen! Whatever next?

  Oliver finally put in an appearance just before mid-day, his tousled hair showing he had only just woken up. Millie was looking through one of her mum’s old books on the Royal Family.

  “Any good?” Oliver helped himself to one of Millie’s cheese biscuits.

  “Some nice pictures but not much history here, are you actually ready to go now?”

  Oliver mumbled through another biscuit, “Sure. Do you really think he will take us to see the Queen?”

  Winston appeared, his little eyes eagerly searching for any fallen bounty but Oliver was popping whole biscuits into his mouth, so disappointingly there were no crumbs.

  Millie laughed, “I never know what to expect with him.”

  Five minutes later they were in the portal and found Quark engulfed by a huge pile of old leather books and manuscripts. His little head was barely visible above one of the piles and he was talking to himself. Oliver picked up one of the larger volumes, “Wow, a little light reading here, Quark.”

  Quark peered at him, not getting the joke, “Indeed Your Highness, as your Companion I have been researching the history of your beautiful but scarred planet.”

  Millie glanced at a few of the very boring titles, “So you borrowed a few books from the library?”

  “Actually I have read all the literature available. These are but a few copies of mine.”

  Millie was trying to get her head around this, “Er, where exactly was this?”

  “Some place called The British Library; they claim to have a copy of every item written in Britain.”

  Oliver was impressed, “And you read them all?”

  “Not in the way you do, but yes, I have absorbed the information.”

  Millie took this with her usual indifference, she was keen to get on, “And how will this help us with finding the Cornerstone?”

  Quark bowed and did his usual disappearing act with his homework, “Clearly we must head for the Tower.”

  “The Tower?” Millie had been positive he was going to say Buckingham Palace.

  “The Tower of London, Your Highness.”

  Millie glared so Quark hurried on, “Historical documents clearly show that the Abbey’s wealth was taken to the Tower. Much of it was re-distributed as Henry the Eighth and his commissioners had no interest whatsoever in sacred treasures. However, certain rumours circulate the corridors of history concerning the Great Sapphire of Glastonbury!”

  He waited for some measure of appreciation but as the twins stared at him blankly, he continued, “This Great Sapphire was originally given to St David by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. It was an altar stone of some magnificence, made of sapphire and gilded with many precious stones.”

  Oliver was intrigued, “So you mean a large jewel of some kind?”

  “Indeed. It was sent to the Royal Treasurer on the 2nd May 1539 together with 493 ounces of gold, 16,000 ounces of Gilt plate and 28,700 ounces of parcel gilt and silver plate.”

  Millie interrupted this time, “So what happened to it?”

  Quark threw his little hands up in the air, “No one seems to know, Your Highness, records are lost at this point, however, some people believe the sapphire has found its way into the crown jewels.”

  Now Millie had heard about those, “You mean THE Crown Jewels.”

  “Indeed.”

  Millie and Oliver exchanged a knowing look. So all they had to do was steal the Crown Jewels! Great.

  27

  “So, let me get this right,” said Oliver reaching for the last of the plates to put in the dishwasher, “All we have to do is get into the Tower of London, find the Royal Treasure from 1539 and see if the Cornerstone is one of them.”

  Millie was only half listening, her dad was in the shop as Saturday was his busiest day and mum was having the rare treat of a day off. She had gone shopping with a friend and wouldn’t be back till late. Saturday night was Take Away night and Millie hoped it would be Indian this time. Suddenly, she had an idea. “Let’s go now.”

  Oliver wiped the table, dripping water everywhere, “Go where?”

  “To the Tower, you idiot.”

  Oliver shook his head, “You know the rules, we stay at home till dad gets back.”

  Millie huffed, “Look, mum’s been gone an hour right and dad will be back at six, so we have four hours to ourselves. If someone calls the house phone we can always say we were playing in the garden with Winston.”

  Winston wagged his tail at the mention of his name and looked from one twin to the other but as nobody had a lead in their hands he returned, somewhat disappointed, to his bed.

  Oliver was always cautious and he didn’t like lying to his parents, “But we will have to leave the portal, Millie, we will be in real time.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Actually she had forgotten, “But surely four hours should be enough?”

  They had both taken a virtual tour of the Tower. It would take ages to do it all, but they had sort of agreed on the White Tower and Waterloo Barracks as the obvious places to start.

  Millie started the dishwasher, “Quark will be with us, what could possibly go wrong?”

  ###

  Quark was most indignant. “I am to become a cuddly toy Your Highness?”

  Millie was thrilled with her plan but Oliver lifted one eyebrow in silent support of Quark, luckily for him, Millie was in front and she did not see it.

  “Why not? You did say you could take any form, and this way I can carry you around and nobody will know.”

  Quark bowed b
ut still managed to look offended, “As you wish.”

  Oliver was more practical, “Won’t we have to be careful about suddenly appearing. I mean security is sure to be tight with it being such an important site.”

  Quark opened another portal, “We shall join a large group, I have observed your strange queuing behaviour and it will be fine. Shall we go?”

  Sure enough they materialised at the back of a long trail of Japanese tourists, but unfortunately for them they were the wrong side of the entrance! Millie glared at the miniature Quark who had positioned himself in the top pocket of her denim jacket, clearly the concept of money had passed him by in all his research. Luckily Oliver had received two weeks gardening money so there was just enough to get in. Oliver moaned, “Well that’s my new game gone then.”

  Millie hit him on the shoulder, “I’ll give you half back. Come on, the Crown Jewels are this way.”

  Oliver tried to immerse himself in the history of the place, stopping to read the notice boards and admire the Yeoman Warder’s in their ancient blue uniforms with the red trim and E.R.II proudly displayed on their chest. Millie was on a mission though and could have been walking through Tesco car park. She skirted round more tourists and knew she had arrived when she saw a modern soldier in his enormous bushy hat standing guard duty with what looked like a very real rifle. Despite the best efforts of some small children he was stonily impassive and Millie was finally impressed by something.

  As it was not high season, groups were fairly evenly scattered throughout the grounds and as they entered the crown room they were pleased to see it was almost empty. The Jewel House wardens were discreetly positioned at each corner of the room, but the twins were able to pass right in front of the glass cabinets without being ushered along by others.

  “Wow!” exclaimed Oliver. Millie was speechless. She hadn’t really appreciated their splendour from the pictures she’d seen. Now face to face with such glorious, jewel encrusted creations she had quite forgotten why she was there. As each crown twinkled under the bright lights she silently made her way around the displays. It was only on her second circuit she remembered Quark. She glanced at him but he seemed as absorbed as she was.

  Oliver was reading about the Coronation regalia. “Most of this stuff is used at the coronation of a sovereign; there are swords of state, maces, orbs and sceptres as well as trumpets and tunics. There is even a Coronation spoon, used for anointing the sovereign with holy oil.”

  Millie stood in front of St Edwards crown and read the inscription, “The crown was made in 1661, but modelled on the lost medieval crown of English kings and named after King Edward the Confessor. Tradition has it that gold melted down from the original crown was used in its construction.”

  Oliver had moved on to the Imperial State Crown, “This one has a huge sapphire in it.”

  Millie joined him and admired the crown which contained 2868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, 5 rubies and 273 pearls, but nothing happened. Quark had always insisted that the Cornerstone would reveal itself to her alone so she felt duty bound to look at everything she could.

  Oliver looked at his watch, “I guess we need to be making a move.”

  Oliver was enthralled by the White Tower, the collection of Royal Armouries was right up his street but Millie was bored with most of it. The armour of Henry the Eighth on horseback was good though, she hadn’t appreciated he was once young and slim! Finally they emerged onto Tower Green and flopped on the grass. Oliver had concealed some emergency rations and ripped open a packet of crisps, “Well at least we didn’t have to steal Her Majesty’s crown!”

  Millie managed a little smile but she was actually feeling quite deflated. She took Quark out of her pocket and absent–mindedly propped him up on the grass between them. She watched as Oliver spilt crisps all over the grass. Before she had time to say anything several large black birds descended on them, scavenging for food. She flapped her arms, “Shoo, clear off you vultures!”

  Oliver was in stitches, “They are ravens you idiot. The Tower is famous for them, they have been here for ages and legend says if they ever leave, the Tower and the Kingdom will fall. There has to be at least six here at any one time.”

  Millie continued to flap; they were now completely surrounded, “Well they don’t all have to be where I am, do they?”

  Oliver finished his crisps and the last of the birds left them in peace, “Right, home James and don’t spare the horses!” Another of dad’s silly sayings, Millie had no idea where it came from; she turned round to pick up Quark and a sinking feeling hit the bottom of her stomach. He was nowhere to be seen!

  28

  Millie made a vain attempt at rummaging around in the grass, but she knew Quark wasn’t where she had left him. Oliver stood up and stretched, “What have you lost?”

  One look at Millie’s face gave him the answer, “You have got to be joking.”

  “I was going to talk to him about the crown jewels but that American family was hanging around ... I only put him down for a minute.” Millie spun around, frantically searching for him.

  Oliver ran his hand through his spiky hair, if they didn’t find Quark soon they would be stranded in London with very little money. “Well, no one else was here, except ...”

  “The birds!”

  The twins ran from lawn to lawn but there was no sign of Quark or the ravens. Millie was furious, “What would they want with a cuddly toy anyway?”

  Oliver found a park bench and sat down, “Who knows? I think jackdaws like shiny objects, so maybe they just collect things. They can’t have gone far because their wings are clipped, so we just need to keep looking.”

  Millie was about to respond when one of the birds appeared by their side with Quark happily seated on his back! He waved at them and dismounted niftily and the bird hopped away. Millie scooped him up, “Am I glad to see you!”

  Quark was pleased, “Why thank you Your Highness. Gwyllum has been most helpful, but I knew you would be anxious, so we couldn’t chat for too long.”

  Oliver beat Millie to it, “You mean the raven?”

  “Indeed. The secrets of the centuries are passed to incoming birds, they probably know more about the history of this place than anybody.”

  “So what did you find out from Gwyllum?” Millie whispered. A young couple were coming in their direction, so it was time to leave.

  “What we seek is not here.”

  Oliver was disappointed, “You mean the Great Sapphire is not here?”

  Quark settled down in Millie’s pocket again and Oliver leaned in so he could hear properly, “Oh it’s here alright, but it is not the Cornerstone. Your Queen is richly blessed to possess a small splinter from the Royal Pavement!”

  Oliver frowned, “Small? You mean we are looking for something bigger than the crown jewels?”

  Quark lifted his face to the late afternoon sky and smiled, “Oh yes, Your Highness, much bigger.”

  29

  After the excitement of the Tower yesterday Sunday afternoon seemed more mundane than usual. Millie was supposed to be doing her homework, but every time she looked at it her mind would wander to Quark. Had she really only known him for a week? It felt much longer. She thought too of Michael and the Council, they were relying on her but she still had no real idea of what she was looking for.

  Oliver’s spiky head appeared from behind the door, “Finished? I just thought we might ... you know ...” He gave Millie a knowing look and nodded his head to the side.

  Millie sighed, “I’m sure I get twice as much homework as you.”

  “Or maybe you work half as fast.” he teased.

  Millie threw one of her pillows at him, “Well at least mine doesn’t look like Winston has walked all over it!”

  One pillow fight later Millie was in a much better mood, even though her room was more of a tip than usual. Oliver nobly called it a draw and started to pick things up.

  “Oh leave them, let’s go find Quark. I’ve had enough
of this lot.”

  He was actually waiting for them for once and he had set up a table and chairs in the middle of the portal. As Millie moved across she noticed they were not alone. Winston had tagged along.

  “Remind me to lock my door next time.” she announced in a loud voice.

  Winston huffed, “You don’t actually have a lock on that door anyway.”

  Oliver ignored their bickering and sat down next to Quark, he was studying what looked like floor plans, the large sheets of fine white paper spread all over the table.