Emily Rodda - Sister Of The South

She put her head on one side and regarded Lief and Jasmine’s puzzled expressions in surprise.

‘Do you not know?’ she asked. ‘It seems there is a danger the palace will fall.’

‘What?’ Jasmine cried in horror.

‘Manus says that the hole in that foundation wall means that the palace is no longer properly supported,’ Barda said. ‘All or part of it will collapse if something is not done quickly.’

He pointed into the pit, and Lief saw the small figure of Manus directing a dozen guards. The guards were labouring to raise a vast pole—a tall tree trunk—in the centre of the hole in the palace wall. They kept glancing nervously over their shoulders at the topaz dragon, who was watching them narrowly, the spines on its neck raised.

And now Lief could see the ugly cracks running up the wall, running all the way up to the long windows of the great hall on the first floor.

‘Why you are all still standing here, I do not know,’ said Lindal. ‘Manus told you to clear the area! When I saw you, I could not believe my eyes! Come away!’

But as she spoke a chorus of triumph rose from the pit. The guards had succeeded in wedging the tree trunk into place. Manus looked up and saw the group watching him.

‘It will hold!’ he roared, punching the air. He turned back to his men, pointed to a second pole lying on the ground, and began giving orders.

‘Excellent!’ said Lindal with satisfaction. ‘Shall we go and tell the others, old bear?’

They strode away, laughing and talking.

‘Shall we go also?’ Zeean murmured. ‘I would be grateful for a chair.’

Jasmine took her arm. ‘We will go in the back way,’ she said. ‘It is far quicker from here—and there are no stairs.’

In silence they began to make their way to the back of the palace. They walked very slowly, for Zeean’s sake, and Lief was glad of it. He was not looking forward to what was ahead.

They reached the kitchen door and helped Zeean inside. A chorus of cheers rang out. Startled, Lief and Jasmine saw that the great table was crowded with people, all turned to them, smiling.

‘Why, even Marilen is here!’ Jasmine cried. ‘And Ebony!’

Lief gazed around at the familiar faces.

Marilen, glowing with happiness, Ebony perched on her shoulder. Ranesh, smiling. Gla-Thon, raising a goblet. Gers shouting. Steven, grinning broadly. The boy Zerry, taller than Lief remembered, his sharp eyes sparkling. Lindal, laughing and banging the table. Barda, beaming, pulling out chairs for Jasmine and Zeean. Sharn, very pale, royal emeralds gleaming at her throat, holding out her arms to him.

Only one was missing.

Lief went to his mother, and embraced her. ‘Where is Doom?’ he asked quietly.

‘He carried Paff back to her bed,’ called Gla-Thon, overhearing. ‘She has recovered a little, but she is still unconscious. He will be with us shortly.’

‘If he has not fallen asleep on his feet,’ Gers growled. ‘He looks like death walking. I offered to take Paff myself, but he would not have it.’

‘No doubt he thought the poor girl was sick enough, without being scared to death by your ugly face, Jalis,’ grinned Gla-Thon.

With a roar, Gers swung around, reaching for Gla-Thon but succeeding only in upsetting one of the jugs with his elbow. Wine flooded the table. Everyone jumped up, shouting or laughing. At the same moment, a black bird soared through the door, heading straight for Jasmine.

‘Kree!’ Jasmine shouted, overjoyed.

Lief took advantage of the confusion to slip away. Only Sharn saw him go.

Lief let himself into the library and walked silently through the maze of shelves. His hand was on his sword. His mind was blank.

A dim light glowed in Josef’s room. Lief paused and looked in. For a moment he thought he saw a hunched figure, ruler in hand, bent over something on the desk—something that Lief now knew must have been the plan of the chapel.

No … I have made no mistake. Oh, what wicked trickery is this? … If only I had remembered! Fool! Fool!

Then Lief blinked, and the vision was gone. The desk was empty, and Josef’s body was lying on the bed. Tomorrow Josef would be laid to rest with all the ceremony befitting a Deltoran hero, but he would spend this night in his own, humble room.

‘You will be avenged, Josef,’ Lief said softly. ‘Rest well.’

He glanced at the desk a second time as he turned to go. He had a niggling feeling that something about his fleeting vision had been wrong, but could not think what it could be.

He moved on to Paff’s room. Here the curtains were open, and the room’s air was golden with late afternoon light.

Paff lay propped up on pillows, exactly as Lief had seen her when he had first entered this room before sunrise. But she was no longer stiff and sweating. Her eyes were peacefully closed.

Beside her, in a chair dragged from behind the desk, sat Doom. A gleaming hunting knife lay across his knees. He raised his head as Lief entered the room. His shadowed face showed no surprise.

‘Stay back, Lief,’ he said softly.

‘You know I cannot,’ Lief said, moving forward.

Doom stared at him for a moment, then turned back to the sleeping girl. Her eyelids had begun to flutter.

‘Soon she will wake,’ he said. ‘I should have cut her throat before this. I do not know why I hesitated.’

‘Perhaps because you knew I would come,’ Lief said. ‘In your heart you know I must hear what she has to say.’

Doom shook his head restlessly. His long, brown fingers caressed the gleaming blade of the knife.

‘You do not know what it is to be utterly alone, Lief,’ he said. ‘You do not know the agony of having all you love torn from you. You have never felt the rage, the pain, the white-hot desire for revenge that burns from within until all that remains is dark despair, a yawning emptiness craving to be filled.’

‘I have not felt it as you have,’ Lief answered. ‘But I have felt the evil force that promises to fill the emptiness with riches and power in return for service to its will. And I know that other choices can be made. You know it too, Doom.’

Doom shrugged, and half-smiled. The knife fell clattering to the floor.

Paff’s eyes opened. She stared dreamily at the ceiling, then turned her head to look at Lief and Doom.

‘Josef?’ she murmured.

‘Josef is dead,’ Doom said in a level voice.

‘So … he is silenced,’ said the girl, her voice soft as a sigh. ‘How he hated and feared you by the end, Doom. He feared you almost as much as I did. But—but it does not matter now, does it? Nothing matters now.’

Tears welled in her eyes. Slowly she relaxed her fingers, and the emeralds spilled onto the white bed cover.

‘I tried so hard,’ she whispered, her voice so faint that Lief had to bend to hear her. ‘When I began, I had—such hopes! I thought of nothing but pleasing him. I did more—even more than he asked. And yet …’

‘And yet at the last he turned his back on you,’ Lief said. ‘He abandoned you. Why, Paff? Why?’

The girl stared at him through her tears. ‘Perhaps I tried too hard,’ she whispered. ‘Perhaps I did too much. My Master has many plans.’

And with the desperation of a trapped creature snatching at its only chance of escape, she threw herself forward and clutched the Belt of Deltora.

Lief tried to jump back, but Paff’s grip was as strong as iron. He watched in horror as her face twisted, her back arched. There was a ghastly smell of burning. And with a cry that was more relief than pain, the failed, abandoned guardian of the south fell back on her pillows, released from her torment at last.