Emily Rodda: Isle of the Dead

Barda gave a grunt of surprise and held out the puzzle box. A third little rod was sticking out of the box’s carved side.

‘I have no idea what I did to make that happen!’ Barda complained, tugging at the box’s lid. ‘And look at that! Three locks undone, and still it will not open. Curse the thing! I should throw it into the sea!’

‘If you did, you would be sorry,’ the dragon said shrewdly. ‘You would never know what was inside.’

Barda snorted. But Lief noticed that he pushed the box safely back into his pocket.

Tomorrow he will try again, Lief thought. Whatever he says, he will keep trying until all the locks are open, and all the secrets are revealed. But for now, he will put the problem out of his mind.

It came to him that he should do the same. Slowly he picked up the four map fragments and put them away.

‘Very good,’ Veritas said approvingly.

Lief looked up in surprise.

‘There is a time to plan, a time to act, and a time to rest,’ the dragon said. ‘It is wise to know which is which.’

Its eyes gleamed like dull purple stars in the gloom. Slowly Lief felt his tense muscles relax.

He felt the baby diamond dragon creep close to him, and curl itself to sleep as near to the Belt as it could.

Tonight is the time to rest, he thought. Tomorrow is the time to plan. After that—we will go to Del. And there, where this all began, it will end.

Then he thought no more, but only sat watching the empty sea, while the quiet night fell.

Copyright

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First published in 2004.

This edition published in 2011.

Text and graphics copyright © Emily Rodda, 2004.

Graphics by Kate Rowe.

Cover illustrations copyright © Scholastic Australia, 2004.

Cover illustrations by Marc McBride.

Collectors’ Edition cover design by Nicole Leary.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, unless specifically permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 as amended.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Rodda, Emily, 1948-.

Isle of the dead.

For children aged 10 years and older.

ISBN 978-1-74169-959-3.

Title. (Series : Rodda, Emily, 1948–Deltora quest 3 ; 3).

A823.3

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eISBN: 978-1-921-98969-8