Emily Rodda - The Shadowlands

‘I had to secure Deltora’s future before I could do anything else,’ Lief said. ‘And I had to do it in secret. Doom and my mother were the only ones I told. They knew how vital it was. They knew that Deltora’s safety must never again depend on the life of just one person.’

He smiled. ‘Marilen is a descendant of Adin’s second son. When I found her, I knew I had my heir at last. It is true that when I have a child, that child will take her place as first in line—’

‘That time cannot come soon enough for me!’ Marilen broke in fervently. ‘When Lief told us in Tora that through my mother’s family I was his heir, the news seemed more like a curse than a blessing.’

Lief smiled at her fondly. ‘But still she agreed to leave her home, family and friends and come to Del—’

‘To wear the real Belt of Deltora if you went into danger, so that if something ill befell you, it would shine at once for her!’ Jasmine burst out, finishing for him. ‘And all the time we thought—everyone thought…’

She pulled her hand from Lief’s, and put it to her burning face. Her head was spinning. So much that she had thought was not true. So many things she had seen one way, she now saw in another. Lief shutting himself away in the library. The parchment labelled The Great Families of Tora. The secret visits to the forge. The taking of the royal jewels. The visit to Tora itself…

‘I know Lief wanted to tell you and Barda of me, Jasmine,’ Marilen said softly, seeing her distress. ‘But he had sworn to my father that only Sharn would know who I was, aside from Doom.’

‘The more people who knew Marilen was next in line, the more danger there was for her,’ Lief added. ‘If the Shadow Lord heard even a whisper…’

Jasmine swallowed and nodded. ‘Then why do you tell us now?’ she managed to say.

Marilen smiled delightedly. ‘Because now all is well!’ she exclaimed. ‘Lief had time only to trace the line of Adin’s second child. But Adin and Zara, his wife, had five children in all. Zeean and my father examined the parchments Lief brought to Tora. They have discovered many more of Adin’s descendants, not only in Tora, but in Del too, and indeed all over the kingdom!’

She clasped her hands, her eyes sparkling. ‘Soon everyone will know that a threat to Lief is no longer a threat to the whole of Deltora. There will be no point in killing him—for that reason, at least.’

‘So I will no longer have to live in the palace, shut up like a prisoner!’ exclaimed Lief with great satisfaction.

‘And neither will I,’ said Marilen, equally happily. ‘If Lief should die childless, I will take his place. If I should die in my turn, there will be another to take my place—and another, and another, and another! The Belt will always find an heir, and Deltora is safe.’

‘What is all this talk of dying?’ cried Barda clapping Lief on the shoulder and smiling broadly. ‘Though I confess I could strangle Lief myself when I think of the terrors I suffered, fearing for him and that lying belt!’

Marilen laughed. ‘I am so glad, so glad, that all this has ended in happiness,’ she said.

Jasmine nodded, still finding it difficult to think in different terms of Marilen. ‘This time must have been hard for you,’ she said, rather awkwardly.

‘Indeed it has,’ Marilen said frankly. ‘I faced no real danger compared to you, however. I had the Belt of Deltora, so I knew Lief lived, for it never shone for me. And the gems aided me. Once, the amethyst dimmed when my food was poisoned. I saw it, and knew something was amiss.’

Her face broke into a smile. ‘Besides,’ she added, ‘if I had not come here, I would not have met Ranesh!’

She looked around to where Ranesh still stood alone on the stairs, forlornly looking after her. ‘I must go to him,’ she said. ‘I have much to explain. To him, and to poor Josef, too.’

With another smile, she left them.

Lief raised his eyebrows. ‘So,’ he murmured. ‘Marilen and Ranesh.’ He glanced at Jasmine. He had sometimes had fears about Jasmine’s feeling for Ranesh.

But Jasmine’s smile as she met his eyes was very real. A great peace descended on Lief’s heart.

Then Marilen turned around. ‘By the by, Lief,’ she called. ‘It seems that everyone believed I had come to Del to be your bride. Did you know?’

Lief’s astounded expression was her answer. She laughed, and went on her way.

Lief swung round to Jasmine and Barda. ‘Had you heard this tale?’ he demanded.

Barda remained expressionless, preserving wise silence. Jasmine’s cheeks were burning again, but she shrugged. ‘Palace gossip,’ she said carelessly. ‘But you are far too young to marry. I always said so.’

Lief was speechless.

Barda caught sight of Tira wandering towards the stairs, looking lost. He muttered something and strode off towards her.

‘Of course,’ Jasmine went on, beginning to smile as she and Lief walked slowly after him. ‘Marilen would have been an ideal choice as a king’s bride. Well read, beautiful, polite, elegant, at home in palaces…’

‘When the time comes,’ Lief said, determinedly drowning her out, ‘I will follow Adin’s example, and marry for love.’ He glanced at her. ‘If the woman I love will have me, of course.’

‘She probably will,’ said Jasmine. ‘When the time comes.’ She slipped her hand into his.

A tumult of shouting and cheering began behind them. A great crowd was surging up the road from the city to join the crowd already thronging the lawn. The people on the stairs were laughing and beckoning. The bells were still ringing. Lief’s heart swelled with joy.

And now, he thought. Now, at last, we can begin.

Copyright

LEXILE™ 770

Scholastic Press

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First published in 2002.

This edition published in 2011.

Text and graphics copyright © Emily Rodda, 2002.

Graphics by Bob Ryan.

Cover illustrations copyright © Scholastic Australia, 2002.

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-.

The shadowlands.

For children aged 9 and above.

ISBN 978-1-74169-956-2.

1. Fantasy fiction. I. Title. (Series : Deltora quest 2 ; 3).

A823.3

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eISBN: 978-1-921-98966-7