Emily Rodda - Ilse Of Illusion

Lief pressed his hand over his mouth to stifle a cry. Glancing sideways, he saw that Jasmine and Barda were also staring in amazement.

There was a strange, grating sound. Then, with no further warning, the statue simply crumbled, collapsing in an ear-splitting, thunderous shower of shattered glass.

‘Beware!’ Lief shouted, pulling Barda and Jasmine with him to the ground.

They lay there under the cloak, eyes tightly closed as jagged fragments sprayed upwards, then fell again, pelting the ground like deadly hail. They heard the Arach bellowing, the cracking sound as shooting glass cracked the beasts’ shells like darts.

And then, at last, all was still once more. Cautiously Lief lifted his head. His mind filled, echoing, with the sound of the Pirran Pipe. The Pipe’s stem was there, somewhere, buried deep in shattered glass. It called to him, beckoned him. But he held himself rigidly, knowing he could not stir.

The two Arach which had been closest to the statue lay where they had fallen, their legs kicking and tangling uselessly. But the others, despite small cuts and cracks in their shells, had been injured only enough to drive them into a fury. Growling they rose onto their back legs, their front legs pawing at the air.

Barda cursed under his breath.

But Jasmine was looking up. ‘The dome,’ she said softly. ‘The dome …’

There was a low, sighing sound. And then the dome—simply melted away, disappearing like mist.

The light was blinding, filled with rainbows, glittering, dazzling. Lief, Barda and Jasmine buried their faces in their arms. The Arach shrieked and scurried frantically away, leaving their two injured fellows to die where they lay.

And Penn, standing panting in the place which once had been the gap in the dome, a bone spear clutched awkwardly in her hand, sobbed part in frustration, part in relief, for there was nothing, now, for her to do.

17 - Peace

Much later, in Penn’s little hut on the rafts, all was the picture of peace. Light streamed through the window, bringing with it the sounds of rejoicing. Tresk and Mesk bobbed lazily in their bowl. Kree, cradled in Jasmine’s arm, cautiously tested his healing wing.

Lief, Barda and Jasmine sat around the stove with Penn and the Piper, the cheers of the raft-dweller crowds ringing in their ears. A huge platter of Molisk patties and a basket of warm bread lay between them. Filli sat on Jasmine’s shoulder, nibbling sea berries which made his tiny nose wrinkle with surprise and pleasure.

Even Fury and Flash lay quietly in their cages, side by side. Their adventure with the Arach seemed to have changed their minds about the wisdom of fighting. Together they had faced a terrible enemy, a spider far mightier than either of them could ever have imagined. For now, they had decided that peace was a blessing.

‘So. The Arachs have gone back to the caves where they came from,’ the Piper said, biting into a patty with relish. ‘They could not bear the light and the cold. I told you, Penn, that it would be so.’

Penn glanced at Lief, Barda and Jasmine. Her food lay untasted on its plate. She, at least, was still not at peace.

It would be a relief to her, Lief knew, if the matter hanging between them was put into words.

He was very aware that the stem of the Pirran Pipe, retrieved from the pile of shattered glass on the Isle of Auron, was at this very moment firmly tucked inside the Piper’s robe. He knew it would not be wise to anger the Piper now.

But he had to speak his mind, for all their sakes.

‘You used us, Piper,’ he said. ‘We suspected that you were using us as tools to obtain the stem of the Pirran Pipe. But you were doing much more than that. You were using us as a weapon to destroy the dome.’

‘To destroy the thing that was sucking the life from my people?’ the Piper said mildly, licking his fingers. ‘Yes, I did. Would you not do the same for Deltora?’

Lief hesitated.

‘Of course you would, Lief,’ Jasmine said sharply. ‘You can be cold and calculating enough when you believe the good of the kingdom requires it.’

‘What do you mean, Jasmine?’ Lief exclaimed, startled by the sudden, bitter note in her voice.

Jasmine shrugged. ‘If you think a secret should be kept, for example, you keep it,’ she said shortly. ‘Even from those it most concerns.’

She looked down at her hands to avoid Lief’s eyes. She was furious with herself. She had not meant to speak so rashly.

She had tried not to think of Faith, the little sister who was a prisoner in the Shadowlands and who Lief had tried to prevent her from discovering. She had tried not to think of the high-born Toran girl Lief had brought in secret to the palace to become his queen.

Most of the time she was successful. But now and again she remembered, and the knowledge jabbed at her heart like a spear, making her lash out in anger and pain.

Lief felt his face grow hot. He remembered Jasmine’s hasty words on the island.

I have forgotten nothing … I thought you had, however.

Was it possible that Jasmine had guessed the secret he had kept at such cost to himself? The secret that was like a crushing burden?

No, surely not. He and Doom had been so careful!

He glanced at Barda. But Barda had turned to look out the window, as though there was something of great interest happening on the silent street.

Jasmine simply suspects there is a secret, Lief told himself. She feels the barrier that hidden knowledge always creates between two people who have always spoken the truth to one another.

Lief felt it himself, and he hated it. He longed to tear the barrier down. To end the terrible, aching loneliness it made him feel at moments like this.

But he knew he could not. Not until all was safe. Not until Deltora’s future had been secured.

He became aware that the Piper was regarding him curiously, and his blush deepened.

‘It is sometimes necessary for leaders to do things they would prefer not to do,’ the Piper said, as though he was speaking to himself. ‘Sometimes they have to put aside their own wishes, even their own deepest longings, for the greater good of all. It is … not pleasant. Especially when their actions anger those they care about.’

Jasmine did not raise her head. But Lief could see that she had heard. He prayed that she had also understood.

‘You think, no doubt, that I am evil,’ the Piper went on, in the same even tone. ‘You think Penn tricked you, on my orders. You think I used you as tools to destroy the dome. You think that I cared nothing for your lives, or the lives of the people who may have lived on the island.’

‘It did occur to us,’ said Barda dryly.

The Piper shrugged his narrow shoulders. ‘It is true that I forced poor Penn to do what she did,’ he said, glancing at the history-keeper, who had bowed her head. ‘She was sorely distressed by the task. Like all raft-dwellers she respects truth above everything else. I suggested that she let you read our history, so she would not have to tell it.’

‘But the history was not complete,’ said Lief. ‘The two parchments Penn gave us were torn, the first at the bottom, the second at the top. They were once part of the same document, I think. You tore a section from the middle before giving the story to us. Is that not so?’

Penn nodded miserably. Without speaking, she crawled to her feet and went over to the hanging baskets. She slid a fragment of parchment from the back of one of them, returned to the stove and thrust the scrap into Lief’s hand.