Emily Rodda - Ilse Of Illusion

DELTORA QUEST 2

The Isle of Illusion

Emily Rodda

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

1 – The Rainbow Sea

2 – Warnings

3 – Reunion

4 – Trapped

5 – Hopes and Fears

6 – Dread

7 – Truth and Lies

8 – The House of Penn

9 – Troubles

10 – The Dome

11 – Arach

12 – Suspicion

13 – Treachery

14 – Leap of Faith

15 – The Isle of Illusion

16 – Terror

17 – Peace

Copyright

DELORA QUEST 2

1 Cavern of The Fear

2 The Isle of Illusion

3 The Shadowlands

The story so far …

Lief, Barda and Jasmine have learned that the Shadowlands was in ancient times the magical land of Pirra, a beautiful country protected by the fabled Pirran Pipe.

When the Pipe was divided into three parts by the warring Pirran tribes of Plume, Auron and Keras, the Shadow Lord invaded Pirra and the tribes were forced to flee to separate islands in a secret sea below Deltora. The companions are sure that the magic of the Pirran Pipe is the only thing that can help them free the Deltoran slaves in the Shadowlands.

On the island of Plume, they gained the first part of the Pipe. Now they are moving on through the underground sea, seeking the island of Auron.

1 - The Rainbow Sea

Lief and Barda were silent as they paddled the frail boat through the world below the world. Jasmine sat in the front of the boat with Filli on her shoulder. Her eyes were fixed on Kree, who was flying ahead. In her hand was the tiny map that was their only guide to their next goal—the island of Auron.

Above their heads the soaring roof of the great cavern shimmered with opal light. The rippling water surrounding them was like liquid rainbows.

‘To think that this wonder exists below Deltora!’ Barda murmured, finding his voice at last. ‘I still cannot quite believe it.’

‘Nor I,’ said Lief. ‘The caverns of the Plumes—the gold, and the scarlet—were beautiful enough. But this place …’

Jasmine moved restlessly. ‘Beauty is all very well,’ she muttered. ‘But we do not know where we are!’

She held up the battered map. ‘Ranesh said he would trust Doran the Dragonlover’s maps with his life. But there are no landmarks drawn here. Just four islands, a dotted line which could mean anything, and a few cavern walls.’

Lief stared at the map, remembering the excitement with which he had traced it in the palace library in Del.

Little had he dreamed then that the Pirran Islands were not in the open sea, but hidden beneath Deltora itself. Little had he dreamed that a short journey to the Os-Mine Hills in pursuit of Jasmine was to lead him into this far longer and more dangerous quest.

With a pang, he thought of home. His long absence must be causing great anxiety. Not for most of the people, who believed their king was still safe in Tora. But for those few who knew he was not.

Doom. His mother. The old librarian, Josef. Josef’s assistant, Ranesh. And the girl Marilen.

Most of all, Marilen. What must she be feeling now? Frightened? Lonely? Bitterly regretting that she had ever agreed to leave Tora?

Doom had promised her father that she would be closely guarded. But spies, traitors and assassins were everywhere, as Lief himself knew only too well.

Into his mind came the memory of the first attempts on his life. Both were in the great entrance hall. First, a frenzied, babbling woman had tried to strike him down with a knife. When her attack had failed, she had turned the knife upon herself and died without giving any reason for what she had done.

Not long afterwards, a man who could only walk with the aid of crutches—a man called Moss, a trusted palace guard before the time of the Shadow Lord, Barda said—had seized Lief by the throat as Lief bent over the blanket where he lay.

The choking grip was like iron. It had taken three guards to break it. And then, as Moss was being taken away, someone in the jostling crowd had stabbed him in the back. That person had never been found.

After that, Lief had kept away from crowds. But he had learned that nowhere in the palace was truly safe. Even his own bed chamber.

And why? Why? Lief thought, as he had thought a thousand times before. Why would any Deltoran act as a servant of the Shadow Lord?

Impatiently, he pulled his mind back to the present. ‘Doran could not draw landmarks if none existed, Jasmine,’ Barda was saying, lifting his paddle from the water and stretching his aching back.

‘Do not wake Fury,’ Jasmine warned.

Barda glanced quickly at the cage hanging from his belt. But Fury the fighting spider had not moved.

‘It is more important not to wake Flash.’ Lief nodded at the second cage, resting in the bottom of the boat. ‘Flash was the loser in their last battle. He is the one who thirsts for revenge.’

‘We are fortunate that the movement of the boat lulls them to sleep,’ said Jasmine.

‘Indeed, for nothing else does,’ Barda growled. ‘If only we could have left them behind! This boat is cramped enough without giving room to caged spiders.’

‘I do not blame the Plumes for refusing to keep them,’ said Jasmine. ‘Who would want two beasts who think of nothing but fighting one another?’

Filli snuffled agreement. The huge spiders made him nervous.

They fell silent once more, gazing around them.

Unbroken water met their eyes on every side. The cavern wall through which they had passed to reach this glittering sea was lost in the hazy distance. There was no sign of another.

‘At least we know where we are in Deltora,’ said Lief at last. ‘When we first went underground in the Os-Mine hills, the cavern walls and roof shone gold like the topaz, the Del tribe’s talisman. But by the time we reached the island of Plume, the cavern walls were shining red.’

‘So we can guess that Plume lies below Deltora’s north-east—the land of the Ralad people, whose talisman is the ruby,’ said Barda.

Lief nodded. ‘And now we are in the territory of the opal. We must be moving west, beneath the Plains. And the island of Auron is near, I am sure of it.’

He broke off as sweet, piping music filled his mind—the music of the Pirran Pipe, calling to him through time. The sound had come to him before, but it was more compelling now. Because now he possessed the mouthpiece of the Pipe itself.

The mouthpiece hung around his neck. It was muffled in a red cloth bag and hidden beneath his clothes. Yet he could feel its power, as once he had felt the magic of the Belt of Deltora.

He could feel, too, its yearning to be joined once more with the other two parts of the Pipe, from which it had been separated so long ago.

‘Lief! Barda!’

Lief jumped slightly as Jasmine’s voice broke the spell of the music. He saw that she was holding out her arm to Kree, who was swooping towards her.

‘Kree sees land ahead!’ Jasmine called excitedly. ‘Land!’