Emily Rodda - Cavern Of Fear

‘It is far more likely that it will demand four Gifts instead of one in the future!’ cried Clef.

Rumblings of discontent began as Worron continued to tidy the stones, not bothering to reply.

‘What are they talking about?’ whispered Lief. ‘What is The Fear?’

‘It is death,’ growled Glock.

Wordlessly Jasmine turned and nodded towards a panel in the wall that loomed behind the cage. Lief’s stomach lurched as he saw what was carved there.

It was a picture of a terrible sea-beast with ten writhing tentacles. The beast had a screaming goblin in its grasp. It was tearing him apart.

‘The Fear is in a cavern called The Glimmer not far from here,’ Jasmine murmured. ‘Every year it demands a living sacrifice. If the people delay, it beats the water and creates great waves that flood the island and destroy the village. They do not dare to defy it.’

Lief turned and stared in horror at the murmuring crowd gathered outside the cage. He saw Worron straighten and hold up his hands, then press them to his mouth. Silence fell instantly.

Slowly moving his hands forward, the fingertips touching, Worron began a curious, high, wordless singing. Slowly the other goblins joined in. The sound rose and swelled, strangely powerful and thrilling.

‘The oldest ones among them draw lots, to see who will be the Gift,’ muttered Glock. ‘This year it was to be that old crone there.’

He pointed at a bowed and wrinkled goblin who was clutching Clef’s arm, urging him to join the singing. Clef frowned and moved away from her, towards the cage. Shaking her head at him, she followed.

‘Her name is Nols. They were preparing her for the Giving when Glock and I arrived here,’ Jasmine added in a flat voice. ‘One of their fishing boats had plucked us, half drowned, from the water. If it had not been for Glock risking his own life by holding me up, I would have perished long before.’

Glock snorted. ‘Risking my life?’ he jeered. ‘Why, I could have held twenty of you, weakling! My talisman protects me from drowning.’

‘Indeed!’ said Jasmine dryly. ‘Will it protect you from The Fear also?’

Glock ran his tongue over his lips and fell silent.

‘They cheered when they saw us,’ Jasmine went on, looking out at the crowd. ‘We thought we were welcome. But they were only rejoicing because Nols is much loved, and they had found strangers to take her place.’

She groaned. ‘We tried to scare them into freeing us by saying we were not alone. We had no idea it was true ! Oh, why did you follow us?’

‘What else could we do?’ said Lief sharply, to hide the pain in his heart. ‘You were rushing headlong into danger—and dragging Glock with you!’

‘Glock forced me to bring him!’ Jasmine snapped. ‘He threatened to have me stopped if I did not.’

‘I thought you knew what you were doing,’ snarled Glock. ‘That was my mistake. I fell into water. My fighting spider, which cost five gold pieces, escaped. And now I am about to be sacrificed to a monster.

‘Why did you take this risk, Jasmine?’ Lief sighed. ‘ The Girl With the Golden Hair told of goblins in the underground, and made clear they were to be feared.’

Jasmine shook her head stubbornly. ‘A man called Doran the Dragonlover came here. He visited at least twice, and for him it was a place of peace and beauty.’

‘How can you know this?’ Lief demanded.

‘I read it in the Annals ,’ Jasmine said. ‘After his first visit, Doran wrote a verse about these people. After the second, he changed the verse, to disguise the meaning of what he had written.’

‘Why?’ asked Barda bluntly.

‘Don’t you see?’ Jasmine exclaimed. ‘Doran wanted the secret kept. He thought we were a threat to the goblins, not the other way around.’

‘Then Doran was a fool,’ growled Barda.

‘You must not say that!’

The companions saw the old woman, Nols, glaring at them through the bars of the cage.

‘You must not speak ill of Doran in this place,’ she repeated in a lower voice. ‘He was a friend to us in ages past. Before The Fear grew.’

‘Come away, Grandmother,’ muttered Clef, pulling her back.

‘They said an evil thing of Doran,’ complained Nols. ‘I could not let it pass.’

‘Doran is only a character of legend,’ said Clef impatiently. ‘It does not matter what they say of him.’

‘Doran was not a legend!’ exclaimed Nols. ‘Was it not Doran who told us to beware of Longhairs and other creatures from above? Was it not Doran who said that some of them were servants of the Shadow Lord? How else did we know?’

‘Doran was real enough. And he was right to warn you,’ Jasmine burst out urgently. ‘But we are the Shadow Lord’s enemies, not his friends.’

The two faces, old and young, turned to look at her in surprise.

‘We came here only to find the secret way to the Shadowlands,’ Jasmine hurried on. ‘Many of our people—our loved ones—have been taken captive by the Shadow Lord. We must reach them, and save them. We must! Before it is too late.’ Her voice trembled as she said the last words.

Lief and Barda glanced at her quickly, surprised by the desperation in her voice. Jasmine had always been determined to free the slaves. But this strong feeling seemed far more personal. And why had she said, ‘before it is too late’?

The expression on Nols’ wrinkled face had changed from anger to something like pity.

‘If that is true, your journey was always in vain,’ she said, shaking her head sadly. ‘The Glimmer is the only gateway to the far seas, and it has been sealed by The Fear.’

Jasmine bowed her head, biting her lip. As she did so, the singing in the background rose to a climax, then died away.

‘Clef! Nols!’ Worron called harshly. ‘Get back! The Giving is about to commence.’

15 - The Bargain

Clef took his grandmother’s arm and pulled her gently away. At the same moment, the carved panel behind the cage began to slide silently aside.

Through the gap the prisoners could see a narrow band of shore and a sheet of scarlet water. On the other side of the water the cavern ended in a natural wall of high, sheer rock, gleaming red. And in the rock, directly opposite the cage, yawned the entrance to a cave.

Ropes attached to the top of the cage spanned the water and led directly into the cave. Lief saw, to his horror, that several members of the crowd had taken hold of one of the ropes. The cage lurched and began moving towards the water.

‘Stop!’ Lief shouted. ‘We can help you! Use us not to feed The Fear, but to destroy it!’

The goblins pulling the rope hesitated.

‘Do not listen to the Longhair!’ roared Worron. ‘The ceremony must continue!’

The cage jolted and began to slide again.

‘We are warriors!’ Lief shouted. ‘Together we have defeated many monsters—some of them the servants of the Shadow Lord. Free us, return our weapons, and we will rid you of The Fear forever!’

Again the cage stopped moving. The goblins who had been pulling the rope began arguing in low voices.

‘I say we let them try!’ called Azan from, the middle of the crowd. ‘They are Longhairs—tall and strong and skilled in battle. Their weapons are of steel. If they could destroy The Fear—think what it would mean to us!’

‘No!’ Worron’s face was twisted with anger. ‘Are you mad? If we free the Longhairs, they will turn on us, and the power is not strong enough to hold them all.’

‘We will not harm you—we swear it!’ called Barda. He pointed to Lief. ‘This is the king of Deltora. The magic belt he wears is proof of it. Did Doran tell you no tales of its power?’