Emily Rodda - Deltora Quest #8 - Return to Deltora

“You had the idea of decoys once before, then, Doom?” he murmured.

Doom nodded. “So it seems. Though I did not know it, when I sent our Toran friends to the west. It is good to think that they, also, are safe.” He glanced behind him, and Lief heard the sound of fighting in the palace.

“The Resistance has arrived,” Doom said casually. “They will take care of the last of the Guards. Like Barda and Steven, I thought it wise to make a special plan, known to no one else. There is a certain drain-tunnel in Del, that leads to the palace kitchens …”

“I think I know it,” Lief muttered. “I found it once. On my birthday …”

His mother squeezed his hand.

His mother. Not Anna of the Forge, practical and wise in the ways of herbs and growing things. But Sharn, of Tora. The one who could weave like a miracle. The one whose wit and courage had taught him so much.

Lief looked down at his father, the tender, soft-spoken man whose name, he now knew, was not Jarred, but Endon. How could he have not guessed?

How could his gentle father have done the things Jarred was said to have done? Why would the true Jarred have been so bitter about Endon’s foolishness?

The face seemed smoothed, softened. It was very calm. The eyes were warm and peaceful. The mouth curved into a smile. Lief heard Barda’s quickly indrawn breath, and felt his own eyes burn with tears.

“Do not weep for me,” his father murmured. “I am happy. My life is fulfilled. Here, now, at the moment of my death, I have what I have longed for. The knowledge that the evil caused by my fault has been undone. The knowledge that, with my dear wife, I have raised a son who can lead his people wisely, know their hearts.”

“Why did you not tell me, Father?” murmured Lief. “Why did you not tell me who I was?”

“While you did not know, you were safe,” his father whispered. “And — you had to learn — to love and know the people, and be one of them. That — I had sworn.”

“But … Barda?” Lief glanced at the big man kneeling so silently beside him.

His mother shook his head. “Barda did not know the truth. He had seen Jarred and Anna leave. He thought they were the king and queen, for that is what we told him. At the palace he had only ever seen us from a distance, dressed and painted in palace fashion. We never told him the secret. We had sworn to keep the plan between the four of us. And when you went on your quest — why, we thought that as soon as the Belt was complete, there would be no need for explanation. We thought it would shine! We did not know …”

“We did not know that the order of the gems was important,” Doom finished. “How could we? The book told nothing of that.”

“It did,” Lief said quietly. “But it told it in riddles.”

Endon smiled. “That is fitting,” he said. “For all along, Lief, this has been a story where nothing is as it seems. I have always liked such tales. For such tales usually have happy endings…. As does this one.”

His eye closed. Lief clasped his mother’s hand, and bowed his head.

Lief, Jasmine, and Barda stood together, looking out into the dawn.

“I am glad it was you, Lief,” Jasmine said. “So glad.”

Lief looked at her. Her face was smudged with mud. Her hair was tangled. Her mouth was set in a strong, straight line.

“Why?” he asked.

“I could have offered the people nothing,” she said, moving away from him. “How could I be a queen? What am I but a wild girl, quick-tempered and troublesome, more at home in a forest than a walled garden?” She tossed her head. “Besides, I cannot stay here. This city is hideous to me. And the palace — a prison!”

“Prison walls can fall,” Lief said softly. “Gardens can become forests. Del can be beautiful once more. And as for what you can offer, Jasmine …” For a moment, his voice failed him. This was so important. He had to choose his words carefully. But whatever he said must be the truth. Not the whole truth, perhaps, but at least part of it.

“Well?” Jasmine demanded, her shoulders rigid.

“There is much to do,” Lief said simply. “So much to do, Jasmine. All over Deltora. Barda, Doom, and I cannot do it alone. We need your courage and your strength. We need you, exactly as you are.”

“Indeed,” said Barda gruffly.

Jasmine glanced at them over her shoulder. Filli chattered in her ear. Kree screeched on her arm.

“Then, I suppose I will stay — for a while,” she said, after a moment. “For, certainly, you need me. As your father needed my father. To get things done.”

Lief smiled, and, for once, did not argue.

He was well satisfied.

This book has been compiled in secret. If the work had been discovered by any authority, I, its author, would have paid with my life. Or so I believe.

The risk was worth taking. Forces are working in Deltora to suppress the facts of our past as well as those of our present. Lies are everywhere. King Alton believes that the kingdom is thriving. He thinks that if monstrous perils once existed in far-flung corners, they exist no longer.

Iknow this is false. Because I, who once wore the silken gloves and velvet tunic of a palace librarian, now scavenge for food in the gutters of Del. I now know what the common people know, and more. I could never have imagined such a future for myself. But I regret nothing.

Perhaps I would never have fled from the palace if the king’s chief advisor, Prandine, had not ordered me to burn The Deltora Annals .The threatened destruction of the Annals , that great, vivid picture of Deltora over the ages, was more than I could bear. And so it was that while pretending to obey Prandine’s order, I saved the Annals and myself.

This book contains material drawn from The Deltora Annals as well as new information I have gained in the past few years. It describes many of the dreadful, mysterious beings that haunt this land. Some of these creatures are as evil and unnatural as their master in the Shadowlands. Others are native to Deltora. All grow stronger every day. Yet the king does nothing to offer his people protection. They hate him for it. But why should he help, since he does not know the monsters exist? None of them are spoken of in the palace except as beasts of legend, dangers of the past.

Books such as this are needed to correct the lies that have become official truth. The people are too busy scraping a living to write down what they know. Writing, in fact, seems almost to have disappeared among them. I fear that lies may one day become the only “facts” available to students, unless people like me act to prevent it.

What the future holds for us, and for Deltora, I cannot say. But when my hopes dim, I take heart in remembering another thing I did before I left the palace. It concerns yet another book — The Belt of Deltora . It is simply written, but full of wisdom. From the day I first found it in the library, I believed that it was of vital importance, and that it contained the keys to Deltora’s future, as well as its past. I kept it hidden, for I knew that if Prandine saw it, it would quietly disappear. I had planned to take it with me, but at the last moment something moved me to change my mind. I hid it, instead, in a dim corner where it would only be discovered by an eager searcher.