Emily Rodda - Deltora Quest #7 - The Valley of the Lost

Contents

Title Page

1 Night Terrors

2 Company

3 Adrift

4 Silence

5 The Secret of Tora

6 The Newcomers

7 A Battle of Wills

8 A Parting of the Ways

9 The Valley of the Lost

10 The Palace

11 The Game

12 The Search

13 Sparkles Bright

14 The Name

15 The Casket

16 Answers

The Deltora Book of Monsters

Preview: The Golden Door

About the Author

Venture into Deltora

Copyright

The story so far …

Lief, Barda, and Jasmine are on a great quest to find the seven lost gems of the magic Belt of Deltora. Hidden in fearsome places throughout the land, the gems must be restored to the Belt before the rightful heir to the throne can be found and the evil Shadow Lord’s tyranny ended.

Six gems have been found so far. The topaz, symbol of faith, has the power to contact the spirit world and to clear the mind. The ruby, for happiness, pales when danger threatens, repels evil spirits, and is an antidote to venom. The opal, gem of hope, gives glimpses of the future. The lapis lazuli, the heavenly stone, is a powerful talisman. The emerald, for honor, dulls in the presence of evil. The amethyst, for truth, calms and soothes.

The companions have discovered a secret resistance movement led by the mysterious Doom. Another member of the Resistance, Dain, a young man of about Lief’s own age, has been kidnapped by pirates, and Lief’s parents have been imprisoned.

In constant fear of the Shadow Lord’s Grey Guards and hideous shape-changing Ols, the companions must now cross the River Tor and journey to their last goal, the Valley of the Lost, where the last stone lies, the great diamond.

Now read on …

It was dark and very still. Lief, Barda, and Jasmine slipped through the night like shadows, and the River Tor slid beside them, keeping its secrets.

They had decided that for safety’s sake they should not travel by day. But the night held its own perils, for they did not dare to use a torch to light their way, and the moon was shrouded in cloud. As the darkness cloaked them, so also would it cloak a prowling enemy.

And it hid more than that. It hid holes, rocks, and ditches. It hid trees, bushes, and landmarks. Every step was a step into the unknown.

They knew that somewhere ahead there was a bridge. When they reached it they could at last cross the river that had caused them so much grief. Then they could begin moving towards the Valley of the Lost, where lay the great diamond, the seventh gem of the Belt of Deltora.

But in this blackness how easy it would be to pass the bridge unaware! So, though all of them loathed the very thought of the River Tor, they stayed close beside it, knowing that its dark waters must lead them to their goal at last.

With one hand Lief gripped the Belt of Deltora, hidden under his clothes. But the Belt, for all its power, could not help him as his eyes strained to penetrate the darkness ahead.

“It is not far now,” Jasmine whispered suddenly.

Lief saw a faint, pale blur as her face turned to him. Filli, curled inside her jacket, made a small, sleepy sound. Kree was silent and invisible on her shoulder, his black feathers swallowed by the darkness.

“Do you see it?” asked Barda.

“No,” Jasmine breathed. “But I smell people and animals, and the bridge was just beyond a village, remember?”

They crept forward, and at last found themselves moving through cleared ground. Lief thought he could make out the thicker blackness of a wall rising to his left.

Perhaps armed villagers on night watch stood behind the wall, listening for danger. Perhaps this was why the village still stood, despite the pirates that sailed the Tor’s waters and the bandits that prowled its banks.

If they heard a sound, the guards would investigate. They would strike instantly, without pity. They would have learned from sad examples all along the river that to hesitate was to risk losing everything.

The companions moved on, treading lightly, scarcely breathing. No sooner had they reached the safety of a grove of trees beyond the wall, when the clouds covering the moon parted and the ground was flooded with light.

Jasmine caught her breath. “We were fortunate,” she murmured. “If that had happened just a moment earlier …”

Barda nudged Lief’s arm and pointed ahead. Through the trees Lief saw the bridge. It was very close, peaceful in the moonlight. A small herd of long-haired goats clustered around it, some standing, some resting on the grass.

The bridge was solid and broad enough to take a cart. A large sign stood beside it. The sign’s lettering was faded, but Lief could still make out the words.

Lief’s heart thumped. Tora! The great city of the west, so loyal to the kings and queens of Deltora. The ideal hiding place for the heir to the throne.

Tora must be near. But there had been no sign of a city as they followed the river down to the coast just days ago. At the time, Lief had thought little of it. He had too many other things to worry about. Now, however, it seemed very strange indeed. For surely Tora was set on the River Tor. Its very name made a link.

“Tora must be set well back from the river,” muttered Barda, whose thoughts had plainly been running on the same lines. “But it is odd that we did not see it in the distance, at least.”

Lief nodded, still puzzling over the mystery. “Perhaps we passed it at night, and it keeps no lights. In any case, we may yet be able to visit it — on our way to the Valley of the Lost.”

“By all reports, we would be advised not to do any such thing, at least until the Belt is complete,” hissed Jasmine. “Dain was warned —”

She broke off, biting her lip, and Lief and Barda were also silent. Memories of the boy they had last seen bound and helpless in the pirates’ coastal cave flooded all their minds.

Dain had longed to go to Tora. Now he would never see it. Even now the pirates were sailing up the river with him. In a few days he would be handed over to the Grey Guards. Though Lief, Barda, and Jasmine knew they could not save him, his sad and frightened eyes haunted them all.

The boy would try his best to escape. But what hope did he have against a gang of armed ruffians greedy for the Shadow Lord’s gold?

Jasmine tossed her head as if to shake away unwelcome thoughts, and turned her attention to the goats by the bridge. “We will have to move slowly, so as not to startle the beasts,” she said. “If they make a sound, all is lost.”

“They must be used to people.” Lief stared at the goats, at the small horns gleaming, the long, smooth hair. “But we should show ourselves to them now, while the moon shines. We will frighten them if we come at them in the dark.”

He took a single step forward, then stopped abruptly, his eyes widening. One of the goats — there was something wrong with one of the goats! Its body seemed to be rippling, billowing outward like a ballooning sail.