Emily Rodda - Deltora Quest #1 - The Forests of Silence

“Poison!” Barda rasped. “You —”

Lief’s heart gave a great thud. Then, suddenly, his body grew hot and began to prickle all over. With every instant the feeling grew stronger and more frightening. The heat became burning. The prickles became needle-sharp jabs of pain. It was as though he was caught in a flaming thorn bush.

The warning screech of the bird sounded far above them. The sky was red through the leaves of the tree. Barda was crying out. But now Lief could hear nothing, see nothing, feel nothing but his own pain and fear. He began to writhe and thrash on the ground.

Then, dimly, he realized that Jasmine was bending over him. She was pulling at his arms, kicking at him with hard, bare feet. “Get up!” she was urging. “Listen to me! Do you not see what you are doing? You are moving! You can move!”

You can move! Gasping, hardly able to believe it, Lief fought back the pain and struggled to his hands and knees. Blindly he felt for his cloak. He was not going to leave it now.

“The tree!” Jasmine shouted. “Crawl to the tree and climb! The Wennbar is almost upon us!” She had already turned to Barda. He was rolling on his bed of ferns, groaning in agony.

Lief hauled himself towards them, dragging his cloak behind him, but the girl waved him back. “Go!” she cried furiously. “I will see to him! Go! Climb!”

Lief knew she was right. He could not help her, or Barda. It was as much as he could do to help himself. He began to crawl towards the trunk of the great tree. His legs and arms were trembling. His whole body shuddered, swept by waves of heat.

He reached the tree and pulled himself upright. There was a low branch near his hand. He grasped it, panting, and with the other hand pulled his cloak around him.

Only a day or two ago he had climbed a rope to the top of a high wall without a thought. Now he doubted that he could even haul himself onto this branch.

The clearing dimmed. The sun had slipped below the horizon.

High above Lief there was a clatter of wings as the black bird left its perch. Calling harshly, urgently, it soared down to where Jasmine staggered towards the tree with Barda leaning on her shoulder.

“I know, Kree!” Jasmine gasped, as the bird flapped anxiously around her head. “I can smell it.”

As she said the words, Lief smelt something, too. A faint, sickening odor of decay was stealing through the clearing.

His stomach turned over. He tied the strings of the cloak, grasped the branch with both hands, and managed to pull himself up. He clung to the rough bark, panting and shaking, afraid that even now he might fall.

Jasmine and Barda had reached the tree now, the bird still swooping above them. “Higher!” Jasmine shouted to Lief. “As high as you can. It cannot climb, but it will try to claw us down.”

Lief gritted his teeth, lifted his arms, and hauled himself to a higher branch. He heard Barda grunting with effort as he struggled to climb after him. The evil smell was stronger now. And there was a sound — a heavy, stealthy sliding, the snapping of twigs, the rustling of leaves and the cracking of branches as something moved towards the clearing.

“Make haste!” Jasmine had leapt up beside Lief. The tiny creature she called Filli was chattering on her shoulder, its eyes wide with fear.

“Barda —” Lief managed to say.

“He knows what he must do. You can help him only by moving out of his way!” the girl snapped. “Climb, you fool! Do you not understand? The sun has set. The Wennbar is —”

Filli screamed, the black bird screeched. The bushes on the other side of the clearing thrashed and bent. The air thickened with a smell so vile that Lief choked and gagged. Then a huge, hideous creature, like nothing he had ever seen, crawled into view.

Four stubby legs bent under the weight of a swollen body that was as round, blotched, and bloated as some gigantic rotten fruit. Vast, flat feet crushed the twigs beneath them to powder. Folds of wrinkled, green-grey flesh hung from the neck. The head was nothing but two tiny eyes set above long, wicked jaws. The jaws gaped open, showing rows of dripping black teeth and releasing gusts of foul air with every breath.

Choking back a cry of disgust and terror, Lief scrambled higher into the tree, forcing his trembling legs and arms to obey his will. One branch. Then another. And another.

A terrible growl sounded in the clearing. He looked down. Barda and Jasmine were just below him, and they, too, were looking down. The Wennbar had reached the fern bed. It was snapping its jaws together, jerking its head from side to side, growling with anger at finding its prize gone.

We are safe! thought Lief, his heart pounding. Safe! It cannot reach us up here. He closed his eyes, almost dizzy with relief.

“Lief!” shrieked Jasmine.

And Lief opened his eyes just in time to see the Wennbar rear up, its front legs clawing at the air, its pale grey belly gleaming through the dimness. The creature roared, and the folds of skin hanging from its neck disappeared as the neck swelled and grew, raising its head higher, higher …

And then it was leaping forward, hurling itself at the tree, its jaws snapping, its tiny eyes burning with rage and hunger.

Terror drove Lief upwards. Afterwards, he could not remember climbing for his life while the Wennbar’s huge body crashed against the trunk of the tree and its cruel jaws snapped at his heels. He had not had time to draw his sword. He had had no time for anything but escape.

When he came to himself he was clinging to a high branch, with Jasmine and Barda beside him. The Wennbar’s foul breath filled the air. Its roars filled their ears.

They were at last too high for it to reach them, even with its neck fully extended. But it was not giving up. It was dashing itself against the tree, raking the bark with its claws, trying to make them fall.

It was still not completely dark, but it was growing very cold. Lief’s cloak kept his body warm but his hands, clinging to the tree, were numb. Beside him, Barda was shivering violently, and his teeth were chattering.

If this goes on, he will fall, Lief thought. He drew as near as he could to Barda and Jasmine. With cold, clumsy fingers he gathered up his cloak and threw it around them so that they could share its warmth.

For a moment they huddled together. And then, Lief realized that something had changed.

The beast had stopped beating itself against the tree. The roars had given way to a low, rumbling growl. Lief felt a movement and realized that Jasmine was peeping through the folds of the cloak to see what was happening.

“It is moving away,” she breathed in wonder. “It is as though it cannot see us any longer, and thinks we have somehow escaped. But why?”

“The cloak,” whispered Barda feebly. “The cloak — must be hiding us.”

Lief’s heart leapt as he remembered what his mother had said when she gave him the cloak. This, too, will protect you wherever you go … The fabric is — special.

Just how special?

He heard Jasmine draw a sharp breath. “What is it?” he hissed.

“The Wenn are coming,” she said. “I see their eyes. They have heard the roaring cease. They think that the Wennbar has finished with you. They have come for the scraps that remain.”

Lief shuddered. Carefully he moved the cloak aside and peered down to the clearing.

Red eyes were glowing in the bushes, near to where the Wennbar prowled. The creature lifted its head, glared, and gave a loud, sharp barking call. It sounded like an order of some kind.

The bushes rustled. The Wennbar called again, even more loudly. And finally two pale, bent shapes crept, quivering, into the clearing to kneel before it.