Lief looked over his shoulder in turn and saw that the grubs had disappeared from sight. But the area around the patch of rubble was pitted with holes. The beasts were tunnelling towards them.
The companions reached the boat and Lief and Jasmine hauled it down to the waterline. All around them the wet mud was beginning to bubble as grubs came to the surface.
‘In! In!’ shrieked Jasmine, pushing at Barda feverishly. He tumbled into the boat and lay there mumbling and groaning as his companions splashed into the muddy water, hauling the boat behind them.
In seconds, pale heads began emerging from the sand. But Lief and Jasmine were already scrambling into their craft and taking up the paddles. They were paddling furiously away, into ever deeper water.
Only when they had crossed the band of bright seaweed that ringed the island did they look back. The shore they had left behind them was squirming with grubs and veiled in a thick yellow haze. And in the background were the shapes of the lumpy, twisted cones, pale against the dim sky.
A very different sky, sunny, and blue as forget-me-nots, was visible through the window of the palace bed chamber where Jinks the acrobat lay.
But Jinks was not interested in the view. He was interested only in the delicious broth being fed to him by Sharn, and in telling the story of his heroic but vain efforts to save Lief from death.
‘Of course I would never have left him, had I not seen him die. I would willingly have laid down my own life for my king!’ he wailed, rolling his eyes. ‘And for his friend, poor brave Barda, too, though Barda was often thoughtlessly cruel to me, rest his soul.’
His freshly-bathed hands clutched the sheet of the soft bed to which he had been carried. His eyelids fluttered as he opened his mouth to receive the spoonful of broth that Sharn was holding out to him. He swallowed, sighed and opened his mouth again.
Sharn forced back the tears that were burning behind her eyes. She tried to concentrate on Doom’s last words to her, before he set off for the Os-Mine Hills with the giant woman Lindal of Broome.
‘I know Jinks of old, Sharn,’ Doom had said, pressing her hand. ‘He will say and do anything that serves his purpose. Parts of his story are true, no doubt, but not all. Lief may be in danger, but he still lives, I am certain of it. We will find him, never fear.’
Sharn gave Jinks the last spoonful of broth, and shook her head slightly. She wished she could share Doom’s certainty.
No doubt Doom believes Lief is alive because the Shadow Lord has not invaded Deltora, Sharn thought. But even the Shadow Lord is not all-knowing. His spies have told him that Lief and the Belt are safe in Tora, and he believes it. His attention is not focused on us. For now. But that could change at any time. Any time …
She put aside the empty bowl. When she turned back to the bed, she saw that her patient’s eyes were closed, and that he was breathing slowly and evenly. Jinks had fallen asleep, it seemed.
Sharn shut her own eyes. Her head was throbbing.
She knew she should get up and go downstairs. There was so much to do. There were still crowds of people in the entrance hall. And by now Marilen would be waiting in her room for her midday meal. Her tray would have to be fetched from the kitchen. Then the poor girl would have to be told, as gently as possible, of the news Jinks had brought. Sharn dreaded the very thought of that.
I will stay here and rest, just for a little while, she said to herself.
Jinks opened his eyes a crack. He peered out from under his eyelashes and saw Sharn still sitting quietly beside him, her head bowed. He almost cursed aloud in annoyance.
What was the woman doing, just sitting there? Did she have no work to do? He had expected her to creep out of the room as soon as she thought he was asleep. Not go to sleep herself!
He considered groaning to disturb her, then decided it would be unwise to do this immediately. After all, he had just pretended to fall peacefully asleep.
Be patient, Jinks, my boy, he told himself. You do not want to make her suspicious, do you? Wake her later if you need to, but for now keep your eyes shut and your mouth closed. And while you are doing that, you can use that mighty brain of yours to make your plan perfect.
6 - Dread
Every nerve in Lief’s body was telling him that all was not well in Del. Paddling in the dimming light, with Jasmine beside him, the spiders mercifully sleeping in their cages at the bottom of the boat, and Barda resting in the stern, he had tried to relax. But the feeling of dread had been growing for the past hour. It was impossible to ignore.
He had tried telling himself that it was caused by the gloom through which the little boat was moving. Where once there had been shimmering rainbows, now there was only sullen dullness.
But he knew that this was not the whole answer. The words ‘Danger’ and ‘Del’ kept stealing into his mind hand in hand, tormenting him.
‘I do not like this,’ muttered Barda, breaking the long silence. ‘I fear the Aurons have sensed us, and have dimmed the light so as to be able to take us unawares.’
Lief made no reply.
Jasmine turned to look at him. ‘You are plainly not with us, Lief,’ she said coldly. ‘Could you not speak of what is on your mind, for once?’
Lief sighed. ‘I keep feeling there is trouble in Del,’ he said, giving in to the temptation to voice his thoughts. ‘I would give much to be able to tell Mother and Doom and—and others in the palace who may be worrying—where we are.’
‘It is a little late to think of that,’ snapped Jasmine. She knew only too well who Lief meant by ‘others’. He meant the girl he was to marry. The girl he had chosen from ‘one of the best Toran families’, as Jinks had put it, to be his queen.
How can he think I do not know of her? she thought resentfully. Everyone is gossiping of the marriage plans, according to Jinks.
Then she realised, with a start, that Lief had said ‘others in the palace’. So his bride-to-be was already in Del! Lief had brought her with him when he returned from Tora.
Then he left her almost at once, to pursue me, Jasmine thought. And he has not returned. How she must hate me for that. And Sharn and Doom must hate me, too, for delaying the marriage that was to give Deltora an heir, make it safe.
For the first time she faced the fact that her hasty rush to the Os-Mine Hills might have disastrous results for her country.
Because of me, Lief is in danger, she thought. And that means that Deltora is in terrible danger too. I have my reasons for trying to reach the Shadowlands. The best of reasons! A little sister I never knew I had. A sister who is depending on me to save her. But I did not intend others to suffer by my actions.
Guilt pierced her heart. And the guilt made her angry.
‘I did not ask you and Barda to come rushing after me, Lief!’ she said harshly. ‘If you had not, I would be dead, certainly. But Deltora would have been safe. And your … your friends … would have had no need to fear.’
Lief frowned. To him, Jasmine’s anger seemed quite unreasonable. Why should she flare up like this, when all he had said was that he wished he could send a message home?
‘Surely I have told you often enough, Jasmine, that, far from blaming you for anything, I am grateful to you!’ he exclaimed. ‘If we had not followed you we would never have found the Pirran Islands.’
Receiving no reply, he grew even more irritated. ‘As soon as you told me that the Shadowlands prisoners were in danger I agreed to move on at once, did I not? Without returning to Del to get help? What more could you ask of me?’
Jasmine sniffed.
‘When you two have finished sniping at one another,’ growled Barda from the stern, ‘you may care to look at what is ahead.’
Lief’s stomach tightened as he obeyed. A large, low, spreading shape was slowly becoming visible through the dimness. It was very close. They had come upon it all unknowing.