Deltora Quest #1: The Forests of Silence by Emily Rodda Read Free Book Online Page A

between two branches and looked around him.
    He was alone. The rope had been tied securely around the tree’s trunk, but there was no sign of whoever had thrown it over the wall.
    The Guards had still not come back into view, but Lief could hear them nearby, arguing as they searched for whatever had made the sound they had heard. He was fairly certain that they would find nothing. He was sure that the person who had thrown the rope had also hurled a stone to distract them. That was what he himself would have done if he had been trying to save a friend.
    A friend? Lief bit his lip as he swiftly pulled the rope up after him. As far as he knew, all his friends were safely in their homes. Who could have known that he was in trouble?
    He puzzled about it for a moment, then shook his head. This is not important now, he told himself. The important thing is to reach home before anything else happens.
    He untied the rope, coiled it, and slung it over his shoulder. Ropes such as these were valuable.
    He climbed silently to the ground and strained his eyes to see through the darkness. Slowly he recognized the shape nearest to him. It was an old potter’s wheel, broken and lying on its side in the grass.
    With a chill he realized that he was in the backyard of what had been the city’s biggest pottery. A thousand times he had walked past its burned-out shell, its gaping front windows, and its door branded with the Shadow Lord’s sign.

    The brand meant that the Shadow Lord’s hand had been laid upon the pottery. Now it was a dead place, never again to be used, or even entered. There were many such buildings, and many such signs, in this part of the city. A group here had tried to resist the Shadow Lord. They had plotted to overthrow him. But he had found out, as he found out all such secrets.
    Lief threaded his way through the huge piles of smashed pots, overgrown with weeds. He passed the two great ovens where the pots had been baked, now just ruined heaps of bricks. He nearly tripped on something buried in the grass — a child’s wooden horse, crushed under the foot of a Grey Guard long ago.
    By the time he reached the front of the building he was trembling and breathing hard. Not with fear now, but with a sudden, terrible anger.
    Why should his people suffer this? Why should he have to creep around in his own city like a criminal, in fear of branding, imprisonment, or death?
    He moved out onto the deserted road and looked up at the palace on the hill, sick with loathing. For as long as he could remember the palace had been the headquarters of the Shadow Lord. Before that, his friends had told him, the king of Deltora had lived there, in luxury, and the palace was almost hidden by a pale, shimmering mist. But when the Shadow Lord came, the mist completely disappeared. Now the palace could be seen clearly.
    Though Lief’s parents had made him study the history of Deltora from its earliest days, they had told him little of the time just before he was born. They seemed to fear speaking of it. They said the Shadow Lord had spies everywhere, and it was best to keep silence. But Lief’s friends were not afraid, and they had told him a great deal.
    They had told him that the last king, like the rulers before him, had cared nothing for the people, and done nothing to serve them. King Endon’s only task had been to guard the magic Belt of Deltora. But he had been weak, lazy, and careless. He had allowed the Belt to be stolen. He had opened the way to the Shadow Lord.
    The king was dead, Lief’s friends said. And a good thing, too, Lief thought savagely, as again he hurried for home. The king deserved to die for the suffering he had brought to his people.
    He reached the fields and began to run, crouching low, hiding himself in the long grass. A few minutes more and he would be safe. Already he could see the lights of home winking dimly in the distance.
    He knew he would be in trouble for being so late and that there would be questions