Deltora Quest #5: Dread Mountain by Emily Rodda Read Free Book Online Page A

the little Kin’s chest. The last golden drops of the nectar of the Lilies of Life fell into the wound. Three drops — no more.
    “If this is not enough, there is nothing more we can do,” Jasmine muttered, shaking the jar to show that it was empty. She ground her teeth in anger. “Oh, what did they suppose they would gain, shooting at her? They knew she must fall down here, where they could not get to her. Do they kill just for enjoyment?”
    “It seems they do,” said Barda. “Did you not hear them laughing?”
    Lief cradled Prin’s head in his arms, calling her back to life as once he had called Barda in the Forests of Silence. As Jasmine had called Kree on the way to the Lake of Tears. As Lief himself had been called in the City of the Rats. The nectar that Jasmine had caught as it dripped from the blooming Lilies of Life so long ago had saved three lives. Would it save another?
    Prin stirred. Lief held his breath as the small wound on her chest began to close up and disappear. Her eyes opened. She blinked, looking up at Lief in surprise.
    “Did I fall?” she asked.
    “Prin, what are you doing here?” thundered Lief.
    He saw her shrink back and cursed himself, realizing that he had fallen into the trap of letting fear and relief make him angry. Barda had done this not so long ago, in the Shifting Sands, and Lief had resolved that he would never do the same. So much for resolutions, he thought grimly.
    “I am sorry, Prin,” he said in a gentler voice. “I did not mean to shout. But we have been so afraid for you. Have you flown all this way alone?”
    Prin nodded, still eyeing him warily. “I followed you,” she said. “I could not bear to miss my only chance to see the Mountain.”
    She looked around the clearing, drinking in the sight. Her voice was growing stronger by the moment. “I slept near you at Kinrest, and you never knew,” she went on gleefully. “But today the others flew so fast that I fell behind. I was so, so tired. And then the clouds came, and I was lost. Then —”
    Her eyes widened in sudden terror. She clutched at her chest. Then she looked down and gasped as she saw that there was no wound to be seen.
    “I thought I was hurt,” she whispered. “But — it must have been a dream.”
    The companions glanced at one another. “It was no dream,” said Lief gently. “You were wounded. But we had — a potion that made you well again.”
    “You should not have come, Prin,” growled Barda. “What would your tribe do if they lost you, their only young one?”
    “I knew I would not be lost,” said Prin confidently. She clambered to her feet and looked around. “Where is Ailsa?” she asked, bouncing up and down. “And Merin, and Bruna? They will be very surprised to see me! They did not think I could fly so far.”
    Without waiting for an answer she jumped across the stream and began thrashing around in the trees on the other side, calling.
    “She does not realize they have gone,” Barda muttered to Lief and Jasmine. “No doubt she expected to return home with them. She will never find her way back alone. Whatever are we to do with her?”
    “She will have to come with us,” Jasmine said calmly.
    “But it is too dangerous!” Lief exclaimed.
    Jasmine shrugged. “She chose to come here. She must put up with what happens as a result. The Kin spoil her, and treat her as a baby. But she is not a baby. She is young, but not helpless. She can be useful to us.”
    She nodded over to where Prin was dancing in the stream, breaking off cones and leaves from the overhanging Boolong trees and eating ravenously. Already the little Kin had cleared a broad space among the prickles.
    “You see? She can help us make a path,” Jasmine said. “If we follow the stream —”
    “It is out of the question,” Barda broke in firmly. “I refuse to be burdened by another wilful child who has more energy than sense. Two are quite enough!”
    Lief did not take offense at the grim joke as