Before I begin . . . I have not vanished off the face of the Earth! What happened is that my mom signed me up for swimming classes—pre-competition, to be exact. IT. IS. EXHAUSTING. It's a ten-day class (goes for two weeks but they give you the weekend off), and this week I haven't been able to get on at ALL. The first day, I was way too tired. The rest of the days my mom said I shouldn't go on the computer. -.- Anyway, I got on today!

Most importantly . . . Sorry for the long wait! D8 (Rest of A/N is at the bottom!)


Chapter One


Sharn

Plans within plans, hidden beneath even more plans. . . . The Four Sisters failed, so then surely the Shadow Lord will have some other dark plot waiting to spring upon us like a trap around the hunter's prey.

Sharn knew she should not have been thinking such thoughts.

. . . But after the peril she had seen her land survive, who would not be wary? Who would not suspect every stranger, beware every shadow, and sleep only to encounter dark nightmares? Sharn also knew she was far from alone—there were many citizens of Del who had barely lived through the terror of the Shadow Lord's tyranny, and those who did were, like she was, plagued with newfound wariness . . . and fear.

Thunder rumbled outside, throwing a sheet of rain against Sharn's window with renewed fury. For once, it was a natural occurrence and not summoned by the Shadow Lord's means of sorcery, which was welcomed by all. But Sharn knew that with the storm came fewer trading ships, which Deltora would need if they wished to survive the winter with no crops of our own.

Will Deltora have to suffer the Shadow Lord's plans and terror again in the future? Must we remain wary and suspicious and ready to fight darkness at a moment's notice?

She did not doubt the fact that Deltora would survive. No one, no beast, no sorcerer in their right mind would challenge the dragons that guarded their borders. No one would dare try to prevail over their magic. No one would, in simpler words, try to conquer Deltora.

. . . Or, no one except the Shadow Lord.

"Sharn?"

The quiet voice was almost lost in the loud crash of thunder outside. Sharn glanced towards the door, glimpsing a small shaft of light from the hall creep into the room. "Sharn?" the voice repeated, more loudly. Sharn smiled. She knew only a handful of people who would call her simply "Sharn," with no other irksome royal titles adorning it. And only one had a voice so quiet and tentative.

"Yes, Tira?"

Tira peered in, her face thrown into shadows by the wavering candle she held. "There is a meeting being held in the library. You were asked to attend."

Sharn nodded, even though the gesture was probably lost in the darkness of the room and the ruckus of the storm. "I will be there. Thank you, Tira."

Tira bowed slightly with a "You are most welcome, Sharn," before leaving, closing the door silently behind her.

Sharn turned back to the window and frowned. A meeting late at night, in the middle of the loudest thunderstorm she had ever heard, held in the most private part of the palace?

By the stars, do not let this be another invasion.


Jasmine

"A meeting? What for?"

In the semidarkness, Jasmine saw Lief shake his head. "I cannot tell you here; we could be overheard. Be present and you will know in time."

She scowled, knowing full well that Lief knew how much that sort of statement would irritate her. "Very well. But do not be surprised if I am late."

Lief laughed. "I would expect it. Come as soon as you can, Jasmine." She nodded and he stepped back into the hall, shutting the door as he went.

Jasmine sighed slightly, falling back onto her bed and staring up at the dark-hidden ceiling. "A meeting, hm? What do you two think?"

Kree cawed loudly. Didn't we—you, they, I couldn't care less—agree that the greater threat is over?

Jasmine shrugged. "Yes. . . . I believe."

Filli chittered irritably. Well, who knows? Perhaps some of us have finally taken leave of our senses after all that's happened. He motioned pointedly at the door with a tiny paw.

At that, Jasmine snorted and batted lightly at Filli's accusing paw. "Filli, that is not entirely unreasonable but still rather ridiculous. And besides, I think all of Del would notice if their king was 'taking leave of his senses.'"

Filli only blinked up at her. I don't speak without reason. Usually.

Kree squawked indignantly. Yes, like when you tried to convince me Jasmine was actually Thaegan in disguise? I still can't fathom why—

I was in shock and confused! Haven't you had more than your share of laughing in my face for long enough? I was only recently acquainted with Jas here and I still didn't know if I should trust her or not! And then you mentioned that vile sorceress and I thought—

The "Jas" in question rolled her eyes. "I thought we were done with this!"

Both of them turned and glared at her pointedly for interrupting their very important argument.

Jasmine laughed and sat up, pulling on her boots. "Well, debate in peace then. I am leaving." She stood and started towards the door, draping a cloak over herself.

When will you return? asked Kree, ever cautious.

. . . Especially after he had been drugged and tracked by Paff.

She shook the thought out of her head.

"Do not worry yourselves. I think I will be back within the next hour or so, depending on the meeting. We will be in the library."

Filli offered one last piece of advice: Don't let yourself get poisoned or the like!

Kree glared at him, and Jasmine laughed before shutting her door.


The library was the one place one could trust to be empty in the entirety of the Del palace. And at such a late time, it was almost a guarantee.

"Jasmine? Is that you?"

Jasmine turned and found Sharn behind her down the corridor, walking swiftly and quite silently even to her hearing. "Yes, Sharn. You are attending as well?"

"Of course." Sharn gave the girl an amused expression. "After all, they cannot discuss anything of importance without the presence of the great Lady Sharn."

Jasmine laughed and they continued on towards the library.

"So, how have you been faring? I hope that you are finding it well, even though I know palace life is not exactly what you had wished for and that you would probably prefer to live in the Forests again."

That is not exactly true . . . , thought Jasmine.

"Quite well, considering," she replied. "I am just grateful that I do not have to be contained here all the time and that I do not have to worry about avoiding Silence Spiders and the like. And it is pleasant not to have to rely upon using what I can find, mostly from Grey Guards approaching death."

Sharn chuckled. "I suppose so. What do you assume this meeting is about?"

Jasmine thought for a moment before shrugging. "Truly? I have not the slightest idea. But, to hazard a guess . . . perhaps to discuss smaller dangers that threaten Deltora or any of the major cities and towns."

"That does sound likely, only we have discussed that many times already." Sharn's voice was starting to take on a concerned tone. No. She is suspicious. And fearful.

Of what?

Jasmine masked her own confusion and nodded. "Which is why that is only a guess."

They stopped in front of the library doors. Newly repaired, the slabs of gold glittered in the faint torchlight and the occasional burst of brightness from the thunder outside. A metalsmith of the Jalis tribe—a talented one, Jasmine had heard—had repaired the doors so that they were covered in curving, swooping arcs that seemed like a complex pattern from a distance but, as one approached it, swirled into the shapes of Deltora's beasts.

When she and Lief had first seen them, they had smiled at the representations.

Sharn walked up to the doors and knocked softly. Marilen's voice answered from within: "Veritas?"

Sharn and Jasmine exchanged a glance. "There is a password to get in?" whispered Jasmine. Sharn's eyes narrowed. "Apparently so."

Veritas . . . Is that not the amethyst dragon? Jasmine wondered. Well. Any attempt is better than despair.

"Dragon of the Amethyst tribe," she said clearly.

"Wrong."

Jasmine scowled. Since when did Lief become so . . . secretive?

Another voice answered: Perhaps he learned a few things from Doom.

She pushed that notion away and thought again. Amethyst. Amethyst. Amethyst. . . . In the Belt, does the amethyst not come last? Perhaps it is "Deltora" backwards, but the dragons' true names? Jasmine glanced at Sharn, who was also thinking. It sounds like something Doom would think of.

Jasmine scowled again. That notion was all too likely.

She ran the names through her mind before giving voice to them:

"Veritas, Joyeu, Hopian, Fidelis, Fortuna, Honora, Forta."

"Correct. Well done, Jasmine!" Slowly and silently the doors swung open to reveal Marilen, bright-faced and quite awake for the ungodly hour. "I truly did not expect anyone to answer that correctly, but Doom forced me to, saying it was for the 'safety of the kingdom.'" She laughed. "Well, come in! You were the only ones we were waiting on."

Marilen led Jasmine and Sharn to a more secluded corner of the library, near the librarian's living quarters. There, seated around a table, were Lief, Barda, Doom, and Zeean. As Jasmine and Sharn found seats, Jasmine realized it was a rather small group . . . the group of people Lief trusted most, without all the advisers and elders he usually had to converse with.

"First of all"—Jasmine blinked, realizing that Lief was speaking—"I would like to thank you all for attending despite the rather late time. But I could find no other way to avoid those I still did not trust and confer in privacy and relative peace."

A clap of thunder sounded, illuminating the library briefly, the lightning-light making everything strange and sharp. Jasmine shuddered, despite herself. Storms viewed from the Forests had never been so . . . dramatic.

"My idea," Doom muttered gruffly, nodding at the window. "No one can hear us in this din. Although we did wonder about those who would have been woken by the thunder, so I told Lief to have some kind of password."

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "I knew it was you," she sighed. Doom spared his daughter an amused look before Lief started to speak again.

"I called you all together because I . . ." Lief faltered, then began again. "Yesterday, I received a message. . . . From the Shadow Lord."

Various reactions were shown around the table, but it went quite like so . . .

Doom, of course, remained neutral as always. Sharn simply looked shocked and paled, visible even in the dark. Barda cursed under his breath, which was not a rare occurrence but what he said was quite unspeakable in the palace. Zeean fainted briefly before coming back to her senses—in her ever-increasing age, she was becoming more and more frail, Toran magic or not.

Jasmine could not bring herself to react. She was not surprised or stunned at all, which surprised and stunned her all the more.

I suppose this I retained from my father. . . .

"How?" gasped Zeean faintly, her face even whiter than Sharn's. "How?"

"I do not know how, and nor do I wish to," replied Lief, forced calm edging his voice. "I was signing various documents"—he made a face—"and then, as I looked away from the papers, another one appeared on top of the others. It caught my attention immediately as the paper was dark grey and the lettering white—and the Shadow Lord's symbol was at the top, in blood red."

He paused, letting the group take that in.

"Well, what did it say? I, for one, would like to know that the land isn't in peril again," said Barda gruffly.

For a long time, the only sounds were thunder and rain. Impatient, Jasmine folded her arms and sighed. "You could just show us," she said frankly.

The suggestion seemed to take Lief aback, as if that was even worse than the message itself. "No one would be able to read it in this dim light," he muttered at last.

Jasmine raised an eyebrow and soft noises of confusion flashed across the table. "What are you trying to hide, Lief?"

He looked away. "Nothing."

"Really? Then show us," Jasmine snapped. After the secret plan he and Doom had thought up to use in the underground sea and the Shadowlands, she was done with anything else kept from her. Especially if it was Lief who was the one keeping it.

"I—" Lief cut himself off. "Very well. But I warn you . . . One of my advisers saw through the paper, even though it was in plain view. I tried showing it to another adviser, but he also could not seem to see it."

Heavy silence filled the room.

Somehow, Jasmine sensed Lief was telling the truth. . . . But somehow, she sensed it not the whole truth. There had to be more, but she was not about to pester him for it. Something in Jasmine's mind told her that she had, through their journeys, given him more than his fair share of pestering.

"And so it would be even harder to see it in such light," murmured Sharn eventually, her soft voice easing into the silence. "Very well, Lief. I think we will individually try to see it for ourselves, yes?"

The rest of the group nodded.

"Then I think we are done here. We should return to our rest—after all, tomorrow is the night of the Dragon Night and we must make sure everything is in order," said Doom curtly. In a louder voice he added, "Marilen, we are leaving now!"

Marilen hurried towards them from her living quarters as they rose from their seats. "Good night then, Lief, Sharn, Zeean, Jasmine, Doom," she said softly, curtsying quickly. Jasmine rolled her eyes, forgetting that no one would be able to see it in the gloom. "Marilen, you are our friend and you do not have to follow palace protocol!"

Marilen laughed. "As you say, then." The group nodded at her in thanks before starting for the doors. Jasmine was halfway there when someone caught her arm.

She turned and saw it was Lief.

"What is it?" she asked quietly.

"The message . . ." He trailed off again. Jasmine frowned slightly. It was not like Lief at all to fall silent so many times while he was speaking. And she had noticed he seemed extremely nervous during the meeting.

"I would like to see if you are able to see it," said Lief quietly, surprising her.

Jasmine blinked. ". . . All right, then."

Lief led her to a room she had only seen once and never cared to enter—a room where officials came and went with the dullest, most boring business that the king had to attend to. The curtains were drawn, blocking whatever light the lightning storm had to offer, but there was a candle burning brightly on the large polished desk that reflected the light.

"Where is it?" asked Jasmine, scanning the room. Lief motioned towards the table. "It is the only thing I left on it."

To her dismay, she could only see the grain of polished wood.

"I—I'm sorry," whispered Jasmine, feeling disappointment fall onto her shoulders. Slowly, she backed out of the room, feeling like a trespasser. She had hoped that, perhaps through her—

She froze. My what? What, exactly? Mentally Jasmine shook herself and pushed the thought away.

"I think I will return to my rest now," she said rather shakily. "Good night, Lief." Jasmine left the room hastily and ran back to her own chambers, only to have to endure the torments of her mind.

To say that she did not sleep well was an understatement.


Forta

"Veritas, why must we go to Del?"

Veritas snorted purple fire, her amethyst eyes amused. "We must because it is the first true celebration of this year's Dragon Night! The king has asked us especially to soar the skies of Del to raise the spirits of his people. Surely we cannot deny such a request."

Forta sighed, careful not to ignite her own internal fire and send the cave awash in crystal flames. "But I do not like Del."

Veritas eyed me. "Do any of us dragons like that city?" She flicked her tail and her gaze half-closed, her eyes dark. "No. But, as Honora would say, it is something we simply cannot avoid for our own desires. It is too important. . . . And, Forta, I never lie."

"I know that. It is just that . . . I just . . . I . . ." Forta stopped herself, not wanting to say what truly troubled her.

That I am not a true Diamond dragon. That I do not know what a true Diamond dragon is like. That I am seen as some kind of last hope, but I do not feel like it . . .

"Forta?" Veritas regarded her curiously. "Remember, you can tell me anything. It is the nature of Amethyst dragons to think deeply and consider wisely. I know you are always seeking advice."

The dragonling sighed again, and this time her diamond fire burst out of her maw. "It is exactly that! I do not know how Diamond dragons behave. Am I supposed to challenge Fortuna to a fight at every chance, like she says my mother did? Or am I supposed to just—"

"Forta! Listen to me." She looked up slowly and met Veritas's clear-dusk eyes. "I knew your mother well, and I know she did not 'challenge Fortuna at every chance.'" Veritas snorted, this time in disdain. "Fortuna, sadly, has the fire in her blood to gamble. Thus she chose to do so with you, but what she did not consider is that, by challenging you, she challenges me.

"As for the behavior of Diamond dragons . . . Well, you already behave like one." Veritas grinned at Forta's surprise. "Yes! For one, you are very loyal and generous to me. Which was one trait of your mother's. You are also rather superstitious, which I know Diamond dragons tend to be. And you, despite your youthful small size, are strong even by dragon standards."

Forta blinked at the sudden praise, unfolding her wings slightly to retain her balance as she tilted from side to side in shock. . . . And, of course, vast relief. She had worried over this question ever since she had hatched, often resulting in sleeplessness and rather like what Veritas called depression.

"I observed you for a long time, Forta, and your mother for even longer," said Veritas, smiling slightly. "I have always been curious and observant, even for an Amethyst dragon. Trust me in this." Then she leaped through the opening of their dwelling-cave and roared as she flapped into the night, her flame lighting up the darkness. "Well? We ought to depart if we are to visit the Os-Mine Hills before arriving at Del!"

Forta lifted her wings and roared, rejoicing as she saw that her fire matched Veritas's in intensity and brightness. The Diamond dragon flew into the sky with her Amythest guardian.

Forta roared again, joy lacing through her cry. "To the Os-Mine Hills!"

The stars glittered above like the scales of a Diamond dragon.


Yay! Chapter the first, done—finally! 8D I spent a long time on this, pretty much going OCD. XP Longest chapter I've ever written.

This story will be updated slowly. I just wanted to warn everyone. . . . I want to focus on The First Four until I finish it and then I'll focus on this story. This (Chapter One) and the second chapter (coming soon! I'm not as cruel as to leave you guys with just one chapter XP) will stay up for a long time; I'll probably update whenever I hit writer's block(s) for The First Four. :3

My explanation for why the dragons sound so human: For one, this is fanfiction. XD That's my main reason. But the thing is, I don't like writing dragons as wise, beyond-human-understanding, utterly, incomprehensibly powerful/wise/whatever beings. It just doesn't go well with me. And know this: Next chappie will definitely bring that out. Dragons like to communicate and joke around, too!

Anyway . . . Disclaimer, I'm not Emily Rodda/Jennifer Rowe and I wouldn't dare to claim to be! (For one, she's way better at writing than I am XD) Hear that, Scholastic? Not Emily Rodda.

Tell me what you think! Was it good? Did I rush? (Which I think I might've done . . .) Review! Please! :D