Diminished Guardian
A/N Ok, ok. Here is another chapter. Finally, you say? Yes. It had better be good? I hope so…
Any way please give me your constructive criticism and enjoy. and sorry for the delay I have caused readers, but I really was stuck.
For the rest of the day Lief spent his time locked in his room. He had discovered in the little time he had not worn the belt the dark blemish, had rapidly turned into the size of a dinner plate. Now that it was back on the process was slower. He had discovered that this was no mere ink, left over from Barda's prank. It was more serious. Lief remembered a quote from the Deltora Annals "a thousand years is like the blink of an eye." yet it had only been nine months since their last quest. How much longer until his whole body was covered in the curse. He couldn't tell Jasmine. It was already miracle that she hadn't discovered it while he was pulled from the depths of the spring.
The belt was his only weapon; it was the only thing that stopped it from consuming his body.
Lief had to stop it and fast. The only person he thought he could trust was Doom. The scarred father of Jasmine. He would understand that his daughter must not know. Not now, not so close to his approaching wedding day.
I will discover what's wrong with me and set it right! He thought fiercely. "Before the wedding, I will not disappoint her." Whispering to himself and making a promise
Lief rolled the parchment up and tied it to Ebony the black bird's leg. Doom was away on business studying dragons, to see if they could breed without a mate. He promised to return for the wedding, as celebrations in Deltora were days to remember. He needed to talk to Barda.
Lief sat down on a stool, head in his hand.
Body wrapped in the thickest clothing he could find, despite the lingering summer weather.
He felt a tingling at the back of his neck and shivered pulling the red scarf further up his neck. Come-on, come-on. He whispered to himself. Where was Barda? He glanced at his watch and realized it had stopped.
He heard the door slam. "Finally!" he shouted at the ceiling, causing Marilen to shush him. However it was not Barda it was a small skimpy light brown-haired boy, looking very sheepish and scared by Lief's sudden outburst. "What do you want?" he muttered.
" Lady Jasmine," he twitched slightly as he said this. Most did not approve of Jasmine's presence in the palace. "Is looking for you!" he blurted out bowing very low to the ground. He saw Lief raise his eyebrow, "S-sire" he added hastily.
"Tell my fair lady, that I am extremely busy and whatever the problem will have to wait." He said rather snappily than he had intended. The Boy bowed even lower, clearly afraid that one mistake would cause Lief to have him executed. Lief sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm just rather tense at the moment. What is your name child?" Lief chuckled to him, quite aware that he was merely nineteen. The Boy stammered, the King did not speak to his inferiors as equals usually, let alone ask their name. "Aaron." He muttered, his face going a shade of scarlet. Lief nodded. Aaron's eyes darted between Lief and the door. He got the hint. "You can go." He said returning to his head held in hand position.
Fifteen minutes later the door was thrown open again. Nevertheless, Lief did not look up. " This better be good Lief!" growled a Familiar Voice. It was Barda. "Here-way hall-say I tart-say?" said Lief speaking in Pig Latin a code between him and Barda. All you had to do really was take the first letter of a word and put it at the end adding 'a-y' to it. It was quite simple really and effective. "Rom-fay he-tay eginning-bay." Said Barda, catching on.
It was difficult but Lief told Barda of his dilemmas, not failing to reveal it to anyone else. His story took longer than excepted as he kept having too repeat whole sentences. "So you think it is the Shadowlord's doing?" said Barda dropping the pig Latin. "I'm not sure." He said trailing off. "Look come with Me." he dragged Barda to his Bedroom, slightly gladdened that it was empty. He bolted the door much to Barda's dislike. Lief tore his shirt off revealing the horrible black mark on his back.
To his surprise, Barda had no reaction at all. Except for a silent, curse.
