Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
WARNING: Another evil chapter. This chapter is a fair bit darker than early chapters. Some of its content is not suitable for those with weak stomachs.
DAYS OF DARKNESS
Chapter 9: Jade
As Lief was heading towards the palace, he spotted a carriage sprawled in the centre of the road. Realising that it was the carriage Barda had been driving, Lief ran up to see what was the matter.
He immediately wished he hadn't after what he saw. Barda was nowhere to be seen, and the horses…Honey and Bella…they…they…He couldn't cope with it. He ran over to the bushes that lined the road and started vomiting uncontrollably.
The horses had been decapitated. The horses who had been their friends for so long…dead. He could not cope. Their bodies were slumped in the middle of the road, headless. Their heads lay some five metres off, flies already swarming around the eyes and severed neck.
Finally unable to vomit any more, Lief got to his feet and started to head up the road. Barda was nowhere to be seen, unless…there was a person slumped in a little further on. Lief, dreading what he may see, went up to the person. He could tell by what remained of the burnt clothing that it was a girl. About a head shorter than Lief – at least she still had her head, but it looked as though her hair had been burnt off. Lief went up, and slowly turned her over. He felt the vomit coming back when he saw the sight that had met Barda's eyes just a little while ago. However, since then the maggots had trebled in number, and flies now joined them.
Lief jumped up from the body and ran to the carriage and open the door. He sighed with relief as he saw Kree and Filli there, two familiar faces in a terrible dark world. He ran to the corner and picked them up. Hugging them to his chest, he left the carriage and started running down the road towards the palace. He refused to look at the bodies of the horses or the girl. Especially the girl. He felt tears spring into his eye.
Jasmine would have passed by here not long ago.
Doom stood waiting anxiously at the front gates of the palace. When Barda had returned to get horses and a cart, He had briefly explained that Jasmine had been attacked by some sort of creature. Filled with a sense of dread, Doom had been waiting at the gate ever since, praying for her safe return. Even though he never showed any signs of emotion, he loved his daughter, his only living relative, more than anything else in the whole world, and he could not stand for her to die.
It came as a shock to Doom when he saw Lief sprinting up the road, red-eyed, carrying Kree and Filli.
Dreading the answer he was going to get, Doom asked, "Where are Jasmine and Barda?"
Lief fixed him with a gaze so terribly strong and sad, that Doom crumbled and began to weep.
Lief looked at the usually strong and emotionless leader of the Resistance. To see him like this added considerable weight to the already hefty worries weighing down on his heart. Unable to cope any more, he noticed black spots creeping into his view, and he felt himself slipping out of consciousness. He urged Filli and Kree to jump from his arms before collapsing to the ground.
As Sharn walked out of the palace doors, the scene that met her eyes was completely unexpected. A little in the distance, she could see two figures down on the ground. Hurrying over, she saw it was Doom, weeping and inconsolable. Lief was the other; he was unconscious.
She called to the guards on duty, and four of them rushed over to help her. Two picked up Lief, and took him to his room. The other two, looking very uncomfortable, helped Doom to his feet and led him to the palace kitchens.
"Where are Barda and Jasmine?" she wondered out loud.
She turned and followed the guards carrying Lief into the palace.
Many hours later, Lief opened his eyes and found himself in his old bedroom at the palace. Doom was sitting beside him, eyes downcast.
Seeing Lief was awake, he hurriedly wiped his eyes and sat up straight. "What happened?"
Lief didn't know what to say. How could he tell this man what had possibly happened to the jewel of his life?
Taking a deep breath, he started at the start. He told Doom what had happened between him and Jasmine, about finding her after she had been attacked. He told how Barda had started to return to the palace alone, and how Jasmine would have been walking back. He told Doom about how he had found the carriage, deserted except for Kree and Filli, and what had happened to the horses. Here he took a deep sobbing breath, the image of the horses still fresh on his mind. Doom had been listening with silent attention. Now was the hard part. He told Doom that Barda had disappeared, and…about the body.
Doom stood up, silent grief written all over his features. He left Lief's room, and did not return for over an hour.
Lief had just left his room, and was heading down to the kitchens. As he was drudging down the corridor, he saw Doom approaching, carry the limp corpse in his arms. He did not look at Lief as he went passed; instead he looked in the other direction.
Lief felt a stabbing pain in his heart. He knew, even though Doom would never voice this, that the man believed it was Lief's fault his daughter was dead. Lief shut his eyes and sat down with his back pressed against the wall.
He no longer felt like himself. The old Lief seemed to be a character from some story he had read. The new Lief was nothing more than a shadow. Empty, with no heart, only a taint left behind by the old Lief.
After sitting there, thinking, for what seemed like hours, Lief decided to head to the palace temple, to pay his tribute to the remains of his friend.
Upon entering, he saw Doom, with his back to the body, looking out the window. He took a deep breath, and approached the old man.
"Doom," he began, "I am so sorry, it was entirely my fault. There is no way I could ever express how terribly sorry I am. If you wish to kill me…I give you my sword." Lief pulled his sword out from his belt, and held out the handle to Doom. He bowed down and offered the back of his neck.
Doom just looked at it, then spoke, "As tempted as I am to take that sword, Lief, I will not. There is no need. That girl is not my daughter."
Looking up, Lief thought Doom was in denial, though he could feel a faint hope rising. "Are you sure you are not mistaken?"
Doom sighed, and looked at the wretched body. "I know my own flesh and blood, and this is not she. I am certain."
Lief felt his heart rise into his throat.
Doom continued, "Though whoever it is, I'm sure her family will need our support when we tell them. And I think I know who it may be."
The man sighed and gestured for Lief to approach the body. Although it was the very last thing Lief wanted ever to have to do again, he stepped up and looked.
"The scar there, on her shoulder…" Doom began.
Lief finished the sentence for him, "…is the exact same as the one Jade, the servant girl, obtained in the Shadowlands." Lief knew who it was now, but it only minimised the grief ever so slightly.
Jade had been Jasmine's closest female friend, and had been very much loved by all. She was barely taller than Jasmine, and had azure eyes that shone as bright as stars. Her spirits were constantly high, and she had the most dazzling smile in the whole of Deltora. Her blonde hair had been compared to that of an angel, and her pale skin was free of blemish.
Relieved now, are you? The Voice had returned. Lief blocked his ears and screwed his eyes shut, but he knew it would do nothing.
You shouldn't be. The girl Jade only had to suffer at the hands of the Grey Soldiers, your friends will have to deal with me. And I can assure you, I know one thousand more ways of torturing a person than my denizens.
Stop it! Lief thought furiously.
So you want erase the memory of your friends from you mind, do you? I'm sure I'll enjoy telling them that.
No, that's not what I meant!
Isn't it? It sounded and awful lot like it was to me.
What do you want?
The belt…and you.
You know the belt cannot be taken beyond the borders of Deltora.
Leave it somewhere hidden…then come to me.
What will you give me in return?
A torturous death.
That's not fair!
It's your choice, Little King; either your friends die here alone, or you die with them, and get to say your goodbyes.
…I'm coming.
Excellent, I believe you know the way?
The voice chuckled and faded out from Lief's mind.
"Lief?" Doom looked concerned.
The King explained everything that had gone on in his head. "At least this way, I have a chance of getting at the Shadow Lord."
"We must leave at once," Doom said immediately, "I am coming, this is a revenge that I too need to take part in."
Lief did not bother arguing. He would need all the help he could get. He clasped Doom's hand. "Thank-you."
"Are we ready, then?"
"Yes, let's be off."
HAHAHA! You thought it was Jasmine, didn't you? As if I would kill off my favourite character so early in the plot, especially as just a couple of Chapters ago, I said every so often there was gonna be a romance chapter. Well, with the way things are heading, it's looking like being even rarer that there will be another romance chapter for a long, long time. So I won't kill Jasmine off…yet. Maybe later.
See? Last chapter I said "Ja-". Yes, it is the start of Jasmine's name, but it is also the start of Jade's. The thing I hated most about this chapter was that I killed the horses, but I thought, well, I couldn't neglect them for the whole story, you can't pretend like they're just not there. I could either mention them every few chapters or so, saying that they are travelling, or how much the king wished he had brought them along, etc., or I could just mention them twice, then kill them off. It was SO much easier to do the latter. I know, I know, it was incredibly lazy of me, but hey, I'm a lazy person. Live with it.
Please review, and don't let the door hit you on your way out. Constructive criticism is very much appreciated.
Mwah, love you gorgeous people.
xx angel-kitten-teddy
