Disclaimer: I don't own the Deltora Quest I'm just a really big fan!!
Author's note: I'm back!! I had a great holiday – if anyone cares, but I wasn't resting. I didn't have a computer with me, but I still wrote it all out and I'm now about to copy it out on to the computer!! Ok there is quite a bit so let's get started!
The Underground of Hope
- Black Fury
6 –The Origin of the Talismans
Jasmine flicked through the pages of the book, skimming over the pictures. Each picture was a disappointment. None of then even slightly resembled the dragons she had seen. She was getting the opinion that the person who had written the book had not actually seen the dragons or maybe the ones she had seen had all just been illusions.
She continued to turn the pages of the book until she came across a title that interested her:
The seven dragons of the seven tribes of Deltora where different in their, scale colours and powers, but were the same in many ways.
Every dragon breathed fire, every dragon that had spines was poisonous and every dragon could bring life to trees and plants with a puff of their breath.
Four of the dragons were hoarders, the best in the land. The best of them was, Donimad, the great white, battle scared dragon of the Jalis. His riches, pilled from wall to wall of his den. He was ferocious and guarded his treasures well, treasures he had gained on the many battle fields the Jalis fought. Second to him was Laizuli, the beautiful blue dragon of the Mere folk. She enjoyed collecting anything the sparkled or gleamed.
The jewels each of the dragons guarded were said to hold amazing powers and wealth, for nothing but that could lure the dragons to the jewels they hoarded. It was seen many times a dragon fly into another dragon's cave and come back out with jewels in its mouth. They would sometimes even fight for them.
The jewels that the dragons hoarded were often large gems, coins, necklaces, amulets, shields, jewel hilted swords, goblets and many pure gold objects.
Each dragon had a prize possession and for each dragon it was a rounded gem, a gem which glows the same colour as its dragon's scales. Unfortunately these seven gems disappeared about the same time the people started to hate the dragons and though many searches undertook, were never found. But the gem was not the only precious object the dragons hoarded for power.
The remaining three dragons that had no or little interest in gold, though one or two of them collected it for the sake of a hobby, preferred music. They enjoyed the sounds of music and the dancing and joy that came with it. The music of their own people often didn't satisfy them and they would fly off and stay with the people of Pirra and listen, meek as lambs to the music of the Pirran Pipe.
But when Pirra's Piper died and new ones wished to play for the position, each of the dragons, like the people of Pirra, preferred a certain type.
The largest of the three like the stirring music played by Plume the Brave
The youngest of the three like the beautiful music played by Auron the Fair
The most honorable of the three like the haunting music played by Keras the Unknown.
As the Pirrans split up they begged there favourite dragon to come with them. The Plumes liked the youngest of the three and the Keras liked the most honorable, but the Aurons, though content with the remaining dragon, preferred a hoarding dragon from far away. The last dragon didn't really mind and returned to his people, checking on the Plumes, every now and then.
Dragons are said to be unable to be killed, but they can be. It is nearly impossibly, but possible none the less. For a dragon to die it must be stabbed through the centre of its heart, with a piece of steel or silver. This might sound fairly easy to you, but the tough scales on the dragon's neck and belly are far too tough to be penetrated by normal weapons. On top of this, no dragon leaves its belly exposed, so you would have a tough time attempting to do it, though many tried.
When four of the dragons had returned to their lands their people ignored them. But the years went by and the dragons turned nasty. They began kidnapping young maidens, most of these princess or duchesses. Many brave men and knights, went to rescue them, most failed to kill the dragon, and just ran away with the maiden. So the dragons continued to take maidens, until a brave young man called, Doran set out to find and kill the four dragons…
Jasmine could not believe what she was reading. Doran? Was that the same Doran who found the Aurons, Plumes and Keras? The same Doran who explored the lands and drew maps? The same Doran who was known as Doran the Dragonlover?
Eagerly, she read on:
He set off to find the dragon's caves. By the time the sun had set five times he had slaughtered all four of the dragons-bringing back a piece of their skin as proof. The people rejoiced and offered Doran many riches, which he refused to, accept, for he soon began to feel guilty for what he had done and because of this the people renamed him, Doran the Dragonlover.
Jasmine stopped reading, though the information carried on over the other page. Was this the truth? How was it that the Doran killed the dragons then gained the trust of the Plumes, Keras and Aurons, whom loved the dragons so?
But at least, Jasmine thought, it begins to make more sense. The three dragons that stayed were the ones who loved music and the four dragons which returned, with a piece each of a broken treasure, where the hoarder dragons, because they could not bear to leave their mounds of gold. Which meant that Donimad, Laizuli and the gold dragon where hoarder dragon, Donimad and Laizuli because the book had revealed it and the golden dragon because they had see it, that hadn't been in Pirra, so that left one unnamed dragon of concern.
She sighed and skimmed over the remaining words on the page, but they did not reveal anything of use.
'Do you know the names of the seven dragons of the seven tribes of Deltora?' She exclaimed turning to Drahen.
He shook his head.
'They only mention one or two of them, but why should it matter? They don't live any longer.' He sighed, bored of the silence.
'It matters because I want to find out.' Jasmine snapped and slammed the book shut. If Drahen said the book told no more, then I shall trust him, these lengthy passages annoy me anyway. Jasmine thought as she grabbed the Precious Gems and where to find them book. She doubted it would hold any information on dragons, but she had not forgotten her original plan to come here and Drahen had been so kind to find it for her.
She opened it quickly and searched for the pages on the gems of the belt of Deltora and was amazing surprised by what was written.
FOR THE BELT OF DELTORA
Many tales are told of this, many are correct but this is the uncut as much as possible version, for Adin believes the real story should be told…
The gems that you will find on the Belt of Deltora where given to Adin by each tribe of the seven tribes of Deltora, yet they was not given to Adin by the people of these tribes, he got the gems from the seven Dragons of the Talisman gems.
Donimad, Eraldme, Laizuli, Tapoz, Oblivackon, Ruebi and Aythmest each gave up the gem most precious to them – the round gems that matched the color of their scales, the gems that possessed powers similar to the dragon by which it was owned, the gem that when the dragon felt weak or was losing its powers would touch the gem a regain energy and strength, the gem which without it by its side the dragon, as it got more and more hurt in battles, would slowly weaken.
But the dragons said that in times like this sacrifices had to be made, but there were hated for it, for the dragons would slowly lose more and more battles. Soon they were cast away and they flew to Pirra.
Pirra was where they kept their most precious object because it was safe and cast away from the other tribes; it was also ruled by no dragon so the ground of Pirra was neutral to all the Talisman dragons.
Here the great Golden Amulet was said to have been kept. This amulet held a great power of its own, said to be strong enough to rid the whole of Deltora of evil, and this is what the dragons were trying to do. They wished to redeem themselves in the eyes of their people by saving their lands.
Four of the dragons wished to take part in the quest and not one could be chosen over the others. The amulet was then split into four parts, one part given to each dragon who wished to take part. The necklace and now empty shell which the amulet had lived in was taken by the three remaining dragons.
The four dragons were to fly off and complete their quests. Once they had done so they were to return and bring the amulet back together. Unfortunately the dragons were further hated in there attempts to do so and were hunted because it. This sent the dragons into hiding – their quest unfilled…
The remainder of the passage told of the gems themselves, but Jasmine had found what she wanted, though it was strange. The two pieces of information had been written differently yet told the same tale. One was written by someone who appeared disliked dragons, the other by someone who appeared to like them, this left Jasmine rather undecided.
The dragons had been hated and hunted down, which was cruel, epically after what they did for them but the dragons had kidnapped maidens and killed knights, which is not something innocent creatures did.
But that does not matter, Jasmine thought quickly, what matters are that I have found the connection between the amulet and the dragons – as well as there names.
'You appear lost in thought.' Drahen muttered in an amused tone.
Jasmine quickly lifted her head.
'Indeed I am,' she smiled, 'It would appear I have found all that I came to find.'
'And that would be?' Drahen inquired.
Jasmine looked at him for a moment before answering.
'I found the dragon's names.' She exclaimed.
'Ah, but you did not come here to find the dragons names.' Drahen smiled.
'No, perhaps I did not, but you need not know the rest.' Jasmine sighed, rubbing her eyes.
'If it is about dragon's I can help.' He muttered.
'I may need your help shortly, but for now I shall continue to read through the annals.' Jasmine took up volume six of the Deltora Annals.
Lief, walked heavy heartedly, towards the palace of Del. He was not going to enjoy tell his people the news, not after they were all so happy and free. They had lived nearly a whole year without this knowledge and now it was back to haunt them.
'Maybe we can just tell my mother, Doom, Marilen and Jasmine.' He sighed.
'You can not keep something like that a secret,' Barda growled, 'But whether or not your people chose to believe you is their choice.'
Lief nodded, grimly, knowing that what Barda said was true. He particularly wasn't looking forward to telling Jasmine. Had Jasmine not warning him to not get his hopes up? Hadn't Jasmine always said that the Shadow Lord wasn't dead? Had Jasmine not argued with him countless times not to leave precious information near the hands of possible Shadow Lord Followers?
With a start he remembered the drafts to the eighth of the Deltora Annals. He'd left them on the library tables, in plain view of anyone who passed by it – in plain view of anyone who could be an Ol or servant to the Shadow Lord!
'I must go to the library immediately!' He gasped and rushed forward.
'Lief!' Barda called after him angry but he wouldn't stop running.
'Oh dear, I wonder what has gotten into him. I hope everything is alright.' Penn whined.
'I don't know about that, come with me, I'll take you to the library.' He grumbled.
Lief nodded quickly to the guards that guarded the stairs to the library and pushed though – second thought coming to mind; he had left the belt alone with Jasmine – she could have been attacked.
He picked up his pace and barged into the library. He froze once he was in and looked around, only two people were in the library one of them was Drahen the other Jasmine.
Jasmine was sitting at a table, piles of books and paper in front of her, and Drahen was sitting opposite. Lief felt a pang of jealousy at the sight of it and turned his head away, and there on another table, seemingly untouched, where the drafts. He let out a sigh of relief.
'To what do we owe the interruption?' Jasmine snapped.
'I left the drafts out.' Lief sighed and walked over to them.
'How was…where did you go anyway?' Drahen exclaimed.
'That I can not tell, but it wasn't very fruitful, I nearly died twice.' Lief frowned and began bundling up the papers.
'Died? You said you weren't going to die!' Jasmine hissed.
'And I didn't, did I?' exclaimed Lief.
'But you came close to it and if you did then what would we do?' Jasmine raged.
'Call Marilen?' Lief suggested, bitterly
'What is all the shouting about?' Barda grumbled as he entered the library.
'Lief said he-' but suddenly Jasmine stopped and looked down, 'Penn?!?!'
Lief turned and saw that Penn had entered the room with Barda.
'Indeed, that's Penn and we have extremely grave news to tell you, Jasmine.' Barda sighed.
'Horrible news!' Penn wailed.
'I have news to tell as well.' Jasmine sighed.
'Is it good news? I could do with some cheering up.' Muttered Lief.
'That depends on the how bad the bad news is.' Explained Jasmine.
'Very bad.' Lief sighed.
'The worst!' Whimpered Penn.
'Well, spill then.' She snapped, impatiently.
Lief tilted his chin towards Drahen and Jasmine frown as if to say: Why?
'Drahen, could you excuse for a moment please, we have important matters to discuss.' Lief sighed.
'Better still you could fetch Sharn and Doom and even Marilen.' Barda suggested.
Drahen hesitated, eager to hear the news. Finally he sighed and moved off.
'What can be so grave that you have to send Drahen off? He's been very helpful to me.' She snapped once he was gone.
Lief frowned, the pang of jealousy mixed with anger surged through him again. Helpful has he? Lief gritted his teeth.
'The Shadow Lord is alive and he has already set his plans in motion. Anybody could be Ols, including Drahen.' Lief begun.
'How? How can you be sure of this?' Jasmine whispered.
'After finding no sign of live of Plume we sailed to Auron, where we were attacked-by a Fritz Hound.' Lief continued.
Jasmine raised an eyebrow at his last words.
'I can't believe that neither of you have heard of them!' Barda exclaimed, 'They are the Shadow Lord's pets, there used to be eight of them, now there is one, but this isn't what matters.'
'They can get in side your head and read your thoughts, that is how it found out I was King,' Lief gulped in memory of it. It was very likely that the Shadow Lord knew that he had been down there and was plotting accordingly, as they talked, 'Luckily, while he read my mind I had a chance to read his; this is how we found out.'
Jasmine nodded and turned her glaze to Penn.
'And Penn?' She inquired.
'I was cowardly and hid! They didn't attack me when I was near whose spiders you brought with you.' Penn explained.
'So, you were right and I was wrong. I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you.' Lief mumbled. He expected Jasmine to say 'I told you so' or jeer, but she remained silent, swaying rigidly on the spot.
'So, he is back?' Jasmine began, finding her voice.
Lief nodded, grimly.
Their thoughts were interrupted as Drahen re-entered the room, with Doom, Sharn and Marilen close at heal.
'What is the problem?' Sharn's face looked very pale.
'The Shadow Lord is still alive…' Lief explained, gravely.
'But how? How can this be?' Marilen gasped.
'How can you know this so confidently, Lief?' Doom insisted.
While Lief explained, Jasmine turned away but to the books she had been reading only moments before.
The excitement had left her completely and had been replaced by guilt. She should have gone with them. She should have been there to help. Lief had nearly died because something because for her.
'This is horrible…the people…so happy.' Sharn babbled, sadly.
'If the belt and the pipe didn't work then nothing will – there is nothing left to do…' Marilen cried.
Doom remained silent, a thousand thoughts crossing his mind.
'So, there is nothing left that could…help, nothing we could use?' Sharn questioned pitilessly.
Lief shook his head. All was lost. The belt had saved the people – but failed to destroy the Shadow Lord and the pipe had saved the slaves – but had failed just as miserably. There truly was nothing left then could do.
Grimly he turned to see how Jasmine had taken this and to his surprise she was smiling. Quickly he jumped to his feet, hand moving to his sword. Why would Jasmine smile at a time like this? She had to be an Ol, smiling at there misfortune.
'How can you be smiling at a time like this?' Doom spat, suspiciously, repeating Lief's thoughts.
'All is not lost! Well… at least I don't think it is.' her smile faded at her last words.
'What to you mean Jasmine?' Lief lowered his hand.
'You forget that I have good news to tell.' She explained, quickly.
'Well come child. Do not keep us in suspense!' Sharn exclaimed.
Jasmine took a deep breath and prepared to begin.
Black Fury: Jasmine might not want to keep you in suspense, but I will! Not that it's what one would call a cliff hanger coz you all know what she is going to say, but to those of you who were too LAZY to read from the books, Jasmine will be explaining it so you are sooooooooooo lucky. Please Review!! Chapter seven should be up soon – I hope!!!