Deltora Quest 4: The Beginning – Chapter 3: Jasmine!
"Hurry up, Lief! We need to get on our way to Reality Valley!" Jasmine called anxiously.
"All right, Jasmine. Let us find thisValley, and get back quickly." Lief muttered, and they set off, but not before pouring sand and water onto the spot the fire had burned steadily on last night, keeping the couple warm.
"We've gained a lot of ground, Jasmine. Do you want a rest?" asked Lief.
"No," answered Jasmine, and carried doggedly on. "We have to get there by noon, don't we?"
"That's true," Lief admitted. "But as I said, we've gained a lot of ground. Actually, such a lot of ground that we'll get there way before noon, even if we have a rest now," Lief reasoned.
"Okay," she said reluctantly, and they sat down to have a drink, before setting off again.
"This is very worrying. We have to go, now." Jasmine said, and for a minute, she sounded uncannily like Lief's mother.
"Okay then. Have you had enough rest?" Lief asked, watching her roll her eyes. "It looks like you have. Let's go."
"Are we there yet?" asked Jasmine. "You're the one that knows the way."
"Umm…" – Lief checked his map and the angle of the sun – "Nearly there. I figure we only have ten minutes to go before we start to see the Valley's edge."
"Okay. That's good, isn't it, since we've been traveling for only two and a quarter days?" Jasmine asked.
"That's true." They walked on in silence until the two could see the edge of the valley.
Jasmine looked ahead of her in wonder as she beheld the sight in front of her. There were simply miles and miles of beautiful flowers that swayed in the practically nonexistent breeze. Too much, for Lief's liking.
Something tugged at his mind. Something about the flowers of this strange Valley …
He gingerly picked through the flowers by staying on the path.
"Jasmine, stay on the path," he called behind him.
"Yes sire," she called teasingly back, forgetting their errand for a few seconds.
As they neared the steep edge of the valley, Lief found a safe path through the rocks.
Jasmine preferred to go another, faster way, breathing the glorious smell of the yellow flowers. There was a curious sense of foreboding in her heart, as if the trees of Del she knew so well were calling out something to her.
She ignored it uncharacteristically and carried on. 'I'll be safe enough. What can these beautiful flowers do to harm me?' She thought.
The last thing she saw was Lief's shocked eyes.
Alarm bells sounded in Lief's head as he called behind him, "Jasmine, keep following me!"
There was no answer.
"Jasmine?" he asked, looking behind him.
There was no one there.
He looked around, to witness Jasmine, plunging down…
down…
Into the soft, springy yellow flowers.
He rubbed his eyes, doubting them for a second, then put both his hands on the topaz.
The yellow flowers morphed into red.
Red? That meant death, didn't it?
He ran down the rest of the path, worrying for Jasmine's life.
OMG, I cannot believe I wrote that.
Yes, I know it was short, sorry about that. But I'm working on another story (out of and need to finish this quickly… so… yeah. Sorry again. :)
