Really sorry bout not updating but I had so much studying to do over the hols that I couldn't get on. I tried, all right?

Next news item: I think you guys are a little unclear on the TammThaegan thing, so here's the deal:

Tamm was Thaegan's mother. Thaegan used dark magic, while Tamm used her powers for healing and that kind of jazz. So Tamm put a spell around their cottage to stop he escaping. But Thaegan's magic was so strong she broke out of the cottages to escape to some mountain or another. There her power grew and all that jazz until she returned in power to terrorize those around her, until Kree killed her. Or something like that.

If you think this is wrong or have any comments, I'm here. Just 'push the button'… as the Chemical Brothers say… and review.

Thank you.

Deltora Quest 4.1: The Beginning – Chapter 8: The Return Journey

"Don't worry, she's just a little tired at the moment, after the long healing. But I wonder how she knows my name…" Tamm, Thaegan's mother, rubbed her cheek thoughtfully. "Well, she knows my name, so now you know too. My name is Tamm, and I'm the mother…"

"…Of Thaegan, the black sorceress," Lief finished.

"So… who are you?" Tamm asked.

"My name if Lief. I am the King of Del, and this young lady here…"

"…Is Jasmine, queen of Del," Tamm finished. "The Chosen One," she breathed. "I have just saved the life of the Chosen One."

"The Chosen One? What Chosen One?" Lief asked, before he could stop himself.

"Do you know of the legend of the Little Worm?" Tamm asked back.

"The little worm that grew into the Glus?" Lief answered.

"Yes."

"So… what about the girl?"

"The girl is she. She is fated to do the same again, this time bringing back to life a raven by the name of Kree. Only one thing: the bird shall live again after dying, and the girl will not, unless someone is there to stop her or go in her place," Tamm explained.

Lief's mind whirled with thoughts. To lose Jasmine again, after two near misses in the same day?

Jasmine rubbed her bleary eyes and sat up, momentarily blinded by the sunlight. "Lief?" she asked, looking around.

"I'm here," came the answer, followed by a huge yawn.

Jasmine smiled. "You were sleeping."

"As you were."

"Where is Tamm?"

"She left to find something."

"Is there something wrong?" Jasmine looked worried now, and scrambled over to Lief's side.

"No, nothing's wrong," he replied, not being able to look at her in the eye.

"Are you sure? You know you can tell me anything."

"Don't worry, Jasmine. I'm fine." He smiled, and kissed her forehead.

Jasmine smiled back, though she knew something was still wrong.

"You know I am simply worried about you, Lief. Remember that." She cradled her chin on her knees, rocking back and forth softly.

"Of course I do." He placed an arm around the girl's shoulders and stroked her hair.

"Lief, here." Tamm suddenly appeared in front of him, holding out a brown leather package.

Lief accepted it without a word and stuffed it in his bag one-handedly. Nodding to the old woman, he made a motion with his hand, and she disappeared, chanting blessings for the young couple.

"Let me guess, another thing I shouldn't know about?" Jasmine asked jokingly.

"Well… yes. I would appreciate it if you did not open it."

"Of course." She closed her eyes and leant against Lief, then snapped them open again. "Are you waiting for something to happen?"

"The Topaz Dragon says he will come to take us back to Del."

Jasmine's mouth fell open. "Oh."

Lief smiled, but it quickly turned into a stare as he saw the aforementioned dragon swoop down, beating them to the ground with the sheer force of his wingbeats (A/N: Is this a proper word? Microsoft Word says it isn't…).

"Speak of the devil," Jasmine grinned, and stood up.

'You are here, I see.' The dragon Fidelis boomed within Lief's mind.

"Dragon of the Topaz?" asked Jasmine, standing up.

The dragon swung its head her way, and acknowledged her presence with a slight dip of the head. "I would find my belongings and go if I were you. There is the presence of evil here," she said pertly.

"Ready?" Jasmine called behind her shoulder. Lief nodded and they headed towards the dragon, who had been waiting patiently for the two to get organized.

"Are you two supplied?" asked the dragon, once they were of earshot.

"If we weren't, we would still be back there, packing," Jasmine replied, and the dragon growled.

"I won't have impudence on my back," she snarled. Lief and Jasmine almost cowered under its ferocity. The key word being almost.

"My apologies," said Jasmine humbly, and the dragon calmed down at once, seeming to enjoy the attention.

"May we climb onto your back now?" asked Lief.

The dragon smiled dangerously. "Who said I was going to take you on my back?" and with that, he encased both of them in the sturdy claws of his foot, and left earth.

There was no time to be surprised, for one moment Jasmine and Lief were safely on the ground, and then they were in the air. Flying.

Jasmine climbed over the claws that held them and stood firmly on one claw, holding tightly onto the dragon's leg as she did, so as not to fall back to earth.

She yelled over the rushing wind and Lief, feeling slightly nauseous, gazed at her with admiration in his eyes.

Jasmine noticed this and climbed back into the safety of the claws, feeling slightly foolish.

"How do you do that?" asked Lief with approval.

"I've done it before, remember? I suppose I've a feel for it," Jasmine muttered, her cheeks going red.

"Do you think I could do it as well?" he asked, before he could stop himself.

"It would be dangerous, King of Del," Jasmine replied, reminding him of his duties. "If you die of free will, you have to die with an heir." The realization hit her: She would have to…

She grew pink. "Whoops. Sorry about that."

Lief realized the meaning of it and went red. "Let's not talk about that anymore," he said, and changed the subject. "Let's see the atracaccia."

Jasmine dug the two sprays out from a safe compartment in her backpack and showed them to Lief, inspecting one of them closely.

"It looks just like… a dragon claw," Jasmine concluded.

Lief peered at it closely too. "Yes, it does," he finished after a while. "Maybe atracaccia is named after a dragon."

Thinking hard, Jasmine came to a conclusion. "I think I know about a dragon with the name Atracia. She was the sole survivor of a rare species of dragon."

Light dawned in Lief's eyes. "Yes, I think I know about that legend too. The dragon species had a golden claw on its right foot?"

Jasmine nodded. "That was the one."

Changing the subject yet again, she asked, "How much more to go?"

Lief calculated silently, his lips moving as he thought. "Under six hours."

Jasmine sighed. "Great."

Thinking of something else, Lief asked, "Can you tell me how you and Aradia became half-sisters?"

Jasmine looked ruefully at Lief, and he patted the space beside him. She settled down on the hard claws of the dragon beside him, and he, on impulse, put an arm around her shoulders.

"We – Aradia and I – share the same mother. She was… attacked by a pair of drunkards when I was one and… things tangled up from there, I guess." Jasmine sighed. "There's nothing much to tell, except that when mother was taken away, Aradia was so grief-stricken about it that she disappeared just like that one day. She must have been captured by Grey Guards or something along the road to wherever she was going, and the Shadow Lord decided to give her a chance." She stopped abruptly. "That's about it, I suppose."

They fell into an uncomfortable yet companionable silence, and before both of them knew it, Lief and Jasmine were both asleep, curled up beside each other, encased in the dragon's claws.

When Jasmine woke up, she was horrified to feel a wet patch on her arm, then relaxed, for it was only her broken arm. Then she stiffened again, thinking of the prospect of changing the bandage.

Beside her, Lief stirred slightly, and opened his eyes. "What's up?" he asked, noticing her worried and disgusted expression right away.

"Oh." He had noticed. "Do you want to change that?" he gestured at it.

Jasmine reddened slightly. "I can change a simple bandage myself, but what for the blood?"

Lief thought about it. "We could wring it out of the cloth –" Jasmine wrinkled her nose with a small grimace "- or we could leave it like that until we get to Del where you'll be able to change it for more… durable ones."

"I feel like changing this now but at the prospect of cleaner bandages, I will leave it be for the last… two hours?" Jasmine asked.

Lief nodded. "So we have been sleeping for around three hours." Changing the subject, he asked, "Have you been feeling well lately?"

"Why do you ask? You are always around me," she retorted.

"No, I mean… inside. Your heart? Your head? Are you getting any… strange feelings?

Jasmine stared at him with a strange expression on her face. "No."

"Really?"

There was a silence. "Yes."

"Foreboding and chilling?"

"Exactly."

"Do you have any idea –" he stopped suddenly, knowing exactly what was going to happen.

Muhahaha… I'm not in the mood to do a proper one.