'Oh, no!' Jasmine cried suddenly. She slapped her forehead with her hand. 'You killed the Ak-Baba, you idiot, Lief! Once you kill one, the rest is doomed to come upon you! And you will be trapped in a dark forever… The Dark!' She groaned and sank down to the ground.
'My dear, I did not know,' said Lief, kissing Jasmine gently.
'It's too late now,' she snapped, and ran out of the open gates. Lief could not follow her. He sighed deeply and headed inside.
'You can't just leave her, alone, in the Forests of Silence!' came an angry exclamation. It was Barda, head of the Palace guards. 'Go after her! You are her husband! Go, young Lief! You can't ignore her forever!' Lief looked Barda straight in the eyes, and knew he could not keep the secret forever.
'Well?' said Barda, nudging Lief. 'Are you going, or not? Otherwise I will go by myself!' Barda made to set off, but Lief caught him on the arm.
'I will go,' he said.
'Good,' said Barda firmly. 'Now you go after that young woman, and tell her…' Lief cut in.
'Only with you, old bear,' he said. Barda sighed and said, 'Just for you, dear friend.'
Soon Lief and Barda were packed, for they did not know how long they were going to be away. In Lief's pack were all their essential needs – the last few drops of the Lilies of Life that Jasmine had left in her bedchamber, his own water flask, two big jars of Queen Bee Honey, a few bottles of Queen Bee Cider, the rich drink made of Queen Bee Honey, six flasks of Dreaming Water they had asked the Kin to fill up for them, the Golden Arrow Head they could use to call the Dread Gnomes, Curnih, the special blessing liquid from the Resistance Stronghold in Withickmere, Fire Beads and No Bakes (in case they ran out of loaves) from Tom's Shop, the rough leather bag with the Pirran Pipe around Lief's neck and of course, the almighty famous Belt of Deltora around his waist in a special embroidered belt with leaves on it from Steven the pedlar. In Barda's pack was food; some loaves of fresh bread, a special jar of jam from Sharn, a chunk of butter from Amarantz, a cut off bit of meat wrapped specially and a slice of jam cake for each of them. They picked up their packs and set off. Endon and Jarred, who were playing in one of the Palace trees, spotted their father going out.
'Hey! Father! Where are you going?' whined Endon, jumping out of the tree and running up towards Lief. Jarred tried to pull him back, as he was the more boyish one and wanted to appear strong to his father. Little Anna was with them too, reading under the tree they were playing in.
'Father, please, tell us!' cried Anna, hugging her father.
'Somewhere with Barda,' was all Lief said. He patted each of the children on the head, and Jarred scowled.
'Ooh, going after Jasmine, are you, Daddy?' asked Anna cheekily.
'Now you be off,' said Lief, blushing.
'Daddy loves Mummy, Daddy loves Mummy!' chanted Anna.
'Duh,' said Endon. 'Otherwise we wouldn't be here!' Lief didn't wait and went out of the gate, his three children waving earnestly.
'Troublesome lot,' muttered Barda good-naturedly, walking alongside Lief.
'Ah, here we are,' said Barda, reaching a tumbledown shack.
'Hmm, not so good as before,' pointed out Lief, looking at the holes in the roof and the broken window.
'So? Who cares? At least it's a place to stay in,' said Barda, stretching and looking around for some heather to make some beds.
'We could always stay in a tree,' suggested Lief.
'What?' cried Barda. 'Last time I did that, you remember, I fell off the branch I was sleeping on and broke my back! No, thankyou!' Barda walked off to find some heather, and Lief sighed.
'Alright, here it is,' he said. He opened the door. Part of it crumbled away as he touched it.
'Not in a good condition, are we?' he asked himself. Lief went inside and looked around. The hut was empty as usual, except for the small ledge that ran round the whole thing. His sharp eyes caught some crockery on the shelf.
'Hmm. This wasn't here last time,' he called to Barda came hurrying back.
'What now?' he asked impatiently, for he had found a good spot of heather and didn't want to loose it.
'Did you put this here last time?' asked Lief.
'No,' said Barda. 'Maybe Jasmine came and put it there.'
'But these are… so fancy cups, none that she would have!'
'Who cares, just leave it there.' Barda turned on his heel and walked out back to the spot of heather.
'Here, come and help me with this stuff!' he called.
'Okay,' said Lief. Be there in a moment.' He took his pack with him and placed it beside the patch of heather. Barda lifted some in his arms and Lief did the same. They walked back to the shack and made the heather into the shape of two rough beds.
'Finally,' said Barda, flopping down onto his bed. 'Owch. This floor is way too hard. Do we have any rugs?'
'Yes,' said Lief, unstrapping some from Barda's pack. 'Here you go.' He pushed the velvety rug underneath Barda's bed of heather, then pushed another one, much grander, under his own.
'Why bring the good ones?' Barda groaned. 'That's a waste, you know, Lief.'
'Doesn't matter. I can afford it,' he said, spreading out his bed. He flopped down, too, and started talking to Barda about the happenings.
'You know, Jasmine has been disappearing lately,' he started off.
'Not again, with Riealle,' Barda groaned.
'Who's Riealle?' asked Lief instantly. He sat up.
'Oh, nothing, just a distant cousin of Jasmine,' said Barda.
'Oh, right,' said Lief. 'How do you know that?'
'Have you seen her?'
'No,' said Lief truthfully.