Thankyou to my wonderful reviewers. I spent quite a bit of time typing replies to you but then the computer had a mood swing and deleted all that I'd done. So here are your (much shorter) replies.

Sophie Pendragon: I looked back and I now agree with you about the 'jelly' thing. If you have any ideas to replace it with please let me know. Thankyou very much for the review:D

Obsidian Crystal: Thankyou so much for your review. I wasn't going to continue until you pulled through! 

This chapter was a bit of struggle (as you'll notice throughout) but I did my best.

Summary: An ambassador from a land across the seas pays a visit to Deltora and requests an audience with King Lief. However, when the ambassador is found dead the next morning things start to go wrong for Deltora. Post Sister of the South. Some LiefxJasmine, MarilenxRanesh

Poison Ivy Chapter 2: The Ambassador

The trumpets blared and the banners unfurled. Lief could feel the beginnings of a headache. Finally, the ambassador was arriving.

Majestic horses with plaited manes and blood red banners, footmen with royal blue vests and sparkling swords and all manner of richly dressed staff, security and persons the ambassador wished to bring with him.

Then the ambassador came. Lief stifled a laugh. He felt Doom and his mother shift uncomfortably next to him.

The ambassador couldn't have been more than 5 feet tall. He was plump and possessed a bald patch on the top of his head. His cloak was much too long for him and dragged along the ground. The bottom of it was caked with mud, as were his shoes.

"King Lief," he cried, rushing to kneel in front of Lief, "It is a great pleasure to meet you at last"

"And you" said Lief warmly shaking the ambassador's hand. Lief was impressed by his strong grip.

Over lunch Lief and Abeke, the ambassador, discussed international issues such as the ocean border around Deltora and Deltora's custom barrier.

"I didn't go through customs of course," said Abeke, rather pompously.

"Didn't you?" asked Lief, raising his eyebrows.

"No no no," continued Abeke, "Back in Illeke" (Abeke's country) "we don't have anything remotely dangerous. Well nothing I've been near anyway"

Abeke laughed loudly making his stomach bounce up and down. Lief didn't smile. While he found Abeke a most agreeable man he didn't like the idea of him breaking the laws of Deltora by his own free will.

The sun was starting to drop by the time Abeke retired to his quarters with a farewell of 'see you at dinner'. Lief put his head in his hands. He had eaten too much and was starting to feel slightly sick.

"Lief?"

"Barda," Lief cried warmly, "It's good to see you back. How are things in Tora"

"Oh fine," said Barda waving it aside, "How was your meal with the ambassador"

Lief thought about his for a moment.

"Interesting" he said finally.

Barda furrowed his brow.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

Lief rolled his eyes in response. He couldn't understand Abeke. While Abeke seemed to be nice Lief just didn't like his attitude. A wave of drowsiness passed over Lief. 'Which is strange,' he thought, as he hadn't done much that day. However Lief put it down to lack of sleep and sensibly chose that moment to retire.

"I'm going back to the forge Barda" Lief said, walking away.

"What about dinner?" asked Barda, who was obviously hungry from his journey.

Lief chuckled, "I am not hungry," he replied, "However, if you need it, you may eat my helping as yours"

When Lief arrived at the forge he took a moment to meditate and clear his mind. Touching the belt as he did so. As tired as he was, Lief was uneasy about going to sleep. It would mean the dream would come again. He undressed and lay down and as he did so his hand brushed the opal.

A body, face down.

Lief gasped in horror. The dream would most certainly come tonight, the opal had forewarned him. Now extremely harassed, Lief curled up and hoped morning would come soon.

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"Lief!"

Lief moaned and sat up blearily. Light streamed from a lantern held in the hand of Barda.

"What's wrong?" Lief asked worriedly, getting out of bed.

"Dress yourself and get up to the palace immediately. Abeke is dead"

As Barda left Lief saw his drawn sword flash in the fading lantern.

Lief dressed hurriedly and grabbed his sword. A deep uneasiness settled upon him as he remembered the last time he had to use it. Lief rushed out into the street and ran straight into Jasmine.

"Hurry up," she whispered, her green eyes flashing, "And be quiet. We don't want to alert half of Del that there's been a murder"

"A murder?" Lief questioned as they rushed along the street.

"Well how else do you explain a perfectly healthy man dropping dead one night" Jasmine answered.

Then Lief realised with a horrible sinking feeling that he hadn't had the dream while he had been sleeping. Perhaps the face down body was Abeke's.

Lief and Jasmine raced up the palace stairs and through several corridors before they reached one thick with people.

"Move!" shouted Jasmine, pushing people aside. Lief stared at her sideways.

Lief reached the door of Abeke's quarters and opened it slowly, dreading what he would find.

Abeke's body was lying in the centre of the room. But it wasn't face down. If anything, the corpse was half sitting up.

"What happened?" Jasmine breathed, it seemed that she too, wasn't expecting this.

Lief walked up to Abeke's now grotesque form. Closer it was obvious that Abeke was curled up in agony rather than sitting still. His vacant eyes were wide with an unseen horror and his mouth lay slack. But the most alarming feature was the acid green boils and welts covering Abeke's body. Lief put out a hand to touch them but it was immediately slapped away by Sharn. Lief looked up alarmed. His mother looked pale and small.

"They contain traces of the poison that killed him" she explained hollowly.

"So it is poison that killed him then?" asked Lief, stepping away from the body.

"It certainly looks that way," answered Sharn, glancing sadly at Lief's stresses expression, "But it is unlike anything our physicians have ever seen. The case is unique"

The aura of death was strong in the room, but more was the remains of the malice and fear that had taken place only a few hours before. Jasmine was crouching next to the body,

"He was cleaning the mud off his shoes" she murmured. Something clicked in Lief's mind but he lost it almost instantly.

Lief, Jasmine and Barda walked back to the forge in silence. None of them wished to stay in the palace.

The moon appeared from behind the clouds illuminating a small cleaner sweeping spilt dirt into the flowerbeds. Lief smiled weakly recalling the mud Abeke had tracked everywhere. Again the thread snapped. But just then there was a flash of silver and Lief lost it again.

"What?" he asked in alarm, spinning round. Jasmine had drawn her dagger and was looking around suspiciously.

"Something is not right in Del" she said quietly, so quietly that Lief had to strain to hear her. Jasmine put her dagger away again and walked silently into the forge. Exchanging worried glances, Lief and Barda followed.

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Please Read and Review. I won't be updating until next year as I'm leaving on vacation almost straight after Christmas. BUT PLEASE REVIEW so I'll find a little pile of reviews as a late Chrissie present and I'll update as soon as possible.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Keep Smiling,

Elven Tresses