A/N: Sorry I haven't updated so long. But I didn't get any reviews anyway, . That's sad. Well, please review this chapter:D
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. LiefxJasmine
Last chapter: The ruby cures Jasmine of the ivy and she wakes up. Savek arrives from Illeke with an amber vial that he claims will stop the poison. Lief makes plans for Barda and him to perform the ritual that will activate the healing properties of the vial that evening but Jasmine wants to come as well. While waiting for Barda, Lief and Jasmine get a little bit too close…
"They were standing close, too close Lief realised. His head started to fall forward, onto Jasmine's. She was so close, Lief was looking straight into her eyes. They dazzled him. A pale pair of eyelids began to close over them then…"
Poison IvyChapter 6 Moonbeam
"I'm here!" announced Barda loudly, stepping into the hall, "Sorry I'm late I…"
An amused smirk settled on his face. Jasmine blushed furiously and stepped away from Lief. Lief glared at Barda who gazed amusedly back.
"Let's go" said Lief, walking out the door, vial and parchment in hand.
Barda followed him quickly but Jasmine hung back a moment. She was confused and upset now. Barda had shattered a moment that, for Jasmine, contained more meaning than any other had ever held. He had walked in a split second before they –
She shook her head to clear it, then walked out into the night.
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The moon was big and bright. It's swollen body bore down on the three companions as they climbed up Southern Hill. There was a breeze up here and its slapping cold brought Lief to an increased level of awareness. He reached the top of the hill, Jasmine and Barda only moments behind.
Lief gazed around him. Del stretched out around him, the moon casting an eerie glow on the spectacle. Lief spun around, he could see in every direction. In the north, the Os-Mine hills rose out of the ground and to the slight east of them a dark widespread mass indicated the Forests of Silence. In the south, Del stretched out to the sea, which stood still and calm, shining in the moonlight. A thick dark green line ran randomly along the landscape. Lief looked at it with hatred. He checked his watch, one minute to midnight. It was time.
"Are you ready" he asked his companions. They nodded.
Lief took a deep breath then pulled the cork out of the vial. An amber mist rose from the top of it. He held it up with his right hand then unfolded the parchment with his left.
He glanced over the strange words again.
"Do it now" Jasmine prompted.
Lief began,
"Deep moon, the stars, they speak no liesThe world will crumble, who's love dies?
Speak now high blood and who was saved,
To cure the ivy death again."
Nothing happened. The trio stood in awkward silence.
"May I have a turn?" asked Barda.
Lief handed him the parchment.
Barda read the lines to the clear night, sky. Again, nothing happened. Lief looked at the vial again. The amber mist, which was still floating out, seemed to be emptying the vial!
"We must hurry and think of a way to solve this!" cried Lief, alarmed, "Or the vial will empty and there will be no hope!"
Even so, the vial's stationary behaviour caused Lief's original suspicions of the vial harbouring no healing properties whatsoever to float back into his consciousness.
"It's a riddle" Jasmine said suddenly.
"What?" cried Barda, in frustration, "If only we'd known this an hour ago!"
"Jasmine you're good at riddles," said Lief, "What do you think it means?"
He handed her the parchment but she pushed it away. Obviously, she had already memorised it.
"Deep moon, the stars, they speak no liesThe world will crumble, who's love dies?"
"I don't think the first two lines have any meaning whatsoever" Jasmine mused.
"Why ever not?" asked Barda, surprised.
"I agree with Jasmine," said Lief, "Riddles normally have an element of randomness to confuse the reader. Besides, apart from 'deep moon' the first two lines have no relevance at the moment"
"Okay, I suppose" Barda said nodding.
"Speak now high blood and who was saved,
To cure the ivy death again."
"High blood!" cried Jasmine, excitedly, "It must mean you Lief. You are of high blood!"
"Yes," said Lief slowly, "But how do we know who was saved? Do we have to get everyone who survived the ivy up here?"
"No, of course not!" said Jasmine, deep in thought.
"It's us!" cried Barda, obviously pleased with himself, "It is Jasmine and I"
"Why?" asked Lief, "I suppose Jasmine was saved, but you were never in need of saving!"
"But I could have been!" continued Barda, "The walls of the forge protected me from the ivy. And if you, Lief, hadn't cut me out I would have been stuck in there forever and the ivy would have eventually penetrated the forge anyhow"
"So," said Jasmine, reaching a conclusion, "If we all say it together, the ritual should work"
The companions looked around at each other. They crowded into a clumsy circle and again Lief held the uncorked vial high above his head.
They chanted together,
"Deep moon, the stars, they speak no liesThe world will crumble, who's love dies?
Speak now high blood and who was saved,
To cure the ivy death again."
All at once everything seemed to change. Lief, Jasmine and Barda felt as though they were lifted up from the ground and were floating gently toward the moon. Or perhaps it was the moon that was coming toward them.
A strong breeze started up. Lief gasped as it's icy temptress hit him full in the face. His cloak strained at it's cords, he ripped it off lest it should choke him.
Through watering eyes Lief saw the rest of the vial's tawny contents float lazily up to the moon where, to his shock and surprise, the amber began to form veils and ribbons of tinted light. This gave the ghastly impression that the moon itself had turned a nasty shade of yellow.
Lief suddenly realised what was going to happen.
"Quickly!" he yelled above the roar of the wind, "We need to get all those who have struck outside!"
Lief dropped the vial on the ground along with his cloak and began to sprint down the hill, Jasmine and Barda close on behind.
They ran straight the palace where most of those who had been struck were resting. Lief wrenched open the palace doors and began to shout.
The ill sat up from their pallets on the floor, panicked. Other residents from the palace appeared from stairwells and passages, rubbing sleep from their eyes.
"Jasmine! Go out and tell everyone else, spread the word as fast as possible!" Lief commanded.
Jasmine nodded and quickly raced out into the windy street. She hammered on the doors of houses and yelled through glass windows. People began filling out of houses, exclaiming at the strong gale and the swollen, ochre moon. Invalids, their skin a sickly shade of green, were carried by their carers.
Jasmine spun around a corner and came face to face with the deadly barrier of poison ivy.
She looked at it with disgust. She knew there was no way to get around it and therefore she would be unable to tell those who had been struck on the other side what to do. An idea came to her. If she were able to find someone who could write her a note, she would be able to give it to Kree and he could take it over.
Jasmine leapt up the steps of the nearest house and hammered on the door, time was running out.
"Open up!" she screamed.
A grunting old man pulled open the door and regarded her suspiciously.
"Have you been struck by the ivy?" she asked instantly.
"Nay," he said, "I have been lucky"
Jasmine looked back at the impassable hedge and jerked her head up to the moon. She wondered what would happen when it was ready. Would it explode? Or would it rain down bits of potion? But she didn't know when it would be ready
"Can you write?" Jasmine asked of the man.
"Nay, not me!" he cried, wrinkling his large nose.
A horrible feeling nestled in the pit of Jasmine's stomach. After awhile, she recognised it has nervousness, a feeling that was almost foreign to her.
"Give me parchment and a pen," she demanded.
The man bustled around, doing as she asked.
Jasmine could hear the words in her mind, 'Put sick outside, healing rain fall' but writing it was going to be a problem.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Lief draped the man's arm gently around his shoulder and half carried, half dragged him across the palace hall out to the gardens.
"I think that is all." said Marilen, joining Lief after he had placed the man outside.
"When is it going to happen?" wondered Lief aloud, staring up at the sky. The heavy breeze was still going but Lief felt that the growing gap between the ritual and the actual healing process had been too long and he was growing unnerved.
For a moment, his mind flicked back to Jasmine and the job he had set for her. He realised, with horror that she would not be able to get the message to those trapped on the other side of the hedge! For a brief second, he envisaged her writing a message and sending it over the barrier with Kree. Then he remembered her illiteracy. Lief knew she could write if she tried, but did she?
All of a sudden the wind stopped.
The night was completely still and not a sound could be heard. It was about to happen.
Every head looked up to the moon. Hundreds of pale faces reflected the amber glow.
Lief braced himself, wishing with every bone of his body that Sharn was right, and sometimes, you just had to trust people.
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It happened slowly but magnificently. The healing of the Poison Ivy was a phenomenon viewed all around Deltora and a movement sensed by the distant inhabitants of Illeke.
The orange moon swelled to impossible proportions and let a beautiful amber moonbeam slip from its great height. The beam swept across Del healing whomever the poison had struck and crushing the ivy beneath its radiance.
All who had been struck were healed and the ivy was irradicated. The plague of the poison ivy became a topic of gossip, then a memory, then a fireside story, then only a chapter in a history book and finally for most, it was over.
However, for two others, the story was not yet complete.
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A/N: Yes, the story is not finished yet. PLEASE REVIEW. I will be forever thankful.
Just for another story I'm writing I need to know the name of the stuffed toy Lief mentions in the very first book, the Forest of Silence. I really need to know.
Thankyou for reading and please review!
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