Disclaimer: I do not own Deltora Quest.
Thank you to my first two reviewers: wenjing10 & homesweethomicide13.
Please enjoy this chapter!
Lief, Barda and Jasmine walked up the road that went north of Del. It was a clear, bright morning, and the sky was deepest blue. The sun shone down steadily, illuminating the Forests of Silence which lay to the east of the companions. Lief was glad to be travelling with just Jasmine and Barda. Sharn had wanted them to travel with an escort of Palace Guards, but Lief, Jasmine and Barda had finally convinced them to let them travel alone.
"Look what happened last time!" Lief had said, "The Guards were all murdered. Have you not learnt?".
"And anyway," Jasmine had added, how would we get a whole troop of Guards through the Forests of Silence? It would just be impossible!"
Jasmine was very excited at going back to the Forests. She had not been there since they went through End Wood, when they were travelling to Dragon's Nest. And she had not been back to her Nest in First Wood since when she first joined Lief and Barda many years ago.
The companions turned right along the safe path that led to First Wood - not the Wenn Del path. When they finally reached the edge of the Forests, Lief and Barda were worn out, but Jasmine was too excited to see her old home to feel any other emotions.
"Slow down, Jasmine, Barda and I are exhausted!" exclaimed Lief.
"Look, my Nest's just up there! You can rest then!" she replied joyfully.
Lief and Barda looked up, and sure enough, there was Jasmine's Nest, and it looked just as it did four years ago.
They climbed up the huge, twisted tree, and finally reached the Nest. Kree squawked. Filli squeaked with happiness. Many of Jasmine's possessions were still there, including some gold coins which she had not taken with her when they went to fight Gorl.
Lief, Barda and Jasmine fell asleep within minutes. In three days, the Lilies would bloom. But for now, they would rest.
The next few days sped by. Jasmine, Kree and Filli spent their whole time exploring the forest, seeing what had changed, what had stayed the same. Every now and again they saw Fidelis, the topaz dragon, soaring through the air, above the lush canopy of the Forests. The Forests of Silence were far from silent. Birds sang, wind blew through the trees, little animals ran through the forest floor. They even saw an animal which looked just like Filli. All was well.
Now, they were heading off to the centre of Mid Wood, the area previously known as The Dark. The Lilies of Life would bloom tonight.
The journey to the place where the Lilies of Life were was generally uneventful, although they narrowly avoided an encounter with a Flesh Python - slimy, highly venomous snakes that appeared to have no skin at all, although, according to Doran the Dragonlover's book Secrets of Deltora, they actually did have skin.
Doran, Lief thought, will the potion work on him? Then, for the first time, something occurred to him. How long did the person who received the Potion live for when they were resurrected? Just a day? A year? 80 years? Forever? Or the same amount of time as they lived before they died first time? Maybe they would find out someday. But first we have to find the potion, he thought.
When they reached the centre of Mid Wood, they saw something they were not expecting. There, snarling, stood before them the Wennbar.