Deltora Quest Reads Deltora Quest: The Forests of Silence
Chapter One
"That is the most insane thing I've ever heard, Doom, and I've lived around insane my whole life. If there were books we'd have known and— Oh. Did not see that coming."
The speaker was Jasmine, of course, but once Doom dropped the box on the table she cut herself off and stared at it, wide-eyed, as everyone else in the room was doing.
"How did this happen, again?" asked Sharn after a long silence.
"A trader on the port pulled me aside and practically shoved them in my face," replied Doom, looking miffed. "Demanded at least ten gold coins for them—obviously an unreasonable price—and so I just gave him eight, which is reasonable, and left."
Jasmine rolled her eyes. "You really need to stop doing that, Doom! It's giving us a bad reputation. They think that there's a band of dishonorable cheaters loose in Del and that the king won't do anything even if he knew!"
Lief put his face in his hands. "What is it lately with the people wanting me to get rid of everything and everyone who's 'bad'? I can only be in so many places at once . . ."
"Anyway, are we going to read them or not?" asked Barda impatiently. When no one offered any response, he said, "I'll take that as a yes. So who wants to go first?"
"You should've just said 'Who'd like to take a turn reading about themselves in utter awkwardness in front of everybody?' instead," muttered Jasmine.
Lief shrugged. "At least we don't have to read them in front of the whole city of Del in one of those monthly meetings," he replied. Doom suddenly looked as though the most brilliant idea in the world struck him. "That's perfect, Lief!" he nearly shouted. "We should call the people together and—"
"Not happening, and that's the king's order!" interrupted Lief. Sharn, Barda, and Jasmine struggled not to laugh at that. Doom seemed mildly annoyed but said, "Fine. But don't come running to me when you regret it." He paused. "So! I'll read first, then."
"Eager, aren't you. But go on, none of us want to be mortally embarrassed." Doom glared at Lief but sat down and began:
PART I: THE BELT OF DELTORA
1 — The King
For some reason, everyone glanced at Lief. Of course, he noticed. "What? Am I supposed to know this by heart or something?"
"Maybe," replied Jasmine, rolling her eyes. "You did keep pointing out you had The Belt of Deltora memorized. So should this be new? No."
"Can we go on?" asked Zeean.
Jarred stood unnoticed in the crowd thronging the great hall of the palace.
Doom couldn't help but stop. "And, of course I have to read about myself first," he muttered. Lief tried not to laugh and failed.
"If we keep getting interruptions like that, we'll never get done with the first page," said Sharn, looking amused.
"I hear you, Your Highness," said Doom, earning himself a glare.
He leaned against a marble pillar, blinking with tiredness and confusion.
"Maybe we shouldn't worry about this being exact," said Jasmine. "That doesn't sound like Doom at all."
It was midnight. He had been roused from his bed by shouts and bells. He had pulled on his clothes and joined the crowd of noble folk surging towards the hall.
"Okay, that explains a little bit," amended Jasmine. "But still. Since when were you considered among the 'noble'?"
Doom looked up and tried to throw flames from his eyes. "One more word out of you about my past and—"
"Don't start another fight, please. The cook never did forgive you for ruining that spatula of his," Lief cut through, sounding annoyed.
"Spatula? What spatula?" asked Doom innocently.
"Could we please go on?" sighed Zeean. "I'm starting to think I'm the only sensible person here."
Sharn raised her eyebrows.
"All right, not the only sensible person. Go on already!"
"The king is dead," the people were whispering. "The young prince is to be crowned at once."
Jarred could hardly take it in. The king of Deltora, with his long, plaited beard and his golden robes, had died of the mysterious fever that had kept him to his bed for the last few weeks.
"Hey Lief, that reminds me. When'll you be old enough to have that happen to you?" asked Doom, looking up.
"Have what happen to me?" Lief looked confused. "Die of a fever?"
"No, silly." Sharn grinned. "He means to ask when you'll be old enough to have your beard plaited."
Everyone burst into laughter while Lief groaned and hid his face in his hands. "Why me?" he cried.
"Because you're the amazing king of Deltora and you have to follow tradition," snickered Jasmine. "I honestly will look forward to the day your—"
"Let's just go on, shall we?" interrupted Lief, trying not to run out of the room or declare to have them thrown into prison. His father would definitely get him for that in the spirit world when he did die (hopefully not of a fever).
Never again would his deep, booming voice be heard in the hallways of the palace. Never again would he sit laughing in the feasting hall.
"'Feasting hall'?" repeated Lief. "Wait, how come no one told me about that?"
Sharn gave her son a meaningful look. "You'd grow fat and then you'd decide the Belt didn't fit anymore is why, and then we'd have to relive history again. And in the end the Shadow Lord will win. Again. And then we'd have to wait centuries—again!—for someone to rise up and—"
"All right, I get it."
King Alton was dead, like his wife, the queen, before him. The fever had taken them both. And now . . .
Now Endon will be king, Jarred thought. He shook his head, trying to make himself believe it. He and Endon had been friends since they were young children. But what a difference there was between them!
"No kidding," agreed Lief and Jasmine at the same time. Doom ignored them both and went on.
For Endon was the son of the king and queen, the prince of Deltora. And Jarred was the son of a trusted servant who had died in the king's service when Jarred was only four years old.
"Geez, what is it with my family and getting separated with our parents early?" muttered Jasmine.
Jarred had been given to Endon as a companion, so that the young prince would not be lonely. They had grown up together, like brothers. Together they did their lessons in the schoolroom, teased the guards, and persuaded the cooks in the kitchens to give them treats. Together they played in the vast green gardens.
"There were once 'vast green gardens'?!" cried Jasmine. "No one told me that either!"
The other children who lived in the palace—the sons and daughters of nobles and servants—kept to their own rooms and their own parts of the grounds. As was the palace custom, Jarred and Endon never even saw them, except in the great hall on feast days.
"We should really bring those back," declared Lief. Sharn and Zeean exchanged a glance, and then said at the same time, "No."
But the two boys did that they could to entertain themselves.
They had a secret hiding place—a huge, hollow tree near the palace gates.
At that, Doom stared at the book. "Someone is very knowledgeable about our lives, it seems," he said. "We'll see about that," replied Barda. "Go on now."
There they hid from fussy old Min, their nursemaid, and Prandine, the king's chief advisor, a tall, thin, sour man they both disliked.
"Forget I said that," muttered Barda. "Whoever wrote this does know everything."
They practiced archery together, playing a game called "Aim High," where the first to shoot an arrow into the topmost fork of the hollow tree would win.
They invented a secret code and used it
At that, Doom seemed to lose his voice. He only stared at the pages he was holding, looking truly disturbed. Everyone exchanged glances. "Doom?" asked Jasmine. "You okay there?"
"They know about the code," Doom finally said, as though it was the hardest thing to say in the world. "They know!"
Nearly everyone in the room sighed in relief and exasperation. "So they know," said Sharn patiently. "Now do go on."
to pass messages, jokes, and warnings to each other under the noses of their teachers, Min or Prandine.
Jarred would be hiding in the hollow tree, for example, because Min wanted him to take a dose of the fish-oil medicine he detested.
Doom went silent for a moment again, absorbing the shock. Jasmine looked like she wanted to disappear out of embarrassment at her father's behavior.
Endon would walk by, and drop a note where he could reach it.
The message looked like nonsense, and no one in the palace could guess the meaning if they picked up a note by accident. But the code was simple.
All you had to do to decode a message was write down all the letters in a line, leaving out "EL" wherever it appeared.
Doom choked and stared at the book for a long minute. Finally Lief coughed and said, "Can we please move on?"
Then you divided the letters into words that made sense.
(+)
As Endon and Jarred grew older there was less time for games. Their days were filled with tasks and duties.
Much of their time was spent learning the Rule—the thousands of laws and customs by which the royal family lived. The Rule governed their lives.
They sat—Endon patiently and Jarred not so patiently—
"Ha, big surprise there," snorted Jasmine.
while their long hair was plaited and twined with golden cord, according to the Rule.
"Wait. You, the big-deal Doom, leader of the Resistance, let someone mess with your hair?"
Doom glared at Lief. "You can try reading out loud about yourself," he retorted. "Oh wait. You will."
They spent hours learning to hammer red-hot metal into swords and shields. The first king of Deltora had been a blacksmith and it was part of the Rule that his art should be continued.
"Only that part of the Rule was actually useful," muttered Sharn.
Each late afternoon they had a precious hour of free time. The only thing they were not allowed to do was to climb the high wall that surrounded the palace gardens, or go through the gates to the city beyond. For the prince of Deltora, like the king and queen, never mingled with the ordinary people. This was an important part of the Rule.
"And the part that ensured our country's downfall," sighed Zeean.
It was a part that Jarred was sometimes tempted to break. But Endon, quiet, dutiful, and obedient, anxiously begged him not to even think of climbing the wall.
There was a brief silence while everyone reflected back on what the book was implying, and decided to ignore it.
"It is forbidden," he would say. "And Prandine already fears that you are a bad influence on me, Jarred. He has told my father so. If you break the Rule you will be sent away. And I do not want that."
Jarred did not want it, either. He knew he would miss Endon sorely. And where would he go if he had to leave the palace? It was the only home he had ever known. So he tamed his curiosity, and the city beyond the wall remained as much a mystery to him as it was to the prince.
"I didn't expect that part to be so accurate," muttered Doom, quietly almost to himself. He cleared his throat and went on.
The sound of the crystal trumpets broke into Jarred's thoughts. He turned, like everyone else, towards the back of the hall.
Endon was entering between two rows of royal guards in pale blue uniforms trimmed with gold.
Poor Endon, Jarred thought. He is grieving.
"That is unacceptable!" Doom stood, nearly upending the table. "This writer knows my thoughts! How am I—"
"Live with it," replied Lief grimly. "I'm the lucky one who's the protagonist of the quest. It'll be even worse for me."
Doom sat down, calmed himself, and went on. Jasmine rolled her eyes when he wasn't looking.
He wished that he could be beside his friend, to comfort him. But he had not been summoned. Instead, Chief Advisor Prandine stalked at Endon's right hand.
"The filthy little lying traitorous worm," muttered Sharn with surprising menace.
Jarred looked at Prandine with dislike. The advisor looked even taller and thinner than usual. He wore a long purple robe and carried what looked like a box covered by a gold cloth. As he walked, his head poked forward so that he looked like a great bird of prey.
"Huh," said Doom, looking surprised. "Now that was really accurate. He was extra ugly that night."
Endon's eyes were shadowed with sadness and he looked very small and pale in his stiff silver jacket with its high, jewelled collar. But he held up his head bravely, as he had been taught to do.
"All the way till the end," murmured Sharn.
All his life he had been trained for this moment. "When I die, you will be king, my son," his father had told him so many times. "Do not fail in your duty."
"I will not fail, Father," Endon would answer him obediently. "I will do what is right, when the time comes."
But neither Jarred nor Endon had thought the time would come so soon. The king was so strong and healthy that it had seemed he would live forever.
"Is that even possible?" asked Zeean. "Even in Tora we can't live forever."
"Well, you know, the nectar," said Jasmine casually. When Zeean and Sharn both gave her confused looks she added, "From the Lilies of Life."
"Oh yes, that," said Sharn thoughtfully. "We'd heard rumors, obviously, but I dismissed it as the creations of a bored mind."
Endon had reached the front of the hall now, and was mounting the steps to the platform. When he had reached the top, he turned and faced the sea of faces.
"'Faced the sea of faces'?" repeated Lief.
"He is so young," a woman near Jarred breathed to her neighbor.
"Ssh," the neighbor warned. "He is the rightful heir." As she spoke, she glanced nervously in Jarred's direction. Jarred did not recognize her face, but he realized that she knew him and feared he might tell Endon that her friend had been disloyal. He looked away quickly.
"I remember that," said Doom, sounding rather odd. He coughed and went on:
But now the crystal trumpets were sounding again and a low, excited murmuring had begun in the crowd.
Prandine had put his burden down on a small table beside the throne. He was sweeping the gold cloth aside to reveal a glass box. He was opening the box and taking out something that shone and glittered.
The magic Belt of Deltora. The crowd gave a hissing sigh, and Jarred, too, caught his breath. He had heard about the Belt since his earliest childhood, but had never seen it before.
Lief grinned. "Now you probably see too much of it, Doom," he said.
And here it was, in all its beauty and mystery—the ancient object that for thousands of years had kept Deltora safe from invasion by the evil Shadow Lord who ruled beyond the Mountains.
Hanging between Prandine's bony fingers, the Belt seemed as delicate as lace, and the seven huge gems set along its length looked like beautiful decorations. But Jarred knew that the Belt was made of the strongest steel, and that each of the gems played its own special part in the magic that protected Deltora.
There was the topaz, symbol of faithfulness, gold as the setting sun. There was the amethyst, symbol of truth, purple as the violets that grew by the banks of the river Del. For purity and strength there was the diamond, clear and sparkling as ice. For honor there was the emerald, green as lush grass. There was the lapis lazuli, the heavenly stone, midnight blue with pinpoints of silver like the night sky. There was the ruby for happiness, red as blood. And the opal, symbol of hope, sparkling with all the colors of the rainbow.
"Woooow," muttered Jasmine. "As if I didn't have to hear that a million times already during the quest!"
The crowd seemed to hold its breath as Prandine bent to loop the Belt around Endon's waist. The advisor's fingers fumbled with the fastening, and he was standing well back. He almost seems afraid, Jarred thought curiously. I wonder why?
"Because the Belt could decide it didn't want an Ol's slimy fingers touching it and melt him into a puddle of nothingness," retorted Jasmine.
Then, suddenly, the fastening snapped closed, and his question was answered. Prandine sprang backwards, there was a crackling sound, and, at the same moment, the Belt seemed to explode with light.
"Hmph. So that too."
The gems blazed like fire, lighting the hall with their rainbow brilliance. The people cried out and turned away, hiding their eyes.
Endon stood with his arms upraised, almost hidden by the flashing, darting light. No longer was he just a young boy with sad eyes. The magic Belt had recognized him as the true heir to the throne of Deltora. He, and he alone, could now use its mystery, magic, and power.
But will Endon use them? Jarred thought suddenly. Did his father use them? Did his father ever to anything but follow rules laid down ages ago?
"That, sadly, would be no, no, and no," said Barda.
He watched as the fires of the gems slowly died to a winking glow. He watched as the young king took off the Belt and handed it to Prandine. He watched as Prandine, smiling now, put it back into its glass case.
Jarred knew what would happen to the Belt now.
"No, you don't," said Sharn. "It was beyond all our worst fears." Everyone spared her a surprised look before Doom continued.
As the Rule stated, it would be carried back to the topmost room of the palace tower. The door of the room would be locked with three gold locks. Three guards in gold uniforms would be put outside the door.
And then . . . life would go on as before. Prandine and the other government officials would make all the real decisions affecting the kingdom.
"It's a bit sad, how lax we were before," said Doom, looking wry. "Imagine if—"
Zeean gave him a pointed look. "What's done is done, but we can't forget the lessons our past taught us. Now do go on."
The king would attend ceremonies and feasts, laugh at the clowns and acrobats in the great hall, practice archery and the blacksmith's art. He would sit for hours while his hair, and, one day, his beard were plaited.
Everyone snickered again while Lief glared at them.
He would sign endless documents and stamp them with the ring that bore the royal seal. He would follow the Rule.
In a few years he would marry a young woman chosen for him by Prandine. A daughter of one of the noble families, who also spent her life inside the palace walls. They would have a child, to take Endon's place when he died. And that child would also wear the Belt only once, before it was again locked away.
Doom looked up from his reading to glance at everyone's expressions. Jasmine, he noticed, looked the most sour of all.
Now, for the first time in his life, Jarred wondered if this was a good idea. For the first time he wondered how and why the Belt was made. For the first time he began to doubt the wisdom of letting such a power for good remain idle in a tower room while the realm it was supposed to protect lay, unseen, outside high walls.
"Excellent, some action," said Jasmine. "At last."
He slipped unnoticed out of the great hall and ran up the stairs to the palace library. This was another first for him. He had never loved to study.
"Who would've guessed?" mused Sharn. Everyone laughed, while Doom ignored the comment and moved on.
But there were things he needed to know. And the library was the only place he was likely to find them out.
"Aaaand that's the end of the first chapter," concluded Doom. "I seriously need a break. That was one of the strangest things that ever happened in my life, right up there with the Ol we found that could only turn into old people."
Jasmine took a deep breath. She looked like she was trying to restrain herself from strangling her father. "All right, I'll read next," she said briskly. "Doom, you go get some water or something. Your voice sounds like it's going to crack."
"I think we all need a break," said Zeean. "Doom's right—this is extremely strange, even for us."
"Soo . . . ten minutes and then we meet back here?" asked Lief. Everyone nodded and started to leave, but not before they were confronted by Ranesh.
"I heard from Marilen that you were all up here, doing something top-secret," he said. "I'd like to know, as I'm in charge of the library now."
Doom shot Lief a look, asking for permission. When Lief nodded, he handed The Forests of Silence to Ranesh as an explanation.
Ranesh had had a lifetime's worth at practice in disguising his expressions, but this time he couldn't veil his surprise and shock. "Well," he finally said. "And I guess you're all reading them to find out how much is true?"
Doom sighed. "Yes."
"Then I suppose you won't mind if we join you all, then?" Marilen stepped out from behind a bookshelf, looking triumphant. "Oh, we overheard your little meeting all right. And we're curious. But I insisted Ranesh get your permission first."
"All right, all right!" growled Doom, throwing his hands up helplessly. Lief grinned. "The more the merrier, right, Doom?"
YAY! First chappie, done! (Who knew . . . This is 4,082 words. Wow!)
Here's something I forgot to put in my first A/N: This story was inspired by 1238904756's Fablehaven reads Fablehaven, so you have that fanfiction to thank for the existence of this one! ;) Anyone who reads Fablehaven, check it out!
Also, thanks to you amazing readers! I had no idea I was going to get seven reviews on the prologue, so thank you all! 8D
Speaking of reviews, here are my responses to you guys:
DoomedToBeACrazyFanGirlForever: Haha, that's what I was hoping for! I re-read the prologue and I kept thinking, Is this funny at all?
The Imaginatrix: Heh, yeah . . . I get what you're saying, this story is rather risky. But I saw in the Harry Potter fandom (which is way more popular than DQ) a lot of stories like mine, where the characters read the books. Sooo . . . I'm pretty sure it's okay. Well, sort of. And I did change some small things in this chapter, and I'll also do the same later on. It's nice to know someone's concerned though . . . XP
Haha, that reminds me! I had a PM conversation with Echobaby123 and she said she might write a story where the characters (somehow) get to watch the anime. If that story comes along I'll let everyone know! ;D (Although you're right . . . there is no electricity in Deltora. Well, they've got magic so who knows!)
Guest: Oh I wish . . . That would be hilarious wouldn't it? But nah, that's in the anime. Sorry!
Charm3d5 (and this goes for pretty much everyone XD):Thank you! Here it is! ;D
Remember to review! :D