Allanon's Quest Read Online Free PDF Page B

wagered your life against Collice’s.”
    Allanon looked away. “You should know that the Skull Bearer still lives. I was too weakened from the struggle to destroy it.”
    Derrivanian shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. It will gain nothing by killing me now. It’s too late. I tricked it.”
    The Druid’s eyes locked on him. “How did you do that?”
    The old man had a strange look on his face. “It was surprisingly easy. I knew that no matter what happened, it would return for me eventually. It never intended to keep its word. Once I had done what it wanted and tricked you into going after Weir, it would have no further use for me. It would wait for a time, then it would come back to finish me.”
    He paused. “If I were in its place, I would do the same. But it waited too long. It made a mistake. It should have started by making very certain that Weir was indeed the last of the Shannara instead of wasting time playing games with you.”
    Allanon stared. “What are you saying?”
    “When I told you that Weir was the last of the Shannara kin, I lied. There is another. Weir was not the last.”
    “Another heir? Are you lying this time, too?”
    The old man shook his head. “It was necessary to tell you that Weir was the last. The Skull Bearer was listening. I was betraying you, but I was also using the betrayal to reinforce what the Skull Bearer wrongly believed. If you lived, I told myself, I would give the name to you. If you died, there was probably no hope for any of us. In any case, I would not allow my knowledge to fall into the wrong hands.”
    Allanon could hardly believe what he was hearing. “So you’re sure? There really is another? Weir was not the last?”
    Derrivanian shifted his gaze, first to the door, then to the windows, as if to reassure himself that no one else was listening. “There was a boy who was orphaned asa child, a boy whose father was an Elf and whose mother came west from the Borderlands.”
    He paused. “The boy approaches manhood now, but he is not yet fully grown. His parents were good people, intelligent and responsible, the right sorts. It may be so with this boy.”
    “His name?”
    “Aren Shea.”
    Allanon shook his head in rebuke, his dark face intense. “I recognize the name. But a fever took him while he was still very small, shortly after his parents died. That was years ago.”
    “Yes. Tragic. He was the last of his line. The burial service was poorly attended since there were no longer any living relatives among the Elves. He was buried and forgotten. Even by you, it seems. Though you can visit his gravesite in Arborlon, if you wish.”
    The Druid paused. “Are you saying he didn’t die?”
    “Exactly—though I arranged for the circumstances surrounding his death to look as convincing as possible.”
    “Because you knew. Even then. You knew he would be hunted.”
    “His parents were killed under mysterious circumstances. Just before this happened, his mother brought the child to Collice and asked her to take him. She sensed the danger, I think. The women were close friends, and the boy’s mother knew my wife could be trusted. She asked Collice to keep him until she was certain the danger was past, then she would take him back. But if anything happened to theparents, we were to fake the boy’s death, then convey him to her brother’s home in the Borderlands and tell no one what we had done. We were to hide the truth from everyone so that her son might have a chance to live.”
    “So you did as she asked? And the Warlock Lord and his Skull Bearers have not discovered the truth?”
    “They have no reason to suspect the boy still lives. No one in the whole of the Westland knows the truth.”
    “You are certain of this?”
    “As certain as I can be. You will have to determine if I am right or not for yourself. The boy’s name is different now. He is called Shea Ohmsford. He was given his uncle’s surname. He resides in the village of Shady Vale in the forests