Deltora Quest #1: The Forests of Silence Read Online Free PDF

clumsy and awkward. To hide this he turned away.
    As he did, he at last realized where he was. He was in the chapel. One of the marble tiles that surrounded the raised platform in the center had been pushed aside, and a dark hole gaped where it had lain.
    “The tunnel through the hill is known only to the royal family, and is only to be used in times of great danger,” he heard Endon say softly. “King Brandon caused it to be made when the palace was built. My father taught me of it when I was very young, as he had been taught in his time — in words that even a small child would remember. There is a rhyme for entering the palace, and a rhyme for leaving it. It is a dark secret. Even the chief advisors have never known of it.”
    Jarred did not reply. He had raised his eyes to the platform and seen what was lying there. It was the body of an old woman. Her work-worn hands were folded on her chest. Her wrinkled face was peaceful in the flickering light of the candles that surrounded her.
    “Min!” he whispered. His eyes burned with sudden tears as he looked at the old nurse who had cared for him through his childhood. He had not seen her for many years, but he had thought of her often. It was hard to believe that she was dead.
    “She had a grown-up son, you know,” Endon murmured. “He lived in the palace, but I never met him. I asked for him, when I heard she had died. They told me he had run away — escaped through the gates during the feast. He was afraid, Jarred. Min must have told him what she heard. He knew she had been killed …”
    “Killed?” gasped Jarred. “But —”
    Endon’s face was twisted with sorrow. “She came to me in my chamber. I was about to leave for the feast celebrating my seven years as king,” he muttered. “She was troubled. She had been working in her sewing room, and had overheard whisperings outside that frightened her. She told me that there were enemies within the palace, and that some great evil was to strike this night.”
    He bowed his head. “I would not listen to her. I thought she had fallen asleep over her work, and dreamed. I smiled at her fears and sent her away. And within the hour, she was dead. She had fallen from the top of the stairs to the hall below. They said it was an accident. But …”
    “But you do not think so,” Jarred finished for him, looking sadly at Min’s still, pale face. “You think she was killed because of what she knew.”
    “Yes,” said Endon in a low voice. “And my wife thinks it, too.”
    Jarred glanced at him. “You are married, then,” he said. “I, too.”
    Endon half smiled. “That is good,” he murmured politely. “I hope that you are as happy in your marriage as I am in mine. My wife, the queen, is called Sharn. We had never spoken to each other before our wedding day, as is the Rule, but she grows more dear to me with every year that passes. Our first child will be born at summer’s end.”
    “And ours in the early autumn,” said Jarred.
    There was a moment’s silence as each of them thought of the changes that seven years had brought. Then Endon looked straight into Jarred’s eyes. “It is good to see you again, my friend,” he said softly. “I have been cruelly punished for believing that you could betray me. I have missed you sorely.”
    And suddenly all the strangeness between them melted away. Jarred thrust out his hand and clasped Endon’s warmly. “Friends to the death we were as boys, and friends to the death we will always be,” he said. “You must have always known this in your heart, Endon, because you sent for me when trouble came. I wish only that the summons had been sooner. I fear we have little time.”
    “Then Min was right,” Endon whispered. “There is evil here.”
    “There has been evil here for a long time,” said Jarred. “And now —”
    Both of them swung around, their hands on their swords, as they heard the door behind them click open.
    “Endon, it is past dawn,” a voice