Deltora Quest #8: Return to Deltora Read Online Free PDF Page B

black against the blue.

    Manus sat back on his heels and read what he had written. The message was clear. “One person — travel to — friends — quickly. For freedom!”

    Many days passed. Slow days for Lief, Barda, and Jasmine, cooped up in the caravan. They knew from Steven’s songs that Ak-Baba had flown overhead and Ols in all shapes had stared as the caravan passed by. But the caravan was a familiar sight to the Ak-Baba, and theOls were not interested in it. They had been ordered to keep watch — but not for that.
    Road forks just ahead I see,
    Ol-io, Ol-io!
    Night is falling, we seem free
    Of Ol-i, Ol-ios!
    Steven was singing again, giving the news.
    A few minutes later, the caravan stopped, the back doors were thrown open, and the companions scrambled out. It was just past sunset. A rocky hill rose in front of them. The main road curved around the hill to the right. Another track wound off to the left. A signpost stood at the fork. Lief’s throat tightened as he read it.

    “We must take the Del road, but it will be a journey into the unknown,” said Steven. “I know nothing of it, and neither does Doom. He always travels overland in these parts. The hills that hide the coast are treacherous, he says. But he prefers them.”
    “I would prefer them, also,” muttered Jasmine.
    “And I,” growled Barda. “But we must stay hidden. If we are sighted here, the decoys in the west will have risked their lives to no purpose.”
    Lief was looking at the Del road. Endon and Sharn had no doubt followed it from the city, the night they escaped. They would not have tried to go overland, with Sharn so close to giving birth to her child.
    He tried to imagine how it would have been. The road would have been crowded. Many fled from Del that night. He remembered his father’s sad voice, telling him about it. “Your mother and I stayed shut up in the forge all through the uproar. When at last we opened our gates, we found ourselves alone. Friends, neighbors, old customers — all were gone. Killed, captured, or fled.”
    “We had been expecting something of the sort,” Lief’s mother had added. “But the confusion was worse than even we had imagined. It took a long time for life in Del to begin again. When it did, we were ready. And so grateful — because we were safe, and so were you, my son, for by that time you had been born, and were the light of our lives. But …” Her strong voice trembled. “But we feared for those who had fled.”
    Those who had fled.
    Unrecognized in their humble working clothes, Endon and Sharn would have lost themselves in the panicking crowd. They would have hurried along with others moving west, suffering who knew what terrors. Then, when the blackbird carrying Tora’s message reached them, they would have realized that there was no point in continuing.
    What would they have done then? Moved off the road. Found a place to hide. Endon knew the Belt wouldnever again shine for him. Deltora’s only hope lay with his child. He and Sharn had to find a place where the baby could be born in safety. Where?
    Lief was roused by Jasmine’s sharp voice. “Lief! We must go, so we can find a place to stop for the night.”
    Lief turned to the caravan. But his thoughts still dwelled on a time before he was born, and on two desperate people he had never known, searching for refuge.

R ain threatened as they set off the next day. The companions cared nothing for that, cheered by Steven’s assurance that they would reach Withick Mire before sunset. But they had not gone far before his voice reached them with bad news.
    Be prepared for flight or fight.
    Ol-io, Ol-io!
    Gripper field lies to the right,
    Ahead are Guard-ios.
    “What is a gripper field?” whispered Jasmine, as the caravan jerked to a stop.
    “It cannot be worse than Grey Guards, in any case,” growled Barda. “And Guards, it seems, are ahead.”
    The caravan doors were thrown open, and Steven looked in.
    “The road is