Читать онлайн «The Lake of Tears»

Автор Эмили Родда

Contents

Title Page

1 The Bridge

2 Three Questions

3 Truth and Lies

4 Rescue

5 Terror

6 Nij and Doj

7 Shocks

8 Eyes Wide Open

9 Stepping Stones

10 Quick Thinking

11 To Raladin

12 Music

13 The Lake of Tears

14 Soldeen

15 The Sorceress

16 Fight for Freedom

The Deltora Book of Monsters

Preview: The Golden Door

About the Author

Also by Emily Rodda

The story so far …

Sixteen-year-old Lief, fulfilling a pledge made by his father before he was born, has set out on a great quest to find the seven gems of the magic Belt of Deltora. The Belt is all that can save the kingdom from the tyranny of the evil Shadow Lord, who, only months before Lief’s birth, invaded Deltora and enslaved its people with the help of sorcery and his fearsome Grey Guards.

The gems — an amethyst, a topaz, a diamond, a ruby, an opal, a lapis lazuli, and an emerald — were stolen to open the way for the evil Shadow Lord to invade the kingdom. Now they lie hidden in dark and terrible places throughout the land. Only when they have been restored to the Belt can the heir to Deltora’s throne be found, and the Shadow Lord’s tyranny ended.

Lief set out with one companion — the man Barda, who was once a Palace guard. Now they have been joined by Jasmine — a wild, orphaned girl of Lief’s own age, who they met during their first adventure in the fearful Forests of Silence.

In the Forests they discovered the amazing healing powers of the nectar of the Lilies of Life. They also succeeded in finding the first gem — the golden topaz, symbol of faithfulness, which has the power to bring the living into contact with the spirit world, as well as other powers they do not yet understand.

Now read on …

Lief, Barda, and Jasmine walked through the crisp, bright morning. The sky was palest blue. The sun slanted between the trees, lighting with bars of gold the winding path they trod. The dark terrors of the Forests of Silence were far behind them.

On such a day, Lief thought, striding along behind Barda, it would be easy to believe that all was well in Deltora.

Away from the crowded, ruined city of Del, away from the sight of patroling Grey Guards and the misery of people living in hunger and fear, you could almost forget that the Shadow Lord ruled in the land.

But it would be foolish to forget. The countryside was beautiful, but danger lurked everywhere on the road to the Lake of Tears.

Lief glanced behind him and met Jasmine’s eyes. Jasmine had not wanted to come this way. She had argued against it with all her strength.

Now she walked as lightly and silently as always, but her body was stiff and her mouth was set in a straight, hard line. This morning she had tied her long hair back with a strip of cloth torn from her ragged clothes. Without its usual frame of wild brown curls her face seemed very small and pale and her green eyes looked huge.

The little furry creature she called Filli was clinging to her shoulder, chattering nervously. Kree, the raven, was fluttering clumsily through the trees beside her as if unwilling to keep to the ground but also unwilling to fly too far ahead.