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

doomed, like your idiot king, his little painted doll bride, and the brat she carries.”
    From his robe he drew a long, thin dagger, its wicked tip glowing sickly green.
    Jarred backed away from him, fighting back the pain from his injured hand, trying desperately to think. He had no wish to die, but he knew that at all costs he must save Endon, Sharn, and their unborn child, the heir to the throne of Deltora.
    “We are too many for you, Prandine,” he said loudly. “While you struggle with one, the others can escape.” He wondered if Prandine would realize that this was not just a challenge to him, but a message for Endon. While I distract him, take Sharn and run!
    But Prandine was laughing again, kicking the door shut behind him. “There will be no struggle,” he jeered, moving forward. “The poison on this blade is deadly. One tiny scratch and the end comes quickly. As it did for your mother and father, King Endon.”
    “Murderer! Traitor!” breathed Endon, pushing Sharn behind him. “You have betrayed your king, and your land.”
    “This is not my land,” sneered Prandine. “My loyalty, like the loyalty of the chief advisors before me, has always been to another place and to a far greater master.”
    He looked at Endon with contempt. “You are the last in a line of royal buffoons, King Endon. Little by little we robbed your family of power until you were nothing but puppets moving as we pulled the strings. And then, at last, the time was right to take your last protection from you.”
    He pointed a bony finger at the tangled chain in Endon’s hands. “Finally, the blacksmith Adin’s accursed work has been undone. The Belt of Deltora is no more.”
    “The gems cannot be destroyed,” Endon said through pale lips. “And it is death to take them beyond Deltora’s borders.”
    Prandine smiled cruelly. “The gems have been scattered far and wide, hidden where no one would dare to find them. And when you and your unborn brat are dead, finding them would be no use in any case.”
    The room darkened and thunder growled outside the tower. Prandine’s eyes glowed with triumph. “The Shadow Lord comes,” he hissed.
    Cowering against the wall, Sharn moaned softly. Then she seemed to hear something. She sidled to the open window and looked out — not up to the black sky but down to the ground below the tower. The nextmoment she had jumped back, covering her mouth with her hand as if to smother a shriek.
    “What is it?” snarled Prandine, suddenly alert.
    Sharn shook her head. “Nothing,” she stammered. “I was mistaken. There is no one there.”
    Oh, Sharn, even a child could tell that you are lying! thought Jarred desperately. Thanks to you, whoever has come to help us is doomed.
    “Stay where you are or she dies at once!” barked Prandine to the two men as he crossed the room.
    Sharn shrank away from him as he reached her. “Do not look out! There is no one there!” she cried again.
    “So you say,” Prandine sneered. He thrust his head and shoulders out of the open window.
    And in the next instant Sharn had crouched behind him, thrown her arms around his knees, jerked his legs back and upwards, and tipped him over the sill.
    Jarred and Endon, frozen with shock, listened to their enemy’s screams as he plunged to the hard earth far below. They both stared, astounded, at the small figure turning from the window to face them.
    “Often, in the great hall, I have watched little clowns upset big ones from below,” Sharn said calmly. “I did not see why the trick should not work for me.”
    “What — what did you see from the window?” Jarred stammered.
    “Nothing. As I told him. But I knew he would nottrust my word.” Sharn tossed her head. “And I knew he would lean out. Why should he fear a little painted doll like me?”
    Jarred gazed at her in frank admiration, then turned to Endon. “You are as fortunate in your bride as I am in mine,” he said.
    Endon nodded slowly. He seemed