Barda frowned grimly. “I agreed willingly. I had already decided that I would do anything to overthrow the Shadow Lord, and avenge my mother’s death.”
“It — it is incredible!” Lief spluttered. “All this time you …”
Barda shrugged. “All this time I have been safe, hidden in my beggar’s disguise. Jarred and Anna have given me food and shelter, and helped me to play my part without too much suffering. In return, I have watched over you since you were ten years old —”
“Watched over me?” Lief gasped.
“Oh, yes,” drawled Barda. “After your father was injured I said that I would go alone on the quest for the gems, when the time came. But Jarred and Anna — felt differently. They believed that you should be given the chance to fulfil your father’s pledge.”
He glanced at Lief’s parents as he spoke. They remained expressionless, but it was clear to Lief that there had been many arguments on this subject in the past. Barda would plainly have preferred to travel alone.
He thinks that I will be a burden to him, Lief thought angrily. But before he could say anything, Barda went on.
“I agreed to your company, on the condition that you be allowed to sharpen your wits and learn of life by roaming free in the city. I believed that this was as important as your book-learning and your sword-play in fitting you for the time ahead. But of course you had to be protected from real harm, without your knowledge.”
His lips twitched into a smile. “It has not been easy, young Lief, keeping you out of trouble. And this reminds me. You have my rope, I believe?” He held out his hand.
Not daring to look at his parents, Lief passed over the coil of rope he had thrown down in a corner. His face had grown hot as he remembered how he had prided himself on his many lucky escapes over the years, and boasted of them to his friends. So they had not been a matter of luck, or skill. Barda had been his bodyguard all along.
He looked down at the floor, his stomach churning with furious shame. What a fool he must think me! he raged silently. This — this child he had to mind like a nurse! How he must have laughed at me!
He became aware that Barda was speaking again, and forced himself to look up.
“My beggar’s rags have been useful in other ways,” the man was saying, calmly fastening the rope to his belt. “Grey Guards talk freely to one another in front of me. Why should they care what a half-wit beggar hears?”
“It is because of news Barda has gathered in the past year, Lief, that we know it is time to make our move,” Lief’s father added, eyeing his son’s grim face anxiously. “Hungry for further conquest, the Shadow Lord has at last turned his eyes away from us, to lands across the sea. Warships are being launched from our coast.”
“There are still many Grey Guards in the city, but few now patrol the countryside, it seems,” Barda added. “They have left it to the bands of robbers and to the other horrors that now run wild there. There have always been terrors and evil beings in Deltora, but once they were balanced by the good. With the coming of the Shadow Lord, the balance ended. Evil has become much more powerful.”
A chill ran through Lief, quenching his anger. But Barda’s eyes were upon him, and he would rather have died than show his fear. He snatched up the map. “Have you decided on our route?” he asked abruptly.
His father seemed about to speak, but Barda answered first, pointing to a spot on the map with a blunt finger. “I believe we should move east, directly to the Forests of Silence.”
Three gasps of shock sounded in the small room.
Lief’s father cleared his throat. “We had decided that the Forests should be your final ordeal, not your first, Barda,” he said huskily.
Barda shrugged. “I heard something today that changed my mind. The Grey Guards have always feared the Forests, as we have. But now, it seems, no Guard will even approach them, because of the losses they have suffered. The roads around them are completely clear — of Guards, at least.”
Stiff with shock, Lief stared at the map with glazed eyes. To face the Forests of Silence, that place of childhood nightmare, at some time in the future was one thing. To face it so soon, in a matter of days, was another.
“What think you, Lief?” he heard Barda say.
His voice was casual, but Lief was sure that the question was a test. He wet his lips and looked up from the map, meeting the tall man’s gaze steadily. “Your plan seems to me a good one, Barda,” he said. “With no Guards to trouble us, we will make good time. And if we can find one gem quickly, it will give us good heart to go on.”
Barda’s eyes flickered. I was right, thought Lief. He thought I would refuse to go with him. He thought to be rid of me. Well, he was wrong.
“So, Jarred?” Barda asked gruffly.
The blacksmith bowed his head. “It seems fate has taken a hand to alter my plans,” he murmured. “I must bow to it. Do as you will. Our thoughts and hopes go with you.”
Many hours later, feeling as though he were living in a dream, Lief was marching east along the road leading away from Del. Barda strode beside him, silent, upright, and strong — a completely different person from the shambling, mumbling wreck who had haunted the gates of the forge for as long as Lief could remember.
They had left Del unnoticed by creeping through a hole in the wall that Lief had not known existed, so cleverly was it disguised. Now the city, his parents, and everything he knew were far behind him, and with every step he was moving towards a place whose very name made him sweat with fear.
He told himself, The Forests of Silence strike a special terror in my heart, for they are near, and I have heard tales of them all my life. But it is certain that the other places on the map are just as deadly in their own way.
This idea did not comfort him in the least.
For the first hour after leaving the city he had walked with his hand on his sword, his heart thumping. But they met no one, and for a long time now he had been concentrating only on moving quickly, keeping up with Barda’s long strides. He was determined not to be the one to call for rest. Determined, too, not to be the first to speak, though his head was teeming with questions.
They came to a place where a small road branched off the main one to the right, crossing a little wooden bridge and then winding away into the darkness. Barda stopped.
“I believe that this is the path to Wenn Del — and the shortest way to the Forests,” he said. “The turning fits the description I was given. But there should be a signpost, and there is none.”
Tall trees rose around them, but no leaves rustled. The silence was heavy and complete. It was as if the land was holding its breath, waiting for them to decide what to do.
The clouds parted for a moment, and the moon’s ghostly light beamed down on them. Looking around, Lief saw a tiny glimmer of white on the ground by the side of the road. He moved to it quickly, knelt down, then beckoned to Barda.
“It is here,” he called excitedly, scrabbling among the dead leaves. “Someone has pushed it over, to keep the way secret.”
The signpost lay flat on the ground, almost covered by leaves and small plants. Lief brushed away the last of the leaves, then sat back on his heels with a gasp as he saw what was underneath.
“Someone has tried to warn other travelers of danger along this path. No doubt the sign was not pushed over to hide the way, but to hide the warning,” Barda muttered.
Lief stood up slowly, glancing behind him. Suddenly the silence seemed thick and heavy, pressing in on him.
He became aware that his companion was watching him, frowning. “This path will save us a day and a half, if we take it,” Barda said. “But perhaps I should not lead you into certain peril when we have just begun.”