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Chapter I : A Deal
It took three whole years for the Shadowlord to
recuperate. Well, not exactly three years—he had decided after all that
waiting it was good to start his plan to take over Deltora for the fourth
time.
What could he do? He'd already tried sending a mass army
over this land and take over, but that was defeated by the Belt of Deltora
and Adin. Next he had tried slowing weakening it bit by bit, but that plan
too was blasted to smithereens by that darned Lief and again, the Belt of
Deltora! Then third plan—he had almost been ready to give up by now but he
was not the type to give up—was to use those special worms that bore into
someone's brain and gave him full control of that person's actions. That
had given him a painful migraine after that! If it were not for that
blasted Belt or that blasted Pipe, he would have taken Deltora for his own
by now!
It occurred to him that now both the undergrounds of
Deltora and the land were already barred from the Shadowlord. Perhaps the
skies—no, they would notice an army of Ols. Perhaps poison their
waterways? But he could not do that; it may just contaminate the one
certain spot that he needed to be protected…
Finally, glancing up
at the sky, he sighed. The idea left needed someone else to help him. It
was a possibility he did not like but, if necessary, he would do it.
Seizing a fistful of sparkling white powder, he threw it out the
open sky, letting it be carried away in the wind. Waiting impatiently in
his crumbling little dark and private chamber, the Shadowlord watched the
sky for the signs of her arrival.
Just as he was about to give up
and leave that idea, there was an enormous gust of wind that nearly
knocked over his jar of centuries-year old powder. Outside, he could hear
Ols getting blown away with howls. Then, all of that commotion stopped,
and there was a mighty lot of thumping and ouches as Ols were dropped from
the skies unexpectedly.
"You called?"
It was a little
girl's voice, and that girl took shape before his desk. She could not had
been older than six, with long fair hair, pale skin with flushed cheeks,
and enormously wide blue eyes that glinted mischievously.
"Make a
less dangerous entrance next time," he snapped. "I need your
help."
The girl emitted a loud shrill giggle and quickly clamped
her hand over her mouth.
"Ooh!" she taunted. "You want my help!
How sweet! Should I help, not leave? Let me see…"
The Sky Goddess
Dieldra started tapping her foot with a beat and tapped her nose as well,
humming as she thought. The Shadowlord would have interrupted her thinking
section, but he knew better than to do so to this little goddess. Then,
Dieldra suddenly snapped her fingers and yelled, "Ahah! I know!"
"I
did not even tell you my plan!" he exclaimed. "How can you
know?"
"I am the Goddess," she replied smugly. "So, I
know."
Gritting his teeth, the Shadowlord spoke again. "Then what?"
"Let me check…" Dieldra rummaged through her little purse by her
waist, drew out a small pea sized item, and with a flick of her hand,
threw it in the air. With a puff of pink smoke, pink sparkles, pink
streamers, and light clattering of bells, a book with a lacy cover
appeared and handed gently in her hand. The Shadowlord smelled a sharp
strawberry scent floating from it and gasping, he covered his nose.
"Here it is!" Dieldra thankfully snapped the book shut and
summoning a piece of parchment and a pen over, she wrote down something.
Then she handed it to the Shadowlord.
"Try this."
He stared
at the page for a very long time before moving jerkily towards his Seeing
Crystal. He opened up an 'eye' to see where Lief was and what he was
doing. There the young boy was, beside his friend Jasmine. He looked like
he was about to say something.
He acted quickly, and performed the
spell. There! All of a sudden, where the King once stood, was a small
frog. His clothes, Belt, and sword fell to the ground. The dark haired
girl covered her mouth in a silent scream, and started yelling for him,
searching carefully. Before her eyes fell to the ground, the
King-changed-to-frog leapt away and tucked his body into a dark corner,
wriggling to escape the room.
The Shadowlord laughed like a
maniac. It worked! For once, Dieldra was useful.
Then, he began to
feel his skin ripple like a layer of liquid, his bones deforming, and fur
growing, until his whole body was changed. Horrified, he looked at
himself. He had changed into a beast!
The Shadowlord whirled
around, a finger pointing accusingly at the little girl.
"What was
that?!"
"You will find out," she said calmly. Dieldra pulled a red
rose from out of nowhere and tossed it to him. He fumbled to catch it in
his too big hands. When it landed in his vast palms, it began to glow
faintly with a reddish pink colour. Sparkles danced around it, twirling
and pirouetting around the petals, the stem, the thorns. One petal began
to droop.
"Only one girl can cure you of your form," Dieldra
continued. "This rose tells how much time left until you stay as a beast
forever. The girl must love you and admit it to you, but only this one
girl I've chosen for the job will do. No Ols, no spies, just her. If all
the petals have fallen and the girl has not said so, well, you were lucky
then."
"Who is it?" he snarled, nearly clenching his hand into a
fist and crushing the rose. "Tell me, now!" He needed to create a plan and
kidnap whoever it was, find a spell to make her say it.
"It is
Jasmine of Del, one of King Lief's most trusted companions, and not to
mention, the one woman he loves."
The Shadowlord would not believe
it. He could not believe it.
"You are a traitor!" he roared. "A
lying witch that is good for absolutely noth—"
"I could have forced
you to keep this shape," Dieldra interrupted. "And I do not have to stay
here to listen to your insults either. I am not a traitor as I am not your
servant and if you want me to tell you more conditions with this, you
listen and keep quiet." Seething, he wisely kept his mouth shut.
"You cannot kidnap the girl in any way," she said. "She must come
willingly. No spells on her either—it must be truly spoken by her. The
only way is to treat her nicely. Be her friend…" Why Jasmine! The
Shadowlord raged inside him.
"Jasmine because she will judge you
well," Dieldra scolded sternly, reading his mind. "She has been part of
Lief’s company to overthrow you and defeat you. She knows how you plan,
therefore you cannot trick her. She will not fall for your twisted ways.
Believe me; you will like your results after this." Then she lifted three
fingers, wagging them teasingly. "You have the three summer months. A
petal falls after the end of each week, so you have…" Dieldra started
ticking off her fingers "…fourteen weeks. Those are a lot of days, and you
can calculate the days yourself. Mind, time passes quickly, so your chance
may die before it can be fulfilled. Good luck!"
With that, she
vanished.
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