The Forests of Silence

So, Lief,” Barda mumbled. “Are you not pleased with your companion?”

Lief could only stand gaping at him.

“Do not tease him, Barda.” Smiling, Lief’s mother moved to her son’s side and gently touched his shoulder. “How could Lief know you are other than you appear to be? Explain yourself!”

Barda pulled off the ragged cloak he wore, letting it fall to the floor at his feet. Underneath the cloak his garments were rough, but clean. He straightened his shoulders, pushed back his tousled hair from his face, tightened his jaw, and lifted his head. Suddenly he looked completely different — tall, strong, and many years younger.

“I also lived in the palace, when your father and King Endon were young, Lief,” he said, in quite a different voice. “I was the grown son of their nursemaid, Min, but they did not know me, or I them. While they were at their lessons I was already in training as a palace guard.”

“But — but all my life you have lived outside the forge,” Lief stammered.

Barda’s face darkened. “I left the palace on the night my mother was killed. I knew that I would suffer the same fate if I stayed. My guard’s uniform helped me to trick my way through the gates, and I came here.”

Lief swallowed. “Why here?”

“Fate guided me, I believe, as it had guided Jarred before me,” Barda answered quietly. “It was deepest night. The cottage was in darkness. I hid myself in the forge and slept. When at last I stirred, many hours later, it was day, though it did not seem so. A terrible wind was howling. Only half awake, I stumbled outside and saw four strangers by the gate. I know now that they were Jarred and Anna hurrying the king and queen away, but then I knew nothing.”

He glanced at Lief’s father. “Jarred was rather startled to see a palace guard lurching towards him,” he added dryly. “He greeted me with a blow that put me back to sleep for quite some time.”

Lief shook his head, hardly able to believe that his gentle father would strike anyone.

“When I woke again I found that Jarred and Anna no longer feared me,” Barda went on. “While I was unconscious I had rambled aloud of my grief and fear, so they knew who I was and well understood the danger that threatened me. They knew I was a friend.”

“So we did,” murmured Lief’s mother. She turned to Lief. “We told Barda who our visitors had been. We asked for his help in seeking the lost gems of Deltora when the time came.”

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.”