Shadowgate by Emily Rodda

Author:Emily Rodda [Rodda, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
ISBN: 9781921989681
Publisher: Scholastic Australia
Published: 2012-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

11 – The Trail

When the village clock struck nine, Steven, Lief and Jasmine were still in the field. A small fire was crackling between them, and Steven was pouring hot tea into cups. He had refused to go in pursuit of the Masked Ones.

‘They would not have touched the Belt,’ he said firmly. ‘To them, it is an evil thing. They learn to hate it from the cradle.’

‘Why?’ Lief said. He swallowed. His throat had been soothed by the Queen Bee honey Steven had given him, but it still felt raw.

He now knew the reason. It was because in the night, just before midnight, he had screamed in agony. Screamed, and screamed…

‘Later, I will give you something that explains the Masked Ones a little,’ said Steven, pushing a steaming cup into his hands. ‘For now, forget them and think about the ordinary folk who were travelling with them.’

Lief sipped his tea, staring at the cloud of bees swarming on the fence at the far edge of the field. He let his mind drift, knowing that it was best not to force his memory.

Gradually, much of what had happened the night before had come back to him. But he remembered nothing from the moment the clock began to strike midnight. He knew only what Jasmine had told him.

It was horrifying, almost unbelievable, but he knew it was true. In the mirror Steven had brought from the caravan, he had seen the proof—the raw patches on his cheekbones, chin and neck, gleaming scarlet beneath their layers of sticky green cream.

He shuddered, thinking how narrow his escape had been. How nearly he had been a Masked One for life, the beautiful blue bird face bonded forever with his own. A few more seconds…

He reached for Jasmine’s hand.

‘No-one but Barda and I were with you at midnight, Lief,’ she said in a low voice. ‘The Belt must have been stolen before then—while you were wandering alone in the crowd. Though how it could have been taken without you noticing, I do not understand.’

Her words stirred a memory in Lief’s mind. Bess, talking to Rust:

If he can take a purse from a man’s coat, without that man noticing, he can learn to deceive an audience with ease.

‘Zerry!’ he exclaimed.

‘Who?’ asked Steven, leaning forward.

‘The little thief?’ Jasmine cried at the same moment. ‘Of course! But Lief, how—?’

‘Some children jostled me in the field,’ Lief said slowly. ‘I remember now. Zerry was one of them. He must have taken the Belt then.’

He stared across the field, remembering.

‘Before that, I was feeling—confused,’ he said. ‘The Belt’s magic, and the magic of the mask, were battling within me, I am sure of it. One minute I would think I was a Masked One. The next minute a voice inside me would remind me I was not. And I could not stop shivering. But after I was jostled by the children, all that disappeared.’

‘Because the Belt had gone,’ murmured Jasmine.

Lief nodded. Absently, he noticed that the bees had risen from the fence.

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