Pirra was the name of The Shadowlands before it was invaded by the Shadow Lord. It was a beautiful green country north of Deltora that was inhabited by the Pirrans. In Pirra a magical pipe, known as The Pirran Pipe that was made of three seperate parts: A mouthpiece, a middle stem and an endpiece. The pipe is a flute which spreads out a magical force of music, which protects Pirra against dark powers, and against The Shadow Lord. However, when the Pirran Piper died, three new pipers stood up to challenge each other to be the new Pirran Piper. This allowed the Shadow Lord to secretly entre Pirra unnoticed. They were: Plume the Brave, Auron the Fair, and Keras the Unknown. They played and played, and then the people of Pirra were to vote for their favorite, but each time the pipers got an equal number of votes, and it was the same, on and on again. A man then appeared in Pirra who the Pirrans thought was one of them, because he had seen every piper playing. He came disguised in a cloak and with a hood over his head. It was The Shadow Lord, and he tricked the Pirrans into breaking the Pirran Pipe into the three pieces. Because one piece of the Pipe could not be played, the song that protected Pirra from The Shadow Lord's shadows could not be played. Pirra was then enveloped by shadows and hence became The Shadowlands.
The Pirrans fled into a series of caverns underneath Deltora and The Shadowlands. These caverns became known as the Pirran Caverns, consisting of an underground ocean and three isles:
- Isle of Plume
- Isle of Auron
- Isle of Keras
Later Lief, Barda and Jasmine went to each of the secret underground isles, and managed to retrieve the pieces of The Pirran Pipe, the only weapon strong enough to defeat The Shadow Lord in his own land. They took to the pipe to The Shadowlands and Emlis played the pipe. The three pieces' hiding places is listed below:
- Isle of Plume (The Mouthpiece: They didn't have it because The Seven Goblins, from The Tenna Bidrsong Tales had stole the piece and gave it to the head of the Jalis, Greel. It was handed down in generations of the family and ended up with Glock. It was thought to be a talisman which didn't protected the killed Goblin which carried it, but protected the Jalis themselves. It was located in a little bag around Glock's neck. When he died he gave it to Jasmine, and then found had the mouthpiece. Glock was killed by The Fear).
- Isle of Auron (The Middle Stem)
- Isle of Keras (The Endpiece)