This article is about the book The Sister of the South. For the for the evil creature, go to The Four Sisters (creatures)#Sister of the South.
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The Sister of the South is the fourth and final book in the third Deltora Quest series. It is written by the series' creator Emily Rodda and its cover is illustrated by Marc McBride. Illustrations inside, such as anagrams, have been done by Rodda's daughter Kate Rowe.
Book description
"With the aid of Deltora's last dragons, Lief, Barda and Jasmine have destroyed three of the Four Sisters, evil Shadow Lord creations which are poisoning their land. Their quest will end in the city of Del, where the Sister of the South lies hidden.
Del is the companions' home but it has changed. Fear now stalks the streets, treachery lurks behind smiling faces and evil prowls the palace. Burdened by a terrible sense of foreboding, Lief knows that every step he takes leads closer to disaster. Yet he cannot stop, he cannot turn back.
And in the Shadowlands the Enemy gloats waiting for the terrifying end."[1]
Plot
The story opens with Veritas, Forta (the infant Diamond dragon), Red Han (the light keeper of the Bone Point Lighthouse), Lief, Barda and Jasmine standing over the grave of Doran the Dragonlover, who was known as Dragonfriend to the land's dragons. As Lief places Doran's soul stone, Lief's mind is filled with an odd sentence: Veritas hopian forta fortuna fidelis honora joyeu. After talking with Veritas, and a dire warning from Ava regarding Lief's future, they travel to the city of Tora where they rest for the night. They receive word from Doom to stay away from the city of Del and a message from Josef asking to speak to Lief, and learn from Zeean that Sharn returned to Del, but she, and all she came in contact with have fallen ill to a disease dubbed "the Toran Plague."
After seeing Josef through the water of the Dreaming Spring, Lief, Barda and Jasmine travel to Del via Zeean's magic. Upon their arrival, they discover a yellow note that greatly insults Tora. They soon learn more about the so-called "Toran Plague," said to having killed many of the city's residents. While Barda and Jasmine wait outside the castle, Lief visits an infected Josef who says that Lief was the Sorcerer, and whispering "here" and the "center"; Lief also sees Paff in a serious condition. Shortly afterwards, Barda and Jasmine fight a Phantom summoned by the Guardian of the last Sister. As Lief fends it off, the Topaz dragon appears and attempts to destroy it, successfully driving it away. However, the castle guards and Gla-Thon also attempt to kill the dragon. In all the commotion, the Phantom escapes. The next morning, after visiting Sharn, Lief learns a gret discovery from Sharn: The Toran Plague was just poison. As Lief heals the injured Lindal, Barda storms into the room and informs Lief that Josef is dead. Lief then informs Gla-Thon that he will need all of the Dread Gnomes' emeralds and amethysts to combat the illness, using them solely to attempt to cure Paff as a test. Later, Lief announces that all the food must be tested before being eaten.
However, after discovering that the palace birds were poisoned and their guards slain in a manner that could not have been due to poison, as well as a fresh set of abusive notices accusing the Torans of setting Lief up to die and Marylin to be a puppet ruler, the claims that poison is responsible are doubted. Lief then finds an infected Lindal, and the re-infected Sharn, along with a now-infected Zeean. He decides that the Plague is real and that this must be the future that Ava saw for him.
After meeting Ranesh and Josef's body, Lief asks him to bring Marilen to Del to take up the throne. Immediately afterwards, Manus enters the chapel and says that the platform on which Josef is laid is abominable, having been built without the Ralad builder's consent. Lief realizes that this is where the Sister of the South is hidden. Along with Barda and Jasmine, Lief manages to destroy the platform, revealing the Sister's warning stone:
- Lose and win? Win and lose?
- Royal coward you must choose.
- Bow your head and turn away.
- Or you and yours will curse this day.
Furious at the personal taunt, Lief has Barda destroy the stone, causing a flash of light that partially blinds Barda. Inside the pit, Lief sees the Sister, which he finds looks exactly like a grey gem, a mockery of the gems in the Belt that corrupts him and promises him power. Lief is only able to resist the evil when he realizes that if drove him to forget Jasmine as he sees her and Gla-Thon under attack by the Phantom, suffocating them with its substance - the same way the guards were killed. The Topaz dragon is trying to dig its way into the pit when it is attacked by the palace guards. Barda comes in the nick of time and orders the guards to stop attacking the dragon, but before Lindal is injured. The Phantom then appears, having survived the collapse of the palace wall and fights the topaz dragon. Jasmine then reveals that if was poison that caused the Plague after all, hidden in Sharn's lip cream. Shortly after, Steven and Nevets appear to fight the Phantom, killing it when its power and that of the Sister mysteriously weaken. When the Phantom does not return to a human form, having been a projection of the guardian's power, Jasmine suggests that the guardian would have been in a trance to manifest it. The Topaz dragon destroys the final Sister, everyone cheering. but the pit has made the foundation unsteady and while everyone evacuates the Palace, Barda and Lief touch the Opal, Barda has his vision mostly repaired and Lief sees a grey barren land with skeleton trees, a grey sluggish river, the seven Ak-Baba and an enormous amount of hatred, which he believes to be the Shadowlands.
After returning to the palace, Lief enters Paff's room and finds Doom with, both he and Lief have discerned due to her rigid state, different symptoms from any other victims, that she is the Sister of South's true guardian. Paff commits suicide by clutching the Belt of Deltora, burning herself. After a small feast, Barda finally solves his puzzle box, releasing a clown head on a spring and startling him. Realizing that Josef, frail in old age, could not have been looking at a plan of the castle, which was locked in a heavy box, Lief and Ranesh discover that a force worse than hunger has been unleashed. Lief takes out the map of Deltora containing the locations of the Four Sisters and, using Doom's knife, connects The West Sister to the East Sister and the North to the South, creating two lines that intersect at Hira - the City of the Rats. Lief and his companions quickly travel on the topaz dragon to Hira where they see a massive yellow bubble that explodes into a grey liquid that began turning part of Deltora into a grey wasteland. Lief then realized that the Shadow Lord had them in a checkmate: if they did not destroy the Sisters, the land would die slow and painfully. If they destroyed the Sisters, the land would die quickly and silently. The Opal dragon arrives, initially angered at the Topaz Dragon's invasion of its territory, but they join forces to battle the seven Ak-Baba, sent by the Shadow Lord to protect the grey tide. They manage to kill two, but it is a losing battle. Lief then realizes that the sentence he had heard at Doran's grave were the names of the dragons of Deltora. Lief then says the names, calling all the dragons, killing two more of the Ak-Baba and stopping the grey liquid with a ring of fire, saving Deltora once and for all from the terror of the Shadow Lord. That night soon became known as the "Dragon Night," and it became custom that it was celebrated each year, the same day as the event took place.
In the following spring, Lief and Jasmine marry and eventually have three children: Anna, Jarred and Endon (named after his father and his friends) while Marilen and Ranesh get married and have a child named Josef. Barda and Lindal marry, too, and have six children that were said to be "as alike as peas in a pod". Deltora eventually remains peaceful, though the Shadow Lord still lives, and likely continues to plot.
Characters
Protagonists
- Lief
- Barda
- Jasmine
- Josef
- Ranesh
- Doom
- Sharn
- Manus
- Gla-Thon
- Steven and Nevets B, of the Plains
- Gers
- Zerry
- Marilen
- Zeean
- The Deltoran Dragons
Antagonists
- Paff, the guardian of the Sister of the South
- Phantom
- The Shadow Lord (only mentioned)
- Ak-Baba
Trivia
References
- ↑ Rodda, Emily. The Sister of the South. Scholastic Australia. 2004.