by Des Pensable
‘Well I think we can safely assume that the Unity of Wisdom has decided to act quickly for a change. It sounds like Rob has really upset the Mentarin. I suspect the reason they’re after our blood is because they can’t get at him. Good on you Rob. Go after them.’ said Granddad.
‘Hold on a bit.’ said Peter. ‘We’re the ones getting our life’s work ruined.’
‘Just a temporary setback.’ said Granddad. ‘I knew things would change when Rob came of age. He has the most powerful source that I have ever seen in one so young. It must have something to do with the Yith side of his spirit. When I discovered it was growing so fast, I capped it so that he would have to learn to be selective and conservative in his use of power. I suspect he now knows and is flexing his muscles a little. I only hope that we have taught him enough to use the power wisely.’
‘Now I have a contingency plan for this situation.’ he uttered a word of power and all the family were hypnotized. He unlocked memories in their minds and they all instantly knew the details of his plan. He snapped his fingers and they were awake.
‘OK you all know the plan so let’s get it into action. Take six guards with you in case you have any problems. I’ll go and talk to the people at the gate and try to buy us a little time.’
‘Helix could I ask you a great favour? Could you go and find out what Rob has done?’
‘Of course Sol, do you need a hand here first?’ asked Helix.
‘No we should be able to handle it. You should be able to pick up his tracks in a world called Mudrun. Talk to High Wizard Featherdown he’s a friend of mine and should be able to give you the latest information. He has a tower at the town called Twin Towers. It’s a lovely little place by the sea. It used to be perfect for a holiday. However they have problems there caused by that prophesy I was telling you about recently.’
Helix left and Granddad teleported to his conjuring room unlocked his wand cabinet and took all six wands poking them in specially designed pockets in his robe. He then called and enlarged Goth his toughest construct and loaded it with a chain lightning spell and an extra magical protection against physical damage. Finally he called his Arch Wizard gown and staff of power to him and teleported to meet the group at the gate.
A bolt of lightning announced Granddad and Goth’s arrival and many of the guards moved back several paces at the sight. Granddad looked grandiose in his silver gown pulsing with magic. Goth the huge black metal construct built like an enormous armoured knight stood ominously behind Granddad holding a mighty glowing sword crackling with sparks.
‘I was informed that someone wished to see me?’
A wizard wearing the insignia if the Temple of Spiritual and Financial Harmony stepped forward.
‘I am Archwizard Firestorm. I am the new High Enforcer of the Unity of Wisdom. I was also elected Chairman of the Wizard Guild this afternoon.’
‘You and your family have been implicated in serious breaches of the Treaty of Mentarin. If proven the consequences for these transgressions are severe. I have a warrant from the Council for your immediate arrest. Your estate, merchant enterprises and all goods will be immediately impounded and your trading license has been suspended. You have also been suspended from the Mages Guild. Should you unwisely decide to resist arrest I have been ordered to use all force necessary to bring you and your family before the Council.’
‘Who has made these ridiculous allegations?’ said Granddad.
‘I have.’ said Archwizard Firestorm.
‘Where is your evidence?’ asked Granddad.
‘The evidence will be shown at your trial.’
‘Kelnor when was this idiot’s position gazetted?’
‘Err . I don’t think it’s been gazetted yet.’
‘What.’ said Granddad
‘Everyone here knows that in Panmagica no one has any authority until it is gazetted by the Council. Furthermore this person cannot be the Chair of the Mage’s Guild as the Secretary has to give all members seven days’ notice before an election. I am the Secretary and I haven’t announced an election.’
Granddad looked at Hanson, the Captain of the City Guard and the captain’s eyes glazed over.
‘Captain Hanson have you ever seen this man before today.’
‘No my Lord.’ said the Captain.
‘I wish to make a civic complaint that this man is falsely pretending to have some type of Council Authority and causing a public nuisance. Please take him into custody and lock him up until the Council can look into his identity.’
The Captain stepped forward to grab Firestorm’s arm.
Firestorm began to say something but Granddad immediately used the power to garble Firestorm’s speech.
He began shouting all sorts of totally incomprehensible words and the Captain grabbed him and clamped a magic restraint around his neck and ordered four soldiers to hold him.
‘Stop you can’t do that.’ said Kelnor.
‘He’s been appointed by the Council.’
‘But no one can be sure of that until it has been gazetted.’ said Granddad looking at Kelnor who suddenly agreed with Granddad.
‘Why don’t you all go away and come back after it’s been gazetted then we can discuss when I should come with you.’
‘Good idea.’ said Kelnor.
‘I should belt him over the head a couple of times, Captain. All that noise he’s making is sure to upset the locals.’ said Granddad.
Captain Hanson agreed and belted Firestorm with a truncheon.
Firestorm was incredibly angry as he looked over his shoulder at Granddad and using mindspeak said to Granddad.
‘You may think you’re smart old man. This is only the first round. You don’t know who you’ve provoked. You and your family are going to pay dearly for meddling in Mentarin affairs and I’m going to enjoy every moment of it.’
Granddad teleported to the gate room to see how preparations were going and found everyone working hard moving boxes though a gateway.
‘How long?’ he said to Daisy who was supervising the work.
‘Another ten minutes and we’ll have all the important stuff moved.’ she said.
‘Good I think we’ll just about make it before they come storming back like a pack of angry wasps. Now I’m going to close the gateway when you leave. This problem might take a little time to resolve. You’ve supplies for an extended stay. Boredom is likely to be the main problem so keep them active and have a nice holiday. I’ll wait around here and watch what happens for a while.’
Chapter 8 Miranda’s Escape
Ironwood quickly awoke. ‘By my mossy beard, what intrigue have I been dragged into.’ he thought.
‘First Glammer awakens me and suggests I look after this young druid girl and then we are attacked in my dream world and the Warden of Moonmist comes to our rescue and tells me she’s a Princess and he upsets a Power of untold magnitude and the Lady herself steps in to save us.’
‘Where is the Felynx bitch’ shouted Gemelica to the guards at the healing sanctuary gate.
‘I’m sorry my Lady we are under instructions to refer all inquiries to Principal Healer Hypothet.’
‘I am Princess Gemelica of Moonmist. You will tell me were the Felynx bitch is or I will have you whipped.’
‘Err yes Your Highness she is down there under the tree.’ said the guard.
‘Thank you guard.’ replied Gemelica as she walked down towards Miranda.
‘Quickly inform the Principal Healer.’ yelled one guard to the other. ‘I think there’s going to be trouble.
The other guard ran off to find the Principal Healer.
Gemelica stood over the sleeping body of the Felynx and said ‘So there you are you little bitch. You might have had your Warden friend to protect you in your dreams but he isn’t here now. You’re at my mercy here and I don’t feel very merciful to bitches that try to steal my rightful place as Queen of Moonmist.’
‘Kill her.’ she commanded.
‘Stop!’ yelled
the Principal Healer teleporting in.
The guards hesitated.
‘Stop. This Felynx is under my protection. While she is in my care she will come to no harm.’
‘How dare you countermand my instructions, I am Princess Gemelica of Moonmist. What I say happens.’
‘I don’t care who you are. I am the Principal Healer of Mentar. Within my sanctuary, I say what happens. The Dark Lord gave instructions that she should be held here and healed. If you wish to object, go argue with him.’
Moments later six sanctuary guards appeared behind him with swords drawn.
‘Kill her!’ commanded Gemelica again.
Her two guards swung around to try and stab Miranda but froze as the Principal Healer cast a word of stunning.
‘Escort the Princess and her guards to the gate please.’ he said to his six guards and they surrounded Gemelica with swords drawn.
‘You have not heard the end of this.’ said Gemelica as she was escorted away.
‘I’m sure I haven’t.’ replied Hypothet.
‘I wonder how long it will be before you seek my help to heal you of some dreadful disease Princess. You had best keep that thought in your mind before you act precipitously. You would do well to remember that in these grounds, I rule.’
Tigerlilly took the entire proceedings in.
‘Hmm ... Sounds like being a princess could be fun. I will be a princess too.’ she thought.
‘Can you wake her up. She needs to go and hide.’ mindspoke Tigerlilly walking out from behind Miranda.
‘By all the Gods! Now I am told how to do my job by a wooden doll.’ said the Principal Healer.
‘Tell me why would I listen to you when I just told the Princess of Moonmist to get lost.’
‘Because I am Princess Tigerlilly.’ she replied.
‘Ha ha.’ laughed Principal Healer. ‘Another princess.’
‘Okay. Okay. I can see that it’s going to be one of those days. I will wake your Felynx friend but you take her away from here quickly as I suspect that the other princess will be back soon.’
He then knelt over Miranda touched her on the forehead and her eyes opened.
‘What’s happened?’ she asked.
‘I don’t want to know what you’ve been up to. You’re probably pretty weak but you look like you’ve been healed of the vile rot. You’ve also managed to upset the Princess of Moonmist pretty badly. Your little wooden princess friend here seems to think you need to leave here and hide somewhere to finish your healing. I don’t want to know what you decide to do.’ and he walked away.
Miranda looked at Tigerlilly and said.
‘You’re real. I thought it was all a dream.’
‘Yes. I am real. Ironwood told me to tell you that we need to hide because that horrible Princess Gemelica wants you dead.’ said Tigerlilly.
‘Okay.’ replied Miranda drowsily.
‘Ask Ironwood where I should hide.’
‘He said to go south from here and hide among the trees in the forest. As a druid you should be safe enough.’ replied Tigerlilly.
Miranda stiffly rose to her feet breaking away all the roots that had been giving her sustenance. She picked up Tigerlilly climbed through the fence and hobbled weakly off to the south. The countryside consisted of small lichen and moss covered hillocks poking out of slippery algae filled patches of cold stagnant water. Although it was daytime here, it was more reminiscent of a moonlit night on Mudrun.
As Miranda’s mind cleared, she began to focus on her predicament. In her mind she saw herself as a little Newman girl who had lost her memory. She noticed that she was covered in a ginger coloured fur and a look at her reflection in the water showed her that she had cat-like body. This was a little confusing but then she remembered that when she was dreaming, the Aquitain monster that had saved her from the rats, had said that she really was a Newman girl but her spirit had been stolen from her body and put in this one.
She kept moving at a steady pace for more than an hour alternately getting soaked in freezing cold sulphur-smelling water then struggling over slippery damp rocks. As she reached the top of another small hillock she was wondering how far it was to the forest when she heard the baying of hounds behind her.
Fear spurred her onwards with new energy but after another twenty minutes she fell exhausted on the upward slope of yet another featureless hillock. She had to rest but the hounds were getting closer. What could she do? It was becoming useless. They couldn’t be less than five minutes behind her and she was almost spent.
Tigerlilly who was wedged under Miranda’s slave collar and hanging on tightly broke the silence.
‘Moonbeam there’s something in the water behind us to your right.’
Miranda quickly looked around. A Newman sized lizard-like creature was sliding almost soundlessly out of the water. She heard it speak into her mind but couldn’t understand its language. Tigerlilly heard it too and responded with mindspeak.
‘My name is Tigerlilly. Who are you?’
The creature stopped still and seemed to be trying to decide what to do. It tried another language but again Miranda couldn’t understand and again Tigerlilly asked who it was. It then sent its name in mind token form and Miranda quickly guessed how to do it. It was like a game that she had played sometime in the past.
‘Send these images Tigerlilly.’ said Miranda.
‘
‘The creature understood and sent a series of images back with the following meaning.
‘It’s name was Burlop. We should not be afraid of it. It can see from the collar that Miranda was a runaway slave and it can hear the hounds chasing us. There are other runaway slaves in a hiding place near here. It will lead us to them if we will trust it.’
Miranda knew she had no choice. She could hear the hounds were closing in and there was no time to lose.
She nodded and reluctantly slid into the cold water and swam along behind the creature. It tossed a short length of rope back to her and sent an image of hands holding tightly onto rope then an image of it swimming with her being pulled behind. She held on tight and nodded and off it swam.
Tigerlilly got quite excited in the water. She was giggling and swirling her little arms around playfully as if she was enjoying herself. How could a construct get excited? Maybe she thought it was a game and was trying to play thought Miranda.
They were towed along silently at a fast rate for about 10 minutes. Miranda could hear that the hounds had reached the place where she had started swimming. She could imagine them milling around sniffing everywhere and howling trying to get the scent of her trail. Burlop stopped and sent images that they would have to travel under the water a little way. He sent an image for her to take a deep breath and they were dragged under.
They didn’t seem to go very deep or far before entering the mouth of an underwater cave. Miranda was scared, she couldn’t see and was feeling very weak as the cold water was sapping her body heat. If this was a trap she was dead. Through their mind link Miranda asked Tigerlilly whether she could see. The little doll responded by passing mental images of the tunnel through which they were traveling. Fortunately they didn’t need to travel far before rising to the surface inside an air filled cave perhaps 30 paces wide.
There was light in the area provided by two yellow magic balls and Miranda soon spotted two Newmans and a couple of creatures like Burlop standing watching them. She released the rope and swam the last few paces in the murky water until she could feel the muddy bottom with her hands and then stood up shivering.
One of the Newmans, an old grey haired fellow greeted her but she couldn’t understand him.
She said ‘Hello my name is Miranda. Can anyone understand me?’
The old man replied in halting Mudrun common.
‘Alf me named. Speak Mudrun. Long-time been.’
None of the others could understand her at all. Frustrated, she asked T
igerlilly to repeat what she said using mind tokens.
‘
This time everyone seemed to have a good understanding of what she said. They all stood around smiling and nodding. Burlop told the others with the mind token language that he had found her running from the hounds. Using him as a translator Alf said that they had all been slaves of the Mentarin and had escaped. They now lived in this underground cave. He then indicated that there were other slaves in other underground caves as well.
Miranda shook herself all over and water sprayed everywhere. She then sent a mental image through Tigerlilly of a fire and a plate of food. Alf said through Burlop that there was no fire but left and returned with a blanket. Burlop brought her two fresh fish from a nearby barrel. That was good enough as far as Miranda was concerned. She left the water, sat and wrapped herself with the blanket and started eating the fish. It tasted wonderful and seemed to trigger a memory of an eagle eating fresh raw fish in a place where the sun shone brightly.
Feeling incredibly tired she asked Tigerlilly to watch over her and curled up and went to sleep. Tigerlilly watched over her for a while then got bored so decided to do a little exploring as she had already decided that these people offered no threat. The other ex-slaves all seemed to have things to do and left Miranda to sleep. Each was quietly lost in their own thoughts remembering how scared and exhausted they had been when they had escaped.
Not long after falling asleep Miranda found herself in the dream world again. This time she was by herself. She felt quite lonely without having Ironwood around and remembered the horrible bats and rats. After playing by herself for a little while she absent-mindedly called for Ironwood. Surprisingly he appeared but looked terrible. Where before, he had looked like a stout fit middle-aged man with a long well-kept white beard, now he looked a sickly emaciated old man with a thin straggling fire singed beard.
‘There you are child.’ he said. ‘I’m glad to see you escaped. Have you found a safe hiding place?’
‘Yes.’ she replied. ‘But what has happened to you, Ironwood?’
