by Des Pensable
‘Don’t worry about me child. I have done my job. You are safe and well on the road to recovery. I’m sure you will find a way to get your memory back and then you can look after all the trees and animals again.’
‘But what happened?’ cried Miranda with tears pouring down her face. ‘Please tell me. I’ll try to help you, like you helped me.’
‘I’m afraid it’s too late for me.’ replied Ironwood. ‘After you left the angry princess returned to find you had left. She noticed my roots that had given you strength and worked out that I had helped you recover. She had her guards chop me down and burn my body. She even had them dig up my roots and destroy them too. Fortunately, they missed one small root. I’m just alive in that. However, I’ve no growing energy left so I’ll be gone soon.’
‘Don’t go Ironwood. I’ll come back and get you and plant you in the sunshine.’
‘No you mustn’t, Moonbeam. You must stay safe, get strong and find your memories then you will be able to stop that horrible princess from harming others.’ and he faded from view.
Miranda cried and cried then looked into the sky and said
‘Please Lady please don’t let Ironwood die. He just tried to look after me. He shouldn’t have to die for that.’ but nothing seemed to happen.
***
Back at the healing sanctuary, Princess Gemelica stood watching the dying embers of the fire that destroyed Ironwood. She was in a very bad mood. The officer in charge of her detachment of guards joined her.
‘I have just had a report from the hunters. The hounds have lost the trail of the Felynx slave. They said she simply disappeared into thin air from one of the hillocks out there. They think that someone probably found her and teleported her away.’
‘Damn you Aquitain.’ said Gemelica angrily kicking a pile of smouldering ashes causing a shower of sparks.
‘You’re going to regret the day you ever decided to interfere with my plans.’
‘Gather your men, officer. I wish to return to the palace.’
Five minutes later they were gone and Glammer appeared to see how things were progressing with Miranda’s healing. She hovered there looking in utter disbelief at the ashes of the tree with panic gnawing at her brain. What had happened to Miranda? Her eyes scanned the ashes. Had they killed and burnt Miranda as well? She couldn’t see any evidence of bones or fur. Maybe they had just captured Miranda; after all she wouldn’t have been able to fight them.
Then she heard a weak whisper.
‘Is that you Glammer? I did the best I could. The druid girl has healed well and has escaped and is relatively safe at the moment somewhere to the south.’
‘Who did this old man?’ said Glammer with intense anger in her voice.
‘The angry princess, she seems to think she owns the land.’
‘Rest for now old man you have done your job better than I could have hoped.’
Glammer searched around for the bit of root containing the spirit of Ironwood and used her power to give it a growth spurt. A thin twig grew out of the root and on the end of it formed a nut. The nut hardened, the twig withered and the nut containing Ironwood’s spirit fell to the ground. Glammer picked up the nut and said.
‘It is not your time yet, you’ll see the sun again.’ and disappeared.
Chapter 9 Real or Illusion?
Aquitain ran to the edge of Ironwood’s dreamland and told the Rat Catcher to wake up she had one more small thing to do before he returned. She imagined a wind then imagined it to be a gale; she changed to an eagle and flew with the gale back to her dreamland. She landed on her beach and imagined a ball of mind clay. Immediately after it formed in her hands, she allowed herself to wake up and was once again the Lady Warden.
‘Terren I don’t know whether you can hear me or not. I now accept that I am not in a dream. This is the true reality and I am an Agent of Chaos.’ she said.
‘I’ve learnt that Agents of Chaos are important and necessary. In fact I’m growing to like it. The final nail was the real dream world. How could I dream when I was already in a dream? I saw dream sendings from Granddad, my passion flower from Miranda and I also found out where chaos matter comes from.’ She said grinning and holding her new ball of mind clay.
‘It’s time I made my mark on this world. I remember all of your training. I remember us sneaking around Panmagica at night. I remember how to fight and how to kill. You trained me to be like you, an assassin; quite appropriate for an Agent of Chaos. I will try to control my dark side without you. Thank you for everything.’
She could hear the sounds of fighting, shouts, weapons clashing, magic discharges and flashes of light.
Aquitain jumped out of bed and had a look out the window. There were dozens of soldiers fighting everywhere. She could see the tabards of at least three different Lords were present and all were fighting Darkmantle’s troops, which were in the minority.
She quickly pulled a sheet off the bed and wrapped Miranda’s armour, the mask and other equipment in it.
‘Bellen, take this to your Room of Faces for safekeeping and please stay away from the magic book. If it charms you again and finds out that I know about it, it may harm you. I will meet you at the castle and we will visit the book together.’
‘Yes, Lady Warden, but if I take your armour what will you wear? How will you fight?’
The Lady Warden grinned. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll be okay. Now go quickly!’ and Bellen vanished with the equipment.
There was a loud knocking on the door.
‘Lady Warden, Lady Warden we are under attack. Lord Darkmantle sent me to alert you and guide you to him. He is directing our defences.’
‘All right, just a moment and I’ll be with you.’ she yelled.
‘Rat catcher thank you for coming to my aid in my dream, you must hide now and keep safe. I’ll call you when this problem is sorted out.’
‘As you wish my Lady. ’ said the cat and it vanished.
‘Damn useful stuff this mind clay.’ thought Aquitain, ‘and I’ve a good use for it.’ and she held it up in the air and it flowed like water down her arm covering her naked body like a second skin and over her head forming a hood leaving only her eyes uncovered.
‘Now to make it flexible like snake skin but harden the scales like steel.’ She thought and mentally changed the structure of the mind clay to mimic a dull black metallic snake skin.’
She scratched her fingernail across her new body armour.
‘It feels really tough.’ then she cartwheeled across the room. ‘and its really light and flexible as well. Excellent work Aquitain.’ She said aloud and laughed at herself.
She retrieved Crys and tied some curtain cord around it and fixed it to her waist and said ‘Hang on tight Crys.’
She then unlocked the door and walked out.
The guard wearing chain armour covered with a Darkmantle tabard stepped backward holding his wavering sword in front of him.
‘I’m your Warden take me to Lord Darkmantle.’ she commanded.
The guard nodded and ran off down the corridor with Aquitain two paces behind.
They reached the stairwell and began running down it when the guard ran head on into a group of six enemy fighters who had just teleported in.
Aquitain stopped running and sent a mind blast at the group stunning them all including the Darkmantle’s guard. Black blades elongated out of each hand and in a blink she was amongst them. The blades whirled and struck like vipers at the chests and necks of the enemies. In two heartbeats they were all dead leaving Darkmantle’s guard still frozen in fear.
The dark swords in Aquitain’s hands vanished as she reached over and touched the guard on the forehead with her index finger. He was no longer stunned. He stepped back a couple of paces with a terrified look on his face examining the bodies at his feet and said.
‘Th …thank you, Lady Warden.’
‘Those black blades, how do you do that?’ asked the guard.
‘Nice aren’t they.
They are modelled on the divine weapons used by the holy avengers. They are mind blades made of my spirit hardened with energy from my source. They will cut through any normal armour but I suspect some magical armour might deflect them. They cut not only flesh but spirit as well.’ she replied as the guard ran off down the stairs with Aquitain following him closely.
Darkmantle and several guards were hiding on either side of the door looking outwards. One of the soldiers holding a cross bow saw his friend run down the stairs followed by Aquitain in her black outfit and thought she was chasing his friend. He yelled to warn Darkmantle they were being attacked and shot a cross bow bolt at Aquitain.
She dodged and shouted ‘Careful, I’m the Warden. I’m on your side.’
‘We ran into a group of fighters on the stairwell above. Milord.’ yelled the guard that had been sent to get Miranda. ‘She killed them all!’
‘Impressive, not just a pretty face.’ said Darkmantle nodding to two soldiers who went racing up the stairs.
‘Perhaps you could remove that hood so my troops can see your face otherwise everyone will be taking a shot at you.’
Aquitain adjusted the body armour so that it stopped at the top of her neck and gathered her flaming red hair into a pony tail.
‘We have been attacked by a large number of troops from three houses who obviously want to remove me from contention for the crown. Fortunately, I doubled the guard because you were here tonight and they were able to trigger the alarms and activate the wards on this building. Unfortunately, most of my guards were resting in the barracks. I don’t know what’s happened to them. Some seem to be putting up a fight. There is a wall of force across the doorway put there by the opposition to keep me in here until they can deal with the troops in the barracks.’
‘Can’t you teleport to the barracks?’ asked Aquitain.
‘The wards are supposed to stop any transport in or out.’ replied Darkmantle.
‘Well the group above us just teleported in so there must be something wrong with your wards up there.’ said Aquitain.
‘You’re right.’ said Darkmantle.
’If they can get in then we should be able to get out from the same spot.’ and he started running up the stairs with Aquitain following close behind.
When they arrived at the spot where Aquitain had killed the enemy soldiers, Darkmantle’s two men were checking the dead men’s pockets and packs for valuables.
‘Form for mass teleport with weapons at ready.’ ordered Darkmantle as he stuck his left arm out from his body parallel to the ground. The men all formed around him holding their swords in their right hands and resting their left hands on his arm. Aquitain joined them.’
They teleported from the mansion to a spot on the ground just outside the stables and about thirty paces from the entrance to the barracks. The courtyard and entrances to the buildings were lit with magic globes that cast a cool bluish tinted light. There was a fight at the entrance to the barracks. More than twenty soldiers milled around the entrance trying to get into the barracks, while several defenders inside tried to keep them out.
About ten paces away just outside the stable doorway stood two Lords accompanied by two guards and behind them two large constructs. They were supervising the attack on the barracks. Aquitain immediately placed a wall of hardened air behind the Lords separating them from their guardian constructs.
‘I’ve zoned off the constructs.’ he yelled to Darkmantle then attacked the two lords and their guards with a mind blast. The two guards were stunned but the Lords must have had some type of magical protection, as they seemed unaffected.
One of the Lords noticed Aquitain and Darkmantle’s group and cast a bolt of lightning at them before trying to duck into the stables behind his guardian.
Aquitain, Darkmantle and some of his people dived in all directions but three of them were too slow and were hit by the bolt, falling both burnt and stunned onto the ground. The discharge lit up the courtyard and carried on smashing into the barracks building near the milling crowd.
Fortunately, it missed Aquitain and she charged and leaped directly at the two Lords feet and rolled, bowling them over. The two construct guardians lurched forward to join the fray but were stopped dead by the wall of hardened air between them and their Lords.
‘Don’t kill the Lords.’ yelled Darkmantle.
‘Why?’ asked Aquitain as she regained her stance and the black blades extended from her hands.
‘Capture them and their men will surrender.’ replied Darkmantle.
‘Who cares!’ she said as she moved to strike.
‘Please Aquitain!’ yelled Darkmantle.
The blades suddenly turned into clubs and she belted the two Lords on the head. They fell back stunned.
The two Elendari guards stunned by Aquitain’s mind blast had halberds, a nasty weapon that was a cross between a spear and an axe on a long pole. As the stun wore off one took up a position to block Darkmantle’s guards from attacking while the other charged forward chopping and stabbing at Aquitain. The new chaos matter armour absorbed most of the damage and Aquitain quickly healed the rest. She immediately used her telekinesis power to hurl the attacker back 20 paces where he landed heavily but struggled up.
To Darkmantle’s credit he had quickly realized the possibilities of the situation. If they could capture these two Lords they could potentially end the attack. He quickly ordered his two remaining guards to engage the halberd wielder while he turned to use a power.
A semicircular wall of intense flame 30 paces long and 4 paces high instantly appeared zoning the stable area from the enemy troops attacking the barracks, isolating them from their Lords. He untied a horn at his side raised it to his mouth and blew it. Nothing immediate happened but he seemed unconcerned waiting and watching with a smirk on his face.
Aquitain was in a bit of a bind. She stood on top of the two Lords trying to keep them on the ground while seeing the man she had hurled back get up and charge back at her. Behind her the guardian constructs hammered at the wall of hardened air wearing it down.
She quickly decided she had to take care of the halberd wielder and charged at him dodging under a wide swing while reforming her blades. She took the fellow under the rib cage with one blade and slashed his throat for good measure with the other.
Momentarily free, the two Lords levitated straight up about 10 paces high in the air so that they could fight from above. They had obviously worked out that there was an invisible barrier stopping their guardian constructs from passing through. Suspecting that it must have been a wall of force that could last for minutes, they ordered their constructs to smash their way through the stonewalls at the side of the stables.
Darkmantle stood alone watching the two Lords rise into the air.
‘That’s exactly what I would have done in your situation.’ he thought and smiled as two wyverns swooped out of the darkness grabbing the Lords in their talons and flew off in a large circle around the estate. Another two flew into view hovering in the air 20 paces above him their great wing flaps causing the dust to fly at ground level.
He shouted a word and the firewall vanished and using a magically enhanced voice he shouted.
‘This is Lord Darkmantle; I have captured your Lords. They are still alive. Throw down your weapons and surrender. I do not wish to harm you or them. I suspect they have been possessed by evil creatures.’ The second guard wielding a halberd threw down his weapon and was forced to the ground by Darkmantle’s two guards. Aquitain moved forward to the right of Darkmantle.
The enemy troops weren’t convinced and there were at least fifty of them now slowly walking like a wave of malice towards Darkmantle and Aquitain, with their weapons at the ready.
Aquitain adjusted his eyes to see spirit auras. He could see at least three of the soldiers in the crowd were possessed by Mentarin spirits. They wouldn’t care whether the Lords lived or died.
‘I wonder if I can kill the possessing spirits without harming the so
ldiers?’ he thought.
Darkmantle pointed above.
‘Up there I have your Lords in the grasp of my wyverns. They can’t escape because their magic is blocked. One word from me or one false move from you and my creatures will tear them apart.’
‘HOLD.’ commanded Aquitain using mindspeak and every soldier stopped dead.
‘I am the Princess of Argenta, the new Mistress of Astaria, and soon to be your Queen. The Lord Warden of Moonmist and I came here to save your lives and you seem to wish to throw them away needlessly.’
She slowly and carefully untied the cord holding Crys and held him up for all to see, then placed it on the ground in front of her.
‘Some of you have seen the Lord Warden in action. All of you have heard of him I dare say. He is the first person in a thousand years to conduct the sacred Dance of the Elementals. He wields untold magical power.’
Aquitain turned the mind clay armour to gold and enlarged her right blade and turned it golden.
‘What are you up to?’ whispered Darkmantle.
‘They respect power don’t they then let’s show them some power.’ he replied.
Aquitain stood there like a magnificent golden warrior with great golden blade extending from her hand.
‘No.’ said a voice into their minds.
‘As Warden of Moonmist I cannot allow it.’
The little crystal Warden flew over towards the fifty or more warriors and turned to face Aquitain and Darkmantle.
‘Why do you side with these stupid men.’ asked Aquitain loudly.
‘Because we came here to protect them not slaughter them.’ said the little crystal Warden.’
One of the guardian constructs finally crashed through a wall and came towards Aquitain and Darkmantle.
She turned, lengthened the golden spirit blade and swept it through the body of the construct while whispering a word of command. The iron monster shuddered to a halt and fell immobile.
The troops were stunned. Nobody would have believed anyone could kill a guardian construct so easily.
