by Des Pensable
‘That is my special flower.’ said Miranda reaching for it.
‘This is rubbish.’ said Navarro.
‘I’ve never heard of a Warden of Moonmist. No one can return something from a dream and that flower is just some simple illusion that appeals to Moonbeam because she’s only got the brain of child. I don’t believe your story. So move aside or we’ll blast you.’
‘Navarro there are many legends of Wardens of Moonmist and I have recently heard that there is new one.’ said Gizel suddenly.
‘I don’t like you! You’re not my Aquitain.’ said Tigerlilly and sent a mental blast at him using power from his own source. He blocked it without much effort.
‘I don’t believe this!’ thought Aquitain.
‘I chase Miranda for ages around this world and this idiot wants to play games and that little brat of mine is stealing my power.’
Aquitain chanted a mantra of calming and tried to think what would convince them then changed shape again. This time Aquitain looked like he appeared to them in the dream world. He stood twice the size of a Newman and was built like a bull with huge muscles, covered with green crystalline skin and had a draconic head.
‘Am I now the Aquitain you remember?’ he asked.
‘That’s our Aquitain.’ said both Moonbeam and Tigerlilly.
Navarro went pale but stood his ground. This thing looked really tough and nasty.
Gizel wasn’t scared, she was awed. She was standing near a living legend like those of the past. She had read so many accounts of the deeds of past Wardens. Never had she ever expected to meet one.
‘Who sent you? Was it the Dark Lord or one of his lackeys?’
‘No one sent me. I have been searching for Moonbeam for weeks, ever since she was kidnapped in Mudrun.’ said Aquitain using mindspeak.
‘So you’ve just been flying around in the dark as a giant mothra looking for her. I don’t think so.’ said Navarro.
‘I had no idea where Moonbeam was or even where to look. Two or three hours ago I was standing on top of a mountain watching the volcano eruption when I was caught in an anti-magic storm. The only way I could escape was by flying. I was guided here by a friend.’
‘So why were you in the mountains?’
‘I was invited here by Lord Darkmantle.’
‘So why was he here?’ said Navarro.
‘It seems to me that you’ve been a bit isolated and haven’t heard the news yet. Two nights ago at Queen Aurora’s spring ball, the throne awoke, the Queen was killed and the Lords found out that Mentarin spirits have been possessing them. The spirits were driven away but the Lords have panicked and withdrawn to their own estates without selecting a new Queen. Currently there is no Queen and no unity.’
Aquitain could see a look of disbelief on the face of Navarro but also a look of wide-eyed surprise on the face of the guide Gizel.
‘I can’t believe that. How did they detect the Mentarin spirits, they’re invisible and how were they driven away. It sounds as farfetched as your other stories.’
‘Perhaps you should ask this young woman with you. I think she has heard something of what has happened.’
‘He may be telling the truth.’ said Gizel.
‘Yesterday I was with Rosanllea when a Trixie was brought to her to tell a tale. He said the night before the ball the sky turned red from horizon to horizon portending a great event. He told her the legendary Warden of Moonmist was reborn as a small green statue. The Warden woke the Dragon throne which had been silent for an age and brought the Royal Healer Yllandril back from the dead.’
‘The following night at the Spring Ball, the Queen was killed in one of the Lords’ games. A great druid Queen, a Trixie friend called Dragonfly contested the throne but was turned to stone during the contest. Many Elendari and Trixies fled that night and the following day including the Trixie that told us the story, as they were afraid of what might happen.’
‘Good grief!’ said Navarro. ‘You mean it’s true! But ... but that’s incredible and I suppose you’re that Warden?’
‘Yes.’ replied Aquitain. ‘and the cat creature there holds the spirit of Moonbeam who is the druid Queen Miranda also known as Dragonfly who challenged for the throne of Moonmist.’
‘I am?’ replied Moonbeam quite surprised.
‘Then I am really a princess!’ said Tigerlilly excitedly.
‘Yes you are.’ replied Aquitain.
‘Now will you please release Moonbeam to me.’
‘Does the Moonmist Collective exist? asked Gizel becoming quite excited as well.
‘Yes.’ replied Aquitain. ‘I have talked with it.’
‘Oh. By all the Powers. You’re saying that it’s true.’ stated Gizel amazed.
‘What do they look like?’ she asked.
‘They are a collective of all the spirits of the people that have died on Moonmist. They communicate using singing crystals.’ he replied.
‘Do you know of them?’
‘Yes! Yes there is a legend of their existence.’ she replied excitedly.
‘No one believes they exist and you have met them. Oh By all the Powers. It’s true Navarro he is a Warden returned to us to help us against the Mentarin.’
‘He’s fooling you Gizel. He must be!’ replied Navarro.
‘I will stand aside but only if Moonmist wishes to go with you.’
Tigerlilly removed the hardened air barrier and Moonbeam grabbed the flower and kissed it.
‘Yes. I know this flower.’ she said and ran over to Aquitain hugging into Aquitain’s big stony body and returning the flower which changed to a golden snake found its way to his neck and reformed as a collar.
‘Yes it is just as I remember in the dream when you saved me from the rats.’ she said.
Aquitain shape changed back to his Miranda body form as he thought that it might be less frightening.
‘Good. Now all of you please listen carefully and don’t be afraid. I’m going to create a dome over us for protection and privacy.’ he stated loudly.
He formed a large hardened air dome 10 paces across and turned its outer side black and its inner side glowed with white light. He created a bench out of hardened air for Navarro and Gazel to sit on. Navarro was certainly impressed but Gizel was almost in a state of ecstasy as if she was in the presence of a god.
The Felynx containing Miranda’s spirit suddenly kneeled facing Aquitain and using mind speech that only he could hear began talking.
‘Greeting, Lord Aquitain, I know that you can see my Mentarin spirit in this Felynx body with the Princess Miranda’s spirit. I am the one that guided you to find her in the dream world. I am also the one that guided you here to find her. I know that you can kill Mentarin in spirit form so I am at a great disadvantage. Please hear me out before you take any further actions.‘
‘Okay you have my attention Mentarin.’ said Aquitain rather interested to hear what it had to say.
‘My name is Katarina. I was a mind wizard like you. My specialty was weather. I was hired to create rain or storms or stop them but that’s a long time ago. I was also a tutor of Miranda before she became a druid. So I have kept an active interest in her. When you released Lord Granite you really created a lot of enemies. I am a friend of Miranda’s and not one of your enemies.’
‘You may or may not know that your actions have caused the Mentarin to split into two factions. One that favours Lord Borse, the founder and leader of the Mentarin and one who likes to call himself the Dark Lord who was Lord Borse’s second in command who has now rebelled against Lord Borse.’
‘The Dark Lord suspects that your mission involves finding and releasing Lord K’wala which could well lead to the release of Lord Borse. He would prefer that Lord Borse is not released and was holding Miranda as a hostage to prevent you from continuing your mission.’
‘I am on the faction that would like to see Lord Borse released consequently I have helped her escape and have delivered her to you.’
‘I h
eard that you vanquished that hideous monster Schlum. You have gained much admiration among the Mentarin for that feat as it was widely disliked. I also see that you have saved Princess Miranda’s body for her and from that I can see you are an honourable man.’
‘May I have the honour of returning Princess Miranda’s spirit to her body. I’m sure you need no help to tend to your own spirit.’
Aquitain formed a my link with Moonbeam and asked her whether she could confirm that Katarina was her tutor only to discover that much of her memory had been blocked and she was very confused.
Katarina spoke again.
‘Unfortunately, the Dark Lord had a session with Princess Miranda before I was able to arrange for her escape. I believe he may have blocked her memories. He has done that with others. He generally returns them to a child-like state as that way they are less of a problem and rarely try to escape of their own volition. I do not know how to fix her problem.’
Aquitain was caught as he had no way of telling whether she was telling the truth or not and to try and cleave Katarina’s spirit in two while it partially covered Miranda’s spirit was too dangerous, so her reluctantly accepted the Mentarin’s suggestion and took the Felynx’s hand.
‘What’s happening?’ asked Moonbeam fearfully through the mind link.
‘Don’t be scared Moonbeam, the friendly spirit Katarina is moving your spirit into your real body which I have been saving for you.’ And seconds later it was done.
Katarina smiled. ‘Thank you for your trust.’
‘Lord Borse sends you this warning. Releasing your father may not be in some of the gods’ best interests. You will need to watch your back,’ and with that Katarina teleported away.
‘Um.. what just happened asked?’ asked Gizel.
‘Where’s Mummy gone?’ screamed Tigerlilly.
Aquitain turned and looked at Navarro, Gizel and Tigerlilly and they all fell asleep.
‘Good now I might be able to concentrate’, he thought to himself.
Aquitain laid Miranda’s body on the ground with his green crystal body on her chest and asked Moonbeam not to be afraid as she was going to move his spirit out of her body and find her lost memories.
He put Moonbeam into an hypnotic trance. He moved his spirit back to his little green crystal body and sealed both his and Moon beam’s spirits to the respective bodies.
He then examined her spirit aura and as he had suspected most of her memories had been blocked back to an age of perhaps six or seven. There were also some changes in her aura itself suggesting that someone had tampered with her spirit. That worried him but he had no knowledge of what had been done or how to fix it.
He called on all memories that had recently been blocked and starting with her earliest memories he systematically unblocked them year-by-year right to the present. He also unblocked some other interesting memories then released her from the hypnosis.
Miranda was suddenly conscious, she stood up and he fell off onto the ground. She stepped back from him then seeing his little crystal body her memories readjusted.
She looked at Aquitain’s aura through the mindlink and said.
‘By the Lady, look at your source and your spirit looks different. Is it really you Tain?’
‘Yes, It’s me Mandy my love. Although I’ve changed a little since we last met. My source has grown and I’ve much news to share with you. You’re a difficult person to track down you know. If you’d just stay in your body it would be much easier.’
‘What happened to my body? The last thing I can remember it was turned to stone.’
‘Your spirit was stolen by one of the Mentarin and ended up in that Felynx body. The Mentarin moved your spirit back to your real body and I have unblocked your memories.’
‘But how?’ asked Miranda. ‘It was stone. How did you get into it?’
‘Let’s just say I’ve learnt a few new tricks. Don’t you want it back? You can have my little green crystal body if you like. I was beginning to like yours. It’s got some good features. I’ve never looked so attractive.’
‘You’re disgusting, Aquitain. I hope you haven’t done anything while you’ve been in it.’
‘No that damn tattoo is still there’ he said with a wry smile.
‘Now before I do anything more I have to fix a little problem with Tigerlilly.’
‘I am about to do something I swore I’d never do. Tamper with someone’s mind without their consent. However, in this case I hope that it will save us a lot of problems in the future.’
‘What are you talking about?’ asked Miranda.
‘You remember when I made you a wooden doll in the dream. Well I didn’t do quite what I expected. We have a daughter.’
‘WHAT! HOW! We didn’t do anything. You didn’t hide anything in my memory did you?’ said Miranda panicking a little.
‘No! Of course not! It’s a long story but I had some very special knowledge hidden in my memory on how to make bodies. To escape from a soul crystal, I unblocked the information and made a body for both Yllandril and myself.’
‘When I made Tigerlilly, remember how you made a heart from your little finger and I made a brain from mine. Your bit of spirit and mine somehow decided to combine. The result is Tigerlilly, who is our baby in a unique wooden body.’
‘I thought she was a bit unusual for a construct, but she seems like a little girl much older than a couple of days old.’ said Miranda.
‘Yes that is a problem. When I made her I gave her the special ability to be permanently mind linked to both you and me. She also inherited my mind wizard ability and has her own source, which is very small at the moment but will undoubtedly grow. Her mind is also fully developed and she has good coordination.’
‘The real problem is that she has worked out how to read your memories. She has read yours that were open and is acting much the same age as you were before I just returned all the later years. She also read some of mine and can even tap into my source to use my power to power my abilities for her purposes. We can’t allow her to do that. She must have her own memories not ours. She must learn restraint and control, ethics and morality because she’s going to be a very powerful mind wizard one day.’
‘By the Lady, I’m a mother and I didn’t know it. What are you going to do to her.’ asked Miranda in a mild panic.
‘I’ll block off everything after about five years old. I’ll block off her source and her ability to read our memories. I’ll leave the mindlink so that we can keep in continual contact and we’ll need to start teaching her. If you teach her how to be a druid and I teach her how to be a mind wizard just imagine what she’ll be like in a few years’ time.’ said Aquitain.
‘Yes, she’ll be a continual headache that will get worse as she grows older. From the day I met you I knew you’d be a problem. Why didn’t I just turn into a tree and bask in the sun for a few years until you went away.’
‘Do you agree with me about temporarily blocking her abilities?’ he asked seriously.
‘Yes, I suppose it’s for the best. I certainly don’t want her delving around in my mind whenever she wants to.’
‘Okay.’ said Aquitain and he modified Tigerlilly’s mind along the lines that he had told Miranda but left her in the trance for the time being.
‘It’s done! Now I guess I should wake everybody up.’ he announced.
‘Wait Tain! I’m a bit overwhelmed at the moment. So much has happened so quickly. I … I need some time to myself. I need to think.
‘I need to leave the dome for a while. I will be quite safe outside. Wait here in the dome it will be safer for you all.’
Aquitain opened the dome for her to leave and resealed it after she left then created a life sized illusion of himself as the Newman Rob he woke the others.
‘What’s happened? Where’s the Warden? Who are you? ’ asked Gizel looking around for the Warden.
‘Hello.’ said the image of Aquitain. I am the Warden or at least an image of what he looked like
when he was a Newman. The body that you saw a few minutes ago belonged to the Princess Miranda and has been returned to her. I was minding it until it could be returned. My spirit now resides in that small crystal figure on the ground.’ And the illusion pointed at the figure and the figure waved at them.
‘My apologies for putting you to sleep for a while. I needed silence and absolute concentration to move back to my crystal body and return Princess Miranda’s memories to her. She has returned to her old self but has gone outside to gather her thoughts together. She asked us to wait for her.’
‘How dare you put us to sleep without asking us for our approval!’ said Navarro angrily.
‘Where’s mummy gone? cried Tigerlilly.
‘Lord Warden, do you mean to tell us you can move from body to body and your spirit is now in that figurine.’ asked Gizel just to make sure she understood him. ‘Are you a Mentarin?’
‘Yes my spirit is in that little figurine and no I am not a Mentarin but I do know a few of their secrets.’
Miranda cut off the mind link with Aquitain and a short while later they heard a storm hit, rain and hail pelted down onto the hardened air dome driven by howling gale force winds. Aquitain made the dome transparent like glass and they watched transfixed by the fury of the tempest unleashed.
Massive displays of chain lightning arced across the dark sky highlighting the grey writhing clouds while thunder exploded and echoed all around.
‘Don’t be afraid we will be safe in here.’ said the image of Aquitain
Tigerlilly became very scared and clung tightly to Gizel. It got so loud that Aquitain created a zone of silence within the dome and they watched the spectacle in awe at its feral beauty for half an hour then he made the dome opaque and they settled in to wait it out and think.
He was a father. Did he actually create Tigerlilly or was there some hidden divine intervention. They had a daughter. Was this a part of someone’s plan or an accident? He would probably never know and it really didn’t matter. They were now vulnerable. They would have to spend time and energy looking after her, teaching her and protecting her.
