by Des Pensable
‘Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?’ asked Snowbelle totally astounded.
‘You were never one of us. It wasn’t your business.’ replied Llalorax.
Miranlla was suddenly sad for both Snowbelle and Llalorax.
‘Well I’m here now and the Lord Warden and I are determined to fix Moonmist’s problems. You may have heard I dedicated a sanctuary to the warden a couple of days ago and I gave the Mentarin notice that Moonmist is under our protection and control.’
‘Llalorax I know that only about a third of the Llanlleans are listening to you. There are many that will follow me regardless of what you say or do. My advice is to get on the side of the winners. The Lord Warden and I are the winners.’
‘Snowbelle, we have been through a lot together. I still think of you as my mother no matter how badly you treated me. I see you are carrying a child from Adonis. We believe that Adonis is a dragon and that makes your child half dragon which all will call an abomination. I would carefully consider your child’s future.’
‘That’s outrageous. You are lying.’ said Snowbelle thoroughly insulted. ‘My child’s father is the most wonderful male nymph in this world.’
‘Believe whatever you want to Snowbelle!’ replied Miranlla. ‘You have been warned. Now I must go I have business to attend to.’
Miranlla dropped out of the mind arena, grabbed Rori’s hand and they teleported to Darkmantle’s hideout.
She briefly discussed what she wanted him to do then changed to her Dragonfly persona and teleported to the summer palace where she was greeted by some of Darkmantle’s men. They stood to attention saluted her and opened the doors for her as she walked towards the Trixie area.
Darkmantle’s Captain saw her and came running over to her.
‘Welcome your highness. Can I help you in any way.’ he asked enthusiastically.
‘No thank you Captain! Go about your duties. I know my way around.’ she replied.
‘As you wish.’ he replied then saluted her and left.
‘I will be never understanding you Spirit Lords and Ladies. Are you really a Queen as well as everything else?’ asked Rori.
‘Yes I’m a Queen in some minds but not all Rori.’ she replied. ‘We shall see what happens.’
They entered the service corridor and Rori stopped dead. ‘They are yellows.’ he said.
The Trixies stopped dead. ‘That is a blue!’ said one.
There was total silence. Rori stared at the Trixies and they stared back at him. A minute or two later Bellen came rushing in.
‘So it is true! You have brought a blue here. May the Lady have mercy upon us!’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Miranlla.
‘You have broken the lore!’ said Bellen.
‘No yellow shall ever be seen with another colour. The penalty is death to all the yellows.’
‘Aquitain said that you are not of this world. Are you from Mudrun!’ she stated.
‘Yes I am from Mudrun Your Majesty but I am different. I am half red and half yellow. I do not break the lore.’ replied Bellen.
Miranlla panicked.
‘Lady what have I done?’ she thought then she chanted a mantra of calming. What would Aquitain do?
‘I am your Queen but I am also the first favourite of Aquitain, the Lord Warden of Moonmist and newly recognized as the son of K’wala. He now speaks for K’wala in his absence. Aquitain says that the old lore is no more. We are in a time of change. You will not die but welcome your brothers of other colour scales. You will re-join them and together you all shall fulfil your god’s wishes.’
Bellen dropped to his knees.
‘It is true then. The time of change is upon us.’
‘Yes Bellen and I wish to talk to you privately.’ she said.
‘As you wish, Your Majesty.’ he replied and the walked off down the corridor.
The other Trixies all crowded around Rori. They had never seen another colour Trixie. They were legendary. Rori felt the same about yellows.
‘There will shortly be a Great Council of all the little people on Mudrun. I want you to come representing the yellows and Aquitain.’ said Miranlla.
‘I’m sorry, My Queen, I cannot. I have been here too long. If I was to return I would be too old in Mudrun years and die before I could speak a word. However, perhaps you might convince my half-brother. He is a shaman of the hidden yellows. My father was a shaman of the yellows but loved my mother who was a red. I am their child and because of me he was expelled from our tribe. Later he was accepted back and eventually had another child by a yellow mother.’
‘Where can I find them?’ asked Miranlla.
‘I do not know. They have several camps and move frequently.’
‘What about R’ptor would he know where they are?’ asked Miranlla.
‘Possibly. I know my father talked with R’ptor on occasion.’
‘You know much more than I would expect?’ suggested Miranlla curiously.
‘I was brought up on Astaria.’ he replied. ‘My father abandoned me. My mother looked after me until she died and I was found by R’ptor who took me to Astaria. I was raised by Asterix and the others. When I was old enough they brought me here.’
‘By the Lady, the story becomes more convoluted every day.’ replied Miranlla.
‘I am beginning to think I had a perfect childhood with my head in the clouds.’
‘Perhaps you did my Queen but if you can help my people gain a better life no one will complain.’
They returned to Rori and the other Trixies and Rori came over to her.
‘They have been breaking the lore. Look many are being disfigured.’ ‘Can you be fixing them?’ he asked.
‘Um. What lore have they broken.’ asked Miranlla.
‘Kami was telling me about the lore that was saying that any little peoples who had too much magics inside them would be made disfigured by the gods. The shamans would be having to ask the Lords to fix them.’
‘By the Lady what have you been doing Bellen?’ she asked.
‘We have been doing very little with magic, Your Majesty. In fact the old Queen told us to stop using magic some years ago and we only use it very occasionally.’
Yllandril came rushing up to them.
‘Miranlla it has happened. You’ve come of age! I’m so proud of you.’
‘Yes mother I have in more ways than you might realize.’ replied Miranlla with a smile.
Bellen was the first to comment. The other Trixies looked a bit stunned.
‘Your Majesty … does that mean you’re…?’
‘Yes Bellen. I am a Llanllean like all the other Llanlleans. ‘ and she changed to her Llanllean form so that there was no doubt, then changed back.
‘I am proud to be a Llanllean. Does that matter? You had an Elendari queen before now you have a Llanllean queen. I have fought for you and will continue to do so and with luck I will be Queen of the Elendari soon as well. All of us have a very dangerous enemy to fight. To win the Trixies, the Elendari and the Llanlleans must be strong and stick together. When the battle is over and our enemy has fled then you can choose another Queen if you are unhappy with me.’
‘Your Majesty, we have been hearing that the Llanlleans guards have all left. That they are afraid to come back.’ said Bellen.
‘Mother, when will my Llanllean guards return?’
‘They are being reformed at this moment, Your Majesty. They will be on duty within the hour.’ replied Yllandril.
‘Good. Does that answer your question Bellen?’
‘Yes, Your Majesty. Umm. You called Yllandril your mother. We have been thinking that your mother was the Lady Sindel.’
‘Yes that is correct, I have two mothers one was my real mother and one my foster mother. I also have two fathers. I expect you to treat them all with respect.’
‘I have asked Lord Darkmantle to come and stay at the palace and I will ask you to help and assist him where possible. I want this place to be safe and
happy again. Also my friend Rori the blue here has said that according to his ancient lore that it is possible to get a Lord to fix our people with malformations. I will ask the Lord Warden to find out how it was done.’
‘Yay!’ shouted a few of the Trixies present.
‘Thank you from all of us, Your Majesty. We will do as you ask.’ said Bellen and they all raced off to tell the others.
Yllandril stood there for a few moments then created a mind link with Miranlla.
‘You are the Queen already, daughter. I so wish I had a body that could cuddle you again. I’m so sorry I couldn’t tell you that I was your mother before. Llalorax made me swear to keep quiet lest it cause you danger but now I want to talk and hear everything you have to say.’
‘I would love to do that mother but I can’t at the moment. I have a duty to the Lady, to Aquitain and to Mudrun that will not wait. Wish me luck mother for I’m afraid of what might be about to happen.’
‘Come Rori.’ she said as she changed teleport rings and took his hand. Moments later they were gone reappearing at the teleport reception ring at Darkmantle estate. She changed her glamor to one of a simple druid home spun gown.
Two of Darkmantle’s guards were there and they each held one of his hunting hounds on a leash. The dogs at first barked viciously as she appeared. Rori ducked behind her. Moments later the dogs recognized Miranlla and began wagging their tails. The guards sheathed their weapons and saluted her.
‘Careful Your Highness, these dogs are vicious.’ said one of the guards.
‘I am a druid. All animals know me as a friend.’ said Miranlla who walked over to them and patted them on the head, while they licked her hand. One rolled on its back and she rubbed its stomach. The other dog made a strange whining sound so she opened its mouth and saw that the gum around some of its teeth was inflamed. She ran her finger over it while whispering a healing prayer and the inflammation was gone. The guards couldn’t believe their eyes.
‘Please escort me to the entrance to the portal and tell Lord Darkmantle if he inquires that I’ll be in Mudrun for a while.’
‘I am thinking that you are being too busy all the time. You should be spending more of the day with the Spirit Lord. He will be thinking about getting another favourite if you are not being with him.’
‘I think two should be enough!’ replied Miranlla suddenly missing him.
Chapter 40 A Chat With Granite
They passed through the gateway to Mudrun and immediately Miranlla sensed danger and told Rori to go behind her. She hardened her skin and sang a prayer for her and Rori to blend into the background. Something was wrong. She looked around but could see nothing. However, she could smell a strong earthy scent that was somehow familiar although she couldn’t place it. Rori pointed to a large pile of rocks where they shouldn’t have been and a large reptilian eye opened.
Both Miranlla and Rori turned to stone and moments later she found herself in a mind arena that looked a bit like a room with a large window. Outside the window she could see herself and Rori as rock statues.
‘Hello there my dear.’ said an avatar of Granite and he came over and cuddled her. ‘I’ve been waiting for you. The news is not so good I’m afraid.’
‘You turned me into rock.’ She said pointing out the window.
‘Oh that. Don’t worry about it. I once got so involved talking with someone that he was half eaten by a predator by the time we had finished. It was quite embarrassing actually! Not many things eat rock so you’re quite safe out there.’
‘I was once turned to rock like that and a Mentarin stole my spirit.’ replied Miranlla.
‘Oh that would be traumatic I suppose.’ And he pointed out the window and Miranlla’s body turned into a tree.
‘How about that! It has a nice druidic feel to it and no one is likely to notice another tree out there are they?’
Miranlla nodded her approval and wondered how powerful Granite really was?
‘Oh. Quite Powerful. Now where are we? Ah yes. Let me look at you for a moment.’ and Miranlla felt that he knew everything about her.
‘Hmmm. The Lady has invested a lot of power in you. I wonder what she intends to do with it all?’
‘You’ll have to ask her as she hasn’t confided in me.’ replied Miranlla.
‘Somehow I thought you might say that.’ he replied. ‘Let me tell you a little story.’
‘A long time ago the Lady in her wisdom decided to set up a lot of temples on Crystalhaven for the benefit of the stone dragons and herself. You might say it was a sort of leisure centre for stone dragons and they paid her with certain knowledge. She created the little people to run the temples and nominated four immortal spirits to act as their protectors. These were K’wala, R’ptor, Barra and Tuatara.’
‘The stone dragons appointed a protector from amongst their ranks and that person was me. The four spirits were to report to me and only consult with the Lady if we could not agree. The little people together with the four spirits and I were considered powerful enough to stop any trouble that might occur here and that did seem to be the case for hundreds of years.’
‘One of the rules that the spirits and I had to agree to was that we would not have any offspring as they could compromise our positions. Unfortunately I was arrogant and indiscrete and had an affair with a female stone dragon and while I believed that we had taken suitable precautions I was wrong. The female became pregnant and we had a son. I submitted my resignation as guardian but after being in the job so long the other stone dragons refused to accept it and asked me to continue which I did.’
‘A few years later I was trapped in the prison that Aquitain released me from and in my absence everything went wrong. K’wala disappeared looking for me I suspect.
‘Oh that’s not so good. If K’wala was appointed by the Lady I can see how they might have thought the Lady was involved.’ replied Miranlla.
‘Exactly! replied Granite.
‘Many of the stone dragons believe that she was somehow involved with the Lady if not directly responsible.’
My stone dragon colleagues somehow got the impression that the Lady and K’wala were involved in my disappearance and threatened revolt unless I was released. Apparently she either didn’t know where I was or refused to have me released.’
‘The stone dragons revolted and destroyed two or three of the temples to prompt her into action and guess what happened. Those temples caused other temples to explode and before they knew it most exploded causing the Great Storm.’
‘So that’s how it happened.’ replied Miranlla. ‘Okay so why don’t you get to the point.’
‘The point is that I was released by K’wala’s avatar and son.’ he replied. ‘That means she is still alive somewhere, most probably in Astaria.’
‘So you are saying her avatar has breached K’wala’s oath of abstinence. And that will count against K’wala.’
‘I can see you have a good understanding of the situation.’ replied Granite. ‘But there is more.’
‘The four spirit immortals and I were employed under a contract called the Pact of Crystalhaven Defence. It bound the gods and the elemental dragons to an agreement to make Crystalhaven a sanctuary for the elemental dragons. We were employed to enforce it and toss out any trouble makers.’
‘The pact was obviously useless after the Great Storm had started so it was replaced with another.’
‘When the storm ended the Lady offered to bring her druids here to renew the world. The little people were unhappy and fought the druids at first but eventually peace was restored under a new pact named the Pact of Renewal. That pact is still in force at the moment. Should it be broken then the little people will get into a lot of mischief and perhaps get themselves wiped out. I wouldn’t like to see that.’
‘Oh. That’s not good. So why are you telling me this?’ asked Miranlla.
‘Isn’t it obvious. The Lady has invested much power in you. Your chosen is related to K’wala. You are de
stined to be important in what happens in the future. If the Pact of Renewal is broken chaos will follow like night follows day. This world and perhaps others will become battlegrounds.’
‘While I am no longer bound by contract I feel obligated to this world as it was my stupidity in getting trapped that has caused this problem.’
‘My conscience requires me to investigate K’wala’s part in the Great Storm and if I find that she was directly involved then I will be duty bound to go before the pantheon of gods. That could divide the pantheon and bring about the Time of Chaos which no-one wants.’
‘If the Lady and K’wala were somehow involved in causing the Great Storm I would expect her to clean up the mess before I find out. Since you and Aquitain are clearly likely to meet K’wala soon as her avatar spirit will have to return you must act in everyone’s interest not just your own.’
‘By the Lady are you trying to lay the fate the worlds on my shoulders? You seem to believe that K’wala is guilty before you have found out what has happened. I’m sure that if the Lady were involved in any way she would own up to it as would any of her servants.’ replied Miranlla with conviction.
‘Hmm. You are new at this game. I know many gods and each believe that what they do is the only truth. The elemental dragons were the first of the creator’s servants. The gods came after us and we have suffered under them and no longer trust any gods. I am not judging K’wala yet. She was a stone dragon but after becoming an immortal chose to assist the Lady and therefore she might be considered less trustworthy by other elemental dragons.’
‘And what if I discovered that your son Aquiveritas was involved? What should I do then?’ asked Miranlla.
‘Well I should imagine the same situation would apply. No one wants the Time of Chaos to occur. I might expect that you might give me fair warning so that I could clean up the mess.’ replied Granite.
‘You wish to be Queen of Moonmist. Let me tell you a secret that few other than the gods know. There is a book of places, which lists all the places where life exists in our universe. Do you know that Moonmist is not in that book. Consider this carefully as if you become Queen of Moonmist you will become Queen of a place that doesn’t exist.’
