by Des Pensable
‘What happened?’
‘By the Powers, Miranlla what have you done?’ said Qin.
‘I don’t think that was Miranlla.’ shouted Granddad. ‘I suspect she was possessed briefly by the Lady.’
‘Damn Her !.’ shouted Qin as he withdraw the black blades and walked over to the smashed eggs. He saw the two mangled forms of baby little people and he shed a tear.
‘These are mine I presume,’ he said softly.
‘I’m sorry. Shastritara deceived you,’ said Miranlla then suddenly realizing the gravity of the situation.
‘It wasn’t me! The Lady possessed me,’ she added quickly.
‘I don’t I like these gods very much,‘ he replied. ‘The innocent shouldn’t have to pay for the schemes of gods.’
He re-joined his divided mind and created a zone of darkness around him and his eyes turned golden. As he expected there were two small spirit auras floating near the bodies. His spirit extended out of his hands and he scooped them up one at a time examined their auras and called forth their divinity seeds which were copies of his and erased them. He eliminated the zone of darkness and faced Miranlla and Granddad.
‘They can rest in peace now. Can you incinerate them please Granddad.’ And he stood back while Granddad took over and turned the bodies to ash. Miranlla sang a lovely prayer for the departed and a single bolt of lightning struck down from the sky above and the ash was gone.
Aquitain then turned to Miranlla.
‘Would you have destroyed those eggs had you not been possessed by the Lady?’ he asked.
Miranlla was lost for words. What could she say? What did he expect her to say? This would probably be the most important thing she ever said to him. He might hate her but she had to say it.
‘Yes my love. I would have destroyed them without pity. They are not of you and me. They were stolen from you. I would have destroyed them.’ she said truthfully.
‘Good. I would expect no less from you Mandy but we still have a problem. You were possessed by the Lady who killed my offspring without remorse. That means that you might also be possessed by her again and kill Tigerlilly or even me without remorse when my job is done.’
‘You once told me that Alpha said that one day I would have to make a choice between you and my mission. That time is now but it is not I that will have to make the choice but you. You must now choose to follow me or the Lady!’
‘But … that is unfair I love you both.’ she said.
‘Will you kill the Lady for me or kill me for the Lady?’ asked Aquitain.
‘I take Miranlla’s side in this.’ said Granddad. ‘That is quite unfair. She has risked her life for you on many occasions. She is you most vocal champion. The Lady is on our side. K’wala is a champion of the Lady. You risk damnation from both if you force this issue.’
‘I have been told that Lithgala was on the Lady’s side yet she is responsible for Shastritara.’ replied Aquitain.
‘And the Lady has showed her displeasure by killing Shastritara’s eggs.’ said Granddad.
‘She has also killed my eggs and yet her priest over there lives.’ replied Aquitain. ‘Why didn’t the Lady kill Lithgala’s priest as well?’
‘I guess she didn’t want to upset her ally Lithgala too much.’ replied Granddad carefully.
‘So it’s okay to upset Aquitain, son of K’wala because he’s weak but not okay to upset Lithgala as she’s more powerful.’ replied Aquitain.
‘Yes. I suppose you could look at it that way.’
‘and yet I have been created to do a job that no one else even Lithgala can do?’ said Aquitain.
‘Yes.’ replied Granddad a little worried about the way Aquitain was thinking.
‘Is it true that gods can see through the eyes of their followers?’ asked Aquitain.
‘Yes. That is believed to be true.’ replied Miranlla.
‘Good.’ said Aquitain as he put Miranlla to sleep then walked over to the stony body of Ishteth and activated his spirit aura vision.
Ishteth’s spirit was still in the stoned body so he created a mind link with it.
‘Hello Ishteth. This is Aquitain. You have been a busy little bee working away merrily setting me up to steal my seed for your goddess Lithgala I believe.’
‘Ha. You are an aberration and fool. You should never have been allowed to live. Your only value is your seed which is worth a king’s ransom and you throw it away as if it’s worthless. I was just harvesting a little for my Lady Lithgala. What is the harm in that?’ he replied.
‘Well. The harm is you’ve tarnished my name amongst the little people. I am the son K’wala one of the Lady’s champions therefore you have tarnished my father K’wala’s name amongst the little people. Lithgala has acted disrespectfully to the Lady. Consequently in the name of the Lady and K’wala I sentence you to death.’
‘Ha. You cannot kill me I will be resurrected by Lithgala minutes after you smite me.’ replied Ishteth.
‘Is that so?’ said Aquitain changing to his green giant stony aberration body.
‘Lithgala you have treated me and the Lady with utter disrespect. I sentence your High Priest Ishteth to oblivion. This is a clear warning stay to out of our way!’ and Aquitain created a spirit sword and swept it through the stony body of Ishteth several times chopping his spirit into pieces which rapidly dissipated.
He then picked up Ishteth’s stony body above head, turned facing the shamen and smashed it to the ground where it shattered into several pieces.
‘Are you mad!’ yelled Granddad. ‘You’ve challenged a goddess. We’re doomed.’
‘Will she challenge K’wala or the Lady for I did this in their name?’ asked Aquitain.
‘Umm. I don’t know but you’ve bound to upset the Lady as well saying that it was in her name.’ replied Granddad.
‘Well we’ll be okay until Lithgala works out who to blame I guess.’ replied Aquitain and it finally dawned on Granddad that the Lady wasn’t watching so would be reluctant to take sides. They might actually get away with it.
‘Haha. You cunning bastard. I love it! Good on you! You better wake up Miranlla.’ replied Granddad.
‘No not yet Granddad, these little bastards need a lesson that they will remember.’ replied Aquitain.
‘Be merciful !’ pleaded his grandfather a little worried. ‘They have been used by Lithgala in one of her schemes. You’ve already sent a message to her.’
‘Just a little reminder that if you play with fire you can get burnt.’ replied Aquitain as he walked over to the shamen lying prostrate shaking with fear.
One rose to his knees.
‘Please do not harm us my Lord we were only fulfilling the wishes of the Goddess Lithgala who is a good friend of the Lady.’ he said.
‘Who are you? asked Aquitain.
‘I am Illmarin, the High Shaman of the yellows and Right Claw of K’wala.’ replied the shaman.
‘Growl like K’wala.’ commanded Aquitain.
‘No one can growl like K’wala.’ replied the shaman.
‘You are a liar and a fake. The true Illmarin could growl like K’wala for it was he that taught me to growl!’ replied Aquitain as he charged to his bear form and growled. The sound echoed across the Crown of Elements as a warning. Aquitain son of K’wala was really angry.
The shamen turned white in fear as Aquitain changed back to his Newman form and telekinetically picked up the shaman and hurled him over the cliff. Everyone listened to his screams as he fell until it came to an abrupt end.
‘Now does anyone else wish to lie to me?’ he asked but no one volunteered to talk.
‘I am Aquitain the son of K’wala who has protected your people for generations. It seems to me that all of you set out to conspire against me the son of K’wala to steal some of my seed for your own greedy purposes. Is that true?’ he asked.
No one spoke so he pointed at one of them.
‘Is that true?’ he asked.
The shaman rose to his knees
.
‘We were deceived my Lord. We did not know you were the son of K’wala. We would never have done what we did had we known.’ he replied.
‘So who did you think I was?’ asked Aquitain.
‘We were told that you were a wizard pretending to be a Spirit Lord.’ he replied.
‘So the little people are thieves and robbers that prey on unsuspecting visitors to Mudrun?’ asked Aquitain.
‘Umm. We were just acting on instructions from the priest of Lithgala. My Lord.’ he replied.
Aquitain telekinetically picked him up and threw him over the cliff and again they listened until his screams stopped.
‘Now who is going to tell me the truth or do I throw you each off the cliff.’ he asked.
‘You tell me how all this started.’ He commanded as he pointed to a younger shaman.
‘It was the Warden Alin Amber, my Lord. He visits all the clans regularly. He suggested that the little people could start a divine line by stealing your seed. We were told that you were indeed the son of K’wala but we were also told that K’wala was dead and hence could not take offence. We have always been servants of the Lady and all the gods. We have lost our way since the Pact of Renewal. The proposal offered us hope for the future.’
‘So Kami and the purples were only friendly with me so that they could rob me?’ he asked.’ And you all agreed?’
‘Yes, we held a council before you arrived and agreed.’ replied the shaman. ‘I know it sounds bad but there were people at the council against the proposal. I was one of them but in the end we all agreed. I am personally ashamed for my part and accept my fate.’
‘An honest shaman at last.’ replied Aquitain.
‘Alright you are all guilty but if I kill you all no one will learn from this wicked scheme. So I am going to teach you a song. When one of your kind suitably atones to me for your deeds then and only then will you be able to stop singing the song. You will sing with me and on your return you will sing this song to your people and you will sing it every time there is a meeting among your people where you sing songs.’
He sang the song several times and they all sang it with him until he was happy they knew it. It told the story of how Lithgala corrupted them to steal the seed of Aquitain, the spirit bear, Son of K’wala and how they were doomed to only tell the truth from now on. The song was a cunning construct chastising them for being so stupid but the sting was in the form of a magical aversion which embedded itself in their minds.
‘I warn you, from this moment onwards you and your kin may only tell the truth. If you lie you will feel pain in your heads. If you continually lie the pain will increase until it kills you. The curse will get worse much quicker if you have any dealings with Lithgala or any of her followers. You may go now.’
‘That’s a bit cruel.’ said Granddad. ‘You’ll be punishing everyone for the mistakes of a few.’
‘Don’t you talk about cruel Granddad! You set me up for an impossible mission and kept me in the dark about it. You’ve deceived me all my life.’
‘You heard what the shaman said. They had a meeting before we arrived and purposely set a trap for me. They all knew. They are all guilty and so are you. They will all have to suffer the punishment of having to tell the truth for a while. It may do them some good. It would certainly do you some good!’ he replied.
‘Okay you’ve got a right to be really annoyed with me. I’ve been arrogant and bone headed. I’ve deceived you and everyone around me but I’ve been deceived too. We’re all toys of the gods but I’m asking you please don’t blame Miranlla. She’s been deceived as well. Please don’t make her choose between you and the Lady!’
‘It’s a bad idea.’ he pleaded, ‘Think about it but don’t act on impulse. You could lose her and that would leave you on your own which is much more dangerous than having her around.’
Aquitain strolled around thinking for a few minutes deciding on what his best course of action was then woke Miranlla.
‘What have you done?’ she said immediately. ‘I had a dream that the Lady is worried about us. She is concerned that your power might be going to your head and that you may not be thinking straight.’
‘Did you tell her that you must decide whether to keep following her or me.’ he asked.
‘Yes.’ she replied.
‘What did she say.’ He asked curiously.
‘Nothing.’ replied Miranlla.
‘The lady doesn’t talk to me directly. She doesn’t tell me what to do. Her wisdom only guides my decisions. My decisions are mine alone. Before I became a druid I had a dream that I would do something important in my life but I never knew what it would be. Our trials together have been both a dream and a nightmare. I feel like I’ve been blessed and cursed at the same time. I want to be with you and a sometimes I’m so afraid that I want to leave.’
‘I love you more than life and I fear that the Lady knows that and thinks that Tigerlilly will make me side with you against her if it comes to a choice. She is forcing me to make that decision right now by doing what she has done to you.’
‘Don’t ask me to choose that way she will never know the answer until the moment that it really counts. If I betray you then I will betray life and our love itself and there will be nothing left that is good in this world for me anymore.’
‘If you don’t trust me absolutely then blind me so that my eyes cannot betray you and send me away to be the most malign Tempest that ever existed.’
‘I will readily leave and never blame you for it will be her that forced this decision upon us and her that tore us asunder and it will be her that I will vent my wrath upon for all to know. Don’t ask me to choose let the doubt linger and fester in her mind not yours.’
Aquitain replied.
‘You once before said you placed your life my hands. I believe you absolutely but I find it very hard to place my life in the hands of a god when all gods are so fickle.’
‘I won’t ask you to decide between her or me as I do trust in you and accept your argument that she is forcing you to decide. Look me in the eyes Miranlla.’
‘Hello Goddess, I hope that you are enjoying your game with Miranlla and myself. On the day of Judgement and I am called before the Maker to explain my part in the Time of Troubles I will not be painting your part in any good light. Think very carefully before you have Miranlla betray me. It may not play out to your liking.’
Miranlla looked relieved and walked over and kissed him then said
‘Thank you my love. Let’s go back and capture our gate world.’ and they teleported away.
Chapter 46 Plans Within Plans
Miranlla, Granddad and Aquitain arrived back at the entrance to Astaria and after passing through the gateway teleported to the control room.
Aquitain asked the Astarian group mind what had been happening but got no answer.
‘That’s curious.’ he said ‘There’s something wrong.’
‘What’s happened? ‘ asked both Miranlla and Granddad.
‘I don’t know yet.’ Then he heard the dragon’s voice coming from the control panel.
‘Hello up there in the control room. I found out how you were manipulating the scenery and I’ve stopped it. You see you’re just a pathetic abomination that thinks he is smart. You’re a child compared to a dragon like me. You’re a powerless fake trickster. I’m going to enjoy taking your seed and adding it to my collection. Why don’t you come down and face me and end this farce quickly. You can run but you can’t hide from me. Coward.’
‘That doesn’t sound good. What has it done’ asked Granddad.
‘There was a collective mind here made up of spirits of people that had died here. It was friendly and cooperative and helping me to manage the situation here. That dragon is Adonis, he’s been deceiving Snowbelle that he’s a male nymph and she’s pregnant presumably to him which is supposed to be impossible. He’s also supposed to be a minor power and he has sworn to kill me. He has detected the collective mind an
d neutralised them somehow.’
‘You’re the gatekeeper. Can’t you just kick him out of here.’ asked Granddad.
‘Maybe if I had a better understanding and control of Astaria but at the moment it’s all too new. Asterix might know but I asked the Astarian collective to lock him out of harms reach as he’s unreliable at times.’
‘Maybe we should ask Granite for help as we just helped him out and he owes us one.’ suggested Miranlla.
‘That’s worth a thought as a last resort but I prefer that we solve the problem now in case it happens again in the future. If we show weakness now it will haunt us. ’ replied Aquitain.
‘I agree with that.’ replied Granddad.
‘I might go and try to find that friendly Mentarin fellow that I met a short while ago who seems to know Astaria pretty well. Maybe he has some suggestions how to get rid of Adonis.’ stated Aquitain as he left for gateway 5 where he had last seen Ignatius disappear.
He changed to rock elemental form and passed through the portal used by the dragons to discharge their magic and swam up to the surface hillside and called for Glammer.
A minute later she appeared.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked.
‘Adonis has managed to get into Astaria and I’m not sure how to get him out. I’ve also got a couple of hundred uninvited Mentarin and Yith in there. Do have you any suggestions that might help?’
‘I’m not a fighter but I guess I could round up a few thousand of my mothra if that would help.’
He thought about it for a minute.
‘They could possibly help against the warriors but they would be slaughtered by the wizards or Adonis.’
‘Why don’t you grow a rock dragon body for yourself, then you would be as big as him. You could grow one for me as well and I will fight with you.’ she suggested.
‘We could even create our own army of rock people. I’m sure some of the spirits in the Moonmist collective would join and fight for you if you made them bodies. You are already a hero to them.’
