by Des Pensable
She entered the cave under the waterfall and stood looking at a blank grey rock wall. She uttered an arcane word to open the gate to Argenta, her home world where her mother ruled as Queen, but nothing happened. Her mother had changed the password. She knew that there was a magic sigil on the wall that allowed her mother to hear when people were in the cave near the gateway.
‘Mother I wish to talk to you. It is urgent. I must know who I am.’
Nothing happened for a minute or two then a circular series of magical symbols normally invisible glowed on the rock face and the area within the circle took on a swirling misty appearance. The gateway was active. Moments later Allalanllea the Queen’s Royal wizard stepped through into the cave and the gateway closed behind her, the mist again becoming solid rock.
‘Hello Miranda, your mother is absent at the moment. There are so many strange things happening that she is sure the Time of Chaos is upon us. She is out learning what she can. I have been given specific instructions to let no one into Argenta including you. However, I have not been told that I can’t talk to you so how may I help you?’
Miranda ran over to her and hugged her.
‘It’s so wonderful to see you Allalanllea. There is something I must know. Am I a Llanllean like you?’
The wizard was silent for a few moments then replied.
‘Whatever made you think of something as strange as that?’
‘Is it so strange Allalanllea? You brought me up. I have no fear of spiders or Llanlleans. Yet I have noticed that your spider shape has the most profound effect on all Newmans that see you. You have little mercy on them if they act against you in fact you are their worst nightmare yet I know you to be a person with a kind and gentle nature.’
‘I am much more like you than my mother. Aquitain was killed earlier this evening and I asked The Lady for a Miracle. I asked Her to give him a body like mine and She made him a Llanllean.’
‘The fact that She made him a Llanllean is itself very strange. The usual rule is that someone reincarnated or resurrected cannot be given a body of a creature that does not normally exist on a world. I am not aware of any of my kind that lives on this world.’
‘Neither am I.’ replied Allalanllea.
‘That only reinforces my point,’ continued Miranda. ‘I live on this world therefore if I was a Llanllean then the rule has not been broken. I ask you again. Am I a Llanllean? You of all people must know!’
‘And you, Princess Miranda must know that I am sworn to serve your mother the Queen. This is a personal question that only your mother may answer. In this I cannot help you child. I will, however, suggest that you must be careful in what you ask of The Lady. If the Time of Chaos is truly upon us she will have many competing priorities. She undoubtedly has a vested interest in you but regardless of how devoted you are to her, she has her own complex agenda and her actions may not always be in your best interest.’
Miranda stood there dismayed at what Allalanllea had said. She had been Miranda’s nanny and closest confidante while she had been growing up. When Snowbelle had told Miranda that she wanted her to train as a druidess Miranda had rebelled and told her mother that she wanted to be a wizard like Allalanllea. It had caused a major crisis between her and her mother. Allalanllea had convinced her to follow her mother’s wishes so she had trained as druid and eventually loved it.
Allalanllea had never refused her anything until now. This was the most important question she had ever asked and she received no answer. Even more surprising was that Allalanllea had questioned the motives of her Goddess. What was happening? The fabric of her world had changed.
Her mother had shut her out; the Crin had shut her out and now her nanny, her most trusted friend had also shut her out. She stood and wept. Her heart ached and the tears flowed freely as she turned and slowly walked back along the track leading out of her childhood home. Now there really was no one left but Aquitain.
At the end of the gully she stopped to take a last look at her childhood world through tear stained eyes. It had all been so beautiful, why did it have to end so brutally? She stood reliving in her mind some of the wonderful things that had happened in the gully when she was clubbed on the head and fell unconscious.
She awoke a few minutes later in the darkness. She was naked and wearing a magical restraint that would stop her from either using a prayer or shape changing. Her hands and feet were bound and her mouth gagged. She was being carried draped over the shoulder of a male Newman. She looked around but it was difficult to see in the dark. There were a couple of others nearby, she could hear them mumbling. They were druids and she was being carried towards a building. She recognized the place immediately as she had been there many times. It was the Druid’s Council Headquarters.
A druid wearing the gown of the High Druid met the men outside the building but she didn’t recognize his face.
‘We have her My Lord.’ said one of the men.
‘Good. Hold her in the anteroom to the Council Chambers while I call a meeting to discuss her actions.’ said the new High Druid.
‘Yes My Lord.’ replied one of the Druids and she was taken to the room and gently laid on the floor.
In the lamplight she was able to make out the faces of her captors. She recognized them immediately. They were colleagues of hers. She had chatted with some of them quite recently. They all wore serious faces. One or two had tears in their eyes as if regretting what they had done. She tried to talk. To ask them to remove the gag but they ignored her, preferring to stand in a huddle whispering to each other.
After a minute or so one them shouted,
‘I will not allow this to happen. She is one of us. She has done no wrong until found guilty by the Council. I will not allow her to be humbled this way. Stop me if you will.’ and he walked over to her.
‘Miranda, I’m sorry for what has happened. We were ordered by the Council to bring you here. If you promise not to try to escape or remove the magic restraint I will remove your bindings and give you my spare gown to restore your dignity.’
Miranda nodded and she was unbound by the old druid and handed a spare gown and a comb so that she could dress and improve her appearance. The other druids did nothing to stop her but stood watching with expressionless faces. She thanked the old fellow and sat in one of the chairs awaiting the Council’s pleasure.
‘What more can go wrong tonight?’ she wondered.
Fifteen minutes later the door to the Council Chamber opened and she was escorted inside. The room was quite large being about ten paces square. There was a large semicircular table around which the nine members of the Council sat facing a single chair situated at the centre of the room. Miranda was seated on this chair facing the new High Druid who sat on a throne-like chair glaring down at her. She recognized only three of the Council members as being members of the old Council.
Miranda stood there defiantly.
‘Where is the High Druid and who are you?’
‘Silence, I am now the High Druid. You will only speak when spoken to or I will have you bound and gagged.’ said the new High Druid.
‘Bring in the witness!’ he ordered and Miranda looked around and her mind almost froze in disbelief. It was Wizard Curbut.
‘You should be dead.’ shouted Miranda.
‘Yes I should be but I’m not. Luckily I managed to escape your trap to bear witness to the brutal massacre of your fellow druids.’
‘You should be dead. I clearly remember cutting off your head.’
‘You are mistaken, however, it is nice to hear you admit to trying to kill me!’ replied Curbut.
‘Silence.’ ordered the High Druid again. ‘You will get your chance to defend yourself. We will hear the account of the only witness first.’
‘There is another witness.’ argued Miranda ‘I left one alive so that she could reveal the truth as to what happened.’
‘All bodies have been accounted for, My Lord.’ replied one of the Councillors.
‘Tha
t is a lie. Ask Quab. I left the witness in his care.’ shouted Miranda.
‘Gag her.’ ordered the High Druid. ‘She has been warned.’
Two of the druids acting as guards stepped forward, bound her arms to the chair and gagged her. Curbut was then asked to tell the committee what had happened.
‘We arrived outside the sanctuary at Twin Towers and entered. The criminal Aquitain, the druid Miranda and the druid Quab were in a discussion. Druid Holsten, the leader of the retrieval mission addressed druid Quab and told him that the Council requested the criminal be taken into custody. Would he please escort the villain outside the sanctuary?’
‘The villain stated that he would not accompany us anywhere and cast a power injuring several druids. The druids prayed briefly to The Lady for forgiveness and tried to overpower the villain without using undue force, however, the villain used some vile power that incapacitated many of the less experienced druids. The more experienced ones resisted the effect and attempted to incapacitate the villain.’
‘The druid Miranda first ran from the fight like a coward then returned casting a malevolent power that seemed to be clerical in nature revealing that she is no longer a servant of The Lady but a priestess of some disgusting god. This divine power paralysed all the druids present. Fortunately for me I was able to resist it and went invisible.’
‘I then saw her and her friend the druid Quab butcher all the paralysed druids. She then prayed to her obscene god to heal her lover. That god answered her prayer covered the sky with cloud so The Lady would not witness the depraved massacre and stole the spirits of the druids that druids Miranda and Quab had murdered.’
‘She then escaped with the villain hiding him somewhere and went to visit her mother. I believe that even her mother has disowned her as she has become obsessed with the villain fornicating openly on the beaches around Twin Towers with the creature in defiance of council regulations, in breach of her vows of refraining from bestiality and turning her back on The Lady.’
‘That will be enough.’ said the High Druid and ordered her gag to be removed.
‘Would you now tell us your version of what happened?’
Miranda quickly gathered her wits. They were going to find her guilty and execute her before anyone could help. If she could only drag it out a little, cast doubt on Curbut she might be able to survive long enough for someone to realize what was happening.
‘I wish to claim diplomatic immunity. I am the Princess of Argenta. You cannot put me on trial for anything. Could you please notify the Queen of Argenta.’
‘Not a chance.’ said the High Druid. ‘Your request is refused. You have committed heinous crimes in Mudrun. You are employed by the Council and as such are liable to Council rules. Do you wish to give evidence in your defence or shall we consider your fate based upon the evidence of the witness.’
‘All right, for the benefit of the remaining three councillors of the old Council, I will tell you what happened.’
‘Aquitain the bear and I visited Quab’s sanctuary to discuss the strange happenings all around Mudrun.’
‘So you admit both being in the sanctuary and accompanying the villain.’ stated the High Druid forcefully.
‘You allowed wizard Curbut to tell his story without interruption. May I do so as well?’ snapped Miranda sarcastically.
‘I will interrupt any time I believe it necessary to ensure the truth comes out.’ replied the High Druid. ‘Now answer my question!’
‘Yes I was in the sanctuary with Aquitain who has committed no crimes in Mudrun.’
‘The villain is not on trial here yet. You are! So please keep your comments to the point. Continue!’
‘The druids took down Quab’s wards and invaded the sanctuary demanding Aquitain’s surrender but you could tell they wanted to kill him.’
‘They actually said they were there to kill him?’ asked one of the Councillors.
‘No they did not say that but all their weapons were covered in blue fire and they were itching to use them. I ran to get help and they attacked him. He had no chance to surrender. Wizard Curbut shouted to kill him.’
‘You’re suggesting that the druids were using divine fire of the lawful type. In other words they had lost their neutrality and had taken up with some other god. Is that likely Councillor Pandan? You knew many of the druids in the party sent to retrieve the villain.’
‘No. My Lord. They were all devoted to The Lady and would never defect to some other god. That is obviously a lie.’
‘So what happened next, did you use some weapon given to you by this new god of yours to incapacitate all the druids present?’ asked the High Druid.
Miranda was in a bind here. They wanted her to say that Quab and Featherdown were involved so that they could put them on trial as well.
‘No. I am and always will be a fervent follower of The Lady. Aquitain had an object containing a power that could paralyse a group of people so I flew to his workshop retrieved the item and returned. I used it on the group as they were desecrating his body.’
‘And then you murdered them all.’ said the High Druid.
‘No. I executed them for desecrating the peace of the sanctuary as is proscribed in our law.’ she replied defiantly.
‘So in short they tried to capture your lover and he was killed in the struggle so you killed them all and after that you prayed to your new god to resurrect him.’
‘No I asked The Lady to resurrect him and she agreed. The Lady knows both he and I are not guilty of your charges. Aquitain is alive and when he hears you captured me he will come here to find me. I would caution you all to tread carefully. He will not react kindly if I am mistreated. Nor will my mother.’
‘Gag her.’ called the High Druid.
‘Well I have heard enough.’ said the High Druid. ‘I would say she is guilty as sin itself. She has broken countless druid laws. She has associated with a wanted criminal and ruthlessly killed her fellow druids in a sanctuary devoted to The Lady. She even has the audacity to threaten members of this council. I find her guilty as charged but I will wait until the rest of you make up your minds. All those who believe she is guilty raise their hands.’
The three members of the Council from the previous Council were hesitant. ‘I don’t think that it is a wise idea for us to act so precipitately My Lord. The Queen of Argenta is not known for her generous grace. This is her daughter. Any action against her could cause immense problems for us.’
‘Nonsense.’ said the new High Druid. ‘We are the Law in this land. We are bound to uphold the laws of The Lady and can rule on any offenses committed in Mudrun. This shameless harlot has committed the most terrible crimes against The Lady. She has admitted to murdering servants of The Lady in one of The Lady’s most sacred places and since only a simple majority is required I rule that the Council finds her guilty of the murder of twenty-two druids and desecrating a sanctuary. Each crime is punishable by death.’
The High Druid addressed Miranda with vengeful smile.
‘This Court has ruled that you are guilty as charged. You are hereby cast out of the Mudrun Fraternity of Druids. You are stripped of all rank and privileges as a druid. Any possessions that you had now belong to the Council. You will be taken forthwith from this chamber and held until sunrise whereupon you will be executed and your body will be cremated and the ashes dispersed to the four winds. May The Lady have mercy on your spirit.’
Suddenly there was a loud explosion and the door to the Council Chambers fell inwards onto the floor and in strolled Queen Snowbelle dressed in golden magical armour and wielding the Staff of Storms. She was accompanied by a female Newman wizard and a large Crin Enforcer equipped with magical weapons.
‘How dare you break into a session of the Druid’s Council.’ said the new High Druid. ‘Who do you think you are?’
‘I am Queen Snowbelle of Argenta. How dare you kidnap a royal princess from Argenta soil and subject her to some inquisition as if she were a common criminal
.’ she replied defiantly.
The High Druid tried to use a power but was beaten to the punch by the Royal Wizard and vanished.
‘What have you done with the High Druid?’ said one of the new councillors. ‘If you have harmed him it will mean war.’
‘He is unharmed, just elsewhere for a short while. Invading Argenta to kidnap a Royal Princess is akin to a declaration of war. Do you want war! If you do I’ll give it you and I’ll start by killing the lot of you while I have the chance.’ she said menacingly and slowly pulled a wand out of her belt.
‘No!’ yelled all three councillors who used to be a part of the previous Council.
‘Then you had better quickly release her into my custody.’ said Queen Snowbelle.
‘According to the protocol of our peace treaty any dispute between the Druid’s Council of Mudrun and the Kingdom of Argenta is to be delivered in writing to me. If I consider it worthy of further action then I will call for a meeting where we will discuss the problem. Is that clear?’
‘Yes. Your Highness.’ said one of the Councillors.
‘Good then one of you move a motion to release the princess into my custody and we will leave and await your document.’
One of the councillors from the old Council moved the motion and all the others reluctantly accepted it. Allalanllea released Miranda’s bonds and the magic restraints and led her out of the room. There were Crin fighters everywhere. Allalanllea gave a mindspeak order and they began to teleport away in groups. Miranda went over to the druid that had treated her kindly and kissed him on the cheek and released his bonds.
‘Don’t believe what they are saying about me. It’s untrue. Find the druid girl that survived the attack on the sanctuary at Twin Towers. She will be able to tell you what happened.’ she whispered and she left with the Royal Wizard.
Queen Snowbelle had a few final words to say to the councillors and then teleported away with the Crin Enforcer. Moments later the High Druid appeared back in his seat.
