by Des Pensable
‘You are completely right my love. Let’s go and see Featherdown right now.’
So they teleported excitedly to the wizard’s tower, only to find him absent and not expected back until later in the day. Quite disappointed, Aquitain decided it would be prudent to do a little planning about how they might keep out of Miranda’s mother’s way.
‘I need to spend some time in the laboratory to make some amulets to prevent your mother from scrying for us.’
‘You mean like these.’ said Miranda with a smile and showed him the bracelets that Allalanllea had given her.
‘It seems that you and my nanny are thinking along the same lines.’
‘I’m beginning to like your nanny,’ replied Aquitain as he examined the bracelets.
There’s only one problem with these of course. If we get separated and we’re wearing these we may not be able to find each other.
Chapter 6 The Crossroads
Allalanllea arrived back in the cave to find that Aquitain and Miranda were no longer there. At first she worried that something might have happened to them but there were no signs of disruption in the area. The water elementals were peacefully swimming around so she settled down on the rock to wait. It gave her time to think. So much had happened so quickly.
She was no longer the Royal Wizard to Queen Snowbelle. Her job caring for and protecting Miranda had ended. It felt like a great load had been lifted from her shoulders. There were so many things that she had wanted to do when she was younger but there were so many problems in the world. For the first time in memory she was unsure of what she should do.
When she saw Miranda and Aquitain appear she hurried over to them.
‘Your mother has guessed that I wish to return to Moonmist and has already blockaded the southern gateway which will be open for the next two to three days. If I can’t get through during that period I will have to wait a month before I can try again.’
‘Couldn’t you fight your way through?’ asked Aquitain.
‘What and kill people that I have known for years? No, I will not do that. Would you?’
‘I guess not.’ he replied thinking about what he would do if he had to fight his way through his grandfather’s guards who he had known all his life.
‘Do you know the universal coordinates for a location on Moonmist perhaps you could create a temporary gateway to there?’ asked Aquitain.
‘Curiously, I have never heard of anyone ever creating a temporary gateway to Moonmist and have no idea of the universal coordinates as I’ve always had free access to Snowbelle’s gateway and that’s been blocked at the Moonmist end by her enemies for the last two weeks.’
‘There’s something strange happening there but even Snowbelle can’t find out what it is. I’ve heard that the Elendari Queen has accused the Llanlleans of treachery and that is very unusual as they’ve never taken sides in any of the Elendari politics that happens there.’
‘Do you think that the Elendari Champion’s Sceptre might have anything to do with it?’ asked Miranda cautiously.
‘That’s unlikely. Your mother has had the Champion’s Sceptre ever since she took it from King Thoras over a hundred Mudrun years ago. However, if one of the Lords ever managed to get hold of it then that might cause a shift in power there.’
‘She hasn’t got it anymore.’ replied Miranda.
‘She gave it to Queen Beatrix for some reason and a few days ago it was stolen from her. Aquitain found it when we captured the Temple a few days ago.’
‘That’s right! Now that you mention it she did give it to Queen Beatrix as a token of the alliance between them. By the Gods! Your mother doesn’t know it’s missing yet. She would have told me if she did. That suggests that Queen Beatrix is afraid to tell her. Where is it now?’
Miranda thought for a few moments. ‘I used it to kill the druids at the sanctuary and for some reason left it there when I left. Quab would probably have it or perhaps he would have given it to Featherdown.’
‘You actually used it and left it lying around on the ground?’ replied Allalanllea aghast at the thought.
‘Anyone could have just picked it up and walked away with it.’
‘Quab found it and gave it to Featherdown for safe keeping.’ added Aquitain. ‘However, it was stolen from Featherdown’s tower last night.’
‘What! Who would have known that he had it and how would they have taken it from his tower?’ wondered Miranda aloud.
‘I asked him those exact questions and he has no answer but we do have a clue.’ replied Aquitain.
‘They captured a strange looking creature in the town yesterday and have it imprisoned in Granwell’s tower. It looks a like a horribly malformed brown scaled little person. Granwell said that the Druid’s Council have detected a couple trying to sneak through the southern gate from Moonmist over the last few years.’
Allalanllea thought for a few seconds.
‘It sounds like one of the trixie outcasts from Moonmist. The question is what it is doing here? If it was accidentally left behind it suggests that the outcasts have stolen the Champion’s Sceptre. That would certainly cause some problems on Moonmist. However, if it was purposely left here then it’s a blatant message telling us where to find it. Either way they’ll have to pass through the Southern Gateway, to return it to Moonmist. Perhaps that’s why your mother has blockaded the Southern Gateway?’
‘Do you think it’s worth chasing?’ asked Aquitain.
‘Definitely.’ replied Allalanllea.
‘You could use it to make peace with the Crin and possibly even Snowbelle. If you were on Moonmist you could gain the favour of the Queen of the Elendari with it and that could be useful if the chaos spreads. Whatever you decide, you’ll have to be quick about it.’
‘Wait!’ said Aquitain suddenly holding a hand up and closing his eyes.
‘I’m receiving a sending.’
‘What is a sending?’ asked Miranda but Aquitain didn’t respond. He just indicated for them to be quiet.
‘Spirit bear Aquitain. Please listen carefully. This is Buluk, shaman of the Wolf people. We have a problem. Our young have been disappearing in an area where we have found a gateway. Could you please help us.’ The message was repeated two times then there was quiet.
‘Oh no.’ thought Aquitain. ‘The cunning little bastards can also use sendings. I might have guessed. Before the Great Storm if they needed to contact one of the Lords urgently the best way would be a sending.’
‘It seems that our little people friends have a few more tricks up their sleeves. They can send messages to people like me.’ said Aquitain.
‘What do you mean?’ asked Miranda a little confused.
‘Wizards can send messages to people anywhere in the universe using a communication called a sending. It usually done so people receive it when they are sleeping and hence it’s usually called a dream sending. Granddad uses it a lot to communicate with people on other worlds. He told Zephira and me before we left Panmagica that if there was anything important happening that we needed to know he would send it that way.’
‘However, mind wizards who can use mindlinks can also receive a sending within the same world while they are awake. I just got one from Buluk of the Wolf people. It seems they have a problem gateway.’
‘What! How would the Wolf people know about you? Why would they send you a message?’ queried Miranda.
‘Think about it Mandy, I was a spirit bear like their totem Spirit Wolf but I was helping the Barra and the Jeti people with their problems. I’ll bet Kami sent messages to every tribe around telling them about Spirit Bear Aquitain. If you were the shaman of the Wolf people who would you call on to help, the Spirit Wolf whatever its name is or Aquitain?’
‘Its name is Loopis, but you’re not thinking of going are you?’ asked Miranda.
‘We have more urgent things to do. However, for them to reveal that they can use a sending to us suggests that it is very important.’
‘It migh
t also be the gateway used by the people that took the sceptre.’ suggested Allalanllea.
‘Hmm. You’re right. Maybe we should check it out.’ he replied.
‘No! You’ll want us to split up again. I won’t! Not until after we exchange our pledges.’ said Miranda.
Allalanllea was a quite surprised.
‘You two wish to exchange pledges now! Miranda it is not a favorable time for that. Aquitain could be killed again tomorrow or next week before you’ve both even had a chance to discover life together. Your mother will explode and start a war or something worse.’
‘I thought that you would be on my side in this Allalanllea.’ replied Miranda emotionally. ‘You said that I should be with him to help and guide him. Why shouldn’t we exchange pledges?’
Allalanllea looked at Aquitain and said.
‘Please understand that I mean you and your family no disrespect but a crown princess cannot just join with whomever she wishes. It must be a political decision based on what is best for the people of Argenta. That is why the tattoo was put on her in the first place.’
‘As I understand the situation you are from a wealthy wizard merchant family with possibly some unspecified royal connections but nothing that would necessarily further the interests of the people of Argenta. Unless Miranda is officially joined in Argenta or declared by her mother to be no longer the Crown Princess then by inter-world convention any joining ceremony outside Argenta will not be recognized anywhere. This is to prevent you or your family or descendants claiming any rights over the throne of Argenta should Miranda die.’
‘Miranda, your mother has studied the conventions well and knows every legal nuance. If you two wish to be joined then you will first have to petition her to disinherit you. If she refuses then you will have to wait for her to die and I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one as she is more than two hundred Mudrun years old and likely to last another several hundred as nymphs don’t age like newmans.’
‘There is one way of course. You could try to kill her. That would be quite legal and within the convention but that would not be a wise option until you are much more powerful. Remember she has only played with Aquitain so far. If he were to really threaten her then she might use all the means at her disposal to eliminate him permanently.’
‘My advice to you both is to pledge to each other privately if that is what you wish but then work together to do everything possible to fulfil The Lady’s wishes for I doubt that she allow the tattoo to be removed until then. In the mean time you will grow to know each other better and become more powerful as a team. Perhaps then you will be ready to take on Snowbelle and anyone else that stands in your way.’
‘She cannot do this to me.’ said Miranda refusing to accept it.
‘I ... I will get a scribe to prepare a petition tomorrow.’
‘Mandy, I think Allalanllea has the right of it. We need only pledge to each other as this only concerns us. The Lady is testing us. I have to earn the right to remove your tattoo and I will then no one will be able to dispute our right to be together.’
‘I can’t believe this. You are siding with her now. I damn well won’t listen to either of you.’ and she slipped on a teleport ring and disappeared.
‘Whoops. I think I’ve upset her now.’
‘Don’t worry Aquitain.’ said Allalanllea. ‘I know her better than she knows herself. She will be back. I talked with her a lot after she was saved from the druid council. I know she loves you deeply, more deeply than anything.’
‘You must realize that she has been a spoilt princess. She has been groomed for greatness. She expects to get her own way. She has fought endlessly with her mother, losing most fights but never ever conceding defeat. She will be the jewel in the crown of the king that removes her tattoo. The question is, are you man enough to be that king?’
‘Allalanllea my mother always told me I was bound for greatness. To be honest I never believed her. When you’ve spent years slaving away in a magic workshop making magic items for wealthy customers you never consider greatness as an option.’
‘In the last few weeks I’ve done things that I never dreamed I could or would do. I’m on an impossible quest where I seem to be a pawn in a game played by great Powers and deities. At the moment anything is possible. If Miranda is my reward then I will grab her with both hands and defy the Gods to take her away from me. If it takes a king to remove that tattoo then I will be that king and no other will stand in my way.’
Allalanllea stared at him for a few seconds measuring him and then said.
‘Well said young wizard! I can see why Miranda has chosen you. If your deeds match your words then you will be a Power to be reckoned with. I will watch with great interest and endeavour to help where I can. Don’t ever break her heart or I will be your worst enemy. Let’s go and have a look at this captive creature.’
Before they could leave, a young water elemental came up to him and beckoned them to follow it. They followed the elemental to the sandy beach and saw the elder elemental Squalash waiting for Aquitain. This is just brilliant he thought. He couldn’t speak the water elemental language. Alpha had translated for him before when they had met and Miranda had translated for him when they had arrived this time.
He asked Allalanllea whether she could translate for him and she smiled and said
‘I have often translated for the Queen. I have a special pair of ear rings that when activated enable me to hear all languages.
‘Good but first I’ll try Draconic. Whooshoo the elder air elemental spoke it and so do the little people. Perhaps Squalash will understand it.
‘It is an honour to meet you again Waverider Squalash. I have been told that you wished to talk to me.’ said Aquitain in low Draconic.
Squalash looked at him uncertainly.
‘You look different to before and you speak the language of the Lords now?’
‘I am a shape shifter. I have many forms Squalash.’ He replied then changed to his Logicon form his Llanllean form, his little person form and finally his child sized Newman form.
‘I have died and been raised twice since we last met and now have a small form. I knew the language of the Lords when we last met but was not aware that you knew it so I didn’t try to speak it. You may question me about my actions last time I was here if you are in doubt.
‘That is not necessary. It is my pleasure to have you and your friend in our humble cave once more. My water brothers and the herders have told me of your exploits up north.’
‘I’m sure they are greatly exaggerated. I was just a small part in a ceremony to help heal a great wound.’ replied Aquitain diplomatically.
‘Sometimes it is the little things that are greatly important in people’s lives. Love, respect and gratitude are not earned by great deeds but by small ones.’ said Squalash.
‘You have gained much respect in the north for helping the weak but that is not what I wish to talk about. We have a problem that we cannot fathom and seek your help.’
‘I have just come from a meeting with other elders from across the great sea. The magic essence that is our food is changing its taste there. Where it happens it causes division among our people. It is causing trouble among our air brothers as well. Some of our younger water kin are allying with like-minded air brothers and attacking our fire brothers for no apparent reason. The elders are trying to stop it but it is getting worse. This has never happened before. We do not understand what is happening. You must help us Lord.’
Aquitain was shocked. The flavour of magic had changed. Surely only the gods could do something like that. From what Squalash was saying it was causing the normally neutral elementals to polarize into two camps, order or chaotic. All were generally neutral but they were being forced to choose.
‘Why do you call me Lord, Waverider?’ asked Aquitain.
‘I am no Lord to you. I am a mind wizard, a Wizard Captain of the Mudrun Defence Force, nothing more.’
‘Your name is sung on wind
and wave, Lord. Did not The Omen recognize you and obey your commands. Did you not capture a Temple of the Elements designed to ward off the gods. Did you not defeat the Cat of Chaos and send it back to its dark existence in the spirit world. The Herders believe that you are the Fount who has come to reclaim this world as written in their texts Lord.’
‘That is true. I have read it myself. The prophecy spoke of a Fount that did not die and would return. The Founts were mind wizards like you.’ said Allalanllea.
Suddenly it all made sense to Aquitain. There had been no mind wizards on Mudrun since the Great Storm. He was the first. They all assumed he must be a Fount and with the Time of Chaos beginning, he was their saviour. What could he say to them? Should he tell them the truth that he was no Fount and destroy their hopes or lie to them and try to help? What a dilemma!
Then he had a very unsettling thought. He had masses of knowledge locked away within his mind. It could only be unlocked by Alpha his memcrystal that he had traded for his cousin Zephira’s life. What if somehow he was the surviving Fount? It would explain a lot. But without Alpha he would never know. He wished Miranda was here to help him make a decision although he could readily guess what she would want him to do. She would want him to help them.
‘You may have heard of prophesy that there will be a Time of Chaos where all creatures must choose to side with the forces of chaos or the forces of order. What you have told me today seems consistent with this prophesy.’
‘From my knowledge of the way of things it would suggest that most air and fire brothers will follow the call of chaos and most rock brothers will follow the call of order. I would suspect that your water brothers will be divided. Half will follow the call of chaos and half the call of order.’
