by Des Pensable
First she prayed for ironwood skin then chameleon skin. Taking a deep breath she went through the opening ritual and without hesitation immediately stepped through the gate.
She appeared inside a totally dark area that had a damp earthy smell. She changed shape to a bat and flew around the area using the bat’s echolocation to see. She was in a roughly circular rock cave about 10 paces across with a short tunnel leading to the outside. The cave entrance was closed off with a large iron door that was barred from the outside. Snowbelle noticed that there were slots cut in the wall several feet from the floor for viewing and shooting arrows into the tunnel from the outside.
She landed on the floor, changed shape to a gecko lizard and scurried up the wall ducking into the slots and pressing against the outside shutter to see if she could get out. The first two she tried were locked. She was about to try the third when it opened and a face peered through it.
She froze, flattened against the cold dusty rock and allowed the camouflage magic to blend her lizard form into the colour of the rock making her invisible in the semidarkness. It worked, she was only a hand span from the Elendari soldier’s face but he couldn’t see her, he was too busy trying to see into the tunnel.
Someone created light in the tunnel that lit it up as if there were several magic globes inside. The soldier at her arrow slot thrust a short pole with a mirror attached into the tunnel and swivelled it around in all directions trying to see whatever was there. She heard shouts and swearing from outside as several soldiers arrived outside the iron door. Someone arrived with dogs. They howled and barked excitedly. They waited for a wizard.
She heard him chanting, placing magical protections on himself. He then called for the view ports to be closed and the iron door to be opened whereupon he cast a fireball into the tunnel. Fortunately for Snowbelle in her small gecko form flattened against the rock well away from the direct blast of the fireball all she felt was warm air blowing across her back.
The iron doors again creaked open and the dogs charged in, followed more carefully by the soldiers with weapons drawn and finally the wizard. Once they had all passed her position Snowbelle carefully moved up to the shutter and quietly slid through to the outside. The soldier had left to join the others but in his rush had forgotten to lock it. Once outside she changed to bat form and flew up into the sky. She knew immediately where she was, about a thousand paces from Darkmantle manor.
As she flew towards the manor it lit up in a blaze of light. She was too late they had locked the place down. The windows would be shuttered. The doors would be magic locked. There would be dispelling screens in the corridors and antimagic zones outside the doors to reveal any trespassers. The guards would be doubled and on alert for up to 24 hours. Anything and everything would be treated as suspicious. She was locked out.
Why had Wyvern Darkmantle not told her about this gateway when they were married? How had he kept it such a secret all these years? Snowbelle was both disappointed and frustrated. She knew Darkmantle was up to something but what? There was still no real evidence that he had captured Miranda. The guards had arrived very quickly at the gateway she had just come through, almost as if she was expected.
She flew down to a small hilltop about a thousand paces from the manor on the side opposite the gateway and changed back to her nymph form still with the camouflage magic active and stood there looking at the manor thinking about what he might be up to. It was still a few days to the queen’s ball. It had to be something to do with that.
Her heart nearly stopped when she heard a voice behind her.
‘Hello Snowbelle, I’ve found you at last.’
Snowbelle spun around ready to attack and saw a nymph standing several paces from her.
‘Who are you and what do you want?’
‘I’ve been sent by the Council of Seven to invite you to the Choosing.’ replied the nymph without bothering to give her name.’
‘Tell the Council I’m too busy to attend. I’ll come to the next one.’ said Snowbelle a little surprised at how easily the nymph had found her.
‘I’m sorry.’ replied the nymph. ‘But the Council would really like you to attend. There is a serious problem that must be discussed. There will be a Conclave before the Choosing.’
This was serious. Snowbelle had never been to either a Nymph Conclave or a Choosing as she had only been a nymph for twenty Moonmist years. In fact she was surprised that the Nymph Council would accept her as she was a nymph by reincarnation rather than by birth. She heard that Conclaves were only ever held to discuss extremely important matters and a Choosing was a nymph version of an orgy. Both would be very interesting if she wasn’t preoccupied with finding Miranda. She found herself making excuses.
‘I still can’t come. I’ve got a problem with my daughter.’
‘Quite understandable.’ replied the other nymph sympathetically.
‘I’ve been told you’ve never been to a Choosing before. You probably need some persuasion. Wait here and I’ll be back shortly.’
‘Ha.’ thought Snowbelle. ‘The council is going to send someone to persuade me. They obviously don’t know me.’ and she waited.
A couple of minutes later the nymph returned with another but this one was really different. Her heart suddenly sped up. She was looking at the most gorgeous beautiful hunk of male nymph she could ever imagine.
He walked over to her with the most alluring smile on his perfect face.
‘My name is Adonis. I’d REALLY like it if you were to come to the Choosing. I’m sure we could find some interest in common.’
Snowbelle’s mind melted, her hormones took over. A male nymph, someone who wouldn’t die in her arms from an overdose of pleasure. She couldn’t stop thinking of the possibilities. This was amazing. All thoughts of Miranda, Darkmantle or anything else were swept away in a flood of desire.
‘I’d love to come to the Choosing with you. Why are we standing here? Let’s go!’ He took her hand and off they teleported.
A short while later Wyvern Darkmantle received a mindspeak message and was happier than he had been for years.
‘I can’t believe it. She’s gone to the Choosing. The plan’s working.’
Chapter 21 The Prison Bottle
Garret stood on the edge of the garden maze looking at two statues frozen in erotic poses.
‘Good gracious, look at those statues, I never thought that anyone would show that type of stuff in public.’
Aquitain now in the form of a gnome didn’t much care. He had seen some pretty depraved statues back in certain places back in Panmagica.
‘This looks like some type of pleasure garden.’ he replied.
‘From what I have heard the Elendari are very keen on all types of revelry. They really take dance, music, and art seriously. It looks like they’ve made sexual pleasure an art form.’ quipped Slivver using Aquitain’s voice.
‘Yes and it’s disgusting.’ replied Garret.
Aquitain was getting concerned about Garret. The wizard wasn’t behaving rationally. He said spider people had terrified him and he suspected Aquitain was one as well so he would have to keep his distance.
Llalorax the Royal Wizard sat viewing his scrying pool looking for something of interest when a small beep indicated one of his statues had detected something at the outer edge of the hedge maze. He looked at the indicator light on the map of the castle grounds and directed his attention to that area using his scrying pool just in time to see a Newman and a gnome entering the maze.
‘Now this is interesting. What are they doing out there?’
He looked on his map for the next statue further into the maze, moved his gaze in the scrying pool to there and waited. In a couple of minutes a stout Newman in Mudrun attire came walking around the corner up to the statue gaped at it and said a few disparaging words about it to the gnome.
‘Of course.’ he thought. ‘The queen had sent for the artisan fellow that might be able to identify the sceptre. Her agents had b
rought him into Moonmist only to have him kidnapped by Llanllean rebels. This could be him and perhaps a guide or protector of some sort.’
Llalorax could have sent some trixies to escort the Newman but decided that it was time he got some exercise, so he changed to the shape of a trixie. No need to scare them yet. He walked over to the teleport circle and moments later he appeared beside the statues about ten paces from Garret.
‘Well a Newman and a gnome it is.’ he said. ‘Now what could you two be wanting in Queen Aurora’s maze garden.’
Garret jumped nervously when the trixie suddenly appeared, but otherwise was not unduly alarmed. The Queen’s people had found them. That was fortuitous.
Aquitain took one look at the so-called trixie and knew it was a brown-scaled little person. It was perhaps a little taller, its snout was a little less prominent and its scales finer but it was definitely closely related to the little people in Mudrun.
‘That was quick.’ he thought. ‘They must have this place under continual surveillance.’ then he remembered that the statues at his grandfather’s place watched and notified his grandfather of visitors.’
‘My name is Garret. I wish to see the Queen. She has invited me here to see her but I was waylaid.’
‘And your friend is invited also?’ asked the trixie.
‘Yes, he is traveling with me.’ replied Garret.
‘Can you please take us to see Llalorax, the Queen’s magician.’ asked Aquitain. ‘We wish to talk to him.’
This surprised the trixie.
‘Okay. Please hold my hand,’ and they were teleported to Llalorax’s room under the grotto in the centre of the maze garden.
The trixie then shifted shape to his large Llanllean spider shape and said
’Well Newman and little gnome you better tell me what I want to know or you may be my next snack,’ thinking that this would scare them into some fast talking.
Garret froze solid in fear and began shaking, while Aquitain said ’I gather that you’re Llalorax, the Queen’s wizard? My name is Aquitain of Mudrun, nice to meet you. Somanller asked me to pass on her regards. Could you please change back to your previous form or you’re likely to scare my friend Garret to death.’
Llalorax changed back to his trixie form and said ‘Can you please explain what you are doing here and how you know Somanller.’
So Aquitain told him how he had been tracking the stolen sceptre and had information that it might be coming here. He explained that when Garret was invited here by the Queen he offered to come along as an assistant as he might be able to find out about the sceptre’s fate.
He explained how Garret had been accidentally kidnapped and he had followed, about the strange reaction of Ansidian the bird creature and his discussions with Somanller and the others. He also told Llalorax about the attacks on Somanller’s village by men wearing the Queen’s livery. The mage looked quite upset by this news although he didn’t say anything to Aquitain.
‘I find it difficult that Somanller would have confided in a gnome.’ said Llalorax.
Aquitain reluctantly shifted to his Llanllean spiderling shape then back to the gnome shape explaining about how he had been reincarnated as a Llanllean.
‘I knew it!’ said Garret. ‘I knew you were a spider too and hiding it from me. That’s why you were so friendly with them.’
‘It’s not quite like that Garret.’ said Aquitain a little worried.
‘I didn’t show you because you didn’t need to know and I didn’t want to scare you.’
‘That’s against the rules of reincarnation.’ stated Llalorax.
‘That’s what everybody keeps saying.’ agreed Aquitain. ‘But I didn’t have a say in it. I died and ended up like this. How do you think I feel?’
Moments later, the room was full of guards wearing the Queen’s livery. The guard officer activated a sceptre in his hand and Aquitain felt his gnome disguise melt and he transformed into his Llanllean shape. Llalorax’s shape also changed to his Llanllean form in the anti-magic field generated by the sceptre.
‘What is the meaning of this?’ he said in a most annoyed tone of voice.
‘I am sorry my Lord, but the Queen has directed that you and your rebel conspirators be brought before her and commanded us to ensure that your magic capability be limited.’ replied the officer a little embarrassed.
‘What rebel conspirators?’ asked Llalorax.
‘These people have just arrived to see the Queen. I was ensuring that they were not dangerous.’
‘I’m sorry my Lord we are only following orders. Please allow the guards to shackle you. Any resistance will be dealt with severely.’
An hour later, the three were dragged in front of the Queen. The throne room was huge, circular in shape and lavishly decorated with crystal statues of vicious looking beasts, none of which he recognized. These were probably added protections. He didn’t doubt that they would become animated at the Queen’s command.
The edges of the throne room were covered in swirling fog giving an added feeling of size. The floor was made of a silvery coloured marble inlaid with heraldic devices that glowed with magic. The ceiling was covered with magic balls of light of all sizes that were set at different heights giving the impression that they were stars. Some even twinkled.
It was the throne that really caught Aquitain’s attention. It was in the shape of a huge dragon carved out of granite rock with an ornate scarlet and golden seat that was located in between the forearms of the beast. The head of the creature stood ten paces from the ground and wore a golden crown making it look quite imperious.
Queen Aurora was a spectacularly beautiful, golden haired Elendari woman dressed in diaphanous robes of azure green with animal patterns woven in gold. The cloth had a metallic sheen and smelled of strong magic even at a distance.
The Queen’s naked body could be clearly seen through her clothes. She was obviously very proud of her body and wasn’t in the least embarrassed about displaying it to her subjects or visitors. Aquitain wondered what Garret would be thinking considering his prudish comments in the maze garden.
Garret and Llalorax, in Newman form, shackled in cold steel chains were escorted to about ten paces from the Queen and made to kneel in front of her with their heads bowed. Aquitain, still in his small Llanllean form, had been placed in a wicker basket. The guard carrying him simply dropped him beside Garret, jarring his legs as he crashed against the floor.
It was obvious by the way they had treated him that they didn’t see him as much of a threat. That was advantageous as far as he was concerned. It was always better to be underestimated in a fight than the opposite. He could no longer rely on size and strength; it would have to be stealth and cunning.
‘Guard, unchain Master Garret.’ ordered the Queen.
‘I’m glad you have come. I hear your trip has been eventful. I wish to hear everything. Please start from the beginning.’
Garret blurted out the whole story from waking as a trixie outcast to stating in great detail how scared he was when captured by the Llanlleans. He told the Queen that Aquitain tricked him. He had thought that he was a gnome not a spider. He felt that Aquitain had conspired with the rebel Llanlleans to interrogate him before allowing him to see the Queen and even then wanted to see the Queen’s magician who was also a giant spider before seeing the Queen.
Aquitain couldn’t believe that Garret would put all the blame on him. They were supposed to be working together. Seeing Aquitain as a small Llanllean had obviously shaken Garret to the core. He simply didn’t trust Aquitain anymore. This was going to make it very difficult to help Garret survive.
‘Guard, show me the small Llanllean.’ commanded the Queen and a guard picked up his basket and approached her. He stopped about two paces from her and held the cage at shoulder height so that she could clearly see him.
‘This Llanllean is still a baby. I find it difficult to believe that it could do all the things that you claim Master Garret.’
&
nbsp; ‘It’s no baby Your Highness. It’s a powerful wizard. I saw it fight a dragon and win. It speaks to me with mindspeak and tells me what I should say.’
Aquitain was shocked at what Garret was saying, and then he got a clear view of the Queen’s eyes. They were glazed over as if drugged or worse … mentally dominated.
Suddenly it was all clear. They had been set up. Someone had got Ansidian to convince Somanller and her group to capture Garret on the way to the Queen and then have them found in the presence of the Queen’s Magician so that it would look like a conspiracy. If Queen Aurora was dominated she would only believe what she was told by her mental captor and it was quite likely that he or she was listening to them speak right now.
He sent a mindspeak message to Llalorax.
‘The Queen has been dominated.’ He was then hit with the most powerful mental assault that he had ever felt. It swept aside his mental defences as if they weren’t there. It stunned him as surely as if he had been hit over the head with a large club. His eyes went blurry, his legs gave way and he collapsed to the bottom of the basket.
‘Take Llalorax and the small Llanllean to the dungeon and incapacitate them both. Place them in dead magic cells until I decide their fate and have a room prepared for my guest Master Garret.’ ordered the Queen in a cold heartless voice.
**
Aquitain came to his senses just as two guards hauled him out of the basket and held his body flat against a dusty stone floor as another swung down with an axe. He felt a jolt of pain as one of his leg was chopped off, then excruciating pain as a red-hot flat iron was pressed against the wound to seal the stump against bleeding.
There was a sickly smell of burnt hair and flesh. It happened again and again until his six legs and one arm were removed and sealed. He managed to block the pain mentally at first but by the fourth leg he went unconscious the pain was just too much.
