by Des Pensable
Later that night after all the injured had been attended to, Miranda sat down on the stone floor for a rest beside Yllandril. She was tired and began to doze a little when in walked half a dozen trixies with musical instruments in hand who immediately began playing a lively jig. Trixies swarmed in from everywhere, many with bandaged limbs and they all began to dance, leap and somersault around merrily laughing and singing as if nothing had happened.
Bellen entered and they all settled down to watch. He turned to her and said.
‘In appreciation of your exceptional courage and our hearty thanks for saving the lives of many of our people here tonight we declare you a Trixie Friend and he presented her with a pair of earrings. When you wear these earrings any trixies in the land will know you as a friend. They will also allow you to understand any language spoken to you.’
Miranda blushed a little as she accepted the gift and thanked them all. The crowd cheered the music started again and the mad dancing continued.
A few minutes later several trixies appeared with two small kegs on wheels and a small wagon loaded with little mugs and a single Newman sized one. They filled hers first and then all lined up for a mug full.
‘I don’t recommend more than half a mug if you want to attend the ball tomorrow night.’ said Bellen with a smile.
‘Thank you.’ replied Miranda as she carefully tasted a mouthful. It nearly blew the top of her head off.
‘Wow’ was all she managed to get out as her mind swam and a warm glow spread throughout her body. They all cheered and laughed and started the music up again and continued their chaotic frolicking around the room. She turned to Yllandril and said
‘I wish I could dance and sing with them. This is the first happy time I’ve had since I’ve been in Moonmist.’
Yllandril obviously said something to Bellen as he immediately darted out of the room and returned a couple of minutes later with a wand. He stood in front of her and said
‘Tonight dear lady yer wish is my command.’
He waved the wand and Miranda began to shrink and change form to that of a trixie. She jumped up, changed her glamour to look like a little trixie dress and charged into the fray, madly whirling, spinning and gyrating and cavorting with the music and anyone nearby.’
The little stone spider had more important things on her mind and talked seriously with Bellen well into the night. What she heard shocked her. Several hours later Miranda woke up on the grass outside the hut with an incredible hangover. She groaned and tried to stand up but was too dizzy.
‘You really let you hair down last night.’ laughed Yllandril.
‘You’re lucky to be alive with the amount of that trixie brew you drank.’
‘By the grace of The Lady, those little fellows know how to party. I haven’t had that much fun for years.’
‘What about the ball tonight?’ asked Yllandril.
‘I haven’t been invited so who cares.’ replied Miranda lying face down on the grass.
‘After last night maybe the trixies will invite you.’ suggested Yllandril.
‘Hey, that’d be great.’ said Miranda rising to the crawling position.
Yllandril walked over placed an arm against Miranda’s leg and sang a cleansing mantra designed to detoxify poisons.
‘Ohhhh, that feels better. I was going to do that next, as soon as my head was clear enough to think.’ said Miranda as she stood up still dizzy in the head. Druids are immune to most poisons. We can generally drink anyone under the table and out the other side but I must say that trixie brew is potent. I’ll have to get their recipe.’
Llalorax came out of the hut.
‘Oh I see you’re still alive. Good for you. This Spring Ball is going to be the biggest show for decades. I was hoping that you wouldn’t miss it.’
‘What are we going to do? Sit around your bucket and watch the fun.’
‘Yes.’ replied Llalorax, ‘that’s the general idea. One never knows what’s likely to happen. It should be exciting.’
‘Great,’ said Miranda. ‘I can’t wait. Have you got any food? I need food.’
‘I’ve got a nice supply of fresh rats here.’ said Llalorax.
‘Great.’ replied Miranda.
‘They’ll make a nice stew. What herbs have you got?’
Miranda true to her word prepared a sumptuous rat stew and ate the lot herself as Llalorax liked his food uncooked and Yllandril didn’t need to eat anymore.
After another short nap and a session of meditation she felt ready for a fun night’s entertainment. She hoped fervently that the trixies would indeed send her an invitation but unfortunately it never arrived.
Chapter 31 Dress Parade with Appetizers
In the late afternoon Aquitain and Terrin chatted and Terrin finally revealed what she had been doing while Aquitain had been growing up. At Granddad’s insistence, Terrin had given up all her magic powers. She was bored and frustrated. She needed another outlet so she had become an assassin haunting the night in Panmagica.
While young Aquitain slept she was active. She was involved in robberies, drugs, poisons, the sex trade and of course murders. To keep the balance she worked for no one in particular but was often employed by members of the religious cults to eliminate a competitor. She also worked for granddad eliminating anyone who threatened the family’s livelihood.
Terrin was definitely not the person he would ever choose to have as a guardian or even want to associate with yet his heart went out to her. She was closer to him than his own mother or Alpha while they were bound together by spirit and body. He couldn’t help wondering what Alpha had known about this arrangement but Terrin refused to talk about Alpha.
‘So what do you think of me now!’ she had said to him after telling her story.
Aquitain didn’t reply but instead was quiet for some time considering what he had learnt in the last few days.
‘Okay Terrin you have finally convinced me. Everything that has happened is not real it’s been a fantastic dream. I’m suffering from power narcosis and I’ve become trapped in a microcosm of my own making. Something must have happened back in my workshop when I was doing that last job. Granddad must be frantically trying to get me out of it. You are probably a psychic surgeon sent in to help me get out?’
‘Ah. You guessed.’ chuckled Terrin thinking that Aquitain was having a little fun with her.
‘Come on Terrin. I know that you’re trying to help me. I’ve always been quite imaginative and I’m actually quite reasonable at working out what’s possible and what’s not. Everything up until Astaria has been within the realm of possibility. So I have accepted it and refused to come out of the dream. Why would I? Everyone wants to be a hero and I’m no exception. This is the best dream I’ve ever had but it’s only a dream and I can accept that now.’
‘Isn’t it curious? Miranda was probably a suggestion sent in by granddad to help ease me out. Fancy the old fox putting a tattoo on her to stop me having too much fun. He changed tack and sent in Curbut to kill me off in the dream in attempt to get me out of it but it didn’t work as my dream girl Mandy saved me. Then he had Miranda trapped in a microcosm like this to show me what had happened to me but I ignored it and being the hero type I found a way to get her out of it. That must have annoyed him no end.’
‘I’ve been wondering why I kicked Alpha and Zephira out of the dream. Perhaps I was afraid they’d tell me it was only a dream and I didn’t want that. Anyhow Granddad must have become frantic by this stage and went to seek professional help and that is you.’
‘You cunningly slipped into my dream watched and waited until you knew me better then at appropriate times you slipped in suggestions. You got to me come to this world and you have been manipulating it ever since. You guessed that at some stage if the things happening became improbable enough then I’d have to realize it was all a dream. I liked that last touch where you told the incredibly powerful dragon to get lost and now you’re powering us up for the final act of th
e play; the big magic fight where something even more fantastic happens. Perhaps the Lady arrives and says Aquitain its time to wake up or something similar.’
‘I must say I’ve enjoyed it all and I’ll miss Mandy and all the friends I’ve made on Mudrun but duty calls. I guess I’d better wake up soon and get back to the job. I rather like fixing magic equipment. It’s certainly a lot safer than being here and I don’t have to run around destroying things and killing people. It’s time I cleaned out that spider web in the corner of the lab and I better order some more red crystal I’ll need more of that soon.’
‘Aquitain I thought you were jesting. Tell me you are. It’s not a dream it’s real. Look down there. Those are real Trixies are preparing for the Queen’s Ball.’ said Terrin becoming very worried.
‘All right Terrin, you prepared a spectacular finish to my dream and you want me to see it then I can wake up. Okay I guess Granddad won’t mind if I stay here a little while longer.’
‘I’ll have to draw a list of all the jobs I haven’t finished and put some type of priority on them. I hope Granddad hasn’t found any new commissions. It will probably take me weeks to catch up on the current work.’
Terrin was quiet and deep in thought. This was not at all what she had expected to happen. This was dangerous and troubling.
As the afternoon progressed Aquitain and Terrin had a dragon’s eye view of the preparations. A flood of trixies invaded the room bringing glowing flowers in delicate crystal vases to decorate the tables and walls. Each one faced the dragon throne as they entered and bowed before they continued with their work. The room filled with their beautiful fragrances. They washed over all the tables and chairs and swept then mopped the floor. Several brought out chunks of bees wax and rubbed over the wooden floor with it.
Half an hour later they were back again this time with silver and golden silken tablecloths, more vases of flowers, golden drinking cups, small bowls of sweets and finger bowls containing floral scented water. On the circular tables to the side of the long ones were placed stacks of ceramic plates with beautiful hand painted animals on them and shallow boxes of small golden forks.
A young Elendari wizard came in grabbed a handful of sweets then set about using a small brass wand to activate coloured light effects in the magic balls hanging from the ceiling. He then used a clear crystal wand that gave out a musical note and the lights started pulsing slowly at random intervals. Finally he pulled out a small silver wand, pointed it at each wall and created a cascade of green coloured fog that rolled gently from the ceiling to the floor. Satisfied, he helped himself to some more sweets and left.
Terrin broke the silence.
‘If tradition is still followed you will soon see a sight that you will never forget. Incredible beauty and elegance mixed with jealous cunning schemes and often blood chilling violence. Anything can happen at a Spring Ball. Tonight few rules apply. They will try to upstage each other. Tonight they gain or lose status in the eyes of the Queen and each other for the rest of the year.’
‘The Queen has three prizes to award; one for the most extravagant dress; one for the most desirable taste sensation and one for the most exciting entertainment. All the Lords will compete for these honours and the decision has more than once resulted in fights to the death, and inter-family feuds over family honour.’
‘How many of these balls have you attended.’ asked Aquitain.
‘I was lucky enough to be invited to a couple of these balls many years before you were born.’.
‘How long have the trixies been here?’ asked Aquitain suddenly.
‘Why do you want to know that?’
‘Because they look like the lost brown-scaled little people from Mudrun to me.’ replied Aquitain.
‘And if they were, what would you do with that knowledge?’ asked Terrin.
‘I don’t know yet, but I do know that the little people on Mudrun are elemental, or part elemental in nature, and not reptiles as most seem to think. I also know that the scale colour is somehow important and that the brown-skinned tribe went missing at the time of the Great Storm. I guess I would be interested in why they are here and not on Mudrun.’
Terrin was in deep contemplation for a while, then said. ‘It seems that the more I tell you the more you are likely to disbelieve that this is real. So I have decided to say no more. If you believe that this is your dream then you will have to work out what is happening yourself.’
About two hours later a troop of palace Elendari guards entered through the great golden double doors at the end opposite the dragon throne and rolled out a golden carpet with red edges down the long marble stairway. Periodically along its length were family crests of the Elendari Lords.
A group of a dozen musicians wearing bright red and gold robes and flat floppy hats carrying their instruments in their arms trooped in sat around one of the circular tables to the right. Pairs of trixies wearing golden aprons with red trim brought out mugs and jugs of wine and the musicians drank up heartily.
A few minutes later in walked a guard dressed in a chain armour suit complete with covered helmet, chain gauntlets and a long flowing cape all of which were covered in a black and white check pattern. He nodded to the musicians who nodded back then walked and stood to the left of the entrance.
‘Who’s he?’ asked Aquitain curiously.
‘He’s Lord Neutral. Tonight he and the Queen’s Magician are charged with the responsibility to control and arbitrate any problems or disputes. His job is to check each Lord for physical weapons and remove them if found. The magician’s job is to check for magic weapons and remove those. This is mainly for the Queen’s safety rather than the Lords. If they want to kill each other they are supposed to do it later outside the throne hall although that hasn’t always happened.’
The young mage that had attended to the lighting and wall fog, entered nodded to the musicians and took the place opposite Lord Neutral. The musical instruments all flew up in the air and started to play light music.
‘Now I’ve never seen that before.’ said Aquitain quite amused.
‘Yes a quaint competition between musicians. They each have to concentrate on playing their levitating instruments using telekinesis while drinking rounds of drinks. It takes a lot of practice to even get a chance at playing at the Spring Ball. The last one playing gets to be the Queen’s musician for the year.’
Aquitain returned his attention to the entrance. Each Lord, wearing only a loose fitting toga of fine translucent gold or silver cloth trimmed with heraldic devices and coloured strips entered one at a time and stopped momentarily to be examined by Lord Neutral and the young mage. It was obvious from their reactions that they were unhappy about the mage being there.
‘We’re going to have trouble tonight. For some reason the Royal Magician is not present checking the Lords at the door. That is a large breach of protocol and will cause trouble. Without the Royal Magician there could well be a magic fight in here and that will make many people nervous. There are no Llanllean guardians either. Something is definitely wrong.’
‘I’m sure it will be quite entertaining. Is there a part for me to play?’ asked Aquitain.
‘By the Powers Aquitain, this is not your dream it is real!’ replied Terrin.
**
Half a league away Miranda, Yllandril and Llalorax were sitting in the prison cell around the bucket watching the show in the scrying pool. Yllandril was giving a running commentary on everything they saw.
Llalorax had positioned the scrying globe just over the crown on the dragonhead. It would look like some special lighting effect and hopefully not attract undue attention. Curiously enough there were two other scrying globes that Llalorax could see watching the proceedings as well. Perhaps it would have become a popular attraction if he had allowed it over the years, he thought.
When he saw the young magician take his place at the door he felt mildly jealous but dismissed the thought. He would be there tonight. He had several plans, on
e to cover each possibility. Everything was ready to go at a moment’s notice. The one person that could throw all his plans into chaos was Aquitain and they could see him standing motionless on the dragon’s head.
The Queen had thought it better to lock up Aquitain in the prison bottle until after the ball. Llanlorian had told both him and the Queen that he was coming and would probably cause trouble. She had suggested that the Queen use him to flush out any problems amongst the Lords but the Queen had other plans and didn’t want him interfering. There would be enough problems when the sceptre of lordly might appeared. The Queen wasn’t quite sure who had it or what they would demand.
The absence of the Royal Magician and Llanllean guards was to help any Lords planning trouble to feel overconfident when they played their hand. Llalorax and the guards were poised to teleport in on her signal. She wasn’t greatly concerned about her own safety as she kept most of the Lords on a loose leash.
They would rather keep the status quo than see any real changes. But just in case there was a problem she had a teleport ring on to disappear the moment anything went wrong. She also had another card up her sleeve that she could play if she desired that not even Llalorax knew about.
The real problem was that from the moment Aquitain turned up nothing had gone to plan. He wasn’t supposed to escape from the prison cell but he did. The malign spirit was the backup in case he escaped and for what it was worth the backup plan had worked. Aquitain had been locked up again. Unbelievably, he had escaped a second time and returned with Llalorax’s wife. Now that was a real surprise. That had been hidden from Llalorax. What was the Queen up to?
What was the story about the malign spirit? The Queen seemed to have a deal with it. She was using it for some purpose. Does using a spirit like that make her just as bad as it? It was gone now. Aquitain had destroyed it. That had already changed things.
