She did not mention Gochman or Finder, in front of everone else.
`Yes, everyone,' laughed Princess Elle.
Lyla waited until the others had rejoined their parents before she caught hold of her aunt's hand. `What about my friend, Gochman and his Goch, Finder? We wouldn't have escaped from the Mudmen without them.'
Princess Elle's black eyes turned sad. `I am sorry, Lyla, but the 'begone' Extreme Magic used to build the invincible wall around M'dgassy will not allow anything becamed by the High Enchanter to enter our kingdom.'
`But if the High Enchanter captures them he will unbecome them and I promised to find them. We all did. A promise is a promise.'
Princess Elle agreed that a promise was a promise, and then she leant down and whispered in Lyla's ear. `So we will have to find a way to expel the High Enchanter's influence from their memories and make them M'dgassy subjects. Which means, I suppose that someone with extra-strong magical powers will have to go and find them.'
Lyla's black eyes, which were so like her aunt's, lit up excitedly. `What sort of extra-strong magical powers? Spells for becoming invisible like the Wind Horse Riders or like the Fafnir Elixir of Youth that the High Enchanter wants so badly?'
Princess Elle stopped walking. `How do you know about the Fafnir Elixir of Youth?'
`Crystalzee, the Whale Island singer, told Gochman and he told me. She heard about it from General Tulga who didn't want you to tell the High Enchanter how to stay young because then he would never inherit the Kingdom of Acirfa.'
Princess Elle put her arm around Lyla's shoulders. `General Tulga need not have worried. When I discovered that Prince Yor, or the High Prince Jarrimonte as he really was, only wanted to marry me to find out about the elixir, I put a forgetting spell on myself. Now the only way the Fafnir Elixir of Youth can be found is to travel to the Spring of Fafnir, and I have also forgotten where that is.'
`Is a forgetting spell part of helping Gochman and Finders become subjects of M'dga-' Lyla gasped and stared at the sight before them.
Ahead of them, shining golden in the three moons' glow and illuminated by thousands of red lanterns floating amongst the swan boats on the lake, stood the M'dgassy Royal palace. Its coloured-glass windows, blue domes, golden-tipped cupolas and silver doors glittered and gleamed as if newly built that very night. It was a sight to take the children's breaths away.
`Amazing!' sighed Celeste.
`Astounding!' added Lem.
`It's the same as in my dream!' cried Lyla.
`And it is the dream I kept in my heart for seventeen years,' said Princess Elle.
The palace doors were suddenly flung open and out ran the eight loyal guardians waving their arms and shouting in surprise.
`Should we tell Malcolm Leftfoot that we met his wife and she really is a bird and probably can lay an egg?' said Swift, catching hold of Princess Elle's hand to pull her along faster.
Princess Elle shook her head. `If the birds reached M'dgassy before the Circle of Ten put the spell around it, which I think they did, then Elsie Leftfoot is most likely walking towards the palace this very minute.'
`Is turning birds back into people the sort of magic I will learn?' asked Lyla.
`Learn what?' asked Celeste.
`Extreme Magic so I can go and find Gochman and Finder.'
`Don't you mean so we, including Nutty, can go and find Gochman and Finder?' Lem corrected.
`And Splash,' added Celeste. `I don't go anywhere without Splash.'
`And my parrot, Rosie,' said Chad.
`And Snow,' said Swift.
Lem made a face. `Not Snow. He is too old.'
Swift's eyes turned stubborn. `Is not!'
`Is so!'
`Is not!'
`I think,' interrupted their aunt, `that after so many years of watching the High Enchanter make hundreds of youth elixirs, that I just might be able to make a better one for a snow leopard. If that would please you Swift?'
Swift nodded his head so fast it looked as if it would fall off.
`Good,' smiled the Princess, linking arms with Celeste and Lyla as they all hurried towards the palace. `So would that be five for Extreme Magic lessons?'
`Yes,' they all chorused.
`And when will we have that banquet?' Princess Elle asked as she stole a glance back at the Wind Horse Riders who were following at a respectable distance. Her eyes locked with those of Lord Orion and she blushed.
`Would tomorrow be too soon?' Lyla asked. `And would it be a good idea to invite Lord Orion and his Wind Horse Riders before they gallop away?'
Princess Elle nodded quickly. `I think it would be a wonderful idea, don't you?'
The end
...for now
The M'dgassy Chronicles Book 2
The Tower of Doom
is coming
CLAN DESTINE PRESS
is proud to release
this ebook
and hopes you enjoyed the story.
http://www.clandestinepress.com.au
First published in Australia 2013
by Clan Destine Press
PO Box 121, Bittern Victoria 3918 Australia
Copyright © Patricia Bernard 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (The Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of any book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or the body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-In-Publication data:
Bernard, Patricia
Legends of the Three Moons
ISBN: 978-0-9873419-3-8
Cover Design © Les Peterson
Design & Typesetting Clan Destine Press
Legend of the Three Moons Page 24
