by Des Pensable
Darkmantle and Prendergrass slowly walked over to Aquitain chatting. He noticed that Darkmantle’s expression had changed from one of anger to one of surprise.
‘Welcome back Your Majesty.’ said Lord Darkmantle then he addressed Crys.
‘I am again surprised at you Lord Warden. Prendergrass has informed me that he has read from the ancient texts that The Dance of the Elements was used in the past for the creation of powerful magic effects. He was unaware that it could be used for resurrection as that is a domain normally considered to be jealously guarded by the gods.’
‘That suggests that you have some divine connections yet the magic was not of a divine origin. You have shown us the most brilliant display of wizard magic that I have ever seen. Right in front of our very eyes you resurrected Queen Miranda without the intervention of a deity and managed an audacious insult to our customs that will have everyone talking for weeks.’
‘You obviously saw the scrying globes appear. There must have been at least six or eight of them. You have undoubtedly alerted several formidable powers of your presence here. With such an ostentatious display of power I wonder as to its purpose. Were you marking your territory like a dog, perhaps sending a warning to the Mentarin to stay away, perhaps telling the Lords here that you mean business, or was it disguising some other effect that is not quite so obvious.’
‘I’m sure it had its desired outcome!’ replied Aquitain using mindspeak so that they would think it came from Crys.
‘Now tell me.’ asked Lord Darkmantle.
‘How did you manage to make almost everyone forget what happened last night and perhaps more interesting why?’
Chapter 4 Miranda’s Pain
Miranda was dozing in her body of stone hoping she wasn’t going to die. Suddenly she felt a strange suffocating feeling. She had felt it before. What was it? No. No not again. She was being possessed. Not again.
‘Aquitain help.’ she shouted with her mind.
She was suddenly wide-awake. She remembered they were in the throne room. Aquitain was her champion fighting for her to make her Queen of Moonmist. What had gone wrong? She felt light headed as if … as if she was floating free. She was possessed but it felt different as if she had no body.
Seconds later she had a blurry vision of a room and she heard voices.
‘Quickly get her into that crystal until The Dark Lord can decide what to do with her.’
She felt a strange sensation as if she was a liquid being poured into a container and then everything went black, absolutely and completely black. She listened but there was no noise, not even the sound of her own breathing. She had no sense of touch, no feeling of hot or cold, no nothing, just her own thoughts.
So they’ve captured me and put me in a crystal prison like Yllandril. How did they do it? I should have had a chance to fight back. Damn them whoever they are. I wonder who they are? Yllandril spent three years in a place like this. How did she do it? Aquitain got her out and he’ll get me out too. How’s he going to find me? Where am I? Help me Lady I beseech you. Help Aquitain to find me.
Miranda had plenty of time to think, as time was almost irrelevant in a soul crystal. She thought about the events leading up to her capture. She tried to work out where things went wrong. Could she somehow have avoided this fate but somehow it all seemed inevitable. Once she had crossed paths with Aquitain everything went wrong. He was to blame. She remembered first meeting him, the strange feeling of attraction to him. She felt at the time it was an omen. How right she had been about that.
The night after they had helped the spirits of the dead Little People to the afterlife, placated the Chaos Cat and fought the eight ambushing soldiers. That was the turning point; that was where he really began to be important to her. He was so brave, selfless, thoughtful and kind but at the same time so intelligent, cunning, vicious and ruthless. How could the spirit of a young Newman guy be so complex? It was almost as if he were two people combined into one.
Then, when he had defeated her mother to find out how to remove the chastity belt, that is when Miranda had pledged herself to him. She remembered the time when she had power narcosis from sacrificing herself in helping him defeat the combined nemesis of the Chaos Mask and Chaos Cat together. Aquitain had won but at a terrible cost to her. He had healed her body then her mind.
He had created the passion flower, a unique creation of love, just for her. She imagined the flower in her mind and could feel its sensual, lustful beauty stir her innermost emotions. It was tattooed to her spirit; it was one memory that would never fade, it would last beyond the grave.
There was someone eavesdropping on her mind.
‘Who are you. I know you’re there.’ she thought.
‘Ah very astute.’ said the other. ‘You’re not a mind wizard but you can feel the presence of another mind. I suspect your nuisance boyfriend has something to do with that.’
‘I wonder what your mother would think if she knew you titled yourself Queen Miranda. I would imagine she’d be shocked at the thought that her little daughter would steal the throne from her. I wonder if she would demand it back or simply kill you and take it back.’
‘Then again, could it have been some ploy to confuse the poor Elendari or perhaps it was a power grab to get a bigger and better throne than your mother’s one. Well it doesn’t matter anymore you poor little girl. You’re my guest now and I’ve always been very hospitable to my guests.’
‘If I left you where you are, you would probably go mad and that wouldn’t be good for you or me as I might need you sometime in the future. So I thought that I would find a nice little home for you where you can while away some time awaiting my call. Enjoy yourself and by the way don’t try to die on me you can’t escape that way. I will bring you back.’
‘Who are you?’ asked Miranda before she lost consciousness, but she never got an answer.
Miranda slowly came back to consciousness from a nightmarish dream. She was lying on her back with a gentle rocking motion. She was hot and feverish. Her mind swirled, her joints ached and the pain in her abdomen and pelvic region were almost overbearing. But worst of all was the smell. It was a mixture of decaying flesh, excreta and vomit. She dropped back into unconsciousness only to wake up a few minutes later when the rocking stopped.
Dizzily she looked around. She was in the back of a cart and heard male voices.
‘Look I was told to deliver her here. You are to try and heal her.’ said one voice. ‘She was the master’s favourite.’
‘You’ve got to be mad. There’s no way we could take her into the building. You’ll have everyone in the place ill just from the smell of her.’ replied the other. ‘She’s got the vile rot. You get it from cavorting with unclean creatures. She’ll die in a day or two at the most.’
‘The master said it wasn’t her fault; she was ill used by some hideous shape shifting monster called an Aquitain from off world. They have alerted our agents to track it down so that we may capture it and punish it. She will be needed to give witness at its trial. The master is prepared to offer three times the normal fee if you can keep her alive until then.’
‘I suppose we could put her down the bottom of the garden, that way we could minimize the smell. Her race is used to outdoors living and would probably prefer to be outside anyway. However, tell your master that even with our best healing I don’t think we will be able to keep her alive more than a few days, and she’ll be in terrible pain all the time so they better catch that monster quickly.’
Miranda lost consciousness again and awoke as a bucket of warm water containing a strongly aromatic, but pleasant smelling herbal preparation was thrown over her. She was then swabbed all over with mops using more of the herbal preparation and left lying on the grass under a tree to dry.
‘You gunna feed her.’ asked one of the attendants to his colleague.
‘Nah, I’m not gunna touch her. I don’t wanna catch what she’s got.’
‘She looks like she’s gunn
a die.’
‘Yeah, it’s a waste a time feeding her. Just say we fed her and they’ll never know the difference. It’s not as if she’s a Newman or anything like that.’
‘Yeah that’s a good idea.’
It was hot. She was thirsty but too weak to do anything so slipped into unconsciousness again. A few hours later it was dark and she woke with an itch on her nose. Through her blurry eyes she vaguely saw a dim blue light.
‘Help me please. I need water.’ she pleaded in a weak whisper.
The little blue mothra female quickly flew up an arm’s length away. She had never seen one of these creatures before. What was it saying? She started a slow pulsing of her body to attract more of her kin. A minute later the four of them flew around looking at the creature below.
‘What it be?’
‘I not know?’
‘It speaks silly stuff’
‘What it speak?’
‘Not know.’
‘It dead soon.’
‘Yes we get magic.’
Miranda half opened her eyes and saw swirling blue lights and in Mudrun common said.
‘Help me please. I need water.’
‘What it say?’ said one mothra.
‘It speaks silly stuff.’
‘We make it dead, get magic.’
‘What it says?’
‘We need more.’
‘Yes get help’ said another and they all started to pulse for help. Five minutes later another nine had joined the group, all of them fluttering around looking at the sick creature below.
‘It is an offworlder. They have been seen before on our world.’ said the mothra collective mind.
‘Yes we remember them now. It is a Felynx, a cat creature that walks on two legs instead of four.’
Miranda opened her eyes again; there was a cloud of blue lights flying around just out of reach. Again in Mudrun common she said.
‘Help me please. I need water.’
‘That is the speech of Mudrun.’ said the collective.
‘What should we do?’ asked a part of the collective.
‘Glammer seeks a Newman female that uses Mudrun speech.’ another replied.
‘This is not a Newman.’ said one ‘Glammer will be mad if we call her for no reason.’
‘Glammer is always mad at us.’ replied another.
‘This one has little magic. Glammer might reward us with more.’
‘Yes call Glammer for a reward.’ said two or three, then a few more, then finally a majority.
Soon they all began streaming in a circle around Miranda and pulsing.
Glammer appeared moments later.
‘What have you found? That’s not a Newman. You waste my time you idle mothra.’
‘Wait, wait it speaks Mudrun talk like you asked for.’ said the mothra collective together.
‘What did it say?’ said Glammer.
They told her.
‘That sounds like Mudrun speech. I will look at it.’
Glammer hovered over Felynx and used her ability to see spirit auras and looked into Miranda’s mind.
‘Oh no! What have they done to her.’ she thought.
‘This could change everything. Aquitain will be uncontrollable. What can I do?’
Glammer turned to the cloud of mothra and said.
‘This one is not Newman but it is a Preserver, a druid. They are the friends of all plants and animals. It is ill. If it were not ill then it could help many plants and animals.’
‘Would it help the fireberry bushes?’ asked one of the collective.
‘Yes I think it would.’ replied Glammer.
‘Would it heal us if we hurt our wings and could not fly?’ asked another.
‘Yes I think it would.’ replied Glammer.
‘Then we would help it if we could.’ said another.
‘I have heard that if it was not ill it would cover its wounds with shaggy moss to heal itself.’ stated Glammer cunningly.
‘We could do that.’ replied the collective. ‘There is much of that near our bush and off they all flew to collect the moss known in Mudrun as ‘healer’s friend.’
While they were gone Glammer flew up into the crown of the tree under which Miranda was lying.
She used one of her Collector Powers and said.
‘Awaken tall friend of the land.’
Slowly the consciousness of the tree awoke.
‘What do you wish to know Collector?’ said the tree slowly using an ancient form of mindspeak.
‘I have little new knowledge for you.’
‘Is that a druid lying ill at the base of your trunk?’ asked Glammer.
The old tree concentrated. ‘Why yes I believe it is.’
‘I have heard that druids help trees. Do trees ever help druids?
‘Why yes they do if asked.’ replied the tree.
‘And what if they can’t ask? queried Glammer.
‘Then we trees can’t help because we don’t know what they need.’ replied the tree.
‘If one told you it was weak and ill with a strange disease and had no food or water what would you do?
‘Then I would lend it my strength.’ said the tree.
‘The one below looks weak and ill and has no food or water and doesn’t seem to be able to talk to you.’ stated Glammer.
‘That is not good.’ replied the tree.
‘I will lend it my strength but it might take a day or two.’
‘That is very generous of you.’ replied Glammer
‘I will reward you for your generosity by giving you a small growth spurt.’
‘Why that is very kind of you.’ replied the tree.
Glammer used a power to stimulate plant growth on the tree and some fine roots grew up towards the surface underneath Miranda they pricked into her skin and spread into her body and began pumping a watery sugar solution into her together with some curative chemicals known only to the trees.
A little while later the mothra came back laden with little pieces of shaggy moss and placed it over Miranda’s abdomen, pelvic area, spine and joints where the disease was causing patches of black oozing sores.
Miranda’s thirst and pain began to ease as she drifted off into a deep sleep.
‘You have not found a Newman but you have helped a druid who will help others. This is worth a reward. Let’s go to your fireberry bush and I will ask it to reward you.’ said Glammer.
With squeals of delight the mothra cloud flew off with Glammer to their bush shouting
‘Hooray! Rewards! We love rewards.’
A short time later Miranda entered a dream. She dreamed that she was a little Mudrun girl awakening in a lovely grassy field. Sitting beside her was an old man dressed like a farmer with a huge white beard and a wonderfully friendly face.
‘Hello. Are you my father? I never knew him but you look like what I think he would look like.’
‘No. I am not your father child but I am your friend. I am here to care for you for a while.’
‘What’s your name said the little girl. My mother always said that you can tell a lot from a person’s name.’
‘I have no name.’ replied the old man.
‘Then I will give you a name.’ said the little girl.
‘Let me see. I shall call you Ironwood.’
‘Why did you call me that little one? asked the old man.
‘Because ironwood stands strong and withstands the test of time.’ replied the little girl, ‘and that is how I envisage my father.’
‘You honour me.’ said the old man. ‘And what is your name?’
The little girl thought for a while and said ‘I don’t know.’
Then Ironwood said ‘Then I shall call you Moonbeam.’
‘Why do you wish to call me that?’ said Moonbeam.
‘Because you are the brightest thing that has come into my life in half an age.’
‘That is very kind.’ replied Moonbeam.
‘I think we shall have fun together.
’
‘I’m sure you are right.’ replied Ironwood.
‘Where are we?’ asked Moonbeam.
‘We are in the land of dreams. I spend most of my time here.’
‘What are we going to do today?’ asked Moonbeam.
‘Anything you wish child.’ replied Ironwood. ‘We have plenty of time.’
‘Good.’ said Moonbeam. ‘I want to do some skipping, then we’ll play chasings and then I want to do some drawings.’
‘Lead on.’ said Ironwood pleasantly surprised at Moonbeam’s enthusiasm for life.
After several hours Ironwood was becoming mentally worn out.
‘Will you ever slow down child?’ asked Ironwood.
‘No.’ replied Moonbeam.
‘Why am I here, Ironwood? Did I do something bad?’
‘No! Moonbeam. You have done nothing wrong. You have two parts, your body and your spirit. Your body has been badly injured and is healing while your spirit is here.’
‘How can I be in two places at the same time?’
‘I don’t know the answer to that question but I do know that time itself seems different here.’
‘Why can’t I remember anything Ironwood?’
‘I don’t know child. I was asked by a very wise person, a Collector, to help you recover. She said you were a Preserver, from another world.’
‘What is a Preserver, Ironwood?’
‘You will wear me out child with all your questions, however, soon we will have to return and you will need to try and find out who you are as it seems your memories have been stolen. Maybe I can help a little by telling you a story about another who lost her memories.’
‘A long time ago the Creator of all things lost some memories that were very important to her. To find them she created our world and filled it with creatures of all types to find her lost memories. She created the plants and the trees to cover the land to search for her memories within the ground. She named these Gatherers.’
‘She created all the small creatures that moved around the land, the water and the air to search for her memories in all the nooks and crannies of the world and called these Searchers.’
‘She created all the smart creatures that moved around the world and charged them with discovering how all things worked and interacted for hidden amongst that knowledge were her lost memories. These she called Seekers.’