by Des Pensable
The power was a very high level one similar to the maze powers which could normally only be understood by high-level wizards with considerable knowledge of magic behaviour and plenty of magic essence at their disposal.
The classic maze effect caused the victim to be teleported to an illusory maze which took them several minutes to find their way out. This was often used to temporarily remove difficult opposition during a fight. By the time they returned the fight was over.
Another version was the one used on Granite where only the victims mind was in the maze. In this version if the mind couldn’t find a way out, the victim’s body starved to death. The arena power was much like this one involving a small simple area rather than a complex maze. It was as Aquitain had expected a special type of double power, involving a complex interaction of domination and illusion type power effects.
The power used the principles of domination which were usually applied to capture the other person’s mind but rather than controlling it and forcing them to do things against their will, the effect forced them only to see themselves as part of an illusion, the arena. Their minds became illusory avatar bodies. They still had free will inside the illusion and of course that gave them the ability to interact normally.
One thing intrigued Aquitain more than anything else. The avatar characters in the arena could interact almost as if they were real. They could see, talk to and even touch each other and feel the touch. It was almost like a simple version of the dream world he had entered a few days ago, but totally under the control of the caster.
Franciscus felt he had made a good deal as he didn’t think Aquitain had enough understanding to learn it. That, of course, was where he was wrong. Aquitain’s Granddad had taught him how to dominate people so that he would know how to block it. He had originally been ethically opposed to domination, but had to use it against Snowbelle and in view of recent events his view of what was ethical and unethical was becoming a bit blurred.
Aquitain had also recently had practice at creating illusions but was still lacking experience with them. So learning to cast a mind wizard version of the arena spell was mainly learning how to create and maintain illusions using power from his internal source and then combining this with the domination power to give the arena effect.
Practicing on the book it took him about an hour to get it operational and once he had it going smoothly then he memorized the sequence.
Chapter 29 Problems , Problems
Miranda and Bellen passed through the gateway from Astaria into the palace. She bid farewell to Bellen and teleported to Darkmantle’s Stronghold with the teleport ring given to her by Aquitain.
She appeared outside the stronghold surprised to be on the edge of a skirmish. There were about forty of Darkmantle’s troops in combat with about thirty others. The others wore the livery of a friend of her father so she wondered what had happened. She immediately cast an entangle prayer and vines rose from the ground entangling all those fighting severely limiting their ability to move let alone fight.
‘Stop this immediately.’ she shouted and walked into the middle of the throng of fighters. Everyone couldn’t help notice that the vines totally ignored tangling her in their ropy grip.
‘Where’s Lord Darkmantle.’ she shouted.
‘He’s not here.’ said one of Darkmantle’s guards.
‘Then who’s in charge.’ she said.
‘Prendergrass the Wizard.’ said the soldier.
‘Well where is he?’ said Miranda.
‘He’s ill my Lady.’ said the soldier.
‘Then who’s in charge here and now.’ said Miranda.
‘The Captain of the Guard was but he’s been badly injured.’ said the guard.
‘He’s over here, Milady,’ someone shouted, so Miranda walked towards the voice and found the Captain lying unconscious and barely breathing. She immediately began singing a beautiful healing prayer closing the worst of his wounds and he began to breathe easier and drifted off into sleep.
Looking around she saw many of the men were injured to various degrees but thankfully none dead. She walked to the centre of the group and began singing another prayer. Her body glowed silver for a second or two as healing energy radiated from her healing all those for twenty paces around her.
‘Who is in charge of the visitors.’ she shouted.
‘I am.’ said a young Lord.
Miranda walked to him and said
‘I will release you and your men if you agree to sheath your weapons and discuss why you are here with ill intent.’ said Miranda. ‘We have a war with the Mentarin. We cannot afford to fight among ourselves.’
‘Agreed.’ said the Lord and Miranda waved her hand and the entangle effect dissipated. The vines withered and turned to dust releasing all the men who then separated into two groups who stood scowling at each other.
‘So you are the one who styles herself Queen Miranda of Argenta and would take the throne of Queen Aurora.’
‘Yes. I am that person.’ said Miranda.
‘Well we have talked with Queen Snowbelle whom we have met before and she has said you are nothing but a rebellious daughter trying to usurp her throne and you have no claim on the throne of Moonmist. We came here to see Darkmantle for an explanation but the coward refuses to see us.’
‘When I sought to see for myself I was refused entry. I suspected foul play and now I can see why. You are a bitch temptress. Have you charmed him? Is he lying besotted somewhere within the stronghold unable to move? I merely mentioned your name and the Captain attacked me provoking me to defend myself.’ said the young lord.
Miranda turned to Darkmantle’s men and asked what had happened.
They said that he had just arrived and began insulting both Lord Darkmantle and her with rude and outlandish claims. The Captain was unable to stand their taunts and had attacked them.
‘Oh.’ she thought. ‘My damn mother’s been at it again. Wait until I see her.’ then she turned to the young lord.
‘I am Miranda, a druidess of Mudrun and the partner of the Lord Warden of Moonmist and Lord of Astaria, who is currently risking his life to save your world. My mother is correct, I am not Queen of Argenta but I am the First Lady of Astaria, which has the same status as Queen.’
‘I am also a direct descendant of Araxanllea the legendary Queen of the Llanlleans who by the laws of our land entitle me to be Queen of Moonmist. I am not only eligible but have been found suitable by the throne to contend as Queen of Moonmist. Is that not enough?’ said Miranda.
‘Words, words. They’re probably all lies. You are just trying to charm us like you charmed Darkmantle. Let us check your stronghold first then we might believe you.’ said the brash young lord.
Miranda began to panic a little as she heard some of her men drawing their weapons again at the insult.
‘Hold.’ she said. ‘Sheath your weapons.’
She stepped closer to the young Lord and looked at his eyes. They were glazed over.
‘Damn you Snowbelle!’ thought Miranda. ‘You’ve gone too far this time.’
‘My Lord you seem impressed by the nymph Snowbelle who is an outlaw in Moonmist. You seem to believe her word over mine and are even prepared to risk death to fight us in that belief. Why is that?’ she asked.
‘Queen Snowbelle is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She is a goddess, something to die for. You are nothing compared to her.’ said the young Lord contemptuously.
‘Hold.’ yelled Miranda again as she could hear the murmurs among her troops behind her as their anger rose to the lord’s taunt.
‘Tell me why are nymphs so feared.’ asked Miranda.
‘That’s easy.’ replied the Lord. ‘They are reputed to be able to charm stone statues into a state of ecstasy.’
‘Has she charmed you?’ asked Miranda.
‘Of course not.’ replied the Lord. ‘She just came to warn us about you.’
‘Really.’ said Miranda. ‘If that’s true why don’
t you dispel any magic on yourself.’
‘Ha.’ said the Lord ‘You’re trying to get me to remove my protections so that you can charm me. I’m not a fool you know.’
‘I’ll make a deal with you. If you dispel yourself then replace any magic protections you feel necessary then I’ll let you into the Stronghold.’ said Miranda.
‘You’re up to some type of trick.’ said the Lord. ‘Snowbelle said you were a cunning bitch.’
At this stage some of the Lord’s men began muttering among themselves and to their Lieutenant. He came forward and whispered into his Lord’s ear.
‘Okay I agree with your conditions.’ the Lord said. ‘It seems that you have already charmed some of my men.’
He went behind his troops and cast a dispel on himself while his guards watched Miranda’s people for treachery.
Suddenly there was a cry.
‘Where am I? What have I done? I don’t believe it.’
He came running forward and dropped to his knees in front of Miranda.
‘Please forgive me. I’m sorry I didn’t realize what I was doing. I apologize. Please forgive my vile insults. I have always considered Lord Darkmantle a close friend.’ said the Lord.
‘Get up. I forgive you.’ said Miranda. ‘Snowbelle is known as the Queen of Charm. I know of only one person alive that ever managed to resist her. You can be thankful to be one of the very few to be charmed by her and still alive. Now I will keep my side of the bargain. Let’s go and see what ails Prendergrass so we can find out where my father is but before we go I would like all the men here to shake hands. We are all on the same side.’
While all the men shook hands she thanked the Lord’s Lieutenant. He was embarrassed and apologized for not spotting that his Lord was charmed. She then went to see the Captain of Darkmantle’s guard who had been woken and was standing without assistance but was obviously still a little weak.
‘Thank you for saving my life and healing me M’Lady.’ said the Captain.
‘It is the least I could do for defending my honour, Captain. We need you and every one of your men. I think we’ll all have a lot more fighting before things become stable and peaceful again. The wounds were serious I suggest you take it easy for a couple of days to allow them to heal well.’
‘Thank you again, M’Lady. We will not rest until we see you Queen.’
The young Lord returned to her side trying hard to be friendly.
‘I’m Lord Alfin Reedford, second in line to my father’s estate. It is truly an honour to meet you. My father is currently ill with some minor fever; he has spoken highly of you and Lord Darkmantle. Thank you for saving me from the worst mistake in my life. You are not only beautiful beyond imagination but have an exceptionally sharp mind for a woman. My father will be most upset with my stupidity and would never have forgiven me harming friends of his.’
Miranda just smiled and led the way into the stronghold followed by Darkmantle’s Captain and the Lord Reedford’s lieutenant. They wound their way through the maze of tunnels until they came to Prendergrass’s small room. He lay on his bed only partially conscious. His whole body was covered in putrid weeping black sores.
‘By the Lady, you’ve got the Black Rot.’ said Miranda. ‘How did you get this?’
Prendergrass didn’t answer but the Captain did.
‘Not long after you and the Lord Warden left this morning, Lord Darkmantle left with the Newman visitor called Garret and a detail of guards. He left Prendergrass in charge, with me as his deputy. Sometime later, we were visited by your mother. Prendergrass ordered me and all the male guards inside, replacing them with female guards then went to speak with her.’
‘When he returned he said she wished to see you and the Lord Warden. When he told her that you had left she was most displeased and teleported away. He then said he would rest a while, as he felt a little ill. A few minutes ago when Lord Reedford arrived, I sent a guard down to get him and the guard reported he was too ill to come.’
‘Why are you doing this Snowbelle?’ thought Miranda.
‘Captain, I will need to cure this or he will die, show me where you keep your healing herbs and potions, if you have no potion suitable I can still cure the disease but I will need to meditate for some hours before trying. In the meantime, we may be able to give him some temporary relief.’ said Miranda.
‘I’m sorry Lord Reedford, as you can see we have an emergency. The Captain will show you around but if he says that my father has gone you can be sure he has.’
‘I’ve seen enough to report to my father that Queen Snowbelle is causing mischief and that you are beyond doubt a suitable candidate for our Queen. You have our support, Princess Miranda. I will take my leave and hope that you can cure Prendergrass of his horrible affliction.’ said Lord Reedford.
Miranda was shown to Darkmantle’s well-stocked medicine collection and fortunately there was a suitable potion to cure Prendergrass. After administering the potion Miranda left him for an hour to recover while she visited the guards. Morale was sky high. They had nothing but praise for the way she had handled young Lord Reedford.
Darkmantle’s men were friendly with many of Reedford’s men having trained and worked together on several occasions in the past, neither side had wished to fight each other.
Miranda was having a cup of brew when Prendergrass staggered in.
‘Thank you for ridding me of that ghastly disease M’Lady
‘I’ve seen it put on others and never guessed it would be so painful that you couldn’t even think.’
‘Was it Snowbelle?’ said Miranda.
‘Yes. I’m sorry M’Lady.’ said Prendergrass. ‘She was in a nasty mood and when I told her that you and the Lord Warden had left. She carried on quite a treat and cursed me with this disease before leaving.’
‘I’m sorry Prendergrass. She normally hates wizards at the best of times but if she’s pregnant as Aquitain believes, it must have shortened her temper even more.’ said Miranda.
‘Of course it could have been Adonis disguised as your mother, M’Lady. You shouldn’t discount that possibility. It would be a perfect way to cause friction between the two of you, sow chaos among your friends and also catch the Lord Warden.’
‘You’re quite right.’ replied Miranda. ‘That is very definitely a possibility and another problem that I’m going to have to deal with. I never realized that life could get so complicated. This morning, I was prepared to curse the day that I met Aquitain, blaming him for all the troubles but then I realized that it wasn’t him, he only unmasks the problems that were already there. He works so hard trying to fix things. I don’t know why. They mostly shouldn’t even be his problems and yet somehow he believes he can make a difference.’
‘My Lady, he’s right. Individuals can and do make a difference. You did it yourself not an hour ago. You don’t realize what an effect you have around here. When you and Darkmantle defeated the army of three Lords that attacked the mansion a few days ago you became more than a person, you have become a legend. The other two Lords and all the men here already see you as their Queen. They will fight to the death to uphold your honour.’
‘But that wasn’t me, Prendergrass, that was Aquitain in my body. The men have a false image of me. The Captain of the Guard nearly died because of that false image.’ said Miranda.
‘A Queen doesn’t have to fight battles. That’s what the Queen’s Champion does and if he wins, the Queen gets the glory. I do believe you made the Warden your Champion and if that is so, then he has done your bidding proudly. Besides how can it be a false image? You just stopped a fight where dozens could have died. You uncovered a plot to undermine our alliance with Lord Reedford, you saved the lives of the Captain of the guard and myself. You have done nothing today but further enhance your reputation.’
‘Remember also that a Queen doesn’t have to solve all the problems herself. That’s why Queens have advisors. To present reasons why things happen and help with possible solutions.’
‘Thank you Prendergrass. You’re right. As a druid I’m used to solving problems by myself, as there is usually no one else around in the wilderness. But here there are more problems and they involve people not animals, I will have to get used to asking for advice if I’m going to be Queen.’
‘You’re welcome M’Lady. Now, regarding your father, he has been a changed man since he discovered that you were his daughter and dare I say he’s rediscovered how to be an Elendari again. In fact, he’s worried that the Yith will attack the settlements in Mudrun so he’s gone with Gizel, Tigerlilly, Garret, six guards and the cat to warn them.’
‘What!’ said Miranda. ‘He didn’t say anything.’
‘No. He was afraid that you would be against him going.’
‘Of course I would. That was one of the jobs that Aquitain wanted me to do today.’
‘Well he’s only an hour and a half ahead of you. We have a private gateway that you found on Mudrun and closed I believe. We think your mother reopened it to get into Moonmist. It should still be open but it is a likely spot for an ambush so I would be very cautious using it.’
‘Thanks, I’ll go after him. He won’t be used to dealing with Mudrun people and is bound to get into trouble.’ said Miranda.
Miranda removed her brilliant armour and decided to wear nothing but her Dragonfly glamour. The heavy fighting gear would be too hot and would get in the way in Mudrun especially if she had to shape shift. She was used to traveling light and once through the gate she’d be on home ground again, a wonderful prospect. She did, however, accept Prendergrass’s suggestion that she take six men with her to see her safely through the gate and left.
They teleported to the courtyard at the Darkmantle estate and after the guards had checked the area to ensure that everything was in order, they left as a group with one scout ahead, and progressed to the entrance of the tunnel leading to the gateway without incident. The guard unlocked the gate and was swinging the door open when Snowbelle simply appeared standing naked in all her glory a dozen paces from them.