Edge of Chaos

by Des Pensable

  She took it in her hand and flung her arms around his neck, embracing him and kissing him with such a passion that it made his head real and almost shattered the mind arena.

  Miranlla released her bear like embrace and dizzily staggered back grabbing hold of the top of a chair to stabilize herself. Aquitain starting breathing again even though it wasn’t necessary in a mind arena. He looked through the doorway at the bed and then at the sumptuous meal on the table and said.

  ‘Mmmm. Smells delicious but I think it will stay warm.’ he whispered with a smile and nodded at the bed.

  ‘I’m sure it will.’ She replied holding out her hands to him.

  ‘Come my love. The tattoo is no more and our time has come.’

  ‘Oh. I thought I was supposed to remove it.’ he quipped

  Suddenly her dress was gone and she stood naked in front of him clad only in the tattoo.

  ‘However, If you wish to formally remove it be my guest.’ she replied with an alluring look on her face and spread herself in a seductive pose on the bearskin rug draped over their bed.

  He pointed a finger at her waist and said ‘Unlock’ and the tattoo turned into a string of daisies that threaded its way into the air above her, formed a heart shape then dissipated in a cloud of twinkling silver dust.

  His clothes evaporated and he slid onto the bed beside her and they embraced again but this time the passion was from both of them.

  Rori was standing watching the dragon in the small window on the control panel and looked back at Miranlla and Aquitain. Her face was covering sweat and she began moaning. ‘Oh! Oh! OH! OH!’

  ‘What is being wrong with Lady Miranlla.’ He wondered and then he realized what was happening.

  ‘I’m thinking she is still being his first favourite.’ he thought with a smile.

  ‘OH! OH! OHHHHHH!’ moaned Miranlla.

  ‘Suddenly the mind arena exploded like a majestic galaxy of rainbow coloured stars that glittered in the dark sky, the Zenostruct exploded into a cloud of mist and Miranlla opened her eyes breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath.

  ‘OH! BY the EVER LOVING LADY! That was … that was … that was … UNBELIEVABLE!’

  She saw Rori watching her with a knowing look on his face and she blushed. He shook his head turning back to the control panel window with the dragon.

  ‘Perhaps we should be doing things about this dragon?’ he said.

  Miranlla saw Aquitain reform as a Newman. He walked over to her embraced her and kissed her gently.

  ‘Thank you my love that was … um…you were right…unbelievable. Um. Let’s get back to business.’ He said trying to focus his mind.

  ‘Right.’ She said with an eager look on her face.

  ‘Um. I mean let’s get back to Astaria and Mudrun business.’ He replied.

  Miranlla burst into song. It was a beautiful lament that soon had tears in their eyes. It was about two lovers destined to be together but always kept apart. Even Rori was deeply touched even though he didn’t know the words and when it finished she said.

  ‘Mindlink with me my love’ she said and Aquitain created a link.

  ‘Sorry! I needed that to refocus my mind. That is my song to you my love. I have another much happier one for when we can truly be together. I am and will ever be your queen in my mind and you will ever be my king but now time is short, I have a lot of news to tell you and she explained what had happened at the King’s council meeting.’

  She told him about Granddad’s revelations about his birth and upbringing. All the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle began to fall into place. Terren had NOT told him about the other dragon spirit in his crystal home. Why?

  He imagined that two elemental dragon spirits locked in the crystal together must have had a massive battle of wits until they came to some sort of truce. They both realized that his mother’s spirit was the key to get out. They agreed on a plan.

  He was born and attached to the avatar spirit called Terren knowing full well that if Granddad was able to get his daughter and Aquitain out of the crystal into new bodies then Terren would get out as well. Conveniently Granddad was carefully given the way to get his daughter and Aquitain out and at least half of the plan succeeded. So why did Terren wait around for years while Aquitain grew up? Perhaps they were waiting for other parts of the plan to fall into place. Perhaps Aquitain’s job was to deliver Alpha to Astaria.

  The plan came unstuck when Aquitain traded Alpha for his cousin Zephira. Nobody guessed that he would do that. Alpha was very upset about it at the time.

  We now know that the other dragon spirit in Alpha is Aquiveritas. The son of Granite and the goddess Lithgala. Since Granite was still trapped when Alpha was traded for Zephira and Ishteth was a priest of Lithgala then it must have been Lithgala that didn’t want Alpha delivered to Astaria.

  Maybe Lithgala suspected that Aquiveritas had made a some sort of a deal with Terren and she didn’t want Aquiveritas involved.

  The fact that her people have captured your home world Argenta shows that she is a serious player in whatever is happening.

  ‘Hmm… there’s missing pieces to the puzzle.’ thought Aquitain then said to Miranlla.

  ‘It would be nice get hold of Alpha so I can question this Aquiveritas. He holds the answers to a lot of our problems but if Granite is his father and has taken Alpha that makes it difficult.’

  When he heard about Heteronymous and Featherdown both controlled by puppeteers he laughed. It seemed Lord Borse liked being well informed and in control.

  When he heard that the little people had called a Great Council to discuss the Treaty of Renewal he immediately suspected that they had a hidden agenda but couldn’t guess what it might be.

  When he heard that the druids were growing Lizard bane to sell to the Panmagicans his reaction was similar to his Granddad- they were mad.

  He then told her about his adventures with Ignatius the Mentarin.

  ‘There is a huge pool of magic essence trapped in a large area on Moonmist that is about to break through the surface. If it succeeds then there is likely to be a catastrophic storm like that on Mudrun that will kill everyone there. I would guess that both Lord Borse and K’wala know about it. I’m not sure who else knows about it or who caused it to happen. Ignatius doesn’t believe it happened by accident nor do I.’

  He told her about his temporary solution and the deal with the Rock elementals but also suspected that the Mentarin council might not accept it if it meant they couldn’t harvest rock elementals for use in their inventions. Consequently, it needed some more permanent solution but didn’t know what at this stage.

  ‘I’m not convinced that the Mentarin Council is fully aware of the threat to them and their city. It’s possible that we have discovered a plot to destroy the Mentarin city and factory. Who would benefit from that? The Lady, the Yith or perhaps someone disaffected within the Mentarin hierarchy like K’wala who wants to get even.’

  ‘The ones who probably wouldn’t want this to happen are the Lord Borse and his Mentarin, Findus and the Panmagicans. They will all lose their highly profitable trade in magical items.’

  ‘I don’t believe the Lady would wish to have the people and creatures on Moonmist destroyed. It goes against all our teachings.’ suggested Miranlla.

  ‘Wars have been started over trade in magic weapons and drugs for centuries.’ he replied. ‘I don’t believe that there are any innocent gods even the Lady. However we need more pieces of the puzzle.’

  I need to know more about Lord Borse, K’wala, Lithgala and this god Findus that Granddad thinks might be involved before I make any decisions about what to do next.

  He didn’t tell her about the dragon procession or the 18 dragon bodies in the area at the end of the pathway and how he believed that they were held there by some type of magic linked to the netherworld. This was probably the key to everything yet Ignatius had revealed it all. He suspected that only a very select few people knew about this and they purpose
ly wanted him to know. He was being tested again.

  Aquitain thought for a few seconds and then asked.

  ‘Is there any fighting at the moment?’

  ‘No!’ said Miranlla they seem to be just waiting and watching each other.’ She replied.

  ‘They’re waiting for something to happen. It could be something to do with this gathering of the Little people.’

  ‘Can you go there and find out what’s happening. You said they think that I might turn up. That sounds suspicious.’

  ‘I think that it’s time we went on the offensive.’ he replied.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ she asked curiously.

  ‘Something that nobody expects that might just change the game in our favour a little’ he said with a smile.

  ‘I want you to take Rori to meet Bellen and the Trixies at the Queen’s palace. Get a message to your father to occupy the palace and get Yllandril to get a few of the old Queen’s guard back on duty to help him. I want it to appear that we have a real chance to unify the Elendari lords.’

  ‘Then go through the gateway there to Mudrun. When you arrive get Rori to send a message to me and fly to the teleport location where we first met outside Twin Towers and wait for me to arrive.’

  ‘What are you going to do there’ she asked suspiciously.

  ‘You’ll see. It should fun.’ he replied with a grin.

  Chapter 39 Mothers and Fathers

  Rory was scared. They stood on damp mossy ground just outside the Moonmist portal and it was so dark he couldn’t see Miranlla but knew she was there as she was singing a prayer.

  She was startled when she felt Rori’s hand touch her leg and but quickly realized that he was there with her, and probably scared witless.

  ‘Where are we being at the moment Lady Miranlla?’ he asked. ‘It’s being very dark here. I’m not being able to see even you.’

  ‘We are in Moonmist. This is the place your people fear. This is where the Llanllean spider people live.’ she replied.

  ‘Are you being afraid like me.’ he said as he shook in fear.

  ‘No. Rori. I’m not afraid. You see this is my world. I was born here and I am a spider person but I can’t see anything either. Don’t be afraid I’m changing shape to my spider form so that I can see better.’

  ‘You … you … won’t eat me will you?’ he stuttered.

  Miranlla chuckled. ‘Of course not Rori, I wouldn’t eat my friends. If I did I wouldn’t have any friends, would I?’

  She changed shape and her Llanllean eyes adjusted to the dark. She could now see much more. The vegetation glowed faintly in various colours. She also saw the heat outline of a Newman female appear about 20 paces to her right.

  ‘Well. Well. My false daughter has discovered her heritage.’ said Snowbelle creating a light spell on herself and walking over to where Miranlla stood. Miranlla shape changed back to her Newman form.

  ‘Hello Snowbelle, we meet again. What do you want this time?’

  ‘My little spy watching the gateway told me you had arrived so I came to gloat a little. I see your boyfriend has removed your tattoo. Was it nice and romantic or just a quick roll in the dirt. I suppose that once he added you to his tally he could get on with his quest of causing chaos.’

  ‘Snowbelle must you be so crude!’

  ‘I knew you weren’t my real daughter you know! Neither Wyvern nor I are Llanlleans. Your spirit was swapped with that of my real daughter sometime before I captured Argenta and became its Queen. It pained me at first to know the Lady would allow that to happen to one of her devoted servants. But she is a goddess and we are mere mortals to be used and discarded when we are of no more use.’

  ‘I suffered having you at Argenta knowing all the while my real daughter was held hostage somewhere. I searched for her but she was always kept out of reach by your real father who has just joined us to make sure I don’t harm his precious daughter.’

  Llalorax walked over to them in his Newman form and they suddenly found themselves in a dark poorly lit mind arena.

  Mirandlla and Llalorax both appeared as Llanlleans while Snowbelle appeared as a nymph. Miranlla changed the appearance of the arena to sunny day in the gully on Mudrun and changed her appearance to her Newman form. Llalorax looked at her thoughtfully for a moment and changed to his Newman form.

  ‘Hello Snowbelle, hello Miranlla. I see our daughter has come of age.’

  ‘What do you mean by OUR daughter?’ said Snowbelle. ‘She is yours not mine. You stole mine.’

  ‘That is not strictly true. You see I swapped your daughter’s spirit into my daughter’s body and vice versa. Miranlla here was my daughter in spirit but your daughter in flesh. Therefore she is our daughter.’

  ‘I have a surprise for you Llalorax. I’m not your daughter. Your wife my mother Yllandril had an affair with Lord Darkmantle. He is my father not you.’

  Llalorax and Snowbelle were both equally shocked.

  ‘What I want to know is why you did it? demanded Miranlla.

  Llalorax stood silent for a while and said ‘I suppose you deserve an answer.’

  ‘History! It all comes down to our history.’

  ‘The Llanlleans are a proud people. Do you know we were here before the Elendari and the Trixies. We were created by those you call the Mentarin. They were and to an extent still are our Gods. We were the prime sentients on this world until they brought the Elendari from another world. They are aliens to this world. It doesn’t belong to them, it belongs to us. My ancestors fought with the Elendari. We even ate them. In an effort to stop the fighting the Mentarin changed us to be half Elendari but they didn’t change the Elendari to be half Llanllean.’

  ‘We began to despise our creators and ourselves. The stone dragon Granite came to the world and felt sorry for us all. He stopped the fighting and created the Accord between us and the Elendari. It created peace between us but the Elendari always acted as our superiors.’

  ‘When the Trixies arrived later there was war again. The Mentarin advised the Queen to extend the Accord to cover the Trixies as well and set up a more formal structure for us to coexist but she refused. Later another stone dragon brokered a cease fire and forced the Queen to accept a new accord. The Elendari were to be the administrators, the trixies the workers and the Llanlleans the guardians.’

  ‘It worked well at first. Each group was dependant on the others and all ruled over by a Queen. Unfortunately the first Queen was an Elendari and all subsequent Queens were Elendari. I never understood why until I first read the Accord. It stated that contenders for the throne must come from a royal line. Since there were no Llanlleans or Trixies that could claim a royal line we would never have a Llanllean Queen.’

  ‘When Sindel first arrived and helped me become the Royal Wizard I thought she was our saviour. It was no secret that the Darkmantle family coveted the throne. They were strong and powerful and I could see that Wyvern and Sindel were destined to become the king and queen. Unfortunately, so could others.’

  ‘Wait a minute.’ said Snowbelle. ‘Why did you think I would be accepted as a Queen. I would need a royal lineage.’

  ‘You have royal lineage. Why do you think Wyvern sought you out and married you?’

  ‘Really? The cold-blooded bastard. I thought he loved me. So he really only married me so that he could become a king?’

  ‘Don’t pretend to be an innocent, Snowbelle. I suspect that when you were Sindel you had ideas of using him to further your ambitions as well. You would have loved being Queen of the Elendari, Llanlleans and Trixies.’

  Snowbelle was quiet for a few moments then said. ’Perhaps.’

  ‘I see where this is going.’ replied Miranlla.

  ‘If Sindel had the right lineage then her daughter would also. By swapping your daughter’s spirit into Sindel’s daughter’s body you would arguably have a daughter, that’s me, with true royal lineage. You liked Sindel so you would help her and Wyvern become Queen and King. I would be the logi
cal successor to Sindel. But it all went wrong!’

  ‘Exactly!’ said Llalorax. ‘The Mentarin or someone else didn’t want Sindel and Darkmantle on the throne. That’s when that evil Mentarin spirit Schlum showed up. He went after the Darkmantle family first. He caused the death of Wyvern’s brother and father and haunted Wyvern nearly driving him mad. That’s when you were pregnant. My wife and I timed our daughter’s birth with that of Miranlla. I did the spirit exchange shortly after Miranlla was born and just before you fled.’

  ‘Allalanllea fled with Sindel to protect Miranlla. She also arranged for you Snowbelle to be reincarnated after you died and helped you capture and set up your kingdom in Argenta. She and I have foiled countless plots to capture your kingdom while you became more despicable by the year.’

  ‘I now understand what happened at the Queen’s Ball.’ said Miranlla. ‘You saw the chance to get me onto the throne after years of despair. But you still haven’t explained why you wanted me on the throne. I don’t believe it was just for show.’

  Llalorax laughed.

  ‘Only the Queen or the Lord Warden of Moonmist can dissolve the Accord. As Queen you could free our people from it. We could stop being the defenders of the vain and slovenly Elendari and take our rightful place as their leaders.’

  ‘If that is the case why have you make a deal with the Mentarin to sit on the fence while I fight to become Queen.’ she asked.

  ‘It was to buy time for you and our people.’ he replied.

  ‘If I had sided with you immediately the Mentarin would have attacked us and wiped out our people. They are ruthless and see us as vermin. They have said they created us out of amusement and can eliminate us just as easily. I fear for all of us.

  ‘This is important. Who told you this?’ asked Miranlla.

  Llalorax hesitated for a short while. ‘It was Gemelica. She had been talking to the Mentarin’

  ‘So she knew that the Queen wasn’t her mother’ asked Miranlla.

  ‘Yes. She knew.’ said Llalorax. ‘She hates Llanlleans. I’m sure if she was Queen she would have us hunted and killed.’