‘Who is this goddessLithgala?’ asked Aquitain.
‘She is a naturegoddess with followers on other worlds. Some believe she is theLady known by another name. Others believe she is a friend and allyof the Lady. She has followers on Mudrun,’ Quab replied.
‘By the merciful graceof the Lady, now I know why you were keen to know about the bootyrules. Strictly speaking, since you were alone when you found itthen it could be argued that it’s yours. However, if anyone on theDruid Council hears that you have it they will descend on you likea plague of locusts. It might be a good idea to give it back to theHigh Druid as a gesture of good faith.’
‘Could you cast it?’asked Aquitain.
‘It’s complicated andwould take a bit of preparation, but I suppose I could. However, Iwould only ever do it for the benefit of Mudrun, and only afterpraying to the Lady for her guidance,’ replied Quab.
‘I still haven’tdecided what to do about either this or the rod. I’ll have to talkto Miranda and Featherdown and perhaps others, first. Can I counton you to say nothing about it for a while?’
‘Of course, but don’ttake too long and be very careful who you tell about it,’ repliedQuab.
They heard Miranda’svoice calling their names and both went out of the hut to meether.
‘This should beinteresting.’ said Aquitain. ‘She’s been to see her mother.’
She gave the hand signto mindlink as she hurried over to Aquitain and hugged him aroundthe neck, and then greeted Quab with a fleeting smile.
‘Can you lock down thewards please Quab? I have some serious news!’ and while he wasengaged in that she asked Aquitain through their mindlink whetherhe'd found the control room at the temple. He quickly told herabout the control room and what he had found there. She was reallyexcited and wanted to see the items. So he took her inside Quab’shut and showed them to her. She sang a prayer and viewed thescroll.
‘Merciful Lady, this isthe most powerful scroll I’ve ever seen. It’s written in very olddruidic, but readable. Quab is right. It begs the Goddess Lithgalafor a miracle, but uses the Yith name for the goddess rather thanour name. Lithgala is supposed to be a close friend of the Lady.Alin Amber is also right - this could change you back to newmanagain or even lift my tattoo, assuming the Lady was agreeable.We’ll certainly have to think about what to do with it.’
When she saw the rodshe immediately recognised it.
‘That used to belong tomy mother. I remember she showed it to me a couple of times. Shesaid it had belonged to a king and she had captured it from him ina battle. She never mentioned giving it to Queen Beatrix. I wonderwhy she had it?’
When Quab was happywith the wards he came to the hut and suggested that they sit outin the open to ensure that they could see whether there were anycreatures nearby who might want to eavesdrop. Aquitain agreed andpacked the rod and scroll away into his new dimension pouch andjoined Miranda and Quab seated on the grass in the late afternoonsunlight.
‘I’ve just visitedmother but found out that she’s away investigating some strangeoccurrences in Moonmist. She seems to have forgiven me a little.She has allowed Allalanllea the court wizard to talk to me. Motherbelieves that Alin Amber’s prophesy has come true and the Time ofChaos has begun.’
‘The Lady have mercy onus!’ said Quab.
‘If she believes itthen everyone else soon will. The Time of Chaos predicts warsbetween the gods, with all sentients forced by them to take sides.I truly hope that she’s wrong.’
‘Where is Moonmist?’asked Aquitain.
‘Oh. You probablywouldn’t have heard about that place,’ said Miranda. ‘It’s anotherworld that is magically connected to Mudrun. Some people call itthe Fairie World because some of the creatures there look a bitlike some of the mythical creatures in ancient stories. Mother saidit’s a really dark and terrible place and that I should never gothere. The main people there are called the Elendari and they arereally horrible. That’s where mother was turned into a nymph.’
‘How do you mean it’smagically connected?’ asked Aquitain.
‘Mother told me thatyears ago. I’m not really sure. It’s got something to do with thegateways. This world is permanently connected to my home worldArgenta through a gateway, and Argenta is permanently connected toMoonmist through a gateway. There are also other permanent gatewaysconnecting the two worlds. Every month the gateways between Mudrunand Moonmist open, and sometimes Moonmist creatures come throughand cause trouble here. The hound that I was chasing when we firstmet was from there.’
‘Miranda, you shouldn’tbe telling him this. It’s secret druid business,’ said Quab.
‘He’s employed by theHigh Wizard now Quab, and he’s a citizen of this world as well,'she replied defensively. 'He had to find out sooner or later. Someof those problems worrying Featherdown right now might have comefrom there. I’ll bet mother has gone there to find out.’
‘I suppose that you’reright,’ he said.
‘The gateways havealways worried the Druid’s Council ever since they were discoverednot long after the druids first came here. After some troublesomeproblems with Elendari they tried to close them but found that theycouldn’t, so they constantly monitor what comes through. Officiallythey don’t exist, but I’ve heard that we conduct some trade throughone or two of them.’
‘By the Powers thisworld is intriguing,’ said Aquitain. ‘At first it looks like arugged primitive world of jungle and simple creatures. Buteverywhere you go you discover hidden surprises, weird creatures,ancient magic and amazing secrets. I’ll bet that if the two worldsare tied together the other world has got something to do with thedisappearance of the Founts of Wisdom, and the Time of Chaos ifit’s truly begun.’
‘Mother has never saidanything about that. At least nothing that I can remember, but youmight be right,’ said
