‘I am much morelike you than my mother. Aquitain was killed earlier this eveningand I asked The Lady for a Miracle. I asked Her to give him a bodylike mine and She made him a Llanllean.’
‘The fact thatShe made him a Llanllean is itself very strange. The usual rule isthat someone reincarnated or resurrected cannot be given a body ofa creature that does not normally exist on a world. I am not awareof any of my kind that lives on this world.’
‘Neither am I.’replied Allalanllea.
‘That onlyreinforces my point,’ continued Miranda. ‘I live on this worldtherefore if I was a Llanllean then the rule has not been broken. Iask you again. Am I a Llanllean? You of all people must know!’
‘And you,Princess Miranda must know that I am sworn to serve your mother theQueen. This is a personal question that only your mother mayanswer. In this I cannot help you child. I will, however, suggestthat you must be careful in what you ask of The Lady. If the Timeof Chaos is truly upon us she will have many competing priorities.She undoubtedly has a vested interest in you but regardless of howdevoted you are to her, she has her own complex agenda and heractions may not always be in your best interest.’
Miranda stoodthere dismayed at what Allalanllea had said. She had been Miranda’snanny and closest confidante while she had been growing up. WhenSnowbelle had told Miranda that she wanted her to train as adruidess Miranda had rebelled and told her mother that she wantedto be a wizard like Allalanllea. It had caused a major crisisbetween her and her mother. Allalanllea had convinced her to followher mother’s wishes so she had trained as druid and eventuallyloved it.
Allalanllea hadnever refused her anything until now. This was the most importantquestion she had ever asked and she received no answer. Even moresurprising was that Allalanllea had questioned the motives of herGoddess. What was happening? The fabric of her world hadchanged.
Her mother hadshut her out; the Crin had shut her out and now her nanny, her mosttrusted friend had also shut her out. She stood and wept. Her heartached and the tears flowed freely as she turned and slowly walkedback along the track leading out of her childhood home. Now therereally was no one left but Aquitain.
At the end ofthe gully she stopped to take a last look at her childhood worldthrough tear stained eyes. It had all been so beautiful, why did ithave to end so brutally? She stood reliving in her mind some of thewonderful things that had happened in the gully when she wasclubbed on the head and fell unconscious.
She awoke a fewminutes later in the darkness. She was naked and wearing a magicalrestraint that would stop her from either using a prayer or shapechanging. Her hands and feet were bound and her mouth gagged. Shewas being carried draped over the shoulder of a male Newman. Shelooked around but it was difficult to see in the dark. There were acouple of others nearby, she could hear them mumbling. They weredruids and she was being carried towards a building. She recognizedthe place immediately as she had been there many times. It was theDruid’s Council Headquarters.
A druid wearingthe gown of the High Druid met the men outside the building but shedidn’t recognize his face.
‘We have her MyLord.’ said one of the men.
‘Good. Hold herin the anteroom to the Council Chambers while I call a meeting todiscuss her actions.’ said the new High Druid.
‘Yes My Lord.’replied one of the Druids and she was taken to the room and gentlylaid on the floor.
In thelamplight she was able to make out the faces of her captors. Sherecognized them immediately. They were colleagues of hers. She hadchatted with some of them quite recently. They all wore seriousfaces. One or two had tears in their eyes as if regretting whatthey had done. She tried to talk. To ask them to remove the gag butthey ignored her, preferring to stand in a huddle whispering toeach other.
After a minuteor so one them shouted,
‘I will notallow this to happen. She is one of us. She has done no wrong untilfound guilty by the Council. I will not allow her to be humbledthis way. Stop me if you will.’ and he walked over to her.
‘Miranda, I’msorry for what has happened. We were ordered by the Council tobring you here. If you promise not to try to escape or remove themagic restraint I will remove your bindings and give you my sparegown to restore your dignity.’
Miranda noddedand she was unbound by the old druid and handed a spare gown and acomb so that she could dress and improve her appearance. The otherdruids did nothing to stop her but stood watching withexpressionless faces. She thanked the old fellow and sat in one ofthe chairs awaiting the Council’s pleasure.
‘What more cango wrong tonight?’ she wondered.
Fifteen minuteslater the door to the Council Chamber opened and she was escortedinside. The room was quite large being about ten paces square.There was a large semicircular table around which the nine membersof the Council sat facing a single chair situated at the centre ofthe room. Miranda was seated on this chair facing the new HighDruid who sat on a throne-like chair glaring down at her. Sherecognized only three of the Council members as being members ofthe old Council.
Miranda stoodthere defiantly.
‘Where is theHigh Druid and who are you?’
‘Silence, I amnow the High Druid. You will only speak when spoken to or I willhave you bound and gagged.’ said the new High Druid.
‘Bring in thewitness!’ he ordered and Miranda looked around and her mind almostfroze in disbelief. It was Wizard Curbut.
‘You should bedead.’ shouted Miranda.
‘Yes I shouldbe but I’m not. Luckily I managed to escape your trap to bearwitness to the brutal massacre of your fellow druids.’
‘You should bedead. I clearly remember cutting off your head.’
‘You aremistaken, however, it is nice to hear you admit to trying to killme!’ replied Curbut.
‘Silence.’ordered the High Druid again. ‘You
