Chapter 34 The DivineAquitain
Aquitain refocused his attention on Yllandril,Llalorax and Miranda who were still mentally linked but notresponding to him. He tried several mental commands to wake thembut nothing seemed to work then he noticed movement behind him anddirecting his attention towards it and saw Bellen approaching thengo down to his knees.
‘You were trulyamazing my Lord. You were destroyed and remade yourself. You raisedthe spirits of all the people here to drive away the malevolentspirits. You are truly divine. I shall be your most devotedfollower. I shall spread the word of your greatness throughout theland.’
Aquitain wassurprised.
‘Get a hold ofyourself, Bellen. I’m no divinity, just a bit lucky. You saw mybear illusion fighting Darkmantle’s wyvern illusion didn’t you?They were both awesome. What you saw after that was a sequence ofillusions created by Yllandril and myself. They were mind tricks.You saw an illusion of me being destroyed to trick those nastyspirits to reveal themselves. You saw an illusion of the Newmanform of Yllandril to capture their attention while I worked on thespirits of the people illusion. We tricked them this time but itwon’t likely work next time.’
‘What about thethrone? It’s gone!’ stated Bellen.
‘Yes. Thethrone really was asleep and I woke it up. That was no trick and asyou heard it has accepted two contenders to be the next Queen. Ittold me it had something to do. I guess that’s unusual as thronesdon’t simply come alive, talk and disappear. Has it disappearedbefore?’
‘Are you surethat you’re not just a little bit godly?’
‘No.’ saidAquitain. ‘Being expert at illusion magic doesn’t make you even alittle bit divine. Darkmantle is an expert at illusions; does thatmean he’s divine?’
‘No, My Lord.He’s far from being divine but you’re also the Warden of Moonmistthat must count a little.’
‘No the Wardenis a job title. You don’t have to be divine for the job.’
‘How come youand I weren’t affected by whatever happened to all the Elendari andthe other trixies, My Lord? Did you save me?’
‘No I thinkit’s because I’m not from this world. It also suggests that you arenot from this world. So where are you from Bellen?’
Bellen wasquiet for a few moments. ‘I am from Mudrun.’
‘Ah! So thereare some brown-scaled little people left on Mudrun after all!’stated Aquitain. ‘You were all supposed to have vanished during theGreat Storm.’
‘No LordWarden, many survived the Great Storm but not long after it a bandof powerful wizards tracked them down and killed all they found orso we thought. A small group of browns managed to hide and stayhidden for fear that they would be destroyed as well.’
‘I am from thatsmall hidden group. I was a little different from the others. Iventured away from the group and was found by a dragon. He told methat there were many browns on Moonmist. I wished to see them so hebrought me here. I was horrified when I saw their misery so decidedto help where I could. They have accepted me but only so far as Iam also different to them.’
‘What do youmean when you say you are different from the others?’ askedAquitain.
‘I am not atrue brown, My Lord,’ replied Bellen. ‘One of my parents was a redand the other a brown. I am half and half. No one really acceptsme.’
Aquitainthought about this revelation for a few moments.
‘Bellen, thereis nothing wrong with being different. Sometimes like now beingdifferent is a great advantage. You and I are both different. We’resimply just tougher than these Moonmist people.’
Bellen likedthat idea.
‘The others arealways teasing me because I am different, My Lord. Now I can seewhy. They are all jealous of my toughness. I had not consideredthat before.’
Another trixie,an old one with a malformed body whose real name was Allalanllealooked on in admiration.
‘You are indeedan Agent of Chaos Aquitain! You might have fooled the others buthere it is plain as day.’ she thought.
‘I’d betterspread the word about what happened here tonight. It will be a newbeginning and they will have my little girl as their Queen. I neverthought we’d pull it off.’ and she happily teleported away.
‘Are you goingto wake them up now, My Lord?’ asked Bellen.
‘Yes Bellen butfirst I need to remember something. I may seem remote for a fewminutes while I seek the knowledge I’m after. Have another drinkand enjoy the sight.’ said Aquitain.
Moments later,The Rat Catcher appeared in front of Aquitain and using mindspeakit said
‘Astaria hasbeen captured, Llanlorian and Terrin are dead and Asterix ismissing. You and I are all that are left. You are now theGatekeeper and Lord of Astaria. What do you want me to do, MyLord?’
Aquitain wasstunned!
The cat hadnever said anything to him while he was at Astaria or when it hadbeen used by Terrin to transport his spirit.
‘I thought thatyou were Llanlorian’s familiar.’ he stated uncertainly.
‘No. I am theRat Catcher.’
‘Am I a rat?’asked Aquitain curiously.
‘No. You arenow the Gatekeeper and I am bound to you.’
Aquitain lookedaround until he spotted a guard and using telekinesis withdrew theguard’s sword from its scabbard. He then floated it over to himheld it upright, hilt against the floor and said to the RatCatcher.
‘Go backseveral paces, then run towards the sword, leap and impale yourselfon the blade.’
‘You wish me tokill myself. My Lord?’ replied the cat.
‘Yes I do.’
‘As you wish.’and it retreated back several paces then raced at the sword andleaped as instructed. At the very last moment Aquitain pulled awaythe sword and the cat landed on four paws unharmed.
‘I no longerwish you to harm yourself.’ commanded Aquitain somewhat satisfiedthat the cat was actually bound in some way to him.
‘I do not wishyou to impale yourself on this or any other sword.’
‘Thank you, MyLord.’
‘Stay close by.We will discuss Astaria once this current problem is resolved.’
He adopted themeditation position, chanted a calming mantra several times thenput his mind into autohypnosis to examine his memories.
After a fewminutes, he
