‘I’m not quitesure what it is.’ said Granwell.’ but I know the Druid’s Councilhas recorded a couple of them sneaking through the gateway from theFairy world.
‘They calledthem dark trixies. I’m not so sure. It has nothing in common withthe trixies that I’ve seen on other worlds and hasn’t got the stinkof a horror spawn. It’s more like a terribly malformed littleperson.’
Aquitain lookedat its hands and feet they were much like his when in his littleperson form. Its scales were like his scales but that’s where theresemblance stopped. Regardless of this he had to agree withGranwell. It did look like a terribly malformed brown little personand this got him thinking.
Shastritara hadtold him the browns had disappeared about the time of the GreatStorm. Were they somehow affected by the Storm, perhaps mutated ormalformed? Did they migrate to the Fairy world? Did someone movethem there? Were some of them trying to get back? He had to findout more. Only one person could answer his questions and that wasQueen Snowbelle, but would she?
‘I might beable to find out a little about this creature.’ said Aquitainsuddenly. ‘I’ll be back in the morning.’ and he left the towerwithout giving away any of his thoughts.
Chapter 4 Trouble WithSnowbelle
Lord Wyvern Darkmantlelooked up from his heavily cluttered writing desk as he heard theknock on the door of his study. ‘Enter’ he said sternly.
In walked ablonde haired Elendari man dressed in dark well-worn leather. ‘Yourequested my presence, Milord.’
‘Yes,Huntmaster, that debacle, last night where a number of my animalswere lost, has left me in an awkward position. We need more animalsfor the experiments and some for the games in two weeks’ time, so Ihave arranged to have our secret gate to Mudrun opened tonight fora period of several hours.’
‘I want you totake a hunting party out and round up as many animals as you can.If you happen across any newmans bring them as well. I promisedentertainment and we will have it.’
‘May I speakfreely, Milord?’
‘Yes, what isit?’
‘We’ve huntedthrough that gateway the last two full moons and the game in thearea is getting scarce. If we keep using that gateway them druidswill learn of it and cause problems.’
‘I don’t care arat’s curse about the druids. If they interfere then kill them orbetter still bring them here and they can provide us a littleentertainment.’
‘That mayprovoke a response from a certain lady, Milord.’
‘I hope so.It’s about time I got my hands on that bitch. Anyway, after QueenAurora’s Ball in two weeks, if all goes as planned, the game willbe quite different,’ said Lord Darkmantle ‘and take Fen Fang toguard the gate.’
‘It could bedangerous, My Lord. He has killed two handlers recently.’
‘Just do it,Huntmaster and bring back plenty of fodder for the games otherwiseyou may be one of the attractions.’
‘I will set upthe hunt immediately, my Lord. Do you wish to talk to the huntersbefore they leave?’
‘No, I haveother things to attend to.’ replied Lord Darkmantle thinking ofwhat he would like to do to the persons involved in releasing hisanimals last night. That is of course, if and when he caughtthem.
‘Excellent,Huntmaster, I’m looking forward to your report when you return. Youmay go.’
**
Aquitainslipped on one of the teleport rings given to him by Featherdown.He recalled the image of the cave under the waterfall in thatbeautiful little gully on the edge of the Misty Mountains where hehad first met Miranda’s mother Queen Snowbelle the nymph, andmoments later he appeared there close enough to the waterfall toget wet from its spray.
He stood stillcarefully scanning the darkness, listening carefully and sniffingthe air as if to detect the scent of any creatures nearby.Remembering that his sight was better in his spider form he changedto it. He discovered his hearing and scent abilities were also moreacute. Llanlleans were obviously well suited to hunting in dimlylit places.
He felt likehunting something and eating it. This new body had new demands. Hefelt aggressive and restless but also patient. At first this seemedcontradictory but then when he thought about it perhaps itwasn’t.
When a predatorwas hungry he would be more aggressive and restless but he had tobe patient otherwise his prey might be alerted too soon and escape.He decided to try out his new legs by climbing up the side of thegully, a mere two hundred paces almost vertically straight up. Itwas sheer exhilaration. With eight legs the job was trivial. Hecould climb up the gully wall faster than he could run as a Newmanalong the gully floor. He turned and scurried headfirst downagain.
At the bottomhe reluctantly changed back to his little person form. He hadbusiness to conduct first. Later he might try out his spider formagain and see if he could actually catch something. He wondered howhe ate things in his spider form, as he didn’t seem to have a mouthlike other animals. In a strange sort of way it was exciting.
He wondered ifMiranda could change into a spider like him. What would it be liketo make love to her as a spider he wondered? Then concluded itmight be dangerous, as he had heard that many spiders eat theirmates. Perhaps it was a useful thing that she wore that lethalchastity belt.
He mentallychanted a Mantra of Calming to help focus his mind on the comingmental battle with Snowbelle. He created a Tower of Will for mentalprotection in case she wanted to fight again and walked under thewaterfall into cave housing the gateway to her realm. An owl flewinto the cave, landed silently on a large rock and turned to facehim.
‘Who are youand what do you want it?’ it said using mindspeak.
‘I am Aquitainthe mind wizard. I’ve come to find Miranda and talk to QueenSnowbelle.’
‘I think theQueen is absent at the moment but you may be able to talk toPrincess Miranda. Wait here.’ and the owl flew off.
Five minuteslater a gateway formed in the grey stonewall and out came Miranda.She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw him.
‘Aquitain isthat you?’
‘Yes Mandy. Asyou can see The Lady has played another trick on us. I can be aspider, a little person, a Newman child, a small slime or
