‘I offer noexcuse Miranda. I was tricked into sleeping with Shastritara. Ithought it was you. When I discovered that it wasn’t you I purgedall memory of it from my mind. It happened but I can remembernothing at all about it. I only wish to remember what we did andwill do when the time comes. I have always said that I will neverknowingly do you any harm. That is my word and my bond.’
‘How could thisfemale little person get up enough courage to do something likethis and why would she want to do it?’ asked Miranda trying tocomprehend what had happened.
‘As to thequestion of courage she is the last of the Salamander tribe of redscaled little people who are known to be fearless. She is known asthe Most Fearless. Kami told me her tribe was wiped out at theorder of the Druids Council, as they would not bow down to druidrule. I suspect her courage comes partially from her tribalbackground and partially from desperation.
As to why, yourmother answered that question. There is a prophesy that the littlepeople’s greatest hero will have a child with their greatest femaleheroine and that child will lead them to victory in some futurebattle. They consider me their greatest hero and Shastritarabelieves that she is the heroine. She wants me to make eggs withher in a month’s time when she becomes fertile.’
Miranda thoughtcarefully for a few seconds.
‘I know you.You are a merchant at heart. They have made you an offer that theythink you won’t be able to refuse. What did they offer?’
Aquitainsmiled.
‘You arelearning Mandy. Yes, they made me an offer to tell me all theirsecret lore about the Great Storm and the Founts of Wisdom. Theprice is that I have to make eggs with Shastritara when she becomesfertile.’
‘And what haveyou decided to do?’ she asked hesitantly.
‘I have alreadyanswered that question. I will not knowingly hurt you Mandy. I willnot bargain my seed for their knowledge.’ he replied.
‘What a load ofreptile dung.’ said Snowbelle.
‘If you believethat Miranda you deserve everything you get from this midget coldblooded wizard, which will be nothing but heartbreak.’
‘The troublewith you mother is that you’ve forgotten how to believe in peopleand how to trust them. I trust Aquitain with my life and my heart.We are leaving you now and not coming back. I’ve had enough of yourvile schemes and your lies. From now on you can plot and scheme allyou like by yourself but if you ever try to deceive Aquitain intobelieving that you are me again I will kill you without compunctionlike a diseased animal.’
‘My we aregetting possessive.’ replied Snowbelle and laughed.
Nothing morewas said. Miranda grabbed Aquitain’s arm and together withAllalanllea they fled to the gateway, hurried through the gate andonce in Mudrun Allalanllea cast a closure power on the gateway.
‘That willtemporarily lock the gateway for a while. Have you a safe placethat we can teleport to?’ she asked.
Aquitainsuggested the water elementals’ cave in the magic node below thetown of Twin Towers as he knew it would be extremely difficult todetect them there, with all the residual magic in the rock. Oncethere, Aquitain would seek out the elder water elemental WaveriderSqualash to ask for permission to remain for a short period, thenthey could plan their next moves.
They teleported thereand soon after arrival were readily invited to stay and wereinformed Squalash wished to talk to Aquitain but was temporarilyabsent.
Chapter 5 Some HomeTruths
At last able to relax alittle Allalanllea took Miranda aside for a private discussion andAquitain sat down to work out a list of questions that he wouldlike to ask the Llanllean wizard. This could be a real stroke ofluck he thought. This was Snowbelle’s right hand woman. She mustknow a lot about the little people and quite possibly some usefulinformation about the Great Storm and the Founts of Wisdom but howmuch would she willingly divulge?
He guessed thatshe would be like Featherdown. She would have a lot of hard wonknowledge but would be quite reluctant to part with it especiallyto him, as she didn’t know him well enough yet to trust him. Stillhe would have to try.
Allalanlleatook Miranda a hundred paces away from Aquitain but kept him inview so as to be sure that he didn’t try to listen and then askedMiranda to cut off her mindlink with him. Miranda had never seenAllalanllea so serious but then the Royal Wizard had never goneagainst her mother or quit her job before.
‘Thank you forwhat you’ve done for me all my life Allalanllea and especially fortoday. You’ve been the most wonderful friend. I feel as thoughyou’re my real mother. I don’t think that I’ll ever be able torepay you.’ said Miranda with tears in her eyes as she finallyrealized the gravity of the situation and hugged intoAllalanllea.
‘Thank you mychild. It’s been my greatest pleasure to be with you, to protectyou and assist you to grow into the wonderful woman you are butthat time is now over. Many things have changed over the last fewweeks. I fear your mother is correct. The Time of Chaos may be uponus and I am needed in Moonmist. Chaos has already been unleashedthere and I am needed to help to contain it.’
‘I have no ideawhere you and Aquitain fit into the greater puzzle but I’m sure itwill be important and up to you to help and guide him on the rightcourse. Beware of your mother as I think she has taken a stronginterest in him and that is not a healthy sign as she has becomequite unbalanced lately.’
‘Now to thequestion uppermost on your mind; you caught me by surprise theother day when you asked me whether you are a Llanllean like me.The answer is not as clear-cut as you might believe. You were aLlanllean but I’m not quite sure whether you still are. I know thatsounds strange but let me explain.’
‘It was me thatmade the suggestion to your mother in the first place to have thechastity tattoo placed on you and it was I that placed it therewhen you were eight years old. It was one
