‘You shouldalso know that we observed an interesting event not long after dawnthis morning. An Elendari hunter came down the road on foot leadinga hooded and bound female prisoner tethered by a rope around herneck. There was blood down the front of her clothes and she waslimping with an injured and bleeding leg. He talked with theofficer who examined a scroll probably some type of pass and thenentered the keep. Judging by her scent which I know well, thefemale prisoner was Princess Miranda.’
‘By The Lady!What has happened!’ she thought on the edge of panic. She repeateda calming mantra several times then carefully considered whetherthis was some type of trap. After half a minute she came to theconclusion that it didn’t matter she would have to accept it atface value and continue on.
She put aglamour on herself to make her look like a female druid. She hadused this illusion several times before. She wore a homespun clothgown in the fashion of the local druids with a belt made ofcoloured beads. Her hair was long and plaited and hanging half waydown her back. She had the deeply tanned and wrinkled face of asenior druid.
She suddenlybecame visible as if she had just teleported in. She looked at bothgroups and walked confidently as if she owned the place to theElendari camp.
‘Where is yourofficer?’ she asked in fluent Elendari. Battlemaster Sanson andJobmaster Xentos of the Crin watched with interest. Both had seenher do this type of stunt before.
The Elendaritroops all stood up resting their hands on their swords as ifreadying for action and one called for the officer who was in oneof the closed tents.
He came out ofthe tent, saw the druid woman and his eyes glowed a golden colour.He stopped dead in his tracks as he looked at her then carefullyplaced his staff on the ground beside him and raised both handswith his palms facing towards her in a gesture of peace.
‘I know you.’he said then ordered the troops to stand down and went forward tomeet her.
Allalanllea wasquite surprised as she didn’t know the officer. She used the samemagic and her eyes glowed golden. She saw immediately by his spiritaura that the officer was a Llanllean wizard.
‘May we talkmore discretely?’ he asked and he walked twenty paces down the roadfollowed by a curious Allalanllea.
‘You areAllalanllea of the Court of Queen Snowbelle. I have heard a lotabout you from my family.’
‘Who are you?’asked Allalanllea.
‘Oh I’m sorry.I am Llalacea, your nephew. I was very young when you left but Iremember you and have heard many stories about you since aunty. TheQueen’s wizard has taught some of us to identify people by theirspirit aura. Yours is one of the ones I was to memorize in case youshowed up in Moonmist.’
‘What are youdoing here on Mudrun?’ asked Allalanllea.
‘We are here toescort a Newman guest to the Summer Palace.’
‘What is theNewman’s name?’ asked Allalanllea curiously.
‘It’s a MasterGarret Axegrinder.’ replied Llalacea.
That namedidn’t mean anything so she changed to subject.
‘What did youwant to talk to me about?
‘I don’t knowhow much you know about what’s happening on Moonmist but our familyis in danger. Strange things have been happening. Llanlleans havebeen disappearing and accused of attacking Elendari villages. TheQueen has blamed us for causing all sorts of trouble and threatenedus with retaliation. Some of our people guarding the Queen fortwenty years have been put on other duties as if they are no longertrusted. Even the Royal Wizard is under suspicion.’
‘What do youexpect me to do? asked Allalanllea wondering why Snowbelle had nottold her about this.
‘I don’t knowaunt. Perhaps you could try to find out what’s happening. I’mafraid for our family. The Queen’s been acting very erraticallylately. Everyone in the court knows but they are all afraid to sayor do anything. I have heard that even some of the Lords areconcerned.’
‘By The Lady,what is going on?’ thought Allalanllea. ‘Is the Time of Chaosreally here? Is it affecting Moonmist as well?’
‘Where is yourmother staying at present?’
Tears appearedin Llalacea’s eyes.
‘I’m sorryaunty but mum is dead. It was terrible. She was accused of leadingan insurrection and killed attacking an Elendari village. Her bodywas paraded at the court. It was really hard for the wholefamily.’
‘What!’ shoutedAllalanllea so loud that everyone Elendari and Crin looked over ather.
‘She was ahealer! She would never do that! It was totally against herprinciples.’
‘I know.’replied Llalacea.
‘But that’swhat happened and that’s why I’m on this stupid escort duty. I’mnot trusted.’
Allalanllea wasbecoming quite upset. She was even more determined to go toMoonmist now. She had to find out what was happening. By The Ladyshe was going to cause some trouble when she did. She was probablythe most powerful Llanllean wizard born on Moonmist. It was time touse her skills back home.
‘Okay. You’veconvinced me it’s time to visit the family. Can you give me a passto get past the keep guards?’
‘No notdirectly but I have authority from the Queen for all personsinvolved in escorting the Newman. If you were to look Elendari andwear one of our uniforms then you could come back with us when weescort the guest back.’
‘Hm. I wasinformed that earlier today an Elendari hunter leading a femaleprisoner passed through the gate. Did you see them?’
‘Yes. Thehunter was the Huntmaster of Lord Darkmantle. He had an escapedslave he was returning to his Lord. He had a warrant and pass fromLord Darkmantle.’
‘Really! Ididn’t know that Lords could grant passes through the gateway.’
‘Not all can,only the more senior ones in the court such as Craigsleigh,Huntwell and Darkmantle.’
‘Excellent.’said Allalanllea. ‘Can we go back to your tent and view yourauthority.’
Llalacea wasn’tquite sure why she wanted to see the authority from the queen untilshe viewed it then sat on the tent floor pulled out a crumpledpiece of parchment, a small bottle of ink, a pen and began writingher own authority to pass through the gateway and signed it with agreat flourish under the name of Lord Huntwell.
She
