‘Fen Fang waskilled you say. Damnation! Doesn’t anything go to plan aroundhere.’ complained Darkmantle.
‘Believe mewoman; you’re going to pay dearly for your interference in myaffairs. My ex-wife Snowbelle probably had something to do withthis. You bloody druids think that you own Mudrun. Well soon yourpeople are going to be in for a big surprise.’
‘Chain her in awarded cell in the dungeon. Tell them to tattoo a charm againstshape shifting on her. Get her leg fixed up. I don’t want her todie on me yet. I’ll be down to see her in a few minutes. Well done,Huntmaster. You may go now.’
As Mirandaleft, the comment that Snowbelle was Darkmantle’s ex-wife shockedMiranda much more than any thought of isolation or torture. Hermother had never told her about this. This was important, why hadher mother never told her that she was married to an Elendari lord.True, her mother had said that she had spent some time in Moonmistand how disappointed she was with it.
She had comehere with great expectations of noble Elendari and discovered thebrutal reality that to the Elendari, Newmans were considerednothing more than animals. So her mother had left and met herfather elsewhere and later he had vanished. There was obviouslymuch more to the story than she knew and she would have to findout.
Ishteth, theYith priest who had captured Zephira appeared across the room fromDarkmantle after she had left.
‘How ironic andwhat a stroke of luck Darkmantle. A druid that can kill a wyverncould be very useful if she was to forget who she is.’
‘Yes Ishteth, Iagree. It’s unlikely to be coincidental that my ex-wife let all theanimals escape last night and this druid woman closed my gate andkilled my favourite wyvern this morning. She is suspicious thatsomething is about to happen and will probably try to provoke meuntil she finds out.
‘The Choosingshould keep her out of your way until after the Ball.’ said Ishtethwith a serpentine smile
‘Perhaps...She’s as cunning as a Mudrun rat. I’ve spent years trying to catchher and she’s damn dangerous if she gets cornered. She’s alreadykilled more than a dozen of my best men. If she can avoid theChoosing then she could still be a problem.’
‘Do you expectshe would turn up at the Queen’s ball?’ asked Ishteth.
‘Quitepossibly, but she would be extremely wary as even she would beconcerned about taking on the Queen’s pet magician and all theguards.’
Lord Darkmantlethought for a couple of moments and smiled.
‘Now that givesme an idea. This druid woman would make excellent bait for a trap.Maybe we can finally catch the bitch. That would give us a backupplan to recapture her gateworld. Yes. It could make a mostentertaining night.’
‘You had betterdisappear for a little while Ishteth, I’m going to organize achange in our druid captive to make her a little more useful.’
He pulled out asmall glowing glassy sphere and sent a message to his house wizardto attend him and sat pondering the best way to trap Snowbelle.
A few minuteslater, Prendergrass, the house wizard appeared in the room.
‘You calledMilord?’
‘The Huntmasterhas captured a Newman druid woman that is likely to be employed bymy bitch ex-wife. Now I’d like you to change her identity. I don’twant a complete memory erase, as that would probably ruin her druidskills, which could be useful.’
‘How about wefeed her some food and drink to get her to forget where she camefrom, erase the last few weeks, replace it with a story somethinglike the druids kicked her out because she liked the Elendari. Shecame here and we felt sorry for her and took her in a few days ago.Now she’s working hard to show us how useful she is. Yesterday shehad a fight with a druid woman who was trying to steal our animalsand she got knocked out and wounded in the leg but she’s OK now.Give her a new name.’
He thought fora few moments then said.
‘I know we’llcall her Dragonfly. That sounds like a druid name. Can you do thatbefore the Queen’s ball as I would like to take her along?’
‘I think thatshould be possible Milord. Her new memories won’t be perfect but aslong as they’re not tested too seriously they should hold.’
‘Good, then getto it. You’ll find her in the dungeon.’
Prendergrassteleported himself to the dungeon, he had been there a lot lately.The young Lord Darkmantle was a bit overly zealous in imprisoningpeople as far as the wizard was concerned. He had been house wizardfor nearly fifty years, most of the time with Wyvern’s father whomhe had admired and respected.
He was sad whenold Lord Darkmantle died and suspicious about the strange illnessthat killed him. Both Wyvern’s older brother and father diedunusual deaths in a short period of a few months after he marriedthe Newman druid woman.
Many on theestate were highly suspicious that the deaths were not natural butwith the long life spans of the Elendari, they all knew that it wasnot uncommon for sons or daughters to use foul means to get controlof the family estate. None said anything. Life simply went on.
Miranda wastaken to a healer who healed her leg, her hands and tongue then tothe dungeon antechamber where she had a tattoo inscribed on herback that would block her from shape changing. She was thenstripped naked, except for her hood, given a scant robe and chainedto the wall of a small room constructed to block the use of magicwithin. Deprived of her magic and shape change abilities Mirandawas helpless.
‘What a mess.’she thought. ‘It serves me right. My stupidity and arrogance hasreally landed me in the fire this time. I wonder what delightsthey’ve got planned. I hope they don’t find out I’m Snowbelle’sdaughter. Who was my father anyway? Mother’s always kept quietabout that. I wonder what Aquitain
