Aquitain waspermanently mindlinked with all creatures that had a mind insidethis world, so it was easy just to ask her using mindspeak where tomeet her. When he arrived in the library area where he had met herbefore, she had a hot cup of brew and some cake waiting.
‘This is when Ifind out the bad news.’ he thought.
‘What does shewant me to do?’
‘My, you arebusy aren’t you?’ said Llanlorian with a pleasant smile.
‘You’ve alreadymade more changes here than we’ve seen for the last ten years. I’llhave to send you away before the changes overwhelm us.’ she saidafter sipping some hot brew.
‘I’m going totell you a story. You may have heard parts before but I’m sure minewill be a little different. It might explain some of the things youknow and give insight to things that you haven’t yet discovered.However, first the answers to some of the questions that must bepuzzling you.’
‘Can you harmme? The answer is no. However, you should find this out yourself.There is a dagger on the table. Get it and try and stab or cut mewith it and then try to use you magic against me.’
Aquitain tookthe dagger and a vicious change came over him. He was going to killthe bitch. There was a mental struggle for a few seconds and he wasback in control again.
He tried tostab her and then tried to use a mental power against her. In eachcase as soon as he tried he had an excruciating pain in hishead.
‘The Oath ofFealty that you swore, forbids you to harm me in any way eitherconsciously or unconsciously. It can only be lifted by me removingit or either of us dying.’
‘Why did I giveyou free rein to go anywhere on this world?’ asked Llanlorian.
‘The answer tothat question is that I believe this world, Astaria, our world,your world now, is in danger and you can help me defend it. I knowyou will too, as no one would let his or her world be destroyedwithout a fight. The more you know it the more you’ll love it. Itis a part of us and we are a part of it.’
Llanlorian wasbeginning to really impress Aquitain. She was cool, calm and seemedto have answers for everything. She was also right about one thing,he was feeling attached to this place already and he guessed thatthe longer he stayed the more it would entice him to fight for it.Strange that.
‘Now for thestory.’ she said.
‘If you thinkof any more questions ask me at the end.’ And she began.
‘There once wasa very pretty druid woman called Sindel who was very ambitious,arrogant and vain. She became powerful in her own world, Mudrun,but was unhappy because she wanted more than her world could offer.She met an ambitious Elendari man from Moonmist and fell in lovewith him. She went to live with him in Moonmist and helped him gainfame, fortune and power.’
‘Unfortunately,when he gained these things, he liked them so much he decided hewanted more. He wanted to be a part of the Royal family, perhapseven be the king. But to do this he would have to leave her behind.He neglected her. She was isolated from her own kind and grew sad,lonely and bitter. One day she met one of her own kind and had anaffair with him and got pregnant. When she discovered she waspregnant she decided to flee back to Mudrun.’
‘Being verysecretive, she planned a way to get back to her home world througha gate world like this one. The moment her baby was born she fledalong with a Llanllean wizard who was to be the child’s nanny. Thegatekeeper was a friend of her husband who had been asked not tolet her pass. There was a fight she managed to kill the gatekeeperbut during the fight she was killed but the nanny and childsurvived.
Fortunately forSindel, shortly after the fight a druid sought passage through thegateway. The quick thinking nanny convinced the druid toreincarnate her to reunite her with her baby. The druid agreed butto their surprise The Lady reincarnated Sindel as the nymph who nowcalls herself Snowbelle. Rather than flee back to Mudrun Snowbelledecided to make the gateworld hers. Together with the nanny theygot rid of anyone in the gateworld that objected and she asked theQueen of the Crin for help to hold it.’
‘Her Moonmisthusband, a fellow by the name of Wyvern Darkmantle was unhappy whenhe found out as it was going to ruin his plans. The King of theElendari was also very unhappy because he owned the gateworld. TheKing had some way of entering the gateworld and together withDarkmantle and a small number of troops led an attack on it butthey didn’t realize that Snowbelle had many Crin there to help herdefend it. The attack failed and the King was killed. Darkmantleand some of the troops managed to escape back to Moonmist.’
‘The Queen wasvery upset at the loss of both her husband and the gateworld.Needless to say she blamed Darkmantle and he lost all influencewithin the court. After that everyone decided to leave Snowbellealone until they could work out a way to defeat her, which up tonow they never have. She raised her child in the gateworld andlater her daughter became the druid, whom you know as Miranda. Shenow spends most of her time waiting and watching for a new attack.That was about 100 years ago Mudrun time.’
‘Are you sayingthat Miranda is 100 years old?’ asked Aquitain interruptingLlanlorian’s tale.
‘It depends onwhose time you are working by. Her gateworld Argenta is adjusted toMoonmist time as we are. While 100 years have passed on Mudrun herbody has only aged 20. She spent most of her time on Argenta as hermother was worried about her safety. Only in the last few Mudrunyears has her mother allowed her to roam freely in Mudrun so froman experience point of view she’s probably more like a mid-20 yearold. Now that you are a citizen of Astaria your body will age atthe same rate as hers, if that is what concerns you.’
‘Now may Icontinue the story?’ she said pointedly and
