Five minuteslater they were sitting drinking and Quab began.
‘An hour ago Ihad a visitor in my sanctuary. He pretended to be someone I knewbut he wasn’t. He wanted to know about Aquitain. I got suspiciousof his motives and threw him out. After he left I began to thinkmore clearly than I have ever done in my life about what has beenhappening over the last few years and especially about what ishappening now. You might say I had a revelation.’
‘I wasn’tpleased when I was selected from all the druids on Mudrun to be theliaison between you two. I have never liked playing politics andstill don’t. Heteronimus you will recall I did not want the job butyou convinced me that I should take it and I did.’
‘Neither of youtrust each other and neither of you trust me. You both only tell mewhat you want the other to know. I have known this for years andtolerated it but I don’t like the games you both play. You bothlove Mudrun. You are both afraid that the Yith or the religiousfanatics might want to take Mudrun for themselves. You both spendhalf your time away from Mudrun on business. I suspect that it isto monitor the war between the Yith and the Panmagicans. To watchfor signs that either might wish to come here.’
‘When AllanAmber told Featherdown about the prophesy of the Time of Chaos andFeatherdown passed it on to the druid council you both panicked.You both got more suspicious about each other. The druid councilresponded by placing Curbut with Featherdown. Featherdown respondedby placing his brother on the Druid Council.’
‘What!’ saidHeteronimus, ‘How dare you Featherdown!’
Featherdownchuckled. ‘Very astute Quab I never suspected that you knew.’
‘You have bothbeen so concerned about the threat from outside you haven’t noticedthe threat from within. Featherdown took on an apprentice whoturned out to be an imposter. We still don’t know where she fitsinto the puzzle but we know she is somehow associated with theYith.
‘Curbut was atraitor. A religious faction from Panmagica employed him as a spyat the same time he was supposed to be a Druid Council spy.Featherdown thought he was feeding him misinformation to tell boththe council and the religious faction but we now know that Curbutwas outsmarting everyone. He knew what Featherdown was really doingbecause he had his own spy here.’
‘The fact isthere are probably spies everywhere. Some you suspect and some youdon’t. That’s not really the problem. The problem is thateverything changed when Aquitain arrived. It signalled thatsomething was about to happen and you both panicked again. He camehere in a borrowed body. You both thought that Aquitain could beeither a Yith or a Panmagican spy. You both couldn’t decide.Featherdown used his brother to find out. I suspect the druidcouncil tried as well but neither of you succeeded.’
‘Featherdownstarted to believe that perhaps Aquitain was here for somebeneficial hidden purpose. The council got scared and it authorizedCurbut to kill Aquitain. Featherdown knew their decision but didn’tagree, as he still wanted to know what the hidden purpose was so hedecided to help Aquitain hide. Curbut outsmarted Featherdown, foundout where Aquitain was and killed him. Princess Miranda decided shecouldn’t trust anyone, reincarnated him and has warned you boththat he is under her protection now.’
‘What hasastounded you both is all the amazing things that have happenedaround him while he has been here. Because of these he has beenlabelled an Agent of Chaos but is he? I know him better than eitherof you. I have been close to him and Miranda. He doesn’t know whyhe’s here. He doesn’t know why all these things are happening buthe does believe they are happening for a reason. I believe him. Heis a signal for something to happen.’
‘I think thathis grandfather knows. Some of the Yith know and some of thereligious factions know but we are in the dark or are we?’
‘I oftenwondered why the Yith made a claim for Mudrun yet have never comehere. I have wondered why the difficulties really started betweenthe Yith and the Panmagican religious factions. It’s a poorly keptsecret that we have farms growing medicinal herbs which we tradefor off world goods but we seem to send out more herbs than wegrow. Much more than we grow. They are all labelled herbs but theyare not all herbs. Some of the containers are very heavy.’
‘I remember oneof the guards commenting that he had heard that some of the herbswere in containers that had magical seals. He wondered why theybothered. The general consensus was the seals were to stop peoplestealing the stuff during transit so no one worried. I suspect itis to stop people finding out what was really beingtransported.’
‘Why did theYith claim Mudrun? Why did the Panmagicans object? Why did thedifficulties really start? Why has no one come here? I think I havefinally worked it out.’
‘As the storygoes the Inter-World druid Council found out about Mudrun’sdestruction. They came here quietly to rebuild it and they have.But the one thing they never knew was how it was destroyed in thefirst place.’
‘I suspect thatthey thought that a new magical weapon caused the destruction. Aweapon that could destroy all life on a world would endanger allthe worlds in the universe. So they decided to keep quiet about it.To rebuild it as if nothing had ever happened. But somehow thePanmagicans found out. They wanted to come here to find out aboutthe weapon. The druids bribed them to stay away by offeringsomething of value that Mudrun could supply very cheaply. That’swhen the trade started.’
‘Twenty-fiveyears ago the Yith worked out the same thing. They wanted a bribeto stay away as well. The Panmagicans didn’t want the Yith tobenefit from the deal that they had so the difficulties startedwith them to protect their trade. The druids Council decided to paythe Yith to stay away as well. The Panmagicans are paid insomething I don’t know about and the Yith are paid in medicinalherbs.’
‘The problem isthat both the Yith and the Panmagicans are still interested in whatsort of a weapon could destroy a world. The Inter-World DruidsCouncil keeps them both away by
