‘That wasquick.’ he thought. ‘They must have this place under continualsurveillance.’ then he remembered that the statues at hisgrandfather’s place watched and notified his grandfather ofvisitors.’
‘My name isGarret. I wish to see the Queen. She has invited me here to see herbut I was waylaid.’
‘And yourfriend is invited also?’ asked the trixie.
‘Yes, he istraveling with me.’ replied Garret.
‘Can you pleasetake us to see Llalorax, the Queen’s magician.’ asked Aquitain. ‘Wewish to talk to him.’
This surprisedthe trixie.
‘Okay. Pleasehold my hand,’ and they were teleported to Llalorax’s room underthe grotto in the centre of the maze garden.
The trixie thenshifted shape to his large Llanllean spider shape and said
’Well Newmanand little gnome you better tell me what I want to know or you maybe my next snack,’ thinking that this would scare them into somefast talking.
Garret frozesolid in fear and began shaking, while Aquitain said ’I gather thatyou’re Llalorax, the Queen’s wizard? My name is Aquitain of Mudrun,nice to meet you. Somanller asked me to pass on her regards. Couldyou please change back to your previous form or you’re likely toscare my friend Garret to death.’
Llaloraxchanged back to his trixie form and said ‘Can you please explainwhat you are doing here and how you know Somanller.’
So Aquitaintold him how he had been tracking the stolen sceptre and hadinformation that it might be coming here. He explained that whenGarret was invited here by the Queen he offered to come along as anassistant as he might be able to find out about the sceptre’sfate.
He explainedhow Garret had been accidentally kidnapped and he had followed,about the strange reaction of Ansidian the bird creature and hisdiscussions with Somanller and the others. He also told Llaloraxabout the attacks on Somanller’s village by men wearing the Queen’slivery. The mage looked quite upset by this news although he didn’tsay anything to Aquitain.
‘I find itdifficult that Somanller would have confided in a gnome.’ saidLlalorax.
Aquitainreluctantly shifted to his Llanllean spiderling shape then back tothe gnome shape explaining about how he had been reincarnated as aLlanllean.
‘I knew it!’said Garret. ‘I knew you were a spider too and hiding it from me.That’s why you were so friendly with them.’
‘It’s not quitelike that Garret.’ said Aquitain a little worried.
‘I didn’t showyou because you didn’t need to know and I didn’t want to scareyou.’
‘That’s againstthe rules of reincarnation.’ stated Llalorax.
‘That’s whateverybody keeps saying.’ agreed Aquitain. ‘But I didn’t have a sayin it. I died and ended up like this. How do you think I feel?’
Moments later,the room was full of guards wearing the Queen’s livery. The guardofficer activated a sceptre in his hand and Aquitain felt his gnomedisguise melt and he transformed into his Llanllean shape.Llalorax’s shape also changed to his Llanllean form in theanti-magic field generated by the sceptre.
‘What is themeaning of this?’ he said in a most annoyed tone of voice.
‘I am sorry myLord, but the Queen has directed that you and your rebelconspirators be brought before her and commanded us to ensure thatyour magic capability be limited.’ replied the officer a littleembarrassed.
‘What rebelconspirators?’ asked Llalorax.
‘These peoplehave just arrived to see the Queen. I was ensuring that they werenot dangerous.’
‘I’m sorry myLord we are only following orders. Please allow the guards toshackle you. Any resistance will be dealt with severely.’
An hour later,the three were dragged in front of the Queen. The throne room washuge, circular in shape and lavishly decorated with crystal statuesof vicious looking beasts, none of which he recognized. These wereprobably added protections. He didn’t doubt that they would becomeanimated at the Queen’s command.
The edges ofthe throne room were covered in swirling fog giving an addedfeeling of size. The floor was made of a silvery coloured marbleinlaid with heraldic devices that glowed with magic. The ceilingwas covered with magic balls of light of all sizes that were set atdifferent heights giving the impression that they were stars. Someeven twinkled.
It was thethrone that really caught Aquitain’s attention. It was in the shapeof a huge dragon carved out of granite rock with an ornate scarletand golden seat that was located in between the forearms of thebeast. The head of the creature stood ten paces from the ground andwore a golden crown making it look quite imperious.
Queen Aurorawas a spectacularly beautiful, golden haired Elendari woman dressedin diaphanous robes of azure green with animal patterns woven ingold. The cloth had a metallic sheen and smelled of strong magiceven at a distance.
The Queen’snaked body could be clearly seen through her clothes. She wasobviously very proud of her body and wasn’t in the leastembarrassed about displaying it to her subjects or visitors.Aquitain wondered what Garret would be thinking considering hisprudish comments in the maze garden.
Garret andLlalorax, in Newman form, shackled in cold steel chains wereescorted to about ten paces from the Queen and made to kneel infront of her with their heads bowed. Aquitain, still in his smallLlanllean form, had been placed in a wicker basket. The guardcarrying him simply dropped him beside Garret, jarring his legs ashe crashed against the floor.
It was obviousby the way they had treated him that they didn’t see him as much ofa threat. That was advantageous as far as he was concerned. It wasalways better to be underestimated in a fight than the opposite. Hecould no longer rely on size and strength; it would have to bestealth and cunning.
‘Guard, unchainMaster Garret.’ ordered the Queen.
‘I’m glad youhave come. I hear your trip has been eventful. I wish to heareverything. Please start from the beginning.’
Garret blurtedout the whole story from waking as a trixie outcast to stating ingreat detail how scared he was when captured by the Llanlleans. Hetold the Queen that Aquitain tricked him. He had thought that hewas a gnome not a spider. He felt that Aquitain had conspired withthe rebel Llanlleans to interrogate him before allowing him to seethe Queen and even then wanted to see the Queen’s magician who wasalso a giant spider before seeing the Queen.
Aquitaincouldn’t believe that Garret would put all the blame on him. Theywere supposed to be working together. Seeing Aquitain as
