‘Has she charmed you?’ asked Miranda.
‘Of course not.’ replied the Lord. ‘She just came to warn usabout you.’
‘Really.’ said Miranda. ‘If that’s true why don’t you dispelany magic on yourself.’
‘Ha.’ said the Lord ‘You’re trying to get me to remove myprotections so that you can charm me. I’m not a fool youknow.’
‘I’ll make a deal with you. If you dispel yourself thenreplace any magic protections you feel necessary then I’ll let youinto the Stronghold.’ said Miranda.
‘You’re up to some type of trick.’ said the Lord. ‘Snowbellesaid you were a cunning bitch.’
At this stagesome of the Lord’s men began muttering among themselves and totheir Lieutenant. He came forward and whispered into his Lord’sear.
‘Okay I agree with your conditions.’ the Lord said. ‘It seemsthat you have already charmed some of my men.’
He went behindhis troops and cast a dispel on himself while his guards watchedMiranda’s people for treachery.
Suddenly therewas a cry.
‘Where am I? What have I done? I don’t believe it.’
He came runningforward and dropped to his knees in front of Miranda.
‘Please forgive me. I’m sorry I didn’t realize what I wasdoing. I apologize. Please forgive my vile insults. I have alwaysconsidered Lord Darkmantle a close friend.’ said theLord.
‘Get up. I forgive you.’ said Miranda. ‘Snowbelle is known asthe Queen of Charm. I know of only one person alive that evermanaged to resist her. You can be thankful to be one of the veryfew to be charmed by her and still alive. Now I will keep my sideof the bargain. Let’s go and see what ails Prendergrass so we canfind out where my father is but before we go I would like all themen here to shake hands. We are all on the same side.’
While all themen shook hands she thanked the Lord’s Lieutenant. He wasembarrassed and apologized for not spotting that his Lord wascharmed. She then went to see the Captain of Darkmantle’s guard whohad been woken and was standing without assistance but wasobviously still a little weak.
‘Thank you for saving my life and healing me M’Lady.’ said theCaptain.
‘It is the least I could do for defending my honour, Captain.We need you and every one of your men. I think we’ll all have a lotmore fighting before things become stable and peaceful again. Thewounds were serious I suggest you take it easy for a couple of daysto allow them to heal well.’
‘Thank you again, M’Lady. We will not rest until we see youQueen.’
The young Lordreturned to her side trying hard to be friendly.
‘I’m Lord Alfin Reedford, second in line to my father’sestate. It is truly an honour to meet you. My father is currentlyill with some minor fever; he has spoken highly of you and LordDarkmantle. Thank you for saving me from the worst mistake in mylife. You are not only beautiful beyond imagination but have anexceptionally sharp mind for a woman. My father will be most upsetwith my stupidity and would never have forgiven me harming friendsof his.’
Miranda justsmiled and led the way into the stronghold followed by Darkmantle’sCaptain and the Lord Reedford’s lieutenant. They wound their waythrough the maze of tunnels until they came to Prendergrass’s smallroom. He lay on his bed only partially conscious. His whole bodywas covered in putrid weeping black sores.
‘By the Lady, you’ve got the Black Rot.’ said Miranda. ‘Howdid you get this?’
Prendergrassdidn’t answer but the Captain did.
‘Not long after you and the Lord Warden left this morning,Lord Darkmantle left with the Newman visitor called Garret and adetail of guards. He left Prendergrass in charge, with me as hisdeputy. Sometime later, we were visited by your mother.Prendergrass ordered me and all the male guards inside, replacingthem with female guards then went to speak with her.’
‘When he returned he said she wished to see you and the LordWarden. When he told her that you had left she was most displeasedand teleported away. He then said he would rest a while, as he felta little ill. A few minutes ago when Lord Reedford arrived, I senta guard down to get him and the guard reported he was too ill tocome.’
‘Why are you doing this Snowbelle?’ thoughtMiranda.
‘Captain, I will need to cure this or he will die, show mewhere you keep your healing herbs and potions, if you have nopotion suitable I can still cure the disease but I will need tomeditate for some hours before trying. In the meantime, we may beable to give him some temporary relief.’ said Miranda.
‘I’m sorry Lord Reedford, as you can see we have an emergency.The Captain will show you around but if he says that my father hasgone you can be sure he has.’
‘I’ve seen enough to report to my father that Queen Snowbelleis causing mischief and that you are beyond doubt a suitablecandidate for our Queen. You have our support, Princess Miranda. Iwill take my leave and hope that you can cure Prendergrass of hishorrible affliction.’ said Lord Reedford.
Miranda wasshown to Darkmantle’s well-stocked medicine collection andfortunately there was a suitable potion to cure Prendergrass. Afteradministering the potion Miranda left him for an hour to recoverwhile she visited the guards. Morale was sky high. They had nothingbut praise for the way she had handled young Lord Reedford.
Darkmantle’smen were friendly with many of Reedford’s men having trained andworked together on several occasions in the past, neither side hadwished to fight each other.
Miranda washaving a cup of brew when Prendergrass staggered in.
‘Thank you for ridding me of that ghastly diseaseM’Lady
‘I’ve seen it put on others and never guessed it would be sopainful that you couldn’t even think.’
‘Was it Snowbelle?’ said Miranda.
‘Yes. I’m sorry M’Lady.’ said Prendergrass. ‘She was in anasty mood and when I told her that you and the Lord Warden hadleft. She carried on quite a treat and cursed me with this diseasebefore leaving.’
‘I’m sorry Prendergrass. She normally hates wizards at thebest of times but if she’s pregnant as Aquitain believes, it musthave shortened her temper even more.’ said Miranda.
‘Of course it could have been Adonis disguised as your mother,M’Lady. You shouldn’t discount that
