‘And you believe Aquitain is right?’ asked Darkmantlecuriously.
‘At my trial we had a visitation from the Lady or one of heravatars. That is extremely rare. It was her interest in Tigerlilly.She has changed her plans. She took away Snowbelle’s druidabilities and blessed me with greater abilities. She thinks I amready to be Queen.’
‘By the Powers, so do I!’ said Darkmantle. ‘I think you’reready to be Queen and I’ll do my best to make sure youare!’
‘However, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of your mother. Ifshe’s upset the Lady enough to have her druid abilities taken awaythen that means she’s made friends with one of the lady’s enemiesand that is sure to be bad.’
‘Hmm. I haven’t had time to think about the possibility yetbut I’m sure that you’re right.’ replied Mirandathoughtfully.
‘Thank you father, have a safe trip home.’ And she changed toher eagle form and flew off towards Kami’s little peoplevillage.
She landed nearKami’s hut changed to her old Miranda body form and went to findhim. The villagers told her that the village council, Kami theshaman and many of the warriors were all absent. They had left forthe Wolf Clan village to join up with the other tribes for acouncil of war. They had heard that invaders from another world hadarrived and attacked the druids. They were meeting to discuss thesituation and were unlikely to be back for several days. There wasonly one old council member left and he was out in the jungle witha visitor and several youngsters collecting ingredients for healingbalms.
‘By the Lady, this is terrible.’ she thought. ‘If they try tofight the Yith alone they’ll be slaughtered.’
‘I will have the birds find him.’ she said and moved to anopen area in the centre of the village. All the villagers and theirchildren came out to watch hoping to see the druid do somethingspecial and that was exactly what was in her mind. It didn’t hurtoccasionally to display a little druid power.
She asked allthe people to sit in a circle around her and asked for the childrento be quiet and not to harm or chase the birds.
Miranda stoodarms outstretched and began singing the Song of Birds. This was thefirst song her mother had taught her. She could still vividlyrecall the thrill it had given her the first time that she had sangit. This song was the reason that she had become a druid. The songdramatically showed the bond between the druid and nature. Thevillagers hardly needed to be told to be quiet they were hypnotizedby the melody and then transfixed by what they saw.
As Miranda’sbeautiful voice wafted up into the trees and off into thesurrounding jungle, birds came from all directions. Brightlycoloured parrots flew down onto her outstretched arms and one ortwo onto her head. Small, multi-coloured birds of all types flew incircles around her. Larger birds like turkeys and brush hens camerunning across the ground and stood near her enchanted by the song.Eagles and other birds of prey landed on the hut roofs and onnearby tree branches.
When more thana hundred had collected, she changed the song. Any magic user wouldhave felt the jolt of pure magic as she implored the birds to seekthe councillor and tell him to return to the village urgently. Asher song tapered off, the birds took to their wings, flying off inall directions to deliver her message.
The childrenwere excited and shouted for her to do it again. Many of the oldervillagers smiled. The song brought back fond memories of when theywere children and the first time they had heard the song. It hadraised their morale and given them wonderful dreams for weeks.
‘I am thanking you, Miranda of the druids!’ said one of theoldest. ‘It reassures us to have the druids as goodfriends.’
A few minuteslater, the Councillor and his visitor, an elderly female purplescaled little person hurried into the village and headed for theheadman’s hut. Miranda was sitting out the front surrounded bychildren all excitedly asking her questions about her and Aquitainthe spirit bear. In a way it was relaxing. She had been through somuch in the last few weeks. The normal almost seemed unreal.
‘Good day, Druidess Miranda, first favourite of our greatesthero, may Jacintra be giving you courage and the light of the Ladyalways be guiding your way.’ said the Councillor.
‘I am feeling greatly unhappy that we are having no one hereto be singing the welcome song. Great events are being happening inour land. It is being a great relief to be seeing that you arebeing well. We were all being very worried when Kami was telling usthat you were disappearing while helping the Wolf people with someproblems with bad spirits some weeks ago.’
‘Thank you for your concern about my safety!’ replied Mirandastanding and addressing the councillor. ‘The greetings and smilesof your children are my welcome song. I feel at home amongstfriends.’
‘I was waylaid by bad people for some time but the spirit bearAquitain came to my rescue once more.’ she said with a smile. ‘Yourcommunication system between the tribes is obviously working well.You are aware that there are invaders from another world attackingthe people on this world.’
‘Yes, the Wolf Clan people were hearing of it and have beencalling a Great Council to discuss what we might be doing. They arehoping that Loopis the Wolf spirit will be appearing to be advisingthem. Our chief is hoping that Jacintra might be appearing.However, many of our young and those from other clans are believingthat it is being more likely that the spirit bear will be showingup to talk to them. The real question is being what will behappening if all three come. Will they be fighting over who will beadvising us?’
‘I cannot answer that question.’ said Miranda, ‘but it isprobable that none will show up for a while as the currentsituation has become quite complex. I will tell you of what I knowand then
