‘As a result I have no idea what Aquitain may or may not do. Isincerely apologize for my errors in judgment.’
There wasabsolute quiet for several minutes as everyone mulled overgranddad’s revelation.
‘What do you think Your Highness?’ asked Featherdownpointedly.
‘I have never met this avatar bound to Aquitain although hehas mentioned another spirit that he believed was his guardian. Ifit meant to harm Aquitain it has certainly had enough opportunityso I have to assume that it is benevolent. The manner of birth ofAquitain suggests that it is Aquitain’s father. The very fact thatit allowed you to take away its powers and not associate withAquitain all its life suggests it never had any ill intensiontowards your daughter or Aquitain. It sounds like something that aparent might do for its child.’
‘That is now my conclusion also.’ replied Granddad with tearsin his eyes. ‘I have treated my grandson’s father with derision andcontempt all of Aquitain’s life. I just hope they can find itwithin themselves to forgive my stupidity.’
‘If this all started in Astaria why didn’t it end whenAquitain and his father returned?’ asked Quab.
‘Aquitain came to the conclusion that some gods were involvedin whatever is happening on Astaria. If that is true and his fatheris an avatar then … that is why I was sent away. They are worriedthat I will get hurt!’
‘How does Moonmist fit in?’ asked Featherdown.
‘The Mentarin have a city on Moonmist. They also have afactory there which they use to produce cheap magic items for saleelsewhere. They have been keeping its location a secret from thepeople on Moonmist for ages.’
‘I knew it!’ said Quab. ‘That’s what we’ve been exporting foryears to the Panmagicans through the gateway at Twin Towers. Allthose sealed containers were magic items for sale inPanmagica.’
‘Ah.’ replied Granddad. ‘That’s why I got kicked out ofPanmagica. Rob discovered their secret and they traced him back tome. Maybe Rob has been made the gatekeeper to stop the suppliespassing through Astaria.’
‘That would have serious implications for the war between theYith and the Panmagicans.’ said Heteronymous. ‘That might explainwhy the Panmagicans are upset and have captured Twin Towers.Perhaps they wish to attack Astaria itself next. Perhaps the Yithare here to stop the Panmagicans attacking Astaria?’
‘There could be another reason the Yith are here.’ said Quab.‘Shall you tell them or I, Your Highness.’
Heteronymousnodded to Quab.
‘Well it seems we have some large farms up the north. Theyproduce medicinal herbs that we have been selling to the Yith. Whatthey didn’t know but are likely to know now are that we also grow aplant called Lizardbane. It is a narcotic to the Yith and we havebeen selling it to the Panmagicans. It’s not hard to guess whatthey have been doing with it and it could be one of the reasons whythe war started between the Panmagicans and the Yith in the firstplace.’
‘By the Powers are you people crazy?’ shouted Granddad. ‘Thatstuff sends the Yith mad. It’s the cause of half the troubles inthe Yith empire.’
Heteronymousseemed unconcerned.
‘It solved a problem for the Druid Council. It kept both thePanmagicans and Yith from coming here. You don’t understand howimportant Mudrun is. Mudrun is the centre of creation. The Creatorhimself stood here while he created everything else.’
‘What!’ said Granddad. ‘How do you know that?’
‘It is the central druid dogma. The druids searched for thisplace for thousands of years until someone told them where it was.We came here and found it destroyed. Hardly a living thing muchlarger than an insect and hardly a plant other than mushrooms hadsurvived.’
‘The Inter-World Druid Council sent hundreds of druids herewho have been working nonstop to return it to the wonder it istoday. We believe the Gods had a fight here causing thedestruction. We suspect the little people know what happened andpossibly even why but none have ever revealed it to us. They areextremely resistant to mind probes. The temples are somehowinvolved. There were once dozens of temples like the one not farfrom here. There are only two in functional order left. Someonedestroyed almost all of them.’
‘The Inter-World Druid Council believes that some god had thetemples put here for a purpose and another god or group of godsdestroyed them. Why is unknown.’
‘We have never seen the inside of the two that areoperational. When we heard that you and Aquitain had gained entryto one we tried to get in after you were gone and couldn’t get in.What does that suggest?’
‘His father helped him get in.’ Proffered Quab.
‘Or perhaps a Goddess let him get in.’ said Miranda. ‘Orwanted him to get in. That’s where Aquitain lost Alpha and Zephira.Maybe it was planned all along. Everything. The Mask of Chaos,everything. It was all planned to separate Aquitain and the dragonspirit in Alpha. That’s why Zephira wasn’t harmed and why alpha wassealed so that it couldn’t communicate.’
‘Then surely whatever the dragon spirit in alpha wanted to dohas been stopped.’ said Quab.
‘Not necessarily.’ replied Granddad. ‘If the dragon spirit inalpha implanted a plan of action in either Aquitain or his father’shead then they may do it without realizing it.’
‘Oh. Dear Lady!’ said Miranda. ‘I’ve got to go to warnAquitain!’
‘That’s not a good idea M’Lady.’ said a voice in her mind.‘You may get hurt. I’m sure Aquitain sent you away from Astaria fora good reason.’
Chapter 36 Puppets of theGods
Miranda searched hermind for who could have spoken into her mind and suddenly she knewwho it was. She made the hand signal to Granddad to link minds. Hewas a little surprised that she knew that family signal but createda link.
‘What is it Your Highness.’ he asked.
‘There is a puppeteer controlling one of us hopefully not you.Its name is Slivver. Don’t kill it. It’s a friend but we need tointerrogate it. I’ll create a diversion.’ and she prayed silentlyto the Lady that it wasn’t on Granddad.
Mirandasuddenly stood and began singing a soothing
