‘You mean do business with those horrible spirits. Are youmad.’ replied Miranlla starting to get upset.
‘No not at all. I’ve been thinking very clearly. I’m not surethat K’wala knows that I am supposed to be his son. I am sure thatI’m a pawn in a game between the gods and powers. I’ve been told somany lies and there’s been so much deception that I’m not sure whatis real and what isn’t. So I need time to find out. I need tocreate a firm reality that I and others can rely upon. We can dothat by making Astaria a competitor of Panmagica.’
‘Panmagica excels in trade of two things magic items andsecrets. However, most of its magic items are made by the Mentarin.What better way is there to find out what the gods are up to onAstaria than from greedy traders from all over the worlds wantinggood deals on magic items and willing to sell us all sorts ofsecrets.’
‘After a few years when we can fully understand theconsequences of releasing K’wala and Borse then we can decide on acourse of action. In the meantime the gods and powers will have towait on my decision and I will have time to learn from my DivinitySeeds.’
‘The gods won’t let you get away with this.’ saidMiranlla.
‘I think they will. I think both K’wala and Borse knowsomething that will really upset some of the gods that don’t knowabout it. The Mentarin know what it is and they have shown me. Isuspect they don’t want either K’wala or Borse released but theywill need the continued trade in magical items to pay for theirsupplies and research on Moonmist. If there is no gateway hereAstaria will have a monopoly on trade with them. ‘
‘But our friends, the druids will lose out.’ repliedMiranlla.
‘The druids want to keep this world sacred. If this is wherethey think the Maker created all the worlds they will fanaticallyprotect it against all invaders. They made amoral deals with boththe Yith and Panmagicans and key parts of those deals were thatboth groups had to stay away. Both the Yith and Panmagicans arehere to see the other side doesn’t break the agreement.’
‘If Astaria is the middleman between the Mentarin and theoutside worlds then the druids should be happy. We can deal withboth the Yith and Panmagican on equal terms. The Panmagicans andYith will have no reason to invade Mudrun and it can stay neutraland continue to be run by the druids.’
‘The big magic traders in Panmagica won’t accept it.’ saidGranddad. ‘We will effectively be stealing their suppliers. Theywill fight back.’
‘I’m sure they will. That should provide us some entertainmentbecause they will have to get into Astaria and no one will comeinto my domain without my knowledge. Do you think that you canhandle them outside?’ asked Aquitain.
Granddadthought for a couple of minutes and then smiled.
‘Yes it should be possible. I like the sound of this. It is aterrific chance to expand our family business. So you want me toexplain how we can permanently immobilize the permanent gate wayhere.’
‘Yes that would be very helpful.’ replied Aquitain.
‘Well all permanent gateways need an anchor stone which is avery magically powerful item and consequently very time consumingand expensive to make. It’s also usually well protected bothphysically and magically. Fortunately for us Featherdown consultedme when he wanted to build it. While we weren’t given the order tobuild it, he’s probably used my specifications. It might even havebeen built by the Mentarin.’
‘So how did you plan to get at the gate?’ askedGranddad.
‘I’m going to swim to it.’ Then he Aquitain turned into anEarth elemental and disappeared into the ground as if diving intowater. He climbed out a few paces away and turned back into aNewman shape.
‘It’s marvellous what you can learn if you have the need andthe right teacher.’ He said with a smile. Granddad smiled andsimply said ‘Well done.’
Let’s go aheadwith my plan now since we’re here. You can check out the yellowscaled little people later and I want to have a long talk withAlpha.’
‘What do you want us to do.’ asked Miranlla.
‘I want you both to come with me to the cavern under TwinTowers and then I want Miranlla to vent her Tempest rage on TwinTowers. I want a storm that all will remember with fear all therest of their lives. I don’t want them all dead as then no one cantell the story but a few deaths are inevitable. This will be awarning to Panmagica and its greedy traders that we meanbusiness.’
They teleportedinto the area below Twin towers and Miranlla took off her beltlimiting her power and gave it and Alpha to Granddad and drank inas much magic essence as she could hold. She then was teleportedback to the teleport marker with Granddad.
She turnedherself into a whirlwind and grew and grew in size and power untilshe could be seen and heard from all in Twin Towers, Everyone fledfor shelter as the rain and hail struck followed by massive blastsof chain lightning that lit up the sky and gale force winds thatcircled around Twin Towers destroying structures, flingingsupplies, animals, people and anything not securely held down allover the place.
They noticedthat the storm only vented its fury over them. The surroundingcountryside was not touched. They were under no illusion that thiswas a purposeful magic attack but they were helpless to do anythingother than try to survive it.
MeanwhileAquitain had turned into his rock elemental form and casually swamfrom the cave up to the gateway. On arrival he could see the spiritimages of several people crowding around near the entrance to theroom holding the gateway. He decided that he might be able to justswallow the anchor stone and swim away with it inside his body.However, as he approached it he found that it repelled him fromgetting any closer than five paces.
‘Damn. They have some type of repulsion magic to stop me fromwhat I was trying to do. I’ll have to try and get it from thecorridor.’ he thought.
He stepped outinto the corridor as quietly
