The LittlePeople sat in their grievance circle and took it in turns todiscuss the various problems caused by the Pact of Renewal. At themoment more seemed to be in favour of keeping it but those infavour of dumping it were very vocal. Miranlla and the others weretoo nervous to sit but walked continually, occasionally stopping tohave a brief chat with each other. The day wore on and nothinghappened. Miranlla didn’t see Rori anywhere. She asked about himbut nobody seemed to know where he was. This worried Miranlla as hehad wanted her help.
If Loopis,Jacintra and R’ptor showed up together as expected there would be afight and she didn’t know what Rori expected her to do. In fact shewas thinking that they should all do nothing and suggested this toQuab and Featherdown.
Just on dark,Featherdown came over to her.
‘Something’s wrong Helix is not here. They will start callingLoopis and Jacintra shortly after they build up thebonfires.’
‘Rori, the young shaman who wanted my help if R’ptor shows upisn’t around either. I haven’t seen him since we arrivedyesterday.’ she replied.
One group ofdevoted followers began to call for Loopis to come and another forJacintra. The bonfires blazed and the shamans chanted. The sky wasdark and clear and lit with a multitude of stars.
Hieronymuscalled to Quab and they both went into the King’s large circulartent and closed the flap.
She walked overto Featherdown and stood beside him. Granddad moved to the otherside of her.
‘What’s the king doing?’ she asked.
‘Taking precautions.’ said Featherdown.
‘He’s leaving?’ she asked a little surprised.
‘Of course not.’ replied Featherdown. ‘He would never run froma fight on Mudrun. He will happily die here but hopefully nottonight.’
‘You have passed on my worries about the little people and mysuggestion that we should stay out of it.’ she asked.
‘Of course Your Majesty!’ replied Featherdown.
The temperaturedropped and everyone felt a chill in the air.
‘Here they come.’ said Featherdown. ‘Move closer to the King’stent.’
Featherdown andgranddad each took one of Miranlla’s arms and dragged her back.
‘What you doing?’ she asked.
‘Preparing for the worst.’ Granddad replied.
‘Lightning crackled across the sky and two enormous creaturescame bounding across the plain towards the camp. They stood fourtimes the height of a newman and they blazed with silver fire. Theystopped fifty paces from the nearest little people and Loopis thegigantic Wolf boomed.
‘Why have you called a Great Council?’
All the LittlePeople burst into a welcome song for Lord Loopis.
‘Why have you called a Great Council?’
Boomed Jacintrathe gigantic jungle cat and all the Little People burst into awelcome song for Lord Jacintra.
‘We are calling a Great Council to be discussing the Pact ofRenewal.’ said an old shaman. ‘There are being new invaders in theland. It is being time we were changing the rules so that we can befulfilling our duties to the gods and the dragons. Will you beguiding us with our decisions great lords?’
‘There will be no changes.’ said Jacintra.
‘You will not alter the Pact.’ said Loopis.
Many of theLittle People applauded but many were disappointed.
‘Lord Loopis, Lord Jacintra. Please be hearing our voices. Weare needing to know what you think we should be doing about the newinvaders.’ Cried the old shaman.
‘You will do nothing.’ said Jacintra.
‘Ignore them.’ said Loopis.
‘Lord Loopis , Lord Jacintra, it is being our duty to bedefending the land against invaders. You are being our advisors butwe are wishing to be making the decisions.’
‘My advice is simple, go home.’ said Loopis.
‘Be patient!’ said Jacintra.
A giant eagleflew up beside the druid tent and they heard the scurrying oflittle people feet. Rori appeared at the tip of a large troop ofBarra people in a wedge shaped formation pointing towards Jacintraand Loopis.
‘Jacintra and Loopis you are not spirit totems. You are fakesand liars. Together with our friends and allies the druids we haverepaired the world. It is time we discarded the shackles of thePact of Renewal and created a new alliance that will restoreCrystalhaven to its former glory.’
‘You’re mad R’ptor we cannot turn back the years. What haspassed is history. It is not yet time to throw away the Pact thathas kept harmony for nearly three centuries. Be patient.’ saidLoopis.
‘The current pact has allowed the world to be renewed. Let’stake it slowly and not lose the benefits of our progress.’ saidJacintra.
‘Listen to the words of the Cat of Chaos. They sound like shehas suddenly become a champion of order. It clearly shows that sheis a fake and a puppet of those who would wish to conquer thisworld while we sit and do nothing.’ replied R’ptor.
‘You will drive a fatal wedge through the little people youswore to serve if you continue with this madness R’ptor.’ saidLoopis.
‘You are still the liar that you were when you refused toallow the Yellows to return from their exile Loopis. You are thereason why the yellows cannot walk this land with their heads heldhigh. Now you would allow invaders to come to the land and steal itfrom the rest. We cannot accept this anymore. Leave us to make ourown decisions you no longer have our confidence.’ saidR’ptor.
The crowdscattered in all directions fearing bloodshed and Featherdown andGranddad holding Miranlla’s arms between them backed up to thetent.
‘Heteronymous.’ yelled Featherdown. ‘It’s time toact!’
Guards aroundthe outside of the tent grabbed thin ropes attached to the kingslarge circular tent and pulled them. The tent fell apart revealing30 druids in a circle with heteronymous in the middle. The circleexpanded to make more room and the druids clapped hands, shouted awar cry and began singing a prayer.
Miranlla,Featherdown and Granddad moved into the circle.
‘Behold a druid battle circle.’ said Featherdown over themindlink to everyone.
‘I haven’t heard of one of these being used for centuries.This will test the will of the spirit creatures.’
‘Has the king ever done this before?’ asked Miranlla a littleworried.
‘He’s practiced it before but never against a formidableenemy.’ said Granddad. ‘It’s similar to how mind concerts workexcept that
