‘On no.’ he thought ‘I think I’ve done the wrongthing.’
The rabbitsturned into bats and flew around chasing and eating thebutterflies. As he watched, the bats grew in size then one suddenlyfell out of the sky and splattered on the ground. The mess reformedinto a blob which separated into two bats which took off after morebutterflies.’
He looked downand saw that his body had changed to a green crystalline rock. Hewas now the shape that he had seen in the mirror back on the beach.He was twice as tall as his Newman body and had massive strong armsand legs. He felt and even looked a bit like a large green stonyhairless bear. It frightened him.
‘By the Powers.’ he though ‘what will Miranda think when shesees me like this? She won’t recognize me. I’ll really scare her.Maybe I should leave?’
Racing back tothe door and thrust his arm through and it changed to his Newmanarm then he remembered he had let the bats in. What would they dowhen they ran out of butterflies to eat? It wasn’t too hard toguess.
They wouldattack Miranda or him or both of them. What a superbly vicioustrap. He tried to change his shape but nothing happened. He triedto imagine a mirror but nothing happened. He was in Miranda’sdream. Only she could change things here except perhaps for onething, the door.
He imagined itas a ball of mind clay and it melted into a ball at the base of thebarrier. He picked it up and began running in the direction of thecentre of the barrier with big heavy stomping footsteps. He noticedthe butterfly population was becoming denser as he ran. He lookedbehind him and saw that there were already a couple of dozen batsflying around gorging themselves on butterflies. Soon there wouldbe hundreds. How long would it be before they ran out of food?
He saw an oldman with a large white beard and a young golden haired girl and rantowards them. The old man was watching the sky trying to make outwhat was happening. The young girl screamed and pointed atAquitain. He looked in Aquitain’s direction and raised a twistedwooden staff and vines shot out of the ground tripping Aquitainthen swirling and twisting around him clinging tightly.
‘Is that you Miranda? It’s me Aquitain.’ he shouted. ’We’re ingreat danger.’
The little girlscreamed.
’It’s the Aquitain monster. I heard someone say it was thebeast that hurt my body.’
‘So you’re the monster.’ said Ironwood. ‘You will perish herefor your foul deeds.’ and vicious thorns coated with corrosivefluid started sprouting out of the vines pressing into Aquitain’scrystalline skin.
‘No.’ said Aquitain desperately.
‘Hear me out. I’m seeking the spirit of Miranda, my lost love.Her spirit was stolen from her real body yesterday. I saw hermessage for help in the flower sent out with the butterflies andfollowed them here.’
Ironwood washesitant.
‘Is that true Moonbeam? Did you tell the butterflies to returnwhen they reached their target.’
‘Yes. But I didn’t tell them to bring a big monsterback.’
‘What sort of creature are you?’ said Ironwood.
‘I’m a Newman but for some reason when I passed through yourbarrier I changed into this huge hulk of a body.’
‘That’s strange.’ said Ironwood.
‘Anyone in my domain are shown in their true form so you can’tbe Newman.’
‘I can’t explain my body form but I am the one that gave theflower with my love to Miranda. If that is Miranda she willrecognize this.’ and he used the ball of mind clay to createanother flower, kissed it and threw it to the ground nearMoonbeam’s feet.
Moonbeam pickedit up and held it to her lips. This one also had the same perfumeas the original.
‘It’s just like my flower, Ironwood. Maybe he did give thefirst one to me but I know I heard the people say it was theAquitain monster that hurt me.’
Ironwood wasundecided. Someone had certainly stolen Moonbeam’s memory and hername. Anyone that would do that would think nothing of implanting afalse memory. If this creature was telling the truth then they hadalso stolen her spirit from her real body and presumably placed itin another body that was already damaged. Perhaps this creature wasactually telling the truth.
‘Tell me more about this Miranda you seek.’ saidIronwood.
Miranda is abeautiful druid princess about 20 years old. Her mother isSnowbelle the nymph Queen of Argenta. She doesn’t know who herfather is. Her real body lies sleeping in the Elendari LordDarkmantle’s estate on Moonmist.’
‘I remember the name Snowbelle. I think she is my mother.’said Moonbeam a little unsure.
A bat flewnearby attracting Ironwood’s attention.
‘How did they get here?’
‘Unfortunately when I passed your barrier they managed tosneak through. Once inside they began eating the butterflies andgrowing. When they reach a certain size they split into two andcontinue on. I think they belong to our enemy. I am concerned whatthey will do when they run out of butterflies.’
More bats beganflying around them. Hundreds were visible in the sky around themall chasing fewer and fewer butterflies. Suddenly one swooped downattacking Miranda. Ironwood swatted it with his staff and it burstinto a small cloud of dark mist and evaporated.
Ironwood wasstill unsure and not prepared to release Aquitain. He walked closerto Aquitain calling Moonbeam to stay close to him then waved hisstaff in the air and vines began sprouting out of the ground in acircle about ten paces across around the three of them. They grewabout three times as high as Aquitain and then grew inward forminga dome shaped structure around them like a birdcage. On the outsideof the vine cage grew long sharp thorns and curious red flowersthat looked like animal faces with open jaws and sharp teeth.
Bats startedflying down around the vine cage and some landed trying to getthrough the vines. The animal face flowers bit into them and theyexploded into vapour. Soon there were hundreds of bats clamberingall over the vine cage struggling to get through. The animal faceflowers had no chance of stopping the huge mass of squirming
