‘Well, it seems that you still need me around.’ said Yllandrilusing mindspeak.
Aquitaincoughed and rubbed her throat.
‘Thanks Yllandril, you may be right.’ then jumped out of thefountain and raced back towards the Trixies. The two guards thathad thrown down their weapons stood among the pixies in shock butunharmed. The two guards who decided to fight were dead and full ofarrows.
‘Are you okay Your Majesty.’ asked Bellen.
‘Yes thank you Bellen.’ said Aquitain with a hoarsevoice
‘Thank you all for your help! It’s good to see that you areall on the alert. I’ll finish bathing now, you can continue theclean-up.’ and she walked back to the fountain and placed Yllandrilon one of the statues and continued washing off theblood.
‘This damn Trixie soap is no good. It just won’t get the bloodout of my hair properly. What will Miranda think if I give her bodyback like this? Greasy bloody hair stinking of ratguts.’
‘I don’t think she’ll mind too much, Aquitain.’ repliedYllandril.
‘Any body is better than none and it’s not as if you’re nottrying to look after it.’
‘I suppose that you’re right. I’m getting tired. It’s alreadybeen a long night. Tell me the bad news.’
‘My husband, Llalorax has made a deal with the Mentarin. Ifthey leave the Llanlleans alone, he’ll not let any Llanlleans helpyou or the Elendari.’
‘And did they agree?’ said Aquitain still washing herhair.
‘Yes of course.’ replied Yllandril.
‘And where do you stand.’ asked Aquitain.
‘I swore to help you and I’ll stand with you until I die.’replied Yllandril.
‘Thank you.’ said Aquitain. ‘You are a true friend but I thinkyou should reconsider. I think that I upset a mighty Power a coupleof hours ago so I’m possibly living on borrowed time. I’m probablyonly alive because I’m moving fast enough to stay ahead. I’ve beenin three battles tonight and I’m expected to help Darkmantleshortly in another. I want to clean up my pack so they look a bitbetter. It would be good if you can heal the worst of theirinjuries, then we’ll be off.’
‘You can’t go to another fight, both you and the dogs are toofatigued.’ said Yllandril.
‘But I must. I started this chaos and it will only be overwhen either the Mentarin or I am dead.’
‘That’s ridiculous. You’re not alone in this. Even if you dienow, it will continue. You started something that has been longoverdue. The Elendari, the Llanlleans and the Trixies have beenbrainwashed, possessed and used for hundreds of years. We’ve beenslaves with no future. You only brought it to our attention. Wewon’t accept anything less than total freedom from Mentarin controland interference from now on.’
‘I thought you said the Llanlleans don’t want to cause anyproblems with the Mentarin?’
‘No! I said Llalorax doesn’t want to cause any trouble. Hedoesn’t speak for all Llanlleans. There are a lot of others thatwant to see change. They will help regardless of what Llaloraxwants. There are many who believe in you. The world believes inyou. The world didn’t make you Warden for nothing. I believe thatit believes that we can win.’
‘So you don’t want me to help Darkmantle?’ askedAquitain.
‘No! We should help him but keep a positive attitude you havemany friends.’ said Yllandril.
‘Okay, I’ll try.’ said Aquitain feeling much less alone. Itwas good to have friends around. ‘Now can you heal mydogs!’
‘Okay, I’ll try, but will they let me?’
‘They will one way or the other. She then called for them towash in the fountain and they all jumped in and splashed about likepuppies. She walked amongst them washing the gore off. Yllandrilsat on her shoulder and climbed down her arm to heal the dog’swounds while Aquitain cleaned them.
A quarter of anhour later Aquitain led them off to the Palace teleport circle forthe trip back to Darkmantle’s estate. She asked Yllandril to stayand heal the Trixies and she reluctantly agreed but like a bigsister she cautioned her, to look after herself. When they arrived,Darkmantle and a dozen of his men were waiting with grim faces.
‘How did it go?’ asked Aquitain.
‘No good I’m afraid.’ replied Darkmantle.
‘We were too late. My friend and all his people were dead whenwe arrived. Most of them were caught and slaughtered in theirsleep. They didn’t have a chance. Pondglow will pay forthis.’
‘Are you sure it was Pondglow?’ asked Aquitain.
‘There were some of his dead still there.’ repliedDarkmantle.
‘I noticed that the two Lords who attacked us earlier tooktheir dead home so that their families could bury themproperly?’
‘Usually they would.’ said Darkmantle ‘but these are strangetimes.’
‘We are dealing with a cunning enemy who would like nothingbetter than to divide all the Lords. It will make it much easier todefeat them if they fight among themselves. Perhaps the bodies wereplanted there for you to find. It seems extraordinary that you leftwithin ten minutes of the call for help, yet you were toolate.’
‘Perhaps you are right.’ replied Darkmantle thinking aboutit.
‘Perhaps I should wait for more evidence before I judgePondglow responsible.’
‘How did you fare with the Trixies?’
‘Your hounds and I had a good fight with a horde of very bigrats half the size of the hounds themselves. They fought proudlyand bravely. Unfortunately I lost five. The Trixies faired muchworse, they lost half their number.’
‘What have you done to my hounds? They seem much too wellbehaved.’ said Darkmantle looking a bit worried.
‘I think they must be tired. I’ll take them back to their penif you like.’ said Aquitain.
‘No. We’re all moving to my mountain stronghold. It’s tooexposed here. We’ll take them along to help guard the place. You’revery welcome to come of course.’
Aquitainthought for a few moments. She still hadn’t been able to askDarkmantle any questions. Maybe she’d get a chance if she wentalong.
‘Okay. I will come for a short stay but my
