‘You forget, Lady Warden, it’s now one of my prime concerns aswell.’
‘Good we agree then. Lead on. I’ll bring my pack ... err ...your hounds along with me.’ said Aquitain.
‘By the Powers! You don’t actually like my hounds do you!’queried Darkmantle.
‘Perhaps a little, when you fight together as equals you can’thelp feeling closer to them.’ replied Aquitain patting a couple ontheir heads while they wagged their tails and licked hishand.
Darkmantle wasshocked, if he ever tried to do that they’d tear his arm off.
Chapter 11 Darkmantle’sStronghold
Darkmantle’sstronghold was an old anti-magic rock mine that had been in use forcenturies and was now nearly depleted of the valuable material.There was however sufficient of the stuff still within the walls ofthe mine to give it an excellent shielding from scrying and othermagic location detection powers. It certainly explained why nobodycould detect his dealings with the Yith priest Ishteth.
Under hisdirection over the last couple of years, Newman slaves had turnedthe network of caves and tunnels into a reasonably hospitableoutpost although it was still cold and damp. Some of the caves wereturned into dormitories where he had a few dozen troops stationed.These were now filled to capacity with nearly two hundred people,over half being Newman. There were reasonable cooking and bathingfacilities and a good quantity of stores. These had beensupplemented by as much food that they could carry from theestate.
They could feelsecure here but it was also a trap. No one could teleport in or outof the place so if the place were ever under siege by a largeenough army there would be no escape. On the positive side theentrance was easy to guard and defend and it would take a lot ofeffort to get in. The anti-magic rock would also give someprotection from possession by the Mentarin, although they wereunsure whether a person already possessed would be able to enter ornot.
The areaoutside the stronghold entrance was desolate. It was high up on amountainside composed of rough red-brown volcanic rock thatsupported virtually no plant life. There was a strong warm breezeblowing which seemed rather strange, as Aquitain had alwaysassociated mountains with cool breezes. At present, all the flathorizontal areas were covered in a fine layer of light greyvolcanic ash, which Aquitain thought at first, was dirty snow. Inplaces the ash had been eroded by wind action or washed awayleaving the ground strangely streaky in the dim moonlight.
Aquitain in herMiranda form stood at the entrance to the stronghold withDarkmantle and Prendergrass at her side. Each had a serious look offoreboding on their faces. Looking around the grim landscape forthe first time she really missed the bright sunlight of Mudrun.Aquitain closed her eyes and imagined the beautiful beach where shehad fought the giant squid and Miranda had come to her aid. That’swhere she wanted to live, not in this dark, inhospitable place.‘Why were people here anyway?’ she wondered.
‘Lord Darkmantle why have you never moved your people toMudrun?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know.’ replied Darkmantle. ‘I personally like Mudrun,but somehow this is home. I think we’ve been here so long thatwe’ve grown used to the darkness and solitude. There’s also theproblem with the Druid Council. They were never keen on us beingthere.’
‘Do you think that the Mentarin may have something to do withyou staying? Maybe they didn’t want you to move for somereason.’
‘It’s a possibility I suppose.’ replied Darkmantlethoughtfully.
‘We’ve all got work to do. Perhaps you could work withPrendergrass on some magic defences while you’re with us LordWarden.’ suggested Darkmantle as he left.
‘I’ve heard that you were a magic item maker at one time LordWarden.’ said Prendergrass. ‘We need many hundreds of wardingbracelets if we are to successfully fight the Mentarin. I can makeabout two a day. Do you know any way which would allow us to makethem faster?’
‘Yes, I do.’ replied Aquitain.
‘Back in Panmagica there was a cheap and nasty way of makinglow quality magic items called cloning. We used the process on anoccasion where a Lord wanted several hundred water breathingamulets in a hurry to allow his troops to attack a fleet ofinvading ships from underwater. The process produced an amulet thatlasted only a couple of days before dying, but that was enough. Theattack was successful and most of the fleet wasdestroyed.’
‘Amazing.’ said Prendergrass ‘but we would need bracelets thatwould last longer than two days.’
‘The protection ward in these bracelets is very simple. I’msure if we cloned it, the resulting bracelets would last a fewweeks. We could then repeat the process when they lose theirwarding ability. The only problem I guess is that you wouldcontinually have to check them to ensure they were active. Perhapswe could also make a checker so that the people themselves couldcheck their amulets every day.’ replied Aquitain.
Prendergrasswas quite excited at the prospect of making dozens of wardingbracelets in one session. He said he would get their smiths makingsimple copper bracelets right away and suggested that Aquitainmight like to go to the peak of the mountain and observe thevolcano in the distance to the west. Like clockwork, each fourthevening before dark, it erupted giving off a spectacular show,which was well worth seeing.
Aquitain atfirst chuckled at the thought of being a tourist and watching oneof the local attractions but then thought ‘Why not? I might neverbe here again.’
She informedthe guards of her decision to look at the volcano and started offalone up the rough path to the top about an hour away. The path wasreally tricky to follow in the semi darkness that was the Moonmistdaytime. At times it disappeared and at other times it rose almostvertically.
She changed toher Llanllean form as it was more adapted to the dark with goodnight vision and hearing. The rock was sharp and the volcanic ashcut into her feet requiring her to toughen her skin for addedprotection. After about a quarter of an hour she stopped andsniffed the air. She could smell magic and the air had thecharacteristic taste like there had been a recent discharge ofstrong magic. She continued on a little perplexed. Perhaps therewas a recent magic storm upwind.
Finally, afterabout forty