They hadtravelled for about two hours without incident when Tigerlillysuddenly broke the silence.
‘Stop, come closer together. There is something up in thesky.’
They all movedtogether and looked up but couldn’t see very far.
‘What is it?’ queried both Moonbeam and Navarro almost inunison.
‘I don’t know but it’s hovering there looking at us.’ repliedTigerlilly.
Moments later acreature swooped past Aquitain diving towards the group, then thelast thing she would have thought possible happened. Someone tappedher source and drew on her power through a mindlink that she hadthought didn’t connect. She was both furious and puzzled.
‘How can anyone tap my source?’ wondered Aquitain.
‘Alpha could do it but I would be surprised if he did withoutmy permission unless it was an emergency.’ she thought. ‘MaybeAlpha is down there.’
As the creatureentered the sphere of light it became visible. It looked like alarge winged lizard with a long narrow snout filled with razorsharp teeth and large bat like ears suggesting that it hunted usingsound like a bat. It was certainly large enough to grab any one ofthe party members but it appeared to be heading for the catlikecreature, the smallest of the three. Then it literally explodedinto a smudge of blood and viscera as it rammed at high speed intoan invisible igloo shaped barrier over the group.
Aquitainnoticed the faces looking up in the sky. Perhaps they thought thatthere were more of these things around so she activated her auravision. If there were any more of them within two hundred pacesthey should be able to see the glow of their spirit auras. Shelooked in all directions but could see no other spirit auras otherthan the five below. That was curious, she could only see threepeople but five auras. Time to investigate!
She few downand broadcast a mental token message <friend> landing in theedge of the circle of light. She could see the barrier was still inplace as the blood and entrails of the smashed creature were stilldribbling down its side.
Both the wizardand the dark clad woman stood with a wand in their hands. Heexamined their spirit auras. A male Newman, a young female Elendariand Miranda, what luck! What incredible luck. But Miranda possesseda Newman spirit aura hiding within her own spirit aura.
Finally therewas a small but bright and distinct spirit aura, which came from asmall wooden doll, which she recognized immediately as Tigerlilly.It wasn’t the spirit aura of a construct; it was a spirit aura likeher own.
Aquitain wasshocked. She had created a child, not a construct in the land ofdreams! She had created a real live girl, a daughter. Miranda andAquitain were now parents. Tigerlilly was a mind wizard. Aquitainimmediately understood how Tigerlilly could create a mindlink withher so perfect that she couldn’t detect it. Aquitain had givenTigerlilly that ability so that she could mindlink with him andMiranda.
‘By the Powers, this will upset the gods!’ She thought with achuckle.
‘Who are you?’ asked Navarro.
Aquitain shapechanged to her Miranda form.
‘I am Aquitain, the new Warden of Moonmist. I have beenseeking the person known as Moonbeam. She is traveling with a smallperson called Tigerlilly.’
‘These people are under my protection.’ replied Navarro thenasked Moonbeam if she knew Aquitain.
‘I ... I don’t know her but she does look like Tigerlilly andI know a person called Aquitain but he lookeddifferent.’
‘Why do you look like me.’ asked Tigerlillyindignantly.
‘I don’t like people copying me!’
Aquitain smiledand said
‘In actual fact, I made you to look like me so that I couldfind you and Moonbeam. You might recognize this.’ and he took offhis mind clay collar, removed the crystal figurine embedded in itand turned the mind clay into a flower then kissed it. Usingtelekinesis he floated the flower towards Moonbeam but it stoppedwhen it hit the barrier.
‘That is my special flower.’ said Miranda reaching forit.
‘This is rubbish.’ said Navarro.
‘I’ve never heard of a Warden of Moonmist. No one can returnsomething from a dream and that flower is just some simple illusionthat appeals to Moonbeam because she’s only got the brain of child.I don’t believe your story. So move aside or we’ll blastyou.’
‘Navarro there are many legends of Wardens of Moonmist and Ihave recently heard that there is new one.’ said Gizelsuddenly.
‘I don’t like you! You’re not my Aquitain.’ said Tigerlillyand sent a mental blast at him using power from his own source. Heblocked it without much effort.
‘I don’t believe this!’ thought Aquitain.
‘I chase Miranda for ages around this world and this idiotwants to play games and that little brat of mine is stealing mypower.’
Aquitainchanted a mantra of calming and tried to think what would convincethem then changed shape again. This time Aquitain looked like heappeared to them in the dream world. He stood twice the size of aNewman and was built like a bull with huge muscles, covered withgreen crystalline skin and had a draconic head.
‘Am I now the Aquitain you remember?’ he asked.
‘That’s our Aquitain.’ said both Moonbeam andTigerlilly.
Navarro wentpale but stood his ground. This thing looked really tough andnasty.
Gizel wasn’tscared, she was awed. She was standing near a living legend likethose of the past. She had read so many accounts of the deeds ofpast Wardens. Never had she ever expected to meet one.
‘Who sent you? Was it the Dark Lord or one of hislackeys?’
‘No one sent me. I have been searching for Moonbeam for weeks,ever since she was kidnapped in Mudrun.’ said Aquitain usingmindspeak.
‘So you’ve just been flying around in the dark as a giantmothra looking for her. I don’t think so.’ said Navarro.
‘I had no idea where Moonbeam was or even where to look. Twoor three hours ago I was standing on top of a mountain watching thevolcano eruption when I was caught in an anti-magic storm. The onlyway I could escape was by flying. I was guided here by afriend.’
‘So why were you in the mountains?’
‘I was invited here by Lord Darkmantle.’
‘So why was he here?’ said Navarro.
‘It seems to me that you’ve been
