‘Do you agree with me about temporarily blocking herabilities?’ he asked seriously.
‘Yes, I suppose it’s for the best. I certainly don’t want herdelving around in my mind whenever she wants to.’
‘Okay.’ said Aquitain and he modified Tigerlilly’s mind alongthe lines that he had told Miranda but left her in the trance forthe time being.
‘It’s done! Now I guess I should wake everybody up.’ heannounced.
‘Wait Tain! I’m a bit overwhelmed at the moment. So much hashappened so quickly. I … I need some time to myself. I need tothink.
‘I need to leave the dome for a while. I will be quite safeoutside. Wait here in the dome it will be safer for youall.’
Aquitain openedthe dome for her to leave and resealed it after she left thencreated a life sized illusion of himself as the Newman Rob he wokethe others.
‘What’s happened? Where’s the Warden? Who are you? ’ askedGizel looking around for the Warden.
‘Hello.’ said the image of Aquitain. I am the Warden or atleast an image of what he looked like when he was a Newman. Thebody that you saw a few minutes ago belonged to the PrincessMiranda and has been returned to her. I was minding it until itcould be returned. My spirit now resides in that small crystalfigure on the ground.’ And the illusion pointed at the figure andthe figure waved at them.
‘My apologies for putting you to sleep for a while. I neededsilence and absolute concentration to move back to my crystal bodyand return Princess Miranda’s memories to her. She has returned toher old self but has gone outside to gather her thoughts together.She asked us to wait for her.’
‘How dare you put us to sleep without asking us for ourapproval!’ said Navarro angrily.
‘Where’s mummy gone? cried Tigerlilly.
‘Lord Warden, do you mean to tell us you can move from body tobody and your spirit is now in that figurine.’ asked Gizel just tomake sure she understood him. ‘Are you a Mentarin?’
‘Yes my spirit is in that little figurine and no I am not aMentarin but I do know a few of their secrets.’
Miranda cut offthe mind link with Aquitain and a short while later they heard astorm hit, rain and hail pelted down onto the hardened air domedriven by howling gale force winds. Aquitain made the dometransparent like glass and they watched transfixed by the fury ofthe tempest unleashed.
Massivedisplays of chain lightning arced across the dark sky highlightingthe grey writhing clouds while thunder exploded and echoed allaround.
‘Don’t be afraid we will be safe in here.’ said the image ofAquitain
Tigerlillybecame very scared and clung tightly to Gizel. It got so loud thatAquitain created a zone of silence within the dome and they watchedthe spectacle in awe at its feral beauty for half an hour then hemade the dome opaque and they settled in to wait it out andthink.
He was afather. Did he actually create Tigerlilly or was there some hiddendivine intervention. They had a daughter. Was this a part ofsomeone’s plan or an accident? He would probably never know and itreally didn’t matter. They were now vulnerable. They would have tospend time and energy looking after her, teaching her andprotecting her.
How could he bean Agent of Chaos and look after a daughter? Was this a tactic tosplit him and Miranda up? Was it a tactic to help bind him andMiranda together? What an incredible mess. Yllandril had warned himabout opening the divinity seed. Its knowledge was too dangerousfor mortals but if didn’t open it then he would still be trapped inthe soul crystal prison.
Three hourslater, after the storm had abated, Miranda returned in her Mirandabody form soaked and bedraggled. Tigerlilly noticed her first asshe approached the dome and Aquitain opened it for her toenter.
‘Mummy, mummy are you alright?’ she shouted.
‘Yes mummy’s alright little one.’ Miranda replied as Aquitaincreated a new mindlink with her.
‘Aquitain we need to talk!’ she said.
Chapter 13 The TempestAwakes
Miranda walked acrossto the small crystal figure of Aquitain, picked it up and hurled itacross the room. It hit the wall and fell on the floor.
‘How can you walk around pretending to be so smart and dosomething so bloody stupid?’
She saw Navarroand Gizel looking at her a little shocked.
‘Put them to sleep! This is not their business.’ she shoutedand immediately Navarro, Gizel and Tigerlilly fell asleep and sheburst into tears walked over picked him up and hugged him to herchest.
‘I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do. I’m all mixed up. How canI be a mother? I don’t feel like a mother yet there she is. She’seven helped me and protected me. How can we look after her? We’veno home. People are trying to torture us and kill us. We’resupposed to save everyone and you don’t even know the worse of ityet. I’ve been changed and I’m dangerous and I can kill you andher. I want to love you and you won’t love me anymore!’ shesobbed.
‘Mandy. Please don’t cry. We can work it out.’ he replied asshe cried her heart out.
‘I lied to you. I’m not sweet innocent little Mandy. I’m ahorrible bitch that you will hate!’ she sobbed.
‘It can’t be that bad.’ he said.
‘It’s worse that you can ever imagine.’ she sobbed.
‘I’ve got a good imagination.’ he replied. ‘How about youstart from the beginning?’
‘There’s another side of me that you’ve never seen.’ shesaid.
‘I’ve worked that bit out all by myself.’
‘You have?’ she asked surprised.
‘When I was returning your memory, your spirit aura was sobright and your spirit was so full of magic essence it’s a wonderyou didn’t glow in the dark. Allalanllea said you could have been asorceress when you were a child but your mother wouldn’t allow it.She wanted you to be a druid. So I suspect that something elsehappened.’
‘That’s true.’ replied Miranda. ‘Snowbelle didn’t want me tobe a sorceress as she had another idea instead. I had a relativelynormal life until I was about seven and my sorceress abilitiesbegan to show. Snowbelle took me out to witness a violent storm andI was both terrified and excited. She showed me how she couldcontrol the direction
