‘I knew you’d try this.’ he said.
‘What will Miranda say when I tell her you ambushed me in thenight when she was asleep?’
‘She’ll only complain if I kill you and then it’ll be too latefor you. So come out and come clean. Who are you working for? Whatare you up to?’ demanded Aquitain.
‘I told you everything you need to know. Trust me. Mirandadoes.’
‘You’re too smart for a parasite. You know Newmans too well. Iwant to see your spirit aura.’ said Aquitain.
‘I just bet you do and what will you do then, read my mind?Unlock my secret memories. Is this how you treat your friends.Friends that have saved your life on several occasions.’ repliedSlivver.
‘Slivver if you think you can appeal to my emotions you’rewrong. In this crystal body I have no heart and no emotions. I willbe a lot rougher on you if I have to destroy that Tower of Will toget at you. If you’re going to remain a living friend you hadbetter come out and let me look at your spirit aura and answer myquestions.’
Slivver wasquiet for a few seconds considering his options then deciding hehad none, collapsed the Tower of Will and allowed Aquitain todominate his mind. Aquitain put himself into a state ofautohypnosis and used the Forth Mantra of Yith to examine thespirit aura of the puppeteer. He was shocked. It looked like it wasa Newman spirit that had been grafted to a lowly creaturespirit.
‘This is horrible. You’re mainly Newman but something else.Who did this Slivver?’ he asked.
‘So now you know. I was a Newman once or so I was told.’replied Slivver. My maker or unmaker if you like was Lord Borse,the Head of the Mentarin. He tinkers with people’s spirits as ifthey are toys. He has made many creations from bits and pieces ofspirits. He has modified both the spirits and bodies of most of thecreatures on Moonmist so that they are better adapted to live here.I am just one of many. Besides making magical equipment in thefactory as Gizel mentioned, they also make creatures.’
‘By the Powers! I’m sorry for you Slivver. Can you tell memore about Lord Borse.’
‘Don’t feel sorry. All that I was has been erased. I am what Iam now. As for Lord Borse, I don’t know that much about him. Nobodydoes. He was a powerful mind wizard and has been around forhundreds of years and possibly even more than a thousand I’veheard. His great obsession is Moonmist. He is passionate about it.Some say he created it. He and the Mentarin have certainly done alot to it. At one time it was supposed to be a dead frozenworld.’
‘What is your mission with me?’ asked Aquitain.
‘He told me to go and help you survive and make sure you cameback to Astaria.’ replied Slivver.
‘But you told me that Llanlorian asked you to do that!’ saidAquitain.
‘Yes she told me the same thing. I was to help you as much aspossible and make sure you returned to Astaria.’
‘Was Llanlorian working for or controlled by Borse?’ askedAquitain becoming quite interested.
‘I don’t know.’ replied Slivver.
Aquitain askedmany questions but received few useful answers. One thing was sure.Borse was very powerful, probably a Power or even a Greater Powerand Borse wanted him to come back to Astaria. It basicallyconfirmed what Katarina the Mentarin had said.
What wasAstaria’s secret. It was quite frustrating. He really needed toreturn to Astaria and try to sort it all out.
Aquitainchecked Slivver’s memory to see if Slivver could read or altermemory but found that he couldn’t. Slivver had little memory beyondwhen he had joined Aquitain in Llanlorian’s gate world.
His previousmemory had not been blocked but erased suggesting that Borse hadguessed that Aquitain might read it. The game was becoming moredangerous. Borse was announcing his part in the game. He would haveto assume that some of this information was corrupt andmisleading.
He was happyabout one thing Slivver didn’t seem to be there as an assassin andmight be useful at least until they returned to Astaria. He blockedthe memory of all Slivver had heard in the discussions between himand Miranda earlier in the day and released Slivver’s mind.
Although Sliveracted with great indignation about Aquitain forcefully reading hismind he was also happy. Aquitain now knew everything that Borsewanted him to know and no more. He had completed his job. It wasnow up to Aquitain to work out the puzzle.
Chapter 15 The HiddenOnes.
Just before dawnMiranda rose out of habit but rather than meditate and pray to theLady she decided to exercise her illusion skills and use them toteach Tigerlilly about the different animals in the jungle. Shecreated an illusion of each creature moved it around the room andexplained all about it.
Gizel woke andjoined in adding stories that she had heard about the animals andTigerlilly enjoyed it at first but her attention soon tired and shewanted to do other things like chasings, skipping and other littlegirl games. Miranda became a little frustrated as she had never hadto entertain children before and quickly ran out of ideas.Fortunately Gizel seemed to know lots of games and soon took overfrom Miranda.
Sometime laterNavarro and Gizel were requested to meet with the Banshee leaderbut before Gizel left she had a brief chat with Miranda and theyboth smiled and hugged as if they had reached some type ofdeal.
‘What are you two women up to?’ asked Aquitain.
‘There is a saying. Men make war and women make peace. Lastnight I found out a lot about Gizel. She’s a very smart woman. Sheworked at the Royal Library as a scribe and assistant to the Keeperof Law. She has helped draft treaties for squabbles between Lords.I’ve told Gizel that we are trying to unify all the Lords under meas Queen and she told me that she was interested in helping us. Shesuggested that we offer
