His family musthave known something about it. Granddad had specifically trainedhim to survive more than anything else. Maybe Granddad was beingmanipulated as well? Why would they send him on such a dangerousmission without telling him what he was supposed to do? MaybeTerren was supposed to do it?
PresumablyAlpha was originally supposed to help him and when he lost Alphathe plan went wrong. They fell back to some contingency plan tohelp get him here but weren’t quite sure how to proceed fromthen.
What if Alphaand perhaps even Zephira were decoys? Separating them from himwould give any interested parties the impression that the plan hadbeen disrupted when it hadn’t been. He would appear to be alone andhelpless but he wasn’t as Miranda stepped in to help. Thatsuggested that Miranda was a part of the plan whether she knew itor not. Consequently, the Lady was likely to be involved in theplan.
Somanller hadsaid that Ansidian was a Warden of a god called Lithgala. He wasalso known as Alin Amber. If he was also one of K’wala’s agents assuggested by Franciscus then the goddess Lithgala was alsoinvolved.
‘Miranda what do you know about the goddessLithgala?’
‘I think that she’s one of the Yith powers or gods andsupposed to be friendly with the Lady.’
‘Do you think she’s involved somehow?’ askedMiranda.
‘Perhaps. If the Mentarin had a deity who do you think itwould be?’ replied Aquitain
‘Hmm. The Mentarin disregard for people and creatures wouldrule out the Lady. Their actions in possessing and controllingpeople and events are both chaotic. They have a well establishtrade with Panmagica suggesting they are linked with the Unity ofWisdom, which is largely controlled by a God called Findus the godof commerce and lesser powers allied to him. I would say that ifthey had a god which I doubt, it would be Findus or one of hisallies.’ she replied.
‘Is the Lady a friend and ally of Findus?’ askedAquitain.
‘No. I don’t think so. Their whole philosophies are different.The Lady is a champion of love, life and freedom. Findus is achampion of wealth, greed and exploitation.’ shereplied.
‘Okay let’s start putting this together. Lord Borse was theHead of the Mentarin and they had a nice trade with Panmagica.Findus would have been happy about that.’
‘Lord Borse also controlled Astaria and for some reason K’walaattacked and captured it. Since K’wala was on Lady’s side we canassume the Lady was unhappy with something that Borse was doinghere in Astaria.’
‘Lord Borse disappeared. K’wala handed it over to Llanlorianthen K’wala disappeared. So we might assume that he went lookingfor Borse, found him but got stuck where Borse is. So releasingK’wala will also release Borse. We might also assume that they areboth stuck here on Astaria somewhere.’
‘So why haven’t either Findus or the Lady or their followerscome here to release K’wala and Borse?’
‘It suggests that K’wala and Borse have realized that Findusand the Lady have left them stranded. So they might even becooperating with each other to get out. That could explain whyBorse is helping me.’
‘Katrina the Mentarin said Borse sent a warning that the godsmay not be happy about them being released.’
‘It seems to me that there is a secret here that Findus, theLady and the Mentarin all know about that they don’t want anyoneelse to know about. That means they don’t want other powers or godsfinding out. In making me a gatekeeper Llanlorian has deliberatelygiven me the key to find out. It may have cost her, her life. Itcould also be a death warrant if I find out.’
‘So we can presume the Mentarin are here to stop me the newgatekeeper from discovering their secret.’
‘You’re suggesting that the Lady may not want you to find outthe secret here and that means I am here to stop you if you do.’said Miranda.
‘That’s possible,’ replied Aquitain.
‘However, when I released Granite it has changed everything.Was he trapped because he knew about Borse and K’wala being lostand was trying to find them. Or was he trapped because he alreadyknew the secret of Astaria and might have revealed it?’
‘Either way, it suggests that Granite and perhaps others witha vested interest might also turn up soon and it could get messy.We’re going to have to kick everyone out and secure the place. Ineed to find out the secret so that we have some bargainingpower.’
‘What about the prophesy of the Time of Troubles and all thatstuff on Mudrun? Do you think that has something to do withAstaria.’ asked Miranda.
‘It’s possible I guess.‘ he replied.
‘Miranda can you please tell me every detail you can rememberabout your stay with Darkmantle especially anything about Lash andAlpha.’
‘Of course!’ she replied then spent the next few minutestelling everything she could remember about her stay atDarkmantle’s estate, Lash and of course the silver coated pendantaround Lash’s neck that she was positive was Alpha.
‘Timestop.’ said Aquitain.
‘They’ve coated Alpha with Timestop.’
‘What’s that?’ asked Miranda.
‘It’s an unusual magical liquid that looks a lot likequicksilver. If you coat it on objects, it has preservativeproperties that give the definite impression that they don’t age.If Alpha were coated in the stuff it would be like time hadstopped. The world would continue on, but Alpha wouldn’t be awareof it.’
‘The curious thing is that it doesn’t stick too well tocrystals, as they tend to repel it. Lash must be re-applying thestuff each few days without realizing what she is doing. Howironic, they must have got a good laugh out of that but why leaveit with Lash out in the open? Why wipe her mind but not change herappearance?’
‘I don’t know.’ replied Miranda.
‘Neither do I but I suspect it’s meaningful.’ repliedAquitain.
‘Miranda on another matter, you’ve seen my real body in thedream world. What sort of creature am I?’ he asked.
‘I’m not sure.’ replied Miranda carefully.
‘I’m half elemental dragon. I’m a monster, an abomination. Myfather was an avatar of K’wala. He said it was accidental. I don’tthink it was. It was planned.’
‘How do you know that?’ she asked.
‘Glammer
