Spring Break
Chapter 18
By Rachel76m
Edited by Don Kaufman

"Is everyone ready to go?"

"Yes!"

"Then let's fly to the Maranelle Islands."

All of the wizards and sorceresses recite the transport spell. We all disappear in a blink of any eye. Some disappear in a flash of light.

It is a large crowd going with all of the Outside Helpers. We have Land Governors, the escorts and dwarfs. They want to see and hear the suggestions first hand on how to clean up the filth created by those who got sick from eating wild animal meat.

We fly westward, but this time when we get to their main island, we land in the courtyard of King Hilmar's castle near their great sun dial. We disconnect ourselves from the wizards and sorceresses.

Sir Peridan gives the introduction, "Welcome one and all to the Maranelle Islands Kingdom. This is Gran Mara Island. Our total population is about ninety thousand people. About one half of our citizens live here. The rest are in smaller communities in villages, ports and towns on the other islands. We group the population and the islands so that a Castle Lord has roughly an equal number of citizens to his fiefdom. There are seven Castle Lords under King Hilmar.”

“We provide boat services on a regular schedule to those islands every few days for shipping of goods and services to and from those islands. There is also trade with the other two kingdoms and the dwarf kingdom in our region as well. Most of our First Ones live here on Gran Mara Island. However, there are some centaurs and fairies chose to live on a few of those islands. We were able to move them here during Ruald's reign of terror. There are caves at various elevations for the dragons and the dwarves on various islands besides this one."

Croin speaks up first, “Can we go to the mountains to visit our dragon brethren there?”

“Yes, you may, Croin, Agaroan and Blacklaw. They'll be leaving in three marks. Have your noon repast before they leave to King Thranton's Under Kingdom.”

“Thank you. We'll be ready when you fly to the north.”

“See you back here in the courtyard.”

“We'll be here and well rested.”

The three dragons take off flying to the mountains on Gran Mara sland. They roar to make their announcement. They hear some roars in response from the mountain peaks.

"You did check the other islands for others who might be sick?"

"We did, the fairies spotted them very easily. We found five families on those islands."

We leave the courtyard and exit the main gate.

Sir Peridan walks up to one of two guards at the gate. "All is well, Sir Kenton. The Kings and Queens are deciding what to do and where to send those families for safe keeping. We're showing the Outside Helpers here the mess they created. Hopefully they will provide us answers on how to deal with it."

"Thank you for telling me, Sir Peridan. That is good news to hear."

We leave the gate and walk down the dirt road for some distance. Soon we begin to smell the scent of rotting flesh. We gather around to take a look. It is a ghastly site. The animal is in horrid condition. There are various insects all over it. We see sections of meat cut and torn from the legs. It has a terrible stench. Some in our group stayed some distance away from it. Everyone brought out their crystal spheres to start recording what is being shown and said about the carcass.

"Yes, these must be buried. Even though in time the meat and the organs will be gone and the bones are left. Having it buried will hasten the decomposition. It will be safer for everyone's health. The other wild animals have probably have eaten some of it as well."

“Can we send these bodies that are decomposing badly to the Fire Mountains?”

“You can do that to be even safer. The ground still needs to be turned so that it can finish with whatever is left behind.”

"Yes I agree with you there, Tek."

"Where is the nearest home where one of these families lived?"

"It is not too far from here. They were evicted from the nearest town here last year. They lived in the woods since then. The husband built a log cabin off the road. There's a path to it from here."

We walk down the road for about a quarter-mark. Soon we see a board half buried in the ground near the dirt path. The people with us continue recording everything they see and hear.

"Here it is. We put this board here to indicate the path after we took them away."

"His family are probably depressed that they can't do magic anymore."

"All of them are. When they can't do the cleaning spell they gave up their efforts to be clean."

"They will have to learn how to use soap, water and towels. It is hard work to do it by hand."

"That is right, Iulia." Ariella looks at Iulia.

We walk down the path some more, soon we see the log cabin in the woods. It opens out to a field. You can see the tree stumps in the field the husband chopped down to create the log cabin. The husband tried his best to make it livable for his wife.

Again there are insects flying around. Sometimes we have to brush them off of us from time to time.

Then there is that stench again.

"So what is the solution here, my friends?"

We all step around carefully looking at the mess. We look inside the cabin to see the set-up. We see a raised dirt floor compared to the surrounding outside ground. No logs were cut and halved to create a wooden floor.

The fire pit is placed outside for safety. There we see pots and pans in various locations all dirty, on some tables. Some of the pan bottoms are burnt.

"Tek, I've been on a number of camping expeditions, it all comes down to being taught the basics of being organized and clean. It is like they have no knowledge of it. They forgot how to do this."

"I'll agree with you on that point, Richard. They probably have gotten too soft with the magic and letting the spells do the work for them. I'm sorry, my hosts, but it appears to be this is what's happening here."

"Don't be, Tek and Richard. I would think it would be a great idea that the kings pick a moon period say thirty days, or at least work up to it. That no magic is performed to reconnect with our past once a year."

"Yes, that can work, Praxor. It will force us to appreciate that we can do magic and remember where we come from and how they did it back then."

"Well take this site for example. There has to be some better organization to store food and other items in boxes. To keep food from spoiling there are several ways to do it without cooling it down. You can dry the meat and then seal it in jars or bags. A large cage can be set up to keep the farm birds together and not fly away. Fishing is a plus here, because you're not far away to buy or catch it yourself."
"The jars can be glass, metal or clay. The storage time is a lot shorter without keeping it cool or frozen. If the container can be sealed tightly, remove as much air as possible."

“There are businesses on Earth that have factories to do that. It is an elaborate set up of electrical machinery.”

“They can't do that here Richard. There has to be a rubber type seal between the lid and the container.”

"Perhaps the husband could have bought those boxes with the spell already set upon them?"

"That can work very easily. But, like you said, Praxor, it would be defeating the lesson for us all."

"The other problem here is the body waste. There has to be a separate location far from here. It needs to be buried or burned in the Fire Mountains. A well made brick fire place can built into the side of the cabin for warmth. The wooden floor needs to be added.”

"That reminds me, Tek, the other problem I noticed when I arrived here on my first day. Renard told me some of the body waste from themselves and the horses are used to fertilize the fields."

"Then that practice has to end. If it continues, then your crops will be contaminated and you will get very sick."

"Then what can we use to help fertilize the fields with?"

"There are several ways to do that naturally. The first step is to do a crop rotation. The crops take nutrients from the ground. Well, it has to be returned as well or the field will become barren and dry. The best one is to use a low lying plant that you that you don't eat, but you seed the field with it after the harvest of your crop for about two years. Then turn the ground with a plow. Leave that alone for another year. It will then be usable again for another two years. Have another section of land near it on an alternating cycle. You will need to keep good records to see any trends so that you can make adjustments."

"What does this low lying plant look like, Tek?"

"I will need to pull up some plants and see what is hidden with the roots. I know what to look for. Most worlds have their commonalities even though the plants are different."

"Of course we're still collecting the seeds for the next planting season."

"That's right."

"What of the rinds and trimmings from the crops?"

"You can collect that and put it into bins of various sizes. We call it a compost pile on my world, Tek."

"That's a good word for it, Chls. It takes about a full moon cycle to create one. This will be a little difficult to explain in simple words for you. Chls, can you please help me out?"

"I sure can, Tek. Depending on how big the field is will determine the size of the compost piles. The pile will generate heat that is a good sign. It will need a certain moisture level, if it is too dry, it will die. If it is too wet, the pile will emit a certain odor that smells bad. You can put fish and farm bird bones and remains into the pile. However, it needs to be buried deep inside it. You might have to put a cage around it if it attracts other animals. Do that about once a moon period."

"You will discover many uses for it. One of them is erosion control. The main use is to help rebuild the soil before planting. It can be from two fingers thick to one-quarter of a finger thick. Turn the compost into the field before planting."

"Land Governors, are there any natural low lying areas like marshes on Twainor?"

"There are, but those areas are too wet for crops."

"That is right. But what I am thinking of is to show you what composting looks like done naturally."

"Ahh... I see what you're saying, Chls. There are some areas where the dead plant material is very thick near the shore. That environment works fine there for those plants. Therefore our fields need to be drier than that. Thank you for that insight. That is very good."

"Thank you, Chls, Tek and Richard."

Soon everybody else sees the big picture what is needed.

"Now I need to make mention of a certain process that occurs naturally on most worlds. There is a type of animal that are called scavengers. These animals can be very big or very small. They can be any type, insects, worms, birds, etc. There are scavengers even in the ocean. They all have a part to keep the land or ocean clean."

"You will need to identify them and give them names. You are not to eat their meat."

"Why is that, Chls?"

"Their bodies will contain substances that can poison you. They can make you very sick in the stomach and other parts in your body. You could even die from eating it if not treated properly. They could introduce a disease inside you are not prepared for."

"I think that is why we eat only certain fish and farm birds. They are safe for us."

"That is right."

We walk back towards the main road.

"Ruald's cottage is not far from here. It is near the town up ahead. We should pay a visit anyway and let the townsfolk know what has happened lately."

"That's a good idea, Corrbas. I'm curious what we'll find in his cottage."

We walk down the path some more, then we see a field on the left hand side. It is filled with lush green plants about knee high. We see the field filled with small purple flowers. There are insects and butterflies flying from flower to flower.

"That is so beautiful to see."

"Yes it is, Alia. Some of the insects are collecting the nectar and bringing it back to their colonies."

"I bet when they get enough together, honey is produced."

"That is right, Richard, we go in and collect some of it and sell it in the shops. It has a very good flavor."

"I'm sure some colonies will have different tasting honeys when they are near different fruit trees."

"Yes, our farmers sell that as well for additional income."

"Chls and Richard, let us take a closer look at that plant. Let's expose the roots."

" Tek, let's take a look. This could be the plant you were talking about."

We walk up to the edge of the field and bend down. We each take a stick we find on the ground nearby and dig around the base of the plant to see the roots.

"This soil is very rich, look Chls I see nodules on the roots."

"Yes I see it as well. Let's take some of the nodules and some leaves we can do a scent check on the crushed nodules and taste the crushed leaves and nodules."

"Yes, the nodules should have a distinct aroma of 7-1-1-1 on the element chart. The leaves and nodules when crushed will have a distinct taste as well."

"I agree it should be 7-1-1-1."

We crush some of the nodules and smell the aroma; we stick our fingers into the juices and touch it to our tongues."

"It seems this it Chls. We call it ammonia. It is definitely 7-1-1-1."

"We have a different word. But it appears this it, Richard. Let's crush the leaves and double check that."

We crush the leaves and do the same thing.

"Yes the leaves have the same aroma and taste.”

"Same here, Richard. This is the type of plant I was talking about. These nodules will return element #7 back into the soil. It seems the Maker knows what he is doing with this world."

"Yes he does, Chls. Even though my grass is red, we do have similar plants like this."

"That's good, let's tell the others what we found."

We turn around and look towards to the group.

"We found the plant that will help your crops and fields. Let us show you."

They all walk up and gather around us.

"We think we found the plant you can use to enrich the soil. It is this plant here."

"Let us point out what is happening. This is going to be a very good lesson here."

Everybody makes room so that their crystal spheres are in front of them and recording the conversations.

"The first thing that needs to be noticed is how green this field is with the flowers. The insects and butterflies are flying from plant to plant to pollinate the flowers. This allows the flower to create the seeds for the next generation."

"We know seeds can be small or large because of the fruit trees we harvest."

"That is right, Land Governor, I'm sure these seeds will be much smaller. Most of the time they can spread as their root system grows outward. Now you need to take notice of the root system here and see the soil."

Tek takes a nearby small dead branch and dig some more dirt away from the plant we dug at earlier. They see a very rich soil. "On these roots contains these nodules, it contains the element #7 on the charts."

"I don't think we found that one yet. I remember hearing Richard say there are 92 basic elements that can be found on most worlds."

"That is right, Telgon. You currently have fifty of them. If you can discover the pattern, you can begin to discover the rest of them as time go on. I will give you some clues for two of them. Lead and gold are near neighbors on the chart. There are two other metals in between them."

"What do you mean by that, Richard?"

"I know what Richard is hinting at. They are both metals and very heavy and soft or easy to hammer with. However, one rusts very easy, the other does not rust in ocean salt water."

"Very good, Dolkas, you're getting the idea on visual observations."

Dolkas smiles, the other dwarves smile as well. The others in the group began to chuckle and laugh a bit.

"The answer is how the element is structured.... hmm... Here is an example - salt. When salt crystallizes, it is like a cube. There are other crystals that are six-sided. Salt is composed of two elements on the chart. These are #11 and #17. Water is a liquid; it too is composed of two elements. These are #1 and #8. The ratio for salt is one to one. The ratio for water is one #8 and two #1s."

"Diamond is a pure element. It is #6 on the charts, but it can be a crystal or it can be like charcoal. Also element #6 is found in most of the living things on a very small scale."

"Someday in the future as you know more about your world and your star system, your ideas will get better and better."

"But as you know more about the Maker's creation and how it works, the responsibility will be greater. It can be used for the right reason or even the wrong reason."

"So, Ruald used his knowledge for the wrong reason?"

"That is right again, Telgon."

We walk down the road some more, we then walk over a bridge and
pause to look at the fish in the wide stream. Some of the fish are rather large and swimming upstream.

I pause to take a closer look.

"What are you looking at, Richard?"

"Tek, do you see those large silver fish? Do they look like some of the fish we have seen on our dinner plates?"

Everybody else looks over the railing to see what we are looking at.

"It certainly does, Richard. Port Governors, are these fish caught out in the open sea in your nets?"

"Yes, they are. These are the silver king fish. What are they doing here?"

"I think I know why. On Earth we have several species that will swim upstream and reach the calmer waters ahead. There they will mate, spawn and lay their eggs."

"You're right, Richard. Some fish species learned that these waters are best for their young when hatched. They grow up here for awhile before they head out to the oceans."

"That's incredible. That means we need to set aside a certain time and not fish our rivers or we will reduce the population of this fish."

"I'll agree with you on that statement, Drenan. However, you need to do a study of which fish lives it whole life in the rivers or not. Some fish are fresh water or salt water. Then there are some fish that can live in both types of waters."

"How do you do that?"

"It is called catch and release. You catch the fish and start measuring and weighing it with other visual observations. Then you tag it.... hmm... I think this is where you will have to be creative. I think the best approach is to use your magic somehow so that you can identify the fish where it came from. Because when you are out in the ocean or even here; someone will catch the fish and see the tag or sense the magic spell on it. He or she can write down the information about the fish and where it is caught. Then it is released back into the waters to continue on with its life."

"That's right Richard. Then you can start creating a series of entries. Then as the information is collected, your Port Governors and sea captains can know what is happening when you see the trends. Especially if the fish is injured or could become ill from pollution."

"That is why you want to burn your waste at the Fire Mountains. Do not dump it into the oceans or rivers. On my world, thousands of years ago, dumping into the waters was considered safe. Now we know better, because the oceans and the fresh water in the rivers are a vital link to the health of the world."

"I wouldn't be surprised if an ocean species is found in the underground lakes and streams in the dwarf kingdoms. You never know where fish go to spawn."

"But the glowing Illuminae fish never leave because they are used to the darkness."

"That is right, Galena."

"So if the dwarves fish from the rivers of a certain fish they could eliminate or severely reduce an ocean fish population."

"That is right, Durlond."

"We'll definitely need to tell this to everyone. We need to know our world. Thanks again, Richard."

"You're welcome, Dalgan. I think this is one issue that Draknor has not considered at all."

"Yes, I would think so. In time his greed would cause harm to everyone."

"I know of some species on my world that are now extinct because of over-fishing and consumption by our large population."

"I know what you mean, Tek. We have some bird species that are now gone as well because we encroached onto their nesting areas."

"That is the same thing here, Richard."

"So my friends, this is the challenge for Twainor. You are in a unique position that some of your Outside Helpers envy."

"You have the opportunity to learn from our mistakes to help protect Twainor to be a beautiful garden that is envied by other star systems. You can set the example for them."

“I'm sure it's the same on their worlds as it is on mine. We sometimes pass laws to help protect the environment. If a person is caught doing harm, that person is fined and has to do a service period to interact with the wildlife and land.”

“I hear you, Belisar. Most of the times it is helping with certain people who do the survey of the wildlife.”

“How do you measure the wildlife that are too big?”

“It depends on the size, of course. Putting them to sleep is the easy part. You can put the smaller animals in bags and weigh them with a portable weight scale. The bigger ones will be a problem.”

“We can lift them, Praxor with our elevation spell and set them easy onto the scale. But we don't have a scale big enough for that.”

“There is a way to get a rough number. Have the animal place one foot onto the scale. Then multiply that number by the number of legs.”

“We can practice on the smaller animals to see if that is true Kanyaa.”

“Or you can use a platform with the balance weights.”

“You might even have a spring coil scale to work with. I remembered seeing that in your ports when the fish is brought in.”

“You might be able to build a very low powered electrical scale that won't attract the lightning.”

“You can put a large animal on a boat. Mark the water level on the side of the boat. Take the animal off the boat. Then load your standard weight onto the boat. Do that until you reach the mark on the side of the boat.”

“That is a lot of ideas. We'll figure it out as time goes on.”

“That is very sound advice, Outside Helpers. We must make every effort count to take care of our world. Thank you."

Then all of the Outside Helpers respond with smiles, "You're welcome."

We stay in a quiet mode as we walk across the bridge and reach the nearest town. We walk down the main road and come to an intersection. We greet some people along the way. We ask them if they had seen the events in Angathorn Kingdom.

Some of them respond that they have seen the Inquiry. They also give us their thanks for taking care of Ruald and his followers. We turn right and walk down another road leading out of the town. After walking for awhile on the forest road, we come across Ruald's cottage.

We walk around the area and we smell the stench of rotting flesh again. Corrbas walks up to the door. He places his hand on the door and it glows green. Corrbas recites the removal spell on the sealing spell. The green glow disappears. Corrbas opens the door.

"I think this is where we need to enter about ten at a time. There is not much room in here for all of us."

We divide ourselves up into three groups or so. The first group that walks inside is the wizards and sorceresses. They look around to find any clues that Ruald might have done to create more mischief.

They look around and don’t see much. Wizard Braylin opens the main cold box and sees several bottles sealed of a red liquid. He takes one out to look at it closer.

“What do you have there, Braylin?”

“It appears to be a very deep colored red drink. I’ve never seen anything like it Braden.”

“Open it and see if it smells familiar.”

Braylin carefully opens the bottle by removing the wooden seal. He takes a whiff.

“Uggh… this is awful. What is it, Corrbas?”

“Let me check Braylin.”

Corrbas takes the bottle from Braylin and takes a whiff from the bottle. He reacts the same way.

“You’re right it is awful. I know what it is. This is blood wine.”

“Blood wine? That’s terrible; he mixed some blood from the wild animals with regular wine? No wonder they have the smell of wild animals on their breath.”

“Yes, we must dispose of this right now. It must be sent to the Fire Mountains nearby.”

“I agree, Renard. Check those packages in the cold box. More than likely they will be wild animal meat.”

“You’re probably right, Corrbas. In fact any food that is found should be sent to the Fire Mountains.”

“Let’s do this now before it goes any further. Use the elevation spell so that you don’t have touch it friends.”

“Where is the waste receptacle box?”

“It is over here in this room, Trianna.”

“All right, let’s get busy.”

The wizards and sorceresses search out the rooms to find any food. They are surprised to find bottles of blood wine in various places. They immediately send them to the waste receptacle box. All of the food in the cold boxes is sent there as well.

“I’m still getting a bad smell in here. Where is it coming from?”

“It could be in his bedroom such as his clothes and linens.”

“Yes, it would be. Check the clothes drawers. The cleaning spell is probably not strong enough to clean it.”

The ladies walk into all of the bedrooms to check it out. “It reeks in here ladies. Even if the clothes and linens are clean. This mattress has to go. There is no way to clean this properly.”

“I agree Cheraine. I can’t believe he would do such a thing, but he did it. How dare he jeopardize our lives like this.”

“Fortunately most of our citizens here in Maranelle were wise enough to reject his offers.”

The ladies carefully refold the clothes and linens and put them in the drawers. They reset the cleaning spell and open the drawers to see if it worked.

“It’s getting better. He should have in these drawers one of those sweet smelling wood scent bags.” She giggles at the thought.

“Then we better check the rest of them where they stayed. I bet their bedrooms are not the best smelling. I’m sure their wives have complained about it a lot.”

“Let's see if we can find anything he can hide here in the bedrooms.”

“That sounds fine.”

The ladies begin to search the bedrooms.

Meanwhile in the main room the wizards are searching for any clues.

“Could he have a box or hidden compartment, Corrbas? I don't see anything in the drawers near his table.”

“It's possible, Dekrane. We'll have to use a detection spell.”

“Yes, let's see what he has touched the most. It should be real easy with the animal blood. Richard said it was difficult to get rid of.

“But once the blood is soaked into the wood, you can't remove it.”

“I agree, Braden, let's try it.”

Wizard Corrbas puts his hands outward towards a wooden surface. He thinks of the words to say. Once he has it in his mind, he recites the detection spell. A mist appears in front of him. He expands the mist to make it bigger.

Corrbas moves the mist around the room. Soon they see finger prints’ glowing everywhere Ruald has touched something. They look near his table and shelves. The wizards see a lot of finger prints on the shelves and certain objects commonly used. Then they see a lot of finger prints around a panel that gets their attention.

“That looks promising. He probably has a sealing spell on it.”

“I'll see if I can remove it.”

Corrbas ends the detection spell, and then he puts his hands towards the panel. The panel glows green. He recites the spell to remove the sealing spell. They see the panel glow green again then it disappears. Then the panel swings open. They see some documents and crystals in the compartment. Wizard Pagsen reaches inside and removes the items. He places them on the table for all to see.

“Is there anything written on the paper documents?”

The wizards pick up the half dozen paper documents to get a closer look. Some are sealed with wax. Some have writing on the outside of the folded documents. Only one of them was not sealed. There are four scrolls found there as well.

~~~000~~~
“They have been in there a long time Sir Peridan.”

“I know, Belisar. I can see from here by looking through the window, they found something very important. They are trying to determine what it is.”

We try to keep ourselves busy outside the cabin. We talk among ourselves on various different subjects on how to take care of the land and water better.

~~~000~~~

“These two scrolls could be from a library.”

“They appear very old. They could be the original manuscripts.”

“If they are, why would Ruald have them?”

“He must have deemed them very important. We'll have to unroll them and read the contents to be sure.”

“The other two scrolls appear to be new.”

Then the sorceresses come into the main room when they are done inspecting the other rooms and cleaning them up.

“What have you found, Corrbas?”

“We found these documents and crystals hidden behind a panel on the shelves there.” He points to the open panel door on the shelf.

“Let's find out what is on them.”

Two wizards take the oldest scrolls. Two sorceresses take the newer scrolls. They unroll them to see what is written there. Some of them begin to show concern on their faces as they read them.

“My Maker, this scroll contains five signatures of people before the First War. They signed a declaration to have our former Kings and Queens of Laurentil and Maranelle Islands to eat the meat of wild animals to turn them to their side. It is dated when they forced them to do this.”

“You mean they were innocent?”

“It seems that way, Corrbas. What do you have, Dekrane?”

“This scroll is a journal from Ruald. He has written down his plans to rule all of Twainor. He stated he is determined to bring an end to the rule of Kings and Queens. His first step was to get rid of people who are in his way or oppose him. The first one on the list to kill is Master Wizard Galfnir and bury him so that his body can't be found.”

“Did it state where he buried his body?”

“Not directly, Corrbas. He wrote here he found the deepest hole on Twainor. He also wrote, it gave him another idea to create more confusion by striking at the heart of several kingdoms at once.”

“Buried in the deepest hole? Where could that be?”

“I don't know, Corrbas. It could be anywhere on Twainor.”

“What do you have on that scroll, Mirani?”

“This one is a signed contract with Draknor to have four packages built for his scheme.”

“So, there is a connection between Draknor and Ruald, my friends. What is on the other scroll, Rosanna?”

“This one contains the list of names of people who are in leadership and the citizens on the Maranelle Islands that he was able to successfully bring to his side recently. It matches with the ones we have put into holding cells here.”

“We need more information, my friends. Come let us return to the Castle, we need to have our regional meeting.”

The wizards and sorceresses walk out of Ruald's cottage to tell us what they found.

“Did you find anything in there, Wizard Corrbas?”

“We did, Sir Peridan. We found Ruald's plans, some documents and crystals.

“Is there anything for us to see?”

“Not really. We already disposed of his blood wine bottles and food to the Fire Mountains. The ladies tried their best to clean his rooms up.”

“Well, let's hope the documents and crystals will give us some new information.”

“We hope so too.”

The wizards and sorceresses allow us to walk inside the cottage. We see how Ruald took care of himself.

“He must be a loner, Sir Halgren.”

“He must be, Richard.”

Once we all get done looking around, we walk outside the cabin. Then we see two fairies flying towards us. We all smile as they approach us.

The two fairies fly over to Corrbas and land on his shoulder.

“Hello, my friends.”

“Hello, Corrbas. We are glad to see you here.”

“I'm sure you are. Ruald and his followers are now taken care of.”

“We saw it as the Mystic Order took them away.”

“Who are these lovely fairies, Wizard Corrbas?”

“These are my eyes and ears, my friends. They relayed to me what they could. They spied on Ruald in their butterfly mode.”

“Well, considering what Ruald has planned, we are thankful they told someone.”

Then everyone claps and cheers. The fairies smile.

“See you later, Corrbas.”

“See you later, my friends.”

They fly off Corrbas shoulder and into the forest.

We all start walking back to Gran Mara Castle for the Regional Meeting. When we arrive in the court yard, we are greeted by a princess and ten knights stationed around her.

“Welcome back. I hope your walk was enlightening. My name is Princess Lorna. Please come to our throne room. We are set up in there for all of you. The representatives from King Bnar's Under Kingdom, Laurentil Islands and Nevidre are here already.”

We walk inside into the throne room to find a similar arrangement here as we saw in Evenshard.

However, we see a row of tables filled with food.

“You may go ahead and take a plate of food. We already gave the thanks for it. You can eat it while we talk.”

“Thank you, Princess Lorna.”

We get in lines to select from what is available. Once our plates our full and take a mug of cold water, we settle into the seats designated for each group.

Once the meeting commenced, the first item to discuss is the mess Ruald created. We also gave our suggestions to what is needed to help heal the land. They also appreciated the advice for the compost piles.

“So, if we do that, then some of our sickness associated with the crops will disappear?

“It will, Prince Telurein. It is important that you have clean growing crops. The crops will be healthier and more robust.”

“I see, that seems to make sense. Plus, I'm sure the fields will be less smelly as well.”

“Yes, they will.”

“But we have seen very green areas where the animals relieve themselves.”

“Each animal is different. Each animal will produce a different waste product, Governor Barsten.”

“On Earth we have two animals that produce waste. The waste is different for each one. It was proven after a thorough investigation and testing to determine the differences. Fortunately they are both plant eaters, that is the key. It depends on where one lives that it is used. There are certain crops that do well with one or the other. However, the idea of rotating the fields with a cover crop is the best solution.”

“That makes sense, Richard. The vegetable crops probably have different needs than the fruit trees. That needs to be checked out.”

“So we'll check our herds to see which ones are truly plant eaters. I'm guessing our horses are at this time. The herd that provides our wool will need to be checked out.”

“We've had cases where we determined the chemicals needed to enrich soil. We thought it would work, but what happened afterwards was not planned for.”

“What happened, Richard?”

“The chemicals caused the soil to be barren. The stalks and plant leftovers were not returned to the soil. They were used elsewhere. The soil needs the decomposing plant material to hold the soil together and to enrich it.”

“That is a tough lesson to learn.”

“It is, Chls. What came next during the dry season, the top soil blew away and created dust storms.”

“We don't definitely need to do that. I can see why you want us to learn from your mistakes.”

“Your population is small compared to mine. We have a billion people on Regulus Four. We learned our lessons a long time ago.”

“How about you, Iulia? How does your world grow your crops in your floating cities?”

“It is a long process. We send transports to the surface to collect soils and bring them to our processing plants. We first remove the radiation from the soil. By that time all of the soil is unusable because the decomposing matter is now dead. Then we take the stalks, roots and other plants after the harvest in our planting rooms. We tear them up and mix it back into the soil. We let the plant material decompose in huge tanks. We take the gas from the decomposition and use it to supplement our power needs. It takes a year before that soil is used for another planting season.”

“So that means we need to do the same thing in rotating our crops.”

“That's right, Wizard Corrbas.”

“What amazes me, is the silver king fish swims up stream to breed and spawn for the next generation.”

“We must investigate all of our rivers to know which ones do that.”

“That will be a must in our Under Kingdoms. If we do find a fish species that does, then we must avoid catching them.”

“It has been our experience this happens for several species. It might be the Fall only. Or it could happen every other year.”

“Some could do it year round depending on when they start. You need to know which ones do it.”

The Port Governors and Sea Captains look at each other and nod their heads up and down in agreement.

“We must begin somewhere. Thank you, we appreciate the help, Outside Helpers.”

“We found some documents and crystals in Ruald's cabin. Some have seals on them. We haven't activated the crystals yet. We did open some scrolls that were not sealed. I'm afraid to be the bearer of bad tidings here.”

“What did the scrolls reveal?”

“First one of importance is his plot to rule all of Twainor and dispose of all Kings and Queens. He plans to be the sole ruler.”

Everybody grimaces and gives a sad face.

“The next scroll contains signatures of certain people to make sure the Kings and Queens of Laurentil and Maranelle Islands have eaten the meat of wild animals.”

“What!? Are you saying they were forced to do this?”

“Yes, my friends. They were innocent. That confirms what Ruald said about eating wild animal meat.” Corrbas looks at me. “I didn't think there would be a profound change in them, Richard. I doubted it. But when I saw it first hand with the Army and Navy Commanders, that clinched it for me.”

“You're forgiven, Corrbas. You'll have to be careful around them. You need to determine how long they have been eating the meat.”

“Yes, we must. The other two scrolls are rather interesting. This newer scroll here contains the list of the people he was able to get to eat the meat. It corresponds to the ones in our cells here and in Angathorn Kingdom.”

“What's on the other list, Corrbas?”

“It contains a bill of sale for Draknor.”

“Draknor? You mean to tell me he is tied in with this mess?”

“He is, Telgon. What the bill of sale is for it isn't stated. Ruald did make a note in his journal that he found the deepest hole on Twainor.”

The dwarfs from King Thranton's Under Kingdom look at each other with worried faces.

“You don't think it's that, Durlond?”

“It's possible, Dalgan. It is the only thing possible.”

“What is it, Durlond?”

“There is a deep shaft in our Under Kingdom, Princes Lorna. It's called the Abyss. It is a deep shaft that goes down for a long distance. As far as we know there is no bottom. But there could be.”

“The Abyss, that must be what Ruald is referring to. He wrote that hole gave him another idea to strike at the heart of several kingdoms.”

“How would he do that?”

“I don't know, Telgon. Any ideas, Outside Helpers?”

Brentann speaks up, “If this Abyss is very deep. It is probably reaching the root of the mountain range. There are some horrific thoughts going through my mind right now. None of them are good.”

“What could happen, Brentann?”

“An explosion.”

The people gasp and put hands to their mouths in astonishment.

“No!”

“Gasp!”

“He wouldn't dare!”

“We've seen his attitude in Angathorn Kingdom. I would not put this idea past him. Whatever his scheme is we must be wary.”

“When we get to King Thranton's Under Kingdom we'll soon know what Draknor has planned. Hopefully, King Thranton's Inquiry will reveal that to us.”

Then we see Renard's crystal glow brightly on the table. He puts his hand above it. Then the image of King Tierion appears.

“Greetings, my King.”

“Greetings, Renard. It is time to fly to King Thranton's Under Kingdom.”

“Thank you for the reminder my King. We'll leave from the courtyard shortly.”

King Tierion smiles, “Don't forget the dragons.”

“We won't my, King.”

The image disappears.

“Well it is time for us to go.”

“We're sorry you can't stay longer, but we know the three kingdoms need to be there to support King Thranton.”

“That we must do.”

“I'll go ahead and contact the dwarves in the Mara Mountains to let them know it is time to leave.”

“Thank you, Princess Lorna.”

We all get up and leave the throne room and walk out to the courtyard. We walk around the courtyard waiting for the dragons. Then one of knights yells out.

“The dragons are coming!”

We look up and see Croin, Agaroan and Blacklaw gliding in for landing. We make room for them.

Then we see our three kings, queens, Avel and two other unicorns with their fairies. Also, Caltron and several centaurs as well in the courtyard. Also appearing are the Commanders and fifteen knights.

We all rearrange ourselves for the flight northward. Once we are connected, the wizards and sorceresses recite the transport spell. We disappear in a blink of an eye one group at a time.

“May the Maker grant them success.”

“Yes, we must trust in the Maker the truth will come out and win.”

Then the people leave the courtyard and walk back inside into the throne room to continue the regional meeting.