They say.....

So, when Zerm heard about a certain member of the Black Market Cult....a Duke Drederigo, was going out to pay a visit to little ol' Aqualaria for some recreational mayhem and conquest, the old guy decided to join in, secretly. He wanted to pay an old time family that had bugged him in the past, the Thessamers, a hard time. Perhaps even practice his "artistry" on several of the household family? Alas, he only got to play with Anina before things fell apart when a certain brand of "heroes" decided to ruin the fun. He decided to fake his own death and fall back to assess them (the newcomers, the Golems, were especially worrisome for he had thought that they had gone for good after the mysterious explosions in Gelda.....) 

So he went back into the shadows again (for a small bit of fun) that he'd left to again study the situation. Later, he'd met his end when Probe had burned him to a crisp....but that's a few hundred episodes back. 

Anyway, little could be done to undo the transformation that Zerm had worked (in a slow....painful process upon ) on Anina. He'd used the slow but effective Atlantian rituals (in secret) to alter Anina's Matrix into that of hamadryad. Zerm had then worked other spells to alter the poor woman's behavior into the soft and compliant toy Drederigo wanted. Zerm would have been livid to find that what he considered a third rate mage by the name of Malin (who's mother had named after a rather bawdy bards tale about dwarves) had been able to unravel most of the behavioral alterations upon her. What remains is the initial cradle of subtle spells upon her that suppresses her natural fighting spirit. 
 
 

Zerm would have been beside himself to learn that a certain Rule who he'd dealt with in the past (a rather rude and obnoxious fellow) by the name of 179 gets the prayer "request".....sees the victim and who had diddled with her mind.....and laughs as he breaks the chains upon Anina's spirit and..... 
 
 

But right at the moment he's too busy screaming in agony. Hellfire can be so painful...... 
 
 

Anina suddenly screams in shock and joy as she feels something return that she hadn't even thought was gone (the spells had prevented her from even missing that part of her personality!) 
 
 

Later, Malin is sulking in his room. 
 
 

He decides that now was the time to play a subtle game. Astra 8 was too much in the lime light for Malin to get to her easily. Anina and this newcomer, Nathias, were also in that category (and why did the Queen cry over something about wronging the paladin over past incidents in holding grudges....and then even knighted the guy and gave him a tract of land near Walants?!) 
 
 

No, best to play it low keyed. Best to use assets he already had by his hold on the Queen. Just have her take a keen interest in military matters but not have her draw too much attention on her (and HIM) by upsetting things with a power play. His unwitting spy would pass on to him what her "sister" had planned. That would work well enough and not bring too much risk of detection until it was too late to stop it. 
 
 

However, the "foppish" King had noticed the quick look of anger (hidden almost instantly) when it had been revealed that Anina had been fully restored..... 
 
 

1. Willian silently decides that it may be a good idea to find out more about this Malin fellow...... 

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