Duke Igthorn had thought up the best plans, he had the best luck when it came to randomly finding Gummi Bears, he should be king, Lady Bane should be his wife by now, but most of all he should have all the Gummi Berry Juice he could possible want...yet somehow he was still without any of those things and each day he seemed to be sinking a little deeper into the pit that was Drekmore.
Several weeks ago he had come up with a plan to surpass all his other plans. He had realized that he was going about world domination the wrong way. He was being hasty and trying to take over with too little knowledge. He decided he needed to work on fulfilling his desires one at a time and in a very particular order. He had dictated to Toadie the order in which he would complete his desires so the tiny ogre could scrawl notes.
He would take each task one at a time without regard to the others, for that is what slowed his approach to capturing Dunwyn's throne. First on his list was to find the Gummi Bears to get the precious Gummi Berry Juice that would lead to his take over of Dunwyn. Of course taking over Dunwyn wasn't a concern at this time, if he were to follow his new plan to the letter. He had pondered over how to find the Gummi Bears.
Ogres looking over Dunwyn's grounds proved to be fruitless, as did his own attempts at seeking the mythical bears that had cause him so much grief. Traps hadn't worked, in fact nothing had worked. Igthorn hadn't seen a Gummi Bear in months and he wasn't even sure they still existed. It was in the middle of the night that it came to him…a way to find the Gummi Bears.
Now he waited patiently for his answer to arrive, he had been waiting days, no weeks; and his patients were wearing thin. He paced the length of his makeshift throne room in the highest tower of Drekmore. Toadie watched thoughtfully as Duke Igthorn walked back and forth.
"Dukie, someone here," the oafish orange ogre called Zook banged the door open to the tower.
"Well, let them in," Duke Igthorn said slowly, as if caringly, but then raised his tone to a shout, "you stupid son-of-a-warthog!"
The clumsy ogre tripped over himself in his hurried rush to leave the room.
"Oh Toadwart," Igthorn rubbed his hands together devilishly, "this is going to be spectacular."
"Very spectacular oh genius one," Toadie agreed.
The door was slammed open once more and Zook reappeared followed by a purple ogre, called Gad. "Here is guest." Both ogres moved to the side and in stepped a slim and lithe cloaked figure.
A quick hand drew back the hood to reveal a lovely young woman. Her dark hair was tied back with a leather strap, and her fair complexion glowed in an unnaturally the light. She looked about the room and her brown eyes seemed intrigued.
"Where is your master woman, Scholar Doyle?" Igthorn barked.
The woman arched an eyebrow, "Duke Igthorn, I presume?"
"Yes, that's right…now answer me," Igthorn commanded.
A smile crept across the youthful woman's face, and she appeared humored, "You wrote in search of a scholar of lore."
"That's right," Igthorn's nostrils flared with irritation.
"Brother Ruben wrote back, informing you that they would send a scholar to your request."
"Yes," Igthorn was now growing quite impatient with this girl and he stalked over to her.
She raised her chin and her smile broadened mischievously, "I am Master Muiranne Doyle, scholar of all western lore."
"There must be some mistake," Igthorn said, "a girl…"
"I can assure you, I know all there is to know about all mythical creatures, for example: Brownies and Sprites, Waterbabies and Redcaps, Griffins and Gummi Bears."
"Please," instantly Igthorn's tone changed at her mention of Gummi Bears, he bowed to her, "may I take you're cloak?"
"Yes, thank you," Muiranne slipped from the brown burlap cloak to reveal a quiet lovely dress, one of a well-to-do lady. She draped the cloak over Igthorn's arm. In his bow he noticed an intricately designed cross around her neck. As he went to the pegs on the wall, where he would hang her garment he asked, "You're religious?"
Muiranne scooped up the cross and tucked it into her dress, "I spent twelve of my eighteen years in a Spanish Franciscan Monastery, simply saying I am religious is mild."
"But you're a-"
"Female," Muiranne nodded, "I wasn't a monk," she chuckled. "I was being educated. Few schools will allow female students, as I'm sure you know. Monasteries are the few places that are gender neutral; and even then it is difficult to find them." She placed her hands behind her back and walked about the 'throne room' surveying its contents.
"Tell me what you know about the Gummi Bears?" Igthorn didn't wait, he dove right in with all his intensity to get on track for his new taking over the world scheme.
Muiranne didn't pause, she continued to walk about the room and look over the few works of art in the nearly bare room. "What would you like to know?"
"How can I find them?"
"Presuming you have any existing Gummi Bears in this area they would have to have surviving Gummi Berry bushes. That is how you will find them."
"We've checked the bushes already," Igthorn dropped into his throne.
"Well they certainly won't be out in the open when humans are around," Muiranne finally looked over her shoulder at Igthorn, slightly annoyed, as if he were being foolish – and silently she hoped he wasn't serious about finding Gummies in the broad daylight by trouncing around their fruit plants. "Within any one hundred yard radius of the center of a Gummi Berry patch you will find the abode of Gummi Bears using that particular patch, give or take a few yards."
"Really?" Igthorn looked at her intrigued.
"Yes really," Muiranne turned to him.
"How do you know so much?" Igthorn asked skeptically.
"There are one thousand seven hundred forty nine illuminated manuscripts in the Franciscan Monastery where I studied, I read one thousand six hundred eight of those manuscripts and helped scribe a large portion of them. Only monks can illuminate the manuscripts but anyone can work in the scribery, and that is where I received my first education on texts and reading. If you'd like a list of my educational references each of the brothers wrote me a reference, I've chosen a select few. They are in my bag."
"That won't be necessary," Igthorn waved a hand but leaned over closer to her; he liked this girl, and he hoped he could keep her around long enough to help him find and capture a Gummi Bear; and if that meant allowing her to stay and keep her happy he'd do it.
"Have you ever seen one Lady Doyle?" Igthorn asked.
"A Gummi Bear?" Muiranne asked.
Igthorn nodded.
"No." She said dryly.
"Do you believe in them my lady?"
Muiranne turned to him, "You may call me Muiranne, please." She was proper as any lady should be, with the way she spoke, walked and acted, but it was obvious that she thought of herself as an educated scholar not a lady of the court. "Many of our legends are based in fact, beyond that I have no explanation."