property of Réné Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Asterix saw his own shocked look mirrored when he turned to Obelix. He shook his head in frustration, about the events themselves, which could have been prevented, but also about his own naivety. As if it was the first time he heard about battles. As if he had never learned what happened when you lost them. As if he did not realize how incredibly lucky their village was to have the magic potion. His mood quickly turned to a more firm determination; this danger needed to be stopped; there was no way he would let it reach their village.
"What happened next," he asked.
Manilla continued: "I had long enough of a past with Mesmeron to know what would be the fate of these men. Phyllis had no idea. She worried for them, but the shock of seeing her home attacked was greater at first. She plummeted me with questions, prompted others to skill themselves in defense. I let her be for a while, although I was quite sure that Mesmeron would not attack the Forest House again anytime soon. He had failed twice, and he hates failure. I hoped that Phyllis distraction would give me enough time to explain thoroughly why it would be wrong, especially for a healer, to go and seek revenge.
"Why," Obelix said, "why is it wrong?" He imaged someone attacking Asterix, and even the idea made him tremble with anger.
Manilla understood the idea behind his question. "Revenge, can have its use, when it prevents more wrong deeds in the future. But it is a very negative notion, one that cannot leave the abilities of a healer untouched. It were those abilities that protected us from Mesmeron, so to weaken them was one of the most dangerous things to do. Other than that, revenge, just for revenge, will not bring back what is lost.
"Yes, but still," Asterix started to say, but Manilla went on, "It is very difficult to come to that conclusion when you are the one who suffers….which is why I hoped for more time. But Phyllis soon found out, and she was enraged. Sad too of course, but more than anything else enraged.
"She felt guilty," Bonny's soft voice interfered, for the first time since quite a while. "About telling them to fight back and not making sure they were okay. About causing their deaths."
"That's ridiculous," Asterix said, "If anyone…if anything could have prevented it, it would have been informing her of what she was getting involved in." He had corrected himself to soften the accusation, but it was not meant to go unnoticed, and as Manilla caught his gaze, she was surprised at how cold these blue eyes suddenly looked. Until a few minutes ago, they had been nothing but kind, and welcoming, but now the blame was evident in them.
She sighed "Phylllis seemed to accept that I hadn't. But what she could not forgive me was letting her believe they would be okay. Not telling her of the consequences of her actions, thus giving her no chance to set thing right. I wanted to protect her, to keep her from sharing the fate of her friends, but the price was very high. I lost her trust. Permanently. I did not realize at first. After a few weeks or raging, she started her healing lessons again. It took my chance to tell her everything I knew about Mesmeron, holding nothing back this time. I even told her about informing Getafix, and our decision to not let you come to our aid, Asterix. And she agreed it was the right thing to do. But I still don't know if she really thought it was the best decision, or if she simply wanted to make me think she agreed with me.
Because the moments that she yelled at me in rage, were the last moments she shared her true feeling with me. She resumed her training, because she wanted to perfect her defense, of herself and others, not because she forgave me. She never did. Apparently she had spent her weeks away from the Forest House looking into Mesmeron, who he was, how he acted. She talked to people who had been attacked by him, learned about his power to control minds, and the many other arms he had gathered over time. I think, however, this is as far as my part of the story goes. I was led to believe she had managed to control her anger, which in fact was not that wrong. It just did not mean she had given up on it. She postponed it, saved it for one ultimate goal.
"To defeat Mesmeron."
"You are quite mild, Asterix. I don't think defeating him was her goal. I think she wanted him destroyed, not only his powers, but him as a person."
"Destroy, defeat, get rid of him. It all comes down to the same thing, doesn't it?" It was Vitalstatistix who said this, his tone a little irritated at the unnecessary word play.
"Not at all," Manilla said sternly. "A healer who intentionally destroys life is no longer a healer. Which is why I never wanted to fight Mesmeron myself. He has every thinkable power to destruct things. He is almost unbeatable in it. But he cannot destroy me. Healing comes down on enforcing exactly the opposite things than the ones you enforce for an attack. In other words, you fight or defend. Doing both at the same time is simply impossible. This is why Mesmeron has never mastered healing, and why he never will.
There were a few moments of silence as the occupants of the room contemplated this. Asterix tried to make the comparison with a battle situation. Was it impossible to fight and defend at the same time? Maybe, if you looked at it from a purely action-based way. When you reach out to strike someone, you lower your defense. But from a wider point of view, where their battles often not meant to defend the village? They sometimes attacked first; did this not protect the village at the same time? It does, Asterix thought stubbornly, if it was not in our best interest, than we could not have lasted for so long. Maybe Manilla thought it was wrong to fight the Romans, but he did not share that opinion. He had met enough Romans to know that most of them weren't that bad, that there were more and less worthy people amongst them. But the idea of putting more and more parts on the world under your control, when the inhabitants were perfectly okay and happy the way they were, that was what it was all about. Roman civilization could well be beneficial for some parts of the world; it had no business forcing itself on people without their consent. It was nice to be able to fight it without having to take lives, but it they did not have that luxury, would he act differently? No. He would be more prudent, but he would not avoid the fight, no matter the outcome. It was a strange thing to think about, but his growing sympathy for a girl he had never even met, strengthened his belief that he would try to act the same way.
"Phyllis never wanted to just stop Mesmeron. She wanted him gone," Bonny suddenly said. "And although I value my healing powers, and I could not imagine not having them anymore, I never tried to stop her. I saw the lives he could still destroy, the people he could hurt….and I made my decision to try to help her without thinking twice."
"So how did you try to des… to get Mesmeron gone?"
"It was quite simple actually. Phyllis just decided that since Mesmeron would never be able to learn healing and defense, he could be defeated by someone who had more power than him. Or maybe that someone with less power could manage the same, if they could also rely on their healing and defense.
"Which was a mistake, since her healing powers were bound to become weaker if she focused on negative energy," Manilla said.
"And yet, although Phyllis started to learn about the dark powers with revenge in her mind, it did not really affect her healing powers. Maybe a little, but I always thought it was more to her difficulty to control her emotions than to her new powers. It was not new; Mesmeron was not the first who ever angered her, or who caused her pain. She always had some difficulty to focus on the right emotions. If she managed, she was extremely powerful, but she often got distracted by other feelings. This is why we healed together so much. We continued to do so during our trainings at the Forest House after she started searching out 'dark' powers, and I never had the impression she grew much weaker at healing. It is why I believed her plan might work. I would have covered for her even if I didn't believe it would, but it certainly made it easier for me to explain her time away as time with her parents, even if Phyllis made sure they were nowhere around before she started searching out all the powers Mesmeron abuses."
"They kept it up," Manilla said "I never knew. For almost five years, Phyllis studied every power Mesmeron had, and found ways to learn them"
"Patient girl," Getafix remarked.
"Mesmeron never tried to stop her?" Asterix asked? "And how did she get people to teach her?"
"Well, the art of manipulation appears to be at her side. I do not consider myself as unintelligent or unobservant. It may seem naïve that I never suspected anything but Phyllis did not have to learn how to deceive people; she was a natural from the start. She got people to do her bidding; I think largely the same way Mesmeron did. No doubt with an extra touch of subtlety and female elegance. Men appear to be sensitive to that," she said with a wary smile.
"As for your first question," Bonny said, "She was very careful to stay out of Mesmerons' way as much as possible, and if she met people who could possibly be in contact with him, she paid extra attention to hiding her true intentions. He never expected her to be a threat until she first confronted him. It was a very carefully planned first confrontation. Phyllis usually told me about her plans, although she never actually asked for my approval or my help. This confrontation was a secret, maybe because she considered it a test, and wouldn't put me in danger. Mesmeron was planning another attack on the Forest house, this time with a much larger force, and he had been preparing for years. For one thing, he has a much bigger army as backup. But armies need to eat, even if they have no control over their minds, so he…"
"Wait a minute, if it was a secret confrontation, then how do you know so much about it?" Asterix did not like to interrupt again, but he had the distinct feeling that he was listening to a story from which parts had been cut. Maybe because the main actor of it was missing to comment. Bonny was somewhat dumb-struck. "Well she told me afterwards," she said simply. "And as I said, it was a test for Phyllis; she wanted to see if she could resist Mesmerons' attacks. He was going to convince a nearby pub owner to foresee part of the army of supplies, of course using his powers. It was easy, because apart from obedient, people under his control also keep secrets. It was a really easy thing for Mesmeron, something he did no doubt countless times a day. So he was not really focusing or completely on his guard. Phyllis called it a perfect occasion. Phyllis broke his power over the owners of the pub quite easily. By the time Mesmeron realized what was happening, she already had herself and the pub under her defense. Of course Mesmeron was furious, but despite attacking her full force, he could not break the defensive shield. If it is really strong, it's kind of like a bubble, you can actually see it. It looks fragile, but it is incredibly strong.
However, there was a downside. Phyllis could not use her new powers without dropping her defense. By now, she new enough to know that if she lowered her defense, Mesmeron would not attack her but the people she was protecting, and how this would affect her control over her emotions. So she didn't. She chose not to attack, and in the end Mesmeron was forced to give up his attack.
Bonny shook her head. "To me it was prove that violence would not be the answer, that Manilla was right. It felt good to me, I never liked the idea of actively fighting someone. But Phyllis did not share my opinion." She stood up from her place at the table and walked towards the window, no longer facing them.
"Initially I thought Phyllis plan made sense. I have learnt to let go of anger, but I díd share her pain, the pain of losing the ones you love. But even if I hadn't, Phyllis and I became friends from the moment she first visited the forest house. And from the moment she came to live there, we did almost everything together, studying, playing, talking boys. Yet she never needed me as much as I did her. She had her own family; I grew up in the Forest House without known relatives. To her it was a home, for me it is my only home. My healing powers are my greatest treasure, they define who I am. That's a big difference between us, because though Phyllis liked her powers, she saw them more like a practical tool. Her family defined her, and her greatest treasure was Goliath, her horse. She was completely fond of that mare, she took always took her along when going on searches, not me. Never me.
"Would you have wanted that?" Manilla asked
"I just did not want her to have to do it all by herself. But she did not want me to come along."
"You know why. Healing and dark powers cannot coexist, and you are the most powerful healer of the Forest House, the most powerful healer I ever came across. Phyllis might not have cared about her own powers, but she will not have wanted to risk yours."
"But did Bonny not just say Phyllis learned to use both of them," Asterix countered the definite character power of Manilla's words. It was a useful idea, and he was not willing to the chance to protect their village slip out of moral principles.
"It is not the power itself that destroys it is opposite," Manilla said calmly. "It is the effect the use of these powers has of the one who applies them that renders him unable to use the opposite of that power. Using dark powers does not only affect others' but also your own mind. Just like healing powers do. So a violent healer is a contradices in termis, forgive my Latin. It just can't exist."
"That is why she trained me to become stronger in producing defensive shields," Bonny added. "She could not use both powers at the same time." Absentmindedly she caressed some flowers on Asterix' windowsill.
"We were going to face him together. That was the plan. I wanted to tell you Manilla, I really did. But she blocked me out every time I tried to start about it. She never actually said it, but I knew that informing you would mean she would fight alone. And that she would lose. So I told no one. Phyllis did, she sought out the assistance of roman friends, also eager for revenge. Not to face Mesmeron directly, that was something she planned to do herself. But to help me in my defense."
She looked round at the others, as if she was hoping for them to interrupt, or for Manilla to take over. But no one said a word, even Dogmatix was perfectly silent. So she gathered her breath, and in a voice far too neutral to sound natural she continued: "Mesmerons' ''' next move was to attack a village where two young healers lived; a twin, eight years old, too young to be part of the Forest House already. Phyllis found out, and she expected Mesmeron to be prepared for her this time. The village was quite near the Forest House, I assume it was one of his final preparations for attacking it. Phyllis asked me to stay behind, to stay at home until she gave sign. Not that she was so concerned about me, but she díd see me as an important part of her plan." Bonny's words were bitter enough, but somehow it didn't show in her soft tone of voice.
"She wanted to break Mesmerons' mental hold over the village first, so they would not attack me or the soldiers trying to protect them. I was then supposed to put the village and everyone else under my defense, so she was free to…go after him."
"I still believed it could work. But Phyllis overlooked one thing. She had kept her whereabouts a tight secret, so as far as Mesmeron knew, she acted on the orders of the Forest House. He had no idea that she worked in secret, and that no one knew about her plans. He expected to see all of us. Phyllis counted on him to save his army, after all she had done him no harm. She expected him to bring troops, as many maybe as for his first attack on the Forest house, but not an amount ten times as much. It was terrifying. Back then, we still shared some sort of mental connection, and I could feel her struggle to keep up her defense. At the same time I felt her joy of having broken his mind control over the village. She was blind to my terror, my conviction I would never be able to keep up the protection, and the deaths that would follow. I would die for her, but to risk other people's lives was something that froze me up with fear.
She asked me to step in, almost joyful. I asked her to cancel, I asked her not to attack Mesmeron, told her I was not ready. She tried to convince me, to convince me I would be okay, but I felt her panic rising. She begged me to come. She was not willing risk lives either, but this time Mesmeron had enormous force with him, and they could keep attacking for days. In the end she would lose. I made my decision to tell Manilla in a split of a second, but I should have kept it from her, she could see it in my mind at once. I was never a good manipulator. Only moments later the connection between us was gone. What happened next I can only guess, but I suppose she decided to attack rather than to defend until she had no powers left.
"Bonny went to me, and I on my turn begged her not to go. If Mesmeron won, the Forest House would be his next stop, and without Phyllis and Bonny I was not able to withstand his attack."
"In the end, I went anyway. Some of my and Phyllis friends came along. But we lost so much time. Far too much. It was a disaster. Villagers, members of Mesmerons' army regaining their senses, we did not know who to go to first."
Bonny's voice faded to a whisper: "We managed to cure them all, but Phyllis…" She did not go on.
Vitalstatistix grimly concluded, "So in the end Mesmeron won?"
Manilla stepped in for Bonny: "At first it was not a clear victory. He was weakened, his army was no longer under his control, and his plans were idled. But he lived. It took him three years to come to the point that he is taking up his old plans, but he arrived there. And Phyllis gave him a unique motivation. He saw an example of someone who could both heal and destroy. And she was alone. She broke off every contact with us. I don't know exactly how Mesmeron gets to control her, but the fact she has never tried to attack him again..."
"Wait, wait, WAIT" Obelix had been trying to stop Manilla with increasing persistency, and his last word made Impedimenta drop the spoon she had been turning between her fingers for the past half hour. Manila looked as confused by the interruption as Obelix sounded. Asterix, no less surprised, tried to clarify: "You mean Phyllis is ALIVE? Why….How can that be? He killed the others who…"
"Why?" Manilla repeated. "By accident at first, I think, she destroyed his whole attack, no matter how interesting she was, he must have wanted her destroyed, and without her defense, he managed to deal her a blow that should have been her death. But it wasn't. How she survived? That horse probably took part of the blow. She stayed in Phyllis wake as her shadow.
"But then we should go and see her," Asterix said. She was the closest you ever got to defeat this guy. So…"
"You don't understand," Manilla interrupted, sounding sharp. "It took us weeks to get her conscious again. The first time she woke up enough to ask for Goliath, and we had to tell her she was not there…" "Yeah, of course, keep everything she needs to know from her, but please do not waste any time in telling her her pet is gone," Asterix said sarcastically. He and Manilla stared at each other sharply, and the others watched both of them in fascination. It was not likely for Asterix to sound like that. He was a bit short-tempered sometimes, but he did not hold grudges. "She turned him against her with her own story," Getafix observed. And he believed he knew why.
Manilla was the first to break the eye contact, but she walked up to Bonny, and reached for her arm. Carefully, she pulled back the sleeve, revealing a heavily scared underarm that had obviously been badly burnt. "I told you dark and healing powers could not coexist. The moment Phyllis learnt about her horse, she lost control over every power she had. She attacked everything and everything in her reach, including her best friend. The Forest House still bears marks of that day. Phyllis did more damage to it than all Mesmerons' attacks combined.
Bonny pulled back her arm. "She was scared…" "And angry, and out of control, and dangerous. No one managed to calm her down, or to talk some reason into her, and we have not seen her since.
They were all silent again. "We did hear she was still following Mesmeron," Bonny said cautiously. "She might be near." Asterix eyes flickered with the opportunity. "She has never attacked or thwarted Mesmeron ever since," Manilla stated. "I can understand that you see her as an opportunity, but in her current mental state she is more likely to turn against you than to help me, and you can barely overestimate the danger in that. And there is one other thing. Phyllis ability to heal is gone.
"When did that happen?" Getafix asked.
"I don't know, but from what we heard about her, she did not heal others or herself every since the fight. Is she ever had an advance over Mesmeron, it is gone now.
Largest chapter! some remarks: there is not that much interaction, Asterix-Obelix in this one, but I plan to make up for that starting from the next chapter. Eight years of history is a long time to span, and it just seems natural that Manilla was going to share that history with them. From now on, There should be less talking in the past and more action. To me this background is a known story, but please let me know if some things made no sense, and of other comments are always welcome, I could take them into account for what is to come.
