The charachters still belong to Albert Uderzo and Réné Goscinny, except for the usual ones.
P.S. This is part of the next part that I wrote, I decided to post it in maybe two pieces. The next one, since it is already written, will follow quite soon.
P.S.S Asterix and Obelix have a listening role in this chapter and the next one, but they will not stay on the sideline for the entire story. Sorry if you miss them a little in these chapters, feel free to say so if they seem to much side-characters to the story, but it will change after the next chapter. They need this background, and in stead of blending it through the story, I decided to put it here...Since I can think of no reason Manilla would not want to tell them all this.
"Mesmeron was looking for someone who could teach him healing arts, which meant that he was essentially looking for me. Untill today, the Forest House is the only place where healers are openly instructed on how they can optimize their abilities. And maybe he thought threatening my students the ideal way of forcing me to cooperate. At first it was easy enough to block him. He used his powers always with anger and greed in his mind. As I told you, healing powers try to focus on the positive, and defensive powers block out negative influence."
Manilla hesitated for a moment.
"Healers who are very skilled in this power can even block physical attacks….Phyllis was one of them. She was so good at it that she would even have be able to stop one of these menhirs, if you hurled it at her…or someone she wanted to protect. I know you would never do that, Obelix," she shushed the indignant "I would never..." Obelix started to utter. "But Mesmeron has either never heard about Gaulish honor, or he simply does not care."
When Mesmeron found he could not penetrate the Forest house, he started looking for more power. With roman armies surrounding al the villages in our region, he did not have to look long.
"Of course, the Romans," Vitalstatistix sneered, "Always willing to lend a hand."
Manilla smiled wearily at him. "They were never asked or even informed of his plans. But an army, compared to a random village is easier to control. They all listen almost blindly to one centurion. They are trained to act and think as one. Much easier to handle than a bunch of strong-headed individuals. This was the only reason Mesmeron was interested in using the Romans, not cooperate with them. I assure you that if the Romans side with Mesmeron, they will not do this willingly. There is nothing for them to gain. In fact, in the past, it were roman officers from neighboring camps that alerted us of Mesmerons plans. They saw their comrades being pulled under his control and they were unable to free them.
This all happened about eight years ago. Bonny and Phyllis were just sixteen at the time, careless teenagers and best friends, almost inseparable. Bonny has always been an exceptionally talented healer. Phyllis was quite talented herself, but a little hot-headed, which could sometimes give her trouble to focus on the right things. Besides, she was a bit of a wanderer, a tendency she must have inherited from her parents. Roaming the forests with her horse, thinking up reasons to organize a party, she was often less than focused on her studies.
"She was always there when you needed her though." Bonny added softly.
"I will be the last to deny that," Manilla said. Then she continued. "But she had a tendency for trouble. In fact that's how I discovered her defensive powers. That horse of didn't like blacksmiths at all, and when one tried to tie the horse up, it kicked the blacksmith, who got quite angry. I suppose he tried to hit the horse, which was not the best way to go about it of course. Phyllis pulled a shield round the horse, preventing her from being hit…..and poked the blacksmith with one of his own burning irons. I Have spent days trying to get her to heal him, but I think in the end it was still Bonny who did that.
Bonny's cheek flushed a little at that, and they turned even more red when she saw all eyes were upon her. Asterix' and Obelix' had them twinkling a little, they obviously could appreciate Phyllis approach to trouble more than Manilla.
"Goliath was heavily mistreated when she was first trained," Bonny told them. Phyllis found her when she and her parents were travelling to the Forest house. She healed her, took her away from their owners and her parents were forced into buying Goliath or have their daughter accused of thievery."
"Of course, they chose the first. Her first battle, at the age of ten. Most healers are especially sensitive about causing injury to others, it goes against their nature. It also weakens their abilities. But I have to admit that when she put her mind to it, Phyllis was quite a good healer, despite her uncharacteristic behavior. Still, I always knew she would have a difficult choice ahead of her. If Mesmeron was not beating down her gates, I might have been able to assist her better, but as it turned out I had no choice but to ask for her help. She was far too young to face what Mesmeron had created, but I knew that with the addition of that army, I would not be able to protect my students without help.
Phyllis did not hesitate for a second. The Forest house was her home back then, and together we succeeded in creating a shield so strong it was actually visible. Even with the armies , Mesmeron was not able to penetrate. It should have been a victory, but instead it was the start of a tragedy. Because I made my first mistake right there. No matter what happened afterwards, I cannot deny being responsible for the start of everything.
Manilla shook her head, at the puzzled looks that were thrown at her. She needed to go back a little for them to understand.
"Phyllis is not Gaulish, at least not entirely. She was born out of a mixed marriage. Her mother, Myra, was one of my first students, from a tribe who lived nearby the forest house. A travelling spirit, destined to leave her home one day. She met Phyllis father when he came to the forest house looking for advice, which was quite an event, since we tried to give it's location away only to those who were coming there for learning. However, Lucius was no threat. He was a doctor, half Greek, half Roman, who worked and lived in Rome. Being the big city it is, Rome was plagued by an epidemic disease, which was quite hard to treat and threatened to lead to mass loss of lives for the city. He managed to find a cure. Still the disease kept spreading, and Lucius knew that the only way to stop it would be to lessen the infectious character. He was called by the Emperor and instructed to find help to stop the disease.
Manilla stopped her story for a while to address Vitalstatistix. "I know I'm digressing here, but I know too that you and your men don't think highly of Romans. It is only natural you do, but Lucius was…ís a very intelligent man, and kind-hearted as well. He considered it an honor to visit us, but he also brought a lot of knowledge to us. I was very proud when he later entrusted his daughter to our care. Despite the tragedy it turned out to be for his family, he never accused me. I truly consider him a great man, and it pains me to know that I'm responsible for his current unhappiness."
Vitalstatistix made a dismissive gesture, and Getafix added "We 'd like to understand to past as well a possible Manilla. You said yourself there was still time, so let's not try to rush into action."
Manilla continued: "We found a way to lessen the infectious effects of the disease, and Myra went with Lucius. They stopped the spread of the illness, and during the first years Phyllis was born they travelled a lot. Lucius was not an army doctor, he did not like the presence of Legions any more than we do. But the oath of Hypocrates meant a lot to him. By nature, camps are especially vulnerable to the spreading of disease, and he and Myra often stayed within their walls, protected themselves by Myra's powers. They saved lives, which created deep gratitude among the soldiers, and life-long friendships. When Phyllis was about six they settled at the borders of Rome. They must have frequent visits from roman soldiers on their leave, visiting with children about Phyllis age. When the family returned to Myra's home village because they wanted to be close to their daughter when she learned to understand her abilities, they travelled with some legions that were going to be stationed near us. Phyllis was a curious child, fun to be around, and of course she made friends, they travelled together for almost a year.
When he went to attack us, it was among those friends that Mesmeron recruited. I should have realized, but I was too preoccupied by how the Forest House was going to withstand the attack. So Phyllis was not prepared to see her own friends attack her home, and she had to defend from them. If only this had been the worst, she might have been offended for not being let in on enough details, but we would have been able to talk things out. However, she sensed, a little like Asterix, the effect of Mesmerons trickery. Or it might just have been she trusted those men enough to know they would never attack her willingly. She went closed to investigate, and some probably recognized her and fought to break Mesmerons hold on them. The worse something is against your nature, the more difficult it becomes to be forced in to it. No magic in the world can change that.
If I had spent more time explaining Mesmerons ways to her, she might have realized that the best she could for them at that point was to leave them alone. Maybe I did not want to scare her. But I guess I already sensed she would have her own ideas about dealing with Mesmeron. And that if she did, she would destroy the healing part of her nature forever."
Bonny stared at her hands intently, not longer interfering in the story at all. Which Asterix found quite disturbing, and also a little regrettable. As Phyllis best friend, she no doubt had her own view of what had happened. But she seemed unable to utter a single word, and the tension in her soft eyes, betrayed how painful the past was to her.
"When Phyllis saw her friends struggle, she set out to help them, to break the hold Mesmeron had over them. Like they were ill, she made them focus on other things than his influence. On its own, that is the best way to break Mesmerons' powers, if only…"
Some of them managed to free themselves from his influence. They went back to their comrades, trying to help them, and thus they became a threat to Mesmeron's army…
Manilla went silent again. From the corner of her eye, she observed Asterix and Obelix, eager for her to continue. They obviously did not sense the turn her story would take. She was reminded of something else she was overlooking, right now. Sure these men were warriors and she did not doubt Getafix assertion that they were brave. But they had always had the magic potion to rely on, they had never known their parents do otherwise either. The title 'invincible' meant they were not confronted with lost battles. Thanks to the potion, they could afford to be gentle to their enemies, to see battle as somewhat of a game. She did not doubt they knew deep down it was way more than that, but it was one thing to know other battles went way different, but quite on other to have lived those battles. She had seen Asterix glancing from Bonny from time to time. In fact she had seen Obelix do the same, but Asterix eyes lacked the love-struck glance of his best friend. He sensed the story was not just some random happy-end adventure, but she could feel he saw it as an adventure in progress, a new task to solve. The happy ending would come soon enough.
But Vitalstatistix hád known other times, and he finished the illusion for his younger warriors.
"Since they were a threat to his victory, he killed the ones who resisted." He finished. His tone was calm and accepting, but the firm grip on the horn in his hand showed a different emotion.