by Des Pensable
Miranda formally replied,
‘As a servant of the Lady and first favourite of Aquitain I am honoured to help you get rid of the bad spirits. I wish to have a talk with shaman Buluk, and rest for a short while, then I will travel to this place where you discovered the carved symbols.’
The whole village was filled with rejoicing. The children stormed her all wanting to touch the bear motif across her stomach. She was amazed she had never seen such a response from any village before. After the meeting with the village Miranda and Buluk returned to his hut to further discuss the situation.
‘Buluk, what is going on?’ asked Miranda. ‘Why are the people so pleased to see me? Your people are known to be suspicious of druids.’
‘They are all being pleased to see you as I have been telling them the story of the destruction of the Barra people by a false giant lizard and how the Spirit Bear Aquitain, a brother of K’wala was helping their dead to be passing through the gate to the spirit world. I also was hearing how he banished Jacintra back to the world of spirits for he had no right of being in our world without being called.’
‘I’ll bet it was Kami, shaman of the Jeti tribe who told you that.’
Buluk smiled and said. ‘Kami is well respected and a well-loved story teller.’
‘We are having valuable relations with the Jeti people lately. Some of their sons and daughters are in our clan and some of ours in theirs. After the dream of Aquitain, I was telling the council and it caused much discussion and some division. However, all agreed it was important so we called to village together and I was telling them the story as well.’
‘Unfortunately, some of the old are being set like stone in their ways. They are not believing that K’wala is having a twin brother. They are saying there is being only be one spirit bear and his name is being K’wala. They are believing the bear is being a false spirit bear like the false lizard in the story. Most of the elders and many of the young, especially the children are being happy as they are believing that the appearance of a spirit bear is being a beneficial omen.’
‘Your news that the spirit bear has been transformed to a brown scaled little person gives us great hope of change. Perhaps it will be leading to the returning of the lost brown people and the lost spirit totems.’
‘Some of the young are wanting the Spirit Bear Aquitain to becoming their new spirit totem as he is appearing and helping the Barra people, whereas Loopis is not showing himself for many ages.’
‘To be making matters more murky, I have been hearing that many of the Barra young people that were being saved by Aquitain have been deciding to be making him their new totem spirit and have been deciding to be starting a new bear clan. The young here are wanting to be going to join them but the old won’t be accepting them unless they are swearing loyalty to K’wala.’
Miranda was shocked. She would never have believed that Aquitain’s actions would have had such a profound effect on a tribe normally so aloof.
These people would normally be expected to despise the browns yet here they were hopeful that Aquitain might herald the return of the browns and the lost spirit totem creatures. These were enigmas that the druids had wrestled with for ages and never found an answer. Perhaps she should mention it to Aquitain sometime as he had an uncanny knack of seeing order amongst the chaos. No perhaps not. His head was swelled enough. If she told him that they wanted to start a new clan to worship him he would get an even bigger head.
‘And what do you believe Buluk?’ asked Miranda.
‘Both Toka and I are believing that one new spirit bear can only be beneficial and we are knowing that since you are being his first favourite, you will be helping us. That’s why the young are being so happy to be seeing you.’
‘And those that think Aquitain is a false spirit bear, are they happy to see me?’
‘They are having no dispute with you or your mother. Your mother has been helping us in the past. So they are being content to be judging you by your actions. ’
‘Thank you for your confidence, now let’s get down to the business at hand. It sounds like someone has opened a temporary gateway. What do you think?’
‘That is being my thought too. Over the years there have been a number of odd happenings in that area, but nothing that would be leading us to suspect that there was a gateway being there until recently. In fact, if the three young hunters didn’t go disappearing then we would not have been looking so thoroughly. Is it wise for you to be traveling there alone? If a gateway is being there then it may be being dangerous with guards protecting it.’
‘What?’ thought Miranda, ‘How insulting! A typical bloody male comment!’
‘Buluk, thank you for your concern, but I travel alone every day. There would only be creatures protecting it if it were open for any amount of time. It is unlikely that anyone would be stupid enough to keep opening a gate each full moon and taking all the animals from the same area without expecting us to find out and close it.’
‘I will examine the site. I have a magic item that will tell me whether it is a gateway and hopefully where it goes. If a gateway is there, I will seal it. If there is no gateway there, we will have to look a bit deeper to find out where your bad spirits are coming from. I may need your help for that.’
Buluk thanked and left her to allow her to rest and mentally prepare for the task ahead. After a few minutes meditation where she prayed to the goddess for success in the coming venture, she sought Buluk for directions to the area then changed shape to a sea eagle and flew off.
**
Just before dawn, the air was moist and the jungle was alive with birdcalls. An annoyed Huntmaster was standing in a relatively clear patch of jungle near a small creek.
On the other side of the creek was a rock face embedded with magic runes and an open gateway. He had given the four hunting teams specific instructions to be back by dawn. Three had come back with a useful quantity of animals, a couple of cats, a black bear, two wolves and a large python.
It was a pretty mixed bag, but it might keep Lord Darkmantle happy. He had an insatiable appetite for animals for fighting games and experiments. Most thought it had something to do with the druid woman he used to be married to. The man had become mentally unstable after she left him. They felt he was punishing the animals as a way of getting back at his wife who loved them. The Lord was now mixing with the Yith lizard people who had an unknown agenda and the Huntmaster felt that it was bound to lead to great trouble.
Just as the first rays of the sun penetrated the canopy trees, attacking the leaf litter on the ground with countless shafts of golden light, he saw Fen Fang the wyvern, land in the small clearing just over the hill from the gate. He had given the ill-tempered creature an hour to find some food and hoped that it had fed well otherwise it would be in a fouler mood than normal and that was bad enough.
He had recently lost two Newman handlers to it. That made three altogether. It should have been killed after the first handler was eaten. It was acting like it could do whatever it wanted. That was definitely not acceptable behaviour. They had to be kept under strict control at all times. His father, the old Huntmaster had taught him that and the previous Lord Darkmantle knew that. The current Lord Darkmantle obviously didn’t care and it was costing lives.
Fen Fang had caught a small boar but was still hungry. It had come back at the allotted time but wasn’t happy about being ordered around by the new Huntmaster. He always ordered the animals around. He always wanted control. The new Lord Darkmantle was much more lax. Fen Fang could get away with a lot under the new Lord. He liked the new Lord as he sometimes came down and fed him animals and occasionally people when no one was looking. Maybe if he caught the Huntmaster off guard he could eat him, then his troubles would be over. Now that was a nice thought.
Chapter 8 The Trixie Outcast
Aquitain and Allalanllea teleported up from the cave below the town to Featherdown’s door then went straight across to the Conjurer’s tower and k
nocked on the door until they got some attention. A gnome escorted them up to the wizard. They found Granwell seated on a lounge in ostentatious pyjamas eating breakfast off a tray.
When he saw Allalanllea he put down the tray, stood up, clicked a finger and was instantly clothed in his wizard gown. He bowed to Allalanllea and walked over to her and shook her hand. Aquitain noticed the secret handshake of one wizard to another. As he had heard no sound Aquitain assumed that Allalanllea had talked to Granwell using mindspeak.
‘Welcome madam,’ said Granwell charmingly.
‘I am honoured. Featherdown has spoken respectfully of you. How may I help you?’
‘Thank you,’ said Allalanllea. ‘Aquitain has asked me to examine the creature you have trapped so that I may determine whether it is from Moonmist.’
‘Of course, Madam, we shall examine it right away; please follow me.’
Aquitain was surprised at how willing Granwell was to please Allalanllea.
They teleported to the summoning room and Granwell gestured to the creature in the golden cage.
‘It has the appearance of an outcast trixie from Moonmist.’ said Allalanllea. She spoke to it in Elendarin the main language on Moonmist but it ignored her. She tried a couple of other languages but still got no response.
‘Strange.’ she remarked.
‘One of the townspeople caught it.’ said Granwell. ‘Benton the blacksmith I think. It was hiding in his barn. He alerted Chantalot and he bought it to me.’
‘Did it have anything on it when it was caught?’ asked Aquitain.
‘I don’t think so. Chantalot would have told me about anything like that.’
The creature was confused it didn’t seem to care whether they were there or not. Aquitain and Allalanllea walked around it, looking into its eyes. It looked nasty but its eyes were glazed over. He was sure it was either magically charmed or drugged.
‘Have you drugged or confused this creature,’ asked Aquitain.
‘Of course not!’ said Granwell. ‘How could I expect it to talk if it’s drugged?’
‘I shall have to go.’ said Allalanllea.
‘Time is pressing. The creature is definitely a trixie from Moonmist. They are believed to be related to the little people here on Mudrun. Why they appear to be related is a subject of much speculation on Moonmist. There are many others that do not have the malformed face and look much more like brown-scaled little people. I agree it appears drugged or confused. I would leave it for a day and if it is still confused then try to dispel any deleterious magic from it.’
They teleported back to the front door and after Granwell had agreed to allow Aquitain further access to the Moonmist trixie outcast they took their leave of Granwell.
‘Well I must go now.’ repeated Allalanllea.
‘I will get back to Moonmist one way or another. I hope you find out why the outcast trixie was here. I dare say we shall meet again soon. Please look after Miranda; she is very precious to me,’ and she teleported away.
Aquitain thought about Allalanllea for a minute or two then decided to investigate the barn and perhaps talk to Benton the blacksmith, as he didn’t know where to find Chantalot. The barn was beside the blacksmith’s shop but separate and looked like it had been recently built. There were two strange looking cattle in stalls, hay all over the floor and lots of leather ropes and chains, hanging from the walls.
Aquitain looked around for anything that might have come from the trixie. It was impossible, he couldn’t even get the trixie’s scent as the scent of the beasts in the stalls and other smells were too strong. He would have to ask the blacksmith. Suddenly Chantalot stepped out of the shadows in front of him.
‘Hello … what are you up to lad?’
‘Hello, Chantalot it’s me, Aquitain.’
‘By the Powers, is it really? Featherdown said you were a little person or a spider.’
Aquitain changed to his little person body and with a big toothy reptilian smile using mindspeak said.
‘I rather miss the big bear body but this is what I have now thanks to Miranda and The Lady. When you die you can’t be too choosy what your new body is like.’
Chantalot chuckled.
‘You are a prime candidate for an epic song you know. I’ve always sung about great legendary heroes but never about real living ones. You are the best candidate I know. Perhaps I better get to work.’
Aquitain changed back to his small Newman form and laughed.
‘I don’t think people would be interested in songs about heroic midget shape shifting spiders. What I am interested is if the blacksmith found anything on the trixie outcast.’
Chantalot pulled a ring out of a pocket and passed it to him.
‘You mean like this.’
Aquitain used his ability to detect magic and determined that it was a magic ring and by the shade of the magic aura, it used Divination magic.
‘Have you had it identified?’
‘No.’ not yet,’ replied Chantalot. ‘I only just got it. I was hoping that you might know more about it or perhaps we could get one of the wizards to identify it.’
‘Can I take it?’ asked Aquitain.
‘Yes, of course. I’m intrigued to know more about that weird trixie myself but I have other things to do. Featherdown has got me working. I’ll see you later.’ and he walked off.
Aquitain headed for his workshop in the basement of Featherdown’s tower.
After about half an hour’s work the ring was identified. It turned out to be a ring of object location. It was keyed to locate a specific object which he could not determine directly, but he had a pretty accurate idea what it would locate, a sceptre of lordly might.
This was his first useful clue. He closely examined the ring for a marque and sure enough there was one on the inside but it was too small to see clearly. He felt frustrated at not having a magnifier and a book of local marques.
He spent ten minutes carrying out the Ritual of Understanding to allow him to comprehend other languages then returned to Granwell’s tower and was shown in by a gnome, who told him that Granwell was gone, but had left instructions to give him access to the outcast trixie.
He examined the trixie closely again walking around the cage making sure to keep the ring hidden. The trixie’s eyes were less fogged, and followed him as he walked around it. Suddenly, he held the ring in front of it and got the reaction he expected. The trixie’s hand shot out and tried to grab the ring and it shouted, ‘That’s mine, give it to me!’ in the Mudrun common tongue.
He held it behind his back and shook his head indicating - no you can’t have it. He changed his shape to look like a brown-scaled little person with a partially malformed face similar to it, and then danced around with the ring behind his back.
The trixie let out a long string of swearing that would put a soldier to shame, all in the Mudrun common tongue.
‘Something’s not right here’, he thought.
Why didn’t the trixie swear in its own language? Most people he had known would switch to their mother language to swear when frustrated, or teased by someone. Why would this offworlder swear in the local Mudrun language? Could it be the dark trixie wasn’t what it seemed but someone local changed to look like a dark trixie.
‘That’s a very interesting reaction you got there, Aquitain.’ said Chantalot appearing out of thin air.
‘It doesn’t seem to swear like an off-world trixie.’
Aquitain jumped, not expecting him to suddenly appear in the mage’s tower.
‘Do you have to just suddenly appear out of nowhere?’ asked Aquitain using mindspeak.
‘Oh, sorry.’ said Chantalot. ‘I got a ring of invisibility from Featherdown. It’s my job to know what’s happening in town. So I sneak around invisible. Mostly I just watch. But occasionally I show myself so people know I’m around.’
‘I think this creature is not what it appears to be.’ said Aquitain thoughtfully. ‘I think it’s been polymorphed to this horrib
le little body. I’m going to try and find out, if it will let me.’
Aquitain went over close to the trixie and told it that he was a friend. He knew it was confused and that someone had done something to its mind and its body. He said he could possibly help if it would let him link with in its mind, but he couldn’t do it, if it resisted. The creature stopped swearing and just looked at him neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Aquitain then took a gamble.
‘I’ll let you hold the ring for a while if you let me look in your mind. The creature put out its hand.’
‘I’m glad I came in here before you changed to look like that horrible little creature. I might have put a sword through you. Are you sure you know what you’re doing?’
‘Of course not,’ said Aquitain, ‘I’m just trying to find out what’s going on.’
He gave it the ring. It quickly pulled its arm back in the cage and waited.
‘Can I link with your mind now?’
The creature didn’t answer but just looked at him. Aquitain took this as a yes. He concentrated and formed the link. As soon as he did he could see he wasn’t looking at a creature but a Newman magic user, probably a wizard.
The spirit aura of a Newman was unmistakable. This one was a very scared Newman, but with something strange about its spirit aura. Something had been done to its mind causing the confusion. Aquitain’s granddad was a specialist in examining minds and spirit auras. He had shown Aquitain a few things, but nowhere near enough to help this poor Newman.
Aquitain asked for the ring back but the trixie refused to give it back. So he tried another idea. He had a ring of protection on him he offered to swap that for the ring of location. The trixie agreed to that so they swapped rings. He broke the link, changed back to his child sized Newman shape and said to Chantalot.
‘We have another clue to this puzzle. This creature’s a male Newman probably a wizard, who’s been polymorphed, and they’ve done something nasty to his mind. We need to dispel the magic effects from him.’