by Des Pensable
Aquitain went to the library where Jaztrix seemed to spend most of her time when she wasn’t annoying people. She was there, and discretely concealed what she was working on to greet Aquitain.
‘Is there a map of this world?’ he asked the gnome.
‘Yes, scroll bins top right.’
This immediately suggested to Aquitain that the gnome referred to it frequently. He took it out of the bin and unrolled it on the table in the middle of the room, using random books to hold down the corners.
There were two continents, and vast seas between and around them. Three towns were marked on one continent, Twin Towers, Templegate and Turtlehaven.
There were no other features on the map at all, which was extremely odd.
‘Why are there no features like mountains and rivers on this map?’ asked Aquitain.
‘Perhaps you’ve got to look a bit harder?’ suggested Jaztrix.
‘Featherdown told me that there were at least twenty settlements. Where are they?’
‘I’ve only ever been to Templegate and Turtlehaven.’
‘What are they like?’ asked Aquitain.
‘Templegate is at least five times bigger than here, but inland away from the sea. Turtlehaven is about the same size as Twin Towers, and on the northern side of this continent.’
‘How do you get to these places?’
‘You can pay to go by teleport. You can teleport there yourself if you know the markers, or you can travel across the jungle but that would take weeks,’ replied Jaztrix.
‘You wouldn’t happen to know where the marker codes are kept would you?’ asked Aquitain.
‘Yes. Featherdown keeps them safely locked away and he also keeps a separate map of the marker locations somewhere,’ said Jaz.
Aquitain was sure that Jaz was trying to give him a clue, but what was it? She had said that if he wanted to see things on the map then he should look harder. He suddenly realized what she might mean. He used his power to detect magic and a whole extra lot of detail showed up on the scroll. There were rivers, mountains, lakes, and nearly forty small triangles, about half with dashes over them.
All the triangles were numbered, possibly suggesting some order of importance. Unfortunately there was no indication as to what the triangles represented. Perhaps they were teleport markers, but they could also be magic nodes, or even villages. He memorized the map and left for Quab’s sanctuary.
On arrival at the sanctuary he found the thorn bush gates closed and a sign saying that Quab was absent. He thought about this for a minute or two, and concluded that the druid would be unlikely to close off an animal sanctuary to animals that couldn’t read or understand that it was closed. Consequently, it was closed only to newmans, so he followed the thorn bush boundary around to the stream and flowed out of his body shell then shape changed to his new snake form and slithered along the thorn bush to where there would normally be a gap.
Unsurprisingly, the gap was filled with an illusory wall and he was able to pass through it and slither up to the cottage. No alarms rang, and no vicious defenders came running towards him, but he did feel a touch of guilt, after all Quab had always been friendly and supportive. He really felt like a snake for the first time. Somehow, sneaking into a sanctuary to steal information made him feel unclean. He slithered up onto Quab’s veranda and one of the parrots on the veranda railing began screaming.
‘Snake! Arrrrk! Danger!’
Aquitain the snake ignored the parrot and slithered up a chair next to one of the window holes, then through the window into the darkness of the room. He shape changed to his human form and quickly searched around for any written material that might contain a teleport marker location. He found a map of the continent hidden on the back of a wall hanging, and it had much more detail on it than the one he had seen in the library. It also had crosses, and comments written in some language that Aquitain didn’t recognise. He memorized its image.
He used his power to detect magic and saw the triangles with and without dashes and numbers as he had seen before. There were also two teleport marker locations, one in an unknown language and one with the word Snowbelle. He quickly memorised the locations, returned the wall hanging to its original position, changed back to his snake form and slithered out the way he had entered. Only when he was outside of the sanctuary did he feel normal again.
Rather than waste the essence in his source on remaining a snake, he decided to check out the area to the north in his body shell. The druid woman would be able to spot him more quickly and he could try and convince her to teach him to fly while he was fresh. So he changed back to his Logicon form, occupied his body shell, and set off along the stream, following a rough path that headed to the northeast.
The jungle wasn’t the thick overgrown tangle that he had seen at the cairn where he had arrived, but appeared more open. He had the distinct feeling that it had been cleared. The massive trees towered into the sky forming a shady canopy overhead like a huge collection of chaotic shredded green umbrellas, with glints and flashes of sunlight stealing through; but the impenetrable layer of small bushes and tangled vines was missing. He could imagine Quab doing this to make the townspeople a little more at ease in travelling down the pathway. He also had a feeling that to have gone to this much trouble there must be something up ahead to make the trek worthwhile.
After a quarter of an hour trudging along the undulating path the overhead canopy gave way at the base of a large sand hill. The path wound up the hill through clumps of olive green spiky plants that looked as if they were prepared to defend their small patch of territory to the death. Small lizards with metallic bronze heads scampered away as he toiled, slipping and sliding up the path. He fell forward onto his face twice and almost turned back. Logicon body shells were not made to struggle through sand.
As he reached the summit of the sand hill he was awestruck by the incredible beauty of the panorama before him. He was the sole person on a golden sandy beach that stretched off into the distance to the left and round to a small rocky outcropping to the right, that blocked off any view of the town. The stream flowed around the base of the sand hill to the left finding an exit to the sea two hundred paces from his present vantage point. In the absence of any breeze, the waves gently lapped the shoreline as squat sun-bleached sea birds with long legs and crooked beaks carefully patrolled the foamy edge of the brine, seeking a morsel for breakfast.
He couldn’t wait to see the sight through his newman eyes, so slithered out of his body shell and shape changed to his newman form. The sight was even more beautiful. This was only the second time he had seen the sea and a beach, and to have to share it with nobody else gave it a sacred feeling that seemed even to penetrate his Logicon lack of emotion. In fact, he sat and contemplated the issue of Logicon emotions.
The one he felt at the moment was exhilaration at having witnessed the virgin beauty of nature. Logicons shouldn’t have this type of feeling. It was even more accentuated by the better vision of his human body shape. Perhaps the twenty-two years of living in his own body had created mental images of what constituted beauty, that surfaced regardless of the Logicon nature of his current physical existence. Perhaps … it was simply too beautiful to sit analysing the situation like a Logicon. He wanted to feel it.
He leapt up and sprinted to the waterline through sand that squeaked in protest at having been trodden on, jumped the limp brown seaweed clumps from a recent storm, splashed through the foam as a small wave broke at his knee, and dived into the crisp freshness of the crystal clear water. He tasted its raw saltiness like a vintage wine, swishing it around in his mouth, then surfacing, spat it out in a curving spray.
He splashed around like a child for a moment or two, then rolled over and floated on his back, revelling in the sensation, the freedom, the isolation. If the people of Panmagica knew of this place they’d be here in droves, he thought. Looking above he saw a sea eagle come flying over the beach and along the water line a hundred paces up. That’s
what he wanted to do next, to have the freedom of an eagle. Suddenly it dropped straight down nearby, hitting the water a few paces behind him.
He turned over and stood up in the waist deep water to see what the eagle was after, only to see a large brownish mass moving towards him, still ten paces distant. Had he been still a newman it may have been the end for him, but he was now a shape changer. He instantly changed to his snake form, expecting to slither back to the shore but hesitated to get a closer look. That was a bad mistake. The bulk of the creature rose out of the water as it grew shallower, and he saw two eyes the size of his open hands peering at him with a pitiless gaze, as the giant squid came nearer.
He turned and swam for the shore, but his swimming technique as a snake was poor and inefficient, and the beast quickly closed on him. While the squid was surprised at his physical change, perhaps hoping for an easy newman victim, it had obviously dealt with snake-like creatures before and shot out two long tentacles, one of which hit him along the side of his body, where its suckers glued to his body like limpets to a rock. It jerked him back quickly to get a grip with its eight other smaller and shorter tentacles, but he rolled several times as other tentacles tried to get a fix on him, dislodging some, and causing a terrible mixed and knotted jumble of tentacles and snake body.
Unknown to Aquitain, the sea eagle had landed on the beach only twenty paces away, and shape changed to the druidess Miranda. She briefly considered her options of either joining the fray or getting help. The close proximity of the water elemental sanctuary suggested help might be close at hand, so she raised both arms in the air and began singing an enchanted plea to the waves.
Aquitain had eaten smaller versions of this creature in Panmagica, and held no illusions as to what was on the underside of its body, a large parrot-like beak as big as his head. In one bite it would decapitate a normal victim, but he wasn’t normal and he wasn’t intending to be a meal for this beast. It was trying to manoeuvre his head end under its body for a lethal bite, and was not as worried about his tail end. He rolled and coiled and bit at its tentacles, tearing chunks off.
Eventually it managed to get his head underneath, and as his head loomed close to its beak he swapped it with the tail end of his body, leaving his head end relatively unsecured. When the creature bit into his tail thinking that it was his head his anger exploded, and he let his dark side take over. His strength doubled and he went absolutely berserk. There was no consideration of mental control; no thought about his mind wizard powers, nothing but absolute rage.
His head doubled in size and huge fangs grew out of his maw; it rose out of the water like the tail of a scorpion and lashed back along the length of his body like a whip with jaws wide, striking the beast side on between the eyes. His lower fangs pieced its left eye and his upper fangs embedded themselves in its rubbery forehead. Its reaction was immediate. It released its grip on his body and tried to propel itself away from him at high speed in a desperate bid to escape.
Aquitain’s fangs had dug in deep and he hung on jetting along with the creature, dangling off its head like an extra black tentacle, until suddenly it hit an invisible wall, which stopped it dead in its tracks. This was his chance and he didn’t waste it. His snake body sprung forward, wrapping itself around the upper body of the squid like the coils of a spring, and began contracting, tighter and tighter. The beast thrashed its tentacles about in a frenzy, madly trying to dislodge him, but his bite held firm and his body coils secure as his muscles tensed and flexed in a vicious hug of death, squeezing its life away.
A large wave seemed to lift the beast with Aquitain firmly attached around it, and carried the wrestling pair to the very shoreline, where Miranda drove a driftwood stake through its remaining good eye and into its tiny brain, and it died with little but a gentle shudder. Aquitain waited for a further twenty seconds, to be sure that the creature had expired, oblivious to the presence of the water elemental and Miranda, and then returning to his Logicon form, slithered a short way up the beach and blended into the sand. He was exhausted.
Miranda turned to the water elemental, sang a song in the secret language of the druids, bowed to it and began a conversation.
‘I am Miranda, a humble preserver of the Lady. Thank you for answering my call for help. I am in your debt great wave runner.’
‘You are welcome Miranda, daughter of Snowbelle, but it is I that am in your debt. You are known as a friend of the wave brothers, as is Aquitain the mind wizard. Please thank him for his help in removing this predator who has already taken two of our wave children. We are in his debt again.’
‘You know Aquitain?’ Miranda asked, quite astounded.
‘Yes I recognise him from his visits to our hatchery, where he made a new way for our air cousins to reach their food.’
Miranda was almost lost for words, and even a little jealous. How could he make friends with the water and the air elementals in a little over two weeks? It had taken her years, but she was still a druid and diplomatically said:
‘Aquitain is pleased to have been helpful once more to the wave brothers and thanks you greatly for helping him ashore where we could end the predator’s brutal life. He is greatly exhausted after his epic struggle and will take some time to recover.’
‘I understand. I will let him rest. We are very pleased to have such good friends as Miranda and Aquitain amongst the newmans here. I bid you farewell until we meet again,’ and it left.
Chapter 12 Picnic by the Sea
The violent madness slowly receded from his mind, and five minutes later he remembered that there was a witness to his deed. He shape changed to his male human form, to be greeted by an angry Miranda.
‘Are you absolutely raving mad? Didn’t anyone tell you to never to swim in the sea around here?’
‘No. They didn’t,’ he replied. ‘Is this one of your protected creatures? I’m sorry, I’ll pay a fine or whatever.’
‘No it isn’t. It’s a killer around here. Several people have already lost their lives to these creatures.’
‘Oh. Well that’s one less to cause problems I guess.’
Miranda just looked back at him incredulously.
‘You weren’t scared were you?’
‘No. Why should I be? I’ve told you before, Logicons feel no fear, but you could be right about the madness. I really lost control when it bit my tail, and I’ll have to think about that. It shouldn’t have happened. Something’s not right.’
Suddenly it occurred to both of them that they were both attractive naked newmans on a secluded beach, only a pace apart and staring into each other’s eyes.
Her eyes were the most beautiful, sparkling, emerald green colour, placed above a perfect nose and a sensuous pair of lips in a beautifully balanced face. Her hair was light brown, and her skin a honey colour, darker than when he had seen her two weeks earlier. Up close, he could see freckles on her face and arms.
She looked into his eyes, set in a pleasant young newman face. They were a beautiful woody brown. She knew they weren’t real, as she had witnessed him forming them, but the eyes were also a window into his soul and he let her look in. She first saw an innocent young newman trapped in an alien prison looking back at her, but beyond that she saw an acute intellect, a great strength of mind and an awesome sense of power that lay dormant, biding its time.
His eyes suddenly turned black as coal and his face fearsome and aggressive. She felt like she was staring at a violent creature about to attack. Her heart sped up, her hair colour changed, taking on the reds, oranges and yellows of fire, and her eyes turned golden as she stepped a pace backwards and prepared to change to her panther form to fight.
He didn’t attack but instead stood motionless, silently chanting a mantra of calming with his eyes closed for a few seconds before he opened them again. His face took on a friendly aspect and his eyes returned to their original brown colour.
She now knew why Featherdown was worried about him. She felt that she was looking at the qui
et before a devastating storm.
He noticed her fiery red hair, golden eyes and the worried look on her face.
‘I’m sorry if I scared you. When I get attacked I sometimes lose control and go berserk. The fight with that sea monster has unsettled my system a little. I will not harm you. I have it under control now. Are you uncomfortable with my male newman form? I can change to a female form if you wish.’ And he changed to a weak looking female version of himself, matching his skin colour to hers, while his hair went blonde and his eyes changed to match the blue of the sky.
Miranda stood ready for action, trying to calm her pounding heart and wondering whether to leave; but the female standing before her didn’t look threatening so she stayed. He’s playing with me she thought.
It took a minute or two for her pulse to slow down and her eyes to change back to their previous green coloration, but her fiery hair colour remained.
‘I’d prefer you took whichever form you feel most natural with. I have a male form, but I always feel a little uncomfortable when I wear it,’ she replied, trying to sound calm.
‘I’ve only been a shape changer for a couple of weeks. So I’m not very good at it yet. My male form was the easiest, as I was a male newman. This female form was tricky, as Newman women where I come from don’t generally parade around without clothes. I had to make this body mainly from studying their shapes in books. Looking at your beautiful body form, I can now see where I went wrong. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind if I remodelled mine to be more like yours.’
Miranda blushed a little. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had complimented her on her body.
‘Thank you. I suppose I can hardly complain if you think it looks that good,’ she replied.
Miranda watched as he modified his female form to be similar of hers, then reformed as his male form again. He’s very cunning she thought. Mimicry is a form of flattery.
‘You probably noticed that I had a lot of trouble getting the breasts right before, but they’re beautiful like yours now. What do you think of my male form?’ And he posed, flexing his muscles.