by Des Pensable
‘Sergeant take the junior priest and deliver the punishment.’
‘Yes, Your Holiness.’
‘You were rather harsh on your young priest Your Holiness,’ said a cloaked wizard nearby. ‘I believe that it was his first command of troops.’
‘Had he died I would have honoured him and resurrected him, and he would have had the trust of the troops. If he isn’t punished, how can the troops trust him in the future?’
‘You are right, Your Holiness. Now about this Logicon, I would like the honour of killing him. I have developed a great dislike for him and his flashy bitch cousin.’
‘An Archon will be here tomorrow to begin the search for him,’ said Kelnor. ‘I will add the further charges to the warrant that he unlawfully attacked and killed seven servants of the Council of Unity. That is an immediate death sentence. The Archon will kill him on sight. However, you are here and his trail is warm. I have instructed the Archon to first go to the town of Twin Towers and seek him there. That means you are at least a day ahead of him. If you can catch him first then the reward will go to you, Senior Wizard Curbut. But how will you explain your absence to the High Wizard?’
‘I have a few days leave due and my wife who lives near Templegate will swear I was with her,’ said Curbut.
‘Excellent,’ said Kelnor. ‘You have done a very good job for me so far. I look forward to further developments. You will have my support on the Council for a higher position if everything goes as planned.’
‘Thank you, Your Holiness. I think I shall go hunting.’ And he teleported back to Twin Towers to do a bit of snooping and request some leave.
Senior Wizard Curbut had been born in a poor rural community on a world bordering the Yith Empire. He demonstrated magic talent from a young age and was selected by the local lord to undergo training. During his apprenticeship the Yith killed his whole family in a raid. This embittered him against the Yith and he pledged to kill as many as he could. After several years of death and destruction he realised that he needed the resources of a bigger organization. He offered his services to the Unity of Wisdom just when the Druid’s Council were looking for a second-in-command to Featherdown.
High Priest Kelnor realized immediately that he was an ideal person to place in Mudrun as a spy. Kelnor offered him a way to really damage the Yith cause. Curbut took the job. Featherdown suspected that he was spying for the Druid Council and kept him at a distance, but neither he nor the Druid’s Council suspected he was also working for the Unity of Wisdom.
Curbut had been sent a message to meet with Kelnor, and he arrived at the same moment that Priest Percival had returned to tell them about the loss of the eight men. He immediately guessed that a druid was involved with the Logicon, as it was unlikely that the Logicon could call and control the cats, but who? He knew Quab was still at twin Towers, as he had seen him just a few minutes ago.
He suspected that it was Featherdown who had arranged for the Logicon to disappear, before he could be arrested and sent to the Druid Council for interrogation. He knew Zephira was still at Twin Towers. So he concluded that Featherdown must have a druid friend who was prepared to look after the Logicon for a while. The druid had found out about the massacre at the temple and decided to do something about it. The Logicon had tagged along for a bit of fun. However, it had been the Logicon wizard magic that had made the difference in the fight with Kelnor’s men, so therefore, he was guilty of the murder of Kelnor’s men. That justified the Logicon’s death.
The real question was, had they moved camp or were they still located somewhere close by? He hoped that there would be some clues in Twin Towers.
**
Aquitain and Miranda both slept well after an amazing meal of salt fish done with red beetle, which Miranda had been saving for a momentous occasion. The main course was followed by biscuits soaked in wine and a strange mushroom from her leg bag that had wondrous effects on the body and mind of even a Logicon.
After the meal Aquitain had fashioned her a golden gem-studded gown made of chaos matter to properly attire her for the entertainment. Miranda had recited heraldic poems of heroes of old that her mother had taught her, and held him in awe with the beauty of her voice and the magic of the druid songs she sang. It was quite obvious that she was much more than a wild druid woman roaming the jungle. She came from a family of wealth and power and it showed in her deportment, grace and knowledge. Yet when she finished the last haunting melody and the chaos matter was once more a ball of clay, she resumed her part as a humble pious servant of the Lady. Miranda was two women, one the world saw, and a secret one she had revealed a glimpse of to Aquitain.
For his part in the entertainment, he mindlinked with her and retrieved memories of pictures of his home and other places that he had visited. Pictures that seemed so real that she could smell the air and reach out and touch the substance of them. She saw him as he remembered himself. She saw him laugh and smile, walk and talk. She met his mother, his grandparents, Melanie and her parents. They were as real as if they stood in front of her. She was again in awe of the power of his mind.
Each went to bed that night and spent hours thinking of the other before sleep finally overcame them. Each woke the next morning with a new view of the other. Miranda now saw Aquitain in a new light, not as some creature or a wizard but as a man in a prison that she wished to help, a man that she desired. Aquitain saw her as the woman of his dreams, a woman that he would set free.
‘That was a wonderful night last night, one I will treasure. You may call me Mandy if you wish. In return may I call you Tain? It is perhaps a name a friend might call you?’
‘I would be both honoured and pleased if you did, Mandy,’ he replied with excitement. He was no longer the wizard or even Aquitain; she was acknowledging him as a friend and she was now wearing a loincloth. She definitely now considered him a newman.
‘Yesterday and last night was one I will not forget, Mandy. Unfortunately, today we have some difficult decisions to make. I feel the safest course of action is for you to tell Quab our story and let him inform the High Wizard and the Druid’s Council. That way you can come back without them ordering you to do something that you would rather not. You could take the cat paw club, the druid’s remains and the young wizard’s magic book as evidence of our claims. I have plenty of reading and translating to keep me occupied here for days.’
‘I was considering something similar myself,’ she replied.
‘I will go to Quab and tell him our story as you suggest, but after that I could continue on to the cat people and give them their mask and club. I’m not happy about holding such valuable items with so little security. I’m sure that the books are treasure enough for us. I’m also sure that as the saviours of their treasure, that if we needed to borrow them for some particular purpose they would consider it kindly.’
‘Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps it would be a good idea to get rid of the mask before it can cause any trouble. I would even consider destroying it, but I wouldn’t do so without the cat people’s agreement. However, I’m worried that if it gets half a chance it will dominate you or someone else nearby and you will have trouble.’
Aquitain thought for a few moments, then said ‘Mandy there is a way and it will accomplish two things. I promised to teach you some mind magic and I would be much happier if you had some protection against the mask. But it will require you to trust me more than ever before.’
‘I don’t like the sound of this Tain. Is it dangerous?’
‘No. It will not harm you in any way but it may well scare you quite a lot. It is magic that is normally against my principles to use but it is magic that that I have been taught, so that I would know how to defeat it. I wish to dominate your mind to show you how it feels and what would happen if the mask took control. I will then teach you a way to block domination. It will not always work, but it will give you a good chance to survive an attempt to dominate you, and it may help you to recognise domination in others.’
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Miranda looked back at him for a few moments and said ‘I have already trusted you with my life. What greater trust is there?’
Aquitain thought about her reply for a few moments. Was there a deeper meaning there? Perhaps he would think about it later.
‘Good then we shall proceed.’ And he used his domination power to thrust his mind into hers. If her mind was her house it was like a barbarian smashing down the door and striding in unopposed ready to do his brutal worst to her. It was like a cold grey hand suddenly seizing upon her mind as if it were a ball, and enclosing around it sealing it off from her control of her body. She stood helpless, violated and fearful of what he might do. He directed her arms to raise and then lower and they accepted his commands as if they were hers.
He directed her to get the dagger from the box and stab him in the heart. Her body did exactly as he said while she watched in horror. He had her twist the dagger and she saw the pain on his face. Then he released her mind and she withdrew the dagger from his flesh and quickly healed his wound.
‘Well what do you think of domination? I’m sorry, I made it as nasty as possible so that you will know what you are fighting against.’
‘It is the most horrible thing imaginable, and now I know its real name. My mother has used it on me,’ she said. ‘Why did you make me stab you where your heart would be? It’s rather fortunate that you don’t have a heart there, otherwise I would have killed you.’
‘I’m sorry, I wished only to prove beyond all doubt that you had no control over your actions and to show you how much it pained me to do it.’
‘You made your point. My mother is a nymph and while she has been good to me and is very protective, she has little patience. I have been known to be headstrong at times and she resorted to this evil magic to control me. I will not have it used against me again. Please teach me how to defend against it!’
They spent the next hour learning a method that could be effectively used by people who were magic users but not mind wizards. The most important part of the defence was to recognise the feeling of the attack and to block it quickly before it gained full control. He briefly dominated her mind twice more before she finally managed to block him.
‘Very good Mandy, if you can block me then you should be able to block the mask.’ And he went to get it.
‘What are you doing? Blocking you in practice and blocking for real are two different things. What if it dominates my mind?’
‘Then I will have to pry it loose,’ said Aquitain.
‘You’ll push me too far one day, wizard!’ she threatened.
‘Perhaps and perhaps not! I have faith in you Mandy, and you have a lot of tolerance and courage.’
He found the mask and unwrapped it in front of her. It wasted no time trying to dominate her but she was ready. She mentally grabbed its icy fingers and pried them off her mind, closing it off to its trespass.
‘So the mind wizard taught you a trick has he? Well aren’t you smart? You won’t keep me locked away forever. One day someone will make a mistake and then it’ll be my turn to have some fun,’ said the mask.
Miranda was thrilled and felt so proud of herself.
‘That mistake won’t be made by me, mask. You’re going back to the cat people. I’m sure they’ll keep you out of mischief for a while.’
Aquitain felt another surge of magic from the mask and by reflex blocked his mind, but nothing happened. He asked Miranda whether it had attacked her again and she said that it hadn’t. He wondered what it was up to for a few moments and then wrapped it in the cloth again and stowed it away. Miranda came over and hugged him. ‘Thank you Tain, you are a true friend.’
‘And so are you, Mandy. I will not knowingly let you come to harm.’
‘Nor I you, Tain,’ she said. ‘Do you think it would work against my mother?’
‘Perhaps not. If she is experienced in using this magic then she will persist, attacking continuously until she gets a hold or you tire. The way I taught you is the general way taught to wizards and other magic users. However, I have been taught many advanced and some secret techniques, one of which might defeat your mother, as she would not be expecting resistance.’
‘Please teach me,’ she said.
‘I’ll teach you, but be cautious and only use it as a last resort. If you defeat her with this knowledge you will injure her pride, and she will probably react badly.’
‘That wouldn’t be new. She is as unpredictable as the weather and I’ve weathered many of her storms,’ replied Miranda.
Aquitain was not sure that this was a good idea but couldn’t deny her knowledge that might protect her. So he explained that what she had learnt already was known as a passive defence and that there were also active defences. Instead of imagining her mind as a ball being grasped by a hand, she could imagine her mind being a jungle cat and the attacking hand to be a creature she disliked. That way her cat mind could attack the creature, forcing it to withdraw.
When she was ready he imagined her mind as a white sphere and attacked it with a horrid distorted clawed hand, she defended by turning her mind into a sleek black cat and forcing his attacking hand to the shape of a dog and attacked it with glee, expecting him to flee; but he didn’t. He forced her cat shape to become a rabbit, then his dog shape attacked the rabbit. Her rabbit mind stood its ground and reformed as a jungle cat attacking the dog. He reformed his dog as a jungle cat as well, and the two cats fought. They hissed and jumped and slashed at each other with razor claws, until at last he called off the attack and his cat withdrew.
Miranda staggered backwards and fell down on the bedding exhausted. Then after a few seconds, she jumped back to her feet with a huge smile on her face.
‘That was unbelievable. It was so real. I was a cat and fighting for my life and I beat you,’ she laughed.
‘You did very well. Just remember you were able to force me to withdraw by fighting on your terms not mine. When I fought as a cat your greater experience won out. However, had I fought as a dragon your cat may not have fared so well.’
She hugged him again and whispered,
‘I seem to be saying thank you a lot.’
They lingered in each other’s embrace for a short while, till finally Aquitain suggested that she take Zephira’s backpack as it would hide everything from sight and allow her to bring back some good food when she returned. She could also then teach him to fly.
‘I’ll not only teach you to fly, but we will hunt as cats hunt and share our kill together. You’ll find that an adventure as exciting as any,’ she said.
They stowed the wrapped mask and the club together with the other evidence in the backpack. Miranda donned her robe from the leg bag, shouldered the backpack, hugged him, said she would see him in a couple of days and teleported using his teleport ring, as he wanted to examine the new one before using it.
Aquitain was now totally alone for the first time in his life in a jungle wilderness fifty leagues from the nearest help. ‘Time to tidy up and perhaps do a little reading for a change,’ he thought but no matter what he did his thoughts kept wandering back to Miranda. Eventually he found the single torn page that Featherdown had given him just before he left Twin Towers; reading it he was totally surprised at what it said.
This is a manual for guidance in the arts of mind magic for my son Aquitain. It should be given to him on his sixteenth birthday or when deemed appropriate. Signed A.G.
He quickly found the Yith half book with the front page missing and saw that the torn page given to him by Featherdown was the missing front page. It was his own book from his father, in his father’s own handwriting. Everything else vanished from his mind. He had to translate the book right now. He lowered one of the light balls closer to the ground and sat on the floor, and using an upturned box as a table he went to work on it.
**
Miranda teleported to the marker outside Twin Towers and then took the back way through the jungle to Quab’s sanctuary. Fortunately he
was there and very pleased to see her, but he still felt guilty about their altercation a couple of days earlier.
When she told him the story about the previous day he could hardly believe it, although the evidence she brought with her removed all his doubts. He was very concerned as to how the High Druid was likely to react, since a druid helping an alien to avoid capture was a serious offence. He decided that they should talk to the High Wizard first to see what he had to say. So they both went off to see him.
Featherdown listened carefully to the story, asked a number of questions to clarify small points and examined the evidence she had brought with her, but gave no indications as to what he was thinking. At the conclusion of her story he suggested that Quab should tell the Council nothing. He would decide when and how to tell them.
He also suggested that Miranda tell Zephira but nobody else, and then that she should return to Aquitain and move to another location today; he had been forewarned that the Archon was due here the following day. He didn’t want to know where they had gone, but from time to time they should keep in contact. Miranda had no doubt that he knew more than he was prepared to say. One thing that was certain was that he was worried about Aquitain.
When they left Featherdown’s tower they bumped into Senior Wizard Curbut and asked if he knew the whereabouts of Zephira. He kindly directed them to her and left them to continue his duties. Curbut quickly returned to his quarters. When he saw Miranda wearing Zephira’s distinctive backpack and looking for Zephira he knew that he now had the missing piece in the puzzle. The druid woman must have been with Aquitain. She would have been the one who controlled the cats, and now she was informing Featherdown and Quab about what had happened.