by Des Pensable
He then thought about the Jeti in the coastal village, killed in the Cat Lord’s shrine. They had been predominantly red with a few green-scaled ones amongst them. What was the significance of that? What was the significance of the coloured scales? How many tribes where there? He would have to find out more about the little people. If they had survived the Great Storm, then their ancestors had been around when the Founts were here. Somewhere amongst their customs, songs and stories would be a clue to where the Founts had gone.
‘Aquitain, Aquitain. Wake up!’ said Zephira. ‘You’ve been in some sort of trance and missed half of what’s happened. Miranda is going to call in the bats to help find out where the mask is.’
Aquitain quickly moved off with Zephira to the jungle end of the village and saw Miranda there just outside the village entrance singing a druid song. Swirling around her were hundreds of fruit bats. He looked around for Kami, and without asking for permission mindlinked with the old shaman.
‘Ahh. You are coming back to the land of the living,’ said Kami. ‘You were being lost to us for most of the Council of War. I have been telling them that you were communicating with the dead.’
‘Kami, most of the women and children are gone from the village. I assume that they have been sent to some safe place, like a cave or a mine. Is this normal with a threat to the village?’
‘You would be assuming correctly,’ said the shaman.
‘Why are they safer there than here?’
‘It is being safer because only our people know where they are. It is also being very difficult territory to move around on the northern side of the village.’
‘But the mask was in this village for a long time. Perhaps it knows your secret hiding place,’ replied Aquitain.
‘Yes that is true, but the mask is not knowing that we have moved the women and children there until it has been fighting us in the village.’
‘Kami, I’ve noticed that not all your people are in agreement with the chief. There is considerable disagreement about us being here and helping.’
‘Yes that is being true, but they will be fighting any threat together,’ he replied.
‘Mandy, where are you sending the bats?’ asked Aquitain through their mindlink.
‘So you’re back with us again. I’m sending them to the south to find the Crin and also to look for cats, as the mask might have them as well,’ she replied.
‘Send some of them to the north and divide them to go east and west,’ he suggested.
‘Why would the mask attack from that side? It’s narrow and difficult and too easy for us to defend,’ replied Miranda as hundreds of bats swirled around her.
‘Because that’s where the Jeti women and children are. The mask knows the Jeti because it was with them for a long time. It knows their strengths and weaknesses. It would cause maximum chaos if it were to kill most of their women and children.’
‘But that assumes that it knows that we are waiting for it,’ replied Miranda.
‘We know that not all the village people are behind Kami. Perhaps some of the elders have their own agendas. It’s only a precaution.’
‘All right, I’ll see what I can do,’ she said, and began singing another druid song telling the bats where to go and what to watch for.
Miranda sent half of the bats north and half south, and then smiled at Aquitain, saying, ‘We have plenty of bats. If you’re correct and we have a traitor in the camp he won’t guess that we’re onto to him if I send them in both directions.’
‘Good work,’ said Aquitain. ‘Now let’s see what happens.’
They didn’t have to wait long. About ten minutes later two bats returned and told Miranda that there were many Crin a short distance to the northwest.
‘Damn! I‘ll bet the mask has stationed the Crin between us and the women and children so that it can attack them without worrying about a flank attack from us.’
Aquitain quickly contacted Kami to find out where the women and children were, and after Aquitain told him about the Crin he confirmed that they had hidden the women and children in a mine about ten minutes away to the northwest.
‘Quickly, tell the chief to work out who he wants to leave behind and the rest of us should head off to where the women and children are hiding. That’s where the mask will attack,’ said Aquitain, waiting for Miranda to join him and calling Zephira to take Goth to the northern gateway.
As Kami, Miranda and Aquitain approached the northern gate their way was blocked by about twenty blue-green scaled little people, all equipped with bows and poisoned arrows.
‘What is this?’ asked Kami.
‘You are deserting the village in its time of need,’ said the leader of the group. ‘And you are leading these outsiders to our secret place. You are being a traitor. We will not be allowing you to do this.’
‘Miranda our cat friend has been receiving a message from her bat scouts that there are enemies between us and our women and children. Would you be leaving them undefended?’ shouted Kami.
‘These are being all lies,’ said the group leader. ‘There are being no enemies outside the village. The real enemies are being here in front of us. Shoot them!’
A barrage of arrows shot forward. Probably because Aquitain was so big and threatening most of them shot at him. Miranda dived sideways and somehow any directed at her missed. Kami was hit twice, and several villagers walking beside and behind them also got hit accidentally.
‘Damn!’ was Aquitain’s only thought. He knew that because of his large size and tough constitution that he probably had twenty or thirty seconds before he succumbed to the poison. He mind spun through his very limited number of options and he reacted. He sent a mental blast at the group. This was a powerful metal shock that would stun and paralyze anyone that happened to be in a sixty degree arc directly in front of him for at least a minute.
Like the domination power it was something that he had learned years ago, mainly so that he knew how to defend against it. The good part was that it affected most people, while the bad part was that it used three quarters of all the power in his source. He had never before used this power against anyone in anger, as it would have left him too depleted and vulnerable. Since he was poisoned and would be out of action shortly, it seemed pointless to hold back.
Sixteen of the twenty little people blocking the way suddenly went rigid. Some fell to the ground and lay still. Others stood like statues. The remaining four saw what had happened to their friends, panicked, and ran off outside the gate, chased by the chief and a dozen warriors.
Miranda darted over to one of the stunned traitorous warriors and examined one of the poisoned arrows to see what poison they were using, and then quickly returned to Aquitain who was starting to sway a little.
‘The good news is that it’s a paralyzing poison. It wouldn’t normally kill you but eight arrows have hit you, and that much poison might stop your breathing. None seem to have penetrated very deeply, but with so much poison it could be dangerous,’ and she cast her only cleansing prayer on him to try and clear some of the poison.
‘Pull out the arrows. I’ve got an idea,’ he said, just as Zephira managed to find a way through the crowd.
‘By the Powers, what happened?’ she asked, pulling an arrow out of his shoulder while Aquitain mentally tried to block the pain.
‘Quickly,’ he said using mindspeak, ‘I can’t breathe.’
Miranda leaned on the final arrow that was embedded in his chest, tearing it out with a piece of flesh attached. ‘They’re out!’ she said urgently, and immediately Aquitain shape changed to his Logicon form, spreading out as a large pool of goo. There were all sorts of shouts and panicked cries from the little people. They thought that the spirit bear had exploded and was dead.
‘That feels better. Logicons breathe through their skin and are resistant to poison. As long as I stay like this I should be able to avoid the worst of the poison effects for the moment.’
Miranda was about to head
off and noticed the chief had ordered the leader to be killed. ‘No, Don’t. The bear is alive!’ but it was too late; he was dead.
Miranda ran over to Kami. He was alive, but breathing very weakly. ‘I will survive,’ he said though their mind link. ‘But I will not be able to do much for some time. How is the bear?’
‘I will survive too,’ said Aquitain. ‘Can your assistant Rori lead the singing?’
‘He knows many of the songs but is too weak to sing the more powerful ones. He can sing courage and perhaps shield the fighters but little more,’ replied Kami.
‘That is better than nothing. I am nearly out of power. I will have to be very careful how I use what’s left.’
‘I am sorry, Spirit Lord. We have a Song of Power which I am told was used for assisting the power of Lords in bygone days, but I have never used it and Rori is too weak.’
‘That’s all right Kami. Rest. We’ll do what we can to save your women and children.’
‘Tain, what did he mean, assisting the Lords?’ asked Miranda.
‘Their ancestors were here when the Founts were here. I suspect that the Founts probably originally taught them the songs. Each of the little people has a small source with a small amount of power. There is a method where several people can join their minds together and each contribute power from their sources to create a pool of power which one of them can use to fight with. It is called a mental concert. I have been in several, although never as the focus of the power. I suspect their Song of Power probably creates a mental concert. However, it would be too powerful for Rori to control. So forget about it. It’s not the power you have, but what you do with it that counts.’
‘All right,’ said Miranda. ‘I think I know how to beat the Crin. I’ve spent many weeks with them over the years and know how they think. If you’re correct that the mask has dominated the Taskmaster, all we need to do is defeat it, and the warriors will cease fighting and retreat. It watches from behind the fighters, directing them as to where best to attack their enemies; however, I think I know how to draw it out.’
‘Good, then get going. I’ll follow, but I’m a lot slower than you.’
Miranda hurried off with Rori, the chief and about fifty village warriors. The rebellious warriors had all been bound and were now under guard by several of the chief’s trusted warriors.
Zephira was about to leave with Goth when Aquitain had an idea. Goth was a large metal creation shaped in newman form. If Aquitain hitched a ride on Goth he could travel at Goth’s normal speed, which was considerably faster than his own in Logicon form.
He told Zephira of his idea and she agreed that Goth was strong enough to support his weight, so Aquitain slithered over Goth covering him like a large flabby body. To help, Zephira enlarged Goth to half his normal size again, and held his arms in front of his body with its fingers interlocked, forming a circle to help support the huge bulk of the bear turned Logicon slime, and they set off at a fast walking pace led by two little people bearing torches.
Miranda led them swiftly, but they hadn’t gone more than about five hundred paces when the ravine narrowed to ten paces wide and they confronted a full platoon of Crin, arrayed as four lines of five warriors blocking their path. Each of the warriors held a large disc of woven plant material to use as a shield against the little peoples’ arrows. But Miranda also knew something few others knew. By continually ingesting small amounts of the poison that the little people used on their arrows over a long period of time, the Crin had cunningly developed a resistance to it.
‘Don’t shoot unless they attack, and then shoot for their eyes. Their bodies are very tough and angled so that arrows deflect off them,’ she said to the chief. ‘Let me try to talk them out of fighting first. They know me, but are controlled by someone out of sight.’
Miranda moved to about five paces from the first line of fighters, with her hands held high in front of her.
‘Warriors of Crin you know me. I am Princess Miranda of Argenta. Your Queen and my mother Queen Snowbelle are friends and have no grievances. The little people and I need to pass. Will you step aside?’
‘No one shall pass,’ said a voice in her mind.
‘Who speaks for these warriors?’ she said.
‘Xentos,’ was the brief reply.
‘Xentos my old friend, will you let us pass?’
‘No one shall pass,’ said Xentos.
‘Queen Beatrix has given you no authority to wage war on the little people. I know this because I talked to her after you had left. I challenge you for leadership of the platoon,’ she said.
‘Only another Taskmaster can challenge,’ said Xentos.
Miranda knew that already, and shape changing to the form of a Taskmaster she assumed the challenge posture of the Crin.
She had imitated a Taskmaster before on several occasions over the years, and Xentos himself had taught her about their body language and postures. A ritual challenge could not be overlooked. It had priority over the commands given to Xentos by the mask. The problem was that Xentos had fought several challenges over the years and won them all.
Xentos accepted the challenge, and the fighters parted to let him come to the front to face her. He stood opposite and several paces away facing her and assumed the posture accepting her challenge, then immediately attacked her mentally using his domination power. She knew that he could both charm and dominate other creatures, but he had never used it on her. The mental attack meant that he would not hold back. He would fight the challenge to the best of his ability while he was still under the control of the mask.
She felt his mental attack coming and fended it off like an expert. All her recent practice was coming in to play. Surprisingly, he immediately attacked her again, this time much more seriously, as if he had expected no resistance the first time. She used an active defense and again thwarted his attack, so he launched a physical attack on her, wrapping himself around her so they ended up looking like a large brown ball rolling around the ground, as each somehow tried to overcome the other.
While rolling around he again attacked her mentally, hoping that the physical attack would lessen her mental resolve, but she had expected another mental attack because the mandibles of task masters were poorly developed and not efficient for fighting like those of the warriors. Again she mounted an active defense against his mental attack, and they rolled around both physically and mentally trying to get the advantage.
Goth carrying Aquitain finally reached the location and the Jeti warriors parted to let them, with Zephira, pass. Aquitain summed up the situation at once. ‘Miranda’s challenged the Taskmaster controlling the fighters hasn’t she?’ he said to the chief and Rori.
‘Yes, Spirit Lord,’ replied Rori, his eyes fixed on the rolling bodies in front of them. ‘But neither of them seem to be doing much other than roll around.’
Aquitain checked his source. He had enough power for one strong or perhaps two weaker domination attempts, which he had been hoping would be against the mask; but he could see that the little people would be hard pressed to pass twenty Crin warriors even with the help of Goth and Zephira, and there would be much loss of life. Miranda needed his help to beat the Taskmaster, but the question was whether the Crin warriors would detect external help and react adversely to it.
The main problem he had was he couldn’t see well, draped over Goth as he was. The little people had glaring torches and there was a lot of moonlight, but to work out which of the two dark brown creatures rolling around on the ground was Miranda was impossible. He asked Zephira for an image of the scene through her eyes and she sent him one through their mindlink, but there was still no way to visually separate the two fighting Crin. If he could only touch them, he could work out who was who. This gave him an idea.
Aquitain flowed off Goth, forming a large thin pool of goo at its feet, which spread out toward the combatants. He changed his body color and texture to match the ground, becoming almost invisible, then asked Miranda through their mindl
ink to roll over in the direction of Goth. Miranda found it difficult as she was disoriented, so Zephira shouted out directions to her and half a minute later she rolled onto Aquitain’s flattened form; he tried to tell which was which, but still couldn’t distinguish them apart. All Crin seemed to taste the same. So he asked her to change to her cat form.
Moments after she changed he could tell who was who and mounted a domination attack on the mind of the Crin Taskmaster who was still occupied in attacking Miranda’s mind. In the act of shape changing, Miranda had had to stop defending her own mind. This had given Xentos the upper hand, and just as he felt that he had succeeded in capturing Miranda’s mind, Aquitain swooped in to overwhelm the Taskmaster’s mind. There was no second chance; once you lost the battle you were controlled, and now Aquitain had firm control.
He commanded Xentos to release Miranda’s mind, cease struggling, move over to his Crin warriors and tell them to stand easy, part and let the little people pass. He did this, and Aquitain told the chief to move on ahead and that they would catch up. Miranda changed back to her newman druid form and asked Aquitain to release Xentos, but Aquitain wasn’t quite ready. He wanted some answers first, and wasn’t prepared to risk getting only half-truths.
‘Who are you?’
‘I am Xentos,’ said the Crin.
‘Who dominated you?’
‘There were two, a wizard called Erastius and Jacintra, the Chaos Lord,’ replied Xentos.
‘Where were you dominated?’
‘Near the temple ruins,’ Xentos replied.
‘Why were you there?’
‘The queen thought that the druid Alin Amber might be there,’ replied Xentos.
‘Why did she wish to find the druid Alin Amber?’ asked Aquitain.
‘She believes he stole a magic weapon from us.’
‘What sort of magic weapon?’