by Des Pensable
‘Your mother lied to you. Your father was not a newman. You know this but have chosen to forget it. The goddess knew you would eventually meet, so has fixed the tattoo to stop any possibility of you joining. Why do you think the goddess gave you a bear body that can’t be the same size as Miranda’s? Part now before it becomes even harder. Save the children if you must, but you must sacrifice Zephira and continue on the quest. Many lives depend on it.’
‘That’s not true.,’ said Miranda. ‘The Lady sent me a dream that I can one day turn into a bear. We can both join as bears.’
‘So you would break your vows to the Lady who strictly forbids that type of behaviour, would you Miranda? If you did she would forsake you and take away your druid powers, and then what? No one would want to associate with either of you. You would have to live in isolation as a newman woman and a bear together, yet always doomed to be apart until you died. Is that what you both want? Think carefully about what you are about to do, Aquitain. This is one of the most important decisions that you will ever make.’
‘Loma and Miranda come with me,’ Aquitain said to the group. ‘We must get to Kami to retrieve the mask. The rest of you wait here, but be on guard. We’ll be back as soon as we can. Hop on my back both of you. I can get us to back to Kami faster.’
‘No I can’t. It’s not how it was in my dream,’ said Miranda.
‘I’ve told you Mandy. Dreams are only what might happen. We make the decisions as to what will happen. Trust me. It’s more important now than ever.’
She was sure that if she did this then she would change the sequence of events outlined in the dream from the Lady. It was now time to choose.
With tears in her eyes Miranda climbed on Aquitain’s back, wrapped her legs around him tightly, and hung on to a roll of skin on his back. Loma climbed on behind her and hung on tightly around her waist and they were off at a run. Five minutes later they were with Kami and Aquitain quickly explained that if they were to save the Barra children then they must retrieve the mask. Kami questioned the wisdom of giving the mask back, as it would lead to further deaths and greater destruction, and he and Loma exchanged a few angry words before Aquitain calmed them both.
‘It is my decision and mine alone. I will not have the Barra children die on my account. If others die then it rests on my shoulders, not yours Kami. I captured the mask - I wish it returned to me.’
‘As you are wishing, Spirit Lord,’ said Kami. ‘Who am I to be arguing with a Spirit Lord?’
‘Kami. My grandfather once said that it is our actions that define who we are. History records what happened, not what people think might happen in the future. If we act on what we are told might happen then we are fulfilling other people’s wishes, not our own. My wish is to save the Barra children. If in the future that leads to the death of others I will not feel responsible. I will remember only that I saved twenty children in the past, and who knows how those twenty children may change the future?’
‘I am bowing to your wisdom, Spirit Bear. None of us are knowing the future, only the past. I will be coming with you and giving you the mask,’ said Kami, and he, Loma, Aquitain and Miranda teleported to the Jeti village where they retrieved the mask and then teleported to Loma’s camp.
‘Why have we come here, Spirit Lord?’ asked Loma.
‘The priest asked only for the mask. Not for the spirit in the mask. We are going to remove the spirit, then the mask will no longer be dangerous,’ replied Aquitain. ‘To do that I will need your permission to use the wand and your Urn of the Dead.’
‘If it will be saving our children and preventing further mischiefs then I would be being a poor leader if I refused, Spirit Lord,’ Loma responded. ‘I am giving you my permission.’
‘I am seeing you being a cunning spirit bear again,’ said Kami. ‘You have chosen a wonderful favoured one, Miranda,’ and Miranda blushed a little then said,
‘I think so too,’ but she was still terrified at what Aquitain was thinking about what Alpha had said. She had decided not to hassle him. He needed time. Alpha was right. This was a very important decision, one that affected her future as well. Once he had the mask problem fixed then he would have to think about the Alpha problem. She silently prayed to the Lady to give him the wisdom to decide.
Aquitain dug out the wand and the urn from the fireplace where they were hidden. He contacted the Omen and told it what he wanted to do. It agreed. He opened the Urn of the Dead and told everyone to stand well back, as he uncovered the mask and thumped in on the ground beside the urn.
‘Hello again Aquitain,’ said Erastius. ‘What are we doing today?’
‘Today you get to meet Jacintra. Good bye,’ said Aquitain, and pressed the Omen against the mask. Erastius was sucked out of the mask and into the wand. Then Aquitain pressed the wand against the urn and commanded it to release Erastius into the Urn. Erastius’s spirit was sucked into the Urn, and Aquitain replaced the lid then contacted the mask. It answered like a normal mind activated item. It gave its name, its purpose, its manufacturer and its secret destruction sequence, as originally designed by Aquitain’s grandfather.
‘I’m sorry Loma. The spirit that caused all the deaths of your friends and relatives is now itself dead. I suspect that you would have preferred a big ceremony with all your people present but time is against us. I can now in all conscience swap the mask for your children knowing that it will not harm any others.’
‘I am being greatly happy, Great Lord. If you say the spirit is dead then I am rejoicing, but when my people’s children are free then all my people will be greatly rejoicing. That is being more important than a dead spirit.’
Kami just smiled and Miranda had no words to express her feeling of joy. Nothing would part her from this bear. Nothing except the bear himself, and on that matter she was now more terrified than ever. Now he had to decide what to do about herself and Alpha.
‘We should head back and make the exchange,’ he said.
She couldn’t stand the suspense any longer.
‘What are you going to do about Alpha, Tain?’
He looked her square in the eyes and said.
‘Do you really trust the Lady?’
‘Of course,’ she said.
‘Then it looks like I will have to trust her as well,’ he said.
‘She gave me my life back again. She gave me strength and power and she gave me you. I WILL remove that damn tattoo. I don’t know how yet, but I will and we will be joined. We will write our story not anyone else's. We will decide what happens and what doesn’t. I would never willingly bargain the lives of any of my friends or family away on vague fears of what might happen in the future. The gods will wait on our whim and fancy, not us, on theirs.’
‘And I will fight with you and await that special day Tain,’ she said as she hugged him and cried.
‘What is wrong?’ asked both Kami and Loma.
‘Nothing is wrong,’ said Miranda.
‘Everything is right. Let’s go and save your children,’ and they teleported back to Goth, then rode on Aquitain’s back to the group waiting in the corridor in the temple and entered the room.
Ishteth spoke. ‘What is your decision bear?’
‘I will exchange the mask for the children providing you assure me they will remain alive, and I will exchange my memory crystal called Alpha for Zephira, but only after we remove the children.’
‘So be it,’ said the High Priest. ‘I will accept your word,’ and he ordered the wizard to remove the wall of arcane force and Loma called the children to him; they ran over and he herded them out the door. Aquitain tossed the mask to him and he examined it.
‘It looks real enough, but why doesn’t Erastius speak?’ he said.
‘Erastius is no longer present in the mask. In our last encounter Erastius and Jacintra tried to overcome me together. I banished both of them back to the other world. The mask is intact otherwise. It still has all its powers but is no longer haunted.’
; ‘Very astute! I commend you on your abilities. I trust your memory crystal has not suffered a similar fate.’
‘No Alpha is quite functional but unlikely to give you any information, if that is what you wish.’
‘Alpha. I am sorry but I cannot let Zephira die,’ said Aquitain through their private mindlink. ‘I will search for you and I will try to complete the mission. This is the self-destruct sequence of the mask. I command you to contact the mask and use it after we leave. With luck it will explode and kill these Yith, and you can hide until I find you. Now communicate with Ishteth and allow yourself to be captured.’
‘And what if I am destroyed?’ asked Alpha.
‘You will always be a part of me. I will remember you fondly. Make sure these Yith bastards pay for the death and terror that they have visited upon us today,’ said Aquitain.
‘As you command,’ it replied, and cut off its connection to him.
‘Ishteth you will find Alpha on the front of Zephira’s body. It will communicate with you, but know that I can manifest powers through it and will have it deliver punishment to you and your people should you fail to live up to your agreement.’
Ishteth peered around to the front of Zephira and smiled when he saw Alpha. He grabbed it and popped it into a bag, then called to his wizard who opened a temporary gateway. They all passed through the gate except for Ishteth, who stood behind Zephira. He smiled and said ‘It’s been nice doing business with you, bear,’ then darted through the gate, leaving Zephira standing there with glassy eyes.
‘You did it!’ said Miranda. ‘You saved both Zephira and the children.’ And everyone cheered. ‘I thought that he mightn’t go through with the deal when he found out about the mask, but he did. Thank the Lady that’s over.’
‘Yes and I told Alpha to command the mask to destruct after they left. With luck the explosion will kill them all. Alpha is fairly robust and should survive the explosion. I’ll get Granddad to scry for it and we’ll know where their base is, or at least where they went to.’
‘What if they were working with Alin Amber or your father?’
‘It’ll teach them not to play games with us, won’t it?’
‘That’s a bit harsh isn’t it?’ she said.
‘We lost twenty dead. I would call that a bit harsh wouldn’t you?’ he replied.
‘I suppose you’re right. This certainly isn’t a game for the faint hearted anymore.’
He asked Gaston to use the dispel magic wand on Zephira to remove the binding effect on her. Gaston used the wand and they all stared in disbelief. The woman they thought was Zephira shrunk and transformed into one of the female Barra people. Life returned to her eyes, she recognized Loma, smiled and ran over to him.
‘By the Powers, what have I done?’ said Aquitain. ‘They’ve taken Zephira with them. If Alpha orders the mask to destruct it may kill Zephira. Ishteth and I have outsmarted each other!’
‘Alpha isn’t silly. It will realize Zephira’s there and not destroy the mask,’ suggested Miranda.
‘If it had known about Zephira then it would have said something. I’ve probably killed her. I just can’t believe it. How stupid can I be? I should have guessed that they would pull some dirty trick,’ and he sat down sadly to analyse where he had gone wrong.
Miranda moved the group out of the temple, leaving Aquitain to have some time alone. The children had already been taken out, and when the group emerged there were cheers from all the fighters.
‘Where is the spirit bear?’ asked Kami.
‘He wishes to be alone for a while. The cost to save the children has been great. He grieves for the people lost. He has also lost a part of his life force and his only cousin, the woman fighter called Zephira. He blames himself for losing them all. The hostiles are gone. You may take your warriors and your injured back to your village. We will join you when he has had time to think.’
‘No. We shall wait. A leader who sheds tears for his dead is a great leader. We will share his pain,’ and he led the Jeti in singing a sad song to mourn their lost comrades. Rori joined in with the Barra people and all who were present felt the pain and sorrow. Even the toughest of the Town Guards had tears in their eyes and the younger ones cried openly. The Crin fighters who normally felt nothing at the loss of a comrade were sad for the first time in their lives. It was a strange alien feeling for them and one that they wouldn’t soon forget.
One of the young Twin Towers wizards approached Miranda, as she was about to return to Aquitain.
‘Excuse me Princess Miranda. I cast a language magic effect on myself to comprehend what the little people were talking about. They are calling Captain Brown Bear by the name Aquitain. Is he the same Aquitain that was a Logicon at Twin Towers? We thought that he was dead.’
Miranda thought for a few moments and concluded that there was little chance of keeping his identity secret now.
‘Aquitain the Logicon was killed by an assassin a few days ago and the Lady in her wisdom granted him a new life and a new body as a bear. The little people know him as Aquitain the spirit bear.’
‘Him T’Kwala, him the Chaos Bear,’ said the Orc who was standing nearby with Goth’s great sword resting on his shoulder.
‘Him wants be known as Aquitain on this world.’
‘I am thinking he is being correct,’ said Kami.
‘It will be taking me six weeks to be growing a new leg. I was watching the spirit bear having his arm being chopped off by the great metal creature. The spirit bear was turning and looking at it and it became frozen with fear. Then I was observing that the Orc was picking up his arm off the ground and handing it to the spirit bear. The spirit bear was not worrying but putting his arm back on again and went running off to be fighting the great lizard.’
The Orc nodded. ‘That true! Only T’Kwala could do that. Him catches stone creatures from air for me to kill. Then him knocks down big lizard for me to kill. Lizard afraid of T’Kwala and escape by magic.’
Xentos who was obviously listening nearby said using mindspeak, ‘That is true. My Crin warriors could not harm the lizard as it was protected by magic. I saw Aquitain pull down the great lizard so the Orc could harm it with that great sword. It was badly damaged and fled for its life. I smelt its fear.’
The young wizard thanked them all and ran back to the guards to tell them what he had heard. Miranda was somewhat surprised as well. She had helped him dispose of the gargoyles but wasn’t present for the other things. She was a little baffled about how he could replace his arm, but wasn’t surprised about his tackling the Thunder Lizard. She felt so proud of him again and decided that he had had enough time to himself so she returned to the temple to get him.
She found him slumped on the ground in deep contemplation.
‘A wise bear once told me that we can only deal with the problems we know about, the others have to wait. I will help you search for Alpha and Zephira, but at the moment your army awaits Captain Brown Bear. They won’t leave until you tell them to go. You have accomplished much more than saving the children. Come Tain, come and see. Leave this place to its ghosts.’
Aquitain rose and walked with Miranda through the deserted corridors and up the stairs to the daylight. When they appeared the fighters all cheered and he was treated with an unusual sight. The newmans, the Crin and little people all stood side by side and began to chant ‘Aquitain! Aquitain!’
‘How strange this would appear to anyone watching,’ he thought. ‘Newmans, giant ants and little lizards all cheering a bear that brought death to their ranks. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined this happening.’
He stood upright towering above them, waited for them to quieten down and, using mindspeak, addressed them.
‘We have all fought a difficult and tricky battle today and come out the victors. Each of you fought heroically. I thank you all. We have all suffered, we have all lost friends, but we have achieved our goal. We have fought together and saved the lives of twenty Barra children.
This fight will not be forgotten but will be long remembered as the first time the Crin, the little people and the newmans joined together for a common and just cause. I suspect it won’t be the last time. Go back to your homes, grieve for the dead, but celebrate our victory today. Princess Miranda and I will join you later.’
Everyone cheered and began chanting 'Aquitain! Aquitain!' again, but he had nothing more to say. Xentos called his Crin fighters together, and after a brief chat with Miranda marched them away carrying their wounded. Kami was picked up by a group of Jeti warriors and they left after inviting Aquitain and Miranda to the Jeti Village for a celebration. Loma introduced and welcomed Rori and the seventeen new Barra warriors to the rest of the Barra people and their children. Then, after thanking Aquitain and Miranda several more times invited them to a celebration at the Barra village. Belloe, Gaston and the Orc decided to go with Loma leaving Chantalot, looking quite forlorn, by himself.
‘I just can’t believe we lost Zephira,’ he said. ‘I feel so sorry for you Aquitain. I loved her. She was so beautiful, so courageous and so wonderful. I just can’t believe it.’
‘We will find her.’ said Miranda. ‘That is a promise. You should go back to the town with the guards. Tell Featherdown what has happened and we’ll visit him later.’
Aquitain addressed the Town Guards again, thanking them for their heroic effort, and giving the orders for them to return to Twin Towers and have a few beers. They used their bracelets of retrieval to teleport back to the barracks in groups of four. They couldn’t wait to tell one and all about the battle and their part in its success. Ten minutes later everyone except Miranda and Aquitain was gone.
‘What do you think we should do now?’ asked Miranda. ‘It’ll be three or four hours before the little people get back to their villages. Perhaps we should go and talk to Featherdown.’
‘No Mandy, there’s still too many unresolved questions.’
‘What do you mean?’ she asked.
‘This whole defence wasn’t right. It was done to impress people that don’t know much about magic. Let me explain. The temple was charged with an immense amount of power but didn’t put up a shield, and it only worked within the bounds of the temple. That was ridiculous. There was enough power for the temple defences to reach at least five hundred paces beyond the temple grounds. Can you imagine designing a temple like this without a shield and what about internal defences? Why weren’t they used?'