Agents of Chaos

by Des Pensable

  ‘No. I will not let you take him until we listen to his story.’

  ‘Are you going to show yourself?’ asked Aquitain.

  Moments later the most amazing creature appeared out of thin air. It had a golden serpentine body about five paces long topped with the head of a bird crowned with silver and gold feathers. Its feathery wings had a silky sheen that rippled with iridescent flashes of coloured light. It flew down from a rocky perch several paces above the cave floor and as it approached Aquitain it lit up the area with bluish glow.

  ‘Well what have we here, a lovely little baby Llanllean?’ It said in a beautiful charming melodic voice designed to complement the visual sense of awe it projected.

  It also seemed to radiate benevolence making it difficult to not feel at ease with it. The problem as Aquitain knew quite well was that this type of aura was illusory and coercive. It wasn’t necessarily coercive but more a trap for the unwary. Aquitain had seen other wondrous creatures back in his home city of Panmagica that had employed similar strategies and consequently he used a metal block to neutralize the effects of its aura.

  ‘Hello, I am Somanller. Who are you and what do you want?’

  Aquitain changed to his gnome form.

  ‘Hello, Somanller my name is Aquitain. I’m a citizen of Astaria. Llanlorian suggested that I find you as you might be able to help me.’

  At the mention of Llanlorian’s name several of the Llanlleans all spoke to Somanller at the time making it difficult to understand what any of them said.

  Before she could reply the strange creature spoke.

  ‘Well we all know that is a lie. There are no people in Astaria and Llanlorian is quite mad. Let me have him. I’ll find out the truth.’

  ‘Quiet Ansidian! We wish to hear what he has to say.’ replied Somanller.

  ‘I have a signet ring given to me by Llanlorian to prove that I am from Astaria and I can assure you that she is not insane. It is in a small leather pouch hanging around my neck. If I might be permitted to take it out I will show you?’

  ‘I wouldn’t trust him.’ hissed Ansidian. ‘He is a dangerous magic user.’

  ‘We are all dangerous magic users.’ countered Somanller.

  ‘Please show me the ring.’

  Aquitain carefully removed the small bag from around his neck and tipped the contents onto the dusty floor. Several rings fell out and he sorted through them found the signet ring and handed it to the woman. She examined it carefully and handed it back.

  ‘It is an Astarian signet ring.’

  ‘That proves nothing.’ said Ansidian angrily. ‘It could easily be a fake. Everyone knows that Astaria is a ghost town. No one lives there except Llanlorian and she is crazy.’

  Aquitain replaced the rings in the pouch and said

  ‘It’s curious that you know so much about Astaria when you obviously haven’t been there. It’s not exactly a ghost town and she’s definitely not crazy. I should know I was just talking with her just half an hour ago.”

  ‘What does she look like?’ asked Somanller.

  ‘She looks much like you do in spider form and like an old grey haired Elendari woman in her alternate form.’

  ‘That’s a pathetic description. Anyone could have guessed that.’ said Ansidian.

  ‘Ansidian! You are a guest here as is this person until we establish otherwise. Please keep quiet!’

  ‘Can you describe the patterns on her abdomen?’

  Aquitain though for a moment and described the main features of her patterns and their colours. Somanller seemed happy with his description.

  ‘How did you know where to find us?’ asked Somanller.

  ‘Llanlorian gave me the teleport marker location. She said you were related and might be able to help me find a friend of mine called Garret but I notice you have already found him. That’s him over there.’

  ‘Hmm. Perhaps you should start from the beginning. I am particularly interested in why you appear to be one of us but have no body markings which would identify your family. In fact your body markings are quite strange and alien.’

  Aquitain began.

  ‘A week ago I was a Newman wizard employed by the High Wizard of Mudrun to investigate many strange events that are occurring all over Mudrun. Unfortunately, I was careless and managed to get myself killed but was reincarnated by a druid friend in the form in which you see me here.’

  ‘That is most unusual.’ said Ansidian.

  ‘The rules of reincarnation state that you must receive a body from the world in which you are reincarnated. How then did you receive the body of a Llanllean as none live on Mudrun?’

  ‘I did not choose the form of my current body as I was dead at the time nor am I wise enough to understand The Lady of the Jungle’s mind. I am simply thankful to be alive. Do you know why I have been given this body, for if you do I would like to know myself?’

  Aquitain’s answer seemed to annoy Ansidian quite a lot.

  ‘No I don’t. You are not the one to ask the questions we are. Why are you and your friend Garret in Moonmist?’

  ‘Ansidian! This is my last warning! Let Aquitain talk! If you persist in interrupting you will be escorted out of this area,’ said Somanller getting quite annoyed.

  Aquitain continued.

  ‘A few days ago an object of great value was stolen from the High Wizard. My investigations led to the person you have over there whose name is Garret. He runs a magic shop in a place called Templegate. While I was making inquiries about the stolen object some agents from The Queen of Moonmist entered his premises and invited him to visit her to attend the Ball. He agreed to let me come along with him as there was some evidence that the stolen object might have been transported here.’

  ‘We teleported to the Mudrun gateway entrance and were met by a troop of the Queen’s guards as an escort. Unfortunately we were separated just outside the Mudrun entrance to the gateway during a skirmish between a group of several druids and a troop of Crin. The Elendari escort managed to get Garret through but I was left behind. I decided to pass through the gateway to try and catch up with Garret but was waylaid by Llanlorian.’

  ‘After a long chat she agreed to let me go and suggested I might come here to seek the help of Somanller.’

  ‘The stolen object must have been of great value for you to dare to come here. Are you aware of how dangerous it is for offworlders here?’ queried Somanller.

  ‘Yes. I assumed that if The Lady had reincarnated me as a Llanllean like you then it was for a reason. It was a sign from her that I would be adapted to the conditions here. Llanlorian thought the same.’

  ‘Hmm … and what is the valuable object you are seeking to find.’

  ‘The object is called a sceptre of lordly might. It is believed to have been owned by the Queen’s Champion.’

  There was suddenly a murmur throughout the cave.

  ‘By the Gracious Lady, you mean the Champion’s Sceptre is back in Moonmist. That could explain a few things. ’

  ‘These are more lies.’ screamed Ansidian angrily.

  ‘Everyone knows that the rebel nymph queen has the Champion’s Sceptre and she is unlikely to have given it to the High Wizard for safe keeping. Let me take him I will find out the truth.’

  Suddenly Ansidian cast sleep magic on Aquitain saying.

  ‘I think that it’s time you had a sleep.’

  Aquitain mentally shrugged it off and said ‘No, I’m not tired!’

  Ansidian was really annoyed this time and attacked again with a powerful mental blast intending to stun Aquitain. This was an overtly hostile attack and certainly not warranted under the current situation as none of the Llanlleans seemed to want to fight.

  It worked! It caught Aquitain off guard and his mind froze for a few seconds. However, concurrently Ansidian screamed in pain and fell to the ground writhing in pain.

  The Llanllean onlookers quickly scattered.

  Aquitain recovered and seeing Ansidian on the ground wondered wha
t had happened then quickly realised that someone must have done something to Ansidian to stop the creature from taking the advantage.

  Ansidian struggled to its feet and flapped its wings rapidly to fly began to speak words of power.

  Aquitain had no idea what sort of magic attack this creature could or would use and he didn’t want to drag the Llanlleans into the fight.

  There was a way to stop a magic fight. He concentrated on the creature’s mouth, triggered a small bit of power, and instantly Ansidian’s words became garbled and the magic effects they were forming faded.

  Ansidian couldn’t believe what had happened. It had never happened before. What had Aquitain done?

  Ansidian tried to use another power but the words came out garbled again. He tried to command the Llanlleans to attack Aquitain but they couldn’t understand his garble, so he launched himself at Aquitain.

  If he couldn’t silence this little Llanllean magically then he would do it physically. This is what Aquitain had hoped as he could see that Ansidian had already thoroughly tested Somanller’s patience.

  Aquitain shifted to his Llanllean form and ran towards the Llanllean adults squeaking as if frightened and he got the reaction he hoped for.

  He forced them to react. Somanller yelled to have Ansidian restrained. The male adults in Elendari form that had previously captured Garret immediately changed to Llanllean form and pounced on Ansidian dragging him down to the ground. Some rag was forced into his mouth and his arms and wings pinned.

  The female rushed to Aquitain grabbed him and held him protectively under her body.

  ‘Why is Ansidian attacking me?’ broadcast Aquitain using mindspeak.

  ‘I have done nothing to him?’

  ‘That is exactly what I want to know?’ shouted Somanller looking at Ansidian sternly.

  ‘Release Ansidian and let him speak.’

  The Llanlleans freed Ansidian and warily stepped back from him. He removed the cloth from his mouth looked around at them with a hateful look in his eyes and said

  ‘Next time...’ and the rest of the sentence was lost as he teleported away.

  With Ansidian gone, the attention of the Llanlleans turned to Aquitain. They were quite suspicious of him now. He had shown unusual restraint and a perfect control of the fight then had tricked them into helping him. That meant he was dangerous.

  He was placed on the floor again and one of them cast a powerful dispel magic on him as if to see whether that would reveal something hidden but nothing changed. They all surrounded him for a closer examination.

  ‘You definitely seem to be one of our species but not from any clan that I know of and you don’t seem to know our body language. This together with your control over magic seems to suggest your story has some element of truth in it. However, I am not yet convinced. Please tell us your story again this time with some more detail.’

  He repeated his story but this time told them about what had happened to Garret and how that had led him here. He also told them a little more about Llanlorian. They asked a lot of questions and regardless of his replies remained very suspicious.

  Eventually Somanller stated that she and the other adults would like to discuss the implications of his story. He was free to move around if he wished.

  He moved over to Garret who was fast asleep and decided to let him sleep rather than waking him. This would be a real nightmare if you didn’t know these spider people were friendly and even then it would take an exceptional Newman that would make friends with a group of spiders.

  The irony of the situation hit him again. Someone was manipulating all of them expertly. If Aquitain wasn’t like these spider people he would be scared stiff of them like Garret. He certainly wouldn’t be comfortable making friends with them.

  The Newman fear of spiders was built in at birth. He was given this body so that he could overcome the fear, so that he could make friends with them and so they could believe he was a friend.

  The two young Llanlleans about the same size as him couldn’t hold back their curiosity. They came over and stood about five paces away from him looking at him. He turned to face them and asked their names. One was called Esller and the other Barinll.

  Aquitain asked them if they were males or females. They thought that his question was quite hilarious and proceeded to point out the obvious differences between males and females, the various appendages, the shape of the abdomen, the differences in coloration and so on. He found out that Esller was a young teenage girl and Barinll was her younger brother.

  He couldn’t resist asking all sorts of questions about Llanlleans such as was his bite poisonous. The answer was yes, it could be if he bit something in a certain way and they showed him the difference between a poisonous and non-poisonous bite. He asked if they could produce a web. Of course we can they said and then proceeded to show him how it was done. They described the different type of nets and ropes that could be made and how to make sticky and non-sticky ones. He tried it and managed to get sticky web all over himself to the great delight of his young tutors.

  Finally he asked the question that had been on his mind for a long time. What do they eat? The two youngsters found this question amazing.

  ‘You mean that you’ve never eaten any food since you’ve been a Llanllean?’ said Esller incredulously.

  Aquitain was somewhat embarrassed and explained that he had eaten but he had changed to a gnome to do it as he didn’t know what to eat or how one went about it as it wasn’t a Newman thing to eat live creatures.

  Both the youngsters then told him gruesome stories of how wonderful it was to trap an animal or insect then wrap it up in web and bring it home for the family to dine on. They extolled the virtues of the different consistency and flavors of various types of live food.

  Curiously, rather than feeling like throwing up, Aquitain was intrigued. His logic won the day over his stomach.

  ‘I guess that when you’re a spider, you eat what spiders eat.’ he concluded to himself, then asked the key question on his mind,

  ‘Do we eat Newmans?’

  ‘Gracious no.’ replied Esller with a laugh.

  ‘We don’t eat anything that can be an alternate shape and that includes Elendari and little people. It would be like cannibalism if we did and that’s against all our principles. Animals and Newmans may eat their own kind but we don’t.’

  ‘Thank goodness,’ thought Aquitain,

  ‘I might be like them but it would still be hard to tuck into a meal of some young Elendari maiden or guy for that matter.’

  ‘What does that … collar do?’ asked Barinll.

  It was something in the way that Barinll hesitantly asked the question that suddenly put Aquitain on the alert. Most children wouldn’t ask about a scrappy leather looking collar. This young Llanllean knew it was magical but not what it did. Then he realized.

  ‘How stupid of me.’ he thought, ‘this is probably a part of the interrogation.’ They had heard his story then conveniently went away to discuss it while the children talked with the dangerous shape shifting spider gnome that had just defeated a giant snake creature with magic and cunning.

  ‘I wouldn’t expose my children to a potential danger like me.’ he thought.

  ‘They wouldn’t either. Therefore they’re not children but adults, possibly the leaders of the group pretending to be children.’

  Esller noticed his hesitation and said

  ‘You don’t have to tell us about your collar if you don’t want to.’

  ‘If I don’t tell you about it you will be more concerned than if I do.’ replied Aquitain.

  ‘It’s an adjustable collar that can be used to hold gem stones that are imbued with powers that are mainly for use if I get into trouble. Now that you know all about me why did you send your people to get Garret?’

  Barinll started saying that the adults didn’t tell them why they were interested in Garret when Esller said

  ‘So you’ve woken up to our little trick. W
hat gave us away?’

  ‘I didn’t at first but it was your own nature. When the magic fight began, you two didn’t run for cover but stayed in front of some of the adults. If you were children they would have protected you in the same way as they protected me. You are important members of the group perhaps magic users shrunk down to child size for the benefit of Garret and myself. I hope you’ve discovered that Garret and I mean no harm and pose no threat to you.’

  ‘Very astute.’ replied Esller.

  ‘Well, first I should thank you for not using any dangerous magic here. I was just about to stop that idiot creature from casting in here when you did it so neatly with that power that caused him to garble his words.’

  ‘Who was that creature?’ asked Aquitain.

  ‘We have known Ansidian for some time. He claims to be some sort of holy warrior of the goddess Lithgala. He came here yesterday but was behaving strangely. He convinced us that a Llanllean was coming from Mudrun that posed a great danger to us. We should help him capture it and he would purge it of its danger. We were interested in what he was up to, so we played along and kidnapped Garret but soon found out that he was not the one. You were his target. The problem is that we still don’t know what Ansidian was planning.’

  ‘Are you going to release Garret and me? We need to visit the Queen to find out why she’s interested in Garret. My thought is that she might want him to verify that the stolen sceptre is in fact the true Champion’s sceptre.’

  ‘Yes it is quite possible that it is something like that. If it were suddenly to appear at the ball it might cause some problems.’

  ‘What sort of problems?’ asked Aquitain curiously.

  ‘I cannot discuss that. We have contacted Llanlorian and she has verified that she sent you here but that does not mean we trust you. Recent events have made it difficult to trust anyone. Some of us don’t even trust Llanlorian.’ she replied.

  ‘Your story is interesting and no doubt a part of the whole, but there are still many missing pieces to the puzzle. We are interested in talking to Garret as he seems to be important to the Queen. However, he seems unusually alarmed with us. Since you are a friend perhaps you could calm him a little. I would like to wake him up and talk with him now.’