by Des Pensable
Darkmantle finished his instructions, wished them luck and pulled out a teleport scroll. He was going to teleport the lot of them to near their attack location and they were expected to return in small groups using the bracelets of return at the end of the mission. Anyone unfortunate enough to get killed was to have their bodies returned by their troop mates for proper burial.
They all held hands and seconds later reappeared in a small clearing. The group scattered and went to ground. A minute later three troopers were sent out to scout. Five minutes later they walked back reporting that somehow the rebels must have been warned as the rebel camp was deserted but there was evidence of very recent occupation, such as warm cups of tea, clothing and a fire still smouldering.
The captain was upset. Darkmantle would be fuming. He ordered them to scatter around and look for evidence which way they had gone but suspected that they would have teleported. Miranda kept a close watch on both Lash and the small dark brown spider although it was difficult to see in the dark even with the dark vision ritual that they had undergone.
They all wandered through the deserted camp and eventually the spider started to move closer to Lash. It touched Lash on the leg with one of its legs and Lash told it to get lost or it would feel her whip. The spider moved away. Miranda felt that it must have been Aquitain trying to contact Zephira only to find she couldn’t remember him. This was her chance she had to take or leave now before they were called together by the Captain.
She carefully moved close to the spider so that it could see her and whispered.
‘Aquitain it’s me, Miranda. I know I don’t look like her but I’ve been polymorphed. Can we talk?’
She was totally unprepared for the power word that stunned her and didn’t see the small spider’s body go limp and lifeless as the malign spirit left it to possess her body. When she came back to her senses she saw Lash staring at her from several paces away. She saw the dead body of the small spider at her feet then realized to her horror what must have happened. How could she have been so foolish?
A voice inside her head said.
‘Hello Miranda, it’s me, your worst nightmare. Why don’t you tell me all about your friend Aquitain or you’ll soon pray fervently to all the gods in creation that you were never born.’
Shortly after they left Glammer appeared and removed the old leather collar off the dead Llanllean body, she noticed Slivver was gone then she too vanished.
**
Miranda felt claustrophobic. Somehow the spirit that possessed her had managed to constrict her spirit and restrain it to a small part of her body. She was no more than a passenger. The spirit teased her by showing her glimpses of where her body was, but nothing more. It was up to something but she didn’t know what.
She felt tricked, annoyed, used and useless all at the same time. How was it able to possess her so easily? How was she going to get out of this situation? As far as she knew it didn’t know about the special ability of her bracelet or the portal stone in the pouch at her side.
‘You’re going to learn to hate me. He he. I took your friends body and sent his mind mad. He he. Now his body is dead and I have you to play with. He he. ’ It said then blocked her off again.
Her mind froze. Aquitain was dead. It couldn’t be true. She wouldn’t believe it until she saw proof. She would get him resurrected again but she was trapped. What if this horrid creature killed her body? What would The Lady do?
She felt herself teleport. Then she was allowed to see through her own eyes. There were a large number of troops wearing Darkmantle’s colours all standing around weapons drawn and waiting. There must have been at least a hundred of them. She couldn’t remember seeing that many. They must have been hidden somewhere. Someone behind her began chanting arcane words that she recognized immediately. It was a gateway opening power. She saw the soldiers line up and start running into the gateway and all vision and sound was cut off. She had a bad feeling about this.
She felt the magic of the gateway as she passed through it, then nothing for several minutes. Finally she was allowed to see again and her worst fears were realized. She was in her own home. She saw her people and Crin lying dead and dying everywhere. She saw her scimitar in her hand covered in Crin blood. Her view turned and followed Lash as she came running up to Darkmantle.
‘I think we’ve got them beaten, Milord. There are still a few hiding in buildings and the odd couple putting up resistance but we should be able to contain them soon.’
‘Good don’t kill them all. Try to get them to surrender. Put them in chains and we’ll use them in the games at the Queen’s ball. It should be quite entertaining. Won’t Snowbelle get a surprise to discover she hasn’t got a home anymore. Ha ha ha ha. I think we’ll go home and prepare for the Queen’s ball. Ha ha ha ha.’
She heard a little girl scream in a building. She felt her body running towards the building, enter the door. A little girl … it was Torna lying on the floor with a soldier standing over her with his sword out. She heard herself tell the soldier to leave and call the little girl over to her. The soldier left and Torna stood up ran over to her and cuddled into her still crying. She saw herself pull Torna off and place her hands around the little girls throat. She saw the little girl gasping for breath as the life was choked out of her. She saw the terrible look of fear in the little girl’s eyes.
Miranda wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to hate. Why was The Lady allowing this to happen?
‘Hello in there.’ said the spirit.
‘Don’t you just love these occasions? Do you know that you killed three of the ant warriors yourself? And this poor little innocent little girl, the fear on her face as you choked her and the curious way her eyes popped out. It was so delicious. Wait I think I hear another child crying. I better have look for the poor little darling. This is such a lovely body. I just can’t wait to share it with a few of the soldiers. I’ve picked out a couple of the more brutal ones just for you. He he he.’
Miranda was more distressed than she had ever been in her whole life. She was helpless. She was tainted. She had killed her own people, murdered a little girl. How low could she get? This was far worse than anything that Prendergrass had done to her. How would she be able to live with herself? Her mother would try to rescue her but not recognize her. No one she knew would recognize her except perhaps Aquitain. Had it already killed Aquitain? If that were the case then no one would know her. She was doomed. She had never felt so helpless, so alone, and so pitiful. She wanted to die. Then she heard a voice.
‘Miranda, don’t despair. You didn’t kill the little girl, it was an illusion. The spirit possessing you was tormenting you. It gets pleasure out of your suffering. Keep positive there is always hope.’
Miranda wondered who could have talked to her. It sounded like her own voice in her mind. It wasn’t Aquitain. It must have been The Lady.
‘Thank you! I will try to be strong.’ she thought. ‘You’re right there is always hope and I should have realized it was an illusion. This creature probably hasn’t killed Aquitain either.'
Chapter 25 The Divinity Seed
Aquitain waited wondering how he had upset Yllandril when suddenly he had a mindspeak message from Glammer.
‘Where are you? I know you’re in there somewhere.’
He quickly sent a message to her.
‘I’ve been displaced from my body. My spirit is in some sort of soul crystal in some sort of place that looks like a crypt. Where are you and how did you find me?’
‘I’m in the crypt. Come out of there. You’re wasting time.’
If Aquitain could have smiled he would have.
‘Glammer, I’m a spirit now. I can’t exist without a body and I’m sure this crystal won’t let us out.’
‘Do you want me to smash the crystal?’
‘No. No! We would die.’ he said quickly.
‘Are there others in there as well? I’ll let you all out.’
‘Yes, there are t
wo of us but we can’t exist without bodies.’
‘Well why don’t you make two bodies.’ she replied.
Aquitain wasn’t sure whether he heard her correctly. It just didn’t make sense. What was she thinking? Who did she think he was?
‘What did you say?’
‘I have your magic collar here. Why don’t you make some small bodies with it? ’
‘How did you get my collar?’ he asked quite surprised.
‘I took it off your last body. The nasty spirit destroyed it and now has the body of another.’
‘Damnation.’ He thought. ‘That was a brand new body. My body. Why did he have to ruin my new body? How am I going to get a new one now?’
‘Hurry up and tell me when to smash the crystal.’ she pleaded.
‘What makes you think that I can make two new bodies out of my collar?’ he asked curiously.
‘I saw the power within you. Why not use it?’ she replied.
Aquitain’s mind froze for a moment then quickly tried to get a grip on what Glammer had said. It must have been something that Llanlorian did to him. There must be something special about being an Astarian.
Llanlorian had absolute power as a gatekeeper in her domain. Did becoming an Astarian confer special abilities on him? Creating bodies was the domain of the divinities. He simply couldn’t believe that it was that easy to get divine powers.
Then he thought of the constructs. Wizards could create constructs which were bodies and alive in some senses of the word. Maybe that’s what she was referring to. Maybe he had knowledge currently locked away inside him that would allow him to turn his mind clay into a body like that of a construct which could house their spirits.
‘Yllandril, there may be a way to get out of this soul crystal but you must help me. Please talk to me.’
‘I’m sorry.’ said Yllandril.
‘I saw something within you that I never expected to see. I needed time to think of the consequences.’
‘What are you talking about? What did you see?’ said Aquitain becoming alarmed.
‘One day many years ago, when I was a novice healer, I saw a book of healing knowledge which I was not allowed to read until I was much more experienced. Out of curiosity I opened it and found that I could not read the text on the pages. I flicked through the book but noticed one page that I could understand.
It spoke of beads of memory of a golden color. It referred to them as divinity seeds. They contained rare and powerful knowledge normally restricted to divine creatures such as deities and the like. I think you have a divinity seed within you that is opaque. I have no idea what would happen if you were to learn its secrets.’
‘Have you heard of Truth Radiants?’
‘Of course.’ replied Yllandril. ‘They are mythical creatures out of children’s stories.’
‘What if I told you that they’re as real as we are? I have talked to one outside this soul crystal using mindspeak. She said that I have the knowledge within me of how to make bodies for us. She will smash the crystal we are now inside freeing us but I must make bodies for us first.’
‘If this were anywhere else and I was with anyone other than you I would say you’re mad and your idea was pure fantasy. However, if that is a divinity seed and it contains knowledge on making bodies then let’s do it. I’ve been in here too long. I’ll help!’
Moments later Aquitain received a metal image of his spirit aura again projected from Yllandril. He imagined of the Yith mantras again and watched as the memory bubbles clustered together.
‘I want the knowledge of that grey medium sized bubble first.’ he said to Yllandril. ‘How do I clarify it?’
‘I don’t know how you can do it. I would normally use my healing power on it but currently I’m a bit short of that.’
‘I’ll try the First mantra of Yith. It can normally be used to unlock memory.’ He put himself in a trance. It was quite easy without a body to worry about then began chanting the First mantra while concentrating on the mid grey memory bubble. Slowly it began to change from opaque to translucent then finally clear.
He switched out of the trance and thought of the Yith mantras. There were seven of them, and they were as clear as crystal. He also knew now why they were blocked. They gave him the knowledge of how to read and change other people’s memory and even more disturbing, how to alter spirit auras.
Using this knowledge you could disguise a spirit aura. Granddad knew this knowledge. He must have implanted it and used his own knowledge of it to block Aquitain’s access to it. Why? Was Granddad behind whatever was happening? Maybe he should unlock more memories and find out. But then again that could wait. He needed a new body and the golden divinity seed might have the answer.
He again switched into a trance state and concentrated on the golden bubble. He chanted the First mantra but nothing happened. So he chanted the Fifth Mantra which was normally used to unlock other people’s memories and this time it worked, the bubble clarified. He quickly left the trance and concentrated on the knowledge. It would have taken his breath away if he could breathe.
He now had the complete knowledge of how to build his own body, but there were catches. It would take several days, complex rituals and some special ingredients and he needed more magic essence than available at present.
His mind was inundated with questions. How did this get there? Why was it there? Who put it there? Why didn’t his mother or Granddad tell him about this? Did Granddad do this? Something was strange about him. Worrying. Had his family know about this? Was there some type of conspiracy of silence amongst them?
Then he had a terrifying thought. Granddad had told him his father said that he knew where a divinity seed was located and the Yith were chasing his father because of it. His father must have known it was in Aquitain all along. Maybe he even put it there for safekeeping. Maybe that is why they had been protecting him all these years. Maybe his job was to deliver it to his father. Maybe opening it has ruined its value. Maybe …’
‘Concentrate. I must concentrate on the problem at hand.’ he thought. How could he make bodies? Have I got knowledge to make constructs? He watched as more opaque bubbles aggregated together. It was like being in a library of forbidden knowledge. All neatly tucked away in his memory but normally unavailable.
He entered the trance once more chanting the Fifth mantra and watched as the memory of constructs became available. Almost as an afterthought he added the knowledge on how to build a memcrystal. This time when he reviewed the knowledge he understood how he could do it. He would form two small bodies from the chaos matter and using his new knowledge about his own body and that of how to build memcrystals and constructs he would turn the bodies into soul containers that would animate when their spirits were housed within.
‘I have it, Yllandril. I know how to do it. We can escape!’
‘It’s not too dangerous is it? You’re not using forbidden knowledge are you?’ she said with a worried lilt to her voice.
‘No. It’s plain old knowledge available to magic item artificers which I used to be at one time. I had some very special clay on me before I got put in here. I can manipulate it with my mind from here I think. I am going to build us a small body each and we are going to be the spirits to animate them. We’ll be like miniature stone constructs or child’s dolls. I’ll make yours spider shaped if you like but I wish to be like a Newman again.’
‘Glammer, I know how to make the bodies. Can you let me mindlink so that I can see through your eyes while I model them.’
‘I’m sorry, Aquitain. You cannot link to my mind. You must model the bodies in your imagination. That will be sufficient.’ replied Glammer.
‘Mmm.’ thought Aquitain suspiciously. He had always been taught that if you couldn’t see a creature’s spirit aura you shouldn’t trust it. Was Glammer the malign creature that put him in the crystal in the first place? How could he believe in a creature that he couldn’t see and that wouldn’t allow him to see its spirit aura
. Was the creature after some of his blocked memory? If so, how did it know what was hidden in his blocked memory?
‘You don’t trust me.’ said Glammer.
‘How did you know about my ability to make bodies when it was blocked to me?
‘I am a Truth Radiant. None can hold secrets from me.’
‘Why are you helping me?’ asked Aquitain.
‘It is my job to help those in need.’
‘Who sent you?
‘Moonmist.’
This answer rather surprised Aquitain. What was he dealing with?
‘What do you mean Moonmist? Is it somehow alive?’ he asked hesitantly.
‘Moonmist has a collective mind.’ replied Glammer.
‘So the collective mind of Moonmist wants you to help me?
‘It is my job to help those in need.’
‘OK, I’m starting to get the hint. You’re not going to tell me more than I need to know.’
‘One more question. What does Moonmist want me to do?’
‘Moonmist expects everything and nothing. You are an Agent of Chaos. Your will is your own.’
At last it began to make sense. To be an Agent of Chaos he had to be free. If he was imprisoned then he couldn’t cause chaos. Various parties must have somehow found out he was an Agent of Chaos and were trying to manipulate him. Llanlorian was scared of what he might do. She had tried to bind him with a Blood Oath and control him with Slivver. Now that he had lost his body he was no longer bound to her. Now the Moonmist collective had an interest in him. What did they know about him? What did they think he could do that was so special?
‘Quickly! I think the malevolent spirit will be back soon. You must act now or lose the opportunity.’ said Glammer with a note of panic in her voice.
Aquitain mentally chanted the mantra of concentration so that he had perfect concentration and began the work of creating two small bodies from an imaginary ball of mind clay. At first he was almost overcome with awe at what he planned to do. He was going to create his own body. How many people had ever done that! Probably nobody. This was a first time. But the urgency returned. He was doing it to survive, that was reason enough.
