by Des Pensable
‘Perhaps you are right. He does seem a danger to himself at the moment. I will scout the place to ensure that it is safe, and show him some basic rules for living safely in the jungle. After that I must go, as I have my territory to look after.’
Aquitain could hardly believe it, she had agreed. What incredibly good fortune. Now he could get to know her better and she would get to know him.
‘Thank you Miranda, I will do my best to learn as much of your wisdom as quickly as possible so that you will be free to tend to your territory as soon as possible. Now we must pack. Zephira, empty the contents of those boxes on the floor, I’ll need them for other stuff.’
‘Can I help too?’ Miranda asked.
‘Of course, if you empty those sacks I can use those as well.’
An hour later Featherdown returned to find them standing waiting with a pile of luggage.
‘Miranda and I are going, and Zephira will be our contact as you suggested,’ said Aquitain.
The High Wizard looked at Miranda thoughtfully, and said ‘May I have a talk with you in private, Miranda?’
She nodded, and they walked outside.
‘Would your mother approve of this situation? She is likely to be extremely upset with you spending time with a young newman wizard, and may cause a great deal of trouble.’
‘I am well aware of what my mother might or might not do. I have lived with her all my life. What I do is no concern of yours.’
‘You may endanger Aquitain. That is my concern. As you rightly pointed out, he is the grandson of one of my friends. Your mother could crush him like an ant beneath her heel if she finds out, or even worse, take him back to her lair.’
‘And if I don’t help him he could die just as easily. The part of the jungle where you are sending him is a dangerous place for the unwary.’
‘Perhaps, but the levels of danger are quite different.’
‘Not in my eyes, wizard! I have made my decision and I will stand by it.’ And she went back to Aquitain and Zephira and picked up the two sacks.
‘Are you coming?’
Aquitain was back in his body shell with a box under each arm and Zephira had her backpack stuffed with equipment. They proceeded up to the ground level and stood on the teleport circle embedded in the floor. Featherdown examined a piece of paper, they all touched hands, and were gone in a surge of magic as he carefully enunciated some arcane words.
They appeared on a small flat grassy knoll on top of a headland overlooking the sea. They could hear the sound of the waves somewhere below them, but their surroundings were too dark to see much, as the moon had not yet risen.
‘I can smell cat,’ said Miranda. ‘There is one close by. If we stay together it shouldn’t bother us.’
Aquitain created light on himself and lit up the area like a lantern.
‘Good,’ said Featherdown, ‘I remember the way now,’ and he set off into the darkness. Aquitain quickly followed the High Wizard, and the two women followed him. They walked about fifty paces and came to some broken brickwork. Featherdown followed it around to the right, and down into a hollow that was heavily overgrown with bushes. He pushed some of the overgrowth aside, and asked Aquitain to come closer so that he could see a little better.
‘Aha. Here it is,’ he muttered to himself and pushed a brick inwards, then leant against the wall so that a section of it opened inwards. They all followed him down a dark corridor, and into a room perhaps eight paces square.
‘Here we are, the living room I call it. Drop your stuff here and explore around. It’s actually the basement area of an ancient Yith villa, I would say. The top areas are just ruins now, but it must have been impressive at one time. There is a room made of dead magic rock, which they probably used as a prison cell, and several other small rooms that were cells or storage areas. I have placed a stack of food supplies and some lantern oil in one of them, and there’s some bedding material against the wall here. Other than what’s in this room, that’s about it.
‘It was never intended for continual occupation just as a temporary hideout in case something unexpected happened.’
‘Like us turning up, High Wizard?’ inquired Zephira.
‘Er ... yes. You know the old saying, always be prepared! That’s why I’m still alive, while most of my contemporaries are dead. There is another entrance up some stairs to a hatch. It’s locked from this side, that’s why we came in by the emergency exit. I would suggest you come and go using the hatch normally, and only use the emergency exit as a quick way out if there is trouble.’
‘Why should we expect trouble?’ asked Miranda suspiciously. ‘Nobody knows we are here.’
‘As I was saying, always be prepared; it’s a good motto if you wish to stay alive. Now we shall have to get going. Come along Zephira.’ And he walked off down the corridor to the emergency exit. Aquitain moved to a corner of the room and slithered out of his shell, reforming into his newman shape. He hugged Zephira and walked down the corridor holding her hand tightly.
‘It should only be a couple more weeks and Granddad will have the charges on you dropped,’ she said optimistically. ‘I’ll come back in a couple of days, or as soon as I hear anything.’
‘No, don’t come here,’ said Aquitain quickly. ‘I’ll arrange a meeting place and let you know about it. Be careful. I don’t want to lose my only cousin in the world.’ They hugged again and then heard a yell outside. They raced to the entrance but could see nothing. Miranda had heard it too. She shape shifted to a jungle cat and came tearing down the corridor, shot out between the two of them, and went sprinting up the side of the hollow.
Featherdown was rolling around on the ground with something on top of him. Miranda went straight at them, leaping onto it and knocking it off the High Wizard. Aquitain and Zephira came racing up the side of the hollow to see Featherdown regaining his feet and creating light on himself.
On the ground rolling and tearing at each other were two black jungle cats. Suddenly one broke off and ran into the darkness. The other stood breathing heavily a moment before it transformed into Miranda and walked over to the High Wizard.
‘What were you saying about levels of danger wizard?’
‘I have been known to be wrong,’ he said.
‘You’ve been injured,’ said Zephira suddenly to Miranda.
‘It’s nothing. I’ve had worse,’ she replied, and sang a healing prayer touching her side, then another on her left leg. ‘Are you injured wizard?’
‘No I’m not Miranda, but thanks for asking. I always wear protections when I’m in the jungle at night.’
‘Come Zephira, hold my hand,’ said Featherdown, and they were gone.
Miranda stood in the darkness holding her side.
‘Are you all right?’ asked Aquitain.
‘Yes. I’m just a little concerned. That shouldn’t have happened. It’s rare for those jungle cats to attack a newman. I’ll find out what’s going on tomorrow. Let’s have a look at your new home and unpack your gear.’ And they returned to the living room, closing off the emergency exit.
Aquitain’s body shell lying in the corner of the living room gave off a soft yellow fire-like glow that lit up the whole room, but cast huge alien shadows as they walked into the centre of the room.
‘That’s my first job after I get you a cup of hot brew, some decent lighting in here. I brought some light balls that I made for a customer. Too bad they’ll have to miss out. Sit down Miranda, you look a bit pale.’
‘I’m sorry I must have lost more blood than I thought,’ she said, and collapsed on the floor. He noticed that she was bleeding from the four furrows of a nasty looking rake across her back. He quickly laid out the bedding and dragged her across to it. Then he removed his only clean shirt from one of the boxes and held it across her back to stop the bleeding, but it was soon saturated.
He examined the wound and saw that it looked deep and nasty. ‘Damn. Mother never showed me how to heal someone, only myself,’ he thought. �
�It looks like it needs stitches or something to close it up, otherwise she’ll lose too much blood.’ He replaced the shirt and quickly got Alpha out of the body shell and made contact with it. ‘What do I know about healing methods?’ Alpha came up with nothing useful. ‘Damn, I think she needs to be stitched up. But how, I don’t have a needle?’
He then thought of the chaos matter and dashed over to his body shell to retrieve it. He sat the ball of clay-like material on her back next to the wound and imagined her wounds and imagined it flowing into the slashes like putty sealing up the wounds and then imagined the putty to be her flesh. He looked down and there were no wounds - the chaos matter had sealed them up as neatly as if it was new flesh. He wiped blood off her back and covered her with a blanket.
The problem was that the chaos matter would only stay in place while he concentrated on it or was in contact with it. So since there was plenty left, he extended it out like a metal wire leash ending with a wristband, which he placed on his wrist. That way the wound seal should remain in place until she could heal it herself. There was only one problem, he was tethered to her. If he went too far away he could tear the wound seal out of her back, and that would probably be very painful. So he sat beside her, wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and meditated.
Miranda became conscious again after about an hour. She felt very weak but otherwise all right. She sat up and noticed a metal wire going around to her back, pulled it and realised that it was somehow embedded into her flesh, and then saw it tethered to his wrist.
‘By the Lady what’s he done to me?’ she wondered. She looked around and saw a dagger on the floor beside one of the boxes. She used her leg to move it over to her hand, unsheathed it and slid around behind him.
‘Wake up you bastard!’ and holding the dagger across his throat kneed him in the back to break his trance.
He woke suddenly, feeling a dagger across his throat.
‘Miranda. What have you done with Miranda?’ he said.
‘I’m here you bastard. What have you done to me? Why have you got me on a leash? Don’t try any magic or I’ll cut your throat so quickly you’ll drown in your own blood in seconds.’
‘You were deeply wounded in your back. That’s why you collapsed. I sealed your wound with chaos matter but it will only stay in place if I concentrate on it or keep it in contact with my body. If you cut my throat the stuff will run out and you’ll probably bleed to death.’
‘I have no healing left,’ she said. ‘I will need to meditate on the dawn, but I won’t wear a leash for anybody.’
‘All right I’ll remove it, but I will have to concentrate on your back all the rest of the night, and if I fall asleep or lose concentration the wounds will burst open.’
She suddenly realized that he might have saved her life and removed the blade from his throat. ‘I’m sorry. I misjudged your motives. My mother sometimes had her captives on a leash before they died. I’m not used to having someone else take care of me. I shouldn’t have got so damaged. I have an ability that toughens my skin and reduces this type of damage, but I thought there was no time. I should have guessed that the High Wizard of all people would wear protection against most eventualities. Keep the leash intact if you think it is necessary.’ And she moved around in front of him.
‘There is some strange fate at work here. I am here to protect you and yet you save my life. I will pray to the Lady for guidance. I must sleep to gain some strength. Tomorrow will be busy.’ She lay back and pulled the blanket over her body and said. ‘Thank you wizard,’ then fell asleep.
Aquitain settled down beside her. He thought about the incident for quite a while. She was a truly feral creature and a product of her strange upbringing with a nymph as a mother. Had he given her the wrong answer, she would have cut his throat without a second thought. Had he not been in his fearless Logicon body, he might have been scared witless and died. What a strange pair they were. He would have to earn her trust, as he was sure it wouldn’t be given lightly. He decided that he might as well get some rest too, and dozed off.
Miranda dreamed she was standing among the little people. A great brown bear walked up and stood beside her. She reached over and stroked its shoulder. Its fur felt rich and luxurious to touch. She liked bears, and this one was at ease with her and the little people.
The image faded and she saw herself climb on the bear’s back. She could feel its powerful muscles bulge under her legs. She could feel its strength and knew it would fight for her. This image faded and another took its place. The bear lay sunbaking on the sand beside a pool. She teased it a little, trying to get it to have a swim. Then suddenly she shape changed into a female bear just like it, waggled her rear end at it, and tore off into the water. It roared and stood up to chase her.
‘No!’ she screamed. ‘No. You can’t. I swore an oath to the Lady that I would never do that. You’ll die.’
She opened her eyes and found Aquitain kneeling over her.
‘Are you all right Miranda? You must have had a bad dream.’
‘What are you doing to my mind, wizard? I won’t play your mind games.’
‘I did nothing Miranda. I swear I did nothing.’
She sat up with her legs against her chest and held them tightly with her arms, and thought about what she had dreamt. What did it that mean?
‘I’m sorry once more, wizard. I had a bad dream. Get some sleep if you wish. I will stay awake until dawn.’
Chapter 15 Hunting
Just before dawn Miranda arose, and together with Aquitain went down to the other end of the basement area, climbed up the stairs and with some difficulty opened the hatch to the world above. There was a glow on the horizon and the ground was damp with heavy dew. They waited a few minutes until the light had improved, found a grassy position overlooking the sea and settled down into positions of meditation.
Aquitain sat cross-legged with his arms resting gently across his legs, palms facing upwards. Miranda kneeled down and sat back on her legs, holding the palms of her hands together, fingers pointed upwards. As the sun slowly crept above the horizon and its rays hit her in the face, Miranda began chanting a prayer to the Lady of the Jungle in a language unknown to him or his translator crystal.
He looked at her face. There were tears streaming down it but he wasn’t sure whether they were tears of joy or sadness. He knew she was gravely upset about her nightmare, but decided not to press her about it. If it was important enough she would tell him. At least that’s what he hoped. He concentrated on his own meditation. It was through meditation that he could refresh his source, which was continually being dangerously depleted owing to the fact he was spending so much time shape shifted to his newman form.
After three quarters of an hour Miranda stood up mentally refreshed but still feeling a bit physically weak from the loss of blood. Aquitain came out of his trance and stood beside her, looking at the view. It was magnificent. Who said Logicons didn’t have emotions? If they could appreciate a view like this then they must have emotions of sorts. Then again, maybe it was his newman spirit that appreciated the view; after all Logicon vision wasn’t all that good.
‘Can you remove this tether please? The Lady has blessed me with fresh prayers and I have one that will heal my back,’ Miranda said.
Aquitain stood beside and slightly behind her to take a look at her back. ‘All right I’ll remove the seal I have in place, but it may hurt a little.’ He closed his eyes and imagined the chaos matter reforming as a ball in his hand.
The material ran out of her wounds like water. The slashes opened up and blood began trickling out again. Miranda gasped in pain, but then chanted a healing prayer and her hand glowed with white light as she pressed it against her back. Aquitain saw the bleeding stop, the edges of the wound pull together and join, and the wound seal up, leaving pink lines across her honey brown back.
‘Good, that feels good. I would like to fly around and scout the area. I suggest you sort out your stores and we’ll
meet and discuss what I find in a couple of hours. Don’t go wandering around. That cat may still be around, and you’d make a nice meal.’
She shape changed into her eagle form and flew off into the breeze, and Aquitain watched as she soared up into the cerulean sky. There were no clouds in sight and he could already feel the heat beginning to build. He looked around. The ruins weren’t much to see, just heaps of overgrown rubble, but with plenty of hiding places for predators. He decided that he might do as she suggested and start rearranging his temporary new home, so he returned to the basement, closing but not locking the hatch behind him, and created light on himself to illuminate the area.
The floor plan of the basement was very simple. The hatch opened onto rock stairs that passed down to a rough-hewn stone room about five paces square. Off the far side of the room was a corridor, and on either side of it were four small rooms about two by three paces wide, that looked like they could have been cells for prisoners. The other end of the corridor entered into the living room. The floor and stairs in the hatch room were damp and covered with a black fungus that also grew on the walls. Water had seeped through the hatchway from time to time, keeping the area moist.
The cells on one side of the corridor were empty and had dry but dirty floors. He noted that the floors were slightly tilted and there was a primitive drainage system that removed any moisture. The cells on the other side were interesting. They were of imported dark brown rock, different from the rest of the rock in the place. He moved well back and used his power to detect magic, and the rocks took on an ominous dead black colour, the colour of dead magic rock. Any magic used in the close vicinity of the rock would normally fail, the magic being drawn into the rock. This type of cell was used to imprison magic users. It stopped them using their magic to escape.
In one of the cells stood two empty wooden buckets. Alongside them were some sealed barrels and boxes with words describing their contents written on the outside in chalk. The two larger barrels contained smoked salted fish and meat, while a smaller one contained red wine and another, lantern oil. The boxes were filled with assorted biscuits and that was it. Obviously Featherdown was used to living on a very conservative diet. He couldn’t see either himself or Miranda surviving on that stuff. His Logicon body wanted meat, so it looked like they would have to hunt for their food.
