by Des Pensable
‘We’re not out of this yet, wizard. You’re in the cave and I’m outside and the cats are all stationed at the entrance. If I try to fly in they’ll be waiting this time, and I can’t breathe the air down there anyway.’
‘Well it’s obviously time to call it a day then,’ said Aquitain. ‘The bodies won’t run away. At least I hope they don’t. I need to replenish my source, the cats will get hungry and leave, and we can work out a plan for tomorrow now that we know what the problem is.’
‘I think you’re right, wizard. What about your body shell?’
‘I don’t think the cats or anything else will worry too much about it – it’s too putrid and I can retrieve it tomorrow. Where are you?’
‘I’m on a narrow ledge several paces above the cave entrance.’
‘Good, stay there and I’ll join you. One of the good things a slime can do is climb vertical walls and even slide across ceilings. It’s slow, but you get there.’
Several minutes later Aquitain joined Miranda and using the teleport ring they transported back to the teleport marker near the ruin. It was now late in the afternoon, and on reaching the hatch Miranda decided to mark their territory while Aquitain got some rest below. A few minutes later she returned to their living area.
Aquitain was spread out like an egg yoke in one corner with a short stalk-like pseudopodium holding Alpha.
‘Well, I’ve marked us out a small territory. It’ll be interesting to see the other cat’s response.’
‘I forgot to retrieve my ball of chaos matter. I hope leaving it there is safe. My father gave it to me and it’s the only connection I have with him. What if I lost it and I met him and he asked me where it was? ‘Sorry father, I left it with a pile of dead bodies and it disappeared while I was sleeping’.’
‘Don’t be too concerned. It’s unlikely that anything will go in the cave with all those dead bodies.’
‘I suppose that you’re right. You’re not worried seeing me like this, are you?’
‘No. I‘m a druid; we see beauty in all of the Lady’s creations. I’m quite comfortable with spiders, snakes and other things that would normally terrify any other newman woman. You’re a part of the Lady’s great design like all the other creatures.’
‘So you do think of me as a creature not a man!’
‘Why are you persisting with that stupid question, wizard! You are a strange mixture of creature and a newman. I am a druid, we accept strange things. Who knows the mind of the Lady? I have seen living rocks and walking plants. How is a newman wizard slime any different?’
‘So you see me as neither a creature nor a man. You see me only as a wizard.’
‘That is probably the closest to the truth, and wizards and druids do not mix well.’
‘Why do you say that?’ Aquitain asked.
‘Because druids believe in a goddess who cares for us but wizards only believe in power and power cares not who it corrupts.’
‘That must be your mother talking. If you were to come to where I lived you would find that corruption depends on the person, not the power. I have seen corrupt wizards but I have also seen corrupt priests, soldiers, merchants, judges and street vagrants. The same weapon in two different hands can have totally different outcomes. One can kill and maim, yet the other can defend and protect. Judge not a person by their weapon but by the purity of their spirit.’
‘Then how should I judge you wizard, your weapon is weak and I cannot see your spirit!’
‘I’m a mind wizard Miranda, my mind is both my weapon and the mirror of my spirit! My source is small, but a dagger can kill just as readily as a great sword when used with skill. As to the purity of my spirit, that can only be gauged from my actions.’
‘Then I shall have to wait and watch your actions to determine whether you are a man, a creature, a wizard, or some strange combination of all three.’
‘That is fair and reasonable. Are you hungry? There are biscuits in one of the boxes in the storeroom. If you open a box, perhaps then we might discuss a plan for tomorrow.’
Miranda opened a box of military biscuits and scooped up a handful. She imagined a door in her mind, walked through it and closed it behind her, as Aquitain had told her to do. She closed her eyes and looked for his spirit aura and he was gone. She was confused. This was a lot harder than she could have ever imagined.
He persisted in wanting to know how she viewed him. She wanted to view him as a wizard and a creature. That way she was safe and he was safe. She could like him as if he were a pet dog or a friendly owl. He wanted her to acknowledge him as a man. That was just too dangerous. Her mother would never accept him as a man and a wizard; she would try to kill him.
She thought back over the day. He was too dangerous to work with. He had been right about the cave, but that was just luck. Next time he might be wrong, and die for his stupid lack of fear. She remembered when she had walked up to the cave with him. The fear was so great it had smothered her, yet when she grabbed his hand it was bearable. Why? What was his secret? How could he give her so much courage?
She had let him into her mind. She had trusted him. She must be going mad. How could she trust a wizard? It would have been unthinkable a week ago. It was dangerous being around this wizard; she would have to find a reason to leave, but not until they had solved the problem in the cave. She must do that. It was her duty as a druid and as a servant of the Lady.
Aquitain was confused, which was an acceptable Logicon state. It meant that he was unsure as to whether the information that he was working with was correct or incorrect. He was unsure about whether Miranda was the cold heartless bitch that Zephira had painted her, or whether she was simply afraid to care. It made a real difference to him how she viewed him. He didn’t want her to think of him as a heartless wizard only interested in power. That wasn’t his view of himself.
He saw himself as potentially being a statesman, a hero, a power to be reckoned with, yet right now he was just a man with compassion and love for others. He wanted her to see the compassionate man. He remembered how when she had faltered with fear outside the cave she had grabbed his hand. The feeling of her hand in his as they approached the cave was electric. Logicons weren’t supposed to feel emotions but just touching her sent his mind into a spin.
Then he remembered she had let him into her mind. That must have been hard. Her mother had tried to corrupt her mind about wizards yet she had trusted him. How should he interpret that? Was she just being pragmatic or was she really starting to trust him? And if she trusted him would she start to like him? Women were so bloody difficult to work out.
Perhaps the Logicons were better off after all. Then again, they must have some type of sexual relationships, otherwise there would be no Logicons. Facit had made no mention of male and female Logicons. Maybe there was only one type, and periodically they all had mad orgies resulting in bits of them splitting off giving rise to young Logicons. Maybe they didn’t even need to do that. Perhaps if he ate too much a part of his body would split off and he would be a mother. By the Powers, he had to get a newman body back again!
Miranda came back into the living room munching biscuits, had a drink of water then sat down on the bedding.
‘I think we should have a rest and then discuss a plan early tomorrow morning.’ She lay down, covered herself with a blanket and tried to sleep, but sleep didn’t come for an hour or more as her mind was too busy.
Aquitain wasn’t tired at all but he needed rest to regenerate his source, so he thought about the problem at the cave. Why had the six jungle cats all joined together and attacked them? From what Miranda had said about them they were mostly solitary, each having its own hunting territory. What would bring them all together? Was it some type of bond with the little people? She said the little people worshipped animal spirits. What exactly was an animal spirit? In fact, what exactly were the little people? Why were there always more questions than answers?
Miranda dreamed she was standing among the li
ttle people again. A great brown bear walked up and stood beside her. She reached over and stroked its back. Its fur felt rich and luxurious to touch. She said something to it and it turned and looked into her eyes. She quickly looked away. The image faded and she saw herself climb onto 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. She leant over and cuddled it around the neck and it whispered her name. This image faded and another took its place. Her heart beat faster.
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. But it held back as if trying to resist, and she turned around and went back to it to tease it some more, and muzzle to muzzle she looked into its eyes and saw who it was.
‘No,’ she woke up sweating. ‘I mustn’t. I wouldn’t. I can’t.’
She looked over at Aquitain who was still sitting in the corner as a pool of goo.
‘Are you awake, wizard?’
‘Yes. I have been thinking about our plan for later today,’ said Aquitain, using mindspeak relayed by Alpha.
‘What is a bear wizard?’
‘Is it a question or a riddle?’
‘A question!’
‘I don’t know,’ replied Aquitain.
‘Are you playing with my mind?’
‘No. I have already told you. You have nothing to fear from me. I will do nothing without your permission and nothing that will harm you. Is something wrong?’
‘I don’t know. I will have to think about it.’ And she lay down again, and after a while a dreamless sleep came.
Chapter 17 Jacintra
About an hour before dawn Miranda awoke and had a drink, then came to sit beside him. ‘Are you awake, wizard?’
Aquitain changed to his newman form and said:
‘I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the situation in the cave. There’s something we’re missing. The cats are behaving wrong. You said they are normally solitary, and yet they band together now when everyone is dead. Something is influencing them.’
‘I’ve been concerned about that too,’ said Miranda. ‘They would normally be controlled by the Shaman. Perhaps he’s alive, saw us and thought we were with the others that killed his people.’
‘I suppose that’s possible, but you saw nobody from the air.’
‘That’s true, but I was looking at the cats. If someone was hiding in the bushes or using magic I wouldn’t have seen them,’ Miranda explained.
‘The other thing was that we were there for some time before they came, and they all came more or less together. I think someone must have observed us and sent out some type of call.’
‘It’s possible, but how would they do it without us hearing?’ replied Miranda.
‘What if whoever’s calling them has a mindlink with the cats. Ours is limited to about a thousand paces but by expending more power I could probably increase its range. However, to double our range I would have to use four times the power, and to triple it I would need nine times the power.’
‘I think that you’re getting a bit carried away. Who cares if someone is calling them or how they do it? If they turn up then we’re in trouble again.’
‘Yes but we may be in more trouble than we know. If someone is calling them from several thousand paces away, then that someone is very powerful.’
‘So, what do you want to do - call it off?’ asked Miranda.
‘No. First we try to get into the cave without being seen, and then we do this job as quickly as possible, then get out fast. We also need some type of contingency plan to fall back on if something unexpected should happen.’
‘I agree in general, but there’s another problem. After the bodies are burnt I have to mix the ashes and take a sample of the mix and add it to their community urn. This has to be done in a ritual way, otherwise the spirits of the dead may get lost on their journey to join their ancestors.’
‘Where is this community urn?’ asked Aquitain.
‘I’m not sure, but it’s probably buried somewhere in the centre of the village near the community hall.’
‘By the Powers this is becoming complicated. Right, we need to find the urn first, get it to the cave undetected second; burn the bodies, third; mix the ashes, fourth; carry out the ritual, fifth; then escape unharmed, sixth.’
‘That sounds about right,’ Miranda agreed. ‘However, as soon as we start burning the bodies there will be acrid smoke for some time, then it will take time for the ashes to cool, then it will take an hour to do the ritual.’
‘Then we will need to take it in steps. We shall find the urn during daylight, then after dark tonight we will smuggle it to the cave and burn the bodies under the cover of darkness to avoid unwanted visitors seeing the smoke during the day. The next morning the air should be fresher and we will seal the cave, collect the ashes and carry out the ritual.’
‘How will you seal the cave?’
‘I thought that you might be able to do that, a wall of vines or some such druid construction to keep out the cats.’
‘Yes, that is possible.’
‘We will need some means to remain hidden as well.’
‘That also is possible,’ said Miranda.
‘Good, then we have a plan. Did you sleep well?’
‘As well as can be expected. I am used to sleeping under the sky, not in some ancient burrow.’
‘We still have some time before dawn. Can you tell me more about the little people.’
Miranda agreed and told him what she knew about them. They were small reptilian creatures, who some believed were remotely related to the Yith. There were many tribes of them scattered around the world, each worshipping an animal spirit. They were nomadic for part of the year, travelling through the jungle to different sacred sites. They had a primitive language and primitive customs. None could read or write, and only their village shamans had any understanding of magic. The interesting thing about them was that they were the only land creatures larger than insects that had survived the great storm.
When the druids had first come to Mudrun they had found them hiding in caves, living off insects and fungi. The druids made a pact with them. They would be allowed to roam freely and live off the land, provided they helped the druids renew the land and report any illegal gates or strangers. They did a wonderful job replanting and nurturing new plant and animal life all over the world. They suffered now mainly for reporting poachers and other illegal activities.
Just before dawn Aquitain and Miranda left their hideout to greet the morning sun for meditation. The top of the hatch was wet and stank with cat urine.
‘The female cat doesn’t like me marking some of her territory,’ Miranda observed. ‘She has issued a challenge. It will be more dangerous from now onwards.’
They went to the edge of the clearing overlooking the sea, and Miranda sat down to welcome the morning sun.
‘I’ll guard your back while you meditate,’ said Aquitain.
‘That will not be necessary. The Lady will protect us and besides, the cat would not attack the two of us together.’
‘That may be so, but I would feel better standing guard. I don’t need to meditate as my source has been replenished.’
‘As you wish wizard,’ replied Miranda.
So Aquitain stood three paces behind her watching the surrounding area. He hardened his skin and waited with a powerstone in his hand, wishing that he had his ball of chaos matter so that he could form a sword with it. A slight breeze blew in from the sea and with it the smell of the brine as the first rays of the sun fell on Miranda’s face; and that’s when the cat struck.
It sprinted towards Aquitain at an incredible speed and at the last moment leapt upon him. He grabbed it with both arms and went over backwards, almost falling onto Miranda. It raked his body with the cla
ws of both its fore and hind legs and clamped its jaws around his neck for a killing bite, but failed to penetrate his skin. The hardened skin protected his body from the initial onslaught, but this would soon wear off if the cat continued its attack.
He didn’t wait, but shape changed to his large snake form with his head at the end opposite to where the cat was biting, and struck at its hind quarters; but it was only a glancing blow that caused little damage. The cat was totally confused, thinking that it had a newman in its embrace only to discover it was a snake. It leapt away from him before he could loop any coils around it, and seeing Miranda changing shape to a cat form ran off in great haste.
The whole attack and retreat was over in several seconds. Miranda sprinted off after the cat but returned half a minute later. Aquitain had reformed to his newman shape.
‘By the Powers, that was amazing. I never knew that this type of combat could happen so fast. If I hadn’t hardened my skin I would be dead.’
‘Wizard, now you know the first law of the jungle. There are the quick and the dead. I apologize for my bad judgement. You were right to guard my back and I am glad you were there and not injured. I prayed to the Lady that you would be not so rash as to endanger us today. I will pray for myself tomorrow.
‘I feel that the Lady watches over us. That is good. I have all the prayers that we will need. Come let’s go to the village and find that community urn. I will be glad when this day is over. First let me use the prayer of the chameleon on you. It will last about an hour, and if you stand still you will blend into the background, remaining almost invisible until you move again.’
Aquitain also created a mindlink between them, got Alpha to grow legs, and placed it on top of his head for a better view. They set off cautiously, moving twenty paces then stopping to survey their surroundings, listening, then moving on again. It took about half an hour to reach the village area, and they carefully moved to where the community hall had stood.
‘It should be around here somewhere,’ whispered Miranda. ‘It’s a large ceramic pot full of the ashes of their ancestors. They bury them just under the ground, and every time someone dies they burn the dead body and add some of the body’s ashes to the urn and mix them in. It is supposed to help guide the dead to their ancestors.’
