Visions of Chaos

by Des Pensable

  ‘Coloured smoke is reserved for special occasions and this is one, so it is appropriate. It shall be purple to honour the dead.’ And he hurried off into his hut and returned with a ceramic jar. ‘Wait here while I send the signal, and we will sing to him when he arrives.’

  Miranda took Alpha out of her leg pouch, placed it on the ground in front of the hut and told it she was signalling for Aquitain to join them. Alpha said nothing. Five minutes later Kami returned with twenty villagers and told her that all the village fires were giving off purple smoke. The villagers didn’t look as happy as before as they knew she brought bad news, but they would sing a welcome to the new visitor all the same.

  Ten minutes passed and Miranda began to get a little nervous when suddenly Aquitain appeared beside Alpha with a dimension bag in his mouth. The purple-scaled Jeti villagers looked a little shocked at first on seeing a bear, but when Kami began singing they all sang as well. Aquitain recognised the words. They were singing in high Draconic, the language of magic and power.

  When they finished singing the shaman spoke to his people in a language that Aquitain immediately recognised as low Draconic.

  ‘I am Aquitain the mind wizard. I thank you for your warm welcome. May Jacintra give you strength and courage!’

  Kami and the villagers were shocked; none had expected the bear to talk into their minds in their own language.

  ‘What is this? Is your friend K’wala?’ said Kami to Miranda in Mudrun Common.

  ‘No. He is Aquitain. He is not K’wala the spirit bear,’ she replied.

  Aquitain asked her for permission to mindlink and she nodded.

  ‘What’s the problem?’ asked Aquitain.

  ‘You spoke to them in their own language so they think you must be K’wala the spirit bear who was the totem spirit of the bear people,’ she replied.

  ‘Miranda these little people speak and sing in a language called Draconic. There are two forms, a common form for everyday use called low Draconic and a formal form called high Draconic used for manipulating magic. Granddad had me learn both forms so that I wouldn’t make any pronunciation mistakes when making magic items. I thought only dragons spoke it and I’m probably wrong with the sentence construction, but they actually understood me. Is that good or bad?’

  ‘I don’t know. As far as I’m aware there are no Bear people left. I’ll ask Kami,’ she replied.

  ‘Are you on good terms with the spirits of the Bear people Kami?’

  ‘Yes,’ replied Kami.

  ‘Then why are you concerned about Aquitain speaking your language?’ she asked.

  ‘It is our sacred language used only for speaking among the little people. How does this stranger know the language if he is not K’wala the spirit bear?’

  Through their mindlink, Miranda repeated what the Shaman had said and then asked how he was going to explain the fact that he knew their language.

  ‘Strictly speaking I am a spirit in a bear body. Tell him I am Aquitain the spirit bear, a friend of Jacintra.’

  ‘I’m not so sure about this Aquitain. This could land us in trouble with the spirit world.’

  ‘Miranda, we’re returning their treasure to them and it should cheer them up to know that Jacintra’s got friends in the spirit world; especially when we’re bringing bad news.’

  ‘I suppose,’ she said reluctantly, as if she knew she was going to regret this later, and told Kami what Aquitain had said.

  ‘This is wonderful news. Jacintra has sent a friend to help us over our sorrow. We are most honoured.’ and they all began to sing another song in praise of Aquitain and Jacintra. Aquitain understood the words and was embarrassed. Fortunately Miranda didn’t, but she did feel the magical power within the words and said a silent prayer to the Lady that they didn’t upset K’wala or anyone else in the spirit world.

  Aquitain felt something poke his leg and looked around. The shaman’s assistant was standing there looking up at him.

  ‘He’s not a spirit, he’s real,’ said Rori.

  Kami and the villagers looked horrified as Miranda told him what the assistant had said.

  ‘Please forgive him, Spirit Lord,’ said Kami in low Draconic. ‘He is Rori my young assistant. He has forgotten that spirits must have a body to live in this world. He wants to be a shaman and he has learnt the songs and rituals quite well, but he lacks authority with those around him. He listens to our young too much. They think fighting is better than singing, but they don’t know the cost for we have been at peace for a long time.’

  ‘Rori, strength and courage are good in fighters but they can be taken away in the blink of an eye by fear,’ said Aquitain. ‘Your songs have great power within them. They can give courage to your fighters and take away their fear. They can also create fear in the hearts of your enemies and sap their strength. Is that not worthy of learning?’

  ‘I guess so, Spirit Lord,’ replied Rori.

  ‘Good,’ said Aquitain ‘Climb on my back and we will go and meet your friends.’

  ‘I have few friends, Spirit Lord. They think I am weak and only want to be a shaman because I am no good at fighting.’

  ‘Then maybe we can change their minds,’ said Aquitain and the slim little reptilian boy climbed up on Aquitain’s back, wrapped his legs around Aquitain’s neck and hung on to his ears with a big toothy grin.

  Miranda nearly burst out crying with emotion. She knew the best way to break down fear and mistrust was to gain the trust of the children. Her bear was full of surprises, but she felt a little jealous that it wasn’t her riding on his back as in her dream. My turn will come, she thought. Kami and the other villagers also broke out in smiles. Then Kami with Miranda carrying the dimension bag led Aquitain, surrounded by the villagers, into the village centre where dozens of adults and children came to watch.

  ‘It’s a shame we come bearing such sad news,’ said Aquitain through the mindlink to Miranda.

  ‘I know, but you have already cheered them up. Kami said that they will celebrate tonight because their relatives in the other Jeti clan will be with their ancestors.’

  ‘Mandy, can you feel the power? Each of these little people is like a mind wizard. Each has a small source and each is not individually powerful but when directed by the shaman through their song they all contribute power to make their songs potent.’

  ‘So that’s their secret,’ said Miranda. ‘I have always been able to feel the power in their songs but wondered where it came from, as the shaman has no discernable magic. Now I understand why the druids left them alone, and why they can roam the land with little danger. Provided they are in a group they can protect themselves.’

  After a few minutes the fuss died down and the adults went back to preparing for the evening feast and celebration. Rori climbed off Aquitain’s back and ran off with a large group of children who all wanted to know what it was like riding on a spirit bear’s back. Miranda used the lull in interest to tell Kami about the treasures they had brought. He was immediately excited, but concerned. The mask was too dangerous to expose in public. They must go to his hut where he could examine it safely.

  Aquitain couldn’t fit in Kami’s hut, so he sat outside with his head poking through a window. Kami used curtains to shield off the door and other windows and placed a skull on the ground outside the door, which was a warning not to interrupt him. Miranda repeated everything he said to her through their mindlink.

  ‘You must give me Jacintra’s Claw first,’ he said. ‘It is the hand that covers the mouth of the mask. It cannot corrupt others if its mouth is closed.’

  ‘By the Powers, I’m stupid,’ said Aquitain. ‘It is a power pair, but the opposite of normal. Each controls the excesses of the other. The club of law controls the chaotic mask. The club burnt me because it saw me as chaotic, but didn’t burn you because it probably saw you as neutral. The mask saw me as friendly, but you as neutral.’

  Miranda fished the Jacintra’s Claw out of the dimension bag and gave it to Kami. He w
hispered a few sacred words and took hold of the club.

  ‘This is the hand,’ he said with a smile. ‘I know it well. You may give me the mask now. It will be safe.’

  Miranda fished out the cloth-covered bundle that was supposed to be the mask, but immediately noticed that it was lighter than she remembered. Aquitain saw her face change and asked what the problem was. She said nothing, but began unwrapping what should have been the mask, to discover that it was a piece of wood.

  ‘That is not the mask,’ said Kami.

  ‘I know,’ said Miranda quickly, feeling around in the dimension bag. ‘It’s gone. Someone has stolen it.’

  ‘By the Powers, that could be disastrous. If that thing gets loose we’ll have trouble everywhere.’

  Miranda closed her eyes and began singing a prayer to the Lady asking for forgiveness for her foolishness.

  ‘That won’t help right now,’ said Aquitain. ‘We’ve got to find out who’s taken it and get it back.’

  ‘I know,’ she said, suddenly breaking off from the prayer, ‘but it makes me feel better and it’s better than screaming and kicking you.’

  ‘I suppose you’re right,’ he replied. ‘I never quite thought of it that way. The theft must have occurred when you took it to Twin Towers, back in the hideout just after I died, or while I was asleep in the Crin city,’ said Aquitain.

  ‘By the Lady, I hope it didn’t get loose in the Crin city. I can’t believe this could happen. We had it hidden. No one knew where it was except those at Twin Towers and us. I didn’t unwrap it there, but perhaps it was able to overpower one of them and is loose in Twin Towers. However, I’m sure I packed it in the dimension bag just before I left to go back to the hideout.’

  ‘We’ll have to separate and find out where it is. I’ll teleport to Twin Towers. They won’t recognize me now that I’m a bear, and you can fly to the Crin city from here can’t you?’

  ‘Yes. That’s a good plan,’ said Miranda. ‘And we can meet back here tomorrow morning after your teleport ring recharges.’

  ‘I’m sorry Kami, we’ll have to go and find out where we lost Jacintra’s Image.’

  ‘That is quite understandable, cat friend Miranda. You must track down the mask and use the club to control it. I give you Jacintra’s Claw back. Use it wisely, and may Jacintra give you both strength and courage.’

  Aquitain memorised the location of Kami’s hut, and after getting a hug from Miranda teleported off to Twin Towers while Miranda changed to her sea eagle form to hurry back to the Crin city, hoping and praying that it hadn’t got loose there.

  Kami smiled and said aloud to the walls of his hut.

  ‘I know you, Jacintra. You planned this all along, but don’t forget my people are the hand that covers your mouth. We will not let you run wild for long.’

  Chapter 28 Games Within Games

  Aquitain teleported to the marker outside Twin Towers with the dimension bag held in his mouth. He intended to see Quab first, as a bear suddenly appearing near Featherdown’s tower might panic the guards. It wasn’t long before dusk so he hurried off down the dirt road towards town. As he passed over the slight hump in the track just before the edge of the jungle he noticed a group of guards in the distance; and they noticed him. They stood, pulled out their weapons and waited. He walked to about a hundred paces from them and sat down to watch them.

  They dispatched a runner to the town and ten minutes later an eagle came souring overhead, landing twenty paces from him where it shape changed. It was Quab.

  ‘Is that you Aquitain?’ he asked nervously.

  ‘Hello Quab, what’s happened?’ replied Aquitain.

  ‘Praise to the Lady!’ said Quab as he walked to Aquitain. ‘You really are alive. She did it. That woman is amazing.’

  ‘You’re quite right, Quab. She is amazing. What’s happened? Why are the guards down the road?’

  ‘Oh. It’s been terrible; cats and boars attacked us last night. Ten people were killed and dozens injured. The town’s people are very sensitive about dangerous animals at the moment. I wouldn’t advise you to go any further as a bear. Can you change into a newman? I’ll tell them you’re a visiting druid.’

  ‘I suppose I could. I haven’t tried yet. I’ve been trying to adapt to my new body. How did you know I was a bear?’

  ‘It’s a long story. We heard from Queen Snowbelle, and your grandfather was here this morning and seemed to know as well.’

  ‘Really,’ Aquitain observed. ‘It seems that everyone is interested in what I’m doing,’ and he changed to a newman shape. The only problem was it was a giant newman shape, about three times the normal height of a newman.

  ‘By the Lady, what are you trying to do?’ asked Quab.

  ‘I thought I was changing to a smaller newman, but I have the body mass of my bear form.’

  ‘I doesn’t matter I suppose. However, you’ll draw a bit more attention to yourself this way.’

  ‘It’s the best I can do at the moment,’ said Aquitain. ‘Bear or giant, take your pick.’

  ‘Can you change your facial features a little, bigger nose, grey eyes, granite grey skin and add more hair all over, then you’ll pass for a southern giant.’

  Aquitain made the changes and Quab nodded, so they set off for Featherdown’s Tower with the dimension bag in the palm of his huge hand. The guards let him pass without a question. No one in their right mind, other than perhaps a wizard, would want to stop a giant. They weren’t that stupid.

  As they were walking along, Aquitain saw the humorous side of his new body. The Lady must be laughing. He had expected to be able to shape change to a more normal sized newman form. Curiously, Miranda hadn’t asked him to change yet, so maybe she was worried that he might suddenly get amorous and that it could be dangerous with her cursed tattoo. When she saw his new form she was going to get really annoyed. His equipment was functional now, but their size differences made any thought of physical interaction impossible, regardless of the tattoo.

  He attracted some attention, more curiosity than fear, from the town’s people, but none seemed to recognise him. When he arrived at the tower the gnome had to step outside to see how big he was before returning with Featherdown.

  ‘Who’s your friend Quab?’ asked the High Wizard.

  ‘Hello, Your Excellency, don’t you recognize me?’ Aquitain greeted him in a huge, deep booming voice.

  ‘Err ... should I?’ he said searching through his memory for giants that he knew.

  Moments later shape the giant changed to a bear and Featherdown stepped back a couple of paces.

  ‘By the Powers, it’s you isn’t it?’ he said. ‘Come in. You should be able to fit in now. What’s the problem, can’t you shrink to a more normal size?’

  ‘No. It seems that the Lady has a sense of humour. I’m large and it seems I’m staying large for a while. I’m also hungry all the time. I hope you’ve got something to eat. I’m starving,’ said Aquitain.

  ‘What do bears eat?’ asked Featherdown.

  ‘Anything, cats, dogs, squid, any spare prisoners, a bag of grain or whatever. I’m not fussy.’

  ‘You’re not eating people are you?’ said Featherdown seriously. ‘That’s against our laws.’

  ‘No. That was a joke, Your Excellency. I’m not a humourless Logicon anymore.’

  ‘Oh. All right then. You’d better be careful with jokes like that. You look like you might eat people.’ And they teleported up to the entertainment room. ‘Normally I’d offer you a chair, but I think you’d break it or perhaps eat it. Perhaps a mat on the floor.’

  ‘That will do nicely,’ Aquitain replied as Featherdown asked one of his gnomes to get a couple of buckets of grain and a bucket of beer.

  Featherdown and Quab sat down with a cup of tea waiting for Aquitain to finish the beer.

  ‘You’ve got no idea how good that tasted,’ said Aquitain, as he licked the last bit out of the bucket. ‘I’ve gone from a slime that likes everything revolting, to a
brute with an appetite for anything, and lots of it. Quite a change, I can tell you.’

  ‘You seem to be coping all right,’ said Quab.

  ‘That’s the strange thing, Quab. Miranda thought that I’d take a week to get over the change but all I needed was a good night’s sleep and every thing’s just like I’ve lived in this body all my life, although I’m still getting used to my new senses. My eyesight is as good as a newman’s, and my sense of smell is almost as good as a Logicon’s. My hearing is better than a newman’s but not sensitive to ground vibrations as it was when I was a Logicon. All in all a good trade.’

  ‘Why did you come back?’ asked Featherdown cautiously.

  ‘Two reasons. Firstly to warn you about the mask, it’s been stolen. However, I’ve got a feeling that you’ve already discovered that; and secondly to deal with the person that killed me.’

  ‘We think it was Jaztrix that both stole the mask and killed you,’ said Quab.

  Aquitain sat and thought for a minute and then said., ‘You could be right about Jaz stealing the mask. She was there with us all along wasn’t she? She worked out how to hide by masking her scent somehow. Miranda and I uncovered the mask thinking we were alone, and it either charmed or dominated her. In fact, now I remember. I felt the mask use some magic just before I put it away, and couldn’t work out what it did.

  ‘However, I don’t believe that it was Jaz that killed me. Miranda detected someone in the hallway and warned me. The intruder cast confusion magic that affected Miranda but not me. Jaz appeared and put a brick wall illusion across the doorway to help us escape. Miranda and I tried to teleport and I was killed by a disintegration beam, by a wizard wearing a battle gown, with the scent of cat’s piss on his body.’

  ‘Are you sure it wasn’t Jaztrix? Things would have been a little hazy just before and after you died,’ said Featherdown.

  ‘No. When I was reincarnated, my new bear sense of smell was very sensitive. I could smell the residue from the different magic effects that had been used. I could also remember the smell of a wizard’s battle gown. I’ve made and repaired many of the damn things. I also clearly remember the cat’s urine. There was a pool of it outside the hideaway. Someone stepped in it before sneaking in using an illusion effect that conferred invisibility, in order to stay hidden.’