by Des Pensable
Zephira asked the construct to place its sword on the ground and raise its arms in the air. It did this and stood still like a statue. Loma walked around it watchfully. When behind it he hit it with the shaft of his spear causing a loud metallic clanging sound, but nothing happened. He then ignored it and walked back into the centre of the village.
The surviving Barra people sat in a semicircle at the centre of the village outside the community shelter. There were fourteen warriors, eleven women and five small children. Miranda, Zephira, Chantalot, Belloe and his four people sat in a semicircle facing the natives. Loma started the meeting.
‘I am being sad to be welcoming you to our village on a day such as this. Yesterday, a Thunder Lizard and many jungle cats were attacking us. I am not understanding why this lizard would be attacking our people. I am fearing that the spirits have been deserting us. The Thunder Lizard is being a sacred spirit to all the tribes of the jungle and is never being known to be attacking anyone unless they were failing the spirits.’
‘Last night, I was walking with the dead and begging my ancestors to be telling me why they have been forsaking us and sending the Thunder Lizard spirit to be destroying the village. They were having this to say to me:
‘The lizard skin is hiding a face within,
Its chaos yearning to be haunting the maze,
Answers are lying where power is decaying,
To be restoring balance, be seeking K’wala’s twin.
‘I am not being a shaman. Our shaman and his apprentice were being killed yesterday. I am being a hunter. I am not knowing what these words are meaning. Are you being able to be helping me?’
‘What did he mean he was walking with the dead?’ whispered Chantalot.
‘There is a mushroom which when eaten makes them appear dead. They use it for ritual purposes and believe that while under the influence of the mushroom they can talk with the spirits.’
Loma repeated the message two more times and everyone sat silently thinking about the words of the spirits. An icy chill crept over Miranda. K’wala was the bear spirit. K’wala’s twin was therefore another spirit bear. Could it possibly mean Aquitain?
‘Have you or Chantalot told anyone about Aquitain?’ she whispered to Zephira.
‘No. I asked him to say nothing and I haven’t said anything. Why?’ asked Zephira.
‘Something very weird,’ she said. ‘K’wala is the bear spirit, so who is K’wala’s twin?’
‘You’re joking. You think he is K’wala’s twin?’ said Zephira a little louder than she intended.
‘You are knowing of K’wala’s twin?’ said Loma hopefully. All eyes turned towards her. She felt embarrassed but knew Aquitain would want to help. These people needed help and Aquitain was as good as any spirit bear, so she nodded.
‘I know of a spirit bear which may be the one called K’wala’s twin. He is called Aquitain the spirit bear, and was with the Jeti people yesterday. He said he would return again today. It may be possible to bring him here.’
‘How do we know he’s a spirit bear?’ asked Belloe rather sceptical.
‘He speaks the ancient sacred language,’ said Miranda.
‘If that were being true then he could be conducting our ceremony of passing,’ said Loma. ‘Are you thinking he would be considering visiting us here?’
‘It is possible. He is looking for a sacred mask stolen from the Jeti,’ said Miranda. ‘I could fly as an eagle to the Jeti village and seek his wisdom. However, perhaps we should examine the whole message from the spirits of the dead before I go.’
‘Why not just let him work it out?’ said Belloe. ‘If he’s the right bear spirit he shouldn’t have any trouble with it.’
‘That’s a bit unfair to the bear spirit isn’t it?’ said Zephira, trying to give Miranda some support. ‘If the message was given to Loma he was expected to solve it with the people here in case the bear spirit couldn’t come.’
‘But if it can’t come then it’s probably the wrong bear spirit,’ said Belloe cunningly.
‘You are having the stronger argument Belloe,’ said Loma. ‘If the bear spirit is willing to be coming here then it will be knowing the answer to the message and can be helping our dead passing to their ancestors. Can you be flying to the Jeti people and seeking its help?’ he asked Miranda.
‘I would like to take a copy of the message with me so that he might consider it before he agrees to come,’ she replied.
‘That is good idea,’ said Chantalot, speaking up for the first time. ‘I will write it down on some parchment for you. Perhaps you could repeat it a couple more times Loma, to ensure that I have it perfectly correct.’
While Chantalot and Loma were copying down the message, Zephira leaned over to Miranda.
‘Are you out of your mind? Aquitain will have no idea what the message means or how to do the ritual.’
‘Zephira, have faith in your cousin. The message is reasonably clear, but the ritual may cause some small problems. I will seek advice from the Jeti shaman.’
‘You cunning witch,’ said Zephira in a kindly way. ‘I’m beginning to understand how you two work together. You supply the local knowledge to back up his magical knowledge then fool the people into believing you both know what you’re doing.’
‘You shall soon see,’ said Miranda with a wry smile.
‘I’ll get him. Keep clear of your metal creature, as we will arrive near it.
Miranda changed to her sea eagle form and flew back to the Jeti village, to find Aquitain waiting outside Kami’s hut chatting with the shaman in low Draconic. She landed, changed shape to her newman form, darted over and hugged Aquitain around the neck, then turned and greeted Kami. The shaman’s assistant Rori came running out of the hut with the ceremonial loincloth for Miranda, and she thanked him kindly before giving Aquitain the hand sign for creating a mindlink.
The shaman told them apologetically that he had a meeting with the headman and took Rori with him, leaving Aquitain and Miranda alone together. He lay down and she sat resting her back against his side, while they talked though the mindlink. He told her what had happened on his trip to Twin Towers first. She was really excited when she heard about Curbut’s exposure as the assassin, and his probable fate. She said Featherdown should have just killed him, and Aquitain agreed.
She was a little excited by her promotion to Senior Druid, but wasn’t overly concerned about their new titles as Wizard Hound and Druid Hound; although she was pleased that they had officially released her from her routine duties so that she could work with Aquitain. She said that these titles were just names that people in towns and cities liked so that they would feel important. In the jungle it was what you did that counted, not what you were called. He agreed to an extent, but having lived in a city like Panmagica all his life, and seeing how influential titles could be, he still liked the idea of being a Wizard Captain.
Miranda updated him on the attack on the Barra, and explained how she, with Zephira, had come to the conclusion that the mask was involved. He was a little surprised that Miranda and Zephira would agree on anything, but decided that it was good that they were getting on well together. When she told him about the message from the dead and the Barra ritual to help their dead pass on to their ancestors, he knew he had created a problem for himself. Miranda believed in him implicitly. He wasn’t so sure that they could pull this one off, but for her he would give it a good try. Alpha, as expected, was against it as being too dangerous.
‘Mandy, we’ve got to be careful with these spirit rituals. We were lucky with the one in the shrine, but we can’t expect to be lucky all the time. I know you like helping people, but we can’t help them from the other side. How do we know that the Barra people don’t have some giant fish spirit like Jacintra that will show up at the ritual? We could be swallowed like worms on a hook, or I could be possessed again, and we might end up with another mask running around creating a nuisance.’
‘Don’t worry Tain. We can do it. I w
ill ask Kami how the ritual goes, and you can work out any problems. The spirits can’t be upset with us for helping their people pass on to them. It’s a part of my duty as a druid anyway. The Lady will be pleased.’
Aquitain wasn’t so pleased. It was one thing getting out of trouble when they blundered into it, but a different thing altogether running around looking for it. It seemed Miranda was getting a taste for adventure and risk taking. Maybe Alpha was right. After they fixed the problem with the mask he would insist that they returned to their search for Alin Amber and his father. Only then would he be able to find out what was really going on.
Miranda showed him the message from the dead and he didn’t seem overly perturbed.
‘Seems pretty straight forward,’ he said. ‘The Lizard skin is hiding a beast within. That would mean that the mask was the Thunder Lizard. You and Zephira already guessed that. It’s chaos is yearning to haunt the maze. That just means the mask wants to be a nuisance. Answers are lying where power decays. That means the mask is hiding in some old temple or ruin. To restore balance, seek T’kwala’s twin. This one’s a bit trickier. Who’s T’Kwala?’
‘What,’ said Miranda. ‘I thought he said K’wala! It’s the bear spirit. Chantalot must have copied it incorrectly.’
‘Alpha, do we have any knowledge of the word T’Kwala?’
‘The word T’Kwala means the enlightened one in the Orcish language,’ replied Alpha. ‘It refers to a chaotic bear spirit worshipped by the Orcs.’
‘That could mean you,’ said Miranda.
‘Please Miranda, Aquitain may be smart but he’s hardly enlightened,’ said Alpha.
‘I didn’t ask for rude comments Alpha. I’m just trying to work out what this message is saying,’ said Aquitain. ‘Besides, it sounds good. Aquitain the Enlightened One.’
‘I think that you’re enlightened,’ Miranda offered helpfully.
‘Why do I bother?’ said Alpha. ‘You make a perfect couple. You’re both deluded.’
Both Aquitain and Miranda chose to ignore that comment.
When Miranda told Kami what they intended to do he was quite surprised at first, then suggested that it might not be a good idea. When Miranda asked him why he came right to the point.
‘You are being my friend, Miranda. I am liking your bear friend Aquitain, but I am not being convinced he is being a spirit bear. If he is attempting the Barra passing ritual, I am being sure he will be dying. It is being much more complex than the Jeti ritual. I have been witnessing it on several times, and have been continually amazed each time by what I was seeing. My friend the Barra shaman only let me be knowing a little of the secret magic they are using, and dutifully confided to me that it was being incredibly dangerous and he was being worried every time he was conducting the ceremony.’
Miranda was not put off in the least.
‘We are going ahead with the ceremony Kami. We need your knowledge. Will you help us?’ she said.
‘This is being madness Miranda. Are you to be wanting your friend to be dying?’
‘He may die unless you help us,’ she replied.
Kami threw up his hands in disgust and said a few words that Miranda had never heard before and guessed weren’t polite. Then he told them what happened in the ritual.
‘This sounds very dangerous Mandy,’ said Aquitain. ‘There are too many unknowns.’
‘Nonsense,’ she said. ‘You can do it.’
‘Why are you so sure?’ he said suddenly a bit suspicious.
‘Because I saw you in a dream and you were still alive.’
‘What? A dream!’ he exclaimed. ‘Dreams don’t always come true. Often they are things we’d like to have come true, but they don’t have to.’
‘Tain, if you trust me then trust me now,’ she pleaded.
What could he do? He had said the same thing to her a couple of times.
‘All right! All right! Let’s do it!’ he said, and Kami asked if he might come along to watch. They agreed, and the three of them teleported to Goth.
On their arrival one of the green-scaled Barra people started banging on a drum, since many of the folk had scattered and were occupied in cleaning up or remembering lost friends. They all hurried back at once, gathering behind Loma with fearful looks on their faces. Most had never seen a bear, let alone been so close to one. He looked so big and so frightful that most of them were ready to run at a moment’s notice.
Miranda stood by Aquitain’s shoulder with the natives spread out in front of them, and realized that this was the image she had seen of herself and Aquitain in her dream. She reached over and stroked his shoulder. ‘This is the right thing,’ she said through their mindlink. ‘This was meant to happen.’
Kami helped by assuring them that the spirit bear was here to help and would not harm them in any way. The presence of the purple-scaled Jeti shaman was uncertain. Some felt that the Jeti must have been involved in the attack, but others weren’t so sure. Regardless, the Jeti shaman apologized profusely for the bad behaviour of the cats and offered to have Barra people stay with the Jeti until such time that they could meet up with another wandering Barra tribe. They agreed to consider it after the passing of the spirits ritual was complete.
Zephira and her group arrived and Aquitain could see the shock on their faces as well. He was a big bear, and looked like he could be a dangerous one if he had a mind to. Zephira gave him the family sign to mindlink and he created one and sent her the feeling of a big hug, which she returned.
‘By the Powers Aquitain, you’re a big brute now. When Miranda described you to me I found it hard to believe, but she was quite correct. I’m sorry that you’ve been dragged into this problem. Miranda and I both have confidence in you, and we’ll back you up whatever happens.’
Aquitain could hardly believe what he was hearing. Was it the same Zephira? She was speaking as if Miranda was her sister. Then it finally hit him that Zephira had stepped aside and allowed Miranda to take over a new role as his partner, and she seemed to approve. He was really happy about it.
Now he could understand her enthusiasm and her confidence in him. Miranda had made a choice. She wanted him as much as he wanted her, but they were still physically incompatible and she didn’t know that yet. By the Powers, she was going to be unhappy. He’d have to find a way to break it to her gently.
Loma was unsure how to start the ceremony, so asked Kami what they should do. Kami suggested singing a welcome song to the spirit bear, and then formally asking it to assist with the passing of the spirits of their dead. So that’s what they did, with Kami leading the singing as usual. All of the little people tribes used many of the same songs with only minor variations, so there was no problem with the singing, and both Aquitain and Miranda could see it helped to relax the Barra people markedly.
Cunningly, Kami then had them sing a song of courage and bravery, after which they all seemed very much more confident. Loma formally welcomed Aquitain and beseeched him to assist them with the passing of the spirits of the dead. Aquitain then formally replied,
‘Thank you for your warm welcome. I am sad at your loss and agree to help the spirits of your dead find your ancestors. As I am unfamiliar with your exact ritual, you may notice small differences. Please forgive me for these.
‘Kami suggested that you mindlink with him,’ said Miranda suddenly. ‘He is prepared to help where possible.’
He looked at the old reptilian man, who smiled back with a toothy grin; so he created a mindlink with him and thanked him.
‘You will be needing to talk to the wand and then picking it up. It should be glowing before you are touching It,’ Kami suggested.
Aquitain asked for the wand and Loma scratched around in a nearby fireplace with a stick and uncovered their urn that held the ashes of their dead. He scratched around to one side of it and turned up what at first appeared to be a blackened carrot. He walked over and looked closely at it and rotated his chaos matter collar around with Alpha embedded in it, so that t
he miniature construct could have a clear view of it.
Alpha, who had been totally quiet until now said, ‘Careful. Don’t touch it! It will kill you. It uses mind magic and is very powerful. See if it will accept you.’
Aquitain used his power to detect magic and saw no magic on the wand, but instead that it was dead black, like his chaos matter. He mentally tried to contact it as if it was a powerstone, then realized he had spoken in common so again tried using archaic Draconic, and the wand responded using mindspeak.
‘What is your name Lord?’
‘I am Aquitain.’
‘I recognize you Mind Wizard Aquitain. I am The Omen,’ and it turned into a long glowing gem, shaped like a dragon’s tooth.
‘Excellent,’ said Alpha. ‘It should be safe to pick up now.’
‘Very good,’ said Kami, ‘but how shall you pick it up?
Kami was correct. The problem was that bears have no hands, so it was time to reveal his newman body. He turned to them and said,
‘The wand accepts me but I will need to change form to use it, as bears have no hands. Please don’t be alarmed at what you see. You will come to no harm.’
He saw great apprehension on all their faces. Even Miranda and Zephira looked worried. Then he warned Alpha and shape changed to his giant form with green skin matching the color their scales. Alpha grew legs and climbed onto his right shoulder and clung on tightly. His golden collar melted and ran down his body like golden water and reformed as a simple golden loincloth. There was a collective intake of breath, and he saw a look of horror on Miranda’s face.
‘I’m sorry, Miranda. I can’t change to something smaller. As you can see the Lady has played another trick on us.’ Miranda said nothing, but the look on her face spoke volumes.
He bent down and picked up the wand and it burst into brilliant light. The Barra people remained steadfast as if they were made of stone. Their fear was gone, and they wore expressions of awe. Miranda and Zephira turned pale, and Chantalot, Belloe and Gastan dived for cover, thinking that the wand was about to explode.
