by Des Pensable
‘Get up,’ said The Orc, ‘You insult T’Kwala. He has said we will not be harmed.’
Kami was impressed.
‘It is accepting you, Spirit Lord. Next you must be walking into the river up to you waist and be calling a Barra fish. You should be dipping the wand in the water to be doing this, I am thinking.’
Everyone followed Aquitain breathlessly as he strode down to the river’s edge and entered the water. It was warm and refreshing but he didn’t notice it. He was too busy looking for crocodiles. Hopefully they would consider him too big. The next problem was how to call the Barra fish. He had no idea what one looked like, so he asked the wand.
‘Omen, how shall I call a Barra fish?’ he asked the wand, dipping its tip in the water.
‘I will call a Herder, mind wizard,’ replied the wand, and it gave out a melodic call and began a gentle vibration.
He waited only half a minute before a green-scaled reptilian creature, similar to one of the little people but larger with gills and webbed hands, appeared in the water in front of him.
‘You called, Lord?’ It spoke using mindspeak in ancient Draconic, then stared at him for a moment, taking in the glowing wand in his hand but evidently undecided as to how to react.
‘How dare you doubt a Lord,’ said Alpha, ‘He has shape changed for a ceremony.’
‘My humblest apologies, Lord. I am meaning no disrespect; it is being an honour to Bhopingar, being the first herder since the Great Storm to being called upon to be serving you. May I be begging your name Lord?’
‘I am Aquitain,’ he said feeling rather weak in the legs and wondering what was happening.
‘Welcome, Lord Aquitain! We have been hearing this name on the wind and the waves of your coming. How may I be helping you?’
‘I need a Barra for a passing ceremony,’ said Aquitain hesitantly.
‘You shall be having one of my best Lord,’ and the creature ducked its head under the water. Moments later several large silvery fish with big jagged teeth swam up close to his nether region, making him feel a little uncomfortable.
‘Which one would you suggest?’ he asked Bhopingar.
‘That one there is being the oldest and wisest. It will be being greatly honoured to be leading the Barra tribe spirits to their ancestors. I would also be greatly honoured to be assisting you Lord.’
‘Good, then, you shall,’ said Aquitain. ‘Bring that one and we will continue with the ceremony.’
‘A Herder is assisting,’ announced Kami. ‘This is being a great honour, Loma.’
‘It is definitely being that indeed,’ said Loma. ‘We shall be long remembering this day.’
The crowd parted excitedly as Aquitain waded out of the water and the herder dragged the great fish from the river, laying it on the ground near the urn that contained the ashes of the dead. Everyone was now totally immersed in the ceremony.
‘We will be singing now,’ Kami said through the mindlink. ‘When we have been finishing two songs you must be capturing the spirit of the Barra fish in the wand, by touching it to the Barra fish’s head, and then by touching the urn.’
Aquitain used his power to detect magic to examine the urn. There was only one row of magic symbols representing the directions of the winds. ‘Oh, this might cause a problem,’ he thought, but decided to wait until after the songs.
Kami again led the singing and the Barra people sang louder than ever before. This would probably be the most special ceremony in their lives, and they would do their part. After the songs ended, Aquitain pressed the wand against the fish’s head and said,
‘Omen, will you accept the gift of spirit of the Barra?’
‘I will, mind wizard,’ it replied.
‘Omen, will you allow the Barra spirit to enter the urn?’
‘I will, mind wizard,’ it said again, and he noticed a second row of magic symbols appearing around the urn.
‘You should be letting Loma be doing the next part, spirit bear,’ said Kami, and Aquitain did. He directed Loma to rotate the urn the correct way, then tap the lid from the four directions; and the urn opened.
The Barra people burst into song again and formed a line. At Loma’s signal they each filed past the urn and took a handful of ashes, then went to the river and threw them in. They took a handful of fresh ashes from the funeral pyres of the night before, and added them to the urn. The contents of the urn turned the deepest black while they sang a song of farewell, as Loma stirred the ashes with the shaft of a spear then finally replaced the lid on the urn. Aquitain replaced the wand beside the urn, and it returned to its original black root-like appearance, but before he did this he asked it a question. The answer to his question chilled him to the bone.
‘Please be accepting my apologies Spirit Lord. I am thinking that you really are K’wala’s twin,’ said Kami.
The Herder bowed his head and said,
‘It is being a great honour and a happy privilege, Lord Aquitain. I will be informing the other herders. They will be greatly happy that there is a Lord returned in the land again.’ He nodded to Kami and said a few words to Loma then returned to the river. The Barra people began building a trench fire beside the great fish. They were going to cook and eat it as part of the ceremony.
‘I am proud of you,’ said Alpha. ‘I wasn’t sure that you could do it.’
Everyone was laughing and smiling except Miranda. Aquitain reformed his golden robe into a collar and shape changed back to his bear form, and moved over to her and nuzzled her on the arm. He could see tears in her eyes.
‘That was so beautiful,’ she said. ‘I’m so proud of you. I knew you could do it. Look at how happy you’ve made the Barra people. You not only have their thanks but also their respect and admiration. Those are hard things to come by in the jungle.’
‘Aren’t you unhappy that I can’t change to a more normal newman size Mandy?’ he asked a little puzzled.
‘Yes of course I am, Tain,’ she said. ‘But the Lady is wise and knows we are weak. When you accepted the new body from her you accepted its strengths, its weaknesses and its shortcomings. I must accept them as well.’
‘That’s very forgiving of you. I’m not so damn happy about it,’ he said.
‘The ways of the Lady are mysterious,’ she observed. ‘We must trust in her.’
‘There’s a lot of mysterious things happening around here,’ Aquitain told her. ‘Take that Herder, he seems to think I’m some sort of returning Lord. The wand has a name, and believe me it’s an artefact with the most dreadful power I’ve ever heard of, and it knew of my coming. We’re being manipulated Mandy, by great powers, and I’m beginning to get really worried.’
Loma approached Aquitain and kneeled before him.
‘Thank you, Spirit Lord! We have little that we can give to repay our debt. Please take the shaman’s wand as a gift.’
‘Stand up, Loma. I am not divine in any way. I am a bear and Barra people do not kneel before bears. I cannot accept your gift of the wand. It did not belong to your shaman. It is far more precious than you know. The spirits themselves have entrusted to it the protection of your people. You must guard it carefully and neither tell anyone of it, nor allow anyone outside of your tribe to take it. A piece of the fish and to see your children happy is enough thanks for me.’
Loma stood up and bowed.
‘Thank you, Spirit Lord, I will remember your wisdom and see that the fish is cooked to perfection.’
‘Is it a weapon?’ asked Miranda. ‘It might be useful if it is a weapon. Perhaps the Lady led you here so that you could get the wand?’
‘You led me here Mandy, not the Lady. I wasn’t keen on the idea. I’m pleased that we could help these people, but it seems we’re getting more involved in some deeper plot and that worries me. It could be a weapon of sorts, I suppose. However, that is not its primary purpose. That is too frightening to mention. In fact I am going to forget what it said. You will carry the key,’ and he told her a strange wordsound
to memorize.
‘Tain, a great warrior needs a great sword,’ she said.
‘I’m not a great warrior, Mandy. I’m a bear and a mind wizard. Bears don’t use great swords or wands. Mind wizards use their minds.’
‘All right, you’ve made yourself clear! Just wait until we run into the Thunder Lizard, then you’ll wish you had the wand,’ said Miranda, quite disappointed.
‘We shall see,’ replied Aquitain.
Chapter 31 The Quiet before the Storm
After the ritual, Loma declared that they would have a celebration for the safe transit of their people to their ancestors, and set the Barra people to preparing a feast. The male hunters left in their canoes to catch fish, the females set about collecting edible roots and fruits from the nearby jungle, while the children sat watching Aquitain. Chantalot, Belloe and his group returned to their camping area to discuss what they had witnessed and Aquitain, Miranda and Zephira moved to the riverbank to discuss what to do about the mask.
They first caught up on each other’s news. Zephira told Aquitain that she carried a hidden message from Granddad about the mask, and confided her thoughts about Granddad and his father involving them in some type of plot to find the lost Founts of Wisdom and Knowledge. Aquitain listened carefully and agreed that they seemed to be being manipulated by Granddad, but felt there must have been a good reason for all the secrecy, and that they had no option but to continue on and find the druid Alin Amber and Aquitain’s father, if they wanted to get to the bottom of situation.
The real truth was that Aquitain was now no longer uncertain. He had played a game called the Game of Kings for many years with Granddad. It had originated on a primitive magic free world, and had become a great favourite in Panmagica. The lowliest piece was called a pawn and represented a foot soldier, and the most important was a King. Aquitain was now certain that he and Miranda were pawns in a game of great power.
He had heard of the legendary Founts of Wisdom and their disappearance, and if this really was their world then he could understand that any change in the status quo would mean a clash of awesome Powers. It was important that he knew as little as possible of the overall plan. As an Agent of Chaos, he and Miranda didn’t need to know the details, they would just blunder on and trigger events that had already been carefully planned in advance by others.
There were also worrying considerations as well. Pawns were generally expendable in any game of power. That meant that both of them would be under continual risk of being eliminated, but if they could make it far enough in the game then he remembered that pawns could also become kings, and if he were a king then he could lift Miranda’s cursed tattoo. It was simple. All he and Miranda had to do was to stay alive, and that he was determined to do.
‘Tell me about the hidden knowledge, Zephira,’ said Aquitain through their four party mindlink.
‘It was kind of strange. He said that if Aquitain’s wondering about the mask, tell him to use splashnine. I’ve got no idea what he meant, but you’re the mind wizard. I thought it must be secret mind wizard’s business.’
‘It is, in a way. Granddad has sent me some information that he didn’t want anyone else to get. It’s in your mind. You could never divulge it to anyone, as you don’t know it’s there. Splash-9 is the key to get it out. I’ll have to cut you out of the mindlink, Mandy.’
Miranda agreed and left the mindlink, a little annoyed but understanding that if their grandfather wouldn’t allow Zephira to know it then it must be dangerous. The problem was that it was now dangerous for Aquitain to know.
‘Oh Mandy is it?’ Zephira said teasingly, ‘is there anything I should know about?’
‘Mandy and I enjoy each other’s company. What’s wrong with that?’
‘I think she’s in love with you. I don’t know why. Who would love a bear or a jolly green giant?’ she asked with a chuckle.
‘Do you mind? She can see my strengths and my virtues,’ he replied jokingly.
‘The strength I can see, but the virtues must be very deeply hidden, because they’re not at all obvious,’ she replied.
Zephira’s friendly banter made him feel good. It was great to be with family again, he thought, as he changed the subject.
‘Do you remember the Second Mantra of the Yith?’ asked Aquitain.
‘It’s also called the Mantra of Memory Loss.’
‘Yes. I know the first two of the seven mantras.’
‘Good,‘ said Aquitain. ‘Do you agree to use it after you hear what I’m about to say?’
‘Don’t be so formal, Aquitain. You’re starting to sound like Granddad.’
‘This is important Zephira, otherwise Granddad wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of locking it up.’
‘Oh… Okay! ‘ said Zephira. ‘I agree.’
‘Alpha, I need to unlock a memory in Zephira. How do I do it?’ said Aquitain.
‘Don’t you know how to do it?’ asked Zephira in surprise.
‘Yes and no, it’s in my mind but I have used the second mantra to forget it. It’s safer that way. Alpha can unlock my mind to tell me how it’s done.’
‘Zephira will need to enter the Trance of Yith to unlock information,’ said Alpha.
‘OK. What is the Trance of Yith, and how does she do it?’ asked Aquitain.
‘The Trance of Yith is a mental state where a person with mental powers can accurately store information in their subconscious mind. Once locked in, the information is unavailable to the conscious mind, and can only be removed by using a wordsound key that is automatically forgotten immediately the person leaves the trance. Entering the trance and repeating the wordsound three times can retrieve the information. The Yith priests use this method to transfer or store important information.
‘To enter the Trance of Yith, you must enter the auto-hypnotic state. Aquitain can chant the mantra and repeat the wordsound if you wish. You will remember the information at this stage. If you repeat the wordsound three more times, the information will again be locked, you will forget the key and return to the auto-hypnotic state. To erase the information you must use the second mantra whilst in the trance. This information is secret knowledge of the Yith people, and highly dangerous. It should not be told to anyone. It should be forgotten as soon as possible using the second mantra of Yith.’
‘Do you want to try to get Granddad’s message?’
‘Okay,’ said Zephira. ‘Wait until I can sit down. I’m not that good at auto- hypnosis. Perhaps you can hypnotize me.’
After a couple of tries Zephira entered the auto hypnotic state and Aquitain chanted the mantra and unlocked the information with the wordsound. He then cut Alpha out of the mindlink as well.
‘By the Powers,’ said Aquitain. ‘This is the method used to make the Mask. Why would Granddad think we would want that?’
‘You know how to make magical items. Maybe he thinks you might want to make one, so that you can compete with the other,’ Zephira suggested.
‘No. I couldn’t, even if I wanted to,’ said Aquitain. ‘Look at that list of ingredients. A couple of those are extremely rare. So there must be another reason. Let me go through the method.’
Five minutes later, after a string of mutterings such as ’Wow, look at that. Impressive. That’s logical. Hello that’s strange. Why was that done? Wait. Wait. Oh. Isn’t that interesting? The cunning old fox,’ Aquitain had found something.
‘Okay,’ said Zephira. ‘I’ve had enough of you tinkering around in my mind. Tell me what you’ve found.’
‘I’ve found the secret weapon to use against the mask. The mask has a secret extra ability that was very carefully hidden by the maker. If I weren’t a magic item artisan, I never would have spotted it. Something to ensure that the mask wasn’t used against the maker, I guess. I wonder how Granddad knew about this?’
‘Can you use it?’ asked Zephira.
‘Yes and no. I can use it when I know the activation word, but I have to touch the mask to find out from the mask i
tself, what the activation word is.’
‘That’s ridiculous,‘ said Zephira.
‘No its not, the mask was made using a mixture of conventional and mind magic. The mind magic part can be contacted in the same way we contact powerstones. It knows its own activation word. Of course, the whole thing is complicated because of the spirit in the mask. To talk to the mask I have to first get past the spirit, who will undoubtedly try to prevent me communicating with the mask itself.
‘Now, unfortunately you’re going to have to forget what I said. So how about you start on the mantra, and I’ll test you after you’ve forgotten.’
‘I really get annoyed when Granddad does this. First he tells me then I have to forget all the good stuff. Now you’re doing it! I protest. It feels like you and Granddad don’t trust me,’ said Zephira.
‘It’s actually exactly the opposite Zephira, we both trust you implicitly and neither of us wants you to get hurt because of what you know. It’s much safer for you not to know,’ said Aquitain.
‘You’re not the only one that Granddad does this to. He’s been doing it to me all my life. He even gets me to know things and we both forget them. I must have more hidden secrets in my head than anyone alive. I probably even knew why we’re really here and purposely forgot it.’
‘Doesn’t it worry you?’ she asked.
‘No. Because he told me that when I really need to know it Alpha can retrieve the information. All I need to know is what to ask, and so far it’s worked well.’
‘But what if you lost Alpha?’
‘I’ve often thought of that, but it’s hard to worry about knowledge that you didn’t know you had. It’s like being an heir to a great fortune but never knowing that you’re the heir. I sometimes wish I knew, but most of the time I don’t care. Granddad once said that secrets are a great burden. As a mind wizard I can choose to forget them, and have much less worry and stress.’
‘It’s the opposite for me. I worry that the things I’ve forgotten might be important, and I hate people telling me it’s for the best that I forget,’ said Zephira.
