It was time for achange in tactics. He concentrated and formed the image in his mindof a giant constrictor snake, and his body responded by lengtheningand becoming covered in tough armor-like scales. The sinuous newbody allowed him to slither out from under the creature trying tohold him down, while the other frantically tried to slash him,causing only minor damage.
He slipped his mind outof the mental tower to take a more direct control of his body, andimmediately his mental control was weakened in a torrent of rage.He focused on the creature bleeding from his first attack and wentafter it with a singular purpose, to cause its death. It grabbedhim near his head and tried unsuccessfully to bite into him. Thiswas his chance. He bit into its shoulder, gagged a little at thehorrid taste of it, but hung on tightly and started coiling aroundthe creature.
As coil after coilwhipped around it, the creature tried in vain to dislodge him buthe held on, tightened his grip and constricted steadily. Tighterand tighter he squeezed. He felt a deep basic satisfaction as hedrove the air out of its lungs while it struggled in vain forbreath. Its mate frantically tried to claw and bite him but to noavail, it couldn’t penetrate his toughened scaly skin. He slippedanother two loops around the creature and constricted even moretightly.
Suddenly, there was aloud crack like snapping bamboo as the creature’s rib cagecollapsed, it let out a rasping gasp, jerked nervously and wentlimp. Its mate howled in rage and slashed at him with renewedvigour. He quickly untangled himself and slithered round to faceit. His mind was clouded with serpentine fury. He struck at it totry and get a purchase so that he could coil around it, but it waswary and dodged and wove out of the way, raking his body as itwent. After half a dozen further unsuccessful strikes, Alpha’sscreams finally penetrated the back of his mind. He needed tochange tactics again.
‘But how?’ he asked thevoice.
‘Use your mental tower,use the tower,’ was the frantic response.
He circled around as ifgetting ready for another strike, while he tried to recall throughthe turmoil of rage and anger what a mental tower was. Then heremembered and thrust his mind into it. It was like entering theserenity of a secure building while a hurricane danced chaoticallyoutside. The anger and rage subsided and he quickly considered histactics.
He changed his colourto a total black and used his ability to adjust light, making itcompletely dark. He moved a few paces away, and then resumed hisbear shape and slipped his mind out of the tower. The emotionalfury of being a terrifyingly angry and a hugely strong bear in somesort of blood lust almost took his breath away. He closed his eyesand changed the blackness to a sudden flash of light. It had thedesired effect. It dazzled the other beast.
Aquitain charged thecreature, slashing at its upper chest with claws and with his hugejaws thrust for its neck. The feathery beast, caught flat-footed,toppled over backwards with his jaws clamped around its throat andhis immense body weight pinned it down. It tried to scream. Itcoughed, gagged, choked, struggled violently and tore at his flankswith its claws, but he held on with a vice-like death-grip.Aquitain’s thick skin enchantment wore off. He started takingdamage again from the threshing monster, but it was too late forthe horrid creature.
Half a minute later,the fight was over. He crawled off the body of the second deadmonster and sounded off a blood-chilling triumphant roar thatechoed throughout the gully. What a feeling! The excitement, thefear, the anger, the rage, the feeling of power, the pounding ofhis heart, the smell of freshly spilled blood – all fired up hisnew body in ways he had never thought possible. Sheer exhilaration!His new body was tough. He could grow to like this! His heart wasracing. He looked around for something else to kill.
‘Use the calmingmantra,’ yelled Alpha into his blood-crazed mind. ‘It’s finished!’He tried chanting a calming mantra but couldn’t remember the words.He wanted more blood. His mind struggled for control while hisemotions surged. He ran around in circles roaring, looking forsomething else to attack, and slashing the air with his mightyclaws.
Eventually, withnothing around to focus his aggression on, he managed to rememberthe mental tower. He drove his mind into it and began chanting thecalming mantra over and over, and several minutes later he was backin full mental control of his body.
As the euphoria of thefight wore off he began to feel the pain of his wounds. He lookedat them and saw nasty gashes exposing torn muscle. Here and therechunks of flesh as big as a newman hand had been torn out of hisback. He formed a mental image of his body and its wounds andreleased the power to start the healing process. He hadn’t had muchpractice at healing as he had never before had much reason to usethe power, but his mother had taught him the principles and itworked.
The warm glow of thehealing process eased his muscles, and after a minute or two thepain of the wounds faded and he was ready to proceed. Rather thanpress on as if there were some great urgency, he decided instead tocleanse himself of the blood and stench of the creatures he hadkilled. So he waded into the steam and let the water restore hislush brown coat to a more pleasant state, then strolled out andshook himself dry. This also allowed him a short mental respite toprepare his mind for what was still to come.
He checked his source.It was already half gone. He assumed the monsters were a secondattempt to warn him off. If that was true, then Miranda had toldher mother about him and she was a little worried about how Mirandamight react if he was harmed. Then again, he could be totallymisreading the situation. Maybe she always warned wizards off, butthey were all too stupid to take the warning seriously.
Aquitain wondered if hewas behaving too rashly. He asked Alpha and
