‘Last night, I waswalking with the dead and begging my ancestors to be telling me whythey have been forsaking us and sending the Thunder Lizard spiritto be destroying the village. They were having this to say tome:
‘The lizard skin ishiding a face within,
Its chaos yearning tobe haunting the maze,
Answers are lying wherepower is decaying,
To be restoringbalance, be seeking K’wala’s twin.
‘I am not being ashaman. 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 hewas walking with the dead?’ whispered Chantalot.
‘There is a mushroomwhich when eaten makes them appear dead. They use it for ritualpurposes and believe that while under the influence of the mushroomthey can talk with the spirits.’
Loma repeated themessage two more times and everyone sat silently thinking about thewords of the spirits. An icy chill crept over Miranda. K’wala wasthe bear spirit. K’wala’s twin was therefore another spirit bear.Could it possibly mean Aquitain?
‘Have you or Chantalottold anyone about Aquitain?’ she whispered to Zephira.
‘No. I asked him to saynothing 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. Youthink he is K’wala’s twin?’ said Zephira a little louder than sheintended.
‘You are knowing ofK’wala’s twin?’ said Loma hopefully. All eyes turned towards her.She felt embarrassed but knew Aquitain would want to help. Thesepeople needed help and Aquitain was as good as any spirit bear, soshe nodded.
‘I know of a spiritbear which may be the one called K’wala’s twin. He is calledAquitain the spirit bear, and was with the Jeti people yesterday.He said he would return again today. It may be possible to bringhim here.’
‘How do we know he’s aspirit bear?’ asked Belloe rather sceptical.
‘He speaks the ancientsacred language,’ said Miranda.
‘If that were beingtrue then he could be conducting our ceremony of passing,’ saidLoma. ‘Are you thinking he would be considering visiting ushere?’
‘It is possible. He islooking for a sacred mask stolen from the Jeti,’ said Miranda. ‘Icould fly as an eagle to the Jeti village and seek his wisdom.However, perhaps we should examine the whole message from thespirits of the dead before I go.’
‘Why not just let himwork it out?’ said Belloe. ‘If he’s the right bear spirit heshouldn’t have any trouble with it.’
‘That’s a bit unfair tothe bear spirit isn’t it?’ said Zephira, trying to give Mirandasome support. ‘If the message was given to Loma he was expected tosolve it with the people here in case the bear spirit couldn’tcome.’
‘But if it can’t comethen it’s probably the wrong bear spirit,’ said Belloecunningly.
‘You are having thestronger argument Belloe,’ said Loma. ‘If the bear spirit iswilling to be coming here then it will be knowing the answer to themessage and can be helping our dead passing to their ancestors. Canyou be flying to the Jeti people and seeking its help?’ he askedMiranda.
‘I would like to take acopy of the message with me so that he might consider it before heagrees to come,’ she replied.
‘That is good idea,’said Chantalot, speaking up for the first time. ‘I will write itdown on some parchment for you. Perhaps you could repeat it acouple more times Loma, to ensure that I have it perfectlycorrect.’
While Chantalot andLoma were copying down the message, Zephira leaned over toMiranda.
‘Are you out of yourmind? Aquitain will have no idea what the message means or how todo the ritual.’
‘Zephira, have faith inyour cousin. The message is reasonably clear, but the ritual maycause some small problems. I will seek advice from the Jetishaman.’
‘You cunning witch,’said Zephira in a kindly way. ‘I’m beginning to understand how youtwo work together. You supply the local knowledge to back up hismagical knowledge then fool the people into believing you both knowwhat you’re doing.’
‘You shall soon see,’said Miranda with a wry smile.
‘I’ll get him. Keepclear of your metal creature, as we will arrive near it.
Miranda changed to hersea eagle form and flew back to the Jeti village, to find Aquitainwaiting outside Kami’s hut chatting with the shaman in lowDraconic. She landed, changed shape to her newman form, darted overand hugged Aquitain around the neck, then turned and greeted Kami.The shaman’s assistant Rori came running out of the hut with theceremonial loincloth for Miranda, and she thanked him kindly beforegiving Aquitain the hand sign for creating a mindlink.
The shaman told themapologetically that he had a meeting with the headman and took Roriwith him, leaving Aquitain and Miranda alone together. He lay downand she sat resting her back against his side, while they talkedthough the mindlink. He told her what had happened on his trip toTwin Towers first. She was really excited when she heard aboutCurbut’s exposure as the assassin, and his probable fate. She saidFeatherdown should have just killed him, and Aquitain agreed.
She was a littleexcited by her promotion to Senior Druid, but wasn’t overlyconcerned about their new titles as Wizard Hound and Druid Hound;although she was pleased that they had officially released her fromher routine duties so that she could work with Aquitain. She saidthat these titles were just names that people in towns and citiesliked so that they would feel important. In the jungle it was whatyou did that counted, not what you were called. He agreed to anextent, but having lived in a city like Panmagica all his life, andseeing how influential titles could be, he still liked the idea ofbeing a Wizard Captain.
Miranda updated him onthe attack on the Barra, and explained how she, with Zephira, hadcome to the conclusion that the mask was involved. He was a littlesurprised that Miranda and Zephira would agree on anything, butdecided that it was good that they were getting on well together.When she told him about the message from the dead and the Barraritual to help their dead pass on to their ancestors, he knew hehad created a problem for himself. Miranda believed
