‘Tain, a great warriorneeds a great sword,’ she said.
‘I’m not a greatwarrior, Mandy. I’m a bear and a mind wizard. Bears don’t use greatswords or wands. Mind wizards use their minds.’
‘All right, you’ve madeyourself clear! Just wait until we run into the Thunder Lizard,then you’ll wish you had the wand,’ said Miranda, quitedisappointed.
‘We shall see,’ repliedAquitain.
Chapter 31 The Quiet before theStorm
After the ritual, Lomadeclared that they would have a celebration for the safe transit oftheir people to their ancestors, and set the Barra people topreparing a feast. The male hunters left in their canoes to catchfish, the females set about collecting edible roots and fruits fromthe nearby jungle, while the children sat watching Aquitain.Chantalot, Belloe and his group returned to their camping area todiscuss what they had witnessed and Aquitain, Miranda and Zephiramoved to the riverbank to discuss what to do about the mask.
They first caught up oneach other’s news. Zephira told Aquitain that she carried a hiddenmessage from Granddad about the mask, and confided her thoughtsabout Granddad and his father involving them in some type of plotto find the lost Founts of Wisdom and Knowledge. Aquitain listenedcarefully and agreed that they seemed to be being manipulated byGranddad, but felt there must have been a good reason for all thesecrecy, and that they had no option but to continue on and findthe druid Alin Amber and Aquitain’s father, if they wanted to getto the bottom of situation.
The real truth was thatAquitain was now no longer uncertain. He had played a game calledthe Game of Kings for many years with Granddad. It had originatedon a primitive magic free world, and had become a great favouritein Panmagica. The lowliest piece was called a pawn and representeda foot soldier, and the most important was a King. Aquitain was nowcertain that he and Miranda were pawns in a game of greatpower.
He had heard of thelegendary Founts of Wisdom and their disappearance, and if thisreally was their world then he could understand that any change inthe status quo would mean a clash of awesome Powers. It wasimportant that he knew as little as possible of the overall plan.As an Agent of Chaos, he and Miranda didn’t need to know thedetails, they would just blunder on and trigger events that hadalready been carefully planned in advance by others.
There were alsoworrying considerations as well. Pawns were generally expendable inany game of power. That meant that both of them would be undercontinual risk of being eliminated, but if they could make it farenough in the game then he remembered that pawns could also becomekings, and if he were a king then he could lift Miranda’s cursedtattoo. It was simple. All he and Miranda had to do was to stayalive, and that he was determined to do.
‘Tell me about thehidden knowledge, Zephira,’ said Aquitain through their four partymindlink.
‘It was kind ofstrange. He said that if Aquitain’s wondering about the mask, tellhim to use splashnine. I’ve got no idea what he meant, but you’rethe mind wizard. I thought it must be secret mind wizard’sbusiness.’
‘It is, in a way.Granddad has sent me some information that he didn’t want anyoneelse to get. It’s in your mind. You could never divulge it toanyone, as you don’t know it’s there. Splash-9 is the key to get itout. I’ll have to cut you out of the mindlink, Mandy.’
Miranda agreed and leftthe mindlink, a little annoyed but understanding that if theirgrandfather wouldn’t allow Zephira to know it then it must bedangerous. The problem was that it was now dangerous for Aquitainto know.
‘Oh Mandy is it?’Zephira said teasingly, ‘is there anything I should knowabout?’
‘Mandy and I enjoy eachother’s company. What’s wrong with that?’
‘I think she’s in lovewith you. I don’t know why. Who would love a bear or a jolly greengiant?’ she asked with a chuckle.
‘Do you mind? She cansee my strengths and my virtues,’ he replied jokingly.
‘The strength I cansee, but the virtues must be very deeply hidden, because they’renot at all obvious,’ she replied.
Zephira’s friendlybanter made him feel good. It was great to be with family again, hethought, as he changed the subject.
‘Do you remember theSecond Mantra of the Yith?’ asked Aquitain.
‘It’s also called theMantra of Memory Loss.’
‘Yes. I know the firsttwo 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 importantZephira, otherwise Granddad wouldn’t have gone to the trouble oflocking it up.’
‘Oh… Okay! ‘ saidZephira. ‘I agree.’
‘Alpha, I need tounlock a memory in Zephira. How do I do it?’ said Aquitain.
‘Don’t you know how todo it?’ asked Zephira in surprise.
‘Yes and no, it’s in mymind but I have used the second mantra to forget it. It’s saferthat way. Alpha can unlock my mind to tell me how it’s done.’
‘Zephira will need toenter the Trance of Yith to unlock information,’ said Alpha.
‘OK. What is the Tranceof Yith, and how does she do it?’ asked Aquitain.
‘The Trance of Yith isa mental state where a person with mental powers can accuratelystore information in their subconscious mind. Once locked in, theinformation is unavailable to the conscious mind, and can only beremoved by using a wordsound key that is automatically forgottenimmediately the person leaves the trance. Entering the trance andrepeating the wordsound three times can retrieve the information.The Yith priests use this method to transfer or store importantinformation.
‘To enter the Trance ofYith, you must enter the auto-hypnotic state. Aquitain can chantthe mantra and repeat the wordsound if you wish. You will rememberthe information at this stage. If you repeat the wordsound threemore times, the information will again be locked, you will forgetthe key and return to the auto-hypnotic state. To erase theinformation you must use the second mantra whilst in the trance.This information is secret knowledge of the Yith people, and highlydangerous.
