‘Do you want to try toget 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 triesZephira entered the auto hypnotic state and Aquitain chanted themantra and unlocked the information with the wordsound. He then cutAlpha out of the mindlink as well.
‘By the Powers,’ saidAquitain. ‘This is the method used to make the Mask. Why wouldGranddad think we would want that?’
‘You know how to makemagical items. Maybe he thinks you might want to make one, so thatyou can compete with the other,’ Zephira suggested.
‘No. I couldn’t, evenif I wanted to,’ said Aquitain. ‘Look at that list of ingredients.A couple of those are extremely rare. So there must be anotherreason. 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 thatdone? 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 whatyou’ve found.’
‘I’ve found the secretweapon to use against the mask. The mask has a secret extra abilitythat was very carefully hidden by the maker. If I weren’t a magicitem artisan, I never would have spotted it. Something to ensurethat the mask wasn’t used against the maker, I guess. I wonder howGranddad knew about this?’
‘Can you use it?’ askedZephira.
‘Yes and no. I can useit when I know the activation word, but I have to touch the mask tofind out from the mask itself, what the activation word is.’
‘That’s ridiculous,‘said Zephira.
‘No its not, the maskwas made using a mixture of conventional and mind magic. The mindmagic part can be contacted in the same way we contact powerstones.It knows its own activation word. Of course, the whole thing iscomplicated because of the spirit in the mask. To talk to the maskI have to first get past the spirit, who will undoubtedly try toprevent me communicating with the mask itself.
‘Now, unfortunatelyyou’re going to have to forget what I said. So how about you starton the mantra, and I’ll test you after you’ve forgotten.’
‘I really get annoyedwhen Granddad does this. First he tells me then I have to forgetall the good stuff. Now you’re doing it! I protest. It feels likeyou and Granddad don’t trust me,’ said Zephira.
‘It’s actually exactlythe opposite Zephira, we both trust you implicitly and neither ofus wants you to get hurt because of what you know. It’s much saferfor you not to know,’ said Aquitain.
‘You’re not the onlyone that Granddad does this to. He’s been doing it to me all mylife. He even gets me to know things and we both forget them. Imust have more hidden secrets in my head than anyone alive. Iprobably even knew why we’re really here and purposely forgotit.’
‘Doesn’t it worry you?’she asked.
‘No. Because he told methat when I really need to know it Alpha can retrieve theinformation. All I need to know is what to ask, and so far it’sworked well.’
‘But what if you lostAlpha?’
‘I’ve often thought ofthat, but it’s hard to worry about knowledge that you didn’t knowyou had. It’s like being an heir to a great fortune but neverknowing that you’re the heir. I sometimes wish I knew, but most ofthe time I don’t care. Granddad once said that secrets are a greatburden. As a mind wizard I can choose to forget them, and have muchless worry and stress.’
‘It’s the opposite forme. I worry that the things I’ve forgotten might be important, andI hate people telling me it’s for the best that I forget,’ saidZephira.
Miranda was thinkingabout what Zephira had told them as well. It confirmed herthoughts. The Lady was using both herself and Aquitain for somehigher purpose. It was not necessary to know the details, but justto trust in the goddess.
After Zephira had usedthe Second Mantra of Yith to forget what had just transpired,Aquitain brought Miranda and Alpha back into the mindlink and theydiscussed what to do about the mask. Aquitain was concerned aboutwhere it might go next, and thought that both the Crin city and theJeti village were logical targets. Miranda was worried that itmight have already attacked the Crin city and caused problemsthere. She wished to fly there and find out. If it hadn’t attackedyet, she could warn them. If it had, then they would know the Jetivillage was the next likely candidate before it moved on somewhereelse.
They decided that theyhad better tell the others about what was happening, as they wereall at risk and all had a right to know about it. So Miranda calledtogether Loma, Kami, Belloe and Chantalot to fill them in on whatwas happening.
After hearing the storyabout the mask and Aquitain’s translation of the message from theBarra people’s ancestors, the reactions were predictable; theypanicked. Loma was worried that the mask might return and attackhis people again. Kami was worried that his village would be next.Belloe wanted to return to Turtlehaven to warn the people there,and Chantalot suggested that they teleport back to Twin Towers andlet his brother Featherdown decide what to do.
A gruff growl fromAquitain quickly brought order, or perhaps more precisely, a kindof respectful fear.
‘The reason thatMiranda told you about the mask and what we believe might happen isso that we can do something about it, here and now. Not panic, runaway or hope to hide. It’s true that we’re not sure where it willstrike next, but there are only a small number of possibilities. Wehave a chance to catch it and stop it if we work together.’
‘I’ve bin in a skirmishwith a Thunder Lizard once,’ said Belloe. ‘It killed several of memen without workin up a sweat. We couldna harm the beastie. Itsbloody hide be too thick. If this mask of the cat people can changeto a Thunder Lizard, then I doubt all of us together be able tostop it.’
‘I will stop it, as itis not truly a Thunder Lizard.’ replied
