‘I’ll not be a party tothis madness,’ Belloe said. ‘If you be a spirit bear as yer claimter be then yer can do what yer like. It’s us poor bastards that’llbe beastie food. You have no control over us. I’m leavin and takinme people with me. If Zephira and the bard want to stay then thatbe their business.’
Aquitain had dealt withmany rough traders back in Panmagica and he knew the secret to asuccessful outcome in any business deal was the right price. Belloeand his group were tough fighters and would significantly improvethe odds of success if they could be convinced to help. Theirleaving would also be a blow to the morale of the remaininggroup.
‘Belloe, I’ll be honestwith you,’ said Aquitain solely to Belloe’s mind. ‘I’m not a spiritbear. I’m a Wizard Captain in the Mudrun Defence Force. Miranda andI were sent here by the High Wizard of Mudrun to help the Jetipeople get this mask nuisance under control. We could use your helpand I am willing to pay for it in gold. Mercenary rates on top ofwhat Zephira is already paying you. Alternatively, I could impoundyour boat for military purposes and you could sit around for weekswaiting for another to arrive, or slog your way back through thejungle with a Thunder Lizard wandering around out theresomewhere.’
Belloe was quiet for afew seconds, then he turned to Loma. ‘I be sorry Loma. I forgetsmeself that you people be me good friends fer years and I not berunning out on me friends. The spirit bear here has the right ofit. We should be sticking together and helping him get rid of thebeastie. Me and me boys will stay and fight with yer.’
None of the otherscould believe what they had just heard. In one breath Belloe hadbeen going to run, and in the next the complete opposite. Mirandaand Zephira both looked at Aquitain. ‘What did you say to him?’asked Zephira curiously through their mindlink.
‘He’s a businessman. Ijust made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.’
‘Oh. More gold Isuppose,’ said Zephira. ‘I already worked out that side of hisnature. The real question will be, will he really fight when totime comes?’
Miranda thanked Belloefor his noble gesture and accepted his offer to stay and help, asdid Loma. She then outlined the plan they had worked out earlier.She would fly to the Crin city to alert the Crin or find out theworst, then return to the Barra village. Aquitain would teleportKami back to the Jeti village so that they could be ready in caseof an attack. The rest would barricade off a defensible part of theBarra village and wait. If necessary, they could evacuate the womenand children from the village using Belloe’s boat.
The communicationproblem between the three groups had been solved by someinteresting revelations from Miranda. The druids knew that thevarious tribal groups of little people had some means ofcommunication between them. She was not sure how they did it butknew they could. She also knew that on occasions Queen Beatrix hadcommunicated directly with her mother in the gully, so the Crincould also send long distance messages if they wished.
Belloe asked thequestion, ‘How are yer going to know where this mask beastie causestrouble?’
‘Let me worry aboutthat,’ she said. ‘But you will know.’
‘Ah. Bloody druidhoohaa I’ll bet. All right I’ll tell me boys to git ready for someaction.’ And he left.
Miranda then asked ifshe could have a word with Kami alone and told him she knew theycould normally communicate between the villages, but was unsurewhether they could still do it now that the Barra shaman wasdead.
‘Ah. Miranda. I amthinking you are a cunning one,’ said Kami. ‘Jacintra has chosen agood friend for us. It is the shamans that ask the spirits to carrymessages to other shamans. The Barra people here no longer have ashaman,, so they cannot hear the spirit messages. However, ifsomeone were to be on friendly terms with the Barra people’s wand,then perhaps that wand might be telling them the spirit’smessage.’
‘Did you hear that?’said Miranda to Aquitain through their mindlink. ‘The druid Councilhas wondered for years how the little people communicated. Theysuspected they used some sort of dream sending. They’re usingwands.’
‘No. I think theCouncil was right. I think Kami knows how powerful the Omen wandis. He’s guessing that it can receive the message and he may wellbe right. I’ll ask it.’ Moments later Aquitain knew the answer. Yesthe wand could receive the messages from the spirits if required,so they had a workable plan. Miranda wasted no time, she said shewould be back soon, changed to her sea eagle form, told Aquitainnot to get into any fights without her, and flew off.
Aquitain decided thatthe best person to communicate with the wand was Alpha, so left itwith Zephira and teleported Kami back to his Jeti village. Rori theshaman’s assistant was waiting with a folded loincloth in his armsfor Miranda, and seemed a little disappointed that she didn’t show.However, he was pleased to see the spirit bear back again. Rori’sstatus in the village had elevated substantially since his ride onthe spirit bear’s back. He was now even treated with some deferenceby adults who had previously ignored him.
Kami left Aquitain inRori’s hands while he had a meeting with the village elders to tellthem of the possible threat to the village posed by the mask. Rorihad not wasted the morning; he had badgered the villagers intoproviding food for the bear, and soon villagers swarmed around thebear with bowls of food of all sorts. Aquitain didn’t complain - hewas happy to please these little cat people by scoffing downeverything brought to him. He now had a good idea what bears likedto eat: everything, and plenty of it.
After an hour Kamireturned and he wasn’t happy. He told Aquitain the village eldershad found it hard to accept the concept of the Image of Jacintraturning against them. It was as if Jacintra himself was turningagainst them and they blamed
