‘Yes that is true, butthe mask is not knowing that we have moved the women and childrenthere until it has been fighting us in the village.’
‘Kami, I’ve noticedthat not all your people are in agreement with the chief. There isconsiderable disagreement about us being here and helping.’
‘Yes that is beingtrue, but they will be fighting any threat together,’ hereplied.
‘Mandy, where are yousending the bats?’ asked Aquitain through their mindlink.
‘So you’re back with usagain. I’m sending them to the south to find the Crin and also tolook for cats, as the mask might have them as well,’ shereplied.
‘Send some of them tothe north and divide them to go east and west,’ he suggested.
‘Why would the maskattack from that side? It’s narrow and difficult and too easy forus to defend,’ replied Miranda as hundreds of bats swirled aroundher.
‘Because that’s wherethe Jeti women and children are. The mask knows the Jeti because itwas with them for a long time. It knows their strengths andweaknesses. It would cause maximum chaos if it were to kill most oftheir women and children.’
‘But that assumes thatit knows that we are waiting for it,’ replied Miranda.
‘We know that not allthe village people are behind Kami. Perhaps some of the elders havetheir own agendas. It’s only a precaution.’
‘All right, I’ll seewhat I can do,’ she said, and began singing another druid songtelling the bats where to go and what to watch for.
Miranda sent half ofthe bats north and half south, and then smiled at Aquitain, saying,‘We have plenty of bats. If you’re correct and we have a traitor inthe camp he won’t guess that we’re onto to him if I send them inboth directions.’
‘Good work,’ saidAquitain. ‘Now let’s see what happens.’
They didn’t have towait long. About ten minutes later two bats returned and toldMiranda that there were many Crin a short distance to thenorthwest.
‘Damn! I‘ll bet themask has stationed the Crin between us and the women and childrenso that it can attack them without worrying about a flank attackfrom us.’
Aquitain quicklycontacted Kami to find out where the women and children were, andafter Aquitain told him about the Crin he confirmed that they hadhidden the women and children in a mine about ten minutes away tothe northwest.
‘Quickly, tell thechief to work out who he wants to leave behind and the rest of usshould head off to where the women and children are hiding. That’swhere the mask will attack,’ said Aquitain, waiting for Miranda tojoin him and calling Zephira to take Goth to the northerngateway.
As Kami, Miranda andAquitain approached the northern gate their way was blocked byabout twenty blue-green scaled little people, all equipped withbows and poisoned arrows.
‘What is this?’ askedKami.
‘You are deserting thevillage in its time of need,’ said the leader of the group. ‘Andyou are leading these outsiders to our secret place. You are beinga traitor. We will not be allowing you to do this.’
‘Miranda our cat friendhas been receiving a message from her bat scouts that there areenemies between us and our women and children. Would you be leavingthem undefended?’ shouted Kami.
‘These are being alllies,’ said the group leader. ‘There are being no enemies outsidethe village. The real enemies are being here in front of us. Shootthem!’
A barrage of arrowsshot forward. Probably because Aquitain was so big and threateningmost of them shot at him. Miranda dived sideways and somehow anydirected at her missed. Kami was hit twice, and several villagerswalking beside and behind them also got hit accidentally.
‘Damn!’ was Aquitain’sonly thought. He knew that because of his large size and toughconstitution that he probably had twenty or thirty seconds beforehe succumbed to the poison. He mind spun through his very limitednumber of options and he reacted. He sent a mental blast at thegroup. This was a powerful metal shock that would stun and paralyzeanyone that happened to be in a sixty degree arc directly in frontof him for at least a minute.
Like the dominationpower it was something that he had learned years ago, mainly sothat he knew how to defend against it. The good part was that itaffected most people, while the bad part was that it used threequarters of all the power in his source. He had never before usedthis power against anyone in anger, as it would have left him toodepleted and vulnerable. Since he was poisoned and would be out ofaction shortly, it seemed pointless to hold back.
Sixteen of the twentylittle people blocking the way suddenly went rigid. Some fell tothe ground and lay still. Others stood like statues. The remainingfour saw what had happened to their friends, panicked, and ran offoutside the gate, chased by the chief and a dozen warriors.
Miranda darted over toone of the stunned traitorous warriors and examined one of thepoisoned arrows to see what poison they were using, and thenquickly returned to Aquitain who was starting to sway a little.
‘The good news is thatit’s a paralyzing poison. It wouldn’t normally kill you but eightarrows have hit you, and that much poison might stop yourbreathing. None seem to have penetrated very deeply, but with somuch poison it could be dangerous,’ and she cast her only cleansingprayer on him to try and clear some of the poison.
‘Pull out the arrows.I’ve got an idea,’ he said, just as Zephira managed to find a waythrough the crowd.
‘By the Powers, whathappened?’ she asked, pulling an arrow out of his shoulder whileAquitain mentally tried to block the pain.
‘Quickly,’ he saidusing mindspeak, ‘I can’t breathe.’
Miranda leaned on thefinal arrow that was embedded in his chest, tearing it out with apiece of flesh attached. ‘They’re out!’ she said urgently, andimmediately Aquitain shape changed to his Logicon form, spreadingout as a large pool of goo. There were all sorts of shouts andpanicked cries from the little people. They thought that the spiritbear had exploded and was dead.
‘That feels better.Logicons breathe through their skin and are resistant to poison. Aslong as I stay like this I should be able to avoid the worst of thepoison effects for the moment.’
Miranda was about tohead off and noticed the chief had ordered
