The water fountain hada stream of water bubbling out the top of a sphere- shaped rock anarm span wide, that splashed noisily into a circular trough below.The fire fountain was made from rock that had been carved in theshape of a torch, and fire was burning at its apex. The stonefountain was the shape of a pyramid, and floating above its apexwas a stone sphere. The wind fountain was a set of metal windchimes, which were tapping together eerily since there was nobreeze to drive them.
He used his power todetect magic and saw that the whole temple structure was glowingwith it. Kami was the first to say something.
‘I am not liking this,Spirit Lord. The temple should not be looking like this. I haveseen it many times in my life, and it is never looking likethis.’
‘Let me guess, the fourstone creatures and the gold sphere on the top are new and thefountains are working.’
‘You would be guessingcorrectly; and also the doorways in the walls beside the stairs arebeing gone.’
Aquitain quickly sent awarning to Miranda not to fly too close to the structure. Shereplied that she had already decided that, as it had changed sinceshe had seen it an hour earlier. He next sent out a message toeveryone that no one should enter the grounds of the temple underany circumstances, until he gave the order.
He told them thatwhoever was in the temple must have activated some sort of magicdefence system, and they would have to work out how to turn it offbefore they entered. As if to prove him correct a parrot from thejungle flew over the temple, and a thunderous bolt of lightningshot out of the golden sphere at the apex of the pyramid andobliterated the poor bird, rocking the surrounding countryside withits huge boom. No one doubted that he was correct, but no oneoffered any suggestions as to how to get in either.
Chapter 36 Preparing for aSiege
Aquitain divided histroops into four groups and had them block the four pathways intothe temple. The Crin blocked the western path; the Alloe file ofhis Twin Tower guards with the Barra people blocked the northernpath; the Belling file of his guards with half of the Jeti warriorsblocked the southern path, while the remainder stayed with Aquitainand Miranda at the eastern path. He had all groups positionthemselves a hundred paces back from the entrances to the templeand clear any obscuring vegetation.
When everyone had takenup their positions he changed shape to his giant newman form andwalked to the edge of the temple grounds, and examined thegeometrical shapes inherent in the temple design along with thestructure of the grounds. He didn’t know a great deal aboutreligions, but he had seen a lot of religious buildings inPanmagica; none looked like this one.
Zephira and Chantalotcame and stood beside him looking at the strange structure.
‘You’ve seen a fewtemples in Panmagica and elsewhere. What do you make of this one,Zephira?’
‘I’m not sure cousin.It doesn’t look like a place that you would come to pray to a god.It exudes power. It almost looks as if it’s here as a show of forcerather than the other temples I’ve seen, which tend to give afeeling of peace and tranquillity. Another thing, I’ve never heardof a temple with a magical defence system capable of harmingpeople. You might expect temples to use some magical alarm systembut not an offensive system like this one.’
‘My thoughts exactly,’replied Aquitain. ‘The only official deity on Mudrun is the Lady,and this is definitely not a temple to her. This temple predatesthe Great Storm, and I’ll bet that it had something to do with theFounts of Wisdom.
‘Chantalot you’ve beenaround the world talking to all sorts of people. Are there manytemples like this one, and if so what’s generally known aboutthem?’
‘There might be morebut I’ve only seen the one at Templegate. It looks similar to thisone. It’s generally off limits to the public by order of theDruid’s Council. The people think the Council’s worried thatsomeone might set up a religion in competition to the Lady. Thecurious thing is that the local little people are thought to belooking after it, even though they’re not supposed to be allowednear it. People think they used to worship some god there, but noone knows for sure since the little people say nothing.’
Miranda dropped out ofthe sky and shape changed to her newman form, clothed herself inher spider silk robe and joined them. Through their mindlink heasked her what she could tell him about the temple.
‘The policy is that noone is allowed to occupy or hold any ceremonies at or near thetemple. I had to report any incursions to my supervisor who wasQuab, and he was supposed to report it to the Druid Council. TheJeti look after the place, although they have never admitted to itand avoid talking about it. My mother told me that they were forcedto make some sort of deal with the Druid’s Council about thetemples when the druids first came here a couple of hundred yearsago, but that agreement is secret. She would know, as she was theHigh Druid of Mudrun before I was born. Maybe Kami will tell ussomething.’
‘Perhaps, but he islikely to have sworn some type of oath not to tell; however, maybewe can get him to talk indirectly,’ and he and Miranda walked backto Kami.
As Aquitain wasthinking how best to approach Kami, an eagle circled around them,flew in and landed then shape changed. It was Quab. He looked atthe temple and the small army around it and finally said,
‘I might have guessed.It fits in with everything else that’s happened. I come on behalfof the High Wizard. May we have a word in private Captain BrownBear, and you too as well Princess Miranda?’ and they walked off adistance.
‘What’s the problemQuab?’ asked Aquitain.
‘It’s happeningAquitain. Chaotic things are happening everywhere. Featherdown isbeside himself with worry. He doesn’t know what to do, and when hefound
