‘I am bowing to yourwisdom, Spirit Bear. None of us are knowing the future, only thepast. I will be coming with you and giving you the mask,’ saidKami, and he, Loma, Aquitain and Miranda teleported to the Jetivillage where they retrieved the mask and then teleported to Loma’scamp.
‘Why have we come here,Spirit Lord?’ asked Loma.
‘The priest asked onlyfor the mask. Not for the spirit in the mask. We are going toremove the spirit, then the mask will no longer be dangerous,’replied Aquitain. ‘To do that I will need your permission to usethe wand and your Urn of the Dead.’
‘If it will be savingour children and preventing further mischiefs then I would be beinga poor leader if I refused, Spirit Lord,’ Loma responded. ‘I amgiving you my permission.’
‘I am seeing you beinga cunning spirit bear again,’ said Kami. ‘You have chosen awonderful favoured one, Miranda,’ and Miranda blushed a little thensaid,
‘I think so too,’ butshe was still terrified at what Aquitain was thinking about whatAlpha had said. She had decided not to hassle him. He needed time.Alpha was right. This was a very important decision, one thataffected her future as well. Once he had the mask problem fixedthen he would have to think about the Alpha problem. She silentlyprayed to the Lady to give him the wisdom to decide.
Aquitain dug out thewand and the urn from the fireplace where they were hidden. Hecontacted the Omen and told it what he wanted to do. It agreed. Heopened the Urn of the Dead and told everyone to stand well back, ashe uncovered the mask and thumped in on the ground beside theurn.
‘Hello again Aquitain,’said Erastius. ‘What are we doing today?’
‘Today you get to meetJacintra. Good bye,’ said Aquitain, and pressed the Omen againstthe mask. Erastius was sucked out of the mask and into the wand.Then Aquitain pressed the wand against the urn and commanded it torelease Erastius into the Urn. Erastius’s spirit was sucked intothe Urn, and Aquitain replaced the lid then contacted the mask. Itanswered like a normal mind activated item. It gave its name, itspurpose, its manufacturer and its secret destruction sequence, asoriginally designed by Aquitain’s grandfather.
‘I’m sorry Loma. Thespirit that caused all the deaths of your friends and relatives isnow itself dead. I suspect that you would have preferred a bigceremony with all your people present but time is against us. I cannow in all conscience swap the mask for your children knowing thatit will not harm any others.’
‘I am being greatlyhappy, Great Lord. If you say the spirit is dead then I amrejoicing, but when my people’s children are free then all mypeople will be greatly rejoicing. That is being more important thana dead spirit.’
Kami just smiled andMiranda had no words to express her feeling of joy. Nothing wouldpart her from this bear. Nothing except the bear himself, and onthat matter she was now more terrified than ever. Now he had todecide what to do about herself and Alpha.
‘We should head backand make the exchange,’ he said.
She couldn’t stand thesuspense any longer.
‘What are you going todo about Alpha, Tain?’
He looked her square inthe eyes and said.
‘Do you really trustthe Lady?’
‘Of course,’ shesaid.
‘Then it looks like Iwill have to trust her as well,’ he said.
‘She gave me my lifeback again. She gave me strength and power and she gave me you. IWILL remove that damn tattoo. I don’t know how yet, but I will andwe will be joined. We will write our story not anyone else's. Wewill decide what happens and what doesn’t. I would never willinglybargain the lives of any of my friends or family away on vaguefears of what might happen in the future. The gods will wait on ourwhim and fancy, not us, on theirs.’
‘And I will fight withyou and await that special day Tain,’ she said as she hugged himand cried.
‘What is wrong?’ askedboth Kami and Loma.
‘Nothing is wrong,’said Miranda.
‘Everything is right.Let’s go and save your children,’ and they teleported back to Goth,then rode on Aquitain’s back to the group waiting in the corridorin the temple and entered the room.
Ishteth spoke. ‘What isyour decision bear?’
‘I will exchange themask for the children providing you assure me they will remainalive, and I will exchange my memory crystal called Alpha forZephira, but only after we remove the children.’
‘So be it,’ said theHigh Priest. ‘I will accept your word,’ and he ordered the wizardto remove the wall of arcane force and Loma called the children tohim; they ran over and he herded them out the door. Aquitain tossedthe mask to him and he examined it.
‘It looks real enough,but why doesn’t Erastius speak?’ he said.
‘Erastius is no longerpresent in the mask. In our last encounter Erastius and Jacintratried to overcome me together. I banished both of them back to theother world. The mask is intact otherwise. It still has all itspowers but is no longer haunted.’
‘Very astute! I commendyou on your abilities. I trust your memory crystal has not suffereda similar fate.’
‘No Alpha is quitefunctional but unlikely to give you any information, if that iswhat you wish.’
‘Alpha. I am sorry butI cannot let Zephira die,’ said Aquitain through their privatemindlink. ‘I will search for you and I will try to complete themission. This is the self-destruct sequence of the mask. I commandyou to contact the mask and use it after we leave. With luck itwill explode and kill these Yith, and you can hide until I findyou. Now communicate with Ishteth and allow yourself to becaptured.’
‘And what if I amdestroyed?’ asked Alpha.
‘You will always be apart of me. I will remember you fondly. Make sure these Yithbastards pay for the death and terror that they have visited uponus today,’ said Aquitain.
‘As you command,’ itreplied, and cut off its connection to him.
‘Ishteth you will findAlpha on the front of Zephira’s body. It will communicate with you,but know that
