The circular stone roomwas about seven paces in diameter. The wall was smooth and coatedwith white plaster and held a 360 degree diorama of the temple andits surrounds. There were also thin vertical arrow-slit likewindows that could be used for direct viewing outside. In thecentre of the room was a circular console containing an array oflevers that protruded from its side. The knobs on the levers werecolour-coded and words inscribed in ancient Draconic told of theirpurpose.
On the flat topside ofthe console was a map of the temple and its surroundings, withten-pace pace concentric range circles from the pyramid apex. AsAquitain had surmised, the range circles went well beyond thedirect environs of the temple. He checked the inscriptions on thelevers and found one that created a shield around the temple, and asecond that varied its power. There were also control levers toactivate an internal defence, but only on the first level.Presumably the place was considered lost if anyone got further thanthat.
There were two smalltables and several chairs in the room, a teleport circle, and astraw filled mattress on the floor. The tables held food scraps,which were quite fresh. The most important finds were sitting underthe mattress out of sight. A magic scroll with a note attached anda very fancy and expensive weapon called a Rod of Majestic Might.After he had read the note written in ancient Draconic, he was veryexcited, but wary. The note said.
A.G.
Here is the ElendariChampion’s Rod that you asked me to steal from the Crin Queen. Ourfriends should look upon your proposal quite favourably if you giveit to them. I have also managed to get the Yith scroll that willallow Aquitain to change his bear body to a newman body. Thatshould please his girlfriend.
Alin Amber.
It plainly stated whatXentos had told them. Alin Amber had stolen the weapon from theCrin, but on the orders of AG. Perhaps the scroll was stolen aswell. What a temptation? A scroll that could change his body tonewman form again. That would be wonderful. He could hug and kissMiranda, but it could also be incredibly frustrating, as they couldstill do no more than that.
If he told Mirandaabout the rod she would want to give it back to her friend the Crinqueen. What if the scroll had come from there? Would Miranda wantto give that back as well? What a dilemma, he couldn’t decide whatto do. The note said that the rod belonged to the ElendariChampion. Who was that? Did the Crin steal it from him? He had nospecial reason to be kind to the Crin Queen; after all she hadbanished him from her domain. Perhaps it should be returned to theElendari Champion as his father was intending but, who and wherewas this person?
He felt a little guiltyhiding this stuff from Miranda but strictly speaking this could beconsidered loot from a successful battle. Perhaps he couldnegotiate the return of the rod for the scroll as a reward. Hedecided to keep quiet about his find until he could discover alittle more about the rod’s true owner, the origin of the scrolland whether it could really change him to a newman. Then he wouldbe in a better position to decide what to do about them.
He changed to hisLogicon form, slithered out of the temple control room through oneof the arrow-slit widows carefully closing it behind him, andreformed as a bear outside and teleporting to Featherdown’s towerhid the rod and the scroll in the workshop, and went up to visitFeatherdown.
Chapter 39 What am I?
Featherdown was in apanicky state. He was getting reports from all over Mudrun ofstrange occurrences. He had most of his young wizards out checkingon them and getting statements from injured victims, survivors andeyewitnesses. He had a large map of the world hung on the wall andwas mapping the locations of the problems to see if there were anytrends, and it looked like there were. He was very short temperedwhen he saw Aquitain.
‘What in damnation doyou think that you’re doing, taking twenty of my guards to look forlost lizard children? I’ve got chaos all around the world at themoment. I need all the guards here in case we have to quell a riot.I’m not quite sure whether it’s the rebel druids or Yith druidscalled Yithmardu. Either way I’ve got more trouble than people todeal with it.
‘From what I hear fromoff world, there’s been a lot of Yith activity in the last fewweeks. My agents think that they’re up to something. I might addthey do this sort of thing before an attack to unsettle people. Ina way, I’m hoping it’s the rebel faction but I can’t be sure untilI catch one of them in the act and that’s near impossible.
‘What happened at thetemple? I’m hearing about all sorts of crazy heroics from you, butit seems that you suffered a lot of casualties for meagreresults?’
Aquitain gave him aquick rundown on what had happened, but said nothing about hisbelief that Alin Amber and AG were involved, as other than the noteattached to the scroll he had no proof. The only good thing fromFeatherdown’s perspective was that he confirmed that there wereYith involved, which to him suggested that maybe the Yith wereplanning an attack. He was also pleased that the Mask had beendealt with, as that was one less problem he had to worry about.
‘I’m sorry about theoutcome of the Curbut trial. I’ll get the bastard if he comesanywhere near here. There are major troubles in the Druid Councilat the moment. The word is that there will soon be a challenge tothe Council leadership. If the current High Druid won’t quit thenthey will decide who is High Druid by single combat, most likely tothe death of one of them. I wouldn’t put it past either one of themto try to have the other assassinated. Perhaps that’s why the rebelfaction wanted Curbut released.
