Rob was surprised butalso pleased. His father had cared enough about him to give him aspecial name. He would use it with pride. He wasn’t so sure aboutthe present. What good was a ball of clay? He would have to examineit in more detail later, so he stowed it in his body shell.
‘Mother, from now on Iwill be Aquitain the Logicon, servant to Melanie theMagnificent.’
Melanie came runningdown to them with a pack on her back. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I have a newname too. I am now Zephira, gem merchant of Wolfram. Remember it,my little metal servant!’
‘Don’t get too carriedaway with yourself,’ said Rob.
‘Ha ha!’ Melanielaughed, ‘I told you how he’d react.’
They all laughed alittle, hugged Rob and he changed shape into his Logicon form andslid into his body shell.
‘Here Melanie,’ saidGranddad. ‘It’s a present from me to help keep you safe,’ and hehanded her the thick black belt. ‘Rob’s got some rings for you aswell, and here’s a special amulet of forbearance. Get him to wearit. It should stop him from blacking out.’
‘Bye all,’ Robfarewelled them using mindspeak as he entered the small room underthe stairwell. Granddad had opened a temporary gateway to anotherworld there. He waved goodbye, held Granddad’s and Melanie’s handsand stepped through to another place, far, far away from Panmagica.Rob immediately recognised where he was. It was a small garden neara stone cottage on an island in a warm tropical sea, where he hadspent holidays as a child.
Granddad beckoned Roband Melanie to follow him to a cairn of rocks. He spoke an arcaneword over the cairn and a large rock at the base of the pile glowedwith magic symbols.
‘Rob, memorize thesesymbols so that you can use them if you ever have to gate betweenworlds. They are the universal coordinates of this island. If youneed a secure sanctuary you may use it, but limit your time here toan absolute minimum. It is deep within Yith territory. Rememberalso, that if we ever have to flee from Panmagica you will find ushere.’
Granddad pulled out ascroll from a pocket within his gown and started chanting in thewizard tongue. Shortly another gateway appeared before them.
‘Go through there. It’sa world called Mudrun. It’s a strange place, but I’m sure you’llfind it interesting. Seek High Wizard Featherdown, he’s a goodfriend of mine. He should be able to help you find Alin Amber, yourfather’s agent. Don’t tell anyone that you entered their worldthrough a temporary gateway.
‘One final thing! Ifyou get in a very tight situation and don’t think you will survive,allow yourself to black out.’
‘But you’ve always saidI mustn’t allow that to happen Grandad,’ Rob said, quitesurprised.
‘You’re a good lad Rob,but there might be a time when you need to let your dark side runfree. I hope not, but it may be your only chance at survival. Takecare and luck be with you both. I will contact you by a message inyour dreams.’
Chapter 5 Welcome toMudrun
Zephira the gemmerchant, wearing leather armour and carrying a backpack and hercompanion Aquitain the Logicon, stepped through the gateway to aremote alien world like none they had ever experienced before. Itwas bright and sunny and alive with strange sounds.
The air was hotand humid and reeked of the sweet smell of decaying vegetationmixed with the perfume from colourful flowers. There were birds andinsects everywhere. They saw butterflies for the first time, someas big as a newman hand, fluttering in every direction.
Aquitain noticed asmall heap of loose rocks in the centre of the small open patch ofjungle where they stood. Lying on top was a wooden sign bearing thewords Twin Towers, written in black above an arrow that pointedtoward the dense jungle undergrowth, just paces away.
He used his power todetect magic, and a set of location symbols appeared on one of thelarger rocks at the base of the heap. ‘Great!’ he thought. ‘Ateleport marker.’ He memorized the symbols in case he needed toteleport here sometime.
‘By the Powers it’shumid here,’ remarked Zephira as she unloaded her pack onto theground and began stripping off her leather armour to put onsomething more suitable.’
‘Aren’t you embarrassedI might watch?’ said Aquitain in a strange mechanical voice.
‘What! Be embarrassedby a slime ball in an iron box? You’ve got to be joking.’ Zephiralaughed, then suddenly realised that he had used the Logicon voice.‘It doesn’t sound like you Rob. Can’t you make it sound a littlemore like a newman voice?’
‘Maybe with a littlepractice,’ said Aquitain, looking around them. Suddenly he froze.‘Mel ... I mean mistress Zephira, we have company, behind you.’
Zephira, already halfout of her armour, spun around and saw a large black jungle catsitting at the edge of the trees, watching them.
‘It doesn’t look toohungry, otherwise it would have attacked,’ she said, carefullysliding the armour back on and reaching for her sword. The cat satpatiently and watched.
‘What do we do now?’asked Aquitain, a little unsure.
‘Go and shoo it away,’she suggested. ‘You’re made of metal. It can’t hurt you.’
‘Thanks mistress, I amsupposed to be your assistant not your personal bodyguard.’ Hestomped off towards the cat waving his metal arms and shouting‘Shoo. Shoo,’ but it didn’t budge.
He stopped about threepaces from it waiting for it to react, but it just sat therelooking at him as if trying to decide what he was. Moments laterthere was a blur as the cat morphed into a naked young newman womanwith honey brown skin, yellow eyes and long black hair down to herwaist.
She said something tothem which was obviously in a local dialect, as the crystaltranslators they were carrying did not respond.
‘Do you know galactictrade common?’ he asked, and she responded immediately in the samelanguage.
‘Where are you from?’she asked. ‘This world is restricted you know.’
Aquitain was stunned.To his newman eyes she would be considered very beautiful. To hisLogicon outlook that was secondary to the fact that she
