‘Err .. I’m Aquitain.My mistress is Zephira of Wolfram. She is a gem merchant from afar.She is here on business.’ He replied in a mechanical tone ofvoice.
‘What are you?’ shesaid with a distasteful look on her face.
‘I am a Logicon and I’mat your service, cat lady.’
‘My name is Miranda.I’m a druid and part of my job is to investigate strangers and keepout off-worlders. What is your business here?’ she asked.
Aquitain bowed.
‘It’s very nice to meetyou Druidess Miranda. We are here to visit our good friend HighWizard Featherdown. I believe he’s located nearby.’
‘Oh. You’re friends ofthe High Wizard. I’m sorry, I didn’t know,’ she replied.
‘That’s quite alright,’said Aquitain. ‘I wonder if you could show us the way.’
‘I suppose I could.’Miranda reached down to a small pouch on her right leg and pulledout a ball of cloth. She flung it out like someone emptying crumbsoff a tablecloth and the ball turned into a loincloth which shedonned, covering the lower half of her sumptuous body.
‘There is a dress code.This is in case we meet anyone on the track,’ she said smiling atZephira.
‘A good thing too,’said Zephira. ‘You’d drive any males mad with lust.’
Miranda smiled and setoff towards the edge of the jungle. Aquitain hurried along until hewas walking beside her, and noticed ahead of them a narrow trackwide enough for two. Zephira picked up her backpack and followed afew paces behind.
‘Are there many druidslike you on this world?’ he asked, trying to make his voice sound alittle less mechanical.
‘Why should I talk to ametal box?’ asked Miranda.
‘Perhaps it would beinteresting to tell your friends that you talked to a walking metalbox today.’
‘Ha. That’s a joke. Noone I know would be interested. I work alone in the jungle. I lookafter the animals and plants. I’m not interested in metalboxes.’
‘Perhaps you would beif you knew me better,’ said Aquitain.
‘Ha. That’s highlyunlikely,’ she said as they walked up a small rise and sawbuildings in the distance. ‘See those buildings, that’s the town ofTwin Towers. See those two wizard towers, the one to the rightbelongs to High Wizard Featherdown and the other on the left to hiscolleague Archwizard Granwell.’
‘By the Powers,’ saidZephira. ‘There’s two archwizards here. Whatever for?’
‘There’s a permanentgateway here. The one that you two should have used to arrivehere,’ replied Miranda.
‘Oh. That would explainit I suppose,’ said Zephira. ‘Thanks for your help. We’ll getgoing.’
‘You’re welcome,’ saidMiranda. ‘By the way I wouldn’t go trying to shoo away the junglecats around here. If you see them at all, they’re after you for ameal.’
‘Thank you for yourhelp Druidess Miranda! It’s been a pleasure to meet you and I hopewe meet again soon,’ said Aquitain, trying to exude a happytone.
Miranda smiled.‘Unlikely, box. As I said before, I spend most of my time in thejungle far from here.’
‘You wouldn’t perchanceknow of a druid called Alin Amber would you?’ asked Aquitain.
‘I know of him. Why doyou ask?’
‘Well, we areinterested in meeting him. We know a mutual friend,’ saidAquitain.
‘I don’t know where heis at the moment, but if I see him I’ll tell him about you,’Miranda replied. She looked around, removed her loincloth, storedit in her leg pouch, changed form to a black jungle cat andcasually walked back into the jungle.
‘Well aren’t you a realladies man,’ said Zephira mockingly.
‘I wonder if she wasreally a woman,’ wondered Aquitain aloud. ‘After all if she was atrue shape changer she could have been a male posing as awoman.’
‘Forget it slime ball,she’s a druid. Who cares if she’s really a male or female.’
‘It is important,’ saidAquitain, still thinking about her. ‘It’s a matter of how sheexpresses her individuality. Does she feel female in a female bodyor male in a male body? Does it change her way of thinking? Theseare things that I will have to explore.’
Zephira dropped herpack. ‘Listen, dear cousin, I don’t really care at the moment. I’mhungry and you’re supposed to be my servant. How come I’m carryingall the gear? Pick it up and walk behind me!’ and she strode offtowards the buildings in the distance. Aquitain gave her a rudegesture with his metal hand, which admittedly didn’t look veryrude, coming from a Logicon, picked up her pack and lugged italong, walking a respectful three paces behind her.
They each ploddedsilently along the dirt track towards the buildings, immersed intheir own thoughts.
‘It all happened soquickly,’ thought Zephira. ‘I was reading a book on the lawnoutside the mansion a few hours ago and here we are on anotherworld on the other side of the universe. It just seems wrongsomehow. Maybe I’m still there dreaming.’
Aquitain had differentthoughts. ‘I wonder if there’s a swamp nearby. I’d love to get outof this body shell and feel and taste the mud and water.’
As they closed in onthe outermost buildings the jungle abruptly gave way to cleared andfenced land. Inside the fences were strange looking creaturesmunching grass. Aquitain assumed that this must be a farm, and theanimals some type of domesticated farm animals. He had never seen afarm before but he had read about them.
‘I can smell seawater,’ said Zephira excitedly. ‘Maybe this town’s near the edge ofa sea. Oh. I hope so. You’ve never seen one have you? They’remagnificent. Water as far as the eye can see, and it’s salty. Thesmell is just wonderful. Quick, hurry up, I want to paddle my feetin it.’
They hurried into thesmall town, passing through it to the High Wizard’s towerresidence. Several of the locals paused to watch them pass butnobody talked to them. On approaching the large iron clad woodenfront door, a face on the large door knob said in several languages‘I’m sorry, High Wizard Featherdown is absent at present. Pleaseleave your name and business with the innkeeper at The Ugly BearInn.’
‘Damn,’ said Zephira.‘Typical country town. We’ll probably have to wait a week for himto show up. At least we’re by the seaside. Listen to those waves. Ithink we’d better get a room at that Ugly Bear Inn and find outwhen the wizard’s due to return.’
They retraced theirsteps and after asking a local for directions found the Inn andwent inside. Both
