Zephira asked aboutlocal customs regarding the mode of dress for men and women, andthe carrying of weapons. It appeared that the Druid Council set aminimum dress code that applied to all sentient males and femalesof each kind.
Newman men and womenoutside the towns were required to wear a loincloth when in thepresence of members of their own kind. In the towns they had towear a full robe from neck to knee. Owing to the hot weather mostwore a simple one-piece robe, but a loose shirt and pantaloons werequite acceptable. Both men and women wore sandals on their feet andwicker hats while out in the sun.
All weapons were legalto own but not usually carried around the town, as there was rarelyany need for them. However, they were carried if people venturedout of town into the jungle, as it was wild and dangerous. Mostpeople in the town only ventured out into the jungle for huntingtrips that were organised by professional hunters living in thetown.
Having securedlodgings, Zephira couldn’t wait to visit the sea. So after they hadstowed their baggage in their room, they headed off for the nearestbeach, about ten minutes away.
The sight of the seaand the beautiful golden sandy beach had an hypnotic effect onAquitain. The water somehow called to him, and it took quite a lotof mental control to stay sitting in his body shell watching thewaves pounding in with their rhythmic crashing and booming, whilethe taste of the sea lingered in the salty air.
He sat on the warmgolden sand and became lost in a trance-like state as he absorbedthe unfamiliar sights, the sounds and the ambience of the place. Hehad read books about the sea but none of them did it justice.Zephira removed her sandals and went paddling in the water runningback and forth like an excited child as the waves ebbed and flowedpeacefully.
Small groups of greyand white sea birds crouched in the sand with beaks pointing outinto the cool breeze blowing in from over the water. They watchedher suspiciously and darted quickly away if she ventured too close.Eventually she came back and joined him, not talking, just sitting,watching and wondering what the future would bring as the sunslowly dropped over the horizon behind them and the shadows beganto lengthen.
When it became so darkthat they could hardly see, Zephira suggested that they go back tothe inn for some food and drink. Aquitain didn’t fancy inn food andwas not keen on the attention he was likely to get, so he suggestedthat he’d go for a walk whilst Zephira had a meal and he’d meet herlater in their room. She was a little concerned about him being outalone but too hungry to worry, so she let him go. After all whatsort of trouble could a walking metal box get into in a town thissize?
He decided that he’d gofor a walk back the way they had come earlier in the day. He had afeeling that Miranda the druid girl might still be there, and feltlike talking to her. She was a shape changer like him, so he felt akind of kinship with her. The night was beautifully warm, the moonhad risen and he could hear lots of strange jungle noises. He hadno idea what sort of creatures made any of the sounds but it didn’tworry him. Logicons didn’t have any emotions so he wasn’tapprehensive or worried, but he was a little excited and wonderedwhether that counted as an emotion.
Today he had left hisprevious life behind. He wasn’t Rob anymore; he wasn’t even anewman any more. The exotic smells and the darkness were startingto affect him. He could feel an urge to leave his body shell and gohunting. He knew that if he were a newman, shape changed to looklike a Logicon, there would be no way that he would feel like hedid now. The Logicon body was exerting a strong effect on hismind.
He concentrated onwalking and watching where he was going. The moonlight was brightbut the shadows hid uneven changes in the ground that caused him tostumble occasionally as if he were drunk.
The track passed by thelast farm building and headed toward the jungle, which looked likea solid wall of darkness. He could hear his metal footstepscrunching along the ground. If he had been a newman he knew hisheart would be racing by now.
Darkness, strangesounds, alien territory was the stuff that terrified newmans but hefelt no fear at all, just an elevated feeling of anticipation. Hethought about this while he walked along and concluded that it mustbe related to the Logicons' ancestry.
They had poor vision,but an excellent sense of smell and could hear vibrations throughthe ground. They had no specific organs to attack but weren’tdefenceless either, since they could spit horrible acidic goo thatburnt exposed flesh on contact. Perhaps they were night hunters. Ifso, it would make sense that they would have no fear in a darkjungle environment.
The track reached theedge of the jungle and continued on into it, toward the pile ofstones that marked the place of their arrival. He slowed to halfhis normal walking pace, as it was darker and more difficult tojudge his footing. Suddenly there was a growl and the scraping,crunching sound of a creature running towards him from behind. Hewent to turn but it leapt, landing on top of him, clawing andbiting at his body shell and overbalancing him forward. He fellwith his face towards the ground. The creature clawed and chewed athis shell but to no avail. He was like a tortoise. There wasnothing edible outside his shell.
Moments later he hearda thump as if two bodies hit and a winded yelp, growls, and thentwo bodies struggling on the ground only a few
