The High Druid and theDruid Council had reacted very badly and begun to distrust him.Perhaps they guessed that he hadn’t revealed everything, or perhapsthey knew things that they weren’t prepared to reveal to him.Either way, he had become more isolated from the Council. Quab, thelocal druid, became a more important connection between him and theCouncil and they had recruited a senior wizard from offworld to actas his second-in-command.
To make matters worse,the Druid Council itself had recently become unstable, with twofactions fighting over its control. If the faction currently incontrol were overthrown, he knew it would mean trouble for him. Theother faction didn’t like him and would try to get rid of him, andnow it would all come to a head. Trouble was immanent, he knew,because Aquitain had finally arrived.
Chapter 7 The Fountain
Aquitain worked allthrough the night examining and identifying the magic items thatGranddad had given them. The rings and the powerstones were easy,taking only a few minutes. In fact, some of the powerstones werethose made by Aquitain over the last couple of years. The belt wasmore difficult, as he had never seen anything like it before and itheld no maker’s marque to give him any idea of who had made it orwhere it originated.
It took him a couple ofhours to discover that it was a hybrid item. It triggered amind-activated power from gemstones hidden within the belt, but didit so using a more conventional wizard method utilising a spokenactivation word. When worn and activated, the user was completelycovered, except for the face, in a black silky cloth-like materialthat was as tough as iron armour but as flexible as cloth armour.He knew Zephira would be pleased with it.
The amulet offorbearance was interesting. The fact that Grandad had given it toZephira to give to him suggested that Grandad didn’t think he couldcontrol the darkness within him. He rejected that outright andwould not wear it. He had control and would not give into thedarkness. He would block it, and not accept any help from theamulet.
The real problem wasthe ball of clay. No matter how he tested it, he couldn’t work outwhat it did. It certainly wasn’t normal clay. It was magic in astrange way that defied ordinary logic. He was still puzzling overit early in the morning when he heard a knock on the door andFeatherdown asked to see him.
He opened the door andthe High Wizard said ‘Who are you?’
‘I’m Aquitain, YourExcellency. I’ve shape changed to a newman shape as I’m more usedto working this way.’
‘Of course, myapologies! The spirit swapping incident. I should have guessed.
‘Necessity is themother of invention, Your Excellency. I’m a skilled artisan.’
‘Of course, myapologies again. What’s that disgusting smell?’
‘That’s due to me, YourExcellency. I had a meal two nights ago and being unaware ofcertain Logicon body functions I was caught unaware by the suddenexpulsion of body wastes. I have cleaned it up but it still smells.I intended to borrow a mop and bucket when everyone was awake.’
‘Of course, I shouldhave guessed. There is a fresh water stream about half a leaguenorth of here. It’s often used for swimming. You might find ituseful.’
He looked around andcontinued ‘Impressive, it looks like you’ve made yourself at homealready. I hear you’ve met Jaztrix, my apprentice. She’s veryimpressed by your knowledge of magic reagents. She said you knoweverything about magic reagents. I suppose that you’ve alreadydiscovered why we sited the township here. There are quite a fewmagic nodes like this around this world. Many of them have ancienttemples on them. I liked the location of this one here by the sea,so chose it for our township. I used to do a little itemmanufacture myself in the past, but these days I can’t seem to findtime. I’m sure that you’ll find the workshop very good for bothmaking and repairing items.
‘I’ve brought you someitems that need repairs, and a translator crystal to update to getyou going. I’ll pay market rates for repairs, you pay to replaceany materials that you use, plus I charge you twenty percent ofprofits for workshop rental. How does that sound?’
‘Thank you, that’squite generous Your Excellency,’ said Aquitain.
‘Good, now I’m goingaway for a few days but I’ve got a little problem that I’d like youto look into. There’s something wrong with the fountain in town.It’s magically operated so it should be within your area ofexpertise, however, you will need to be careful. It blew up a fewmonths ago and injured some bystanders, and I still don’t knowwhy.’
‘That sounds more likea job for a wizard engineer, Your Excellency.’
‘I agree, but we don’thave one and you’re closest we’ve got.’
‘I’ll do my best,’Aquitain replied, but he thought ‘Damn, I can see I’m soon going tobe the town’s magic handyman.’
‘Good! I look forwardto a successful outcome,’ announced the High Wizard, who thenleft.
‘Great. They all goaway for a few days holiday and leave me here to patch up thetown’s problems!’ he thought. ‘It sounds like I’m at homeagain.’
Five minutes laterZephira showed up.
‘Aquitain, what’s thatterrible smell?’
‘Zephira I’m a Logiconand I had a meal the other night and I don’t know everything aboutthis body yet.’
‘Oh. I didn’t thinkthey ate anything. I’ve never seen a Logicon eat,’ she said.
‘Well we do and we shitas well, so get used to it!’
‘Don’t take yourfrustrations out on me,’ she replied testily. ‘I’m not your mother.You’re going to have to toilet train yourself,’ and she left withan annoyed look on her face.
Two hours later he hada mop and bucket cleaning the floor when someone else knocked onthe door.
‘Go away. I’m not openfor business yet,’ he yelled, but the knocking continued. He wentto the door and opened it, and found a tall, wiry, deeplysun-tanned man with a bushy brown beard standing there, wearing adruid’s home spun robe. The druid handed him a bag containing astrongly fragrant herbal powder.
‘Use it in the bucket,about a half a handful. It works wonders on foul air.’
Aquitain took the bagof powder and tried it. It foamed in the water like soap but gaveoff a wonderfully fresh stimulating aroma.
