‘Thanks, that’s goodstuff,’ said Aquitain. ‘Who are you?’
‘I’m Quab. I’m thesenior druid responsible for this area of the jungle. I’m sorry Iwas away when you arrived. Featherdown told me about your spiritswap problem and that you took on this job to help our smallcommunity here. I came to thank you, and when I heard about yourdigestive problem I knew just the thing you’d need. I’ve shapechanged to just about everything you can imagine and dumped on thefloor to everyone’s embarrassment on several occasions. Maybe I canalso help you with your diet.’
Aquitain couldn’tbelieve his luck.
‘Come in, come in Quaband grab a seat. Does news always travel this fast in thistown?’
‘Unfortunately, yes!Everyone knows everyone else’s business, often before it happens.There’s little else to talk about. You’re the hot topic at themoment, so if you sneeze everyone will know about it before you canwipe your nose. Your friend is also very topical but they’ve had achance to meet her. You’re much more mysterious, and evenenvied.
‘What have I got thatthey would envy?’
‘I believe you talkedto a friend of mine called Miranda. She’s never talked to a singlemale in this town. You’re the first.’
‘You’re joking aren’tyou? I can understand why they’re all envious, she’s beautiful, butshe seemed like a normal young woman who’s probably a bit shy andlonely because she spends all of her time in the jungle.’
‘You’re largelycorrect, she’s a lovely girl and a good friend, but quite feral innature and she avoids men like the plague as her mother hascoloured her opinion of them. It’s quite possible that the onlyreason she talked to you was that you were in that iron box.’
‘I’ll keep that in mindif I see her again,’ said Aquitain. ‘Is she still around here?’
‘No, she’s returned toher territory but she does come to see me regularly. She should beback in four to six weeks, unless of course I need to call her backto help me with some job that I am too busy to do.’
Aquitain wasn’t quitesure what Quab was hinting at, but he quickly jumped in just incase.
‘Err ... Quab. WhileI’ve been trapped in this body I’ve learnt how to shape change to anewman shape but that’s all I can do. I was wondering if you wouldknow anyone who might teach me to shape change to other creatures,assuming of course it’s not breaking any local laws or taboos.’
‘I’m pretty busy at themoment but I’ll look into it for you,’ he said with a smile on hisface.
‘Thank you very much.How can I repay you for the bag of air freshening powder?’
‘I think I’ve got anamulet that needs fixing. It hasn’t worked properly for a while.Perhaps you can have a look at it for me?’ he asked with a wrysmile.
‘Of course, of coursethat’s what I’m here for,’ Aquitain assured him, and then heremembered the fountain that Featherdown had asked him to fix.
‘Before you go. I’vebeen asked to have a look at the town fountain. The High Wizardsaid that it’s not been working properly. Do you know if anyoneknows what’s wrong with it?’
‘It’s possessed,’ saidQuab.
‘What do you mean,spirits of some kind?’
‘No, small waterelementals have taken possession of it, and young air elementalsare fighting to get access to it. However, as they’re nearinvisible the town people think it’s possessed by spirits.’
‘Why are the elementalsfighting?’ asked Aquitain.
‘I don’t know, Ihaven’t asked them,’ replied Quab.
‘Can you talk to them?Miranda said that druids can talk to some creatures.’
‘To be honest, werarely see them and I don’t know if they can talk.’
‘She said you have anability that allows you to talk into their minds and you can tellby their body language and reactions whether they understand you ornot.’
‘Did she now. I’ll haveto have a word to her about giving away druid secrets.’
‘I’m sorry. I didn’tknow it was a secret. It wasn’t her fault. I asked her how youtalked with animals and she told me, in general terms of course, nodetail.’
‘Why don’t you use thatmind wizard stuff of yours? That works on creature minds as well asnewman minds doesn’t it?’ Quab suggested.
‘I don’t know whetherit would work on them, but I suppose I could try something,’ hereplied.
‘Good, I’ll leave itwith you. Have a good day,’ said the druid, and left.
‘They’re all damn goodat finding me work to do,’ he muttered to himself as he put the mopand bucket away, then asked Alpha whether he had any hidden memoryabout air and water elementals.
To his completesurprise Alpha replied that there was quite a bit. It seemed thatsometime earlier in his life he had memorized a complete book aboutthem and locked it away in memory. ‘Good!’ he thought, ‘But first Ihad better have a look at this fountain and perhaps ask a fewlocals when the trouble occurs,’ so he slid back into his bodyshell and set out for a tour of the town.
Twin Towers was apeaceful and sleepy small town located on the rocky eastern coastof a continent overlooking a beautiful azure sea. It was namedafter the two wizard towers in the town that dominated the skyline.The tower opposite the one in which Aquitain was now locatedbelonged to an Archwizard friend of the High Wizard calledGranwell, who was away at the moment.
According to thelocals, the only reason that the town and towers were here was toservice the extra dimensional gateway through which most people andgoods travelled. They said that it was the only permanent gatewayinto Mudrun, and hence the justification for two powerful wizardsable to dissuade unwanted visitors. Aquitain knew that if the placehad anything of value there would be other more private gatewayshidden somewhere. He knew a bit about gateways, as Panmagica hadhundreds of them going to all the known worlds in the universe.
Temporary gatewayscould be created between worlds by very powerful wizards and mindwizards, but they were usually only opened for a couple of minutesat the most. He and Zephira had arrived through one of these.Permanent gateways were only constructed by very powerful andskilled wizards, at huge expense. They were created for trade, andconsequently they
