There was sack beddingcontaining straw against the wall for about four people, and a pileof grey woollen military style blankets nearby. The bedding he haddrawn out last night for Miranda and himself lay dishevelled in themiddle of the room near all the gear that they had brought withthem. This was not exactly a suite like that he was used to back inthe mansion, but circumstances had changed and he tried to look atthings optimistically. He was alive and accompanied by a beautifulwoman. What more could a young man want? Then he grinned and erasedthe thought.
He would be contentwith learning to fly, translating the Yith scrolls and makingMiranda something useful. But first he needed to get this placebetter set up. Lights first and then he might get some timber andmake them a table and chairs. He had the tools and the skill, sowhy not make them a bit more comfortable - there was no guessinghow long he might be here.
First he replaced thetwo lanterns with light balls. They were much more efficient,giving off no smell and increased light. In fact, he had made themwith three intensity settings for the customer who had orderedthem. They were a bit more expensive but much more useful. He hunganother in the hatch room and the fourth in the corridor betweenthe hatch room and the living room.
Next he transformedinto a Logicon, and taking Alpha with him and using Alpha‘s sighthe climbed up the chimney of the fireplace. It went up to ceilingheight then travelled parallel to the floor for several paces,where it was blocked by rocks that had caved in. He returned andthen went down the drain. The taste of the rock was familiar. Itwas limestone. Immediately he wondered if there were caves below.There were always caves in limestone rock.
He slithered down thedrain and discovered that there was another cave-in blocking thedrain, but that the water had found an alternate way down. Heslithered downwards for at least two hundred paces and eventuallyfound the cave. It wasn’t big being only about four paces across,but it was at sea level and there was salt water at the bottom. Heconsidered whether he should continue, but remembered that Mirandadidn’t know where he was, so returned to the living room.
‘Where have you been,wizard? You worried me. I thought you might have gone wandering.You must not go outside unless you are with me.’
Aquitain changed to hisnewman form. ‘I’m sorry. I was exploring the drains. There’s a cavebelow. What’s wrong?’
‘We have someproblems,’ she said. ‘One I know about and can sort out, but theothers. I am at a loss.’
‘Miranda, wizardsspecialize in sorting out problems. Sit and tell me aboutthem.’
‘No, these are druidproblems wizard. I will sort them out.’
‘Miranda, these are myproblems as well. They are both our problems until you leave, thenI must know how to deal with them myself.’
‘Very well wizard, thecat I fought last night is a female, a strong female with a largeterritory. We are in her territory and she will not like that.’
‘Can’t you talk to herand tell her that we will only be here for a short time?’
‘Normally that might bethe case. However, I have already fought with her and she is inheat. It would be easier to talk to a rock.’
‘So what can we do?’asked Aquitain.
‘I will mark out asmall territory around the ruins. That may keep her away so that wecan walk above with relative safety.’
‘What do you mean, markout a territory?’
‘You are so naive attimes, wizard. I will go around and piss on everything. That’s howyou mark a territory.’ she said.
‘Oh. I get your drift.They are very sensitive to other cat’s smells.’
‘Yes and there will beonly two reactions. She will avoid the area or try to kill me.’
‘Oh. Well, what aboutthe other problems?’
‘That is where I am ata loss. There are too many cats for the food available. It happensat times. Sometimes there is plenty of food for the prey and theyproduce many offspring; then there is plenty of food for thepredators and they increase in numbers until there is not enoughfood. They die of starvation, kill each other or leave the area,allowing the numbers of prey to increase and start the cycleagain.’
‘So what’s theproblem?’ Aquitain asked. ‘They’re at the end of the predatorcycle.’
‘Maybe and maybe not.This doesn’t look like the sort of area that would be conducive tothat sort of cycle. There is something wrong here. The jungle feelswrong. It feels like there is something malign out there. I havenever felt anything like it before. It scares me, and believe mewhen a druid is scared all the animals are scared. They don’t actnormally and they don’t talk. They attack or run. It is verydangerous in the jungle out there at the moment.
‘There is also anotherproblem. There is a ruined little people village down there. Thereare signs that they were here as recently as one to two weeks ago.But something has attacked the village and presumably driven themaway.’
‘Perhaps the cats haveattacked them?’
‘That is unlikelywizard. It was a Jacintra village. They worship Jacintra, theJungle Cat spirit. They would not attack the cats, nor viceversa.’
‘Then we have only twoproblems, since the third is related to the second. Whatevercleared out the village must also be unsettling the cats. We needto go down to the village and search for clues,’ suggestedAquitain.
‘I can’t allow that,wizard. If a cat attacked it would rip you to sheds in seconds. Iwouldn’t be able to save you.’
‘Miranda. There are twoof us and we have better minds than cats. I’m not totally useless,regardless of what my cousin seems to think. If I wear my Logiconbody shell down there I’m like a tortoise. As
