He held it out in frontof him and said in Draconic:
‘Air brother I commandthee to appear!’ The ball of crystal went cloudy. The wind startedto swirl around him and moments later he heard a voice from abovein Draconic.
‘What is thy request,air brother friend?’
‘I would have yourefresh the stale air in that cave air, brother - we cannot breathein there.’ The elemental flew to the entrance and began swirling onthe spot. A whirlwind of dust appeared and grew stronger andstronger, then shot into the cave. A gale blew out of the cave fora minute or two and the elemental returned and confirmed that thejob was done. Aquitain thanked it and it disappeared.
‘Quickly before the badair builds up again,’ she said.
‘Wait a moment,’ hecautioned, ‘I may be able to lessen the effect of the fear feelingby using a calming mantra. It’s a powerful verse that calms my mindwhen I am scared or angry. If I direct it at your mind and yourelax and are receptive to it, I might be able to get it to work onyou.’
‘All right, if youthink it might help,’ she said.
‘Hold my hands, closeyour eyes, concentrate on my spirit aura and relax your mind.’
He closed his eyes andconcentrated on her spirit aura and began silently chanting theverse. She began to pick it up and repeat it in her own mind.
‘Do you feelanything?’
‘Yes my mind feelsnumb, less worried about things. It is sort of like a prayer, butnot directed to the Lady.’
‘That’s it. Try to keepthat feeling in your head.’ And holding hands, they ran off towardsthe cave entrance together.
The intense smell ofdeath was much diminished. It was strong and almost nauseating, butthe air was no longer toxic and lethal. The calming mantra togetherwith her courage and stubbornness was enough to allow her to enterthe shrine with Aquitain. He created light on Alpha and the wholearea lit up, then he augmented the radiance by boosting it with hispower to control light until Alpha shone like a miniature sun,illuminating the whole terrible scene.
The inside of the cavewas roughly circular and thirty paces across, the floor and wallswere of the same red-brown colour as the dirt outside the entrance.The walls rose, forming a dome ten paces above their heads.Attached to the walls were light balls but they were notilluminated. Across from the entrance and painted on the wall wasthe giant head of a jungle cat.
Scattered throughoutthe cave in contorted, anguished positions as if they had sufferedhorrible deaths lay the bloated bodies of dozens of short, redskinned lizard-like creatures, with scaly dog-like heads. Groups ofthe creatures that lay on either side of the entrance carried smallbows and tubes of arrows. Some larger ones with spears beside themwere spread out in two rows as if to block anyone entering thecave, while behind them against the walls lay dozens of unarmedfemales and young.
‘The Lady have Mercy,’said Miranda in shock. ‘They have been exterminated like vermin.This is murder of the foulest kind. Someone will pay dearly forthis insult to nature. These little people are kind and generousand harm no one. They roam the jungle, nurturing it and tending toits needs. The druids could not have made the world like it iswithout the help of these creatures, and they have been callouslyslaughtered.
‘We must make amends.Their spirits are trapped here in this cave. That is the terriblefear we can feel. They are suffering great anguish. We must helpthem find the way to their ancestors.’
Miranda spread out herarms and gave voice to a prayer to the Lady to calm their fears. Itwas the most beautiful loving and soothing prayer that Aquitain hadever heard. It reverberated around the cathedral-like space,spreading hope and courage throughout the cavern and he could feelthe change in the air around him. The feeling of fear and despairsubsided, transformed to one of hope and expectation.
Miranda began coughingand ran out of the cave followed closely by Aquitain.
‘That air is still badin there. I don’t think I could work in there for long. We need toincinerate the bodies of the dead little people and hold a ritualparting for them.’
‘What if I pile them ina heap in the middle of the cave - do you think you could call onyour goddess to burn them?’ asked Aquitain.
‘Perhaps. The Ladyallows us in times of need to use a prayer to summon help from thecreatures around us. You don’t seem to be affected by the noxiousair in there. I know it is a terrible job, but if you could get thebodies into a heap I could call on a fire lizard or two to helpdispose of the bodies.’
‘Good. Then lets get toit. You stay out here until I’m finished. Don’t interrupt me unlesswe have a real problem. One of the stones in my headband will help,but it normally wouldn’t last long enough to do the whole job. I’llhave to go into a trance and supplement its power from my source.For that I’ll need absolute concentration, so you must watch myback as I’ll be defenceless.’
Aquitain took off hisheadband and removed each of the powerstones except for one andswallowed them. He allowed the headband of chaos matter to reshapeitself into its ball shape and then returned into the cave. Alphawas still giving off light, but of normal lantern intensity. Heissued a command in Draconic and all the light balls along thewalls lit up, illuminating the interior of the shrine.
He looked around andspotted a waist high box. ‘That will do fine,’ he thought, andmoved it to near the entrance of the shrine then stood on it as ifhe was going to conduct an orchestra. Miranda watched from tenpaces outside the cave where the air was breathable. He held thepowerstone in his right hand and the ball of chaos matter in theleft. He threw the chaos matter onto the floor and mentally formedit into a large scoop-like shovel, then he contacted thepowerstone. It held the power of telekinesis, the ability to usemind to move objects, and he invoked it now.
He chanted a Mantra ofConcentration and went into a mild trance. Mentally he grabbed thechaos
