‘Oh this isn’t good,’he thought. ‘One real door and two traps, but which is which?’ Helooked above him and saw that the block of rock over him could droponto him crushing him. ‘Perhaps three trapped doors,’ he mutteredto himself, and made his way back along the corridor seeking clues.Just inside the entrance he found a hole halfway up the wall withscratch marks around it.
‘Did the little peopleshaman wear an amulet, Miranda?’
‘Yes he wore a cat’sclaw like the Cat Mother,’ she replied. ‘Why?’
‘That is the answer Iwanted.’ And he changed into his Logicon form, slithered out of thetunnel onto the floor then reformed to his newman shape and toldher about the trap. ‘I think the hole in the wall is a keyhole, andthe key is likely to be a cat’s claw. Let’s search around and seeif we can find one. There must be one in a cat shrine somewhere.’But surprisingly, they found there wasn’t.
‘Miranda, can you shapechange to your cat form for me?’
‘Why?’ askedMiranda.
‘I need a key and yourclaws are the right size and shape.’
‘Do you expect me tolet you rip a claw out of my foot?’
‘No. I expect you totrust me,’ he said with a smile.
‘Why is it that you arealways saying that to me?
‘Why am I alwaysexpected to trust you, wizard?’
‘Because that’s whatfriends do, Mandy!’
‘Don’t call me Mandy!That is reserved for friends!’ she said. ‘Who said we’re friendsanyway, wizard?’
‘You did when youpleaded for my life with the Cat Mother. Are you saying now that avirtuous druid woman like yourself would lie to the CatMother?’
‘You are a bastard touse my own words against me, wizard. Next time I will disclaim allknowledge of you. See how you fare then.’
‘Come on Mandy, be agood girl, change to cat form!’ he said.
‘Don’t you dare call mea girl. I’m older than you by many years,’ she saidindignantly.
‘How old are you then?’he asked.
‘I’m … older than youand I don’t intend to tell you,’ she said. ‘You should know it’srude to ask a woman’s age.’ And she shape changed to her catform.
She sat in front of himwith her tail waving behind her, looking annoyed. He went to pickup her paw and she hissed at him, displaying her large canineteeth. He backed away a little.
‘Come on, Miranda. I’msorry if I upset you, but I only want to see the shape of yourclaws so that I can make a key the correct shape with my chaosmatter.’
She sat there for halfa minute observing his impatience, then raised a paw for him tosee. He examined her claws and shaped a part of his chunky necklaceto look like a claw. She changed back to her newman form with asmirk on her face and laughed.
‘I scared you for amoment, didn’t I, wizard? You should have seen the look on yourface.’
Miranda was beginningto enjoy the word and mind play with Aquitain, and she wasdetermined to give as good as she got.
He looked at her with asad expression on his face, shook his head and walked to the wallwhere the tunnel was located.
‘What?’ she said. ‘Whyare you looking like that?’
‘I feel sad, Mandy. Iwas hoping when the Cat Mother made you a cat friend I was going tobe wrong.’
‘Wrong about what?’ sheasked a little worried.
‘Well I rememberreading about spirit animals and they’re all chaotic. When she madeyou a cat friend it meant that you’d become chaotic like her. I cansee that you’re already changing. You’ll be a chaotic druid?’
Miranda suddenly becameserious.
‘Don’t joke about that,wizard. The Cat Mother has already stated that you are an Agent ofChaos. If that is true I am going against all my principles justbeing with you. I am a preserver; my job is to maintain the balancethat chaos tries to destroy.’
‘But what if there istoo much order or the balance is poorly struck, perhaps then it isyour job to be chaotic and reset the balance more evenly.’
‘How can there be toomuch order in the world?’
‘Easily! What ifeveryone went to bed at nine and woke at five, what if everyone ateonly what was good for them, what if everyone was nice to eachother, what if no one got drunk, what if everyone paid their taxesand no one was ever robbed. What if the wind blew the same eachday, and it only rained gently. What if the clouds were all shapedlike circles and people all looked the same. That would be too muchorder. The people would all be bored to death. Life is passionateand chaotic. If I am an Agent of Chaos then I am an agent thatfavours life.’
Miranda was gettingannoyed with him again. Why did a lot of the things he said makesense? His ramblings must be affecting her. She would have to leavehim soon, or he might corrupt her.
‘I think you are anagent that talks too much. Why don’t you go and get our treasurebefore we have uninvited guests?’
‘That is a good idea,’he said and, changing shape to a Logicon he slithered up the walland into the tunnel in the cat’s mouth. He shape changed to hisnewman form and slid his chaos matter cat claw into the hole in thewall, and heard a click at the end of the corridor. He crawled downthe passage and found the door ahead of him opening into a roomabout three paces square with a two pace high ceiling. He climbedin and was amazed by what he saw, a small chest containing gold andgemstones, a dark wooden club with a golden head shaped like acat’s paw, and a dozen leather-bound books.
He examined the booksfirst. They were all written in the Yith script like his manual. Henext examined the cat’s paw club. It lay horizontal to the
