As he looked up fromhis hand he noticed a panel open in the wall above where the clubhad been located. Behind the panel was a golden mask shaped like acat’s face. There was something about the mask that caught hisattention, almost as if it were looking at him and weighing him up.Suddenly he felt an attack on his mind and he slammed in a mindblock. The mask had tried to dominate his mind, but had failed.
‘So what have we here?A sentient mask hiding in a treasure room,’ he said. ‘What is yourname, mask?’
‘I am called Jacintra’sImage by the stupid small ones,’ said the mask.
‘Yet the small onesknew how to control you. Perhaps they weren’t so stupid,’ repliedAquitain.
‘You have beaten me inthe battle of wills Master. I am yours to control. I have somewonderful powers. I can make you rich and famous. I can make anywoman you fancy yours. Wear me, feel my power. We will be goodfriends,’ said the mask.
‘Do I look that stupid?I can see why you are hidden away in here. You are much toodangerous to be let loose. I’m sorry mask, you’re out of luck. Youhave nothing I desire. However, I will take you and find you a safehome where you can’t get up to any mischief.’
He took the books outfirst, and asked Miranda to find some cloth that he could wrap themask in. Miranda was excited with the books but very concernedabout the club and mask.
‘These are religiousartefacts that belong to the cat people. We can’t take them; theyare not ours.’
‘There are no catpeople left, and the Cat Mother said we could take the treasure.Besides I can’t leave the mask here. It’s too dangerous.’
‘No, I’m sure she saida treasure, not all the treasures. Besides there are still catpeople left. They are the Jeti people, the Jungle Cat people.’
‘What, where are they?’asked Aquitain, a bit confused.
‘The main Jeti peopletribe grew too big, and so split up about twenty years ago. Thesewere the people that left. The main tribe is about fifty leaguesfrom here.’
‘Well that’s theanswer! We take all the items and when we work out which belongs tous and which belongs to them, we give them theirs,’ suggestedAquitain.
‘But how do we work outwhich one the Cat Mother meant us to take?’
‘I don’t know all theanswers, Miranda. We’ll have to examine them all carefully andlogically determine which is of the most benefit to us, and whichis better for them. It may be they don’t want the mask.’
‘Do we consult thembefore or after we decide?’
‘We’ll have to thinkabout it,’ said Aquitain.
‘When?’
‘By the Powers Mirandayou can be annoying!’
‘I’m a cat friend and aservant of the Lady. It’s my responsibility to look after theirinterests.’
‘All right, we takeeverything to the cat people and let them decide what we shouldkeep. How about that?’
‘That sounds muchfairer,’ said Miranda. ‘I agree with that course of action.’
‘Good, now come in herewith me and pick up the club.’
‘Why don’t you pick itup?’
‘Because it doesn’tlike me, Mandy,’ said Aquitain. ‘I suspect that it’s part of what’sknown as a power pair. Both the mask and the club each have somespecial ability built into them. Usually holding both reveals extraabilities, making both more powerful. Both the mask and the clubattacked me, so I can’t use them. If you can pick it up you can usethe club. Perhaps later we can see if you can use the mask aswell.’
‘Perhaps they attackedyou because we shouldn’t move them?’ said Miranda.
‘That’s true, butknowing their power I can’t in all conscience leave them here to befound by some fool accidentally discovering how to get inhere.’
‘It’s surprising tofind that wizards have consciences, however, you are probably rightin this case. I’ll come and pick it up. It probably appreciatespurity and virtue.’
Aquitain said nothing.He knew she was just trying to get even for some of his comments.He went back to the room with a piece of cloth and wrapped the masksecurely before allowing Miranda to enter. She had no troublepicking up the club; it seemed to accept her without complaint. Hedecided that he would have to examine the club and mask later tofind out exactly what they did, and why they didn’t like him.
Since the gold was tooheavy they decided to leave that and get it at some later stage,but Aquitain couldn’t resist a handful of gemstones, which heswallowed. As they left the secret chamber and closed it, Alphaalerted them to a potential problem.
‘Excuse me Aquitain,’said Alpha. ‘A jungle cat is coming towards the shrine entrance. Ithas now stopped and is sitting down.’
‘I’ll go. Time to tryout my new status as cat friend,’ said Miranda, moving to theshrine entrance. The Jeti saw her but made no aggressive moves, soshe went out to it and prayed for her ability to talk withanimals.
‘Hail brother, whatbrings you here?’ asked Miranda.
‘Hail cat friend, theCat Mother asked me to keep watch for you. There are newman peoplewaiting at the bottom of the track. They smell like the ones whohunted the little cat people.’
‘How many of thesenewman people are there?’
‘More than my claws onone paw but less than on two.’
‘Wizard, the cat hasbrought us news that there is a group of six to ten people waitingat the bottom of the track. He thinks they are the ones that killedthe little people here in the shrine,’ said Miranda through theirmindlink.
‘Ask him whether theycame from the jungle or the sea.’
‘He said they suddenlyappeared from nowhere,’ replied Miranda.
‘Good they teleportedin, and landed at the bottom of the track, therefore they knowwe’re here. There’ll be eight of them as each teleport ring cancarry four. They must have someone watching us to see what we do.Alpha, is there anything in the sky?’
‘There is a singleeagle flying around above us,’ replied Alpha.
Aquitain thought for aminute, and then said ‘We can go and hide or we can
