‘We will feast and Iwill sing you songs that druids sing on these occasions. Oh. I feelecstatic.’ and she threw herself down on the mattress and spreadout her arms and legs in a lusty pose that would have stoppedAquitain’s heart if he had had one. There in front of him was atrue hero’s feast and he could only look. His mind was melting, buthis body felt nothing.
‘I’m sorry Miranda. I’mno good to you.’
She suddenly realizedwhat he had said and adopted a much more chaste pose, and beganchanting a prayer to regain control then sat up, unwilling to meethis eyes.
By the Powers, she wasbeautiful. If he had been in his old newman body he would have beenunable to resist the temptation.
She fetched a bucket ofwater and his shirt and used them to wash the blood off her body.Five minutes later she was finished and she went back and satdown.
‘Please come and sitwith me,’ she said. ‘I’m truly sorry for what happened a fewminutes ago. I ... I was momentarily overcome with passion. I amtotally unused to the emotions generated by the occasion today. Mylife is generally much more mundane and restrained. Like you I amdangerous to be with if I lose control to passion. I’ve been cursedby my mother! You can detect magic. Use it on me, wizard.’
Aquitain used his powerto see the purple glow of magic. His eyes glowed momentarily andchanged hue and as he looked over her naked body he gasped. FromMiranda’s navel to her knees was an intricate tattoo that lookedmuch like a purple vine covering her skin.
‘It is a chastitybinding, but one more complex than I’ve ever seen. May I take acloser look?’ and he kneeled before her closely, examining thetattoo.
‘By the Powers, thereis a lethal word fashioned here that would cause death to anyonethat was to join with you and one or perhaps two other linkedeffects that I can’t work out,’ he said.
‘Now you understand whyI might seem cold at times. I am as lethal as my mother. She hadthis binding placed upon me when I was very young. It was toprotect me from evil men she said, but now it protects me from allmen. She alone holds the key to its removal and refuses to removeit until she is happy with the man I choose. But I cannot win; anyman I choose will be seduced to death by her.’
‘By the Powers, then weare both the same,’ said Aquitain. ‘Neither of us can use ourbodies, only our minds. We are safe with each other.’
‘I like being with you,wizard. The more we’re together the more I like it. What we havedone together today would be truly heroic in any story. You make mefeel really alive and so excited, but also worried and scared. Ihave always been conservative, but you entice me to take risks. Iam a preserver sworn to maintain the balance, but you are temptingme to change the balance. I am a servant of the Lady, but you tempther fate. I feel as though I should go, but I want stay. I’m sorryif I sound a bit emotional.’
‘I like being with youtoo Miranda. I want you to stay and I want us to be good friends. Iwould really like that. We seem to be two pieces of the samepuzzle. I know you are worried about me being an Agent of Chaos,but I honestly don’t see myself that way. I have no fervent desireto change things, burn forests or overthrow kings. I don’t see whatwe did today as overly heroic. Others in our shoes might have donethe same. That’s what druids and wizards do.’
‘Perhaps in the worldyou came from, but not in mine. Things are much more ordinaryhere.’
‘Then perhaps it needschanging!’ said Aquitain.
‘That’s not for us todecide. That’s for the gods to decide.’
‘I don’t see any godsrunning around trying to change the world. It seems to me that ifthey want changes made then they would do it through people likeus. They’re not going to come along and say please Miranda andAquitain change the world. They’re more likely to tempt us withcunning rewards and haunt our dreams.’
What he said was sotrue, thought Miranda, and she remembered the bear dream. Was theLady giving her a warning or showing her the way? Never mind, itwas in the future, as he couldn’t change into a bear and neithercould she.
‘The Druid Councilneeds to know about what’s happened here, and the sooner thebetter. The problem is, they’re after you. If I suddenly appear andtell them they’ll want to come here to get you, or they’ll send theArchon here, or they’ll forbid me from coming back, or somethingjust as bad.’
‘Mandy, tonight let’sjust pretend that we’re heroes. Let’s just eat and be merry andworry about tomorrow when it comes. We’ve got a choice of salt beefand hard biscuits, or salt fish and hard biscuits. Which would youprefer?
‘What a choice,’ shesaid with a laugh, ‘It’ll be hard to decide. I’d rather just getdrunk.’
‘So would I Mandy, sowould I, but this bloody Logicon body won’t get drunk either. I’vegot to get a new body. There’s got to be more in life than raidingcesspits for a feast. Sometimes I wonder what Logicons do forfun.’
Chapter 19 Fate StepsIn
Half a league north ofthe hideout in an underground cave High Priest Kelnor was furiousat the loss of seven men.
‘Please explain to me,Priest Percival, how you were in charge of a group of seven goodmen, including a wizard and an experienced sergeant who was mycousin, and how they all died but you didn’t? They were ripped toshreds and yet you have no marks on your body.’
‘Our Lord must havelooked after me, Your Holiness.’
‘Rubbish. You ran likea coward and hid while the animals massacred your troops. Our Lordgave you magic to defend our cause and bring death and destructionto our enemies but you were too cowardly to use it. I know yourtype; you spread the pox
