He could see the fearin their faces as they looked at Goth. That was one of the reasonsGranddad had built Goth in the first place. Most people saw Goth asthe real threat, not him, and that was usually their first and lastmistake in a fight. Goth was a terrifying sight and physically verydangerous. It was also immune to magic, and consequently could besent after magic users or to attract a large number of fighterstrying to incapacitate it; then a fire ball cast at Goth would killeveryone around Goth, leaving it unharmed. Granddad and Goth were alethal combination, but he wasn’t here to fight.
Grandad told them theHigh Wizard had summoned him, and that the war machine behind himwas totally under his control and would not harm them. In fact, heinstructed Goth to sit down and the great construct looked muchless threatening when it wasn’t towering over them. They dispatcheda runner and a quarter of an hour later received confirmation fromthe High Wizard that Wizard Theolaur and his construct were to beallowed through the roadblock, but escorted by two of theguards.
He walked on throughthe town and saw very few locals, and those that he did see quicklydisappeared on seeing him and Goth. A guard who looked tired andstressed challenged him again at the gate in the wall separatingthe town from the magic gateway. The guard stopped him and askedwhat the thing behind him was. He simply replied that that was hisassistant, and then asked where he could find Zephira.
Not wanting to makeproblems the guard told him where he might find her, but reportedthe situation to the duty officer of the day, who passed it ontoFeatherdown, who replied, ‘Ask him to drop in for a cup of tea whenhe’s ready.’ The officer found this a little odd, but consideringthat the stranger hadn’t caused any trouble, he let the old manwith the large construct walk about accompanied by the twoguards.
When Zephira sawGranddad she immediately dismissed her class and raced over to hughim with tears in her eyes.
‘Oh Granddad, I want togo home. Please tell me that you have got a pardon for Rob.’
He gave her the familyhand sign for a mindlink and she agreed. Granddad created amindlink and asked her if she could take some time to walk with himand she quickly agreed to that as well. So they headed back to thetown and turned towards the beach, walking arm in arm, with Gothwalking behind them and the two guards following Goth, while theyconversed using mindspeak.
‘I always love sittingon the beach here. It’s so different from anything at Panmagica. Itreally makes me feel more alive. It’s something about the purity ofit and the peaceful quality of the waves that have travelled halfway around the world to wash onto this beach, ending theirmigration gently lapping against the sand,’ said Granddad.
‘Aquitain may be deadGranddad,’ said Zephira suddenly.
‘When Aquitain wascarted off by the Archon, Alpha was left behind. I suspected thateven if I could get Aquitain out of the prison I would have to sendhim away for a while, so I gave Alpha a power to send messagesthrough dreams to keep me up to date with what was happening whileyou two were away. It’s called a dream sending and Alpha sent meone last night local time saying that Aquitain is currently aliveand well, however, he was killed by an invisible wizard assassinand shortly after reincarnated by one of the female druids calledMiranda. He’s now a bear, which is apparently a large and fearsomecreature.
‘I was also sent amessage by the High Wizard demanding I come here and tell himwhat’s going on, and judging by the number of guards running aroundand the roadblocks, something happened recently.’
‘That could be bad,’she said. ‘We think a wizard and a druid organised a large group ofanimals to attack the town last night. Ten people were killed andmore than thirty injured. I’ve been afraid all night that it wasAquitain and Miranda. The High Wizard has said nothing yet, as he’swaiting for a report from Quab, the town’s druid, who has beeninvestigating where the animals came from.’
Granddad was a bitconfused about what was happening, and asked Zephira to tell himeverything from the beginning, starting with their arrival onMudrun. By the time they had reached the beach and sat on the sand,Zephira was well into her account of the past couple of weeks. Shecontinued solidly with hardly a breath in between, right up toyesterday when Miranda had told them how her adventure withAquitain had led to the discovery of the mask and club.
She described in greatdetail her feelings when Miranda dramatically returned wielding apowerful staff, and told them about Aquitain’s death, leavingbehind a Logicon arm and leg as proof. Then she told him howFeatherdown didn’t believe he was dead, but thought that she wasputting on an act to put the Archon off his trail.
‘An Archon turned uphere?’ asked Granddad, quite surprised.
‘Yes and Miranda’seffort did seem to convince it that Aquitain was dead. She gave ithis arm and leg as proof.’
‘I wonder how theArchon knew to come here?’ Granddad wondered. ‘It seems that someof my information is a bit behind.’
‘Featherdown told methat the High Druid sent a letter to someone at Panmagica, and alsothat they think there’s a spy here who’s been sending informationto the Unity of Wisdom.’
‘Ah. Well now I can seewhat has happened,’ said Granddad. ‘I suspect our spy must haveheard that there was a good bounty on Aquitain and decided to do alittle bounty hunting. The question is, how did he find Aquitain ifhe and the druid woman were in hiding? There must be a leak inFeatherdown’s security somewhere.’
They sat on the sandpicking up handfuls and letting it run out through their fingerslike sand in an hourglass, while watching the waves in silence; orthat is what any onlookers might have thought as the discussionabout security and the assassin continued through theirmindlink.
Zephira told him shethought that it might
