‘So I’m a pawn too amI? You want me to agree to allow you to tinker with my mind again.What if I say no? Will you dominate me and put the informationthere anyway? Will you wipe my mind and make me forget about beinga pawn?’
‘What’s your problemZephira? You’ve suspected all along that the family had some hiddenagenda. Now you know a little more. Just do your part and you’llhelp Aquitain do his, and with luck we’ll all win.’
‘And if we lose we’llall die, Granddad. I’m too young to die for a cause that I don’tcare about. I’ll do the right thing by Aquitain and the family thistime, but don’t count on it in the future. I’m also going to tellAquitain that he has been tricked and manipulated by you and hisfather. Let’s see what he thinks about that. Maybe he’ll tell youto get lost himself.’
‘Good,’ said Granddad,‘I’m glad you’ve agreed to cooperate. Now I want you to go into astate of autohypnosis. You’ve done this before but you’re going tohave to calm down a little first, so use the mantra ofcalming.’
Granddad implanted theinformation and then told Zephira that she would need to findAquitain, as it was unlikely he was going to show up now that he’dbeen declared dead. He told her that he had brought Goth along tohelp her, especially when she got near the mask. Goth was immune tomost magic and hence couldn’t be affected by the mask, so anycommand given to it would be carried out ruthlessly, even if thetask was unpalatable. He also told her that he had made a slightmodification to Goth to allow it to magically levitate on hercommand, in case it became bogged in jungle mud. She would commandGoth using a magical bracelet.
‘Now for you I got alittle present. It’s a necklace of six powerstones each containingone power. Two will allow you to change shape, two will heal you ofreasonable damage and two will allow you to fly. Use them wisely. Ihave keyed them to your memory of your little dog Tessa, who youloved when you were young. Think of her and ask her to release thepower.’
Finally, he suggestedthat they go and have a chat with Featherdown, as he should haveworked out by now what had happened the previous night. So theystood up, stretched and proceeded on their way to see the HighWizard. On arrival they were ushered into the tower by a gnome butleft Goth outside, as it was impolite to take it in. Zephira didn’tknow what to expect, but after witnessing how annoyed Featherdownhad been the previous night, she suspected the meeting might get abit fiery.
As they teleported intothe tower entertainment room, Featherdown garbed in his officialscarlet robe walked over to Granddad and warmly welcomed him,shaking his hand and offering him a drink. Quab, who was seatedwith a drink also stood to welcome Granddad. Zephira immediatelysuspected that something was wrong. Featherdown and Quab were beingtoo nice - they must have some new information that she didn’t knowabout.
After activating thewards, getting Granddad a cup of tea and muttering a fewpleasantries, Featherdown finally came to the point.
‘I trust Zephira hasfilled you in on what’s transpired since she and Aquitain arrived,and particularly about the drama yesterday and last night. I mustapologize for my rude message last night. We were under attack andit seemed that Aquitain and his druid friend may have beenresponsible; but from information gained this morning it wouldappear that they had nothing to do with the trouble. Instead, I ampartially to blame.’
‘You speak as if youknow Aquitain is alive,’ said Granddad.
‘He was killed by anassassin and was reincarnated as a bear by the druid woman,Miranda, who is also the Princess Miranda of Argenta. It seems shehas taken a liking to him. The Princess is quite headstrong andcame here yesterday and unleashed a very powerful weapon, which Iknew was in the possession of her mother, the nymph QueenSnowbelle. I contacted her mother as a matter of courtesy to askher to keep a closer watch on her dangerous weapons. Needless tosay she wasn’t very happy, but stated that she would find out whather daughter was upset about.
‘This morning shecontacted me and told me about Aquitain’s reincarnation as a bear.He is still recovering from the shock of dying and being reborn,but is safe and well in the care of Queen Beatrix of the Crin. Herdaughter was still asleep at her place, so the incident last nightcould not have been caused by either of them.’
Zephira nearly fell offthe chair she was seated on when she heard that Miranda was aprincess, but was greatly relieved that neither Aquitain norMiranda had been involved in the attack on Twin Towers.
‘Then who did it?’ sheasked excitedly.
Granddad gave her anadmonishing glance as if to say ‘keep quiet, we’re just about tofind out’, but Featherdown kept talking anyway.
‘That news of courserelieved me greatly, but now it makes me feel guilty for draggingyou here at such short notice. I can readily say that your twograndchildren have done nothing but bring honour upon themselvesand your family.’
‘Thank you,’ saidGranddad graciously. ‘Have you shed any light on what did happenlast night?’
‘Yes. Quab and I havespent a considerable amount of time reconstructing events, and Ithink we have a reasonably clear idea, and as I said earlier I ampartially to blame. Several months ago a gnome came to me asking ifshe could spend some time training with me. She presented goodcredentials from a trusted friend, so I accepted her into my tower.She was very intelligent and learned fast, perhaps a little toofast. I let her have the run of the tower and town, and whenAquitain arrived I had her follow and check on him.’
‘She tested him inseveral ways to work out when he could and couldn’t detect her, andafter a while worked out a strategy to stay hidden from him and hismemcrystal. When he left to lay low at my hideout up north I senther along to watch over them, and to report
