‘My, my! Itdoes have an attitude. That is not wise in a warden.’ said onevoice. ‘Yes it is.’ said another. ‘It shows character.’
Soon amultitude of voices began to sound around the cave discussing theattitude of their new Warden.
‘Now you’vecaused a division amongst them. Sometimes they argue for weeks andcause me lots of problems.’ said Glammer.
‘Do you workfor them?’ asked Aquitain.
‘No not reallybut sometimes we have a common interest.’ she replied.
‘Like me?’ heasked.
She chuckledthen tried to levitate him off the ground but the magic absorbedinto his body instead.
‘Why did youabsorb my magic?’ she asked.
‘My bodyabsorbs magic. What are you trying to do?’ he asked.
‘Your legs aretoo small to move around in the caves. You need to fly. I was goingto levitate you and show you around.’ She replied.
‘Oh. You’requite right. I’m not used to being so small and I can’t fly orlevitate but there are lots of broken crystal bits around. What ifI sit on one and you levitate it.’
‘That shouldwork.’ she agreed.
Aquitaincreated bright yellow light on himself and searched around thefloor of the cave until he found a piece of crystal about the sizeof a carrot that he could straddle like a horse. He then collectedseveral smaller pieces that looked useful. The whole cave lit upwith light reflected from the crystals and the voices stopped.
‘What are youdoing?’ asked a member of the Collective Mind.
‘You mightalert them that we are here with that light.’
‘Possibly but Ineed crystals to imbue with magic to make the wards. It’s difficultto find them in the dark.’ he replied.
‘I suppose thatyou’re right.’ replied the mind a little uncertain.
‘Of course he’sright.’ said another. Then they started discussing whether he wasright or wrong doing what he did.
‘You’ve done itagain!’ said Glammer sounding rather exasperated.
‘I can hearthem. I suppose that it’s unavoidable with so many minds. How longdo they take to reach agreement?’ he asked with a chuckle.
‘They rarelyreach an agreement. If I’m involved then usually I decide.’ shereplied.
‘Don’t theyeach have a vote?’ he asked.
‘No theydiscussed that one time and couldn’t agree on how to do it.’ shereplied.
‘Maybe I canhelp.’ said Aquitain.
He dispelledthe light on his body and looked up at the crystals above twinklinglike little stars. The light coming from each crystal indicatedthat someone was using it for talking with another. He moved to thecentre of the room.
‘May I make asuggestion?’ He broadcast using mindspeak.
‘From where Iam standing in the centre of this cave I can see each crystal emita small bit of light when it is being used for communication. Ifthe area were divided in half and people used the crystals on myleft if they agreed with a proposal and on my right if theydisagreed then the side of the room emitting the most light wouldindicate whether most of you agreed or disagreed.’
There wasstunning silence in the room for a couple of minutes, then a voicesaid.
‘I don’t likethat idea. It means that the uncouth uneducated amongst us willhave equal say to their superiors. That is not how we do thingshere.’
‘It seems to methat none of you have the material wealth, station or power thatyou had in life. You are all in the same predicament. You all relyon this place remaining hidden and on communicating with each otherto remain sane. If you vote in the way I suggest then you can reachan agreement quickly which may be necessary sometime to ensure yourcollective safety.’
There was a lotof muttering and whispering.
‘Do you agreeor disagree with me. Those that agree that voting might be usefulgo to crystals on my right side of the area and those that don’tlike the idea of voting go to the crystals on my left side, thencommunicate with the crystals.’
Aquitain andGlammer waited and watched for about five minutes. Slowly butsurely the light emanating from the crystals on Aquitain’s rightshone brightly while those on his left were dim.
‘Okay time isup. Glammer you judge. Is there more light from my right or myleft?’
‘The right hasthe most light.’ replied Glammer. ‘That means most agree thatvoting might be useful.’
‘Well it seemsthat you all just learnt how to vote. The majority of you may notalways be right but you will know how the others are thinking andthat may be important if you have to make a quick decisionsometime.’
‘Now I’ll geton with the wards.’ he said.
‘Tell me whatyou intend to do?’ asked someone.
‘Were you amagic user?’ asked Aquitain.
‘A master!’replied the spirit. ‘Although without practice I have forgotten alot over the years.’
‘Okay. Yourproblem is being physically detected rather than being scried. So Ithought I would set up both passive and active wards. The passiveward would consist of an illusionary wall or two blocking off theentrance to this area. The active ward would consist of a zone offear leading to a fearful visual image. If we can also place sometreasure behind the fearful image then most explorers will thinkthat the image was just there to protect the treasure and not lookmuch further.’
‘What about aconstruct or magical creature?’ suggested the old master.
‘Well thecurrent thought on that in Panmagica is the more powerful theguardian the greater the treasure. A fearful illusion shouldindicate a minor treasure. If the illusion is dispelled ordisturbed it can also act as a warning that someone is near and youcould take further action like calling me or someone else tohelp.’
‘Of coursethere is also the time and cost consideration. A construct wouldtake perhaps six weeks to create after we had the materials, whichmight take several months to get. I’m not sure what magical beastswe could get here on Moonmist but they would require constantmaintenance.’
‘You sound likea bloody merchant not a warden.’ shouted someone sarcastically.
‘I like it.’said the master. ‘It’s simple, elegant and maintenance free. Thisyoung lad knows what he’s doing. What do you intend to use as afearful illusion?’
‘Well as Iunderstand the situation you have Llanlleans between us and thereptiles. The Llanlleans are slowly being pressed back and onceeliminated then the reptiles
