‘Oh! That is alittle different I guess. I’ll let you get on with it then. Youdon’t mind if I draft a few lyrics about it all, do you?’ askedChantalot hopefully.
‘I guess notbut when I’m rendered to ash by dragon’s fire make it sound noblewill you!’ Aquitain replied jokingly.
‘I will. Iwill.’ laughed Chantalot with a wide grin.
‘You will havethe most noble death suitable to a legendary hero but try not todie too soon as I can make a better song if I’ve got some moreheroic feats to recount. So be careful!’
‘I’m sure youcan invent some.’ replied Aquitain chuckling as he teleported downto the water elementals below the town. It was pleasant to be in areal body again amongst newmen, even if it was a Llanllean littleperson body. A Logicon body had useful points but one with humourand emotion was much better.
Whooshoo waswaiting for him and spoke to him immediately on his arrival.
‘It is mypleasure to see you again, Mind Wizard Aquitain. You are beingnoticed. Your deeds are whispered by the wind and wave. Some speakof you as a Lord returned.’
‘Do not believeeverything that you hear, Whooshoo. It is likely to be exaggerated.I have helped where I could and that is all. I am surprised thatyou are here instead of Squalash.’
‘Squalash hasgone on ahead. It would normally take him four days to cross thegreat sea. I can do it in one. He has requested my help and onhearing of the problem I have agreed. Air and water brothers haveworked together to our mutual benefit many times in the past.’
‘I am pleasedto hear that Whooshoo. Let’s depart. Perhaps you can tell me alittle of the world while we are traveling. With your permission Iwill form a mindlink between us.’
‘It would be mypleasure. If you can squeeze through the new doorway we will beoff.’
Aquitain turnedinto his Logicon form to slithered through the baffles that he hadmade to allow the air elementals access to the cave and was liftedaloft by Whooshoo and they sped off out over the Great Sea.
Periodicallyduring the trip Whooshoo recounted some gem of knowledge about theworld. Whooshoo was born after the Great Storm so had no firsthandaccounts of what had happened before the event and no knowledge ofwhy it had happened but he had heard old tales from others andrecounted some of them.
The biggestsurprise was that most of the Lords were elemental dragons andconsequently, the common language was Draconic. It seems the Lordsat the time came here regularly. The air, water, fire and stoneelementals were taught Draconic and their job was to act assentinels watching over the land.
Owing to theirspeed, the air elementals acted as messengers and were the linkbetween the other elementals and the Lords. Any sighting ofstrangers or unusual events by an elemental was reported to thenearest air elemental who then sped to the nearest temple to reportit to the temple keepers. Who were the temple keepers, the littlepeople of course!
It wasbeginning to make sense. The world was a sort of convention centreor leisure resort for the dragons who he presumed were the Fountswho came here periodically to exchange information. However, theywere worried about something or somebody so they had created thetemples to retreat into should there be an attack. The elementalswere an early warning system.
The problem wasthat the elemental dragons were supposed to be the most formidablecreatures in existence. They were almost divine. It was believedthe lesser dragons all evolved from the elemental dragons. So whoor what would they fear?
Perhaps it wasa powerful one of their kind. Maybe it was a creature that no onecurrently knows about. Possibly it was a great Power or deity.Presumably their fears were justified as they were attacked, theworld was devastated and they all disappeared. So did they diehere? Did they flee and were in hiding somewhere. Are they trappedor imprisoned somewhere?
What then wasAquitain’s job? Was it to find them? Was he up against someone orsomething that could destroy a whole world? No wonder he was beingkept in the dark. No Newman in his right mind would dare take on aquest to provoke god like creatures and that is exactly what he wasdoing. What was granddad doing? What was his father’s part? Who orwhat was his father? Perhaps he already knew and it was locked awayin his mind. Alpha was the key to unlock knowledge and power thathe already knew when he needed to know it.
He hadunwittingly thrown away the key. How could he possibly succeed? Hebegan to panic a little and sang a mantra of calming. ThinkAquitain think! You trained all your life to think. Any thoughtfulplanner would have a contingency plan that would come into effectif he lost Alpha as that was a foreseeable possibility. So theplanner would revert to the contingency which would probably leadhim back to Alpha and presumably Zephira.
Maybe theelementals are involved? He couldn’t ask them directly as theywouldn’t acknowledge being a part of any plan. Yet they hadrequested his personal help but so did the Wolf people. Maybe theWolf people’s request would lead him to Alpha or perhaps even thestolen sceptre would do it. It would give him a headache thinkingtoo deeply about all the possibilities. Perhaps it was best to justdo his job and let his manipulators guide him to the end of themaze.
Eventually theyarrived at a rocky headland on the other continent. A large waterelemental was waiting for him.
Whooshoointroduced Aquitain to Plogash, the elder Waverider in the area.Aquitain thanked Whooshoo and said that he could teleport back. SoWhooshoo left and Aquitain turned his attention to the elder.
‘I am verypleased to meet you Lord Aquitain. It is so long since we have hadone of your kind around. I have heard great things on the wind andwave about you. We have a strange problem beyond our understanding.We hope that you might be able to shed light upon the problem Lordas it is causing the elders much concern.’
‘The HighWizard Featherdown has requested my assistance in investigatingstrange events occurring in Mudrun at present. Consequently, it ismy pleasure to be able to help Plogash. I will do my best
