Refreshed, hestood up and the officer-in-charge asked for his name.
‘I amAquitain.’ he replied and stepped into the gateway.
‘He’s lying.’yelled one of the guards.
‘My friend atTwin Towers was with Aquitain when he killed the thunder lizard atthe temple. He was a gigantic bear. He would have killed everyonein the fight including the dragon.’
‘Well I heardsomeone call him Aquitain after the fight.’ stated another. ‘Ithink it was him.’
‘Why would hefight as a bloody weak little gnome when he could fight as a giantbear? queried another.
‘Maybe hestayed small to give the opposition a chance.’ joked someone andthey all laughed.
‘I don’t knowhow he survived. I’m just glad I wasn’t in It.’ said oneseriously.
‘Me too.’ added anotherand they went back to their normal duties.
Chapter 16 TheGateworld
The pathway was onrelatively smooth flat rock and led off into the distance with aslight curve to the right. The way was quite dark being lit only bydim yellow magical light balls that gave out almost no light.
It was unclearwhether they were dim from running out of magic or being coveredwith the dust of ages but it didn’t matter either way as he couldsee well in the dark.
He set off down thepath at a steady but quick pace with the faint hope of catching upto Garrett. The silence was deafening. Each footstep, as quiet asit was from a gnome, seemed unusually loud and his heart rateincreased accordingly. He was in another dimension; another worldand the place was spooky. His logical mind took over. He silentlymouthed a calming mantra and his heart rate returned to normal.
Why didn’t Garret andthe Elendari wait in the keep? It would have been safe for themthere. Maybe they decided to wait at the other side of the gateway.How was he going to explain to the Elendari Officer to take himalong with Garret as Garret’s assistant now?
After a short time hereached a stone statue shaped roughly like a dragon. A magic mouthasked him to place the toll on the tray but the tray was higherthan he could reach.
‘I’m not impressed byyour dragon statue.’ he said aloud. ‘How do you expect me to paythe toll when the tray is so high up from the ground? Do you expectonly tall people to come through here?’
Moments later thestatue shrank down to a size where he could reach the tray. Heremoved a ring from the collection held in the small leather bagslung around his neck and placed it on the tray and watched itvanish. The stone statue resumed its original size. He waited for aminute or two to get some sort of confirmation that he couldproceed but none came so he decided to continue on his way.
He had gone no morethan a few paces when the lights suddenly became brighter and hesaw full sized Llanllean spider approaching him slowly from twentypaces down the tunnel. He looked carefully to see whether it was anillusion. No it was real. He remembered what Featherdown had saidand changed into his Llanllean shape and immediately the largeLlanllean stopped. It cast a dispel magic at him but he stayed thesame.
The spider shrank andshape changed to the form of an elderly Elendari woman.
‘Impressive,’ shesaid. ‘A high caste Llanllean child that is not from any familythat I know. Show me your other form.’
He changed to apurple-scaled little person. Suddenly the floor turned to quicksandand he slowly sank down to his neck then it went solid again. Shestood watching him expectantly so he changed to his Logicon formslithered out of the hole and reformed as a gnome.
‘Why do you take gnomeform when you know I am a Llanllean? Aren’t you afraid of insultingme?’
‘No. It’s easier totalk in gnome form as I don’t know the Llanllean language.’ hereplied.
‘So you admit you’renot a Llanllean.’ she stated.
‘I died recently andwas reincarnated as a Llanllean. So I know little about them. Oneof my reasons for traveling to Moonmist is to find out more aboutthem so that I will know more about myself.’
‘Do you know thatthere is a divine rule that states that you can only bereincarnated as a creature that lives in the world in which youdied? There are no Llanlleans on Mudrun.’ replied the woman. ‘Thatsuggests you are lying.’
Aquitain thoughtcarefully for a few moments then replied
‘Not necessarily.There are at least three other possibilities.’
‘Firstly, I was deadwhen I was reincarnated. I didn’t pay much attention to how it wasdone. All I know is the result. Secondly, Mudrun is a very largeplace connected by a gateway to Moonmist where Llanlleans do live.It is conceivable that another Llanllean perhaps disguised in someway was on Mudrun. Thirdly, if The Lady made the rules perhaps shecould also break them.’
The woman consideredhis response for half a minute then asked.
‘What is your nameshape changer?’
‘I am Aquitain.’
‘Really! That is avery unusual name. Who gave it to you?’
Aquitain was suddenlyconcerned. She was too interested in him.
‘I chose it. Itsounded interesting.’ He replied and immediately constructed aTower of Will just before the domination attack hit. It was themost powerful attack he had ever weathered but his Tower held.’
‘Impressive.’ said thewoman. ‘A shape shifting wizard or should I say mind wizard and anAgent of Chaos I’ve been told.’
‘One of the terms ofmy treaty with both Mudrun and Moonmist is to not allow dangerouspersons to enter those worlds through my gateway.’
‘Now if I send youeither way I will be breaking my treaty.’
‘You know my name. MayI know yours?’ asked Aquitain respectfully.
‘I am Llanlorian,gatekeeper of Astaria.’
‘Well Llanlorian, Idon’t think I’m an Agent of Chaos.’ replied Aquitain.
‘I don’t knowingly doanything to cause chaos any more than anyone else. There is a localprophesy on Mudrun of a Time of Chaos. There seems to be manythings happening to convince me that that time has come and I amsomehow involved. I am not yet convinced.’
‘I have heard thatthere are some strange
