‘The problem is that the quartz shelf is just about saturatedwith magic essence and this has reduced its melting point. Thewhole damn shelf is liable to turn liquid. If any part of itsuddenly broke through to the surface it would create a magicfountain that will spew out so much magic essence into the air thatwe will have catastrophic magic storms similar to those on Mudrunbut this time on Moonmist. It could wipe out all surface life onMoonmist.’
‘By the Powers, that doesn’t sound too good.’ said Aquitain soawed by the immensity of the problem that his mind almost froze,but he managed to mutter ‘What do you want me to do?’
‘That’s the spirit I like to see.’ said Ignatius. ‘Positivethinking!’
‘What I want you to do is to talk to those bloody dragons andconvince them to stop transferring magic essence to that stationfor a while, so that we can work out some way to bleed off some ofthe magic essence without causing a disaster.’
‘Why don’t you go to talk to them.’ asked Aquitain suddenlysuspicious.
‘Er. We go back a long way. I was involved in catching them. Idon’t think they will cooperate with me. They may listen to you. Atleast they shouldn’t kill you on sight.’ said Ignatius.
‘And why wouldn’t they kill me on sight.’ askedAquitain.
‘Well you are half elemental dragon, that should count forsomething.’ he replied.
Aquitain washappy. There it was again. Someone had confirmed what Glammer hadsaid in just three words. He was half elemental dragon. His fatherwas an elemental dragon, the rarest and most powerful dragon typeand his mother a Newman. If what Aquitain had been taught aboutthem was correct. Elemental dragons were never known to cross breedwith any other type of dragon let alone Newmans. They were arrogantand aloof as they believed that they were the first creatures to becreated by the creator.
Everything fellinto place, his protected upbringing, his strange aura, his unusualpowers, his lost Newman body, the manipulation, the power game, whythey made him Warden of Moonmist, why Llanlorian made him agatekeeper, why he could change shape so readily, why he hadcrystal sight. The list went on and on.
Finally thevoice of Ignatius broke through.
‘Are you all right? I didn’t mean to make the job soundimpossible. I really think you of all people should have a fairchance of convincing them to stop for a while.’
‘You’re right.’ said Aquitain. ‘If anyone has a chance then itwill be me, that is why I am here. How do I get to talk withthem?’
‘You need to open the gate at that end and go through.’ saidIgnatius.
‘Okay. Sounds simple, but before I do I want to know how thetransfer process works, so that I can understand the whole process.I wouldn’t want to make a mistake would I?’ saidAquitain.
‘That’s difficult. The fellow that designed to process ismissing, possibly dead. You see he went through to the dragon’sside and hasn’t been seen since.’ said Ignatius.
‘Thanks for telling me. What else should I know about.’ askedAquitain.
‘Once I stayed in this tunnel and watched what happened. Firstthe gate at the dragon end opened and a couple of dozen fiery orbsabout an arm span wide came through. They lingered around that endof the pathway for a couple of minutes then moved to the centre ofthe pathway tunnel, waited some more, then moved to the Moonmistexit end and waited again.’
‘The gate opened and they all went through released their loadof magic essence and then proceeded back through the gate at thedragon end lingering at the same spots again. It was almost as ifthey were some type of timed process. Makes sense I suppose from anengineering point of view, although how you get a bunch of dragonsto act so mechanically I don’t know.’
‘But you said they were fiery orbs not dragons.’ said Aquitaina little confused.
‘Yes I did. I don’t expect a couple of dozen adult dragonswould fit into this pathway, so I expect they take that form forpractical reasons.’ said Ignatius.
‘Are you sure that they’re dragons?’
‘Yes of course. Just look at their auras and the designer ofthe process always referred to them as dragons.’ saidIgnatius.
‘They seem to behave more like constructs.’ repliedAquitain.
‘Now that you mention it, they do don’t they.’ saidIgnatius.
‘When is the next lot due to pass through?’
‘In a few hours’ time.’ replied Ignatius. ‘Do you want towatch the process yourself?’
‘Yes.’ said Aquitain ‘I think the best way to see the dragonswould be to tag along when these spheres return. If I can mimicthem, then at least I’ll get in without drawing undueattention.’
‘What a good idea.’ replied Ignatius. ‘I can see that you’rethe right person for the job. Now since we have a bit of timebefore they come, why don’t we have a look at the problem at theMoonmist end.’
‘You’ll need to change that Zenostruct body to mimic a Rockelemental. I had one of those bodies for a while. The hardest thingis to keep holding shape. I found that by splitting my mind intotwo I could get one to concentrate on holding the body shape whilethe other controlled moving around.’
‘I’m sorry I haven’t seen a Rock elemental so I don’t knowwhat to change into.’ said Tina.
‘Really!’ replied Ignatius. ‘Easy peesy. Bit like being a fishreally, except that you swim through the ground rather than water.I’ll give you the skill to change and with your dragon ancestry itshould work without a problem.’
Ignatius heldhis hand out palm upwards concentrating and a small crystalappeared in his hand.
‘Here you are. Swallow this skill crystal and you’ll know howto do it.’
Aquitain wasamazed. The magic technology that these Mentarin had was simplyawe-inspiring. Aquitain activated their aura sight and had a closelook the crystal. It actually wasn’t a real crystal at all but acontainer made of pure crystalline magic but inside it he could seesome memory bubbles.
