‘Interesting.’ saidAquitain. ‘May I create a mindlink with you?’
The Rat Catcher agreedand Aquitain created a mindlink with the cat and examined her aura.It looked like the spirit aura of a cat but Aquitain was still notsatisfied. Cats don’t generally use mindspeak and teleportaround.
‘May I hypnotize you?’asked Aquitain.
‘Yes if it will helpyou discover the truth, my Lord.’ replied the Rat Catcher.
Aquitain hypnotized thecat and went into a state of autohypnosis so that he could use theMantras of Yith to examine the cat’s spirit aura. He discoveredvery quickly that the cat’s spirit aura was totally unresponsive tohis tinkering. It was sealed by magic. Someone very powerful wasmaking sure that he didn’t learn too much and that annoyed him.
He removed the cat fromof the state of hypnosis and said.
‘If you were originallysomething else it’s not showing. How did you find me?’
‘My collar is tuned toteleport me to the Lord of Astaria. I only have to think of aspecial word and I am transported to your side.’
‘Will it also transportyou back to Astaria?’
‘Yes. There is a secondspecial word which will take me back to the nearest gate.’
‘Can you open the gateby yourself?’
‘No. I can only passwhen someone opens it for me.’
‘There’s something thatI’m missing here!’ thought Aquitain. ‘Llanlorian always kept thecat close to her while I was there. I wonder why?’
‘Did Llanlorian trainyou or have you do anything other than chase rats?’
‘Only one thing, shechanged my eyes so I could see spirits.’ replied the RatCatcher.
‘And you were to tellher immediately any were around.’
‘Yes, My Lord.’
‘Excellent.’ saidAquitain. ‘I want you to alert me any time you see a spirit.’
‘As you wish, My Lord.Is there anything more?’
‘Yes, may I examineyour collar?’
The cat agreed andAquitain removed the collar and used his ability to detect magic.The collar was strongly magical. He examined it very carefullylooking for signal devices that might be used to track the cat butfound none. He analysed the magic spectrum and found evidence oftransport magic consistent with it being used as a teleport device.There was also a trace of divine magic that seemed to be a ward ofsome type.
He replaced the collarand suggested that the cat get some sleep while he stood watch andit curled up and went to sleep near his leg. The cat posed a realproblem. Was it genuine or a trap of some sort? If he kept it closeit could be used to find and identify him, yet if it could see theMentarin spirit creatures then it was incredibly useful. Theteleport feature of the collar also gave Aquitain quick access tothe Astarian gateway, which he could open.
‘This has to be a trap’said Slivver suddenly.
‘I tend to agree withyou Slivver.’
‘Did Llanlorian tellyou anything before she placed you on me when I was aLlanllean?’
‘No. I was just told tohelp you stay alive and make sure you returned. She was mostinsistent on that. I had to make sure that you return. Why I don’tknow. That’s why I think it’s a trap.’
‘Yes, I think you’reright. Miranda could even be there. It seems that Astaria holds theanswers to a few questions and like it or not I’m going to have toreturn but not yet. I have a few things to do first.’
‘By the way did youtell Miranda that you were on my Llanllean body before you were onher body?’ asked Aquitain out of curiosity.
‘Of course I can’t keepany secrets from the mistress.’ replied Slivver innocently. ‘I toldher all about your exploits with the Llanlleans in the cave.’
‘And what did she say?’queried Aquitain.
‘She said that you willmake a wonderful king one day and I agree. I can’t wait to be thereon your joining night it will be an epic event.’ said Slivverexcitedly.
Aquitain laughedloudly.
‘I wouldn’t hold yourbreath – that’s likely to be a long way off yet.’
Chapter 2 Glammer’sSecret
Aquitain satconsidering the huge task ahead. He shifted back to Miranda’s shapeto conserve his source. The problems seemed to be increasing andgetting tougher every day. He began to have a few doubts about howthis whole adventure was going to turn out.
All he had setout to do a couple of weeks ago was to find Miranda, his cousinMelanie and his memcrystal Alpha. Now was he supposed to be anAgent of Chaos. He had to change the world. People needed him tosave them and their world. It was such a big job. What if hefailed? People would suffer and he would be responsible. He feltscared. Suddenly he burst into tears.
‘Why me?’ he thought. ‘Why are they doing this to me?’ and hecried his heart out while imagining what his Grandfather mightsay.
‘Look what a few minutes in a female body has done to you.You’ve turned into a blubbering schoolgirl. Is it all too hard foryou? Do you want to leave it to someone else who can do the job?Why not just go play with your magical toys.’
After a coupleof minutes he felt a small raspy tongue licking his face.
‘Don’t cry My Lady, there’s always hope while you still havefriends and I’ll be your friend.’
‘Thank you Rat Catcher, you’re right. I have got friends andtogether we’ll do our best to save this world and ourown.’
He cuddled thecat with his eyes closed revelling in the soothing feeling of itslovely warm furry body. Eventually, he looked up, tears stillslowly running down his face and saw Glammer hovering in the air anarm’s length from him looking on rather thoughtfully.
‘I think you are better as a Newman female. I didn’t think youhad any emotions before. Why are you in Miranda’s body?’
Aquitainmentally chanted a calming mantra and thought. ‘By the Powers it’sgreat to really feel Newman again but I’ll have to take care withthe emotional side of this female body. Now back to the business athand.’
He stood upplacing the cat back on the ground.
‘It sounds like you must have missed the excitement at theball.’ he said.
‘No I witnessed it all. You have upset the balance as theMudrun
