He quickly useda mnemonic to remember the hidden names of these two constructs andremembered that he only knew one of them.
‘Stop.’ he shouted using mindspeak together with the specialname. The one on the right with the blue dot stopped just asMiranda was about to attack it with her scimitar. The one on theleft with the red dot swung at him but its fist passed rightthrough him.
He quickly toldMiranda and Yllandril through their mindlink that the one on theirside with the blue dot had changed sides and ordered it to subduethe red dotted one and it dutifully stepped forward and began towrestle with the uncontrolled one. He then floated over to theblack dividing wall, solidified a fist out of his misty body andstruck the wall. It was a wall of force as he guessed.
The roomsuddenly filled with poisonous gas. Miranda began coughing andspluttering but then said through their mindlink.
‘Don’t worry, druids are immune to most poisons. I think I’llbe okay with this one. How can we get at it before it triessomething that will hurt?’
‘This is Astaria; I can teleport anywhere here at will. All Ineed to know is where to go. I think I can get us to the other sideof the room so give me your hand. Bellen is probably over there, sobe careful.’
Aquitainsolidified his Newman male body grabbed her hand and teleportedinto the darkness of the other side of the room. Immediately heused the wand to dispel the magical darkness in the room. Thedispel not only eliminated the darkness but also the Charm onBellen and the flight power on the sentient book which thudded ontothe ground a couple of paces from them. He froze the air around thebook to stop it from moving then a strange thing happened, his mindwas drawn into a large circular room about hundred pacesacross.
His mindsolidified into an avatar of his greenish crystal covered monsterbody from the dream world, standing in the room. Standing oppositehim was the avatar of an old Newman wearing a nondescript greywizard gown with a long grey beard.
‘So we meet mind to mind.’ said the other
‘I am Franciscus, Arch Mind Wizard of Poranto a place you haveprobably never heard of and for the last forty nine years I havebeen stuck in that damn book and you are?’
‘I am Aquitain, mind wizard of Panmagica and lately Warden ofMoonmist. Where are we?’
‘We are in a mind arena. This is how the big boys and girlsdetermine the outcome of a dispute. It’s usually reserved for archmind wizards and above but since you’ve managed to get this far Ithought you deserved a trial. Besides I’ve been bored out of mymind lately and I need some entertainment.’
‘OK so what do we do now?’ said Aquitain.
‘We fight and whoever gives up first is the loser.’
‘How long will it take?’ said Aquitain. ‘I’ve got a lot moreto do.’
‘Well fights have been known to go on for days but sinceyou’re not experienced at this type of fighting, maybe minutes.’replied Franciscus.
‘So what happens if I win?’ said Aquitain.
‘Ha ha. If you win you can ask me to grant you a wish. If it’swithin my power I will grant it.’
‘And if I lose.’ said Aquitain.
‘In that case you take my place in the book and I willeliminate your friends. I’m sure I could make good use of thatbeautiful female body.’
‘What about Bellen?’ asked Aquitain.
‘Unfortunately, he’s one of your friends so I can’t let himlive even though I must admit I did like the little fellow.’replied Franciscus.
‘Now down to business.’ he bowed to Aquitain and used a power.Aquitain’s head was covered in a metal container and he couldn’tsee anything.
‘Ha ha. You look like a bit of a pot head.’ said Franciscus.‘and my goodness you’re standing in a fire.’
Aquitain felthis feet and legs burning and ran a few steps trying to pull thecontainer off his head but it wouldn’t come off, so he shrunk thesize of his head and the container came free.
‘A little head needs a little pot.’ shouted Franciscus andanother metal container appeared over his head.
‘Hey pot head you’re in the fire again.’ laughedFranciscus.
This timeAquitain ran and made his head disappear altogether and created hisface on his stomach.
‘Oh, a headless hulk with a face in his tummy. How obscene heshould wear clothes.’ and suddenly he was covered with green leafymaterial all over, again blocking his vision.
‘My goodness, are they itchy leaves you’re wearing?’ saidFranciscus.
Aquitainrealized that the leaves were made of a vine that caused itchingand rashes and began to feel extremely itchy all over. Quickly hechanged to a snake and slithered out of the itchy vine clothes.
‘A snake, a snake, where’s the snakebird.’ shouted Franciscusas he changed to a snake bird.’
Immediately hecharged Aquitain and kicked him in the head with a tough bony foot.Aquitain reeled back stunned by the blow.
‘The snake bird’s foot flies faster than snake can strike.’said Franciscus as he strutted around then ran in again kickingAquitain’s snake body viciously, before dancing out ofreach.
‘Oh dear, your friends are missing you. I better look afterthem’ said Franciscus and he split down the middle dividing intotwo snake birds, one kept stalking him and the othervanished.
‘The snake looks sleepy.’ yelled the snakebird and Aquitainfelt drowsy as it darted in again giving him another swiftkick.
‘Damn that bird moves fast. Maybe this will work.’ thoughtAquitain as he changed to a bear.
‘A big bad bear. My goodness, the seeds are sowing and thegrass is growing.’ and grass seeds began raining down from the skyand where they landed vines shot out of the ground tanglingAquitain’s legs.’
‘No the ground is crying and the vines are dying.’ saidAquitain starting at last to catch onto the game and they allstarted wilting.
‘The situation’s dire and they all catch on fire.’ yelledFranciscus and the whole floor of the arena covered in dry vinesbegan to burn.
‘Fires burning, good for toasting, bird’s flying, bear’sroasting.’ sang Franciscus as he flew into the air and begancircling around the arena.
The fire
