Agents of Chaos

Overview of Previous Story

Rob Theolaur a shy, young mind wizard and magic equipment artisan is excited but scared when a dormant ability to shape change in him appears. His grandfather a powerful merchant wizard called Sol Theolaur gets the help of a Logicon wizard friend named Facit Decoid to help Rob adapt to his new ability.

While swapping spirits between bodies, Rob and Facit are separated by an archon searching for the political criminal Facit and Rob is trapped in Facit’s slime creature body. Rob is jailed and manages to escape before he can be charged with the offence of shape changing which carries a death sentence in his home city of Panmagica.

Rob changes his name to Aquitain, a name given to him at birth by his father and flees Panmagica to another world called Mudrun with his cousin Zephira where he meets a young druidess called Miranda. He makes contact with High Wizard Featherdown, a friend of his grandfather who gives him a job repairing magic equipment in the basement of the wizard’s tower. The High Wizard is very suspicious as to why he is there as there is a prophecy that mentions a person with his unusual name.

Featherdown gives him a tricky quest to fix the town of Twin Towers’ magic fountain. He fixes it and makes friends with both the air and water elementals that use the magic node under the town as a source of food. The High Wizard is worried about Aquitain’s reasons for coming to Mudrun so asks Quab, a druid colleague to teach Aquitain more about shape changing in an endeavor to find out more about him. Quab is called away during their training on an urgent mission and passes the job on to the druidess Miranda who normally has an aversion to men.

Aquitain goes for a swim at a local beach in his newman male form and is attacked by a giant squid. Miranda comes along during the fight and helps Aquitain kill the monster. They are both hungry and decide to barbeque a part of the monster. Miranda is at ease with Aquitain as she considers him a shape shifted slime creature rather than a man. During the barbeque they discover that they have some common interests and are interested in each other.

Aquitain learns that he has been falsely charged with the murder of Facit Decoid his shape change tutor on Panmagica and an archon has been sent to Mudrun to arrest him. Featherdown offers to hide him in a safe house in the basement of a ruined house in the jungle well away from the town. Miranda decides to go with him to ensure the area is safe.

While checking the area around where they were staying, Miranda discovers that something strange is happening. Aquitain talks her into investigating the problem and in a huge leap in trust she allows him to form a mindlink with her. They find a tribe of peaceful reptilian little people has been slaughtered in their temple devoted to their spirit totem cat Jacintra.

They discover the spirits of the dead are unhappy and decide to carry out a ritual to cleanse the area and help the spirits pass beyond. Aquitain is possessed by the spirit of the Cat Lord Jacintra but manages to help Miranda complete a complex ritual. Jacintra tells them that there is a treasure hidden in the temple. They seek and find a magical item called the Mask of Chaos, which is haunted by the spirit of a dangerous chaotic wizard.

A jungle cat tips them off that the people who murdered the little people have set up an ambush for them. They decide to ambush the ambushers and succeed; however, one of the enemies manages to escape. The escapee sounds the alarm and they are targeted for retribution.

In their hideout Aquitain and Miranda celebrate their successful adventure and discover a lot more about each other. Miranda reveals the reason for her aversion to men, a lethal magical protective tattoo. Aquitain vows to help her remove it. Each gets a new more positive impression of the other and they become much closer. Miranda is more attracted to Aquitain seeing him now as a newman like her trapped in an alien body rather than a slime creature. Unfortunately the Mask of Chaos they found dominates Jaztrix an apprentice wizard of Featherdown sent to help protect them.

Featherdown’s second-in-command Curbut is revealed to be a spy and assassin. He cunningly finds out where Aquitain and Miranda are hidden and goes there. He succeeds in killing Aquitain but Miranda escapes. She uses her mother’s magic pendant to reincarnate Aquitain as a bear and hides him with the Crin, a race of sentient giant ant-like creatures then dramatically announces to the town that Aquitain is dead in order to shake off the archon after him.

While hiding with the Crin, Aquitain discovers that he is somehow still connected to the Jacintra the Chaos Cat Lord. This gets him thrown out of the Crin city. He travels to the kingdom of Miranda’s mother Snowbelle, the nymph Queen of Argenta. After a psychic duel with Snowbelle he learns of the conditions to eliminate Miranda’s magical tattoo. His bravery in confronting Miranda’s dangerous mother about the tattoo wins Miranda’s heart.

The Mask of Chaos with the help of Jaztrix attacks Featherdown’s town of Twin Towers with disastrous results. Aquitain and Miranda flee together to a purple little people’s village only to discover that the Mask of Chaos has killed most of the little people in a nearby Barra village. Aquitain agrees to help in a ritual to bury the dead in the Barra village and discovers some interesting secrets about the little people.

Aquitain solves a riddle posed by the spirits of the dead ancestors of the Barra tribe of little people and deduces that the Mask of Chaos will next attack the Jeti tribe of little people. With the help of Miranda and the Jeti little people they defeat the Mask of Chaos and spirit of Jacintra in a mind battle.

Miranda is severely hurt by an overload of magic power when she acts as the focus of a mind concert during the fight. Aquitain tries to heal her but discovers that her mind is trapped in a sexual fantasy caused by the magic overload. He creates a unique passion flower for her and successfully induces her out of the fantasy and discovers how passionate she can be.

After the battle they discover that many of the Barra children from the attack on the Barra village are being held hostage in a strange temple not far away. They launch an assault on the temple with a combined force of fighters from the little people, the Crin and newman guards from Twin Towers.

With the help of the special magical songs used by the little people Aquitain manages to defeat the magical defenses of the Temple of Elements and after a brief but bloody fight in which Zephira is captured by the enemy, they succeed in entering the temple.

They find twenty Barra children and Zephira held captive inside. Aquitain bargains for the release of the captives and successfully releases the Barra children but loses both Zephira his cousin and his memcrystal containing a part of his mind. He is very upset but Miranda rallies his morale to the cheers of his attack force. After everyone else has left Aquitain searches a hidden room in the temple and finds a rare magic scepter and a powerful druid scroll.

He takes the weapon and scroll to Quab the druid’s sanctuary where he shows them to Quab and Miranda. Not long after they are attacked by a large number of druids and wizard Curbut in the sanctuary, an act considered a heinous crime. Curbut and his band manage to kill Aquitain. Miranda, with the help of Featherdown, exacts revenge by killing all the attackers except for one druid, which they intend to interrogate.

Miranda is overcome with grief at Aquitain’s death and forces Quab to use the powerful druid scroll found by Aquitain to resurrect him in a newman body like hers. To her surprise he is resurrected as a strange type of spider, a Llanllean. This casts doubts upon her ancestry. She takes him to the Jeti tribe of little people and asks them to hide him while she seeks her mother to find out if she is really a Llanllean spider woman rather than a newman.

Chapter 1 The Dream Potion

Aquitain awoke in a darkened area surrounded by rainbow coloured candles arrayed in a circle around him. He looked out through his six eyes and marvelled at the clarity of his vision.

Even though it should have been quite dark inside the cave he could see exceptionally well almost as if his eyes were adapted to seeing in dimly lit places. Then he remembered that he had died again. Yesterday he had been a Newman spirit reincarnated in the body of a large ferocious bear. He didn’t know what he was this time but it wasn’t the Newman body that he had hoped for.

Miranda his beautiful druidess partner had asked the Goddess of Nature, The Lady of the Jungle to grant him life again. This time it was different, there was no chanting and pleading with The Lady like last time, just a simple request, almost a demand.

Please grant him life again! She wanted him to be a Newman again like her so that they could be lovers. At least that was the general idea but first he would have to remove the lethal magical chastity belt tattooed into her skin from her waist to her knees.

He smelt something appetizing. He looked around and saw two, no three reptilian little people sitting nearby. They hadn’t realized that he was awake yet. He could catch them by surprise. Pounce on them and overcome them and eat them.

Wait a moment said some inner voice, what are you thinking? Little people are friends. He looked at them closely and recognized all three. There was Kami the wise old shaman of the Jeti tribe, Rori the courageous young shaman of the Barra tribe and a female. He had seen her before but couldn’t quite remember her name.

‘Kami, is that you?’ he said hesitantly using mindspeak, ‘Where am I?’

All three little people suddenly stood and stared at him. They resembled lean deep purple coloured, scaly, medium-sized dogs standing on their hind legs. Kami began shaking with big, tremulous shakes as if he was shivering in an icy cold room and he gave off a particularly appetizing aroma. Rori was pale and tense.

‘Why are you shaking Kami? It doesn’t seem that cold in here.’ he said a little confused.

The female bravely walked over to the edge of the circle of candles. ‘He is being afraid of you Spirit Lord.’

‘You all know me. Why is he afraid and not you?’

‘It is being your body shape Spirit Lord. The little peoples have been conditioned to be fearing large spiders. I am the Most Fearless. That is why I am being here.’

‘I don’t understand.’ he said. ‘May I mindlink with you so that I might see myself through your eyes.’

‘I would be being most honoured Spirit Lord.’ she replied so he formed a mindlink with her and asked her to concentrate on him so that he might see through her eyes. He was shocked! He was some type of spider. His body was about the same size as the little people but his powerful legs spread out two paces on either side of his body.

He was a dark brown colour and hairy all over like an ape with a multi-coloured patterned abdomen. He had four eyes pointed forward, two large and two small ones, which if he remembered from his nature studies, meant that he was a predator.

‘By the Powers, what has the goddess done to me?’ he said aloud.

‘The ... the ... The Lady was the cause of this being done to you?’ said Rori. ‘But why Spirit Lord?’

‘I have no idea.’ replied Aquitain trying to recollect what had happened the previous evening and slowly it came to him.

‘I remember now. Miranda, Quab and I were in Quab’s druid sanctuary at Twin Towers. It was just after sunset and wards suddenly went down then Curbut the wizard and countless angry druids attacked us from all sides.’

‘I fought hard but there were just too many of them. I couldn’t teleport away as my teleport rings were depleted. They surrounded me and struck me down with their blue flaming weapons. It was very painful. My bear body was destroyed. A little later I woke up in this body and Miranda teleported away with me. The rest is a little fuzzy.’

‘We are being very glad that you are coming back from the world of spirits again Spirit Lord Aquitain but we are not being so pleased about your new body. We would be liking the big bear body much more.’ said Kami.

‘So would I Kami. I was getting quite fond of being a spirit bear.’

‘When you were being a bear you were changing your shape to other bodies. Is there being a possibility of you changing your shape to another being less frightening Spirit Lord.’ asked Rori. ‘The village people are being too terrified to be looking at you.’

‘Of course Rori my young friend.’ said Aquitain and he thought of what he would change into and as he looked at them he knew somehow that he could change into a little person without much effort.

He vaguely recalled Miranda saying the previous evening that he was some type of shape-changing spider. He concentrated and changed shape ending up looking identical to the female little person.

Shastritara was shocked. ‘You are looking like me.’ she said. ‘Why are you wishing to be looking like me?’

‘Oh. Sorry.’ said Aquitain ‘I didn’t mean to look exactly like you. I was just trying to look like one of your people.’ so he changed and this time looked exactly like Rori.

‘You are looking like the twin brother of Rori now.’ said Kami.

‘Oh. I think that I need to see more of your people so that I can work out how to make small changes in my appearance so that I am not a copy of any one of you but slightly different and unique so that you and your people can tell me apart from the others.’

‘Why are you wishing to be like us Spirit Lord? Why are you not being a bear again like yesterday?’ asked Kami.

‘I cannot change my body size Kami. If I change to a bear I will look like a baby bear. If I change to a Newman then I will look like a small child. Would your people rather see me as a child or one of them? I can also look like a snake or a slime creature if you wish but that’s all the body shapes I know.’

‘I am seeing your problem Spirit Lord. If those are being your choices then being one of us is likely to being the most acceptable. There are some warriors camped outside I will have Rori bring them in here so that you can see the differences.’

While Rori was collecting the warriors Aquitain stood in the circle of candles and used his power to detect magic to examine his immediate area. As he had suspected the area inside the circle of candles was a magically warded area.

‘You have me in a warded area Kami. Why is that?’ he asked.

‘When the druidess Miranda was bringing you to us last night she was asking that we be giving you protection as you were being hunted by a rebel group of druids. I was thinking that it would be being best that you are being hidden to their special sight.’

‘Your lore continues to amaze me Kami. No one would have guessed that you could ward an area from scrying. That is very sophisticated magic.’

‘We are losing much of our lore as we are not being allowed to practice it.’ said Shastritara suddenly. ‘The druids are forbidding us to be using it.’

‘Quiet Shastritara, it is not your place to be speaking badly of the druids.’ said Kami harshly.

She defiantly glared back at him but said nothing more. Aquitain used his mindlink with the female to ask her what she meant when she said that she was the Most Fearless. She looked guiltily at Kami and then realised that he couldn’t hear what Aquitain was saying through the mindlink. She gave him a toothy reptilian grin and sat down submissively behind Kami.

‘You are a cunning one, Spirit Lord. I am now seeing why the druidess has been telling us that you are being her favourite. I am being different from the others in the tribe. My skin colour is being red. It only has the purple coloration like the other Jeti as I am having to dye it using blue berries.’

‘At one time there was being a tribe of our peoples that all had truly red skin. They were always being fearless and having disagreements with everyone. They were especially proud of a rite that was showing all the others how fearless they were. While studying the lore I found out about the rite and was wanting our tribe to be doing it. All but me were afraid. After I was completing the rite the tribe were proud and called me the Most Fearless.’

‘How many different scale colours are there?’ asked Aquitain suddenly interested.

‘Yes Spirit Lord there were once being four pure scale colours representing the four elements these were being pure reds, blues, greens and browns. They were proud and distinct and rarely mixed with each other. The pure reds and blues being very head strong were the causing of much troubles with the druids and were nearly wiped out. They are no longer being allowed. The surviving reds were only allowed by the druids to be having children with the blues resulting in the purples you see here which are more peaceful with the druids.’

‘The greens are always being peaceful and causing few problems. The browns I am being told once existed before the time of the Great Storm and were all lost in the storm.’

‘You are a red living with the purple tribe are there any blues here?’ he asked.

‘The blues are all gone now. They were the ones that were rebelling and shooting you with arrows. They are now being in the Barra tribe.’

Aquitain remembered that about twenty warriors had attacked him prior to the fight with the mask a couple of days ago. He had stunned them with a mind blast and they had been captured and banished from the tribe. Later after they had helped turn off the defensive fountains at the temple they were granted freedom to join the Barra tribe.

He also remembered that the little people killed in the cave where he and Miranda had met Jacintra the Chaos cat were predominantly red scaled. Perhaps unbeknown to Miranda it was the druid council that had ordered their deaths.

‘What do you know about the Great Storm?’ asked Aquitain excitedly. He had a strong interest in the Great Storm as it was around that time in this world that the legendary Founts of Wisdom disappeared. These were incredibly powerful people who had somehow incurred the wrath of the gods. A part of his current quest was to find them. He also had a strong feeling that some of the little people’s lore might shed light upon both the Great Storm and the fate of the Founts.

‘I am knowing very little, Spirit Lord. Only the shaman are being allowed to be knowing the lore about the Great Storm but from time to time it is being mentioned among the females in the tribe. There is some secret female’s lore that is never being told to the males. I suppose I could be discovering more if you are needing to know.’

Aquitain was intrigued with this female. She definitely had no fear of him and even more importantly she seemed prepared to talk about her people in defiance of her tribal taboo on telling outsiders about them. If he was discrete he could probably find out much more about them and perhaps even something about the Great Storm from her. However, it would have to be later as Rori had just returned with eight male warriors who seemed quite terrified in his presence.

‘Here is showing you a mighty selection of our warriors Spirit Lord. You can be seeing the differences between them so that you can be making yourself to be looking different to Rori.’ said Kami.

Aquitain looked at each one in turn noting the fine differences between them but wasn’t quite sure what was important to them and what wasn’t. He didn’t want to look like a pathetic weakling or an ugly outcast so he asked Shastritara what was important in a male from the female’s point of view. She pointed out what was considered attractive and ugly, benevolent and bad and generally selected a set of fine changes in his appearance that would make him stand out in a crowd of little people.

When he had finished everyone seemed pleased with the result. The Spirit Lord looked like a fine warrior and great leader in their eyes. He then asked Kami what colour he should be. That caused some concern. If he was purple then that might cause some problems with the Council of Elders and the Chief as he might be seen as a challenge to their leadership. However, each skin colour had its own set of problems.

In the end he changed to brown as the brown scale tribe no longer existed and it seemed to cause the least problems. It also had a strong advantage from Kami’s point of view. He stood out. Everyone would know who he was and also where he was.

While he was visible no one would be worried or suspicious about what he was doing. If any druids came he could change to the Jeti purple colour and effectively blend into the crowd.

Kami sent for the Chief and after a prolonged discussion between the two of them he was allowed back into the village provided that either Kami or Rori always accompanied him and he didn’t change to his spider form in the sight of the villagers.

‘I am being very pleased by your attractive appearance Spirit Lord. All of the females will be looking at you with big eyes at the celebrations of our great victories at saving the Barra children from the Yith lizard people. Maybe I will be dancing with you if you are being pleased with me.’ and she left.

Aquitain looked at Kami and asked what she meant.

‘There will be great celebrations tonight as she has been saying. All of the peoples will be greatly pleased that you and the druidess Miranda are being with us to celebrate the victory of the fight at the temple. There will be much feasting and dancing. All of the females will be wishing to be dancing with the heroes.’

‘What do you mean by dancing?’ asked Aquitain suspiciously.

‘Surely you are knowing of dancing Spirit Lord. All the peoples are being happy and singing and jumping around to the beating of the drums.’

‘Oh that type of dancing is all right. I wanted to make sure that you didn’t mean the other types of things that males and females can do together.’

Kami looked at him a little mystified for a few moments and then burst out in a wide grin.

‘Oh no Spirit Lord we are not calling that dancing we are calling that making eggs. There will be none of the doing of that. My peoples only are doing that for one week a year and that week is being still another month away.’

‘Well that’s a relief.’ he thought. ‘I don’t think Miranda would approve of me running wild among the females, especially now since I have an attractive little people body.’ then he asked about Miranda.

‘She was delivering you to our protections last night and hurrying away on some urgent business. She was telling me that she would be returning for the celebrations tonight. That is all I am knowing.’

‘Good.’ said Aquitain. ‘I would like to talk to your people tonight and thank them for allowing me to stay here under your protection last night. I am in their debt.’

‘These are being strange times Spirit Lord. Most of my peoples are being happy to have you being here as our friend but there are some that are being worried that you are bringing problems to our gate.’

‘I understand that Kami. Miranda and I will leave as soon as possible. There are many things we need to do. However, we will be happy to celebrate saving the Barra children with you tonight.’

‘That is being happy news Spirit Lord.’ replied Kami. ‘The chief and the elders will be most pleased. Tonight we shall all be celebrating the great victory at the temple and my peoples will be welcoming and honouring all the heroes and they are thinking that you are being the greatest of all the heroes.’

‘Good.’ said Aquitain. ‘I haven’t had a party for some time and after being reborn again I’m certainly in the mood for celebrating and very hungry.’

Rori gingerly stepped forward and produced a ball of clay. It was Aquitain’s ball of chaos matter.

‘The druidess Miranda was saying before she left that you would be needing this Spirit Lord.’

‘Why thank you Rori.’ replied Aquitain suddenly remembering the wonderful present given to him by his father.

He took the ball of chaos clay and immediately transformed it to a snake, which wound around his arm and slithered up around his neck then miraculously reformed into a black rock amulet like Kami’s but with the face of bear rather than a jungle cat.

Rori spoke for them all. ‘I am always amazed when you are doing that Spirit Lord. It is said that the Lords before the Great Storm could ...’ but suddenly Kami butted in.

‘The Spirit Lord is not interested in our lore Rori. Do not bore him with it.’

‘Oh but I am!’ said Aquitain. ‘I would love to hear any old stories that you would like to tell me.’

‘They are purely for the ears of our people.’ replied Kami pointedly. ‘Mind you if you were becoming one of the tribe you might be hearing some of the tales.’

‘And how would I become one of the tribe?’ asked Aquitain knowing that they had probably already guessed that they had something of value that he desired.

‘I shall be asking the Chief and the council of elders. Perhaps they might be considering to be making you an honorary member of the Jeti.’

Aquitain returned to the village which was little more than a scattering of small brushwood huts poorly thatched with the local course grass.

He was excited with the prospect of learning some of their lore and found that he was the centre of attraction. All the females had a strange excited look in their eyes and the males seemed somewhat remote.

He chatted with many for a while but eventually went to Kami’s hut to get a little peace and quiet. Kami told him that the Chief had allocated him a hut specifically for his use and he went there and collapsed with exhaustion. Reincarnation was very tiring.

Several hours later he awoke when Rori, shook him.

‘You should be waking up Spirit Lord. The celebrations are beginning. The Chief is requesting that you be coming to the feast.’

‘Has Miranda arrived?’

‘No Spirit Lord, we are being eagerly awaiting her coming but she has not been arriving yet.’

He reluctantly arose and accompanied Rori to the centre of the village. As he appeared the Jeti people cheered and began singing a hero’s song.

The song embedded powerful magic that worked on his mind and he couldn’t help feeling the great hero. He gloried in the welcome and sat with Rori between Kami and the Chief feeling more important and more heroic than he had in his whole life. Rori was also considered a great hero now owing to his courageous part in the temple siege.

The food consisted of fruits, baked tubers and roasted small animals and birds. It wasn’t particularly well cooked but it tasted delicious. It was the first meal in his new body and he couldn’t remember a better one.

After the food the chief gave a long and laborious speech about the great victory at the temple. He talked of the great bravery and leadership of the spirit bear. He told them about how the spirit bear had taught Rori a new kind of shield song. How Rori had courageously led other members of the tribe and used the new song to switch off the devastating magical defences in the temple.

He told them about the terrifying attacks of the flying Yith wizards and how the spirit bear had destroyed the flying stone gargoyles; of how Rori had cunningly killed one of the attacking wizards who was casting balls of fire at them; of how the spirit bear replaced his own head after having it cut off by a huge metal monster which had gone mad and of how he had fought and destroyed a giant magical thunder lizard.

Untold glory was heaped upon Aquitain, Rori and the other brave members of the tribe for their exceptional courage. They sang the hero’s song again and again. Aquitain had never been lauded so much.

He felt elated but also a little sad as he remembered that he had lost quite a number of his troops during the assault on the temple. The Crin, the giant ant-like creatures had suffered the most casualties. They had lost half their number. He wondered if they were celebrating.

After the chief’s speech the drums began beating and all the females formed a circle facing outwards toward the males sitting on the ground. Wooden gourds of fermented fruit punch were circulated amongst the males and soon everyone was happily intoxicated.

The drums beat a lively tune, the females danced and the males drank. Aquitain joined in whole-heartedly. The atmosphere became hypnotic. The drink, the beat of the drums, the dancing females entranced him. His normally strong mental guard was absent.

Tonight he was just an ordinary little people. Soon the females began stepping forward and proclaiming the names of their favourite males. The males jumped to their feet and joined the females gyrating and leaping and moving together in the centre of the circle of females.

The females danced and pranced, the drums beat and suddenly Shastritara stepped forward out of the circle and declared Aquitain as her favourite. Alarm bells rang in Aquitain’s befuddled mind and he turned to Kami.

‘What does she mean? I’m her favourite?’

‘It means she is wishing to be dancing with you Spirit Lord.’ said Kami.

‘Oh. That’s okay. Miranda won’t mind that!’ he said and jumped up and staggered over to hold her hand. She pulled him through to the centre of the circle and began rhythmically moving her body with the beat, grinning at him all the while with a look like a hungry crocodile.

He grinned back and imitated her movements. There was something exciting and enticing about the way she moved. Her body language was sensuous and erotic. His new body was aroused by her actions.

They danced for an hour until he was exhausted then they sat together and watched the others. She fetched him more food and drinks. They danced again and again until midnight when Kami suddenly called a stop to the dancing and announced the elders had decided in honour of the occasion, tonight they would dance the fire dance. They all cheered and yelled.

‘What’s happening Shastritara?’ asked Aquitain.

‘This is a very great honour for you.’ She replied, ‘We are forbidden to be showing this dance to any outside the tribe. Watch and you will be seeing some of our secret lore.’

The crowd all moved back ten Newman paces from the shaman and formed a loose circle around him. He began chanting and the crowd became quiet. He chanted on for several minutes then suddenly the whole of the village began singing and Kami burst into purple flame.

‘Amazing.’ thought Aquitain as he waited breathlessly to see what was going to happen next.

The females in the tribe all formed a circle around Kami and began singing and dancing then after a couple of minutes one by one they danced towards Kami and thrust an arm into the flame. The purple fire spread up their arms enveloping them. They then continued dancing around covered in flames. Shastritara was the star she stood out from all the rest as she was covered in red flame.

When all the females were covered in fire the males danced in and became enveloped in purple flame. The sight was awesome. The males and females danced around in a circle weaving in and out, spinning, and jumping.

After several minutes a flaming red Shastritara danced out of the throng towards him. The ground smouldered and he could feel the heat radiating off her.

‘I am wishing to be dancing with you, Spirit Lord. Will you dance with me?’ asked Shastritara.

‘My body only looks like yours Shastritara. If I were covered in those flames my body would be burnt.’

‘I was once asking a shaman why we were not being burned during the fire dance and he was saying that the song tells the spirit to protect the body from the flame.’

Aquitain sat up suddenly and cleared his head a little.

‘Of course I haven’t been listening!’ he thought.

‘Sing the song to me a couple times Shastritara.’ he said

Shastritara sang it, he memorised it and began to analyse the words. They were ancient high Draconic and even though their pronunciations were not quite correct they still held the draconic intent and that was protection from cold. The song was a fire shield but modified in a way that changed colour with their scale colour. It was a way of showing their tribal identity. He had to try it.

‘Yes I will dance with you.’

‘I will inform the shaman.’ she said with a big toothy smile and danced back into the throng. A minute later the shaman started chanting and dancing stopped and a gap formed allowing him to pass through.

Aquitain began singing the song and then thrust his arm into Kami’s purple fire. It ran up his arm enveloped his body and turned yellow. He stood there covered in yellow fire. It felt slightly warm but looked awesome. Everyone stood staring at him, no one had ever seen someone covered in yellow flame.

‘My, you are always being full of surprises, Spirit Lord. That is being the colour of the lost yellow tribe.’ Then he changed his chant and they all started to dance again.

Aquitain danced around with Shastritara for another half an hour weaving in and out among the fiery purple flaming bodies until Kami caused a halt in the proceedings by dousing his purple flame and shortly after all the flames on the little people went out.

The celebration began to wane at this stage as everyone looked and felt totally exhausted.

He told Shastritara that he had had enough and wished to retire so she accompanied him back to his hut.

‘Thank you for such a nice night.’ he said as she produced a flask.

‘Thank you for accepting me as your favourite.’ she replied. ‘This is a special potion that makes for wonderful dreams. Many males in this village would be killing for this. I am offering it to you great hero. Drink it and be enjoying your dreams.’

‘Why thank you.’ said Aquitain. ‘I have really enjoyed your company tonight Shastritara, sleep well’ and he took the potion and entered the hut and fell onto the bedding on the floor.

He lay there for several minutes thinking about the great evening and remembered Shastritara’s potion. Why not top off the night with some pleasant dreams he thought and drank it. It tasted fruity not unlike like the fermented fruit punch they had been drinking but shortly his mind began to float. He felt aroused. If only Miranda were here it would be a real celebration he thought.

The door opened and a naked Miranda entered.

‘I want you so much my hero.’ she said and walked over to him and stroked his miniscule penis. An incredibly alluring perfume emanating from her body filled his mind with desire. He breathed it in and all the blood in his head seemed to drain into his penis. It enlarged to an enormous size and throbbed with excitement.

He dopily looked through the haze and asked about her chastity belt?’

‘I have no chastity belt. See for yourself.’ she replied and displayed her body in all its glory.

He woozily used his power to detect magic and saw no magic around her nether region so said.

‘Come to me Mandy I’ve been waiting forever for this moment.’

They made the most amazing love time and time again until he collapsed into a deep exhausted sleep. He awoke about midday when Shastritara gently stroked his forehead. She had a dreamy look on her face and handed him a cup of water and he drank it heartily.

‘Were you having wonderful dreams my hero.’ she asked.

‘By the Powers, what was in that potion? It seemed so real. It was absolutely unbelievable. I’ve never felt anything like it. It was wonderful. Where is Miranda?’

‘She never returned last night my hero.’ replied Shastritara.

Aquitain lay there for a few moments and it suddenly dawned on him. She had called him ‘her hero’. In his dreams Miranda had been calling him the same thing.

‘It was real. It was you! You deceived me into thinking you were Miranda.’

‘It was being my duty My Lord. The druidess is being your first favourite. Last night you consented for me to being your second favourite. She was not coming to you so I was taking her place. A great hero must be truly rewarded.’

‘But you deceived me into thinking that you were her.’

‘No My Lord, it is your mind that was deceiving you not I. I was only wishing that you be taking pleasure from me. I am being sorry that you believed me to be your first favourite. I will be trying harder next time and perhaps you will be seeing me as your first favourite.’

‘Try harder! If you tried any harder I would have died. Shastritara I truly thank you for last night. I do not know your customs here but you must know my heart lies with the druidess Miranda. I cannot in all conscience do that again.’

‘You were being magnificent beyond my dreams My Lord. You are being my first and only hero. You have been showing me the strength of all the men in the tribe and the endurance of a bull dancer. I am willingly awaiting our next pleasures together. When your first favourite is failing to please you or is not here I will be waiting for you and taking your breaths away.’

‘Umm. Thank you Shastritara. Can you send Kami to see me?’

‘Yes. My Lord. Your wishes are being my pleasures.’ and she left.

‘Oh, by the Powers I’ve been ambushed. If Miranda finds out about this she’ll kill Shastritara then come looking for me.’ he thought.

His thoughts verged on panic for several minutes until Kami arrived.

‘Hello Spirit Lord have you been enjoying your dreaming?’ said Kami with a grin.

‘You set me up Kami. You knew about this. I trusted you as a friend.’

‘I am still being your friend Spirit Lord. You are wanting to be knowing secrets of our lore and I am not being able to be telling you anything, as you are not one of the Jeti peoples. If you were to be making eggs with one of our females then the Elders might be thinking that they should be making you a member of the Jeti peoples. Then you can be hearing our lore.’

‘You’ll get both Shastritara and me killed if Miranda finds out what happened last night let alone what you are suggesting.’

‘What I am suggesting is being news for the Jeti people’s ears only. It is a genuine rule that the first favourite is never being told what the second favourite and the warrior is doing. No one is seeing and no one is talking.’

‘You told me yesterday that your people only make eggs for one week each year.’

‘That is being true. The females they can only be making eggs for one week each year and there is much pleasuring then. But they are also knowing secret female’s lore to be making their favoured ones be having great pleasures at other special times as well.’

‘So you want me to be here in a month’s time and make eggs with Shastritara in exchange for knowledge of your lore.’

‘That is being truly correct.’ said Kami.

‘What about Shastritara? Is she willingly a part of this scheme?’

‘She has a genuine liking for you and a destiny all her own. She only wishes to be pleasuring you so much that you will be making her your first favourite.’

‘Tell me about her destiny.’ asked Aquitain wondering what destiny could possibly have to do with this situation.

‘She is very special and very dangerous. She is being the only surviving daughter of the salamander tribe and excellent at making the potions. They were being red skins and very proud and would not be bowing down to the druids like the rest of us. Her mother was giving her to me as an egg before her mother was dying at the hands of the druids. She has always been saying that she was saving herself for the greatest of heroes and you are being that hero.’

‘She is the last of the Reds?’

‘Yes Spirit Lord she is being the very last of the Salamander tribe. We have been protecting her hoping that she would be accepting one of our own warriors as a favourite but she has been refusing. She will be accepting none but the greatest hero and that is being you.’

‘But I am not one of your blood. I am a spider; a shape changer. We cannot produce any little people eggs. She is doomed to failure.’

‘Perhaps and perhaps not Spirit Lord but she has been telling me that there is female’s lore that is suggesting that maybe you can. Have you put much considering into why The Lady has been making your body like ours? I am greatly betting that She is doing things with some purpose being in Her thinking. Perhaps in Her wisdom She is wanting you to be saving the Salamander tribe by making eggs with Shastritara?’

Aquitain chanted a calming mantra. He had to think rationally. What were they up to? They knew he was interested in their lore. They were trying to make him an offer he would find hard to resist. He was busting to find out what they knew about the Great Storm and the Founts of Wisdom.

Maybe they even knew where the Founts were. Is this why Alpha didn’t want him to fall for Miranda? Did his father and Granddad know that something like this might happen? Were they in league with The Lady? Is this why The Lady had put a chastity tattoo on his girlfriend Miranda?

If it wasn’t for his feelings for Miranda he might be tempted at the offer of more of Shastritara’s pleasures. She certainly didn’t hold back. Why didn’t Miranda return last night? Perhaps she had returned and they told her he had left. There were too many unanswered questions for him to agree with Kami’s proposal. Fortunately he had a few weeks to find out more before he would have to decide.

Another problem was that there was no guarantee that they knew what he wanted to know. He could agree to their proposal, discover nothing useful and have Miranda never talking to him again. Both the rewards and the risks were huge. Somehow he had to hedge his bets. He thought about it for a minute or two then came up with a solution.

‘I will carefully consider your proposal Kami and give you my decision in a couple of weeks. However, if I were to agree I would wish to have Shastritara in a more important position in the tribe. I would want her to be an assistant shaman and have her taught the lore of the shaman so that someday she might be shaman.’

‘Ah! By my ancestors you are driving a difficult bargain Spirit Lord. I am doubting that the elders will be agreeing but I will be putting your suggestions to them. We have not been having a female shaman since before the Great Storm. It will be causing me big problems.’

As Kami opened the door and left in a hurry to see the Chief, Aquitain noticed that Shastritara had been kneeling just outside the door and would have heard everything that he had said to Kami so he invited her back into his hut.

‘Shastritara I am unhappy that I have been deceived by you and Kami. However, I am sorry to know that you are the last of the Salamander tribe and I can understand your desire to have the Reds continue but I cannot understand why you think I can help you do this?’

‘It is lore that Spirit Lords have powerful magic My Lord. It is also lore that when reds join with browns they have special offspring. You are a brown and I am a red.’

‘But you saw that I am a spider. I am just pretending to be like you. I can be a red, a blue or a green just as easily.’ he replied.

‘It is known from our lore that you are being a Llanllean spider. They are having