The Sword of Retribution

The Spies - Part 2

     As he finished speaking the door opened and a messenger entered. He went over to Lanaris, whispered into his ear for a couple of minutes and handed him something that looked like a pendant on a fine silver chain before leaving again. Lanaris held up the pendant so they could all see it, and they saw that it was a flat silver disk about two inches across with strange geometric designs engraved on it. “Have any of you ever seen anything like this before?” he asked.

     “Yes,” replied the Beltharan General. “One of my Captains has one just like it. He says it's a family heirloom, handed down from his grandfather, to whom it was given by a wizard whose life he’d saved. I only found out he had it a few weeks ago when a thief tried to steal it from him. He was quite uncharacteristically angry when he caught him, would have killed the fellow if I hadn’t been there to stop him, and afterwards he told me all about it. Why, what is it?”

     “This, apparently, is how the clay man defeated all our mind reading spells. The moment each of you arrived on this island, your minds were read to ensure that you were who you claimed to be. This pendant, however, screens its owner’s mind, so that a mind reader only reads what he thinks should be there. I’m afraid your Captain is a clay man.”

     “Gods! No!” exclaimed the General in shock. “Not Adon! He’s one of my best men! I’ve known him for years, ever since I was a Captain and he was one of my Lieutenants!” He suddenly turned white as a new thought struck him. “He knows everything about our defences! Strategies, fall back positions, everything! If he’s passed all that back to the enemy... Could the clay man have gotten all that information out of him before it killed him?”

     “I’m afraid so, yes,” said Lanaris gravely. “They have highly advanced psionic powers. These pendants are their weakness, however. To avoid discovery by mind reading spells, they have to carry one, so here’s what we’re going to do. We’re all going to remove our clothing, and then each of us will examine someone else’s clothing, looking for a mind shielding pendant. Several of us are able to read minds, either by means of magic spells or as an innate ability, so while we’re all unclothed, they’ll read the minds of everyone else, including each other. If there are any other clay men among us, that ought to flush them out. Any objections? I thought not. Let’s do it, then.”

     They all began to get undressed, all except Tuska’s aide who looked uncomfortable and fiddled with his buttons uncertainly. Several other delegates looked at him suspiciously, and as one of the trogs was about to say something to him he bolted for the door, almost making it before the dor-maja bounded over and swatted him against the wall with a swipe of its massive paw. The blow would have killed most humans instantly, but the clay man jumped back to its feet, crimson blood flowing from a row of claw marks across its shoulder, trying to look in all directions at once as it searched frantically for an escape route.

     Tuska drew his sword with a cry of grief and rage and ran over to chop the creature in half, but the clay man drew its own sword and parried the blow, simultaneously growing taller and stronger. Huge muscles bulged, splitting and tearing its clothes into rags, and its head turned into something monstrous with glaring red eyes and a snarling mouth filled with long, wicked teeth. The huge monster twirled the sword in its great clawed hand like a toy and screamed its hatred and defiance at the Callinian Colonel, who backed away warily.

     Several other delegates drew their weapons and closed in around the creature, ending any hope it might have of escape. The clay man knew it was finished, but it had a strong streak of defiance that its fellow had lacked and was determined to take one or two of the delegates with it. It leaped towards Tuska with a scream of rage, intending to lop off his head with a swipe of its sword, but before it could get even half way Resalintas spoke a Holy Word and it was instantly struck down by a blast of pure divine power. It fell to the ground, twitched a little and shrank back to its natural form.