| "So it would appear," Sigin says, "and diametrically opposed souls
at that. One seems to be that of a very good person, and the other that
of an extremely evil one. And they seem to have been unaware of each other
until a short time ago. Unless I'm much mistaken, the powder in the phial
he was carrying is a poison of some kind. It appears that he intended to
ruin the conference by poisoning one or more of the delegates. When the
two souls became aware of each other, it seems that there was a violent
disagreement over this.
"There are two options for us now. We can either have him tried for
attempted murder, which would probably ruin the conference, not to mention
causing bad blood between the griffins and Ethiopia and leaving your people
without a leader. Or we could try to exorcise the evil soul, leaving the
good one in total control." "Is that possible?" asks the griffin shaman
doubtfully. "Well, it is possible in theory, but I don't think it's ever
actually been done. After all, has a situation like this ever arisen before?
If only we still had working Crystallics, it would have been much easier,
of course."
Not surprisingly, Trilling's two wives have been stunned by what has
happened. They can understand human speech even though (like most griffins)
they cannot speak it, so they understand what has happened. "He always
looked after us so well," Morning Song says. "Yes, but do you remember
the strange things that he would occasionally say in his sleep?" Evening
Star replies. "Something about having been wronged and imprisoned by Malachi,
Regent of Ethiopia, and wanting his revenge." The shaman translates for
the benefit of Sigin (who doesn't speak griffin), who now realises
that Trilling must once have been Zular. How he came to be in the body
of a griffin is still a mystery, but that doesn't really matter.
-
 Same
as the first, but a bit shorter.....
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