Chapter 18: Three New Outsiders
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Akfek noticed a presence nearby - it was a strong magician under the spell
of vanish.  "Fool, he is here for power.  I will not uncover his presence,
though; that would be unwise.  He is not a threat to me and he does not
plan to fight me yet.  Perhaps later I will disclose his presence, but now
is not the time," thought the cunning man.  Using Shade's telepathic
abilities, Akfek informed Sascha not to alarm the visitor but to leave him
invisible.  Sascha, who had noticed his presence earlier, complied.  Sascha
and Akfek slept peacefully that night with the visitor's eyes closely
preying upon them.

The next morning, as Sascha and Akfek woke up, Gnome was digging a hole to
test his "digging skills."  Then, over the sky, an airship approached above
and Akfek sensed danger.  The elementals would need to be hidden to prevent
any suspicion of their plans, so Akfek turned to Shade and asked, "Shade,
do your powers encompass the possibilities of concealing the other
elementals?  We cannot let strangers know about their existence, for this
would prove to be dangerous to our plans."

"Yes, I can conceal their appearance.  I will do it immediately," responded
the dark elemental.  Gnome, Luna, and Shade vanished into thin air, leaving
only the hole dug by Gnome as the only evidence of their existence before.

* * * *

As the airship landed, a young lady and a young man ventured towards
Akfek's and Sascha's position.  Both had their weapons drawn and Akfek
sensed the young lady was strong with black-magic.  "Who are you?" asked
the young lady.

"My name is Akfek, and this is Sascha.  Why do you have your weapons drawn?
We mean no harm.  We are only innocent travellers."  Akfek knew they were
no match for him; both could not even move within ten meters of Sascha
unless she allowed them, since they now had the power of three elementals.
Akfek pondered, "But I do not want these two to die yet.  They have friends
and their friends will search for them if I kill them.  This will cause us
difficulties.  Perhaps, we can befriend them.  Their assistance would be
valuable indeed..."

The young man searched for the "dwarf" digging in the ground.  "Before we
arrived, I sensed a strong magical field around here and there was a
'dwarf' digging in the ground.  Where is he now?"

Akfek motioned to Sascha to answer and Sascha replied, "It wasn't a dwarf.
What you saw was a rare type of 'mole', but they are uncommon.  Perhaps you
should check for that magical field you claimed existed before you
arrived."  The young lady pulled out what seemed to be an orb and scanned
for any magical force but there was an interference with the reading.

The young lady spoke, "Why is there mass destruction near here?  We saw
it from the Falcon."

Sascha answered again, "The destruction was present when we had arrived
here.  We are only innocent travellers.  You two look like strong fighters
and we wish to do you no harm.  We are just farmers and are looking for a
method to improve our crop production. Would you be able to help us?"