The serpent held him in the lulling intensity of its stare, making a low rattling through its nostrils. Mirrortac found he could not shift his eyes: they were locked in on the two black pits that bore into him. He started to forget where he was and the danger he was in. Something seemed to be intruding into his mind; his memories flowing out from him like the Werd-Stream flowed out into the lake of the Waters of Three. The serpent’s jaw moved closer.
‘Awake! Awake! Break from the spell. The serpent has bewitched you!’
The sound of Ni-Do’s voice penetrated into the erfin’s stupor. Mirrortac shook his head and blinked. Ni-Do was nowhere to be seen but the warning had been timely; the serpent’s jaws were opening up to engulf him. Mirrortac yelled and jumped back. His feet slipped on the greasy skin and he fell, dropping the axe, which slithered in circles across the back of the serpent. Mirrortac flung his paw out to catch it but was too late. The axe slid over the edge and clunked into the branches below. He careened after it, unable to gain a hold on the moving slippery back. He fell over the edge and plunged through leaves, twigs and small branches, arms and legs flailing. With a thud that winded him, he crashed into a thick branch and managed to grab hold of it as he slid off.
Hanging by his paws, he was helpless and vulnerable. The serpent quickly slithered down the branches, pursuing him. Mirrortac struggled with his thoughts – ‘The words. What are the words?’
‘Be De Yargur Huga. No, De Yargu Be Harga. No! No! No!’
He became more anxious as he watched the serpent moving swiftly towards him. ‘Harga Be Yugu. No, Harga De Yuga! Oh troll’s curse. What are those words!’
The serpent hung low from an adjacent branch and its head hovered in front of the erfin, surveying him. Its forked tongue flipped in and out of its mouth and it hissed at him with menace. Mirrortac pulled up on his arms as he watched the serpent coil back on itself, preparing to strike. The erfin strained as his chin scraped over the lip of the branch. The serpent wavered. An awful rattle rolled up inside its throat and down the inside of its hollow body. Muscles quivering with the weight of his own body, Mirrortac slumped back, hanging limp and exhausted. He stared back at the serpent with helpless horror. His head pounded as his blood coursed through him.
The serpent lunged.
Its movement was so fast that the leaves were torn off the trees and scattered around as though caught in a windstorm. Mirrortac shut his eyes and cried out ‘Mateote save me!’ and felt his fur ruffled as the air around him was caught up in turmoil. The serpent’s roar rang in his ears; its breath of decay wafted around him. He felt himself falling as the branch tore out of his grip. He waited for the vice of its jaws to clamp around him; he waited, but nothing happened. The wind died away and he felt himself swinging in the air.
After a few moments, Mirrortac opened his eyes and found that he was clinging to a strip of bark that had broken free at the moment the serpent struck out. The bark jerked then ripped away again; tearing off in a long sheet that was still secured to the branch. He could hang on with his whole body, which meant that he had one hand free.
Mirrortac withdrew his sword. The surprised serpent swung around, its head swaying in time with each pendulum movement of the erfin. The monster roared, shaking all the trees and showering the erfin with leaves. Without hesitation, it lunged again, jaws agape as it thundered across the space separating them. This time, Mirrortac did not close his eyes but stared fearlessly ahead, fingers wrapped firmly around the hilt of Moongleam. The ancient power in the sword charged him with renewed courage. A maddening fury rushed up into his throat and in a loud cry of defiance, he gave voice to it, screaming with the battle rage as the jaws of the serpent closed around him and snatched him up. Mirrortac danced about inside the serpent’s mouth, avoiding the lashing efforts of its leathery tongue as it tried to detach and swallow him. He stabbed the soft fleshy tongue, holding it in place as the serpent jerked back on it. The membrane opened in a long gash. Blood spurted out, spattering him with caustic droplets that stung wherever they made contact with skin. A putrid wind gusted up from within the monster’s gut and its roar was deafening. Its jaws opened with a hiss and snapped shut again, clamping down on his legs.
Mirrortac tried to pull his legs free but the serpent only increased the pressure. He cried out in pain as he felt the crushing impact. In moments, his legs would snap. He turned his pain into fury and thrust the blade upwards, cutting into the roof of its mouth; then twisting, he tore through the sinews and opened deep wounds. Blood gushed out and poured over him. The serpent’s jaws loosened. Mirrortac pulled his feet free and limped to his feet. The monster shook its head violently from side to side, hurling the erfin off balance and flat on his back over the bleeding tongue. With a flick, he was thrown backwards and was about to be swallowed. Mirrortac grasped hold of the back of the tongue, with his body hanging halfway into its throat. With a desperate movement, he shot the blade of the sword up into the flesh under the serpent’s brain and felt the skin puncture and give way. The sword plunged through to its hilt. He pulled it out and was immediately blinded in a rush of blood. The monster serpent heaved and coughed, disgorging the erfin and spitting him out as blood continued to flow into its mouth and spill out over the forest.
Mirrortac tumbled down through the branches and foliage, falling over and over until he collided into the forest floor; his sword clanging to a standstill a short distance away. His fur was clotted with the caustic blood of the serpent and his eyelids were stuck down. Above him, he could hear the monster serpent’s terrible bellowing death throes as it drowned in its own blood. The trees rustled and cracked, buckling under the massive weight of the writhing monster. Finally, a branch gave way and the giant serpent came falling down, its body crashing to earth with a tremendous thud that shook the forest for thousands of erfin-lengths around.
The last thing Mirrortac remembered was a chorus of excited grunts and whoops as the bat-people applauded his victory. Unconsciousness spared him the pain for a time.
Chapter 4 – Greenfaug and The Spirit of Yu
A week had passed in the forest. All the bowers had been repaired and Mirrortac was on his feet again. The bat-people had taken good care of him, tending to his wounds and ministering to him with mugs of the gentle drink, and rodents specially prepared. He found some favour with their long bouts of recreation but their play was still a mystery to him. The death of the Serpent of the Sky had been a relief to all yet Mirrortac noticed that the beings still cast a nervous glance up into the treetops. A life conditioned by fear of this monster was not one easily changed, he thought. Rain was almost a daily event, pouring down in great torrents under a sky forever disturbed by the rumble and boil of the storm. The warm and moisture laden air was a trial on the erfin’s health and he wheezed with the unaccustomed weight of it upon his lungs. An ugly green mould established itself in his fur and spread quickly, compounding the constant smell and feel of the rainforest. Mirrortac realised then that the same mould was the reason why all the bat-beings were coloured green and smelt of the trees around them.
The wheezing worsened. Mirrortac hacked and spluttered his way around the bowers, inspecting the work and helping where he could. There was nothing about building with wood that he could teach them. Instead, he was learning from them. The bat people greeted him with frowns of concern as they watched him move among them, stopping often as he erupted into a renewed spasm of coughing. He was nauseated by the smell of his own fur, permeated with a dense growth of green mould. His face assumed an ill pallor and his moods were dark. He picked at his food and left most of it uneaten.
One morning, a bat-being who seemed to Mirrortac to be an elder, left the bower tree after some discussion with the others of the community. He must have been going a long way because Mirrortac could see him following the same trail up the trees as they had gone on the day they left to hunt the serpent. The community clearly had no means of dealing with his illness. He was coughing up thick slime and his mind was
clouding up with the jungle fever. Before the day ended, he retired to his bed, lacking the strength to stand anymore. The wonder liquid failed to revive him and there was nothing left for him but to accept that he would die. But what of the mission? he thought.
Mirrortac drifted into a coma. He could still hear the world around him in a confusion of grunts and movements. Time lost meaning. He caught fevered glimpses of faces bending down over him and wrapping him in something. There was much activity but he was barely conscious of it. Dreams and reality merged. Gakars swooped towards him and were snatched up by the Serpent of the Sky; trees ate giant leeches and mould grew and covered the world. Then he could see the giant tree and its branches folded into the clouds; and he was flying towards it. He was up in the clouds, watching the branches dripping and mouldy within the grey soupy mist. It felt as though he floated there, circling upwards among the grey spaces between the branches. Around him the grey fog churned and tumbled. He felt himself lifted, borne aloft in a swift current of air. Then the darkness folded in on him again.
Out of the darkness came the figure of Ni-Do, resplendent and glistening in his green robe; his long hair sparkling as though lit with a phosphorescent fire. His features were serene.
‘I speak to you in welcome and farewell, erfin-friend. Your journey will take you beyond the forest and green places of my keeping. Continue to seek the Well of Lost Memories for it will be there that Truth will be revealed unto you and those with you. The words you have lost must remain hidden again. Be brave. Keep Moongleam close by your side. This must be done. Go with De Hargur ... Go in Peace.’
With these words, the vision faded and Mirrorac was consumed by the darkness again.
****§****
Mirrortac blinked and opened his eyes. As he focussed, he could see a face staring down at him. It was one of the bat-beings but the eyes had a soft quality in their gaze while the being’s wings were a dull red like lilac. The fur around its cheeks was drawn out in pale white tufts and an oval of greyish fur covered its chest and belly. A row of teats protruded from its breast. The erfin nodded in recognition.
She grinned curiously at him as his eyes met hers. She proffered him to drink from the mug that she was holding out to him. Mirrortac accepted it with a slight hesitation, lifting it slowly to his lips. The mixture had an unfamiliar flavour, tasting of nuts and strange fruits – sweet yet not sweet. He finished the mug and gave it back to her whereupon she left him.
The humid surroundings of the bower had been replaced by something quite different. Mirrortac looked around him from his bed composed of fine bark. The building he lay within was at least as large as the Halls of Eol. There was a partition of narrow palings woven together with bark twine, intersecting walls of polished wooden poles. The ceiling and the roof were constructed of many of these poles all interlocking and pressed so close together that not a crack showed between them. There ran a long length of pole that had been carved with many curious designs where the poles of the ceiling met at their highest pitch. Much skill was evident in the architecture of this hall. He was impressed. An aroma of fine timber seeped into his nostrils. He realised with surprise that he could breathe easily again although with a slight wheezing.
The female bat-being returned through the doorway in the partition, bearing with her a plate of prepared meat. Mirrortac was indeed famished and ate the meat with gusto. It was of a creature he had not previously eaten - there was much fat in it and the flesh was quite dark. Something in its aroma seemed familiar although he could not place it. He sat up, chewing and swallowing big lumps of meat and making sounds of approval. She grinned and nodded with delight, and when he had finished, gathered his bowl and left him again.
In just a few days, Mirrortac was his old self again and the wheezing had abated. Finally, two of the male beings came for him and led him away through a long passage within the great hall. Pillars the size of tree trunks marked the passage and out of them were carved figures in the likeness of these beings. The timber was polished to a black sheen with a peculiar resin. Mirrortac looked above him where the walls and ceiling met in a gap where daylight streamed in. Vines hung down in streamers, blessed with an abundance of fragrant pink flowers. And ahead, at the end of the passage, the trunk of a mighty tree as wide as the building itself formed a huge barrier. A doorway had been cut into the trunk and carved into it was the design of two of these beings, wings outspread and between them, a tree that grew up through a cloud and fanned out in a flat canopy above.
The door was drawn up as they approached, revealing two male bat-people standing guard with axes that were carved in the form of a tree with its branches forming the twine that bound the quartz blades. Beyond them lay two smaller doorways, each decorated with a curtain of vines. The two beings with him withdrew, leaving him in the charge of the two guards at the door.
Mirrortac waited patiently as one of the guards disappeared through the curtain. He now realised where he was - within the great tree he had seen while on the journey to kill the serpent. He had scarcely had time to examine the fine carvings around him when the guard returned and indicated to him to enter.
There sprang into view a hall of great size hewn out of the tree itself. The floor was highly polished and bore a pattern of lines; concentric circles merging into a raised platform with steps leading up to it. A relief, like a giant fresco, had been carved into the wall that circled the chamber. Scenes of everyday life were depicted and the carving of a serpent with its tail within its mouth ran the full length of the wall, skirting the ceiling. Ornate lanterns jutted out of the wall, their wicks unlit. Above them the ceiling rose up in a dome with a triangular window cut out of one side. A bright golden sunlight streamed in through the opening and orchids could be seen growing at the edges of the window.
Mirrortac smiled up at the warm light as it filtered through the window and glimmered down rows of vines that hung low into the chamber. Adorning the vines were many blossoms - pink, cream and many pale shades between. The chamber was filled with their sweet fragrance and the sunlight danced on the soft petals in highlights of bright colours. The blossoming vines fell in a spray over the platform where two regal beings sat in delicately carved thrones of pine. The beings each wore a crown of orchid flowers and a cape of the serpent skin; and one of them, who was female, wore a necklace whereupon hung a single rough-hewn greenstone, which shone with a weak lustre.
The two had all the air of ones placed in authority but there was a softness in their gaze. The male one cleared his throat and frowned as he struggled to speak.
‘Greeting, stranger. I trust you have recovered from the fever and the mould. The warmth of the flame that hangs in the sky is much more fitting to you than the wetness of our forest. The light of the flame has crossed the blue nine times since you were brought here. You an honoured guest among us. I have heard that the flesh of the Snerk met with your favour. Enjoy it. There is more.’
Mirrortac was amazed.
‘Greetings ... I am Mirrortac,’ he answered. ‘I come here from beyond the great Mateote, the mountain that is guardian to my people, the erfins. You know my tongue. How can this be?’
The being grinned. ‘Welcome to the Faug Forest, Mirrortac. I am Chen, Prince over all the Faugs and beside me is our Princess, Emeritta.’ The princess bowed. ‘We are governors of all the forest that stretches many mooniths to westering and eastering. As you now see the world continues on to where it truely ends across the Wastes of Nug to our north. This is Greenfaug Hall within the Great Bowers of Greenfaug and the Sacred Tree of Yu to whom we owe our service. Yu joins our world with the sky and her roots are fed from the Cavern-of-the-Silver-Springs from whence you found entry into our forest.’
There was a pause as Mirrortac considered what he had just been told.
‘Chen, Prince of the Faugs, these are weird things that you tell me but there is much weirdness in my journey and in this giant forest world of yours. It is only by great trials that I am here. This is indeed
a wonderous world but there are terrors here beyond an erfin’s imaginings. I am fortunate I was spared.’
Chen motioned to him to come closer and be seated on a mat provided at the foot of the thrones.
‘Yea, oh humble erfin, Mirrortac. You speak short of yourself. It is more than bravery for which we honour you. You possess secret words with the power to repel even the Mother of all the Snerks of the Faug Forest. My people have seen you use them twice - once when the terrible gorkle surprised you near the Bludstream, and upon She, the horrible Mother of all Snerks; She whom you met in combat to the death; She who you conquered so for awhile faugs will have rest until another snerk rises. Because of your power over the monsters of our forest, our she-faugs can return to Westfaug Bowers and to all the other bowers and be joined again with our he-faugs.’
Prince Chen raised himself up on his throne. ‘Hail to Mirrortac!’ he cried. ‘Hail to he with the words and the silver blade of Waterstone! You are honoured among all faugs from the four corners of our world.’
Mirrortac had not expected such a tribute. He shrugged. ‘I too am amazed at the power of the secret words but these words are not mine; they come from ... from,’ he hesitated. His mind had drawn a blank.
The prince and princess smiled. The princess leaned forward, her eyes glinting. ‘T’is in your nature to possess such words, Mirrortac.’ she said. ‘But none can deny that it was you who vanquished She. For many cycles-of-the-seasons the Faug Forest has been in fear of her. There are lesser snerks westering and eastering within the forest but their power over us is much less now that their mother is dead ... and you have the proof of her flesh within you.’
Mirrortac’s eyes widened. ‘I ate of this monster?’
The Wizard's Sword (Nine Worlds of Mirrortac Book 1) Page 8
