The princess nodded. ‘That is so.’
‘This serpent, you call it “Snerk?”‘
‘Yea, She whom you conquered was the most feared of all snerks ... She is the serpent mother.’
Mirrortac flushed with sudden anger, and shaking his furry fist at them he said: ‘Then why must an erfin fight this monster alone! Why must I suffer near death while your people sit about and watch? Answer me this!’
Disturbed by this show of anger, Prince Chen frowned but tempered his annoyance. ‘We do not have the power of the words, erfin-friend,’ he said. ‘This was your battle - the glory belongs to you. We could not interfere with the spirit that moved within.’
Mirrortac’s frown thinly disguised his confusion. ‘What is this spirit?’ he said. ‘I know only Mateote, god who rules our lives. You do not speak of him, only of this sacred tree.’
‘I have heard of your Mateote but he is guardian of your world Yuol. My forefaugs speak little of him. I should like to know more of him but first I will explain the spirit who is ruler of our forest world. It is the spirit of Yu who does not live within this tree but IS this tree. Yu created all the trees in the forest, except the thocks, which belong to the Snerk, and the dark creatures that live in the stream. Yu gave us wings so we could live among the treetops and never have to walk the earth. Yu has given us abundant fruits and Merma so we may never hunger or grow weary. We live in eternal praise of Yu and all that we do is in Yu’s service. Do you understand, Mirrortac?’
Mirrortac bowed his head in consternation, drawing his finger around in circles on the timber floor. ‘What you tell me is testing. I cannot imagine a world without Mateote. Surely, he is greater than even the tallest of trees. The mountain that is Mateote is highest and greatest of all.’
A flash of annoyance flared on the prince’s face but that of the princess remained gentle and composed.
Prince Chen grunted. ‘It is unwise to speak lightly of the spirit of Yu who is of this tree. Mateote may indeed be ruler of erfins but he does not rule the Faug Forest. Had you not saved us from She, Snerk Mother, I would suspect you walked with the dark ones of the earth and you would be cast out in Thock Wood to perish!’
The prince trembled with ire. Mirrortac chilled under the glare of his eyes and spoke quickly to cover his loose words.
‘Chen, Prince of Faugs, pardon my disrespect. I am not familiar with your great spirit. You must allow me my thoughts. If I should tell of this in Eol the High Priest of the Temple of Mateote would have me ritually put to death upon the altar. The clouds block our view of your world and it was only through the directions of a messenger of the great god Mateote that I found the way here. I beg your pardon, mighty prince.’
The prince’s features softened and with a grin he said: ‘Yea, Mirrortac. We have both spoken rashly. It is best forgotten. There is much to discuss. What is this world of yours like? Our forefaugs who once flew across the great stone say that the trees are stunted and the flame-in-the-sky shines directly upon it and you all live in bowers upon the ground. Is this so?’
Mirrortac nodded. ‘This is so, Prince. Our land of Eol is bordered by forest and water. There were terrible nite-wolves in the forest before they were killed and lorc monsters swim the waters of the lake and the Werdstream. They bring great fear to us, much as your snerk and the giant leech that lives in your stream. But they be nought to the monsters here in your giant forest and the terrible tree which nearly swallowed me. I had thoughts that this was indeed the Netherworld and I have doubt yet.’
‘Be not in doubt, Mirrortac. You are safe among us. There is no snerk nor any other dark creatures that would enter the Sacred Tree of Yu. Now tell, what games do you play in Yuol? How do the erfins pass the time? Do you carve upon the trees as we do? Or are there other ways in which you praise Mateote?’
Realising he had their full attention, the erfin warmed to telling of his world. ‘By praise, if you mean to say honour then there is much to fill an erfin’s time. We have animals we must catch for food, homes to build, nif-grass and our foté flocks - they are a bird but it does nought have the power to claim the sky - these we have to tend and prepare for food. There are many tasks and problems. We have a ritual for each task and the most sacred of these are performed by our priests. But games; I have nought understanding of such things. Are these the amusement rituals I have seen your people do?’
The prince grinned widely. ‘Mirrortac, erfin-friend. Why do your people trouble themselves with so many tasks? When our bowers fall down or are broken we repair them, and carving is no task to us. It is praise to the Spirit of Yu! We have no need to waste game time stumbling after creatures to eat. The trees are always full of the fruits given us by Yu and Merma is full with the love that Yu has for her people. You have eaten and drunk of Merma yourself and been filled with Yu’s love. You have rejoiced in the flight of the arrow and the sound and flash of the buzz-blops. Is this not better than wasting all your time on mere tasks? Hearing of your Mateote, I would trade his cold rule for Yu if I was an erfin.’
Mirrortac was disturbed by what the prince had said and he fidgeted with the thread of the mat. ‘My mind is mad with conflict. That you would place these amusements above tasks grates to my custom. I have much to think upon. There is logic in what you say, yet in Eol nothing is as easy. The fruits are not abundant as they are here and there is satisfaction in the hunt for the meat that is more to our taste. All our tasks are in the service of Mateote and it pleases us to be challenged with problems, for in solving them each is made greater in the eyes of Mateote.’
Princess Emeritta straightened, her hands absently clutching at the greenstone on her necklace. ‘I have listened to this debate and said little but now, I believe, I must speak,’ she said. ‘Erfin Mirrortac, I see the worth in your tasks. It occurs to me that our games are equal to them. We play in praise and fun yet there is challenge too. There is much practice for a he-faug to shoot an arrow in such a fashion that it casts out fire from a buzz-blop, and even danger in the vine-play where a faug may lose his hold upon the vine at the top of the circle and being upside-down, be unable to glide to safety.
‘All our games are a challenge as are your tasks, erfin-friend. It would be wrong for us to ask you to honour another greater than Mateote but we would expect the same to be of us. Now, let there be no more debate. We must lick now in friendship.’
The princess came down off her throne and squatted before Mirrortac. She drew her face out to his and licked his cheek with her white tongue. The scent of her was pleasant and the erfin licked her face in response. The tang of her fur was strange upon his tongue but he persisted as the custom dictated.
Then the prince leaned forward on his throne and spoke again. ‘If you did not know about this world, then why have you come here? Did the messenger of your god know about the great many of our faugs lost to the snerk mother who had been hungrier than normal of late?’
Mirrortac sighed as he recalled his mission. He told the prince and princess of what had happened and the exodus of the erfins to the new world. Then he asked them whether they knew of the land of mists and waters but they only shook their heads with dismay. It was clear that they had not taken him very seriously for in the next moment, the prince smiled and was talking cheerfully as though nothing was wrong with the worlds.
Princess Emeritta stood up. Servants rushed in to attend her but she dismissed them with a few syllabic grunts. Then addressing the erfin, she said: ‘Now that you are here, Mirrortac, you must greet all faugs in this manner and before you bed down to sleep, you must cleanse your fur with a thorough licking to all those parts you can reach. This is a she-faug custom but in your case it is best as the mould does not befit an erfin, and in this way, it will leave you.
‘Be of joy now, erfin Mirrortac. We will go now; I wish to show you our great bowers of Greenfaug where the servants of the prince live.’
With a dismissing motion of the hands the prince said: ‘Go with her, Mirrortac. I
must call upon others now to organise the feast. We are honouring you this very evening. Fare you well till then, erfin-friend.’
Mirrortac stood and followed the princess as she led him behind the thrones and to the far wall of the chamber where two doors led out to the other side of the hall. A passageway led them past many rooms, and in some of these rooms were she-faugs, chattering and grunting among themselves as they chiselled into sections of wood.
‘These are the carvers of Greenfaug,’ the princess explained. ‘They and their forefaugs have carved all that is here in this hall and the Passage of the Princes where all our past rulers are entombed. You would describe this as a task, but to them it is praise to the Sacred Spirit of Yu who loves all the faugs. Do you wish to enter, Mirrortac?’
The erfin’s eyes brightened as the princess motioned towards the doorway. He entered without hesitation and stood behind one of the she-faugs, looking over her shoulder as she cut fine slices out of a well-advanced carving in the likeness of the princess herself. The she-faug did not falter at his presence but had all of her attention focussed on maintaining the careful cuts with the sharp edge of her cutting stone.
‘This is beautiful work that your she-folk do with wood.’ he said, watching the she-faug with fascination. ‘I would wish to learn this task so I may return and enrich our halls and the temple with such fine work.’
The princess stifled a giggle. ‘Oh, Mirrortac. What you may do in Yuol or within the forest below is one thing but the carvings of Greenfaug are a sacred craft, which only the daughters of the Spirit of the Tree of Yu have the gift and knowledge to practise. This is something we cannot pass on to you or any faug as the knowledge of the carvings is planted within only the daughters of Greenfaug. They alone may practise it as they alone are born into it.’
Mirrortac said nothing but his expression betrayed his determination to learn the craft of the carvings despite what the princess claimed. He scrutinised the she-faug’s work as she continued and memorised as much as he could but they had no sooner passed out of the doorway when all he had seen became but a vague recollection to his otherwise sharp mind.
Princess Emeritta led him to the end of the hall where two he-faugs stood guard. The guards stiffened at their approach and bowed as they passed out onto an expansive timber platform surrounded on all sides by clouds and sky. Mirrortac squinted in the bright sunlight as his eyes were met with a vast blue dome of sky. Above them stretched a twisting mass of branches that stabbed out beyond the platform into the air. Huge heart-shaped leaves, each the diameter of an erfin, formed a close-knit canopy of translucent deep green, filtering sparks of magnesium from the sun of Luma as it rode across the heavens. The branches that supported the platform extended still farther out where they ended in superbly crafted bowers of wood and thatched Yu bark.
The princess urged Mirrortac towards one of the branching arms leading to one of the bowers but as he neared the edge of the platform, he felt unsteady on his feet. He hesitated with a gasp as he saw the yawning space below them. A mass of billowing clouds foamed up into white crests that boiled and rumbled with menace. The trunk of the huge tree descended and vanished into the storm that poured its rains onto the unseen forest beneath. Mirrortac backed away from the edge but the princess was unperturbed.
‘Come Mirrortac. I will clasp you to me so you will not fall. I forgot that erfins have no wings. Do not feel threatened by the sky, erfin-friend.’
But Mirrortac would not move. The princess snatched out at him and pulled him to her, then wrapping her wings firmly around him, she shepherded him out onto the branch and across to the bower. Once inside, she unfolded her wings from him and he was able to relax again. An old and musty he-faug greeted them from a corner of the bower. His fur was black with mould and lichens grew in grey patches over his thin frame. Mirrortac respectfully followed the faug greeting of licking the he-faug on the face but withdrew quickly, repulsed by the smell and taste of the mould.
The princess allowed the faug to lick her face lightly. ‘This is Gorgret, the oldest and most cherished of all our servants at Greenfaug,’ she said. ‘He has been our master games-faug for many cycles-of-the-seasons. In the morrow, he shall lead us in our play and you will join us in our praises. At least, as audience, since you lack wings and sky-sense. I am sure it will be much to your pleasing, Mirrortac.’
The old faug grunted and bowed while she chattered in a series of grunts to him. He responded with grins and nodded to Mirrortac who returned a half-smile.
‘It is my wish to learn to speak to your people if this tongue of yours is not also something sacred, princess,’ he said.
‘Yea, all is sacred under Yu, erfin-friend but this wish shall be honoured if the Spirit is allowed to enter you. This very evening, all the confusion of our tongue will be loosed should you truly be joined with us. Come, we must go on.’
Mirrortac’s eyebrows lifted at Emeritta’s grand promise. He gravely doubted such an impossible task. How could he learn the difficult sounds of their tongue in a single night? He pondered this as the princess took him back along the bough and led him around the outer walls of Greenfaug Halls where his thoughts were quickly interrupted by the sounds of excited squeaks and grunts from beyond the trunk of the tree of Yu. The princess led him around the trunk to where a number of child-faugs were playing, their smiling faces appearing out from behind leaves or hanging from branches above. A few adult he-faugs were playing with them as they swung and hung from the branches and vines. A square hole was cut into the platform and lay open to the sky beneath. Child-faugs played nearby without fear or care and the adult faugs seemed to encourage them.
When one of the child-faugs crawled to the edge of the hole, Mirrortac was about to leap forward but the princess forstalled him with her wing. Suddenly the inevitable happened - the child-faug crawled too far and fell, vanishing through the hole in an instant. With a gasp, the erfin pushed his way clear and ran up to the edge of the hole. He stared back with horror. ‘The little one … it is gone!’ he cried.
The princess could only smile, embarrassed for his concern. She inclined her head towards the outside of the platform and said: ‘You dear erfin, look there.’
Agony and confusion were written on the erfin’s face as he glared back at the princess with incomprehension, then picking up what she was indicating from the corner of his vision, he snapped his head around in surprise and relief. Suspended just beyond the platform was the young faug, his face lit up with childish delight. Two small wings held him aloft and he floated up to the platform and landed in a tumble at the feet of the princess.
‘Great Mateote! He fair gave me a wolf-fright! I am unused to this power you share with the birds.’
The princess grunted with laughter. ‘There be no need to be concerned, Mirrortac. These children are born with the gift of flight but it is not the same flight that the birds possess. We must depend on the Spirit to lift us and the Spirit does not dwell on the earth below. Its breath is in the sky and the cloud. The forest raises us to it.’
Emeritta stared up beyond the tree into the sky and her mood became contemplative. She stood for awhile just watching, her mind seeming to reach up to where the birds wheeled in their lazy flight. ‘I love this world, Mirrortac,’ she smiled, and her face was radiant with joy. ‘Yu has blessed us with abundance and given us the gift to command the sky. I would wish it that this world to become yours as well, great erfin-friend. You have earned such reward.’
She gazed at Mirrortac with such kind and loving eyes that he was deeply touched. Bowing to her, he responded to the impulse to lick her face. The scent of her filled his mind with memories of his beloved Yenic and the children he missed so badly.
Suddenly self-conscious, he withdrew. ‘I thank you, gracious princess. I must admit that I feel that I have come to some long lost home. But there is little time to waste.’
The tour of the royal community resumed and soon Mirrortac was fully absorbed in all the workings of the co
mmunity. There were many bowers perched upon the branches of the platform but most were unoccupied. The platform and the community was fully hundreds of erfin-lengths from end to end. Over all, the branches of the huge tree draped the halls, creating a shade that was cool and restful to all those who wandered outside. The erfin’s interest was aroused by a long walkway that bridged the main platform and another of smaller size. An archway of flowering vines extended the length of the walkway, leading to a large bower surrounded by a nursery of the wonderful plants with the red berries. Mirrortac licked his lips appreciably at the sight of the sweet red berries that hung in large clusters from the plants. They were all being cultivated in profusion within scooped out tree trunks that had been arranged into neat rows.
The princess grinned at him. ‘T’is plain that you have eaten of our Merma berries. We pick the berries at night and extract the juice from them. This is the source of Merma-mead, the drink you have found much to your liking, and Essence of Merma which we used to soothe your wounds while you were asleep.’
She motioned him to the doorway. ‘Come. Enter.’
Inside there was a group of he-faugs engaged in the task of pounding out the juices from the berries and the oil from the stem of the plant. They used rounded pestles to pound the liquid out into hollowed-out bowls with holes bored into them, allowing the liquid to decant into jars.
‘We take the juice of the berries and place it into these vats here.’ The princess indicated a row of large wooden vats that lay open to the air. ‘We leave the juice in them for the space of three moons then pour the mead out into urns and serve it among our people. The oil from the stems of the Merma is placed in these stone dishes as this faug is doing now.’ She paused. ‘Watch.’
Mirrortac watched with interest as a he-faug poured the oil into a basin then reached down and opened the latch to a small woven cage that was sitting on the floor at his feet. The he-faug withdrew the familiar beetle that the faugs used for exploding the buzz-blops.
The Wizard's Sword (Nine Worlds of Mirrortac Book 1) Page 9
