‘Why do you wait, Mirrortac? Speak the words. We are in peril!’ he pleaded.
Mirrortac spoke without shifting his eyes from the snerk. ‘I do not know the words any longer. You must all leave. It is me they want.’
The prince was horrified. ‘You could not have forgotten the words. You must say them, Now!’ he urged.
Mirrortac swivelled around, snatched a bow and arrow from one of the archers and lifted it to his eye. He asked for a second arrow and nocked it alongside the first. The prince shook his head. ‘You are possessed!’ He made a movement towards the erfin to snatch him away to safety but stopped in his tracks, distracted by a flash of light that seemed to come from the erfin’s side. He caught sight of the feather tucked into his belt and stared at it with disbelief. He did not know whether it was a trick of the light but he could have sworn that it was glowing softly. The snerk pushed open the doors fully, rattling with menace; its eyes fixed on the erfin.
Mirrortac drew back on the bow and let the arrows fly. Twin missiles whisked through the air and pierced both of the monster’s eyes, blinding it. The erfin ran towards the passage. ‘I am here, snerk!’ he teased.
The blind snerk edged inside, filling the opening with its body, relying now on its senses of smell and hearing to seek out the erfin. The monster opened its jaws with a deafening roar and slammed its head against the chamber wall. Prince Chen ordered the slish-bearers to attack. Several faugs stole in behind the beast’s head, swinging their axes into the thick flesh. Enraged, the snerk swung its body out wide, pinning one faug against a wall. A flood of blood gushed across the floor as the snerk crushed the faug and turned to devour it. Seeing his fellow killed, one of the he-faugs went berserk. He raced forward and flung his axe deep into the snerk’s neck, hacking wildly and grunting with anger. This gave other faugs the courage to rush to his aid, swinging their axes into flesh with lethal certainty. The snerk went into spasm and died in a pool of its blood. A cheer rose up from the faugs as they victoriously hove the carcass out into the storm where it tumbled down into the arms of the forest. The gateway was hastily shut and the log lifted into place.
Mirrortac shook his head in surprise at what he had done with the arrows. He had been overcome by some mysterious presence. He knew he did not possess the skill to shoot even one arrow on a straight course. The prince stood alone and solemn-faced, regarding the blood stained wall. With respect close to awe, he turned to the erfin, his voice quivering. ‘How could I doubt you, great Princeling Mirrortac! You are a warrior worthy to stand alongside your heroic ancestors. Tell us what we must do now.’
Mirrortac paused, shaking more of his fur loose onto the floor of the chamber. ‘This is yet beyond my ken, Prince Chen. All I do know is that the snerks seek me to avenge the death of their mother. The trunk of the tree is alive with their movement. We cannot go without. We must return to the halls until the storm has passed. This has changed my original plans. Somehow I must lure them away from here. We shall have to discuss this.’
The timber doors suddenly resounded with a loud banging crack. The wood had splintered and would not withstand much more battering. The prince seemed anxious to be underway.
We must retreat quickly. No snerk shall enter the passage of Yu but I fear the gateway will not hold much longer.’
Prince Chen led the way up the passageway, closely followed by Mirrortac and the party of faugs and erfins. The doors cracked loudly as a snerk crashed into it. The log bolt snapped into two pieces that rolled across the chamber floor. The warriors hastened out of the chamber but were slowed by the narrowness of the passage that could only accommodate two abreast. Suddenly the chamber exploded with a rain of splinters as a snerk’s head burst through. It was nearly as large as She; its enormous head scraping the ceiling of the chamber as it slid inside. The erfins at the end of the line could feel its putrid hot breath behind them as it wriggled farther in, snapping at them with its jaws as it pressed its head into the narrow passage. But the space was too narrow for its size and its head was jammed up into the end of the passage. Realising that it was stuck, the snerk coiled back on itself and tried to lever its head free. But the passage held fast. The passage shook with its struggle, sending warriors careering into the walls.
The walls of the lower chamber began to shrink around the body of the snerk, entrapping it. Other snerks wrapped around the body of their companion, straining to wrench it loose but failing in their attempts. The monster snerk roared out in alarm and rage, but it soon exhausted itself and fell into silence, the stone-hard Yu-wood pressing in to crush its head.
When the party of warriors finally reached the safety of the Sacred Chamber, the only sound that could be heard was the mournful howl of the storm, venting all its fury at the solid great tree. The prince and Mirrortac immediately sat down to discuss what should be done, attended to with Merma-mead and the best fruits of the forest.
‘Yu has sealed the passage with the body of the snerk. We are safe within but virtual prisoners of these monsters. If we do not slay them soon, all our food supplies will be gone and we shall all starve to death.’ The prince put down his chalice and motioned to the attendant to take it away.
Mirrortac was thoughtful, and spoke only after a long pause. ‘I have said that the snerks seek only this erfin. I must somehow lure them away.’
‘We can help you in this. I will take you personally upon my back and fly us away from here. But where can we lure them when the forest is theirs now to command?’
‘Is there not a wasteland northering? If you take me there I shall lure them over the edge of the world where they can return to oblivion,’ Mirrortac said.
‘If they do not eat you first!’ the prince retorted. ‘But perhaps you have struck upon a more workable solution. We can lure them to Thock Wood. Surely the thocks are hungry for some snerk meat.’
‘But what will protect ME from the thocks?’
‘You will not be in Thock Wood, erfin-friend. You will be standing on the outer boundary on the edge of the Wastes of Nug. There you should be safe.’
‘Hmm,’ Mirrortac wiggled his ears and cocked his head to one side in contemplation. ‘Then we shall have to get underway as soon as the storm abates. If it chooses to do so,’ he qualified.
The prince allowed his eyes to glance upwards, silently beseeching the great Spirit to quell the tempest. ‘I have faith that Yu will prevail,’ he said. ‘The journey to the Wastes of Nug will need to be done in two parts as it is almost three erfin’s mooniths to that place.’
All the assembled warriors were told to return to their bed chambers while the guests were bedded in the rooms otherwise reserved for the daughters of Greenfaug to conduct their carving work. The storm raged on through the night, insinuating its din into the dreams of all who slept. Mirrortac was restless, and he took to pacing the halls, vexed by the danger that lurked at the gateway below. How many faugs had died for the price of She whom he had slain, he wondered. Should he allow himself to be eaten to even the score? Or would his exile satisfy them? And if all the snerks were lured to their deaths, what other yet unknown darkness would come to avenge THEIR deaths? Yet the faugs saw the snerks as the masters of all the dark creatures, so their demise would be an end to ALL the darkness. The faugs would be free - fear would never be their companion again! Mirrortac turned on his heel and started back to his bedchamber.
A voice called to him to stop. It was Witherelle.
‘How much more of this darkness must I battle!’ Mirrortac muttered, looking at the priest in anger as though it had been all his fault.
Witherelle fingered his long whiskers nervously. ‘I am afraid this is just the beginning ...’
‘You seem to be given secrets of which I have been left unaware. Even the spirit of my late she-erfin returns from the Otherworld to warn me!’ Mirrortac answered curtly.
‘You have been given the task. What more can I say?’ The priest held out his arms helplessly.
Mirrortac sighed. ‘Yea
. May the Spirits grant me success. Go to your bedchamber, sacred one. We shall all need our rest.’
All in Greenfaug were solemn as they awoke in the grey dawn. Mirrortac awoke early to join his children in play, forging their faces and personalities into his memory. He could not be certain he would survive or ever return. The two he-erfins enjoyed the games but Mirrortac found Treetam especially moody. Fentil and Wynper were at a loss to cheer their young sister. He tried everything to involve her in the play but she only licked his leg and said: ‘Must go you? Must go you?’ her eyes imploring.
Mirrortac frowned at Misha with suspicion but the she-faug grunted a confused denial. He lifted Treetam in his arms and looked the child in the eyes. ‘Did Misha tell you I was going away from here?’ he asked.
Treetam shook her head in denial. ‘Nay. It was the she-erfin who comes to put us to sleep after Misha leaves us,’ she said.
‘What she-erfin dares do this! None but I have that task!’ Misha protested.
‘Don’t be mad at her. She is kind like you, Misha,’ Treetam said, grinning at her with affection.
Misha folded her arms and huffed. Mirrortac looked at her with amusement. ‘Perhaps some she-erfin has taken a liking to my children. You are too possessive of them, Misha.’ Then cuddling his daughter, he said: ‘Treetam, since you know of my going then remember that I have a task to do. You know of tasks. When it is done, I shall return. Now, join your brothers.’
Six days passed before the storm abated. It was the worst storm in faug memory. The entire outer platform was destroyed along with all the bowers and some of the high branches of the tree itself. Greenfaug Halls had stood the test but much needed to be restored. The floor of the Sacred Chamber was littered with soggy leaves, twigs and fallen vines and orchids. The log support beams were soaked while along the length of the halls, the walls were spilling with the seepage of the storm. Prince Chen and Mirrortac sludged across the wet floor of the chamber, prepared only for their flight across the forest to the Wastes of Nug. A small group of he-faugs accompanied them as they made their way to the outer hall and to the final gateway to the outside.
As they approached the gateway, the two he-faug guards bowed. ‘Open the gateway,’ the prince commanded.
One of the he-faugs pulled at the timber door and opened it. A fresh wind blew through the opening, revealing the skeletal framework that was all that was left of the outer platform. The prince stepped outside and stopped cold. When he glanced across the framework he could see numerous snerks, their bodies coiled and twined about the timber beams; their many heads hissing and rattling at them with menace. Malicious glassy eyes turned their way, spying the prince and Mirrortac behind him. A roar rose up among them and the snerks lunged out towards them in a squirming mass of eager bodies.
The Prince spun round and leapt inside. ‘Shut it! Be quick,’ he panted, his face pale. ‘Mirrortac, we must make for the Sacred Chamber!’
The prince started to run back down the hall, motioning to the erfin to follow. The two he-faugs hastily shut the gateway and fled. But the erfin stopped and turned back.
‘We are trapped! I must give myself to the snerks!’ he cried.
The timber doors of the gateway cracked as the snerks rammed them. The prince raced back and grabbed Mirrortac roughly, tugging at him. ‘Come, stubborn erfin. There is a way out. Come!’ he shouted.
But Mirrortac resisted. ‘The snerks are all over the halls. There be no way out. They want me. Let them have me!’ he cried, digging in his heels as Chen manhandled him.
‘They may be upon the halls but they will not be upon Yu. She will not be entered.’
Mirrortac relented as the snerks smashed through the doors. He ran close behind the prince and they slammed the doors to the Sacred Chamber as they rushed inside. Chen peered upwards, indicating the sky window. ‘Up there. That is where we shall go. Now waste no more time. Come!’
They climbed the carved wall of the high chamber as the roar of snerks echoed in the outer hall and the chamber gateway started to buckle with their weight. Streams of Yu-resin sprung spontaneously from out of the walls below the escaping company, coating the floor in a sticky mass. One of the snerks smashed through the inner gateway and probed its head into the chamber.
Mirrortac gave the prince a scornful look. ‘They shall not enter, you said?’
But he had hardly finished saying this when the serpent squealed in pain. The resin was clinging to its skin and eating into it like strong acid. It burned so rapidly that the monster snerk was paralysed to the spot. Mirrortac gaped at it in amazement as he clawed the last few erfin-lengths through the sky-window and onto a ledge. A hint of mockery accompanied the grin on the prince’s face as he sat waiting for the erfin.
‘Yu has many ways to meet the dark ones,’ he said.
As Mirrortac surveyed their position, he saw that they were sitting on the highest point of the tree. Around them were naked branches, which fingered the sky with wide and wandering arms. He could see the long serpentine forms of the snerks spread over the frame grid and the roof of the halls below. A snerk leaned up and snarled at them then moved with remarkable speed up the branches.
‘Quick, get upon my back!’ the prince shouted.
Mirrortac leapt onto the faug’s back while the other he-faugs glided off before them. The snerk was nearly upon them when Chen opened his wings and launched into the air. The snerk struck out at the sky but an updraft lifted them clear of its reach. The three faugs hovered a safe distance from the tree, allowing the snerks time to notice them. Mirrortac felt the brush of the air and the tremendous sensation of lightness as they hung in the great expanse of blue. He watched the snerks as they tumbled and slithered over each other in a wild and angry confusion.
Slowly, Chen edged away until they could see the whole of the tree, stark and defiant above the eternal storm. The roar of the snerks carried across to them on the breeze while the storm clouds rumbled with anger. Chen faced them north and sank gradually towards the carpet of cloud. Mirrortac glanced over his shoulder long enough to glimpse the host of snerks spilling from the tree of Yu, intent on pursuing him wherever he may go. The three faugs flew throughout the day, saying little and listening to the whispering speech of the sky and seeing the odd bird wing past them in a swift sideways dash. Mirrortac remembered his dream of Yenic and how good it felt to be master of the sky.
After a time, the he-faugs began to amuse themselves with aerial acrobatics; an aspect the erfin did not relish. Mirrortac urged the prince against this game but Chen took no heed of him, gliding up into a giant circle until sky and cloud were in reverse positions. Mirrortac was gripped with the strange feeling that they were lost in sky and he clung to the prince with dire distress, not relaxing until the acrobatics had ended. Then, as Luma sunk into the cloud in the west, they flew lower until the cloud surrounded them in a misty greyness. The vagaries of the storm flung them from side to side, up and down, and the erfin held on tight as they weathered the wild winds.
Finally, they broke through into dry air. The forest appeared out of the mist below, endless and green. Mirrortac could see the thin pale line of yellow skirting the forest in the north, marking out the edge of the Wastes of Nug. There was no sign yet of the snerks which did not have the speed of flight to take them across the forest. The light of Luma peeked up at them from the horizon, marking them out to the forest, which already was deep in shadow. Diving, they sunk into the shadow with the canopy of the trees spread up to meet them. The strong scent of all that was green and part of the green wafted into their nostrils, reminding the erfin of the suffocating mould.
They alighted upon one of the highest trees so they would have a clear view of danger should the snerks come upon them during the night. The he-faugs took turns at watch but all was silent; more silent than it had ever been, it seemed. Mirrortac propped himself up against the trunk of a tree and stretched his feet over the wide branch. He could still feel the dip and sway of flight as he began t
o cleanse himself before going to sleep. Prince Chen lay exhausted over several small branches while the two faugs muttered in low voices to each other.
Mirrortac awoke early, half expecting to find the tree overrun with snerks but there was yet no sign of them. One of the he-faugs was also awake and gave him a handful of merma berries. ‘Eat these before the flame-in-the-sky rises,’ the faug said.
Mirrortac bit into the fruit, tasting the familiar sweet flavour. ‘We must bring some with us to eat on the way,’ he said, munching the berries greedily.
‘Nay Princeling. You must eat them now. They will spoil in the light.’
‘Ahh!’ Mirrortac nodded. He patted the faug and smiled. ‘You have just solved a mystery,’ he said. It had just dawned on him why the berries had tasted bitter that long ago morning in the forest. He had known only mead and essence in Greenfaug and had not eaten the berries themselves for some time. Even when the princess had told him that the berries were picked only at night, the thought had escaped his attention. The prince yawned. Chen sat up and squeezed groggy eyes. ‘I have used much energy to carry you, Princeling,’ he said. ‘Hand me some of those berries, Riltok.’
The prince jammed his mouth full of berries and swallowed them in a noisy slapping of lips. ‘The flame-in-the-sky has passed across the blue many many times since I have been on such a long flight as this,’ he said. ‘The last occasion was when I visited Eastfaug. Now, they have visited us. Let us hope the snerks are still on our scent and not waiting to strike our people at Greenfaug.’ Chen was grave.
‘I saw them dive from Greenfaug, Prince Chen,’ Mirrortac said. ‘They will seek me out no matter where I go.’
The prince rose, his strength restored. ‘Then we must take to the sky,’ he said.
The erfin clung once more to the faug’s back and they were soon gliding above the forest again. This time they stayed below the cloud while all eyes studied the forest for sign of snerks. But for a long time they saw no movement in the foliage below while the air’s power to lift them lessened as the day wore on. Chen and the he-faugs eventually were hovering just above the tree-tops, sometimes coming so close as to brush by a limb or a thicket of leaves. Mirrortac looked ahead of them and noticed a change in the hue of the trees. There was a line of lighter green and a space where no trees grew.
The Wizard's Sword (Nine Worlds of Mirrortac Book 1) Page 13
