The Wizard's Sword (Nine Worlds of Mirrortac Book 1)

by Paul Vanderloos

  The petros paused thoughtfully, its lips curling in a hint of a smile. ‘It will see for itself on the day. It is common knowledge usually, but even my words could not do justice to the sight of Wa-Ku itself!’

  Mirrortac was introduced to a small selection of petros people during ensuing days. They slid their way through passages that traversed every part of the dome and into passages below the dome. They ate bilk meat with other petros companions and drank at other Wet Pools at points along the outer walls. Most of the petros greeted him with courtesy and polite interest while those who passed them in the passages, made no attempt to acknowledge their presence. Introductions fulfilled, Ro-Ku-Ku Buk took the erfins out into the open once more.

  The sharp magnesium glow of the sun of Wa-Ku was blinding after such a long time within the dim interiors of the mountain. The aureum features of the Dome of Petros rose up in a massive hillock of shining gold. In crevices up on the high stone walls were birds’ nests made entirely of gemstones. The birds themselves were as large at least as half an erfin, with white wings designed for flight at great heights and over vast distances. Mirrortac felt for the feather at his side as he compared it with the great birds that soared overhead. A hint of gold glinted out at him as a bird wheeled across the light. The bird was the same. The petros had given it no name as it was of no special significance to them; being always out of sight of their subterranean home. The birds were protected by Wa-Ku and hence could not be eaten - they were no more than the nameless rulers of the sky kingdom.

  In full view of Mirrortac now was the Spire of Wa-Ku with its golden finger of stone thrusting skywards. Under the huge shadow of the Spire sat a smaller mountain, dwarfed and hidden from sight. Mirrortac had been told that the mountain was called the Dome of Shadow and was inhabited by the Petros of the Shadow. They were those whom had been rejected as unworthy of Wa-Ku. They had been formed out of darkness; misshapen and with thoughts and words that mocked their shining master, Wa-Ku. They had been exiled within the dome where the light of Wa-Ku was forever withheld from them. Their eyes could not adjust to the brightness of day, forcing them to venture out only at night when they could wander as they pleased and kill their own bilk which were creatures of day and night and thus only partially protected by Wa-Ku.

  Ro-Ku-Ku Buk edged its way into the dunes, searching the sand and gem hills for signs of bilk. Mirrortac came to watch, curious about the strange unseen power that the petros used to bring down their prey. Fillytac took a deep breath and squinted at the daylight.

  ‘Oh, it is so good to be out of that musty worm-ridden mountain!’ he shouted, caring not to be overheard.

  ‘It is just as well that it cannot understand you,’ Mirrortac scolded.

  Northering of them were the many thin stone spires of the Plain of Many Spires and beyond, the weird hue of blue that the petros referred to as The Wet - a lake of incredible dimensions and filled with a water that could not be drunk. The erfin peered fearfully at the vast blue in the distance, its form moving and swaying with its own life.

  In the desert the dunes shimmered as Mirrortac had seen them shimmer, appearing to burn with the transparent colourless fire of Wa-Ku. A group of dark forms floated and wobbled above a distant dune until their formlessness took the shape of several bilk that grazed the sands with their flat-tongued tusks. The petros was patient, allowing the bilk to wander nearer. It instructed Mirrortac to cover himself with sand to hide his crimson outline from the roaming bilk. The petros needed to take no such precaution as his snake-like skin blended in with the sand as though each was a part of the other. For once there was silence.

  Mirrortac’s ears buzzed with the soundlessness after the seeming eternal world of talk inside the Dome of Petros. The petros peered out at the approaching bilk with the keen eyes of a hunter although this hunter had no visible weapon. The erfin’s heart quickened at the prospect. His mind went back to the days in Eol when he would stalk the woods for foté or wait at the edge of the Waters of Three to plunge his hand in after slups that weave in and out within their watery domain.

  Luma sped across the blue while the bilk continued their casual passage along the sand dunes toward them. Ro-Ku-Ku Buk began to lower his head and pointed its horn at the nearest bilk as it wandered within 300 erfin-lengths of them. The horn vibrated a little as it emitted the invisible arrows that struck the unsuspecting bilk. As he had witnessed before, Mirrortac saw the bilk sicken and go into spasms that shook its body, finally disabling it altogether. The bilk collapsed in a quivering heap, jerking in a pitiful display that ended in death. Fillytac looked on in amazement. Mirrortac could not withhold his mounting curiosity and begged the petros to tell him what it had done to affect the bilk in such a manner.

  The petros’ face crumpled into an expression of bewilderment. ‘Wa-Ku gives it the stone yet it has no horn to kill its meat. Never has Ro-Ku-Ku Buk Eekta been asked such a thing. Is there any other means to kill? It has no horn so what purpose can I give it for this that petros accept as ordinary? Erfins and faugs use crude pointed rods to act as teeth on live beasts. This is a fearing way to kill. I would not be happy with such crude means. Wa-Ku has looked kindly upon us and indeed the beasts. They do not see their blood nor feel the rent our teeth will make upon their bodies. It is a kind means by which they die. As our words make sound upon the air so do our horns, only they speak with voices that fur and bone cannot hear. It is speech with no words that we project into them. It is a speech that tells them they are sick and they obey it. It is a speech that tells their bodies to obey the command of Wa-Ku that commands them to die. Whatever Wa-Ku commands, it is done. It is then the speech of Wa-Ku that commands death upon the beasts that must die and commands happiness to our companions who are hungry. This is the power of Wa-Ku who is shining ruler of Petrosium and all that lives upon the desert.’

  Mirrortac did not understand this explanation but he accepted it as he had learnt to accept the invisible powers of the words, which were as lost to him now as their source, and of Yu who brought breath to the sky and love to the Faug Forest. He stayed his lips now as Ro-Ku-Ku Buk Eekta began the ritual of dragging the bilk across the dunes and back into its subterranean home. They then ate and he slept until the new day.

  On waking, Ro-Ku-Ku Buk Eekta was found to be especially happy. There was a mood of excited anticipation in its manner and it kept exclaiming to itself: ‘This is IT! This is IT! The day is here. This is IT!’

  ‘What excites you?’ Mirrortac quizzed.

  ‘It lives again!’ the petros said, grinning widely. ‘So it wants to know what day this is. I have told it, Mirrortac of Eol. I have told it. Has its memory gone already!’

  The erfin twisted his face in thought. ‘Ah, Yea. The Day of Revolving Time.’

  ‘We must go to the Deep of the Shining Wet. It must be watching and listening. Wa-Ku will speak. Is it prepared to meet the master?’

  Mirrortac was by now bursting with curiosity.

  ‘You fill my thought with questions, Ro-Ku-Ku Buk Eekta. This day must be of great importance to your petros people. Is there any Proper Talk I should know for this event? Do you have a ritual to perform?’ Mirrortac asked.

  ‘Yes but Nay, erfin. It is yet fur and bone and is there in privilege of bearing the stone. Let Wa-Ku reveal his commands upon this matter. Meanwhile it is best to keep its mouth shut. Let us go now,’ the petros said.

  Fillytac was about to follow them when the petros turned. ‘He cannot come with us. He does not possess the stone as you do.’

  ‘If my companion cannot come with us, I will remain here also,’ Mirrortac retorted.

  Fillytac realised what was being said and put up his hand. ‘You go Mirrortac. I will remain here. I cannot bear to listen to their barking for long. They are incessant. At least I can have some peace with it gone for awhile.’

  Mirrortac smiled. ‘Yea, that is true. You try to sleep while we are gone.’

  They left the cavern and entered the passageway where many petro
s were already making their way to the Deep of the Shining Wet. They all spoke together in a jumble of voices as they jostled down the passages. The sparkling sand of the walls around them, glistened with silent excitement. Mirrortac followed, imitating their peculiar method of locomotion in his own awkward style, his fur thinned where his buttocks had continuously scraped across the hard sandy ground. Rows of petros filed into passage after passage that drove deep into the earth below the Dome of Petros and crossed beyond the boundary of the mountain until it met with other deep passages below the Spire of Wa-Ku. The erfin did not know if any petros lived within the Spire of Wa-Ku, which was given special importance in the petros lore. They entered a tunnel that spiralled downwards, penetrating into greater depths where the light of the phosphorescent stones lit their way. Rock crystals grew in clusters out of the ceiling of the tunnel, seeping with the moisture of the good wet.

  The spiral tunnel terminated within a chamber clearly three times as large again as the Sacred Chamber of Yu. Mirrortac gazed incredulously out upon the abundance of rock crystals that grew in large clusters from the high ceiling of the chamber and the surrounding walls and part of the floor. Moisture dripped and plopped in trickling streamlets from the cluster crystals, collecting in a massive dark pool that gave off a faint glow of phosphorescence that moved about the surface in random glow-streams. In the centre of the ceiling above them was set a giant greenstone of exceptional lustre and form. Its many facets splayed out from a central rectangle in an even symmetry that glinted darkly in the darkness of the chamber. Spaced about the wall and between the rock crystals were narrow tunnels that led away from the chamber in a series of obliques that ran all the way to the surface and up into the mountain where they converged and broke out at a cavern on the outer fringe of the Spire of Wa-Ku. A feeble suggestion of daylight strayed out of the narrow tunnels, vaguely illuminating a semi-circle of rock crystals that radiated a weak blue light from within the semi-transparent depths of each stone.

  In a short time, a petros, obvious by its appearance that it was placed in authority, emerged from out of a separate side passage. It was wearing a greenstone in its navel organ and its horn was extended and rough. The petros identified itself with a deep resounding voice that was less endearing than the usual polite tones of the other petros people.

  ‘Be with me companions of the Wa-Ku stone and see what shall be revealed in the Deep of the Shining Wet. It is Sum-tu-la-Hoona Wa-Ku Picka-da-Ru-So Harma Cuss Wee Foo-Du Tok of the sacred lineage of Wa-Ku who speaks. It is Lord Supreme of Petrosium. It is keeper of the Golden Rod of Wa-Ku. The Day of Revolving Time is upon us and upon that which is fur and bone but privileged with stone. I have heard of it and its weirdness worlds.

  Mirrortac’s ears pricked up at the mention of him. The Lord Sum-tu-la-Hoona slothed his way to a throne of crystal stone which did not appear to be a throne until the petros took its place upon it and defined the hollow shape with its form. The Lord Supreme thrust his hand into the centre of a hollow crystal and withdrew a rod of brilliant aureum. The rod bore a knob at either end with a cluster of clearstones set into one of the knobs.

  ‘I take this the Golden Rod of Wa-Ku and hold it upon this place as we await the arrival of Wa-Ku, Burning Master beyond the sky. Let Wa-Ku speak to us and let us all listen and see his goodness. We await it Wa-Ku! We await your light with horns ashudder and eyes waiting for the Deep of the Shining Wet to reveal you. Be silent! Wa-Ku is near!’

  A hush fell upon the multitude of petros assembled within the chamber and even Mirrortac would scarcely dare to breathe lest some unseen force smote him to the ground or cast him into the unseen depths of the dark pool in their midst. They waited and in a little while a faint glow started to permeate from out of the tunnels around the walls. Shadows of light danced within the stone crystal semi-circle while the brilliant light of Wa-Ku began its gradual descent into the cavern high above.

  In a sudden flash of blinding brilliance, thin beams of magnesium light streamed out of the tunnels and struck the many facets of the stone crystals, transforming the crystalline semi-circle into a deep cyano-blue aura that reflected and deflected within and between the crystals then collected into a stream of blue light that shone up to the ceiling and upon the great greenstone set within it. The stone pulsed with the merged focus of blue light and reflected its own diffused misty green light into the deep pool. Mirrortac marvelled at the beauty of this light display but he was more surprised and awed still as he watched the pool. It was filling up with a clean white luminescence that grew outwards from the centre and extended down into the pool, illuminating the gemstone walls within.

  The light continued to fill the pool, revealing more and more of the seeming limitless depths until Mirrortac could see right down the descending funnel of rock to its base, some hundreds of erfin-lengths below. At the bottom there was the likeness of a face with eyes formed of greenstone and with crimsonstone lips. When the light touched it, the greenstones also glowed and a cloud of white milky light bubbled out into the Deep, obscuring the features once more.

  When this had all occurred, the Lord Supreme of Petrosium fastened the Golden Rod to one of the stone crystals beside him and in the pathway of one of the many blue beams. The beam pierced the clearstone gemstones on the top of the rod, splitting the depths of the gem cluster and concentrating the light into a single silver beam that shone into the pool. The cloudy light within the pool separated with a purpose of its own then began to split into a pattern of colour like a living picture. Mirrortac watched with wonderment as the pattern formed into the likeness of a face similar but uncanny in its realness to the face at the bottom of the Deep. The face was of a demi-god, one of the world of men such as Ni-Do. A golden crown of curling hair covered the head of the demi-god while its eyes were as blue as the sky and its hairless features were of the colour of a sun-warmed orange. The likeness was unlike any likeness for it seemed to be animated and alive. Yet, how could this be? Mirrortac pondered. The eyes of the vision seemed to see them, blinking within the face that floated inside the pool. The lips of the demi-god moved as though preparing to speak while all sat in silent rapture of the vision.

  Then with startling abruptness the vision spoke and the entire chamber was filled with its thunderous voice. Mirrortac started at the sound of it and his heart began to thump within his chest.

  ‘I am Wa-Ku, Master of Petrosium and all that lays on it and within it! It brings me pleasure to see all the petros gathered to hear me. I rejoice at the praises all petros have given me since we last met at the Deep of the Shining Wet. Long have I shone my fire upon its plain and long has it been since we have seen such a day as this. I have disturbing news for you. The forces of darkness will attempt to snatch me from the sky but they will not prevail as long as you keep up your praises to me.’

  Wa-Ku continued to address them in a superior manner, calling upon their worship and moment-to-moment attention to describing their existence. Although the eyes seemed to look straight at him at times, Mirrortac was evidently not noticed. The being’s arrogance was quite unlike Ni-Do who was wise and more humble. If Wa-Ku knew anything of the erfin’s mission, he made no reference to it though even this god came under the attack of the forces of darkness that were consuming all the worlds.

  Finally, the being’s words came to an end. ‘Go now and feast on your Bilk. Wa-Ku speaks no more,’ he said.

  The vision faded and the light-play diminished until all was restored in the fashion that it had been before. The light within the pool was gone again, replaced by the blackness and the feeble glow of the chamber. The Lord Supreme surveyed the erfin from its crystal throne, its fangs chewing continuously as it sat in thought upon the matter.

  ‘Mirrortac, Let it come with me and I will give it a proper name. Return you others to your places and may the stone of Wa-Ku find you in good measure.’

  The Lord Supreme led Mirrortac into a passage that led up into the Spire of Wa-Ku. Clearstones and aureum lined all
the walls that sparkled in the phosphorescent light of the sand beneath. It was a tunnel of luminosity where ornaments would be mere distractions to the beauty of the gem-light. At the top of the spiralling passage, they entered a solitary cavern where sky openings stood at opposite ends. A wet pool was set to one side while on the other a ledge jutted out from one opening. The golden gloss of aureum was magnified in the cavern through the clearstone gem encrusted walls and ceiling while a soft layer of aureum sand covered the floor. A nest composed of many gems had been made outside on the ledge and was partly obscured by the wall of the cavern. A large white bird lay upon it with its feet tucked beneath it. Its elongate eyes were the colour of greenstone with small rounded pupils that stared out at the twin blues of sky and The Wet, a cooling breeze lifting up its feathers and revealing a hint of gold as it caught the light of Luma. The bird turned and winked at the two intruders as they entered the cavern; its slender yellow beak projecting out from under the silent speculation of its eyes. The bird returned its gaze to the water and sky, recognising no danger in their presence. Mirrortac noted the bird, glancing down at the feather that was still firmly attached under his belt.

  ‘Does this creature of the sky hold meaning to it Mirrortac? It has called it bird. We recognise this title. Wa-Ku has spoken once about it but it says the bird is not fur and bone, not of the stone. It is just bird and comes here from across The Wet. It goes where it pleases and is of no use to petros. Why is it that part of it is bound to you? Do erfins eat it or is it important?’

  Sum-tu-la-Hoona awaited an answer, watching Mirrortac closely and chewing constantly. The erfin withdrew the feather and examined it for a moment before answering.

  ‘Erfins eat birds but this one is different,’ he said uneasily.

  ‘Should we not be introduced, the Proper Talk,’ he said after a pause.

  ‘That will come, Mirrortac. It will answer first.’