‘Damned Mirrortac! We will get you all! We will destroy it all, you and Wa-Ku. Destroy it all!’
Mirrortac raced up the passage, retracing his trail that was clear from the peculiar drag marks of Moongleam in the sand. The light of the glowing greenstone provided enough light to show the way while all the Petros of the Shadow shunned it as he passed. Bats squeaked somewhere in the dome above, disturbed by the fracas, their droppings evident upon the walls of the passage. It was still daylight when he emerged at the surface and he made swift progress to the Dome of Petros.
‘I must warn the Lord Supreme,’ he said to himself, firm in the belief that Beeble-Zub was the most evil monster of all – a monster that spoke and could bring darkness across the face of Wa-Ku-Luma.
Mirrortac entered the welcome aureum lined passages of the Dome of Petros and hastened towards the passage that would lead him to the Spire of Wa-Ku and the chamber of Sum-tu-la-Hoona, Lord Supreme of Petrosium. He knew there would be no light in the sky that night. Mogog had waned to nothing once more and Beeble-Zub would be free to attack them. As Mirrortac turned a corner in the passage, he ran into Ro-Ku-Ku Buk Eekta Bu who was going the other way. ‘Oh great Mateote!’ he thought. ‘This be no time for Proper Talk!’ The petros stopped to greet him with all its praises to the soft sands of Petrosium and the delicious meat of the bilk but the erfin was impatient.
‘Beg my interruption, Ro-Ku-Ku Buk Eekta Bu but I have a hasty task to perform and if I should stop to observe your Proper Talk, all of Petrosium could be destroyed beneath our feet.’
The petros looked at him with dismay.
‘It is hasty indeed! What could it be talking about? Nothing can destroy Petrosium. Wa-Ku is our protector. What is it talking about? It annoys me but Wa-Ku gives it that privilege,’ it said.
‘There is nought time to give you the explanation. Follow me if you will but I shall be moving with haste. This is a matter for the Lord Supreme!’
Mirrortac left the bemused petros behind, muttering ‘Hasty Mirrortac!’ after him as he hurried down the passage. He hoped there would be no need to be stopped again. The menace of the monster was no illusion, he was certain. He hedged his way through the winding passages, half crawling, half running as he bent low to avoid hitting his head. At last he reached the top of the Spire of Wa-Ku to find the Lord Supreme in deep conversation with one of his subjects. The golden light of Luma was already close to its extinguishment westering and the bird at the edge of the cavern had bedded down to roost for the night. For a moment Mirrortac hesitated to interrupt but knew the matter could not wait.
‘On the head of Wa-Ku I must interrupt you, Lord Supreme Sum-tu-la-Hoona. There is a task of utmost importance that I must bring to you...,’ he blurted; still panting from his haste.
The Lord Supreme ignored the erfin and continued to address his petros-companion. Mirrortac stepped in closer and spoke again.
‘I beg you Lord to stop this talk now and listen to me. The fate of all Petrosium rests on haste as even at this moment, the Petros of the Shadow seek to enter into the Deep of the Shining Wet.’
The two petros continued to ignore him. Mirrortac clutched his fists with exasperation and stamped on the sandy floor, tossing his thick crimson fur up in his anger.
‘What rigour is this Proper Talk?’ You stand there muttering to one another when this monster Beeble-Zub is in his cave planning to destroy all of Petrosium! What must an erfin do with such legless creatures such as you?’
At the mention of Beeble-Zub, the two petros froze and turned their faces toward Mirrortac. The pupils of their eyes were large with shock - their thin lips trembling with fear. At last, the Lord Supreme spoke to him.
‘Where has it been that it should announce the name of the one most darkest under all Petrosium! How did it come by this name and what has it done to provoke it? It best speak now lest it be my next feast!’
The erfin grunted with petulance, not fobbed by the Lord Supreme’s own anger.
‘I speak of the monster that I have met in the dark cavern beneath the Dome of Shadow. I was out to inspect The Wet when a great gulf of darkness swallowed up the fire of Wa-Ku and battled with him. Wa-Ku defeated it but as I was about to depart, a Petros of the Shadow took me captive and dragged me into the Dome of Shadow and left me in a deep pit with this terrible monster...’ Mirrortac told of the conversation he had with Beeble-Zub and his escape using the glowing greenstone necklace. The two petros were clearly disturbed and amazed at the erfin’s escape.
‘Mirrortac Faug-tu Hinda-la-see Ru-Fo Ob-Fo Trunam Wa-Ku Picka-da Tok-Ruk is no blessing upon Petrosium. How could Wa-Ku trust it? It falls into bad earth and awakens the dark one under the sands,’ said the Lord Supreme, shuddering with rage. ‘What are we to do with it? Eat the thing? Nay, it comes with the stone but best I wish it were not so. Beeble-Zub! It has been in the pit with this vile monster! Stupid Mirrortac! Does it know that the beast has a nose to take its trail into the under-spire? It has given it the way to the Deep of the Shining Wet! And Wa-Ku has gone to the Underworld: we will not have it to keep us until long moments have gone! Now, what does it suggest for our defence, fur and bone?’
Both petros glared at him with wide eyes, sucking their jaws with agitation. Mirrortac’s fur bristled with indignation but his mind was already at work to solve the almost insurmountable prospect ahead. The erfin paced back and forth gathering his thoughts. Then he turned to Sum-tu-la-Hoona .
‘Light!’ he said, jabbing his finger up in the air. ‘I think the solution to this vexation is much simpler than it would seem. Your weapon is Light! The greenstone glows at your mere wish and all the caverns here are lined with the sand that keeps its own light. Even Beeble-Zub shields his many heads from the light. Where there is light, no darkness can enter!’
Mirrortac beamed, obviously pleased with his solution. Surely they would see the sense of such an observation? The Lord Supreme frowned and its companion was equally unimpressed.
‘What possesses it? If this were an occasion to be less serious, I would laugh at it!’ the Lord Supreme said. ‘Mock it, does it? Light! What is this talk of light? It is the stone of Wa-Ku that protects us and even that is useless in the darkness. Speak with sense erfin or I will eat it, stone or not!’
Mirrortac shrugged and rolled his eyes with disbelief.
‘Does not Wa-Ku come to you in light? The stones are mere instruments that he uses to direct his light. On the Day of Revolving Time, Wa-Ku comes to you upon beams of light directed into the Deep of the Shining Wet..’
‘Light? Silly Mirrortac!’ growled Sum-tu-la-Hoona, ‘Without the stone the light will not shine into the Deep. The eyes of the likeness of Wa-Ku are of stone; the caverns of all of Petrosium are lined in stone; the desert sand is scattered with the stone; You wear the stone. It is the STONE that protects you. The stone! The stone!’ the petros shouted. His horn started to vibrate with growing annoyance.
Mirrortac waited quietly while the petros regained its composure.
‘Is it finished with its anger?’ he mocked in mimicry.
The petros ruler was taken aback and salivated his disapproval. Mirrortac paused again with exaggerated patience.
‘It is best that you trust me; the future of Petrosium is no source for argument. Will it listen or shall we all die?
Mirrortac was past caring now. He had endured too much to be ignored. Sensing this, the other petros leaned towards the Lord Supreme and said: ‘Perhaps it is best to listen to it, petros-companion. It speaks well. Wa-Ku has given it its measure.
Sum-tu-la-Hoona seemed to cool to him somewhat but stood for a time chewing and speculating upon the erfin’s words.
‘Weirdness it is but all is weirdness with this Mirrortac,’ it said at last. ‘What does it propose to do with this light? All is darkness now outside these walls.’
‘Gather the bravest of your petros and let them place the sand of light upon them so that when they face the battle, the light will be with them. And
take for yourselves pieces of greenstone to carry with you and hold them out as weapons, to deal with these dark ones. There must be no Proper Talk. We must be in haste as I fear somehow that these walls will offer little protection from Beeble-Zub,’ the erfin explained.
‘It asks much, erfin. If we do not offer our Proper Talk to Wa-Ku, his protection will not come and I still have little trust in this light. If the light is to shield us, then we have no fear; we can remain in our lighted caverns and they will not enter,’ Sum-tu-la-Hoona quizzed.
‘The light in the sand is dim, Lord, but the light of the stones in the hands of your people will blind them.’
The ruling petros eyed the erfin with quiet uncertainty then shook its head, unable to accept such a solution.
‘Nay, Nay, this must be trickery. It has succumbed to the beast. Light? Silliness!’
The chamber fell into silence as the erfin and the petros ruler stood opposite each other, stumped by the other’s reasoning. In the night world, the darkness was now complete. The bird stirred from a dream and shuffled its wings before settling again upon its nest. Outside, the silence was broken by the pattering of many wings and the sight of black silhouettes, flitting past in the cool night breeze. Mirrortac gazed out at the gathering horde of giant bats.
‘You must act now, Sum-tu-la-Hoona. The solution of the light may be your only chance against these petros of darkness. Look, even now the air trembles with black plans.’ He indicated the bats.
Sum-tu-la-Hoona chewed quickly with agitation, looking at the erfin with fear and uncertainty, and was about to speak again when the bird nearby shrieked into life and launched itself into the horde of giant bats. The two petros flicked their heads around, startled and shuddering with panic. Outside, the squawking of birds and the squeaking of bats clashed in the darkness. Blotting out all the sky were thousands of the giant bats with wing-spans of nearly an erfin-length and engaged in mortal combat with an equally large flock of the white birds which swooped and dived in among the bats in a flurry of pecking and urgent squawks. A carnage of bats and birds plundered out of the sky, falling into heaps of black and white, of feathers and blood and taut skin membranes. Finally, all but a single white bird lay dead and crushed upon the darkly glinting sands below the Spire of Wa-Ku. The petros edged back, unable to comprehend the spectacle that had befallen their world. They peered silently at the erfin, their big oval eyes pleading and moist.
‘Mirrortac, Mirrortac. I do not know what this is but it is the doing of the beast. I am sickly in my stomach. I would reject the choicest bilk now if you offered it to me.’
Sum-tu-la-Hoona spoke in a voice unbecoming to its untroubled nature. ‘Petros has no means to deal with this. It is right. This calls for hastiness but hasty enough we are not. I will try to spread the message but it will take much time to bring a force of us to combat the dark ones. It will be difficult to dismiss the Proper Talk. Perhaps it can take greenstone with it and glow-sand. Perhaps it can hold the dark ones back a time. Can it do that? Can it help us? Can it? Can it?’
The two petros looked up at the erfin, their blue eyes filled with pleading and helplessness. Mirrortac scratched his head with thought. They watched his every movement with concentrated silence. The companion petros’ attention was caught by something at the erfin’s feet, and it peered up at the erfin quizzically.
‘Its fur does not hold to it. It is there upon the floor. Is it sick?’ the petros asked.
Glancing down, Mirrortac noticed the red fur that was falling off him in large tufts. He took no heed as this phenomenon had occurred before. But something else was concerning him now. He wiggled his ears to tune in to a slight stirring below the Spire and, walking over to the ledge, looked down. Below, there was a barely distinct movement evident near the edge of the Dome of Shadow. He waited for his eyes to adjust and as he focussed into the darkness, he saw them, a slow moving procession of misshapen forms making steady progress towards the Dome of Petros.
‘The time is come,’ he said. ‘Gather your people for combat. I will try to repel them with the greenstone. There is some in the bird’s nest. That will do.’ he gathered up a handful of the stones from the nest and made off for the passage. ‘Now, make haste. I am going now,’ he said, disappearing swiftly down into the passage.
Mirrortac followed the winding passages down into the under-spire and back to the Dome of Petros. He brushed deliberately up against the glow-sand as he scrambled through, hoping enough would stick to him and not fall off again with the moulting red fur. He kept to the least used passages, avoiding the need for any encounters and lengthy explanations, emerging at last out of the Dome where he stood upon the gem littered sands of Petrosium. The night sky was dark and devoid of moon and a thin drift of high cloud obscured even Mogog’s moon-drops. The black silhouette of the Spire of Wa-Ku towered dimly over all while behind it, Mirrortac could feel the grim presence of the Dome of Shadow and the slow march of those gathered there. In the dunes beyond, the shoveling forms of bilk grazed on unperturbed, barely audible except to the keen ears of the erfin.
Behind him a familiar voice called out to him. ‘Mirrortac! It is happening again isn’t it? What is it this time? More Netherworld creatures!’
Fillytac crept up to Mirrortac’s side. ‘How can I help?’
Mirrortac was afraid for his friend. ‘Here,’ he said, giving him some of the greenstones. ‘Just hold these stone up when I hold up mine. And take care, my friend.’
Mirrortac examined himself to see how much of the glow-sand had remained on him and noted the shining patches of it across his chest and down his legs and arms. Steeling himself against the breeze, he stepped out across the sand that scrunched all too loudly beneath him. He could see the outlines of bird and bat carcasses ahead, now at rest and already attracting a myriad of scavenging sooz, the insectine cleaners of the sands of Petrosium. He walked gingerly among them, listening and watching intently for any sign of the approaching menace. Clasped within his hands were several greenstones, their facets facing outward in readiness. They felt cool and rough to the touch but inside their green depths, tiny sparks of light flashed into the liquid blackness of the evil night.
A renewed uneasiness burdened the erfin’s mind. ‘What have I unleashed upon these people?’ he thought. ‘I have become an instrument to destroy all the dark ones. When shall I ever see my beloved Eol again?’
Mirrortac walked on through the winged field of battle until he was within sight of the Dome of Shadow. An offensive odour rose up from the dead bodies of the bats whose sightless eyes stared up at him in a sinister mockery of death. Their limp leathery skins brushed against his feet as he passed while here and there he could see the clutching movements of those that had not yet given up their slipping mortality. Then in the shadowy distance, he saw them - the mindless horde of creatures whose service was to the master of darkness, Beeble-Zub, who had sent them on this errand of destruction. There were many of them, ugly and misshapen - those with many horns and limbs bent out of form. They did not speak but pulled themselves onwards towards the waiting erfin.
Ducking under the cover of the sand, Mirrortac prepared for the untried task ahead. Would the gemlight be sufficient to repel them all? It was too late to ponder such matters now. The Petros of the Shadow were closing in even as he sat preparing himself in the hollow he had made within the sand. Fillytac disappeared into the sand nearby.
‘It is the fur and bone one! It is alight. We must get it!’ one of the dark ones shouted.
A series of eyes stared out at the erfin. Mirrortac opened the palms of his hands and held out the clusters of greenstone. Fillytac followed his lead.
‘What is it doing? It has stones. Stones! Useless stones!’ mocked another.
But as it spoke the emerald depths sparked and crackled with a growing green light. The stone clusters warmed in his hands and the glow generated within them soon lit up the whole space around him. Fillytac sat amazed as the stones in his hands did likewise. Su
ddenly, the stones erupted with a flash, streaming with a pulsing beam of brilliant white light, which shot out from their palms and struck the milling petros beings in a single fused beam. They threw up their arms to shield themselves against the light, falling over each other in confusion and panic. ‘Get it away! Get it away!’ many cried as they buried their faces under the cover of the sands. But the sands refused to shelter them and they were lifted up again to face the blinding beams, exposing their pale shapes to all.
‘Where is the darkness, Beeble-Zub? Save us Beeble-Zub! Save us! Help us, please help us!’ pleaded the one with the two horns.
‘We must get back! We must get back!’ shouted another.
The pulsing beams continued and the stones were now quite hot in the palms of the erfins. Mirrortac squinted at the brilliance of the light within the darkness. He could see the aureum walls of the Spire of Wa-Ku clearly within the glow of the beams and hear the anguished pleas of the Petros of the Shadow to their master below. He stared after the retreating shapes as the pulse of light faded away, leaving them alone in the dark.
Fillytac shook his head. ‘This be all too much weirdness for an old erfin.’
Mirrortac turned back towards the Dome of Petros, amazed at the light display and pleased with his deductions. The light had indeed done its work! Above, the cloud was thickening and building up. A cool stream of air blew in from The Wet and Mirrortac shivered. He glanced down at himself and was slightly taken aback - all his fur had gone, exposing pink skin that prickled against the breeze. The Wet roared up from beyond the Plain of Spires, boiling under the brewing storm clouds. The darkness of the night crept over Petrosium in completeness, like the oozing formlessness of an unseen evil. Mirrortac gripped the stones tight and strode on through the stench of quickly decaying corpses. ‘No storm can harm us here,’ he assured himself. ‘Stone will not yield to wind.’ But as if to mock him, the breeze abruptly gusted with a strength that almost lost him his footing while the sound of a distant rumbling echoed over the troubled waters of The Wet.
The Wizard's Sword (Nine Worlds of Mirrortac Book 1) Page 19
