Luma was already behind them when they reached the top of the main ridge. Below, the forest sloped down into a steep gully where the waters of the Ruttella Stream flowed down to the sea some long distance from them. From where they stood upon a rock ledge, Mirrortac could see across the top of the forest and far into the valley formed by the Ruttella Stream. The forest spread for thousands upon thousands of erfin-lengths in every direction and up the slopes of the mountain above. On an opposite ledge, the stream gushed in a noisy splashing of surging water, emerging from the forest and plunging over the edge of a cliff that descended 100 erfin-lengths to the forest below them. A spray of water droplets drifted up from the bottom of the waterfall, forming a wet dense mist over the trees beneath. Beyond the march of the Green to eastering, a single yellow peak glared up at them from a great distance, untouched by the mountain’s shadow as it crept slowly across the eastering fringes of the forest. Zu-laire punctuated the ridges in a high cone that seemed forever capped in clouds and mists.
Mirrortac breathed in the refreshing cool air, relaxing at the sight of the great valley and the thin blue line of the horizon. He seated himself upon the ledge and allowed his feet to trail over the edge. The stream was only a few erfin-lengths from him, chuckling and gurgling in its journey towards the cliff. He watched the water as it bounced up into tiny balls that spun up into the air and splashed down again to be sucked away into a swirl of bubbles before continuing on. His eyes locked upon the swirl of the water and all other things were drawn out of focus. It seemed that all that existed now was the water that gushed into his mind and swirled into contemplation. He imagined that all the gushing and gurgling was as a voice speaking to him, luring him to join it, to become a part of it. ‘Mirro-tac-a-loogle, mirro-tac-a-loogle, mirro-tac-a-loogle,’ it said and as his concentration moved towards it, the stream rushed away with his thoughts, draining them into a focus of nothingness. Mirrortac could not stop the compelling feeling that drugged him into an altered state of mind. His body was going numb while his perception tangibly moved towards the stream. It beckoned and the change was tangible: ‘Weirdness! The stream flows from me. No. The stream is. No! What! The stream is ... is. The stream is. No. I am the stream. What? Who am I? Flush, rush, green ... stone ... trees ... earth ... sky ... me. All of this! World ... spirit?’
‘Where have you been my brother? You have been as sleep,’ Shubek said.
Mirrortac looked up into the smiling face of the keeper. ‘A strangeness overcame me,’ he said, confused.
Shubek’s smile broadened into a wide grin. ‘Blessings upon you, Mirrortac!’ He embraced the erfin firmly. ‘Come. We must be to the over-way!’
Shubek led them all down the ridge and towards the valley of the Ruttella Stream. Mirrortac felt burdened by the weight and apparent awkwardness of his body, remembering the freedom of his experience at the ledge. There was a strange sadness within his heart for the tremendous love of that moment and the clarity of the world as he saw it then. As he made his way down the descending pathway, he perceived all about him with new eyes. No more did the earth, the trees and the creatures appear to be separate to him. A kinship had been established and it seemed that the forest was brimming with feelings that poured out to him as the stream poured out over the earth. He looked up at the tall stout brothers of the Green and it appeared as though they were standing alongside the path like an audience, clapping their dark leaves together and sweeping branches over him in gestures of silent affection. Low brush reached out to touch him as he passed while the earth gathered his feet in support. All the birds of the forest paid tribute in their own songs of joy while the nearby rush of the Ruttella danced with happy laughter. All the Divine Green rejoiced and Mirrortac could not help but feel the love filling him up. ‘We love you,’ the trees felt out to him; ‘I love to hold you!’ pronounced the earth. ‘Sing with us!’ cried a flock of colourful birds.
Soon Mirrortac was so overwhelmed by all this outpouring of feelings that he paused in his tracks and, at an impulse, wrapped his arms around the solid girth of a smooth barked tree and hugged it hard. His emotions poured out of him and into the tree, creating a positive force that enhanced it. ‘Why do I feel this way?’ he shouted, squeezing the tree tighter. ‘Is it that we share in something?’
‘Whoa! Get yourself together, Mirrortac! The silliness is infecting you!’ Merftac warned.
The tree supported him, generating a warmth that passed back to the erfin. Then it was as though the tree or the essence of that which is tree answered him. ‘We are brothers, Mirrortac, for the same spirit is alive in both of us.’
Behind him the entire assemblage of Children of the Divine Green waited, some with eyes brimming with tears, trying to laugh and sob at the same time. Shubek started to sing in a shaky emotional voice, standing with his tear-moistened whiskers, sniffling as he put voice to the moment.
‘Blessings are this day of Ra!
who sings in our hearts
and hearts of one
who webs the Green upon his own
and learns the song
of we who roam
between our brothers’ and sisters’ home.
Blessings is our Mirrortac!
he speaks now to our brothers tall
it is the tongue of the call
the call of the one
who calls us all
whose key is within
the spirit unseen
whose key is within
the spirit unseen.’
Mirrortac let go of the tree and turned to gaze upon the people. They were still sobbing, their faces contorted in gasping smiles. Shubek made his way through the crowd, his bracelets making jingling noises as he walked. He stopped, facing the erfin, his lips and whiskers trembling, his liquid eyes laughing. The two embraced in silence. Mirrortac stared back with a bemused expression. ‘My thoughts tell me this is silliness but my heart listens nought now to my thoughts,’ he said.
‘I will not bear this foolishness any longer! I am taking leave of you if you do not come to your senses!’
Shubek shook his head and stroked the erfin’s furry head. ‘Allow your thoughts to listen to the greater master. Your heart knows well what your mind tests with thought, my brother. Be calm. Ra is with you. Come! We shall all sing as we walk to the Ruttella Stream.’
Shubek placed an arm around the erfin’s shoulder and led him along the path, singing as they walked.
‘Blessings are this day of Ra!
who sings in our hearts
and the hearts of one...’
The song went on and all the Children of the Divine Green sang along with the keeper. Again and again were the words repeated until even Mirrortac joined in the singing, feeling more and more light-hearted and jolly as they walked and skipped and danced down the winding pathway. They passed through the dense forest, penetrating deeper into the valley of the Ruttella, which disappeared into the Green beneath them. All was in a dark shadow when they finally reached the bottom.
Turning a bend in the path, the ground levelled out and a space revealed itself within the trees ahead. A speckled reflection of water could be discerned beyond the thicket of trees and blossoming vines. The sound of the stream burbled into the forest peace and as they moved nearer, Mirrortac caught sight of the outline of some structure that was erected over the stream, connecting both sides. They came to a clearing adjacent to the stream where they made camp. They had arrived at the over-way.
Those whose task it was to gather fruit went into the forest to find what fruit they could while others who had until now being largely idle, rolled up their robes beneath their waists and made way to the clay earth at the edge of the stream. Mirrortac followed them to see what they were doing and found them gathering large lumps of the clay, rolling the lumps into balls and encasing the clay balls into loose squares of a lesser fabric that they kept beneath their garments. He asked one of the females what they wanted with the clay and she told him that the clay would be u
sed to make urns and bowls. There was also a patch of dark purple-coloured clay that was gathered and made into aromatic face-sticks - a kind of decoration that these people applied to their faces to enhance their affinity with the earth and all that is seen to be beautiful. All the child Meretees had in the meantime disrobed and were emersed in a deep side pool that had been gouged out in the backwash of the stream. Some of the glow-mould was growing on the sides of the trees facing the stream and, in the darkness, a faint light emanated from them, illuminating the campsite with sufficient light to produce an outline around everything and everyone within a radius of three erfin-lengths.
After the evening feast, Shubek came to Mirrortac and asked him to remove his belt and the sword, which had been his constant companion in all his travels thus far. The psalming was about to start and Shubek seemed especially formal. Mirrortac felt safe enough to allow this to be done but insisted on performing his own ancient erfin ritual - a ritual that was part of his heritage in Eol and could not be forsaken. So he took Moongleam, grasped the hilt in both his hands and repeated the ancient invocation given him by the priests of the High Halls of Mateote.
‘In the name of Mateote, great god of all Eol and protector of erfins, I, Mirrortac, son of the erfins of Fotwood, discharge this sword, Moongleam, to the care of the firm earth. He who grips Moongleam as his own shall find his strength taken from him as the earth shall yield it to none but I. Gra-go de bak fa soog!’ he pronounced. Then he raised Moongleam with both hands and thrust its shining blade into the earth at his feet.
Shubek glanced at the erfin with a hint of recrimination. ‘There is no need of this ritual here, Mirrortac. Do you not trust us?’ he said.
‘This be the custom of my world, Shubek. I ask you to allow me this as the sword is of Mateote and must be treated in his manner.’
Shubek blinked at the erfin with uncertainty then his expression softened. ‘I will give you this, this custom, as you did not question me upon its removal.’ Shubek left the erfin and wandered into the darkness towards a part of the stream out of clear sight. Some moments passed in which all the Meretees came together and formed into the ritual circle of the psalming.
Mirrortac joined in the tonic hum of the Children of the Divine Green as they led into song. But sleep edged upon him with a swift volley and he struggled with heaving eyelids, lulled by the melody and the fresh scent of trees and blossoms and aromatic clay. The song diminished into echoes that bounced into the depths of his mind, merging with thoughts and images until sleep was master.
Mirrortac yawned and sat up. The Ruttella Stream gurgled past his feet. Many of the Meretees were already awake, chewing happily out of their baskets of fruit. Sunlight flickered through the spaces of the Green across the way and the forest dripped with fresh moisture. Shubek marched up to Mirrortac and patted him on the shoulders.
‘Come! The centre of the world awaits you,’ he said.
Mirrortac stretched himself and followed Shubek across the over-way.
Chapter 10 – Journey to the Centre of the World
During the days that followed, Shubek took Mirrortac and the Meretees through the forest to east of the over-way, passing out of the rugged hill country of the mountain ridges into open-forested lowlands where the thick emerald of the wet forest gave way again to trees of a lighter shade, growing in tidy rows and loaded with blossoms and fruit. Mirrortac learnt much about the trees and plants and animals of the Divine Green, amazed to find himself in direct communication with all that surrounded him and able to discern their names as their essence suggested themselves to him.
Shubek would not answer Mirrortac’s incessant questions about worlds and spaces beyond that of the Divine Green, smiling instead with that self-assured expression of knowing in his eyes that drove the erfin to some distraction. He did however tell him much of the ways of the forest and those who lived within it. As in the Faug Forest, the plants and trees here provided all the fruits they needed for food. Animals would be eaten rarely and then only after a ritual apology to the spirit guardians of the particular animal tribe. The Children of the Divine Green lived in huts under the place that they called the centre of the greater world of Mareos. There they made the things required by all the Meretees, using the products of earth and forest that yielded all their needs. They conducted regular journeys through the Green to gather fruits, clay, wool, timber from fallen branches and trees as well as other products of the Green. Shubek informed Mirrortac that the Children of the Divine Green were just one of four major tribes of Meretees existing on Plumer-Ra and the small lands to the west. The Serenetees lived upon these other lands, which were like small worlds surrounded on all sides by the waters of the endless lake. What Mirrortac did not know was that Plumer-Ra was itself an island of great size, dominated by the mountain Zu-laire. Three of the four tribes lived on Plumer-Ra, each attending to their area of responsibility. The Children of the Divine Green cared for the forest; the Serenetees explored the great lake. But Shubek teased the erfin with hints of the other two tribes whom he said would provide him with visions of majesty and wonder. ‘It is wonderness!’ Shubek told him, winking with secretive delight at the others.
The path wound onwards through groves of low lymta trees, their branches ablaze with a thick cover of cream blossoms. Fallen blossoms formed a carpet over the ground below them and the scent of lymta flooded the air around the Meretees as they filed along the pathway through the grove of trees. Sunlight shone in shafts of brilliant gold in the clear spaces between the trees, radiating a warm flush of cream as the light fell upon the blooms. Mirrortac took part in the custom of adorning the body with flowers and vines, securing many of the lymta flowers within the shaggy orange fur. He had come to know many of the Meretees by name. There was the child with the Glurk – Healac – and the tree-hugging woman, Cee-un, and Tuka, an old man who crafted urns out of clay. All were given their tasks, as was the custom in Eol but duty was not the master of these people, Mirrortac realised.
On the dawn of the sixth day since leaving the over-way, they came upon a growth of strange over-sized plants with roots like feet that were half exposed and raised, ascending in a single orange stem with thorns and branches that bore giant leaves and flowers almost an erfin-length from base to the lip of their huge trumpet form. The flower was red near its base but changed through pink, violet and finally indigo at its wide lip. Two pollen-bearing stamens protruded from the cavernous trumpet interior of the flowers that hung over the path like an archway of domes, dropping crimson fragments of spent pollen that intermingled in the earth where new plants would emerge. Shubek described them as Suhtnarama or Love Trumpet flowers, which did not bear fruit but continued to produce new pollen from flowers that remained vibrant until the death of the plant itself.
As they cleared the forest, a space opened up wherein stood a long wall of earthen bricks and behind, the spectacle of an immense pyramid of yellow stone, dominating the sky.
The pathway led to a large gateway that afforded entry into the inner sector surrounding the giant pyramid. Flowering vines grew in rambling masses over most of the wall; hanging down in untidy strands over the stone slab which was supported by pillars on either side of the gateway. The two large supporting slab pillars defined an opening a clear two erfin-lengths high and one in width. Symbols were carved into the stone, the most recognisable being the elongate diamond and the shape of a twelve-pointed star, three flames, and three wavy lines, representing fire and water. Two stone Eeeps or Tumu-Ra as the spoken tongue described them, faced each other from opposing ends of the top slab while carved into this slab was the enigmatic shape of a curved disc. When asked what the disc shape represented, Shubek said that it was the Celestial Flut – ‘The Celestial Flut brings us explorers of the Greater Sky; wise hairless ones from a world even farther than mere mooniths can tell,’ he said.
Mirrortac’s furry eyebrows lifted with interest. He examined the strange disc symbol then accompanied Shubek and the others as they p
assed under the slab and into the inner sector. The pathway here was paved over with flat squares of baked clay tiles, stretching in a long straight way through a low stand of winkle trees and on to the base of the pyramid. On either side of the pathway were simple clay huts, comprising part of a scattered village, which extended far to both sides of the two visible faces of the pyramid. The enclosing perimeter wall ran parallel with these faces, diminishing into the distance behind the huts and winkle trees. The massive pyramid seemed to be as high as Zu-laire. ‘There it is,’ Shubek said, pointing to the pyramid. ‘Centre of Mareos; Pyramid of Ra-Los!’
Mirrortac examined the shape of the pyramid. ‘The up-way is regular. Is this a temple, this pyramid? I am amazed at its dimension. There are many of my length to the top of it,’ he said.
‘The Pyramid of Ra-Los marks the centre of the world of Mareos. The form of it brings within all the Ra-force. It may be named temple but you shall see that this is more than a temple,’ Shubek said.
The erfin’s face was grave. ‘All the Ra-force? Such a force would be of great strength. What would your people do with such strength?’ he asked.
‘The force is for the expanding. It brings wizing in all matters. The pyramid webs Mareos with the Greater Sky and all the worlds beyond. I am keeper of the Divine Green. I am not the one to be asking such things.’ Shubek shrunk at the sight of the monolith. He was no longer in his forest where he was all knowing, all wise.
Mirrortac shivered with contemplation of the unknown. He hesitated to press the keeper further but a question still nagged him.
‘Why is this the centre of the world of Mareos? By what measure did your people know this?’
A gentle smile appeared on the meretee’s face. ‘There is no easy answer to this questioning, Mirrortac. Much observing was needed by the Ra-finelles and the Astellites, keepers of the pyramid and of the Greater Sky. They know of the numbering and have determined the measure of Mareos. The zero junction lay at the place of this pyramid.’
The Wizard's Sword (Nine Worlds of Mirrortac Book 1) Page 25
