Twx awoke when the glowing sun of Luma had risen some way into the sky and much of the mist had withdrawn to the higher slopes. Spying the fungus, he smiled and bowed slightly to Mirrortac then put all of it in his mouth, chewing busily with extended cheeks. Mirrortac sighted the first yone emerging from a crack to sun itself on the drying platform. He snatched it and killed it, repeating the blessing before flinging the lizard into his mouth. The vista of forest and distant coastline materialised from out of the evaporating mist, promising a clear and hot day ahead.
After eating, twx guided Mirrortac back to the pathway, which curved around the scattered creocks and up into the mist shrouded slopes. Walking up the path, they reached the cloud level quickly. Here the landscape was absorbed again in the thick swirling mists, which condensed on their robes and fur. Here and there the spectral shadows of creocks emerged from the mist, dripping with the mist and covered in long strands of a pale green moss. Enormous webs were strung between branches and from tree to tree, sometimes barring the way, their huge spider owners resting within the centre of the webs in patient waiting. Twx took care not to damage the webs, preferring to walk off the path and around several creocks before rejoining the path farther up. Mirrortac had not seen these spiders before. The arachnids were brilliant silver-white, blending in with the whiteness of the mist around them. Twx identified them as sinx, a ten-legged spider that lived only within the misty mountain of Zu-laire, feeding on the insects that were also endemic to the misty areas.
After further climbing, the moss-laden creocks thinned out and the slope steepened into slippery scree of many loose small stones. The two resorted to a slow crawl on hands and knees, tripping occasionally and sending minor avalanches of stones tumbling down to the edge of the high creock scrub. The mist thinned, fanning around them in smudges of cloud. The glow of the sun was feeble still, unable to penetrate a high bank of cloud that circled the lip of the cone now visible 100 erfin-lengths up the scree slope. The two struggled up to the lip, their robes wet and torn from rubbing against the sharp stone.
A bubbling blanket of cloud formed a high wall around the lip of a very large crater. Within, the crater walls dipped gradually into a cool sunken valley where grasses grew lush and verdant and the stems of thousands of folded flowers protruded up between the fields; rocking with a gentle suggestion of a breeze. A stairway overgrown with moss and clover descended into the valley, joining up with a path that crossed the fields, marked by a stand of yofirs, wide cone-bearing trees with emerald needles and reticulated dark tan bark. In the midst of the valley and at the end of the long line of trees stood a rambling palace of marblelite domes and pillared open courtyards. Mirrortac could not make out much detail at this distance but there appeared to be large pools within the confines of the palace courtyards while above the crater and the palace, the sky hollowed out into a space of brilliant blue.
They stepped with caution on the slippery stairway, making their way now with more speed into the cradling womb of the sunken valley. The stone lip of the crater loomed over them like the border between two worlds. Mirrortac blinked at the beauty around him, showing surprise and disbelief. Harsh stone dissolved into a rich black earth. Grasses and vines and ground fruit were bountiful all around them while glurks slid past, hidden in the lush growth that surrounded them. The air was cool and fresh and easy to breathe and a glimmer of sunlight crept across the far wall of the crater, spreading a brilliant gold light into the forest verge. Long rows of yofir trees formed into an aisle for the passage of a tiled pathway. They strolled on the cool stone tiles, casting their eyes up into the soothing green spread of branches on either side. ‘Welcomeness travellers,’ said the high essence of the yofirs. Droves of butterflies alighted upon the path, drinking together from small pools of collected rainwater. Wuffettes playfully swung down from boughs above their heads, warbling in contented voices and winking at them with wide big eyes. The valley was so subdued and tranquil; neither of them dared speak above a whisper lest the atmosphere be spoiled. Shafts of golden light were cast into the valley from spaces between the woolly tops of the clouds and as the fiery orb broke free, the valley lit up in a vibrancy of green.
Ahead of them, the pathway converged into a high gateway, punctuated by two round pillars of marblelite. Upon them were the carved likenesses of proud robed demi-gods bearing faint smiles and scrutinising every passer by with crystal gem eyes that sparkled in changing hues. Mirrortac felt an eeriness as he passed between the columns and their sinister statues, staring at him from the outer gateway. The pathway widened into an avenue that passed between rows of columns, all bearing the haunting statues. Mirrortac watched the statues watching him and picked up his pace in an effort to pass out of the avenue as swiftly as his feet would take him. Twx was silent also but was less concerned about the statues. He had been here on other occasions to discuss matters with his fellow Astellites.
At last, they came to a series of broad steps that led up and off to one side, flanked by bare columns and yofir trees. The stairs brought them up into a huge courtyard of marblelite square tiles and an oval bowl of clear crystal stone much like the flat ones that surrounded the Chamber of Ra. This was one of the “pools” they had earlier seen from the top of the crater, only it was not a pool but an incredible concave of smoothed stone that reflected the pillars and the sky in a bizarre way.
‘This is one of the Pool Stones of the Palace of the Pool Stones,’ twx explained, breaking a long silence.
‘What be its purpose?’ Mirrortac asked.
‘You shall be seeing in time,’ twx replied.
Beyond the reflective bowl of stone were the domes of the palace, running in a cross pattern with the largest dome at the centre. Twx approached the entrance where alternating pillars and stone slabs provided a variety of open gateways. A vine covered roof of stone extended out in an open series of archways. The sound of their footsteps resounded off the stone tiles as they walked across the courtyard and under the archways. Etched above and upon the threshold of each gateway was the design of a six-pointed star. They passed over the threshold and into a chamber beneath one of the smaller domes. The chamber was almost empty except for a raised marblelite altar in the centre that supported a cluster of seven giant smoky-blue crystals that splayed up in long chunks of roughly an erfin-length in measure. Mirrortac examined the cluster then noticed where a hole in the dome ceiling allowed in light from above. The altar stood in line with an entrance and in clear view of the concave bowl in the courtyard. The erfin followed the line of sight and spotted a corresponding crystal embedded in the column opposite the Pool Stone. He concluded that a similar process would operate here as in Petrosium where light was cast into the Deep of the Shining Wet.
Mirrortac was led from chamber to chamber, each bearing a like crystal cluster and a corresponding Pool Stone within view of the doorway. The palace appeared to be abandoned. There was neither sound nor any sign of activity anywhere. Daylight shone down upon the crystal altars but the multi-faceted depths of each stone remained dull and unaltered. Mirrortac reached out and folded his hand around one of the crystals and was surprised to find it cold and clammy. He released it, massaging out the numbness that had started to creep through his fingers.
‘Astellite!’ twx proclaimed.
‘Astellite?’ The erfin frowned. ‘You bring me to this palace to speak to pieces of crystal?’
‘No, dearling erfin!’ giggled twx. ‘This crystal is astellite, yes, but the Astellites are as you and I. They are breathening and are of flesh. The namening comes of this crystal, yes?’
The erfin smiled with relief. ‘I am in error my friend but I see nought but these crystals. Where are those who you call Astellites?’
‘They are sleepening. Day is not of use for their expandening. The night is their day. We must be sleepening also if we are wishening to speak with them. Come!’
Mirrortac accompanied twx into the main dome and passed over a threshold of Utlontee symbols and t
hrough a narrow passage where a stairway descended in a spiral that merged finally into a dark cavern far beneath the dome roof. He could barely make out the walls of the passage as he felt his way into the darkness while twx moved slowly, stumbling, blinded totally by the darkness. They came at last to two doorways - one to either side - and entered one of these. The floor of the sleeping chamber was covered in a soft bed of dried petals and leaves. ‘Be sleepening anywhere in this place. I will remain here,’ twx said, flopping onto the soft floor.
Mirrortac moved on a few steps and rolled up into the mass of leaves and petals. Twx was asleep in moments but the erfin stayed awake, thinking about the crystals and the haunting statues.
He must have fallen asleep at some time for he awoke to the prodding of a hand and twx’s voice telling him to put on a new robe that was placed in his lap. Mirrortac could not see the colouring of the robe but felt the smooth satin between his fingers. He pulled the robe over his head and felt for the belt that would tie around the waist. But there was none so he allowed the robe to hang loose from his shoulders. Twx shuffled in the dark, stumbling in the leaves and dried flowers as he struggled to put on his own robe. There was movement in the passage and the patter of many feet flapped up the spiral stairway. Shadowy forms with pointed headdresses and large eyes that shone a dim green, peered out of the opposite doorway.
The pair followed the Astellites up the stairway and past the interconnecting domes where all was in the shadow of night. Mirrortac was taken to one of the Pool Stone amphitheatres where 12 bizarre figures had gathered, arranging themselves around the oval of the crystal reflector. In the dim light of moon-drops, he could see the dark hue of their robes but could not make out the colour. Occasionally one of the figures raised its head to speculate quietly on the strange visitor. Polished silver metal headdresses in the shape of an irregular six-pointed star encircled their faces. The Astellites were shorter than all other Meretees but in the silent green moons of their eyes, the erfin sensed an almost sinister presence, which sent a shiver up his spine. They were all concentrating on the convex crystal bowl, manipulating levers placed around the rim. The night sky was ablaze with a myriad moon-drops, emphasised by the funnel formed by the surrounding wall of high cloud.
On the altar the crystal astellite was filling up with an inner blue glow that deepened in hue until it seemed as though the cluster burned in a soft violet flame. And as the erfin watched, the violet flame darkened into a barely visible shining blackness that radiated out in an invisible beam to the crystal embedded in the pillar beside him. Twx stared out blindly alongside. The Astellites manipulated the levers some more, no doubt adjusting the bowl for the arrival of some demi-god, Mirrortac thought.
Suddenly, Mirrortac leapt up, startled at the vision of a huge ball of fire that sailed onto the bowl. On the surface of the fireball, brilliant white flares shot up in plumes and fell again in a burst of sparks and fire. More balls of fire danced onto the bowl, traversing it before disappearing off the opposite side. The erfin felt uneasy at the sight and stared at the menacing apparitions, unable to comprehend what they represented. Fused fireballs made the odd appearance while he could discern many hues, from magnesium white to orange and gold. Some were large and luminous while others floated across as small and distant.
‘What be these?’ Mirrortac spurted, grasping twx’s arm tightly.
Twx looked back at him quizzically and with smiling indifference. ‘Why these be asterees, Mirrortac. Only a night ago, you were pointening out the place of Nerthule among them. What is your concern?’
‘They are like Luma, blazing fire of the sky. Are there so many? What spell is upon this stone?’ The erfin shook with agitation.
‘Be calming. Be calming, erfin. Did you not know of this? There are as many fire-orbs as there are worlds. The Pool Stone makes big all of these so we can be expandening. You will see worlds soon. Be watchening and do not fear. The visions are of no harm.’
Mirrortac tried to relax as he watched the fiery parade of suns march across the bowl. There seemed no end to them. Then his eyes brightened as a sphere emerged into view, its mottled surface covered in craters and mountains, which showed as pits and peaks on a tiny ball that was partly in light, partly in shadow. The erfin’s fascination grew as another world rolled into sight, commanding a series of miniscule moons that strung out behind it like children. World after world followed in an assortment of sizes and hues of colour. The erfin could not determine whether life existed upon the worlds for even this magical magnification could not show this. Another sun chased the worlds off the bowl followed by a void of darkness and a stream of very distant asterees. The Astellites had assembled at one end of the bowl and were whispering and mumbling to each other.
‘When are we to meet these Astellites?’ Mirrortac asked.
‘After the asterees’ watch, they will be talkening to us, twx said, his eyes still fixed upon the bowl.
The parade of suns and worlds continued into the night, providing the erfin with some fascinating sights. But after a time, he grew weary of it. He yawned despite the sleep he had had and settled into a lazy half dream. Suns came and went in tedious succession, increasing at one stage to a point when the bowl was one mass of fiery lights. White suns were followed by yellow suns and orange suns and more white and orange and yellow and even red suns. Worlds with craters and mountains and swirling clouds and blotches and any number of features, rode the bowl. Some glowed with soft gold auras or some dusky hue between. Moons of numerous number or few orbited the many worlds. Mirrortac shut his eyes and started to drift into sleep.
‘Nerthule! Nerthule!’
Mirrortac’s eyes flashed open. Twx was barking into his ear and pointing down into the bowl.
‘Nerthule?’ Mirrortac said, groggily. He blinked his eyes a few times then glanced down at the bowl. And was suddenly alert.
Near the centre of the bowl floated a tiny blue world, enclosed in a womb of vibrant light and with fleecy streaks of cloud and the grey-green shapes of land beneath. One moon orbited the world, which was like a blue jewel set in the black velvet of the Greater Sky. Mirrortac gazed at Nerthule with renewed awe, wondering at its beauty and its solitary place in the void. A golden white sun disappeared off the rim of the bowl and two worlds followed it before Nerthule itself vanished over the edge.
‘Is it not wonderness?’ twx cooed.
‘Yea, wonderness. Wonderness,’ he said, transfixed by the memory of its jewelled beauty. ‘Is this truly the world where demi-god abuses demi-god?’ Mirrortac stared intently at twx. The memory of the vibrant blue world touched his heart. A single tear escaped and rolled down his furry cheek.
Suddenly he fell forward and clutched his stomach.
‘Mirrortac!’ twx cried. ‘Are you in unbalancing?’
‘Nay. The vision comes,’ he replied simply.
Mirrortac was standing by now and pacing back and forth. He knew it was only a matter of moments before the vision would cloud his sight. Twx motioned to the Astellites to approach. There was an exchange of mumblings as they moved closer, watching bemused as the erfin stumbled about. Mirrortac’s face was contorted and anxious.
‘I see a great flut,’ he said. ‘There are many large pieces of white fabric on poles. These are pushed by the wind and the flut moves forward across the waters. The demi-gods dress in robes cut to their forms. One of these shouts something. There is land ahead. The leader walks onto the land and pushes a pole into the ground. There is some design on a square of fabric held at the top of the pole. He invokes spirits to claim the land in the name of another land.’
Mirrortac breathed out sharply through his nose and opened his eyes, blinking at the Astellites around him.
‘That is all. The vision goes,’ he said.
‘Who?’ came a guttural whisper. The Astellitee who said this pointed at the erfin, her large eyes dimly shining.
‘Mirrortac,’ said twx. ‘He comes to Plumer-Ra from the land of Eol to southering.
He is needening of expandening.’
The Astellitee scrutinised the erfin with dispassion. ‘Orange fur, five unips. Nighting eyes. Ears to eleven nilkoos of head. Hands, feet are not web-ed,’ she said.
A host of short whiskers twitched and quick eyes glanced at each other. Mirrortac fluttered his ears and shook his head.
‘What be this talk? It speaks riddles,’ he said, annoyed.
‘It is the numbering. They must know your measure. There is no matter to it. They will speak plainly soon,’ twx said.
‘Mirrortac,’ another whispered.
‘You are here,’ she said.
‘Of course you are here! Where else?
‘She is welcomening you,’ twx translated.
‘Do these hug?’ Mirrortac asked.
Twx grinned. ‘You can try.’
Mirrortac spread out his arms to embrace the Astellitee who had addressed him but she backed away from him. He frowned with disappointment.
‘Do you not love everything and everyone?’ he asked.
‘The night is in Violet. This is not the time,’ twx volunteered.
‘The night is in Violet? What be this?’ Mirrortac quizzed, displaying an edge of impatience to his voice.
‘You would be breakening the Violet if you embraced or touched them. The violet of the crystal astellite contains the Ra-force. When the violet is no more, you may be embracening, Yes?’ twx winked.
The erfin relaxed. ‘The Ra-force.’
A half smile spread across the Astellitee’s face and her features softened.
‘I am Eau, sister of the Seventh Celestial Night. You are here, Mirrortac one. You are here, fellow twx. Blessings of Ra to you both.’ Eau’s voice was low, barely above a whisper.
The Wizard's Sword (Nine Worlds of Mirrortac Book 1) Page 30
