The Spriggan Mirror

by Lawrence Watt-Evans

  “Why would I want to?” Gresh said. “Do you think the mirror might bein there?”

  “No,” Tobas said. “In fact, I’m sure it isn’t.”

  “Because the same thing that makes it unsafe to fly there would makethe mirror...well, it would do something to the mirror?”

  “Yes,” Tobas admitted reluctantly. “It wouldn’t work there. That waswhy I let the spriggans take it in the first place—I never thoughtthey’d get it out of the... out of... away from the castle.”

  “You have some kind of powerful countercharm there?”

  “What? No, I... Not exactly.”

  “But there’s something there that interferes with certain spells.And you used the same thing against Tabaea in the overlord’s palace inEthshar of the Sands.”

  “Not just.... Well, after a fashion.”

  “Do you know which spells it stops? How certain are you it affectsthe mirror?”

  “It prevents all wizardry,” Tobas said. “All of it. It doesn’tcancel out anything, or counter it, or reverse it—it’s just that nomagical effects happen there.”

  “So it didn’t break the enchantment on the mirror, when it was inthe castle?”

  “No. It just...suspended it, I suppose. And the TransportingTapestry, and everything else. The carpet can’t fly there—it’s just acarpet. For that matter, I suppose Karanissa ages any time she’s inthere—but the instant the mirror was somewhere normal, spriggans musthave started popping out again. And the tapestry still works, thecarpet flies, and Karanissa doesn’t age, as long as they’re somewherenormal. If I use the Spell of the Spinning Coin and then I go in there,the coin still spins—but I can’t spin one when I’m there, even if Iimmediately leave for someplace else. You do understand that this is aGuild secret and to reveal it may carry a death sentence?”

  “You’re revealing it to me.”

  “We’re on Guild business, and you’d already figured part of it out,and I can’t see any way to not tell you if you’re going to look for themirror around here. I don’t think Kaligir would appreciate it if youwasted all his powders and potions by trying to use them in there.”

  Gresh grimaced. “That’s a good point. Or even just wasting timesearching the area, if you’re really sure the mirror can’t be inthere.”

  “I’m sure, believe me. No wizardry has worked there in four hundredyears. There’s an entire town up on the cliff that had to be abandonedas a result.”

  “Four hundred years?”

  “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “So that castle—that was Derithon’s? And Varrin’s Greater Propulsion

  shut down when it came too close to whatever it is, and the tapestrystopped working, and that was how Karanissa was trapped in there?”

  Tobas sighed. “Yes.”

  “Does witchcraft still work there? Or sorcery?”

  “Witchcraft definitely does; I can’t be entirely certain aboutsorcery, as I haven’t tested it, but I believe it does.”

  “Karanissa might be useful to have along, then.”

  “If we were going to the castle, maybe, but you just said we didn’tneed to.”

  “True. A good point.” Gresh stroked his beard thoughtfully, thenglanced down at the talisman he still held. “Take us around... what doyou call it? Is there a whole area here where wizardry doesn’t work?”

  Reluctantly, Tobas admitted, “Yes.”

  “What shape is it? Is it a line, or...?”

  “Spherical. We mapped it out years ago; it’s a sphere close to two

  miles in diameter, centered on top of the cliff. That must be where hestood....” He stopped.

  “What? Who?”

  “Never mind. It’s a sphere, centered on top of the cliff.”

  Gresh nodded thoughtfully. “Two miles. And in Ethshar of theSands...?”

  “None of your business. Much smaller.”

  “Of course. And your plan for disposing of the mirror, the one youwouldn’t tell me—is to take it into that sphere and smash it?”

  “Yes,” Tobas admitted. “And now that you’ve learned my secret, wheredid you want to go?”

  “Oh, yes. Around to the east, along the edge of the...the sphere.”He looked down at the talisman. “Low and slow, please.”

  He did not expect to find the mirror in the woods, of course; unlessthe spriggan had completely fooled him it was in a cave, not a forest,and in a mountain, not a valley. He did, however, want to find aspriggan or two. He hoped to backtrack some to the mirror, and he wasalso trying to figure out why so few ever reached Dwomor Keep. It mightturn out to be important.

  Or it might not matter at all. Now that he knew a little more aboutit, he had to admit that Tobas’s plan of taking the mirror into the no-wizardry area and smashing it sounded feasible. It was simple anddirect, and he couldn’t see anything obvious that might go wrong.

  They still had to find the mirror, though. He knew it was in a cave,in sight of a ruin, probably facing east, and at one time it had beenin that ruined castle over there, so it seemed very likely that it wassomewhere in the mountains just to the west—why would the sprigganshave taken it any farther than they had to?

  But you never knew, with spriggans. It might be twenty leagues awayin Vlagmor; that might explain why so few spriggans troubled Dwomor.

  For the moment, though, he intended to start with the area aroundthe castle. He peered intently at the sorcerous talisman in his hand asthe carpet sailed gracefully along, skimming the treetops.

  Chapter Fourteen

  They had made roughly a quarter-circle around the fallen castle whenGresh finally spotted a spriggan. “Down!” he barked.

  Tobas gestured, and the carpet dove to the ground. Gresh vaultedoff, talisman in hand. He left Tobas standing on the carpet, blinkingfoolishly, as he dashed into the bushes. Mindless of the thorns andbranches tearing at his sleeves, he reached forward to where thetalisman indicated a small moving object.

  “Help help help help help!” a squeaky voice shrieked. “A crazy manis grabbing for me!”

  “Come out where I can see you!” Gresh shouted.

  “No! You’re grabbing!”

  Gresh stopped and straightened up as best he could in the middle of

  the thicket. “No grabbing,” he said. “Just talk.”

  “No grabbing?”

  “If you stay in the bushes I’ll grab you, all right,” Gresh growled,as he looked at the disk in his hand. The spriggan was about four feetin front of him, in the thickest and thorniest part of the bushes. Ifhe dove for it he would have just one chance. If he missed, he wouldn’tbe able to disentangle himself before the spriggan had put a hundredfeet between them. “If you come out and talk, no grabbing.”

  “Promise?”

  The spriggan wasn’t moving. “I promise.”

  “You first.”

  “All right, then. I’m going to step back out of the bushes, and thenyou’ll come out, and we’ll talk. No grabbing—as long as you talk. Ifyou try to run away, you’ll make me very angry, and you wouldn’t likethat.”

  “You first.”

  Carefully, with much snapping and scratching, Gresh backed out ofthe bushes until he stood in an open patch beside the carpet. Hewaited, hands on his hips.

  A moment later a small green face peered out at him. “No grabbing?”

  it squeaked.

  “No grabbing,” Gresh agreed.

  “Talk?”

  “Talk.”

  “What talk?”

  “I want you to tell me a few things.”

  “Fun things?”

  “Maybe.”

  “What things?”

  “Where did you come from?”

  The spriggan blinked up at him. “Mirror,” it said.

  That was exactly what Gresh wanted to hear. “Where is that mirror?”he asked.

  The spriggan hesitated, looking around the clearing; then it stuck

  an arm out and pointed to the northwest. “That way.”

  “H
ow far?”

  Spriggans might not be human, but there was no misunderstanding the

  expression on the creature’s face as it said, “Don’t know.” Itobviously thought Gresh was an idiot for asking.

  “How long ago did you come out of the mirror? Today? Yesterday? Asixnight ago? Longer?”

  “Not today.”

  “Yesterday?”

  “No. How much more talk?”

  “We’re almost done; I just want to find the mirror.”

  “Why?”

  “I promised I would.”

  “Stupid promise.”

  “Maybe,” Gresh admitted. “But I made it anyway.”

  “You no fun.”

  “I know. No fun at all. Where’s the mirror?”

  “That way.” It pointed again. “Maybe four days ago.”

  “In a cave?”

  The spriggan frowned. “How you know that?”

  “It’s still in the cave?” Gresh persisted.

  “Done talking.” And with that, the spriggan ducked back into thebush and vanished.

  Gresh reached for his talisman, then stopped. There was no point inharassing one particular spriggan. There would be more of them outthere. Instead he brushed off the worst of the twigs and bits of leaf,then turned and marched back to his waiting companion.

  “I heard that,” Tobas said.

  “Yes, I would assume so,” Gresh said, as he settled cross-leggedonto the carpet. “I didn’t think you were deaf.”

  “You were interrogating that spriggan.”

  “Well, yes. And you’re stating the obvious.”

  “Is that how you plan to find the mirror? Is that how you know moreor less where it is?”

  “I questioned a spriggan back in Ethshar of the Rocks, yes.”

  “But anyone could do that!”

  Gresh looked at him. “But did anyone do it?” he asked. “I’m the onewho actually thought of it and tried it, so it doesn’t really matterwhether anyone else could have.”

  “But that’s.... You’re charging the Guild Enral’s Eternal Youth forthat?”

  “You and Karanissa told me the Guild would pay almost any price forthe mirror. You never said anything about using esoteric methods tofind it. Simple methods often work just as well.”

  “But...just asking?”

  “Do you have a better idea? You tried scrying spells and oraculardeities and all the other possibilities offered by modern magic, andthey didn’t work, as I recall. My method has at least gotten us close.”

  “By asking spriggans.”

  “Yes. After all, they’re the ones who know where the mirror is.”

  “But you just... just asking....”

  “Yes. You’d be surprised how often asking questions gets answers.Very few people—or creatures—are as obsessed with secrecy as youwizards are.”

  Tobas stared at him for a moment, then said, “I was right. You aresmarter than I am. It’s good common sense, and I didn’t think of it—though now I feel as if I should have. With wits like that, why didn’tyou become a magician, or go to work for the overlord?”

  “Because I didn’t want to; I didn’t like all the rules they have toworry about. I chose to be a merchant, like my father before me—and I’mglad I did. I’m good at it. Now, can we continue the search and stillbe back at Dwomor Keep before dark?”

  Tobas glanced at the position of the sun, then nodded. “We haveabout an hour, I’d say.”

  “Then let’s get this carpet moving.”

  Tobas made a gesture, and the carpet rose gently. “Where to?” heasked.

  Gresh pointed northwest, the same direction the spriggan had. “Thatway.” He grimaced. “I just wish I knew how far a spriggan wanders infour days.”

  “Well, it’s about a three-day hike from here to Dwomor Keep for ahuman, if you aren’t particularly rushing.” The carpet started driftingforward, as well as up.

  “Somehow I doubt a spriggan would get anywhere near that far.”

  “So do I.”

  Gresh looked around as the carpet reached treetop level, thenprotested, “I said that way!”

  “We can’t,” Tobas replied. “That would take us through an edge ofthe dead place. The sphere.”

  Gresh bit back a retort; he supposed the wizard had a point. Thedetour would make it that much harder to follow the spriggan’sdirection, though.

  But then, how sure was he that the spriggan had been right? Itundoubtedly knew which way it had been walking when it reached thatthicket, but it had probably wandered back and forth during those fourdays; the direction was at best an approximation. With a sigh, hepicked up Chira’s talisman and began searching for more spriggans.

  A pair skittered by briefly, at the edges of the device’s range—butthen the carpet swooped around into a loop, spiraling upward to top acliff and get over a rocky peak that intruded on their course, andGresh lost contact with them.

  They soared over the mountaintop and began descending the muchgentler western slope. Suddenly the talisman sparkled and buzzed withthe presence of spriggans ahead—but only briefly and unevenly.

  “Slow down!” Gresh called.

  Tobas gestured, and the rug slowed. “What is it?”

  Gresh did not answer; instead he studied the talisman, trying tomake sense of its responses. It took him a moment to remember that itdid not detect spriggans as such; it detected motion. The creatures ahead had been moving, then stopped, but every so often one would shiftposition, and the talisman would flicker.

  They were hiding, obviously.

  Or perhaps the local squirrels sometimes sat up on their hind legsand looked around; that would probably show up in just the same manner.He sighed. “Keep going,” he said. “But not too fast.”

  Tobas obeyed.

  Gresh kept a close watch on the talisman, but looked up every sooften to scan the surrounding countryside for caves. The spriggan hehad questioned had said the mirror was inside a mountain, so the cavewas in a mountainside, not down in the valley below. There were plentyof mountainsides in sight, but none had any obvious openings in them.

  He had hoped that the cave would be the obvious place, in the cliffright next to the fallen castle, but if Tobas was right that wasimpossible—that was inside the dead-to-wizardry zone.

  At least, unless the cave stretched back far enough into themountain to reach beyond the sphere....

  “Are you sure the dead area is a sphere?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Tobas said.

  Gresh was slightly startled that the wizard did not hesitate orqualify his response in any way, but gave a quick flat affirmative thatleft no room for argument. “What if there were a tunnel going back intothe cliff?” he asked. “How far would it have to go to get out of thearea?”

  Tobas looked off to the left, toward the cliff and the castle’stowers showing above the trees, and considered the question carefully.

  “About three-fourths of a mile, I’d say. A little less if it slopedsteeply downward.”

  “Oh.” A cave that long was not out of the question, but it seemedunlikely that the spriggans would have carried the mirror so deep intothe earth.

  On the other hand, the spriggan had not originally said it emergedin a cave. It had said it was inside a mountain. Three-quarters of amile would definitely be well inside.

  He needed to capture another spriggan for questioning; that was allthere was to it.

  Then he looked at the talisman and saw the golden trace of a movingspriggan ahead. “That way,” he said, pointing.

  Tobas obeyed.

  A second spriggan’s trail appeared, and a third, all three movingwest to east.

  That was interesting, that they were all going in the samedirection. They might be heading away from the cave, looking forsomewhere they could have more fun. Instead of directing Tobas towardthe three of them, therefore, Gresh decided to backtrack them. “West,”he said.

  The carpet sailed on, just above the treetops, down one slope and upthe next, as Gr
esh studied the talisman. He spotted more spriggans inthe forest below—and all of them seemed to be moving east.

  Then their numbers began to increase; the talisman sparkled withtheir trails, and now some were veering north or south.

  But none were going west, even now.

  Gresh looked up. The carpet was rising steeply. They were roundingthe northern end of the cliff now, moving out of sight of the fallencastle, and the spriggans were still scattering out from somewhere tothe west.

  But hadn’t the spriggan said the castle was in sight of the cavemouth?

  No. It had said that a ruin was, but it had never really said whatruin. Gresh had just assumed it was the crooked castle.

  “Are there any other ruins around here?” he asked.

  Tobas glanced back at him. “There’s an entire abandoned town up onthat mountainside,” he said, pointing up at the top of the cliff.

  “It’s in the dead area?”

  “Oh, yes. That was where we first found out that wizardry didn’twork.”

  “Ah.”

  They swept up over the top of the slope, and Gresh could see theruined town. That, he decided, might well be the ruins the spriggan hadmeant—yes, it had said it saw a castle or a tower, but it had admittedit knew nothing of architecture. “That way,” he said, pointing. “Asclose as you can get without going in the sphere.”

  They flew on for several more minutes while Gresh tried to locatemore spriggans and determine which direction they were moving, but they had become scarce again. Finally Tobas said, “We need to head backsoon.”

  Gresh hesitated, looking up at the sun. It was almost brushing themountaintops ahead.

  “All right,” he said. “We’ll come back tomorrow.”

  “If you like.”

  “I do,” Gresh said. “I’m sure the mirror is around here somewhere.We just need to find it.”

  “That is the general idea,” Tobas agreed. He gestured, and thecarpet swooped upward and headed toward Dwomor Keep.

  Chapter Fifteen

  For their second day of searching Gresh insisted on an earlier startand told Tobas to start just to the west of the ruined town. He alsostuck a long-handled net through his belt before departure and added afew snares to the items already in his little shoulder-pack.