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

by Paul Vanderloos

  Mirrortac had not met anything as talkative or as irritating. The being acted as though he no longer existed, muttering to itself as it shuffled up to the body of the dead bilk.

  ‘I take this Bilk under the name of Ro-Ku-Ku Buk Eekta Bu Mar Teeka Wok-Bok Luku Uk this the three thousand, six hundred day of my life...’ the being prattled on.

  Mirrortac jumped on the sand in frustration. ‘Very well! I will find my own Bilk! I have crossed the wastes, killed snerks twenty times my size. Surely a Bilk is easy prey,’ he boasted.

  The being stopped and swivelled its head back towards the erfin.

  ‘Snerks? Twenty times your size? Why, you could feast on it for many days. What are these snerks? Where can I get one? Describe its appearance. Does its meat taste good, Mirrortac, Princeling, Mirrortac of Eol?’ it asked.

  Mirrortac smiled inside. He had the being’s undivided attention. ‘A snerk is very long with skin like yours. It would eat you if the chance be given it. The snerks lived in the Faug Forest where they ate many of the faugs, the people who live there. Snerks have no legs but are much larger than any of us; larger yet than your Bilks.Its skin is green above like the stone that hangs from my neck and blue below like the sky. It makes a horrible rattling noise from its big jaws and all who hear it tremble in their hearts. There are no more snerks; your desert has swallowed them all. The meat of it was tasty.’

  Mirrortac knew he had to keep talking to satisfy the custom of this strange being and perhaps sway it to his favour. He continued to describe as much about the snerks as he could remember: how he had killed She and the vengeance all the snerks of the forest later took. He told the being of how he and the prince lured the snerks to the edge of the forest; he described the trees and how they grew out of the earth. He told it about the shifting sand, which finally engulfed the snerks, and how he and Fillytac had been forced to wander the desert with a colglom and its youngling for company.

  The being seemed a little more impressed, pausing for a time before it spoke.

  ‘So, it does speak after all! You describe things I know nothing about. This night I will be good to you. I will have a piece of my Bilk then you can eat rest, whatever that is.’ The being slugged farther towards the bilk and turned itself around. ‘On this sand I turn and then with each hand,’ and it grabbed the tusk with both its arms. ‘I pull this bone and bilk alone...’ It continued to describe each of its actions in the peculiar way of its speech.

  Mirrortac watched its slow and steady movement as it mustered a strength beyond its erfin size to drag the huge body of the beast along with it.

  ‘Beg my interruption,’ Mirrortac said. The being stopped to listen. ‘Why is it that you describe everything you do? I come from worlds where words are short. We see no need to tell every trivial matter that fills our days. It is enough to say only what is important. Time is too short for trivial matters,’ he said.

  ‘Trivial? What is trivial?’ the being muttered, glaring at the erfin with indignance. ‘Is the desert trivial? Is the Bilk trivial? Is the sand trivial? Is Petrosium trivial? Is Wa-Ku trivial? Is its hind legs trivial? Is its ears trivial? Is IT trivial? If it be trivial then I will kill it so it is no longer trivial, only dead. And I will not eat it for it is trivial and comes from trivial worlds.’ and having said this, he continued to drag the dead bilk, describing its actions as it had before.

  After only a short distance, it stopped and burst into a flood of tears. ‘It thinks me trivial! Why does it offend me? Oh pain and tear, what has come to here? I cry with tears, the tears fall down my face. I cry with tears. It would call them trivial too? It does not listen. Would not let me finish my introduction. Thinks me trivial. Am I trivial? Let it kill me. Let it eat me. Nay, I am trivial. I will die here, now, in my pain and tears. I will die now...’

  ‘Let the damn thing die. It has no legs. It is crippled.’

  Mirrortac ignored Merftac. He was anxious at the being’s reaction. He did not want to offend it. What should he do, he thought. First he must comfort the poor creature.

  ‘Die now,’ it kept saying.

  ‘Do not die!’ Mirrortac found himself shouting. ‘You are not trivial. I have made an error towards you, Ro-Ku-Ku... Ro-Ku-Ku,’ he struggled for the name.

  ‘It does not remember my name!’ it cried. ‘I am trivial, I am dying.’

  ‘Do not die! I beg you, do not die. I am not accustomed to your ways. Teach ME who is ignorant, stupid if you like. I am stupid but wish to learn. Did you never have to learn? I beg you to be patient with me. I do not know your ways,’ Mirrortac pleaded.

  ‘Why do you beg to this thing? Put it to the sword!’

  The being went quiet then turned to him with tear-stained eyes, sniffing pathetically. ‘Yes, it is right. I have erred also. I was not patient with it. I understand. It is as I was when I hatched. Stupid. It knows so. That is a start. It remembers Ro-Ku-Ku...that is enough for now. There is time to learn. It will come with me. Speech is our way, Mirrortac, Princeling Mirrortac, Mirrortac of Eol. You must learn this and also listen. We must all listen. And when we listen we do not talk and when we talk, another must listen. Do you understand this?’

  ‘Spit of gakar! You be stupid indeed to plead to this offensive thing! To the sword!’

  Mirrortac’s sword rattled and his palm twitched. He felt the compulsion to draw the sword but his nature would not allow it. He nodded at Ro-Ku-Ku who continued. ‘Now, let me describe my bilk dragging and do not interrupt. Come with me and eat and listen. You have much to learn.’

  Ro-Ku-Ku resumed his previous moment-by-moment description as he dragged the carcass towards the dome-shaped mountain and the cave on their side. Mirrortac decided to be silent as it had asked, waiting and following its slow progress to the mouth of the cave.

  ‘It is a giant worm! Are we to feast on it?’

  Fillytac strolled in from behind a rock. His fur was ruffled from sleeping the whole day.

  Mirrortac half whispered in reply. ‘Be quiet. It may be offended!’

  ‘Offended? Does it have sense?’ Fillytac blurted, only too loudly.

  ‘Shriek of gakar! Hold your tongue!’

  ‘I am certain it has no understanding of erfinish. Its noise is like gabbling demons.’

  ‘Like the faugs?’

  ‘Worse. There is no end to its cackling.’

  ‘At least Fillytac has some sense.’

  Mirrortac sighed. ‘Yea, you speak truth. But the custom is different here. If we offend it we shall surely be dead. It has the power to kill by will alone.’

  ‘And into the demon’s den! Yea. There we shall slay them all, and Beeblezub!’

  Half the night had passed when they finally reached the interior of the cave where they continued through the dark rock-lined passage past a multitude of caverns and other passages that led away into every part of the dome mountain and beneath it. There were no statues or ornaments of any kind to be seen but in many of the caverns Mirrortac saw more of Ro-Ku-Ku’s kind – all similar in appearance – some with egg-like growths that protruded from the centre of their navels. Those who did not possess these growths, like Ro-Ku-Ku, had navels formed in a ringlet of fleshy petals like a flower, only coloured the standard orange of their skin. The walls of the passage glistened darkly with gemstones and aureum, and some shone with their own phosphorescent light. Striations ran the length of the walls and ceilings, marking the clawed efforts of hundreds of days of hand digging.

  Ro-Ku-Ku dragged his bilk into an empty cavern that was clearly his own domain. Mirrortac and Fillytac entered, feeling very tired after spending half the day and night getting to the being’s home. He curled up on the dusty floor and was immediately asleep. The murmur of the being’s voice floated in and out of his dreams and finally he awoke with the face of Ro-Ku-Ku peering down at him.

  ‘It is alive! Mirrortac is alive!’ It closes shutters upon its eyes and dies awhile like the Colglom of the desert. Is this what it calls Rest? Is it still hungry? Does it want som
e of my bilk? The bilk meat is good. Join me for some bilk meat, Mirrortac. I have eaten all my fill while you ate all your rest. What does your rest do for your stomach? It is weirdness as you say, this rest. You are dead yet not dead. You breathe but nothing else works. Your eyes do not see, your mouth does not speak nor does it eat. It is dead yet is alive. Weirdness!’ Ro-Ku-Ku slugged away a short distance and pointed to the partly eaten bilk carcass. ‘Eat if you are hungry. It is Ro-Ku-Ku Buk who tells you this. Now, I will be quiet while you may talk and eat.’

  Fillytac was already awake and wore a scowl. ‘The worm keeps waking me up with its chatter. I would rather live in the tree-tops with the faugs, than in this worm-hole.’

  Mirrortac did feel very hungry and the meat was the best thing he had seen in a long time. He stood up and started to walk over to the bilk but Ro-Ku-Ku stayed his progress.

  ‘It forgets its manners. It must remember that nothing is trivial. Now, describe what you do, Mirrortac,’ the being scolded.

  ‘Om, I walk to this bilk and I am about to eat it,’ Mirrortac began. He felt ridiculous but this was the custom here. He would humour the being.

  ‘Good, go on, Mirrortac. I will not interrupt you,’ Ro-Ku-Ku encouraged.

  ‘I take this meat and put it into my mouth,’ he continued, tearing off a piece of bilk meat and casting it into his mouth.

  ‘Ay bleat this mleat,’ he mumbled, with his mouth full.

  The being honked with laughter. ‘Stop talking! Stop talking! You silly Mirrortac! It must talk between eating. Do not talk while you eat. That is stupid. It amuses me. It amuses me!’ Ro-Ku-Ku honked again.

  The erfin regarded the being rolling back and forth in mirth and laughed also.

  ‘I will learn yet, Ro-Ku-Ku Buk. I will learn yet,’ he chuckled then resumed eating, describing his actions only when he did not have a mouthful of meat.

  Fillytac could not see what all the laughter was about. He just waved his hand in dismissal and threw chunks of the bilk meat into his mouth. ‘Makes a change from milk. I do miss the taste of meat.’

  Day and night was the same in this cavernous interior world. There were no wax lanterns yet the bright phosphorescence of the sand in the walls was sufficient to spread a dull light into each cavern and passageway. The erfins’ night eyes adjusted easily to the semi-darkness but the lack of air and sky was something that discomforted them. But Mirrortac ate and learned while Fillytac endured the time grumbling to himself. Ro-Ku-Ku Buk was much more patient now and seemed delighted to teach the erfin its talkative and eatative ways. There were questions that needed to be answered but Ro-Ku-Ku Buk’s introduction was not finished and it was bad manners to interrupt. In time he would learn what this world was called, who Wa-Ku is, what was the blue vision that he had seen and why the greenstone necklace had spared him his life.

  Meanwhile the eating had stopped and Ro-Ku-Ku Buk began his introduction from the beginning again. Mirrortac sat and listened as best he could and guessed that all of a day had passed when Ro-Ku-Ku Buk finally completed his introduction.

  ‘Now Mirrortac, Mirrortac Princeling of Faugs, Mirrortac of Eol, you must introduce yourself in this way so I can know who you are and what you are. It has listened, now let it speak,’ it said.

  Mirrortac rolled his eyes with incredulity. How could he remember, least describe, every day he had lived! Thanks to Mateote he did not have conscious memory of his other eight lives!’

  ‘I shall try to tell you all I can remember of my life,’ he began. ‘But you must be patient with my hasty ways and shortness of memory.

  ‘Now, I was born at Fotwood on the 22,859th moon or the ninth moon of the erfin season...’

  Mirrortac was surprised at what he could remember although it was not with the same detail that had accompanied Ro-Ku-Ku Buk’s introduction. He felt as though he was telling a story of his life and a strange chord moved within his spirit. For another half a day he continued with his introduction while Ro-Ku-Ku Buk listened upon every word. Fillytac soon grew weary and fell into a slumber. Ro-Ku-Ku Buk gave no indication of surprise at the wondrous things and happenings that the erfin had recounted. It just listened until the last word was said then spoke again.

  ‘It has forgotten about rest and hunger. It begins to be pleased with its speech. I am pleased with Mirrortac. You walk with Wa-Ku and Wa-Ku walks with you. Shall we eat more bilk, Mirrortac erfin-friend, erfin-faug, Princeling of Faugs, Mirrortac of Petrosium, Mirrortac of Petros, not so silly Mirrortac, Mirrortac who wants to be Petros companion,’ Ro-Ku-Ku Buk said, smiling in its own peculiar way.

  As they ate, Mirrotac realised that he had already been told much of the people’s ways in Ro-Ku-Ku Buk’s introduction, as indeed it also now knew much of his ways. He had learnt that these people called themselves the Petros and they lived in these mountains on the Plain of Petrosium. There were neither male nor female here: these people were androgynous and reproduced by placing the flower-like projections on their bellies against another who was non-bearing at the time. Both were fertilised and both produced egg-like growths that dropped off after a time and hatched into a new Petros person. Wa-Ku was mentioned many times and seemed to be some god or goddess of the sky. Perhaps Wa-Ku was another name for Luma who in erfin-lore was a minor goddess. Bilk was the primary food of the Petros although they sometimes ate pok-pok. The colglom that wandered the desert were considered bad meat, which they did not eat. Ro-Ku-Ku Buk had been taught that anything that possesses the stone belonged to Wa-Ku and therefore must not be touched. This was the rule of the desert also. Without the greenstone necklace, Mirrortac would have been swallowed up along with the snerks.

  Introductions over, Mirrortac slept while the petros continued to eat; sleep being unknown to its people. After his allotted rest, he awoke while Ro-Ku-Ku Buk mused to himself in a corner of the cavern. The air was musty yet the bilk was slow to rot and did not smell of bad meat.

  ‘I awake and am refreshed. Now I would like to eat more bilk.’ Mirrortac started to pick up the habit of continuous description. At least while one talked the other had a long time to rest the strained throat, he thought.

  The petros ceased in his reverie and turned towards the erfin, its blue eyes pulsing with a light of their own.

  ‘I had to talk back all you told me in your introduction, Mirrortac. This may take much talk back before I understand these weirdness worlds of yours. It brings me thoughts I have not known in all my 3,602-day life. My thoughts and words chase each other in circles with no end. In all my life I know only the ways of Petrosium and the teachings of Wa-Ku. There is no other world. I do not see it. I do not taste it. I do not slide through your nif-grass nor climb through the trees of the Faug Forest. I know no other spirit but Wa-Ku nor people that die each day then live each day. I do not know of flight though I know of birds. Wa-Ku rules the birds. The birds use the stone to line their nests on top of the Dome of Petros, and on the Spire of Wa-Ku and on the cliffs beside The Wet. It changes this world. It is Mirrortac. Mirrortac is here. It speaks to me.’

  The petros went silent. Mirrortac looked at it and realised by its expression of thought that he had brought a new dimension into its life that would touch the lives of all these strange people. Ro-Ku-Ku Buk cocked its head and started to move towards the passage.

  ‘Mirrortac shall come with me. I will introduce you to others here and they will introduce themselves to you. You may bring the other erfin with you. It is quite stupid indeed but it is your companion.’

  Fillytac was not offended but regarded Mirrortac’s smile with suspicion. He grudgingly followed, only because he did not want to be left alone with no way to find his way through the caverns.

  They went into the passage and followed it along some distance before moving into another passage that led up into the Dome of Petros. The passage was wide but very low, forcing the erfins to bend down as they walked. Mirrortac watched the petros slide steadily along, moving sand in ripples as it progressed. He decided it might be e
asier to emulate its movement and save his back, and in so doing discovered that this was the best under the circumstances. Fillytac was not so compromising and persisted in stooping his way along.

  The passage finally levelled out where it intersected with another. The petros took him along the new passage, progressing past many caverns occupied by various petros people. Finally they took another passage winding upwards. A cool air drifted into it and daylight could be seen deflected off the sand and stone walls. They reached a cave that opened out to the exterior of the mountain. Large hexagonal crystals of clearstone and crimsonstone lined the lip of the cave like a jagged set of teeth, their facets casting rainbows of colour on the cave walls. Moisture formed on them in droplets that dribbled along the sides of the crystals and collected in a single pool of fresh water in a hollow in the cave floor.

  The petros cupped its hands into the water and drank. Mirrortac marveled at the crystals and the water, and drank also.

  ‘This is the Wet that Wa-Ku gives us,’ the petros said. ‘It is good wet; not like the bad wet that eats at the Plain of Many Spires. Wa-Ku has given us the stone and the stone gives us the Wet that soothes our meat-stained tongues. The day shall come soon when it may see the Deep of the Shining Wet where Wa-Ku will enlighten us all again. We call this the Day of Revolving Time and it comes once in 360 days. This will be the tenth I have witnessed and how I count the moments!’

  Mirrortac’s ears wiggled with curiosity. ‘Tell me more of this Day of Revolving Time. You mentioned it in your introduction but there was not detail as to what happens on that day.’