The Mirror Mage | ONC2022

18. The Journey

(Author's Note: dedicated to RJGlynn and her ONC story, Salvage, a blood thirsty werewolf dystopian tale! Which deserves a lot more reads.)

"Fair enough. What can you tell me about Vierrac?" Ben asked, quickly changing the subject.

What had he been doing there? That had sounded far too much as if he were on the verge of making a pass. Lucian might be a good-looking man, with a sweet smile, but Ben was already involved in a relationship. Never mind that his would be lover was on another world. Ben had never been a fan of the "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" principle. Because too often, it didn't. Unless both parties agreed up front on maintaining an open relationship, as far as Ben was concerned, cheating was cheating.

He had to keep focused. Once he reached Vierrac, he would be able to find a decent sized mirror and return home. He had to keep believing that.

When he was back on Earth all this would seem like a dream, all very fascinating, but never the less, a dream.

He realized with a start that Lucian was waiting for him to respond.

"Sorry, I was miles away. What did you ask me?"

"I just said, what would thou like to know?"

Ben scrambled for something sensible to say.

"For one thing, you are wearing what I would call normal clothes. I was a bit worried that I'd have to start wearing a cloak when I got to Vierrac, hardly the most practical garment."

Lucian chuckled. "Indeed. No, the cloaks are unique to Rider's Keep." He grinned. "I can never decide whether it's because they make the Rider look even more dashing or whether it's to keep the others on a tight leash. Thou may have noticed, the Rider is a man who insists on being in control." He glanced at Ben.

"That's very true." Absently, he stroked his throat. "Have you and the Rider ever...?"

"No. Gorgeous as he is, I prefer my lovers to see me, not see only what I can do for them."

"Good point. And speaking of what you can do for me," Ben said with a grin, "Can you tell me more about managing the ether and glass walking?"

~~~~

The Snow Mountains loomed in the distance. Selena was only just visible at the base, the Towers of Vierrac rising above the walls. They were making steady progress. If they'd had two horses instead of the coach, Ben thought they could have travelled much faster, but as it was, the horse needed to rest at regular intervals. Still, Lucian was fairly confident they'd reach Selena some time tomorrow.

Yesterday, they had left the grasslands behind. Gradually morphing into fields of grain, the surrounding countryside was soon recognizable as farmland. An occasional building appeared in the distance, each marked by a track leading off from the road they travelled. The road itself slowly widened and flattened, evidence of more frequent traffic.

Other than the lone farmsteads, Ben had seen nothing resembling the hamlets or villages which dotted the English countryside. Nor, interestingly enough, had he seen a single fence.

"Are there no villages, or larger settlements here in Sunia?" he asked Lucian.

"No, not like at home. I gather in the past there were only walled towns like Selena, or Sulimar in the north, and fortified strongholds like Rider's Keep. It's only in the last forty years or so that farmsteads have appeared outside the fortifications."

"Why was that? What happened? Did they finally negotiate a peace?" asked Ben, thinking of all the medieval wars in the United Kingdom.

"Oh, they weren't defending themselves against people!" exclaimed Lucian. "No, there were creatures. Monsters, I suppose thou would call them, that used to attack settlements every winter when food began to be hard to find. I've seen drawings. They were a bit like reptiles, with long necks and tails but they ran on their two hind legs."

"Wow, sounds like some sort of dinosaur!"

"What?"

"Dinosaurs."

Lucian looked blank, and Ben reconsidered.

"I guess that discovery came after your time. Dinosaur was a name given to huge creatures who lived on Earth millions of years ago. They became extinct about 65 million years ago."

"Huge creatures? Thou don't mean elephants?" Lucian sounded doubtful.

"No. They ranged in size but some of them were at least ten times bigger than elephants!"

"Thou are joking, right?" Lucian laughed.

Ben shook his head. "Not at all," he said earnestly. But he could tell Lucian still thought he was teasing.

"And they all disappeared? Next you're going to tell me they had giant mirrors back then, too."

Ben smiled. "Now wouldn't that be something!"

Lucian chuckled. "They call the creatures here, veltors," he continued. "Apparently, everyone got together about fifty years ago, after too many savage attacks during a particularly bad winter, and there was a big cull. The remnants were driven back many miles to the west. I certainly wouldn't want them to return to the settled areas but it would be rather amazing to see one in the wild, wouldn't it?"

"I suppose it would," said Ben, rather doubtfully, remembering the movie, Jurassic Park. It would depend how fast they could run!

The more he learned, the more fascinating he found Rhillion. If only he could stay here a bit longer, a few weeks or a month even, but he couldn't. Every hour he delayed would add a day or more to his time away from Earth. As it was, if his calculations were correct, he had already been absent for around six months.