The Mirror Mage | ONC2022

42. The Workshop

Worrying about Ben, and the Rider, wasn't going to help anyone. Lucian decided he'd be better off doing something constructive. Perhaps he'd talk to Ciara and ask how she was managing the Keep in the Rider's absence. See if she wanted any help. And that reminded him, he needed to follow up the new glass-walking mirror to be created and installed at the Keep, to replace the one which had been broken when Ben arrived on Rhillion for the first time.

He walked across to the mirror workshop, located in a building to the rear of the Towers. A huge chimney protruded from the roof, the air above shimmering as the heat rose. The doors were tightly closed to prevent the incursion of dust and Lucian rolled up his sleeves and took a deep breath of cool air before entering. Instantly, the heat enveloped him, beads of sweat springing up on his brow.

The place was a hive of activity. Apprentices and assistants, stripped to the minimum required for safety, were bustling about, some feeding the furnace and others carrying tools or pieces of cooled glass.

Two men stood in front of the vast furnace, each wearing a leather apron to protect themselves from the fierce heat. They were blowing tubes of glass, which would be cut into cylinders then cooled, cut again, reheated and flattened into panes. Some would become portable mirrors of various sizes, while others would be reheated and patched together, to create the larger ones.

After the basic groundwork was done here, then the mages would get to work, fine tuning the glass into the finished product and smoothing out the imperfections.

Lucian waited patiently for the Forge Mistress to be free. A short, stocky woman with thickly muscled arms, she was responsible for overseeing all the activity in the workshop. Lucian knew she was quite capable of blowing glass herself when necessary.

She saw him standing there and came across with a welcoming smile. "How can I help thee, Althor?"

"I came to ask about the new glasswalker's mirror for Rider's Keep. Has anyone placed an order yet?"

"Yes, Ciara arranged it a couple of days ago. As a matter of fact, we are working on it now." She nodded in the direction of the furnace. "Tibor Holt, the Steward, said that the Rider authorised a new mirror before he went to Mallow's Hold." She paused. "Can I ask... have you heard anything? Is there any more news of the Rider?"

The story of the veltor attack had spread quickly around Vierrac. There weren't many people living who had actually seen a veltor in the flesh but everyone had heard the tales of their ferocity. The word had gone out to every Hold or Keep in the south to check their perimeters and be prepared for possible incursions.

"I heard his injury was serious."

So far as Lucian was aware, he was the only person who knew Ben had taken the Rider to another world, Earth. The folk at Mallow's Hold knew Ben had taken him through the mirror but that was all. Despite the Forge Mistress's trustworthiness, he thought it might be best to keep the details to himself a bit longer.

"Yes, very serious, but he is in the hands of Ben Lucas, the new Mage. He has some ideas from his world which might help."

"I hope so," but she sounded doubtful. "The loss of a limb is very hard, for anyone, but especially for those who rely upon arms or legs for their livelihood."

Lucian remembered then, that Ilka, one of her apprentices, had lost an arm last year in the glass workshop and had not returned.

"Sadly, that's true. I'm going up to the scrying glass to talk to Ciara, now. Shall I tell her the mirror is underway?"

"Yes, thank thee, and please pass on my hope for the Rider's recovery."

"I will."

Lucian made his way across the courtyard and climbed the stairs to the scrying room.

Eldor was no longer in sight and Lucian hoped the other mage had given up attempting to ingratiate himself and returned to his quarters.

Lucian focused the scrying glass on Rider's Keep, alerting an apprentice who went in search of Ciara.

She arrived breathless as if she had been running, and Lucian realized she must have thought he was calling about the Rider. "Any news?"

"Sorry, not yet. I am still waiting for Ben. I was just checking to see how thee were managing. Is Uldor back?"

"Not yet. We are coping for the present, but we will need help soon with the horses. The stable hands can care for those we have here but soon it will be time to find the herd out in the grasslands, and check the number of new foals. The Rider always arranges that side of things."

"Is there no one else who can take that over, temporarily, in his absence?"

Ciara gave him a very dry look.

"Right, I'll see what I can do about getting thee some help. Perhaps from Stall's Keep in the north."

Ciara pulled a face. It was common knowledge that Stall's Keep was a bitter rival.

"I know! But needs must. I'll contact thee when I have more to report."

Lucian had just finished passing on the Forge Mistress's message to her, when he heard the faint rustle of cloth behind him. He spun around, just in time to see Eldor, his face contorted in triumph, holding a stone jar above his head.

The sudden turn saved Lucian's skull, but the blow caught him on the shoulder, sending a wave of shock and pain shooting through his body. His right arm hung uselessly at his side, either broken or numbed by the blow. Cradling his injured arm, Lucian glared at Eldor in outrage. "What the fuck? Thou could have killed me!"

Eldor grinned, baring his teeth, and swung the jar again, aiming for Lucian's head.

Eldor was trying to kill him. Lucian dodged backwards, feeling the edge of the Scrying glass pushing into the middle of his back. The jar whistled past, a fraction of an inch from his face, but almost instantly, Eldor was swinging the jar back in the other direction.

There was only one place to go. Lucian flung himself backwards into the Scrying glass.