Under Fallen Stars - Mel Odom [80]
Khlinat scowled at his image, running fingers through his tangled beard. "Ooch, now there's an ugly brute for ye."
"Gond Wonderbringer's blessing be upon you," an unctuous voice stated. "Is there any way I may be of service to you?"
Pacys glanced at the young priest that approached them, then looked back at the mirror. Except for its size, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary about it. For a moment he doubted the vision he'd been given in Oghma's temple.
"Tell me about this mirror," Pacys requested.
"It is beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yes," Pacys replied, "but Gond isn't known for his taste in beauty."
"I could disagree," the young priest pointed out. "The beauty of the gifts Gond bestows upon us is not inconsiderable."
"My apologies," Pacys said. "Forgive me for being so blunt, but what I referred to was the fact that Gond never built anything that wasn't functional in some way."
"And you're wondering how this is functional?"
"Yes."
The young priest approached the mirror. "It was ground as all mirrors are, and polished to its present sheen here. The sand it was made from came from a fallen star in the Inner Sea. Chosstif, one of the High Initiates of the Mysteries of Gond here, paid mermen in the Inner Sea for its recovery, then had it shipped here fourteen years ago."
"Fourteen years ago?" Pacys asked. The time frame fit in with Narros's story of the Taker destroying the merman village. "I don't recall seeing it when I was here before. The last time I visited was less than two years ago."
"It was only just finished less than ten weeks ago," the priest said. "It's surely one of the largest undertakings we've ever done. Chosstif was moved by a vision from Gond himself and made to carry out the construction of this mirror. It has very special properties."
"Like what?" Khlinat asked doubtfully.
The priest walked to the mirror and put his palm against it. "A mirror this size is usually hard to get from place to place. Yet, once you have one in your home, you must admit how much it brightens up the place. Purchasing a mirror this big is not much of a problem, but the transportation is. With Chosstif's collapsible mirror, transportation is no longer as difficult." He pushed gently.
Seams formed and tiny hinges revealed themselves. The mirror seemed to come apart, folding in on itself in foot-sized sections. The clink-clink-clink of the sections landing on each other produced a noticeable rhythm inside Pacys's head. In less than a moment the mirror had been reduced to a two-foot square that was only a little less than that in depth. It stayed hooked on the wall. A slim length of black cord hung down from the mirror. The young priest pulled on the cord and kept pulling until all the tiles once more appeared as a single, seamless unit nine feet square.
"Amazing," Pacys said. "I've never seen the like before." He stared into the mirrored depths.
"Yes. As you can guess, it's one of our more popular items. Well worth the price. Though you will have to wait for it, you understand."
"Actually," Pacys said, "I'm not here to purchase a mirror."
The priest appeared surprised and perhaps a little disappointed. "By the way you approached it, I was certain you'd heard of it or seen it and come to purchase one."
"No." Pacys reached out to the mirror. It was cool to the touch, almost liquid.
"You'll find none like it and none finer," the priest guaranteed.
"Mayhap." Pacys was puzzled. The mirror remained yet a mirror, though in his vision it had been something else entirely in addition to being a mirror. He took his hand back and studied the fingerprints he'd left there.
"Is something wrong?" the priest asked.
"I don't know," the old bard answered, more to himself than the other man. He studied the mirror from different angles, drawing irritated glances from the priest who looked like he'd rather be somewhere else.
"What is it?" Khlinat