Mirror 04 The Way Between the Worlds

The Way Between the Worlds by Ian Irvin
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Synopsis of
The View from the Mirror
The View from the Mirror is a tale of the Three Worlds, Aachan, Tallallame and
Santhenar, and of the four human species that inhabit them: Aachim, Charon,
Faellem and old human. The setting is Santhenar, a world where wizardry -the
Secret Art - is difficult, and doesn't always work, and every using comes at a
price - after sickness.
Long ago a whole race was betrayed and cast into the void between the worlds,
a Darwinian place where life is more desperate, more brutal, more fleeting
than anywhere. In the void none but the fittest survive, and only by remaking
themselves constantly. A million of that race died in the first few weeks.
The terrible centuries ground on. The exiles were transformed into a new human
species, but still they could not survive the void. Reduced to a handful, they
hung over the abyss of extinction. Then one day a chance came, an opening to
another world - Aachan!
Giving themselves a new name, Charon, after a frigid moonlet at the furthest
extremity of the void, they took Aachan from the Aachim. The Hundred, as the
remaining Charon became known, dared allow nothing to stand before the
survival of their species.
But they did not flourish on Aachan, so one of the Hundred, Rulke,
commissioned the golden flute, an instrument that
could open the Way between the Worlds. Before it could be used, Shuthdar, the
old human who made it, stole the flute and fled with it to Santhenar.
Unfortunately for Rulke, Shuthdar blundered. He opened all the paths between
the worlds, and the four species scrambled to get the flute for themselves.
Rather than be taken Shuthdar destroyed it, bringing down the Forbidding that
sealed Santhenar off completely. Now the fate of the Three Worlds is bound up
with those marooned on Santhenar. They have never ceased to search for a way
home, but none has ever been found.
Volume 1 A Shadow on the Glass
Llian, a brilliant young chronicler at the College of the Histories, presents
a new version of an ancient Great Tale, the Tale of the Forbidding, at his
graduation telling, to unprecedented acclaim. But Wistan, the master of the
College, realises that Llian has uncovered a deadly mystery - evidence that a
crippled girl was murdered at the time the golden flute was destroyed. The
crime must have occurred to conceal a greater one, and even now such knowledge
could be deadly, both for him and for the College.
Llian is also Zain, an outcast race despised for collaborating with the Charon
in olden times. Wistan persecutes Llian to make him retract the tale, but
Llian secretly keeps on with his research. He knows that it could be the key
to a brilliant story - the first new Great Tale for hundreds of years - and if
he were the one to write it, he would stand shoulder to shoulder with the
greatest chroniclers of all time.
Karan, a young woman who is a sensitive, was at the graduation telling when
Llian told his famous tale. She loves the Histories and is captivated by the
tale and the teller. Karan returns to Gothryme, her drought-stricken and
impoverished home, but soon afterwards Maigraith appears. Karan owes an
obligation to Maigraith, the powerful but troubled
lieutenant of Faelamor, and Maigraith insists that she repay it by helping to
steal an ancient relic for her liege. Faelamor is the age-old leader of the
Faellem, exiled on Santhenar by the Forbidding. Desperate to take her people
back to her own world, she believes that the relic may hold the key.
Yggur the sorcerer now holds the relic in Fiz Gorgo. Karan and Maigraith steal
into his fortress, but Karan is shocked to learn that the relic is the Mirror
of Aachan, stolen from the Aachim a thousand years ago. Being part-Aachim
herself, she knows that the Aachim have never stopped searching for it. She
must betray her father's people or refuse her debt to Maigraith - dishonour
either way. And Karan has a dangerous heritage: part Aachim, part old human,

she is a blending. Blendings, though prone to madness, can have unusual
talents, as she has. They are also at risk: sometimes hunted to enslave the
talent, as often to destroy it.
Maigraith, fascinated by something she sees on the Mirror, is surprised by
Yggur. Finally she is overcome but Karan flees with the Mirror into the
flooded labyrinth below the fortress, pursued by Yggur's dreadful Whelm
guards. Karan eventually escapes but is hunted for weeks through swamp and
forest and mountains, the Whelm tracking her through her nightmares. In a
twist of fate, Karan saves the life of one of them, Idlis the healer. She
heads towards Chanthed, a place of haunting memories because of Llian's
wonderful tale. Pursued by the Whelm and their dogs, she reaches out to him in
her dreams.
Mendark, a mancer and Yggur's bitter enemy, hears that the Mirror has been
stolen and sends his lieutenants to find it. Learning from Tallia that Karan
is heading for Chanthed he asks Wistan to find her. Wistan, who would do
anything to get rid of Llian, orders him to find Karan and take her to
Mendark's city, Thurkad.
At the village of Tullin, Llian dreams that Karan is calling for help and
wakes to find two Whelm at his throat, trying to trace her sending. He is
rescued by Shand, an old man
who works at the inn but is more than he seems. Llian heads out into the snow
to find Karan. Eventually he does, after many perils. Full of mixed feelings
about Llian, Karan flees with him into the high mountains. After a number of
narrow escapes they lose their pursuers, but Llian gets mountain sickness and
Karan has no choice but to head for Shazmak, a secret city of the Aachim,
where she grew up.
After they arrive Karan learns that Tensor is on his way to Shazmak. She knows
she can never keep the Mirror secret from him. Unknown to her, Tensor already
knows she has it. Soon Karan is brought to trial, for the Mirror cannot be
found. It is impossible to lie to the Syndics, but Karan, in a desperate
expedient, plants a false dream in Llian's mind, and through a link with him,
reads it back to the Syndics at her trial. Because Llian believes it to be
truth, it is truth, and despite Tensor's protests she is freed. Karan and
Llian escape from Shazmak, hotly pursued by the Aachim. Stealing a boat, they
flee down a wild river.
In Yggur's stronghold, Maigraith is tormented by the Whelm, who have an
instinctive hatred of her. Later, under Yggur's relentless interrogation, she
gives away Karan's destination, the city of Sith. Yggur needs the Mirror
desperately, for his coming war. However as the weeks pass a bond grows
between them, Maigraith finding in the tormented Yggur the complement to her
own troubled self.
Faelamor uses her mastery of illusion to snatch Maigraith out of Fiz Gorgo but
is furious when she learns that Karan, whom she hates, has escaped with the
Mirror. Inwardly Faelamor despairs because the Mirror, which she has sought
for so long, has eluded her again. Once before she almost had it, but Yalkara
the Charon, her greatest enemy, defeated her. Yalkara used the Mirror to find
a warp in the Forbidding, the only person ever to escape from Santhenar. Now
Fael-amor's own world, Tallallame, cries out for aid and she is desperate to
return.
Faelamor and Maigraith set off to find Karan. Maigraith falls back under
Faelamor's domination. Yggur, finding Maigraith gone, marches to war on the
east.
Karan and Llian flee through mountains and caverns, hotly pursued by Tensor
and his Aachim. At a forest camp she has a terrible nightmare and wakes to
find that the Whelm have tracked her down again. This time she is helpless for
they have learned how to control her. Desperate, Karan makes a link to
Maigraith, now not far away. Unfortunately the link is captured by a
terrifying presence, who uses it to speak directly to the Whelm, reminding
them that they are really Ghashad, ancient enemies of the Aachim. Llian
escapes but Karan is captured.

Not long after, Faelamor is taken by Tensor and sent to Shazmak, where to her
horror she learns about Karan's Aachim heritage. Faelamor already suspects
that Karan has Faellem ancestry as well. If so, she is triune: one with the
blood of three worlds. A terrifying prospect - no one can tell what
unpredictable talents a triune might have. Faelamor decides that the risk to
her plans is too great - Karan must die. Faelamor escapes but the Ghashad find
a way into Shazmak.
Clumsy Llian somehow rescues Karan, hires a boat and Fender takes them down
the river to Sith. There they find Yggur's armies just across the river. The
city cannot stand against him. Nor is Faelamor there to take the Mirror. Karan
collapses, unable to drive herself any further, There is nowhere to go but to
Mendark. Karan is afraid of him too.
They reach Thurkad not far ahead of the war to find that Mendark has been
overthrown by Thyllan. A street urchin, Lilis, guides Llian to Mendark's
refuge. Mendark and Tallia offer to take Karan in but, angered by Mendark's
imperious manner, she refuses him. Shortly, Thyllan captures Karan and the
Mirror.
As all the powers gather in Thurkad, Mendark realises that the only way to
recover the Mirror is to call a Great
Conclave, which Thyllan must obey. As the Conclave ends, news comes that the
army is defeated and Yggur at the gates of the city. Faelamor shatters Tensor
by revealing that the Whelm are actually his ancient enemies, Ghashad,
one-time servants of Rulke, who have taken Shazmak and slaughtered the Aachim
there. She lies, blaming Karan for this treachery. Karan is sentenced to
death, while the Mirror is given to Thyllan to use in the defence of Thurkad.
Seizing the moment, Faelamor calls forth Maigraith, and Tensor knows by her
eyes that she is descended from the hated Charon. He breaks and uses a
forbidden potency, or mind-blasting spell, that lays the whole Conclave low.
Only Llian the Zain is unaffected. Thinking Karan dead, in grief and fury he
attacks Tensor but is easily captured. Tensor sees a use for someone who is
immune to the potency. He flees with Llian and the Mirror.
Volume 2 The Tower on the Rift
Mendark and Tallia wake in the ruins of the Conclave. Tensor and Llian have
disappeared, and Karan too. Mendark takes over the hopeless defence of the
city but Thurkad soon falls. He flees with his little company, a few guards,
Tallia and Lilis, then finds that his boat has been captured. They are forced
to take refuge with the Hlune, a strange subculture that has made the vast,
ancient wharf city of Thurkad their own. Tallia eventually hires Pender's boat
and after a series of pursuits, escapes and mishaps they reach Zile, an old,
declining city famous for its Great Library. The librarian, Nadiril, is a
capricious old man who has the knowledge of the world at his fingertips.
Nadiril takes Lilis as his apprentice but cannot suggest where Tensor may have
taken refuge.
Tensor drags Llian through bloody war to a hideout where a small band of the
Aachim wait for him, including Malien, his one-time consort. Tensor tells the
terrible news about the destruction of Shazmak and the climax of the Conclave,
but when he admits that he violated the Conclave with a forbidden potency the
Aachim are outraged at his dishonour.
In the uproar Llian tries to get away but is speared in the side. The Aachim
flee, taking Llian with them. They are hunted for weeks by Yggur's Whelm. They
flee north, escaping many traps, and some among them would kill Llian, the
treacherous Zain as they see him, but Tensor has a purpose for him. Llian,
grieving for the loss of Karan and plagued by dreams of death and doom, is
slow to recover. He often talks to Malien, who is disturbed by his dreams.
Finally they are joined by other Aachim, refugees from ruined Shazmak. Their
tales drive Tensor into a frenzy of hate and bitterness.
Maigraith and Faelamor are also laid low by Tensor's potency. Maigraith
recovers, but Faelamor has lost her powers and sinks into despair. Thurkad is
now controlled by Yggur and there is no way of escape. Maigraith has only one
recourse - she goes to Yggur. Their meeting is tense, for neither has been

able to forget the other and each is afraid of rejection. However, in time
they become lovers.
Karan wakes from pain, nightmares and madness to find herself in a dingy room
with a stranger. At first she barely knows who she is, and can remember only
fragments of the past weeks. The stranger turns out to be Shand, who rescued
her from the Conclave. She does not know why.
Karan is devastated to find that Llian has disappeared. As Thurkad
capitulates, Shand leaves her in the wharf city, a place that she has a horror
of, while he goes to find help. She is put to work at a disgusting and painful
job - cleaning jellyfish and packing them in barrels. Finally Shand returns
and they go across the sea.
Shand reveals that he knew Karan's father long ago, which is why he rescued
her. They travel on, having adventures alternately comical, palpitating and
gruesome, and eventually come to a cliff as tall as a mountain, below which is
a vast emptiness, the Dry Sea, that was once the magnificent Sea of Perion.
Karan senses that Llian is out there somewhere. Throughout the salt plains
there are tall mountains, once islands in the sea, and the largest of them,
Katazza, was the seat of the fabulous empire of Kandor, one of the three
Charon who came to Santhenar for the flute. The empire was destroyed when the
sea dried up, but the fortress of Katazza remains.
Karan senses that Llian has been taken there. Shand agrees to accompany her,
but it is not a journey to be taken lightly. They set out across the salt, a
terrible journey, pursued by bounty hunters and attackedby venomous desert
creatures. There is never enough water and at the end, deadly volcanic country
to cross before they get to Katazza. There they are stuck, too weak to tackle
the great cliffs.
Much earlier, the Aachim also go down onto the Dry Sea. They cross quickly and
climb the cliffs and mountains of Katazza to reach Kandor's fortress. Tensor
begins his great project, to find within the Mirror the way of making gates
from one place to another. He plans to open the Nightland, Rulke's prison of a
thousand years, and have his revenge.
For a long time Tensor makes no progress, the memories of the Mirror being
locked, then one day finds a way in. Only when he begins to make his gate do
the Aachim realise what his real plan is. They try to stop him but Tensor
seizes Llian, locks the Aachim out of the tower and continues with his work.
Soon the gate is ready for its first test.
Back in Zile, Tallia has worked out what Tensor's destination must be.
Mendark, his guard Osseion, and Tallia set off. After crossing the Dry Sea, to
their astonishment they come across recent tracks at the base of Katazza.
After a scuffle in the dark they realise that they have found Karan and Shand.
Together they climb the cliffs and at the top are met by a deputation of the
Aachim.
Mendark agrees to help them against Tensor. Karan is interested in only one
thing, that Llian is here, and races off
to find him. Unfortunately they can only communicate through a slit in the
wall.
Tensor tests his gate but it goes astray, for he has used the Mirror to see
the destination. It was often called the Twisted Mirror - a deceitful,
treacherous thing. Karan, afraid for Llian, climbs the tower, a terrifying
ordeal that she barely survives. Soon after that, Tensor seizes Llian, who is
immune to the potency, as a defence against Rulke. Then he opens the gate.
In Thurkad, Faelamor recovers her powers and warns Yggur that Tensor has made
a gate, risking their ruin. Yggur manages to draw the gate away from the
Nightland to Thurkad, though when it opens he dares not enter. Faelamor curses
him for a coward and a fool and leaps into the gate. Later Yggur follows her,
leaving Maigraith behind.
In Katazza, Tensor expects Rulke to come through the gate but Faelamor appears
instead. She confuses him with illusion, snatches the Mirror and hides. Yggur
appears. Shortly after, the gate begins working of its own accord. Tensor
seizes Llian, preparing to blast his enemy, Rulke. Karan knows Llian won't