The Phoenix and the Mirror by Avram Davidson
"The Phoenix and the Mirror" is a fantasy novel by Avram Davidson that serves as the first book in the planned "Vergil Magus" series. Set in a richly imagined medieval world where the Roman poet Vergil is portrayed as a magician, the story follows Vergil's perilous journey as he navigates labyrinthine tunnels while being pursued by mythical creatures. The narrative centers around Queen Cornelia of Carsus, who, upon discovering Vergil's identity, uses magic to take his masculinity hostage, compelling him to create a "virgin mirror" that can locate her lost daughter, Laura.
The mirror's creation is fraught with challenges, as Vergil must gather rare materials—tin and copper—while forming alliances and confronting threats along the way. The king of the Sea-Huns, a three-headed monarchy steeped in shamanistic traditions, plays a crucial role in Vergil's quest. The plot unfolds with themes of love, identity, and transformation, culminating in a poignant revelation about the true identity of the princess Vergil rescues. Through a blend of myth and adventure, Davidson crafts a tale that explores the complexities of desire and the interplay of fate and personal agency.
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The Phoenix and the Mirror
First published: 1969
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy—alternate history
Time of work: The first century c.e.
Locale: Italy, the Mediterranean Sea, and North Africa
The Plot
An Ace Science Fiction Special, with appropriately enigmatic cover art by the husband-and-wife team of Leo and Diane Dillon, The Phoenix and the Mirror: Or, the Enigmatic Speculum was the first book in a projected series titled Vergil Magus. The second and only other book, Vergil in Averno, was published in 1987. Its events precede those of The Phoenix and the Mirror. In both novels, Avram Davidson expands on the medieval conceit that the Roman poet Vergil was a magician.
Lost in a labyrinth of tunnels and pursued by manticores, Vergil escapes with the assistance of Queen Cornelia of Carsus and her servants. When Cornelia discovers who the magus is, she uses magic to take his masculinity hostage, then orders him to make her a virgin mirror, with which she can locate her daughter, Laura, who has been lost on the way from Carsus to Naples. Once the device is made and used, Cornelia will allow Vergil to become a whole man again.
A virgin mirror is made of tin and copper ores smelted and blended with care. Never exposed to light as it is polished, lidded, and closed with a clasp, it will show whoever first uncovers it whatever he or she desires to see. Such a device could take a year to make, and Vergil knows the queen will not be patient. She plans to use the princess’ marriage to advance political aims.
Tin is a monopoly of Tartismen, who import it from a fabulous distance, already cast into ingots. Vergil must obtain raw ore quickly. He goes to the traders’ Cyclopean castle in Naples to ask their help. While there, he meets a Phoenician captain, Ebbed-Saphir, and thwarts an assassination attempt. In gratitude, the Tartismen’s Captain-Lord sends a messenger-bird and two falcons to attempt to obtain a small quantity of tin ore.
Copper, too, is customarily imported in ingots, although the source is much nearer at hand. Because of the Sea-Huns, the ships that bring it from Cyprus travel in yearly convoys. Vergil cannot wait, so Ebbed-Saphir agrees to lend his ship. The magus decides to seek permission to pass from the barbarian Sea-Huns them-selves.
The Sea-Huns have three nominal kings because the shaman who “put on the bear-skin” to find out which of the old king’s three sons should inherit the throne has remained a bear. Two of the kings are out of reach, but the third, Bayla, wishes to worship the goddess Aphrodite as embodied in her priestesses. He is willing to make the voyage with Vergil so that he can visit the Temple of Aphrodite on Cyprus.
They find the blockaded island of Cyprus overrun by religious cults of all kinds, including that of Daniel Christ, whose leader gives Vergil the information required to compel the evasive Cypriots to provide the magus with copper ore. Vergil then sails back to the Sea-Huns’ camp to find that the shaman has at long last changed back into a man and announced that Bayla is the one true king.
Returned home, Vergil finds that the tin ore has arrived. Work on the mirror, though tedious, goes well. When the major speculum is completed, Cornelia comes to discover where the princess may be. At the stroke of noon, she touches the newly revealed polished bronze with a golden pin and sees her daughter on Cyclopean steps.
Virgin no longer, the mirror reflects only the faces of those who look into it. Vergil sees himself and knows that he is a whole man again. He also knows that he has fallen in love with the first woman he has really looked at since Cornelia took his masculinity hostage: the girl in the mirror. He must, and will, find her.
Beginning with the Tartismen’s castle in Naples, Vergil searches all known castles of Cyclopean work without success, until it becomes plain that Laura must be in Thither Lybya. Taking Ebbed-Saphir as his guide once more, the magus sets out. Once within sight of the ruin, Vergil goes on alone and finds the last of the Cyclops unwilling to give up his companion. The magus temporarily blinds it with dust and escapes with the girl.
The Phoenician captain rejoins them and leads them to a pyre. No true man, but a phoenix, Ebbed-Saphir intends to renew himself by burning himself and the daughter of his promised bride, Cornelia. By becoming his mate, Cornelia has lived hundreds of years, but she has evaded the final part of the bargain. Vergil overcomes the phoenix, and Laura is saved.
In Naples, Vergil reveals that the girl he has rescued is not Laura but her half sister, Phyllis. Cornelia had concealed the girls’ true identities even from them, hoping to use her husband’s bastard child to cheat Ebbed-Saphir, who she thought would be killed in the regeneration process if he underwent it with Phyllis rather than Laura. Vergil claims Phyllis as his wife.