by Laura Lond
The prince was able to duplicate the dagger twice. Morgard tried his hunting knife then, but the mirror rejected it. Apparently, it regarded daggers and knives as the same. The chieftain had servants bring vegetables and bread from the kitchen; those were reproduced three times. A live chicken was rejected, and so was a duck. A large silver chalice worked only once, just like the golden platter. It seemed that smaller and simpler items were allowed more duplications, but other than that, the mirror’s logic was hard to catch. Morgard had to work by trial and error, which he seemed content to do all day long.
I left in about an hour. A servant took Cassandra and me to our rooms. They were right next to each other, mine a large but dusty chamber, hers much smaller and dirtier. I hated for her to be in it, but she waved it off.
“No big deal. I’m probably not going to be spending much time here, anyway,” she said.
“So what do you think of this whole mess?” I asked. “It looks like I’ve goofed, haven’t I?”
“By giving him the shard? I probably would have done the same. It seemed like the only option.”
I shook my head. “I should have suspected something. Well, never mind now; we’ll have to see how things go and work with it.”
“I take it Morgard’s word doesn’t mean much?”
“Technically, he shouldn’t be able to just go back on it, the League does not allow that. But rules have been bent before. I’m sure he’ll try.”
Morgard found me some time later, after I’d taken a tour of the castle and taught his barbarians to respect my manservant by sending one of them through the wall of a shed. Not that Cassandra couldn’t stand for herself; it was the noise of her giving a lesson of her own that had attracted my attention to begin with. She was considerably smaller in stature than Morgard’s brutes, which tempted them to pick on her, as soon as she’d left my side. Cassandra’s curved blade expertly slashed the offenders’ clothes, leaving no mark on the body and nothing to cover that fact. The onlookers howled with laughter. I turned to see what the merriment was about; at first it seemed that no intervention was necessary, but then a twin brother of one of the disgraced warriors tried to sneak up on Cassandra from the back, club in hand. He was the one who ended up in the shed.
Morgard showed up just then, laughing and applauding. It turned out he watched the performance.
“Your Archibald sure doesn’t carry his blade just for decoration, haha!” he commented. “Did you train him yourself?”
“No, I was lucky to hire him already trained.”
The chieftain shooed away the remaining spectators.
“So what do you think of my place?”
“It’s bigger than mine.”
He was flattered. “Really? Bigger than Blackriver Castle?”
“Not by far, but yes. Where’s my best friend? Still working?”
“He is, haha! I left a couple of guys with him. Nothing seems to go through anymore, it appears that the mirror is done for the day, but I told them to keep trying.”
“So there’s a certain number of duplications the mirror allows each day?”
“Something like that; nobody knows for sure. This was the hardest information to obtain.”
“Well, you’ll find out tomorrow.”
Morgard nodded. “I will. Can you tell me where you found that last shard? I can’t believe I had missed it. Several sources said there were fifteen.”
“Someone might have broken a larger piece in two later on.”
I saw no reason to keep the location secret, so I told him about the island. He was most amazed.
“An island in the middle of the Scorpian sea? This just makes no sense. How in the world could it get there?”
I shrugged. No good villain ever shares all the info.
“How do you like your room?” Morgard asked.
“It is good, thank you.”
“I assume you’ll visit at least for a couple days?”
I knew what he was probing for.
“I would actually like to stay for the whole week, if you don’t mind,” I answered.
He didn’t like it, I could see.
“You don’t trust me to keep my word?” he asked upfront.
You bet. That was not what I said though.
“It’s not that. There is a circumstance you are not yet aware of.”
I played the beast card. As I expected, Morgard found it hard to believe.
“You’re telling me the creature my guys keep seeing is following Kellemar?”
“That’s right. He will haunt the place as long as the prince is here.”
The chieftain narrowed his eyes. “It doesn’t scare me, you know.”
“Oh, I’m not trying to scare you. Just relaying the facts. The beast is after Kellemar, only I can protect him, so I must stick around. And you need to know something else, Morgard: I would not recommend trying to hunt that thing. No weapon will harm it.”
“Now you’ve made me all curious.”
“I’m serious. Don’t risk your life and don’t waste your men.”
***
The week dragged on, with nothing for us to do except wandering over the castle and watching Morgard’s barbarians do their chores, quarrel, and fight. It dragged even more for Kellemar, I’m sure. Morgard worked the prince without mercy, allowing him only a few hours of sleep each night after hundreds of failed duplication attempts, when he was certain the mirror would do no more. Kellemar was placed into a room not far from ours, with two guards at his door at all times. Morgard was not comfortable with crowds of servants frequenting his treasury, so he had the prince work there. The guards also followed him everywhere on the rare occasions the prince would be permitted to leave the room. I checked on him several times, but we didn’t talk. Kellemar must have felt too humiliated.
Morgard did not heed my warning regarding the beast. One day he was gone all morning, then he came to me, pale and flustered.
“You weren’t kidding about that… that monster,” he said.
“Ah, so you have made his acquaintance.”
“Me and ten of my men. Only five survived. Three unhurt.”
“Could have been worse.”
The chieftain shook his head. “I threw a spear at that thing. It bounced off like…”
“A match?”
“Yes.”
“I told you it would.”
“What in the world is it?”
“A supernatural creature from a different realm, stuck in ours and mad about it.”
Morgard stood there, rubbing his chin, processing it. “And you say it’s after Kellemar?”
“That’s right.”
“Does that mean it might try to get in the castle?”
“He most certainly will at some point.”
I wished the beast would do it that very night, to help prove my words since Morgard seemed to think I was trying to scare him again, but he didn’t. The chieftain made no more hunting attempts, but he was not frightened enough to kick Kellemar out. His greed outweighed caution. And the greed was growing with each piece of gold he managed to reproduce.
“It looks like we might have to make a run for it,” I told Cassandra on the sixth day. “The week is nearly over, and I don’t think Morgard has changed his mind.”
“Do you have a plan?” she asked.
“We must wait out the remaining days, to give Morgard a chance to keep his word—that’s a League regulation. After that, it’s berry time.”
“Invisibility?”
“Yes, at first. I’ll go to Kellemar, give him one, then walk out and tell the guards he’s not there. When they start running around looking for him, you and I eat invisibility berries as well, pick him up and get out. We might fly, too. What do you think?”
“Good plan. You’ll need to let the prince in on it.”
“I’ll go do that right now.”
I had free access to Kellemar’s room. Somehow, Morgard did not find it necessary to restrict our communication.
He probably thought his guards numerous enough to not worry about an escape. And if it wasn’t for the berries, it would have been so.
I entered the room, closing the door behind me. The prince glanced up and went back to his work. He was going through a pile of coins, mostly copper with a few silver ones. The mirror continued to reject them, but obviously Morgard had ordered him to try each one anyway.
“The week ends tomorrow,” I said, keeping my voice low.
Kellemar glanced up again, just as briefly. “He won’t let me go, you know that.”
“Most likely. We’ll have to escape.”
“How?”
“There is a way. I’ll need one thing from you. You must promise to do what I say and eat all berries I give you, without question.”
He looked uncomfortable. “Oh.”
“You have a problem with that?”
“N-no.”
“Good.”
I proceeded to share the plan. Kellemar listened, eyes down on the coins. For now, I only told him about the invisibility, leaving the flying ability out. One thing at a time. He was surprised, of course, but asked no questions.
“Is everything clear?”
He nodded. It seemed that he wanted to say something, but didn’t.
“Do I have your full cooperation?” I asked, to make sure.
“Yes.”
“All right then. I’ll talk to Morgard tomorrow, see where he stands. We run either that very evening or on the next day, depending on circumstances.”
I returned to my room and went through the plan again. Did I miss anything? It did not seem so. Morgard was probably expecting me to try something when he announced he was keeping the prince, but he certainly couldn’t expect what I had up my sleeve. He would have no clue what happened and how we disappeared. If he complained to the League and they started investigation, I’d have a strong case. We had an agreement, he gave me his word; I waited the week out. He broke his promise, so I left. I didn’t think we would hurt any of his men in the process, that was also going to be a plus. The League would see I had done my best to deal with this civilly. As to the means of my escape, I was under no obligation to disclose them. The Swirgs’ secret would be safe.
I rose, wondering how to kill the rest of the day, when Cassandra burst in.
“My berries are gone!”
“What?...”
She was holding her traveling bag.
“I never took them out. The pouches were here, under my spare clothes. They’re gone. All I have left is the handful I had in my pockets.”
I rushed to my own bag in the corner. I hadn’t paid much attention to it lately, having taken out all the items I needed; I saw right away the bag had been messed with, it was not in the position I’d left it in—and it looked smaller.
I opened the bag. The berry pouches were not there.
“Mine are stolen as well.”
“Who would have done it?”
Kellemar’s uneasy expression surfaced before my eyes.
“I have an idea. Wait here.”
I went back to his room.
“Has he ever entered my chamber when I wasn’t there?” I asked the guards in the corridor.
“The prince? Yes, about three days ago. Archie’s, too.”
I stormed in and slammed the door shut.
“What have you done with the berries?”
Kellemar must have seen murder in my eyes, for he backed away.
“Arkus, I’m sorry…”
“What have you done with them?!”
He stepped behind the table. “I—I threw them away.”
“You what?!”
“I’m sorry! I don’t know what came over me… I panicked…”
“Why, you pathetic idiot?! WHY?”
“I feared you’d escape without me.”
I threw up my hands. “Morgard is not holding me captive, you imbecile! I’m here voluntarily, and for your stupid sake!”
“Yes, I realize that now! I didn’t then. I thought Morgard held us all, and I saw he wouldn’t release me. With the beast prowling around… if you left… You’ve got to understand!”
I don’t know how I kept back from strangling him.
“And didn’t I say I would not betray you? Have I not been true to my word all this time?”
He looked miserable, shrinking under my glare.
“Yes, but… You must understand!”
I turned on my heels and marched out.
“Where are you going?”
“To find the beast and tell him that I’m done and he’s welcome to have you!”
“Arkus, no!! You promised!!”
The sheer horror in his shriek told me he fully believed it. It was a harsh joke; perhaps he deserved it, but, having been in his shoes, I knew better.
I stopped, half-turning, not looking at him.
“Just kidding, relax. I’m off to think of another plan.”
***
Without the berries, there was no sneaking away. We’d have to duplicate what Cassandra and I had in our pockets, and at the rate the mirror was working, it would take a long time before we had a sufficient supply. The earlier we started, the better, so I sent Cassandra to the prince right away. I didn’t trust myself around the idiot, so I didn’t go in, distracting the guards while she was in his room and watching out for Morgard.
Cassandra returned with just slightly more berries, not even double the little amount we had.
“This is all that went through today,” she said. “I think the mirror knows these berries have special powers and treats them as valuable items. Like gold.”
“So it only reproduces, what? One of each?”
“Yes, except for the whites. The white one duplicated twice. Kellemar tried to do them all together, the mirror wouldn’t let him. So he had to pull out one purple, one red, one pink, one white, separately.”
“And we need three times more of the white ones.”
“Yes. But the mirror doesn’t care, it allows only two.”
“That’s not good. It will take days to get enough whites for all three of us, and I don’t know how long Morgard will let me stay here.”
I was strolling in the yard, mulling it over, when I was summoned to Morgard. He sent a servant this time instead of finding me himself, as he usually did, making it somewhat official.
Well, let’s see what he has to say.
The chieftain received me in the main hall, he must have considered it impressive.
“Thank you for coming so quickly, Arkus. Have a seat. We have a bit of business to discuss.”
I followed the invitation.
“Tomorrow the week we have agreed on ends,” Morgard began. “Having seen how valuable Prince Kellemar is to me, I am sure you will understand my reluctance to release him.”
Here goes.
“I certainly do,” I nodded. “However, you gave me your word. And you know where the League stands on that.”
“Precisely. That’s why I had contacted the League and filed a conflict of interest report.”
He looked very pleased. I didn’t like that.
“And?”
“I’ve just received their reply. I am sorry, Arkus, but they want you to back off.”
“Can I see it?”
“Of course.”
He handed me a parchment.
The Villains League has looked into the matter of conflict of interest between Lord Arkus of Blackriver Castle and Morgard, Chieftain of Pergalacks. It is the League’s opinion that Lord Arkus is in violation of its policies. Lord Arkus is therefore required, under the penalty of being expelled from the Villains League, to relinquish his claim on Prince Kellemar of Dalvanna and leave Morgard’s castle upon request.
Lovely. And I thought things couldn’t get worse.
“Well.” I rolled the parchment and gave it back to him. “There’s not much I can say about it. I wonder what they consider a violation, but I guess I’ll have to contact them myself to find out.�
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“The messenger is still here, waiting to have a word with you. He will probably explain.”
“When do you want me to leave?”
“I will not rush you. You were working on a scheme, now that it fell apart you’d need to rethink your further steps. I understand completely. Let’s say, tomorrow, just as you had planned.”
He wouldn’t rush me to leave sooner, but he definitely wanted me out of here.
“Thanks, Morgard. Where is the messenger?”
The chieftain rose. “I’ll send him in. He has asked to speak with you in private.”
I stood up as well, preferring to face the League’s representative on my feet. Morgard walked out.
This was a hard blow. I couldn’t begin to think how to deal with it, but one thing was clear. If I left, it would be only a matter of time before the beast broke into the castle and got Kellemar. So much for the Second Deed.
The messenger entered. I did not recognize him at first, so I wondered why he was grinning. A disinterested courier wasn’t supposed to do that. Then I noticed that the lean features looked familiar.
“Ragnar.” I had never seen him in a human form before. “So this is your doing. Well, that explains things. I wouldn’t be surprised if the League’s notice is fake.”
He shook his head. “It is not. I am sure you have examined the seal and signatures. And really, once again I can’t take all the credit. All I did was inform the League exactly what scheme you were working. When they learned you were actually trying to do a heroic deed, the rest easily fell into place.”
“And you volunteered your services as a courier.”
“Couldn’t resist.”
“Hoping to compensate for your failed bluff at the island?”
“I think I have, wouldn’t you say? You’ve lost.”
“So you said the last time.”
He gave me a condescending smile. “Your optimism is most amazing. Care to tell me how you plan to work around this one? You’re not thinking to defy the League, are you?”
“Whatever I’m thinking or planning is none of your business. Now, is there anything of substance you have to say to me? Besides gloating?”