The Crow Behind the Mirror_Book One of the Mirror Wars

by Sean M. Hogan

  Sharon’s hair stood up on her skin. She tasted the energy in the air on the tip of her tongue, like a licking a battery. Then she spotted the dread in Sofiel’s eyes. “We have to go. Now.” She clasped Sofiel’s cheeks and turned her head her way, forcing her to make eye contact with her. “Gabriel can only buy us so much time.”

  Sofiel shook her head. “I’m not leaving—”

  “He’s doing this for you. Don’t let his sacrifice be for nothing.”

  Sofiel nodded at last.

  Dew-paw tugged at Sharon’s shirt. “Please, you have to save Khaba.”

  Sharon glanced down at Khaba on the floor before her feet. “Can you stand?”

  Khaba tried to rise but stumbled.

  Sharon wrapped his arm over her shoulder. “Sofiel, get the other arm.”

  “Right.” Sofiel did as she was told.

  Dew-paw grabbed Khaba’s tail and, in one synchronized mighty push, they lifted Khaba to his feet.

  Khaba shook his head. “I’ve made such a mess of things. Everything I’ve done, everything I’ve touched... has turned to sand drifting in the wind.”

  “Stop talking,” said Sharon. “You need to conserve your strength.”

  “No,” said Khaba. “This needs to be said. I’ve been such a fool. If I had just waited for you instead of rushing to war. Things would’ve turned out different.”

  Sharon struggled to bear Khaba’s weight. “We haven’t lost yet...”

  Khaba watched Sofiel and Sharon fight to push forward, but it was useless. He was too heavy. “Leave me. I’m only weighing you down.”

  Before Dew-paw could protest Sharon cut him short. “Not a chance.”

  ***

  Gabriel cracked the lightning like a whip, pushing Baba back as if she was a hungry circus lion.

  Baba hissed and shrieked in protest.

  Then, without warning, Gabriel fell forward and landed face down in a puddle. The last ounce of his strength going out like a torch doused in a bucket of water.

  The small puddle rippled as the booming footsteps grew louder.

  “This is the end for you, god of heaven,” gloated Baba as she towered over him, her long slender neck twisting and curling like a python. “No—you have no title here. There is no heaven in the dark. Just worms crawling on their bellies. And worms tend to get squashed.”

  Baba stepped on Gabriel, digging her talon through his shoulder blade. Blood pooled under Gabriel as his bones cracked under the pressure when she put her massive weight behind her foot.

  Gabriel gargled a wheezing gasp of pain.

  “What’s that, worm? I can’t quite hear.” Baba leaned forward, putting more weight on her foot, and Gabriel’s ribs collapsed, snapping like a bundle of tree branches.

  Ahead of him, Michelle was hanging over the edge of the cliff. She was still alive, her breaths coming out faintly. Her cloak snagged on a jagged piece of rock that stuck out from the edge. She dangled there unconscious.

  Gabriel reached out for her but came up short. He was too far away. He struggled to free himself but he couldn’t push off the ground. So...

  Zap! Gabriel gave out an electrical discharge and blasted Baba’s toe, giving her a nasty hotfoot.

  Baba shrieked, yanking her foot off Gabriel. “Horrid little…” then she saw the others heading for the stairs below the exit.

  ***

  “In my dream, I saw my name written in the sand and Simon’s written in stone,” said Khaba. “The wind blew and my name faded. Simon’s stood strong. I knew then I would never defeat him on my own, yet when he exiled my people... I thought if I created a new identity, if I changed myself, hardened my heart, and became a monster…”

  Sharon shook her head. “You’re not a monster, Khaba.”

  Khaba planted his feet firmly down, stood up with his own strength, and pushed Sharon and Sofiel away. “Let me finish.”

  Sharon nodded.

  “After the wind took my name the darkness came. A featureless shadow in the shape of a woman. She was the angel of death and she swallowed up my people—the pig-runs—before my very eyes. That prophecy has already come to pass alongside the River of Crying. I failed to stop it then ten years ago but I refuse to let death swallow the rest.”

  “The rest?” asked Sharon.

  “The shadow came for the tree-sprites and humans as well. Sharon, what that boy whispered to me at the edge of the Pyramid of Life...”

  “You mean Joy?”

  “Yes…” Khaba struggled to finish through a jolt of pain. “Only you can stop Simon, Sharon. I saw you with the arrow of light. I saw you cut through the—”

  A fireball crashed down between them and they were scattered.

  Khaba was hit the hardest by the blast. The fire slammed him against the rocks. He fell silent and motionless before Dew-paw’s hooves.

  The sight of his fallen master slipping through his hands again was too much for Dew-paw. He raised his ax above his head, bared his tusks, roared a battle cry, and charged Baba.

  Baba swatted him away like a fly, sending him crashing against the rocks in the dark. He made no more sound after that. She laughed a rolling cruel heckle. “And yet another noisy insect has had its wings plucked.”

  ***

  Sharon’s world was spinning. The darkness was gaining. Her left thigh still seethed with burning pain even after the flames died. She scanned for Sofiel but could not see three feet past her own body, the only light shined in through the mouth of the cave. The ground shook beneath her in rhythmic beats. Footsteps… A primal panic flooded in. She crawled toward the exit, toward the light. Then the fireball blast hit above and sent the rocks tumbling down, corking the exit, cutting off her sole source of light, her last hope.

  “That’s right—gaze upon the nothing and despair,” boomed the voice in the darkness. “Can you hear me? I can smell your desperation, little special one. Its stench is unmistakable. Before I take the unicorn. I will crack your bones between my teeth and drink your magic dry.”

  A flash of bright light ignited in the black. The entire cave was painted in a warm white glow. Baba recoiled, wrapping herself in her wings, shielding herself from the blinding light.

  “Baba,” a heavenly voice trumpeted out. “Have you forgotten the very nature of the prey you hunt?” A unicorn stepped forward, burning brighter than any sun. “Dragons are creatures of the dark. But unicorns are of the light. And as long as one tiny light shines in the darkness... hope lives.”

  Baba retreated with the shrinking shadows of the cave, hissing in protest.

  “I will not fight you, Baba,” said the unicorn. “But nor will I stand aside while you harm the innocent.” With every step she took, the dragon took two more back.

  Sharon peered up at the unicorn. She was in awe of her beauty, her coat like sparkling diamonds, her mane streaking silver, and her horn spiraling golden light.

  “Stand up.” A voice echoed in Sharon’s mind. It was not her own. “Stand up, Sharon, and fight.”

  The unicorn turned her head Sharon’s way and gazed at her with silver eyes.

  “Sofiel?” asked Sharon.

  “Get up.” Though the unicorn’s lips did not move, her voice was unmistakable. The source coming from inside Sharon’s head.

  “I can’t,” said Sharon. “My leg.”

  “Get up,” said Sofiel. “You must.”

  Sharon put pressure on her leg. The pain raked up her left side. She grunted a muffled scream but forced her way up to her feet.

  “Good, now arm yourself.”

  Sharon spun around—scanning the cave for something—anything.

  “Quickly. I cannot keep Baba at bay for long.”

  There Sharon spotted it, near the blocked mouth of the cave, Michelle’s bow and quiver with a few arrows. “Perfect.” She hurried off, gathered them, and returned to Sofiel’s side. She recalled Michelle’s lessons back at the cabin, loaded an arrow, drew back, and took aim at Baba. She let her fingers slip off the string
.

  The arrow whizzed past Baba, striking the rocks behind her.

  “Damn it.” Her heart was racing right out of her chest. Striking an inanimate target during practice was nothing compared to the anxiety she felt in a life-and-death battle.

  “Calm down, Sharon,” said Sofiel. “Focus on your destination, your target.”

  Sharon exhaled and inhaled a few panicked breaths. But it was no good. Sweat drenched her whole body and her skin clammed up. She was in the middle of a full-fledged anxiety attack now. She was devolving to a cowering mouse exposed in the moonlight and she could hear the beating of the owl’s wings. She fired another arrow and missed.

  “Listen to my voice, Sharon. Let the rest of the world slip away.”

  Sharon held her breath, drew back, and let another arrow fly. This time her aim was spot on. The arrow struck Baba in the chest, made a loud clang, and bounced off.

  Baba cackled. “You stupid child,” she hissed. “No mere arrow can harm a true god. All you’ve managed to do with this useless spectacle is delay the inevitable. When the light dies so shall you.”

  Sharon turned to Sofiel. “What do we do?”

  The unicorn shook her head. “If only we had more time. I could have taught you how to properly wield the magic within you and transform it into a weapon. But even if I were willing to use a weapon, Baba won’t give me the time to forge it.”

  Then the tiny light bulb went off in Sharon’s head. “That’s it.”

  “What’s it?”

  “A magical weapon. We don’t need to forge one. We already have one. Rage’s arrow.”

  “Go.”

  “I’m on it.” Sharon ran off to recover the arrow. She searched the stone floor and spotted it resting in a pool of blood, Gabriel’s blood. She picked it up, bracing herself for the heat but to her surprise, it was cold to the touch. Is the magic all used up? “Something’s wrong. It used to be hot. I don’t understand...”

  The unicorn glanced Sharon’s way moving her horn, the source of the light, with her.

  It gave Baba just enough sight to pinpoint her target. She curled her long spiny tail and whipped it, striking the unicorn with full force.

  Sofiel propelled into the air, crashing down hard against the rocks. Her light faded with her consciousness.

  All Sharon could do was gasp, “No,” as she was draped in darkness. “Sofiel!” She hunted for Sofiel in the dark, freezing midstride when she felt the heat of the dragon’s breath on her back. She spun around and drew her bow. But there was no target. With only one arrow and no target, she dared not waste her last hope. And even if she did have a target the magic in the arrow had died.

  The desperation hit her in the gut as the ground shook beneath her feet.

  Baba was stalking her like a hungry cat and she was closing in on her.

  Just as Sharon was about to succumb to the despair, she felt two hands gently cover her eyes. She placed her hands on them and felt feathers. The hands belonged to the Crow Boy. Kevin… you’re behind me… She felt his lips move down to her ear and whisper softly. But his voice was not his. His voice was her father’s voice.

  “Close your eyes, Sharon,” whispered Eric.

  Sharon did as she was told and found, not darkness behind her eyelids but light, the light and warmth of the sun upon her face. She found herself at the park on a beautiful sunny morning.

  Laughter rang out as children played on the playground. The children took turns building sandcastles and chasing one another down the slide. Dozens of blue butterflies took to the air and swarmed the sky.

  A man sat on a bench behind her. The man’s face became visible in the light. It was her father, Eric, smiling with all the warmth of the sun.

  Eric’s hands moved over her eyes. “Clear your mind of all worries and doubt. Focus on everything blue. The ocean, blueberries, blue flowers, your mother’s blue dress.”

  She did as her father said, letting the memories of her childhood flood in.

  “Focus on who you are.” He removed his hands. “You are my daughter and I love you. With all my heart, for inside you burns a light greater than any darkness. You are my hope—my legacy. Now open your eyes.”

  Sharon opened her blue eyes. All three of them. The third eye, her dreaming eye, glowing in the center of her forehead.

  The darkness before her gave way and the universe revealed itself to her. Thousands of floating golden particles flowed and swirled around her. Glowing threads of energy entangled her like millions of strands of spider webs, connecting everything. She even saw the magic in her own blood and the blue light pulsing through her skin. She focused her dreaming eye and pulled the magic around into two circles. The first circle she formed around her on the floor where she stood. For the second, she gathered the circling magic into one small spot a few inches from her heart and compressed the magic into the diamond shape of a blue crystal.

  The crystal levitated there before her. A living star shining before her eyes.

  Sharon grabbed hold of the crystal and pressed it against the arrow.

  The arrow lit up with blue flowing energy.

  The ground shook with heavy steps behind her.

  She turned around to face Baba.

  Bright red energy burned in front of her and formed into the shape of a dragon.

  Sharon saw Baba as clear as day. Red thoughts, bad thoughts, after all, Baba. And I can see every one of your wicked little thoughts.

  “Baba,” Sharon shouted, loading the arrow and drawing back the bowstring as hard as she could. “You said you wanted to eat my magic.”

  Baba lunged for Sharon, stretching her talons out to grab her.

  “Here!” Sharon released the bowstring. “Have some.” She shot the arrow out like a lightning bolt.

  The arrow hit Baba in a flash, ripping through her arm and wing and taking most of her left shoulder with it.

  Baba shrieked in pain, spewing out flames as she collapsed against the cave wall, thrashing on the floor like a snake set ablaze, splitting apart huge boulders and sending them tumbling down.

  ***

  Gabriel dragged himself across the cave floor as the rumbling quake partially dislodged the rock that snagged Michelle’s cloak. Finally, he reached the edge of the cliff and peered over.

  Michelle was shaken awake. She gazed up at Gabriel.

  Gabriel stretched out his hand to her, but he came up short. “Grab my hand.”

  Michelle let go a weak cynical laugh. “You must be joking.”

  “Now, before it’s too late.”

  The sight of him was too much to stomach. “Go to hell, monster. I’d rather die than accept your help.”

  “Stop being so selfish,” Gabriel said with a growl.

  “Selfish?” Michelle fumed the word out. “You’ve taken everything from me. You have no right to—”

  “Not everything. You have someone to return to—don’t you?”

  Michelle’s eyes widened. “Matthew.” He was still at the cabin waiting for her.

  “Please,” Gabriel pleaded. “You’ve already killed me. There’s no need to throw your life away too.”

  Michelle slowly raised her hand but recoiled inches from Gabriel’s grasp.

  “No, don’t stop. Just a little more.”

  “What’s the point?” Michelle flashed an empty smile. “What’s the point of living in a world this disgusting? A world full of nothing but monsters. It’s only a matter of time before they devour us all.” She locked eyes with him, her pale gray eyes devoid of spark. “This world is rotten.”

  The rock dislodged and Michelle fell.

  Then she stopped falling.

  Michelle looked up. A human hand had grabbed hers. A man with eyes as blue as diamonds and the soft, chiseled face of a Greek god held onto her with all his dying strength.

  “We haven’t lost yet,” he said, with a warm smile. “So long as the light still shines, no matter how dimly, there’s still hope.”

  “Gabriel?”
Was this really the same person as the monster who took so much from her?

  “The one and only.” Gabriel pulled her up.

  “You think this changes anything?” asked Michelle, dragging herself over the edge, and plopping on her back, exhausted, like a gasping fish on dry land.

  “It already has,” answered Gabriel. “You will be that change.”

  ***

  “How’d that taste, Baba?” Sharon gloated before her fallen foe. “You want some more? Huh?” Sharon started shadowboxing in Baba’s direction. “What was that? I can’t hear you. Say something...”

  Baba rolled back onto her three remaining feet.

  Sharon’s heart skipped a beat. “Crap...”

  “You damn insect, look what you did,” Baba hissed, limping Sharon’s way, purple blood spurted from her stump where her arm used to be. “You maimed me!”

  Sharon backed up, scanning desperately for another arrow. But no arrow was in sight.

  Baba bared her fangs and lunged with a gaping mouth full of jagged teeth.

  She clenched her eyes shut and threw her arms up to shield herself.

  Baba’s jaws snapped an inch from Sharon’s face.

  She peeked out between her arms.

  Something was holding Baba back. She howled in protest, leaving claw marks in stone as she was dragged away from Sharon.

  “Sharon,” boomed Khaba’s voice. “Do you believe me now?”

  “Khaba?” Sharon looked past Baba and spotted Khaba wrestling to keep hold of Baba’s tail.

  “You are the one from my dream.” There was a hint of joy in Khaba’s words.

  Baba thrashed around, protesting with a spew of flames. Khaba was directly behind her and she couldn’t get a clear shot. So, she spun her head Sharon’s direction once more and parted her jaws. Flames surged in her throat.

  Sharon had no time to react as—

  Boom!

  A giant stone hand grabbed hold of Baba, clenching her mouth shut like one would an alligator.

  Sharon watched in awe as two enormous stone Golems burst from the cave walls and tackled Baba, pinning her down.

  “Sharon, listen to my last words carefully,” said Khaba. “Simon is behind the Endless Winter.”