Splintered Mirror

by Morgan Hawke

  I almost grasped what he was saying. “So, over time, we shifted from a deer into a unicorn from their beliefs alone?”

  The great stag turned his head slightly. “More like they added a shape over top of what was truly there.”

  “And someone that didn’t believe in unicorns wouldn’t even see that form?”

  I had the strongest impression of a smile. “Correct. Those who cannot accept the existence of even a unicorn might see a common white horse, or a white deer.”

  Curiosity burned in me. “What about dragons? Are they something else too?”

  He chuckled. “They are indeed, but what they are has no name because their true forms come from a time long before humans walked the earth. In fact, they are the oldest of us all, for they were the first to walk upon the earth.”

  I tilted my ears back and looked away, trying to imagine a world where only dragons lived. “Wouldn’t that mean the world was originally something of a wasteland?”

  The stag king laughed, though again, his mouth didn’t open. “Not at all! According to the dragon I spoke to, the world was far warmer than it is today, and one vast jungle covered in trees, ferns, and flowers.”

  I turned my head this way and that trying to imagine such a world. “I find that difficult to believe.”

  “As do I, but then our kind came into being during the great Fimbul Winter, when humans were still new and nearly all the world was covered in snow and ice.”

  I turned back to face the king, both ears forward. “Snow and ice?”

  The king nodded. “Very much so, which is why we are at our most powerful in the heart of winter, where dragons are at their most powerful during the heart of summer.”

  Something suddenly came to mind. “The princesses said that you only appeared in the winter.”

  The great deer let out a soft sigh. “Because it is only during the winter, the time of my greatest strength, that I can sustain mortals here.”

  Sustain...? I swallowed hard. “Is this place...bad for humans?”

  The king sighed. “This place is not meant for any mortal, human or otherwise. Only in winter is my power strong enough to shield mortals from falling into a slumber from which they will not wake.”

  That was more than a little creepy.

  “In fact, the reason why the trees here are white is because they have fallen asleep and turned to crystal.”

  “Crystal...?” I turned to look out past the floating sheets wafting between the pillars. “But the grass isn’t white?”

  “That is the limit of my influence. Beyond that green circle, any mortal being will fall asleep and turn to crystal.”

  “But, I...?”

  “You no longer wear a mortal body.”

  I looked sharply at the king. “I’m...immortal?”

  “Correct. You cannot die.”

  Well, that was reassuring.

  “Should something actually succeed in destroying your body, it will reform in your place of sanctity, and you will awaken as though from a deep sleep. However, all memory of who you once were will be gone.”

  Suddenly I wasn’t so reassured anymore. In fact, a full body shiver overtook me. I did not want to lose the memory of who I was—or more specifically, my prince. To counter the sudden terror attempting to turn my bowels to water, I changed the subject. “So where exactly are we?”

  “This is my place of sanctity. Yours will be back in your own land.”

  I blinked in open confusion. “I’ll have one too?”

  The king chuckled. “You probably already do. It’s the one place you go where no one can find you.”

  I puzzled over that for a bit. “Well, no one’s ever found me in the castle attics...”

  The king turned an ear back and spoke very dryly. “It will be outdoors, such as a wood or an unused garden.”

  I turned away, thinking hard and found myself distracted by what looked like a miniature castle of white wood surrounded by small pale blue cushions. However, miniature wasn’t quite the right way to describe it. It was actually a rather large piece of furniture, the size of a lounge. Tiny dolls were scattered on the cushions around it. “Is that a dollhouse?”

  The king sighed very softly. “I made it for the princess.”

  “Princess...?” One of my ears turned back all by itself, openly displaying my confusion. “Only one of the two?”

  “Originally, there was only one.” The king looked away very briefly. “The second princess joined the royal household the following winter.”

  “Was the second a royal orphan?”

  The king tilted his head just a little. “Something like that.”

  I nodded. Orphans from noble lines were often adopted into other noble families, usually for potential marriage partners, but sometimes simply as companions for solitary children. “The princess must have been happy to have a playmate.”

  The king turned to gaze upon the massive dollhouse. “Once the two joined hands, they became inseparable.”

  I walked around the structure, impressed by the detailing on the turrets and windows. “They must have been very young.” Truthfully, I hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

  “When I first brought them here, they were about eight.”

  I turned to look at the king. “You brought them here?”

  The kings ears went flat back. “An uncle sought to murder them.”

  Both of my tall ears shot up. “What?”

  The king snorted. “One of the hazards of being heir to a kingdom; bloodthirsty relatives.” He suddenly gave me the distinct impression of a rather nasty smile. “Worry not. That one and two others are no longer anyone’s concern.”

  Apparently, the king had been protecting the two princesses since childhood. To my mind, he was indeed the best choice for a husband for them. I nodded firmly. “I’ll do everything in my power to help you win the princesses.”

  The king tilted an ear and his expression seemed troubled, though I couldn’t actually see it on his deer’s face. “You’re very...kind.”

  I turned my ears back. “Is that bad?”

  He looked away. “Not necessarily. However, it could be used against you.”

  I looked the other way. “I’m not that kind.” My brother had been that kind, not me. While I was willing to help when I could, the only person I allowed to actually take advantage of me was my prince.

  The memory of last night flashed through me, of the two of us writhing against the wall in carnal ecstasy.

  Taken advantage of, indeed.

  Annoyed, I stomped a hoof to drive away the memory and the feelings it brought with it.

  The stag snorted lightly. “Sunset is still a few hours away. You should take this time to rest.” It wasn’t quite an order, but it felt like one. He was, after all, a king.

  I moved to a large cushion and struggled with the process of kneeling down and then lying down without falling down. It was...awkward.

  The stag didn’t exactly chuckle, but I could tell he was amused.

  When I finally laid myself down with my legs neatly tucked under me, I abruptly remembered that those that fell asleep here didn’t wake up. Panic turned my blood to water and I started to struggle back up onto my feet.

  The stag did chuckle then. “Calm down, doe. You are not mortal. This place will cause you no harm.”

  I allowed myself to flop back down and blew out an annoyed breath. “I never knew that being a magical being was so much work!”

  The stag lowered his head to the cushion and seemed to smile at me. “It will get easier with time.”

  I lowered my head as well, my long neck easily curving around to lay by my knees. “Easy for you to say. You probably have centuries of experience.”

  “True, with many different lifetimes among them.”

  I turned my gaze and one ear toward him. “How do you keep from forgetting the important things, the things you don’t want to forget between those...lifetimes?”

  He chuckled softly. “To
insure that what I need to remember is never lost, I keep a written account.”

  I turned my head to look at him. “You keep a diary?”

  His eyes closed. “Of sorts. The tapestries that hang between the pillars.”

  I turned my head to look at the closest curtain, the one directly behind me. What I had thought was solid white was in fact subtly shaded in iridescent colors and absolutely covered in intricate knotwork. A form of writing perhaps? There were small images interwoven among the knotwork of deer, people, unicorns and other magical beings such as winged faeries. Forests, farmhouses, and castles were also among the inter-branching knotwork.

  It was absolutely stunning, and there were eight of them wafting in the mild breeze. I stared for quite, until my eyes grew heavy and I drifted off, rapt in the wonder of what it was like to live many more than one lifetime.

  ~ Seventeen ~

  “It is time.”

  My eyes opened and I lifted my head, completely and utterly awake. I had slept, but not dreamed at all. It was a peculiar feeling because I always dreamed when I slept.

  The stag king stood by a wafting tapestry. “Follow me.” He turned and walked toward the fluttering tapestries, his hooves clopping lightly on the marble floor, then beyond and out of the circular temple.

  I rose to my four hooves utterly refreshed. However, what was truly odd was that I didn’t feel hungry or thirsty, even though I hadn’t eaten or had even a sip of water since the day before. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury of examining that oddness. The king was clearly going to leave me behind if I didn’t get out there.

  I trotted lightly to the tapestry and leapt past it.

  Just beyond the curtains, weight crashed down on me, literally. I suddenly felt so heavy it honestly felt like I’d just come out of a pool of water. So what was meant to be a graceful leap to the grass became a sudden crash to my knees then over onto my side, hooves flailing, grass and flowers flying up around me. I rose to my four feet no longer a silver deer, but the silver unicorn once again. I shook the grass and flowers from my hide. “Ugh! Why do I feel so heavy?”

  The unicorn king turned to look back at me and openly laughed. “What you feel is the weight of the unicorn overlaying your true form.” He turned and began to walk gracefully away. “A human form is an even heavier burden to bear.”

  I trotted after him. “You could have at least warned me!”

  The king laughed again and cantered toward the trees. “And miss the sight of you floundering among the flowers? Hardly!”

  I lunged into a gallop after him. “Sadist...”

  * * * * * *

  After a very short gallop, the trees around us turned from white and crystal to shadow and mist. The king abruptly stopped. “We are here.”

  I looked around, seeing nothing but indistinct trees and undergrowth. “We are?”

  The king abruptly rose to his hind legs and assumed the human form I’d seen him in before; a tall slender man with pure white curling hair that fell to his waist, wearing a silver-gray coat and breeches heavily embroidered in white. His waistcoat was also silver-gray but embroidered in pale blue. His gloves and boots, however, were black. He flicked his wrist and from thin air, produced a silver-gray tricorn hat nearly overflowing with curling white feathers. He set the hat atop his head, then turned to me. “Stay right here. I’ll return for you momentarily.” He turned his back to me and vanished.

  That startled me. However, it also made me wonder if I could do the same thing; just vanish into thin air. Of course, creating things out of thin air seemed like a neat trick too.

  I had barely completed that thought when the king returned. His slender white brows were lowered over aqua eyes that were narrowed to slits, and his mouth was a taut line. He held a slender sword naked in his hand.

  I stiffened all over. “What happened?”

  His blue gaze narrowed and turned to silvery frost. “Death has come to the palace.”

  “What?” My first thought was that he was talking about Master Corwin, then I caught the all too familiar scent of copper and iron drifting from him; the scent of spilled blood.

  Alarm spilled through me like ice water, but half a heartbeat later it became fury. My ears laid flat back. “Take me to my prince, now!”

  “This way.” He turned and stepped away.

  At his side, I stepped with him. A mild tingling brushed against me, as though walking through a spider’s web and then golden warmth overtook me. I blinked and found myself standing among potted orange trees and roses, my hooves clicking lightly on polished tiles. High overhead arched a domed roof of made entirely of windows set in ornate cast iron.

  I was inside the palace conservatory. This revelation brought a shiver to my hide. Apparently, that white forest existed outside this world, and that shadowy forest was the bridge between them; a literal case of being neither here nor there. In other words, stone walls would not bar the unicorn king from entry into or out of any place he cared to be.

  Unfortunately I didn’t get much time to ponder such thoughts, because two things distracted me from them. The first was that instead of being well-lit as in my last visit, it was deeply shadowed as though the lights had all been blown out. The second was the stench floating in the air.

  I could definitely smell the iron and copper scent of blood, but stronger than that was the ammonia reek of unclean animal. It was vaguely familiar, but it didn’t smell anything like horse, or dog, or even cat. It was definitely something I’d smelled before, but I couldn’t quite pin my finger on what it was, and whatever it was, it was big. The stink was so profound it could only come from something huge, or rather several of them.

  Following the king, I stepped beyond the potted orange trees and recognized the back of a familiar red velvet settee.

  Beyond it, I recognized nothing.

  Potted trees and rose bushes had been overturned, the roots exposed and the potting soil scattered across the tiled floor. The plants themselves were smashed and broken as though trampled under something heavy. In addition, however, were small heaps of what looked like scattered garbage piled literally everywhere; shreds of fabric, broken weapons, broken boots, split gloves, torn and scattered papers, and puddles of clear, thick viscous liquid. Among them were small splatters of blood.

  I also noted strange gouges in the floor clearly made by something heavy and sharply pointed. They were grouped in sets of four, like claw marks, but no animal claws I knew of could cut into stone tile.

  That hideous animal reek floating in the air permeated everything. It practically burned in my nose. However, it didn’t quite cover the near-choking scent of spilled blood. It literally stank like a slaughterhouse.

  Only hours ago the palace had been crammed with nobles and servants of every class and distinction. Something horrifically violent had clearly happened, and there were indeed random splatters of blood, but not nearly enough to account for the strength of its scent. According to the smell, I should have been walking hock-deep in it. People—a lot of people—had clearly been killed in that very room, so where was the blood, and where were the bodies?

  More than a little in shock, I nickered softly to the king, “What the hell happened here?”

  “Sorcery.” The king at my side stepped forward, the waves of his snowy hair, and the feathers of his hat lifting on a breeze I couldn’t feel. His anger, however, I could most definitely feel. In fact, I could see it. A chillingly cold, silvery mist floated from his body. “Sorcery happened here.”

  “Sorcery...?” I’d seen more than a little magic in my life, but... “What kind of sorcery did this...?”

  More importantly, where was Alberic? He was supposed to be waiting in this very place. I raised my head high, one knee lifting with it, looking over the debris scattered about. I didn’t see anything I could identify as his, and I knew every single belonging he had. After all, I was the one who cleaned them. “I have to find my prince.”

  The king stepped further int
o the room, his boot heels clicking on the tiles. “This way.” He strode across the shattered room toward a pair of wide open glass doors.

  Beyond the doors was a soaring hallway, the distant arched ceiling covered in paintings. Hanging crystal chandeliers tinkled overhead, but the candles had all been blown out. The scent of smoking wicks still drifted in the air. The left side was a long row of floor to ceiling windows, revealing the encroaching night. The right was solid floor to ceiling gold-framed mirrors, many of them cracked from heavy impact.

  The floor was polished wood with a long plush blue and gold floral carpet marred with blood spatters, jagged tears, and more of those puddles of clear, viscous fluid. At the end of the hall was another set of double doors, but they stood wide open, the frosted glass shattered.

  The hallway clearly led into the palace.

  My split hooves thudded softly on the carpet, my long tail snaking behind me. “So, what kind of sorcerer are we dealing with?”

  At my side, the unicorn king strode with stiff shoulders and a tight jaw. “Fear not, our kind are not affected by enchantments. However, the monsters they create can be quite a nuisance.”

  I looked sharply at the king. “Monsters...?”

  The king stopped to give me a tight smile. “You smelled it, did you not, the stench of beasts?”

  I snorted. “Is that what that stink is?”

  It was at that point that something moved just beyond the broken doors at the end of the hall, something big.

  The king smiled grimly. “I believe you will soon see for yourself.”

  “Terrific.” My ears turned back to lay flat. “So, how do I kill these monsters?”

  He shrugged. “They die easily enough with blessed or bespelled silver.”

  I snorted, and rolled my eyes. “Most enchanted beings are weak to bespelled silver.” Which is why my prince and I both carried a small pouch of silver shot. I turned sharply to glare at the king. “But, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not currently capable of holding a weapon of any kind!” I tucked my chin and stomped all four hooves on the torn carpet. “Hoofs, not hands, remember?”