The Mirror's Gaze

by Rae D. Magdon

  Ellie opened her arms, and I crawled to my knees and leaned into them, burying my face in her shoulder like I used to years ago. She did not push me for an explanation, or seem to mind I was only wearing one of Larna's shirts. She simply held me and stroked my back until the worst of the shivering stopped. By then, tears streaked my face. You don't have time to be afraid. We need to leave. Now.

  "She's coming," I said, clutching at the sleeve of her nightgown. "Luciana is coming here."

  She understood my urgency at once. "How soon?"

  "I'm not sure." A shiver coursed down my spine, chilling my blood. The vision I had seen was an old one, and I knew she was close, wherever she was. "But she's already on her way."

  "Then we need to run. Now. Tonight." Ellie helped me to my feet, only clutching my elbow long enough to help me find my footing. While I dressed with shaking, stupid hands, she slipped from the tent to find the others.

  She isn't here. I pulled on a pair of leggings. You aren't in danger. I checked my pack, making sure Kalwyn's hourglass was still tucked safely inside. She doesn't have the power to hurt me anymore. But I knew that they were lies. Luciana was coming. We were all in danger. And she very much had the power to hurt me. She had been terrifying before, when she was only a sadistic noblewoman with a penchant for raping and humiliating the help. Now, she was something worse.

  The old Luciana hadn't been quite unhinged enough to kill, at least not before Ellie's arrival at Baxstresse. But the sorcerer's chain and Mogra and the Queen and the mirror had stripped away whatever humanity remained. The new Luciana would destroy anyone who stood between her and Princess Neva, and she would relish in it.

  The princess. I have to warn Ellie. Luciana cannot be allowed to take her. I hurried outside, realizing I had not explained everything, but the second I stepped out into the night, a sense of dread crept over me. The smell of corrupted magic was everywhere. My senses screamed with raw, primal fear. I was the stag in my pack and I often hunted, and once more, my instincts begged me to shift.

  I resisted the temptation and hurried to the small knot of people emerging from their tents. The dwellyn huddled protectively around their princess, muttering quietly to themselves while Belle stood a little apart.

  "What's happening?" Belle's eyes widened in the darkness, and when her glance fell on the Forest trees, she lowered the blade of her sword. "Not another attack?"

  "Your sister," I told her. I did not want to say Luciana's name anymore.

  She gasped softly, and I noticed her flinch. Although Luciana had not physically abused her, Belle had suffered from Luciana's psychological torments far longer than me. "Whatever she's become now, she is not my sister."

  "I don't think she's even human anymore," I said.

  Belle's knuckles bunched around the hilt of her sword. "I know. I saw her face when…"

  Before I could say anything, several more voices broke the short silence. Light shone in the blackness, and Ailynn raced toward us, black cloak swirling and her hand wreathed in flame. "Where is she?" she demanded, with such simmering anger I knew we could not be talking about the same person.

  "Mogra is headed for Kalmarin, but—"

  "Cate!" someone called, between a hissed whisper and shout. I whirled around and saw Ellie some yards away, her pale arm extended into the darkness. I followed it, and my heart dropped. Kerak. I knew them by smell, and I could see the shadows moving. Their mistress would not be far behind.

  "We have to go," I said. "Take the bicorns as they are and leave everything."

  But it was too late. The forward scouts were already converging, forming a circle around our clearing. Brush snapped, and the kerak's shrieks called through the trees on all sides. Soon, we would be surrounded.

  I couldn't hold back my shift any longer. Humans run. Wolves chase. My bones broke and re-made themselves. My muscles burned and stretched. Claws sprouted from my fingers, and my clothes burst at the seams. My terror didn't leave as I came into my half-shape, but it was joined by a swell of courage and confidence. Come find me, Luciana. Come see what I’ve become without you.

  The first kerak that leapt toward me met its death. Its black blood tasted foul flooding into my mouth, but I tore out its throat before its scythes could slice through the air. It had barely collapsed before another took its place. This time, I leapt first. Its sinewy chest ripped open like paper, peeling apart to reveal the slippery, grey-black sludge of its insides. A growl rumbled in my throat as it collapsed, and gore dripped from my muzzle. I'm getting bored with your toys, Mogra. You and Luciana will have to work harder to frighten me.

  I turned to find the next cluster of enemies, but there were none near me. Instead, the coiling shadows converged on Princess Neva and the dwellyn. Lok's sword was a shining silver thread in starlight, but it severed everything it touched. The kerak before her had barely bent down to reach her before she thrust up into its gut, severing it in two. Ulig was less subtle. He scrambled up another dwellyn's back and launched from their stocky shoulders, sailing through the air toward another kerak and bringing his blade down in a sideways swipe. Its head flew from its body, still screaming as it hit the ground.

  Just as I began to feel confident, the earth beneath us quaked. The trees shuddered, and mighty trunks snapped like twigs. My fur bristled, and I dropped to all fours, bounding toward Ailynn and the hissing circle of ash around her boots. She was my best chance to fight the shadowkin without my mate at my flank.

  When the first beast's bulk burst into the clearing, we were ready. She called up a bright beacon of flame, and I streaked between the shadowkin's forepaws, tearing at its tough underbelly with my teeth and claws. It roared, curling in on itself and swiping at me with a great paw. I feared I would be crushed. But fire began crawling along its pelt, devouring everything it touched. The creature hesitated just long enough for me to slip out from underneath its body. It howled, bleeding and burning until it was a giant twitching mountain.

  Another broke into the clearing, then another, until five of them towered over us. They were as tall as houses, larger than any I had ever seen, and perched astride the largest of all was a slender figure. Even from such a height, I knew who it was. I could smell her even though her scent was wrong. Luciana.

  Half of me wanted to cower, but the other half ached for blood. I crouched off to the side, preparing to lunge at her mount's enormous leg, but Luciana did not command it forward. She barely even seemed to notice me. Instead, she peered down at the defensive ring the dwellyn had made. When her sightless gaze landed on Princess Neva, who was huddled against Ellie's skirt, her face lit up—a fact made even more terrifying by the fact that she had no eyes.

  "So, this is the heart I was sent to fetch? Funny. I thought you would be older."

  Her voice gutted me. It was still the same, despite the horrible transformation she had undergone. My head swam with old terrors, and my heart raced at double-speed.

  "I don't know why you're complaining, Luci." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Belle step forward and break the circle. She looked incredibly small standing beneath the muzzle of Luciana's giant shadowkin, but her blade didn't waver. "You always liked your victims young."

  Luciana's face twisted into a sneer. "Belle? This will be even more fun than I'd hoped. After I kill your wife for taking my eyes, I think I might leave you alive to miss her. Call it a sister's mercy."

  I looked at Belle standing before the shadowkin. I looked at Ellie, shielding Princess Neva. I looked at Ailynn, her stern face glowing in the light of her flames. I couldn't let my friends face this thing alone.

  "If you want the person who took your eyes, you've found her," I growled in my other-voice, stepping out of the shadows so Luciana could see me. "And if you're looking for the person who's going to end your miserable existence, you've found her as well."

  At first, Luciana didn't seem to recognize me. Her brow, one of the clearest parts of her peeling face, furrowed. But I knew the moment she understood who I w
as. Her sneer spread, and she laughed—a low, self-satisfied sound I was intimately familiar with. "You? The serving girl? What on earth has that stupid witch done to you? Can you climb out of that body, or did she turn you into a monster permanently?"

  "You are the only monster I see here."

  "Really?" Luciana nodded, and more kerak started crawling out from behind the trunks of the shadowkins' legs. She seemed to have some hold over them, because they didn't rush at us right away. Instead, they waited, even more terrifying in their silence than they were when they screamed. "Count again, pet."

  Rage flooded through me, and I jerked my muzzle toward Ailynn. "I'm ending this. Give me a boost."

  It was one of the only times I saw her grin. One of her arms jerked, and the ground beneath me quaked. A slanting column of earth carried me upward, and when I launched for the shadowkin's back, a gust of wind helped carry me. My claws dug into its hide, and I held on tight as it reared and bucked beneath me.

  Luciana snarled and her slender body began changing. Sharp spines sprouted from her back. Her arms and legs lengthened. Her jaw unhinged and grew, making space for her fangs. More cracks sprouted along her pale grey skin, as if she was about to slither out of it, and a strange light seemed to shine from beneath them. When she spoke again, her voice had many layers, all of them vibrating with anger. "Come on, puppy. Let's see how well you play."

  I leapt, and the two of us crashed together in a tangle of claws. I was fast, but Luciana was faster. When we collided, I barely managed to raise my arm in time. Flecks of spit hit my face, and the sickly-sweet scent of rot clogged my mouth as I fought to keep back her gnashing teeth. I slammed into her despite my struggle to breathe, trying to shove her off balance.

  Luciana started to sway, but she found another hold. She snapped, and pain pierced my shoulder, not just stabbing but burning as it split through my skin. I thrashed, trying to shake off the bite, but no matter how I twisted my spine, I couldn't dislodge her. We fell, rolling across the shadowkin's broad back, still tearing at each other as hot blood pulsed over our heaving chests.

  I kicked with my back paws, but Luciana didn't even flinch when they caught her stomach. The bands of muscle sprouted along her body were like steel. My struggles barely registered. She released my shoulder with a sick sucking sound, jaws dripping with blood, staring down at me with her sightless, twisted eyes. "No surprise," she hissed. "You're right where you've always been. Flat on your—"

  That gave me the surge of strength I needed to match her. This time, my lunge knocked her back. My teeth found her throat, and my jaws snapped shut, clenching tighter and tighter as hot blood gushed to fill my mouth. Luciana slashed at me with her claws, leaving several searing gashes along my pelt, but I didn't let go. Wyr called their holds death-bites for a reason. If she wanted to dislodge me, she would need to kill me.

  More blood rushed over us, but I relished in the knowledge that the sour-black streams soaking my fur were mostly Luciana's. She wasn't going to win. Not this time. Never again. She made a gurgling sound, but I didn't hesitate. I bit deeper, preparing to rip with everything I had.

  I didn't get the chance. Luciana's control had wavered, and the shadowkin beneath us realized it was not content to be a battlefield. It reared up on its hind legs and roared, a rumbling sound that shuddered through my bones, and the two of us went tumbling over its massive side, still locked together as we hurtled toward the ground.

  We hit the dirt with a painful jolt, but it was worse for her than me. She landed first, and her body broke my fall. I heard something crack, but she continued writhing beneath me, trying to escape. An enormous paw towered over us, preparing to crash down. Luciana had realized she was losing, and instead of allowing me victory, she was going to kill us both.

  "Stop!"

  I couldn't see who was shouting, but the voice was high and clear. The shadowkin froze, its foot still hovering over us.

  "Put your paw down."

  The shadowkin's paw came back down.

  "Stop them."

  To my horror, I found myself being pulled away from Luciana by at least dozen slender grey arms. The kerak were pulling us apart, although they made no effort to harm me. Their shrieking was silent, and the gaping, spike-lined pits of their mouths remained closed. I sank my teeth further into Luciana's throat, unwilling to release my prey, but in such numbers, they were too strong for me. It took seven of them to pry me off, and they formed a circle around me, shielding Luciana from my line of sight.

  "No!" I shouted, staggering to my feet and preparing to charge past them. But it was too late. Luciana sprinted for the trees. I only caught a brief glimpse of her before she vanished. Her monsters remained behind, motionless and eerily quiet. Without a master to command them, they were mere statues.

  I prepared to give chase, inhaling to find Luciana's cloying scent, but a small figure approached from behind me. Princess Neva put a hand on my arm, stretching up to reach it. "It's all right, Cate. She's gone."

  Gone. And I didn't kill her. I hadn't even realized how much I'd wanted to kill her until I'd come face to face with her again. But as the bloodlust wore off, I realized I should be grateful. The shadowkin would have crushed the two of us, and I had no desire to die for someone as disgusting as Luciana. I dropped to all fours, which brought my head more in line with Neva's face. "Thank you. How did you do that?"

  Neva shrugged. Then, with a look of resignation, she turned away from me and toward the kerak and shadowkin. She looked surprisingly small standing before such giant creatures, swallowed up in a large shirt that hung down to her knees, but they drew back as she stepped forward. The shadowkin dipped their heads, and the kerak lowered their wicked scythes. One bent to its knees before her and she placed her hand in the middle of its forehead, above its gaping pit of a mouth. "Go to sleep. It's time for you to rest."

  I hadn't even known kerak could have facial expressions, but the creature seemed almost relieved at Neva's words. It let out something like a sigh, and its body began to crumble. Soon, nothing remained but a small pile of ash.

  "Maker, that's incredible," I heard Ailynn say from several yards away. "I sensed she was Ariada, but a Kira'baas?"

  Neva turned toward her briefly, but didn't speak. Instead, she continued with her work. One by one, the kerak fell. They remained still, waiting their turn as she un-made them. Once they were gone, Neva turned her attention to the shadowkin. She un-made them too, and all of us watched in awe as their enormous bodies faded away to nothing.

  In the end, only one remained: Luciana's mount, the one who had almost killed me. Neva approached it, but instead of placing her hand on its paw, she smiled. "I'm naming this one Stinky. What do you think, Ulig?"

  Ulig seemed just as shocked as the rest of us, but the dwellyn quickly regained his composure. "Good name," he said, smiling hesitantly behind his beard.

  "Are you sure you should name it?" Lok had sheathed her sword, but her face read concern. "This isn't the kind of pet we can take with us, Neva."

  "This is exactly the kind of pet we should take with us." Belle stepped forward, craning her neck up to peer at the giant dog's face. "Did you save this one so we could ride it?"

  Neva nodded. "He can move faster than the bicorns, and he's big enough to climb mountains. Besides, he won't hurt us. He follows the orders of whoever's controlling him. Now, that's me. Stinky, lie down." The shadowkin dropped onto its stomach, curling its great legs underneath its body. One of its forepaws remained stretched out, and Neva scurried up, using its leg as a ladder to scale its shoulder. "Come on. We shouldn't stay here."

  One by one, we climbed the shadowkin's sloping limb: first the dwellyn, then Ailynn and Belle, and finally Ellie, whose pack had decided to start squirming. "Well, I'm sorry you're unhappy about it, Jessith, but we don't have much of a choice. You can just stay in there if you don't want to look at it."

  A low, unhappy yowl followed, and even without the ability to understand her words, I had a fairl
y good idea of what Jessith was saying. Ellie ignored the noise and paused before going up, staring at me instead. "Cate, are you okay?"

  I tried to take stock of my body. My fur was covered in matted blood, and my shoulder ached terribly, but aside from the plummeting exhaustion that came after fighting for my life, I felt whole enough. "I'm all right," I said. It was true, but my emotions were more mixed. Minutes ago, I had been about to die in the arms of my worst enemy. Now, she was gone, and I was alive. My chest held a strange emptiness.

  Ellie touched my arm in a gesture of comfort. "Let's go up and join the others. I've got some bandages for your shoulder."

  I had completely forgotten about my shoulder, but hearing her mention it brought the pain back. I winced, suddenly aware that my right arm was almost useless. My efforts to move it were pitiful at best. Wyr healed quickly, but I had a feeling this injury would last a while. "Maybe it's a good thing I didn't go after her. She was fast, Ellie. Fast and strong. I don't know if I could have fought her again this way."

  "You will fight her again," Ellie said, offering a hand to help me up even though I was almost twice her size. "And next time, you'll win."

  Chapter Ten

  Taken from the verbal accounts of Ailynn Gothel, edited by Lady Eleanor Kingsclere

  WITH THE HELP OF Neva's new pet, we reached the Rengast Mountains in record time. The shadowkin moved at a speed that horses could only dream of, and it carried us as if we weighed nothing. Although I was wary of using one of Mogra's creations at first, I couldn't help being impressed. She had obviously made some adaptations, because Stinky was much faster than the slow, lumbering beasts I remembered fighting. He reminded me more of the speedy mount Mogra had ridden while chasing Raisa, Hassa, and me to Ardu.