by Karen Frost
~*~
Jack was frozen mid-yawn, his hand suspended in the air halfway to his mouth. Aldair’s eyes, flashing and lively only moments ago, now appeared glazed, and one ear remained cocked back while the other pointed forward. Jack found that though his mind was still active and free, he could not move his body or cry out. The sky around them seemed to grow dark and menacing, as though a cloud had passed completely over the sun, only more ominous. The darkness closed in until Jack could only see the things around him as shadows, and the air was thick around him. Then out of the blackness a young woman dressed all in white appeared. Her skin radiated white light that lit the space around her. She wore an expression of peace and gentleness. She smiled sweetly at Jack, winking at him, then giggled girlishly as she looked at the frozen Aldair and sleeping Maude. Jack's mind struggled to understand what was happening, but it felt as though he were trying to think through thick honey.
“Did…did you do this?” Jack asked.
His words came out slurred. His tongue felt thick and resistant in his mouth. The woman in white nodded wordlessly and floated closer, keeping her distance from the stiff, frozen stag. Jack noticed absently that her feet did not touch the ground. Instead, they hovered an inch above it.
“Who are you?” He asked.
Alarm bells were ringing in his head, but they seemed far away. He could easily ignore them. Something in him wanted to ignore them. He watched as the woman knelt before him and gently ran her hand across the sleeping Maude’s cheek. She looked wistful.
“I don’t have much time,” she said, looking up at him. “The brave Alcide will return soon.”
Jack saw a flicker of contempt flash quickly across her face. He struggled against the weight leaning heavily on his mind. There was something important that he was supposed to remember. Some reason why she would dislike Alcide, and why she was ignoring Aldair. His stomach lurched as he suddenly realized who she was.
“You’re Mirrin,” he said.
The woman in white, Mirrin, nodded.
“Yes," she acknowledged. "I am she. But you must not fear me, Jack. I mean you no harm.”
Jack's mind drifted for a moment as he wondered how she knew his name. But then, she seemed to know everything. He forced himself to pay attention to her now, kneeling in front of him with her hand on Maude's hair. She must have done something to cause this strange paralysis that stopped him from moving and kept his thoughts muddled. A spell. Mirrin's mouth twitched into a frown as she watched him struggle to think clearly. The fingers of her free hand curled into a fist and she twisted her fist gently. Immediately, Jack forgot what he had been thinking and smiled at the witch. Mirrin let go of Maude and floated into the air above him. She looked down at Jack lovingly, a serene smile upon her shining white face.
She murmured, “Good boy. Poor, poor child, cast all of the sudden into a strange world far from home. What will your parents think when they find you are not safe in your bed? Jack, these horrible, deceitful animals have tricked you with their lies and lured you deeper and deeper into danger. You must get away from them while you still can. Come to me. Come to me and I will help you to leave Devorian. You, Mary Jane, and dearest Maude will all leave together, but you must hurry.”
Jack felt a tingling warmth spread through his body and he relaxed into it. It was so much easier to embrace the feeling than to resist it. They would all be safe. They could go home at last and all would be well. But though his heart wanted to believe Mirrin's words, some part of his mind cried out that he must not give in to her. He frowned, confused. However, the urge to escape from the woman in white was overpowering. With great effort, he shook from his mind the cloud that the sorceress had cast over it.
“Why are you here?” He demanded. “If the flame has died then Devorian is yours; Just what you always wanted. What do you want of us?”
Mirrin scowled, her mouth an angry red gash across her too pale face. When her face twisted in rage, she was no longer beautiful. Before she could speak, a gust of wind passed through the trees. Mirrin’s body shimmered like the surface of a lake, but she didn't seem to notice. Puzzled, Jack reached out his hand…and reached straight through the sorceress's leg. Instantly, he realized that it was not Mirrin who stood before him but an apparition—Mirrin herself was still trapped at Morlach. Mirrin stepped back so that Jack's hand was no longer through her body.
“Soon enough the flame of that accursed princess will die out,” she snarled as if reading his thoughts.
The sky darkened even more until all Jack could see was Mirrin. The trees around them, Aldair, and even Maude were lost in the blackness. Mirrin's apparition glowed a white so bright that it burned Jack's eyes to look at it. Her hair flew away from her head like angry snakes, caught in what felt like the static buildup before lightening strikes. Jack felt a dreadful cold seeping into his bones and a heavy despair falling upon him.
Mirrin hissed, “I am more powerful than you could possibly imagine. There is nowhere in Devorian for you to hide where I will not find you, no wall you can build that I cannot smash to pieces. These pitiful so-called magical beasts cannot keep you from me.”
Suddenly an ear splitting yowl pierced the air and Alcide burst through the witch’s chest, her fangs and razor sharp claws scattering the apparition into a cloud of fine white particles that turned green and sank to the ground before disappearing. The spell was broken and time began to move again. Maude awoke, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Aldair snorted angrily, his tail twitching unhappily.
“We must fly,” Alcide roared, her ears flat to her skull and her long white teeth bared. “It is clear that the witch has awakened, even if she remains trapped for now at Morlach. With every passing hour she gains more strength. Little distance yet remains to reach Tarah, but surely Mirrin will put obstacles in our path. We must be ever vigilant.”
Alcide crouched down and encouraged Maude to mount. Maude was confused and frightened, but Aldair said nothing. He only stood still while Jack used a large tree root to scrabble onto the giant stag's back.
Alcide continued, “We will cross through this part of the Green Forest in a few hours. Aldair and I will go with you as far as we can, but in time it may be that you will have to travel on without us. If we should become separated, you must go on alone. You must not stop, at any cost.”
"How will we find Tarah?" Maude asked.
Alcide did not answer. The two beasts set off running as quickly as they could, covering ground in huge strides through the fields and forests. Jack wrapped his arms around Aldair's neck to keep from falling off and hoped, as he had every hour that they had been in Devorian, they would soon find a way to save Mary Jane. He did not want to think of what Mirrin would do once she had his sister in her clutches. Noon became afternoon and then dusk as the beasts ran surely on. Jack felt that if they continued much longer he might become delirious. His legs were rubbed raw and his hands chaffed, but he could not let go or ask the stag to slow his pace. He had been so hungry for so long that he had passed beyond hunger and no longer wanted to eat. He knew that Maude must also be suffering, though she said nothing.
At last the beasts began to walk. They, too, were tired. Alcide was limping gently on her left front paw from where she had run over a sharp rock. Aldair was breathing heavily, his head hanging almost to his knees as he walked. Jack looked up and saw that stars had begun to appear in the sky. He could not remember a time when he had ever seen so many stars. In the city, the lights from the buildings, cars, houses, and streetlights made it impossible to see all but the brightest stars. His mind drifted back to Baker’s Row and to his parents, who might already have returned home and would be wondering where their children were. He tried to remember their faces and hear their voices, but lulled by the rocking movement of the stag beneath him, his eyes drifted shut and he fell into a light sleep.
When Jack awoke, the stag and leopard were still walking. His hands felt stiff from having clutched Aldair's neck for so long, and his body
was sore all over from hours of riding. He asked Aldair to stop and slid off of the stag’s back awkwardly, feeling stinging pain shoot up his feet and legs when they hit the ground. He walked to stretch his legs. The sun had not yet risen, but the sky was splashed with wonderful shades of orange and red that indicated that it soon would. Maude was wide awake, though her eyes were tired and rimmed with red, and she was talking animatedly with Alcide.
“We will follow the river for some time,” Aldair told Jack, indicating with a nod of his head a narrow stream of water that flowed through the sparse trees several yards to their right. “We are getting closer.”
Jack heard the chirp of a bird and looked up to see a small brown jay circling in the air above them. It weaved closer and closer until it finally dropped straight down to land upon a rock next to Aldair. It cocked its head and looked at the travelers curiously.
Dropping his head to the jay's level, Aldair asked, “What news do you bring, brother?”
The jay peered up into the stag's large amber eyes and flapped its wings once, chirping.
“The last of the ice is gone—the flame is in its final stages. A few hours left, at best, and it will be over.”
"Have faith that all will end well," Aldair said gently.
The bird said nothing, but flew away, heading south. The beasts became silent and grave. Jack mounted Aldair once more and though the two beasts were weary, they picked up their pace again to a loping run. Jack could not guess how many hours they had traveled or how many more miles remained before they finally reached Tarah. He thought of Mary Jane, somewhere in Devorian bewitched by Mirrin's magic, and his parents, and wondered if he would ever see any of them again.