Reflection: The Stranger in the Mirror

by Rachel R. Smith

  "Who is going to believe a lie that obvious?" Desta mumbled to herself as she dropped her socked feet over the edge of the bed. It wasn't that she expected her mother to tell her every dream that she had. As a matter of fact, she kept the majority of her dreams to herself. There were many reasons to do so. For instance, some of the dreams revealed very private information about people's lives—things which were better left unsaid. However, this dream had obviously shaken her mother. The circles under her eyes were visible proof of that. She would not have gone to Erik so early in the morning unless the matter were urgent. The situation piqued her curiosity, but that wasn't the main reason for her interest. Desta didn't have even a glimmer of the prophetic talent that ran in her family. Still, after years with her mother, she understood how much of a burden it could be. She wasn't about to let her bear this one alone.

  Although she had not inherited her mother's talent, Desta seemed to have a different intangible quality working in her favor. For as long as she could remember, she had possessed uncanny luck. Regardless of how unlikely or unpredictable it was, somehow the most random and amazing things always managed to work out in her favor. She hadn’t considered herself particularly lucky when she stumbled across her (now) former boyfriend cuddling with a girl from the next village over, but she supposed it was fortunate to know sooner rather than later. She decided to put her luck to the test again. If her mother wouldn't tell her about the dream, then she would read about it for herself. There was really only a small risk of being caught in the first place since her mother would be occupied in the garden prepping clippings for distillation for quite awhile.

  Desta made her way to the kitchen where she made a point of rattling dishes loudly while going through the motions of making herself breakfast. The Osmunda bushes outside the kitchen window swayed back and forth as Shae sifted through them. Desta tapped on the window to get her attention and held up a bowl and spoon to show that she was about to eat. Shae wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her wrist and smiled broadly.

  With her mother's current whereabouts now confirmed, Desta decided the coast was clear to begin her reconnaissance. She dashed down the hallway to Shae's room to the nightstand where the notebook was kept. Most people would call the small bureau rickety, Desta being chief among them, but her mother said that it was part of its charm. Desta suspected her mother's affection toward it had less to do with "charm" and more to do with the fact that her father had made it. That did nothing to change the fact that it looked like it might spontaneously fall to pieces at any moment.

  Desta hurriedly paged through to the latest entry and began reading, her stomach tightening with each word. It was no wonder she was stressed. Her mother had witnessed the assassination of the rulers of their country! Desta's own problems seemed inconsequential in that perspective. What was the loss of a boyfriend compared to the loss of lives? The message this morning must have been sent directly to the capital. Desta fervently hoped that Erik and the message would reach Chiyo in time. Her thoughts were cut off by the sudden slamming of the front door.

  "Caught!" Desta hissed quietly. She flung the book into the half-open drawer and thrust it closed with an audible rattle. Desta hoped she hadn't broken anything. She leaped across the bed and pretended to be searching through the bookcase on the near wall a matter of seconds before Shae entered the room.

  "There you are! What are you doing in here?"

  "Just looking for something to read," Desta replied with complete honesty.

  "If you say so. Take whatever you like and go back to your room, please. I have an unexpected customer." Her tone of voice indicated that this was not a welcome patron.

  Desta quickly grabbed several books at random from the shelves and scurried from the room. She dropped the books unceremoniously onto the small desk opposite her bed. Over the last week, she had been reading every book she could get her hands on, using the stories to temporarily escape from her heartbreak. Just a few weeks ago, her life had been peaceful and ignorantly happy. She expected a perfect future with her first love. Then, in one afternoon, her whole world unraveled. Desta's thoughts became muddled and filled with despair, and she sat down at the desk, laying her head on her folded arms. Miserable thoughts lingered in her mind, and tears began to flow once more until sadness gave way to a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter 4

  The Clever Prophetess

  Though her name was known throughout all of Renatus, Queen Echidna's face was not for she rarely made appearances outside of the royal court. Even Shae would never have foreseen that this dignified and regal woman would come to her tiny village. Echidna's hands were folded languidly over one knee, displaying every perfectly lacquered nail. Silver rings embedded with polished stones adorned each finger. Somehow not a single hair was out of place in her glossy raven locks, which tumbled in a messy, but intentional, fashion out from beneath a green velvet hat. Looking at the Queen made Shea feel self-conscious of the dirt that was still caked beneath her own nails as a result of having her work in the garden suddenly interrupted. The Queen's hands obviously never performed such manual tasks.

  Shae curled her fingers into her palms and willed herself to stay calm and act deferentially. "To what occasion do I owe this honor?" she asked. Besides my own continuing ill fortune, she added silently. She was rapidly becoming aware that this visit must have been the meaning of the last part of her dream. It was good that Desta had returned to her room, and Shea hoped that she would stay there.

  Echidna laughed lightly, elegantly covering her scarlet lips with the back of her hand. The stones in her rings glimmered and glossy nails flashed with her every movement. "That is what I am hoping you can tell me, Shae. You have no equal as a prophetess in all of Renatus, which is why I have come all this way to speak with you personally."

  "I certainly never expected to host the Queen of Marise in my humble home. If you had sent for me, I would gladly have come to you, Your Highness." Shae tried to choose her words carefully. The sudden appearance of the Queen, in conjunction with the nightmare from this morning, had Shea on edge, but she didn’t want to let it show.

  Echidna's eyes narrowed and for a fleeting moment her mask of pleasantness dropped. "I would prefer to keep my consultation with you in strictest confidence. For those in my position, discretion is of the utmost importance."

  "I understand, Your Highness." Shae knew that discretion would be out the window in less than five minutes if Gladys spotted the dragon-marked carriage in front of the house.

  "My husband gives no credit to ‘nonsense’ like prophecy. He would be quite angry if his name were associated with anything aside from the most respected and foremost scientific works," Echidna said. She waved a glittering hand in the air as if dismissing the words from her presence. "I, on the other hand, am of an entirely different opinion. I find the divination of fate to be an intriguing phenomenon. The information can be invaluable if it is obtained from a seer with genuine talent such as yourself."

  "I am honored by your praise,” Shae replied. She inclined her head slightly before continuing, feeling sickened by her own words. "However, I am afraid that you may have over-estimated my talents. I have had no visions about you, Your Highness." Through the window, Shae could see the sun glinting off of one of the silver dragons emblazoned on the side of the Queen’s carriage. Perhaps saying she hadn’t had any visions about Echidna wasn’t entirely true. The dragon in her dream had indeed come for her.

  "There is no reason to be humble about your talents with me. My ladies-in-waiting tell me that you have the rare ability to see the future, not only in dreams, but also while awake by gazing into crystals." She waved her hands over the glass sphere that decorated the table like some vision of the future would appear in the glass by doing so.

  Shae was taken aback by the sheer absurdity of the concept. That globe was a bauble that her husband, a glass blower by trade, had made. Did Echidna truly think that a piece of artwork was a divination tool? Not on
ly that, but this woman seemed to believe it was possible to summon visions at will. As part of the Marisianne nobility, Echidna was undoubtedly well educated. Yet it appeared that, despite all of the scientific knowledge she possessed, she had no understanding of the basic workings of nature.

  "My husband plans an attack to take over Chiyo. His previous failure distressed him so greatly, and I cannot stand the idea that it may happen again. I want to know what can be done to assure him complete success." Echidna's satiny voice gradually grew rapider as she spoke, no longer trying to hold back her excitement. She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she failed to notice Shae's hesitation.

  For her part, Shae was stunned to hear the woman speak so gleefully and so callously about plans that would lead to the deaths of many people. It was readily apparent that Echidna cared for no one beside herself and her husband. Shae knelt down gracefully in front of the table on which the glass sphere rested and raised her hands up over it, mimicking Echidna's own movements just moments ago. Staring into the depths of the orb as her hands brushed its sides, she pretended to scour the distorted forms within for hints about the future. Echidna's ignorance of the nature of Shae’s talents provided an opportunity and Shae seized it for all it was worth. She did something that she had never done before. Something that she had sworn to never do regarding her prophecies. She lied.

  "You are correct, Your Highness. I can divine the future through this crystal ball. I will tell you what I see for the King’s plans," Shae said, trying to keep her voice steady. If deception could save even one life, then it was worth breaking her cardinal rule.

  Echidna, meanwhile, had completely abandoned her aloof demeanor and inched forward to the edge of her cushions, perching there in rapt anticipation.

  As Shae gazed into the sphere her pulse raced, but she spoke slowly, pretending to be entranced by the pool of liquid colors in front of her. "I see a man with great ambition, focused and intent on success. He wishes to bring enlightenment to all in Marise and Chiyo. In doing so, he also plans to expand the influence of his power throughout all of Renatus."

  "Yes, yes, I couldn’t have described my husband better myself!" Echidna interjected with breathless excitement.

  I didn’t need a crystal ball to see that, Shae thought sarcastically. She continued on, aloud, adding an ominous tone to her voice. "This is not a favorable path. I see fire, bloodshed, and ruin. He was once defeated, marring his reputation with shame. A second attempt is also fated to fail and will ultimately bring disaster on himself. The attack will lead to the end of his rule and the loss of all he holds dear. There is no hope for success. He should abandon the plan immediately."

  Echidna twitched visibly, her beautiful features now twisted into an enraged scowl. This was clearly not the answer she had expected to receive. She stood, towering over Shae as she raised herself to her full height. She kicked the small table onto its side with one dainty foot. "That is not possible." The words were uttered through clenched teeth.

  Shae landed on one elbow after instinctively dodging the table and blinked up at the woman in surprise. The glass sphere rolled across the floor. For a moment, the warbling noise it made was the only sound in the room. "I-I-I'm sorry. I can do nothing more than tell you what I see." She stuttered as fear clenched her throat. Could Echidna know that she had lied?

  Echidna smoothed the front of her green velvet skirt with both hands and exhaled audibly. When she finally looked down at Shae, her composure had returned, but her eyes held a menacing gleam. "I should not blame you, Shae. You are simply a messenger who has no influence on the future. You can only relay what you see in your visions."

  Shae could barely contain her relief, but the feeling didn’t last for long. Echidna turned her head, scanning the room. "Seers have both waking and dreaming visions, don’t you? So you must keep a written record of your dreams. Perhaps you have inadvertently overlooked an insight from your sleep."

  The color drained from Shae's face. If Echidna saw the notebook and found the entry from this morning, both she and Desta would be in grave danger. "I'm afraid I do not keep a written log of my dreams. They are as vivid to me as memories of my own waking experiences so I have no need,” Shae replied. A bead of sweat trickled down her back.

  "You will not mind if we take a look around then." Echidna's predatory expression chilled Shae to the bone. Without waiting for a response, she strode to the door and motioned to two men with long black hair who had been waiting near the carriage. She spoke with them quietly in the doorway. Shae strained to overhear but could not make out Echidna’s words.

  The pair of men bowed deeply to the Queen and strode into the house. One brushed past Shae without acknowledging her presence. They searched the front room from top to bottom. Every drawer was opened and sifted through, and every bookcase and cabinet was scoured. They didn’t bother to put any of the contents back into place.

  "There's nothing here, my Queen," one of them announced several minutes later. Shae remained frozen in the middle of the scattered mess that was once her living room.

  Echidna tapped a long nail against her red lips thoughtfully. "It was silly of me not to think of this before. If the visions come in dreams, then it would make more sense for the notebook to be in her bedroom. Look there next."

  The men nodded and headed to the hall. As the taller of the two placed his hand on the knob of the door leading to Desta's room, Shae spoke up. "That is my daughter's room. You may search there, but please let me enter first so that she won't be startled."

  Two pairs of brown eyes turned to Echidna questioningly. She responded with another flippant gesture of her hand, and the two stepped back to make way for Shae.

  Shae's attempt to spare Desta from being surprised was futile, as the sound of the door opening jolted her awake. Her head jerked upward, and her elbow connected with a glass of water nearby, knocking it over. Its contents rapidly spread across the desk to the stack of books and began to seep into the one on the bottom.

  Echidna's cronies ushered Desta away from the desk before she could collect herself and attempt to clean up the mess. Shae pulled her daughter over to where she stood near the window and wrapped her arms protectively around her.

  “I'll explain everything later. Just don't say anything for now, alright?" Shae whispered furiously in Desta's ear. Desta gave no response but stayed quiet while her room was turned into shambles.

  Their search of Desta's room turned out to be as fruitless as it had been for the front room. Shae followed along as they moved on to her own room. She hovered in the doorway, still holding her daughter tightly. There wasn’t any point in running away since they had no chance of escaping from Echidna and her men. Tears sprang to her eyes when the taller of the men opened the top drawer of the night table. Every muscle in her body tensed, anticipating the inevitable, and Shae desperately tried to think of a way to get them to spare Desta.

  The man closed the top drawer and moved on to the bottom. He closed it and turned empty-handed to join his cohort in searching the bookshelf. Surely, he must have seen the notebook and pen in the top drawer! He pulled each book off the shelf and thumbed through before tossing it into a growing pile on the ground. Shae was still in shock when he turned to Echidna and shook his head side to side.

  “There’s nothing here, my Queen,” he said.

  "Very well, prepare the carriage to depart," Echidna commanded, unaware that anything was amiss. She turned to Shae. "It seems you speak the truth. I will be on my way now. I expect that you will continue your normal routine like I had never been here. You will never speak of this visit again. Your neighbors have already been informed of my command and the consequences of disobeying me. They all have agreed that no one has come to visit this village in weeks. I suggest that you maintain that story as well. I will know otherwise."

  "It will be kept in the strictest confidence," Shae replied, her voice wavering. Desta simply squeaked softly under Echidna's piercing gaze. Her eyes were as ro
und as tea cups.

  Echidna nodded in satisfaction then stalked out the door, rattling the walls as she slammed it closed behind her. Shae’s knees buckled, and the world went black.

  *******************

  Echidna flopped onto her cushioned seat inside the carriage, pulling the hat from her head and crushing it in her hand in a fit of anger. The visit had resulted in a wasted day. There was no way she would tell Casimer of her foray into Chiyo. There was certainly no reason to tell him about Shae's prediction for the future. That woman was obviously a charlatan.

  "Anyone who could truly see the future would surely become rich by making use of their talents. Perhaps Casimer is right and prophecy really is nothing but nonsense," she said to no one in particular. All she wanted now was to get home and take a bath. She had felt like her skin was crawling ever since entering the disgusting little shack Shae called a home.

  "What did you say, my Queen?" her guard asked. He leaned his head through the open back window of the carriage in order to hear better.

  "I said hurry! I would like to bathe and wash off the filth from that wretched hovel before seeing my husband off this evening." On that command, they raced toward Nyx without so much as a second thought to Shae's warning.

  *******************

  Shae opened her eyes and stared up at the wooden rafters in the ceiling above her bed. A glance out the window told her that the sun had dropped below the horizon. Despite this, the room was bathed in the warm yellow glow of candlelight. She sat up and found Desta on a chair nearby with her knees tucked under her chin, her gaze transfixed on the window.

  "Desta? Are you alright?" Shae asked.

  Desta gave no response. Shae stood carefully, her legs still riddled with the remnants of the wobbliness that she had felt all over earlier. "Desta," she repeated, kneeling down in front of her daughter. Desta never released her focus on the window.