The Mirror Sliver (Legends of Green Isle Book 2)

by Constance Wallace

  “How did you make it all stop?”

  “Time and space have no boundaries. Except those we put on them.”

  “Can I ask?”

  “Ask what?”

  “Matt? What happened to him? I’ve been feeling it for a while. It’s not him anymore.”

  “No. That’s why I stopped time. I had to tell you before the next hour. It’s changed. Everything has changed. Keltrain prophecies. Everything. Matt’s been reborn. As you have too, to an extent, to Green Isle. You both belong here. As well as Earth. Going back will be difficult. It will be very difficult. Your heart will stay here.”

  Miranda glanced back at Lug. “I want to stay here. Can I?”

  “Not right now. You have a duty to those who need to return through the portal. It’s not going to turn out well today.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ll see. Remember. It’s changed. Keep the sword safe.” Morrigana shifted back into the wolf and loped out of the hall. When she disappeared, the silence broke. Everything began to move at once. No one seemed to notice that time had stopped. Even if just briefly.

  DaGon made his way to Miranda. He motioned with his head. “Come with me. I’ll shield you so you can get closer to the mirror. And Uthal.”

  “I’ll deal with those things,” Lug stated, pointing to the Fir Darrigs. He brought his own sword from its sheath and turned to face the rat men. They were now aware that Miranda and the others had entered the room. Miranda turned to Lug and kissed him. “Whatever happens? Don’t forget me and all.”

  He kissed her back. “Never.” He pushed her away and motioned with his head. “Go to your other destiny.”

  “We’ll help you. Gee. One guy can’t hold off all those rat things,” Thomas said to Lug.

  “Don’t worry about us. We’ll hold them off. You and DaGon go to Uthal,” Keltrain said.

  “Aye, lass. Just take care of the demon and we can go home.”

  Miranda watched in concern as her cousins joined Lug, the wizard, and Lamfada. She allowed herself one last glance back before following DaGon. When she and the dragon crossed the middle of the room, she felt a small pain in the back of her leg. She looked down. There was a line of red and a deep gash. Looking back at Bera, she saw that the witch had used her magic to fire several small daggers at her. The voices in her head raged. How dare she? It was then that they took control.

  The small mark on her palm begin to glow. The heat and fire radiated out of the center of her hand and traveled up her arm. The fire etched symbols and lines on her body like those she saw on Matt. When the spirits had completed their markings, she thrust her hand toward the witch with the fire of the sword. The magic hurdled Bera backwards into the center of one of the hall mirrors. The force of her body cracked the glass and the witch fell to the floor. Miranda felt satisfaction when she didn’t move.

  Her fear diminished and she stepped closer to Uthal’s silver mirror. DaGon moved with her. The spirits of the sword all cried in unison. Revenge. Revenge. She felt their emotion at the sight of him. “I’m not afraid of you,” she said. “Not in the least. I know who you really are. The spirits have shown me.”

  Without warning, a powerful light surged from the warlock and struck DaGon. His body was lifted into the air and flung backwards. Miranda winced when she heard him hit the wall with a sickening thud. “I can do the same thing. You harmed my companion. I kill yours. I think that’s fair. Don’t you, girl?”

  “We’ll help him,” she heard the wizard say. “Don’t stop.”

  “Do you think I wouldn’t be prepared for you?” Uthal sneered. “Come closer, child. Let me have the sword. Save your friends before I kill them all.”

  Miranda looked back at Lug and her cousins. Matt rose from under table with the wand. Adalay was still bent over the elf. DaGon hadn’t moved and the wizard was listening to his chest. The dog advanced at the Fir Darrigs, growling. The others were hiding behind the mirror in the back of the room in Lily’s protective bubble. She could see the fear in their eyes. No. No. No. She wouldn’t give him the sword. She wouldn’t leave her friends and family unprotected.

  Uthal let out an evil laugh. “You have only a small moment to chose before I chose for you.”

  Miranda turned back to the mirror and stared at the demon. She had no fear. She raised the sword and moved forward. “Yes. I’m a girl. What about it? The sword chose me and all. The spirits chose me. And I am their champion. The sword is mine. I’m not wavering. I’m not afraid. Because all you are is a bully.” Powerful rage surged through her body. It was the spirits. The sword was working through her. She rushed at him.

  The mirror began to soften. The silver glass gave way to the hideous body of the Black Warlock. She watched as he moved his lower torso and one thigh through. It was time. She had to destroy him now.

  With determination, she lunged. But before she made it to the mirror, an unseen force knocked her backward. The sword flew out of her hand and landed near Matt. Miranda felt the air leave her body as she hit the stone floor. She rolled over and saw Keltrain moving toward her. He was yelling something, but she couldn’t understand what he was saying above the noise of the orb. Scrambling quickly, she tried to retrieve the weapon. Lug was looking at her, the expression on his face one of panic.

  It was then that she saw it. A lucid form. It resembled the stone of the fortress walls and it now stood over her. A Brollachan. “I have caught myself, thyself,” it snickered gleefully. “What a lovely neck thyself has.” The yellow eyes carefully watched her movements as its claw-like hand reached for her. She remembered what the one had done to Ned at the outpost in the Great Pine Forest.

  Miranda didn’t have time to maneuver away before she felt the Brollachan’s talons encircle her throat. The creature began to squeeze. The air became thinner in her lungs as she struggled to breathe. She looked at Lug. A single tear coursed down her cheek. She felt the life slipping away from her. Before the darkness took over completely, she glanced up and saw a brightness fill the opening in the ceiling. It was the sun and two moons as they rose in a new day. But there was also something else. The glimmer became larger. It shone brighter than the sun and had wings.

  The roar of the dragon shook the room. Bijan’s call shattered the remaining unbroken mirrors. Air suddenly filled her lungs again as the flash of Urldrenn passed before her eyes. Keltrain had made it just in time. She fell to the floor.

  “I’m sorry. I tried to get here as fast as I could, my friend. Are you all right?”

  “Yes,” she managed to say. “I need the sword. I have to destroy Uthal.” She regarded the pool of yellow ooze next to her body and then the warlock.

  “Bijan?” Uthal screamed. “How did you escape?”

  “With the help of a friend and his magic key. You shall pay for what you did to my people.”

  “Here. It’s here,” Matt said from across the room. He held the sword up.

  “Bring it to me. Quickly. He’s almost through the mirror.”

  Bijan landed in the great hallway and eight men jumped from the dragon’s back.

  “Look,” she exclaimed to Keltrain. “There’s the captain. He did make it.”

  “Good. We have strength to hold off the others.” He helped her up.

  She looked again at Matt. He had managed to make it across the room with her sword. She grabbed the weapon. “Thanks.”

  “Ah. Look. A little reunion.” Uthal smiled wickedly. “Did they tell you the price you’ll have to pay for being their champions? Have you noticed the markings on your bodies?” He laughed strangely. “You’ve been branded. And I don’t think you really know what it means.”

  Miranda didn’t know how to respond. Was it bad that the magic had chosen her and Matt? She couldn’t say. She looked at Lug and saw Bera behind him. The witch was limping as she approached them.

  “Did you think you destroyed me?” Bera’s face had turned ash grey and her blond ringlets had black and grey strands mingled in the cu
rls. “I’ve lived with that thing for three thousand years. I’m not easily done away with.” She pointed to Uthal. “A little fight is nothing.”

  Miranda backed away. The face of the witch shifted and lost its youthfulness. In its place an old hag materialized. Laughing hysterically, the old woman held out her hand. “I’m not spending another moment with that thing. Give me the sword, child.”

  “What do you mean?” Uthal bellowed. “Do you betray me?”

  Miranda and Matt were trapped between the two. The advance of the witch had pushed them closer to Uthal. She wanted to strike at him, but was afraid for Matt. If she struck at Uthal, Bera would have Matt. She didn’t want to lose him again.

  “I’m done protecting you. I’m done being with you. I’ve given in to everything you’ve asked for. But now you want to marry that young child. That princess of the Shadow People. That’s something you’ve never asked of me. Never! All this time you’ve stated your love for me but you’ve never given me a symbol of it. And now you’re giving it to her.”

  The demon laughed. “So. All of this? This betrayal? Because you feel a lover’s scorn? You don’t see the bigger picture.”

  Miranda cringed. She heard the voices in her head crying for the attack, but her heart couldn’t. She couldn’t sacrifice Matt to Bera.

  “You’ll regret everything you just said to me, witch. Traitor.” Uthal moved more of his torso through the glass. “I’ve done all of this for us. The destruction of those on Earth. Here. It was to be our kingdom to rule together.”

  “It was only your desire. You gave no thought to anything else. Including me.”

  Bera cast a side-glance at the other end of the hall where the children and Lily hid. Pointing with one of her boney fingers, she smiled wickedly. In her magic, she created a stream of red energy toward the other mirror’s glass. Swirling and bubbling, the silver in the wooden frame came to life. Miranda knew from the voices that it was another portal. Just like the one that brought all four of them to Green Isle.

  “You may have the final word. But I’m the one who cast the spells. And I’ve rewritten this act.”

  Grabbing onto Matt’s hand, Miranda started to pull him away. The voices were telling her that the other mirror was an escape. The witch planned an escape. She tried to push Matt from Bera’s reach when she saw the silver mirror softened further. Her attack had to happen now.

  “Run, Matt. You’ve got to get out of the way.” Before she could turn to face Uthal, the warlock grabbed her hair. He yanked her backwards and she screamed in pain. She watched in horror as Matt put himself between them. He grabbed the sword from her and thrust it at the witch. Bera shrank away. With a quick motion, he swung around and heaved the blade across Uthal’s arm. The warlock howled and released her.

  “Matt! Don’t do it,” she cried. She remembered the rule that Sonya had told them. Only she could wield the sword. Only her. Otherwise, Uthal wouldn’t be defeated.

  “How dare you. How dare you try to stop me.” Uthal held his arm.

  Miranda reached out to Matt. “Give me back the sword. I’ve got to be the one…” Before she could finish her sentence, the warlock reached out again and knocked her across the head. She fell to the ground in a daze. She tried to focus, but the room swayed.

  Amid her pain, she watched as Matt took the sword and pierced the warlock’s body. She screamed in anguish. A bright light grew in the depths of the tear in the demon’s red skin. She saw Matt let go of the sword in shock. The metal, embedded in Uthal’s chest, pulsed. Growing brighter and hotter, the light began to fracture his body and then, in an instant, he exploded. The weakened silver glass of his prison shattered. Shards flew through the air in all directions. Miranda ducked and covered herself. When the rain of glass stopped, she lifted her head. Matt lay beside her. He grabbed his chest in pain.

  “Oh, my goodness.” She rushed to his side and touched the blood above his right shoulder. “What happened? Are ya okay?”

  “I’ll be all right,” he said to her. “It was just a small sliver of mirror. Not a big piece.”

  “Things didn’t go well today,” she said. She found herself echoing the words Morrigana had just spoken moments earlier.

  “Look at the sword,” Ned exclaimed. He rushed over and picked up several pieces of metal lying on the ground.

  The blade had been broken into three pieces.

  “I’m sorry,” Matt said, looking up at her. “I was only trying to protect you.”

  “It’s okay. You didn’t remember.” Miranda helped him to his feet. She looked around and saw that Bera had disappeared too, along with the army of Fir Darrigs. The captain’s men were gathering around DaGon. Keltrain regarded her with sad eyes. DaGon had not moved from the floor.

  Lug ran to her. He took her in his arms and held on to her. “I would have died if I lost you,” he whispered in her ear. “Are you injured?”

  She pushed him back gently. “I’m fine. But the sword…”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Yes. I think it does. Uthal wasn’t destroyed. I sense it. The energy that the sword released was him. It didn’t destroy him. He’s free from the mirror now.”

  She saw Lug frown. “What do you mean?”

  “Sonya told me that I was the only one to wield the sword. If someone else did? Then he wouldn’t be destroyed at all.”

  “He’s released from his prison? But in another form?”

  “Yes. The spirits are still with me. They agree.”

  Miranda saw the captain approach Adalay. She couldn’t hear the words he spoke but he took her hand and kissed her forehead. There was a tenderness in the reunion. It was the same look that Lug gave her.

  “Really. I was only trying to protect you,” Matt said again. “I didn’t know there were rules for the sword.”

  “What’s gonna happen now? Gee whiz. The sword’s broke.”

  “I don’t know. It’s not over, though.” She looked around the room. “It’s not over.”

  “We can’t go home?” Ned’s eyes begin to tear. “I really wanna go home.”

  The children who were hiding in the back of the room made their way to them. Toby now clung to his brother. “Can we go now?” he asked. “Please?”

  Miranda understood their desire. She knew home was an important place for all of them. Yet, for her, Earth seemed a distant place and Green Isle and Lug, home. How could she tell her family that? She hugged Caitlin and George. And she knew. She knew that Morrigana had been right. Everything had changed. She had changed. Matt had changed. How would they explain the markings on their bodies when they returned home? They both had been reborn to Green Isle. They both had been accepted into the world of magic.

  “I know you have to take them back to Earth,” Lug whispered from behind her. “But come back to me.” She nodded and leaned into him. He was her home.

  “Miranda? You have to get them out of here,” Keltrain said as he approached the group. “This isn’t how it was supposed to be.”

  “What can we do?” Adalay asked.

  “Miranda was the only one to use the sword. The power coming from the mirror is dangerous now. It’s combining with the power of the orb. It will consume the hall. Then the castle. And then the island. The magic is unstable. I don’t know what kind of spell Bera wove underneath the other.” He took a cloth from one of his pockets and wiped his forehead. “What she had been planning I could only guess at. And that would take too much time. It would be better if you took the others through that mirror that Bera opened.” He laid his hand on Miranda’s shoulder. “She created a pathway to Earth. That was where she planned to escape.”

  “Will I be able to return?” It created uneasiness in her soul when she thought of being forever cut off from Lug and Green Isle.

  “At another time. When I get back to my gardens, I’ll send Lily through the other one to watch over you. We need to take care of some things first. I don’t know how this spell will play out. And if Uthal’s been
released, then we need to warn the inhabitants of Green Isle.”

  Bijan flapped his wings. “I can take the others back there,” he said to the wizard. “I’ll get as many I can.”

  Ned ran to the white dragon. “I’m going to miss you.”“And I you, Ned Neely. I will never forget that you freed me,” the dragon replied.

  Ned hugged his snout.

  “Olifur and I’ll be okay,” the elf stated from the fringes of the circle of friends. “We’ve a way off. Thank you, Queen Adalay, for your healing.” He bowed quickly and touched his forehead to her hand.

  “You’ll always have a place at Nuada Findi,” Adalay said. “Never forget that, Nimi.”

  The elf bowed again and turned to go.

  “I’ll visit most certainly,” Olifur said. He wagged his tail and quickly ran after his friend.

  “You need to go, my dears,” Lily said. She regarded the still body of DaGon. “Before anything else bad happens.”

  “I’m sorry,” Miranda said softly to the fairy. “I know he was important to you.”

  “We had good years together. I have those memories. I’ll see you soon.”

  A sound jolted the group. Miranda could hear the whine of the orb. The power it had absorbed from the mirror prison as well as the power from the alignment placed stress on the structure. It began to disintegrate.

  “Get them to the other mirror. This machine is going to explode,” the captain commanded.

  Miranda could hear the metal creak as it bent.

  Lug grabbed her arm before she could follow the others. “Remember. I’m always with you.” He touched her temple. “You carry a part of me with you to Earth.”

  “I don’t know when I’ll be back. But I’m coming back and all. Okay?” She kissed him quickly.

  The crack of one of the metal legs forced her to draw away. She felt conflicted. A part of her wanted to stay but she knew that they had to return with the others. It would be difficult going back to Earth. It would be even more difficult without Lug.