Almare - The White Mirror

The council sat in silence for what could have been an eternity. It was over, then. If what the Dwarf said was true, it was all over. The trolls would take over the Nine Kingdoms. The trolls, the laughingstock of the Kingdoms, would be their downfall. They were all about to go jump off a cliff when the Dwarf said...

“But, there’s still hope.”

“I believe that statement contradicts your last,” Wendell said wearily.

“The trolls have dragons, yes. But there is more than one type of dragon.”

“So they have lots of dragons,” Queen Riding Hood said, throwing up her hands. The entire council groaned.

“No,” the Governor said impatiently, “Listen. There are good dragons.”

Some of them lifted their heads off the table to hear.

“A very long time ago, Dragon Mountain, my home, was crawling with dragons. Then, one by one, they left for the Northern Lands, for reasons we still haven’t exactly figured out. It was probably because our mine was using up all the quicksilver, which dragons love. But the point is they left. All of them.”

“The good and the evil?” the Ice Fairy Queen asked.

“The evil, or chromatic, ‘red’ dragons had left a long time ago. We forced them out. They were eating Dwarves, and that’s extremely annoying when you’re trying to make mirrors.”

“I can imagine,” Wendell said.

“Anyway, the good, or platinum, ‘gold’ dragons helped us get rid of them. They were kind, intelligent creatures. The red dragons were smart, too, come to think of it, very clever. But headstrong.

“Both types of dragons could talk to us, but only the gold dragons did. The red considered themselves above speaking to us tiny little dwarves. They were horrible creatures.” He paused thoughtfully. “They are horrible creatures. They’re still very much alive.”

“How do you know that the trolls have them?” Cinderella asked.

“I saw them,” the Governor answered simply. “I was taking a trip just before the council was called. What with the mirror shutdown,” he rolled his eyes, “there are plenty of panicked people out there, wondering why their mirrors don’t work. I had to go and assure them that nothing’s happening... Falsely assure them, I might add.” He glanced meaningfully at Wendell.

“In any case,” he continued, “I had to pass near the troll camp. Of course I didn’t know then that it was their camp, did I? No, so I practically stepped on a dragon. I got out of there fast, of course, and I was about to call the council, when I got word to come here.”

“The dragons must have been in the tents,” Wendell told them. “That’s why we didn’t see them. We were coming from the air, and we didn’t look too long.”

“Yes, they were in the tents,” the Governor said. “Red dragons don’t like sun. That’s why they loved our mountain so much, and why they moved on to the cold, dark Northern Lands when we forced them out.”

“But what about the gold dragons?” the Ice Elf Queen asked. “They’re still up there, near our kingdom in the north.”

“Actually,” the Governor smiled, “They’re not.”

“Well, where are they then?” Wendell asked.

“At Dragon Mountain, waiting for us.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this before?” Cinderella shouted.

The Governor cringed. “I didn’t want to alarm you.”

“Alarm us? How much more alarmed did you think we could get?” Cinderella controlled herself. “Fine. That’s good news, I suppose, if they’re willing to fight.”

“They are. If you like, I can bring them back here tomorrow to speak with the council.”

“Governor,” Cinderella said patiently, “Don’t you think that - how many dragons are there?”

“About fifteen.”

“Don’t you think that about fifteen dragons all flying toward Wendell’s palace in the middle of the day would be rather conspicuous?”

“Yes,” the Governor said with equal patience, “but that’s not what I was planning on.”

“Then how else did you plan on getting them here?”

“Gold dragons can shape shift.”

The general morale was increasing by the minute.

“Into anything at all?” Wendell asked.

“Just about anything,” the Governor said firmly. “Anything alive, that is.”

“What -er- form will you bring them in tomorrow, Governor?” Cinderella inquired.

“Hmm...” he muttered, “I haven’t really thought about it. They’ve told me several times that insects are simply too degrading. I suppose dogs. The dragons’ll like that; dogs have teeth...”

“And these gold dragons,” Queen Riding Hood said, “Are definitely on our side?”

“Yes, certainly,” the Governor assured her. “They never think twice about helping those in need, especially those as small and helpless as ourselves. But out of politeness, I’ve promised them their own section of Dragon Mountain, where the Dwarves will never mine the quicksilver again, as a reward.”

Cinderella looked at him like she was seeing him for the first time. “Thank you Governor,” she said seriously. “The Kingdoms owe you a debt for this.”

“I know,” he said gruffly.

No one had exactly “warmed up” to Nessie (and they probably never would), but they were beginning to tolerate her presence after an hour of swimming along side her. Luckily it was dark, even with the light of the rings, and they couldn’t see her very well.

Virginia, Tony, Wolf, and Acrotis had left behind Eulonia, Raelee, and the queen what seemed like days ago, though it was probably only two hours. They were swimming at an incline, gradually going deeper and deeper into the center of whatever kind of planet the Nine Kingdoms resided on. They could only stop when there was nowhere left to go.

The rings had claimed their minds again, and they were all but unconscious as they descended into the depths of the sea.

Much later, something brought Virginia out of her trance. She wasn’t exactly sure what it was, like waking up in the early morning and not knowing what woke you. She could see a faint light up ahead. Actually it was down below, in a little crevice.

Acrotis put on a burst of speed and shot toward it. She gave a slight cry when she reached the glowing light, and pulled back in surprise.

When Virginia came up to it, she was breathing heavily. She knew what was in that rock crevice. They had traveled for almost a week to reach it, the hardest week of her life. She had waited for this moment for so long. Now she was terrified.

The White Mirror lay in its watery grave, untouched by any living being for long dark years. It gave off an eerie glow like no other magic mirror Virginia had seen. This mirror had something different about it, a strange aura. It was the frame itself that was glowing, not the mirror’s face. This frame, unlike the Traveling Mirror in Wendell’s palace and the one Tony had broken, was white. What had the textbook of Wendell’s told them, so long ago now? That it was made of unicorn horn, not wood. There were intricate patterns carved into it, of snakes and butterflies mostly. An odd combination, Virginia thought. There were other patterns too, but so twisted around each other that she couldn’t make out what they were. It was beautiful, Virginia couldn’t help but notice through her terror.

The mirror did indeed have “barnacles upon its head” as Gustav had told them.

Its face did not show white, only rust-covered glass, also covered in barnacles. There was nothing else alive around, because nothing else alive could go that deep. Nothing except four very scared people and something twice the size of a dinosaur.

“What now?” Wolf whispered. They all felt like whispering. There was something almost sacred about the place.

“I guess...” Acrotis stammered, “I guess I have to activate it.”

“How?” Virginia asked.

Acrotis didn’t answer. She motioned for the others to help her turn over the mirror. Reluctantly they all grabbed it at once and heaved the surprisingly heavy mirror onto its back. The Loch Ness Monster watched silently.

“Now...” Acrotis stopped and closed her eyes in thought.

“You had just better remember,” Tony warned her, “Because I am NOT going all the way back up there...”

“There’s a latch around here somewhere,” Acrotis interrupted, as she began running her white hands all over the back of the mirror.

The others helped, but Acrotis found it first - a little cord that she pulled to reveal a compartment with a keyhole in it.

“Do you have the key?” Wolf asked.

“No. But,” she added to silence the flood of angry protests, “I don’t need one. Why do you think Cinderella really sent me with you?”

“Because you knew how to activate it,” Virginia said.

“Anyone could find that latch and stick a key in it. But it doesn't work like that. It’s just like the Governor's hand mold; the mirror works the same way. With fingerprints.”

“Ohhh....” Virginia breathed. Why hadn’t she thought about that before?

Acrotis reached into the little compartment, and simply but carefully lifted the little keyhole out. It actually wasn’t a keyhole at all, just a little piece of metal with a key-shaped hole in it on top of a tiny ink pad.

“It’s a decoy,” Acrotis explained. “Someone could spend years looking for a key, when what they really needed was a person. The Dwarves thought of everything. But it still got them in the end.” She sounded almost proud. Of what? Of the Dwarves?

“Stand back,” Acrotis ordered. They did, quickly. Acrotis moved back also, but stayed close enough to reach into the mirror and, as everyone held their breath, press her finger onto the sensor.

A blinding flash of light lit up the landscape for a mile around. Nessie screeched and turned around so fast that it almost caused an earthquake. Virginia screamed, too, as the silent white light blinded her. It was the visual equivalent of the mirror shut-down. Luckily, though, she could see again as soon as the light ceased.

Virginia looked around her. Tony and Wolf were rubbing their eyes and Nessie was cautiously coming back toward them. She looked around for Acrotis.

She was lying on the floor of the rock crevice, her dark hair spread out around her. She still had her finger on the mirror, and the other hand over her eyes. Virginia swam over to her and helped her up. Acrotis rubbed her eyes,too, and looked up at Virginia, then over to the mirror.

“Did it work?” she whispered.

“Was that light supposed to happen?”

“Yes. Help me turn it over again.”

They all went over and helped set the mirror the right way. Now there were no barnacles or rust on its surface. The mirror showed a pure white, glowing and pulsing and swirling on its surface. It was alive now. There was nothing in its way. Or their way.

“This is it then?” Tony said. “We live and get Patrick, or we die, and hope it’s not too painful?”

“That’s right,” Virginia answered bravely. “Who wants to go first?”

Virginia had thought it would have been Acrotis, but the girl who had been so excited about this all along hid behind Tony. There were no other volunteers, not even Wolf. Virginia knew he’d go if she asked him, but maybe this was just something for her to do.

“All right then,” she said with a deep breath. “I guess the most sensible thing to do is for me to come back if everything’s okay. If I don’t come back right away... I don’t know what you should do. Don’t come rescue me or anything...”

“Virginia,” Wolf said. “We started this together, as a family. We’re going to end it that way. We’re all going in. You can just go first.”

“All right,”Virginia said. She didn’t feel better at all, only worse. More than one person might die. She couldn’t think about that now. “What about Acrotis?” Virginia asked. “She has no reason to kill herself.”

Acrotis stared at them. “You don’t think I’m going to let you go in there by yourselves, do you?” she asked, incredulous.

“No, I guess not,” Virginia laughed.

They laughed, but everyone knew they couldn’t stall much longer.

Virginia swam up to the White Mirror. She peered deeply into it, searching for a hint of her son; his face, his tiny hand, anything to reassure her that she wasn’t killing herself for nothing.

She wanted to hug her father, kiss Wolf goodbye, but she didn’t, forcing herself to think she’d see them again, in just a few minutes. Soon. And Patrick, too! Her baby.

Finally.

Virginia stepped into the White Mirror as her life flashed before her eyes.