Almare - The White Mirror

They all stood around the mirror anxiously. 'They' being Virginia, Wolf, Tony, and Wendell. 'The mirror' being a magic Spying Mirror. 'Anxiously' meaning in a state of raging terror.

“Why isn’t it working?!” Wolf was about to add one more smashed mirror to his problems. But then he would never see his son again. Not to mention he would have seven years bad luck.

“This isn’t the fastest mirror in the Nine Kingdoms, all right?” Tony snapped, his face a bright red.

“I realized it isn’t the fastest mirror after the first half hour of standing here watching it. Now, why isn’t it working?” Wolf asked through gritted teeth.

“How am I supposed to know? I didn’t make the stupid thing. And don’t look at me like it’s my fault!” Tony yelled.

“Well, you are the one who was banging and kicking it before,” Wendell said accusingly. Then to Wolf, “But you’re the one who insulted it.”

“How was I supposed to know mirrors had feelings?” Wolf muttered.

“All of you shut up!” Virginia screamed. They all fell silent. In a quieter, but just as menacing voice, she continued, “Every second you three stand there arguing, that’s one more minute we’re away from Patrick. Right now, get that mirror to show us the Dwarves.”

“That’s easier said than done,” Tony said in an undertone.

“Fine. If you can’t do it, I will.” Virginia stepped up to the mirror, gave them all withering look, and said slowly and deliberately, “Summon the Dwarves of Dragon Mountain. Please .”

The Mirror’s surface shimmered and suddenly a tiny man’s face appeared. Wendell, Wolf, and Tony shook their heads in disbelief, but Virginia just looked at the Dwarf with interest. The others did the same. Wolf recognized the Dwarf as the Governor of the most prosperous Dwarf mine in the Ninth Kingdom. He was also the one who had sentenced Virginia and Tony to death during their visit to that Kingdom. The Governor looked a bit more humble before Wendell and the heroes who had saved the Nine Kingdoms now.

“Ah, King Wendell,” he said, bowing, “What a pleasant surprise.”

Behind the Dwarf, Wolf could see hordes of other little men. They were working diligently, intent on their life’s work of making magic mirrors. Wolf only hoped that one of those mirrors might help him find his son.

“Yes, Governor, but it is anything but pleasant, I’m afraid,” Wendell said seriously.

The Dwarf’s face sunk. “What is it?”

Wendell hesitated. “Virginia and Wolf were passing through the remaining Traveling Mirror and, see, you know how there’s that illusion when there’s all those mirrors and then Patrick kind of...” Wendell trailed off and looked at Wolf apologetically. “You explain. I didn’t even see it.”

Wolf sighed and turned to the mirror that held Dragon Mountain and the people who might help them - if they could explain what he was going to tell them.

“He was stuck in one of the mirrors, and it turned white. And then he disappeared.”

Several seconds passed in silence. The Governor showed no sign that he had even heard them, except that his eyes grew wide as saucers. Other than that, he looked as if he had been turned to stone. This made Wolf even more scared than if the Dwarf had screamed and run around in circles at the news.

“So, can you help?” Virginia asked impatiently.

The Dwarf didn’t answer, or even seem to hear or see her at all. His expression was blank as he took a small mirror out of his pocket. The four speechless persons on the other side of the mirror watched him silently take the little Spying Mirror in his left hand. His other hand he pressed onto the mirror’s surface. Instantly his hand was enveloped in a slimy- looking coating of liquid. Just as quickly, the Governor pulled his hand out. What was left was a mold of his palm.

Wolf was completely confused. Had the Dwarf heard what they had said? What did he think he was doing, and how could it possibly help?

The Governor took the impression of his tiny hand and walked over to another, full- length mirror. The Spying Mirror followed his movements. Wolf could see the mold clearly now. As he watched the Dwarf step up to the larger mirror, something clicked in Wolf’s mind. Of course! Every educated person in the Nine Kingdoms knew what this meant. Why hadn’t he seen it before? He snapped his head over to look at Wendell. He was standing stock still, looking like he had seen a ghost. Wolf understood; this was worse than ghosts. Virginia and Tony just looked confused.

“Excuse me, what is going on?” Tony inquired.

Fear swept through Wolf’s mind. This was ten times more serious than he’d thought, and it was just about to get worse.

The Governor looked like he was really going to regret what he was about to do as he held the impression at arm’s length up to the mirror. He looked up at the four worried faces, some more worried than others.

“I’m very sorry,” he whispered. “Please come quickly.”

“What?”

“No!”

The Dwarf pushed his hand through the mirror, and the world ripped apart.

It was literally as loud as it gets. Every atom stood still, held by that noise. It was the most high-pitched, ear-splitting, earth-shattering sound that was ever heard. It only lasted for a second, but everyone in the Nine Kingdoms was deafened by it for an hour. Virginia was literally slammed against the wall when the noise hit. She had no idea what had happened when she woke up later, but she figured she must have passed out. The last thing she remembered, it had been nighttime, and the crazy Dwarf had caused that unnatural sound. Now it was early morning, and everyone else around her was unconscious.

Virginia got up and walked over to Wendell, who was closest. Only when she tried to wake him up did she realize that she couldn’t hear herself. She put a hand to her throat in a panic, then realized she would probably be like this for a while. She wondered where that unearthly noise had come from. She couldn’t imagine what device could possess the power to create any sound of that amazing volume.

She reached over and shook Wolf until he woke up, then mouthed to him, What happened? He didn’t answer (he couldn’t anyway), but instead looked around the room as if he had never seen any of it before. Then he seemed to remember something, and lay back down with a silent groan and thump.

Virginia shrugged and tried again to wake Wendell, then Tony. As soon as he opened his eyes, Tony sprang up and ran over to the Spying Mirror. He tried to use its secret catch to start it up, but it didn’t work.

Tony tried to say something, then silently cursed when he couldn’t. Instead he jabbed his finger at the mirror and looked at Wendell and Wolf.

Wendell, holding his head, which seemed to be paining him, took a piece of paper and a quill pen from a nearby table. He wrote something, then showed it to Virginia and Tony, his hands shaking - The mirrors don’t work.

That obviously was not good. Virginia’s mind overflowed with questions, but Tony grabbed the paper first. Did I forget to say please?

Wolf got up and took the paper. No, he scribbled. He shut down the mirrors.

What was that sound? Virginia snatched the paper and wrote.

Wolf sighed. It was the sound of all the mirrors in the Nine Kingdoms being shut down!

Why?! This made no sense.

This time Wendell took the paper. You know about the other Traveling Mirror?

Virginia searched her memory and saw Gustav, the Mirror in the Dwarf mine, telling them about a mirror with “barnacles upon its head”.

The one at the bottom of the Great Northern Sea?

Wendell nodded mysteriously and didn’t write anything more. Virginia was tired of not having a clue as to what was going on. “What are you talking about?!” she yelled in frustration. She was quite surprised and happy to find that she could almost hear herself, although not very well.

Wolf and Wendell didn’t seem all that ecstatic at finding they could talk. In fact, they were just sitting, staring into space in a state of shock.

Virginia decided to wake them up. “What do all these stupid mirrors have to do with Patrick?” she screamed at the top of her lungs so as to be heard.

Wolf got up and went over to the bookcase that the Traveling Mirror was leaning against. He scanned the shelves, running his finger over the spines of the dusty books. He stopped at a huge volume and hefted it off the shelf and onto a table. It was an enormous book, titled, “Magic Mirrors: An Extensive Guide to Care, Usage, and History.”

Tony gave the book a hostile glare. He was about to ask, “How is this going to help?” but Virginia held him back. She could tell there was some point to this.

Wolf looked at them but didn’t open the book yet. Instead he took a deep breath and said loudly, “The mirror at the bottom of the Great Northern Sea did not fall in. It was thrown, with very, very good reason.” He scratched at his forehead absently, like he was arguing with himself. “I don’t know why I didn’t see it before - it turned white, it was all right there...”

Virginia gave him a look that said, quite seriously, “Just tell us what is going on, now.”

Wolf started flipping through the pages of the massive book, and finally found what he was looking for. Virginia, Tony, and Wendell leaned over his shoulder to read what he was pointing at.