26. Esmira
ESMIRA
T he next evening, a moon drake waited for us.
A leather saddle straddled the enormous beast, complete with a bridle around its lizard-like snout and reins that hung over the pommel of the saddle.
Although the saddle was big enough for two to sit comfortably, it still looked small under the impressive scale of the beast. It’s long, scaled tail swished back and forth, glimmering in the moonlight like pearls.
Its beauty was breathtaking, its strength, undeniable and its wings stretched three times as long as its body with claws on each fold of those leathery wings.
However, it also looked similar to the beast Methrin had killed when I’d run away from him into the hands of the Venators. How long ago that all felt.
Methrin touched the small of my back, sending pleasant shivers up my spine. “Ready?”
I nodded, feeling odd dressed in leathers and pants of all things.
I’d never worn pants before, but apparently it was impossible to fly on a moon drake wearing a dress.
A warm cloak covered me, almost making me sweat in the warm summer night, while Methrin’s cloak hid the sword.
The Shadow Slayer. His oath had been fulfilled and King Ithranti gave us his blessing, still warned us to leave without attracting attention while he sorted our political matters.
Now, standing on a platform high above the city, no one had come to see us leave.
They’d said goodbye after our wedding, yet I wondered about Lyra.
True, the land of Everminati might be her home, but was she comfortable being stranded on the other side of the mirror with beautiful immortals who were wise yet treacherous?
I now understood why humans feared the Everminati.
They were as intoxicating as starlight, but come close and one might be burned by their viciousness.
“Ready,” I confirmed, glancing over at my husband. I wished we had one day, one more night to ourselves before facing the final stages of our quest. My throat felt tight with the very idea of returning to my father’s kingdom.
Methrin climbed the ladder up the side of the beast and mounted, reaching out a hand to swing me up in front of him. I settled into warmth, swallowing hard as Methrin’s arms came around me and took the reins.
“Deep breath,” his voice whispered like velvet in my ears.
“It will be the most unusual experience you’ve ever had, but there’s no shame in closing your eyes and holding on until you feel like you can breathe.
When you’re able, look up. The starlight is radiant.
Flying is like being close to the heavens, to being one of those celestial bodies. ”
I nodded, my voice lost to nervousness.
Methrin kicked away the ladder and slapped the reins.
He uttered a short command, and the moon drake bellowed.
Its wings spread, and I gripped the pommel, embarrassed by my fear.
I’d fled from my father’s kingdom, crossed a mirror portal into another realm, learned to harass the darkness of Mirror Magic, and fought monsters.
Yet riding on the back of a somewhat tame moon drake terrified me.
We lifted off, and wind sailed past me, sharper, harder than the wind on a ship.
I forced myself to open my eyes, knowing I’d miss everything if I cowered.
My eyes went wide as the city dropped away.
From the air, the architecture was even more magnificent, an opulent sprawling city laid out in a circle with dips and valleys, buildings that twinkled under the moonlight.
Magic rained down on it like stardust, glimmering on each curve and line.
When I lifted my face to the velvet night, a quilt of light appeared, but beyond it was something else. Someone else.
I blinked. The shape of a woman lay cradled inside the lip of the moon.
White light burned from within her. She lifted a hand beyond the rim and swept it across the river of darkness, sending motes of white light flowing from her.
Star dust fell from her hand to land on the city below.
It was a blessing, it was grace, and tears sprang to my eyes .
Leaning back against Methrin’s hard chest, I let myself breathe as the wind whipped past me. Slowly my fears melted away into anticipation and awe.
T he sun was rising when we landed on the rise of a hill, which blocked the colossal building from view.
Methrin released the reins and jumped down, then reached his arms up for me.
The distance was great, but I leaped anyway, and he caught me.
Holding me tight against him just for a moment.
Then he called to the moon drake again in a rough tongue, and it took off in a whirl of wind and wings, leaving us alone.
Bone tired weariness came over me as Methrin and I stood alone in the lush meadow. The land of the Everminati made the human realm appear like a pale comparison.
“Someone will have seen that,” Methrin cautioned. “But the king is gone, no ships are in the harbor. The portals are always guarded, but we should take advantage of the distraction to sneak through. Follow my lead.”
A tremor went through me. We were really doing this. Finally, I’d return home, face my father, face down the Venators and, at last, learn the truth about what had happened to my mother. Just like Methrin, I’d have a homecoming, yet the thought terrified me .
As though sensing my disquiet, Methrin turned me in his arms and kissed me slowly, deeply until I forgot that anything outside of us existed.
His thumb brushed my chin as he withdrew, keeping my face tilted up toward his.
“We’ll take this one day at a time. No matter what the future holds, we will conquer it together. First, let’s get through the portal.”
We walked through the grass, the fresh scent making me feel alive again as we entered the stone building.
Methrin expertly guided us through the impossibly vast halls and then down underground through passageways I hadn’t seen before.
Last time I’d been unconscious because of the magic that tugged at me.
Even as we drew closer, an odd undercurrent rushed through me, shifting and changing, tugging on the edges of my magic.
I could almost see the mist and my shoulders tensed, expecting at any moment to hear the dark whispers of the shadow.
But they were gone.
Forever.
I knew when we reached the hall of portals, for mirrors covered all surfaces, yet in the very center, up on a dais, was the mirror with a golden framing and a shimmering surface.
Occasionally, walls of mist covered it, but what made my heart sink were the guards that stood in front of it, holding spears.
They shifted when Methrin appeared, and he waved his hand. “Let us pass,” he called.
“On whose order?” one of the guards demanded.
“I am Prince Methrin of the Everminati, son of King Ithrani. You will let me pass. ”
They stood to the side, and Methrin took my hand. “Focus,” he breathed.
He stepped back, indicating it was my turn to lead, my magic that could open portals and guide us back. My thoughts shifted, thinking of the pool of water on the other side of the Boundary, thinking of home. Reaching out a hand, I guided us into the mirrorverse.
Within was cold, clammy, and a mist surged around us, strong as a current, seeking to drag us back. A roar of voices came, shadows speaking, shrieking. How had Methrin endured decades in this darkness?
A light glimmered at the end and I focused my magic on it, drawing us toward it, beating down the shadows. I wasn’t sure how, I just knew that I did, as though I knew exactly what to do and my magic obeyed. Mirror Magic. Pure and untarnished, easier somehow to control without the shadow.
I took a deep breath and plunged into the light.
Water dragged me down. I lost Methrin’s hand. My cloak was heavy, wrapping around my legs as I kicked. Above me light, below me, darkness.
My lungs burned, and suddenly I was above water, splashing, gasping for air. My heart throbbed, my chest was sore, almost raw. I floated, letting the sharp edges of pain ebb away.
“Esmira.” Methrin was beside me, his gentle touch ushering me to the bank. “Deep breaths,” he encouraged. “Don’t try to be strong.”
I lay back, gasping as the chill surrounded me. I recalled the cave, the beasts that haunted it, Rydlin’s magic, and Lyra. It hadn’t been so long ago, perhaps six months since we were last here, yet it felt like a lifetime ago.
“We’ll go when you’re ready,” Methrin said.
His unsaid words were louder. We were beyond the Boundary in the realm of beasts. Safe passage through meant we’d need to use magic, just like the last time we’d come through.
I leaned against the wall, catching my breath when a deep roar throbbed. I felt it deep in my bones, a pulsing, a call. I lifted my head and caught Methrin’s violet eyes. His expression spiked with concern, his brow furrowed.
“Are those?—?”
“War drums,” he finished for me.
I nodded, facing him as possibilities warred through my mind. “We’ve been gone for months. It’s possible the Boundary has fallen, it’s possible war has returned.”
He stood, running his fingers through his dark hair, making the waves of it dance and curl in a way that made me ache. But not here. Not now. We had work to do, a shadow to kill, beasts to set free, a kingdom to save, a war to end.
And then, only then, would I find the answers I sought.
What happened to my mother? What would happen to me when it all came to an end?
My soul was linked to Methrin’s, my heart belonged to him, an immortal Prince from a realm beyond my own. A future lay ahead of us, one I could not begin to comprehend, not with the enormity of what we needed to do lying between us and that future .
My fingers clenched into fists, and I stood to my feet, forcing away the weakness, focusing on determination. The throb of war drums pulsed, and in the undercurrent was another tremor, a thread of terror.
I faced my husband, lacing my fingers around his neck. “I’m ready,” I whispered and kissed him. A promise. A sharing of strength.
He kissed me back, firm and sure. He did not ask if I was certain, he did not ask if I were ready. “Then let us be done with the darkness, with the shadows, once and for all.”
“A realm to save,” I whispered.
His fingers laced through mine, and he led me out of the cave into the shadow of the forest. The trees tremored and the breeze whispered warnings to our ears.
Cries of battle grew louder as we walked, the shouts of men, the screams of death, the roaring of beast. The air was acid with magic, the taste of iron, the scent of blood.
We walked out of the forest into the valley, and my gaze was drawn up, up, up. The peaceful meadow had been turned into a battlefield. A collection of men and beast and magicians.
The angry purple cloud of what had once been the Boundary had been split in two, an opening that led out into the kingdom, giving the beasts their freedom. I imagined many had fled.
Those there who fought weren’t only fighting against the beast, they were fighting each other.
The Venators were there, fighting against the magicians, those who’d escaped to the Boundary led by a gnarled wizard.
Rydlin, the Sorcerer. So he lived. So he had remnants of magic.
Relief flooded me to see him, fighting along side those with magic.
The beasts fought a war of their own, bringing down both sides. But what held my attention were two great shadows, ribbons of blackness.
What Mirror Magic had wrought.
I did not understand how they were there, or why.
I only heard the sound of steel as Methrin drew the Shadow Slayer.
“I will slay my shadow, you’ll kill yours, and there will be peace.”
Red eyes glowed, blackness flickered, and those shadows raced for us. Ribbons of darkness sent fear surging through me.
I’d fought the darkness before. And I’d won.
I’d split myself into two. I stopped listening to the voice, to the fear, the negativity, everything that sought to bring me down, to drive me into ruin and darkness. I’d won once, I’d win again.
I lifted my hands, feeling life and light tingle through me. A golden glow hovered on my fingertips, and Mirror Magic ballooned out of me. The roar of battle grew louder just for a moment before everything faded away.
Methrin and I stood in a circle of darkness, the shadows covering all. He lifted the blade and it glowed, a silver light streaking out, piercing the shadow.
Shards flew from my fingertips, distracting the shadows while he swung, each blow cleaving, ripping off the ribbons until they faded into mist. The great open maws of those shadows roared, a meaningless nothingness because their words could not harm me any longer.
They could not tell me that I was worthless, meaningless, or that I’d fail.
They would not tell me that I was a terror, that I was born into darkness, that I was evil, that my magic made me haunted.
They had no power over me. As Methrin swung the blade and the light grew, driving out the darkness, I finally understood.
Darkness and light could not dwell together because they canceled each other out. When the light was stronger than the darkness, then the light would win. Wickedness had its day, and it was over now. The time of the rule of shadows was over, and now came the day of light and power.
I opened my mouth. A surge of magic like nothing I’d seen before bolted out of me, and this time it was visible. Silver and gold filled the area, and a sharp wind blew, cutting down everything in its path.
There came a mighty explosion, and the ground opened up, swallowing the shadows. Light burned and burned until shadow, blood, and bone shattered into dust.
A halo of golden magic filled my vision, driving out all shadows. All sounds of war faded, the beat of the drum, the shouts of warriors, the moans of death. Silence surrounded me in that sacred circle of magic while it continued to pour out of me.
I knew why I had been gifted with Mirror Magic. It was to free Prince Methrin and vanquish the king of monsters. Everything that had happened to me, the good, the bad, the terrible, had happened for a reason.
I sank to my knees, boneless, as the light expanded, beckoning me into a blissful nothingness.