Mirror Sight

by Kristen Britain

  “He wants to be emperor forever.”

  “No. I think he wishes he could end his life, but killing his body would only make things worse.”

  Karigan nodded in understanding. “Mornhavon would find a new host before the body expired.”

  “And that new host would probably be Webster Silk, who is a cruel man. It is his policies that have made this empire what it is. Imagine him and Mornhavon bound together, without the moderating influence of Lord Amberhill, or the third personality.”

  So she’d been right. There was a third.

  “A sea king of old,” Fastion continued, “with access to destructive forces Mornhavon covets. It is my thought that Mornhavon has never abandoned Lord Amberhill’s body for Silk’s of his own volition because of that power. It brought Sacoridia and the free lands to ruin. It—”

  A knocking on the door interrupted him. “Guardian?” one of the soldiers posted outside called. “Is all well?”

  “I must go,” Fastion said. “Know that I serve the emperor because I do not wish for worse upon these lands and its people.”

  “I need to go home,” Karigan said, “to tell the king, to change things.”

  “I know.”

  The soldiers knocked again. “Guardian?”

  “Silence!” Fastion barked. The knocking stopped. Fastion stood, twitched his head, and the visor and bevor closed off his face once again. The hiss-sigh resumed its regular rhythm. “If anyone can do it, you can. You and the Eletian. You are not here by accident, this I believe. I will help as I can, but we must speak no more at this time.”

  When she began to protest, he waved her to silence and became the forbidding presence she had known before. He moved quickly through the rooms, undoing whatever he had done to block the watchers.

  He paused a moment before leaving and said, “Very good bout today, but you lost focus in the end. A mistake. Drent would not have approved.”

  She touched her tender cheek, and he was out the door. She was still stunned and bereft, but he had kindled a new flame that shone in the dark. She’d found an unexpected ally, and perhaps she would reach home after all.

  BARGAINS

  Overcome and exhausted, Karigan curled up on the sofa hugging a pillow to her, finally able to give in to her grief for Raven and for everything else that had gone wrong. Now she had an idea of how her fellow Rider, Ty Newland, had felt when his beloved Flicker perished a few years back during a groundmite attack on Lady Penburn’s delegation in the northern wilds.

  Yes, she now knew how he felt, but he had carried on. He had turned around after Flicker’s death and mounted another horse, Crane, whose Rider had been slain in the same battle. Ty had turned around and taken another Rider’s horse and ridden to Sacor City to tell the king of the attack.

  Karigan had no idea how Ty grieved on his way to Sacor City, but she knew it had not crippled him, had not slowed him down. He’d carried on and done his duty. She rubbed her face. When she was a Rider-in-training, Ty had mentored her, and now it seemed he was once again setting an example for her but across the expanse of time.

  She would do her duty, too. It did not mean she did not grieve, but she would honor Raven by carrying on. Although His Majesty’s Messenger Service did not exist in this era, Raven had been a true Green Rider horse, and he’d understand. She reminded herself that if she was able to get home, she might help change outcomes so that another version of Raven might live a long, healthy life.

  Yes, she thought, her resolve building. I am not going home just for myself, but for so many others.

  With that, peace descended on her and, exhausted by so much emotional turmoil, she slept.

  Only to be abruptly awakened sometime later by meaty hands grabbing her and yanking her off the sofa. She was dragged stumbling and confused out into the corridor by guards and Dr. Silk’s man, Mr. Howser. Dr. Silk himself awaited her there, his hands clasped behind his back.

  “Today did not go quite as planned,” he said. “There were distractions.”

  “Not my fault,” Karigan muttered.

  “No, perhaps not. The emperor is mercurial of temperament. I am told he is currently overseeing the burial of that horse. So, while he is busy, I have decided we each live up to our ends of the bargain we made.”

  Karigan shook herself fully awake. “You are taking me to see Cade?”

  “Yes. Which means you will show me the workings of your magic.”

  It also meant, Karigan knew, that they must be done with Cade, that they would execute him soon.

  She was ushered through several corridors, and along the way, she asked, “Then what happens?”

  Silk shrugged. “That is up to the emperor. Maybe he’ll lend you to the circus as part of the sideshow, or you’ll become part of the imperial breeding program.”

  Karigan’s eyes widened at that. “Breeding . . . ?”

  “If your magic is of any interest, the emperor may want to try to reproduce it.”

  Oh, yes, she would show them her ability and much more, and there would be no circus side show, no . . . no breeding program. This empire was beyond revolting, beyond monstrous. She tried to devise a plan, but it all depended on where they were taking her. Even if she escaped with Cade, could they reach Lhean and the museum? And once they reached the museum, could they activate the moondial? She had no idea. And when she, Silk, and Howser stuffed themselves into a closetlike room that moved, her doubts grew. Silk called it a “lift,” but the sensation she felt fluttering in her stomach registered only that they went down.

  When it stopped, and Howser opened the doors, they filed out into a corridor that was utilitarian, somber in its gray stone walls and gloomy lighting, in deep contrast to the corridors above. Was this a prison level? She had tried to memorize every turn they’d taken before entering the lift, and then carefully observed how Howser controlled the mechanisms. Her confidence was slipping by the moment.

  They did not walk far before they came to a door with guards in the otherwise abandoned corridor.

  “Mr. Starling is expecting me,” Silk told them.

  The guards let them in, and the first thing Karigan saw was Cade sitting in a chair, his front covered in old blood, his face haggard. It took all her willpower not to run to him. Instead, she surveyed the room, which had the same utilitarian look as the corridor. She made note of where the lever for the overhead light was located. A stout, pig-eyed man stood nearby, watching her curiously. In contrast to the setting, he wore a red carnation in his lapel. This, she deduced, was Mr. Starling. There were no other guards in the room. The main threat was Howser.

  “Karigan?” Cade stood unsteadily.

  Karigan looked to make sure her going to him would cause no other threat to arise. She was acutely aware of the three men watching her and Cade, Silk absently adjusting the cuff of the glove that concealed his mechanical hand. She walked to Cade slowly, fighting the urge to run to him, not willing to give Silk the satisfaction of witnessing her desperate need to be with Cade. When she reached him, she halted, searching his eyes, desiring to throw her arms around him. Instead, she tentatively pressed her hand against his chest, reassured by its steady rise and fall and his warmth against her palm.

  “Are you all right?” she asked.

  “I am now,” he said. “You?” He lightly stroked her cheek where the Eternal Guardian had struck her. It must have bruised. It did feel stiff and swollen.

  “I’m fine.”

  Silk cleared his throat. “You can see, Miss G’ladheon, that we’ve not abused Mr. Harlowe.”

  She glowered. The dried blood on Cade’s front did not make him look unabused.

  “It is your turn,” Silk continued, “to come good on our bargain.”

  Cade held on to her. “What bargain? What’s he talking about?”

  “It’s all right,” she said. Then she leaned
forward as though to kiss him and whispered, “Trust me.”

  No longer caring what Silk saw, she brushed her lips against Cade’s, hoping there would be time for more later. Either that, or there would be no later, but she refused to accept such an outcome. She pulled from his grasp, strode away, and stood before Silk. Howser remained by the door, unfortunately very near the lever that controlled the light. She gave Mr. Starling a sideways glance.

  “I did not realize we would have an audience,” she said.

  “Irrelevant,” Silk replied. “You did not forbid it as part of our bargain.”

  “Fine.” Behind her, she felt Cade closing the space between them.

  “Mr. Harlowe,” Mr. Starling said, “you would do well to remain near your chair.”

  Karigan tried to block Cade from her mind and focus on what she needed to do. “You do realize that Rider abilities are not very powerful,” she said.

  “Yes, yes,” Silk replied, his voice tinged with impatience. “Let us see yours.”

  Karigan took a calming breath. “Very well.” Silk looked on in anticipation, leaning forward and adjusting his specs on his nose. She touched her brooch—the one element Silk had apparently not known about Rider abilities, or he would have taken it from her right from the start.

  She faded. She did not wait to see their reactions, for in the light, she was transparent, but not fully vanished. She used the moment of surprise to sprint toward the doorway, toward the lever for the light. She rammed her shoulder into Howser. It was like hitting a granite boulder, but he stumbled back a step and out of the way, and she grasped the lever and shoved it down. The room fell into darkness.

  At first there was just silence, except for the sound of breathing, perhaps her own. She dropped the fading since she did not need it now. In the dark, they couldn’t see her faded or not. Unfortunately, it also meant she couldn’t see them either. Well, she had not expected to come up with the perfect plan on the spur of the moment. She edged away from the lever, hoping she didn’t knock into anyone.

  “Miss G’ladheon,” Silk said, “there is no need for dramatics. Mr. Howser, turn the light back on.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  Damnation, Karigan thought. She listened for his movements, and when she heard his footsteps, she rushed him, hands outstretched. When she ran into him, she pushed him, and he cursed. She felt currents of air as he flailed after her.

  “Mr. Howser?” Silk inquired.

  “Trying, sir.”

  Karigan punched blindly toward his voice and must have hit him in the gut for he emitted an oof. She kicked and hit, and he swore, unable to get his hands on her.

  She registered another scuffle breaking out in the room. Cade must have engaged Starling. In another instant, something like a log knocked Karigan off her feet, and she rolled onto the hard floor, shaking her head to clear it. Not a log, she decided. Howser’s arm.

  “Stop at once!” Silk cried, his voice pitched higher. “It will get you nowhere.” She sensed he had not moved from where she had last seen him, which was probably wise in the dark.

  A gun blasted so close to Karigan’s ear she was partially deafened. The muzzle flash caught the room in a brief, bright staccato stillness. Another shot rang out, and glass shattered and rained to the floor—Howser had shot out the light fixture.

  “Idiot!” Silk cried. “Put that thing away—you’ll kill one of us!”

  The door opened and dim light from the corridor came in, along with the two guards. Karigan faded again, their odds worsening with reinforcements. Now, however, she could see them, but they could not see her.

  Silk whirled toward the two newcomers. “Get her!”

  “Get who?” one of the guards asked.

  Karigan smiled and lunged, pushing the guard into Howser. The two went down. The other guard gaped. Silk and Starling might have been prepared for a show of magic from Karigan, but the guards were not.

  “What’s in here with us?” the second guard demanded, aiming his gun this way and that, attempting to track her.

  Karigan stilled, realizing that though she was invisible, her movements could give her away just as Howser’s had in the dark. As stealthily as she could, she crept up on the guard and wrenched his wrist back. He cried out, and the gun clattered to the floor. She kicked it away. The guard grabbed after her, but she moved swiftly enough that he caught only air. She snatched a clublike weapon from his belt as she went, and clouted him over the head with it. He sank to the floor and moaned.

  She discerned Howser and the other guard clambering over one another to regain their feet. Karigan kicked and pounded them with the club to make that as difficult as possible, but the guard broke away, ran out the door, and did not return. He would probably rouse the entire palace.

  Howser regained his gun and started shooting at random, bullets sparking on stone.

  “Idiot!” Silk cried. “Stop firing!”

  Howser must have hoped he’d hit her by chance, she an invisible target. Karigan crouched, ears ringing from the din, and inhaling acrid smoke. The guard she’d knocked on the head attempted to climb to his feet, but one of Howser’s bullets hit him in the chest and propelled him backward onto the floor. He did not rise again.

  The next shot that blasted through the room was not one of Howser’s. This time it was Silk’s. He held a small pistol in his hand that glimmered silver in the dim light. Howser dropped his own gun and keeled over, hitting the floor with a fleshy thud.

  “I told him to stop,” Silk said.

  Cade and Starling still wrestled on the floor. Karigan started toward them so she might help Cade.

  “Miss G’ladheon,” Silk said, “I can’t see you precisely, but there is a certain darkness in my vision, deeper than shadow, that appears to be you. I can shoot that shadow as easily as I shot Mr. Howser, who was, until now, a most sensible and reliable member of my staff. I can also shoot Mr. Harlowe.” He strode over to Cade and Starling and kicked them. “Do you hear me? I will shoot everyone if need be.”

  The two men parted, breathing heavily. Starling’s carnation lay crushed on the floor. Gun smoke wafted in the air. Although the fading wore oppressively on Karigan, she did not drop it.

  “Now, Miss G’ladheon, I surmise the guard who got away will return with reinforcements, and the entire palace will be alerted to you. There is no escape, no matter how impressive your ability with the etherea. Why not make things easier on yourself and Mr. Harlowe by reappearing and giving yourself up?”

  “Don’t do it,” Cade said.

  Starling punched him in the shoulder, and Cade cried out in pain, much more than the blow should have warranted. Once again, Karigan prepared to rush to his aid when a hulking figure arrived, silhouetted in the doorway and wreathed in smoke.

  “Ah,” Silk said. “Finally, our reinforcements have arrived.”

  THE KING’S MAN

  Karigan rotated the club in her grip and turned to face the new threat.

  “Welcome, Guardian,” Silk said. “A couple of my prisoners have gotten unruly, and your aid is most welcome.”

  She let out a relieved breath, but Fastion’s countenance in his inhuman armor, and his general forbidding presence, left her uncertain, wary. Was he truly on her side, or had his earlier words been an act to win her trust, even in the face of his betrayal of king and country?

  He said nothing, did not move, which reassured her not at all. Then he stepped into the chamber. He crossed the floor to Silk, wrenched the gun out of his hand, and tossed it aside.

  Even as Silk sputtered in shock, Karigan took another easing breath. She dropped her fading, staggering from all that its use had taken out of her.

  “How dare you?” Silk shouted at Fastion.

  Ignoring him, Fastion tossed an object to Karigan, which she caught deftly. Her bonewood! She shook it from cane length to staff len
gth and discarded the club.

  “You are the emperor’s man!” Silk said. “As am I!”

  Still, Fastion said nothing, so Karigan spoke. “The Eternal Guardian is an old friend of mine.”

  “What is this you say?” Silk looked desperately between Karigan and Fastion.

  “I am the king’s man,” Fastion said finally in his harsh voice.

  Starling chuckled. “Oh, my. And here I feared this would be just another dull day.”

  “You’re a traitor, is what you are,” Silk told Fastion.

  “He is anything but,” Karigan said.

  “Do you wish me to kill them?” Fastion asked, drawing his sword.

  She did, and it was immensely satisfying to see Silk and Starling quail at the suggestion, but she said, “Wait. They might be useful.”

  She went to the doorway and peered out. The crumpled body of the guard who’d tried to escape lay on the floor. His unfortunate encounter with the Guardian had prevented him from sending reinforcements as Silk had hoped. Still, there was no telling who had heard all the gunshots, although at the moment, it appeared they hadn’t drawn anyone. Perhaps they were far enough underground that the noise had not penetrated other levels.

  Cade moved to Karigan’s side. “You know the Eternal Guardian?” he whispered.

  “Old Granite Face? We go back a long way.” She turned and studied Cade anew. In the light from the corridor she observed darkened rings beneath his eyes, and fresh blood trickling from his nose. He looked bent with exhaustion. She felt exhausted herself. They would have to hold each other up.

  “What now?” Cade asked.

  “Yes, what now?” Starling echoed. “I am most entertained. Please don’t disappoint me.”

  Karigan felt Cade stiffen beside her.

  “We go get Lhean,” Karigan said. “Then go to the museum.”

  Cade’s eyes were full of questions. “The museum?”

  “Our way out.”

  She could tell he wanted to ask more, but Fastion interrupted. “Time is slipping by.”