The Maiden in the Mirror

by Scott Hamerton

  "It appears that our celebration must be cut short. Captain Glass, a word with you, please."

  Confusion, unrest, and a great deal of murmuring took hold of the crowd. Minerva watched as Lord Arach descended from the stage and spoke closely with Captain Glass and Olbus. When he finished, their response was clear, as the captain ran for the ship and Olbus began rallying the crew.

  "Come with us! No one will notice!" Luff and Leech whispered into Minerva's ears, tugging on her arms at the same time.

  "I can't. I promised."

  The twins looked utterly crestfallen by her choice, but smiled and nodded, and hugged her close. "We'll come back. We promise!"

  Big Jim thanked her with a hug, before thundering off, and Gunner gave her a solid nod. Gags and Woody both shook her hand while Minerva did her best to follow quickly in her fancy dress, hoping to wave at Nezzen and maybe steal a hug from Olbus.

  Lord Arach put a comforting hand on her shoulder as she stared longingly at the beautiful blue frigate waiting at the docks.

  "Why do they have to leave?" she asked.

  "The Phoenix has entered the Loftwood."

  A whole new wave of sorrow washed over her.

  "Will they be okay? What if I never see them again?"

  "Are you regretting your decision, then?"

  "No," Minerva replied, with a little thought. "Your offer was a gracious one. I simply wish I could stay with them and keep them safe."

  Lord Arach sighed heavily and pulled her around to face him. "This isn't really how I wanted to resolve this day, but I suppose it will do. The concert today, it wasn't for them, it was for you. I wanted to give you a gift that will help you remember me."

  Minerva didn't understand why she would forget about him if she would be living with him.

  "Go with them," he said, smiling painfully.

  Lord Arach feigned injury as Minerva clamped her arms around him in a hug. "That's very unladylike behavior," he said with a cough, but she just hugged him harder.

  "I have nothing packed! I'm not ready!"

  "Your things are already on the ship. Now hurry, before they pull up the plank. Only your captain knows."

  Minerva gave Arach a second, sturdy hug, but part of her didn't want to let go.

  "Remember my songs, Minerva!" he called, as she ran for the ship.

  "I will. I promise!"

  "You will always be a lady in my house. Never forget that."

  "I will. Thank you," she called back.

  Ubadah and Lord Arach watched from the docks as Minerva climbed the ramp and boarded the Skyraker. The captain nodded at her from the helm, and called for the gangplank to be lifted. Several sailors complied, quite confused, but pulled the plank up behind her. Once aboard, Minerva stood at the aft rail and waved to the two men on the dock as the anchor lifted, the moorings unwound, and the Skyraker drifted away. Minerva blew Lord Arach a kiss in the last moment before her ship carried her out of view.

  "She looks very much like your late wife, doesn't she, My Lord?" Ubadah said, standing beside his master on the dock.

  "Truly, she does. If I didn't know better, I would say she was my granddaughter."

  "You tried to make her just that, didn't you?"

  "I did. I really did."

  Whole lives had come and gone between these two men, and yet they rarely spoke so openly to each other. They were both lost in their own memories when Ubadah pointed at two ships approaching from the depths of the forest. "Customers, sir?"

  Lord Arach squinted at the new arrivals. One red, one green, and a black and red flag on each of their masts.

  "No, my friend. I think the time has come for us to plea to the gods for the safety of our lady."

  Chapter 68

  Chest of the Heart

  "Your attire is completely unsuitable for ship work, sailor."

  Sailor, the word Olbus had been withholding, washed over Minerva with an unexpected sense of warmth, and Minerva held back tears of joy.

  "I'm sorry, sir. I'll change."

  Minerva ran down to her cabin, seriously concerned that Olbus would assign her extra shifts for being late. She sat down on the bed and opened one of two large cases that contained her clothes.

  When she popped the latches, the lid almost hit her in the chin as it flew open. The case had been stuffed beyond capacity with dresses, shirts, trousers, and every other article of clothing a girl could ask for, all woven from the finest silks Lord Arach could offer.

  A brilliant white letter, embroidered in red, lay atop the contents.

  My Lady Minerva,

  Every lady should possess a full and comfortable wardrobe, so by the grace of my friends we have woven you a complement of gifts that I believe will fit you nicely. Should you ever find yourself in need of a change, perhaps because you've grown, we will gladly replace them for you.

  Lovingly,

  Arach

  Minerva's first thought was not about which clothes to wear, or which colors went well with which shoes, but of Thimbler. He lived so close to Reshampur, and yet he never knew of the beauty found there.

  When she unpacked the second case, Minerva uncovered an elegant harmonica wrapped in a note.

  For when you're flat, or just feeling flat.

  She put the harmonica to her lips and blew. It produced a nice, vibrant sound.

  After slight deliberation, Minerva chose a pair of golden trousers and a golden button-up top. Luff and Leech burst into the cabin just as she was buttoning the last button.

  "Minnie!" the twins shouted in unison, and hugged her so hard that she couldn't breathe. "Look at you! All lady-like – in princess fashion," they remarked as she gasped for air.

  Minerva smiled warmly as they pat her on the shoulders and ruffled her hair.

  "Come along, short stock – let's scrub some sails."

  The trio was about to leave when Luff blocked the exit. He turned back into the room, suspiciously eyeing the massive white wardrobe. Then he waggled a pointed finger between the new cases of clothes and the wardrobe, giving his brother enough time to see what he saw.

  "How come you don't – use the wardrobe?" they asked.

  "I can't. It's locked," she replied, moving towards the door again, but Luff held her back.

  "So, open it – with an axe!" they demanded.

  Minerva slouched to one side and rolled her eyes. "Look at it, and then look at me. I'm fairly certain that much larger sailors have already tried."

  The twins admitted that it was a very sturdy case. "It doesn't even – have a keyhole," they remarked with confusion, pawing at the front of it. Then they stretched up on their toes or crouched down on their knees, inspecting the case like two curious kittens, continuing to do so as sailors arrived to confirm the rumor that Minerva was aboard. "The front – kind of looks – like buttons," they mumbled, ignoring the din of cheers and congratulations in the room.

  Minerva glanced over her shoulder, only mildly interested in the wardrobe. The winding mechanisms with all its gears and holes really did look like buttons. The holes were all strange, though. They didn't line up.

  "You'd need to use an odd stitch on a button with holes like that," she said, but immediately spun around as she said it. "They're stitches!"

  The other sailors didn't seem to understand, and stared blankly.

  "Those gears are stitches!" Minerva shouted again, pointing exuberantly at each of the unique metal contraptions.

  "So?" Gunner asked.

  "That's probably how it's locked! You need to stitch the gears together."

  Minerva's companions turned to assess the case once more, with more than a few nodding approvingly.

  "I need rope!" Minerva shouted, and dashed from the room. She returned quickly and dropped a coil to the floor. "Okay, herringbone first," she said, as she threaded the end of the rope through the first hole and carefully drew it through several teeth and winches, until the stitch was complete. When she pulled its ends, the wheels turned and spun ef
fortlessly. Metal clicked and scraped and a loud pop followed as the massive knot pulled tightly into shape. The crew gasped and pushed in closer.

  "Right!" she stated, putting her hands on her hips. Then she chuckled to herself and eyed the twins. "Sailing knots are just big stitches for big threads, right?"

  The twins replied with a wink, and Minerva put the rope into place once again, beginning to sew. She had just started the fourth stitch when her rope snagged on something that she couldn't see before falling cleanly into two pieces.

  "What happened?" Jim asked.

  "I don't know."

  "It looks like – something cut it," the twins offered, playing with both ends of the sliced rope.

  "Who cares? Try again," Gunner added. He appeared more excited than she was.

  Minerva inserted the rope once more, but again it cut in half.

  "Maybe there's an order. Try a different button-thing."

  Minerva did as Gunner suggested, but the same thing happened.

  "Something is cutting it, like—" Minerva said, but like what, she wasn't entirely certain, so she carefully examined the severed ends. "—like a seam ripper," she concluded. "It's a small knife-thing you use to undo stitching," she added, when the crew just stared at her.

  "You think something is cutting it?"

  Cutting a rope in one slice, especially without touching it, was probably almost impossible, she thought. However, no other explanation presented itself. "I think so. I don't know how to stop that, though."

  "What if you use a stronger rope?" Jim asked.

  There wasn't really anything else available. The rope for the rigging was the thickest on the ship that still fit in the holes.

  Minerva looked around her, working for an idea. She closed her eyes and let her two best senses guide her. The softness of her silken attire quickly came to mind, along with a potential solution.

  Rifling rapidly through the drawers that contained her new clothes, Minerva pulled up a glimmering white gown with a laced corset. She unleashed a triumphant cry as she retrieved the braided thread of spider silk. Then she pulled her thin white rope through the holes of the wardrobe. It wasn't nearly as thick as the rigging, but this was spider's silk; it was much stronger.

  Halfway through the stitch, at precisely the same point that it had happened before, the thread suddenly went taut, straining under the weight of an unknown force.

  "Stronger than iron!" she sneered, holding on tight. "Help me pull this!"

  The case shook violently as Minerva's tether yanked back and forth beneath the force of an unseen edge. With each knotted click, small showers of sparks tumbled out from behind the gears. When she finished the final tugs of the backstitch, the whole of the wardrobe was rocking and jumping so badly that several of the other sailors had joined in to hold it down.

  As the last latch closed tight against its partner, every gear twisted on its axis, drawing her threads into the depths of the mechanism and rolling away beneath their covers. It moved so smoothly that it was like watching sand fall through an hourglass. When it stopped, two seamless doors swung outward on hidden hinges, revealing all her lengths of rope spooled perfectly onto huge shining bobbins.

  Beyond the outer layer, a flattened porcelain mannequin, in the curved shape of an adult woman, lay flush with the wooden body of the wardrobe. Its multi-hued face, and thin arms, completed a brilliant rainbow between its hands, while a single uniform line formed an opening for its mouth. Centered upon its chest, two golden shapes inset with rubies marked the location of its heart, cut to resemble two sundered halves. From the top and bottom of the heart, a narrow seam bisected the entire body.

  In one hand, it held a golden needle. In the other, a bobbin of red thread that appeared to shift from bright crimson to almost black.

  Minerva reached out and brushed the beautiful red gems. The instant that her fingers fell upon the stones, a strip of cloth vomited out of the mannequin's mouth-slot, unfurling like an overlong tongue. Minerva jumped backward faster than she could scream, landing carelessly in the arms of the twins.

  "I think there's something written on it," Gunner said, pointing at the strip. "Can anyone read?"

  All at once, every head in the room swung down to look at Minerva, still hanging in the arms of Luff and Leech. She couldn't recall demonstrating her ability to read to any of them, and yet none of them doubted that she probably could.

  Minerva gently tugged on the cloth tongue, unspooling it from a hidden bobbin inside. It felt rough in her fingers, and eerily warm. Embroidered upon the weave, a message slowly revealed itself, and Minerva read it aloud.

  "You demonstrate skill with needle and thread. Inanimate tools for inanimate works. A true tailor can mend any rift. In any material."

  As Minerva spoke, she continued to pull, until the tongue dangled as low as the mannequin's heart.

  "Are you a tailor of more than cloth?" she read.

  Minerva glanced at her friends before continuing. The words seemed written specifically for her. As a magician, she could tailor reality to her liking whenever she willed it.

  "Show me," read the tongue, pulling taut at the limit of its length. "Mend my broken heart."

  Minerva looked at the golden needle and the rubies. Sewing it together seemed like the most obvious conclusion, given the clues, but gold is a very soft metal, and she couldn't possibly pierce a stone with a needle that she could bend with her fingers. With no other options in mind, Minerva attempted to pull a length of thread from the bobbin, but the length she drew burst into ash in her fingers, sending a small trail of smoke into the cabin around her.

  The nearby sailors glanced around in confusion.

  Minerva tried again, but again the thread caught flame and burnt itself to ash as she held it.

  "You do that really fast. Try it slowly," someone offered.

  Minerva repeated the draw, slowly this time, but the thread went brittle and turned to dust. On her fourth attempt, she pulled out just enough to pierce the needle and wet it with her tongue. As she did, the mysterious red line went slick in her mouth and melted. "What is this stuff?" she said, wiping the remnants from her lips.

  "Maybe it's – a riddle."

  "Okay, let's figure this out. There must be a clever trick involved. How do you mend a broken heart?"

  "Jewelry."

  "Gifts."

  "Flowers."

  The train of thought was obvious, and somewhat insulting. None of Minerva's friends offered any meaningful ideas on how to mend a broken heart, especially not a literal ruby heart. At best, they barely knew what it meant to break one emotionally. Ultimately, Gunner offer the best idea.

  "Apologies," he said.

  The rest of the crew congratulated their ally on their epiphany.

  "What should I apologize for?" she asked.

  After much deliberation, the best suggestion was for opening its locks without asking, so Minerva proceeded from there.

  "I'm sorry I opened your case and broke your heart," she said. "Please allow me to mend it."

  When Minerva pulled the thread in her hand, she did it nice and perfect. Not too fast. Not too slow. She stretched it to the needle, poked it through the eye without wetting it, and folded it back. Then it snapped and sparked, and sent another puff of smoke into her face.

  The crew exhaled heavily at her failure.

  Frustration slowed the thoughts in Minerva's mind, struggling to make sense of it. The thread wrapped around the bobbin, so someone had worked it somehow. If she pulled too fast it burned. If she pulled too slowly it broke. Wetting it did seem to help, but it melted when too wet. Speaking to it probably wasn't the answer, since it wasn't alive. It must be something that she did to the thread.

  Minerva licked her lips as she pondered aloud. "A kiss," she mumbled.

  Eyebrows raised around her.

  "You mend a broken heart with a kiss!" she declared with conviction.

  Very delicately, Minerva put the spool of thread to her m
outh and gingerly pressed her lips against it. Then she pulled again, unwinding it smoothly in her fingers. She kissed it again as she ran it through the eye and folded it back, and it held its shape without breaking.

  With its thread secure, the golden needle began to glow. Its tip went white hot, yet remained cool to the touch. Minerva moved forward to the ruby heart, kissed it softly, and then drove the needle down into it. It slid straight and clear, plunging into the depths of the stones and passing cleanly through to the other side.

  Across the fissure in the heart, Minerva wove a large, loose stitch through the two halves. With the loop complete, she pulled the ends of the string. The gap closed effortlessly, and with a satisfying clack, an airy sigh escaped into the world from the body of the wardrobe itself.

  Two elegant handles, formed from the golden frame that encircled the heart, snapped out to the sides. The crew crowded in around Minerva as she put her hands to the handles and pulled them open. The bisected mannequin separated in the middle, leaving its heart fully on its left side as the doors swung open.

  With the contents exposed, everyone gasped and Minerva stood stunned.

  "Even Nezzen would climb down for that," Big Jim joked.

  Chapter 69

  Seeds of the Sun

  Minerva hurried to the deck, eager to inform Nezzen of her find. She passed Spit in the hallway, who gave her a wicked glare. Many of the less favorable crew had returned to the Skyraker, eager to escape their debt in Reshampur, Spit included. They would be less than thrilled to discover Minerva on board, yet again. She held her head up high as she passed, and even managed to dodge his murky assault.

  Captain Glass waved when he saw Minerva climbing the shrouds, clearly impressed by her golden attire. He was a man that could appreciate a well-groomed suit.

  The wind shook Minerva's hair and the ship felt strong and stable beneath her, while mighty boughs sailed silently by in the quiet gloom of the forest. Arach may have given her a house, in the truest sense of the word, but right now, the Skyraker was her home.

  "Nezzen!" she called, as she climbed to the top. "Nezzen, you won't believe what just happened!" she shouted exuberantly.