Guinevere was furious at their situation.
Surrounded — again! And this time Flynn wasn’t able to get away beforehand to save us later. Will our failures never cease?
The Knave of Hearts stood before them, smiling a cold, cruel smile. With him from the looking-glass portal had emerged two dozen shining red card soldiers. And all around them, hard to count because of the dense woods, were dozens more card soldiers, these slathered in a brown-and-green substance that must have not only helped them blend in visually, but also disguised their scent.
We never stood a chance. But they would have had to know we were coming this way. How…?
“I assume White’s to blame for this unpleasant reunion?” Tobias asked. One hand rested on the hilt of his sword, but he didn’t draw it. While he was slightly tensed for action, he wasn’t fully in a combat stance. Ready, but wary. And his eyes… there was coldness in those summery-blue eyes that shocked Guinevere.
“He isn’t our Queen’s favorite tactician for no reason,” the Knave said. “Come now, Tobias. No unpleasantness. You and your companions will be left unharmed, so long as you cooperate.”
“What if the companions in question don’t cooperate?” Alice asked, raising her hand like she was in a classroom. Would she ever take their circumstances seriously? “I can’t speak for the others, but you seem like a rather unsavory sort, the kind that parents would definitely not want their children to follow home. Who knows what you’d do to them?”
The Knave’s eyes twitched, and he seemed to only maintain his smile with effort. “The only interest I have in children is silencing them,” he said in a taut voice. “If you insist on throwing rude accusations at a man you just met, I might be tempted to go against my Queen’s orders.”
“Oh, so she ordered you to leave us unharmed,” Alice said, smiling. “That’s a relief. Suspicious men like you need to be kept on a tight leash.”
“I’m warning you —” the Knave started, his smile evaporating.
“With what?” Alice asked, cocking her head to the side. Amusingly, Flynn mimicked the movement beside her. “Your queen ordered you not to harm us as long as Tobias cooperates. And you’re not the sort of minion that disappoints his master, are you?”
“I will remind you that you are all surrounded!” the Knave said, tightening his grip on his swords so much his knuckles turned white.
“And we might go with you,” Tobias said coolly. “But I’d like to know something first.”
What do we do? Alice and Tobias can talk all they like, but they won’t get us out of this mess. Especially not Alice — she’s liable to get us into worse trouble!
So many card soldiers, and so little space to maneuver in this dark, dense wood…
Wait…
Guinevere looked around, really taking in her surroundings more closely. Not just the soldiers, but the area they were all in. Trees tightly packed together, high branches thick with leaves, greatly diluting the sun’s influence…
Could I…?
“Tell me about the Fourth,” Tobias said, glaring. “Saoirse’s cruel, but that’s worse than anything she would have done three years ago.”
The Knave’s smile returned, even though he clearly had to fight to ignore Alice, who kept raising her hand and asking obnoxious questions. “Ah, that was really more my idea,” he said. “Once I realized what path you were likely to take to try to escape — nice feint towards Eltaris Inlet, by the way, it almost had me fooled — I hurried to head you off. And I requested a bit more autonomy with the soldiers already being sent there to force greater productivity out of those laggards.”
Guinevere flexed the fingers of her left hand. That hand was wrapped, its injury still aching slightly. But testing her range of motion…
Yes. I can do it. If I just have the opportunity…
“So it was your idea,” Tobias said. His grip on his sword tightened just the tiniest bit — his stance shifted slightly. “All of it?”
The Knave raised an eyebrow, and his cruel smile widened, flashing his teeth. “Oh, yes,” he said. “If only I’d known before what your fiercest trigger was, I would have suggested they all go after the parents — and leave the children alive to watch.”
“You —!” Tobias started.
“Hold a moment!” Guinevere said in a commanding voice. She stepped forward and placed a firm hand on Tobias’ shoulder, while fixing a determined stare on the Knave. “We’ll all go with you, quietly and cooperatively. Just give me a moment to talk to him.”
“Ah, the promise-princess,” the Knave said, chuckling. Guinevere felt a surge of anger, but she fought it back down. “What harm could a few words do now? If you can rein him in, then be my guest. My Queen would be rather upset if I fought him here.”
“What?” Tobias asked in a taut whisper, turning to face her. Guinevere drew Alice and Sheena’s attention, as well, so they all huddled close together.
“They’re all sensitive to bright light, correct?” Guinevere asked.
“Yes,” Tobias said, a question in his eyes.
“I can blind them,” Guinevere said, feeling sudden confidence. This was her moment. No more failures, no more being helplessly apprehended, tossed about by the whims of fate. “On three, all of you close your eyes tight.”
“You have talents we don’t know about?” Alice asked.
Guinevere smiled. “Oh, yes,” she said.
“Do it,” Tobias said, nodding. He turned back to the Knave. Guinevere started her countdown, just barely loud enough for the others to hear. “You ready?” Tobias asked, addressing the Knave casually.
“More than,” the Knave said.
Tobias smirked. Flynn and Ava closed their eyes. Akko darted into the folds of Sheena’s shirt for shelter.
Guinevere reached “three.” Tobias, Alice, and Sheena shut their eyes, and Guinevere held up her hand. Her middle finger was pressed against her thumb, and a shining violet glyph, the size of a currency coin, appeared where her fingers met.
Guinevere grinned, and snapped her fingers.
Light. The light she’d stolen from her manor to make her escape, condensed light of hundreds of corridors, extravagant ballrooms and banquet halls, quarters for residents and staff, all came blasting out in a bright, sudden flare that blinded anyone who looked at it except for Guinevere, immune to her own magic’s effects. Dense woods and high branches kept the sun’s influence at bay, enhancing the stunning brilliance of Guinevere’s magical flare.
The Knave gave a shout, but otherwise took no action. And all around them, the dozens upon dozens of card soldiers that had arrayed themselves in a perfect ambush…
Collapsed. They were more than blinded — they were falling to pieces, completely overwhelmed by this sudden burst of powerful light.
In a mere moment, in a snap of her fingers, Guinevere completely turned the tables.
Now the Knave was all alone. He dropped to his knees, eyes shut tight, grimacing in pain and disorientation. The light faded, the flare over, but he still couldn’t see. He tried to rise, moved to slash his swords wildly…
But Tobias was there to meet him. He slashed, and Guinevere gasped at the cruelty of his attack. He didn’t parry the Knave’s swords, no.
He cut off his hands.
But then Guinevere was even more shocked to see how bloodless the violence was. The Knave reeled back, crying out in pain, but where his hands had been were just stumps, no blood gushing forth from them, although Guinevere still didn’t want to spend much time looking at what was exposed by the hands’ sudden removal.
And then Tobias took another step, his summer-sky-blue eyes flashing with a fierce glare. He slashed once more…
And took off the Knave’s head.
The head soared high into the air, brushed the leaves of a few branches, and then toppled back to earth, bouncing twice before it settled upside-down in the grass.
The Knave’s body fell, limp and useless. Even from his neck, no blood came forth, from body or head. But while the body was lifeless…
The head was not.
“How dare you?” the Knave cried, glaring with still-blinded eyes. “You make a mockery of me again? I’ll see you beheaded for this, you —!”
“You won’t get the chance,” Tobias said coldly. With a flick of his foot, he flipped the Knave’s head upright, and then stepped down hard on the top of his head. “Listen closely, Knave. I’m going to send you back to your Queen. You give her a message from me.”
“I am no mere messenger to be order ab—” the Knave started. But then Flynn was sniffing at his face, wagging his tail happily. “You! Mangy beast! Get your filthy snout out of my —!”
Tobias kicked the head hard. It bounced off of a tree trunk and flew back to Tobias, who caught the Knave’s head by his hair and held it up to look him in the eyes. “You’re the filthy one,” he said coldly, glaring at the Knave. “Now: the message for Saoirse. Her people will suffer under her and her minions’ hands no longer. This is a declaration of war. Before this day is done, her palace will fall, and her reign will end.”
“As if you could —” the Knave started, but Tobias shook his head hard, and he cried out in shock and dismay. Tobias approached the looking-glass portal, and its surface rippled once. An image appeared, of some antechamber in the Queen of Hearts’ palace — definitely not the audience chamber, and decidedly abandoned.
“Run along, Knave,” Tobias said. He flung the Knave’s head through the portal, and as it vanished through the glass, the glass rippled once more, and turned back into a reflection of their party in the woods.
Silence reigned.
“Well,” Alice said, poking the Knave’s limp body with her foot. “That was exciting. How come his head still worked?”
“I told you he wasn’t easy to kill,” Tobias said. He was staring at the looking-glass portal, and there was something strange in his eyes and his voice, like he was trying to come down from the anger he’d just displayed.
“You’ve beheaded him before,” Sheena said, raising an eyebrow.
“You’re serious about this?” Guinevere asked, torn between excitement and dread. This was what she’d wanted, but now that it might just happen… “I thought you said we couldn’t win.”
“It won’t be easy,” Tobias said. He looked at them, and his steely gaze faded into something almost sheepish. “I, um… I’m sorry. I jumped to a conclusion without making sure it would be all right with the rest of you. We don’t have much farther to go, so you could still escape her lands, but…” That steely glint returned to his eyes. “I can’t run. Not now.”
“Then I’ll go with you, of course,” Alice said, beaming at him. “This is just the sort of excitement I’ve been expecting out of you. And as my Knight-Protector, you aren’t allowed to leave my side.”
“True enough,” Tobias said.
“If you believe there’s a chance of victory, no matter how slight,” Guinevere said, “then I’m on board. I was hoping to play a part in the end to this queen-pretender’s reign.”
“And your unexpected talents will be extremely helpful,” Tobias said, surprisingly warmly. “I had no idea you could wield glyph artes. That’s incredible!”
Guinevere was stunned, and seeing Alice’s sly smirk, she wished she wasn’t. But that kind of praise was…
Hoped-for. And fully appropriate. But…
Unexpected.
“Are they so challenging to learn?” Alice asked.
“Yes,” Tobias said. “It takes tremendous concentration to form the complex glyphs, and doing them properly, with speed and accuracy, relies on a quick mind with exceptional understanding of high-level mathematics. It’s extremely complicated. I’ve only met one other glyph artes wielder in my life.”
“So you can’t use them?” Alice asked.
Tobias shook his head, and gave a small, humble laugh. “I tried to learn,” he said. “It didn’t turn out so well.”
“Are we truly committed to this course?” Sheena asked. She looked wary, and conflicted. “Taking on Saoirse alone? You already sent out a message asking for a full battalion of Knights. Why risk our lives now?”
“Because she’s gone too far,” Tobias said. “If you don’t want to come with us, you don’t have to. But I don’t like our chances without you.”
“We need you,” Alice said matter-of-factly. “He’s just too shy to say it so plainly. And you want to take down Saoirse, too, don’t you? You’re no more happy about her cruelty than we are.”
“That’s true,” Sheena said. She looked to Akko, who was perched on her shoulder. For a moment, Guinevere thought she saw a flicker of sorrow, of deep emotional pain, in her eyes. But it was gone so fast, she couldn’t be sure. Sheena and Akko seemed to have a short, silent conversation before she looked back to Tobias. “You said that you would end her reign before the day is done. Did you mean that?”
“If we can’t do it that fast, then we’ve probably failed outright,” Tobias said. “So yes. We’ll move fast, strike at the heart of her power, and put an end to all of this in one fell swoop. No other course has a chance.”
Sheena shifted her stance, adjusted her katana at her side, and stood tall. “Very well,” she said. “Let us rid these lands of this ‘queen-pretender’ once and for all.”
“Splendid!” Alice said, beaming. “We’re so glad you’re with us, Sheena.”
“Acting as if it was all your idea in the first place,” Guinevere said, rolling her eyes. “You aren’t really coming with us, though, are you? This is going to be the most dangerous challenge we’ve faced yet.”
“Luckily, I have two phenomenal protectors,” Alice said, looking at her and Tobias. “And don’t worry. I won’t just be dead weight, I promise.”
“If we’re going, we should go,” Sheena said. “The longer the Knave has to warn Saoirse, the more time she has to prepare.”
“Why would you send her a warning in the first place?” Guinevere asked, glaring at Tobias.
“Because it was amazing,” Alice said, grinning. “The way you completely dismantled him, and then tossed him through the mirror? I loved it!”
“I picked where I tossed him intentionally,” Tobias said. “He shouldn’t be able to get that warning to Saoirse until we’re already too far along to be stopped.” He nodded to Sheena. “She’s right, though. Is everyone ready?” He turned to the looking-glass portal, and its surface rippled, revealing a different location in the queen-pretender’s Palace, one Guinevere hadn’t seen before, but that looked suitably empty.
Guinevere checked her sword, and steeled her heart. “Ready,” she said. A chorus of affirmations went around, and a moment later, they were entering the looking-glass portal.
Back in the strange shadowy realm between looking-glass portals, Guinevere shivered. She hadn’t liked this the first time, and it didn’t get easier on a revisit. It was cold here, the kind of cold that sapped at your strength, made you feel like it would never be warm again. Fell voices were on the air, strange whisperings that made her shudder with dread. And when she tried to open her own mouth, her voice came out distorted, whispering, adding to the fell chorus.
So she kept her mouth shut, her eyes fixed forward. Tobias had picked the path, and soon they arrived at a reflecting pool. Tobias, Alice, and Flynn jumped in first. Guinevere and Ava went next, followed by Sheena.
The chilling journey ended with disorientation, as Guinevere jumped feet-first into a pool on the ground, but emerged from an upright mirror, standing on her feet, without a droplet of water on her.
Best not to think about the mechanics. Just accept it. It’s less unsettling that way.
“Where are we?” Alice asked, gazing around the room.
“Not too far from the false Inner Sanctum,” Tobias said. “This is just a storage room. Used to be an armory for the card soldiers, but they upgraded, and this room was left to gather dust.” That fact was punctuated by a particularly vigorous sneeze from Flynn, who shook himself all over — and sneezed again.
“Abandonment of unused things seems to be a favorite pastime of the queen-pretender,” Guinevere said, taking in the dusty shelves, the dim lights that were flickering, faltering, their illuminating crystals on their last legs, and the few discarded ruby ore weapons and crossbow bolts just on the floor, forgotten.
“If something goes out of use, she usually forgets it exists,” Tobias said.
“Better than being beheaded,” Alice said matter-of-factly.
“If we’re close to the Inner Sanctum,” Sheena said, “what dangers are we facing?”
“And really, what’s the overall strategy going forward?” Alice asked. “You do have a plan, don’t you, Tobias?”
“Something like that,” Tobias said. Flynn sneezed again, and Tobias started towards the door. “Sorry, buddy. Let’s get going. Guinevere, stay near Alice, keep her safe. Flynn and I will take point. Beyond the false inner sanctum, there’s no real telling what we’ll find. But if we can get there, that’s a very promising start. Let’s go.”
Not much of a plan.
Guinevere supposed she shouldn’t fault him. He couldn’t possibly know everything about Saoirse’s palace, and he’d had no idea the true Inner Sanctum existed. And he was taking on this mission with essentially no time to prepare or construct a plan. And it wasn’t as if Guinevere had a strategy in mind. All she had was the righteousness of this cause, and until the mission had become reality, that had been enough.
It will still be enough. One way or another, no matter the difficulty, we will see Saoirse defeated.
The idea gave her a thrill, and her anxieties retreated. Tobias opened the door, and he and Flynn stepped out first. Guinevere followed with Alice and Ava, Sheena coming out behind them into…
An empty corridor. Left or right, it didn’t matter — there was no one here in either direction. There were no windows, which gave it the feeling of the subterranean corridors where Guinevere and the rest of them had been imprisoned. But these were unfamiliar corridors, not dull, dreary stone, nor the gaudy scarlet-hued halls of farther out. The colors were muted here, the painted hearts on the walls faded and peeling with age and abandonment.
“Are there no guards at the sanctum?” Guinevere asked. She spoke in a hushed voice — it was far too quiet, the kind of quiet that felt like it would loose wicked and monstrous things if it was broken too brazenly.
“There are two ways in,” Tobias said. “The forgotten path snakes around to a back entrance. But the absence of guards outside doesn’t matter. Once inside, we’ll be in for a fight.”
“How did you learn Saoirse’s palace so well?” Alice asked, eyeing him closely. “You’ve only been here once, haven’t you?”
“It took a lot longer to escape the first time than this last time,” Tobias said. There was something in his voice, even more apparent in his face, a little grimace. “She took us on a lot of ‘tours.’ And we went on quite a bit of unaccompanied exploration before we finally escaped.” Flynn’s tail wagged a bit at that last comment. “Anyway. Let’s go.”
The corridor really did “snake” its way around to the inner sanctum, as Tobias had put it. Every winding turn, Guinevere tensed, ready for danger — but every time, there was no one there. On they walked, Flynn leading the way with his curled tail held high.
And then they took a particularly sharp turn, so sharp it seemed they were doubling back on themselves — and reached a door.
It wasn’t much of a door. Ruddy, weathered, positively shabby by every measure, its creases were dusty, and even the dull metallic knob had a layer of dust over it. “Seems like no one’s used this in the three years since your first visit,” Alice said, smirking at Tobias.
“Seems that way,” Tobias said. “Now, be ready. Beyond this door is her Inner Sanctum. If it’s anything at all like the last time we were here, there should be over two dozen guards, card soldiers of the highest skill. We won’t have faced their like yet — they’ll be tens, and we’ve only fought sevens and below. We’ll have to deal with them swiftly, and then figure out how to open the way to the true inner sanctum.”
“Shame the Tweedles didn’t disclose the details,” Alice said, though she didn’t seem the least bit worried about that fact.
“Guinevere, before we get started,” Tobias said, and she stared at him, surprised to hear him address her directly — it wasn’t a common occurrence, she realized. “I was worried before about how we might deal with the crystal at the heart of Saoirse’s power. But now that I know you can wield glyph artes, everything becomes simpler. You’re the key.”
“I… me?” Guinevere asked, dumbstruck.
Tobias nodded, the faintest hint of a smile playing across his lips. “Glyph artes are complicated and difficult, but mastering them can make some things tremendously simple. No matter what type of crystal it is, there’s one thing about them that’s the same, no matter what — their cores. All you have to do is, once we’ve confronted the crystal in the true Inner Sanctum, steal its core.”
“Steal a crystal’s core?” Guinevere asked, blinking confusedly. “I don’t…”
And then it dawned on her. Her eyes widened, and she realized the gravity of what Tobias was saying. “Light,” she said.
Tobias nodded. “That’s right.”
“Light?” Alice asked, tilting her head to the side. Flynn mimicked the motion beside her.
“Every crystal has a core of light,” Guinevere said, recalling her studies. “The core is almost always inaccessible, by nearly any method or tool. But with glyph artes…” She held up her injured hand, placed thumb against forefinger, and conjured a very familiar violet glyph. “I can steal the crystal’s light.”
“Don’t ever use this on any other crystal unless it’s absolutely necessary,” Tobias said. “Crystals are too valuable, and stealing their light… it kills them. But for this crystal… it’s the only way we’re going to end this properly.”
I’m the key. The key to ending Saoirse’s wicked reign.
Guinevere dismissed her glyph and nodded, drawing herself up with dignity, rather than grinning like an overexcited schoolgirl, despite that being exactly what she most wanted to do right now.
Sheena took up the lead beside Tobias, and after a silent count of three, Tobias flung open the door. He and Sheena darted in, swords drawn, and Flynn dashed in between them, a growl in his throat preluding a bark…
A bark that never came.
Guinevere didn’t know what she’d expected, but this wasn’t it. The Inner Sanctum… was empty. Not only empty, but positively pathetic. It was a dusty, closed-in, circular chamber less than ten meters in diameter. The carpet was slightly moldy in places, the paint on the ceiling peeling slightly, the centerpiece of the chamber — a tall stone pedestal — leaning slightly, cracked down the middle.
There was no one here. Nothing at all here of note, even — no tapestries or paintings on the walls, no decorations anywhere, no furniture. Just dust, and mold, and a scent like something had died.
“Did we take a wrong turning somewhere?” Alice asked, pressing down repeatedly on a particularly stained portion of carpet that let out a gross little squelch with every press of her foot.
“No,” Tobias said, his voice dull with shock. “Three years… changes things, I guess.” He sheathed his sword and started walking around the room. He gestured lightly with his hand — a movement that Guinevere didn’t catch in time to memorize — and Flynn started sniffing around, investigating every corner of the place.
“What was the point of this Inner Sanctum in the past?” Sheena asked. “It doesn’t look like it could have housed much of note.”
“The pedestal once held her true crown,” Tobias said, gesturing to the center of the sanctum. “She only wears it for ceremonial purposes. She must have moved it elsewhere, though I can’t imagine why.”
“Because this place is in a hilariously inconvenient location, far away from anywhere interesting or meaningful in the rest of her palace?” Alice asked, smirking.
“If this hides the path to the true Sanctum,” Sheena said, “then it being abandoned makes things easier.”
“Is there a chance she’s moved the entire true Sanctum?” Guinevere asked.
“No,” Tobias said. He knelt down and investigated a crack along the far wall.
“Then this place being empty and abandoned makes it much easier to find the hidden entrance, doesn’t it?” Alice asked. She followed Flynn, watching him as he sniffed and examined every inch of the space. He soon trotted over to the centerpiece. He circled it once, then started pawing at the far side of it. “Ooh, Flynn’s found something!”
“Knew he would,” Tobias said. He joined Flynn, petted him, and then they had a short, silent conversation. Tobias examined what Flynn had found, frowning slightly. “It’s leaning the wrong way. If we can move it —” Tobias heaved against the pedestal for a moment, then sat back with a sigh. “Maybe not.”
“Allow us,” Sheena said, and Akko happily leapt from her shoulder to the spot that everyone was looking at. Guinevere joined them, and found that at the base of the crack running down the pedestal, it widened just where it reached the floor — as if there was an opening deeper down. Too small for Tobias, of course, and even too small for Flynn to reach into…
But not too small for Akko. The little squirrel-rabbit creature wriggled into the tiny opening, his fluffy blue tail vanishing into darkness. There was a brief moment of tension, the waiting for the unknown.
And then…
Click!
A soft click, not unlike the sound of a key turning in a lock, sounded. A moment later, Akko wriggled his way back up out of the tiny crevice, clambered up Sheena to her shoulder, and relayed to her what he’d accomplished. “Well done!” Sheena said, smiling. “If we just tilt the pedestal back to its proper position, the door will open.”
“But it was too heavy, wasn’t it?” Alice asked. “Oh! Let’s all heave-ho together!”
But Tobias was already trying the pedestal, and with barely a shove, it tilted right back to stand erect. “Guess that loosened it,” he said, staring. There was a sound like the turning on of a tap, of running water through pipes, and then…
Guinevere screamed. The floor had given way, and she was suddenly being sucked down a huge chute. It was some kind of dark, dingy, deranged water slide, and Guinevere was immediately drenched. Ava floundered beside her, and Guinevere clung to her, trying to comfort her — even as she was struggling to be comforted herself. They were flying down this chute far too fast, water splashing all around them, and picking up rapid speed every moment…
From ahead of them came peals of bright, childish laughter. Must Alice find everything humorous? Guinevere tried to peer ahead down the winding chute, but there was too much wild, foaming water, and the chute was too dark, and it was still so very far down before the end, it made Guinevere’s stomach lurch… she returned to staring at the ceiling, no more than a metal blur above her, holding Ava close but not too tight, praying that the bottom would have a safe landing, that she wouldn’t break her feet on sudden solid ground at the speed they were going, but also she hoped they didn’t come out into some kind of pool, she hated getting wet, hated swimming, really hated water in general —
The slide leveled off so suddenly that Guinevere’s stomach leapt into her throat. And then she flew out of it, collided with something soft, and then was rolling across a soft, cushioned surface, over and over, making her dizzy…
She finally rolled to a stop, her head whirling, her stomach protesting. Beside her, Ava stood on shaky legs, tail and ears drooping. It took several long moments for Guinevere to work up the courage to just sit up, to cast aside her fears that she would vomit. Sitting up, she found Alice already on her feet, bouncing happily on the huge, cushioned landing strip. Tobias was standing as well, and Flynn too, both of them looking undisturbed by the wild slide, and beside them Sheena was standing, too, Akko in her hand shaking off water, both of them looking none the worse for wear…
So Guinevere forced herself to stand, fighting against mounting frustration. Must she always be the most perturbed, the most easily disturbed? It was really quite absurd, how everyone else handled the unexpected — and quite unexpectable — nonsense so well while she was left to flail about like a fool.
But on her feet, Guinevere was better able to take in where they’d landed. A vast chamber, easily a hundred meters across, it was ringed by a current of water coming out of several large water slides, feeding into a grate on the far side that washed out to some unknown waterway. The central platform had several of these cushioned landing strips, all in resplendent scarlet, leading up to a higher stage of scarlet, all around which were brilliant red pedestals topped with shimmering hearts. Within the innermost ring of heart-topped pedestals was a towering mirror, three times as tall as Guinevere. Unlike the silvery looking-glass portals, this one had a frame of scarlet, and its surface didn’t reflect anything, but was dark, as if the entire chamber was cast into darkness, when it was really dazzlingly bright.
Guinevere didn’t see any sort of core crystal, anything that powered Saoirse’s palace.
“Now what?” she asked in a hushed voice. Tobias and Sheena had their swords out, had just stepped up onto the platform but were hesitating, on high alert. “Did we end up in the wrong place?”
“No,” Tobias said. “This is the true Inner Sanctum.”
“Then where —” Guinevere started.
“The mirror,” Sheena said.
There was a pause, as they all took in the space. Aside from the sound of running water, it was completely silent. There were no dark corners anywhere, not even in the high, vaulted ceiling — nowhere for soldiers or hidden guards to lie in wait.
Tobias, Sheena, Alice, Guinevere, and their animal companions were completely alone.
Slowly, heart pounding, Guinevere followed the others up towards the great mirror at the center of the Sanctum. There was something eerie about it, and it only became more unsettling the closer she drew to it. A darkened mirror in a bright room… and apparently there was a powerful crystal inside it, but where? Guinevere couldn’t steal a crystal’s light if she didn’t know where it was. Was it truly inside the mirror?
They were a dozen paces from the mirror when Flynn stopped suddenly, crouching slightly, tail rigid, every inch of him bristling with tension. Tobias slipped back into a combat stance, and Guinevere drew her sword, stepping into a defensive stance.
“Now, now, there’s no need for all of that,” came Saoirse’s arrogant voice. But from where? Guinevere looked all around, but there was no sign of anyone else here. And then she looked back at the mirror…
Its glassy surface rippled. In the mirror’s darkness, Saoirse appeared, smiling coldly at them. “You keep making a fool of my Knave, Tobias,” she said, and seemed rather amused by the fact. “But your sword won’t find much use here, I’m afraid. All that matters is your choice.”
“What choice?” Tobias asked, bristling with as much tension as Flynn was.
Saoirse gestured grandly, vaguely, rather like a false ruler wanting to flaunt her power would, Guinevere thought. “Kindly give up this three-year farce and embrace your love for me,” Saoirse said breathlessly — Guinevere fought the urge to vomit. “Or, if you still insist on pretending you don’t adore me… well.” She pouted, but only for a moment, as if it was all in good fun. “I’ll find another way into your heart. And I won’t be able to guarantee the safety — or sanity — of your companions.”
“You’re not having your way with us anymore, Saoirse!” Tobias said. “I meant what I said. Your reign ends today.”
“Tut-tut, Tobias,” Saoirse said, wagging a reproachful finger. “Playing hard-to-get to the end? But then, you always did just get me, didn’t you? I love the way you fight against me. It really wouldn’t be right, would it?” She grinned, baring her teeth. “I shouldn’t have you until I break down those walls of resistance myself. I will win you, Tobias. And here you’ll find the proof…” She shimmered, as the mirror’s glassy surface rippled once. “Mirror, mirror, on the wall…”
The mirror rippled again, and Saoirse vanished. In her place, a strange face appeared in the mirror, eyes and lips of cold, pale red fire.
“Show these fools how far they have to fall,” Saoirse’s voice finished, and she laughed, cold and bright, echoing around the room.
“Get back!” Tobias shouted.
But it was too late for them to do anything. The fiery face in the mirror opened its mouth wide, and suddenly the whole room was spinning. Guinevere was falling, falling forward, into a mouth of fire that grew larger, and larger, and larger, until it was swallowing the entire world…
Guinevere fell through. The mouth snapped shut, and the world went dark.