The World Beyond the Mirror - 13. Break-in

Falay Falls, I thought. I have to admit, it does look intimidating.

The waterfall was huge, far bigger than it had ever looked before. It was the same amount of water, but spread across the cliff like this it was easier to see just how much that was.

I’m coming, Erin!

I stabbed my fingers into the rock one last time, the magic shell I’d created around them piercing easily through, and grabbed the edge of the cliff. I pulled myself up onto the grass and lay there for a minute, trying to catch my breath. I’d heard the cliff was five hundred feet tall, but hearing the number and scaling the damn thing were two entirely different matters. I glanced back down and saw the bleak ground far below, admiring how small everything looked.

When I’d caught my breath, I stood and let the magic run over my clothes to make me invisible before heading to the shore of the river, right before it split into different streams. I didn’t bother trying the lever to lower the diverting wall, expecting a trap, and instead inspected the waterwheel just upstream. It obviously turned the gears that the lever must engage, but everything I could sabotage was covered with metal, protecting from this very scenario. I snorted softly.

This is something that idiot governor would do, I thought, stepping into the stream with one foot behind the wheel. It wasn’t turning, since it was just being used to hold up the wall, so I coated my fingers in magic again and let them dig into the wood. After a few seconds of tearing at it, I pulled the magic back into me and grabbed onto the spokes of the wheel. It was big, but throwing my weight against it was enough to break the wood away from the metal pole in its center, and as soon as I heard the crack the metal pole began spinning rapidly. Sure enough, the lever exploded as the wall lowered, but I was far enough away that the blast was negligible.

Shit, I thought. It was trapped. They expected me to be able to get up here. I’ll have to be careful, then.

I hurried to the edge of the cliff again, finding the easiest way down to the city, and then ignored it and searched for a harder way. It only took me a few seconds to find one I could be relatively sure wasn’t trapped, and I started to climb down into the city.

When I stepped into a walkway, I found the city empty. It was the quietest I’d ever heard it; the only sound was the roaring of the falls. I made sure to step silently as I ran towards the governor’s house, following the same route I’d taken two years ago.

This time, I’m not underestimating him, I told myself. I know he has a wizard now, and I’m stronger than I was back then.

I felt a feral grin creeping onto my face.

Don’t worry, Erin, I thought. I’m here for you!

***

I stood behind the governor’s ornate ‘throne’, restrained by the rope around my legs, as he argued with the four men who seemed almost as unwilling to follow his orders as I was. This time, it was about whether or not they could stay in his throne room when Nate got here. They wanted to be here, but he was trying to make them leave, and he was getting angry.

“You idiots can’t stay here,” he declared, for at least the fifth time. “You’ll be of no use to me. Leave.”

“We’re the ones who are trained to deal with him,” one of the men said, annoyed. “If anybody can kill him, it’s us.”

I could feel rage building up in me just from those words, but not one of them noticed the murderous look on my face.

They want to kill Nate? I thought, hatred running through my veins like boiling water. Let them try!

The heat of my anger felt like it was boiling water in my veins, and the collar was like ice against my neck. It felt like the cold was draining all my energy, making my muscles cramp up, and I almost fell to my knees from the pain of it. The anger running through me was the only thing stopping me from turning into a block of ice, and I didn’t restrain it, instead using it. I let the rage pour out of me, and I gritted my teeth and forced myself back to my feet, overcoming the freezing collar to make up for last time.

“You’ve been trying to kill him his whole life,” the governor said dismissively, leaning back and fanning himself with a hand. “How many people has your master lost to him now?”

That pissed the four men off, but if they thought they knew what anger was, they had lots to learn.

“What?” I demanded, drawing the attention of all five men. “You’re the ones who’ve been chasing him?”

The governor grinned maliciously. “Yes, they are,” he taunted. “How does it feel? You had your chance to attack them, and you wasted it. Maybe, just maybe, you could have avenged him – but you made the wrong choice… and now it’s too late,” he told me, almost whispering at the end, taking delight from my anger.

“Avenged?” I hissed, the flood of pure anger tripling. “As if he’s dead?! It’s not too late for anything!”

If the hatred had been boiling water before, it was lava now. I could feel it spilling out of my body, and the collar felt like ice against my neck. Even the four men, standing as far away as they were, could feel the heat now, and the governor seemed to realize the source.

“That’s coming from him,” he said, a hint of caution in his voice. “Is the collar off?”

All four men went pale, staring at me, and one shook his head. “You can’t turn it off,” he said fearfully. “The collar’s still working, but he’s too powerful! This has never happened befor-”

The governor pulled on the rope of the collar, almost tipping me over. “Don’t be stupid. It’s still absorbing most of the magic he’s giving off, this is just the little bit it can’t handle. He can’t do anything more than making it a little toasty in here.”

“Oh really?” I growled, glaring at the men. They were still intimidated, but they seemed to agree with the governor’s guess. “Who is your master?”

“You don’t get to ask questions, Pet,” the governor said, pulling on the collar enough to tip me forward and make me fall. I snarled, feeling a surge of raw hatred for the ropes tying my feet and making me so easily controlled, and the sensation of lava seared its way through my veins to my feet. One of the men shouted when the ropes burst into flame and broke as I stepped forward to catch myself, and the sound of his fear calmed the terror I felt at seeing flames so near my flesh.

I wasn’t sure what had happened, but I didn’t care. This burning hatred inside me demanded action, and I was happy to oblige. Moving quickly, I whipped around and kicked the governor over the armrest of his chair, distracting him, and faced the four men.

“Answer me!” I demanded, my rage pouring off in waves.

They looked even more terrified than before, but they were fumbling for their weapons, obviously not going to tell me.

I snarled, the anger taking away any desire to reason with them. Fine. I’ll ask Nate.

Baring my teeth, I unleashed my hatred, throwing all the searing heat at them, and everything turned red for a moment as a fireball exploded from me and smashed into them.

I stumbled at the feel of the collar sucking the life from me, and when I looked weakly back up, the remaining anger was replaced by a desire to vomit. Whatever I’d done, it had missed. Their feet were still planted firmly on the ground… except that above the knees, there was nothing but the metal they’d been wearing. There wasn’t even any blood; the heat of my anger had instantly cauterized the stumps.

I clutched my hands to my stomach, the killing drain of the collar pulling me to my knees, and I tried to fight the desire to throw up.

An annoyed sigh sounded above me, and I looked up in surprise, my stomach heaving one last time.

“Now look what you’ve done,” the governor said coldly. “You know, I’m beginning to reconsider whether or not you’re even worth keeping alive, Pet.”

My teeth bared again in a rictus of hatred, and I could feel my eyes flooding with red. My hatred came back easily, but the collar seemed to be pulling it out of me, and taking with it my strength. I tried to throw the hatred at the governor like I’d done before, but all that came out was a cry of pain when the collar sent a bolt of ice straight to my heart. I keeled forward, my forehead thudding against the floor, and each quick, panting breath was painful.

“Stop fighting it,” the governor advised, watching me indifferently.

“I’ll kill you,” I panted, gritting my teeth against the scream that was trying to claw its way out of my throat.

“No, you won’t. You’ll probably die, but if you don’t, you’ll hate me, and you’ll beg for the chance to trade your soul for my death, but it will never come,” he said, kneeling down beside my head. “You might hope now, after showing that you’re more powerful than this collar, but that won’t matter. A cow might be more powerful than a rope, but when the farmer leads it to the butcher…” I could feel his sour breath, almost in my ear, and I fought with everything I had to get up, to bring back that hatred, to jerk my head up even the slightest and break the bastard’s nose, but it was too much. I could feel my pulse slowing as my heart weakened, and my breaths came in short, ragged gasps as my lungs failed to even inflate fully. “Think about that, while you have the time. Imagine the pain you’ll feel as your hope betrays you. Picture it… because if you wake up, it will be to the sight of your old master’s corpse,” he hissed, giving me a slight push to tip me the rest of the way onto the ground.

I barely even felt the impact before everything went black.

***

Here it was. The door I was searching for; huge and black, with ornate silver thorns carved along the frame. I touched the very end of the door handle, pushing it down and kicking the door in before jumping back and to the side, away from the doorway. As I turned the handle, a needle stabbed up towards it, clink-ing as it hit the handle.

If my hand had been centered on it, that would have hit me, I thought, watching a gout of fire shoot out towards where I would have been standing. When the fire died off, I stepped in, immediately noticing at least twenty guards facing the door, swords gripped in white-knuckled fists as they stared at the spot I should be.

“I’ll give you once chance,” I told them, my voice seeming to come from midair to them. “Drop your swords and go, and I’ll forget about you. Otherwise, I’ll kill you all and still kill the governor. Are your whole lives worth thirty seconds more of his?”

A sword dropped from nerveless fingers, and I turned just in time to see the man behind him raising his sword, anger on his face. Darting over, I grabbed his upheld arm by the wrist, flipping him over my back and stabbing a magic-coated hand into his throat. The man who’d dropped his sword whipped around, taking in what had happened, and promptly ran for the door. At least six more swords clattered to the ground, and as the bloodbath began there was a smaller fight at the door for the privilege of escaping first.

A minute later, the room was strewn with bodies and a shaking man was standing in the middle, waving his sword around in every direction to try to fend me off wherever I came from.

“Where are you?” he snarled, trying to make himself less afraid. I easily snuck up behind him, breathing down the back of his neck.

“Right here,” I whispered, and moved back as he spun, slashing wildly with a look of terror on his face. Good. He deserved to be afraid, after what he’d watched his master do, and if I scared him enough he’d probably open the door for me.

“What do you want?” he demanded. If fear could kill, he looked like he’d be dead by now, and I felt a little bad for him.

“Go open the door,” I suggested. “The one into where the governor is. You know what traps are there; open it, avoid them, and I’ll let you walk away.”

He hesitated. “You’re sure you’ll kill the governor?” he asked, wanting to side with the winning team.

“Yes.”

He lowered his sword hesitantly, walking over to the door. I stayed back, not fully trusting him, and he forced his sword into the handle, pulling it down with that, and then gestured for me to come forward.

“No fire?” I asked, hanging back just in case.

He shook his head. “There was a contact poison on the handle. Be careful, the governor’s sword is poisoned and he has at least four traps in there, although I’m not sure what they are.”

I didn’t have to wonder why he was being so helpful; now that he’d betrayed his master, there could only be a painful death waiting for him… unless I succeeded. I eyed him one last time, deciding that the terror in his eyes was genuine and not faked to trick me, and walked into the doorway.

I stepped through the door and into the throne room, immediately tensing up when I saw what was inside.

“I see you corrupted my guards against me,” the governor said, lounging on his throne. “The invisibility is a nice new trick, too.”

I didn’t give a shit what he had to say; all my attention was for Erin. He was laying on the ground in front of the throne, in the fetal position as if he’d been hurt.

“What did you do?” I demanded, horrified.

“Oh, him?” the governor asked indifferently. “Don’t worry, he’s alive. For now. I’ve decided he makes a terrible pet. He’s not obedient, these collars can’t even hold him, he kills my men with his bare hands, and he kills my visitors with fire when they anger him. He’s not worth it, and I have no idea why you’d want him either.”

“Maybe you’re not exactly his favorite person?” I snarled, hurrying to Erin. “What if he doesn’t like being beaten, and his friends being killed isn’t his idea of fun? Maybe if you weren’t such a worthless human being, he wouldn’t hate you.”

“How do you know I killed his friend?” the governor asked, intrigued. “Maybe it would be worth it to capture both of you…” he mused.

Just then, Erin moved, and the governor glanced down at him contemptuously.

“Or not, I didn’t expect how angry it would make me just to see him move,” he said, a sneer on his face. “He dies, then.”

The governor reached out, fiddling with the armrest of his throne, and my heart stopped as fire exploded from the walls and ceiling around Erin, swallowing his vulnerable form in an inferno.

“NO!” I screamed, running forward, but by the time I reached the love of my life, the fires had burnt out. I dropped to my knees next to him, my mouth hanging open, and his head tilted towards me.

“Nate,” he sighed weakly in relief, raising a hand to his head. “I’m glad you’re here… I have no idea what’s going on.”

I half-laughed half-sobbed, hugging him to me hard. He cried out in pain, and I released him, panicking.

“I’m so sorry!” I cried, my hands hovering uselessly over his broken arm.

“It’s OK,” he panted, squeezing his eyes shut against the pain.

“What… what was that?” the governor interrupted, almost as dumbfounded as I was.

Erin stiffened at the sound of the voice, attempting to turn his head to look at the governor.

“Hey, it’s OK baby,” I promised him, picking him up gently. “I’ll take care of him, you can rest for a little while, ‘K?”

“Don’t make it quick,” he requested, grimacing at all the wounds the governor had inflicted on him. “He doesn’t deserve it.”

“I won’t,” I promised him grimly, and carefully leaned him against the wall, far from where the fire had been.

He winced as his bruises touched the stone, and I berated myself for letting this happen to him.

I was interrupted by a gasp, and my eyes flashed back to Erin. “Nate, he’s behind you!” he said, terrified, but I smiled reassuringly at him before exploding into motion. I threw myself backwards, readying my magic, and smacked the governor’s sword away with my bare hand. It had been years since I faced him last, but I wasn’t worried, now that I had him alone. Last time, he’d been at his peak and I’d been fourteen. We hadn’t exactly been evenly matched, and to top it off, he’d had at least ten of his guards with him.

Now, I’d grown, I’d learned, and I’d become far more powerful. It didn’t matter what traps he had, or what surprises he’d prepared; I was going to kill him, and it would be easy.

He raised his sword in front of him, getting into a ready stance, but I snorted. As if I’d fight him this close to where Erin lay. I batted the weapon aside again, stepping closer and pushing him back with two hands, and he stumbled, just managing to keep his feet.

His jaw clenched in anger before he opened his mouth, but I didn’t give him a chance to talk, instead shoving him further back. He snarled as he fell onto the floor, and he rolled away and stood up further from Erin angrily.

“If you’re not going to take this seriously, I’ll kill you now,” he hissed.

“Good luck,” I told him, crossing my arms. He tensed when my hands moved, and I raised an eyebrow, realizing he could see me. “Is my invisibility not working or something?” I asked, holding a hand in front of my face. Both he and Erin had been able to see me.

“Your friends gave me a gift,” he said, smirking and touching the glasses on his face. “Your pathetic invisibility won’t save you.”

I shrugged, dropping it. If he could see me anyway, I wouldn’t waste magic maintaining it. “It won’t make a difference anyway,” I said. “Actually, I think I like it more this way. It’ll be nice to kill you without any advantages, so I can see the look on your face as you realize you’re not powerful after all.”

I stepped forward, uncrossing my arms and flexing my hands, and he laughed. “You think you can fight with no weapons and beat me?” he asked, whipping his sword around in figure eights before slashing diagonally towards my neck.

I smacked the flat of the blade with my palm, pushing it over my head and guiding it so it missed me, and whipped my other arm around to punch him in the stomach.

He stumbled back, dropping to one knee as he fought to suck in air, and I snorted. “You want me to fight with weapons?” I asked, mocking him. “Fine.”

I let the magic seep out of my hands, but for a change of pace I guided it out into a blade emerging from my fists, forming a sort of katar. It glimmered faintly, but was otherwise invisible, and I smiled as I looked at them.

“Just like last time,” I said, holding them up. “Except these ones are stronger than metal.”

“It will be just like last time,” he hissed, straightening to face me again. “Except you won’t escape.”

He lunged forward, trying to surprise me, and I sidestepped his stab, letting the sword slip between my side and my arm. I stepped forward, closing the distance between us before he could react, and I gave him a shallow slash along his ribs and an elbow to the nose before calmly stepping away again, ignoring his cry of pain.

“You know, this is getting really boring.”

He snarled, blood dripping from his nose and off his chin, and grabbed his sword in a two-handed grip before slashing down at my head with all his might. I held up one katar above my head, stopping his sword in its tracks, and stabbed the other into his stomach, avoiding any organs that would kill him too quickly.

A harsh sound of pain erupted from his throat, and I tore the blade free, letting it fade away and plucking the glasses off his head with my now-free hand. I pushed his sword away with the remaining katar before stepping away and dropping the glasses on the ground. I rested my heel on the frames and stepped down, shattering them beyond repair, and then looked back up at the governor, who was still holding his hands over his stomach in disbelief.

“This is making me sick,” I said, grimacing. I didn’t think I could keep going for much longer; as much as this bastard deserved it, I hated this torture.

“Fuck you!” he snarled, throwing his hands out in front of him and touching his thumbs together, bringing two halves of a rune on his gloves together. I tried to throw myself to the side, but a flash of light exploded from the gloves and hit me instantly, before I’d had a chance to react at all.

I let out a gasp of pain as my chest felt like it had been lit on fire, but every one of my muscles stiffened and went numb almost the second the pain arrived. I looked down at myself, and I wasn’t even surprised to see my shirt burned away and my chest charred.

Lightning. I absolutely hated lightning. Almost every magic user I fought threw it at some point, and it was impossible to avoid. All I could hope for was that they’d miss, but I obviously hadn’t been lucky this time.

“Ha!” the governor laughed, clutching his stomach. “You thought you’d beaten me? You never stood a chance!”

“Bastard,” I snarled, flooding my chest with magic to heal it. The black, burnt skin began turning tan again under my eyes, and I was almost fully healed by the time I stood up.

Shit, that took a lot out of me. I was beginning to feel depleted already, although I still had plenty more magic in my system. It was worth it, though, just to see the look on the governor’s face.

“Damn you! I’ll just keep hitting you with it until you die, then,” he snarled, throwing his hands together again. I dropped to the floor, uselessly attempting to dodge it, but I looked up in surprise when nothing happened. He was standing in the same place, looking confused as he tried to get the halves of the rune to match up. I laughed as I realized what happened, getting to my feet again.

“Your gem is out of magic,” I told him. “I’m done playing around.”

He snarled again, balling his hands into fists and pressing his knuckles together to form another rune that would use a different gem. I threw myself to the side again, and for once it paid off. A huge gout of fire erupted from the rune, spraying out towards me, and I rolled to the side again, feeling the heat as it chased after me. I ducked under it and closed the few feet to the governor, snapping a fist up to punch his hands apart. The fire stopped immediately, and I straightened just in time for him to smash his head down at me, trying to break my nose with his forehead. I slipped around him, avoiding his attack easily, and wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling until his spine was arched.

“This is for Erin, and for Clyde,” I snarled in his ear, and stabbed the katar through his heart so hard I could see the point emerge from his chest.

I let the katar dissolve and dropped the governor to the floor, glaring down mercilessly at him.

I whirled when I saw movement in my peripheral vision, and I was immediately worried when I saw Erin walking closer, so tired he could barely stand. I moved to help him, but he shook his head, determined to do it on his own. He almost stumbled as he lowered himself to one knee beside the governor, but he caught himself.

“You know, I wanted to be the one to kill you, but I like how this has turned out,” he said to the governor, who looked terrified to see Erin so close when he was defenseless. Good. He deserved to be afraid.

“Your body won’t be joining the others in the Shroud of Jewels,” Erin told the dying man matter-of-factly. “We won’t even burn you. We’ll just bury you and let you rot; Mol Vayar won’t even find you. Good luck being reborn,” he said insincerely, forcing himself to his feet again. He wobbled, and I was instantly beside him, catching him when he began to fall.

I opened my mouth, but I closed it again when I saw he was unconscious. I lifted him up, holding him in front of me carefully, and despite everything, I couldn’t help but smile. Erin was safe, finally, and his arm would heal quickly and well – I’d make sure of it. As soon as he woke up and was ready to go, I’d bring him somewhere safe and comfortable for him to heal up, and I already had a place in mind.

Of course, it didn’t end up being that simple.