Visages of Doom

"Inside the mirror?" Amy said. She looked closely into the glistening silver, and she saw it...

...like a dream, or a half-forgotten memory, the scene flowed and shifted like water, but its contents were clear enough. Amy saw Rondel, the knight-girl she had met a year ago. Rondel now wore a lady's gown, though its colors were constantly changing, and the background as well. She stood at an altar along with a man clad all in black, his features strange and bestial. Rondel seemed to be on the verge of tears as she took her vows, and the man smiled and took her in his arms to kiss her, but it was all wrong somehow, terribly wrong. The man wasn't kissing her mouth... was it her neck? And wasn't he biting her... no, he was kissing her mouth, and then suddenly the mirror showed them both naked in bed, and the man was clawing at her with great monstrous talons while she screamed, and blood spattered everywhere. Abruptly the image flickered back to the altar, almost as if that instant hadn't happened. Rondel seemed pale and frightened as the man released her. A man in a king's robes lifted a great flagon that splashed with red liquid and laughed "So be it! Rondel of House Dover is wed to..." and then the scene shifted again. Now it showed a dark throne room, and a monstrous knight in black armor seated upon a throne of skulls. Velus knelt beside him and was whispering something in his ear. And suddenly Velus glanced up and seemed to look straight at Amy as he hissed...

Amy gasped and dropped the mirror. It went dark, laying motionless in the brush as if nothing had happened.

"My word." Nigel said. "Quite curious. Yes, quite curious indeed. Yet we are no more enlightened than before. The affairs of these savages are of no import to civilized beings such as us, Amy."

"You're right." Amy whispered, holding him for reassurance. "And yet... something feels wrong. That girl, she could well have saved my life, a year ago. And now I feel as if she is in great and terrible danger. Nigel, where did you find this mirror?"

"Huh? Oh, it was hidden in an underground crypt a few leagues from here. Some dead guy was holding it while he sat on a seat encrusted with shiny rocks. It was quite pretty. I had forgotten to tell you about it."

"What?!" Amy said. "How could you forget to tell me something so important?"

Nigel looked embarrassed. "Sorry. We scholars do get absentminded at times."

"Nigel, we have to help Rondel." Amy said, looking back at the darkened mirror.

"What?" Nigel blinked. "Have you forgotten how they have treated you? Humans cannot be trusted, at least not the humans of this world! They're violent and warlike, seeking only destruction! Can't you see that, Amy?"

"I know." Amy sighed. "And yet..."

"I understand." Nigel grinned, showing his teeth again. "It's that Sigurd you kept talking about. You're in heat!"

"Am not!!" Amy protested, blushing angrily.

"Heh! Just kidding! Allright Amy, we might as well go. I've been getting bored of living in these woods, truth be told."

"Yay! Thank you, Nigel!" Amy laughed happily, hugging him.

1. Amy and Nigel ride hard for the human lands.
2. First, Amy and Nigel go to investigate the crypt the mirror came from.
3. After a while, Amy and Nigel decide to stay in the forest after all.

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