The Magic Mirror

Slow Death

Audrin nodded and Marcos let out a sharp whistle.

"Dumpling- C'mon doggy." He made his voice a higher pitch and it became mushy, as if he were cooing to a baby. "Come on Dumpling,"

They waited. Still nothing.

"Dumpling is a very cowardly dog," Audrin explained. "He's never had to chew a Creeping Charlie before."

"..well maybe we just have to let him warm up to it," Marcos suggested.

They were now up to their necks in wet, slippery vine and their clothes were covered in slime. Audrin could feel the plant's limb's tighten everytime she tried to move. It was disconcerting and her thoughts kept wandering towards the morbid as she imagined what herself digested would actually look like. The idea was a fascination but it made her grimace all the same.

"...Have I told you about the time I encountered the pit of no returns?" Marcos asked.

Audrin looked up and was grateful to have the offered distraction.

"No," She said. "Were you scared?"

"Was I scared?" He laughed slightly. "Let's not get ahead of the story.. I was fourteen I believe- this happened in Evodos and I was just back from training in Knight's Haven. Well I thought I was such a man back then- Britty knew better, always did. She thought it would be clever to test my courage so she had Fier dig her out a pit down one of the hunting trails- poor little fellow, now that I think about it that must have taken him all day.. and of course he was so excited that he dug it down so deep that he forgot to climb back out... it was no surprise when he got stuck."

"It was a part of the plan," Fier grumbled. Audrin looked down at the ring but her hand was completely obscured by the vines.

"He was just lucky someone noticed he was gone-" Marcos' tone was just beginning to pick up when suddenly just outside their arboreal prison a cloud billowed from thin air.

Audrin felt her stomach sink as the bird that had put them up here moved his enormous black wings and threw gusts of air at them. If it had had a face Audrin felt that the bird would probably have been glaring at her.

"They are so lucky, Haviers," it hissed. "And look at them.. still trapped and struggling... it just goes to show, doesn't it? Slow death can work. If done correctly."

It flapped heavily to the tree limb above, where the vine was bent and holding them up. Then Audrin saw the bird's talon reached out and take a swipe. Before she could so much as yelp she and Marcos fell onto the ground and graciously had the body of their botanical foe to break their fall. Audrin had barely realized what was going on before Marcos was dragging her to her feet, the vines of the creeping charlie fell limp and lifeless off of her. She caught a glimpse of the swords and was then blocked by the body of cloud and feathers as the bird landed before her.

"You escaped death, not capture- you sad, hopeful-" The bird began his scathing rant only to be cut off as Marcos slammed a heavy rock down onto his foot. The creature let out a screech as it lunged for Marcos.

"Bird Killer!" it yelled. "Monster!"

It tackled Marcos to the ground. Audrin scrambled past it, to the logs where the swords were leaned. She grabbed her own and turned around with a deep breath to face the bird that was still wrestling Marcos.

"Audrin!" Fier snapped frantically. "Just give Marcos his sword- You don't know what you're doing-"

But Audrin was already running at the bird. She lifted her sword and clutched it between both hands tightly.

"BACK YOU FOUL BEAST-"

Of course, by now, Audrin was not terribly surprised when she tripped. But as she fell onto her face she lost hold of the sword, it went tumbling into the air and just before her face met with dirt she saw the hilt knock into the bird's head.

When she looked up again she could see that the bird had toppled over onto the ground. Marcos picked himself up and offered a not altogether pleased nod of thanks to her. He kicked the bird's enormous black body and watched it sift into black smoke on the wind. He took the sword from the ground and then strode to Audrin, " Let's get our things together and find the horses... and.." He weighed the sword in his hand and then glanced at her again. "..Don't ever throw a sword at me again."

"..Oh my, I am sorry," Audrin insisted. "It was an accident."

She reached for the sword but Marcos held it away.

"Even worse," he said. "Audrin, we can't afford accidents.. particularly ones that can sever heads off of their necks."

Audrin felt like digging a hole somewhere and never coming out of it at this point but she knew that Marcos made a fair point.

"I'm sorry," she said. "It won't happen again."

He handed her the sword with a satisfied smile and added, "With that said you have probably saved my life. I am in your debt."