The Magic Mirror

A Scalafanger

"You're not looking, are you?"

"Audrin- the only thing I could possibly see are the suds in your hair!"

"So you are looking!" Audrin accused through chattering teeth. The small pool was colder than winter on her skin and she was trying to get through the process of being in it over with as quickly as possible.

"Uh- no-" Fier's voice started up defensively. "When did you become so bashful, anyways? The ring accompanies you to your business behind bushes regularly and you've never seemed the least bit shy about that."

"That's different!"

"It's worse, actually- up until you came along I was under the impression that girls were more pleasant and delicate than men. You've shattered my reality."

Audrin took a deep breath and plunged her head under the water's surface. For a shocked moment she was so cold she couldn't remember who she was. When she came back up she rushed for the shore where she grabbed the stable boy tunic and pulled it on quick. As she wrestled with the rest of her garments she let out a miserable shudder.

"All this bother!" she scowled. "Just to smell like a flower! I don't know why people do it."

"It's called hygiene, Audrin," the reply was lofty, which Audrin had learned was Fier's normal tone. "People use it to ward off disease and stay accepted in society."

She finished lacing her boots and set about the wet tangle of her brown hair with a wooden comb.

"You know," Fier continued, "With a little effort you wouldn't look so bad."

"I look fine now!" Audrin muttered. "Not every girl wants to look like Bridgette or your Niarosa."

"And just who told you about Niarosa?" he nearly shrieked this out.

"You did, only about three hundred times," Audrin winced at his voice and then taunted. "Oh Niarosa- I'm sorry Niarosa, your hair is so shiny Niarosa - you kept saying her name while you were under that fever. "

"Niarosa.." Even now Fier sounded hopelessly enamored. "Even you would understand it if you saw her... she's the most beautiful girl in Evodos..no- in the world. Together we were stunning."

Audrin rolled her eyes and was about to ask Fier how a man faced with death in a dungeon could still manage to give so much importance to vanity when she heard a yell.

"What was that?" asked Fier.

"It's sounded like Marcos!"

Immediately Audrin grabbed her sword from where it leaned against a tree and climbed the slope until from the pool of water and into the grassy hill above it. She spotted Marcos- which wasn't terribly difficult- he was currently swinging his sword at a bird. Not just a bird, Audrin realized. Even though the creature was faceless she somehow knew that this was the very same creature that had dropped Imp from the cliff off of Knight's Haven and had thrown the fit when they were trapped by Creeping Charlie.

Audrin clutched the sword but held back. Running into trouble hadn't gotten her the best results in the past.

"Audrin..." Fier began in a warning tone.

"I know, I know." she said. "But what am I supposed to do, just stand here?"

Marcos was thrown down by the bird but it disappeared before his blade could meet it. He rolled over and spotted her.

"Run!" he said.

"What-" Audrin was confused. She saw that the knight was clutching at his side and there was blood slipping between his fingers. "You're hurt!"