The White Mirror

by Almarre

Ever wondered about that traveling mirror at the bottom of the great northern sea? What if it led to someplace other than Manhattan? Revisions complete!

4. Chapters Sixteen - Twenty

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Meanwhile, here in Welkin there was turmoil. Without a Guardian, the people were lost. A new one had to be chosen as soon as possible. Usually this process starts before the other Guardian dies, and there isn't need for a new one very often at all. But now the city found itself utterly and completely without a leader, and the only known person who could Hear' in this generation was me. Since I was also more than decent at weather controlling, I was chosen for Guardian. It wasn't too much of a surprise for me; I already knew I was a candidate because of my abilities.
"Even so, my sudden election was almost overwhelming. I found myself in charge of so much. Every single being in this city depended on me, or at least thought they did. They wanted me to tell them the future. That is what a Guardian is for, to protect the people by making sure that there are no surprises. I was to tell them if I 'heard' anything, in the past or the future, that could mean that there was any type of threat for Welkin. To be honest, I didn't tell them everything. Or even most of what I heard. But they also honestly didn't want to know. Who wants to be told what is going to happen to them, to always know what course their actions are going to take? But I was security to them, a safety precaution. And for a few short months my life was almost peaceful.
"But not for long. In 1774, I began to Hear something that troubled me. It was voices not from some far away time period, but from the present. And they were coming from the lands below.
"It was the beginning of the Great War, a terrible time of fighting and misery as the groups of creatures that now form the Nine Kingdoms were finding out what to do with themselves. It was the age of the real 'Fairy Tales' - Snow White was being poisoned, Cinderella was covered in cinders, Hansel and Gretel were wandering toward the witch's candy house, Sleeping Beauty was fast asleep, and Humpty Dumpty was falling off a wall. You get the idea. It was before happily ever after, and it was far more gruesome than what they'll tell you about in books. I felt.... well, I felt as though I had to do something, especially since Acrotis was right there in the middle of it. I knew that I shouldn't feel sorry for her, I certainly didn't and still don't approve of what she did, but the truth is that I have a soft spot for Acrotis.
"Whatever I felt about her, it did not affect why I decided to do what I did at the beginning of that war. I decided to help. Some actions I took back then may not have been right, and I do regret them. But I think that over all it turned out for the best.
"Since the White Mirror had been shut down four years before, there had obviously been no more visitors. Everyone in Welkin had almost forgotten about the whole ordeal. But I had not. The lands below had always fascinated me, and now in their time of need I was compelled to help them. In any way I could.
"I thought that with my power to hear the future, I could find out what enemy troops were planning and stop them with the weather- a couple of big lightning bolts should do the trick. I did realize that perhaps this wasn't fair. After all, who was I to decide who would live and who would die? But back then I brushed that thought away.
"It was a good plan; after all, I was so powerful, why not put it to good use? But my power, at least as far as Hearing went, was failing. I hadn't realized it for a long time because I had been so busy adjusting to my new role. But it was true- what were once strong voices to me were now only whispers, and I could hardly ever hear the future at all. For anything to go right, to keep my position in Welkin and for me to help the soon-to-be Nine Kingdoms, I would need help.
"I found it one day in Prince Leon. He was a young man, some second-cousin of Cinderella's I believe. His voice had been a prominent one my mind, as I sat listening to the ever-quieter whispers drifting up from the lands below. He played some sort of important role in the war, developing what would someday be the Council of the Nine Kingdoms. But that is not what interested me about him. From what I could hear, little bits of conversation and speeches to an assembly, I pieced together words and phrases and found out that my suspicions had to be correct: This man could See.
"I suppose you can figure out what that means. People who can See will know the future through visions, just as those can Hear will know it through voices. It didn't really matter to me how he did it, though. What I needed was someone who could tell me the future.
"If I could get him here, to Welkin, without anyone down there knowing who I was or how I did it, I could convince him to tell me two important pieces of information- what lay in the future for Welkin, so I could tell my people and remain Guardian, and what lay ahead for the Kingdoms, so that I could help them by using my power with the weather. It seemed almost simple. But how was I going to get him here?
"I thought long and hard about this. All that I knew about mortals I had learned four years before, when the White Mirror was transporting them to us. I still wasn't sure what they could and couldn't survive. Since I was, however, positive that humans could travel through Mirrors, I decided to stick to what I knew. I would use the White Mirror. But not directly. That wasn't possible because it was deactivated, and there was no way that I could physically reactivate it from Welkin. But I could use its essence.
"Some Dwarves had come to us during the months that the Mirror was in full operation. They had taught us some things about Mirrors. We knew that traveling Mirrors worked because of that property of all materials in the kingdoms- being attracted to where the greater abundance of one material is. If I could put rainwater in any Mirror and pull someone through it, it would act as a traveling Mirror, a new manifestation of the White Mirror. Perfect.
"I needed a Mirror that Prince Leon would frequently be standing in front of. He often used an old Spying Mirror to converse with his uncle, so I would use that. Now how to get rainwater into it? Or simply onto the surface of the Mirror. If I could do that, then the quicksilver in the glass would help absorb the water, and the Mirror would work as a traveling Mirror when I gave it the power. The Prince sometimes took it along with him when he went away from his castle on royal business. It was out in the open, under the sky. So I would make it rain.
"For good measure, I made it rain a lot. In all the history books published thereafter, it would be known as the Great Storm of 1774. There was nothing but rain for several weeks. Floods overtook many parts of the land, but not all. After all, I needed only to get one single Mirror in the whole region wet. But I took no chances. And because of this, I succeeded. While trying to move the Spying Mirror from one caravan to another, some servants of the Prince allowed several cool raindrops to fall onto its upturned face. Now all that was left to do was wait.
"The next day, Prince Luke was standing in his chamber, with the Spying Mirror, turned into a Traveling Mirror, in front of him. Planning to talk to his uncle, he rotated the secret knob to activate the Mirror, and disappeared from the kingdoms forever. I pulled him in, when the Mirror was powered up and turned white. I didn't touch him physically; I drew him into Welkin with only the power of my will. And the best part was that no one ever even guessed what happened. There were several guards, 'witnesses', in the room at the time, but all they could do was stare.
"Once I had the prince, all that was left to do was to make him see. It's difficult for some to use their power of Sight or Hearing, very difficult the first time one tries it. But Prince Leon surpassed all my expectations. As soon as I asked him if he knew he had the power to See, he said that he had always known that their was something different about him. He didn't say it a superior tone as though it was something to brag about, he just said it as it was, a simple fact. He was different, and he wanted to know more about it. So I told him to close his eyes and think. He didn't ask me what he should think about, he just thought. And after a couple moments I knew that he was Seeing. He stood like that, in a trance, for several long minutes.
"When he opened his eyes, he blinked once. And in that instant his eyes became as white as mine. Ever since I started Hearing, my eyes had lost all their color. I could still see, but whenever I looked at my reflection I winced, and still do. The prince probably did not realize until much later what he had become, but I felt the stab of pain in my heart when I saw what I had done to him.
"With his expressionless gaze he looked at me and he told me that the Gremlin army would be advancing on his region in fifteen hours. They were coming in over the southern mountains, and they planned to take no prisoners but kill all life forms in their path. And then, in his same, slow, calm voice he added that he would never look into the future again. It was too painful to ever again see anything like what he had just seen. And I knew that he was telling the truth, in every word that fell from his lips, and there was nothing that I could do about his decision. He had seen his people slaughtered and his kingdom overrun by the most foul creatures alive, Gremlins. I wouldn't make him see the future ever again. I wondered if there was really anything that I could do about it anyway. Prince Leon was a strong man, and in the end he served his kingdom in the best way that he could.
"I wasted no time. I put all of Welkin on alert, and formed what are now known of as the battle stations. All of the most skilled weather workers in Welkin rode out to the far end of the city and prepared themselves. They waited there, and followed my orders to be ready at any moment to hear my signal. When they heard my voice, every one of them, twenty-five in all, focused on the part of Prince Leon's region where the Gremlins were waiting, poised to attack, and all as one sent down their mightiest winds, rain, lighting, snow, and hail. To put it lightly, no one knew what hit them. The entire gremlin army was blown away. My weather workers had a special plan that allowed them not to harm any of Prince Leon's citizens, so the genocide was completely avoided, thousands of lives saved. It was our first great victory in the soon-to-kingdoms, and this is one example of a battle that I do not regret in the least. Unfortunately, there were not many of those.
"But I was no fool. I knew that I did not wipe out the Gremlin race, and that they were not the only enemy of Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, and the other future Queens. I also know that Prince Luke was no longer of any assistance to me. I would need more Seers and Hearers, and I would need them soon. There were battles breaking out all over the place, but unless I knew about them before they happened, I couldn't get my weather workers to battle stations fast enough. I would have to abduct another person using my rainwater/Mirror plan.
"This second time it went much faster. I quickly found a pixie who could hear. She was frequently around a large Mirror that her secluded village used for communicating with other fairies. Since this was kept outside, it was easy enough to send a simple light rain down to drench it while the careless pixies weren't looking. The next time the young female pixie, whose name escapes me, was passing by the Mirror, I turned it white and grabbed her. Again, no one realized anything about it except that she was gone.
"When I had her in this chamber, I asked her to close her eyes and listen. Pixies are naturally not as bright as humans, so this took a little longer than it did with Prince Leon. But eventually she did hear about the next battle, and managed to tell me about it. She too, however, looked far too traumatized to attempt it again, and since my entire mission was to help these people, I was not going to force it upon her. That meant that I would need a new Seer or Hearer every time there might be a battle. It was hard work, but I was willing to do this if it meant that hundreds of lives would be saved. Luckily my weather workers agreed with me, because I could not have done any of this without them.
"During the Great War, Acrotis was still staying at Dragon Mountain with the Dwarves. She had convinced them that she was just a very lost human girl, one who had tragically lost her memory in some horrible accident and had no idea where she used to live or who her parents were. I'm not sure if the Dwarves really believed her or not, but they let her lie slip past and provided her with food and a place to stay, as long as she did their bidding. It was a good hideout for Acrotis, and she was still learning all she could about Mirrors.
"And so, it was by pure coincidence that she was there when I chose my next 'victim'. You remember Cinderella telling you in her palace about how Acrotis had been a witness to one of the disappearings? Perhaps it never occurred to you that Acrotis couldn't have been alive in the eighteenth century. But, no matter.
"There was a Dwarf in Dragon Mountain who could Hear. As this was my twenty-first abduction, I was getting quite used to the procedure by now. I saw immediately how to get rainwater into a Mirror and suck him through it; I would make it rain on one of the many Mirrors that are shipped into Dragon Mountain every week for repair. The particular Dwarf worked in that area, fixing the Mirrors, so he would come into contact with all the Mirrors that were out in the rain.
"Acrotis, on the same day that I acted, was also helping in the repair department. There was only one other Dwarf in the room at the time. I didn't notice that she was there at all, so I pulled the Dwarf who could hear through the Mirror right in front of her. It was a foolish thing to do, I know now. If I had realized that she was there, I would never have revealed the whiteness of the Mirror to her. She was smart enough to put two and two together, and discover that there was a way to get through the Mirror without reactivating it. Maybe it didn't matter anyway. In the end that knowledge did not help her. Still, I'm sure it gave her new hope of returning to Welkin through the Mirror.
"Over the next few years I abducted thirty-four creatures with the power to See or Hear. Each of them sacrificed their own lives in the kingdoms, because I couldn't let them down after I had shown them Welkin. And each of them saved many other lives in doing so.
"In the year 1800, the Great War ended, and the Golden Age began. Cinderella, Snow White, Queen Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Gretel the Great all began their peaceful reigns, and the Nine Kingdoms were formed. Of course there were still awful creatures like trolls roaming around, even claiming their own kingdom, but they were subdued. Thanks to my work, some of the more horrible races were annihilated, including the Gremlins. It was almost three long decades from the beginning of the war to the end, but it was well worth it.
"Acrotis seized this time to act. She left the Dwarves who had been so good to her without so much as a goodbye and started off to find new possibilities for finding how to reactivate the White Mirror. By that time this was her major goal, and when Acrotis got it in her head to do something no one could stop her. She traveled all the way to Cinderella's Kingdom. She wandered up to the palace door and again told the tale that she was a lost child who had lost her memory in a tragic accident. I am positive that Cinderella did not believe her story, but she did not question it and kindly gave Acrotis the job of Advisor on the subject of Mirrors. Acrotis had learned quite a lot during her stay with the Dwarves, and she lost no time showing off this fact to Cinderella.
"One wonders after a while what is going through the head of this great woman. She let a strange girl into her palace and appointed her an Advisor without asking more than her name. She must have known at least part of what Acrotis really was. If there was no other reason for this to be true, she must have known something was amiss when after a hundred years Acrotis had not aged a day. But for some reason Cinderella kept her silence, and no one else bothered to question.
"The Golden Age progressed, and ended. All the great Queens were dead except Cinderella, and she was getting far too old to rule her kingdom by herself. At least that's what everyone else said. I think she was doing just fine.
"So that brings you almost up to date. But I still haven't answered the one question that you want to know the answer to, have I?
"Why did I take your son?
"I gave you this history lesson for a reason. So that perhaps you could figure it out for yourself. Why have I ever before taken people through Mirrors? To help with war. Because they can See.
"There will be a war. And your son can See."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Virginia was lying down on a soft bed of.... of something that felt like a cloud. Slowly, the thought slipped into her mind that it probably was a cloud, but she didn't remember why or how she got there or when she had fallen asleep. It was so warm and comfortable that she wanted to roll over again and drift off again to rest, but something kept her from doing so. She managed to force her eyelids open to look around. First, she checked to make sure that Patrick, Wolf, and Tony were still near by. Patrick was cuddled up close by her left side, so it was a good thing that she hadn't rolled over or she might have crushed him. Wolf was on Patrick's other side, and he had his arm around him. They looked so cute sleeping there together, curled up on the fluffy cloud. Virginia smiled and knew that she would never again take a sight like that for granted.
Tony was snoring on Virginia's other side. He also looked cute in his own way, Virginia thought fondly. She didn't want to wake any of them, but she was no longer at all tired. Slowly and carefully she stood up, trying both not to wake her family or slip on the force field she remembered all too well.
With not a notion in her head of where she was going, Virginia set off by herself into the fog. Judging by the amount of light, it seemed to be early morning, perhaps just at sunrise. It was cool and breezy, but Virginia had the idea that it was likely much colder than she felt it to be. The ring on her finger felt heavy, reminding her of her ultimate dependance on it.
Walking became easier as Virginia practiced, the force field becoming no more difficult to navigate than a particularly wet patch of sidewalk. Not being able to see more than a few feet away in any direction was still rather unnerving to her, though. She brushed away a patch of cool mist with her hand, and it swirled and disappeared. That frustrated her for some reason. It was so elusive and intangible, she felt powerless against it. Vainly she grabbed at the clouds, but the mist slipped through her fingers into nothing and was gone. Just like my life, she thought. I'm going to be stuck here forever in this place I don't understand, and there isn't anything I can do about it.
She walked on, trying not to feel too sorry for herself but failing miserably. She had no idea what to do. What the stupid old Guardian had told her was unbelievable to say the least. Actually, everything he had said about the White Mirror's history made reasonably good sense. According to that book Wolf had shown her in Wendell's palace, it was as suitable an answer as any. But of course, she couldn't possibly be expected to believe that her son, her son, was a "Seer". Patrick, the little baby who slept and cried and threw up just like all the other infants in the world? It simply wasn't possible. Virginia tried coming up with several good reasons to support her argument. The power couldn't be something he had inherited from Wolf. Or from her, for that matter. But maybe it wasn't genetic. The Guardian didn't say anything about it being genetic. Maybe it didn't have to be inherited at all.
But then, Virginia thought, grasping at another idea that would make it all impossible, how did that Guardian know anything about it anyway? How could he have any clue that Patrick was a seer if Patrick was born only three months ago? He couldn't, she concluded, and left it at that. She didn't want to think about it too much as it made her head hurt.
She had been walking for a long time and was only just beginning to realize how foolish it was of her to start out into the mist without a thought in her head of where she was planning on going, or how she was ever going to get back. Virginia stopped walking and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands to help her think. She had been going in a fairly straight line, she reasoned, and if she turned around now she should end up close enough to where she started to at least scream for help. Not the most brilliant plan, but good enough. She turned on her heel and started walking in the opposite direction. Despite her efforts to remain calm, Virginia broke out into a run after only the first few steps. She was suddenly very eager to get back to civilization, or what there was of it up here.
Fortunately she noticed in time that the cloud was thinning. Virginia slowed her pace to a stride. More light was shafting through the haze than had ever before in the short time that Virginia had spent in Welkin. She didn't realize at first what it meant, but in the next second she inevitably did.
The Nine Kingdoms were stretched out before her. The breath-taking, indescribable beauty of it knocked the wind out of her. The sun was rising to the east, brilliant colors splashed across the sky in perfect harmony with the distant clouds. Fields, mountains, valleys, cities, and forests were arrayed below, contrasting almost in a pattern. On the distant horizon she could see the curve of the earth, and beyond that more clouds. It was so odd and beautiful at the same time, to see those faraway puffs of clouds at eye level. She stood perfectly still for at least two minutes, drinking it all in. If she could remember this sight, if she could preserve this one radiant instant in time forever, somehow it would all be okay. Whenever she felt like giving in, giving up, she could pull this out of the depths of her mind and it would all turn out all right. It was so perfect, so completely flawless, that Virginia wanted to stand there forever and melt into that landscape. She could smell it, taste it. The aroma of a deep forest, fresh roses, air on a mountain after the rain, and the tiniest intimation of a wind on the ocean, traveling from undiscovered lands she couldn't see. But she could see everything.
Virginia blinked. She had to wake up. Why was she standing there, looking down on the Kingdoms, when what she should be doing was trying to get back to Welkin? Stop being so critical, she told herself severely. It's beautiful, and I could use something beautiful after all I've been through these past few days. But every time she glanced down and recognized a landmark- Kissingtown, characterized by a flash of pink, the fields around Cinderella's palace, Dragon Mountain in the distance- she thought of how it could all change so quickly if Wendell didn't win the damned war. The trolls, the giants, and all their allies would take over, and who know what they had in store for the Kingdoms? Virginia rubbed her temples gloomily. She planted her feet firmly in reality now, remembering with a shock what was really going on down below her, beneath the deceptive cover of beauty. There was a war brewing, and Wendell and the entire council of the Nine Kingdoms were brutally outnumbered.
Virginia tried to focus on the immediate future. Her mediocre plan was ruined. She couldn't go straight back to where Wolf, Patrick, and Tony were because the cloud had ended. Therefore, she didn't have the faintest clue to where she was. Lost and alone, Virginia sat down on the force field. She remembered something she had learned a very long time ago, maybe from that one year she had joined the Girl Scouts, but had then decided she didn't like it and quit. It was one of the few rules she had understood in Girl Scouts, because it made perfect sense: If you get lost, stay where you are. Don't go running around like a fool looking for the way back, because you'll only go further away from people trying to find you. Virginia decided to try it. She curled her legs up under her and propped her head up with her hands. She realized then that she was on a cloud, and it is the nature of clouds to break apart and float away from other clouds. This could make it considerably more difficult for someone to find her. But even with this new knowledge, she was strangely calm. Maybe it was the effect of the highly panoramic sight of the Nine Kingdoms. Or maybe, Virginia thought, I'm just losing my mind.

Wolf had been awakened by the wonderfully familiar sound of a baby wailing. Without even realizing it, he had wrapped his arm around Patrick during the night, so the experience was even more enhanced: he got the wake-up call and the punch in the nose.
Picking up Patrick and setting him gently on his knee, Wolf rubbed his eyes groggily and attempted to smooth his hair, which, after first being plunged under the ocean and then suddenly forced into the cold high-altidue air, was not faring quite as well as he wished. Not that he was complaining at all. He had his cub back, and there was no amount of torture he would not undergo to save him. But it seemed that Patrick's troubles were just beginning.
Wolf held his son's hands and bounced him on his knee until the sobs turned into giggles. Looking at him, smiling and laughing with not a care in the world, Wolf couldn't begin to wonder what the Guardian was thinking when he stole the cub from them, claiming that he was a seer. The man was not all well in the head, Wolf thought sadly, and it could cost them all their lives. How could Patrick, an infant, even if he was a Seer, tell about what he "Saw"? How could he communicate it to them? And what exactly did the Guardian want to learn from him anyway? Wolf wanted answers, and he was getting restless just sitting there. And it wasn't as if the thought had not occurred to him that he hadn't eaten in at least twenty hours. It had been so long! The last food he remembered was a quick meal in Eulonia, the underwater city, and fish was not exactly his food of choice. Yes, he was going to find some food for his cub and himself. Right away.
Wolf stood and lifted Patrick up onto his shoulders. The baby's feet dangled down on either side of his neck, and Wolf held the chubby little hands so that Patrick wouldn't lose his balance. Virginia always winced and looked the other way when Wolf sat Patrick in this precarious position. But Virginia apparently was not around at the moment. Wolf figured that she had already gone off to find some food. Trying not to feel too annoyed that she hadn't waited for him, Wolf scanned the clouded areas to all sides of him. He could see the clear buildings off to his left, so he started to walk that way. Wolf paused and steadied Patrick with his arms. Maybe he should wake Tony. No, on second thought, Tony could sleep a little longer and find them when he woke up.
When Wolf and Patrick arrived at the house where Lorelei had taken them yesterday, Wolf noticed the Guardian standing inside. He could see him clearly, of course, and that was actually how Wolf was able to tell that house from all the other identical houses on the street. The old man seemed to be deep in thought. He was standing very still, hardly breathing, with his eyes closed, and was leaning unsteadily against the translucent wall. Wolf wasn't sure what to think of the Guardian's strange behavior, but it was no stranger than anything else he had already done. Wolf stepped up the stairs, being careful not to drop Patrick.
As Wolf reached the door and went in, the Guardian's eyes flew open suddenly and he reached for Wolf's arm. With surprising speed and strength, the man grabbed his sleeve and dragged Wolf down the steps that led to the opaque chamber. Without knowing what else to do, Wolf let himself be led away, trying desperately to keep Patrick upright.
"Hurry!" the Guardian cried as they rushed down the stairs. When they reached the basement, the man crumpled onto the rickety old stool and panted for breath. Wolf lifted Patrick off of his shoulders and set him down on the ground. He shook his head.
"You really are out of your mind."
"No!" the man gasped, "They were about to find me!"
"Like I said...," Wolf repeated, "You're out of your mind."
The Guardian groaned. "The fairies," he said. "Those devil fairies. They can sense me. They're looking for me, searching, all day, everyday. Whenever I use my powers of hearing, they can pick it up with their awful sensors, radar, I don't know what to call it. I'm only safe in this chamber. Didn't I tell you? No, I guess not. You don't believe me anyway."
Wolf sighed. "I have to. Sadly enough, you're the most reliable source any of us have right now." He rolled his eyes, and decided to humor the nutcase. "If they were going to get you, why were you trying to hear outside the chamber?"
"It's the only way I can," the Guardian said miserably. "I'm too weak to attempt it in here. The walls block me so much. I needed to know how my troops were doing at battle stations. Everyday at about this time, one of them reads out a report of their situation, so that maybe I can pick it up and listen. But I can't contact them, and that's very frustrating."
"Why are the fairies searching for you?" Wolf asked, curious in spite of himself. He picked up Patrick from the floor as the baby began to whimper, and swung him gently back and forth in the air a couple of times. "How do they even know that you exist?"
"Technically, they don't," the Guardian said. "They only know that there is something spying on them using supernatural powers. The trolls have discovered that when someone is Hearing or Seeing the past, present, or future, the person sends out some kind of wave, like sound waves, or ripples on a pond. They've developed sensors that can pick up these waves. They want to know when someone is spying on them. Some pixies carry these tiny sensors on them, and if they detect the waves, I'll be finished." The old man paused for a while, staring at Patrick, but not really seeing him. "Welkin is not really a different dimension, as the tenth kingdom is different from the other nine. Our city is above the Nine Kingdoms, and it would be very possible for the trolls to get to us here, if they realized that we existed and could figure out how to go this high and still be able to breathe. But they have an easy solution at the moment. They could send the dragons." The Guardian shook his head in sorrow. "We would not be able to deal with red dragons right now."
Wolf held Patrick close. Something about the way this man talked, some quality in his voice, a whisper of truth, made it almost impossible to disbelieve him. But if it was true, if everything that he said was true, then they were in more danger than Wolf liked to think about. Especially after that comment about dragons, which Wolf chose to ignore. Otherwise, he might go crazy as the Guardian with all the worrying and waiting over something he didn't know but feared. Dragons!
"So," Wolf said quickly, so that the Guardian couldn't tell them any more bad news at the moment, "How about some food? We haven't eaten in.... Well, when a man can't even remember the last time he's eaten, it's time for dinner, don't you think?"
The old man smiled. "Yes, I suppose so. Where's your wife?"
Wolf frowned. "I thought Virginia might be with you."
"No, I haven't seen her since last night. But don't worry, Lorelei will find her."
Wolf put a hand to his head. He desperately hoped so.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Lorelei paused in mid-step. She lifted her head into the breeze and closed her eyes. The wind lifted her long, dark hair from her shoulders and swept it out behind her. There was the smallest hint of the cool, crisp edge to the air that only comes when autumn is not far away. Wind would be picking up steadily, but moving on to other areas of the kingdom as quickly as it would come to theirs. A natural storm was coming in from the east that would bring a fair amount of rain tomorrow, and perhaps the first noticeably cooler temperatures they had experienced since the end of spring. Lorelei sensed all this in one deep breath, and dismissed with her exhale. She had not stopped for a weather report. She had heard something.
A noise was coming from far off to her left. It was a continuous humming, and it sounded an awful lot like Virginia. Lorelei wondered what she was doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere, and headed towards the place where she guessed Virginia was.
Virginia was indeed out there in the middle of nowhere, seated on the clouded force field with her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin buried in her knees. She was humming some ballad loudly and off-tune, and staring intently at the kingdoms through a break in the cloud cover. Lorelei barely glanced at the scene below; she had seen it countless times before, but she understood what it must be like for Virginia. She's really just a small child, Lorelei thought, though not hotly. Yet she certainly doesn't act like she's hundreds of years younger than me.....
Since Virginia looked deep in thought and Lorelei didn't want to startle her, she sat down silently and waited to be noticed. She didn't have to wait long. All of a sudden, Virginia's head snapped over to where Lorelei was sitting patiently and she gasped.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't notice you were there!"
Lorelei smiled and shook her head. "It's all right."
Virginia still looked surprised that Lorelei had managed to sneak up behind her. She winced as she slowly stretched her legs out in front of her. She must have been sitting curled up for a long time. When she looked up, Virginia brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and smiled too.
"I'm so glad you're here. I was taking a walk and I got a little bit turned around." Virginia paused, then laughed out loud. "Ha! 'Got a little bit turned around.' I was completely lost."
"That's easy to do out here," Lorelei grinned. "You should probably just stick around Welkin from now on."
"Did that Guardian send you looking for me?" Virginia asked with a hint of amusement.
"No," Lorelei answered honestly, "I was taking a short walk just like you; I haven't seen him at all this morning."
Virginia nodded and rubbed her eyes. She felt incredibly tired. How she was going to make it all the way back to the city was a mystery, so she thought that she had better start right away. As she climbed to her feet, Virginia gulped nervously and asked Lorelei, "You do know how to get back, right?"
"I hope so," Lorelei laughed.


Wolf paced anxiously outside the Guardian's home/prison. Patrick was sitting a few feet away, happily grabbing little handfuls of cloud and trying to shove them into his mouth before the mist escaped. Even though he was not having much luck with this game, he was enjoying it immensely.
Wolf, however, was not so relaxed. Virginia had been gone for at least two hours, probably more. It was hard to tell since he had been sleeping while she left. Perhaps she could have gone in the middle of the night. Then she could be anywhere by this time! Or maybe she hadn't just 'left'. Maybe she was kidnapped, or stolen or something! Oh, he just couldn't bear it if she was missing for much longer- the worrying was eating him away. Wolf ran a hand through his hair and then started biting his nails. But that was such a horribly un-wolflike thing to do that he stopped it immediately and paced faster.
No, he couldn't take it anymore. Wolf snatched up Patrick and was just about to stride boldly off into the fog when he ran smack into Virginia.
"My love!" Wolf cried in surprise and relief. He skillfully held onto Patrick with one arm and swept Virginia up in the other, kissing her intensely. When they parted, Virginia gave him a wide smile; she was pleased that he was so worried about her.
"Promise me you'll never again run off like that without telling me," Wolf chided, giving her a disapproving look.
"Yes," said Lorelei, coming up beside Virginia, with as straight a face as she could muster. "That really was rather naughty of you."
Virginia took her scolding with a bowed head to hide a grin. "Sorry."
"As you should be," Wolf said, handing her Patrick as a sort of peace offering.
Virginia reached out to take the baby, but paused as she did so because of the strange expression on Patrick's face. He had his eyes closed, and his lip was stuck out in a little pout, like he put it when he didn't quite understand something. His hands also were moving slowly together, as if he was trying to feel for something in the air. Then, suddenly, so fast that Virginia could hardly see what was happening, he clapped his hands together. But instead of a slap, Virginia heard an angry cry.
"Geroff a me! Geroff, or yule be surry, yu aweful lil' munster!"
Virginia screamed and stepped back in shock. Clutched in Patrick's hands was a tiny little man. This creature had pale, transparent wings attached to its back and a white beard that stretched all the way down to his middle. His garments were patched pieces of cloth that looked like they had been torn off some other, larger clothes. The relatively huge golden eyes were the most noticeable part of this entity, and they took up more than half of the man's little face.
Patrick had opened his eyes and was studying the winged creature intently. His tight grip did not waver for an instant, despite the man's hostile but muffled threats. Patrick simply clamped his hand more firmly over the thing's mouth. The baby did not seem at all surprised that the little man had suddenly appeared out of absolutely nothing in his hands, but Virginia, Wolf, and Lorelei certainly were.
"Cripes!" Wolf yelled. He didn't drop Patrick, which would have been Virginia's first response, but he did hold him and the creature as far away from his body as he possibly could.
Lorelei was white as the clouds. "That's a pixie," she gasped. "He's actually caught a pixie!"
"L' go a me, yu teribil imp!" the elf demanded furiously.
"Well, what are we going to do with it?" Virginia inquired, the beginnings of panic creeping into her mind. She didn't want her baby holding that thing. What if it bit him? It could have rabies.....
"We should take it to the Guardian," Lorelei said, twisting her hands nervously.
"No, that's the last thing we should do," Wolf told her. "It could have one of those sensors on it. If it escaped, it could go tell the trolls about who's spying on them and exactly where he is. It could do that even if it didn't have a sensor on it. We can't take the chance."
"What are you talking about?" Virginia asked angrily. She really loathed it when people were talking between themselves in front of her about things she didn't understand.
"We don't have a choice," Lorelei explained, ignoring Virginia's question. "We can't let it go now, it already knows we're here. It would only be a matter of time before it found the Guardian. And anyway," Lorelei said, glancing at the pixie squirming in Patrick's hands, "It already knows there's a seer here. Your son Saw that fairy. That's the only way he would be able to catch it when it was invisible."
Virginia shook her head. "No," she said. "You don't know what you're talking about. It was just a coincidence, that's all."
Lorelei looked at her and frowned. She knew that Virginia was only deceiving herself. She didn't want to accept the fact that her son was different, that he was always going to be different. But Lorelei knew, because she had seen it all before.
She took a deep breath and in one motion reached out and grabbed the struggling pixie from Patrick's hands. The baby immediately started to wail, like he had been cheated out of a favorite toy. Lorelei glanced down at the pixie. His face was a bright red and he glared at her with contempt.
"If yu be lettin' me go dis enstant, ten I'll be seeing if I can let yu off eesy," he said venomously. "Or else yu wunt be likin' wat I'm gonna do tu ya."
"Of course, sir," Lorelei said, wrapping her slender fingers tightly around the sprite's tiny body. "Come," she ordered Wolf and Virginia, and started for the door of the house.
"I really don't think-" Wolf started to protest.
"We won't show it to the Guardian yet," Lorelei interrupted without turning around or stopping. "I'm just going to take him into the building so that he can't escape if he gets out of our reach."
Wolf reluctantly followed, with Virginia walking behind him even more reluctantly. Patrick was still crying, but Virginia took him and shushed him gently.
When they got in the house, Lorelei led them to a different room with cupboards and a sink, all transparent, of course. She reached onto a shelf and pulled down a glass jar (actually it probably wasn't glass, but just looked like it), and unceremoniously dumped the pixie inside. She screwed the lid on tightly and took a sharp knife from a drawer. As she violently poked air holes in the lid with little regard to the panicking fairy, Lorelei swept her other hand over the counter top. Instantly twi plates, two cups, a bottle, and a bowl appeared. The plates were heaped high with all kinds of food that gave off the most wonderful aroma. The bowl was full of a less-appatizing yellow much which Patrick looked at hungrily. The other containers held cold milk.
"Here." Lorelei motioned toward the food. "It's about time you ate something."
Virginia didn't waste a second, and Wolf looked almost ready to cry. He sat Patrick down on the counter, handed him the bowl of mush, and dug in with his hands. Virginia didn't even think of telling him to use a fork. She was so hungry, and the food seemed like the best meal she had ever tasted. Patrick put his whole face in the bowl and licked it clean.
Only when they finished the last crumb did any of them thank Lorelei, but she didn't seem to mind. Virginia asked how she had made the food appear out of nowhere.
"It was already there," Lorelei replied nonchalantly. "I only made it visible."
"HOW DARE YU!" the pixie screamed for the eighth time in five minutes.
"How dare yu kep me in 'ere! Yu don' be-leeve me, but yull pay fir dis!"
Virginia and Wolf sighed at the same time. "What should we do with him?" Virginia asked.
A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of Lorelei's mouth, but she managed to suppress the grin. "Well," she said. "We could interrogate him."
Virginia thought about that. "Yes...." she said finally. "Of course. He could tell us about the troll army's plans."
"I ain't gonna tell ya nothin'!"
"We could change that," Lorelei declared. She approached the fairy's jar menacingly. The poor creature pressed his body against the farthest wall, bending his delicate wings.
"Leev me a lone," he croaked.
"What's your name?" Lorelei demanded in a silky voice.
The pixie gulped. "Nicholas."
Virginia raised an eyebrow. She was surprised that this all but ordinary being had such a normal name.
"So, Nicholas," Lorelei continued, "Do you have anything you'd like to tell us? About the troll regiment, I mean."
"No," Nicholas answered forcefully. "I don'."
"Really?" Lorelei exclaimed in mock surprise. "I'm sure there's something. After all, a smart, fast, tremendously capable pixie like yourself must have been let in on some interesting secrets about their plans. No?"
"'Fraid not," Nicholas replied with just as much sarcasm.
"Why would you be keeping anything from us?" Lorelei went on without so much as a pause. "Those trolls, they're not your friends. They're just using you. Don't you realize that?" She began to pace back and forth in front of the fairy's prison, but never for an instant lifted her dark eyes from his golden ones.
"Yur messin' wif my mind," Nicholas accused proudly. "But I ain't fallin' for it."
"Oh, Nicholas," Lorelei shook her head in shame. "You're right. Of course those trolls and all the other pixies are on your side. I'm sorry. But then," she paused, and stopped pacing, "But then, why are your eyes still golden?"
Nicholas blinked. He blinked, and then he blinked again, and then he stared blinking his eyes so rapidly that they closed entirely and he covered his face with his hands.
"Surely a pixie as old as you are would have black eyes by now?"
"Tey wudn't giv 'em to me," he whispered miserably. "Da last time, wen Reelish.... wen 'e was muurdered. I was ter, in da aaple orcherd. I saw it, da Qeeny, she kill 'em all! An I didn' do nothin'. I didn' go fir 'elp. So tey won' giv me my eyes. I hav to be an out cast fir da rest o' me life. No one ever reespect a gold'n eye."
Lorelei let him cry for a minute. Then she bent down so that she could be at his eye level. Nicholas lifted his huge, apparently cursed golden eyes out of his hands and met her gaze.
"Wouldn't you like something...... better?"
He said nothing, just dried his tears. And then, slowly, he nodded.
Lorelei sat back and smiled. "I thought so."

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The cold wind swept through the trees overhead. Dark clouds hurried across the sky, but it was not about to rain. Spread out in front of her was the river. There were an uncanny amount of waves on the water's surface, stirred by the cruel wind. If only it were a few degrees colder, she thought wistfully, and the river would possibly be iced over enough for her to cross on top; it wasn't moving very fast. But, of course, it was freezing enough only to be a nuisance to her, and no help at all. Her job couldn't be that easy.
Acrotis would have called up a cloud to carry her across the river, but her powers were so much weaker on the ground than they were in the sky. Hardly ever could she work the weather from anywhere in the Kingdoms, except perhaps the top of Dragon Mountain. Sometimes, though, when she was angry enough, she could call a bolt of lightning or a quick clap of thunder from level ground. She had been angered plenty at Cinderella's palace, when those fools wouldn't listen to her plans about going through the Mirror. Her lightening and thunder had quieted them then, but not for long. Virginia had never trusted her, not for a minute, and now she never would. Lorelei would have more than enough time to convince the girl that Acrotis was the enemy and she was her friend.
But the really unfair part, Acrotis mused as she stood facing the river, was that she hadn't been about to do anything terrible. All she wanted to do was unite the little family again- to give that Virginia back her baby. Acrotis wasn't the one who had taken him in the first place, anyway. It was Lorelei, her self-righteous older sister, who had stolen Patrick. Why should Virginia feel anything but hatred toward her, and anything but gratitude toward Acrotis? And why would Lorelei force her to leave Welkin again, even threaten her? What she had done happened a long time ago, and Acrotis had even been about to apologize for it. But not now. Lorelei obviously wasn't ready to hear any apologies from her.
Maybe killing the old Guardian wasn't such a great idea after all, Acrotis thought to herself. Why did I do it in the first place anyway? After standing for a moment in the tall grass by the riverbank, Acrotis started to move upstream to look for a better place to cross the icy water. She tried to think back to that day long ago when she had murdered the old leader of her city, shooting him in the heart with her arrow. Honestly, she couldn't remember why she did it, but she felt no remorse. Acrotis trusted herself and believed that it must have been a good thing to do at the time. Nothing horrible had ever come of it, unless you counted getting exiled from Welkin. Which she didn't. She had never felt at home there, like she didn't belong, and nothing that anyone said made any difference to her. The Nine Kingdoms offered her a better opportunity and a better life.
But none of that meant that she was going to let her sister and the Virginia girl get away with treating her like they did. After she had practically been thrown out of Welkin the second time, Acrotis had found herself again at the deepest spot in the ocean, by the White Mirror. She had felt the sudden urge to smash it right there. That would show them. Virginia, Wolf, Tony, and Patrick would never be able to get home then. But of course, only Nessie would ever be able to smash the Mirror. The monster had only given Acrotis a sideways glance as the girl began her ascent to the shore.
Much later, Acrotis had climbed out of the ocean, exhausted but satisfied. She slipped the ring, which had again given her supernatural strength to swim the many miles from the bottom of the ocean, off her finger and threw it in the sand. Acrotis had looked high and low, all over the beach, for a flying carpet that they had left there, but none were to be found. They must have flown home, back to Cinderella's palace, without her, she thought dejectedly. There was nothing else for her to do but continue on foot to the trolls' camp in the north.
Because that was her destination: the troll army's camp at the edge of the Northern lands. Not the troll army's camp at the end of the beanstalk forest in the Third kingdom. Not where Wendell, Virginia, Wolf, Tony, and the Governor of the Dwarf kingdom had seen the troll army's camp, because that was not where it was.
When they had come out of the beanstalk forest on flying carpets, what everyone saw, and believed, was that there was an entire army of trolls and their allies camped out in the open field, oblivious to all the kingdom scouts and messengers and innocent passerby's who were bound to notice them. But Acrotis had seen something that the others hadn't while flying over the trolls, Sasquash, elves, and giants on their way to the Sea. What she had noticed was... nothing. No heat, no smells, no smoke in the air from the cooking fires of the army, and very little noise. And she had noticed the dragons, too, the red dragons that could under no possible circumstances stay cooped in the tents that long. Quite simply, the camp was not real.
The camp and everything in it looked real, that was certain, but it couldn't be. There was no doubt in her mind that it was all a very fancy hoax. The reason for the trolls to go through all that trouble to make it was clear. They wanted their enemies to be completely unaware of them so that they would have the element of surprise for an attack. Not that they really needed it much, Acrotis thought, since they vastly outnumbered the Kingdoms' armies anyway. But perhaps they had figured out that they were not the only ones with dragon allies.
It had taken her a while to figure out how the trolls had done it, though. Acrotis knew of nothing that could make such a fantastic illusion that covered several acres and consisted of hundreds of moving images. Nothing except.... It tortured her for a long time, as she was traveling with Virginia, Wolf, and Tony to the Sea. She knew the answer; she had heard of it before.
She remembered it as they swam to the bottom the ocean. It was a hologram! Of course, she thought to herself. Holograms were a relatively new invention, but they worked marvelously well. Little was known about them, really , and few cultures owned the magic and technology to create one. The trolls, unfortunately, were some of the lucky few.
Acrotis had been thinking that perhaps the trolls would need to be close by to carry out their hoax. But if it was a hologram, they probably weren't anywhere near their supposed camp'. They could be anywhere in all the Kingdoms. Actually, they could be very few other places, simply because most of the land in the Nine Kingdoms was either densely populated or dangerously magical. Certainly there wasn't enough room in many places to secretly house an entire army. Outside their own beanstalk forest in the Third Kingdom was indeed the most likely place for the troll army to be, and so that's where they had set up their hologram.
But now that she had figured out this much, where the real troll army resided was no mystery to Acrotis. They needed someplace large and spacious because of the red dragons, who desperately needed room to fly to release their surplus of energy. It was just the nature of dragons to like wide open spaces, so they could never stay in the small tents portrayed in the hologram for so long. That also meant that the army's actual station couldn't be in a forest or underground.
Also, the trolls, Sasquash, pixies, and, of course, giants were far from inconspicuous. They needed someplace to stay that was not easily or often accessed by any type of life form. Or at least any life form that would feel the need to go and tell the council of the Nine Kingdoms exactly where they were. Acrotis knew of only one place like that in all the world: the Northern lands. The Northern lands weren't part of the Nine Kingdoms at all, and no one ever went there. Only the Sasquash and the dragons lived in the forsaken wasteland, which made it even more convenient since those two species made up the bulk of the troll army.
There was no way for Acrotis to be completely sure about her assumption that the trolls were camped in the Northern lands, or even that their camp' near the beanstalk forest was a hoax. But she was more than fairly sure, and she had nothing else to go on.
The only reason she even cared at all about the whole war was that she was angry. She was angry at her family, her friends, her world. She wanted them to suffer. Welkin was allied, or would soon be allied, with the Kingdoms, that she was sure of. In her fevered mind, Acrotis was again devising a plan.
She would go to the trolls. She would tell them all she knew about the Kingdoms' plans for their destruction. More importantly, she would tell them that there was Seer looking down on the army, about to learn all their secrets. The trolls would destroy them before anyone knew what was happening. Then she would sit back, watch the Kingdoms, Virginia, and Lorelei burn, and she would laugh.
Acrotis stepped into the gently rushing water of the river. Suddenly it didn't feel cold at all.

After quite a bit of coaxing and negotiating, Nicholas the pixie agreed not to try to escape. He would stay in the Guardian's house and basically stay out of the way if they let him out of his bottle. Lorelei had managed to convince the poor thing that the trolls and other pixies were indeed only using him for their own evil purposes, which was actually true. Nicholas was a very spirited character and was not at all gullible. But somehow Lorelei had struck a crucial nerve when she had mentioned the fairy's eyes.
She explained the situation to Virginia later, in fuller detail. A pixie, when he or she reaches a certain age, will have his or her eyes changed in color from golden to black. It is a coming-of-age ritual which symbolizes the fairy's responsibilities as a complete member of the Pixies' society. It is, however, very possible to be denied this honor. If a fairy disobeys a serious law of some sort or offends the community in another way, it is up to the elders to decide whether or not that fairy will be given their eyes. In Nicholas's case, he did something dreadfully wrong when he didn't go for help while Relish and his men were being murdered by the Queen. So they didn't change his eyes from gold to black, and he had been an outcast ever since.
Virginia would have tried to sympathize with Nicholas had there not been at least thirty thousand other issues on her mind at that moment. The thought had struck her the night before that the Loch Ness Monster was still waiting for them near the White Mirror at the bottom of the ocean. She strained her mind to remember what the Queen's conditions were.... The monster would wait near the Mirror until one of two things happened: they returned or there was a disappearance elsewhere. If there was a disappearance, it would smash the Mirror. Virginia had been terrified for several seconds until she realized the Guardian hadn't abducted anyone since they had been there. But she planned on going to him as soon as possible and telling him that he couldn't take anyone from the Kingdoms through a Mirror until they were safe and sound back underwater. Of course, it would be okay with her if he never took anyone through a Mirror ever again, but she had a feeling there wasn't much she could do about that.
Her next big worry was about Patrick. She was afraid, and not ashamed to admit it to the Guardian or anyone else who dared to challenge her. She was afraid about her son being a seer. Maybe she didn't even believe it yet, but what else could she do? She was at a loss, confused and scared.
Virginia sat in a corner of the Guardian's house, holding a bottle up to a hungry Patrick's mouth. He drank the milk greedily, and Virginia was again reminded of how much she had missed him. She held him tightly and was struck by the strange feeling that she was holding a power that was and would always be beyond her.
Lorelei walked up to them quietly, Wolf trailing behind her. Virginia looked up at him and gave him a quick smile, trying to let him know that everything was all right. Of course, it wasn't, and they both knew it. But Wolf smiled back as confidently as he could.
There you are, Lorelei whispered. I just went down to visit the Guardian, and he said that he was ready for Patrick now. She nodded toward Virginia and motioned for her to follow her downstairs.
Virginia felt a sudden stab of anger. First of all, she didn't know what he wanted to do with Patrick, and that made her nervous and subsequently angry. Also, since when did the Guardian have any right to order them around like that? As if it didn't matter in the least whether Patrick was ready to see him or not. She took a deep breath. They were all just going to have to live with it.
Standing up, Virginia readjusted Patrick so that she could hold Wolf's hand and carry the baby at the same time. Walking like that, they made their way downstairs by following Lorelei. When they reached the dark chamber, Virginia saw the Guardian in almost the exact same position he had been in yesterday; sitting hunched over on his rickety old stool. His eyes were still horribly blank, revealing nothing. Seeing him like that, always confined to his own lonely world, Virginia almost, almost felt sorry for him. Wolf had told her about how he had to stay in the small room, or else the trolls would be able to find him, and no one knew what he would or could do if that happened. Still, nothing could ever make her forgive him for stealing her son.
It is time.
The Guardian's voice startled Virginia. She clung to Patrick even more tightly.
Time for what? Wolf asked.
The man took a shaky breath and let it out slowly, as if he was reluctant to let even this small part of himself go. Time for little Patrick to See.
Virginia said it automatically, without skipping a beat.
We have no choice, Virginia. He pronounced her name by accenting each syllable, and cast his terrible eyes on her. It may be too late already. He needs to tell us about the trolls' plans so that they can be defeated. That is the reason I took him in the first place, don't you see? To save the Kingdoms. Frowning, he stared at her. There is no reason to fear for him.
she hissed, and leaned into Wolf for support. You told us yourself what happens to people who look into the future! It's so horrible that they can never do it more than once. And those are grown people! Patrick is a baby, and you want to do this to him? You monster! she screamed at him like she had wanted to ever since she had known that he was the one who had taken Patrick.
You don't understand, the Guardian said with just as much venom. If he doesn't tell us about the troll army's plans, all of the Kingdoms will be destroyed.
How do you know? Wolf demanded. Maybe Wendell's armies will be able to defeat them. Why do you assume they can't?
They are not powerful enough; they don't have nearly enough men. The trolls and their allies will wipe them out simply by breathing on them if we do not know when, where, and how the trolls plan to attack.
But how will Patrick help them? It won't matter if Wendell's troops know when they re getting wiped out if there's no question that they are, Virginia pointed out angrily.
Lorelei interjected. But if we know where the trolls are at a certain time, then Iwe/I can help.
Virginia and Wolf both froze. Virginia whispered, You're going to use your powers to kill the troll army.
sighed the Guardian. Nothing, no one can withstand all the forces of the sky working against them. But we can't do that until we find out where they are. And the only way to find out where they are is-
By using Patrick. Virginia bit her lip as tears stung her eyes. She blinked them back angrily. She was so confused! If it was completely true, what the Guardian said, then it didn't seem as if they had much choice. How could she and Wolf write off thousands of lives to save their son from pain? Maybe it wasn't true, though. What reason did they have to trust the Guardian? But if he was telling the truth....
Why me?, she couldn't help but think bitterly as Patrick wrapped a tiny fist around her finger. If he did what the Guardian wanted him to, he would never forget it. She couldn't ruin his life for him. It would kill her as well.
The Guardian interrupted her thoughts. We were both wrong, you know, he said quietly, almost in a whisper. About there being no reason to fear. You were right. I was lying.
Virginia listened silently, not understanding what his point was.
Of course it is frightening for one to See into the future, where no other human eyes have yet looked. And yes, for so many people, to look at the wars to come is not an experience that they want to, or indeed can repeat. No child should bear that weight. I am not asking him to.
Then what are you asking of us? Wolf questioned. Virginia feared the answer, and could feel her heart racing.
As I am sure you have realized, Patrick is not going to be able to tell us anything about what he Sees in the future. Obviously, he cannot speak. But I have, long ago, heard of a way to understand what a mute Seer is experiencing without having to make that person talk. Someone very close to him in blood, one of his parents, for example, could receive the images that Seer is finding and forming. That is why it was very important for me to have you here, because Patrick cannot help anyone if he cannot communicate what he Sees. I know you don't understand that now, but listen.
You have something in New York, the Guardian continued, I believe, called a radio. Basically, it picks up transmissions floating around in the air and changes them into something you can understand - music or words. Now, what I am saying is that Patrick would be like a radio. He would find the images of the troll army, wherever and whenever they are. To get those correct images of the future, the ones we want of the troll army, you would need to sort of tune him to the right frequency by making him think of trolls. Then, like a radio, he would pass the images right on to you without seeing or understanding them himself. He wouldn't have to actually see what he is Seeing. It would be painless for him. One of you, however, will have to receive the images and be willing to see whatever happens. Or would happen, if we were not going to intervene. I know it's confusing, but I don't know how to make it any clearer.
Virginia was surprised to find that she did understand and was unusually calm about the whole ordeal. If Patrick was not going to be permanently scarred by seeing the massacre of thousands of people, then she didn't see anything stopping her from seeing it and thereby saving the Nine Kingdoms. Again.
All right, I'll do it, she said with a confidence that was actually there.
Wolf cried. I will. I don't want you seeing that any more than I want Patrick to.
Please, Wolf, Virginia implored him. I can do it. I want to. I want to be there for him when he's... when.... She didn't know how to say it because she hadn't known yet that it had become real to her. She did believe it now, but she didn't know why. When he Sees it.
Wolf looked at her sideways, a pleading look in his eyes. He really only wanted what was right for her, she knew.
But this was another thing that she felt she had to do.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Silence.
The valley where six thousand armed men and scattered horses stood was cloaked in a silence so thick it made breathing an effort. All was so still that not even the smallest insect dared to disturb the men, who were standing in rows straight as the horizon between sea and sky.
King Wendell sat on his night-black horse at the very front of his men with his shoulders squared and his eyes forward. The General of Cinderella's army sat on his own horse several meters away from Wendell on the left. Similarly, the General of Rapunzel's large army sat to his right. They all looked very grim, as though each was noiselessly praying that they were making the right decision.
As she watched, Virginia slowly realized that the terrible silence was only in her own mind. Patrick's sense of Sight was just that: the images he was Seeing (which were being directly passed on to her) did not come with sound. It was like watching television with the mute on. But, along with that realization came another: she knew things about what she was seeing without actually being told. She knew that the men really were being silent. She knew that there was six thousand of them. And she knew that they were waiting for something. This knowing came along with the images- it was like a part of the Sight.
Through her slightly fractured vision, Virginia could see (and knew) that Wendell was waiting for a signal from a scout who had been sent ahead twenty minutes ago. He had been dispatched to confirm the King's suspicion that the troll camp was indeed over the next mountain pass, in the field in front of the beanstalk Forest of the Third Kingdom, the same place where Wendell and the others had seen it when trying to get to the Sea. If the scout returned and said that they were not there.... well, Wendell had not considered that since he didn't see that the trolls had any reason to move the camp. But, in all likelihood, if the scout returned and reported that the camp was there, then the men would be moving in quickly for a surprise attack, as the first wave of the battle. Then they would send in the dragons.
Dragons?! As this knowledge came into her mind, Virginia's heart leaped. Since when did Wendell and the Kingdoms have dragons on their side? That was wonderful! If they had dragons, maybe the people in Welkin wouldn't have to intervene after all. But then another fact presented itself to her : the trolls had evil dragons on their side, as well. That burst of hope went out of her. Which was more powerful, evil dragons or good ones? She didn't know, and neither did whatever force was telling her all these things. She just knew that Wendell's and the Kingdom's only real advantage now was the element of surprise. It wasn't much at all, she knew without being told.
Wendell was beginning to get worried at what was taking the scout so long, when a figure on horseback appeared on a ridge ahead and to the right of the army. Their forms were silhouetted against the blood red sky by the setting sun. Somehow the color seemed horribly appropriate.
The horse reared up on its hind legs and then started to gallop down the hillside to the valley where the entire army waited in barely contained excitement, and anguish.
It was quite a sight ot see all the armies of the Kingdoms together as one. They all wore bluish gray uniforms with neat black boots and helmets. The members of different armies each wore different colored badges on their breast; green for Rupunzel, yellow for Cinderella, dark blue for Wendell. Behind them stood the relatively miniscule regiments of the Dwarves' , Red Riding Hood's, and Gretel's Kingdoms, in purple, red, and orange, respectively. Every soldier carried a spear on his shoulder, or a sword on his belt, and a shield at his side. Or her side, Virginia noticed. There were a good amount of women fighters mixed in with the males.
As the exhausted looking scout approached Wendell, he waved to the King and nodded excitedly but without a smile. Wendell nodded back. Virginia had never seen him looking so serious and king like. When he turned his horse around and held out his arms as though to embrace and give comfort not only to his troops, but to all of them, Virginia felt a sense of awe in seeing him this way that she had never felt before. Then he called something that Virginia could not hear to each General on his right and his left, and the entire army began to move as one.
They marched toward the hill and gradually up it in perfect unison. When the front of the moving sea of men reached a probably pre-determined point on the hillside, the army began to split up into four almost equal sections and headed off in different directions. Virginia assumed that they were going to be attacking the field by coming at it from all four sides. It was indeed something to watch, and Virginia had a great view, as the Sight showed her the images from a bird's eye view. Yet sometimes the would zoom in on random people's faces, and then she could tell how very afraid but still brave many of them were. But it often kept switching back to Wendell's face, and there Virginia saw great fear, but fear that was covered by an even greater sense of selflessness for his people. That made her feel so proud of the King (whom she had just lately stopped thinking of as a dog), that if she hadn't been almost unconscious in her real body, she would have cried.
Once the army had successfully split itself into four sections and each section was positioned at opposite sides of the field (one section had to stand in the beanstalk forest), they stood silently for one last minute. Wendell was in the section across from the forest and could best see the field. The Kingdoms' army was hidden behind the mountain, so the trolls in the valley were still unaware of their presence. Virginia remembered the sight of that field very well. There were tents strewn about all over the place, and everyone (or everything) was mulling around in a bored manner. Trolls smacked pixies out of their faces, and then the shining little fairies came back to punish them by biting the trolls on the ear. Huge hairy Sasquash sat around near cooking fires, chewing on some unknown meats. About a dozen giants in all were standing around, their heads looming high above those of all the other monstrous animals. It was almost surreal, seeing this odd assortment of powerful creatures all living together in that small area. And it looked almost the same as it had a few days before, when Virginia and the others had suddenly stumbled upon it. In fact, it looked exactly the same. Not a tent or a fire had been moved or put out, and even the beings themselves seemed not to have moved out of the vicinity they had paced long before. The giants were standing in almost the same positions, also. All this was rather strange, Virginia thought, but dismissed it from her mind.
Wendell, who was obviously in charge of the whole army, took several deep breaths. He adjusted his sword in its scabbard and tipped his helmet further down over his eyes. Then, not really able to delay their descent onto the field any longer, he swung his arm behind him as motion to his men to follow him. The fate of many lives was contained in that one human gesture, and they all knew it. Still, nothing could now keep them from what they were about to do. One after the other, with an unheard roar, his men ran after their fearless leader and into battle.
Each of the four parts of the army came next in rapid succession. They stormed onto the field with weapons upraised and mouths open in a silent war cry. All their fear was forgotten in that single moment, and each and everyone of them was prepared to die for their Kingdom.
Nothing happened.
Yes, they ran onto the field. Yes, their swords and spears sliced through the enemy. But the enemy didn't notice.
Virginia's head spun with confusion, as did all the men's'. They were running straight through their opponents. A man thrust his sword into a Sasquash's heart. The animal kept walking, and all the soldier received for his efforts was a fistful of air. A horse and rider charged toward a giant. When they reached it, spear up-raised, they didn't stop but continued right on through until they reached the other side, and could look back and see the enormous man standing there, untouched. Even more unbelievable was when an ugly group of trolls walked directly into several soldiers and didn't even blink an eye when they strode right through them and materialized again on the other side. Virginia knew that it wasn't painful or uncomfortable for the men in any way: it was just as though their enemies simply were not there.
Wendell and the generals threw up their hands and shouted at the men, supposedly for them to cease the pointless fighting. Everyone froze and looked around in disbelief. Wendell could not have looked more completely incredulous. They stood like that for almost a full minute as the trolls and Sasquash walked through them, the pixies flew into their eyes, and the giants stomped on them, all with no effect whatsoever to either side. It was just beginning to sink in that they had been tricked when the first red dragons appeared over the hillside.
Virginia's blood ran cold in her veins. Just as she had known so much else about what she was seeing, she also knew without any doubt that these dragons were some of the most evil creatures ever to crawl the soil of the Kingdoms. Their wingspan must have been fifty feet, and what huge, ugly, scaly, awful wings they were! They were colored the same blood red as the sky over the setting sun, and the center of their immense eyes was also. They had short but muscular scaly legs which ended in shockingly large sharp claws, flexing like a cat's. Their tails stretched out behind them like long whips, slashing so fast across the air that she guessed they could have made a cracking sound. And their heads, frightfully big in proportion to their bodies, seemed to invite a horrible amount of cunning and intelligence. Foul fire escaped from their nostrils every so often in short bursts, and was also exhaled through their gaping mouths lined with razor-sharp teeth. As they closed in on the field, twenty of them in all, it seemed that nothing in any hell could scare the soldiers more.
Except that combined with what they saw next. Under the dragons' beating wings and ugly bodies, on the ridge across the top of the hill slowly, like spilled molasses, appeared the trolls' army. Against her will, Virginia's vision began to close in on the faces of the vile creatures lining the crest of the hills. They were the same faces as those which were walking through the Kingdom soldiers at that very moment, but they were real. Elves and trolls, Sasquash and giants, every one of them smiling in the most nauseating way. Then Virginia saw the face of Burly the troll, now called King Burly, and his siblings Blabberwort and Bluebell. On Burly's face was the most repulsive expression of all. It was of arrogance and total glee at his already assured victory. It would not have been so repelling if he had not been completely correct in his assumption that he was about to wipe out the Kingdoms' last hope.
Suddenly the hologram (for Virginia's senses had told her that was what it was) disappeared and the soldiers were left utterly alone. Bravely, like drowning men without any hope left, they steeled their shoulders and held their swords and spears high. Now, quite apart from being willing to die, everyone of them knew they were going to die. And each wanted to take some troll scum down with them.
Hardly anyone noticed when the beautiful gold dragons appeared over the rise and started to fight the red dragons in a flurry of wings and claws. A few less dragons on either side was of little concern to any of them. Even the evil dragons outnumbered the good ones now. As the first of the enemy charged down the hillside, laughing and whooping in the thrill of a battle already won, Virginia's vision began to blur with her tears.
The two lines of armies hit each other with sickening force. The front of Wendell's army fought courageously for several seconds, spurts of troll and Sasquash blood forming satisfying little fountains. But then the human blood ran far more than that of the other foul creatures', as trolls forced their way through the lines of soldiers. They carelessly stabbed soldiers one after the other with bloody swords, as giants stamped out three men with one footfall. The loathsome elves tore at men's eyes and bit the horses mercilessly until they fell with their riders still clinging to them. If the screams and groans of the men and women could have been heard, the sound would have been worse than that of any nightmare.
Just as Virginia could not stand it any more, her vision singled out a lone man on horseback in the center of the fray. She knew immediately that it was Wendell, and her heart screamed in agony. If only she could close her eyes! But no, she was forced to watch as Burly the Troll King stepped closer to the King of the Fourth Kingdom as he was thrown from his panicked horse. Then, as he struggled to get to his feet to fight again, King Wendell was stabbed in the back by the grinning troll and fell dead to the blood-stained ground.

Virginia wrenched her eyes open and fell to the floor. She screamed and sobbed until there was nothing left inside her. Wolf ran over to her and held her exhausted, limp form until she was ready to sit by herself. He handed Patrick to her, who had just woken up from his trance at the same moment she had, and didn't seem to have a clue as to what was going on.
I knew I shouldn't have let you do this! Wolf said angrily, but he didn't look at her. Instead he glared at the Guardian and Lorelei, who were sitting and standing in the corner.
It is done now, the Guardian said without emotion.
But Virginia knew that it would never be done, never be over. She would relive those moments in her mind whenever she closed her eyes at night. It would be a long time before any of it was forgotten. She was only glad that Patrick was not put through it.
The Guardian slowly rose to his feet. With Lorelei's help, he hobbled over to Virginia and lifted her chin to look into his eyes. Before she would have recoiled at the sight of his blank, white eyes, but at that moment nothing could horrify her.
Tell us what you Saw, he whispered. Where did it happen?
She took several deep breaths to calm her heart, which was still pounding wildly. On the field, in front of the beanstalk forest. They thought they were going in for a surprise attack, but when they reached the field... it was only an illusion, a hologram. The camp wasn't real, I guess it never had been. But then Burly had them right where he wanted them -surrounded, without escape. There were dragons, on both sides. But we were outnumbered in every way possible. There was no hope.... Her eyes wandered, unseeing. Even Wendell was killed.
Lorelei ordered. Stop thinking of it in past tense. This is what would be occurring, if we were not going to help. Now, the most important question: When is this battle going to happen?
Virginia reached far back into her memory of the event. All she had Seen concerning the time of the battle was that it was at evening. But then she remembered a fact that she had simply known, along with so many other bits of knowledge that had just come to her. And there was no doubt in her mind that she was right, although the answer petrified her.
Tonight. In less than an hour.