So this is pretty close to the halfway point for this thing, which is what I originally planned to do. If you are with me this far, or if you think I should just quit, feel free to leave a review.
Lemmia pressed her hand to the Wishing Mirror. From every fingertip, ripples expanded across the surface, making complex patterns where they met. "We knew of this Mirror before it was given to the Kings of the Red Realm," she said. "It was not the only one of its kind, but exceptional in its power. Naam advised that it be held in either his Armory or the strongest storeroom of the High Queen's Palace, where only the wisest Mages would have access to it. When we heard of the troubles it caused, he told me he was only surprised that it had taken so long."
She drew back her hand. Tendrils of silver clung to her fingertips for a moment, then returned to the Mirror. "Sometimes, a wish is so strong that it takes on a reality of its own, as Cerasa's did," she said. "Contrary to what some suppose, those would continue to exist in their own fashion even if the Mirror was destroyed, though your people were right to fear doing so. Others remain only potentialities within the Mirror. There was another wish made before Cerasa's, and that was when the Magic of the Mirror first began to warp."
"All right," Mel said. "But can we get King Ajax out?"
"Yes," Lemmia said. "But it will not be easy…"
The Mirror Cerasa only scowled at the entry of Hector. "Guards," she said, "kill him."
The Guards, from Captain Angelo down, were clearly considering their options. "Your Guards are already defeated," Hector said. "While your forces were preparing for an attack by Persicus, I came from the North where the defenses were lightened. As we speak, my men are securing the Palace." Indeed, shouts, shots and explosions could be heard.
"Your Majesty," Angelo said, "I respectfully suggest you hear Lord Hector's terms."
"I'm not offering terms to this crazy pit," Hector said. "But if you stay out of the way, I might keep you on."
"I don't find that reassuring," the Guard said. "You would know I did not protect my Empress. It seems to me that you might just decide to replace me later."
Hector's attention had already shifted to Ajax. "Who is this?" he said. "Did you bring back my brother?" He hoisted the King by his shackles with an enormous claw. "No, this is another Ajax. A weak and unambitious one. Did you think this one could oppose me?" He tossed Ajax aside.
Then Daffy stepped forward. "My Lord!" she said sweetly. She changed into the form of a Maiden in leather, which did not at all suit her chubby figure. The Lindormling made a renewed effort to escape, but she held it in a chokehold. "I have waited so long for you to rescue me!"
"My Queen!" Hector said. Tears came to his eyes. "My children! Tito! Priscilla! Lily and Hyacinth remain with me. What about the other two? Where are Sara and Lindsey?"
"They are in the Imperial Dungeon," Cerasa said. "Along with the daughter of Pruna. Now, you will do what I say, or I will use this." She held up a small cube. Its faces held a variety of controls, including a cluster of buttons that resembled the number 5 on a dice and what looked very much like a plunger. "This is the Gadget. It is said to be an explosive power capable of splitting the World Island. You will tell your men to stand down and take positions to oppose Persicus, or you will die with your children."
"Excuse me," a voice said. Cerasa had to look behind her to see the Mirror. A luminous form leaned forward out of the glass. Ajax gaped as Lady Meliboia climbed out in her full Lorica. "I'm just here for my husband, but I heard something about kids. Even if it's the vicious little lizard monsters, that doesn't happen on a Myrmidon's watch. How about you let them go?" She pointed her pistol squarely at Cerasa.
"Fine," the Empress said. At her gesture, Angelo unlocked the second cage. "The Guard will have to go to the Dungeon for the others."
"I can wait," Mel said. "Long enough. Unchain my husband while you're at it." Angelo came over and unshackled the King. His Second went to a grate near the Throne. Mel looked back to Cerasa. "Seriously? There's a back door from the Throne Room to the Dungeon?"
"It served its purpose when my Emperor was still here," Cerasa said with a smile. The guard came up, leading a slender figure that could have been taken for a young woman. Ajax suppressed a gasp, but could not hide a gulp. The prisoner walked hand in hand with two larger and almost docile Lindormlings, evidently twins.
"My daughter," Pruna said, embracing the prisoner. She looked back at Mel and Ajax as she took the Lindorm girl in her arms. "Thank you, Warrior Woman."
"Oh, Hector, my lover!" Daffy said. She bounded up to Hector, leaving the smallest Lindormling to scuttle off. At peak momentum, she sprang high enough to catch hold of a roll cage on the front of the exoskeleton. That was sufficient to make the whole machine rock forward noticeably. "Would you come out of your armor so we can embrace?"
Hector looked ready to comply, but still cautious. He glanced toward the corner, and saw that Angelo held up the mid-sized Lindormling, while his Second chased the small one. "Let's stay with a kiss for now," he said. He raised a protective visor with a three-fingered appendage. Daffy promptly hit him over the head with a sack that held the Eightfold Orb. When Angelo moved to intervene, the Lindormling escaped his grasp. Then the twins rushed in.
"You proktos!" Daffy shrieked. She swung again and again, ringing the bars when she did not score a hit. "You never remember my birthday or our anniversary, you never clean the litter box, you never bring me breakfast when I am Brooding, you never wait for me when we are Pollinating, and you executed Mummy!" By then, her skin was again scaly and her hands had sprouted claws. The Lindormlings joined in the assault, tearing at hoses and servos. The smallest one turned around and voided its cloaca on Hector's foot, which by all appearances did more damage than the rest of their efforts combined.
"Hey, hey, I can tell you're upset!" Hector said. He jerked his head to one side to dodge a jet of flame. "I'll make it up to you! I know, let's go to dinner! You always love the buffet! Aah!" With a shriek, Daffy bit through one of the bars. "Kids, hold on, I can get drumsticks for all of you! Aaah! Gaaah! Funngghh!"
"Well," Cerasa said, "that will occupy him for a while." She pointed at Ajax and Mel. "The two of you will be even better. Go forth and destroy my enemies, and I will let you and the children go. If you do not, I can always detonate the Gadget." She twisted a dial and pressed the buttons in a certain sequence.
"No," Ajax said.
"Fine," Cerasa said. She pressed the plunger. She looked down as nothing happened. She hastily consulted a sheet of instructions. "Wait, the buttons activate, the dial arms, then- Aaarghhh!" The smallest Lindormling, unnoticed as it climbed up the back of the throne, sank its teeth into her arm. The Gadget went tumbling away. Ajax stooped and caught it.
"Here," he said, holding out the Gadget to Pruna. "You should hold onto this."
"I can see why your Princess loved you," she said. "But I have told you, I am not her."
"Hurry," Mel said. They raced forward, arm in arm, until one more stepped in their path.
"Nice job," said Persephone. She stood between them and the Mirror, holding a pistol. Her form was halfway between Lindorm and Maiden. "We're going for a trip."
"No," Ajax said. "You were already mad in my world. Perhaps I was the one who drove you to it. But you have shown me that what you did there was never outside your nature, and there are things I will not do, no matter what you would do to me."
"I suppose not," she said, in a voice not unlike Mel's. "But I can think of plenty of things I could do to them." She pointed the gun in the direction of Pruna and the young Lindormess. "And for now, I have this." She took aim at the Mirror. "By the way, I want to see her with the mask off."
"Do as she says," Ajax said. Mel removed her helmet. Persephone looked at her for a moment and snorted jets of smoke.
"This is the one who surpassed me?" the transformed Maiden said. "I'm disappointed, Ajax. She's not even pretty. I would have been much better."
"So you say," Ajax said. "Why don't you prove it? Make your Wish to the Mirror."
"You are stalling, Ajax," Persephone said. "But I will admit, I am interested. Wishing Mirror, I wish to see, what would have been if this Ajax had married the other me." She hefted the Mirror with one hand as the image formed.
It showed Ajax somewhat older, seated at a table with Persephone. The voices could be heard, without distinct words. She held an infant in her arms, while two other children flitted in and out of view. The Mirror seemed to focus on Ajax, and it took bare moments to see that he was truly and completely happy.
"You see?" Persephone said. "You would have been happy with me in your world. Why not stay? Make me your Queen, and we will rule this world together."
"I never doubted you would please me as my Queen," Ajax said patiently. "You were the choice others wanted me to make. Lady Meliboia showed me that I could choose my own path. If she had refused me, I still would not have married you."
"Then you choose to stay," Persephone said. She shifted to point at the Mirror. That was when a bright light erupted from the glass. Ajax lurched back, covering his eyes. Persephone shrieked. Then Meliboia struck, swinging her helmet. The blow literally flattened the Mirror Maiden. Ajax dived and caught the Mirror bare Digits from the floor.
Mel held up the Mirror. The light had resolved itself into a figure whose silhouette was now unmistakable. "Lady Pruna," Ajax said. Half the glass was filled as the figure pressed a hand to the glass. Ajax did the same. He looked back to the Lindorm Pruna. She nodded in understanding. When Ajax looked about, at Angelo and Manny trying to pull the Lindormling off Cerasa and Daffy and the others still pummeling Hector, he saw only reflections of reflections, distant and dim. "Let's go," he said. He followed Mel as she leaped feet first into the Mirror.
They came tumbling out in a ball, Mel wrapped around Ajax. They came to a stop against a case. "That was much closer than necessary," Lemmia said disapprovingly. "But perhaps it has given you some measure of peace."'
"I'd say it's good enough," Mel said. She gave Ajax a passionate kiss. She murmured in his ear, "You know, you did absolutely nothing to get out of that one."
"I held their attention," Ajax murmured back. "And I caught the Mirror. You know, you hadn't called me your husband before."
"I told you, we…" She cleared her throat and rose to her feet. Lemmia, Manny, Angelo and Nopalina were all looking at them. "Ah, perhaps we can continue this later. Maybe… 15 or 20 minutes later?"
"No," Ajax said. "I need to do something I should have Moons ago. I am going to expose the conspiracy against me."