Mirror Mirror [ONC 2021 Version]

TEN

"What do you see, Millie Hood?"

"Four pathways, Sir."

Four pathways? Sir Bashful tried to remember where in the tunnel system they might currently be, but with memories clouded by age, the desire for revenge, and an unhealthy obsession with guilt, the knight couldn't be sure. "We could be near the Dwarf Forest, or..."

We can be on the edge of the Red Forest. He shuddered at the thought. Once upon a time, the Red Forest was a haven for fairies, elemental fairies that looked after the land and all living things that called it home. It was a thriving oasis for convergence of all folks this side of the realm: all creatures young and old, all creatures under the sun and the moon, magical or not. It was where councils met, weddings between kingdoms and clans were held, and it was where all aging fairies went to die in peace amongst the blossoms and the bees. That was before.

Now, it was a cursed land. A land whose essence had powered a futile war, a child's war. Now, no more life grew in those dead parts—red dead, when once it was monikered Red for all the life it gave. Now, red, as red as the earth, scorched by the fires that had burned once.

Bashful could still smell the foul stench of death and decay, as if it were only yesterday.

The last vestige of life that had refused to leave the once thriving land was the Hood clan. His friend's clan. Millie's clan. Rumour was, even the Hoods, couldn't live there anymore.

It was best to avoid the Red Forest these days—ever since the Hood family abandoned that fort; a pack of wild wolves overran the forest. Wolves that had a taste for magic. Wolves that were too willing to devour it—for legend had it, such magic would allow them to take kindred forms of those that dwelled nearby. Fairies, dwarves, children.

It was best to steer clear of that area, now, what with two magical maidens in tow. Maidens the wolves would surely try to savour whole.

But it was also imperative to get out of the tunnels quickly. The charm he'd placed on the tunnel entrance to alert him of any company had been tripped about an hour ago. They'd been navigating the tunnel for the last four hours, give or take an hour. With his eye gone, his ability to sense the moon's progress across the night sky had weakened. Either way, Sir Bashful knew, he felt it in his aging bones; it was a matter of time before the Golden Guards reached them. Fairies have mercy if that ever happened.

Sir Bashful hated that he couldn't see the tunnels with his own eyes.

His heart—used to beating steadily even as he plunged his sword, slow into an enemy's chest—was fluttering nervously like a milkmaid's.

"Millie. Tell me. What do you see around each entrance, child? Quickly. What do you see?"

Millie squinted at the wall. Beside her Ruby inched forward too, not to decipher the darkness but to lend her light to her friend as well.