The Mirror: Part Three

      Throw who to whom? He was too dizzy to think straight, and his mind didn’t want to think about finding anything except for the sweet embrace of oblivion.

      “Throw me to Prince Jazan!”

      He looked up and his head swirled as he caught sight of a red Kyrii and an Ixi standing near the destroyed thrones, their faces set with differing expressions of shock. He lifted up one of his paws, the one that was wearing the bracelet, and moved his other paw to tear it off. He really hoped that this was Jazan, or he had a feeling that Asafe wasn’t going to be very happy with him.

      Another explosion threw him into the air, and he felt himself lose his grip on the bracelet just as darkness filled his mind...

      ~*~

      Pain seared into his palm as he caught the bracelet that had sailed towards him when the explosion had destroyed one of the pillars. The plushie Kougra that had been attacked was now lying prone on the ground near one of the windows, and he could see shadowy figures climbing into the Court through any opening they could find in the palace walls. Jazan clenched his jaw and he flung some of his magic out, completely surprising the misty pets as they swarmed forward. Nabile gasped as three intense shockwaves flew out from where the attackers had stood.

      “They’re servants of the Morgey!” screamed a strangely familiar voice.

      The Morgey... was that the creature in those horrible tales his nurses had told him, as well as his mother before she had passed away? Then there were all of those tales that were wandering around when one of his friends from his childhood disappeared...

     When he was little, just when all of his troubles were beginning to happen, a great friend of his had disappeared on a day of fun, and there had been rumors circling around the castle for months about how she had been taken away by a creature talked about at bedtime. After his father’s true self began to manifest, he simply explained it away by thinking that his parent had done this to her, and he was secretly relieved when he had thought the old pet had died the first time. However...

      “Asafe?” he gasped.

      “She’s coming! Jazan, I can sense her coming!”

      “Somebody get that Kougra some help, and then get out of here!” he shouted, and some of his attendants rushed out of the room, probably to get a stretcher. As he stood there, he could sense a strange sort of tension growing in the air. Nabile walked up to him and touched his arm, looking at him imploringly.

      “My love, what’s happening?” she asked, curious and scared.

      “Get out of here, please,” he said, turning to her and gripping her hands. “Something’s about to happen, and I don’t want you to get hurt again, not like last time.”

      Electricity crackled at the entrance to the room, and pushed his wife behind him. Purple smoke billowed out through the doors, and his face was set in a grim look as he waited for his enemy to enter. That creature could only be his enemy, if she had harmed one of his closest friends.

      The feeling of wrongness increased. The smoke slowly crept toward him in a way that would’ve made the most dramatic bard proud. Wind howled throughout the entire palace, and several neopets that lived on the edge of the city would later claim that they had heard the Chief Scribe swear profusely as several organized stacks of documents flew off his desk.

      An ugly, aging Kyrii appeared suddenly, her eyes glowing red and her dark blue fur drooping and sagging everywhere. Her gnarled hands gripped the top of a knobby wooden staff, and she wore old and worn patched robes that looked as if they’d seen far better days. The only glamorous things about her were the shining ruby orb on the top of her staff and the shining gold jewelry heaped distastefully all over her.

      “Welcome, Madame Morgey!” bellowed Jazan, building up magic in preparation for what he was sure was about to come.

      “Greetings to you as well, King Jazan, Queen Nabile, as well as Lady Asafe,” the Morgey observed, nodding thrice in his direction. “I’ve come for my bracelet.”

      “I think we both know you came for something other than that,” he said smoothly.

      The Morgey surprised him by flinging a blast of power at him, and he threw his own shield up, somehow managing to negate it. As the cloud of magic dissipated, he threw two golden balls of blazing power back in her direction. She brought up her staff, deflecting one of them easily, but the other one came close enough to graze her shoulder before she could dodge it, surprisingly nimble for someone of her age.

      “I will gain more power!” she shouted, and leapt at him.

      He turned, drawing out his sword, and met the witch’s staff with his blade, taking a chunk out of it as he drew away. Blatant pain laced her face, and she shrieked before sending out one more blast of raw magic.

      ~*~

      “So, as soon as I knew what her weakness was, she disappeared, taking all that she had brought with her away,” the red Kyrii explained to the human girl as she walked next to him. “Your pet, Leran, was brought to the infirmary. He did sustain some life-threatening injuries; however, he’s recovering nicely, reacting well to our healers' spells.”

      “Thank goodness,” she said, relief flooding her features. “When you said he was injured doing a service for you, I was worried. Who is this Asafe you mentioned, anyway?”

      “Asafe is a Lady who has been through a tough trial up until now,” he explained. “She had been trapped until she fulfilled her task, which was to save my life. Apparently the Morgey was planning on using Asafe to get to me to steal my power, meaning to use the bracelet she had been slipped into to sap it away. However, the magic that the piece of jewelry was imbued with had worn away over the centuries, and the witch tried to kill me and steal her back to use in another plan. However, she hadn’t expected the skill that I’ve gained.”

      “What’s going to happen to her?” asked the girl.

      “It turns out that most of the Morgey’s spell left Asafe as soon as she warned me, so she was able to leave the confines of the bracelet,” he said. “It also enabled us to find a simple solution for her lack of a substantial body.”

      “Jazan!” shouted a voice, and the pair turned their heads to see a small white creature dashing towards them. A small Ixi in desert clothing dashed towards them, her innocent eyes wide and her mouth grinning widely with happiness. She leapt at the King, hugging him tightly before lifting her head up to meet his gaze. “You’re huge!”

      “That’s what happens when you become an adult,” he said, unable to hide his own smile as he knelt down to meet her at her height. “How is everything?”

      “Great!” she exclaimed. “I had an ummagine for lunch, and it was amazing! Plus, there was this cool acrobat...”

      ~*~

      The plushie Kougra sat up in bed, moving his arm around and wincing as he felt it twinge in pain. It wasn’t that it was completely messed up anymore, it was just that it was so stiff. Ever since he had been deemed healthy enough by the palace healers to come home, his owner had put him on strict bed rest, scared that he’d suddenly collapse and die if he moved around too much. He wouldn’t have minded it so much, because he had her waiting on him hand and foot, but he was so bored out of his mind just sitting here, it wasn’t funny.

      He leaned back for a moment, and sat his head on the wall. After he had woken up, the King had rewarded Leran well, giving his owner thousands of neopoints and giving him medals and things that his owner wouldn’t have been able to afford on her own. Stitches had his own silk pillow now, and he had been told that once he graduated high school, he would have all of his college education paid for, and a position at the palace waiting for him should he want to apply there. Leran wasn’t sure he wanted the responsibilities waiting for him when he got older, but then again, he knew he’d have years to think about it, because he was only in the third grade, after all.

      There was also one more thing he had gotten, though he wasn’t sure if it was because he and his owner had wanted it, or because it was the easiest way for King Jazan to deal with it.

      One of the spare bedrooms had been cleaned and furnished with bedding fit for a princess, and several toys had been stuffed into a large box along with rich clothing hung up in the closet and stuffed into drawers. He had almost been sick about the amount of girly stuff that passed through the front doors, but he allowed it, because of the one thing that came with it.

      The door softly creaked open, and Leran smiled as a white Ixi entered the room, holding a tray filled with hot food.

      The King of Qasala had sent Asafe to live with them.

The End