Hall of Mirrors

Chapter One: Raven and Dove

The same dream haunted River yet again, the night before her sixteenth birthday. It was dark and stormy on a coast next to a raging sea, and Black Castle looked foreboding and eerie in the twilight. The dream seemed real. Battling high in the air was a huge raven, the size of a raptor. River's dream self, standing on the sand, could feel the wind beating from its colossal wings. It seemed to be defending her. The Raven was fighting an aggressive dove, which beat its wings against the Raven's undefended sides and clawed with its chiseled beak into the raven's feathers. Suddenly lightning struck and the Raven was falling down...down.....it's eyes locked on hers......swimming into view was a bird actually perched on River's real-life windowsill, cawing inquisitively.

River opened her eyes all the way. Cool sunlight streamed through her open window. Finesse, River's pet raven, squatted on the sill, waiting for her to get up.

"Oh Finesse, you woke me," said River, smiling softly and stroking his silky feathers. "It's about time, too," spoke up a girl from behind her. River rolled over. Her elder sister, Aleste, stood behind her, holding a tea tray full of River's favorite delicacies. "Happy birthday, River," she said, smiling vibrantly. She wore a blue silk dress that elongated her curves and shaped her form, which went wonderfully with her thin, long golden hair that was up in an elegant bun. Her large, green eyes shone out of her tan face with joy as genuine as the daisy flower buttons running down her back. She was the exact opposite of River, who had thick, wavy jet-black hair down to her shoulders, big, glittering beetle-black eyes, and the palest skin anyone had ever had, milk-white. Many of the Lords thought this strange but beautiful.

Setting down the tray beside River, Aleste swept over to the Mirror on River's wall.

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what does the day have in store for us?" River laughed aloud as she slid out of bed and began to dress, watching Aleste conversing with the Mirror.

"Fun and games, food tenfold, but beware- the unknown is untold." The slight face in Mirror smiled cunningly. "Mirror," Aleste frowned playfully. "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"

"Don't ask that to him, Aleste," River cautioned. "It makes mother angry." 

"Oh, poo," said Aleste. "Who can know in your room? I haven't seen him answer yet."

River bit her lip, looking away. She knew that every Mirror that could talk in Black Castle would answer strangely to this question- "Snow White" is all it would say. No one was snow-white in Black Castle, or all of Bellumsilva, if that, other than River herself. Obviously River's mother, Queen Freia, had noticed as well, because she had always asked this question to please herself, and always it would say "Freia is the fairest", until now.

River's mother was obsessed with beauty. Many a day River had gone to sit with her in her Royal Chambers and saw her constantly applying age-modifiers riddled with magic potion, heavy eye-makeup, and lip-paste until she was a completely different person. Nobody could see the Queen without her beautification, not even her daughters. Queen Freia was beautiful, but not naturally. Her daughters were born beautiful, though. River and Aleste were completely different, but both gorgeous. Neither of them thought much of Freia's techniques and obsession, but to say something against the Queen was instant death. The Queen was also obsessed in Mirrors. Years ago when the Bellumsilvians defeated the magic Endrathians, Queen Freia took many Endrathian slaves captive to teach magic to the royalty at Black Castle. Queen Freia was especially skilled at it. She also turned some slaves into Everlasting Mirrors, which would prophesy, foretell the future, and answer questions forevermore. Queen Freia hung these Magic Mirrors around the palace in the royalty's chambers. River owned one, but she didn't use it much. The idea of a human inside a mirror, no matter how evil, disgusted and scared her.