The Magic Mirror

As The Crow Flies

"Mind your feet! Keep moving- protect yourself at all times-"

Audrin tripped over a stone and stopped just short of flailing backwards into the stream behind her. She regained her balance but- unfortunately- forgot to hold onto her stick. Marcos came up to her and whacked her across the shoulders with an arm. For a moment it felt like cruel punishment until she realized that he was smiling.

"Well done," he said.

She couldn't keep a skeptical brow from rising. She was used to people undermining her capabilities to a point but this had gone too far.

"I lost," she pointed out, flatly.

Marcos scratched his head sheepishly. "Yes.." he agreed. "But you didn't fall over.. it's an improvement."

To Audrin this didn't feel like much of an improvement at all.

"Oh great," she huffed. "So at least I'll die on my feet."

Marcos let his smile fade and shook his head.

"Fier's charming pessimism is starting to rub off on you... you're not going to be a threat to anything with one lesson under your belt. Pick up your stick and try again, this time don't drop it."

Audrin reached to the ground and found a stick- whether it was the one she had held before was debatable. The area they had stopped at was completely covered in twigs, leaves and sticks, as it was home to a great deal of trees. The forest here was golden. Autumn seemed to have started to set in.

"It isn't pessimism," Fier informed her as Audrin tried to block Marcos again. "I'm just a realist. Marcos doesn't understand. He was always meant to be a knight and he has always been good at it. Some of us weren't so lucky. You might want to duck-"

Audrin dropped as soon as Fier had said it but instead of crouching the movement turned more into rag doll flop onto the ground.

"Have you considered that you might have an inner ear problem?" Fier asked, ever unhelpfully. "I'm starting to think that your gracelessness is chronic."

Marcos crouched down beside her and only looked faintly amused.

"Good," he said, and nodded to the stick still in her hand. "You've mastered holding onto your weapon. C'mon, then. Let's get the horses saddled."

"That's it?" ssked Audrin as she got up. "But I want to try again! I know I can do it!"

Marcos reached over and ruffled her hair.

"That's the spirit- but we do have to get going. We're on a rescue mission after all."

Audrin watched him walk away scratched her head in confusion.

"But Marcos!" She hurried after him. "Where are we going? How do you know where to look?"

Marcos lifted a saddle off of a low hanging branch from a tree nearby and got that glint in his eye, Audrin was now beginning to understand this look always preceded a story.

"Audrin," he said. "Have you ever hunted?"

"Yes," she muttered as she looked at the ground. "For the frog king."

He began to ask, but seemed to think better of it.

"When I was a boy my father took me hunting in the forest just outside of Evodos. He wanted to teach me the ways of the land and toughen me up. He was always afraid I wouldn't be manly enough."

"You?" Audrin asked, doubtfully.

"It's hard to believe," Marcos agreed. "Anyways, he took me hunting. We waited all day at the edge of a meadow, finally a beautiful stag came to the clearing- it was enormous! I readied my bow- let loose the arrow and- completely missed my mark. The arrow hit the stag in it's shoulder and it bolted off out of the clearing. Well as you might imagine I felt terrible- the creature was injured and sure to die- if the blood loss didn't get it the wolves would and here I was, empty handed and sure that my father would be angry."