The Magic Mirror

Shades of Gray

"Fier.." Audrin's voice was faint.

She was curled in a corner, shaking and weak. So soon as the effect of the bird had worn off hours ago she had begun to shiver and cry. Fier knelt beside her although he hadn't a clue of what to do now. He had torn fabric from his shirt to wrap the hand, but she was still bleeding. Out of all the knowledge Parsimum had drilled into him in his childhood Fier was still clueless in a medical emergency.

"I'm here.." he said.

"Did I do it?" she mumbled. "Did I save you?"

Fier could only find one kindness in this situation, which was that the poison had induced a sort of delirium in her. She didn't seem to know where she was.

"...Not yet," he told her. "You won't walk towards any bright lights until you're done, right?"

She rattled out a quiet laugh or perhaps a sob, by this point Fier knew there wasn't much difference.

"..what bright lights?" she asked.

He felt her forehead- expecting it to be hot- and only found it to be too cold and too pale. He knew this was no time to lose hope, but in the same right he could find very little of it.

Of the two thoughts that had been circling his head for some hours one was very unhelpful. It was the thought of how useless and troublesome he had been. He had rested all of his hopes for escape on a girl from the middle of nowhere who had no business being mixed up in this to begin with! He hadn't even tried getting out on his own- not that his chances would have been good, but still...

Well, that was only one of the thoughts going through his head. It was very useless and was only making it harder for him to be optimistic, something he had never had much of a talent for to begin with. The other- however- had the potential to be of some use.

Fier's second thought was about that bird that had approached him. There was a distinct possibility that it was a trick- and then again, even if it wasn't, the bird more or less expected Fier to take on Graves. A prospect that Fier knew could only meet disappointing ends. He had no magic to speak of- and definately not that of the generations behind him. Graves would squash him.

Another faint whimper from Audrin reminded Fier that the more pressing concern was not what he would do about Graves but what he ought to do for her.

Even if he couldn't do what the bird wished he might be able to lead it on enough to get her the antidote.

"I have to try," he murmured. After all, things couldn't get any worse.

Almost instantly a cloud of black issued through the doors and the very same bird settled into the dungeon.

"That was timely," Fier muttered, suspiciously. "Have you been watching me?"

The bird slighted away from him and bent over the girl slowly. A black feather slipped down onto her cheek and rose into a small puff of black cloud.

"What fragile things the lives you lead, I hate to see the poor thing bleed.."

Fier frowned.

"Are you rhyming?" he asked. "At a time like this?"

"Just one word can make her well, yes or no- which will you tell?"

Fier was not the violent type. For most of his life he had accepted that he would never be a knight or a warrior of any sort. The work was too messy, the risk to his looks would have been too great, and he had never had much time for it anyways. Even so, strangling this bird by the neck was beginning to sound more than just a little tempting.