The Lost Mirror

Chapter 10

Jade was woken to someone gentle shaking her shoulders. She opened her eyes to see a blurry Ethan bent over her, peering into her face. When he came into focus she could see the worried look on his face.

"What?" She asked with a tired yawn.

"What are you doing sleeping by the water's edge my Lady? We are lucky the mermaid did not take you while you slept."

"It looks to me like they already did." Jade turned her head to see Zachariah stood just two feet away, his staff in hand and the same cold, disapproving look on his face. "That mark on you hand, they gave it to you did they not?" Jade looked down at her right hand. On the back of it there was a beautiful, thick black outline of a mermaid. Her tail reaching part Jade's wrist and several swirls coming of the creature and wrapping themselves around Jades forearm.

"You let them near you!" Ethan exclaimed, his voice clearly portraying his anger at her actions.

"Yes...they helped me."

"Helped you? Did you not hear what the wizard said yesterday? Mermaids do not help people, they drown them. You could have been killed."

"Well clearly he was wrong. They helped me. They gave me something to help me kill Salazar and I'm going to use it."

"What are you talking about?" Ethan asked her.

"The marking on her arm, it is a spell. Mermaids have the rare ability to temporarily transfer magic in the form of spells that make a physical appearance on the skin." Zachariah explained. Ethan shot him a glare, silently telling him to shut up.

"Yeah exactly. They said I can only use it once though and that once released it will summon a lot of water. That way he can't use his fire."

"And what about the countless other ways a dragon can kill someone? Have you given any thought to those? You put yourself at great risk last night and you are most certainly not fighting that dragon." Jade glared at him and pushed herself up. She backed away from him and clutched at her marked arm.

"Do you really expect me to just sit there and do nothing?"

"Yes, that it was your supposed to do. That was always the plan."

"Not gonna happen."

"You are a princess..."

"No!" Jade sharply cut him off. "I am no princess. This body might be but I am nothing like her. Where I come from I am a nobody, just an ordinary girl and I don't let people fight my battle for me. I know that me dying here is bad, I'm not an idiot but I will not stand by and watch you risk your own life!" Jade shouted her words so loud that it had hurt her throat. Her breathing was rapid, she hadn't realised she didn't take a single breath during her whole rant. Ethan looked taken back by her outburst. Until then she had been quite, un-confident in what was going on around her but that didn't mean that she was not Jade anymore.

"It is my duty to protect you with my life. I cannot fight off a dragon whilst constantly being concerned for your safety."

"Then don't be. I can take care of myself."

"I doubt that. What combat training have you had? What knowledge do you have on warfare?"

"None but that doesn't mean I'm completely useless." She protested.

"So you relied on magic?" Ethan's face looked pained as he said it. "All magic comes with a price my Lady, do you know what price you paid for that spell you wear so proudly on your arm?" His voice was soft and full of sadness. It instantly made her calm down. He was clearly thinking about his sister. The sister he lost, the one he had asked Zachariah to help with magic but in the end had still passed away. Jade glanced at Zachariah. He was staring at the floor, his face remained blank but in his eyes there was pain. He had really wanted to help that little girl but he couldn't, something that Ethan just didn't see. Jade opened her mouth to say something when she was cut off by a deafening screech from above. She looked above to see two giant eagles flying towards them. Jade gasped at the sight. They might have been at least 20 times bigger than the average eagle, giant beasts with the wingspan of an airplane.