Mirror

Strauk

"You okay?" Danny asked. He had returned somehow to his child form.

"Yes," I replied, though my head was still pounding.

I looked around for May, but didn't see her. Danny put a hand on my shoulder to still me before I could panic. "She didn't want to be around me, but I've been watching her. She's right outside."

"Outside" meant outside the small cave that Danny had chosen as shelter. He hadn't been able to take us too close to Strauk. He could hardly carry us into the village looking like everyone's nightmare interpretation of an original shadow.

She was scrambling around on the rocks gathering berries that grew on bushes sprouting from the cliff face. Upon seeing me she dropped all the tiny fruits in her hands and flung herself at me from about a meter above my head. "Whoa, okay, what's wrong?" I asked, taking a few steps back to keep from falling over.

"Are we safe?"

I stroked May's hair and she buried her head into my chest. "I will keep you safe," I said, trying my hardest to keep the bitterness from my voice. What a shallow promise it was. Had I not just failed to do exactly that?

"There's a charm here," she said quietly.

"Here?"

"In the village. I can feel it."

I had almost forgotten that May's purpose for tagging along with us was this convenient ability of hers. I had almost thought it a lie after finding out that the flight charm she carried was purely decorative.

"It's the one we're looking for," she said.

I raised an eyebrow. "This far from the lake. Feor is here?"

May shook her head. "I don't know."

I debated briefly about leaving May and Danny behind in the shelter of the small cave. A village might mean some safety from discovery by the mountain people, but it was also a risk. Few villages we had encountered were true safe havens. In fact, none really were. Nonetheless, we were not by any means far enough away from the mountain camp for comfort and the idea of returning to find the children gone was one I didn't think about too long.

As villages went, Strauk looked more like a fortress cut straight from the mountainside. Small holes, large enough for two people to pass through side-by-side, dotted the cliff face. Each one was occupied by a person in what could loosely be called armor. Small stones and wood were woven onto their clothing making them look something like patchwork armadillos. They carried only wooden staffs as weapons.

All of this I made note of as we approached the only access point I could see, a large cavern at the end of a thin dusty trail that skirted the side of the mountain. The trail itself was only a half meter across and dropped off steeply on the one side to the lake. If we were to fall, we weren't likely to hit water for at least ten seconds. I clung tightly to the shear cliff on the other side and kept a close eye on May and Danny who followed cautiously behind me.

The entry was guarded by four people, two women and two men. The younger of the two women-she was probably only a few years older than I was- held out her hand in the universal gesture for "stop" once we were within five meters or so.