"Say, Alex," Nikado said as he helped pick up the camp they had set the night before, packing things away. They had crossed through the Lora tunnel and had been on the road for several days, Hamlin finally coming into view in the distance. "I've been thinking about something for some time."
"What's that?" Alex questioned, regarding the city ahead of them as he sipped at a canteen.
"Well...." Nikado drew himself up to his full height, straightening out his back. "I'm in love with you."
Alex coughed as he choked on the drink, taking a few moments to regain his breath. "You can't be serious. What brought this on?"
"Of course I'm serious, I wouldn't say it if I wasn't," Nikado replied with a frown. "I said I'd been thinking about it for a while."
"How can you possibly think something like that?" Alex asked, putting the canteen away. "It's not normal. Do you even know what love is?"
"Do you?" Nikado challenged. "And I'm not normal, so that argument doesn't really matter. You're not normal, either."
"How am I not normal?"
"Normal people don't continue to compare themselves to their dead older brother years after he dies," the Lorasian prince stated in a flat tone.
Alex flinched as if he'd been struck, saying nothing as he went back to picking up camp. Nikado sighed. "Do you always avoid the topic like that?"
"It's none of your business."
"It is my business. I'm your ally, your friend. And I'm in love with you."
"Will you stop saying that?" Alex snapped, turning back to Nikado. "You can't possibly be in love with me."
"Why?"
"Because...we're both...."
"Men?"
"Besides that," Alex stated, "you're a sheltered child who is acting like a puppy that's meeting a girl for the first time."
"I'll admit that I'm not well-traveled or smart like you," Nikado agreed, "but it doesn't mean I can't feel what I feel. What about you? Have you ever been in love?"
"No," Alex replied, "and I don't plan to be in the near future. I have things to do. How can you possibly just up and decide how you feel, you've barely known me a couple of weeks."
"I know you well enough," Nikado stated, facing the other man. "I know things about a lot of people. I'm smart in that way. But I've never felt things before I started watching you." He folded his arms. "You're smart, but you feel like you have to know everything because it's what you have to do. You distance yourself from others. Is it because you were close to your brother and he died?"
"Stop talking about Jer." Alex finished picking up the camp, pulling his bag onto his shoulder and turning away.
"I will not. Are you even aware of how much you mention him a day?"
Alex frowned, thinking back on their most recent day. "I haven't mentioned him to you at all."
"Not to me. You mention him to yourself at least once a day, though. And I can tell when you're thinking about him. You get this withdrawn look in your eyes."
"What does that have to do with it?"
"The point is," Nikado explained patiently, "that I love you and I want you to be happy. I want you to share your sorrows with me instead of keeping them bundled up on the inside all the time, Believe it or not, I do understand what it's like to feel closed off from the rest of the world."
"I'm done talking about this," Alex stated, beginning to walk forward toward Hamlin.
"Well, I'm not," Nikado stated, following, "and since we're still travelling together, you may as well listen."
"Fine. What do you want to talk about."
Nikado shrugged, then reached over, pulling the other man into a hug against his will. "See, this is nice, right?"
"Let me go."
"Not until Alex cheers up~"
The other man glared at Nikado, folding his arms. "Grow up a little. If you've got time for this nonsense, you should be focusing on what we have ahead of us."
"And what about you? You're so busy looking into the future, you don't notice what's around you," Nikado pointed out. "I bet I know more about you than you know about me."
"I doubt that," Alex replied. "I have a photographic memory."
"Oh? Were you born with it?"
"No. I modified my memory with a spell I found among my family's books."
Nikado grinned suddenly, and it wasn't lost on Alex. "What."
"I know something new about you~" he declared.
Alex made a face at being unexpectedly thwarted. "What do you want from me?"
Nikado released him, keeping a hand on his shoulder. "I don't want anything from you, Alex. You don't have to reciprocate my feelings. I just want you to know that you are loved."
"Great," Alex said with another grimace. "I'm loved by a naive fool."
"Doesn't it feel great?" Nikado said with a big grin.
"If I say yes, will you let the topic drop?"
The gates of Hamlin were getting close. "I suppose so. What do you know about Hamlin?"
"Not much. I imagine the city's not in great shape, though. This close to the attack on Moonbrook, they must be feeling stress. And the monsters are stronger around here. We'd better be careful."
True to his word, Nikado let the topic go, attention on the town as they entered. "There aren't a lot of people here."
"They've probably all fled," Alex noted.
"To where? We didn't see a lot of traffic on our way in."
"Probably where most of them were heading, nonetheless," Alex observed. "With Moonbrook gone, Leftwyne is the closest surviving town. Most of the closest settlements are south of the mountains, and those are too difficult to cross. Not to mention Rhone is set between the mountains."
"Rhone?"
"Yes, the plateau in the mountains. It's where Hargon's made his base of operations, simply because it's so inaccessible. I don't know much about it otherwise, though. We'll need to keep our ears open."
"Hey, a dog," Nikado observed suddenly, looking up a side street. Sure enough, a black dog with upright ears was sniffing around the alley, ears perking toward them as Nikado spoke. "Here, boy!"
The dog took a step back. "Actually, I think that's a female dog," Alex observed.
"A female? How can you tell?'
The dog took a couple more steps back. "Never mind. We need to get to the inn and listen up for any news. We'll decide our next move from there."
"Yeah. Bye, girl!" Nikado called after the dog, who had already run off. "Aw. She left."
The inn had yielded no clues as to the whereabouts of the princess, so the only thing to do had been to make the journey to Moonbrook itself. Traveling light, the pair kept a low profile, avoiding monsters when possible. Ahead, Alex pointed upwards at a shape ahead of them. "That's the castle. Or what's left of it."
Nikado joined him, letting out a low whistle as he saw the broken walls and crumbled towers. "It's in terrible shape."
"What do you expect from surviving a monster attack?"
"Good point, but still. How are we going to get in and find any clues?"
"I'm going to try something," Alex told him. "Hold still for a moment."
Nikado did so, closing his eyes as Alex murmured something, waving a hand in front of the other's face. Nikado blinked, but didn't feel any change. "Did it work?"
"Sure," Alex said. "Now you look like a perfectly ordinary, run of the mill reaper." Alex repeated the same spell, and then he was no longer standing there, in his place a magician, a monster fairly shorter and more stout than Alex himself. "That should fool anyone at a casual glance, at least," Alex noted, and even his voice sounded different.
"That's immensely creepy," Nikado complained.
"Stop complaining and act like a monster," Alex instructed. "Now we'll walk inside."
"If you say so," Nikado muttered, sheathing his sword as he followed Alex toward the castle. "How did you learn a spell like that?"
"I read a lot."
"I guessed that. Was it in your family's library?"
"Sort of. There's a hidden room in the castle with a bunch of books on magic and other things, some of them forbidden. I've read most of them."
"What other spells do you know?"
"Quite a few, but I've never actually tried most of them," Alex replied. "There hasn't been a need. Cut the chatter, here we go. Let me do the talking."
Nikado nodded, straightening up as they approached. A couple of gremlins were slouched by the big hole in the wall, waving as the two "monsters" approached. "Hey, guys. Did you find it yet?"
Alex shook his head. "No luck. Anyone else?"
The gremlin shook its head. "Nothing. I'm wondering if this is all a wild chase, or if we shouldn't have killed all those humans quite as quickly."
"Not killing humans quickly?" Alex scoffed. "It should always be done slowly."
"Yeah, I suppose so," the other gremlin replied.
"How many of the boys are around?" Nikado directed at the other gremlin.
"Not many at this hour. Since we've torn apart the castle looking for this thing, we're having to go out in the field to search. The Ozwargs are flipping out. They're out there slave driving over the southern searchers."
"Poor guys."
"You're telling me. I'll stick with guard duty any day."
"Come on, stop yapping," Alex told the other prince in disguise. "We have work to do."
Nikado nodded, following him inside. There were few monsters around, which was mildly surprising. More surprising to Nikado was all the large, blue fires scattered at points among the wrecked hallways. "What are all those fires?" he asked in a soft tone.
Alex looked over at him. "They're burning human souls."
Nikado felt a bit sick. "Why?"
"To make other monsters. It's one of the ways they spawn," the other man said, the monster illusion shrugging its shoulders. "Keep your eyes peeled, and more importantly, listen. Someone may say something we need."
The other prince gave a nod of acknowledgement, leading the way into the torn halls, away from the outside of the castle. "The layout," Nikado murmured.
"What about it?"
"Similar. Did you notice?"
Alex looked around, then frowned. "As ours, you mean." The other prince gave a nonverbal agreement. "Let's try this way."
Nikado followed, guessing where Alex was leading when they got close. The throne room opened up around them, some of the roof caved in and blood and torn scraps of fabric and twisted metal scattered around. A single blue fire burned in the center of the room, and as they got closer, Nikado could make out the face of the older man trapped inside, eyes blank and glassy as he huddled in the center of the flames. "Who is that?"
"Probably, it's the king," Alex said, looking around. At the mention of the word 'king', the figure inside moved slightly. "I'm going to keep you from being found. Keep your voice down and see what he knows."
"Talk to him? He can talk back?" Nikado looked over at the dead man's spirit inside the fire.
"I hope so, or this is going to be a fruitless venture," Alex muttered. "Stay there, don't wander too far away. And make absolutely sure you do not get too close to the fire. If you catch on fire, it could destroy you." Alex stepped back, and Nikado could see a brief shimmering.
Swallowing, he turned back to the spirit, raising a hand slowly. "Can you hear me? Are you the king of Moonbrook?"
The figure stirred, raising his head and looking at Nikado, or at least turning his head in Nikado's direction, for his eyes were still blank and unfocused. "I am...the king of Moonbrook. Who... Who's there?"
"My name is Nikado," the man said quietly. "I'm the prince of Lorasia. I've come with the prince of Cannock to find your daughter. Do you know where she is?"
"The prince... I knew of you," the king replied with a low voice. "My daughter... Ameko..."
"Yes, your daughter. Where is she?"
"She... she is not here," the king said, putting a hand to his face in distress. "Cursed... she was cursed."
"But she's still alive? Where is she? What kind of curse, how do we break it?"
"The curse...." The king seemed to be having trouble focusing as he raised his head. "There is a mirror... that can break it. Yes. We hid it. Where it is, I do not know."
"Who would know? Where should I look for your daughter, what kind of curse?" The prince was starting to get nervous. How much time did he have? Would Alex be able to cover for them long enough?
"I... do not know. The curse... it changed her shape. Black...." The king groaned. "Ameko... my Ameko...."
"The mirror," Nikado pressed, "who knows where it is?"
"Who knows...." the king repeated in a despairing tone. "The storeroom...it was there. The clerk...he might know. But he's dead now. Everyone is dead, but for my Ameko."
"We'll save her," Nikado reassured. "Don't worry. We'll definitely find and save her."
Alex moved back into the circle, his head and shoulders reverted back to normal as he looked inside. "We need to go. Let's hurry."
The other man followed with a glance back to the king, feeling a bit of pity. "There's nothing we can do, is there?" he asked in a whisper.
"Definitely nothing you can do, since you can't use magic. I don't know of any spells that would be effective here," Alex said with a nod, leading them away to a crumbled bedroom, ducking into the closet. "What did you find out?"
"She's alive, but he said she's been cursed. Something about a black shape. Doesn't know where she is," Nikado said with a shake of his head. "There's a mirror that can reveal the curse, but he doesn't know where that is. Says the storeroom clerk might know."
"Then we'll head toward the storeroom," Alex said with a nod. "Let's move quickly."
Slipping past a couple of loitering monsters, Alex led the way, Nikado following as they went down the stairs to the underground level. Unlike the upper levels, the underground rooms, being mostly carved out from dirt and rock itself, were in relatively good shape, littered with the occasional blue flame here and there. "Here," Alex said, turning down a hallway to an open doorway, the door looking as if it had been shattered and cast aside. "This should be the storeroom."
"There," Nikado said, pointing. "Another fire."
Alex nodded, and then the illusion dropped, the two princes stopping a safe distance away. "Hail," Alex addressed him. "Are you the storeroom clerk of Moonbrook?"
The man looked up slowly, expression picking up a slight indicator of interest. "Who's there? Are you monsters?"
"No, we're humans," Nikado said. "We're the princes of Loraisa and Cannock. We need your help to rescue the princess."
"The princess...Poor Ameko," the storeroom clerk moaned. "She really did her best, but they outnumbered us."
"We can help her," Nikado insisted. "There's a mirror that can break curses. Do you know where it is?"
"The Mirror of Ra...Everyone wants to know," the clerk mumbled. "They're trying to find it. So they can keep the princess cursed. How do I know you're not monsters?"
In response, Nikado immediately stuck his hand out, the blue flame circling around his arm and beginning to burn. "You idiot!" Alex hissed, knocking him back and muttering a spell to put out the flame. "There are better ways to go about that!"
Nikado winced as Alex pulled off his glove, examining the burned hand. "You see?" Nikado said, holding up his hand. "Not monsters."
"You are humans...." the clerk said in surprise, then lowered his voice. "Please, you have to save the princess. The Mirror of Ra is hidden in the swamp."
"Where in the swamp?" Alex asked as his hand held a small glow underneath his fingers, healing the other man's hand.
"The spot where you can see four bridges. Please, save the princess."
Noise from outside the room caught their attention, the sounds of shouting. "You see? I can smell it here, too!" a monster's voice declared. "It's humans, no question about it!"
"Don't be ridiculous," another monster snorted. "How could live humans get in here? You're just smelling the dead ones."
"I can tell the difference between a live human and a dead human, thank you very much!"
"We're in trouble," Nikado mumbled. "There's not another exit out of here if he comes down this way. Can we fight our way out?"
"We could try, but if they find out we've been down here, they'll probably step up effort even more. We can fight...or we can try another of those spells that I've never actually used before."
"It's stronger down here!" another monster yelled. "Get the Ozwargs. I'll bet you anything we have an infestation on our hands."
"Spell," Nikado replied immediately. "What do you want me to do?"
"Get close," Alex muttered, casting out a little line of magic around himself. Nikado stepped inside the circle as Alex muttered. "Close your eyes," he ordered as the world began to take on strange and unusual colors. The prince shut his eyes, feeling Alex's arm circle around him, and then there was the presense of a cool breeze on his skin. Nikado opened his eyes. The castle was visible above them on the hill, the faint sound of monster chatter above. "Good, it doesn't look like they noticed us," Alex muttered.
"What kind of spell was that?" Nikado wanted to know, checking to make sure his legs still worked. "Did you learn that from one of your books, too?
"It's called 'Outside'. And yes," Alex replied. "I'm just glad it worked."
"I'm glad you're so good at magic," Nikado pointed out. "So where's this swamp?"
Alex closed his eyes for a moment, kneeling and drawing a few lines in the dirt. "The quickest way would be to get across the river, but I don't know if there's a way. It could be deep."
"Let's give it a try," Nikado said. "We already know they're out there looking for this mirror. If they find it first, they'll destroy it."
"I agree." Alex looked up, then pointed a direction. "This way. We should reach the river by evening."
The two set off at a brisk pace, eating dried rations on their way. "If you look there, you can see one of the four bridges," Alex stated, pointing ahead. "We'll cross it to get to the swamp."
Nikado watched the rushing waters as they approached. "Good thing we don't have metal armor, it'd rust. Any ideas for getting across this river?"
"I guess we need to find a place where the current slows down, or it gets narrower," Alex said, looking down the bank. "I wonder how deep it goes. We may have to swim."
"Swim?"
"Yes." Alex paused at the other's tone, turning back to look at him. "You do know how to swim, right?"
"Well...."
As Alex kneeled by the water, the center of the river swelled up, and then a massive shape broke the surface, staring down at them. "WHO GOES THERE," a booming voice declared as a large, flat face peered down at them. "PUNY HUMANS, I SHALL DESTROY YOU."
"We'd rather you didn't, actually," Nikado replied. "You see, we're kind of in a hurry."
"OH? AND WHAT PRESSING BUSINESS BRINGS YOU TO THE WATERS OF THE GREAT RAY?"
"The great ray?" Nikado looked at Alex.
"I've heard of them," Alex said after a moment. "They're called ultraviolent rays."
"IT'S SORT OF A MISNOMER, ACTUALLY," the ray interrupted. "WE'RE ONLY MODERATELY VIOLENT AT BEST. WE PREFER TO TALK THINGS OUT, YOU KNOW?"
"Great! I love talking," Nikado replied cheerfully. "Do you know of a good place to cross this river? Personally one that doesn't involve swimming?"
"NO. WHY DON'T YOU LIKE TO SWIM?"
"Well, you see...."
"Could you help us across?" Alex interrupted. "We have to get across in order to save our friend."
"FRIENDS ARE NICE," the ray boomed thoughtfully. "YOU DON'T MEET A LOT OF PEOPLE AROUND THIS AREA. ESPECIALLY NOT NOWADAYS SINCE LORD HARGON TOOK OVER THE MONSTER WORLD."
"That must be rough for you," Nikado said sympathetically.
"IT IS. THE HUMANS USED TO COME HERE ALL THE TIME. THEY WOULD PAY ME A TOLL TO CROSS TO THE SOUTHERN VILLAGES. BUT NOW THOSE VILLAGES ARE GONE AND I AM ALONE AND SAD."
"Oh, how terrible for you," Nikado agreed, sitting down by the bank. "You didn't want to go elsewhere?"
"THIS IS MY HOME. IF I LEFT I'D HAVE TO FIGHT IT OUT WITH OTHER ULTRAVIOLENT RAYS TO SECURE A NEW TERRITORY, AND IT'S REALLY QUITE BOTHERSOME. BESIDES, I MIGHT HAVE TO CROSS THE SEA, AND I'M ALLERGIC TO SALT."
"I see why that could be a problem. Say, I have an idea!" Nikado said with a snap of his fingers. "Could we pay you a toll to cross? It'd be just like old times!"
"PAY A TOLL?" the ray mused. "I RATHER LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT. IT WOULD BE LIKE OLD TIMES."
"And we'd need to come back, so you could collect another one then," Nikado added. "And when we get back to town, we can tell people you're out here. I'm sure there are others that will need to cross, even if there's no villages down there."
"WOULD YOU REALLY DO THAT?"
"Sure! Let's be friends," Nikado said with a smile.
"FRIENDS? I THINK I LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT. MY TOLL IS 200 IN GOLD, HUMANS. THE MORE SMALL COINS, THE BETTER. CAN YOU PAY?"
Nikado looked over to Alex, who pulled out their money pouch and began sorting through it. "I'll find as many small ones as I can."
The other prince grinned as he helped Alex sort the coins. "It's nice to not have to fight sometimes, isn't it?"
"I prefer to avoid it when possible." Alex counted the coins again before offering them to the ray.
They disappeared with a sweep of the ray's fin, and then it worked its way into the beach, the tip of its nose brushing against the beach. "GET ON."
Alex stepped onto the ray, Nikado following with a bit of hesitation to make sure he wouldn't fall in. "STAY IN THE CENTER AND HOLD ON," the ray ordered as it began a slow turn around.
"Hold on to what?" Nikado muttered as he put his hands out, staying on his hands and knees.
Alex grinned slightly as the ray began to move forward, cutting through the water smoothly. "What a way to travel."
"Yeah, it'd be great," Nikado agreed, "if not for all the water."
"Do you have a problem with the water?" Alex wondered.
The reply was cut off as the ray let out a bellow of glee, flapping its fins and showering them with a light spray of water. "HI HO, HI HO, IT'S OFF TO THE OTHER SHORE I GO," he shouted cheerfully.
Nikado couldn't help but grin at the other creature, shaking his head. "Glad to see he's enjoying this, too."
The river had seemed impossibly large before the ray appeared, but with the monsterous beast crossing it, it was no time at all before they were at the other shore, Nikado quickly stepping off. "THANK YOU AND COME AGAIN," the ray bubbled before sinking back under the water, presumably to count its coins.
Nikado shook a bit of water out of his hair. "Well, that was fun. Where to now?"
Alex pointed, and Nikado could make out the bridge ahead of them, crossing a smaller branch of the river and connecting two small spits of land. "There's the first bridge," he stated, "and there's the swamp."
Nikado nodded, then squinted at the dark trees towering over the swamp, casting the ground below in a dim light. "I think I see monsters."
"Then let's be careful and go quietly," Alex stated. "An illusion isn't going to fool them, they're too alert."
Nikado followed as Alex kept near the shore, making his way close to the swamp in a roundabout way. As they approached, Nikado could make out a strange smell that made him wrinkle his nose. "What is that smell?" he whispered.
"Poison swamp," Alex murmured. "It's slightly acidic. Take off your shoes and strap them to your belt."
"We're going into a poisonous swamp barefoot?" Nikado asked incredulously. "Why?"
"Because I can heal feet," Alex pointed out as he sat down, taking off his own and placing his socks inside. "I can't heal leather shoes."
Nikado made a face, but took his off as well, threading the laces into his belt. "This is going to suck."
"Probably." Alex peered into the swamp, then gestured for the other prince to follow. "Stay low and stay quiet."
Nikado gave a silent agreement as Alex entered, the other man close behind. The acidic swamp did make his feet sting a little, but the pain wasn't so great that it was anything more than an annoyance at this point. Nikado wondered exactly how acidic swamps came about. Was it a natural phenomenon?
Ahead of him, Alex ducked down, motioning for Nikado to follow. The other prince did so, peering ahead. In the swamp's dim light, the majority blocked out by the thick trees overhead, he could make out the shape of monsters, crawling through the much, obviously searching. Nikado looked around, trying to pick out where the other bridges were.
Alex pointed ahead and to the right, and Nikado could see a second bridge. That made two. Skirting around a group of monsters, Alex moved through the muck, shaking a loose bit of acid off his pants. Nikado tugged on his sleeve, pointing to a dry patch of land between two trees, obscured from the monsters by a low set of bushes. Alex nodded, then crawled onto it, applying a quick healing spell to his feet.
Nikado hauled himself up, wincing as Alex examined his own feet. Sitting up a bit, he looked around, careful not to poke up too much above the bushes. There were two bridges...Nikado looked around, and spotted a third, off to the left. That would mean that the fourth bridge should be around somewhere close.
Finishing his spell, Alex sat back, shooting Nikado a look with an unspoken question. Wiggling his toes, Nikado found no pain, and nodded, sticking his feet back down into the swamp and motioning for Alex to follow. Of course, the pain began anew, making his feet itch and feel irritated, but Nikado put it aside in his mind. The next bridge had to be somewhere in this direction.
And then he spotted it, ahead in the new direction he was heading. Looking around, Nikado discovered he could no longer see the first bridge, the thing buried behind a tree.
"Over here," Alex whispered, motioning to a lone tree rising out of the much. Nearby, the body of a Moonbrook soldier lay, and Nikado guessed it might have been a death curse from the relative lack of violence on the body. Or what was left of it, rather, as it had spent the last few weeks in a moist and humid swamp. "Here. I can see them all."
"It looks like the monsters have already combed this place," Nikado murmured, gesturing to the ripped foliage and marks in the dirt where the swamp was dried. "They didn't find it?"
"If they did, I imagine they wouldn't still be searching," Alex muttered. "What else could they be looking for out here?"
"I guess you have a point, but...." Nikado looked over at the fallen man. "Poor guy. I wish we could give him a burial. Looks like the monsters didn't even touch him."
Alex paused, then looked over with a frown. "You're right. It doesn't look like the monsters have bothered with him. Give me a hand."
Nikado took a step back at the thought of touching the decomposing body, but rolled up his sleeves, gingerly helping to turn the body over. He let out a breath as the smell hit him, almost losing his grip on the waxy body. With a grunt, Alex, seemingly unperturbed by the smell, pushed the body aside, looking at the ground underneath.
The spot was partially covered in ooze from the swamp, and the fluids of the body that had been on top of it. Nikado busied himself by looking away, keeping an eye out for monsters, feeling like he might actually vomit if he kept looking.
"Nikado," Alex murmured, standing up with something in his hands. "Here it is."
Nikado looked over. In Alex's hands rested a small, round mirror, the silver of its back gleaming in the dim light. "It's awfully bright," Nikado noted suddenly. "What if--"
A shout made both of them jerk around, a monster pointing at them from distance away. "They're over there! They found it!" the monster roared.
Alex reacted quickly, tossing a fireball which latched onto the monster's face and downed it, but already monsters were swarming around. "Now what?" Nikado asked, wincing at the pain in his feet.
"We make a run for it." Alex looked around. "Toward the first bridge. We'll go straight and break through."
"How? We can't run in our condition," Nikado said, pointing at Alex's burned feet.
"Then we'll have to slide," Alex muttered, cracking the knuckles in one hand.
"Slide?" Nikado echoed, now completely confused.
"Go!" Alex grabbed the other man by one arm, tucking the Mirror of Ra into a pocket before leaping onto the swamp. Not into, Nikado realized after a moment as the spots under their bare feet began to freeze over, protecting them from the acidic swamp.
"Another spell you've never tried before?"
"Pretty much," Alex replied back tensely. "Just keep running."
"Easier said than done," Nikado muttered as a monster leapt at them from the side, Nikado knocking it back with a blow of his sword. "There, there's the bridge."
"Jump into the water," Alex ordered as they approached the bank.
"Jump in!? But--" He couldn't argue further as the other man dragged him in, his mouth filling with river water and preventing him from saying anything more complicated than a splutter.
Under their feet, something solid rose up, and then they were on dry ground again. Or rather, on the back of a ray. "THE TOLL IS 200 GOLD IN COINS," the ray declared cheerfully.
Alex dug out a number of coins, checking to make sure it was at least the required amount. "Keep the change," he gasped out, glancing back at the shore. Most of the monsters had been stopped by the river, but some of the reapers and drackys were flying out, giving chase. "Nikado, we have company."
"On it," the other man said, standing up with his sword, getting a solid footing on the ray's back and swinging as one came near. "Stay low."
The other man stayed flat, casting a Heal spell on his friend before shooting off fireballs at the monsters nearby. "We're almost there, prepare to run for it."
"Are we going to fight all the way back to Hamlin?" Nikado gasped.
"No. Once we get clear of the trees and the monsters, stay close," Alex instructed.
The other man nodded, then jumped off as the ray got close to the shore, Alex doing the same. "Thanks!" Nikado shouted at the ray. "We'll come back sometime!"
"THANK YOU AND COME AGAIN!"
"Alex, your feet," Nikado said worriedly as he noticed the other man hadn't healed himself yet.
"No time," he muttered. "Get me some space." Digging around in his bag, he paused long enough to take out a few monsters with another fireball.
Nikado continued to use his sword with deadly effect, clearing the air around them. "Now what?" he muttered.
"Ever heard of a wyvern's wing, Nikado?" Alex asked.
"No. Why?"
Alex tossed a small, feathered thing out of his bag, and the air swept up around them, Nikado feeling himself lifted off the ground. "Shut your eyes again," Alex instructed through the maelstorm, and Nikado did so, finally feeling his feet set down on the ground again.
"I take it that was a wyvern's wing?" Nikado asked, looking around. They were just outside of the gates of Hamlin, Alex already limping over and hailing the gatekeepers.
"Yes. It's a relatively simple enchantment. I was hoping that would work," Alex muttered. "I made that one myself."
"So it was another spell you've never used before," Nikado said with a shake of his head. "Let's see to your feet."
"No time," Alex said with a shake of his head. "We need to find the princess. I'm sure she has to be here. This is the only place the monsters don't control for a wide area. And now that we have the Mirror of Ra, they may decide to kill her and be done with it."
"But if she's here and they can't get through the barrier...." Nikado frowned.
"We can't assume that they can't get through the barrier," Alex said with a shake of his head. "They did it at Moonbrook, after all, or so we can assume."
Nikado chewed at his lip, then knelt down next to the other man. "Come on. You'll never make any time on your feet as it is. If we're in a hurry, I'd better do the running."
Alex blinked, then let Nikado pull Alex onto his back, grunting as he looked around. "Do you know what we're looking for?" Alex asked.
"Actually, I have a pretty good idea," Nikado replied, looking around before he took off at a run. "The king mentioned a black shape. What have we seen in town that's black?"
Alex thought about it, then his eyes widened. "The dog!"
"Yeah. The dog. All we have to do is find her and see if I'm right," Nikado stated, pausing at a crossroad and looking around before picking a direction. "Any idea on how the mirror works?"
"A Mirror of Ra reflects the truth," Alex stated, manuvering his hand so he could start casting a healing spell on his feet. "If we reflect her in it, it should reveal her true form. That's how the curse is broken. At least, I think so."
"All right." Nikado rounded a corner, then stopped. "Alex, there. Get the mirror."
The other prince looked up, and saw the dog some distance ahead of them, the creature not appearing to notice their presence yet. Letting Alex down onto his bare feet,Nikado watched the dog as Alex dug the mirror out of his pocket, holding it up.
Both men peered into the mirror. As Alex tilted it up, it reflected the ground and then not a dog, but a woman's form. However, it wasn't all the mirror reflected. Behind her, they could make out the shape of something with a lot of spikes and teeth, bearing down on her.
"Watch out!" Nikado barely had time to blurt out before the mirror shattered in Alex's hand as it focused on the woman and the creature behind her. Ahead of them, there was the sound of an explosion, filling the area with smoke and causing the wind to whip out from the area wildly with the force of the magic that had suddenly been released. Putting an arm in front of his face, Nikado watched the area ahead in shock, straining his eyes to see through the smoke.
Gradually it thinned, and the only thing left standing was a slim figure. "Thanks for the warning," a cool female voice stated.
Alex looked down at the fragment of the mirror still in his hand, and held it up. The shaky image reflected in the shard was still that of a woman. "The princes of Lorasia and Cannock, I take it?" she addressed them, brushing some of her long black hair out of her face. The woman was dressed in a robe that didn't restrict her movement, slacks visible underneath. Her medium blue eyes watched with a piercing expression, gliding from one of them to the other.
"You must be the princess of Moonbrook," Nikado said. "We came to rescue you."
"I appreciate the help," she stated, in as casual a voice as if she was talking about the weather.
Alex let out a sigh, tucking the shard of the mirror into his pocket as he reached for his shoes, still woven into his belt. "It's nice to finally meet you, Princess. Would you be opposed to joining us at the inn so we can speak in someplace a bit more comfortable?"
"I suppose not."
