Lawrence Watt-Evans - The Spriggan Mirror

He did not doubt her; after all, she was a witch. “What if we took the mirror back to Ethshar? That wouldn’t block the magic they want. What would they do then?”

“You know they want to keep it under their own control,” Karanissa said. “I don’t think they’d be as desperate as if we were heading to the ruins, but they’d still try to stop us. And how could we do it? They’re all over the flying carpet, and it would take months to get back to Ethshar on foot, and during those months they’d be constantly trying to steal the mirror back. Every time we slept, the spriggans would grab it.”

“What if we got the carpet off the ground with all of us and a few hundred spriggans on it, then dumped all the spriggans off?”

“This would be after you turned Tobas back to a human? How would we get to the carpet through that mob?” She pointed out at the meadow, still swarming with spriggans. “They might also fling so many of themselves on the carpet it couldn’t get off the ground.”

Gresh sighed.

“All we need to do,” he said, “is to get the mirror back to Ethshar and give it to the Guild-then it’s their problem. We don’t need to deal with it permanently ourselves.”

“Well, you don’t,” Karanissa agreed. “Tobas and I-well, we made some promises. Our agreement with the Guild is to put an end to the problem of spriggans, not just to deliver the mirror.”

“Just…put an end to the problem?” Gresh considered that. “So if we did make the Spell of Reversal permanent, would that be enough?”

“It might be,” Karanissa said. “I’m not sure. There would still be half a million spriggans running around loose.”

“But there would never be any more than that.”

“That’s why it might be enough.”

Gresh looked down at the mirror. “Stupid thing,” he said. Then he reached for the box of powders-the temptation to play with magic was still strong, and after all, this was what these spells were for.

“I think I’ll try a few things,” he said.

“Don’t turn back-esku!” Gresh shouted, as he sprinkled red powder on the mirror.

It flashed gold.

“How will you know whether that worked?” Karanissa asked.

“The half-hour will be up in a few minutes,” Gresh said. “You should be able to sense whether the spell reverts, shouldn’t you?”

“Probably,” the witch admitted.

“If you can’t, we’ll know when spriggans start appearing, or when we’ve gone an hour or two without any.”

“I suppose so.”

The two of them stood staring down at the mirror. In addition to Javan’s Geas, Gresh had also tried Lirrim’s Rectification again, to see whether it did anything, but there was no discernible effect.

The sun was definitely behind the mountaintop now, and the Spell of Reversal was due to expire at any moment. Tobas was still standing guard in front of the cave, roaring reassurances to Alorria. The flying carpet was still partially buried in spriggans and quite thoroughly surrounded by them, but none were touching mother or daughter.

A sudden thump startled Gresh; he turned to see Tobas staring down at one of his front feet, which was planted firmly on the ground. Then the dragon’s face contorted, his neck twisted oddly, and he began making a very odd noise.

“What is that?” Gresh asked, startled. “Is he all right?”

“He’s…he’s laughing,” Karanissa said. “I never heard a dragon laugh before.”

“I didn’t know dragons could laugh!” Gresh exclaimed.

Then Tobas lifted the taloned foot, saying, “That tickles!” A spriggan squirmed up out of the spot where the dragon’s foot had been and scampered away.

Gresh called, “What was that about?”

Tobas turned to look at him. “Oh, nothing much,” the dragon explained. “That spriggan tried to slip by me, so I stepped on it. It didn’t squash, though, and it just kept wriggling around under my foot; it tickled dreadfully.”

“Oh,” Gresh said. The dragon put his claw back on the ground and turned his attention back to Alorria, calling new reassurances to her.

Gresh turned to Karanissa. “I guess they really can’t be seriously harmed,” he said. “If being stamped on by a dragon doesn’t hurt them, what will?”

“Nothing,” Karanissa said. “I told you. That’s the problem.”

“I know, I’ve been thinking about it, and our little hostage explained it, but still, seeing it demonstrated like that…” He turned up an empty palm.

“It is strange,” Karanissa agreed. “It’s strange seeing my husband in the shape of a dragon, too-especially since he’s taken it so calmly, once the actual transformation was complete.”

“He’s a wizard,” Gresh said. “He’s supposed to be accustomed to magic.”

“Getting turned into a dragon is hardly normal even for a wizard.”

“I suppose not.” Gresh glanced at the dragon’s tail, then back at the witch. “But you and he have been involved in some odd adventures before this-trapped in a magic castle, slaying a dragon, defeating the false empress…”

“I know.” She shuddered slightly.

“Even just being married to someone with another wife must be a bit awkward at times.”

“Oh, yes.” She sighed. “I told Tobas before he married Alorria that I wasn’t the jealous type, and I’ve tried not to be. I knew Derry had other women sometimes, and that didn’t bother me, so I thought I could handle it. Ali knew what she was getting into, too-I was married to Tobas first, after all. She wanted to marry someone, certainly. She had five sisters. Her parents weren’t going to find princes for everyone, and that meant a hero, so she didn’t have a great many choices. Really, she didn’t have any choice; her parents gave her to Tobas as his reward for killing the dragon, bribing him with her dowry. But she did like him and admire him. She can be very sweet. We all thought it would work out.”

“Well, it has worked out, hasn’t it?”

“Mostly-but I must admit, Ali is not who I would have chosen to live with for the rest of my life. I’ve tried not to be jealous of her, but she hasn’t always done the same for me.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“She feels outmatched. I’m a witch, so I know she does, I’m not just guessing. She sees that I’m a fellow magician for Tobas and four hundred years older than she is, with vastly more experience. She also thinks I’m more beautiful, though Tobas doesn’t, nor most of the other men we meet.”

“I think I’d agree with Alorria on that one.”

“Well, thank you, but most men don’t. They think I’m too skinny, too flat-chested, too dark, too aloof, too tall, too intimidating-whatever. Ali’s just as pretty in the face and anything but flat-chested, not to mention nicely rounded elsewhere. Men may admire me, but they lust after her-not that she believes it. And Tobas-I don’t know how he does it, but most of the time he really doesn’t prefer one of us over the other. It’s amazing. Not that Ali believes that, either, even though we’ve both told her it’s true. Even though she agrees we should be equal partners, she’s always demanding attention, trying to compensate for the advantages she imagines I have.” She sighed. “She’s been especially sensitive ever since she got pregnant with Alris. Sometimes I think I should get pregnant, as well, just to stay even.”

Gresh knew that ordinarily female witches could control whether or not they conceived; he wondered whether Karanissa had actively avoided bearing children, or merely let nature take its course.

And really, she wasn’t an ordinary witch; she was four hundred years old. Even with an eternal youth spell, was she still fertile? Did she know?