The whiny of the horse and sudden stop woke Scarlet. She stiffened up when she realized she was leaning on Alistair’s back. She slipped off the horse, her boots crunching against the permafrost.

  “You’re awake,” Snow grinned, getting off the other horse, “Thanks for helping me.”

  "Sure,” Scarlet nodded, scanning the surroundings.

  The trees were thick and didn’t leave much room for the horses to move through. The ground was frozen, but the vegetation around them was overgrown and had a slight dusting of snow. The sun was setting, casting an orange and pink glow through the forest.

  “Where are we?” Scarlet asked.

  “In the Forbidden Forest,” Alistair said, sliding off his horse. He tied the reins to a nearby tree branch. “If memory serves right, we are in the south west of Winterland and near north Woodland.”

  Scarlet rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

  Alistair crossed his arms in front of his chest and gestured at Scarlet with a jut of his chin, “Where’s the mirror?”

  Scarlet reached behind her, feeling for the mirror. Her fingers grasped the mirror and pulled it from her waistband. Alistair and Snow gathered around the mirror, peering down at it. Scarlet’s heart sunk. She could practically feel the heat from Alistair seething beside her. The hand mirror was intact, except for the huge crack right in the middle of the mirror.

  Alistair jerked it out of her hands. He looked into the mirror.

  “Magic mirror, is Aurora still alive?”

  The mirror didn’t respond. Scarlet could feel its magic was weak, broken.

  Alistair spun on Scarlet, “You did this! You broke the mirror on purpose!”

  Scarlet took a step away from him, her fists curling at her side, “Why would I come all this way just to break the mirror?”

  Alistair frowned, the vein in his neck popping, “You poisoned Aurora and didn’t want to get caught.”

  “If I had poisoned her, I wouldn’t have been caught,” Scarlet glared at him.

  Before Alistair could swing his fist at her, Snow jumped between them.

  “Stop!”

  Alistair and Scarlet’s eyes never left each other, both silently daring eachother to make a move.

  Snow frowned, “I don’t know what’s going on, but Scarlet saved me. She’s a good person.”

  Scarlet’s fist relaxed slightly, but she still didn’t stop glaring at Alistair.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Snow smiled, “Let’s make camp and get some rest. I think you’ve both fought enough today.”

  Neither Scarlet nor Alistair wanted to back down, but they were both exhausted from the fight earlier.

  “Fine,” Alistair said curtly.

***

By the time the sun went down, a fire was built and makeshift beds were formed. The horses were lying near Snow. She seemed to calm them, singing them songs and telling them what heroic animals they were. Scarlet thought it was strange, but the horses seemed to enjoy it.

  Alistair was leaning against a tree, looking over the mirror, as if he could figure out how to fix it.

  Scarlet watched him. When he wasn’t furious and being stupid he was actually kind of cute. His light blonde hair was trimmed nicely and his blue eyes were as blue as the ocean bordering Wonderland. He looked up at her, their eyes connecting. He frowned and Scarlet looked away.

  Snow pushed herself off the ground and patted the horses on their heads before going to sit beside Scarlet.

  “Do you know the origin of the mirror?” She asked.

  Scarlet shook her head, “No. All I know is that it is supposed to tell only the truth.”

  “That’s true,” Snow nodded, “And its sister only tells lies.”

  “There’s another mirror?” Alistair asked, interested in the conversation.

  Snow smiled, “Yes. My father told me the story many years ago, before he died.”

  Scarlet thought she saw sadness in the girl’s brown eyes but it quickly disappeared.

  “Once upon a time, there was a princess. Everyone admired her beauty. One day she decided she would buy a mirror from the finest craftsman. In order to find the craftsman, she held a contest. Many people tried but only two – a dwarf and a troll - made it as finalists. To decide between who would make her mirror, she asked both to make her hand mirrors. She would then choose between the hand mirrors and whoever’s was better she would hire.

  “On the way home, the dwarf heard a scream. He found a fairy stuck between the jaws of a beast. He killed the beast and saved the fairy. As thanks, the fairy gave him some fairy dust. He went home and crafted a beautiful mirror with the fairy dust. Meanwhile, the troll saw the dwarf save the fairy. He wanted some fairy dust himself in order to redeem himself to the princess. He found the fairy and shook her until fairy dust fell around her. Scooping up the dust, he returned home and crafted his own mirror.

  “A few days later the dwarf and troll came back to the palace and presented their hand mirrors to the princess. The princess took the dwarf’s mirror. She saw herself shining and looked as beautiful as ever. The princess took the troll’s mirror and was immediately horrified. She was hideous, only a shadow of what she was before. Horrified, she threw the mirror. It shattered into billions of pieces.

  “One of the pieces went into her eye. She could no longer see the good and beauty in the world. The bad and ugly took over her vision. Her heart became cold. She no longer felt joy. She banished the dwarf and the troll to a different kingdom to live out their lives. From that day on, she banned mirrors from the kingdom.”

  Scarlet bit the inside of her cheek, “So… the dwarf’s mirror is the Mirror of Truth?”

  Snow nodded, “That is what I have been told. The Mirror of Truth has been in Winterland since Nira became Queen. The Mirror of Lies was destroyed by the princess, at least that is what the legend says.”

  Alistair sighed, “Thank you for the story, but I don’t see how this is going to help us.”

  “Well,” Snow folded her hands in her lap, “A dwarf created the mirror, so maybe one can fix it.”

  Alistair and Scarlet stared at her in awe. The corner of Alistair’s mouth pulled up, “That might actually work.”

  “Where would we find dwarves?” Scarlet asked.

  “My father has hired dwarves before,” Snow said, “I think they lived in the Woodland Mountains.”

  Alistair looked back down at the mirror in his hands, “I guess we know where to go now.”

  Scarlet laid on her bed. She was already exhausted from the journey, but it seemed it was not over yet. She looked at the fire. The flames danced and Scarlet could almost feel her mother’s presence.

  Scarlet sighed, “Woodland Mountains it is.”