My sister's book.

[Ishlitor]

Mirrors

By Kasi Skal

Prologue

The mountains spread below her as the sun began to sink in the western sky. This was her favorite time of day, when the sun left the sky to the dominion of the moon, for she was a creature of the night. She was able to slip between the shadows by way of her stealth and her features. Her hair was so dark; it looked to be made of onyx, woven with shadows. Her eyes were pools of midnight so black, no one could tell where iris ended and pupil began. Her skin was the color of moonlight, pale and haunting, giving her an unearthly glow. Her shapely form was perfectly curved and every muscle honed to near perfection because of her nighttime training. She had learned to carry herself in a way that even her plentiful bosom was not a burden. The only slight that was given her was a dash of freckles across her face, sprinkled with loving care to soften the cruel beauty the rest of her body presented. If it were not for those light marks and the roundness of her ears and eyes, she could have been mistaken for one of the fair folk, as an elf.
As the sun set upon her, she turned in place to locate the harvest moon in all it’s splendor and bask in its glorious light.
“Khrys will be going to sleep about now,” she muttered to no one but herself. “Fool boy can’t even keep awake to watch the moon rise.”

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Chapter 1

Khrystian Syren walked through the halls in desperate need of his bed and the warm comfortable solitude his pillow would provide him. He longed for sleep and yet again tried to fathom the reason his silly sister would squander a good night’s rest.
“Her and her stars, I swear,” he grumbled between yawns, “Ky has truly gone daft if she thinks I’m going to go traipsing up that cliff just to watch the moon rise. Though it is the perfect spot to watch the dawn caress Acuestria.”
Khrystian spoke of his twin sister Kylara with love, even if he believed her daft. He understood her attraction to the night no more than she understood his affinity with day.
And just as day and night were opposites, so were they. They both had the perfectness of feature, but where her hair was woven shadow, his was captured sunlight. Where her eyes were midnight black, his were sparkling gold. Where her skin was pale as the moon, his was brazen, tanned by the sun of many, many days out-of-doors. Where she was the perfect, soft shape of feminity, he was the strong, hard form of masculinity. Even in attitude they were opposite. Her emotions ranged from outgoing and friendly, to calm and collected, to scathing and sarcastic. He, on the other hand, was often withdrawn and forlorn, manic and impatient, or furious and vengeful. They annoyed each other so much they could not dare spend too many waking hours together for fear of tearing each other apart, but the love they shared kept them as the closest pair one could ever see. The fact they lived under one roof in one wing of castle helped, but the phenomenon they had termed the Bond was the most influential.
The Bond was a dash of psychic magic the pair shared. He and his twin sister sometimes felt what the other felt and ‘saw’ some of what the other had seen. They discovered their talent one evening when they were young children of only seven winters and had gone walking near the base of North Mountain without their mother’s permission. Khrys had gone to look at a beautiful wildflower that he intended to bring to his mother as a gift so she would not be too cross with them for leaving. He traveled off of the path and looked around at all the beautiful colors surrounding that autumn evening, on the brink of dusk. He looked down and discovered a brown rabbit at his feet. He followed the rabbit to its hole and waved as it disappeared in to the darkness. He stood and turned a slow circle only to realize he didn’t know where he was or how to go back the way he had come.

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He was lost.
He started to cry but realized that that would be useless, he was too far out and darkness was closing fast. He had to sit still and hope that his sister would find him. He sat in the failing light listening to things move in the shadows of twilight and thought of his sister and that stupid rabbit until the sun had all but disappeared when he heard a noise ruffle the bushes behind him. He jumped to his feet and was immediately thrown off of his feet by his sister. After the initial shock had worn off, Khrys asked Ky how, exactly, she had found him.
“I don't know,” Ky replied, puzzled by the question herself, “Something inside told me you were lost and where to find you. And I kept seeing pictures of this little rabbit in my head.”
As Khrystian opened the door to the chamber of the guard tower that housed himself, his mother, and Kylara, he felt the sensations of home rush through the crack. The smell of baked bread, cooked meat, a warm hickory fire, and the sound of his mother singing in her untrained contralto washed over him like a cleansing spring in the middle of the hot day. He drank deeply the smell of home, savoring every small scent and wishing to hold that breath forever. After a moment, he stepped forward into the common room.
“Hey, Mom. What’s that you're making?” he said as he heard the bustle of his mother in the kitchen die down and the tune she had been singing end on a soft note.
“Well, I was cooking some sausage and rice for you to eat when you got home, but it’s done now. I was thinking that maybe we could spend a dinner together as a family, but I suppose your sister has gone and run off so it’ll just be the two of us.”
Their mother was a slight woman, shorter than both her children by a small margin, at five and a quarter feet tall and 120 pounds. She had reached the age of forty-four, which was neither young, nor old by Acuestrian standards. The wrinkles she had acquired made her seem wise rather than old and the youthful glint of her eyes was never lost. Though her hair was naturally more gray than blond, she kept it one color by soaking it with lemon juice from the trees outside and along the road. She had her number of physical flaws not represented in her children, except the freckles that marked them all as kin. Rozelyn, surrogate mother and housekeeper of all the guards, was pretty, witty, and intelligent. Though she never lost a childish gleam to her eyes, she still looked as though the golden orbs, intensified in her son, were smarter than they seemed. In all

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matters her opinion was sought and she was regarded the final law in and around the tower.
“How ever could you start a meal without me, Mother, dearest?” Kylara asked as she strode in to the common room with a mock hurt look on her face, “I haven’t eaten yet, either.”
Rozelyn turned to her daughter and said “I figured that if you had wanted to eat with us, you would have stuck around for a bit and eaten; dinner was almost done when you left. You two make yourselves plates and we’ll all sit down to a family meal.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Ky replied, shrugging.
Despite their slim figures, Ky and Khrys heaped generous helpings on to their respective plates from the large black kettle above the fire. Ky stole a bite of the spicy sausage her mother had prepared and groaned with pleasure. Sausage and rice was one of her favorite things to eat, especially when Mother made it. She had tried to make it a few times on her nighttime wanderings, but had never succeeded at matching her mother’s level of prowess.
“This is really good, Mom,” she said between stuffing forkfuls of the rice in her mouth on the way to the family table.
When they had all taken their seats around the table, Rozelyn gave Kylara a chastising look for not giving thanks to the Unity before eating. Ky set her fork down and gave an apologetic shrug. She, then, clasped her hands and muttered a prayer of thanksgiving. Khrys, meanwhile, had remembered his prayer and started to tuck in to his food; he was savoring every bite, yet still managing to eat several bites a minute.
“So, Khrys, how was your day?” Rozelyn asked.
“It was okay. That girl, Celia, talked to me today,” he replied between bites. Celia was the first girl to truly capture his interest romantically.
“Well that’s good. What did you two talk about?”
“Not much, really. She saw me working on the garden outside and asked me to walk with her to the butcher’s shop," he said. “I saw Lyonel there, Ky.” Lyonel was a friend of hers that she had met at one of her afternoon swordplay lessons. He was two years her senior, half a foot taller, broader, fifty pounds heavier and very much the strong silent type
“That’s nice,” Ky replied, eagerly shoveling another forkful of rice into her mouth. After she had chewed and swallowed, Rozelyn asked after her day.
“Since I slept peacefully most of the day, it's been rather pleasant. I hope to have the same kind of night. The only thing that didn‘t lend itself was that Cyndi is having some troubles and I’m trying to help her. It’s almost like I’m her protector,” Kylara said.
“Ah, yes. Kylara the Lion-hearted. Imagine,” Khrys quipped.
“Your sarcasm is refreshing, dear brother,” Ky said dryly. “You want to try me?”
“Shall we step outside?” Khrys shot back.
“Do you really want your friends to watch you get beat up by your sister?” Ky challenged.
Khrys visibly deflated. "Not really, no." he pouted. The whole table fell in to a fit of laughter.
“You two are too much. I hope the Council can handle you," Rozelyn remarked between bouts of laughter.

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“The Council? Why would they have to 'handle' us?” Ky queried, immediately sobering up. The Council was the ruling body of the land of Lyssa, under the Grand Council, and was made up of the King, his two advisors, and one advocate from each of the major cities. The Chosen also attended. The Chosen were humans and elves that resided within each of the territories in Acuestria and served as a kind of standing army and law enforcement. They rode and formed close partnerships with dragons that hatched from eggs that hatched by some unknown magic at the touch of their hand. There were five different kinds of dragons: red, blue, white, black and gold. The color of the eggshell was the color of the dragon inside, so the hatchers knew what to expect from their hatchling in the days of its life. Each dragon was gifted with a personality to match its color: red had a temper, blue was calm, white was benevolent, black was devious, and gold was proud. Every year, a new batch of teenage courtiers from all over the continent and of both human and elvish background was summoned by the Grand Council to petition to lay hands on the eggs. Usually, the count came out even between the two races, by the grace of the Unity, and those that were lucky enough to have an egg hatch at their touch became the life-long partner, companion and ally of the dragon inside.
The attitude around the table had grown somber. Khrys didn’t like the feeling at all, not at the table where they had shared so many laughs. He squirmed in his seat, causing the uneven wooden legs to thump against the stone floor.
“I was going to tell you later, but I guess now is as good a time as ever. You two have been summoned by the Council to an appearance in the Council Hall in Zellenie three days from now. I don’t know what they want, besides the both of you together. You would tell me if you were in trouble, right?” Rozelyn said.
“Of course we would, Mom,” Ky said softly, already puzzling over the strange request to see the children of a servant. Normally, the Council would only call upon the highborn, which made the request not only a mystery as to its cause, but highly irregular. An enigma if ever there was one.
“Yeah. I haven’t left the tower grounds all day, except when Celia asked me to walk her out. What could they want with us, Ky? The last hatching was in the spring, and we’re not invited to that, anyway,” Khrys remarked.
“I really have no idea, honey. All I know is there’s some big to-do over at the Hall and they want to see you guys. Both of you together. They were very emphatic on that point. Anyway, let’s get off that topic. You know that new girl, Carolyn, which I’ve been telling you about? Well, she’s a really hard worker and all, but she’s just a little bit strange. Although, I know I’m one to talk…” Rozelyn chatted.
Kylara had lost interest in what Khrystian and her mother were discussing and busied herself with trying to satisfy her curiosity. Why did the Council want to see her? Why her and Khrys together? What had they done to attract the Council’s attention and why didn’t they want to see Mother? The questions running through her mind came at such a rapid pace they threatened to swallow her up.
“…Lyonel?” Rozelyn finished. Ky tuned in at the mention of his name, especially since it was mentioned as a question obviously addressed to her.
“Huh?” Ky chimed. Rozelyn smiled good-naturedly.

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“I didn’t think you were paying attention. Anyway, I asked if you were going to see if Lyonel would let you ride in his cart to the Council Hall. It would be a really good idea and I would feel better about it. You know it’s a ways away and, before you even open your mouth, I know you would be fine on your own. It’s only a suggestion to make your dear, old mother feel better,” Rozelyn said.
“You’re not old, Mom,” Ky said, “And, yes, actually, I was thinking about asking Lyonel for a ride to Zellenie. I might be amazing, but I'm still human and I want all my strength for the upcoming events. Especially if the Council is planning on springing something on us. I’ll go ask him after we finish eating, as a matter of fact, and then I’ll go on my nighttime excursion. I think I’m just going to go up to Drawl’s Cliff to camp and do my exercises. You’re both welcome to come with, if you think you can keep up.”
Khrys yawned.
“I think I’m going to bed. You go ahead,” he said.
“Darling, you know I can’t keep up with you, curse your youthfulness. But I’d come if I could. You want me to pack some of this sausage and rice for you while you round up your other things?” Rozelyn offered.
“Sure, Mom. I really wish you’d come with me. Then I’d at least have a sparring partner. But oh well. I do like the solitude up there. Gives me time to think. Maybe I’ll crack the riddle of the Council,” Ky proposed.
“First, she’s a great protector, now she’s a great thinker? C’mon Ky, let’s stick to one fantasy here,” Khrys quipped.
“Right, and in which one do you have the brains of an orc? Oh that’s right, that's reality,” Ky shot back and ran out of the kitchen, heading for the refuge of her room behind her heavy oak door. She heard the latch click in place just as her brother hit it squarely with his shoulders, all of his considerable weight and strength giving force to the blow. Ky held fast with her feet digging in against cracks in the uneven stone floor and her body braced against the door. Not to mention the extra weight of solid oak on brass hinges. Since her door had no way to lock from the inside, she had to hold fast until Rozelyn called Khrys off. Ky peaked out of her door, to make sure he had listened to mother, and discovering he wasn’t by her door, closed it and started to make her pack.

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She knew she’d be gone all night, so she brought her “tent,” which was really a heavy piece of cloth about eight feet by eight feet, her sleeping roll, a pot, her flint and tinder box, an extra shirt and breeches, and her practice gear. Her practice gear consisted of the sword she had asked Lyonel’s father, the blacksmith, to make for her, a pair of sais she had inherited from her great grandmother, an elven bow and arrows, her wooden buckler, and her padded leather armor. She always wore the armor when she went to practice, just in case she had the good fortune to find a partner to spar.
Once she had her gear all packed she called to her mother through her door to find out if the food was packed and ready to go. Her mother told her that everything was in order and that, if she got a chance, could she bring home some more meat for the smokehouse.
“I don’t know, Mom. If I see something, I’ll bring it down, but I was planning on spending the night practicing. I’ll bring my rod and before I go to sleep I’ll do a little light fishing. Maybe,” Ky offered.
“It doesn’t much matter. I’ll get Khrys to do some fishing and hunting tomorrow. He can make a day of it. It won’t take you kids all that long to get to Zellenie. Especially with Lyonel’s help. Tell him thank you for me, please, Ky,” Rozelyn stated matter-of-factly.
“I will, Mama. I love you. Goodnight, Khrys! I love you, too!” Ky yelled over her shoulder as she grabbed her bags and walked out.

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Chapter 2

As she took her first step off of the castle grounds, she sucked in a deep breath of the night air and held it, expanding her lungs with the scents of the night. She let it go in a sigh and headed towards Lyonel’s house. Since Lyonel’s father, Danie Craft, was the blacksmith, the house that he and his family lived in was directly behind the smithy. Danie could be found by his forge at all times of the day except for the occasional meal--most of which he skipped--and at a few times during the night. Lyonel’s mother, Eliza, ran the household and kept the peace between the three children, Lyonel and his two younger sisters, Whytney and Dania.
Kylara walked up to the house and knocked on the door. Eliza answered and she asked if she could see Lyonel.
“Why, of course, dear. He’s always happy to see you. I’ll fetch him right away. In the meantime, would you like to come in and sit in the kitchen?” Eliza said.
“No, thank you, lady Craft. I’m on my way up to Drawl’s Cliff and I just wanted to ask him one quick question,” Ky replied.
“Drawl’s Cliff? That’s as far as you’re going this evening?” Eliza asked.
“I’m hoping that by shortening my climb, I can lengthen my training session. Even without a sparring partner, it’s good practice.” Ky explained.
“Well, I hope that goes well for you. And you know, if you really need a sparring partner, you could ask Lyonel to join you. Or one of the girls. They need to start their training, too. Anyway, let me go get Lyonel for you. I’ll be right back,” Eliza said.
It had actually never occurred to Ky to ask Lyonel along. He would be an excellent partner. He was bigger than her, stronger, but not as fast because of his bulk. He was also trained by his father, very possibly the best swordsman in the town. When he showed up at the door, she had made up her mind to ask him along.

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“Hello, Kylara,” Lyonel said. He was one of the two people that called her by her full name. The other was her father, who lived in the northern territory of Acuestria, Kyria.
“Hey, Lyonel. I came here to ask you if you would do me a really big favor,” Ky said.
“What’s that?” he asked in his nearly emotionless voice.
“Would you drive me and my brother to Zellenie?”
“Why?”
“Because we have to go there.”
“Why do you have to go there?”
“Because we were summoned.”
“Why were you summoned?”
“Don’t know.”
“Who summoned you?”
“The Council.”
“I don’t believe you,” he finished.
“I promise they did! Honest! And I was wondering if you’d give us a ride. It’s in three days, so you have a little while to decide, but I would really appreciate a speedy answer,” Ky said.
“Alright,” Lyonel said.
“Alright what?” Ky replied.
“Alright I’ll take you,” Lyonel clarified. “Is that all you wanted to know?”
“Thanks," she flashed a quick smile,” and no that’s not all. I’m heading up to Drawl’s Cliff and I need a sparring partner. You want to come?”
“I guess, but I can’t drive you up there and it’ll take me a minute to get my gear packed.”
“I’ll wait out by the road in front of your dad’s shop. See you in a bit,” Ky said, and walked off.
* * * *
Khrys had watched his sister leave, wondering, yet again, at the insanity plaguing her mind. As he heard the guards yelling to open the gate, he turned to his mother and shook his head.
“You know something, every night she asks us if we want to come and every time we both say ‘no.’ I wonder what she would do if we said ‘yes.’” Khrys said, fully intrigued by the question. “Do you think she would welcome us into her nightly routine? I mean, she’s been out doing stuff at night since she was twelve. That’s four years of routine strategically interrupted by one word. I’m going to try that tomorrow night, just to see what happens.”
“Now, now Khrys, there's no reason to tease your sister like that. Only say you’ll go if you are really going to go spar with her. And then you both have to promise me that you will be extra careful and won’t try to kill each other. For real, anyway,” Rozelyn admonished.
“It doesn’t matter, I’m not going tonight. I’ll probably forget all about this in the morning. Hey, I thought I heard you tell Ky that I was going somewhere tomorrow. Did you?” Khrys said.
“Well, I thought maybe you wouldn’t mind going hunting or fishing for some meat for the smokehouse tomorrow. We’re getting low on a few things and it’s getting close to winter. I just want to make sure we’ll have enough for a while if the trails get blocked off by snow,” Rozelyn explained.
“Sure, Mom. I’ll go. Just pack me some breakfast. Right now, though, I’m off to bed. I’m really tired. Goodnight, Mom. Love you,” Khrys said, and he kissed his mom on top of her head and went to his room, and to the pillow that had been calling his name since before he had walked in the house.
“Goodnight, Khrys. I love you, too.”

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“All ready, Lyonel?” Kylara called from the smithy when she saw him coming down the path from his house.
She saw him nod, almost imperceptibly, to her in the dark, and started to walk toward him. She met him at the intersection of the lane to his house and the main road. He had a full pack on his back, a lantern in his hand, and she could smell the fresh baked traveler’s bread that Eliza had no doubt made him wait to get.
“Sorry it took so long, my mom wanted to pack some food for me,” Lyonel apologized as he reached her on the road.
“It’s alright. My mom packed some sausage and rice for me. I figure that and some good traveler’s bread will be a delightful dinner. What do you think?” Ky replied.
“How’d you know that that’s what’s in my pack?” Lyonel asked.
“’Cause I’m good like that,” Kylara said, as if that were the one and only reason that anything could happen, and everybody knew it.
“Ah, right. I forgot,” he said, playing along with her joke.
“That better not happen again, or else,” she said, teasingly.
“Or else what? What could you do?” Lyonel challenged, laughing.
“This!” Ky yelled, and ran as fast as she could, shedding her pack as she went. She found the nearest tree and barreled towards it. Lyonel called out, wanting to know what she intended, and started to run after her. Just as he started to catch up, though, she hit the tree…and ran straight up it!
She reached the first branch, which was ten feet off of the ground and executed a perfect back flip, landing right behind him, sais out and poised to strike. He turned around as fast as humanly possible but was caught completely off-guard, with the sharp point of a sai inches from his nose.
“That’s what I could do about it,” Ky said. She smiled and turned her sais in circles on the palm of each hand and sheathed them back on her belt. Then, she turned a circle and went back to retrieve her pack. Lyonel just watched her, wonderingly.
When she had picked up her pack and rejoined Lyonel, the sense of wonder and awe was gone, replaced by the same old indifference he showed everything.
“So, how’d you do that?” Lyonel asked.
“Magic,” Ky answered, sounding completely serious.
“Really? You can do magic, too?” Lyonel asked, seeming marginally interested.
“Not really. I learned it from a squirrel. You have to get the right kind of balance and boots and everything, but it looks really awesome. And it works great,” she confessed. “What did you mean by ‘I can do magic, too?’ You of all people, with your rational approach to everything, should realize that most magic is illusion, and what of it wasn’t has obviously died out.”