"No," she said. "I closed it and locked it after I entered here. Likewise, every other mirror in the house."
"You came in by way of the mirror?"
"I did. I live in the mirrorworld."
"And your family? And the four other families you mentioned?"
"We all of us make our homes beyond the bounds of reflection."
"And from there you travel from place to place?"
"Indeed."
"Obviously, to watch your pets. And to eat people of whom you disapprove?"
"That, too."
"You're scary, Rhanda." I returned to the bed, seating myself on its edge. I took hold of her hand and held it. "And it is good to see you again. I wish you had come to me sooner."
"I have," she said, "using the sleep spells of our kind."
"I wish you had awakened me."
She nodded. "I would like to have stayed with you, or taken you home with me. But for this part of your life you a certified danger bringer."
"It does seem that way," I agreed. "Still...Why are you here now, apart from the obvious?"
"The danger has spread. It involves us now."
"I actually thought that the danger in my life had been minimized a bit of late," I told her. "I have beaten off Dara's and Mandor's attempts to control me and come to an understanding of sorts with them."
"Yet still they will scheme."
I shrugged. "It is their nature. They know that I know, and they know I am their match. They know I am ready for them now. And my brother Jurt...we, too, seem to have reached an understanding. And Julia...we have been reconciled. We--"
She laughed. "Julia has already used your 'reconciliation' to try to turn Jurt against you. I watched. I know. She stirs his jealousy with hints that she still cares more for you than for him. What she really wants is you removed, along with the seven in the running with you--and the others who stand ready. She would be queen in Chaos."
"She's no match for Dara," I said.
"Ever since she defeated Jasra, she's had a high opinion of herself. It has not occurred to her that Jasra had grown lazy and lost by a trick, not by a matter of power. She would rather believe her own strength greater than it is. And that is her weakness. She would be reunited with you to put you off-guard as well as to turn your brother against you once again."
"I am forewarned, and I thank you--though there are really only six others in the running for the Throne. I was number one, but a half dozen pretenders have recently turned up. You said seven. There's one I don't know about?"
"There is the hidden one," she said. "I do not know his name to tell you, though I know you saw him in Suhuy's pool. I know his appearance, Chaotic and human. I know that even Mandor considers him a worthy antagonist when it comes to scheming. Conversely, I believe Mandor is the main reason he removed himself to our realm. He fears Mandor."
"He inhabits the mirrorworld?"
"Yes, though he is not yet aware of our existence there. He found it by a near-impossible accident, but he simply thinks he has made a marvelous discovery--a secret way to go nearly anywhere, to see nearly anything without detection. Our people have avoided his awareness, using curves he cannot perceive let alone turn. It has made him considerably more formidable in his path to the Throne."
"If he can look out--even listen--through any mirror without being detected; if he can step out; assassinate someone, and escape by the same route--yes, I can understand it."
The night suddenly seemed very cold. Rhanda's eyes widened. I moved to the chair where I had thrown my garments and began dressing myself.
"Yes, do that," she said.
"There's more, isn't there?"
"Yes. The hidden one has located and brought back an abomination to our peaceful realm. Somewhere, he found a guisel."
"What is a guisel?"
"A being out of our myth, one we had thought long exterminated in the mirrorworld. Its kind nearly destroyed the shroudlings. A monster, it took an entire family to destroy what was thought to be the last of them."
I buckled my sword belt and drew on my boots. I crossed the chamber to the mirror and held my hand before its blackness. Yes, it seemed the source of the cold.
"You closed them and locked them?" I said. "All of the mirrors in this vicinity?"
"The hidden one has sent the guisel through the ways of the mirrors to destroy nine rivals to the Throne. It is on its way to seek the tenth now: yourself."
"I see. Can it break your locks?"
"I don't know. Not easily, I wouldn't think. It brings the cold, however. It lurks just beyond the mirror. It knows that you are here."
"What does it look like?"
"A winged eel with a multitude of clawed legs. It is about 10 feet long."
"If we let it in?"
"It will attack you."
"If we enter the mirror ourselves?"
"It will attack you."
"On which side is it stronger?"
"The same on either, I think."
"Well, hell! Can we enter by a different mirror and sneak up on it?"
"Maybe."
"Let's give it a shot. Come on."
She rose, dressed quickly in a blood-red garment, and followed me through a wall to a room that was actually several miles distant. Like most of the nobles of Chaos, brother Mandor believes in keeping a residence scattered. A long mirror hung on the far wall between the desk and a large Chaos clock. The clock, I saw, was about to chime a nonlinear for the observer. Great. I drew my blade.
"I didn't even know this one was here," she said.
"We're some distance away from the room where I slept. Forget space. Take me through."
"I'd better warn you first," she said. "According to tradition, nobody's ever succeeded in killing a guisel with a sword, or purely by means of magic. Guisels can absorb spells and lashes of force. They can take terrible wounds and survive."
"Any suggestions then?"