She silently opened the door to her room, stepping out into the dimly lit hallway, starting her way down the winding slope. As she made her way down, she passed by her father's study, hearing movement inside, shuffling faster past the doorway, making sure to round the corner, hiding behind the corner pillar, part of the middle barrier between the small garden. The night air licked at her neck, chills running down her back as she stood, watching to make sure her father didn't come.
He did not stir from his study, so she started her journey again, winding down the slope until she reached the bottom. When she stepped off of the last step, she peaked her head around the left corner, checking if anyone was around, sneaking around the corner, down the hall. Night light passed through the stair railings, trailing over her head, reaching farther up as she passed behind the stairs, further down the hall.
At the end of the hall, she reached towards the stone wall, pressing a certain rock in, causing the section of wall to turn in, a small passage opening. Looking around, he grabbed a small torch that hung on the wall, holding it in front of herself. She slowly pushed the wall open, entering, and closing the wall behind her, hearing the stone outside click back into place.
Down the hall she continued, her steps echoing in the small space, something she always found interesting. The flames of the torch caused a flurry of shadows to dance along the wall, Minara stifling laughter at the imagery she saw, imagining animals bounding around in impossible ways. The echoes of her footsteps began to shorten, signaling the end approaching rapidly, Minara steeling herself, her mind becoming clear of distraction.
At the end of the passage, she pressed on the stone, pushing the wall open, revealing the night, subtle light passing by the side of the castle coming from torches burning. Subtle calls of nighttime animal activity passed the opening, livening up the evening, something Minara was always fond of. She peered out, seeing a small torchlight over the bushes just past the edge of the castle, so she exited the passageway, and closed the exit, walking towards the bushes, calling out quietly, "Rolando, I am here."
A response came back, Rolando raising his torch up, becoming more visible, "I am over here, Minara. Walk around the bushes, so we can talk a little more privately." She walked around the edge of the bushes, seeing Rolando sitting on a small stump, holding the torch close. As she got closer, she noticed Galan slumped against the stump, rolling over to face her as she approached, a grim look on his face.
Minara did not expect to see him here tonight, only Rolando, so his presence put her on edge even more than she already was. When she got closer, Galan was the first to speak, sitting up, "I heard you were seeing things, things that don't make sense. You are not alone, Minara."
"You have seen a person in a mirror who was not in the room?" Minara said quickly, stumbling over her words.
"Not like that per say, but in other ways." Galan responded, "I have seen things in puddles, figures staring at me as I walked past, calling out to me. I don't respond to them anymore, not since my own incident."
"When did that happen, I feel like I would have known it had happened?"
"It happened 5 years ago, when I was at the lake house to celebrate Rolando being crowned as a prince. I was standing at the end of the pier, looking out into the lake when I heard someone call out to me. I looked around, but no one was there, so I took it as imagination, so when I went to dive off and saw someone staring back as I crashed into the water, I was terrified. I surfaced and swam back to the pier, but when I pulled myself up, I felt something grab my leg. I turned around, seeing a hand reaching through the water's surface, holding onto my leg, a second reaching up with a small blade, ready to slash through my calf, but I was able to break through at the final moment, pulling myself back into the pier, away from the edge. Everyone came down, checking the waters for any people hiding, but nothing came of it."
"That happened to you?" Minara asked.
"Of course it did, I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it, but it did happen," Galan shot back, pushing himself up onto his feet, "And we are here to let you know that we believe you, even though we didn't see a thing. I hope you can do the same for us."
"Okay, I will be open-minded, but what happened to you, Rolando?"
Rolando stood, getting on everyone's level, beginning his story, "Mine happened when I was 10, younger than both of you by far, it started—."
Behind Rolando, a figure walked out of the shadows, holding a small knife in each hand. Through the torch flames, Minara saw the features of the woman before, the one in the mirror. As the figure noticed Minara, she flashed a grin, before closing in on Rolando and raising their left arm up. Minara yelled out, pointing behind him, but it was too late. The figure's knife plunged into his back, bursting through the front, a white liquid pouring out, drenching his clothes.
Rolando released a pained scream, moving forward, knife pulling free of his back. The figure glided over the ground, rapidly approaching Galan. He reached down, pulling out a small axe, holding it up, ready to block an attack, but was not prepared for what came.
The figure brought their second knife back, throwing it forward, blade poised to hit Galan's blade. The figure's knife flew forward, careening off the blade of his axe, arching back, pulled to him by an unknown force before piercing his stomach. The same white liquid spouted from the wound, Galan falling over, trying to blot up the liquid, a frightful expression across his face, looking from his wound to the figure, before slumping over backwards, fainting from the damage he had received.
Minara backed up, looking over the scene: Rolando and Galan bleeding a white liquid, slumped over, not moving, fear ahold of her mind, racing with thoughts of the worst. She looked towards the figure, flames from the torches dancing over their face, eyes black as night, that same grin plastered on their face, looking at her while pulling the knife from Galan, licking the white liquid off the blade's edge.
Minara turned to run, before hearing, "I wouldn't do that if I were you," the voice sounding directly next to her ear, feeling the breath push aside her hair. She whipped around, hand out to strike the assailant, hitting air, the figure still standing over Rolando and Galan, a knife pressed against Rolando's neck, a steeled expression on his face.
"Do what she says, Minara," Rolando coughed up, blood passing between his lips, holding his neck as far as he could from the knife poised to take his life. His chest continually spouted the white liquid, covering his clothing even further.
"What do you want?" Minara screamed out, tears streaming down her face, facing the figure down as they held her brother hostage.
"You, of course," the figure responded, "I just had to get to you again, darling." The figure hoisted Rolando up with one arm, holding the knife to his neck as she walked to Minara slowly.
Minara looked up and yelled out, not bringing together any words, but hoping someone would hear and come check for them. The figure brought an arm up, pressing it to their lips to signal silence, and Minara saw something she had never seen before: Rolando kept moving forward, the knife pressed to his throat, while the figure did the silencing motion, but nothing was holding him up. He was floating in the air, something not possible, it wasn't supposed to be possible. Minara stayed put out of fear, her scream dying out, as the figure stood directly in front of her, Rolando falling to the ground, knife still to his throat.
"Tell me, Minara, have you been listening?" The figure asked.
"Yes I have, don't hurt them!" Minara squeaked out, wiping tears from her eyes.
"I don't think you understand, Minara, listen closely."
Minara stood, listening to the world around her, and one thing stood out: nothing. She heard no sounds of the night, no animals, no bustle from the castle, absolutely nothing.
Minara looked at the figure, saying, "I don't hear anything."
The figure's smile grew even larger, "Of course you don't, you haven't since you walked up here to talk with these two," hoisting Rolando up in front of her, his head hanging low, blood still leaking from his mouth. staining the grass below him a crimson color. "Now if you want both of your brothers to live another day, you will stay right where you are, don't move an inch," The figure said, tossing Rolando aside, his body rolling on the ground, coming to a stop 10 paces away.
Minara stood frozen in fear, the figure walking up to them, placing a hand on her shoulder, a grip as strong as a vice clamping down, causing pain to shoot down her arm. She winced, tears flowing passed her eyes, before yelling out one more time, "Hel—".
Minara and the figure disappeared, the clearing filling with the sounds of the night, the crackle of the torch flame taking over, Rolando and Galan sprawled over the ground, faint breathing coming from both.
________
A guard passed around the edge of the castle, pulling out a small canteen full of a sweet liquid, taking a gulp, catching his breath as he leaned against the dark stone, placing the canteen back into his side pocket. He looked around, making sure nobody was looking, before pulling out a small pipe, placing a small amount of herbs into the end, taking his small torch to the end, lighting it up before taking a hefty puff, breathing out a small cloud of bluish smoke, his shoulders relaxing, as he peered into the trees next to him.
After a few minutes, the guard pushed himself off the stone, making his way back around the edge of the castle before hearing wheezing coming from the trees. He stopped, listening intently, before unsheathing his sword, holding it in front of himself, calling out, "Is anyone there?".
He heard a slight gurgling noise, muffled by the bushes, so the guard raised his weapon, approaching the noise, pressing through, making his way into a small clearing. When he entered, he spotted Rolando and Galan strewn on the ground, white and red staining their clothes.
Rolando reached out to the guard, his hand wavering, falling back to his side, his eyes closing, his head dropping back to the ground, exhaustion taking hold of him. The guard ran up, dropping his weapon, kneeling down to hold Rolando's upper body up, his hand supporting his head and neck.
The guard called out, "I need help over here! Help!" Another guard came rushing up, holding a small piece of metal between his lips, turning back towards the castle, blowing into it. A shrill sound came from it, echoing off of the castle wall, passing all around the courtyard. A moment passed, then a storm of footsteps approached, passing from stone to grass, the king in tow.
A circle of guards and medical personnel surrounded both Galan and Rolando, both near death, with no energy left to keep moving, let alone breathe. Astaros stood between both groups trading glances between both, his sons standing at death's door. Sweat dripped down his face as he watched the medics inject both Galan and Rolando with a reddish liquid, seeing it enter both of them at the same time. Others also checked the wounds, making sure everything was clotted and blood loss was stopped.
After a few minutes, both Rolando and Galan woke up, both panicking and looking around wildly, seeing all of the guards surrounding each of them, their father in the middle.
Rolando, his voice hoarse, yelled out, "They took her, she's gone!"
Astaros looked at him, questioning, "Who, Rolando, who is gone?"
"Minara, they took her!" He cried, tears streaming down his face, snot dripping from his nose.
Astaros's face dropped, he looked around the area, turning back to Rolando, "Where did they go, Rolando, we have to find them!"
"They disappeared right in front of my eyes, popping out of existence."
"What do you mean, Rolando, what do you mean she disappeared?"
"I mean that everything she said was true, about the person coming out of the mirror, about what Galan and I have said in the past about those crazy occurrences, every single thing has been true, you need to believe me!" Rolando sputtered out, coughing up a clot of blood, as it slid down the edge of his mouth, "I closed my eyes, opening them again to find she had disappeared, it is something not of this world, there is nothing I know of that can explain it!"
Astaros rubbed his right temple, a look of thought on his face. He looked back towards Rolando before stepping towards him, extending a hand, one Rolando grabbed, pulling him up, groaning from the exertion.
He brought Rolando in for a hug, pulling him close, whispering in his ear, "I believe you, son. We will find whoever did this and rescue Minara. Together."
"Whatever needs to be done to get her back, father," Rolando whispered back, pulling away, extending his left arm, wrapping it around Astaros' neck, resting some of his weight as they started their walk back to the castle, Galan in tow, holding on to some of the guards.