Princess Alice's Mirror - Chapter 2

PLEASE NOTE: This series is purely and strictly a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, places, or events on our world, from the past to the present, is just a matter of coincidence, and as such, shouldn't be miscontrued as reality by any person, sane or otherwise.

Princess Alice's Mirror - Chapter 2

Princess Alice Dragonend walked the dried, stoned steps down to her castle's dungeon to see her aunt, Lady Audrey duMauvais. It was Alice's 19th birthday, and Lady Audrey had requested her audience because she had some "good news" for Alice. Lady Audrey was the older sister of the queen - Lady Sephira duMauvais Dragonend - and was also the Royal Advisor to Her Highness. Her underground abode was long-ago appointed by Lord Dragonend himself who, like almost everyone else within the castle walls, wasn't too fond of Lady Audrey because of her secretive and mysterious ways and practices with The Black Arts. But, because of his deep love for the queen, he gave in to her insistence of letting the sorceress reside within the castle as part of the "Immediate Royal Family". Being THE king, Lord Dragonend allowed Lady Audrey to take up residence there, but imposed the condition that her quarters be located as far away from him as possible. He, therefore, ordered a whole part of the castle's dungeon designed and furnished far below ground - a depth of approximately 500 feet.

And so, after what seemed like an eternity of going down those steps, Princess Alice reached her aunt's door. She knocked, or tried to, but the door suddenly creaked open by itself, and a waft of sulphurous air immediately assailed her nostrils. Warily, she walked in, looking carefully in every direction. The place was filled with all sorts of bottles and vials, some of which were full, and some of which were half-full with all sorts of different colored liquids. They were stashed on shelves and the two huge wooden tables her aunt had on either side of the spacious foyer. A few of the colorful ones were beautifully bubbling for some strange reasons, even though they weren't hot. There were also a few cages that held strange critters inside, some of which Alice had never seen before. One, in particular, was dangling from a thin brass hook coming down from the ceiling, and was particularly interesting to Alice as she came closer to it for an observation.

Inside was a naked, brownish humanoid approximately 2 feet tall with a pair of brown, leathery, bat-like wings. Initially, it had its back towards Alice, and appeared to be playing with something in its hands. But, as she approached, it turned around and looked back at her. It had a long, round nose, a bald head, swine-ears, and slanted, pupilless, yellow-glowing eyes.

It smiled at Alice, showing a mouthful of triangular fangs. "Hee Hee!" it snickered. "Wanna eat?"

It held up its three-fingered hands, and showed Alice a half-chewed scorpion. Feeling disgusted suddenly, Alice backed away a few steps, but she couldn't help noticing the disproportionately gigantic phallus that was dangling between the creature's legs. It was almost as long as her uncle's - the duke, Awgond Dragonend.

"Ah, Alice!" came a voice from the other side of a corner bookshelf. It was that of her aunt's. "I'm glad you've finally came. I see you've made friends with my new baby, PwomPwom. Isn't he adorable? Mua!" She puckered her lips, and put it close to the cage, making like she was going to kiss it....which, it did. "Nice baby. You be good, and mommy has a few more goodies for you, okie dokie?"

"Okie!" it giggled in agreement. "Hee Hee!"

Alice looked at her aunt in disgust. She wasn't a terribly bad-looking lady, only showing minor signs of wrinkling on her forehead and crooked hawk-nose. Her hairs were beginning to grey, and because they frizzled at the ends, they gave her a countenance of fear. But then, Lady Audrey has never been known to be a fashionable lady anyway, which was totally opposite from her younger sister, the queen.

"My dear Alice," she said. "Come in here with me. I have something to show you."

She tried to grab Alice's wrist, but the young princess backed away.

"Oh, come now, Sweetie," Lady Audrey insisted. "You don't think I'm gonna hurt you now, do you?"

"You lead the way, Auntie, and I will follow."

"Alright, if you insist. Come along then."

Lady Audrey led the princess to the back study room, and closed the door behind them without locking.

"Now, what I'm about to tell you must never leave your lips to anyone else. Can I trust you on that, Alice?"

"Okay," said Alice, showing a bored face.

"Good!"

Lady Audrey walked over to a corner where she had a thick, velvet blanket draped over something rectangular in a vertical position. Alice tried to appear as polite as she could while maintaining as safe a distance from her ever-mysterious aunt as possible.

"Ta da!" exclaimed Lady Audrey as she removed the drape. "My dear and only niece, I present to you, your very own mirror!"

Alice looked at her aunt in wide-eyed bewilderment. "A mirror! Wow! You called me down here to present to me a mirror! And I suppose that this would be your generous present to me."

"Ah! But you see, my dear. This is no ordinary mirror! First, look at this exquisite, beautiful oakwood crafting." She brushed her hand along the smooth edges with its fine, accentuated, and sturdy trimming. Then, she traced it to the top, at the center, where there was a detailed engraving of a dragon head with two glowing green pearls for eyes.

Alice came up to the mirror and saw the clearest, shiniest, and spotless reflection of herself ever in front of any mirrors. She reached out to touch the wood trim, and felt the smoothest wooden texture that she had ever felt. She started to reach for the dragon head - which came up to a height of her nose - but her aunt screamed. "No! Don't touch that! At least, not yet."

As Alice retracted her hand, her aunt went on. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you like that, but it's imperative that you don't touch the dragon-head until we have this thing moved into your bedchamber. Look, I know you are confused and curious right now, but just hear me out a bit."

Lady Audrey grabbed both of Alice's hands and held them in her own. This time, Alice didn't resist. "Sweetest little niece," she began. "As I was saying, this is no ordinary mirror. This is, in fact, a magical mirror. It is an ancient dweomer of extreme powers that can make your private life very, very happy and satisfying."

When Alice didn't respond, Lady Audrey continued. "I know you have yet to find your Prince Charming, and you may hide behind that facade of yours as if to show the world that you don't care, but..."

"What?!" Alice protested. "How can you assume something of me which you have no proof of, Auntie?"

"No proof of what, Sweetie? That you have yet to have a young man in your life?"

"No! That I need to act like I don't care!"

"Oh, come now. You don't think I'm completely blind down here in this dank and desolate place, do you? I know exactly how you feel, my Sweets - keeping to that shackled vow of chastity that my inconsiderate and unfeeling sister had placed upon you."

"You know not of which you speak, dear Auntie," Alice countered while remaining as calm as she could. "Mother is far from being inconsiderate and unfeeling. She is a wonderful mother, as well as being a very sympathetic queen."

"I'm sure she is. Wonderful as long as it serves her own purposes. Anyway, we're slowly side-tracking from the purpose of our meeting here. Let me finish what I have to say, and then you can decide what you want to do from there."

After a brief pause, Lady Audrey continued, "As I was saying, this mirror is a magical artifact. It is, in fact, a gateway to a pocket universe. What or where this pocket universe is, I do not know. All attempts that I have made to discern what's on the other side have failed. The only feeling that I got when I applied my most powerful detection magic upon it was a feeling of extreme pleasurable energy. I cannot describe that feeling, but it was as if all my physical, mental, and emotional senses were heightened about 10 thousand fold. It felt as if I was bonded somehow to an invisible lover, but what I didn't understand was why this extradimensional force kept calling out your name in my head. At one point, it kept saying in a real deep, male voice: Alice Dragonend, where are you? I must have you!"

Princess Alice looked on at Lady Audrey incredulously as she finished her story, and wondered how she would respond to her aunt in the next few seconds.

(*To Be Continued*)