From the Edges of the Mirror

Chapter 4, The Pre-Tests

There was a loud ringing, something that resembled the clanging of a cowbell, and then the sound of people running. There was a banging at the door, and a sound of it opening, to two male voices. "What is it...? Breakfast? Alright, I'll wake her, see you there." There were footsteps, coming closer, then a hand shook me, rousing me from my drowsy sleep. "Wake up, Emma. Breakfast time."

"Mmh, what? Food?" I mumbled, looking around the room, I recounted to myself the previous day's events. "Oh right, it's around eight o'clock..." I got up and wandered to the dresser, pulling out a dusty brown colored dress, with green ribbons lining the edges. Going into the bathroom, I changed and combed my hair, an ordinary routine, then wandered out into the room to find my shoes.

When we were finally ready, Anglo and I strolled to the dining cave, where most of the resistance were already chattering merrily. Anglo glanced around, and spotted Ragde and Atlas beckoning us over to their bench. Once seated, we were passed thick slices of bread, as well as some carrots and water. "It's not fancy, I admi', but we get by." Ragde explained.

"Oh, no, it's fine, Ragde, in fact, somewhat better than the bread from our home." Anglo explained, with a chuckle at the end. "Sometimes, I had wondered about food in other places, how well others ate. It's a bit weird, to think, that it's not that different from our own."

"Really, though, could you tell us more about your resistance, Ragde?" I Asked, my mind awake enough to process what was going on. "It's just, we're staying here with everyone, and yet there's so much we don't understand what we're up against, here." Ragde nodded, solemnly, and glanced around at the other resistance members around us, who took it as some sort of signal to leave.

"Aye, I guess I can tell ya now. No better time to, 'eally. What we're fightin' 'ere, Emma, is the nobility. The 'ings an' 'ueens despise the normal people 'round the country, treat 'em like dirt. They ain't too kind to their servicemen either. The 'ing gave me a few o' my scars, for 'ow my men act." He gestured to a few of the scars along his arms, and then to one around his collarbone.

"That's horrible... Why would your own father do that?!" I proclaimed, outraged by how unkind this world's counterparts of my family were so cruel.

"Father? What are ye on about, now, missy? I ain't never known a father, I'm an orphan." He responded, glaring at me with an unknowing mixture of hostility and curiosity. Anglo started to shift in his spot, seeming uncomfortable with this new tension in the air. By this time, most of the room had cleared out, most sensing their leader becoming on edge, fled for their tasks.

"Hey, hey, just calm down, both of you. Just keep telling us about the resistance, okay?" Anglo pleaded, trying to mediate.

"Well, if you didn't know, it's not really my place to tell you, but the king and queen are your, and my, and Amme's parents. How can you be so daft?! You, Amme, and the prince Nehpets, are triplets, born to the king and his queen. If you were raised to believe you were an orphan, it's not my problem, but you're a full-grown man. You should know this, at the very least." I was nearly shouting, my need for explanation, somehow, goading me on. Even so, it might not have been an ideal way of telling him.

Ragde fazed in and out of focused and unfocused gazes for the rest of the day, and many people were trying to ask him as few questions as possible, but it didn't seem easy. When you're the leader of a large underground group, you have lots of things to worry about. We saw him off and on throughout the day, mostly hammering the few things that needed to be repaired, and met him for supper.

Supper consisted of multiple varieties of vegetables and breads, some plates were shared between friends, others, family. A girl with sparkling platinum blonde hair, and eyes as blue as the sea, sat down beside me, trying to make Ragde pay attention to the patrol's report. Once the patrol left to their own tables to eat, the girl introduced herself as Akinna, and was one of the special division patrol commanders.

"I'm Akinna Exanevoc, leader of Special Patrol One. We do a lot of the undercover work. Would you be interested in helping us, miss...?" She tailed off, not knowing how to address me without my last name.

"Emma Moonbrook, sorry for not introducing myself properly before. Also, yes, I would love to help out. I don't want to simply sit here, eating all your food, and not doing a thing to help out." I replied, smiling warmly. She had a nice voice, and got straight to the point. That's always a good aspect in partner. In turn, we discussed details of the mission she would take me on.

"Only after you've proven useful, and not a hinderance, will you join us. We're not just about to take someone completely inexperienced on a mission, at such a crucial time." She stated, matter-of-factly. It makes sense, if you think about it. If you have a poorly trained operative out on the field, they're bound to make plenty of mistakes, and very likely will endanger the lives of their team.

"Very well, that's sensible. So, what do I have to do?" I inquired, wanting to get on with this as soon as possible.

"Well, prove you can get around things and people, unnoticed, for one thing. There's also basic weapons competence, swords and daggers, and the like. Most of all, however, your willingness to save someone, while your own life is at risk." Akinna said, stone-faced.

"Well, I learned a bit knifemanship back when I was about to move into the worse parts of my hometown."

"I suppose we'll have to do a run-through of some moves, of course." She shrugged, and then skipped into a hallway, looking back and gesturing me to follow, and so I did.

We passed through the maze of tunnels, into a white-walled cave, half the size of the entrance cave, with padded mats of scarlet red. Along the sides of the room, stood a good many boxes with red crosses on them, first aid boxes, they seemed. In the corners of the room, sat small piles of reddish dust and flakes, likely scraped away from the mats.

"Well, I can see nobody holds back..." Commented Anglo, who had followed, as he saw me leaving after Akinna. "My god, really... Why not bother having an entire room for just blood flakes, and people wouldn't be grossed out?"

Akinna looked at him coldly, saying, "If there are people who are afraid of blood in The Nest, I wouldn't know them. And if there is, they surely never come in here."

"She has a point, Anglo. If you don't want to fight, go help out in the food-crew." I muttered, stretching before picking up a blade. "Basically, we're saying get out." I stated with finality, closely observing the curves, edges, and inscription of the dagger I picked u off the rack. 'Amme Koorbnoom', it read. This was Amme's blade... No wonder it seemed so familiar, she usually had it on her. Looking closer, a faded 'from Nehpets Koorbnoom'. If the three of the Htrae triplets aren't close, why would she have a dagger from Stephen's Htrae double...?

"Well, I might as well stay, and be sure you don't get killed... Not much to do, when I barely know anything about this place. I'll just sit here and see what's in the medicinal boxes."