Page 122 of Oath of Revenge

Wulfric was being waved over by Ashur, so Scarlet shooed him over. “Go, be sociable. Remember your humanity while I go deal with the dwarves.”

Wulfric paused. “Are they safe? Friend or foe?”

She rolled her eyes and stepped back through the door as she said over her shoulder, “Friends. No foe would dare enter the dragon’s lair.”

Chapter 39

She followed Leopol down the hall to Knox’s office, her stomach twisting with possibilities. They hadn’t sent the messenger back to her with the mirrors, but had come themselves.

Inside stood John, Knox’s dwarven friend from Vidrland, and his brother Kris from the northern mines.

“Gentlemen,” she said as she entered.

Their bushy white brows rose as they took in her dress. She winced and shook out the skirts. “Not a word about this. What’s the news?”

Kris pulled the mirrors from his bag on the table, and she stepped closer. “Yes, well, this magic mirror was trickier than normal.”

“It’s definitely not any of the normal technology the Buspartans have produced in the past few hundred years,” John said.

“But we’ve figured out how it works. Seems to be an ancient magic, possibly from the mer kingdom, but we deciphered it alright.”

“Deciphered—you mean it works?” she demanded.

Kris nodded, opened one of them, and handed it to her. “Aye, we made some modifications. See the seven buttons on the side? Push the second one.”

She pushed the tiny knob, and the mirror shimmered with magic before it revealed one of their brothers in their northern home.

“Oi, it works over long distances!” the brother said.

“Pay up. Five gold. I told you it’d work,” said another from behind him.

The men bickered as another took the mirror and held it too close to his face, showing his nose hairs.

“Huntress, is that you?”

She grinned. “Yes, it’s me. I’m here with Kris and John.”

The man in the mirror said, “I want to call this thing talkies. What do you think?”

She chuckled, “Talkies is fine.”

The mirror’s image jiggled as it was ripped from the dwarf’s hand, and another one said, “Hey, you didn’t even tell her my idea about commies. It’s a much better name.”

“Too late. Snooze you lose,” sang the other. A growl, a yell, and the pocket mirror’s image bounced as they argued.

Kris scowled and pointed to the side of the round pocket mirror as he said, “Push the button again to end the image and sound.”

She waved, even though none of them were paying them any attention. “Bye, boys.” Then she pushed the button before asking, “Do we know the effective range is for communication?”

Kris shook his head. “No, but your messenger said it needs to reach the Southern Road? We’ll need someone to take these there and test them.”

She nodded, turning the things over in her palm as Kris explained how each button was tied to a different mirror. “Once we figured out how the magic worked, we could reproduce it fairly quickly. The rune on the bottom prevents anyone else from duplicating it or prying into the magic, of course. But this will help not just the Feral Forest but the entire continent communicate much faster. Can you imagine? There could be communication shops in every town. If help were needed, it could be sent right away instead of days or weeks later once word had traveled on foot.”

Kris finally took a breath, and she grinned. She knew he’d keep talking if no one stopped him, so she said to John, “And what about you? I didn’t expect you to arrive yourself, with all you have to manage Vidrland.”

John wrinkled his thick nose and hunched his shoulders. “Yes, well, about the reports in Busparia…”

“Yes?” she asked.

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