Macster - The Last Dragon

The sound was incredible, a shivering, almost crystalline wave so high it hurt his ears. Intermixed was the dragon's roars, the shrieks of the Ice Queen, and the howling of the wind as it was abruptly unleashed on the chamber by the downbeat of Daviander's wings. Shards of glass fell across his greatcoat, and Wolf ducked his head as low as possible, whimpering. Beneath him he could feel Virginia struggling, but he was not about to let her go until it was relatively safe.

Finally the hail of plateglass subsided, and Wolf felt secure enough to look up. The windows were completely gone, only jagged remnants still joined to the frame, where twisted bars that had once separated the panes hung crazily, creaking in the breeze. The floor was covered with glass, as thick as the snow and ice, but no one had been harmed in the blast. Cinderella, Carmine, and the Trolls had all taken cover behind the ensorcelled blocks of ice, while the Ice Queen herself cowered behind the throne.

But then, through the colossal hole that opened the throne room to the sky came Daviander, and Wolf half-sat on the floor, speechless at the sight. He came like a bird of prey, a manifestation of the Golden Age brought to the present, a creature of times long gone, a wondrous and mystical behemoth with untold grace, beauty, elegance, and might. The moment was frozen forever in Wolf's mind, all his senses aflame as they captured every detail--the sooty smell of sulfur and brimstone burning in his nostrils, the taste of dry, dusty air, the heat radiating out from the dragon's bulk to dispel the frigid cold. It imprinted itself on his memory, everything coming to a halt, all motion suspended, captured like the most vivid of paintings, with everything that came before and that would come after focused on this one moment. Daviander entered the throne room, hovered high above them all, just below the ice-encrusted chandeliers that hung from the vaulted ceiling, wings flapping lazily, neck arched sinuously, claws flexing and jaws working hungrily, his armored body not even scratched by the glass. He moved as if swimming, supple and beautiful, awe-inspiring and fearsome. He was a living legend, cast from a forgotten and shattered mold, his equal never to be seen again, an unparalleled majesty.

For the first time since he had seen Daviander, tears came to Wolf's eyes.

Then the moment was broken by the vilest shriek he had ever heard, and Daviander swung his serpentine neck to bring his blazing eyes to bear on the Ice Queen's slim figure on the dais. "Ice Queen!" he roared deafeningly. "Aroint thee, avaunt! An thou wouldst contend for mastery this day, contend with me, O Mistress of Death and Cold!"

Rising to her full height, the Ice Queen glared up at the dragon, a roiling tumult of emotions mixing on her countenance--fear, horror, fury, hatred. Bringing her wand to bear, she cried, "Hear me, O Dragon! Thou art the last of thy kind! I have hunted ye to your doom adown all the hallowed ages, and now I shall at last rid the Kingdoms of your foul taint!" Screaming incoherently, she brandished the wand and let loose a blast of ice as powerful as the fire Daviander had previously exhaled.

But the dragon took another massive breath, his chest inflating immensely, and released another stream of fire that met the ice halfway between himself and the witch, and where the two met an explosion of flame and snow burst outward, shaking the castle to its foundations. After five long minutes the warring magics canceled out, dissipating harmlessly into the air. Wolf could quite clearly see the look of shock and disbelief on the Ice Queen's face.

"Is that the best thou canst do?" Daviander taunted her, laughing contemptuously as he winged back and forth across the chamber. "Thou hast grown old and feeble, Griselda! Come now, do thy worst!"

The Ice Queen trembled from head to foot, until even her crown of icicles looked in danger of toppling from her brow. Suddenly seeming to remember the rest of them were there, she shouted to her ice demons. "Destroy them! Kill them all, especially Wolf and the Lady Virginia! I shall deal with the dragon..." She turned back, pushing up her ermine-trimmed sleeves in preparation for combat.

Scrambling to his feet, Wolf helped Virginia up and looked around frantically. The ice demons were closing in rapidly, surrounding them in a great semicircle, and he had no weapons except for his teeth and claws, having hoped they could disarm or destroy the Ice Queen before the demons became a problem. Huff-puff, now what were they to do?

Beyond the monsters, he could see the other monarchs emerging from hiding as well. As he spotted the three Trolls, inspiration struck him. "Hey, Troll-boy! We could use a hand over here!"

Burly narrowed his eyes, gazing in the direction of Wolf's voice. "Why should we help you?" he demanded querulously. "You stole our magic shoes again!"

Dense, dense! How dense could Trolls be? "Because if you don't, we're all going to get killed, that's why!" he practically screamed.

That seemed to get through to Burly. He glanced from his sister to his brother for advice; both of them, in contrast to him, seemed eager to fight, brandishing their weapons as they licked their dark, crooked teeth. Seeing which way the wind was blowing, Burly shrugged and smirked. "Very well, wolfie! Time for you to see how well Trolls can fight!" He drew his own blade and stalked toward the ice demons.

What began then was a monumental battle like none Wolf had ever before experienced. As Burly, Blabberwort, and Bluebell leapt forward and struck at the exposed backs of the ring of ice demons, Wolf himself assaulted them with claws and fangs, darting in and out, never in one place for very long. Because Virginia held onto his coat with a death-grip, he remained invisible, so the demons never knew where he was coming from or when he would strike.

At the same time, Daviander exhaled another blast of fire, only to be met by another whistling gale of ice from Griselda's wand. Back and forth he dodged, never tiring, relentless and fueled by an enmity that spanned centuries and eons, his enormous form circling the chamber to come at the Ice Queen again and again. The throne room rocked with the magics they wielded, as first fire, then ice sprayed indiscriminately from ceiling to floor. Fire slammed into the dais, hurling the throne backwards and sending the Ice Queen diving for cover. Then ice exploded upwards, just missing the dragon and instead forming an immense stalactite from an overhanging rafter.

All of this occurred out of the corner of Wolf's eye, as a backdrop to his own battle, for he could not dare to glance away more than a moment, the fight was so intense. Sweat streamed into his eyes as he pulled free of Virginia and dashed in yet again to slash at an ice demon's chest with his claws, but this time he was visible and too slow, and the beast snatched him from the ground with a roar like a snowstorm. Snow and ice billowed out of its cavernous maw, congealing on his face as he struggled in its icy grip. He was having trouble breathing, the hand squeezed his ribs so tightly.

Then Blabberwort was there, hacking and chopping with her shortsword, and in minutes the ice demon's hand had been cleaved from its arm. "Nicee nice!" she muttered, impressed in spite of herself. It staggered back, staring stupidly at its broken wrist as the missing appendage fell to the floor, breaking apart. Wolf felt Virginia at his side, working him free of the deathly cold grip, and he could not help shuddering as he staggered upright. He had come so close to dying there...

But there was no time for thought or even to take stock, for another demon was coming at him, and he had to leap aside. Grabbing a halberd from an ice-coated suit of armor in the corner, Wolf howled a battle-cry and leapt back into the fray, burying the blade, then the speartip, in the creature's chest. It fell back, confused and dazed, and then the three Trolls came at it from behind. Axes and maces smashed into the beast with impunity, first cracking, then splintering the ice demon. It howled in agony--the sound abruptly cut off as Wolf raised the halberd high and brought it smashing down to divide the demon's head cleanly in half. With a groan it fell to the floor and collapsed, inert.

Heartened, he and the Trolls turned to their next foe, for the demons were akin to animated statues, moving on their own accord but with no minds, thoughts, or intellects of their own, and so they made the mistake of coming at their opponents one at a time instead of as a group--which was a good thing, as otherwise there was no way Wolf or the Trolls could defeat them. As it was, they made a good team. Wolf smiled to himself and shook his head. Who would have thought such a turn of events could ever happen? War made strange huntpacks indeed...

Meanwhile, the Ice Queen was futilely trying to score a hit on Daviander, but the dragon was never in one place for very long, always crisscrossing the room in an unpredictable pattern, and the Ice Queen was fairly capering about on the smoking dais in her impotent fury. But even with the dragon's skill, luck could not stay with him forever. On one pass across the room, a blast of ice struck Daviander a glancing blow on one wingtip, but it was enough to freeze the leathery skin in place, forming thick icicles that impaired his flying ability. Growling in outrage, Daviander flapped his wing desperately, trying to crack the ice, but it was no use. Careening out of control, he gyrated downwards toward the floor.

Wolf heard Virginia scream, and he looked up in time to see Daviander hurtling down toward him. "Oh cripes!" Leaping out of the way, he slid across the icy floor until he bumped to a stop against someone's feet. As he used their legs to struggle back up, he was shocked to see it was Carmine.

They only had time for one quick exchanged glance before Red screamed, "Look out!" She shoved him down and threw a long, jagged-bladed knife with a scarlet hilt over his shoulder. Turning, he was stunned to see the knife buried in an ice demon's face, blinding it as it staggered helplessly around the room, leaving it disoriented and easy pickings for the Trolls, who soon hacked it apart. The force Red must have used for that throw was astonishing...he'd had no idea she had it in her...

But Daviander was still falling, and the Ice Queen was cackling in triumph as she prepared for another devastating cascade of ice. At the last moment, however, the dragon twisted in his fall and slammed his wing against a pillar. The ice on his wing broke off in a shower of snow that rained down on Bluebell, to his annoyance. Then Daviander was righting himself, arcing back up toward the ceiling. The Ice Queen howled in fury and pointed her wand again, but this time when the ice neared its mark, the dragon dodged--and the ice struck a chandelier.

With a groaning of marble ceiling tiles, the chandelier ripped free and plummeted toward the floor. Everyone managed to get out of the way of the descending light fixture--except for the ice demons. Fully half of the Ice Queen's ranks of soldiers were crushed by the thousands of pounds of gold, brass, and crystal. She stared at them in horror, the expression on her face rather suggesting she had just seen her children murdered before her eyes. Wolf smirked at her, although inwardly he could not help but wince at the damage they were causing. He hoped Wendell wouldn't take the bill for the repairs out of his pocket. Maybe Red would pay for it.

That idle thought was banished, however, as the Ice Queen clenched her fists and screamed at all those arrayed against her. "No! I shall not be defeated, not by powerless, pitiful fools like you!" She glared scathingly at the three Trolls, who stood over the fallen body of another ice demon they had hacked to pieces. "I will do what I should have done as soon as you all arrived!" She pointed the wand skewer-like at Burly, Blabberwort, and Bluebell.

A sheet of ice howled with hurricane force toward the Trolls, bolstered by the Ice Queen's rage, but only an instant after it struck, she was already turning toward the rest of them. Her eyes glinted with a cold so bitter it made Wolf's heart lurch. He had no time to think of himself, however, or the Trolls, for the Ice Queen was already unleashing her magic again, twice more in rapid succession. He acted without thinking, running faster than he had ever run before even when in lupine form, hurling himself at the scarlet-cloaked form of Red Riding Hood III. As he knocked her to the floor, he saw the Troll King's shoes appear out of nowhere and bounce across the tiles, and then Virginia glittered into visibility as she in turn grabbed hold of Cinderella's periwinkle gown and pulled her down as well.

The blasts of ice just missed both monarchs, spraying benignly against the wall behind them.

His breath heaving in great gasps, Wolf lay atop Carmine in a mirror image of his earlier protective shielding of Virginia. He gazed down at her in shock as the enormity of what he had done penetrated his mind, and she too stared up at him in equally stunned disbelief. "You...you saved my life, Wolf..." Her voice was soft, amazed, and grateful. "Why?"

That was a very good question, but although he could not answer it in full, both because of the demands of the battle and the fact that he didn't know why himself, he did have an inkling of the reason. It all came down to what he had seen in Carmine since arriving at the palace...how she had argued their case and worked to save the Kingdoms all on her own, how she had appealed to Cinderella and then later insulted and distracted the Ice Queen when she had no way of knowing Wolf and Virginia were there to witness it.

"Well, you saved mine, Auntie," he shrugged. "Fair is fair. Besides...you're family. Which means if anyone gets to kill you, it's me." He smirked and winked at her, and found to his surprise that he really did mean it as a joke, not a threat. Something profound had just changed in their relationship, and she seemed to see it, too, as she gazed up at him in wonderment.

But they had no time to explore the matter further. In fact, Wolf was confused as to why he and Carmine had not been frozen while they paused to converse. When he looked up, he saw why. The Ice Queen was just a tad distracted at the moment, seeing as Daviander had taken her by surprise and was now assaulting her with blast after blast of fire. Smoke and steam filled the air, obscuring the dais and the room around it for twenty feet, while flames licked along the steps and pillars, their witch-like crackling providing an eerie counterpoint to the dragon's roars and growls.

Rising to his feet and helping Red up, Wolf looked and saw that the three Trolls had joined the ranks of the other monarchs, frozen solid in one enormous block of ice. An odd thought came to him, that the children of Relish, caught as they were in the act of trying to duck, were in almost the exact same positions as when they had been turned to gold nine months ago. Huff-puff, what a coincidence.

Then the smoke and fire parted as the Ice Queen stood erect on the dais, pointing her wand yet again at Daviander. The enchanted ice was already spurting upwards, chasing the dragon across the room, and each blast came nearer and nearer. It was only a matter of time.

"Wolf!" Virginia shouted. He turned to see her helping Cinderella into a chair. "The wand! Remember the plan!"

Of course, how could he have forgotten! It must have been the violence of the battle and the surprise of both the Trolls and Carmine changing sides that put it out of his mind. Hurriedly he turned back toward the dais. The Ice Queen had her eyes fixed on Daviander, she was not even paying attention to the rest of them. As the dragon had predicted, although she had sent the ice demons after them and tried to freeze them, she saw Daviander as the only real threat to her, and that was her mistake.

A growing feral ferocity burned in his heart as he stared at Griselda, her every feature etched into his mind. This was the witch who had threatened the Kingdoms he loved, put Virginia in mortal danger once again, and who at this moment was trying to destroy the only remaining dragon...a creature for which he empathized acutely, a creature he longed to protect so he could live, could rise above the prejudice and hatred as Wendell's pardon was enabling the wolves to do. She had to be stopped. She did not deserve to live. No punishment would satisfy him except ripping her throat out with his own fangs.

Growling and snarling, his eyes burning a brilliant gold, Wolf launched himself toward the dais.

Breathing fast and hard, as if she had just run twenty laps, Virginia supported herself on the carved frame of the antique chair where Cinderella sat, watching in desperate hope and frantic fear as Wolf ran across the throne room to confront the Ice Queen hand-to-hand. She knew there was no other way to resolve this battle, that they had to disarm Griselda before she could be captured or killed, and that Wolf, with his strength, dexterity, and cleverness was the only one who could do it. But the dream still haunted her every moment. Carmine had not betrayed them, and Daviander had escaped his icy tomb before it had a chance to fully form, but the rest could still come true. Wolf could still be killed...

As he reached the steps, the Ice Queen turned, saw him, and brought her wand into play, but just as she sent another barrage of wintry wind toward him, he slipped on a stray patch of ice and fell to the floor. The fall saved his life, as the frigid ice passed right through where he had been standing and covered the golden doors of the throne room. Before she could recover and reorient, Wolf was there, crawling up the steps, latching onto her ankle, and pulling. The Ice Queen went down, and Wolf was upon her.

But the Witch of Winter was no easy target, and in moments she was struggling back to her feet, with Wolf clinging tenaciously to her arms, pinning them to her sides. She still held the wand, but at the moment it was useless as she flailed about with it. Wolf snapped at her face, and she recoiled violently, managing to pull one arm free of his grip. Unfortunately it was the arm that held the wand.

"Wolf!" Virginia screamed.

At the last possible second Wolf snatched the Ice Queen's wrist with his free hand, turning the wand away so that it coated the ceiling in ice instead of himself. And then began a wild, desperate struggle for control of the wand. Virginia watched breathlessly, unconsciously mimicking Wolf's movements, wielding her clenched fists in the air as if she could give him her strength. He certainly didn't need it, however, the tendons and sinews in his wrists and arms quivered and tensed like steel cables as he fought the Ice Queen every step of the way. They stumbled across the broken dais, the wand vacillating back and forth between them, shooting out random bursts of ice and snow. More windows broke, a chandelier became a gigantic snowball, a raging wind and churning clouds escaped out the windows Daviander had broken to dump snow all across the rear gardens of the palace, while blue lightning bolts spattered and smashed against the walls. Virginia found herself constantly ducking, even when it was not necessary.

Then, as she glanced to the side, she was horrified to see a troupe of ice demons coming toward her and the two queens. There were only six left after the Trolls, Wolf, and the chandelier debacle had gotten through with them, but that was more than enough to kill or injure any of them. And none of them had any weapons, unless she could figure out how to use her magic. Apparently the demons had amazingly decided to take matters into their own hands and attack those who had put their mistress in danger.

"Daviander!" Virginia cried, even as she cursed herself for being so helpless as to constantly appeal to others for protection.

The dragon, who had been hovering watchfully near the ceiling, flapping his wings in massive beats and keeping his azure eyes fixed firmly on Wolf and the Ice Queen, looking for an opening to attack anew, turned and saw at once what was wrong. Inhaling deeply, he sent a sheet of flame at the floor surrounding the ice demons, ringing them into a circle of fire. Moaning in anguish and fear, the demons huddled together in the center of the circle, not daring to come near what could melt them. One problem solved, for now.

Clenching her fists, Virginia looked back to the dais and saw Wolf had his hands on the wand now, struggling for possession of it as he shoved the Ice Queen back against a pillar. She bit her lip and concentrated, willing her magic to rise up and give her the power she needed, but without training her will was diffuse, and all she felt was a tingling warmth in her hands and heart.

She was about to try again when she felt a hand tug on her sleeve. Turning, she saw Cinderella sitting up, alert and determined, in her chair. "Lady Virginia!" she hissed, squeezing her elbow tightly. "You must do something, Lord Wolf cannot stop Griselda alone!"

"I know!" Virginia whimpered. "But what can I do...what..." She paused as her eyes fell on the wrought-iron shape of the Spying mirror standing not far from the dais, and then it burst on her sight with the wonderful irony of fate. "Of course! The mirrors! They were my mother's, I can still command them, we can use the mirrors against her!" The Ice Queen had appropriated them for her own use, but now they would be her downfall.

Cinderella, however, looked troubled. "Are you certain, Lady Virginia? The mirrors are evil and dangerous...and which one shall you use? You wouldn't send her through the Traveling mirror, I should hope."

"No, of course not! I'd never unleash that witch on my world..." Her eyes darted around the semicircle, from one mirror to the next--and then she knew which one to use, what she had to do.

Just as she made her decision, there was a mingled cry of triumph and despair on the dais, and Virginia turned to see Wolf wrench the wand out of the Ice Queen's hand. Taking it in both hands, he grinned fiendishly at the witch, displaying all of his formidable fangs, then lifted one knee and snapped the wand in two over it.

A flash of intensely blinding light came from the severed halves of the wand, and Wolf was thrown backwards down the dais, slamming into the floor in the center of the circle of mirrors. Before he could get to his feet, the Ice Queen was dashing down the steps toward him, her eyes blazing with pure hatred and pain. In her hand was a long, cruel knife.

The knife from her dream.

Just as the blade was about to come down, Wolf threw up his arms so that instead of stabbing into his chest, it pierced one forearm. He howled in agony, but as she wrenched the blade free, he grabbed hold of her knife arm and thrust her backwards, rolling with her across the floor. Her blade flashed again and again, sometimes missing completely and sometimes tearing cloth, but Virginia could not tell if he was being wounded or not.

There was no more time. She had to act, and act now. But the mirror she wanted was on the far side of the circle from where she stood. If she went over to it herself to activate it, she wouldn't have enough time to get back to her starting point and attack before the Ice Queen landed a killing blow on Wolf. She needed someone to help her...

Wheeling back to the two queens, she blurted out, "I need one of you to go over there and turn the mirror on for me."

They stared at her, dumbfounded, for half a second, before Cinderella wheezed, "I'm two hundred years old, and all this confrontation has worn me out, Lady Virginia. I could never make it over there." She held onto the arms of her chair weakly.

Carmine, however, after the initial shock, had risen to her full height and was gazing at Virginia with determination, bravery, and unwavering loyalty. "I shall do it then. Simply tell me what it is I have to do."

For what felt like an eternity, but was only a minute or so, Virginia met Red Riding Hood III's blue-eyed gaze, searching her soul for any hint of duplicity. She could not find it. All she could find was a woman with pain and regret and guilt weighing her down, seeking to make amends. All she saw was a woman who only wanted to be trusted this once.

She had no choice. She had to trust Carmine now.

"All right...you have to find the catch, on the mirror's frame. It's got to be on either the left or righthand side..."

It only took seconds to explain and for Virginia to get into position behind the Traveling mirror, which was directly across from the one she had selected. In that time, the Ice Queen had managed to rip Wolf's greatcoat to shreds, but he had in turn battered her face and knocked her crown askew, breaking off several of its rays. As Virginia held onto the rune-carved frame, Griselda brought her knife down again, and this time it stabbed into Wolf's shoulder. He howled again, tears of agony streaming down his cheeks as she ground it into the wound, but somehow, somehow, he was able to squeeze her wrist until the bones began to crack. Shrieking, the Ice Queen pulled back, letting go of the knife, letting Wolf get hold of it and work it out of his shoulder...

Across the circle, Carmine had bypassed the Mirror of Mnemosyne and the Seeking mirror and was now frantically searching the frame of the final mirror in the ring, running her hands over the intertwined serpents that composed it... Oh, Carmine, please do this one thing right...

Wolf threw away the knife, sending it skittering across the floor. The Ice Queen leaped at him again, getting both of her hands around his throat, proceeding to strangle him as he pounded his good hand against her back and shoulders...

Working her hands down the side of the mirror, Red Riding Hood finally seemed to find something. One of the serpent's heads moved, shifted under her palm. Her shoulders slumping in relief, the queen angled the piece of maple to the side, and at once the mirror's glass began to glow and shimmer...

The Ice Queen's face was maniacal and insane, eyes bulging, lips curled back from her gritted teeth as she throttled Wolf, pushing him against the floor and pinning his other arm down with her shoulder. Wolf was still struggling, trying to get his arm high enough to strike her...

Virginia tensed, feeling the magic at last begin to flare inside her, burning, building, flowing through every limb, her hands radiating white light...

Wolf wrenched his arm free and bashed the Ice Queen in the temple. Crying out, she lost her grip and he threw her aside, sending her rolling on the floor. She came to a stop...directly beside the knife. Cackling in glee, the witch grabbed the weapon, rising to her feet and turning a final time to face her opponent. She raised the knife high as, with a long, blood-curdling scream, she ran full-tilt toward Wolf where he struggled to rise...

And at that moment, Virginia leaped out from behind the Traveling mirror, jumped over Wolf, and intercepted the Ice Queen. She slammed into her with all her might, sending her tumbling back, off-balance, tripping. Virginia pursued her, pushing her again and again, her magic flaring each time and shoving the witch back another few feet. They were almost to the mirror now.

"Mirror!" she shouted. "Take this witch, remove her from this world for all time! Never let her remember who she is, or where she came from, or anything at all! Make her forget until she is absolutely nothing!"

Then with one last shove, Virginia sent the Ice Queen flying--right into the depthless void of the Lethe mirror.

Griselda's scream was piercing, so high and horrible it could scrape bones raw, as she fell back into the mirror's frame. At the last instant she caught hold of the maple wood with both hands, digging her fingernails in as deep as claws, preventing her from falling in completely. The Lethe mirror glowed incandescently, shaking from side to side as it sought to do Virginia's bidding, and an incredible suction began, a vortex of magic so strong it made every loose object in the throne room tumble and flip through the air. Candlesticks, statuettes, knickknacks, coins, and other unidentifiable articles flew into the mirror, pelting the Ice Queen indiscriminately, but still she held on. Virginia felt herself stumble forward as the mirror latched onto her as well, and even Daviander, high in the throne room, seemed to feel it, flapping his wings frantically.

"Carmine!" Virginia yelled as she ran to the Lethe mirror. The queen was at her side at once, and together both of them grabbed onto the frame to keep from being sucked in. Beyond the Ice Queen's gaunt visage was only a rotating maelstrom of mist and blackness, circling and churning like an immense whirlpool. It almost resembled an evil eye, staring at them, and Virginia had to restrain herself from being enchanted by its hypnotic power into letting go and stepping inside.

Ripping her gaze away, she pounded on one of the Ice Queen's hands while Carmine did the same on the other side. Gripping the frame with her free hand until the knuckles turned even whiter and bracing herself with her feet, the witch let go with her knife hand and began lashing out blindly with it. Holding on against the howling wind, Virginia could barely dodge the blows, and Red was having the same trouble.

Then the Ice Queen struck, stabbing out at Carmine. The queen screamed, nearly falling to her knees, and all the blood rushed from her face as she stumbled weakly, leaning against the mirror. But finding a well of determination, the auburn-haired woman hauled back and with all her strength punched Griselda right in the face. Stunned, the witch recoiled and her other hand loosened on the frame.

Knowing this was the only advantage she would receive, Virginia slammed her fist down on the Ice Queen's hand, then blasted her once more with the white light of her magic. There came the sound of scraping wood, and then the witch's hand came free of the frame.

"Nooooooooooooooo!!!!" The sound of Griselda's cry would echo in Virginia's mind and haunt her for the rest of her life. It was a thin, inhuman wail, a sound of such fear, terror, horror, and despair that it seemed to embody all the suffering of those who had ever lived, of those whom the witch had frozen and killed in her centuries-long lifetime. As Virginia watched in mingled shock and grim pleasure, the Ice Queen tumbled back into the vortex, rotating and turning endlessly. Then the hatred and fear left her face as a blank look crossed it, her eyes becoming empty, totally devoid of any thought, emotion, or memory. She fell back, sucked deeper and deeper, her knife falling with her, until she faded away completely and was gone.

Gasping and trembling, Virginia pulled back from the inexorable suction of the Lethe mirror, tears pouring down her cheeks as the fading of the adrenaline rush left her feeling hollow, and allowed her in turn to feel the full force of what had happened to Wolf, and nearly happened to her. Horrified, she hung onto the mirror's frame as she stretched across the vortex and snapped the serpent's head back into place. Weeping, she watched the glass flash once and go dark, cutting off the wind, then return to its normal appearance, glimmering faintly. She went limp, panting with her exertions.

Yet that was not enough for her. The mirror was evil and should never be used again, and she would take no chance that Griselda, even memoryless, might return to the Kingdoms. Grabbing onto the frame, she pulled with all her strength, lifting the heavy mirror forward on its stand. With one last, groaning, grunting cry that seemed to require all her flagging energy, Virginia brought the Lethe mirror crashing down. It slammed into the marble floor before the dais and smashed into a thousand pieces.