Shadow Slave

The other Mordret — one that was far nicer, safer, and more hollow — glanced at Cassie with a hint of surprise in his mirror-like eyes.

Or at least that was what Cassie imagined when she heard his voice. She couldn’t place a mark on him, after all, so all that faced her was endless darkness.

“Lady Cassia? It is nice to make your acquaintance.”

Cassie felt like she knew him very well, but she still nodded.

“Yes… likewise.”

She lingered for a moment and then said in a neutral tone:

“I wanted to thank you for keeping Rain company these last few… however long it has been since we arrived. She doesn’t show it, but you must know how awfully lonely, anxious, and afraid she is.”

The other Mordret must have nodded.

“Yes, naturally. Those feelings… I know them well myself.”

A pale smile appeared on Cassie’s lips.

“Really? Because I… I am not sure that I even know what feelings are anymore.”

She inhaled deeply, then sighed.

“I guess with everything coming to an end — one way or another — I wanted to have a conversation with somebody, as well.”

Mordret remained silent for a long while.

“Am I the only option?”

Cassie smiled.

“Perhaps he was right about you. About people feeling nice in your company because all they see in you is a reflection of themselves. But what to do? I cannot even see. I wouldn’t recognize my own reflection even if I were standing right in front of it.”

She raised a hand to wipe a drop of blood from her cheek, then lingered for a moment.

“I get it now, I think. Why Ki Song wanted to explain herself to me. There is a kind of solace in being witnessed just before the end.”

Mordret — this Mordret — would not know the context. But he seemed to have still understood what she meant, or possibly even what she felt.

“And you want to be witnessed… by me?”

A bittersweet smile twisted Cassie’s lips.

“No. Far from it. To be honest, I’d rather be forgotten altogether. I do not want your solace… solace is a sin, anyway.”

Coming from the darkness, his disembodied voice was hiding a hint of surprise now:

“Then what do you want from me, Lady Cassia?”

She pretended to look around.

“Who knows? Maybe I am simply here to see if there is a way to kill you, somehow, in case I need to get rid of the King of Nothing in a hurry.”

He chuckled.

“l am not actually here, so that would be a challenge. Besides, you must know that he is watching your every move and listening to your every word. Is it really wise to say these things aloud?”

Cassie shrugged.

“What can he do? He needs me.”

She remained silent for a moment, then added:

“Yes, I know that he is watching me closely, and that nothing escapes him. It would be quite difficult indeed, to do something that goes against his will.”

The other Mordret asked:

“But why would you want to kill him, anyway? I thought that you were allies.”

Cassie smiled faintly.

“We were allies. I needed him as well, you see — to buy time for Changing Star and the Lord of Shadows. That time is running out now, so he is of no use to me anymore. On the contrary — by all accounts, it won’t do me any good if he does too well in the final battle. What if he wipes out half of all Awakened?”

She shook her head.

“At this point, it would be better if he suffered a swift and overwhelming defeat. More people will survive that way for longer, at least… a drawn-out battle is the worst possible outcome. So, I might betray him after all.”

There was a long stretch of silence, and then the other Mordret said:

“I don’t think that you will, though.”

Cassie raised an eyebrow.

“Why is that? I am known to be a traitor.”

He seemed to consider his words for a while before answering.

“l am not sure. My brother is certainly wary of you, but you don’t seem like the devious, eerie, treacherous witch he described.”

She smiled.

“What do I seem like, then?”

The other Mordret seemed to smile back.

“You seem like you’re trying your best.”

Hearing that, Cassie couldn’t help but laugh.

When her laughter died down, she fell silent for a few moment, and then said in a neutral tone:

“To be honest, I am a bit devious. And l am a bit eerie. Treacherous… that too, I think. I just hide it better than most — possibly better than anyone.”

She paused, then added:

“But I am really trying my best.”

Mordret studied her carefully and sighed.

“Someone told me recently that there comes a time when one must take a stand. I feel like you are at a point when you are ready to take yours, as well. So, I don’t think that you’ll betray my brother, even if it benefits you. And no matter how much you hate him.”

Cassie reached forward and touched the mirror, tracing its frame with her fingers.

“Hate him? I never hated him.”

She drew her hand back.

“Was appalled by him? Yes. Was terrified by him? Yes. But hating him… it would have been hypocritical of me, considering all the things that I’ve done.”

She remained silent for a few moments and then added:

“It’s difficult to hate someone whom you understand. And in this whole wide world, I might be the only person who understands Mordret. Because I’ve seen his memories — most of them, at least. I experienced all the things he had experienced, and saw every step he took to end up where he is today — what he is today. I… witnessed him.”

Cassie smiled weakly.

“I am still appalled by him, but I don’t think I will ever be able to hate him… or you. After all, the two of you come from the same source. The most important memories I saw are yours, as well.”

She sighed deeply.

“So even if we are meeting for the first time, I can’t treat you as a stranger.”

Mordret did not say anything, and all that met her was the darkness… as well as the feeling of the cold surface of the mirror under her fingers.

Cassie raised a hand and pulled down her blindfold, revealing her empty, bleeding eye socket.

“That is the real reason why I came to talk to you, Mordret… the other Mordret. The lesser Mordret.”

He smiled bitterly.

“The lesser Mordret… well, I can’t argue with that. But what exactly do you mean, Lady Cassia?”

She lingered with the answer. In the end, she shrugged.

“I lost the ability to see the future. But I can still predict it, even if I use deduction instead of precognition now. So… call it a contingency, of sorts.”

He seemed to have frowned.

“I still don’t understand what you are talking about.”

Cassie raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t you? The two of you used to be the same person, but your paths have diverged at some point. Since then, you were both locked in your own cell of solitude, each suffering his own banishment. Neither of you is whole, and while he detests you… you long for him, don’t you? Just like you longed for your family, whose care and affection you had been denied.”

Mordret laughed bitterly.

“Oh, but he longs for me, as well. He longs to destroy and absorb me, like he did the rest — it’s just that he can’t, because I carry his death. Quite a pair, aren’t we?”

Cassie shook her head.

“It doesn’t matter what he wants. I’ve spent so many days and suffered so much doing what he wanted… what he needed from me. What do you want?”

Mordret remained silent, so she spoke instead:

“I will tell you what I want. I want to remember where Sunny and Nephis are, so that I know when they will come back. I want them back so badly. But I can’t, because I erased my own memories of knowing… that is a power of mine. To see, to know, to remember. Or to forget.”

She drew in a slow breath.

“And now I have to confront the possibility that they won’t come back in time. Which means that I cannot rely on them to defeat the Dreamspawn. Which means that I must defeat him myself. But he is so vast, and I am so small. When he pressed me down and took my eye, I couldn’t even move. All my weapons are gone or broken, and all I am left with is a tangled thread…”

Closing her one remaining eye, Cassie took a deep breath.

“How is Ariadne supposed to defeat the Minotaur without Theseus?”