Roaring, I f lew at the false Ariel a, but the Ice Queen raised dead, cold eyes to me and slipped back into the mirror. I swung at her retreating form, and my blade struck the surface of the glass, shattering it.
Shards f lew from the force of the blow, glinting in the light, and the entire surface collapsed in a ringing cacophony, scattering pieces over the f loor.
220/387
“My love.” The false Ariel a appeared in another frame, empty gaze boring into me. I slashed at her, shattering another mirror, but she slipped into the one beside it, her eyes beseeching mine. “Why?” she murmured, fading back, appearing in a frame on the opposite wall.
“Why was I not enough? Why could I not keep you from giving in to despair?” She slid away, vanishing from sight, and I turned warily, waiting for her to appear again. “I loved you,” her voice whispered, giving no indication of where she was. “I would have given everything for you. But you couldn’t stop thinking of her. A human! You let a human replace me.” She finally appeared again, her face twisted into a mask of bitter hate, her eyes blazing with jealously. “So now you can die for her!”
Too late, I realized where she was looking and spun, bringing up my sword. Not fast enough. The point of a blade bit my shoulder as the other Ash stepped from the mirror behind me, slamming me against the wall.
I gritted my teeth as fire bloomed through my shoulder, nearly making me drop my sword. The other Ash smiled as he pushed the blade in farther, pinning me to the wall. Focusing through the pain, I switched my weapon to my other hand and stabbed at his chest, but he yanked his sword free and parried as if he’d been expecting it.
We circled each other, movements identical, almost as if I was looking through a mirror again. Other Ash smiled and lunged, a familiar attack I’d done thousands of times. I spun away and slashed at his head, but he was ducking almost before I had moved. We surged forward and met in the center of the hall, blue sparks f lying as we cut and blocked and parried, the din of swords ringing down the corridor.
Other Ash slid away, lashing out with his sword. “You can’t beat me,” he said as I parried. We went up and down the hall, blades clashing, 221/387
Other Ash’s face blank but calm. “I am you. I know all your secrets, all your weaknesses. And unlike you, I can keep this up forever.” He thrust out a hand, and an ice spear erupted from his palm, stabbing at my chest. I twisted aside and returned with a f lurry of daggers. He stepped back into a mirror, and the shards fractured the surface into a spiderweb of cracks.
I spared a moment waiting for him to appear again. When he did not, I broke away and hurried toward Ariel a, slumped against one of the walls.
Puck still fought with two of his doppelg?ngers, the Other Pucks grinning madly as they took turns darting in. Somewhere in the shadows beyond, the snarls and howls of the Wolves rang out even over the clash of blades. A screaming, high-pitched yelp suddenly echoed through the din, making my stomach clench. I’d hunted often enough to know a death cry when I heard it.
“Ari!” I called as I approached her, and she raised her head, a f licker of pain crossing her face. “Don’t move, I’ll be right there.” A f lock of screeching ravens suddenly burst out from one of the mirrors, surrounding me and diving at my face, pecking and clawing.
Wincing, I f lung up one arm and slashed at them with the other, cutting them from the air. Blood and dismembered crows rained down on me, before the last one broke off, changing to a familiar grinning figure in an explosion of feathers.
“Where ya going, ice-boy?” Other Puck smiled and dodged back as I stabbed at him. “You can’t leave now, it’s just getting interesting.”
“Get out of my way, Goodfel ow,” I threatened, but the other Puck only laughed.
222/387
“My other half seems a bit preoccupied at the moment, so I thought I’d come say hello. La-la-la-lee,” he sang, pulling his daggers, “which one is the real me?” He gave me that demonic grin and twirled his weapons. “You only get one chance to guess right, prince.”
“Oy, ice-boy,” the real Puck called, still fighting his two doppelg?ngers.
“Quit playing around with my evil twin— you have your own!” Frustrated, I glanced at Ariel a, beyond the Puck blocking my way, and my blood ran cold. The Ice Queen, the other Ariel a, was kneeling over her twin’s body, looking down with her teeth bared in a wicked smile, one hand pressing Ariel a’s throat to the f loor. Ariel a struggled weakly, but her twin didn’t relent. Slowly, she raised a thin, jagged knife over her head, the twisted blade gleaming red in the candlelight, her eyes filled with hate.
“No!” I shouted, and tried lunging past Other Puck. He blocked my way, grinning, swiping at me with his dagger. With a roar of fury, I grabbed his wrist and jerked him to me, plunging my blade through his chest. His eyes bugged, and he exploded in a scattering of leaves, f luttering around me.