collapsed, and the false wounds it had projected onto Hero and Paladin fell away
with it.
At last Paladin understood this house of mirrors. He’d thought it a mind of madness, filled with
images twisted to obscure the truth, or a sorcerous cage constructed to hold Heart ever captive
behind falsities. But it was neither.
The diamond was a mind but was not mad. It was the mind of a world; in any one facet of the
diamond, truth was only partially reflected. Truth dwelt not in one angled view of something too
large and complex to be fully seen in a thousand images. Truth dwelt beyond and beneath. It
could be apprehended not by staring into one reflection but by staring into them all. Paladin would
find Heart not by smashing and slaying but only by combining all reflections into the one true
creature they mirrored.
He sheathed his sword, helped Hero rise, and stepped into the space beyond the last mirror they’d
shattered: a mirrored passage that snaked away through deceptive turns. Its silvered panes held
faces: a moon-faced sharper, a much-scarred old pirate, a pale man-giant, a black-bearded mage,
a bronze-skinned man in robes of state, a pair of idiot brothers, a crooked lumber merchant
Paladin ignored these images, grasping the corners of mirrors and pivoting them slowly, one after
another. He was opening up the passage, creating a large, circular space. Hero did likewise,
pushing back the mirrors on the opposite side of the passage into an inward-curving silver wall.
They worked speedily, repositioning and checking over their shoulders to match alignments. When
they completed the first circle, the diffuse starlight that shone through the interior of the diamond
intensified. They made a second circle beneath the first, pushing back the mirrors of the floor.
When it was done, the room sparkled in warm brilliance.
When they formed the third, the light grew so intense it pushed at the silver and glass it struck,
realigning the other facets of the great diamond. Not merely hundreds but thousands of mirrors
were brought into focus, blazing like festival sconces, each witness to all that had happened since
Heart’s disappearance.
At last light surged out to every corner of the diamondand the vision Hero and Paladin sought
erupted into sizzling incandescence before them. Lightning-white the place blazed, around Heart.
She floated in beauty at the center of it all: a creature of pure light, her raiment a rainbow, her
scepter a staff of lightning, her eyes twin blue flames.
Paladin and Hero fell to their faces before her.
Her song now was one of triumph as her power blazed brighter. The black tentacles clutching the
diamond ignited, their flames adding to the brilliance. The globe of mirrors melted away, and a
blast of pure force roared out amid the circling stars and wandering moons. With an answering
roar the fire spread down the evil tree.
Freed at last, Heart would burn her former captor to oblivion. Her soul would sear the tree away.
But what of the world it was rooted in? The worlds upon worlds into which it had sunk its wicked
roots? Would they be destroyed, evil and good alike consumed in flames?
Paladin glanced at his comrade. Hero could do it. Hero could whelm the folk of the world below
and bring their axes to bear on the base of this horrific tree.
Thousands of axes. Tens of thousands. If they chopped it through, the massive crown, a world
unto itself, would pull away among the stars to erupt safely above and beyond all. Hero could do
it.
But Paladin could not. This was she whom he sought, the Heart of all his world. If she was
destroyed in flame, he would perish with her.
Empowered by the lightning blasts of Heart, Paladin hoisted Hero, bore him to the spinning edge,
and flung him down toward the world. He shouted through the firestorm the only words they
shared: “Save it!”
Hero understood. Therein
with it.
At last Paladin understood this house of mirrors. He’d thought it a mind of madness, filled with
images twisted to obscure the truth, or a sorcerous cage constructed to hold Heart ever captive
behind falsities. But it was neither.
The diamond was a mind but was not mad. It was the mind of a world; in any one facet of the
diamond, truth was only partially reflected. Truth dwelt not in one angled view of something too
large and complex to be fully seen in a thousand images. Truth dwelt beyond and beneath. It
could be apprehended not by staring into one reflection but by staring into them all. Paladin would
find Heart not by smashing and slaying but only by combining all reflections into the one true
creature they mirrored.
He sheathed his sword, helped Hero rise, and stepped into the space beyond the last mirror they’d
shattered: a mirrored passage that snaked away through deceptive turns. Its silvered panes held
faces: a moon-faced sharper, a much-scarred old pirate, a pale man-giant, a black-bearded mage,
a bronze-skinned man in robes of state, a pair of idiot brothers, a crooked lumber merchant
Paladin ignored these images, grasping the corners of mirrors and pivoting them slowly, one after
another. He was opening up the passage, creating a large, circular space. Hero did likewise,
pushing back the mirrors on the opposite side of the passage into an inward-curving silver wall.
They worked speedily, repositioning and checking over their shoulders to match alignments. When
they completed the first circle, the diffuse starlight that shone through the interior of the diamond
intensified. They made a second circle beneath the first, pushing back the mirrors of the floor.
When it was done, the room sparkled in warm brilliance.
When they formed the third, the light grew so intense it pushed at the silver and glass it struck,
realigning the other facets of the great diamond. Not merely hundreds but thousands of mirrors
were brought into focus, blazing like festival sconces, each witness to all that had happened since
Heart’s disappearance.
At last light surged out to every corner of the diamondand the vision Hero and Paladin sought
erupted into sizzling incandescence before them. Lightning-white the place blazed, around Heart.
She floated in beauty at the center of it all: a creature of pure light, her raiment a rainbow, her
scepter a staff of lightning, her eyes twin blue flames.
Paladin and Hero fell to their faces before her.
Her song now was one of triumph as her power blazed brighter. The black tentacles clutching the
diamond ignited, their flames adding to the brilliance. The globe of mirrors melted away, and a
blast of pure force roared out amid the circling stars and wandering moons. With an answering
roar the fire spread down the evil tree.
Freed at last, Heart would burn her former captor to oblivion. Her soul would sear the tree away.
But what of the world it was rooted in? The worlds upon worlds into which it had sunk its wicked
roots? Would they be destroyed, evil and good alike consumed in flames?
Paladin glanced at his comrade. Hero could do it. Hero could whelm the folk of the world below
and bring their axes to bear on the base of this horrific tree.
Thousands of axes. Tens of thousands. If they chopped it through, the massive crown, a world
unto itself, would pull away among the stars to erupt safely above and beyond all. Hero could do
it.
But Paladin could not. This was she whom he sought, the Heart of all his world. If she was
destroyed in flame, he would perish with her.
Empowered by the lightning blasts of Heart, Paladin hoisted Hero, bore him to the spinning edge,
and flung him down toward the world. He shouted through the firestorm the only words they
shared: “Save it!”
Hero understood. Therein
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