"I didn't even know this one was here," she said.
"We're some distance away from the room where I slept. Forget space.Take me through."
"I'd better warn you first," she said. "According to tradition,nobody's ever succeeded in killing a guisel with a sword, or purely by meansof magic. Guisels can absorb spells and lashes of force. They can taketerrible wounds and survive."
"Any suggestions then?"
"Baffle it, imprison it, banish it. That might be better than trying tokill it."
"OK, we'll play it as it's dealt. If I get into real bad trouble, youget the hell out."
She did not reply but took my hand and stepped into the mirror. As Ifollowed her, the antique Chaos clock began to chime an irregular beat. Theinside of the mirror seemed the same as the room without, but turned around.Rhanda led me to the farthest point of the reflection, to the left, thenstepped around a corner.
We came into a twisted, twilit place of towers and great residences,none of them familiar to me. The air bore clusters of wavy, crooked lineshere and there. She approached one, inserted her free hand, and steppedthrough it, taking me with her. We emerged on a crooked street lined withtwisted buildings.
"Thank you," I said then, "for the warning and for the chance tostrike."
She squeezed my hand.
"It is not just for you, but for my family, also, that I do it."
"I know that," I said.
"I would not be doing this if I did not believe that you have a chanceagainst the thing. If I did not, I would simply have warned you and told you