“I don’t believe it. I can’t.”

“Well, obviously you’re wrong,” Carnades snapped.

Chigaru growled and lunged for the elf mage. Fortunately, Tam got the prince by the arm as soon as he saw Carnades open his mouth to speak. A wise man, Tam. At this rate, Carnades would be lucky to make it out of the cave alive.

“Are there any unbroken mirrors nearby?” I asked anyone who might know.

“In the city,” Imala replied.

Tam released the prince’s arm, but kept his eye on him. “There are dozens… in the palace.”

Lovely.

“Say we destroy the Saghred and find a nice, big, intact mirror.” I was looking at Carnades. “Could you get us home with one of those?”

“Of course.”

“Details of how you can accomplish that would be nice.”

“There are four blanks in the citadel mirror room,” Carnades said. “I have one in my home, and another in my Conclave office.”

“Blanks?”

“A mirror that is not linked to a specific destination.” Carnades’s words dripped with contempt, presumably at my ignorance.

I ignored it and him. I could always punch Carnades later. In fact, that image was going to be my happy thought for the entire trip.

Mychael shot a warning glance at Carnades. “The four blanks in the mirror room were against the opposite wall from ours,” Mychael explained. “Their surfaces were flat, no ripples, no reflections of the people in the room. They could be our way back.”

Mychael left “if they weren’t destroyed” unsaid. My low morale appreciated that.

“We would need to locate either a blank or active mirror in Regor,” he continued. “Carnades would redirect it to one of the blanks on Mid.”

“How long does that take?” Piaras asked.

“About half an hour for most mirror mages,” Mychael replied.

“I could do it in fifteen,” Carnades said disdainfully.