The emperor stood and watched as the shadows moved through the darkness, creeping over rock and hill, they moved steadily through the mountains. These shadows swarmed up the mountain trail, he watched for a moment more. They weren't shadows but people and the emperor knew exactly who they were and why their army was slinking through the darkness. He tipped his head to the group of robe-clad men who stood to his right. At his acknowledgment of the group, one stepped forward.

"Howin, tell me how we will do away with this threat?" he asked the man, gesturing in the direction of the moving mass of humanity.

The sorcerer turned to watch the soldiers creeping through the night. "I've thought it through and spent many long hours on the spells needed to deal with this menace." He looked to the others who stood back several paces before he turned back to the emperor. "We have come up with a way to trap them. The spell will be difficult but we believe it will work. They use magic to travel great distances, your Eminence. They use the glass of a mirror to accomplish this feat. I followed them after one of their raids and discovered where one of their mirrors is hidden away."

"How does this information assist us in trapping them?" the emperor asked. He didn't understand the complexities of magic but he trusted his magical advisors.

Howin hesitated, looking uncertain for a moment. "We believe the spell we created will prevent them from reaching their destination and instead trap them inside the mirror until they can live at peace in this world."

The emperor watched the army as it moved through the darkness. "So be it. We have little choice. Do what must be done."

The sorcerer bowed low and retreated to where his fellow magic-makers stood so they could begin to set their plans in motion and seal the fate of the people moving through the rocks below. They would pay for their threats against the Yellow Emperor. They would not allow this army to harm their people.

***

As Kaili followed his father through the darkness, something prickled at the hairs on the back of his neck. He paused and turned, his eyes went back toward the towering mountains. Something was wrong, it wasn't the first time he'd felt that tingle over the last few months as they made these treks to and from the traveling mirror in this area. This time it seemed more pronounced.

"Father, I think we should turn back. Use a different route for our escape," he urged.

His father slowed and glanced back over his shoulder. "Why?"

Before answering, his dark eyes swept over the mountains once more, looking for something he couldn't catch a glimpse of. "I'm not certain, but something isn't right. I can feel it."

"You are too jumpy of late. You see danger where there is none. I think you should stop training with Si, this magic nonsense isn't for you. You are a prince and a soldier, not a sorcerer."

Kaili scowled at his father's back. When his father's sorcerer, Si, detected the magic in him his father had been pleased by the development. It didn't take long for his pleasure to turn to something else. One evening he had heard the two discussing how quickly he was advancing with his magical training. The sorcerer had told his father that his power was greater than Si's was. The two began to worry he would use his power to take the throne from his father The time would come for him to take the throne, but not before he was ready. He felt no need to shove his father from his seat and steals his crown. Not when he was assured that it would be his eventually.

When he stopped walking his father was forced to stop as well. "I'm telling you something is wrong, we need to turn back!"

"Nothing is wrong! We've used these routes hundreds of times. Why, now, should something be wrong when it has never been before? The way we travel is a closely guarded secret, no one knows these routes."

He couldn't explain why he felt as he did. He simply knew it was so. "I don't know, Father! I simply feel that this is not the right way for us to go!"

His father shook his head as the corners of his lips pulled up into a smile. "I cannot rely on feelings, I'm sorry, son. My people will begin to believe I've gone mad if I start dictating on feelings."

He glanced around again before he turned his gaze on his father. "The Yellow Emperor wasn't pleased with the demands you made or your request that he surrender. What if he had us followed? He told you he wouldn't stand for the way you demanded he turn his kingdom over to us," he snapped

"Nonsense, he can make all the threats he wishes. Others have threatened us and none of those threats have ever come to fruition," his father replied and shrugged away his concerns.

He wasn't as certain as his father was that the Yellow Emperor would leave them alone. The threats he made were clear and they remained in his thoughts as they continued their journey to the cave where the traveling mirror was hidden. The Yellow Emperor wouldn't stand idly by while his father's army ransacked his kingdom or murdered his people, he'd made that very clear. His father's craving for more power had perhaps overstepped their army's abilities. The Yellow Emperor wasn't a man to be trifled with.

Kaili hung back as the men entered the cave. He still had the feeling that something was terribly wrong.

Si placed a hand briefly on his arm and sent him a sympathetic look as he passed him and entered the cave. There were many caves like this one scattered throughout China. They housed the mirrors their people used to travel from one place to another, quickly and quietly. It made attacking their rivals easy, their victims often didn't know the army was there until it was much too late.

The men moved past him into the cave, but he felt no need to follow them inside. He was bothered by the persistent feeling that something was wrong. He sat on a rock outside the cave and glanced back over his shoulder to see his father step through the mirror, followed by Si. The soldiers followed one by one and he turned away. The method of travel through the mirrors was something Si had discovered many years ago. It provided a perfect way to secret an army into a place. A mirror at each end, you stepped through one and exited through the other. He pitched a rock at a small lizard, missed, and watched as it scurried away. When he glanced over his shoulder he saw that the last of his father's men disappear through the mirror.

Still, he remained where he was. Why he remained he wasn't sure, but he waited. An hour passed and then another. Just when he had decided perhaps he'd been wrong about things being off, he heard approaching footsteps. He scrambled from his perch, slipped into the cave, and hid behind a pile of rocks. The cave wasn't large, just big enough to hide the mirror and hold a handful of men. The mirror sat against the wall opposite his hiding place.

"It is time to see if our plan worked," one of the approaching men commented as they entered the cave.

Kaili peered from his hiding place and watched as the robed men entered the cave. A man in a red robe separated from the group to approach the mirror. The others, dressed in deep green robes, remained back, watching as the red-robed man stared into the glass of the mirror and muttered some words. He prodded the glass, muttered again, and waited.

After a moment, he gave a small joyous shout and smiled at the others.

"It has worked. They're in there. Come, we must inform the emperor. The Mirror people are trapped. They cannot escape. They will only be released when Xin Fa returns in two hundred years. That will give them plenty of time to repent. That will teach them to threaten the Yellow Emperor!"

Kaili watched as the men scurried from the cave. Once they retreated he hurried from his hiding spot and approached the mirror. It was nothing but a mirror that showed his reflection. He frowned at the glass. "What do I do now?

The words the man in the red robes spoke skittered through his mind. He concentrated and tried to recall what it was the man said. When he was certain he had recalled them correctly he muttered them. The mirror's surface shimmered slightly and revealed his father and his army trapped behind the glass. It took a great deal of concentration for him to call his father forward so he could speak to him.

"Kaili, my son!"

As relieved as he was to see that his father was safe, he was also angry because his father had ignored his feeling of danger. "I told you this was not the way to come! The Yellow Emperor set a trap for us. It's a good thing I didn't follow you through the mirror."

"It's too late for reprimands, we must figure out how to escape this place!"

"I hid when I heard his magic makers coming."

"Did you hear what they said?"

"It will be two hundred years before our people will be released. You will be trapped until Xin Fa returns, only he can set you free," he told his father. Whether the mythical silver fish existed, he couldn't say, but he would find a way to be there when his father and their people were released. Somehow, he would find a way to make it happen.

"Two hundred years? What do they expect us to do in that time?" his father asked with a scowl.

"Repent," Kaili told him with a smirk.

With his hands on his belly, his father laughed loudly. "He will be surprised when we return and instead lay waste to his kingdom! Be prepared for our return, my son. Our people will have revenge on the Yellow Emperor." His father grinned. "Well, at the very least, on his descendants."

Kaili bowed to his father. He would be prepared to do whatever he could to help.

Howin lurked outside the cave's entrance and listened as the two men spoke. He'd returned because he felt it might be unwise to leave the mirror unattended. The Mirror King could have people who would come and remove the mirror to return it to his kingdom. It seemed his decision was a wise one, the plans the father and son made disturbed him. He ducked back behind the rocks when Kaili exited the cave. He waited a long while before he entered the cave, retrieved the mirror, and took it with him back to the Yellow Emperor's palace where it would be guarded and kept safe.

Howin stared at the mirror where it leaned against the wall of his chamber. "I must protect our kingdom."

The spell had already been cast on the mirror and there was no way to change it without releasing the army. He found himself wishing that he had trapped them forever behind the glass instead of allowing for them to be released after a time of penance. Keung was not the type of man who gave up easily, he should have accounted for that. He should have realized he would vow revenge, not repent his sins.

The mirror was under his control and that was a good thing. He pulled his spellbook out and flipped through the pages. He raised a hand and cast the first of many spells that would take him most of the evening to cast. The sorcerer layered spells and curses upon the mirror to protect it. As a final act to make certain the mirror would be protected, he appointed a guardian to watch over and protect the mirror and gave the guardian a warrior to protect them from harm should Kaili come looking for the mirror.

"That should do it." He sighed. "If only I could keep you in there," he told the mirror. A thought sparked as his mind went over each aspect of the original spell. He couldn't change the basics of the spell, but there was a small tweak he could make, a new order for Xin Fa. They had tasked the fish with the job of releasing the Mirror people, he was supposed to make continuous attempts to release them until he found success.

He pressed a hand to the glass of the mirror, closed his eyes, and began chanting. When he completed the spell he dropped his hand and stepped back. Xin Fa would now make a single attempt to free them from the mirror, if he was thwarted, he would retreat and return in another two hundred years. It was the best he could do.

He prayed Kaili would be no match for the guardian and warrior who would now protect the mirror. The man was a gifted soldier and a sorcerer as well. It worried him.

***

Two days later Kaili crept into Howin's chambers unexpectedly. Kaili crouched beside the old sorcerer's bed, his fingers resting against the old man's face. "You will tell me what I wish to know about the mirror."

The old man's eyes flicked open and he stared for a moment before his features twisted with anger. "I will never reveal my secrets, especially to the likes of you." He had badly underestimated the young man. He'd never expected him to boldly enter the Yellow Emperor's palace in search of the mirror, and he didn't expect him to slip in under the cover of darkness and attempt to use his magic to gain answers.

"That is where you are wrong, old man." Magic sizzled from his fingertips through the surface of the old sorcerer's skin causing his back to arch as a scream tore from him. "Speak to me," Kailie commanded.

Howin's body dropped back to the bed and he stared up at Kaili, panting. "There is nothing you can do that will force me to tell you my secrets."

How wrong he was, it took hours, but Kaili managed to use his magic to pull everything from the old sorcerer. Once he got the information he needed, he stood and glanced at the mirror.

"I'll free you, Father, I swear it." The old man had protected the mirror and he could no longer claim it as his own.

Still, he left confident he could defeat the old sorcerer's guardian and warrior when the time came. He didn't spare a glance for the old magic maker as he departed. The man was of no more use to him and he would die soon anyway.

Howin remained where he was prone on the floor until he was certain Kaili had left, then he used the last of his remaining strength to drag his, battered, bloody body across the cold tile of his chamber to where the pages of his spellbook lay scattered. Kaili had torn the books to shreds to prevent any of the other sorcerers in the Yellow Emperor's employ from protecting the mirror further. It took him longer than he wished to gather the correct pages so he could put a final layer of protection on the mirror. He pulled the bonds of the warrior and guardian closer together and made them more powerful. The layers of spells pulled their bonds tighter and intertwined their fates. Together they would have the power to defeat the prince of the Mirror People.

The following morning Howin's body was discovered slumped across the blood-soaked pages of the destroyed magic book. Beside him, written in blood was a riddle that none knew how to decipher. The guardian took the mirror and hid it away so the prince could never find it. Her warrior at her side, they guarded the mirror until Xin Fa came. They defeated the fish and they passed the mirror onto a new warrior and guardian when the time came.

And so it continued through the ages, the mirror was passed from guardian to guardian, kept from the prince's greedy hands. Sometimes by deceit. Sometimes through battles won.

As years, and then centuries passed, the riddle was forgotten and with it, the power they would need to defeat Kaili once and for all. Each guardian feared that one day Kaili would find the mirror and take possession of it and he would find a way to release his people so they could once again walk the Earth.

Once they were free the Mirror People would seek revenge for their imprisonment.