Page 53 of A Fable of Riddles and Redemption

Still, he was not there, nor did he expect her to be anywhere other than in his hideout. With a glance between the two places, Zorina stepped through the door and closed it behind her.

Wherever that strange door had led was cold and dark—but it was free of Caliban, and that was enough.

For now.

It had to be.

For the first time in ages, Zorina whispered power into her right hand, allowing a glowing ball of dark pink magic to form in her palm. It felt as warm and familiar as it always had, despite the passage of time since she’d last used it.

Suddenly, matching pink balls flashed around her, lighting on reflective surfaces in every direction. Flicking her gaze from one ball of magic to the next, she realized that she was completely surrounded by mirrors. She whirled around, panic seeping in as she realized she didn’t know which mirror included the door she’d entered this maze from.

How could she possibly know which direction to go when she didn’t know where she’d entered?

At first, the room appeared to be a gigantic mirrored circle, reflecting infinite copies of the same scene: Zorina holding a pink ball of magic, bare-branched trees at every seam—for some inexplicable reason—and a spongy, mossy floor. But as she studied it further, she realized the room was actually a shape made up of twelve identical mirrors, evenly spaced to form a shape that seemed circular.

And at least one of those mirrors was a door.

Do the others lead somewhere, too?

Determined to find a way out, Zorina approached the mirror directly in front of her, her hand still holding up a glowing orb of magic to light her path. She had gotten into this room somehow, so there had to be a way out—preferably one that did not lead back to Caliban.

Her stomach clenched at the thought. If this trap was his creation, wouldn’t every part of it lead back to him anyway?

All the same, she slid the mask into her oversized pocket—though Herrick’s pouch would have been significantly more comfortable to carry it in—and searched the mirror’s surface and gilt silver framed edges for a catch of some kind. Finding nothing on the first mirror she tried, she moved on to the next. And the next when she couldn’t find a catch there, either. She couldn’t help but wonder if those mirrors simply didn’t have a hidden latch, or if they had one too high for her to reach. Considering the fact that Caliban was more than a foot taller than her, it was definitely a possibility.

With a shudder at the thought of being trapped in part because of her lack of height, Zorina stretched her arms as high as she could reach when she checked the next mirror. Her finger suddenly snagged on something as she slid it down the back of the frame. It was just above the level of her head, making it awkward to jiggle it around until the door popped open.

Shining her magical light through the doorway, she checked to see where it led before taking a step. Her heart froze at the sight of an identical room lined with twelve more mirrors, matching trees, and the same spongy floor.

Oh no. How? And how many of these rooms are there?

Cautiously, she stepped into the room, trailing her hand along the open mirror door. The moment she was fully through the door, however, it suddenly slammed shut behind her with a resonant bang.

Zorina flinched at the sound, trying to keep her panic at bay before she attempted to find another door. This time, she kept track of which door she’d entered and moved her way left. She could not find a catch on the first mirror, so she tried the next. With a sigh of relief, she found another latch, this time at her shoulder level.

As she went through the door, she tried to keep it propped it open, but it too slammed closed behind her. She opened it again, peering back into the room she’d just left before attempting to leave the door open, but it shut on its own once more.

Frowning, Zorina considered the situation. The doors closed magically, whether she wanted them to or not. If she could wedge something in the doorway to keep them from closing, that would make marking her path easier, but she had nothing besides her clothes, Caliban’s mask, and her magic.

But if I rip off bits of my dress, that will leave a trail for him to follow. Even if it could help me navigate my way out, it would simultaneously show him where I went.

She quickly discarded that notion. The last thing she needed was to give him an easy way to find her.

What if I were to mark the mirrors themselves? Sear a mark in the bottom corner with magic that he’s unlikely to notice?

Focusing her power to a thin point, Zorina wrote a small number ‘two’ in the bottom left hand corner. In order to hopefully prevent her from getting too lost, she went through the same door again and marked another ‘two’ on the opposite side. Then, remembering the first mirror door she’d entered, she marked that with a ‘one’ as well.

Unfortunately, she did not know which door led to Caliban’s home, so she could not mark her initial entrance—and she did not want to risk discovery by opening random doors to find out. Instead, she returned through the doors labeled ‘one’ and ‘two’ before searching for yet another door.

When she found one, she labeled it with a ‘three’ and opened it. Once again, she entered another dodecagon-shaped room with mirrored walls and bare-branched trees.

Why in the Realms is there a maze of mirrors in this horrible place?

Starting from the right side of the room, Zorina checked mirror after mirror after mirror, but could not seem to find a door. She felt as though she could scream, but she did not dare. At last, on her eighth attempt, she finally triggered a latch. Marking it with a ‘four,’ she went through.

Each door she found, she marked both sides in the lower left corner.

After she stepped through the door she’d marked with a ‘six,’ her heart sank when she saw her previous labels ‘two’ and ‘three’ in the room.