Agents of the Crown- The Complete Series

by Lindsay Buroker

  The vendors, who were following Horti and Borti as they headed for a building, didn’t bat an eye at the unicorn. They were either accustomed to seeing it in the outpost or they didn’t see it. Unicorns were rumored to be some of the most magical and powerful creatures in the world, with gifts rivaling those of dragons, and Zenia had heard they could travel about invisibly if they wished. It was said that orcs, humans, trolls, ogres, and even elves and dwarves had attempted to convince unicorns to become allies to their peoples, but the elusive race never agreed, preferring neutrality and to spend time only with their own kind with rare exceptions. What could this one want?

  A sensation of wariness emanated from her dragon tear. It didn’t seem to be a warning to stay away—or run away—but Zenia had the impression her gem couldn’t read the unicorn’s thoughts the way it could with humans and other intelligent beings. Therefore, the gem wasn’t sure what to think of the creature.

  Your quest is noble, the unicorn spoke into Zenia’s mind. I am here to guide you, if you wish it.

  You know why we’re here? And where we need to go?

  Zenia gripped Jev’s arm. “You see her, right?”

  “I do.” He nodded toward the unicorn. “Is she conversing with you? I’ve heard they’re telepathic.”

  Zenia nodded and wondered if the unicorn could understand her thoughts. Or could it only share its words without hearing those of others?

  I can hear you when you direct your thoughts at me, the unicorn said, a hint of humor coming along with the silent words. If I am in the area. My name is Eysinor. You are Zenia Cham from the kingdom of Kor.

  Er, yes. Even though the unicorn—Eysinor—was a beautiful creature and had a pleasant mental voice, it unnerved Zenia that she knew her name and where she came from.

  I know much. And please consider me a person rather than a creature. Unicorns are intelligent.

  Sorry. Zenia flushed with embarrassment, distressed that she’d already offended the only one here offering to be their guide. But it was disconcerting that it—she—heard even the thoughts Zenia didn’t intend to share.

  “Is it a good conversation?” Jev looked back and forth from Zenia to the unicorn, probably wondering at this long silence in which they were staring at each other.

  “It’s… educational.”

  By now, Rhi, Hydal, and Cutter were also staring back and forth from Zenia to the unicorn. Oddly, the crew didn’t seem to notice her. Or maybe they’d seen the unicorn often and thought nothing of her presence. They were toting out goods for trade and heading up the gangplank.

  “Her name is Eysinor,” Zenia said, “and she’s offering to guide us to our destination.”

  Jev raised his eyebrows. “She knows our destination?”

  “She knows about us and our quest.” Zenia looked into the unicorn’s dark brown eyes, not sure if that was necessary for communication, but assuming it might help. Do you know where she is?

  For some reason, Zenia made the question vague instead of simply saying ‘the dragon.’ She wasn’t sure why, other than it went against her instincts to trust a stranger immediately, unicorn or not.

  I can sense the dragon from many miles away.

  And how many miles away are we? Zenia smiled hopefully.

  She knew they were headed the right direction, but she didn’t think miles mattered much to dragons, for she hadn’t been able to get a sense of how many days’ travel—on foot—they were from the orcs. When she’d asked, the dragon tear had shown her the route from above, zooming past miles and miles of trees and tilting here and there to take advantage of air currents. The vision had been such a wild rocking blur that it had made Zenia seasick. Or maybe the term was airsick.

  Perhaps a hundred of your miles.

  That’s it? Excitement thrummed through Zenia’s veins for the first time in days.

  I could travel there in a day or two, but since you are two-legs, it will take longer.

  Yes, but not much longer, unless we have to cut our way through vines the whole way. Do we?

  No. Gather your team and your gear. I will meet you at the path leading out of the outpost to the south.

  “We have a guide,” Zenia said.

  “Are we paying her?” Jev asked.

  “In coin? I don’t think unicorns have pockets.”

  “Are we paying her in some other manner?”

  Zenia opened her palm skyward. “She didn’t ask for anything.”

  “I would be more comfortable if she had.”

  “She said she wanted to help the dragon.”

  “Forgive me if I’m less than trustful of strangers. Even strangers with silky fur and a pretty horn.”

  “I know,” Zenia said. “I understand, and I have reservations too, but what better options do we have? Our map isn’t very precise. If we bumble around in the jungle ourselves, we might only get lost. Or eaten.”

  Some large creature screeched out in the wilds, making her point and reminding her that this outpost wasn’t exactly a bastion of civilization. Here and there, the remains of a wall of vertical, pointed logs tied together with vines were visible, but there were so many gaps in it that an elephant could have ambled up to the general mercantile.

  “If you change your mind or decide she’s suspicious,” Jev said, offering his arm, “I’m not too good to bumble. As you know.”

  “I’ve definitely seen you bumble.” Zenia leaned against him, glad she had people around her she could rely upon and trust. She was glad she had him.

  As Jev walked down the puddle-filled dirt road with brambles, branches, and vines encroaching from the sides, he kept one hand on his pistol. Nothing had attacked them yet, but he was certain some large predator would jump out sooner or later.

  The unicorn walking calmly up ahead, her purple tail swaying with her steps, didn’t give any indication that trouble lurked nearby, but the myriad animal noises coming from the foliage set Jev on edge. There were far more growls, yips, and snaps than he was accustomed to when walking through the woods on his property back home. Even the tall dense trees of Taziira hadn’t seemed so loaded with wildlife. Hungry wildlife.

  “We sure that white horse knows the way?” Borti asked from Jev’s side.

  His brother, who walked on his other side, looked over curiously.

  This road, which they had been traveling down all morning, was far wider and oft-used than anything Jev had expected to find out here; the ogress back in that small harbor town hadn’t included roads on her map. Nor had he anticipated anything so trafficked after seeing the size of that last river outpost. Jev wondered if the unicorn was creating the road with her magic and letting it seal back up after their group passed. But he’d seen moccasin and boot prints in the mud, along with occasional ruts from wagon wheels, which lent evidence to it being an actual thoroughfare. From where and to where, he did not know.

  “She offered to be Zenia’s guide,” Jev said neutrally.

  The unicorn could probably hear them, mentally if not audibly, so he was careful to keep his suspicions to himself. It was hard to imagine one of the staunchly neutral unicorns of the world leading them astray for some nefarious reason, but it was also hard to imagine one going out of its way—her way—to lead a group of humans through the jungle for days.

  Was it for the dragon’s sake? Maybe Zenia’s dragon had an ally. But if so, why wouldn’t the unicorn have used her magic to free the dragon on her own? Could the orcs truly have so much power that a unicorn would be daunted? Jev had heard of orc shamans capable of making high-quality magical tools, but they were generally regarded as weaker than elves when it came to the arcane gifts. Certainly weaker than a dragon or a unicorn.

  And yet… they held a dragon prisoner.

  “That didn’t quite answer my question, Zyndar,” Borti said.

  “I know.” Jev shrugged.

  “It just seems like there are a lot of people you don’t even know who would show up just to object,” came Rhi’s voice from behind them
.

  Horti looked over his shoulder. Zenia and Rhi walked along a few feet back with Cutter and Hydal bringing up the rear. Zenia held an open book in her hands as she picked a route around the puddles and mud. Rhi bounced her bo on her shoulder and scrutinized the wilds around them.

  Jev hadn’t been paying much attention to the women’s intermittent conversation, being lost in his own thoughts and worried about what was going on back home, but he’d caught a few comments from Rhi about weddings between commoners and zyndar being unlikely. At first, Jev had assumed they were discussing his relationship with Zenia, but since Rhi had been voicing most of the thoughts, he’d realized she might be thinking of herself and Hydal.

  Horti kept looking back at Rhi with sad eyes, and Jev remembered that he’d met her before all this started, presumably when they had both been monks, and had seemed interested in her. Jev had caught Rhi and Hydal trading shy secret smiles a couple of times since their evening in the captain’s cabin, so he suspected Horti’s chances were slim.

  “Did you find someone to leave your rats with, Horti?” Jev asked, thinking that might draw his attention away from that which he could not have.

  Horti nodded, and Borti said, “The only orc in that outpost to say rats are disgusting.”

  “Which most qualified him for the job?” Jev asked in confusion.

  Horti nodded again, vigorously.

  “Her, yes,” Borti said. “We figured she wouldn’t eat anything she found disgusting. The other trolls and orcs we spoke to licked their lips when they saw how large our rats were. Even Cutter was speaking fondly of rat stew last week. Can you imagine wanting to slice up such fine racing rats?”

  “You’re already certain they’ll be good racers?”

  “We’ve been doing this for years. We can tell.” Borti nodded firmly, but then his expression turned a little wary as he looked at Jev. “Zyndar Dharrow,” he said with more formality than he’d used for a while. “Are we… I know we get wrapped up in our passions, and until I got enticed by that albino on the king’s steamer, I told my brother there was no way we were going to seek out any new brood stock while we were out here, but sometimes, it’s hard to fully set aside your dreams, especially when you’re on a mission that’s taking weeks. That might take months. Not that we’re not appreciative of this opportunity.” His wariness only seemed to increase as he looked at Jev again.

  “Understandable,” Jev said, having no idea why he was on edge.

  “This job is important to us. This chance. I—we—don’t want you to think we’re not with you one-hundred percent. As I admitted, the Temple didn’t want us any longer, and even though we’re good fighters who would have been an asset to the watch, they were nervous that our ties to the rat races might cause a conflict of interests—there are, admittedly, quite a few gang members who run rats in between their other less legal endeavors. It was a friend of a friend who got us an audience with the king so we could apply to work for him. This is our last chance unless we want to be bodyguards or mercenaries, and that’s work that would take us out of the city, if not out of the kingdom altogether. It would be hard to keep up our breeding program and a regular presence in the races.”

  “I imagine.”

  “I won’t ask you to promise to speak well of us to the king before our assignment is complete,” Borti said, “but I hope… Did we perform well enough when we raided that boat? We did our best to provide a diversion and help you, and that boat was destroyed, but are we serving you adequately, Zyndar?”

  Borti looked at Jev with such earnestness—and his mute brother mirrored the expression—that Jev felt guilty. He was the one who had run around to the back, leaving them to battle however many trolls had been in that main cabin. And other than getting that bomb planted, he had done little else. He was the one who should be asking someone if he was adequate.

  “Your fighting and assistance were perfect,” Jev said. “I might be dead if Horti hadn’t rammed that shaman in the back.”

  The brothers exchanged relieved looks.

  “We weren’t certain since the shaman and most of the trolls got away,” Borti confessed.

  “We stopped them from following us,” Jev said. “That was the only goal. I definitely couldn’t have done it without you. I…”

  The unicorn stopped, so he let his words trail off. Her tail swished more than it had before. A sign of agitation? Or concern?

  “Trouble?” Zenia murmured, stopping at Jev’s side.

  The air smells of sulfur, the unicorn spoke into Jev’s mind. Into all of their minds, judging by the uneasy way the rest of the party stirred.

  “Are we getting close to one of the volcanos?” Zenia held up her book. “I’ve been trying to learn how much these volcanos play into the orcs’ beliefs.”

  She’d mentioned wondering about that before. Was she hatching some plan already? They would need one to get past a large tribe of orcs. Unless the unicorn intended to use her magic to help them in battle.

  The volcanos in this area are not usually active, she informed them.

  Hoofbeats came from behind them. Jev spun, expecting a rider.

  A marsh deer thundered toward them, its antlers as wide as the road, its dark eyes huge with terror. It saw their party and sprang to the side, almost leaping over Cutter. Jev glimpsed an arrow sticking out of the creature’s neck before it disappeared into the foliage.

  A black panther sprang into the road, chasing after the deer. Jev and several others raised their firearms, but the great cat followed the same route as its prey, leaping into the brush and disappearing from sight. Soon, the sounds of the chase faded. Until a scream of pain echoed through the trees. The triumphant roar of the panther followed.

  Jev grimaced but lowered his pistol. He caught a distressed look in Zenia’s eyes and was glad the panther hadn’t made its kill right in front of them.

  “The way of the forest,” Borti said. “Or the jungle, I suppose.”

  “Arrows aren’t the way of the forest.” Jev looked toward the unicorn, guessing she had spotted the arrow too, with magic if not with her eyes.

  Orc hunters are nearby, she told them.

  “Not good ones if the panther got their prey,” Cutter said.

  If they see us, they will report it to their people, and they will anticipate our arrival in their valleys and prepare traps. That would not be good. I am seeking to use magic to make us invisible to them, but there are many of their kind about. We must be wary.

  “Is this their road?” Jev asked.

  We have entered their territory.

  “You’ve been here before?”

  I have. The unicorn resumed her journey, leading the way up the road.

  Even though she was polite, Jev had the sense that she didn’t want to be asked further questions.

  “Can you sense orcs out there?” he asked Zenia quietly, letting her draw even with him before continuing after their guide.

  “I’ve checked a couple of times—” Zenia touched her dragon tear, “—but there’s so much life of all kinds that it’s overwhelming.”

  “Can you get a read on her at all?” Jev nodded toward the unicorn. “I’ve been wondering why she’s helping us. If she cares about freeing the dragon, why not do it herself?”

  “Maybe she doesn’t have the power.”

  Zenia didn’t sound that convinced, and he suspected she had been considering the same logic flaws in that argument that he had.

  “Anything promising in the book?” He waved to her tome, amused that it lay open in her hands and she was reading as they walked. If he tried that, he would end up nose-first in a puddle.

  “I’m reading Zyndar Reekal Tramish’s chapters on the orcs of Izstara. He explored large parts of the continent a hundred years ago, and many of his observations still apply. He was reputedly here on safari, but he had an academic bent, and I’m enjoying the reading. Hydal actually recommended it when I mentioned needing to bring some useful books along on this trip.
”

  “Hydal recommended a book someone is enjoying? I didn’t know that was possible.”

  Zenia elbowed him and pointed at a page. “Many of the orcs believe in deities that live in the volcanos and long ago used the power of magma and the earth to create Izstara for their people. Archaeologists believe orcs were the first intelligent race here in the jungle—and so do the orcs. The tribes have been irritated for many generations as outsiders have encroached on their continent and their territory.”

  “Does that explain why they captured a dragon?”

  “I don’t think it explains anything, except perhaps why they might want a dragon on their side. But from my dreams…” Zenia touched her gem again, frowning darkly. “From my dreams, it doesn’t seem like they’re working together with the dragon or doing anything but causing her pain.”

  Zenia blinked, looking away to hide the moisture in her eyes.

  Jev wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hoping she knew she didn’t need to hide her feelings from him.

  Zenia took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “If they could control the dragon, she would give them more power to use against their enemies—the book mentions that the tribes once warred frequently among themselves but were, at the time this was written, in the process of banding together so they could push away outsiders, including trolls, ogres, and human and elven explorers. But torturing her wouldn’t win her help.” Zenia clenched her jaw.

  “Would they be able to control her if they had your dragon tear?”

  She halted so abruptly that Jev’s arm fell from her shoulders. The rest of the group stopped too, peering curiously at her.

  “Sorry,” Zenia mumbled and started walking again, but her eyes had that glazed lost-in-thought look.

  Jev waited for her to mull it over. He’d been worried that freeing the dragon from her physical prison would break the link with the gem and that Zenia wouldn’t have access to her magic anymore, but what if the link, however it had come about, was permanent? And what if whoever held the dragon tear had sway over the dragon?

  “I don’t know if it works that way, but it could explain why that shaman wants this so badly.” Zenia held up the gem. “I’d assumed it was purely for the value—do you know how much even basic dragon tears cost back home if you try to buy one in a shop?”