by Suzanne Weyn
Now she heard it clearly once again. It was coming from behind her, to the right of the encampment, beautiful and high, sad, yet soothing "It's lovely, but I can't understand the words," Sheila said to Nanine.
Nanine shook her head. "It is some dialect from the high northlands. Pelu says it's a song her mother sang her long ago.
Sheila followed the sound with Morning Star beside her. They made their way down a grassy slope, and suddenly Sheila felt as though she were almost in her dream. She was heading into a tree-ringed grove where many unicorns stood. She could hear Pelu's voice, but could not see her.
She soon found the healer sitting and brushing the coat of a maple-colored unicorn colt who knelt before her looking dazed and tired. The woman with the gentle face and ash-blond braids was singing to the animal as a mother might soothe a small child who had awakened from a nightmare.
Pelu looked up when she heard footsteps approaching and smiled the same warm smile Sheila had taken comfort from so many times before. She didn't seem in the least surprised to see Sheila, just glad. She stopped singing and reached out to squeeze her hand in greeting. "I have been thinking of you as I sang to these poor ones,” she said. "I never doubted that one with your magic would hear me.”
Sheila followed PeIn's gaze and saw the "poor ones" she referred to. All around her, standing and kneeling, were unicorns who looked very ill, their once-lustrous coats now dull, their wide eyes frightened and pain-filled.
"I did hear. I heard you and Morning Star both,” Sheila said quietly. She felt awed by the knowledge that they had in fact been calling to her. Her dreams were real. "What's wrong with these unicorns?" she asked.
Pelu sighed. "If only I knew, One by one they are losing their zest and growing increasingly weaker. It seems as if the very life were being drawn out of them. None of my herbs or root medicines has had any effect. I have tried everything that ever worked in the past, all to no avail. So I am reduced to sitting here and singing my song. It is supposed to ward off evil spirits. It is all I can think to do."
"Is that why you've been gone from Campora for so long?" Sheila asked.
"Yes. We can't just leave them here like this. So far not one has died, but the night before last I became so frightened for this one that I stayed up all night singing at the top of my voice and am almost afraid to stop." Pelu looked at Sheila, her blue eyes ringed red with sleeplessness. "I must stop sometime, though, for this is madness. I can't keep it up, and besides, I don't know if it is really doing any good."
"Why were you thinking of me?" Sheila asked.
"I was wondering if there was anything in your science magic that could help." Pelu smiled wearily at Sheila. "And I was missing your cheerfulness and good spirits at this hard time. I'm glad you're here."
"I am, too," Sheila told her. "But I can't think of anything to help you. I wish I were a vet."
"A what?" Pelu asked, still stroking the unicorn.
"That's what we call an animal doctor in my world. Maybe a vet would know what to do." But after a moment's thought Sheila decided it wouldn't matter much if she was a vet. She knew how powerful Pelu's homemade remedies were. If they couldn't do the job, maybe nothing could.
Sheila sat with Pelu as the healer resumed singing. The unicorns did seem comforted by her song. Even Morning Stat swayed her glistening black horn to its gentle rhythms.
Sheila looked up the slope dreamily and saw Zanara-Ki coming down toward them. She suddenly understood the mixture of curiosity and mistrust with which the other women had regarded her when she first joined their group. They were so tightly knit and interdependent that it wasn’t easy to accept a newcomer,
"What do you think of our newest member?" Pelu stopped her singing long enough to ask.
"I only just met her,'' Sheila replied.
"It's wise to reserve judgment," Pelu said. "Zanara-Ki's life has not been easy. She was one of twins. She and her sister were taken into slavery when they were only girls and grew up in the court of Ankzar in Queelotoo. Ankzar greatly prized them as lovely dolls, dressing them in identical golden garments. But under that gilt they were strong as iron. Those who would attack Ankzar would first have to overcome these unlikely bodyguards: both twins had been trained in the fierce fighting ways of the east at a very young age!"
"Why did he give Zanara-Ki to Dynasian?" Sheila asked.
"It seems that the twins hated Ankzar about as much as everyone else does," Pelu continued. "One night Zanara-Ki's twin got the idea to murder Ankzar. To hear Zanara-Ki tell it, the sister was the more gifted fighter of the two and could have ripped Ankzar's heart from his chest. Unfortunately, Anicrar was saved by his soldiers. It took ten to subdue her. The sister was put to death, and Zanara-Ki was sent off to Campora."
"This is her first taste of freedom, then," Sheila observed.
"That's true " Pelu agreed. "When Dynasian heard of her fighting ability, he kept her in leg shackles. She…”
Pelu let her voice trail off as Zanara-Ki approached them. "I have come to tell you that a meal is being prepared, should you wish to partake of it," the ex-slave said in her low, soft voice.
"Thank you. Why don't you sit with us a moment," Pelu invited the woman.
Zanara-Ki didn't answer her. She was looking down at the unicorn colt Pelu was stroking. She seemed transfixed, her eyes filled with horror.
"What is it?" Pelu asked, alarmed.
Again Zanara-Ki was silent. Her gaze remained riveted on the unicorn colt, Sheila noticed that the woman's hands had started to tremble, "I have seen this before," Zanara-Ki whispered at last. "That colt shows all the signs."
Suddenly, as Sheila and Pelu watched, panic-stricken, the colt before them began to glow. It then fragmented into tiny, shimmering particles of intense light.
"No, not here," said Zanara-Ki in a low voice, "It can't be happening again. Not here."
Sheila took a step back, clutching Pelu's arm in terror.
"What is it?" Pelu asked the woman urgently. "Tell us what is happening."
"Not now," Zanara-Ki muttered. "No time to explain, or this one will be lost." And turning from Pelu, she held her two arms across each other and raised them in front of her face. In a low, chilling voice she began a strange incantation over the glowing unicorn. The words were unfamiliar to Sheila, and a quick glance at PeIn's astonished face told her that the healer did not recognize them, either.
"Azu kama teba non," Zanara-Ki intoned, her voice growing ever higher with each strange syllable. "Son zinc keema yasay yasay." Zanara-Ki continued changing the mysterious words, her eyes growing ever wilder. She lowered herself into a squatting position over the unicorn, which continued to shimmer with a flickering light. But despite Zanara-Ki's efforts, the unicorn's glow was growing ever dimmer.
Placing her hands on the animal, Zanara-Ki shut her eyes, as if she were trying to suffuse the colt with her own life force. But the light continued to fade.
And then, in the blink of an eye, the unicorn disappeared. "No!" Zanara-Ki shrieked, her voice full of pain and anger. She raised her arms to the sky imploringly. "No!"
7
Spellbound
Alarmed by Zanara-Ki's screams, the women in the encampment had come streaming over the hill, their weapons drawn for battle. They reached the grove just in time to see the unicorn colt vanish.
Gasps of horror swept through the group as Zanara-Ki covered her face with her hands and sobbed. After a few minutes she gained control of herself and looked up at the others.
"I have seen this horror before," she spoke in a choked voice, "when I lived in Queelotoo. All the livestock in the area grew weak and disappeared—first the sheep, pigs, and goats, then the horses, then the chickens, everything. Next it affected the plants, and soon there was nothing to harvest. The people were starving. That is how Ankzar was able to enslave the surrounding areas so easily."
Pelu put her arm around Zanara-Ki, who had once again covered her face with her hands as if tryin
g to block out the memories. "Is this some mighty plague?" Pelu asked.
"Or is it some foul magic?" asked Illyria as she stood surveying the rest of the herd.
"Some thought it a disease," Zanara-Ki told her. "But from the things I heard in Ankzarts palace, I know it was a spell. Local sorcerers tried to help the people by telling them the words I just spoke. Sometimes it worked. Mostly it didn't. Their magic was weak compared to the power of the spell."
"And what did Ankzar have to do with it?" Dian asked.
"That I do not know. I only know this curse did not touch his supplies. He seemed to have endless bounty. In fact, the more ravaged the countryside, the fuller the emperor's own stables and storage bins. Ankzar was served by a very powerful wizard, whom I am sure was responsible for this curse upon the people."
"Does this plague afflict the people still?" asked Myno.
Zanara-Ki shook her head. “The wizard was caught in a plot to overthrow Ankzar and put to death. The curse ended with his murder, but by then the people were too weak to fight. And those who had not been enslaved by Ankzar had grown too used to looking to him for their survival."
"I remember hearing rumors of this," said Nanine, who had once been a princess in a kingdom not far south of Queelotoo. "But Ankzar is many miles away—and, as you said, that wizard is now dead."
"Ankzar must have a new wizard," Zanara-Ki surmised, one who has traveled to this land."
Illyria and Sheila looked at each other. "Mardock!" they both said at once.
"Is there anyone in Queelotoo who knows how to break this spell?" Illyria asked urgently.
"The old wizard had a daughter named Simi. She used to assist him in all his spells, but she disappeared just before his murder. Some say she is dead; others say Ankzar keeps her a prisoner. No one really knows."
Suddenly all eyes turned back to the herd as a spotted mare with an ivory horn neighed pitifully and crashed to her knees. Pelu was instantly at her side. "We must somehow stop this," she said, running her hand through the animal's wheat-colored mane.
"Look!” cried Dian, pointing to a kneeling black filly. The unicorn had already begun to shimmer, and the women watched in horror as it, too, slowly disappeared.
"Shadow!" gasped Pelu, who knew each unicorn by name.
"Myno, stay with the unicorns," commanded Illyria. "Pelu needs to rest.''
Sheila recognized the look on Illyria's face. She had seen it before. Illyria was concentrating on devising the best course of action. In a few hours she would have a plan. Until then she would seem distant and distracted.
“I want to stay," Pelu objected.
"No, I need rested warriors. Come and eat now. Everyone, back to the campsite."
Sheila looked for Morning Star and found her standing beside the spotted mare who had just fallen. Somehow Sheila knew there was a strong connection between the two unicorns.
The spotted animal looked up at Morning Star wearily. Morning Star sputtered and beat the ground restlessly with her hoofs. "That's Eventide, Morning Star's sister," Pelu explained as she headed up the hill with the others. "She's one of the unicorns we freed in Campora."
Morning Star looked at Sheila, her eyes filled with sadness. "You stay here, girl,” Sheila said soothingly. "I'll be close by." She patted Morning Star's neck and then knelt to look at Eventide. "Your sister's here with you," she said, rubbing the unicorn between the ears. "And we'll figure some way to get you well again, don't you worry.”
Sheila turned and walked with the others back to the campsite. She saw that Zanara-Ki had regained her composure and resumed her normal expressionless demeanor.
Dian and Darian walked side by side back up the slope. Sheila realized that Dian wasn't going to make it easy for her to have any time alone with Darian. She wondered if something had happened between those two in the time she had been gone—perhaps a romance had blossomed. She would just have to wait and see.
"A sad time to return to us, I'm afraid," said Nanine, coming up behind Sheila.
"I know," Sheila said. "I knew before I came.”
"I always said you held great magic within yourself, even when you doubted," Nanine declared. "I hope that now you believe it, too."
"I don't know what to think," Sheila admitted. It was true, Nanine had always maintained that the things in Sheila's pack were just tools to harness and direct the power within her. Sheila had thought Nanine was just superstitious. But maybe there was some truth to what she said.
"Well, in any case, I'm here," she said with a sigh, "for all the good it does anybody."
Nanine smiled. "It always does us good to have you with us, my friend. Never doubt that."
"Thanks. It's good to be here, no matter what," Sheila answered sincerely.
As the afternoon shadows lengthened, Sheila helped with some of the chores. She gathered wood for the night fire, carried up fresh water from a stream down below in the forest, and helped Nanine look for tailfeathers to replace those that had come loose from her arrows.
From time to time she stood at the top of the hill and looked down at the herd of unicorns. By sunset she saw that at least fifteen more unicorns were kneeling. She squinted and recognized Morning Star, still standing beside her sister. Intuitively sensing Sheila's gaze, Morning Star raised her head and whinnied unhappily.
Sheila took the last of the carrots from her bag, broke them into pieces, and carried them down to feed the fallen unicorns. "We lost three more since this morning," Myno told her. "I don't know what we can do about it, either."
"Illyrla's been in her tent all day. She'll think of something," Sheila said hopefully. "We saw Mardock today in the forest. Illyria didn't seem to think we'd seen the last of him. Maybe if he comes back we can get him to take this spell off the unicorns."
"Have you the magic to summon him?" Myno asked.
Sheila shook her head. "No, and in fact he has something of mine. He got away with the Tracker I need to call for Dr. Reit when I want to go home."
"Ah, Dr. Reit," said Myno, brightening. “Perhaps his science magic has the answer.”
"Maybe so, but there's no way I can contact him without the Tracker." Sheila sat beside Myno, who had settled on a rock in the middle of the herd. The sunset cast a golden light on all the unicorns as they grazed or knelt in silence.
"You know, Mardock told me he sensed my return," Sheila said after a few minutes. "But I don't believe it. I think he was nearby because he was up to something with these unicorns. I'm sure of it."
"I'm sure of it too," Myno agreed. "Now the question is, do we lay in wait for him or go out searching?"
"He might come back looking for me," Sheila said with a shudder. "He swore he'd get me.”
"Or he might be content for now with what he has and not want to take us all on at once," Myno said.
"That's true, too." Sheila said. For a while she and Myno sat quietly and watched the unicorns. Then the aroma of supper cooking wafted down the hill. It smelled delicious. "Why don't you go eat," Sheila offered. "I'll relieve you for a while."
"Thanks, but I'd rather stay," said Myno, shifting on her broad hips. "Have somebody send me down some food and I'll be fine. You go eat. Your weary face tells me you've had a long day."
Sheila realized she was very tired. A month of the easy life at home had softened her. Gratefully, she said good night to Myno.
When Sheila reached the top of the hill, she saw that the others were already gathered around the fire. Dian was dishing the food out from a tin bowl that had just been taken from the fire. Without a smile she handed a plateful to Sheila.
Sheila sat and looked at the charbroiled meat. The others held it in their hands and seemed to be enjoying it. She picked off a piece, and the tender meat fell apart easily in her hand. She tasted it. "This is good," she commented.
"Dian fixes snake very well," Nanine agreed.
"She would," Sheila replied dryly. Despite an initial surge of revulsion at the news that she was eating s
nake, it tasted as good as it smelled, and Sheila ate it.
After supper everyone sat around the glowing fire, as was their habit. They usually sang or told stories, but tonight there was silence as each one thought about the fate of the unicorns in the grove below. Illyria had come out of her tent only long enough to get some food and return inside.
"I brought some presents for you," Sheila told the others.
"Let's see," Nanine said eagerly. "All this glumness is doing the unicorns no good. This will cheer us up.”
Sheila dragged her bags near the fire and began going through them."I brought this gold eyeshadow and lip gloss for you, Nanine," she said holding out the makeup. It was nearly new. Cookie had convinced her to buy it, but Sheila had decided the glitter was too far-out for her sporty style.
Nanine took the two compacts into her strong, slender hands as if they were jewels. She snapped open the black plastic case of shadow and studied it. One half was a yellow gold, while the other was a shiny green-gold. "You know I love my gold powder," she said, referring to the loose gilt face powder she always wore at her temples and cheeks. "But I have never seen anything like this. It's so smooth. And what is this case made of? Is it a shell of some kind?"
"It's plastic," Sheila answered. "I can't really explain where it comes from, but it's made by people."
"Made by good wizards, no doubt," said Nanine. "Thank you."
Next Sheila gave Pelu the first-aid kit, Pelu sorted through the bandages, burn cream, and antiseptic spray. "It all looks quite wonderful1" she said happily, "and light enough to carry tied to my saddle. You must explain it all to me, especially these marvelous little knives." She held up a small pair of scissors.
Sheila placed the sneakers she was saving for Myno to one side. Then she pulled out a red case she'd brought for Dian. In it was a pocket mirror that lit up on either side when it was opened. "This is for you," she said.
Dian took the case and snapped it open. "Oh!" she gasped, despite herself. And she grinned at her reflection in the mirror with obvious delight before she remembered to be cool. Then "Thank you," she said stiffly.