I recognized his shuffling gait and long, knotted black hair. Not quite dreadlocks, but possibly needing a comb, a long blue denim coat that seemed incongruous with the rain forest weather, but maybe it was all he had, and a pair of jeans and black boots with holes in the toes. He held a sack that must have contained his worldly possessions. I didn’t see an instrument or any other evidence he could have powers. Yet, my history books told me the Mad Bards did have the same powers we did.
“Hello,” I called and waved what I hoped was cheerfully when he approached. “How are you?”
He grunted and walked forward half a dozen more steps, then stopped. “Need permission to come closer.”
I would have made a vampire crack, except lore said they needed permission to come into houses and I didn’t want to find out if they were real or not. Heck, if a talking bearded dragon were real, then vampires might be too. I realized I was staring and nodded. “As long as you don’t mean any harm,” I said in what I thought was a joking tone of voice.
“Girl, if I’d meant to harm you it would have been done. You’re new.”
Yeah, I was pretty used to that. Around here if you weren’t born in the jungle then you were a transplant, and the newness never wore off, especially if you’d started out as an American. “Thanks,” I replied. “Can I help you with something?”
“This place you’re guarding. It’s pretty special,” he said as he came forward. “You have help here but they want to bend you to your rules. I’m here to offer another way.”
Well this would have been nice a few months ago. I bit back the retort that came to my lips. He’d just arrived, and until now I’d thought he was just a crazy old guy, not anyone who could have helped. I suspect that probably said more about my privileged American upbringing than it did about him. “I’m not sure I can take another way,” I said and sensed, rather than heard, Hazel moving behind me. The rules were simple. I had to learn how to be a good little Musimagia and follow the rules or I lost everything. “I’m sorry.”
“You always have choices. She just didn’t tell you that.” He looked behind me as I heard the door open and Hazel stepped out onto the front porch. I moved a bit to make room for her. “You Musimagia think you have all the answers, that your rules make you civilized. Instead, you topple and steal like the white men who came to our shores so many centuries ago. Your rules are the smallpox that wipes out creativity and joy. You create lassos of power and snare the unwilling like our young girl here. You will not win.”
“We’ll see about that,” Hazel said and laid her hand possessively on my shoulder.
I kept quiet. Not that I was sure it was the right thing to do because I knew what it made me look like, a weak person who couldn’t stand up to a single member of the Musimagia. The fear in my veins made me leery of doing anything to rock the boat. I swallowed hard. “Can I know your name?”
“Diego,” he said. “My name is Diego, Tory.” He spoke the words aloud, as if he’d recently just rediscovered the simple fact of his name. “The vipers no longer pump me full of chemicals just to make me appear like them. I talk to the spirits and the trees tell me that you are on dangerous ground. That the path you think will bring safety will bring anything but. I came here to warn you, should you decide to hear it.”
Hazel’s fingers tightened on my shoulder, and I got the impression she knew far more than she’d let on. “Thank you,” I said, thinking that was probably the safest and the most polite response. I curdled inside. I hated giving the safe answer, the one that was designed to keep me out of trouble. That reminded me too much of my childhood, of what you do when you’re the daughter of wealthy people. “I know where to find you if I have more questions,” I added, thinking that, too, shouldn’t raise any ire. He lived between me and the main road. Of course I knew where to find him. Never mind that one of my first questions would be, if he’d known about me, why had it taken him so long to reach out. Because if he’d come to me sooner, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be in this position.
http://marykitcaelsto.com/go/tonicchords/
Left for dead when the Great Dividing happened, Olivia Santos retreated to her small southern Ohio acreage and her horses, including her longtime companion, Lady. Her home also hides a magical node, one whose energy supports a small herd of unicorns. As their guardian, she vows to protect them at any cost.
A series of magical attacks on the node come from a rogue group within the Musimagium, one that wants to destroy the node and send the unicorns back to the magical realms from which they come for good.
Olivia refuses to let that happen and when she discovers the group is backed by her old boss—the one who left her for dead—she’s forced back into the world of Armis and the Musimagium. They almost killed her once. Lady fears it will happen again.
But Olivia has no choice and thankfully she’s not alone. Even with help, she knows if she can’t stop the attacks, she won’t live long enough to protect those she loves.
https://books2read.com/ofsongsandhorns
Chapter One
Looking out my east window to see unicorns frolicking by the bird bath never ceased to amaze me. After four years of guardianship of both the herd and the magic portal they protected, I ought to have gotten used to the sight. I hadn’t. Beyond them were the fifteen acres of my horse pasture, just starting to turn lush and green with the arrival of spring. Lady, my gray mare who’d been the schoolmaster tasked with taking me through three levels of dressage, grazed next to her gelding buddy Danny. Shadow, a horse I’d rescued a year ago from a bad situation, grazed not too far away, growing bolder now that he’d realized that there’d be no pain here. His black and white splashes appeared like an abstract artwork against the impressionist painting the others appeared to be through the rain-streaked glass of the window.
They’re worried. Lady’s voice filled my mind, and that too, still startled me, though it’d come right after the Great Dividing. Something isn’t right.
A lot wasn’t right. I didn’t extrapolate. Lady didn’t care about the ills of the world, only her connection to the unicorns who didn’t talk to people, not even those of us with the power. I may not be a member of the Musimagium, but I could have been had I wanted to be. I didn’t. For a great many reasons. I know, I told her. I’m not seeing anything.
I lifted the silver flute to my lips and blew a few experimental notes until I gave into the music flowing through my veins. Today’s tune was a variation on Bach’s Partitia in A Minor, and I suspect it bore only a passing resemblance to that original work. The complicated fingerings tested my skill and concentration. I sensed Lady hovering in the back of my mind, and suspected if I looked out the window, her tail would be swishing in tune to my music. Oh we’d danced, my old gray lady and I. We’d danced. Now, I played and she savored her retirement.
Movement outside the window forced my attention to falter. The unicorns bolted, racing back into the woods that surrounded what I believed to be the source, and a portal, to connect to…something. A malevolent presence swept across her sanctuary and I shivered hard enough that the flute tumbled from my hands to bounce on the carpeted floor. I muttered under my breath and picked up the instrument, quickly checking it for any damage. I set it on the music stand and went to the window. What had just happened?
The unicorns were gone. Lady stood at attention in the pasture staring off to the south as if something had caught her attention. Shadow and Danny stood nearby, also keeping watch. I would have dismissed it as deer—they startled the horses all the time—except for the evil that had crossed my senses. I didn’t like it. I caught Lady’s eye through the window and she gave a sharp nod of her head. Go check it out. I didn’t need to hear the words to know that was exactly what she wanted me to do.
I slipped my feet into heavy boots and grabbed a light jacket, the days weren’t that warm yet. Snagging my hiking stick from its place near the front door, I slid a small piccolo into the sleeve on my staff that would hold it. I had
no idea what I’d need and I’d learned early on to be prepared. I stepped outside.
A stiff breeze buffeted me, whipping my long hair and threatening to pull it free from the braid that contained it. The jacket might not be enough as icy tendrils of wind darted down my collar and across the nape of my neck. Hurry! The sense of urgency came not from Lady, though she still stood guard, but from the forest and the unicorns. I darted off my front step and followed the path that led into the woods, my dread growing with each passing moment. Something was still out there. The trees grew thicker along the path, and I held up my arm and staff, as if they could bend them away. Normally I’d sing, expend a little magic, and the trees would listen. Not today. Not when I might need that power for something else.
I reached the clearing, pushing through the last few branches nearly at a dead run. Normally I approached the unicorns carefully, slowly, certain that any move would startle them. How or why they chose me as their guardian, I didn’t know. No one ever said. When the Great Dividing was over I had what could only be described as a magical power source sitting in the middle of my woods and a herd of seven unicorns. When I stopped, I only counted six.
And then I saw the six unicorns stood not just around the stone, but also the fallen body of the seventh. I searched, frantically, thankful to see the shallow rise and fall of the creature’s sides. It still lived.
Moved to do something, I asked, “may I?” I bowed my head reverently and waited for a sense of wary acceptance. It took a moment for me to register that the unicorns had stepped back enough to allow me to pass since I’d never been this close to them before, and I dropped to my knees next to the creature’s head. Its eye was closed, nostrils tinged red with whatever exertion had caused this. I dare not touch it, feared defiling such a beautiful and magical creature with my action. For a moment I closed my eyes and reached out to Lady. What should I do?
A sense of sorrow at not knowing came back. Play?
Of course. I pulled the piccolo from its holder and brought it to my lips. Immediately a piece sprang to mind, the overture from Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries. I played the opening notes, wishing magical strength to flow to the creature. Not from me or any living creature, but perhaps from the stone, from the portal, and from the earth itself. The best I knew, my property lay next to this major node, and though I didn’t speak about my unicorns, I knew others had experiences with mystical creatures near their nodes.
After about ten minutes the creature’s eye fluttered open. It lifted its head and regarded me with a long stare of that impossibly blue eye, then, it rolled to get its legs beneath it, and a moment later, stood and shook itself. I hurried back, the notes only faltering just a bit. My marching band training had kept me nimble, the classical orchestra I’d played with before the Great Dividing giving me a large repertoire of music.
The unicorn walked up to me and touched its muzzle to my chest. Thank you, Olivia. The other members of the herd bowed, then moved deeper into the woods.
I stood, only aware my hands shook when I went to put the piccolo back in its holder. Whatever had just happened seemed disjointed in my mind, though the music, and the magic, lingered. I stared at the stone, startled when I saw a black line creep from the base. That couldn’t be good. Whatever had caused it had also injured one of the unicorns and I…I was completely out of my depth to deal with it. We need help, I told Lady, then turned and went back to the house.
Once inside, my piccolo wiped down and put back on the shelf next to the door for easy reach, I sat down at my ham radio rig. If anyone knew what might have happened, or had felt it, then Radio Arcanum would be the place to look. I listened for the frequency to be clear. “Listening USK15J.” I spelled out my call sign with the phonetic alphabet. Uniform. Sierra. Kilo. One. Five. Juliet.
A moment later a man responded. “USK15J. This is USLMUM. You okay out there?”
I paused. I knew the call sign, though not the person behind it. That he was Musimagia I’d guessed from previous conversations. Which meant I didn’t know how much I could trust him. “Fine. Some turbulence. That’s all.”
“Pretty rough turbulence from what we measured. Knocked out three of our best over at the Akron auxiliary. You sure you’re okay?” The voice sounded worried. I was flattered.
“I think so,” I replied honestly. I wasn’t into macho positioning just to be macho. I also wasn’t much into lying. “Interesting things I’d like to speak with someone about on a private channel.” There. I’d danged that bait into the water.
“Copy that. Someone will be in touch. USLMUM signing off.”
“Understood.” I gave the usual sign off, including my call sign, and shut down my radio. The memory of the dark line through the stone, the node stone I’d been calling it, though I didn’t know if it had any specific name, worried me. The unicorn lying on the ground worried me more. A direct attack? Someone trying to leech energy out of the ley lines and not knowing what they were doing? My main computer sat next to the radio and I logged the contact in my electronic log, then opened up a blank document to start typing what I knew.
Could I even trust USLMUM’s contact? Probably not. I knew better than to trust any member of the Musimagium. The ends justify the means, after all, and it doesn’t matter who gets hurt. Sure, that’s not what the brochures and the propaganda said, but if they got orders— I refused to let my thoughts go down that path. Instead, I channeled my nervous energy outside, haltered Lady, and began to brush her.
She leaned into my strokes, eyes closed, lips slack as she released a sigh. I found the sweet spot just behind her withers and gave it the hard kind of brushing she enjoyed, then switched to a body brush and went over her coat until she shone. Still not quite settled, I brushed out her mane and tail, appreciating the time spent outdoors now that the wind had died down. Or maybe it was just the sense that something, whatever, was out there had gone and left us, alone. I sighed and relaxed along with my mare.
Stay vigilant. It’s gone for now. Even Danny sensed it and he’s dull.
I smiled. Lady’s disdain for the big, dopey appaloosa gelding was well known. She made her feelings very clear, though she tolerated him around the hay bale. The big guy had been a rescue, a foal that had come from the auction barn who looked as if he’d be a beautiful prospect once Lady slowed down. But then she kept going and the gelding proved to be an idiot, and they both ended up retired together. I loved my horses, and when the Great Dividing had happened, they’d saved me. Literally. The Musimagium hadn’t—
You’re thinking again. Go check your email. As if she needed to punctuate her words, she turned her head and pushed me.
“Okay. I get it.” I grabbed the brushes and put them away. “Check my email. Don’t judge the Musimagia who shows up until I get a chance to meet this person. Maybe it won’t hurt to give the benefit of the doubt.”
Lady snorted and I knew she thought that was as realistic as I did. Hey, at least I tried. I carried the grooming bucket to the barn and slid it back onto the shelf. I turned and a wave of energy hit me. I staggered, going down on one knee, hitting the concrete floor hard. I winced, then reached for something as the world lurched beneath me. The unicorns!
Aren’t anywhere near the node. They’re riding this out.
I breathed a sigh of relief, and wondered if their riding this out was as bad as mine. Probably not. They were creatures of magic and had four legs on the ground, not two. I drew a deep breath and the push of energy receded. I pushed myself to my feet, then took a few moments to steady myself.
You all right?
Yeah. I’m fine. I sent the thought back to Lady, ignoring my smarting knee and my shattered nerves, and headed back into the house.
Good. Oh and the unicorns say thank you.
https://books2read.com/ofsongsandhorns
About The Author
Mary Kit Caelsto never grew out of the phase of being a "horse crazy girl". Though she's now over 40, she's finally fulfilling her dream of wri
ting equestrian books for others who haven't grown out of being "horse crazy". She lives in the Ozarks with her four very spoiled and very opinionated horses, as well as a large flock of poultry and enough cats to qualify her as a crazy cat lady. Her husband, though not an equestrian himself, understands and supports all her equestrian dreams.
She's convinced three of the best things in the world are the smell of a sun warmed horse, the smell of leather tack, and making sure to hug her horses every single day.
Picture of the author and “SuperDuck” taken 3/2019. Hair color varies depending on mood.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Table of Contents
Copyright
Newsletter CTA
Also by
The Pegasus Project
Hidden
Tonic Chords
Songs and Horns
About The Author
The Pegasus Project: A Musimagium Story (The Pegasus Enchantment Book 1) Page 8