Song of the Unicorns (Avalon: Web of Magic #7)

by Rachel Roberts

  “This is Kara,” Emily explained, pointing to the blazing star. “Her unicorn jewel opened it.”

  “Oooo!” All the unicorns looked at the sparkling jewel dangling between Kara’s fingers.

  “I demand you take us out of here!” the tall unicorn ordered.

  “Riannan, it really is a unicorn jewel!” Pollo said.

  “Who are you?” Riannan demanded.

  “I’m your brother, Pollo.”

  “Not you!” Riannan stamped a sparkly hoof. “You!”

  “This is Adriane, Lyra, Dreamer, and Ozzie,” Emily said. “We’re from Ravenswood.”

  “Just because they say they are doesn’t mean anything,” Riannan sniffed, swatting her golden tail against Pollo’s skinny flank. “Everyone stay back.”

  The unicorns all pushed past Riannan to examine the girls and magical animals.

  “Hey, you know I rode a big unicorn,” Kara said with a brilliant smile.

  “She’s a blazing star!”

  “Wowhoot!”

  The babies piled around her.

  “May I see that?” Tweek asked Kara, reaching for the protection amulet in her hand.

  She handed the amulet to the twiggy guy.

  Tweek ran a beam of light from his own jewel over the silvery object. “Someone sent the unicorns to you.”

  “Here?” Adriane asked incredulously.

  “This is a very powerful amulet. And it’s been tuned to the unicorn jewel.”

  “Gah!” Ozzie hopped with surprise as a unicorn butted him. The colt’s sleek hide was covered with polka-dot spots.

  “I’m Ralfondiz. What are you?”

  “Watch it, Ralfie,” the ferret answered.

  “Ozzie’s another mage,” Emily explained. “He’s an elf.”

  “Are all elves as fuzzy as you?” Ralfie asked, cocking his head.

  “No, I’m extra fuzzy!”

  “I’m Snowflake. Are you a mistwolf?” a snow-white unicorn asked Dreamer shyly.

  Dreamer huffed, turning his left ear to mist.

  “Oooo.”

  “I’m Calliope.” A beige unicorn with big blue eyes sidled up to Kara. The creature’s hide twinkled as if coated with fairy dust. “My hair is all dirty.” She hung her head.

  Kara ran her fingers through Calliope’s tangled silky mane. “Not to worry, a little herbal conditioner and you’ll look amazing!”

  The unicorn beamed.

  “Thank goodness we’re rescued!” another unicorn exclaimed, tripping over her big feet and falling on Lyra. “Hi. I’m Electra.”

  “Easy there, Electra.” Lyra nudged the lanky unicorn to her feet.

  An ominous noise rumbled through the cave, dropping bits of rock and dust.

  A little unicorn whimpered against Emily. “Are the monsters still after us?”

  “Violet, you’re such a worry wommel,” Riannan said, rolling her beautiful dark eyes.

  Adriane moved to the cave opening, her wolf stone glowing, warning of imminent danger.

  “What attacked you, Violet?” Emily asked.

  Violet squeaked and hid her head between her long front legs.

  “Big monsters made out of mist,” a unicorn with a sock marking on each foot told her.

  “I saw better than you, Clio!” another one scoffed. He had a pale blaze on his forehead. “They were mist monsters.”

  “That’s what I just said, Dante!” Clio stamped her hooves.

  “Whoever made those creatures has powerful conjuring skills!” Tweek exclaimed.

  “Only a magic master could use fairy magic like that.”

  “We have to leave this place now,” Adriane said decisively.

  “Just get us to our wagon and take us to Dalriada,” Riannan ordered.

  “I’m afraid the wagon is gone,” Emily said, understanding now how they came here.

  “Well, now what do we do?” Riannan groaned.

  A howl of rushing wind echoed eerily in the cavern.

  “BLEEEEEEAAAAAHHHH!”

  Everyone jumped as a little unicorn blasted a noise like an air horn.

  “Spruce, can that honker!” Dante scolded.

  “Something bad is coming,” Spruce said, shivering.

  A wet, slithering sound echoed down the dark tunnel.

  “Of course, a very powerful fairy creature could be using elemental magic. There are some from the Otherworlds capable of it,” Tweek mused.

  “How do we fight it?” Adriane asked, looking over her shoulder, down the dark tunnel.

  “Fight it? That’s quite impossible. You’re only Level One mages.”

  Kara, Adriane, and Emily stared at him.

  “I thought we were full mages,” Adriane said slowly.

  “How many levels are there?” Emily asked.

  “Didn’t you guys read your HORARFM?” Tweek sighed with exasperation. “Handbook of Rules and Regulations For Mages! Your mentor should have given you that.”

  “We don’t have a mentor,” Adriane said.

  “What?!” Tweek shuddered, shedding a pile of shrub. “You mean to tell me that you’ve been wandering around with magic jewels all by yourselves?”

  “Hey, what am I?” Ozzie interjected. “Chopped liver snaps?”

  An eerie metallic swishing whispered up the tunnel, getting closer.

  Dreamer growled, his hackles standing straight up.

  “You won’t leave us, will you, Emily?” Violet asked, trembling against the healer’s side

  “Of course not,” Emily said as the unicorns huddled against her and Kara.

  “Can’t the unicorns open a portal, Tweek?” Kara asked.

  “Absolutely not! Their magic is completely unreliable.”

  “Kara, call the dragonflies back,” Adriane said, glancing into the inky tunnel. “Get them to open a portal and we’ll go through it, take the unicorns with us.”

  “Where?” Ozzie asked. “I think Texas Slimbob might notice thirty extra equines hanging around the ranch.”

  “The empty stalls by the feed room in the barn,” Emily suggested. “No one will see us there this time of night.”

  “Twighead.” Ozzie handed the E.F. a loose branch. “Get the protection shield back up.”

  Tweek examined the object in his twiggy hand. “I’m afraid I can’t. It has to be recharged.”

  “We have our own protection shield,” Adriane said, turning to the mistwolf. “Dreamer, turn to mist and cover the cave opening.”

  The young mistwolf shuffled back and forth, unsure how to use his special magical abilities.

  “You can do it.” Adriane ran her hand over the wolf’s thick black fur. “Just like we practiced.”

  “Okay, Kara, let’s do it. Hurry!” Emily ordered.

  “Oh, all right.” The blazing star closed her eyes and called for her mini friends. “Hey! D-flies! Front and center!”

  Colored bubbles popped over surprised unicorn faces as a quintet of mini dragonheads carefully peered out.

  “Oooooo.” Goldie surveyed the situation.

  “Goldie, open a portal back to the ranch,” Kara ordered. “Get us in the barn.”

  “Okeee-dokeee.”

  Squeaking industriously, the pint-sized dragons locked wingtips in circular formation and started spinning.

  Dreamer stood, eyes squeezed tight. His body began to shimmer, and his head suddenly disappeared into a swirl of hazy smoke.

  “Concentrate,” Adriane urged. “Let the magic run through your body.”

  Dreamer’s head reappeared—but his legs had vanished. The pup whined.

  A high-pitched scream filled the tunnel as the slithering sound came closer.

  “Kaaraa!” The minis had spun open their portal and were stretching it wide.

  “Okay, that’s enough. Lemme see.” Kara stuck her head through, then stepped back. “We’re good to go. Move it, everybody!”

  “You go.”

  “I’m not going first!”

  “No way!”

&nbs
p; “I hate portals!”

  “I threw up!”

  “Listen up!” Ozzie marched back and forth in front of the little unicorns. “The sooner everyone goes through, the sooner we’ll be in a safe barn filled with hay, oats, grain, carrots—”

  “Blech, we’re not horses, Fuzzy!” Ralfie stuck out his tongue.

  “Ozzie. All right, all right, whatever you want to eat, I’ll get it personally.” Ozzie started pushing Ralfie toward the portal. “Now, who’s first?”

  Dreamer had managed to spread his misty body over the cave opening. His head floated in the center, wide eyes looking none too pleased.

  “Not bad,” Adriane said. Tight circles of golden fire spun around her wrist and up her arm.

  Something huge skittered by the opening. Through the mist, a long body snaked past them.

  “Ahh—!”!

  “Shhhh!” Riannan swished her tail in Clio’s mouth.

  “Ooooooooo.” The dragonflies were shaking as the portal quivered in and out.

  “Someone go first!” Emily hissed.

  Without warning, a giant creature punched through the mist. Multiple eyes looked everywhere from stalks reaching out of a bulbous head covered with needles. The color of bruised purple, the grotesque centipede creature advanced on dozens of noisily scissoring legs. Thick, oily armor plated its huge body, needles protruding everywhere. Tentacles twitched as its mouth stretched wide in a fetid hiss, revealing rows of thorny teeth.

  The unicorns stampeded. Six tried to jam themselves through the portal at once. The dragonflies yelped, squashed by the struggling mass.

  “Lemme through!”

  “SPLLARRP!”

  “Ow! My nose!”

  “Phooob!”

  Adriane was already in motion, whipping a ring of golden light at the monster. Squealing like a ferocious pig, the thing convulsed, armor rattling. Gooey tentacles writhed as the warrior danced away from their twitching grasp.

  Emily and Ozzie pried the babies apart and pushed them through one by one.

  “Keep that portal open, no matter what!” Emily instructed the dragonflies.

  Lyra leaped into the air, her shimmering wings flaring open. Razor claws ripped away the tentacles reaching for the unicorns.

  Kara stepped forward, pointing her glowing unicorn jewel at the creature. A flare of white light shot straight up, slamming the cave ceiling, sending rocks flying. The blond girl stumbled back, face flushed.

  The creature lunged, trying to swallow the unicorns whole.

  Adriane struck again, wolf fire hammering the monster’s head, forcing its snapping jaws away from the portal.

  “Lyra, get everyone through!” Adriane yelled. “We’re right behind you. Move!”

  Ozzie and Tweek crammed the last two frightened unicorns through the portal and raced in. Nosing Kara and Emily through, Lyra leaped and disappeared.

  “Dreamer!” Adriane looked around frantically. “Where are you?”

  “Packmate! Go!”

  Dreamer stood in solid wolf form right in front of the monster.

  The thing swung its massive head, mouth gaping.

  Moving with lightning speed, Adriane raced past the creature and shoved Dreamer into the portal. The dragonflies squealed as the warrior dove through.

  Shrieking, the monster charged in after them.

  ADRIANE AND DREAMER tumbled onto the barn floor, the monster’s foul breath hot on their backs.

  Needle teeth gnashing, the creature thrashed its head through the portal.

  The warrior rolled into a fighting stance, crossing her wrists in front of her face. “Dreamer, behind me!” she commanded as wolf fire surged from her jewel.

  “GrEEP!”

  “Hide me!”

  “Snoooop!”

  “Run away!”

  The unicorns scrambled through the barn, diving into stalls. Horses neighed, surprised by their visitors, as Lyra nosed the stragglers out of harm’s way.

  Adriane swung her fists, firing a blast of magic.

  With a fierce growl, Dreamer leaped at the monster—right in the path of the bolt.

  “No!” Adriane wrenched the magic away. Light arced wildly, wrapping the warrior in sparking golden fire.

  The monster lunged, closing its massive jaws completely around Dreamer.

  Zzzzap!

  In a brilliant flash, the portal vanished, severing the gruesome head. Slime-covered skin and twisting eyes morphed into a pile of green guck that splattered to the floor. Unharmed, Dreamer shook drops of goo from his fur.

  Five dragonflies peered from a floating bubble. “Pee-yuck.”

  “Good job, guys!” Kara called out.

  “Get off me, Ralfie!” Dante complained, crawling out of a stall.

  “Where are we?” Ralfie asked, bits of hay stuck to his forelock.

  “It’s okay, you’re safe now,” Emily said, sending a wave of calming magic over the frightened horses that currently occupied the stalls. She quickly shut the barn door before Electra could stumble outside.

  Ozzie ran about, herding the unicorns into the empty stalls.

  Adriane picked sticky muck out of Dreamer’s fur. “You have to learn to listen to me! Next time we might not be so lucky.”

  Dreamer’s eyes were downcast.

  Gently, Adriane raised Dreamer’s head, looking deep into his emerald eyes.

  “Packmate.”

  “Yes.” Adriane hugged the wolf close. “What would I do if I lost you?”

  “Looks like my grandma’s creamed spinach.” Kara wrinkled her nose at the gob of goo splattered across the floor. “What was that thing?”

  “Elemental, my dear mage.” Tweek plucked something from the guck. “A prickly pear needle, I believe.”

  “So it was what, a cactipede?” Kara asked.

  “All this magic isn’t supposed to be on Earth,” Tweek fretted, wringing his crackling twig hands as he looked at the unicorns.

  “We have to get to Dalriada,” Riannan demanded, stamping her feet.

  The others squeaked and tooted like a broken carousel.

  “Okay, everyone settle down,” Emily said, herding Snowflake and Pollo into the stall. “You have to stay here until we can figure out what to do.”

  “If those elemental monsters found them in the desert, they’ll find them here,” Adriane pointed out. “The unicorns are sitting ducks without the protection shield.”

  “What’s a duck?” Electra asked, flopping over a hay bale.

  “How do we recharge the amulet, Tweek?” Emily said.

  “You’d need unicorn magic,” Tweek said.

  “PhoOOT!”

  “But that’s out of the question,” the E.F. continued. “Without their horns, there’s no way for them to focus their magic. It’ll just go wild like it did in the cave.”

  “What if we could focus the unicorns’ magic?” Emily asked.

  Tweek eyed her suspiciously. “How would you do that?”

  “You said it was tuned to Kara’s unicorn jewel,” Emily said. “Maybe we can help the unicorns.”

  “That might work—” Tweek began.

  “Nuh-uh.” Kara closed her hand around her jewel and sighed. “Okay, you guys, I admit it. I don’t know what I’m doing with it.”

  “We’ll help you, Kara,” Emily pressed.

  The unicorns sat up listening.

  “It’s too dangerous!” Tweek rattled, twigs flying.

  “It’s worth a shot,” Adriane said.

  “Let’s all form a circle,” Emily instructed.

  Scuffling and bumping into one another, the unicorns managed to form a ring in the center of the barn. Ozzie marched around, pushing or pulling here and there to make the circle even.

  Tweek stood in the center holding the amulet containing the shield in his twigs. “This is highly irregular.”

  Radiant gold arced from Adriane’s wolf stone, surrounding the amulet. Summoning a dazzling beam of pure blue, Emily’s healing magic swirled around the wa
rrior’s.

  Holding out her gem and pointing it at the amulet, Kara shut her eyes. Blazing white magic exploded from the unicorn jewel, engulfing Emily and Adriane’s steady light.

  Kara shrieked—her hand had morphed into a giant, hairy ogre hand!

  “Ewww!”

  “That’s gross!”

  The blond girl coiled huge stubby fingers around her jewel, face tense with determination. In a flash she had her hand back, with a bonus: freshly polished pink nails.

  “The unicorn jewel is completely flooie!” Tweek announced.

  “Unicorns can use music to focus magic,” Emily said excitedly to her friends, remembering she had helped heal Lorelei with a special song.

  “Spellsinging,” Kara finished Emily’s train of thought.

  “That’s strong fairy magic,” Tweek said, astonished. “How do you know about—never mind, I don’t want to know.”

  Emily faced the herd. “I’ll hum a note, and you follow. Ready?”

  “Yay!”

  “Oooo, fun!”

  “Me, me, me first!”

  “This is silly! I’m not singing!” Riannan stamped her foot down.

  “Riannan’s a ’fraidy corn!” one of the others teased.

  “Am not!” she shot back.

  Holding up her jeweled wrist, Emily pressed her lips together and hummed a single note.

  A deafening racket of blaring noise rattled the barn.

  “Stop!” Ozzie yelled.

  “BlaaRp?”

  Emily smiled. “You have to follow the music. Let it flow.” Remembering the beautiful song she and Lorelei had sung together, she hummed the first verse. Pollo’s little squawk joined her, wavering an octave too high, but in tune.

  “Good. Now you try it.” Emily nodded toward another.

  “WEEEEAHHHHHHH!” Spruce blasted in an abrasive tenor.

  “Spruce!” Dante frowned.

  “Concentrate on singing together,” Emily told the unicorns. “Listen to everybody around you.”

  Clio and Snowflake started tooting.

  Violet added a soft, shaky note.

  “That’s nice, Violet,” Emily complimented the unicorn.

  “Easy there, guys,” Kara said nervously, watching her jewel pulse with light.

  Dante, Electra, and Ralfie tootled and honked. Not to be outdone, Calliope joined in with a bell-like tinkling. Soon every unicorn jingled, jangled, yodeled, and yelped. Except for Riannan, who stuck her nose in the air and huffed.