In a flash, the light opened. A tangled mass of strands expanded into a giant net.
Adriane tried to deflect it, but the net cut through her magic. The green mass flew over her head, ensnaring the unicorns.
“AHGHHH! Get it off! Emily! Help!” The unicorns erupted in screams, light bursting from their horns.
Emily ran to the unicorns, clawing at the glowing green net. “Adriane!”
Warrior and mistwolf ripped and tore at the net but it wouldn’t budge.
The unicorns were trapped inside, defenseless.
“Stop using your magic—you’ll only make it tighter!” Tweek cried.
“How do we get it off?” Emily shouted to Tweek.
“It’s goblin magic. You need the reverse spell—in goblin!”
“Stay calm, we’ll get you out!” Emily cried, though panic threatened to overwhelm her.
“Oh me, me, me!” Tweek was on the verge of exploding. “If these unicorns are taken, it will be the end of the web as we know it!”
The portal pulsed before them, billowing like a balloon. Magic burst forth, spinning violently into a tornado. The wild whirlwind lifted the goblin net, filled with screaming unicorns, into the air.
Adriane snapped her whip of golden fire, trying to hook the net. But more tornados of dark magic spun from the portal, bouncing off the tall rocks and leaving molten scars. Spinning wildly, the tornadoes bore down on Emily and Adriane.
“Emily!” Ozzie ran to the healer.
“O’ me twig!” Tweek shuddered, twigs flying in all directions as he pushed Ozzie away from a wild magic wind.
Ozzie fell face down in the warping sand. A whirlwind spiraled right over his upturned rear. “GarG!” When the wild magic spun away, the ferret had a huge beaver tail where his short ferret tail had been a second before.
“Oh no!”
“Fuzzy!”
Adriane shoved Emily behind her as she and Dreamer faced the oncoming tornadoes. The warrior fired a bolt of golden magic, hitting the winds dead on. Several whirlwinds smashed into the rocks, exploding in purple rain. Emily tried to add fuel to Adriane’s fire, but the other tornadoes were coming too fast.
“Emily, look out!” The warrior dove, trying to push the healer out of harm’s way.
In a blinding flash, two whirlwinds slammed together, trapping Emily and Adriane inside.
“Adriane!” Emily shrieked. Her senses screamed as dark power ripped deep into her magic.
Through the blinding storm, she saw a figure appear in the portal.
In one giant stride, the knight stepped out. At least seven feet tall, his midnight black armor swallowed the sunlight and leeched the heat from the air. Red light glowed from the eye slits of his horned helmet. In his right hand he clutched a staff crowned with a glimmering green crystal.
Emily felt panic rising from the unicorns.
The knight raised his staff high in the air, green jewel erupting like lightning. Closing his hand into a fist, the knight pulled the net toward him.
“No!” Emily screamed.
“AHHH! Emily! Help!”
The memory of Lorelei tore through Emily’s mind like a bolt of lightning. The unicorn had suffered horribly when her horn had been brutally cut off. She had barely survived. Who knew what this evil knight would do to force these unicorns to give him their magic?
“You have to give up your magic!” Emily shouted frantically at the young unicorns. It was their only chance.
“We just got our magic!”
“NOOO!”
“Unicorns can give their magic to whomever they wish. You have to give it up, please!” she pleaded with all her heart to the unicorns. “It’s the only way!”
Amid the terrified unicorns, Emily heard one high soprano voice soaring above the cries and screams.
“I won’t let you down, Emily!” Riannan promised.
The knight stepped into the portal, dragging the unicorns with him—and vanished.
IN THE CENTER of the cyclone, Emily felt herself caught in a whirlwind of spinning lights. Her senses careened as her magic flew apart, wild and out of her reach.
“Emily!” Adriane reached for her friend. Long dark hair flying, she clasped Emily’s hand. The girls held on to each other, trying to steady themselves in the eye of the twister.
“I can’t make my jewel work!” Adriane tried as hard as she could to fire her golden magic at the maelstrom. But her wolf stone would not obey.
“Packmate!” Dreamer’s desperate howl pierced the air.
“Dreamer, stay away!” Adriane ordered.
Lyra and Kara scrambled outside the whirlwind. The blazing star tried to use unicorn magic from her diamond gem. Flares of blue and glitter-gold burst from the terrifying tornado that had trapped her friends.
The wind increased in strength, squeezing the two mages in its crushing power.
“Your unicorn jewel is only making it worse!” Tweek yelled, hopping up and down.
“Well, do something!” Kara screamed back at him.
“You need to disrupt it with elemental magic!” Tweek shouted, twigs flying.
“Where do we get that?”
“The mistwolf,” Tweek cried. “He can change his physical properties.”
From inside the tornado, Adriane called to him, “No, Dreamer, it’s too dangerous!”
But Dreamer knew what he had to do. His lupine form twisted into mist and shot straight toward the swirling wind. Like a piece of string caught by a spinning top, the mist whipped around, winding tighter and tighter into the wild magic.
“Where is he?” Adriane clutched Emily’s hands tighter. “I can’t see him!”
Patches of black suddenly appeared hurtling around the cyclone.
“He’s trying to take his wolf form inside the wild magic!” Emily cried.
The whirlwind shuddered and sparked.
“He’ll be ripped apart!” Adriane screamed.
With a fierce howl, Dreamer’s wolf body materialized, flying around the rim of the cyclone in a blur of speed.
Shaking violently, the whirlwind spun off its axis. With a final convulsion, the wind exploded, sending sparks of magic shooting into the skies. Dreamer was thrown clear, landing in a spray of mist at the base of one of the rock towers.
Adriane and Emily fell to the sands, miraculously unhurt and seemingly unchanged by the wild elemental wind.
“Emily! Adriane!” Kara’s worried scream cut through the desert as she ran to her friends. “Are you guys okay?”
“I think so,” Emily answered, springing to her feet. She felt surprisingly agile, so perfectly balanced.
“Dreamer!” Adriane made for the injured mistwolf, but stumbled forward. Steadying herself, she ran to her packmate.
“Emily!” Ozzie lumbered over. “Look what happened to me!” The ferret bent over, pointing to his bottom. A wide, flat beaver tail thumped against the sand.
“Oh, no.”
“Dreamer!” Adriane’s anguished scream tore through Emily’s heart.
The mistwolf lay on the ground, gasping for breath. He shimmered in and out of mist.
“He can’t return to wolf form!” Adriane yelled frantically. “Come on, Dreamer!”
“Dreamer, you can do it!” Kara cried.
“I’m fading, packmate,” Dreamer rasped, his voice a ghostly echo.
“Emily!” Adriane grabbed the healer’s arm, pulling her down close. “Do something!”
Emily knelt by the injured wolf. Trails of mist snaked away like blood across the sands. The healer raised her jewel. She tried to release her magic, but instead of healing power, the gem erupted in an explosion of light.
Kara screamed and ducked as a bolt of magic zigzagged like lightning, ripping a smoking trench across the sands.
Ozzie fell back, but his huge tail sprung him forward—headfirst into a gopher hole.
“Wild magic!” Lyra called out, leaping into the skies.
The cat was right. Wild magic had splintered
off from the whirlwinds and seeped into low-lying clouds, twisting them into dark shapes. The shapes came to life. Wide wings angled out over giant bat-like bodies as four flying monsters screeched and dove to attack.
Lyra was ready. Snarling, the fierce feline hit the first one head on, ripping it to tatters. But the others swooped down on the mages.
Adriane fired her magic, but wasn’t fast enough. Two cloud creatures skimmed overhead as she dove clumsily out of the way, tripping and sprawling to the sands.
“Adriane!” Kara ran to help the warrior.
“I… I lost my balance.” Adriane spit out sand and pushed herself up. “Something’s wrong with my magic!”
“Hold on, Dreamer,” Emily pleaded, trying to reach into the mistwolf’s pain and fear. But it was as if the connection to her healing magic had been severed. “I can’t feel my magic,” Emily barely heard her own words.
Shadows fell across the sands as two winged monsters dove from the air.
“Emily!” Ozzie rolled over, bouncing up protectively in front of the girl, but his tail made it impossible for the ferret to keep his balance.
Fists raised, Adriane fired. A thin stream of warped blue light shot harmlessly into the air.
Easily dodging the weak magic, the cloud creatures lunged for Emily. But she rolled out of the way, amazed at her agility.
With a ferocious roar, Lyra knocked the bats from the air. One smashed into a rock tower, the other skidded into the sand. The big cat was on the downed monsters in a flashing fury of claws and teeth.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with my jewel!” Adriane cried, sending another blast of unfocused magic.
Dreamer whined, gasping for breath. “Wrong magic.”
“Emily, look out!” Adriane scrambled out of the way as two more bats swooped over her head.
Without thinking, Emily rolled and came up in a kneeling crouch, fists raised, rainbow gem pulsing with power. A blast of golden light erupted from her jewel. But it arced wide and missed, ricocheting off the rock towers.
Emily stared at her gem, suddenly realizing what had happened. “Dreamer’s right!” she cried. “The whirlwind switched our magic!”
The dark-haired girl clumsily scrambled away from one of the bats. “Then you have to fight!”
Raising her rainbow gem, Emily summoned a wavering bolt of golden magic. Spiraling up and down her arm, the fire swirled dangerously from her fist. The strange new power flooded through her senses. It was filled with a crackling fury that she had never felt before.
The monsters dove again.
Firing golden magic wildly, Emily struggled to control her jewel’s new power.
“Take a breath, let it out slow, and fire,” Adriane advised.
Emily took a deep breath, spun around, and fired at the oncoming creature. A direct hit exploded the monster into shreds of cloud.
The last bat dove straight at her. She rolled out of the way and fired another bolt of warrior magic, sending the monster banking to the right.
Lyra was right there waiting, ripping it to shreds.
Carefully, Emily pulled the magic back to herself.
“Emily!” Adriane knelt by Dreamer, her face pale with worry. “Save him!”
“Adriane, you have the healing power now,” Emily said gently. “It’s up to you.”
The dark-haired girl nodded, swallowing her tears. Placing her hands uncertainly on Dreamer, her fingers slipped through mist and into the sand below. “I can’t do this!” Panicking, she looked to Emily for help
“Reach out with your senses,” Emily instructed, kneeling beside her friend. “You are connected to mistwolf magic.”
Ozzie and Kara ran to the warrior’s side as Adriane closed her eyes, concentrating. Her wolf stone glowed faintly blue.
“Reach into the magic and feel it,” Emily said urgently. “Feel your connection to Dreamer and the mistwolves.”
Bright blue-green coursed through Adriane’s wolf stone. Opening herself completely, the warrior reached for the fallen mistwolf.
Packmate in danger. Dreamer’s thoughts echoed in her mind.
Dreamer, young and strong, depending on me. Adriane let her own thoughts and fears flow freely, mingling with those of her packmate.
Monster will take her away, like wolf mother and wolf father.
Loneliness clawing at my heart.
With her I am warrior wolf.
One day will he leave me too?
Without her, I am lone wolf.
Abandoned again by the one I love the most.
Adriane threw back her head and howled. She was answered by the howls of wolves as they thundered across the sky. The desert seemed to fall away as she let herself be swept into the power of the wolf song.
“Run with us, wolf sister!”
She ran, strong and free, her body a shimmering outline, trailing golden fire. The endless forests rushed into focus around her, timeless and full of life.
Adriane was surrounded by mistwolves, thousands strong, shimmering like starlight. Lupine fur rippled over powerful muscles, eyes of green and gold shining bright, strong paws pounding the earth.
Adriane was filled with joy at the sight. There was no past, no future. Only the moment as the wolves and warrior ran together. Adriane felt the ancient mistwolf magic flowing through her.
“Where am I?”
“You run with the spirit pack.”
The spirit pack! Her first packmate ran with the spirit pack now. Was it even possible to—“Stormbringer!” she called out, scanning through the wolves for the slightest glimpse of her first bonded. “I need you, Storm! Please, help me!”
“Your packmate is not here, warrior.”
“She is lost to us.”
Adriane gasped. What? How could Stormbringer be lost? She saved all the mistwolves!
The pack and warrior had arrived at the edge of the forest. Two trails ran in opposite directions, one a sparkling blue highway of stars, the other, shrouded in mist.
She had seen her friend sacrifice herself to save the entire pack. “Where is Storm? Where is my packmate?”
“Follow your heart.”
In her mind’s eye she saw herself and Storm atop the green hills of Ravenswood. They were strong and happy. Ravenswood was the only home Storm ever knew, and Adriane’s heart ached for her friend.
She could almost smell the forests in Storm’s soft, sun warmed fur. Adriane knelt, tears streaming down her face. For an eternal moment she felt the strength of her friend, an unbreakable bond between two lone wolves. She would never run alone again.
“I am with you, warrior, now and forever.”
“I love you,” Adriane whispered, hugging her lost packmate.
She opened her eyes, her hands in Dreamer’s thick coat. His body was solid and whole, black fur lustrous and shiny. Bright emerald eyes stared back at her, full of love.
“How many times do I have to tell you to listen to me!” she scolded, then smiled, hugging her packmate close. “Don’t you leave me ever again.”
Dreamer’s emerald eyes danced. “I am with you, now and forever.”
“You did it!” Emily embraced both the wolf and the warrior.
“That was incredible!” Kara joined the group hug, Lyra by her side.
“Gah!” Ozzie was grabbed and squeezed into the hug, wide tail flapping.
Tweek stood to the side. “I must say, you mages certainly make interesting magic.”
“It’s called a hug, Tweek,” Emily explained. “You should try it.”
“I have enough trouble, thank you.”
Dreamer stood, proudly stretching his lithe body.
“How do we switch our magic back?” Emily asked Tweek.
The twig figure looked through images in his gem. “I think you’re stuck.”
“I never could have healed Dreamer alone,” Adriane confessed.
“I could never be a warrior, never like you,” the red-haired girl admitted.
“Hey! Being a
blazing star isn’t exactly a trip to the mall!” Kara huffed.
“Well, actually it is,” Tweek said, looking up ‘mall’ in his HORARFF.
“You think its easy being a ferret and a beaver?” Ozzie asked, flapping his giant beaver tail.
“A berret,” Kara commented.
“It’s all my fault,” Emily said, frowning. “If I hadn’t pushed the unicorns to open the portal, this never would have happened.”
“This is bad,” Tweek rattled. “We have to report to the Fairimentals somehow and tell them this knight captured the unicorns.”
“What was that thing?” Ozzie asked Tweek.
“My guess is a hunter, hired to kidnap the unicorns.”
“Hired by whom?” Emily asked.
“I don’t know,” Tweek answered, inspecting Ozzie’s new tail. “But the knight carries a powerful jewel.”
Adriane folded her arms. “We’re going to have to work with the magic we’ve got.”
The desert rumbled ominously, shaking the tall rocks.
“What was that?” Kara asked.
“O’ me twig!” Tweek staggered, clutching his jewel.
On the far side of the rock circle, the air twisted and split apart. A glowing portal opened. Instantly, something hurtled out, crumpling onto the red desert sand.
The goblin net.
Inside, the unicorns lay still, as if in a trance. Their once vibrantly colored bodies were pale and washed out. No lights blinked or shone from their horns.
“Oh no!” Emily ran to the unicorns.
Riannan’s head fell listlessly against the net, a dulled, lifeless horn protruding from her head. “Emily,” she rasped.
“Riannan!” Emily cried. “What’s happened?”
“Our magic… it’s all gone.”
“HOLY ROOT ROT!” Tweek shuddered, threatening to fall apart. “Where’s their magic?”
Emily tried to determine if the unicorns were hurt, but her healing gem flared with warrior magic. She swiftly pulled her wrist away.
“My horn.” Riannan smiled weakly. “I got my horn, Emily.”
“Yes,” Emily whispered proudly. “You did.” But what should have been exquisite crystal was dull and colorless, completely without magic.
“Kara,” Calliope whimpered. “My hair got all messy.”
Song of the Unicorns (Avalon: Web of Magic #7) Page 10