by Dory Perlman
Sheila threw her arms around Dr. Reit. "You're a genius! A true genius!" she cried.
"Yes, well, so I've been told," Dr. Reit muttered happily. ''Still, it's nice to hear it.''
Sheila looked over at her friends, who were standing together several feet away. Everyone but Illyria was rejoicing. Her expression was serious, and her blue eyes were scanning the square intently, as if seeking something she had lost. What could be wrong? "I'll be right back," she told Dr. Reit.
"What's the matter?" Sheila asked, racing up to the pensive Illyria.
"We are not done yet," Illyria said quietly. "Come."
Illyria took Sheila's arm and led her to the center of the warriors. "My friends!" she shouted. "We have left a deadly loose end hanging, and we must tie it up forever before our work here is done."
"Dynasian," said Laric, as if reading her mind.
"Dynasian," Sheila echoed glumly.
"Think!" Illyria commanded the group. "where did you last see him?"
Sheila closed her eyes, concentrating hard. She had seen the emperor; she remembered how she had ached to pull out her bow and shoot him.
Dynasian had been on the platform when he had ordered the executioner to kill Laric. Then Kara's arrow had stopped the executioner, Dynasian had turned the soldiers loose on the crowd and . . . and then everything had gone crazy.
But an image was floating somewhere in the back of Sheila's mind. She saw him again, dropping to his knees and crawling underneath the platform.
Sheila's eyes snapped open. "I remember," she said. "He hid under the platform. I saw him."
"That plafform is almost burned to the ground," said Dian, who, along with Pelu, had now joined the others.
"He couldn't still be hiding under there," added Darian.
"I guess that doesn't really help much then," said Sheila,
"On the contrary," Illyria said, striding toward the center of the spot where the platform once stood. "You have told me all I need to know." Sheila didn't understand.
"But, Illyria, he couldn't still be there." Sheila ran to join the Unicorn Queen. They picked their way carefully through the embers and smoldering timbers. Smoke rose from the ashes, and the ground felt hot under Sheila's feet.
Ah, but he is," said Illyria mysteriously. "You do not understand much of the ways of kings, Sheila." Illyria pointed to a spot a few feet from them. Beneath a pile of smoking curtains and beams, a glimmer of gold shone in the moonlight.
Sheila gasped. "But how?"
"I would have been surprised if the emperor had not had some place to secrete himself, or the treasures he planned to steal from the people. There is a trap door. He thinks he is safely hidden, but his pride and excess have given him away. That," Illyria said with a smile, "is the hem of his robe. Had he worn a simpler garment, he might have escaped our notice."
With relish, Illyria stomped unheedful of the heat and smoke to the spot where the trap door was. Grabbing a beam that had not been too badly burned, she shoved away the pile that covered the door. A small iron handle was fit snugly into the stone pavement. The Unicorn Queen grasped it and flung the door open.
"Come out, vermin!" Illyria commanded.
Slowly and with some difficulty, Dynasian slithered up out of his hiding place. He hugged a sack of gold to his chest and pulled his gleaming robe around him. On his head a sparkling golden circlet listed to one side.
The emperor’s eyes darted from side to side. Sheila could see the terror rising in him. Laric's men and the warrior women had moved to stand in a wide circle around the spot where the platform had burned. Behind them the unicorns paced, restless and hostile.
As she surveyed the scene, Sheila saw that Dr. Reit was trying to get her attention. He was waving frantically. When he caught her eye, he called out. "Sheila, we've got to-" But he was interrupted.
In his desperation Dynasian had lunged for Illyria. The Unicorn Queen fought him off but noticed the glint of a knife in his hand a moment too late. Illyria cried out as the blade slashed her cheek.
"No!" Sheila cried. Not knowing what else to do, she ran headlong toward the crazed emperor.
Dynasian shrieked as Sheila knocked him away from Illyria. She fell to the ground on top of him, but Dynasian leapt up like a desperate wild animal. He still had his dagger. "You'll never take me!" he cried. "I am the emperor of Campora! Nothing can change that!"
Dynasian waved his dagger at Sheila. In seconds Myno and Nanine held his two arms behind him. He seemed to have lost his senses and raged like a madman.
''No more,'' Illyria said, resting her sword's tip lightly on the emperor's chin, "You've hurt enough people. You've made too many pay for your greediness. Now you will pay for their suffering."
Dynasian seemed to see Illyria for the first time. "You," he said. "You are the one they call the Unicorn Queen. It's you who have done this to me, you and your wretched warriors. I will not be bested by a group of ragtag women!"
"You have done this to yourself, Dynasian," Illyria answered harshly. Her braids had come loose and her silver-blond hair hung around her shoulders like a wild halo, making her seem to radiate energy and power.
She stepped in even closer to Dynasian. "You killed my family, stole the unicorns who belong only to those they choose. Your wizard bespelled the rightful ruler of this land, and you have tormented and enslaved your people. Why should I spare your worthless little life?''
For a moment Sheila thought Illyria would run her sword through Dynasian and kill him on the spot.
"I would be happy to kill you now," said the warrior-woman. "But that is not the right way. You will be judged and punished by the people you have so foully mistreated." She brought her sword to her side and slipped it into its sheath. "He must be taken to the dungeons," Illyria said to the warriors who stood around her, Laric stepped toward her.
"My men will take him and guard him well," he said. Cam and Darian dragged Dynasian up, bound his wrists, and began marching him through the square. They had gone only a few feet when Dr. Reit gunned the engine of the Ferrari.
"Sheila!" he cried desperately. Again he was trying to get her attention, and again events tore her away.
The sudden noise of the engine had startled Cam and Darian, and they had loosened their grip on Dynasian—only for an instant. But an instant was all he needed. The insane emperor began to run away. His attempt was futile, but he seemed beyond that understanding. Laric's men hurried to catch him and would have if something had not prevented them.
It was Quiet Storm. The unicorn seemed to appear from nowhere as the emperor made a mad dash toward an alleyway.
"No!" Illyria shouted. “You must not!" She feared Quiet Storm would impale Dynasian to make him pay for all his crimes. And it seemed that was Quiet Storm's intention.
Quiet Storm had Dynasian cornered, He looked at Illyria, and there was no doubt he heard her words. Nonetheless, he turned toward Dynasian, his eyes flashing angrily at the captive dictator.
The powerful white unicorn advanced, and Dynasian stepped backward, a trapped look on his fat face. There was no escape for him. Quiet Storm was only inches away. But the unicorn didn't charge the sniveling man. Instead, inexplicably, Quiet Storm lowered his horn and caught the hem of Dynasian's golden robe. At the instant the unicorn's horn touched the cloth there was a tremendous flash of sick green light.
The astonished warriors gaped at the spot where Dynasian had been. The dreaded ruler had disintegrated, leaving only a few flecks of ashen powder on the ground.
For a moment there was silence among the warriors—shocked, uncomprehending silence.
"Wh-what?" Sheila sputtered.
Laric stepped forward, leaning down to inspect Dynasian’s dusty remains. Magic," he pronounced, straightening up. "Sorcery of the darkest kind."
Sheila looked at the gray dust, and a thought came to her. That robe was made of the material from Mardock's chamber. Somehow it was the key to Dynasian's end.
"And Mardock would have stepped in," said Laric. "Tonight we've saved the land from a fate even worse than Dynasian's cruelty."
"And restored its good and noble ruler," added Illyria, coming up behind Laric and putting her arms gently around his shoulders. Her face was soft with tenderness when she looked at him. "If Dynasian' s executioner had done his work…" Illyria was unable to finish her words; she simply smoothed Laric's forehead lovingly with her hands.
14
Changes
Laric turned to face his beloved Illyria. "The danger is over, and we have won," he said warmly, wiping a trickle of blood gently from the thin wound Dynasian had made in her beautiful high cheek.
"Now I can be the husband you deserve. The Unicorn Queen will soon be the queen of all the land Laric hesitated a moment and searched Illyria's clear blue eyes. "If that is your wish," he added, almost shyly.
Illyria's face broke into a radiant smile. “Gladly would I spend my life with you, Laric, be it as queen or commoner," she said.
"And I thought she didn't care," Lianne whispered to Sheila.
"I never saw anyone care so much in my life," Sheila replied with a smile.
More sounds of jubilation filled the square. People everywhere had linked arms and were singing songs of freedom. The unicorn warriors and Laric's men were already swapping battle stories and comparing wounds.
Illyria raised her hands to quiet them, Solemnly she raised her sword in the air. "To you, brave warriors all. I salute your bravery, your love of the unicorns, and your devotion to all that is good about our people and our land."
"Long live Illyria and Laric!" cried Cam, spinning Myno around in a dance of joy.
"To Illyria and Lanric!" cried the women happily, raising their bows in salute.
Dr. Reit had driven over and tooted out a short version of "Here Comes the Bride" on the horn. Everyone looked at him quizzically. "Just a tradition of a nuptial celebration from back home," he explained happily, tooting out the tune again.
At the mention of home Dr. Reit looked down at the dashboard. "Good gracious," he muttered. "Sheila, I hate to rush you at a time like this, but I'm almost on empty. If we run out of gas and this engine dies, then I'm afraid we'll be stuck here forever, and well, as delightful and enchanting as these people are ...”
Suddenly the reality of the situation came tumbling in on Sheila. She couldn't go home now! Not now, when the danger and fighting were finally over and when everything had worked out so well.
Sheila bit her lip. Life in this land was going to improve drastically in the coming days. There would be work, but it would be the work of rebuilding and making beautiful again the life that Dynasian and Mardock had tried to destroy. She wanted to be a part of it.
"Sheila, I'm afraid you must decide rather quickly," Dr. Reit urged her.
Sheila had to think fast. Could she really give it all up? She looked around at her friends. They looked back at her, awaiting her decision.
Morning Star sensed her dilemma and broke free of the other unicorns. She cantered over and nuzzled Sheila gently on the arm. Sheila hugged the unicorn around the neck. Her eyes brimmed with tears at the thought of leaving her trusted friend. There were no unicorns at home, and even if there were, Sheila was sure there would never be one she would love like this creamy filly.
Darian walked up beside her. His deep brown eyes seemed to be asking her not to go. He was the first boy she had ever kissed—the first boy she ever felt so strongly about. She wondered if she would be able to feel that way about anyone else. He reached out and held her hand.
She took it and squeezed it hard, She looked around at her friends: Myno. Nanine. Pelu. Kara. Lianne. Laric's warriors. Would she ever enjoy the camaraderie of such brave and loyal friends again?
But then other pictures came into her mind. Her mother and father. Her best friend, Cookie. Her dream of going to college and studying to someday be an astronaut. She didn't want to give up these people and the future she had planned for herself.
"I have to go," she whispered gently to Darian. “I'll never forget you. Never."
Darian turned away and wiped his eyes quickly with the palms of his hands. "I know, Sheila," he said in a voice choked with emotion. "I'll never forget you, either.” He grabbed her tightly and held her to him. She wet his rough tunic with the water from her tears.
"Sheila, I'm idling on fumes, I'm sorry," Dr. Reit said, imploring her to hurry.
Darian looked at her and nodded as if to say he understood her decision, She squeezed him one more time and turned toward the others.
Illyria approached and embraced her. "Go home knowing that you are one of the bravest warriors I have ever met, Sheila from the Land of Science. My love and thanks follow you through time and space. Illyria pulled one of her silver bracelets from her arm and slipped it onto Sheila's arm. "Take this as small thanks from one to whom you have given much."
Sheila hugged Illyria. "No one has ever taught me more than you," she said, tears now running freely down her face.
"You saved my life today," Illyria told her with a smile. "When Mardock threw his evil green lightning my way this day, I saw you calling to me and recalled how you had once used your mirror to throw Mardock's spell back upon him, I did the same with my sword."
Sheila smiled and wiped her eyes. Illyria's words filled her with happy pride.
"Hurry now, Sheila," Illyria said in the voice of gentle command Sheila had heard so many times before. "Our dear Dr. Reit is growing anxious.”
Quickly Sheila hugged each of the women.
"I told you the magic inside you would triumph, little sorceress," Nanine whispered.
"Be well always," said Pelu.
"Your aim is as true as your heart, dear friend," Kara said, throwing her arms around Sheila. Lianne, too, hugged her warmly.
To Sheila's surprise Myno was sobbing so much she could barely speak. She hugged Sheila so hard Sheila heard her own back crack slightly. "I know you will grow up to be a queen among warriors in your own land," she said through her tears. Sheila hugged the gruff, good-hearted woman fiercely.
Laric kissed her quickly on the cheek, and his men bowed to Sheila as one.
Sheila heard the engine of the convertible sputter. She ran toward the car, and as she did, she caught sight of Dian standing off to the side staring at her with a sullen expression, yet with wet eyes. With little time to spare Sheila whipped off the backpack that still hung off her shoulders and tossed it to Dian.
Dian smiled at her and waved. Sheila waved back as she jumped into the convertible beside Dr. Reit. "Here we go," he said.
He stepped on the gas, and the last sight Sheila saw was that of the warriors standing in the square, the fires of the battle still illuminating their proud faces as they raised their weapons high to salute her, In the center, her sword held high in respect, stood Illyria, the Unicorn Queen.
The next thing Sheila knew she was whirling through an ash-blue void with a cold wind whipping all around her, and then, with a jarring thud, the car landed on its tires in Dr. Reit's backyard.
"We made it," said Dr. Reit, smoothing down his white hair.
Sheila looked around at the familiar surroundings. Dr. Reit's large yard with the wicker lawn furniture. His cat, Einstein, asleep on the back steps, waiting to trip someone up, as usual.
It was all the same. Everything was unchanged—everything but her. In what had been only a few moments in this world, Sheila had lived the adventure of a lifetime.
"It's almost dinnertime, and I believe we
'll have to get you freshened up before sending you home," Dr Reit said.
"Home," she repeated with a mixture of joy and sadness. "Home."