by Bryan Fields
The Unicorn snorted. “It was the Sky-Riders who provided the power to summon me here. The bard pulled their magic into her music, and the sick girl absorbed it from there. The music your bard chose was an invitation to death, and it terrified her. Her fear and her desire to live breached the wall between the worlds and summoned me. Even only partially formed, I saw her need and granted her wish. I turned her flesh away from the path of rebellion. I restored the proper order of life within her, and then I returned home.”
“However, I continued to receive her energies. She told others of her cure, and as the news spread, I received energies from everyone who shared her joy and faith. She spoke to a great gathering, and the energy infusing me woke me from the living slumber I had been in. I saw what had become of The Tribe, and what had happened to the world we were made to guard. Our world is twisted and diseased, and I must make it whole again.”
I nodded. “I’m sure she’s very thankful for your help, and it sounds like your world needs help. So, why are you telling me all this?”
“The Sky-Riders will listen to you, Mr. Fraser, and once I return home, your people will need someone to lead them.” He leaned toward me, and I realized his eyes looked forward, not to the side. Eyes to the front, the creature hunts. Eyes to the side, the creature hides. “Haven’t you ever wanted to rule the world, Mr. Fraser?”
I stared back at him. “I’m sorry, but I’m just a shaved monkey here. Perhaps you should explain exactly what you mean by that.”
He chuckled. “Rest assured, Mr. Fraser, I intend to. To begin with, I intend to convert your people to my worship. I will walk among them with the name and the form of your tribal sky-god, and accept his worshippers as my own. I will command them to purify the land of those who worship other gods, and gather the life energy of all who die in my name. I will command my followers to unleash the great fires from the deep places where they slumber, and when the last of those fires scorches the land, I will return home. I will release the energy I have gathered, and it will make my people whole again. We will rise once more, and then we shall restore our world.”
“Leaving millions dead or dying in your wake.”
The Unicorn nodded. “Billions, if all goes well. The survivors will need a leader. You’ll be able to rebuild your world in peace, without interference from the Sky-Riders. It should take you less than a thousand years to get back to this level of development. You will be Moses or Confucius for your new world, Mr. Fraser. Wealth, power, females, immortality for your name. If you desire something more, I will provide it for you.”
“I want my world left alone. Your world is your problem.”
“Yes,” he said. “It is my problem, and I must fix it. That is my purpose, Mr. Fraser. I have no choice. You do. You can find your purpose and lead your people to create a new world, or you can die and someone else will do it. What happens after I leave really is of no concern to me. I’m making you this offer because I want your help with the Sky-Riders.”
I stood up. “Do you have a name? I need to know what we should carve on your tombstone.”
He shook his head. “I’m the only Unicorn on your world, Mr. Fraser, and when you see me next I will appear as one of you. Why attempt to give me a name at all? It would serve no purpose. As for killing me, the Sky-Riders already know how to do that. They haven’t mentioned that fact, have they? It would also serve no purpose. They will not put your species before theirs, Mr. Fraser. Doing so would be contrary to their purpose.”
I sighed. “All right, Smith, you’ve had your say. You delivered your message. I’ll pass it on. You can go now.”
“Remember my offer, Mr. Fraser. After you speak to the Sky-Riders, you will see I am the only one on your side. Your civilization is nothing more than an anthill to them. You will see how they respond, and then you will know your destiny is inevitable.” He vanished, and my office flexed like rubber, snapping back to the correct size.
I went downstairs and knocked on the door to the exercise room. After a few moments, Rose opened the door.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “My mother has no suggestions. She will take the news to the Hall of Ancients and seek their counsel.”
I hugged her. “You’ll need to contact her again. I know why he’s here.”
Chapter Three
Do You Have Change for Five Billion People?
“Well, as my housekeeper used to say, ‘we’re in nae shirtage a bein’ fooked’.” Harmony leaned back against the wall of our booth, shaking her head. “I have to admit, I don’t see a great many options.”
“What about your people?” Jake asked. “Can we get them to help?”
Harmony shook her head again. “If my people held a referendum on his proposal, I expect it would pass by an overwhelming margin. Especially among the males. If his plan gets out, we may have to deal with other Dragons trying to keep us from stopping him.”
“Isn’t that just cheerful.” I flagged the waitress and held up my glass for a refill. There was a question I wanted to ask, but I really wasn’t sure I actually wanted to know the answer. I screwed my courage to the sticking place and went for it.
“Smith told me you already know how to kill a Unicorn, but that option hasn’t been brought up. I don’t like the idea of setting out to murder an intelligent creature, but he is talking about wiping out billions of lives in a nuclear exchange. I don’t want that to happen, so let’s hear it. How do we kill him?”
Rose wrapped her arms around herself and looked away. “Iron and steel cause them pain, but won’t imprison them or damage them. If they’re aware of an attack, they can shift out of phase with the rest of the world and avoid it. They’re immune to poisons and diseases. They can feel hostile magic being directed at them and dispel it before it hits them.” She fell silent, staring out the window.
“And…?” I prompted.
Harmony leaned forward, putting her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her hands. She said, “And… The only substance lethal to Caretakers is Dragon blood. It reacts with and annihilates their blood and body tissues. Death occurs in a matter of seconds. The reaction also creates a curse that feeds back through the Dragon’s blood, no matter how well protected or how far away the Dragon is. It kills drakes outright, and leaves drakessa sterile. If that Dragon has children already, there is a chance for the curse to follow the bloodline and annihilate one or more of her descendants. Even if all the descendants are spared, our culture is…not kind to infertility. We have come to value reproductive ability, due to the need to maintain our population. It isn’t fair, and it isn’t kind, but it is the truth.”
“So, that’s what he meant.” I sighed. “What Dragon is going to act against their own interests and risk their children’s lives for our sake?”
“There’s more,” Rose whispered. “My mother has ordered me to return home if we can’t stop the Caretaker. Unicorn. Whatever you call him. Mother will have to undo the acceptance. It will free to you to mate with many women among the survivors.” She covered her face with her hands and started sobbing.
Ember carefully folded her hands across her midriff and asked Harmony, “Are you going home as well?”
Harmony ran her fingers through Ember’s hair. “I will if I need to. But you will be welcome to come with me, and live out your days at my side.” Ember buried her face in Harmony’s shoulder and started sobbing as well.
Jake shook his head and said, “Can we have a reality check here? This Unicorn has no idea how our military systems work. There is no way he can get launch codes issued to the missile fire control teams. He may be able the get some religious nut jobs to call for war on the infidels, but there is no way he can actually trigger a war.”
“We can’t make that assumption,” I said. “He might not be talking about launching our missiles, or riling up our nut jobs. If he arranges an attack by someone else, it could have the same result. Further, the bigger he gets, the harder it will be to oppose him. We need an effective respo
nse and we need it as soon as possible.”
Miranda said, “And by ‘effective response’, you mean a weapon capable of killing a Unicorn.”
“Not killing. Stopping.” I looked at Harmony and added, “Is there any way to imprison him, or disrupt his magic? If he’s going to be appearing as a Human, is there a way we can expose him?”
“Do you think showing everyone he’s really a Caretaker—sorry, Unicorn—do you really think it will drive people away?” Harmony waved the idea away. “You’d be proving his spiritual nature, attracting more followers to his side.”
Miranda pushed her coffee cup aside and leaned forward. “If we’re going to have to kill him, I say we get bigger guns. What about summoning a demon and taking out a contract on this Unicorn? I mean, what’s the point of having demons running around if not to kill ugly one-horned mules?”
Harmony and Rose both shook their heads at the same time. Rose said, “We don’t have any more access to the divine authorities of your world than you do. If your world’s ‘upper management’ were to take issue with Smith’s plan, we wouldn’t be involved. It would just happen.”
“It could also be that ‘upper management’ is acting through us to remove the threat. We have no way to tell. So, we’re back to being on our own,” I said. “What about magic? Rose, could we get your mother to show up with some golden tablets and an English-Draconic dictionary for Martin to translate them with? Something we could use to start a peace movement? If he wants and needs hatred, wouldn’t magic and prayer focused on peace interfere with that?”
“Any energy directed his way, positive or negative, is energy he can use,” Rose said. “His end purpose doesn’t limit him the way ours does.”
“Speaking of his end purpose, what will happen to the other races if he resets your world?” Ember asked. “Do any of them stand to lose if he’s successful? That might be enough of an argument to get someone on our side.”
Rose dabbed at her nose with a tissue. “Elves. When the Humans turned against us, Elves became their teachers and counselors. They won’t be happy about surrendering that prestige. If anyone can out-do a Unicorn at magic, it would be the Elves.”
“I know who we can talk to,” Harmony said. “Aiyliria of Tianisa. She’s a former High Priestess of the Temple of Logic and Reason. If we convince her to help us, she has enough influence to sway the Elven Protectorate itself if need be. Rose, would you join me in the ladies room?”
Rose nodded and slipped out of the booth. Ember and I watched the two of them walk across the restaurant and we both winced the moment they vanished. I reached out and took her hand.
Jake reached for his wallet and slapped a bill down on the table. “Ten bucks says there’s a quest involved, and not for a shrubbery.”
Miranda snickered. “My money is on retrieving some timeless artifact from either a crypt or a wizard’s tower. If we have to get the Holy Hand Grenade, I’m bringing the Blessed Shotgun of Ithica.”
“We’ll flip a coin over who gets to say, ‘this is my boomstick!’” Jake said. He looked over at me. “David, did you ever do heavy weapons?”
“No, but I did shinai for three years. I also studied iaijutsu at the Japan House for a year or so. Between my compound and the sword Rose gave me, I should be fine.”
Jake started to ask Ember something, but stopped himself and shook his head with a slight smile. Miranda furrowed her brow at him. “Ember, any self-defense classes or firearms training?”
“As a matter of fact, yes,” Ember replied. “As part of my fire spinning, I’ve been studying meteor hammer for about five years and I’ve got a good foundation in the basics of Southern Wushu. And I have my bow.”
Miranda’s eyebrows shot up. “What the Hell is a meteor hammer?”
“Big heavy steel ball on the end of a long chain.”
“Huh. Have you ever used it on a person?”
Ember got very interested in her beverage. “Oh, no, Officer Miranda. No matter what my cheating skag of an ex-boyfriend says about the hail damage to his truck, I’ve never used it on anyone or anything that wasn’t a legitimate practice target at my sifu’s school.”
Ember and I perked up and turned toward the restrooms at the same time. Rose and Harmony had returned, and I felt the gladness in Rose’s heart before I could see her smile. They sat back down with us and Harmony brought us up to date.
“Aiyliria was just as concerned as we are and had some more information about the Unicorn you met. Unicorns don’t have a governing body as such, but they do have kind of a universal, telepathic parliament they all take part in. If one of them leaps off the beer wagon, the rest get involved. She said this parliament has censured Smith for quote ‘crimes of thought and intention’ unquote. The Humans like the current status quo and don’t want to return to the old arrangement, so the Unicorns rejected his plan.”
“That’s why he needs so much power,” Rose added. “He intends to remake reality so that the other Unicorns agree with him.”
“We have a plan,” Harmony said. “All of you are coming back with us—”
Miranda slapped her hand down on the table. “DING! To retrieve a magical artifact from a monster-infested ruin!”
Harmony opened her mouth, then closed it again and shook her head. “Well, yes, essentially. How did you know?”
Miranda laughed. “Are you kidding? She’s an Elven sage. Those folks never do their own field work. When are we leaving and how much ammunition should we bring?”
Rose said, “We can leave from our house. If we move the workout gear against the wall, the exercise room is large enough for the travel circle. Can everyone be ready in three hours?”
With nods all around, Harmony stood up and grabbed the check. “I’ll take care of this and we’ll meet you all at David and Rose’s house. Stay in touch if anything happens, and do not discuss what we are doing. Rose and I will fill you all in when we get to our world. Smith can’t eavesdrop on us there.”
Ember gave Harmony a tight hug and kiss. “Have I ever thanked you for choosing me? This is so cool! We’re going to a dungeon and we’re bringing Dragons! I think I just attained Nerdvana!”
I gave her a mock scowl. “Don’t get pre-patrol on me, soldier. We don’t light up until the fat lady sings.”
With high-fives all around and cries of ‘Kick the tires and light the fires’, we headed out into the night.
Skirling bagpipes and pounding drums blasted through the house as I finished armoring up. No kilt this time. Steel-toed boots, steel motocross guards for my shins and forearms, plate gauntlets, and my steel brigandine back-and-breast from my SCA days. All right, fine, I did some heavy weapons back in the day. I simply preferred shinai, that’s all. I was also wearing a steel codpiece over a regulation athletic cup. I was taking no chances.
Our bow cases were ready to go, along with two gym bags full of dry clothes, first aid gear, water filters, and a case of assorted Meals, Ready to Eat I’d bought for hunting trips. Rose didn’t need armor, but she was still dressed for an expedition. Flannel shirt, denim jeans, leather jacket and drovers hat, machete on her hip and Glock in a shoulder holster. The Glock was a ‘welcome to Earth’ gift from Miranda, delivered in the wake of our issues with the previous HOA board. Miranda had also taken Rose to a pistol range and taught her how to shoot. I think the lessons were Miranda’s idea of a ‘girl’s night out’.
While I finished the buckles on my shin guards, Rose was using a piece of leftover sidewalk chalk to fill in the runes inscribed around the nine-foot wide pentagram filling the floor of our exercise room. The ritual called for beeswax candles at each point of the pentagram, but that would be a fire hazard. Thankfully, Charles and Vicki had some beeswax tea lights we could use, no questions asked. What happens between the worlds stays between the worlds.
Jake and Miranda arrived first, wearing their tactical gear and carrying enough firepower to storm a meth lab. Stun grenades, tear gas, cattle prods, hand radios and gas masks for
everyone. If that weren’t enough, Jake had also brought silver and wooden bullets, two bottles of real live holy water, and a titanium bowie knife for dealing with any mutant werewolves he might encounter.
Ember, by contrast, was wearing motorcycle leathers over jeans and a t-shirt. She had her bow case, a bowling ball satchel holding her meteor hammer, and a camera with extra batteries and memory cards. She caught my expression and waved it away. “Yeah, I know, I’m the squishy. What can I do? The only armor I have is a couple of chainmail bikinis for fire dancing, and I’m not wearing cheesecake armor to a sword fight. I’ll stay in back, hide behind the meat shields, and try not to draw aggro.”
“Good plan,” I said. “Maybe you can borrow a mithril shirt or something.”
Harmony went into the back yard and filled two plastic containers, one with soil from our garden and the other with water from the hose. She tucked them into her purse and went to help Rose with finishing the circle. I had a suspicion as to what the containers were for, but I didn’t ask.
I added a pair of flashlights, a package of lighters, and a bag of road flares to our bundles. I was looking for space to stow our tent and the ground mushroom Jake had brought along when Harmony stopped me.
“Leave those,” she said. “I have a shelter we can use.”
Not having to pack the tents left plenty of room, so I got our last bits and pieces stowed. Once all the gear was packed, Rose and Harmony arranged us inside the pentagram. Harmony brought her hands together, and our world vanished in a flash of dark.
Chapter Four
“Your mission, should you choose to accept it…”
The new world was a vast blur of gold and ivory. It took a few seconds of blinking for my eyes to focus on my surroundings. My ears were ringing, I was out of breath, and the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck were standing up and tingling from a lingering electric charge in the air.
Rose helped me to a chair and reassured me the effects were temporary. She pressed a goblet of water into my hand and I drank; it cleared my head and I looked around at the others. Jake and Miranda were a bit worse off than I was; at least I managed to avoid any nausea. Harmony and Rose were fine, of course. Ember was up and about, exploring the room we were in. I took another drink and settled for looking around.