Lionel nodded. “It is your choice, but the invitation is open should you change your mind.”
Herrick ground his teeth in irritation before stepping up to the table to identify the spell Lionel had laid out for him. He cataloged the ingredients, but his focus wasn’t really on his task and he turned back to Lionel.
“Mage Brennah need not worry over me.”
“She’s a mother. Mother’s worry.”
Herrick narrowed his eyes and wondered just how much she had confided in Lionel. He knew their relationship had progressed past colleagues while he was gone for the summer. The difference in the way they looked at each other had been clear to him.
“Have you ever felt a draw, Lionel?”
Lionel frowned and dropped his gaze first. “No, Mage Herrick, I haven’t.”
He was surprised by Lionel’s answer. The man was easily forty years. Probably older. “My mother seems to think every mage has a match and will have a draw if only exposed to each other.”
Lionel shrugged. “You can love another without a draw influencing you. Personally, I’ve never wanted a draw. I prefer to be the master of my own fate. The draw gives another person too much influence over your destiny.”
****
Jiline rubbed her eyes. The hand-drawn pictures in the book in front of her were beginning to blur. It was several hours after dinner and her group was studying late, again. She closed her eyes a moment and then forced them open to look at the picture of a unicorn battling some sort of dog creature.
They studied the lore of the unicorns in the evening. Well, the unicorns and the creatures who would harm them if the opportunity arose. The unicorn keepers had to be able to recognize the creatures themselves as well as the signs of when one of them was near. She hadn’t realized how many other animals and beings the Keep protected the unicorns from. Of course, the unicorns didn’t feel that way.
Mistress Marta cleared her throat. “It is getting late. All of you are excused to sleep. We have another long day tomorrow.”
Jiline closed the book and carefully shelved it in its place. She turned to leave, but stopped at the moon chart hanging on the wall and frowned. Three days. The quarter moon would rise in three days and she needed to give the unicorns her answer then.
“Madelen.”
Jiline jumped and turned. Mistress Marta waited in the doorway. All of the other unicorn keeper trainees had left. She hurried forward and bowed her head as she passed. She walked back to her room alone, but the room was full of many girls. None of the other girls seemed to notice her entering. Keeping her head down, she straight-lined it to her bed against the wall.
Sabrine bumped her as she passed the girl’s bed. Jiline was pretty sure she had tried to trip her, but missed. The crabby girl’s antagonism had risen steadily in the last couple of days. She gritted her teeth to keep herself from demanding Sabrine tell her what her problem was. It was getting more and more difficult to ignore Sabrine and her little tricks. But she didn’t want to draw any extra attention to herself. She got ready for bed as quickly as she could and slipped under her blanket just as the mage lights blinked off.
In the dark, she stared at the ceiling, willing herself to go to sleep. The room was silent. She should have been able to fall asleep. She was exhausted, but her head wouldn’t stop spinning with the unicorns and the decision she had to make in three days. Unable to silence the thoughts, she tossed her blanket back and sneaked out of her room despite not needing to go down to the unicorns.
Instead, she headed for the stable. She didn’t have an answer for the unicorns and worried a few days wouldn’t give her any more clarity than she already felt. The stable was quiet. The rows of stalls stretched out before her. Brody had brought Ginger outside a few times when they had been training in front of the Keep for Jiline to say hello, but she hadn’t been inside the barn since she arrived.
She walked down the long building peering into each stall where a horse didn’t already look out. She had been quiet when she entered and most appeared to be sleeping.
At last she found Ginger about halfway down and clucked softly to her pony before letting herself in. Ginger nickered sleepily at her and waddled closer. The mare was starting to get fat. Too much good food and not enough exercise. She glanced around the stable. The majority of the horses seemed to fit that description. How many of the horses belonged to trainees and keepers? They never had a moment to ride or do anything but train or work as far as she had seen.
The keepers who hadn’t passed the valley test were all still here. She scratched Ginger under her chin. Why hadn’t they been sent home? They had failed the test. Narrowing her eyes, she knew the answer. They were being trained to keep the Keep in motion. It had to be cleaned, food prepared, rooms for the guests made, even Brody had come as a trainee from the few words they had shared.
Her eyes weighed heavily on her and she kissed Ginger on her nose before hurrying back to the dorm room. She fell into a deep slumber until the bell rung first thing in the morning.
Another day of physical training followed with her least favorite activity, climbing. She hadn’t caught up on her sleep and knew she was dragging. It didn’t help that she kept catching flashes of Herrick watching, distracting her away from the ropes.
She hated climbing. Trees were bad enough, but to climb hand over hand up a rope deep into a tree was impossible for her. Mistress Marta clucked, disappointed in her attempts and excused her back to climbing the two trees which had branches low enough to jump up and grab.
She fared a little better and was able to at least get more than a few feet off the ground. They took their lunch outside underneath the torture devices before continuing to climb the rest of the afternoon. Jiline’s body ached and where it didn’t ache it was numb. Her hands had reached a point of numbness where she couldn’t feel the blisters and cuts covering them.
****
She waited an hour past lights out before slipping out again. She thought about visiting Ginger, but instead went to the library. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for exactly, but she had more questions than answers. The unicorns had told her they had been imprisoned by the mages about two hundred years ago.
None of the volumes in the library she had seen were that old. Trailing her finger down the books, she stopped at a stack of scrolls and picked one up and unwound it revealing a drawing of a suitably disgusting creature with four arms, sharp teeth, and one eye, one of the many she was supposed to watch out for as a keeper. Did the unicorns not know or had they forgotten about all the beings who were still trying to get at them because it had been two hundred years?
What if she helped them and the monsters took down the unicorns to steal their magic? Everyone wanted the unicorn magic, even the honored guests who visited here. They came to the Keep because the spells the mages cast here were more potent and powerful than anywhere else. It had to be the unicorn’s magic which influenced it.
She went back to her room uncertain of what she had hoped to find, but she returned to the library the following night after lights out. A decision had to be made. She would need to return to the unicorns’ valley tomorrow night to tell them.
She stepped carefully around the quiet room. Her feet had blisters on them to match the ones on her hands, from running all day today, climbing the day before, but that was the life of a unicorn keeper according to Mistress Marta. Jiline was thinking it really wasn’t much fun despite the honor. She walked directly to the scrolls she had discovered last night. Pulling several out, she sat at a table and began to study them. If only one of them contained the information she needed to make her decision.
****
The quarter moon was high in the clear night sky. It illuminated the path down to the valley enough for her to not trip over a giant boulder. She carefully picked her way down. She didn’t allow herself to pause when she reached the valley floor, but raced toward the first strip of trees. Hopefully, the unicorns were expecting her and were distracting
the keepers away from where she was.
Even with the hood of her cloak pulled over her head, she worried over someone spotting and recognizing her. Now that she knew the techniques of the keepers she didn’t pause at the edge of the first strip of trees. Keepers kept to the trees. Better to stay moving. She curved left when she reached the second meadow going toward where she had met the unicorns before.
A flash of white let her know she was going in the right direction. Keeping her face tilted down, she met the two unicorns next to the ancient tree.
Their voices didn’t fill her head as they had before and she bit her lip and looked from the unicorn colt to the unicorn mare.
“I want to help.”
I told you she would say yes. The unicorn colt was almost gleeful.
You must be sure, Jiline of Ainsley. The unicorn mare said with caution. You will have to leave everything you know behind if you assist us. The mages will strike back against whoever helps us. You can’t stay here, but will need to leave with us.
She hadn’t considered leaving with the unicorns when they escaped, but she supposed helping them was one way to fail at being a keeper. She took a deep breath.
“How do I help?”
The unicorn colt stepped closer. You’ll break the barrier for us.
Her momentary burst of confidence quickly deflated. They expected her to break the magical barrier surrounding the valley.
Not break, exactly. The unicorn mare said.
“But how can I?”
The magic is within you.
They had mentioned this magic to her before, but she still had a hard time believing that even if she had magic within her that it was enough to take down something as massive as the barrier.
The unicorn colt tossed his head. Do not doubt yourself, Jiline. I know you can do it.
Both of the unicorns pivoted suddenly, their ears pricked forward. The unicorn colt turned his head back toward her.
A keeper approaches quickly. You must return to the Keep before he spots you.
9. FALSELY ACCUSED
Obeying the unicorn colt’s command, Jiline sprinted back through the woods and meadows to the trail. She scrambled up, worried she wasn’t quick enough. It would be just her luck to be caught now. But no shouts rang out. Ducking inside the gate, she stopped and leaning forward, her hands braced against her knees, attempted to catch her breath.
Only a few mage lights flickered, barely illuminating the hallway. Not that she needed the illumination. She had snuck around enough in the shadowy darkness to know her way back to her room with her eyes closed. Her breathing finally evened out and she headed quietly back down the hall toward the dormitory rooms. She had to be especially careful as she passed the entrance to the main hall. But all was quiet.
“I knew it,” a voice said behind her.
She spun. Not as quiet as she had thought. Sabrine stood in the hallway just behind her. She had no idea where the girl had come from.
“Sabrine,” she said, trying to think of something to say. She looked past her for anyone else who might be with her.
“I know you sneak out to visit him,” Sabrine snarled. “You should be ashamed of yourself. Defiling yourself in that way. You were chosen to be a keeper.” She pushed her shoulder and stalked past. “And yet you go to Herrick nightly.”
Jiline froze in panic before running after Sabrine to grab her arm and stop her.
“Don’t touch me, you’re disgusting,” Sabrine said. “I’m telling Mistress Marta and she’ll kick you out as you deserve. You might have them fooled, but I’ve always seen right through you.”
“Sabrine, it isn’t what you think.” She hunted quickly for a lie and spotted the library door. “I’ve been studying. Being a unicorn keeper isn’t as easy as you seem to think it is.”
Sabrine shook her head. “Do you think I’m stupid? We all see the way Herrick watches you.” She sniffed loudly. “It’s perverted.”
“I can’t help that.” She had no idea what Sabrine was talking about. Yes, she noticed Herrick watching her when she couldn’t avoid him, but he was frowning in suspicion not leering in lust. “Besides, he watches everyone.” Didn’t he?
“No.” Sabrine crossed her arms. “He only has eyes for you.”
She blinked at the jealous tone in Sabrine’s voice. “You like him, don’t you?”
Sabrine stepped back, her eyes flitting away from Jiline. “No!”
“You do.” She grabbed onto the feeling with certainty. “Did you offer yourself to him and he rejected you?”
She had seen a girl house keeper flirting with one of the male mages. It didn’t take a genius to know what they had gone to do when they had slipped out of sight. Sabrine spun back around to march down the hallway.
Herrick stepped into Sabrine’s path. “It’s long past curfew.”
Sabrine shot a triumphant look at her and grinned. Great, there was nothing she could say which would dissuade the girl now. Despite Sabrine’s sharp tongue with her, all she did was curtsy quickly to Herrick and run back toward the dormitory. Jiline should have been as quick, because she found herself alone with the one person who suspected the magic the unicorns had hidden within her. Their warning of what the mages would do should they discover her deceit rang loudly in her head.
Herrick’s eyes narrowed and he stepped back. “You shouldn’t be wandering the halls at night.”
Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth. “Of course, I apologize, Mage Herrick.” She bowed her head formally and stepped back quickly to follow Sabrine’s path.
“What were you doing?”
She paused. “I like to study in the library when it is quiet.” What if he had just come from the library? “And visit my pony. There’s no time in the day.”
“You need sleep more.” He turned and walked away from her toward the main hall.
Stunned by his sharp words, she waited a full second before running back to the dormitory. Sabrine was already back in her bed and pretending to be asleep. Jiline tiptoed past her and slid into her own bed.
****
Mistress Marta separated her from her group shortly after breakfast. They climbed the stairs to the mage level. Jiline’s heart began to race and she sweated. She hoped this was about Sabrine’s lie. She had seen the girl talking with Marta just before breakfast, but had dared to hope it was about something else when Marta hadn’t looked at her. Now, she wished it was about Sabrine’s lie as the only other alternative was they had discovered where she had really gone last night.
Twisting her fingers together, she stood next to Marta as she knocked on a heavy wood door.
“Enter,” Mage Brennah’s voice rang out.
She closed her eyes in despair. What could it be but the unicorns for her to be summoned by the Keep Mage? Marta opened the door and not too gently pushed Jiline in over the threshold before shutting the door.
Mage Brennah sat behind a large wooden table covered with what Jiline could only assume was magical items since very few of them looked familiar to her. Brennah rose from her seat and walked slowly around the table.
“Do you know why you have been summoned, Trainee Madelen?” Brennah’s voice held an odd note to it and Jiline reluctantly stepped forward.
She shook her head, but her mouth wouldn’t move. Something tugged inside her.
Brennah frowned at her lack of response. “Confession is good for the soul.”
Terror froze her in place. They knew about the unicorns. But maybe not. Just as with her parents when she had done something wrong it was better to admit to as little as possible. Asking for a confession was a trick adults used to get you to admit what they might only suspect.
Brennah’s lips pressed together for a moment, before she turned and returned to her chair behind the table. “Sit.”
Jiline forced her legs forward to sit in the high-backed chair positioned on the other side of the table.
Brennah was silent a moment as she stared at her. “Being a keeper is a
great honor, would you not agree, Trainee Madelen?”
She bobbed her head. “Y-yes.”
“Yet, you would risk this opportunity we have given you.”
“I don’t understand.” Better to play dumb than to admit to anything.
“Breaking curfew is a serious infraction. The rules are in place for a reason. Mistress Marta had noticed your lack of drive and energy the last few days. Perhaps contributed by your evening strolls.”
Admit the truth when you knew they knew. She glanced down at her twisting fingers and forced them to be still. “I haven’t been able to sleep.”
“And why is that?”
She shrugged. Maybe Brennah didn’t know about the unicorns. You could hardly call climbing down to the valley a stroll. “The task of unicorn keeper overwhelms me. I was trying to understand better and thought if I studied extra I wouldn’t be so nervous.”
“You’ve been studying?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Jiline nodded.
Brennah sighed. “Lying won’t help you now. I know what you have been doing. Perhaps, you didn’t realize that a keeper not only has to be pure of the soul, which telling lies corrupts, but pure of the body. Having physical relationships with another is strictly forbidden.”
This was about Sabrine’s lies. “I’m not lying.”
“Where were you last night, Trainee Madelen?”
“I went to bed, but couldn’t sleep. I walked around and studied the unicorn tapestries in the hallways. There are many within the Keep.” It would be easy for someone to walk the many hallways and not run into another soul.
Brennah slapped her hand down on the table and her eyes smoldered in anger. “Enough. You were seen with Mage Herrick. A charge has been issued against both of you for having inappropriate relations. It is forbidden for a unicorn keeper and a mage to be involved.”
“I saw Mage Herrick with Sabrine. She can vouch we weren’t having relations.”
Unicorn Keep Page 7