Unicorn Keep

by Angelia Almos

  “I—” She started to protest, feeling as if she had overstepped some sort of human-unicorn boundary.

  We know your name, Jiline. You may know ours. I am Gwyn. The unicorn mare didn’t move away, but stood by Bai and she assumed they were talking directly with each other.

  She crouched down, knowing she needed to drink, but loath to put her fingers in the frigid water. It wasn’t as cold as she had expected and she drank.

  The unicorns started moving off again, picking their way along the river. She checked her girth and remounted Ginger to follow behind them. Gwyn briefly touched her horn to Ginger before rejoining the herd. Ginger filled with energy as she had before and eagerly trotted off to keep up with the unicorns. Bai stayed behind her.

  The unicorns and their magical box cleared a path for Ginger making it fairly easy going for them. She looked up at the sky again, a mass of swirling white about ten feet above her head. How did it work?

  Herrick would probably know. Her lips tingled at the thought of him. And she pushed them together to get the feeling to stop. He was a mage. He had kept the unicorns against their will. She stumbled over the thought. Why had they kept the unicorns confined?

  To bolster their power. The barrier fed off our magic. Not only to sustain itself, but the mage’s could pull our magic from the barrier to increase their own power. Your Herrick had not begun to do this. His magic was pure human.

  She remembered him saying Herrick’s magic wasn’t tainted by unicorn magic.

  Neither is yours.

  But how could unicorn magic be tainted?

  When our magic is taken by another creature it is no longer ours – it becomes tainted in our eyes.

  She shivered as a wind blew through the magical box. Snow plummeted to the ground blown off the tree branches around the magical box. She glanced up at the sky, uncertain of the time, or even how long they had been riding. They were still going downhill for the most part with flat areas here and there. The river cut out a path in the canyon which the unicorns followed.

  13. WYVERNS

  Herrick wondered how much longer his mother would be able to contain herself. The rage had been steadily growing. The keepers had yet to return or send a message back and night would fall within the hour. Mistress Marta stopped in the doorway of the hall and shook her head.

  “She must have taken everything when she left,” Marta said.

  Brennah frowned. “What about her bed blankets?”

  “They’re gone as well.”

  Brennah growled and tossed a jar across the room. She had been preparing a tracking potion to find Madelen, but she needed something of hers, even a hair would do.

  “How did she know?” Brennah growled.

  Madelen hadn’t. Herrick had removed what was left himself to make sure his mother couldn’t track her. He was just lucky the thought had occurred to him before it came to his mother.

  He walked over to the window to look down into the valley. Snow blanketed the valley floor. Amazing how nature immediately knew the unicorns were no longer present. The snow would fill the valley in the first time in almost two hundred years.

  Keeper Brody hesitated just behind Marta.

  Brennah saw him out of the corner of her eye and turned to him. “Well?”

  “Her pony and tack are gone,” Brody said stiffly. “But I don’t know she’s the one who took it. The unicorn keepers took all the horses. Perhaps they took the pony as well.”

  Herrick considered. It was plausible, but he knew his mother didn’t believe it. “If she took her pony...”

  His mother turned to him.

  He continued. “She couldn’t have gotten her pony to the valley floor. How would she have helped the unicorns and taken her pony? Our entire side of the valley is one giant cliff. If she has her pony she ran away. Maybe she took advantage of our distraction of the unicorns going missing. You gathered all the keepers in the hall. It would have been easy for her to get to the stable without anyone seeing her and leaving.”

  Brennah shook her head not agreeing with him. “I don’t believe in coincidence. She’s the only one missing. She was involved.”

  Herrick hesitated. “You want her to be involved. It would be simpler.” She glared at him. “But the truth is you don’t know how the unicorns escaped. Maybe the barrier finally failed. Maybe another mage got tired of having to ask you to use unicorn magic and broke the barrier. Maybe a dark creature broke through and the unicorns took advantage of the hole. We don’t know what happened.”

  “Leave us,” Brennah commanded, her gaze steady on her son. Brody and Marta stepped out of the room and the door shut. “You’re very determined to prove Madelen’s innocence.”

  He sighed and looked back out the window. He had to be careful with how much he protested and showed on Madelen’s behalf. If she realized he felt a draw for her, she would use him to track down Madelen. “Or, your theory is that a unicorn keeper who doesn’t have a drop of magic somehow stole her pony, brought the barrier down, and helped the unicorns escape all in the course of the few minutes the unicorn keepers didn’t see.”

  Brennah’s gaze didn’t waver and practically burned a hole in his back. “She could have fooled us.”

  “She couldn’t have fooled the unicorns. They chose her as a keeper, twice. You know as well as I do that they don’t tolerate other magical creatures. They avoid them mostly, but when confronted will attack to preserve their own magic.”

  Brennah stopped glaring at her son and sat in one of the high backed wooden chairs at the table. Magical books were spread out across the surface. Her voice no longer held the power or rage it had a moment ago. “You have no idea, son, what will happen if we cannot bring the unicorns back to the valley?”

  He turned around and walked cautiously to the table. “Tell me.”

  Brennah slowly paged through one of the large leather books. “We have been in charge of the unicorns, protecting them in exchange for the use of their magic to bolster ours, for hundreds of years. The Keep is nothing but an isolated stone fortress without the presence of the unicorns.” Her fingers tightened into a fist. “They escaped under my watch. The other mages will remove me as soon as the news reaches them. Our power base will be shattered. We’ll go back to the days where we had to bow and grovel doing tricks to earn a place in some fat king’s castle.”

  “Just because the unicorns are gone doesn’t mean we are nothing,” he whispered. He could still feel his own magic within. He didn’t depend on the unicorns to make him stronger.

  She glanced up and frowned. “You’re so young, Herrick. You have not felt what it is like to be bolstered by unicorn magic. I can feel it draining from me as we speak. The barrier continues to crumble without them to keep it strong.”

  “It’s still there?” He’d assumed since the snow was in the valley floor that the barrier was gone.

  “It slowly retreats, taking with it the last of the unicorn’s magic.” Brennah sat still for a moment. “We have lost all of our unicorn keepers as well. None have returned in the storm. They will freeze to death before they can make it around the mountain to the other side of the valley where the unicorns broke free.”

  “You know where they escaped?”

  Brennah stood. “There was a hole in the barrier on the north side of the valley. It has to be where they left.”

  He frowned. “Did you send any keepers after them through the hole?”

  She closed her eyes. “No, you heard me send them all on horseback. You see why the other mages will remove me. I panicked. I didn’t think thoroughly through the crisis. Now I can see what I should have done, but it is too late.”

  Brennah walked over to look down at the valley through the window.

  “We could still go through the hole.” Herrick felt compelled to point out.

  “On foot?” Brennah shook her head. “The unicorns have been gone since daybreak. We could never catch them on foot. If I had sent a few keepers immediately, perhaps, but now,
they wouldn’t even be able to track them.”

  The soft gray of daylight was fading into a muted gray. Brennah turned away from the window and strode to the table. “I will not give up.”

  No, she wouldn’t. Herrick left her to her spell casting and went to his room. Gathering his belongings, he prepared to ride. His mother was wrong. They could track the unicorns. He wasn’t sure how long it would take her to realize her mistake, but he had to get to Madelen before she did.

  Night had fallen before something drew him from his room. Herrick stopped at the top of the stairs watching the wet and freezing unicorn keepers stand dejectedly in front of his mother. It looked like they had been turned back by the storm. His mother should have been glad that she hadn’t lost all of her unicorn keepers, but instead she raged at them, pelting them with magical punishment, judging by how the keepers in front flinched again and again.

  He jogged down the stairs to distract her wrath. It wasn’t their fault and it was unfair of her to take her rage out on them. He stepped into her path. The magical lash stung, but he didn’t flinch.

  Her hands stopped waving and seeing his glare, she dropped them by her side. She turned and returned to the great room where she had sequestered herself with her books.

  Mistress Marta stood hidden inside one of the hallways. He gestured her out. “They need food and warm clothes.”

  Her eyes widened at his orders, but her head bobbed. “Come with me.”

  One of the unicorn keepers, didn’t go. It was Eli.

  Herrick raised an eyebrow. Eli was just as frozen as the others and as one of those in front had taken the bulk of Brennah’s rage. “What is it, Eli?”

  “The trail was impassable.”

  He nodded. “You told my mother.”

  Eli slowly shook his head. “She wouldn’t allow me to speak. We went as far as the horses could swim. But the snow was up to their bellies. I made the decision to turn back. The others were listening to my orders.”

  Eli wished the blame to be put on himself. Herrick considered and thought about the many hours Eli had spent with Madelen. If she had assistance in escaping, most likely it would have come from Eli. The unicorns trusted the protectors the most. He wondered why his mother hadn’t considered the possibility of one of the protectors in assisting them in their escape.

  “You made the right decision,” Herrick said, keeping his thoughts to himself. “Eat and warm up.”

  Eli bowed his head at the dismissal and walked slowly away. Herrick waited until he was out of sight before going back up the stairs where he had dropped his bundle of winter clothes, food, and magical gear. Going down to the Keep patio, he stored them against the wall before leaning out over the railing to look down to the valley floor. To get a horse down there would be incredibly difficult. He narrowed his eyes as he considered how much energy it would take out of him. Too much. But he couldn’t go on foot either.

  The trails would be impassable. The snow shoes were too bulky to do anything more than move about the Keep grounds. He had to make time. He looked up at the clouds. The snow fell heavily and would probably for some time. Catching a flake, he felt the unicorn’s magic as it melted. If the storm was magic-encouraged perhaps he could encourage it to die down with a little more magic. He was tempted to dismiss the idea at first since his mother hadn’t tried.

  But his mother wasn’t exactly at peak form right now. In fact, he would guess she wasn’t thinking critically about the problem at all. Sending all the unicorn keepers into a snow storm a day’s journey from where the unicorns had escaped showed she wasn’t thinking clearly.

  ****

  Jiline pressed herself against Ginger’s body and shivered. They had camped in the snow for the night. With the unicorns surrounding her the cold had been tolerable, but now they were up and moving around. The wind was howling. The snow blew up from the ground and pelted her face. She didn’t understand why the magical box was no longer over them, but would never dare ask.

  Bai touched his horn to her shoulder and warmth flooded through her.

  “Thank you,” she whispered and finished tightening Ginger’s girth as she had been doing before the cold had overwhelmed her.

  He seemed to give a horse shrug before tapping Ginger as well.

  Gwyn walked up to them. She could now distinguish her from the herd by sight not just voice.

  The unicorn herd began to move down the river.

  I will stay with Jiline for a while. You go on up with the herd.

  Bai shook his head, but did as the mare ordered.

  “Did I do something wrong?” Jiline asked as Ginger picked her way through the boulders to keep up with the herd.

  No, why do you think so?

  It was harder to talk with Gwyn than it had been to speak with Bai. She had grown used to his presence and to say what she was thinking.

  It is my son, not you. He is too tempted to use his magic to keep you and Ginger moving and warm. He needs to rest a little and replenish. I will keep you moving. Gwyn paused. It is important that you call on us if need be. I have told the others to tell you their names if you call on them. Do not be afraid to do so. We owe you a great debt.

  Jiline shook her head in denial.

  Gwyn’s voice held a smile. Yes, we do. Do not think so little of yourself, young girl child. You did something great, which many would not do, and at personal peril to yourself. I would not have judged you if you had chosen to remain at the Keep for the rest of your life.

  And theirs. The unicorn mare didn’t say it, but Jiline thought it. The unicorn herd suddenly stopped, all heads raised. Gwyn snorted and Bai galloped back to them.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, looking around at the swirling snow. She hadn’t noticed that the magical barrier had been brought back up as they traveled, but the box effect was clear now.

  Bai edged closer to Ginger. I will protect you.

  “Against what?” She reached down to her pack which she had tied to her saddle like a saddle bag.

  You smell it? Gwyn asked.

  Bai curled his lip. They are close.

  Her fingers touched the case with the poison darts and she opened it to draw one out. Gwyn snorted next to her, but didn’t move.

  It is a pack of wyverns. They must have smelled the magic.

  Jiline’s fingers trembled and she shoved the dart back into the case and instead unsheathed the small sword she had almost forgotten. Ginger shifted beneath her. Gathering her reins tightly with one hand, she looked where the unicorns focused. They were trapped in the canyon the river carved.

  Eli had mentioned the wyverns specifically when they had looked at the scrolls. They lived within the forest and constantly tested the barrier for weakness. Feasting on unicorn flesh would give the wolf-like creatures great power. Their steady diet of non-magical creatures didn’t satisfy the hunger they always felt.

  The unicorns galloped forward out of the river’s path and into the woods. Bai bumped Ginger forward and Jiline released the reins a fraction to allow the pony to race through the deep snow. Gwyn surged in front of her to part the drift and give Ginger a trail. For their strain, the snow slowed them considerably. The barrier dropped as Ginger was engulfed within the unicorn herd. Bai stayed behind her.

  As one, the group continued its brisk pace, Jiline and Ginger in the center, Bai beside her. She couldn’t spot Gwyn any longer. Shadows moved among the trees they passed.

  She raised her sword up, but the unicorns didn’t slow. “Bai?”

  We see them. They are pacing us. Waiting for a sign of weakness and opportunity to take one of us down.

  The wyverns made no noise, at least none that Jiline could hear over the sound of the breathing unicorns. The snow muffled their hoof falls and the unicorns were silent as they prepared for battle.

  The shadows moved. Suddenly emerging from the trees, black shapes with sharp teeth and glowing brown eyes streaked toward the herd. She tried to count them as Ginger reared beneath her. Clamping
her legs, she rode the rear. The unicorns no longer ran, but turned to face the wyverns.

  Snorts and trumpeting neighs filled the air as the unicorns met their enemy. She didn’t know what to do. Ginger danced beneath her in fear, but the pony turned where she directed. But what could she do? The wyverns were massive. Much larger than a wolf. And they obviously knew their prey as they darted out of the way of the unicorns horns and hooves.

  A streak of black headed toward her and she remembered what Eli had said. They preferred to eat magical meat. She had magic within her. Ginger’s feet stilled and Jiline lowered her sword to point it directly at the wyvern.

  Bai leapt between them, his horn thrusting up into the wyvern’s rib cage. It howled as Bai slid on his haunches and threw the wyvern against a tree. The crunch was awful. She flinched, but didn’t have a moment to do more than that before Bai was urging Ginger forward again. The unicorn herd was off. Several wyverns lay bleeding in the snow, and she didn’t know where the others had retreated.

  She gripped her sword waiting for the next attack as they moved through the woods. But an attack didn’t come.

  “Bai?”

  They retreated when they realized we were not easy targets. They prefer to catch a unicorn alone.

  She nodded, but didn’t resheath her sword. Ginger huffed and puffed beneath her to keep up with the gallop the unicorns had fallen into. Gwyn dropped back and her horn, also bloody, brushed Ginger’s neck.

  You are safe now, Jiline. Gwyn’s eyes looked directly at her.

  She reluctantly and with some difficulty resheathed her sword. The unicorns had handled the wyverns without a problem. She quickly counted the moving herd. They all remained.

  “Were any of you hurt?”

  No. Gwyn said. Wyverns do not have magic of their own. They attack physically. Easy to defend against with our numbers. I’m surprised they attacked, but I suppose they were hungry.

  Bai snorted. They were after her.

  Gwyn dropped back to her son. Are you sure?

  One of them slipped through the line to take her down. I almost didn’t see him in time.