As I feared, not much progress had been made. If you could call it progress at all. All Hardy and his men had managed was to rule more and more out. Rumpelstiltskin wasn’t in the pub. He wasn’t in the library. He hadn’t spoken to the innkeeper or the stable boy of the most frequented establishment in the village, which meant they’d be giving up on the city any day now in favor of pursuing more distant leads.
I left my parents’ rooms, deep in thought when a hand suddenly tugged at my wrist. Jay. Williamson and Avery made a move toward him, startled by his sudden appearance, but dropped their weapons when they realized who it was and that Jay would never intend me harm.
He was red-faced and panting. “There you are. I went to your rooms first, but you weren’t there. I’ve been looking everywhere.”
Clearly, this wasn’t a social visit. “What’s happened?”
“The mother unicorn,” Jay said. “I was sleeping in my office after passing out there after the search last night and I heard her start to make a ruckus so loud that it woke me up. When I went to check on her she wouldn’t let me get near her. I thought that since you always seemed to have a calming effect on her, maybe you could come?”
I was already quickening my step. Acting out that way wasn’t like Zacarina. The same way that Jay thought I had a calming effect on the mother unicorn, she had always had a calming effect on me. In fact, the last time I had seen her upset and acting out, it was because we had found unicorn blood in the vicinity. This wasn’t some sort of wild overreaction, I was sure of it.
When we got down to the staviary, I rushed inside and flipped the latch on Zacarina and Epiphany’s stall. Zacarina pranced far from the corner where her daughter watched wide-eyed.
“Mama?” Epiphany asked. “Maybe the mortals can help?”
Zacarina fixed wild golden eyes on me. “Get out of my way,” she demanded imperiously. She tossed her mane.
“What’s going on?” The watchful eyes of Jay and my guards pressed in on me, and I bit my lip. With them watching, I couldn’t speak to her aloud as I usually would. I needed to mind-speak, the way that she did.
I put a hand to her nose and leaned my head toward her. “Talk to me. Please.”
Gradually, she calmed under my touch, but when her thoughts came, they were frayed and desperate. “I can feel them. My herd. My flock. They’re close, and I need—”
Frustrated, she whinnied and stamped a hoof on the ground. “I need to be with them. Please help me.”
Her sense of urgency filled my body. I too needed to escape this stall. I too needed to find our flock. “Of course, I’ll help you,” I murmured. The presence of Jay and the others outside the stall reminded me to be careful what I said aloud. I had accepted this new gift of mine, being able to speak with the unicorns, but I hardly had faith that everyone else would as well. To my knowledge, no other mortal beings could communicate with any animals, much less the nigh–on-untouchable creatures that the unicorns were. “We established yesterday: we’re a team.” I spoke mind to mind. “If you need my help, I’m there. But you’re not going alone. That helps no one. If he takes you too, then Epiphany will be left all alone. The last of the unicorns. No flock. No mother. Is that what you want?”
Her restless prancing stilled. “Of course not.”
I smiled. “Good. Then we’ll make haste, but we will go together.”
With Zacarina temporarily calmed, I whirled around, turning to Jay and my guards, who watched from the hall of the staviary.
“That’s amazing,” Jay breathed. “It’s like she really understands that you’re here to help her.”
She understood more than they could possibly know. More than even he understood about me these days.
“Send word to the castle,” I ordered. “Tell my mother we’ve gone for a ride.”
I may have been an optimistic fool, but one thing I was most certainly was not was foolhardy. A guard patrolling near the stables was dispatched to the palace to send word to my mother about where we’d gone. Williamson stayed behind in order to keep watch over Baby—over Epiphany. I was not going to leave the little unicorn unguarded. My own child was safe within the walls of the palace while I was gone. I’d make sure that Zacarina’s offspring was just as safe in the staviary with someone watching over her while she was gone.
I told Jay and the guards that I had a theory: what if—I posed the question as if it was a possibility that had just leapt into my mind—what if Zacarina was as wild as she was because her herd was nearby and she had no way of reaching them? It sounded crazy, I knew, but it couldn’t hurt to check… could it? I made sure to widen my eyes nice and innocently when I asked.
And it worked like a damn charm.
Zacarina allowed me to once again place a saddle on her back and reins around her neck. Jay and I would ride astride, searching for the missing unicorns as we had the other day. This time, though, I wouldn’t be sneaking out or evading my guards to do it. No, this time, while Williamson stayed behind, Avery would be following on horseback, hopefully able to provide us with backup in the event that we did indeed meet with Rumpelstiltskin today. And this time, instead of flying, our feet would be staying planted firmly on the ground.
My heart pounded in my chest. Was it really possible that after all the searching and combing through towns that my mother’s men were doing to locate him, we would find him first, just this easily? And finding him was one thing, but if he did have the unicorns with him, as Zacarina’s senses suggested, would we really be able to wrest them away from him? There was only one way to find out, I supposed.
On Zacarina’s back, Jay’s arms clutched me tightly around the waist, knowing how scared I was of flying. I held the reins loosely in one hand and patted his hands to comfort him with the other. “I’ll be all right,” I assured him. “I won’t ask her to fly today. We’ll find the unicorns the old-fashioned way.”
Still his arms tightened just a little bit more, and he pulled me back so that I could feel the rumble of his words in his chest. “That’s not why I’m holding on to you so tightly, Eliana. Point the first: You think Zacarina is acting like this because she senses her herd nearby. Point the second: Our working theory is that the person who took the unicorns in the first place is Rumpelstiltskin. And point the third.” His tone was grim now. “You told me yesterday that your mother made a bargain before you were born that could mean that Rumpelstiltskin is targeting you very personally. I’m holding you tightly because I don’t intend to let that happen. Not while there’s breath in my body, anyway.”
Again, my damnable heart fluttered at his words and I became keenly aware of everywhere we touched. Chest to back. Thigh to thigh. Hand to hand. I was warmed from the inside out.
Clearly I needed a distraction. I cleared my throat and spoke to Zacarina silently. “Can you still feel them?”
“Yes.” Her own voice sounded distracted as well. “It is like a tether, pulling me to them. The connection grows stronger, the closer that we get. I think… I think we’ll be there very soon now.”
We had already taken the meadows at a steady cantering pace and the unicorns had been nowhere to be found, so we moved deeper into the pockets of the hills and valleys that lined the Valean countryside. The sound of distant, rushing waters reached my ears. Rivers could be deep here; some ran through the country all the way to the coast on sinister shores.
Zacarina stilled. “Do you hear that?” Her voice in my mind was hushed and fearful. I strained to listen. At the edges of my senses, I heard what sounded like a chorus of cries for help.
Jay’s hands spasmed on my waist. “Eliana? I think—do you hear whinnying?”
My head snapped around to look at him. His eyes were wide as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I think it’s coming from the river.”
Zacarina lit off like a shot. We weren’t cantering anymore, but in a full-fledged gallop as we raced toward the river and hopefully toward her lost brethren, Avery and his steed right behind us. I could hardly catch
my breath from the anticipation. Had we really done it? Had we actually managed to find the missing unicorns? And with not a little fear, I wondered too: Did Rumpelstiltskin wait with them?
There was only one way to find out for sure.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when the line of the river came into sight. The unicorns were there all right. And now that we were close enough to them, they were screaming into my mind. Sobs, shouts for help, terrified, wordless cries, assurances to each other that it would be all right. And it wasn’t hard to tell why. They were in the river, which was bad enough. The muscle-bound equine creatures were not known for their graceful swimming abilities. But to make matters about a thousand times worse, they were tangled up in a net, thrashing together in their attempts to get to land. They were struggling just to keep their heads above water, to keep on being able to just keep breathing. But already, they looked exhausted from their efforts. They couldn’t keep this up for long or they’d surely drown.
What sort of monster would do this?
The answer came unfortunately far too easily, and I clenched my fist. I knew exactly which sort of monster would do this.
He answered to the name of Rumpelstiltskin. But one day he would have to answer to more than that. He’d have to answer to me.
I wasn’t sure whether it was fortunate or unfortunate that I saw no sign of the imp here today. Fortunate, I supposed, in that it meant that all of our efforts could go toward rescuing the unicorns. Unfortunate because it meant that, yet again, the imp would not be held accountable for his horrendous crimes against them.
Jay hurried down from Zacarina’s back and held a hand up to me. I took it and scrambled down as well. Zacarina took flight and hovered above us.
“Have faith, my kin. The mortals will help us.”
“Avery, your sword!” I shouted, hitching my skirts up as I ran. The unicorns’ net wasn’t far—just in the shallows of the water. If we could get to it and pull them closer and use Avery’s sword to cut them free, we might yet manage to save them. I plunged into the river’s edge and picked up the net. A frisson of horror went through me the instant that I touched it. No. It wasn’t a simple string net, but a net comprised of wire, twisted and gnarled together.
Avery splashed into the river behind me and lifted his sword, hacking at the net, but it was exactly as I feared—there was no effect at all. His weapon might as well have bounced off of it for all the good it was doing.
“Young one, how is it going?” Zacarina called.
I bit my lip. “The net is strong, but we’re going to figure something out,” I called back, evading the question. Because we had to figure something out, and quickly, too. I didn’t know how much longer the unicorns would be able to keep at it.
Zacarina swooped down and took the net between her teeth. I held my breath, daring to hope as she shook it like a dog with its prey, grinding down on it and trying to break it with her teeth.
But to no avail. The net held strong. The unicorns were just as trapped as ever.
What were we going to do?
A cheery tune reached my ears, and the crunching of leaves and grass underfoot. Branches broke as someone drew closer.
“The game afoot,
“The lass did look,
“For a way to win it all.
“How was she supposed to know
“That she’d lose it by the ball—Oh!” The jaunty singing cut itself short as a man pulled aside a large bushy branch and emerged from the trees. My heart skipped about three beats.
Those eyes. And that stance, at the same height…
For a moment, I’d thought that it was Luka coming through the trees. Coming from the afterlife itself to help me.
But now that the stranger drew closer, I could see the differences too. His skin had a different hue from Luka’s; his face was more narrow and angular.
And the most important difference: there was no warmth filling his gaze when his eyes met mine.
But I knew that I wasn’t the only one who saw the similarities, which, at least, made me feel a little bit better. I could tell from the way that Jay shuffled closer and picked up my hand to give it a light squeeze that he saw it too.
“My apologies,” the stranger said, oblivious to my internal strife. “I don’t usually bother others with my terrible voice, but I didn’t see you there. Oh my.” His eyes grew to the size of saucers as he took in the sight of the unicorns’ plight.
“May I be of some assistance?” Hastily, he crouched to the ground and opened the large satchel at his side, tossing out a screwdriver, a large canteen, and a small napkin that spilled open to reveal a gathering of berries as he tossed it aside in his search to find whatever he was searching for in the bag. Finally, he seemed to find what he was looking for: a large knife. Its blade was covered by a large leather sheath. He held it toward me, handle first. “I won this in a game of cards years ago. The man I won it off of said it had been blessed by the fairies—and whether that’s true or not, I’ve cut diamonds with it; it’s good and strong.”
This might be our last chance. Breathless with hope, I forged through the river toward my dead husband’s lookalike and put my hand on the knife. “Thank you so much,” I said.
“Not at all,” he said lightly. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find a way to repay me.” This was said with a joking wink.
Knife in hand, I rushed back to the river and tried the knife on the net. It cut true. My heart leapt. This was actually going to work. Tears of joy pricked at my eyes and I called back to the man, who stood on the shore, hands in his pockets as he watched.
“My name is Princess Eliana,” I shouted, still working at the net as I spoke. The wires snapped as the man’s blade cut through them like butter. “Find me at the palace. I promise I’ll be able to repay you with anything you want.”
I glanced back and saw him grin.
As I cut, Jay and Avery worked to move the discarded pieces of the net aside. From above, Zacarina snatched pieces between her teeth and flew them onto the ground, where they would no longer be able to do harm to anyone, spitting them out with great distaste. With all four of us working, it wasn’t long before the first unicorn was freed, stepping foot from the river onto the ground—the unicorn was shuddering, soaking wet, and clearly traumatized. But the most important thing was that she was alive and would stay that way too.
And then the next unicorn was freed. And the next. And the next. Before long, that blasted net was in scraps and pieces and each and every unicorn was accounted for.
One of them stepped forward, recovered enough to speak. She sank to her haunches and bowed her head to me. “We are in your debt, Princess Eliana.”
I recognized this unicorn. She was the one who had flown me to the castle from the meadow the day that I’d gone into labor with Fae. I’d called her Misty then and made Jay promise to get her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich—a favorite treat for unicorns. She’d disappeared from the staviary not long after that, choosing to take her leave, and she’d been with the unicorn herd when it had gone missing. I’d worried over all the unicorns, of course, but her a little more than the others. She, after all, was one that I felt I owed a debt to.
“Think nothing of it,” I said. “I’m so glad you’re all okay.”
And we had this stranger in the woods to thank for it. I slipped the man’s knife back into its sheath and turned to thank him.
But there was no one behind me except Jay and Avery.
The stranger had disappeared.
Avery wasn’t about to leave me alone, and Zacarina and I weren’t about to leave the unicorns. So after a quick, cursory check to make sure that none of them needed urgent medical attention, Jay took Avery’s horse back to the castle with the intent of retrieving more guards and hostlers. We’d need more hands to get them safely back to the palace. And with Rumpelstiltskin still on the loose, I wasn’t taking any more chances with them. I wanted guards around the unicorns at all times, and lots of them.
>
I knew it wasn’t a permanent solution, of course. The unicorns were creatures that needed to be free. I couldn’t cage them like my mother used to try to do to me. But while they recovered from their captivity and trauma, they’d stay in the staviary and convalesce. And while that happened, they’d have armed bodyguards around the clock.
Rumpelstiltskin wouldn’t lay a hand on them again if I had anything to say about the matter.
I clenched a fist as I thought about the imp who had caused so much misery. I hadn’t even met him and yet he’d turned my life upside down and topsy-turvy. I wasn’t going to lie—I’d very much like to land a punch squarely on his cheek and turn his face topsy-turvy, for starters.
I wasn’t going to tell my mother that, though. After all, princesses don’t start fights.
But we know how to finish them.
And I certainly hadn’t started this fight. Rumpelstiltskin had, so many years ago. It grated on me that he had used my mother’s distress against her and sought personal gain from it. She’d been younger then than I was now, and all she had wanted was just to keep on living. He could have helped her just because he had the ability to. He could even have taken a physical payment from it—it was normal to be paid for your work, after all, and as a new princess and then Queen, Mother could have rewarded him with a more-than-generous sum for saving her life.
But no, he had asked for too much.
Chills danced down my spine. To ask for someone’s child. I could never fathom someone trying to take Fae away from me.
No wonder Mother hadn’t wanted to give birth.
I swiped my hand over my forehead after we escorted the unicorns to the staviary and bid Jay a good night—I was too tired for a long, drawn-out goodbye, so I settled for a quick one of his trademark bear hugs and set off to go home. Avery and I met Williamson at my suite’s door.
“All well, my lady?” he asked in a whisper.
I rubbed my temple and yawned. “Not all, Williamson. But more is well than we started the day with. I can be grateful enough for that.”
Eliana: Remembering Rumpelstiltskin (Kingdom of Fairytales Boxset Book 5) Page 18