The Unicorn Quest

by J. A. Armitage

  Ateris put his hand on James's shoulder. “It is all right. To answer your question, Opal, I told the late queen the same thing at the time. I pleaded for her to give so important a task to someone better suited to protecting things. Someone who could fight with swords instead of with a quill and ink. I am so sorry that this has happened, but as you can see, no one but the perpetrator of the theft has been down here for a long time, myself included. I couldn’t have known that it was taken.”

  Opal looked ready to bite back a retort, no doubt about the lack of care the Dean had taken over something so important when she saw James looking at her. The fire in her eyes subsided. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been so rude. I’m frustrated. This was a link to my brother, but it looks like the thieves got here before we did.”

  From the end of the vault, River called out, “Hey guys...”

  Ateris nodded at Opal. “I failed to honor my promise to the late queen, and the university's reputation will suffer for my failure. Oh! What shall I do?”

  Opal stepped up to stand face-to-face with James and Ateris. “We need to figure out when it went missing. That might help us determine who could have taken it.”

  River stood from where he'd been looking at the corridor floor. “I think you should—”

  No one seemed to hear him, though, as the bowing Ateris said with a voice that cracked with the intensity of his emotion, “Please, do not tell the queen of this. It will only upset her. I'll have the staff rounded up and spoken to. The students too. We will find clues, and not only retrieve the artifact, but also my honor and the university's reputation.”

  Opal's jaw muscles stood out, and from between clenched teeth, she said, “You don't understand. You don't get it at all. I don't care about the pendant! No one can use it to harm anyone, not without the other pieces.”

  Opal continued, her words coming out slowly and measured. “Whoever is after them is probably the one who took my brother. Jet, the only other living member of my lineage. If he dies, my bloodline dies with him, but with the pendant, we can set an ambush, or negotiate. We can get Jet back. And now that chance is gone because you thought it would be just grand to ditch your responsibilities into a metal box in the basement.”

  River's voice rose higher still, this time with an edge to it that demanded attention as he practically shouted, “Hey, people. I'm a damn tracker, and while you stand here bickering, I did something useful. Idiots.”

  All heads turned in unison, snapping toward River.

  I blinked. Sarcasm and a dry wit were his weapons, not insults and curses. “What? You did… what?”

  Dusting off his hands as he slowly shook his head at us, he said, “For one, it was a soldier. I can't say it was an Anorian soldier, but they wore armored boots. Also, this was done within the last few hours."

  James flinched visibly. “Hours?”

  River's mouth turned up at the corners, but my impression was that he was half-smiling, half-grimacing. He pointed at the nearest footprint. “If the dust around it was disturbed, I'd have said it had to be one of the Order of the Sky flying down the hallway, depending on the disturbance pattern, of course. But if you put your face an inch from the floor, you can see a faint haze surrounding the footprint. Down here, there is no wind at all. Not even enough breeze to make the wall candles flicker. Dust that accumulates like this is finer than the smoothest clay, almost as light as the air it floats in. But, it would still settle within say, four-to-six hours. I see it in caves all the time. So, two to four hours ago, someone stole the pendant. The timing is too much of a coincidence. They knew we were coming for it, and they beat us to it. Who have we told within the last half a day? Who could have overheard?”

  James laughed, but it was a bitter sound, and I heard no joy in it. “You’ve been talking about it in the palace. None of you have been particularly secretive. We have hundreds of staff...”

  I let out a little squeak. “You mean, someone in the palace took it? The servers at meals? The maids?”

  “Your friend who flew you up the mountain and her blind sister,” Opal hissed in my ear.

  James nodded. “This makes it harder to know whether this theft is related in any way to those who took your brother. It could have just been someone with an opportunistic ear who thought they might steal something valuable.”

  Opal clenched her fists, jaw still grinding, but then the tension left her shoulders, and she slumped, looking down at last.”

  “I don't care about the pendant. Jet's counting on us to save him, and we're running around like cows on ice. All effort, no progress.”

  I took a deep breath and rested my hand on her shoulder. “Opal, whoever took Jet knew where he'd be. Whoever took the pendant, they knew where we were going. These footprints lead to the exact safe where the pendant was stored. If the thief was just out for valuables, the footprints would be all over this place, not just in and out. Not to mention that the lock doesn’t look forced. No, someone knew what we were looking for, and they knew where to find it. They must be spying on us, but I don’t know how. If we figure out who had access to the vault, we’ll find them. They can’t be too far away if they were only here a couple of hours ago."

  Opal turned and threw her arms around me. For one moment, I felt a connection to the unicorn shifter we'd never shared before, as Opal whispered, “Thank you.”

  James flashed me a smile and a nod, then stepped up to Opal. It seemed he was taking over from there. He patted her shoulder as she fell into his arms and wept. I took Kaida’s hand. Kaida wasn’t as loud as Opal, but she had to be hurting just as much. Other people’s pain always seemed to go unnoticed when Opal was around. She gave me a small smile and squeezed my hand. Unlike Opal, she wasn’t going to cry. She had a look of determination on her face that covered her sadness.

  “I don’t mean to make this worse,” Ateris said, “But these vaults are for our oldest papers and valuables. I‘m the only one with a key. I really don’t know how anyone managed to get down here.”

  I looked over to River, who just shrugged.

  “Let's go to the castle and talk to my mother,” James said. “She may have ideas, or resources that I don’t know about that will help to find Jet...and the pendant.”

  Opal hastily wiped one eye with the heel of her hand, but her posture was erect and her head high when she took his arm in hers. “Let's do it, then.”

  The walk back to the palace was much quicker than the walk from it. Opal set the pace, and the rest of us almost had to run to keep up with her.

  The Queen looked tired. She had dark circles under red-rimmed eyes. Despite her obvious fatigue, she smiled politely as James ushered us into her chambers.

  As soon as he closed the door behind us, she sank into her overstuffed, regal chair and groaned as she lowered herself into it. “Forgive me for my appearance. It has been a long day, and I get little sleep. Still, when James told me of the travesty that happened, I simply had to agree to see you for a moment. I have to say I’m shocked and appalled that such a thing has happened. However, I don’t think we should panic prematurely.”

  Opal narrowed her eyes. “What makes you say that?”

  “If James has told me the story correctly, I think there is a very good chance the search for your brother is near an end.”

  “In what way?” James asked.

  “I think, perhaps, that none of you have thought this through very well. That is understandable, given the shock of finding the pendant stolen from under your noses, but it doesn't help you. All you need is the correct bait to catch any fish."

  Kaida immediately replied, “But the pendant was our bait. Now, we're hunting deer with a wet gullet.”

  “I'm not familiar,” Linara said, “with that particular expression. Nonetheless, you overlook one thing.”

  She leaned forward and motioned us to approach.

  I found myself leaning in, conspiratorially, suddenly far more curious about what she'd say.

  “You kno
w the fourth pendant went missing, and my mother felt it was destroyed in the fire that killed its guardian. But you only know that because you read it. But the people after your pendants may not know that. If they believe it still resides in a small village…”

  Opal's face immediately brightened. “Of course. I feel ridiculous. I should have thought of that.”

  The queen leaned back in her chair again and rested much of her weight on one elbow on the chair arm. She rubbed her eyes. “Now that you have a plan, I must see you off for the night. I require some sleep, after all.”

  “I’ll head to the library to find the name of the village.” Opal raced out of the room and started in the direction of the library. Her glumness had disappeared now that she had something productive to do.

  River snickered as she ran around the corner. It was the first time I’d seen him without a frown all day.

  “What are you so jolly about?”

  “Oh, nothing... except that I wrote the name of the village down when we first found it. Still, it gives her something to focus on.”

  “You are such a jerk,” Kaida said, playfully elbowing him in his ribs.

  A wave of jealousy came from nowhere at the friendly ease between them. Somewhere along the line, I’d lost that with him.

  “I should go and get her,” James said, making to head after her.

  “We should start to pack,” Kaida said. “If the village is far away, we’ve got a long walk ahead of us.”

  “Actually...” James began. “I was thinking we could ride to the village.”

  I noted his use of the word we. It seemed he was going to come with us.

  “Horses have a difficult time in foothills,” River pointed out. “I’ve seen the terrain in the distance. I don’t think horses are suited to it.”

  James nodded. “Who said anything about horses?” He grinned widely. “We’ll be traveling by unicorn.”

  “By what?” I wasn't sure I'd heard him right.

  “They're happy to travel long distances. Unicorns can traverse the rocky foothills with ease. They're quicker than mountain goats up there. It's almost magical to watch them prance up what would be a cliff to anyone without wings to fly. We'll leave in an hour.”

  We congregated at the front of the palace an hour later as James had his stable hands bring the unicorns over. A shiver of excitement ran over me as the five silvery-white animals pranced over to us.

  I’d always thought Diamond was a beautiful creature, and these were almost as pretty as her. The only difference I could see between them and her was that their horns were pure white instead of made of diamond.

  Opal’s happiness shone out as she ran to the unicorns, hugging each one in turn. She had such an affinity with them. It was glorious to see her among her own kind.

  “Do you need a hand up?” James asked, putting a protective hand on her back.

  She grinned up at him. “I’m good, thanks.” With a quick vault, she was up on the unicorn’s back.

  His shocked expression had me wondering if Opal had told him what she really was. Ateris had mentioned a shifter in his midst, but James could have easily thought he was talking about Kaida, who’d made no secret of what she was. I glanced over at them both, wondering how much James really knew. Then my eyes turned to Kaida.

  She was the only one of us who didn’t look happy to be riding. I could see by her expression that she’d prefer to go by flying, but unlike Opal, who complained constantly about everything, she didn’t say a word. We set off, Blu and Ivy fluttering around River’s shoulders as we began the trek through town to the path that would lead us over the hills.

  My mind focused on Opal and what she’d told James about herself. Normally, I wouldn’t have cared so much. After all, we had much bigger things to worry about, but I was sick of the lies. I’d lied to them...or at least lied by omission when I went up the mountain with Herou. And however much I hated to think it, I was still sure River was lying to me. He’d never said a word about the woman in his room, and I’d not mentioned it. He’d been distant to me since I’d got the first part of the ruby key.

  When we stopped a few hours later to camp for the night, the thought returned and wouldn't let me push it away. It demanded to be answered.

  With a heavy sigh, I waited until I saw Opal without James hovering at her side, then curiosity got the best of me. I walked up to sit beside Opal, perching on a large, flat rock.

  “A beautiful night, is it not?” Opal asked, looking up at the stars with a faint smile.

  I even smiled back before I realized I had. Opal was unpleasant most of the time, but I was stalwart. When I asked the question, I resolved to respect the answer, even if I couldn't agree with it.

  “Yes. How does it feel to ride one of your own kind?” I dangled my feet from the rock, still smiling wanly as I kicked my feet and thought about Opal's recent happiness. It was a refreshing change of pace.

  “Odd, but exciting. I love being with them.”

  “Does James know you're one of them?” I blurted out.

  Opal replied, “You mean, does he know I'm a unicorn shifter?”

  I watched her for a long moment before she merely shook her head.

  I decided not to press it. As I'd discovered, we all had secrets to keep.

  Chapter 22

  The sun was high in the sky when James held up one hand as he deftly guided his mount to a halt. River and I were the last to reach him as he pointed up ahead.

  My gaze followed his gesture. There in the distance, deep in a valley, stood a small village.

  “There stands our destination. The locals call it the south town because it’s so small nobody has bothered to give it a proper name. Its obscurity is the reason some wealthier among us have properties here, so we can get away without being hassled.”

  The town was very small, with a cluster of huge houses in what I assumed to be the center and even larger houses dotting the hills surrounding it.

  “You have a house here?” I asked.

  “Yes, my great-grandfather built it when the town first started. I don’t really come here because there’s not much here. We rent most of our houses out.” James hesitated, then said, “As you know, my grandmother also wrote about it in her journals. She liked to spend time here.”

  I sucked my teeth, making a tsk sound, and nudged my unicorn mount forward.

  The others caught up at a trot moments later, and together we approached the village. I wondered whom we would talk to about the pendant. If it was a small town, I imagined it was rather insular, not liking strangers entering. The people of Anchor were like that. If anyone so much as dared to walk through, the whole town joined in a gossip session about the strangers.

  But as we approached it, the village came alive before my eyes. People came out of their homes, first only a couple, then more as our traveling party drew nearer. The sound of the people chanting James's name floated to my ears on the breeze, louder with every step. Apparently, even the places the rich folk went to get away from their daily lives and enjoy some anonymity were no such haven for the crown prince.

  James waved and greeted people, but wasted no time in summoning the village administrator. Soon, a well-dressed woman approached, her head held high until she drew close to the prince and delivered a deep bow. She held it until he addressed her.

  “Rise, Elder. Your town has given me and my guests a wonderful welcome. It is much appreciated, especially as you weren’t aware I was coming. I must thank you. However, I need to speak to you privately.”

  The elder straightened and motioned to follow her. She led us through the crowd, which parted for us, and into a nice house near the center of town. It was larger than most of the others. Its interior was unpretentious, but of the finest quality. She showed us to a room with wide windows adorned with red velvet curtains. The only furniture in the room was a couple of red sofas, which she indicated us to sit in.

  ‘I appreciate you inviting us into your home,” James
said, taking a seat on one of the sofas. Opal grabbed the seat next to him, leaving River, Kaida, and I to sit on the other seat.

  The woman bowed again and rubbed her hands together. I got the feeling that having the prince here was a huge honor for her.

  “Not at all. My home is your home. Tell me, what brings you to town?”

  “I come in search of information. Have you lived here long?”

  She nodded her head quickly, her eagerness apparent. “All my life, Your Highness. How can I be of help?" She perched herself on the arm of the sofa next to River. We all had to squeeze up to fit her in.

  “Good,” The prince said. “Then you may remember this. I've heard of a particular house that burned down a long time ago, and the woman who owned it died in the fire. The woman who perished in the fire was of great importance.”

  The elder blinked. “You're here because of that? Yes, I do recall it. Why would the crown prince visit a small, foothills village to ask about a fire that happened a generation ago?”

  James squared his shoulders and then leaned forward to lock eyes with the elder. “Let’s just say I’m an interested party.” There was an iron in his voice that made me shift my weight uncomfortably. Then, his voice softened as he continued, “It pleases me that you recall it. What can you tell us about it?”

  The elder lowered her gaze. “Not much. The fire's cause was never determined. Little remained of the structure by the time we got water to it. The fire completely razed the building to the ground. All that remains are the foundations.”

  Opal's head jerked up, suddenly attentive. “The foundations are still there? Nothing was built over the site?”

  The elder kept her eyes on James, and she didn't turn to face Opal as she replied, “Perhaps the crown prince would like to see the site for himself? It is, of course, overgrown, gone back to nature. There’s not much to see.”

  James nodded. “Yes, show us if you please.”

  As the elder had said, the house was little more than the foundations. A west-facing wall still partially stood, but it was barely visible under the regrowth of weeds.