Sorceress (Book 2) (18 page)

All I need right now is a good night’s sleep.

Kayleigh came to the conclusion that she’d used up whatever favor she’d earned from the Goddess and her daughters. Upon their arrival at the temporary barracks, all her year mates swarmed Tamera and her, pestering them for the details behind their escape from Shiftla. It wasn’t all bad, because she’d been given a fresh change of clothing and the opportunity to familiarize her body with clean water and several washcloths.

By the time she’d finished recounting the story for the third or fourth time, an adult maiden came to fetch her. She was taken to the captain’s office, where the woman introduced herself as Susan Chandler. There was a scribe present as well and the captain introduced him as her husband, Malcolm.

After pleasantries were exchanged, the three of them ate together as the captain instructed Kayleigh to tell her story from the moment she arrived in Mon Alder to meeting General Hawthorne. It took several sheets of parchment, especially when Captain Chandler interrupted and asked questions. The debriefing lasted well over two hours before Kayleigh was dismissed and allowed to return to the barracks.

“You’re bunk is right here, Kayleigh,” Laurel said, pointing where Kayleigh wanted to go. Kayleigh didn’t bother undressing. The simple utility uniform she’d been given was better than anything else. Within five minutes she was fast asleep.

Hardly any time passed before she was roused from her sleep. This time it wasn’t a runner or another Battle Maiden. Instead, Captain Chandler had come in person.

“General Hawthorne requests your presence.”

Rubbing her eyes, Kayleigh said, “I don’t suppose this can wait until morning.”

Captain Chandler shook her head, arching an eyebrow at her. Kayleigh supposed that it was because she wasn’t jumping out of bed and ready to obey orders on a moment’s notice.

“No, General Hawthorne and several others have been going over the report we prepared earlier and they would like to hear it from you in person.”

Of course they would,
Kayleigh thought. In reply, she nodded and simply said, “Yes, ma’am.”

Leaving the barracks, she saw that it was the middle of the night and that she had slept for longer than she believed…just not long enough.

“Is Rider Garrett being taken care of?”

“She has both healers and a sorceress tending to her. They are looking for ways to break the curse on her. You were correct, that it is very powerful and so dark that the sorceress felt sick just examining her.”

Knowing the sickening taint all too well from her time with Cyemma, Kayleigh said, “I hope she gets better. I didn’t…I didn’t want to keep her like that…but…”

The captain nodded and replied, “I don’t blame you, Reese. The fault is mine for overreacting. I didn’t appreciate your warning and, until it clears, get to see the reminder of my folly whenever I look into the mirror. The only positive thing to come out of my poor decision is that my husband got a good laugh at my expense.”

Despite herself, Kayleigh grinned at the woman’s statement as they crossed the courtyard. She glanced to one side, seeing a cluster of unicorns walking freely around one that was lashed to a hitching post and said a quick prayer for Cyemma’s wellbeing.

The Battle Maiden outpost inside Salif was a tiny fortress unto itself, designed to allow maidens to ride their unicorns along the wide parapets. The two climbed the wooden ramp up to the entrance to the corner tower where Kayleigh could see the outlines of several people inside through the open window and hear voices speaking.

Captain Chandler grasped the knocker, used it once, and waited for permission to enter. Only a second passed before her request was granted and the door opened. The woman gestured for her to go inside as Kayleigh took a deep breath and prepared to face Althea Hawthorne once more.

The room was impressive, with a desk at the far end and torches along the wall illuminating the large table. Kayleigh probably would have marveled at the trophies and citations decorating the shelves. The artist in her might have been able to appreciate the quality of the trio of paintings adorning the walls, or the sculpture of a rider and her unicorn displayed prominently to her left side by the set of curving stairs that led up to the next level where General Hawthorne slept. A glimpse into the bookshelf and any of the tomes resting on it could have provided a look into the mind of a war hero.

All these things could have occupied Kayleigh’s mind while waiting to be acknowledged, but they barely registered. Instead, the people sitting at the table commanded all her attention and she fought to stem the rising tide of panic that threatened to flood her body.

General Hawthorne’s gaze was cool, much the same as she remembered from their last encounter, but there was a hint of something else that Kayleigh couldn’t quite place. To the general’s left sat a middle-aged woman in flowing green robes. A serene look graced her face and she hadn’t even turned to look at Kayleigh. The woman’s left hand reached down and behind her chair, gripping something. Her eyes followed that something down to the smaller shape in the shadows lurking behind the woman’s seat. At first, she thought it was a child until she saw the animal’s face. It was a monkey and it stared at her and Kayleigh saw a semblance of intelligence in its gaze that unnerved her. The woman came to The Academy each year and had the ability to communicate with the unicorns. The Speaker or the Blind Seeress, as she was also known, was able to translate and provide the Battle Maidens with the names of the newly born unicorns.

The Blind Seeress! What in the Goddess and her daughters’ names is she doing here?

Standing back in the corner stood a young man. His presence brought an equal amount of shock to her system. Brian Tomas, the stable master to whom she’d had a slight infatuation with looked at her as if trying to see if she still looked like the person he used to know. Only recently had Kayleigh learned that Brian was the Speaker’s son.

If he’s heard that report, what must he think of me?

Turning to her right, the closest person to Kayleigh immediately put her on the defensive, even more than General Hawthorne. Captain Meghan Lynch stared a hole through her. There was no reason to hate Andrea’s mother. However, Kayleigh possessed utter contempt for Danella’s twin. The captain had never accepted her as Majherri’s new rider and had done her level best to demoralize Kayleigh during her tenure as first year Lead Rider.

“Hello, my child. I’ve been worried about you. Seeing you alive does my old heart good.”

The first to speak was the final person in the room. Once upon a time, General Naomi Jyslin was an ebony titan. Epic poems and tales of her heroics were known throughout all the kingdoms of the Blessed Continent. Age and the loss of her unicorn had taken their toll on this legend and her long, straight hair was a brilliant white. General Jyslin possessed a friendly demeanor that disarmed any in her company, like that of a kindly grandmother, but her mind and tongue could still do what her body could no longer – eviscerate an opponent and shatter their defenses with logic and well-chosen words.

Stiffening, Kayleigh brought herself to attention and saluted the woman. At the same time, she knew that it would be a long time before she would be able to return to her bed.

“At ease, young rider,” General Jyslin said and smiled at Kayleigh. “And yes, I do mean rider. If you did but half the things in this report, I’d have a hard time still addressing you as a trainee. Please take a seat. We have much to discuss.”

To Majherri, this cross continental sprint was little more than a leisurely outing. It defied reason how he’d barely tired when the beasts carrying the nomads were forced to stop, lathered in sweat.

For three days they had ridden, putting several leagues between them and the frontlines of the war. Danella and Majherri hadn’t been this far north since their final trainee patrol before leaving The Academy. Using outdated but adequate maps, they skirted roads and towns to avoid detection.

Danella hasn’t lost all her scouting skills,
he thought, wandering around the campsite near the edge of a creek while Danella and Kuresh argued about the distance they would have to cover the next day. The water slaked his thirst, but tasted stagnant.

There was still enough light to see his reflection in the water. His new hornless look hadn’t grown on him and only added to the disgust he was feeling with the situation. The horn would return the moment the enchanted reins were removed. Unfortunately, the ebony coat would remain.

Look at me! I appear no different from a horse. Even with a horn the herds will never see me as one of their own again.

Lost in his thoughts, the unicorn failed to notice the movement in the tall grass at the edge of the water until the last moment. His presence must have disturbed the den of a snake. The serpent lashed out and bit into his left foreleg.

Majherri neighed, bringing his front hooves up. As he brought them down on the evading creature, a bright flash of orange flame burst around them. His hooves released a small fireball when they smacked against the damp ground. The flame spread in a semicircle turning the weeds to ash and fanning out over the water.

The burnt snake thrashed and attempted to slither a few more feet before it stopped.

Majherri felt two things. The most immediate was the stinging sensation where he’d been bit.

Poison! Not nearly enough to kill me, but I should have Danella look at it.

The second was he’d made a flaming hoof attack without a rider in his saddle to direct the magic. There were tales of maidens, able to draw on the unicorn’s power over a short distance with a particularly strong bond between the pair, but no such stories existed of this happening in the opposite direction. He recalled several instances with Kayleigh where it had felt like he was the one pulling the magic, but she had been close by or riding him. Danella was in sight, but he would have to trot for fifteen seconds to reach her.

Shaking his head in baffled amazement, he backed away from the creek and the still smoking area cleared by his magic. Flaming hooves was a basic attack and he shouldn’t be this drained after doing it, but nonetheless, it happened. If he didn’t have to deal with the poison, Majherri would try to do it again.

Instead, the unicorn galloped over to the campsite. Danella watched him and looked concerned.

“Something attacked you,” she stated and placed her hands on him. “A snake bite? Let me see!”

His rider knelt as he raised his leg for her to inspect.

“I’ll need to cut open the wound slightly and try to drain it,” she said and reached down to her belt.

“Allow me, Lady Danella,” the voice of Kuresh interrupted.

“What do you think you can do?” she asked as the man came over.

“I can do this,” he said, holding his hand out.

Majherri saw his hand glow slightly and he began a guttural chant before placing his hand over the surface of the wound. There was a numbing sensation spreading up his leg. The wound began to ooze again, quickly discharging the venom.

“You’re a sorcerer?” Danella said, cocking her eyebrow.

“A minor talent,” he answered, shaking his head. “But even my limited abilities are useful. Scorpion stings are quite common in the desert. Most of the spells I know and am capable of are based on ensuring my survival in my homeland. His leg will be fine in the morning.”

“You continue to impress me, Kuresh. You have ambition, a plan, and perhaps the ability to make it happen. Thank you for your assistance.”

The man gave a slight smile and nodded, saying, “If you’ll excuse me, I must rest now.”

Majherri let his leg drop to the ground as Danella watched the man make his way to his small tent. Turning back to face him, Danella said, “Not a bad specimen, probably better than anything I’ll find up north. Perhaps I should bed him and give him additional reasons to see things my way.”

The unicorn eyed his rider. Danella would often make jokes similar to this before she’d been corrupted. Occasionally, she’d follow through. The life they’d chosen as scouts meant long periods of separation from friends and family. The old Danella had two types of friends – long lasting and temporary. She used to be very sociable and charming to her two-legged male counterparts. She had little problem making temporary friendships wherever they went, but seldom did they last because they would inevitably be ordered to some new problem area.

Sometimes, he sensed this lifestyle bothered his rider. Majherri reassured her even when he didn’t understand human desires for long lasting relationships. Unicorns rarely mated with the same partner twice and only during the mating season. Humans mated whenever they wanted and for unknown reasons. To the unicorn, that explained why there were so many of them spread out amongst the Blessed Continent.

Of course, these thoughts reminded him of his bizarre mating with Cyemma and the reactions of that filly back in Jaruciax. He still wasn’t sure what to make of that.

Danella’s throaty laughter interrupted his musings; she’d obviously been following whatever he was thinking.

“Oh, Majherri,” she said. “You’re still dwelling on that? You’ve been given a great power. Use it! Create your own herd. The rules do not apply to us anymore. If you want further proof, just look at what you did to that snake…and all by yourself too! We will certainly have to look into that. Still, when will you realize that we have transcended our old lives?”

He snorted, but the evidence of change pointed in her favor.

“Yes, yes. You continue to deny the truth,” she answered and stared at Kuresh’s tent before coming to a decision. “Since you’re going to obsess over all the events in your recent history, you might as well keep an eye on the camp after you get some rest. I suspect that I’ll be indisposed for the rest of the evening. We will talk more about what you did after a good night’s…sleep. Yes, let’s call it sleep.”

Majherri obeyed Danella’s commands as she walked away laughing. He rested first, opting to lie on the ground and wait for the feeling to come back to his injured leg. The men under Kuresh’s command finished making their camp, setting up small tents and preparing their food over a fire. Some even went off to sleep as two of them patrolled the edge of the campsite.

Time passed as the unicorn watched the men go about the camp. Human sleeping patterns always puzzled him, since most of the human day consisted of riding on a horse. Still, they required six to eight hours of sleep on a regular basis to function during the following day.
How much work are they actually doing? They aren’t like the farmers working in their fields.

Like the primitive animals he had been forced to resemble, unicorns needed half the amount of rest as humans. Since his transformation, Majherri found that his own desire for rest had diminished to the point where two hours was more than sufficient.

Perhaps the spirits above made it so that the humans tire so easily to limit the amount of destruction they can perform at a given time.

With little else to do, Majherri went back to what he had done on the banks of the creek.

Did I really perform magic on my own?Or was it simply some form of Danella’s control?

Rather than attempt another release of flame, Majherri focused on a passive talent - heatsight. With the sun beginning to set, it was a good time to try to see the distortions given off by the humans, horses, and even the trees.

Concentrating, he recalled the sensations he’d experienced as either Danella or Kayleigh used heatsight and shared it with him. Back during his first stint at The Academy, Danella was instructed to draw on the unicorn’s magic, control the flow and bring it to her eyes.

As his awareness deepened, Majherri tried to make a connection with the magic contained inside of him. It was like trying to get at the oats in the bottom of a trough. The power was there, so tantalizingly close, but seemingly out of reach. Frustration crept in, making him wonder if it was the rush associated with the sudden attack of the snake that enabled him to tap into his energies.

Glancing skyward at the first lights beginning to shine into the darkening sky, the unicorn wondered what the spirits of the herds that came before him thought of his situation. The taint spreading through him might very well be beyond cleansing. He might never be allowed to gallop on the grass of the Sacred Isle again.

So be it! If I must travel where none have gone before, I will make my own light on the trail of destiny.

Determination set in as Majherri searched for the way to use magic. Unicorns could not frown in the manner humans did, but Majherri would have if he could. Snorting, he suppressed his anger.

In the partnership of unicorn and maiden, the rider provides the direction and steers the power like holding the reins. That won’t work here. I am the magic and the magic is me.

Deciding this wouldn’t work as taught by the instructors at The Academy intended, Majherri did his best to recall the time he and Kayleigh witnessed the dying unicorn and created that unusual circle of green flame. To others, he described it as an instance where the magic had flowed in the wrong direction. Now, he tried to recreate that moment.

At first, there was an itching sensation and a muscle in his neck flexed and spasmed. Still, he felt a trickle of power circulating around his body. Finding that tiny thread, Majherri guided it up to his mind.

The gossamer of magic escaped his clutches and instead of being directed to his eyes, it ran up his invisible horn and briefly illuminated the hidden part of his body, sheathing it in flame for about ten heartbeats.

The effort drained him, much more than it should have, but it was beautiful and frightening at the same time.

Not exactly what I was expecting, but it’s a start,
he thought and recalled how the instructors at The Academy forced the riders to practice the same sets of spells over and over to get them correct.

I will do this as well and learn to use my own magic,
he declared, trying to pull back on his excitement to get a brief moment of well-deserved rest. In the hidden portion of his mind where he allowed traitorous thoughts to gather, he pondered if he could one day become powerful enough to break the bond he shared with Danella.

Over the next two weeks, Majherri was again reminded of how insular humans were. By the fifth day of riding, they were able to take to the main roads without fear of being questioned. By the tenth, they stopped and resupplied in a village. The two inns had just enough rooms for the men to spend a night indoors. For the unicorn, it meant a night inside a leaking barn, locked in a stall alongside primitive creatures.

“Oh, you’ve come from the west? I heard there was trouble out there. Is there anything to that?”

“I think I saw two columns of infantry marching toward Halus. There must be some parade or festival going on. Wish I could go. Instead, I’m stuck here fixing shoes on horses.”

“Sorry, I’ve had to raise the price of my goods. The trading houses in Halus are getting nervous and stockpiling. Can’t really complain though…they’re paying top coin! Personal bodyguards to the lady there, eh? She must be something special.”

Maybe it was the utter contempt Danella radiated bleeding through their bond, but the unicorn found himself wishing these fools would get what was coming to them. Humans were so self-centered and most could barely see beyond where their towns ended. In contrast, unicorns tried to be very in tune with their surroundings.

All the signs are there, but they delude themselves. They will keep finding ways to deny it until they see the smoke on the horizon.

The false story they told would need to change soon. Talcosa would be to the south soon and they would then become a group of riders taking a noblewoman to inspect the lands she had been gifted by her family at the edges of the Northlands. Eventually, the humans would need to acquire cold weather clothing. At the moment, it would look too suspicious to buy more than a few heavy blankets.

Having seen their destination many seasons ago, Majherri guessed that few people would want the land where they were headed. It was a destination almost as undesirable as the desert. The forests were thick pines and the growing season was almost nonexistent.

In the morning, he waited his turn outside the blacksmith’s shop. Thinking back to his limited progress in using his own magic, Majherri took some pride in his accomplishments. It hadn’t been easy. Trying to channel his magic was painful and he was sore everywhere. He could do almost a minute of heatsight, and set his horn and hooves alight. The fireburst that killed the snake proved to be elusive, but he remained hopeful that it might be usable in a fight. Danella allowed him to practice each evening, challenged him, and even gave encouragement.