Unicorn Bait (16 page)

She felt the point land on her middle finger and steady. She bit her lip and willed herself not to open her eyes. She desperately kept the image of her kitchen in her mind. This was it. She was about to leave. The horn point lifted from her finger, and she squeezed her eyes tight.

The strange howl felt like a physical blow. Her eyes flew open. The unicorn’s head jerked toward the sound. Tavik was suddenly at her back again and took her by the arm. The unicorn wheeled around toward the source of the awful sound. “Tavik, what is it?”

He turned her toward Agatha and Yula. “Run! Go back to the cottage!” The unicorn neighed harshly and stamped the ground. She started to sprint toward the two women who were madly motioning for her to hurry. The howl sounded again this time in multiples and closer. When she was a few feet away, the two other women picked up their skirts and started running in the same direction.

“Is it Umbreks?” Naomi shouted.

“No, that sounds like Golgoffs,” Agatha panted.

“Golgoffs?”

“Worse than Umbreks.”

Naomi looked over her shoulder for Tavik but didn’t find him running behind them. He'd stayed with the unicorn. She skidded to a halt and scrambled to go back to him.

“Tavik!” she screamed.

“Naomi, go!” he shouted. He stood with empty hands as large murky objects raced toward him. The unicorn stood by his side with head lowered ready to fight.

Yula grabbed her arm and began pulling her back. “We must get back to the cottage!”

“I’m not leaving Tavik!”

“You have no hope of fighting them without weapons, and even with weapons, the odds are against us,” Mr. Squibbles said from Yula’s apron pocket. 

“He’ll be killed!”

“Errilol will protect him,” Yula argued.

She struggled to get free of her. “Errilol protects no one. He enjoys the death, even his follower’s.”

“Agatha has weapons that can kill the beasts, but she’ll need our help,” Mr. Squibbles said. Naomi looked toward the cottage and saw the witch madly scrambling around inside and tossing things about. Yula let her go. Together they raced to the cottage. They stopped at the doorway though and hovered there. They didn’t want to get hit by any of the flying objects the witch was tossing around. 

“What can we do?” Yula asked.

Agatha pointed at a sword, said a word of magic, and it whizzed out of the house. “Tavik, sword!” Naomi screamed. He turned just in time to catch it. He threw the sheath aside and turned back to the Golgoffs just as they closed in on the unicorn and him.

Agatha threw more things around the room.

“What are you looking for?” Yula asked.

Agatha lifted up a scarf to reveal a crystal ball. “This!” she exclaimed and held it up. The witch ran back outside with the crystal ball.

“What are we supposed to do?” Yula demanded.

“Pull down the cottage’s wheel,” Mr. Squibbles commanded. Yula jerked the wheel down. The cottage began to lift off the ground.

“I’m not leaving Tavik!” Naomi shouted and jumped out of the house before it floated any higher.

“Naomi!” Yula screamed.

She scrambled to her feet.

“Here take this,” Mr. Squibbles called. A tower shield fell flat beside her. She picked it up and staggered a moment under its weight. It had to weigh at least fifty pounds. How the mouse had gotten it through the doorway was a mystery that would have to be figured out later. She heaved the shield and put her arm through the brace. It came up to her chin. She began jogging as best as she could back toward the others.

When she finally got a clear view of the Golgoffs, she had to wonder if evolution worked a little differently on this planet. Umbreks were bad enough, but Golgoffs looked like Rob Zombie had designed a Muppet. They were seven feet tall with shaggy hair like a buffalo but stood upright with massive arms. They had thick tusks that curved down from their mouths, sharp slicing claws tipped each hand, but for some reason, their fur was neon orange.

Agatha stood at the edge of the fray with her smoky crystal ball. She held it high overhead and began chanting indecipherable words. Fog spilled out of the sphere to blanket the field. Naomi went to her side to guard her. She seemed very vulnerable with only the crystal ball. The witch looked at her but didn’t stop her chanting. Naomi thought maybe she couldn’t, not if she wanted to continue producing the fog.

There was a roar that made Naomi jump, and it hadn’t come from a Golgoff. She watched Tavik charge one of the orange monsters. He leapt on it and sent it to the ground. He rose up with his sword and plunged it into the beast’s chest. He threw his head back and roared again. The sound wasn’t human. She gasped when she saw his eyes. They were consumed with a burning green light.

“Is that Errilol? Has he summoned him?” Agatha nodded and continued her chanting.

The unicorn was holding its own. He blinked in and out of the field striking the Golgoffs with his horn wherever he appeared. Hard to believe some guys with dogs were ever able to kill one.

Tavik was climbing off the Golgoff he’d killed when another blindsided him with a massive claw and threw him into the air. He flew several yards away. With the shield, Naomi ran to help him. He landed face down.

“Tavik, are you all right?”

He didn’t stir.

The Golgoff that had thrown him was snorting and scratching the ground. He was getting ready to charge. She held the shield tighter, but the Golgoff had to be three times her weight. It’d make road kill of her.

“Tavik!”

A low chuckling came from him. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. “Tavik, get up!”

The Golgoff charged. She crouched behind the shield and braced herself. It was all she could think to do. The Golgoff’s paws slammed the earth as he ran at her. She could feel the impact of his steps through the ground. “Oh God, this is going to be bad,” she said to herself as she screwed her eyes shut and waited for the slam. The ground shook and suddenly stopped. She felt a little bump on the shield and then there was a distant thump. She peeked over the shield and found the Golgoff yards away, sprawled on his back.

She turned back to Tavik and found him standing behind her. “Thank God, are you all right?” He didn’t reply.

“Tavik?”

Before she could protest or even offer it as she would have done, he grabbed the shield and wrenched it off her arm. She screamed as her shoulder was dislocated. He put his arm through the brace and hefted the shield. He looked down at her, and the burning green eyes stared through her. That wasn’t Tavik in there anymore.

“I’ll be back for you,” he said and went after the remaining Golgoffs. She didn’t romanticize his statement for a second. He wasn’t coming back to help her. He was going to finish her off once he was done. What were they going to do?

Her ears perked up as she heard a change in Agatha’s chanting. The fog took on a strange odor that made her face feel numb. “Stop that, witch!” Errilol shouted from within the fog. She struggled to stand and began stumbling toward Agatha, but it was difficult. The fog was no longer a simple fog. It had sleeping gas in it. She covered her mouth to try and lessen the effect. She heard pounding footsteps and turned to see Tavik running toward Agatha. He was going to attack her. She ran to intercept him, gasping as her steps jarred her arm. Her legs burned as she sprinted. He didn’t see her coming at him. He was only a couple paces away from Agatha when she tackled him from the side. They went down, and she pinned the shield to his chest with the weight of her body.

“Tavik, wake up! You gotta get rid of Errilol!”

His eyes when he looked at her still burned green.  “I’ll leave when everything’s dead.”

He raised the sword to slash at her. She grappled for it, but she could never hope to win an arm wrestling match against him.

“Tavik!” she screamed.

He coughed, and a speck of impossible hope entered her. He was growing weaker. The fog was having a quicker effect on him. When he dropped the sword, she thought it was over, but he’d only dropped it to grab her throat. She clawed at his hand, but his hold tightened. Dark blotchy spots began to take up her vision. Everything was beginning to fade. She wasn’t going to make it. Her face calmed, and she mouthed the only thing she could think. She let her eyes slip shut and went completely lax.

There was a harsh neighing off to their right, and cloven hooves galloped toward them. Suddenly a blinding horn slashed Tavik’s chest. He screamed and snatched his hand away from her throat. She fell off of him and took a deep breath, which set off a coughing fit that threatened to make her head explode or wish it would.

“Naomi?” She turned to him with her fist to her mouth as her lungs continued to turn inside out. His eyes were beautifully blue again. She gave him a pained smile.

They stared at each other until a harsh snarl drew their attentions. A pair of Golgoffs were approaching them. Tavik was in no shape to fight, and the unicorn had received wounds in its battle. It was slashed across one flank, and it moved jerkily with exhaustion. Standing a few yards away, Agatha still chanted her incantation, but she had grown hoarse. Fog barely spilled from the globe now. Tavik pulled her close and held up the shield, but his arm shook under the weight. He didn’t have any strength left. The Golgoffs lowered their heads in preparation to attack. Before they could, the cottage dropped out of the sky onto them. 

“Did we squash’em?” Yula called.

Naomi giggled and began to cough again. “Deus ex suburbia,” she wheezed.

Chapter 15

Unicorns never say goodbye, but then again, they never say hello.

Agatha pressed yet another cup of tea into Naomi’s hands. She pushed it back. “No, no more. My eyeballs are swimming in this stuff,” she croaked. Her throat was still sore, but she didn’t like tea. She’d already drunk three cups, and she did feel better, but no more. Her gag reflex wanted to kick in, and her throat definitely couldn’t handle that.

“Don’t argue. You’re going to drink this cup too. It’s only your fourth,” the witch whispered. She’d completely lost her voice due to the chanting. She’d been sipping the tea too, but Naomi had been keeping tabs, and she was only on her second cup. Tavik was dabbing at the unicorn slash on his chest with a wet cloth. Yula moved around the cottage straightening the home. Many things had crashed to the floor when she had dropped onto the Golgoffs. Amazingly, the floor hadn’t buckled or anything. Naomi wondered if the Golgoffs were as flat as pancakes. She figured the witch would have to move the house soon or else it would begin to smell.

“Why do you think the unicorn attacked Tavik?” Mr. Squibbles asked. He’d been swift to tell everyone that he’d helped Yula. He’d directed her on how to get the cottage airborne and how to set it down soundly on the beasts. Agatha had given him a huge chunk of cheese for his reward, which he had gobbled up and now his stomach bulged out so much he couldn’t see his feet.

Agatha looked inquiringly at him for the answer. Naomi turned too with the mug up to her mouth. She was only pretending to drink it. “The unicorns recognize more than just chastity as a type of purity. Pure hearts are also highly regarded.”

Agatha cocked an eyebrow. “Pure hearts?”

He didn’t respond. Naomi lowered the cup, and put her hand over his. He uncurled his hand and let her fingers slip in.

“Tell me it’s safer where you’re going,” he said softly. She lowered her eyes and nodded her head. “And you’ll be happy there,” he added. She looked around the cottage. Happy? But she was happy here. “No, don’t think about what you’ll miss here. Think only of what you have there. Can you be happy?” She thought about her family and nodded again. Tavik squeezed her fingers. “All I want is for you to be happy,” he murmured. He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her palm.

“Will you be happy?” she croaked. He slipped his hand from under hers and stroked the column of her throat. Dark purple bruises had already begun to blossom. They would be in the shape of his hand.

Agatha came up behind him and put her arm around him. “I’ll make sure he’s happy, even if I have to beat him with a stick to do it.”

“And I’ll stop her so don’t worry,” Yula declared from across the room. Agatha turned to the other mother, and her eyes narrowed in challenge. She raised her hand and swatted Tavik upside the head. Tavik ducked at the smack and glared at his mother over his shoulder.

Yula shook her finger at the witch. “Don’t challenge me. I will win.” Agatha bristled back.

Naomi laughed though it sounded more like a wheeze. “Careful Agatha, she might drop a house on you, and even on my world, we know that’s a sure way to get rid of a witch.”

“Really?” Tavik asked. She turned to him, and her face broke into a huge grin. She threw her good arm around his neck, and when her head hit his shoulder, her laughter turned to tears. Tavik held her tight as Agatha and Yula gathered round and patted her on the back.

“It’s time,” Agatha whispered. He nodded his head and picked her up. She tried to stop crying, but she couldn’t. She was going home, but it didn’t feel like that.

Tavik carried her out to where the unicorn waited. As they approached, his horn brightened. He set her down gently, and the unicorn gently dipped his head toward her. He touched her neck with the tip of his horn. A warm glow spread over her throat, and the dull ache disappeared. She raised her good hand to her neck in wonderment. “Are the bruises gone?” she asked. Her voice was back to normal. Tavik nodded and set her on her feet. The unicorn tipped his horn again and lightly touched her broken arm. She shrugged off the sling in amazement. She flexed her arm and looked up at Tavik in shock.

“Can you hear him?” he asked.

She turned back to the unicorn. He stood motionless staring at them. She tilted her head, and her jaw dropped. It wasn’t like a voice in her head, but more a stray thought or an urge. They didn’t think in words, but she was able to understand. “He wants to know if I have any other injuries!”

Tavik smiled. “Do you?”

She looked down at herself and really didn’t think she had any other aches or pains that would warrant the unicorn’s help. She turned to Tavik and raised her hand to his chest, lightly touching the slash the horn had made. The unicorn shook his head. He couldn’t heal wounds inflicted by the horn. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not bad,” Tavik said. She threw her arms around him and squeezed him tight. He hugged her back just as strongly. “It’s time,” he reminded her softly.

She turned her head and said the words that she hadn’t been able to say aloud when Errilol was strangling her, “I love you.”

He gasped, but he turned her around to face the unicorn again. “Hold out your hand, Naomi, close your eyes, and think of home.”

She closed her eyes. Her hand shook as she held it out. Tavik steadied it with his. The unicorn dipped his horn again, balanced for a second on her fingertip, then flicked across her middle finger drawing a single drop of blood. She saw a flash of light through her eyelids. She jerked her hand back, but the deed was done. She now stood in her kitchen. A broken unicorn horn was on the floor at her feet. A dose of vertigo washed over her as she stared at it. Her hands shot out and grabbed the edge of the sink. It was full of soapy water. She dipped her fingers in and found the water was still warm. Had any time passed? She knelt down and picked up the broken horn. It was just a piece of bone now. There was no more magic in it. There was no going back.

She felt like she was going to be sick. She rushed to the bathroom and put her face over the toilet, but though her stomach rolled, it did not heave. She picked herself up and brushed back the shower curtain. Unable to think of anything else, she decided a nice long shower might help her. It would at least give her something mindless to do while her mind stayed in free-fall. She began to undress, and as she moved around in front of the medicine cabinet, something in the mirror caught her eye. There on her left shoulder was a branding mark. It was shaped like a demon’s head. It was all she had to remember Tavik. She ran her fingers over it gently and felt an ache in her chest. 

She called her parents once she regained her composure. They were happy to hear from her, but they had seen her just that morning. Her mother told her how well the yard sale had gone and who she’d seen. Naomi held the phone numbly as she listened to her relaxed and happy voice. When a couple of tears fell onto her lap, she quickly said her goodbyes and hung up. She was home, and nothing had happened. No time had passed, and no one had worried about her. She didn’t know if she would go insane or if she already had.

That night she dreamed that the unicorn stood before her, but instead of reaching out to capture it, she shook her head and backed away. She didn’t want it. She held up her hands to ward it off. She shouted at it to leave. The unicorn didn’t hear her though. She was not pure. It leveled its horn at her. She turned to run away, but he ran her through. She looked down at the horn sticking out of her breast and touched the point with her index finger. The horn pricked it and a single drop of blood was absorbed. The world began to swirl, and she screamed.

She jerked up in bed and looked wildly around. She was in her bedroom but that didn’t seem right. She knew why. She’d become accustomed to stone walls, tall beds, and Yula’s cheerful good morning. Home did not feel like home. She dragged herself out of bed. She was grateful that it was Sunday, and she wouldn’t have to worry about work. She didn’t think she could handle the bank. She wondered if she should call in sick on Monday. She needed a mental health day or maybe a week.

Deciding not to worry too much about Monday, she lounged around the house. She did a little cleaning, but neither the television nor a book could hold her attention. She finally settled beside the front window and stared out. It was a sunny day, and people were going about enjoying the lazy afternoon. She watched people walking dogs, children playing, cars rolling by at sedate paces. The sound of lawn equipment droned quietly in through the closed window. She was startled when it began to grow dark. She’d been sitting there in a daze the entire afternoon. She hadn’t eaten a thing for lunch, and her stomach grumbled.

The phone ringing made her jump. She picked it up, and her mother invited her to their house for dinner. She thought about declining, but she’d missed them so much. She wouldn’t let her depression keep her from them. It would be good for her to see them.

When she arrived, she perked up some as she slipped into the home and called out to her family. Her father answered her from the living room, and her mother came out of the kitchen to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She still looked sad enough for her mother to ask if she were all right and to check her forehead. Naomi quickly told her she was fine and slipped away with the excuse of wanting to see Bobby. Her younger brother was still home for the weekend. He was staying for dinner and to finish his laundry. She crept up to his old room where he was doing homework.

She knocked and stuck her head around the door. “Hey.”

Bobby looked up from his textbook and smiled. “Hey, come on in.”

“How’s life?” She flopped down onto his bed.

“Going okay. Would be better if I could miraculously memorize all these Chemistry formulas for the quiz on Tuesday.”

She nodded and rolled onto her back to look at the ceiling.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I had a weird dream. I dreamt I was married to this really scary guy who turned out not to be so scary, but I couldn’t stay with him because I had to get back home. I didn’t want to go home, but it was like that was the only thing I could do. If I didn’t go home, I wouldn’t ever see you guys again.”

“What’d you do, have a burrito before going to sleep?”

She sighed and hugged herself. “I didn’t want to wake up from the dream.”

“Why wouldn’t you be able to see us ever again?”

“Because the guy was on another planet. If I stayed with him, I’d be too far away to even call and talk to you all. I was scared it would upset everyone if I left and never came back.”

Bobby’s eyebrows scrunched together as he thought about what she’d said. “There’s like a lot of issues in there. Deep Jungian stuff. I mean I usually just dream about meeting Natalie Portman.”

She rolled to her side to look at him. “You going to analyze me?”

He grinned and shook his head. “It seems pretty obvious to me. You’re afraid to grow up.”

She propped herself up to better glare at him. “Afraid to grow up!”

“Well yeah! You meet this great guy who you could marry—“

“We were already married,” she interjected.

His eyebrows rose. “Even clearer. You have this husband you love, but you leave him to go back to your mommy and daddy when you could stay with him and start your own family.”

“But I would never see you guys again!”

“Oh come on Naomi, that’s nearly impossible in this day and age.”

She bristled. “We were on another planet.”

“Fine, say you met like the King of Mars who was perfect for you and wanted to marry you, are you saying you wouldn’t move back with him to his home world to be with him?”

She looked at her brother incredulously. “No!”

“Why?” he asked smugly.

“Kids, dinner’s ready!” Their mother called.

She rolled off the bed. “Because Mars sucks.”

Dinner wasn’t formal at the Tailor household. Elbows rested on the table. People happily ate with their hands. Food picked off and passed to others plates. Naomi dug into her plate with gusto. Yula’s cooking had been good, but she had no pasta to work with so had never fixed spaghetti. Naomi caught up with her father. They hadn’t seen each other on Saturday like the rest of the family.     

Bobby spoke over them to announce, “Guess what, if Naomi met the King of Mars and fell in love with him, she wouldn’t move there to be with him because she wouldn’t want to abandon us.”

Both parents stopped to absorb this piece of weird news. Their father nudged her with his arm. “That’s because she’s daddy’s little girl.” Naomi smiled thinly at him.

“If you were able to come back and visit, I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to marry the King of Mars,” Naomi’s mother said.

Naomi rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t be able to come back.”

“But if this king were able to come here, and you were able to go there, I would think you would be able to repeat it.” Naomi wished this hadn’t become the topic of discussion.

“There would be no guarantee that we could. I would wind up stranded on Mars, and you guys would never hear from me again.”

“Yeah, but you said you loved this guy so why not be his queen?” Bobby asked wanting to prove his theory.

She glared at him. He wasn’t taking the idea seriously. He thought this was just some hypothetical metaphorical argument when she’d already faced this decision and chosen.