Unicorn Keep (10 page)

“Where do you think you’re going?”

He turned back and shrugged. “I didn’t realize you wanted me to stay.”

“I summoned you here and I have not dismissed you.”

“I was in the middle of a potion. I’ll have to start over if I leave it for too long.”

Her frown was uncertain this time, but her hand beckoned him back to her. With a sigh of pretend nonchalance, he rejoined her and leaned against the railing.
Madelen was out of sight. His gut clenched as it had before, but he didn’t allow himself to physically react to the sensation.

“She is being retested to make sure she is still pure.”

Herrick frowned. “The crystal would be a lot quicker.”

She turned and grabbed his arm. “This isn
’t a joke. You would trifle with this keeper and then send her to be savaged by the unicorns?”

He held up his hands and took a step back. “What? Wait a minute. Are you accusing me of having...” He couldn’t quite say it to his mother. “I’ve left her alone just as you recommended. I haven’t touched her.”

His mother’s eyes were piercing as she stared at him. “Her life balances on your lies.”

He shook his head. “I’m not
lying, mother. Why would I jeopardize a unicorn keeper? I know how important they are to the Keep’s continued existence. Fewer and fewer keepers are passing the test. Isn’t that what you’re always telling me?”

Her stare lost it
s certainty. “You didn’t tell me about her breaking curfew.”

“I didn’t realize it was that important. She isn’t the first trainee to violate curfew. If I had realized it would be this big of deal, I would have marched
the both of
them
to you right away. Did you send the other girl down there too?”

His mother glanced away. “No, she isn’t a
unicorn keeper. The unicorns will tell me if you’re telling the truth.”

****

Jiline didn’t go where she had discovered the unicorns previously, but headed into the middle of the valley and walked. She might as well drag it out as long as she could. She hadn’t been able to spot any of the keepers who would be watching. How could they report on the unicorns mauling her if they didn’t witness it first hand? Of course, maybe they would just look for her dead body if she didn’t return by nightfall. But the unicorns didn’t kill for rejection. They simply refused to show themselves to you.

The unicorn colt stepped into her path.
What is wrong?

She shook her head and slowed as if she wasn’t used to his presence. She ran last night’s and today’s occurrences through her mind to tell him why she
was down in the valley. She also added in her belief that she would be locked up or guarded at night and wouldn’t be able to sneak down.

A keeper is to your left behind you watching us from the tallest tree of the forest strip
. The unicorn colt walked slowly toward her and she stood still.

She didn’t know what to do. How was she supposed to help them if she couldn’t even come down to the valley? The unicorn colt wouldn’t be able to help her control the magic he had hidden.

Do not worry. We will find a way. Listen for me. I will call to you. The first winter storm is on its way. Come down to the valley after the first snow flakes fall.

She bit her lip. The mages had been clear that once the snow fell no one could leave the Keep or enter the Keep. The trails were impassable.

There will be a window of opportunity. It will slow their pursuit of us. Dress warmly.
The unicorn colt suddenly danced around her before flitting back through the meadow and away from her.

Jiline
watched the unicorn leave before turning slowly. She could see the keeper now. How she hadn’t noticed him before was curious. He climbed down the tree as she walked back into the woods. It was the same keeper who had given her the red scarf in the first place.

He
smiled and she realized she didn’t know his name. He looked to be about Herrick’s age.

“Glad he didn’t run you through.”

“You were expecting it?” Her sharp retort caught her by surprise.

But
that didn’t bother him judging by his laugh. “You’re the first keeper who’s been sent back in so quickly after selection. I figured there was some reason they were retesting so soon.”

Sabrine. She gritted her teeth. The girl had gone from a minor annoyance to a major headache. “
Someone likes to spread rumors.”

He nodded as if he understood and walked with her back toward the Keep cliff. “Ladies first.”

She started to climb and glanced over her shoulder in surprise when she realized he was climbing up behind her. Mistress Marta waited at the top, her frown still in place. The fact that Jiline was still alive didn’t appear to have swayed her suspicions.

“Eli?” Mistress Marta questioned.

“They chose her again without hesitation,” Eli answered quickly, he saluted and then scrambled back down the cliff face.

Marta’s frown deepened and
Jiline realized she had fully expected her to be rejected if not hurt by the unicorns. She had believed Sabrine’s lies completely. Marta gestured to the hallway. “Your class is currently in the library. I will tell Mage Brennah that you passed the test.”

Jiline
bobbed her head and ran up the stairs. Upon entering the library and seeing the surprised and angry look on Sabrine’s face, she had to suppress the urge to walk over and slap the lying girl. But she wasn’t the only one. Everyone appeared to be surprised. They had all believed Sabrine.

10. PROTECTOR

A week later the storm the unicorn
s had foretold arrived. The Keep was ready for it. The last of the visitors were gone a good two days before and the Keep was down to three mages. Mage Brennah, Herrick, and an old woman who arrived just before the last visitor left. Jiline only knew she was a mage based on her robes as she hadn’t been introduced to her.

Jiline
stood at one of the hallway’s windows and watched the rolling clouds approach. The wind was monstrous and she couldn’t imagine what it was like for the keepers down in the valley perched in their treetop watch towers.

The other trainees were equall
y as nervous. This would be the first winter for all of them, and the first time they would be physically if not psychologically locked within the Keep. Mistress Marta had said the snow would get so deep as to completely cover the first story. The doors wouldn’t open. If anyone ventured out, which she didn’t recommend because you could freeze before anyone found you, they would have to step out of one of the second story windows.

She had been listening for the unicorn’s call. She didn’t know if he had called and she just couldn’t hear or if he still hadn’t called. Sabrine stopped in the hallway when she saw
her. Jiline turned from the window to glare at her. Sabrine hadn’t shown any remorse for her lies and everyone still seemed to believe her even after Jiline had been tested and found innocent. She didn’t know how Sabrine had twisted the rumors to keep them going, but judging how the other trainees avoided her she knew they believed her.

The only person who had talked to her without being forced was Eli. He had come looking for her aft
er her second testing to ask what she’d done to earn the wrath of the Keep Mage.

Turning
away from Sabrine, she went the rest of the way to the library. The other trainees had gathered and ignored her. It probably didn’t help that Sabrine remained in the dormitory room while she was locked up in a single room every night. Yeah, that didn’t say much toward her innocence.

She dropped down in the chair by the wall and picked up the book she had been studying earlier. Worry over the beings who devoured the unicorns haunted her dreams. Without the protection of the Keep
, would she be releasing the unicorns to a certain death? According to every scroll and book she read, the answer was yes.

But she wasn’t being trained to fight them. She didn’t know of any
way to repel the nasty creatures.

“
Madelen,” Mistress Marta called from the doorway.

It took her a second to remember to react to the name and she looked up. Eli stood next to Marta and grinned at her.

“Come here,” Marta commanded.

The other trainees watched her leave in hushed silence. Marta remained and Eli led her down the hallway.

“Bunch of gossips,” Eli whispered under his breath. “Good news.”

“It’s good that they gossip?”

He laughed. “No, good news that I was able to convince Marta to put you under my care. You’re wasted in there.”

“What do you mean?”
Jiline glanced back at the library doorway.

“Book work doesn’t teach you what you need to know to protect the unicorns
.” Eli led her into a large room without any furniture except for some cabinets on the other side. A large door sat between the cabinets. “But I will.”

Her interest piqued. “I thought Marta was our teacher.”

“Marta will teach you the ways of the Keep and the unicorn lore, but the keepers choose who they will train. We each have a skill, the five of us.”

“But
aren’t there more than five keepers?”

“But only five keepers in the valley at once. We each serve a purpose.” He paused as if waiting for another question.

She obliged him. “And your purpose?”

“I kill the beasties who threaten the unicorns.”

Her jaw dropped.

He was enjoying himself as he moved away to open a cabi
net filled with deadly weapons. “The mages try to keep it quiet whenever someone or something sneaks past our barriers to kill a unicorn. Most believe the barrier is all that protects them.”

Her instincts had b
een correct. It hadn’t made sense to her that all the keepers did was sit and watch the unicorns. Especially since the unicorns hid from them most of the time.

“But when the barrier fails we have to help the unicorns. Some creatures are weak and underestimate the lethal power the unicorns have and they don’t need my assistance, but even so. We can’t allow a single unicorn to be taken. Other creatures do have the power to take a unicorn down
and we intercede before they have the opportunity.”

“The pictures on the scrolls?”

He smiled as he pulled out a long metal stick with a sharp point. “I noticed someone had gone through them.” He turned to her. “I’d hoped it was you. When I saw how the unicorn danced around you, I knew you were the one I must train.”

She bit her lip. “Danced?”

“The unicorns trust us the most. They must if we’re to fight alongside them. They know I’ll give my life to protect one of them. I can’t help protect them if I’m worrying one of them will turn on me. Other keepers stay to the trees. Though the unicorns tolerate them, they don’t trust them as they trust the protectors.”

She stared a
t the weapon cabinet and thought of the task she would be doing shortly. “Show me how.”

****

Weapon training was almost more difficult than climbing the ropes. Her arms ached and she wasn’t sure her hands would function well enough to hold a pen let alone one of the five weapons Eli had schooled her on. She sank to the stone floor. Eli had not excused her yet. He was putting away the swords they had just finished with. She dreaded what he would pull out next to torment her.

She might want to know how to protect the unicorns, but she was beginning to have severe doubts she would ever be capable of such a feat. Her hands rested on the cool ston
es of the floor. Tempted by them she didn’t care how it looked and lay back so she stared at the ceiling. Her breath was still coming too fast.

A high window drew her attention and the clouds had arrived since she had looked
outside in the morning. The dark gray was threatening and explained why she was waiting for Eli to call the session for the evening meal. It probably wasn’t evening. There were no time pieces in the training room.

Eli suddenly appeared in her vision as he stood over her.
He squatted down and she pushed up into a sitting position on her aching arms. A moment ago she hadn’t cared, but now she blushed to be caught in such a position.

“Not as easy as you thought?” He smiled.

She shook her head. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

“Of course you can.
” Eli shifted and sat cross-legged on the floor. “We’ve all winter. You’ll be ready by spring.”

She wish
ed she did have until spring, but that wasn’t going to happen.

“We can slow it down now.” He propped an arm on his
upraised knee. “I needed to check your stamina and drive.”

Jiline
narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

He cocked his head. He was always in motion. She hadn’t seem him still throughout the entire day. “Half of being a protector is going farther than you’re physically capable in a moment. You have to fight beyond your exhaustion and fear.”

“Exhaustion. Check. Is fear tomorrow?”

He shook his head and rose in a fluid movement. He offered a hand and pulled her up to her feet. “Time for the book work.”

She turned and froze when she saw Herrick leaning in the doorway, his permanent frown on his face.

Eli didn’t pause
, but walked toward him. “Mage Herrick. Can I help you with something?”

“I heard you were training a new recruit
.” Herrick’s voice was soft.

“Trainee
Madelen this is Mage Herrick.” Eli introduced them like he hadn’t heard the rumors which dogged her with everyone else. Had he really not heard the rumors or was he playing some sort of game?

“We’ve met,”
Herrick said sharply, his eyes searching her face before he stepped out of the doorway and from effectively blocking their exit. “I won’t keep you.”

****

Herrick paced the magic room in agitation. She was just below him with Eli. He’d always gotten along with the protector before. But seeing him pay so much attention to Madelen was intolerable. He simply couldn’t watch without exposing the draw. So he locked himself within the magic room to torment himself where no one could see.

Coming across the two in the training room had caught him by surprise. Seeing Eli leaning over the prone form of
Madelen had sent the draw skyrocketing. He kicked a stool against the wall. Girls within the Keep were drawn to Eli and his pretty features. But Eli was devoted to being a unicorn keeper and protector.

Even his mother had commented on how
dedicated he was when he’d first been chosen as a protector. They had a high turnover rate when they were that devoted. No sense of self preservation in him. But Eli was as good a fighter as he was devoted.

And he’d picked
Madelen out of this class to train. Why?

Herrick
turned to look at the scrying mirror. He could peek and see what they were doing in the library. His mother often used a mirror to watch the charges within the Keep. He took a step toward it before stopping. Nothing was going on in the library. It was his own dirty mind tormenting him. Eli’s dedication wouldn’t allow improper relations between himself and Madelen. It would be the same as standing idly by and watching a dark creature slaughter a unicorn.

“Get a
hold of yourself,” he whispered between clenched teeth and dropped down in the chair behind the work table. He closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing calmly.

****

The mage lights burned brightly within the library. Eli had spread scrolls across the largest table in the center of the great room. Which they had to themselves. She didn’t know where the others had gone, but was glad to not have them watching her. She also wondered, if being a protector was so important why was Eli training only her?

“Eli?”

He brought over another scroll and spread it out in front of her. “This is a magdorn. Nasty little guy.”

He look
ed like a contorted frog and she bit her lip to hold her question in.

“What?”

“Why am I the only one training as a protector?”

“I told you. The unicorn chose you as one. I should have realized it the first day when so many of them walked by you without reacting. I assumed it was the other direction.” He shrugged. “Protector isn’t the only duty of the
unicorn keepers. There are also observers. You have to have incredible eyesight to be a watcher. They patrol the perimeter and keep an eye on the wall. Any weakness has to be reported right away. They’re often the first to see a creature coming in. There are usually two watchers in the valley at a time.”

“How many protectors?”

“One.”

“Only one?” She bit her lip. That meant he fought by himself.

He grinned and patted her on the back. “Not as many of us.”

“What about the other two keepers within the valley?”

“Caretakers. They make sure the valley’s functioning as it should and watch for the first sign of illness within the unicorns.”

“They can get sick,” She turned to him in surprise. “But they’re magical beings. Can’t they heal themselves?”

He shrugged. “Occasionally, a unicorn becomes ill. The caretakers try to heal it as best they can.” He frowned and ran his hand through his shaggy hair. “But it’s always been a lost cause. They make the unicorn as comfortable as possible before death comes.”

She stared at him unable to grasp the idea that a unicorn co
uld die. The magic coming off them was so palpable as to be a physical force. If they could heal others with a touch of their horn, why couldn’t they heal each other?

Eli
began to roll up the scrolls. “It’s getting late.”

She glanced to the high window and sure enough no more gray clouds just blackness. They had worked through the evening meal. She helped him roll up the remaining scrolls and followed him out of the library.

“Come with me,” Eli said and led her down into the kitchen. A few cloth bundles were set out on the counter. He picked up two and handed one to her. “Meals to go.”

She fidgeted with the bundle uncertain of whether she was being excused or would also be eating with hi
m.

“We’ll meet directly after breakfast. Can you find the training room
on your own?”

She nodded, fairly certain she remembered what hallway he had taken.

“Then I bid you goodnight.”

Eli left her as quickly as he t
ended to do everything. She exited the kitchen at a more leisurely pace walking in the non-flickering mage light until she reached her room. The door was open. Had she missed curfew? No one waited for her as they had the previous nights to lock her in. Perhaps Eli’s selection of her to train would prove even more useful than learning to protect the unicorns. Maybe Marta trusted her again.