Unicorn Keep (14 page)

Eli had mentioned the w
yverns specifically when they had looked at the scrolls. They lived within the forest and constantly tested the barrier for weakness. Feasting on unicorn flesh would give the wolf-like creatures great power. Their steady diet of non-magical creatures didn’t satisfy the hunger they always felt.

The unicorns galloped forward out of the river’s path and into the woods. Bai bumped Ginger forward and
Jiline released the reins a fraction to allow the pony to race through the deep snow. Gwyn surged in front of her to part the drift and give Ginger a trail. For their strain, the snow slowed them considerably. The barrier dropped as Ginger was engulfed within the unicorn herd. Bai stayed behind her.

As one
, the group continued its brisk pace, Jiline and Ginger in the center, Bai beside her. She couldn’t spot Gwyn any longer. Shadows moved among the trees they passed.

She raised her sword up, but the unicorns didn’t slow. “Bai?”

We see them. They are pacing us. Waiting for a sign of weakness and opportunity to take one of us down.

The wyverns made no noise
, at least none that Jiline could hear over the sound of the breathing unicorns. The snow muffled their hoof falls and the unicorns were silent as they prepared for battle.

T
he shadows moved. Suddenly emerging from the trees, black shapes with sharp teeth and glowing brown eyes streaked toward the herd. She tried to count them as Ginger reared beneath her. Clamping her legs, she rode the rear. The unicorns no longer ran, but turned to face the wyverns.

Snorts and trumpeting neighs filled the air as the
unicorns met their enemy. She didn’t know what to do. Ginger danced beneath her in fear, but the pony turned where she directed. But what could she do? The wyverns were massive. Much larger than a wolf. And they obviously knew their prey as they darted out of the way of the unicorns horns and hooves.

A streak of black headed toward
her and she remembered what Eli had said. They preferred to eat magical meat. She had magic within her. Ginger’s feet stilled and Jiline lowered her sword to point it directly at the wyvern.

Bai
leapt between them, his horn thrusting up into the wyvern’s rib cage. It howled as Bai slid on his haunches and threw the wyvern against a tree. The crunch was awful. She flinched, but didn’t have a moment to do more than that before Bai was urging Ginger forward again. The unicorn herd was off. Several wyverns lay bleeding in the snow, and she didn’t know where the others had retreated.

She
gripped her sword waiting for the next attack as they moved through the woods. But an attack didn’t come.

“Bai?”

They retreated when they realized we were not easy targets. They prefer to catch a unicorn alone.

She nodded, but didn’t resheath her sword. Ginger huffed and puffed beneath her to keep up with the gallop the unicorns had fallen into. Gwyn dropped back and her horn, also bloody, brushed Ginger’s neck.

You are safe now, Jiline.
Gwyn’s eyes looked directly at her.

She reluctantly and with some difficulty resheathed her sword. The
unicorns had handled the wyverns without a problem. She quickly counted the moving herd. They all remained.

“Were any of you hurt?”

No.
Gwyn said.
Wyverns do not have magic of their own. They attack physically. Easy to defend against with our numbers. I’m surprised they attacked, but I suppose they were hungry.

Bai snorted.
They were after her.

Gwyn dropped back to her son.
Are you sure?

One of them slipped through the line to take her down. I almost didn’t see
him in time.

Gwyn was quiet as she moved back up next to
Jiline.
I apologize. We should have realized they would try to take you down.

Her hands
trembled and she fisted them before leaning over a little to rub them into Ginger’s mane. She held the reins loosely, her body moving automatically with her pony. “Eli said they prefer magical meat. I didn’t think I had much in me.”

Bai snorted.
Not fun to think of yourself as meat. I told you she had power within her.

Gwyn’s eye rolled.
So you did. But it hasn’t fully manifested.

“What do you mean?”

Humans are different from other magical creatures. Most are born with magic as I told you, but very few ever learn to utilize the magic within them. If they can, it begins to emerge as they grow older. The older the mage the more powerful he or she can be.

“But I’m already fif
teen years,” she protested.

A child.
Gwyn snorted and slowed as the herd ahead of them did to a trot.
Your Herrick...

That was the second time Gwyn had referred to
Herrick as hers. The urge to protest was strong.

Is very strong for his age. He would have been stronger than his mother if she had allowed him to use the unicorn magic as she did. But she prevented it to keep him within her control. Most mages do not come to their full powers until about twenty years. That is when they arrive at the Keep to learn to mix their own magic with ours.
Herrick was strong enough several years ago. A good five years before the other mages.

How old was
Herrick? She knew he was older than she, but had originally assumed he was fifteen until she had learned he was a mage.

Seventeen of your years
. Bai said.

“How old will I be for this magic to manifest?”

Bai didn’t respond right way.
I believe we sped the process up by helping you open the barrier.

“You said the barrier couldn’t be opened with unicorn magic.”

It wasn’t. It was opened by your magic, but I gave you a little push in being able to wrap the residual of Herrick’s magic with your own.

Bai!
Gwyn scolded.
You did not tell us.

She is untrained and was having difficulty. It was the quickest way to open the barrier.

Gwyn’s disapproval radiated out of her.

“What’s wrong?”

Nothing, child. Mixing magic is generally not a good idea. There can be after effects.

“What do you mean? What kind of after
effects?”

How did
Herrick’s magic cling to you? Had he cast a spell near you or...on you?

Jiline
shook her head. But she realized she had no clue if he had been casting a spell the last time she had seen him. “I assumed,” she bit her lip, “when Bai said his magic was on me that it was because Herrick...kissed me.”

Gwyn didn’t appear to react to the news. But had probably already listened to her thoughts before she had said the words.
Interesting. Mages usually don’t share magic through simple touch. Perhaps he had cast a spell before coming upon you.

Jiline
shrugged.

Bai suddenly danced beside them.
Look.

She
did as he bade and squinted her eyes to see what he was gesturing to. But she wasn’t sure.

The snow line.

That was when she realized the snow was lighter on the trees and it did look like there wasn’t any snow on the ground farther down the trail. She looked around, past the magical box. Sure enough the snow was only a few inches deep and the flurries weren’t really snow flakes, but a mix of rain and snow. The unicorns picked up their pace again and finally galloped out of the last of the snow into the muddy dirt and rain. The magical box didn’t do much for the mud as they sloshed down the trail, but even Jiline’s mood rose knowing they were coming out of the mountains. The grass hills would appear soon.

The magical box prevented her from becoming soaked in the pouring rain just as it had prevented her from freezing in the snow. The trees were beginning to thin and she started to wonder. Where would the unicorns go? Where could they hide?

“Bai, where are we going?”

Bai chewed on some leaves he had just snatch
ed from a tree as they passed.
Home.

“The valley wasn
’t your home?” Of course not, it had been their prison.

It was long ago before the mages found us. There are other enchanted forests. We are not the only unicorns within the world.

She hadn’t even thought on whether there were other unicorns and where they would be. “So you are going to them?”

Bai hesitated.
No. We do not know where they are.

“Then where are we going?”

He raised his head and pricked his ears.
Home.

She
bit her lip, not understanding, but she didn’t question him again.

You are confusing her.
Gwyn said as she dropped back from the herd.
She doesn’t feel it as we do. You see, Jiline, we have felt our new home for some time. It has called out to us in our dreams for years. Welcomed us as soon as we made the decision to escape. We go to those woods where we will live in peace.

Jiline
nodded, but still didn’t totally understand. But she believed the unicorns knew where they were going and that was what was important.

14. WEATHER SPELL

Herrick
didn’t like the conclusion he had come up with. He’d found the weather spell, but he wasn’t powerful enough to cast it on his own. He would need the help of his mother and Mage Taika to cast it successfully. He had hoped to be able to cast it in the night and sneak off before anyone realized he’d created a heat wave. Didn’t look like his plan would work that way. Which meant his mother would send the keepers out again with him.

He couldn’t find
Madelen with the keepers so close to him. But it was the only way he would be able to leave the Keep. But if he could leave the Keep so could the keepers and his mother. He sat in the magic room pacing back and forth throughout the day. His mother didn’t come looking for him so he was left alone to torture himself with deciding what was right.

The draw had become painfu
l. He rubbed his chest as his lungs constricted. A panic attack had seized him about halfway through the day and he’d passed out from lack of oxygen. When he had awakened the pressure on his lungs had eased a bit. But they were increasing again.

He closed his eyes and imagined the air flowing through
his lungs unobstructed. He could not have another panic attack. He had to stay in control if he was going to be able to help Madelen. But what would help her more? He was beginning to think pushing the unicorns’ storm to even heavier was the best plan. No one but the Keep knew the unicorns and Madelen had escaped. She would be safer if news didn’t spread, but the more his thoughts went in that direction the tighter his lungs became.

Shoot, could he physically stand to have her apart from him and in danger?
His lungs seized. He pulled at his shirt even though he knew that wasn’t going to help as he struggled for air. Snapping his eyes open, he stumbled to the table and grabbed the elixir he had made up earlier and tried to drink it. His hands shook, spilling the liquid, but some made it into his mouth.

His vision blurred
. His knees buckled. He dropped the bottle to grab on to the table, but he had no strength and banged against it. A small breath went through. He concentrated on that. Just breathe stupid.

Slowly
, more and more, he could feel the oxygen going through his system. He weakly pushed away from the table and sat on the floor as the panic attack left his system. Everything felt weak.

N
ormally, he would have gone to his mother for assistance with the panic attacks to ask why they were happening. But he had a pretty good idea as to why and he couldn’t let her know about the draw. The book hadn’t been kidding when it had stated a draw made it difficult for a couple to be apart for any length of time.

He would have to do it. She was safer without him. He gritted his teeth as
his lungs started to ache again. He was going to have to find a way to function on his own without going into a panic attack every time he thought of her. It wouldn’t do either of them any good.

He couldn’t fathom what the purpose of the attacks were
, or if they were a nasty magical side effect of the draw. The relaxing elixir had worked, but he couldn’t exactly carry it around with him without someone noticing. He pushed himself up to his feet. His legs were still weak, but they would have to do.

He set to work mixing up another batch and considere
d how to make it more potent. The mix was just a few herbs properly measured together and boiled in water. He stood over the steaming pot and frowned at it. Even the fumes eased the tightness from his chest. He would need to be careful. The warning on the recipe had said it could become addicting if he consumed too much.

Someone knocked on the door. He glanced around for a spot to hide the pot, but it would be useless. So he put the herbs and the elixir recipe book back on the shelf to erase the evidence of what he had just made. Holding his hand over the steaming liquid, he focused on forcing it to cool more quickly and
hoped the elixir wouldn’t be damaged.

Knock. Knock. Knock. He pulled his hand away to scan the rest of the table.

“Herrick! Open the door,” his mother called through the wood.

It was who
he had feared it would be and he knew if he delayed any longer she would be using her own magic to force the magical lock. That would raise her suspicions a little too much. He raised his hand and clenched it to release the lock.

She swung the door open, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What have you been doing in here?”

“Hiding.” He walked away from the main table to the area of the room full of talismans.

“From what?” She went straight to the table and frowned down at the now cooled elixir.

“You.”

She looked up at him in surprise. “Why would you need to hide from me?”

He faked a laugh. “You’ve been on a bit of a rampage. Have you already forgotten your assault on the keepers?”

She glanced away and her hands clasped behind her back as she went
to look at the magical volumes on the other side of the table. “No, I haven’t forgotten.”

“Have you apologized to them?”

Her narrow-eyed look was back.

He shook his head.
“Of course not, mages don’t apologize to keepers.”

“It’s more than that,
Herrick. To apologize would be to admit I was in the wrong.”

He was surprised to hear her say that she was in the wrong even in a roundabout way.

“A mage can never be wrong in his or her actions to a non-magic.”

Her gaze went to the book which contained the weather spell. He’d closed it, but with a wave of her hand it opened to the last
page read. Crap, he’d forgotten to shove it back on the shelf. He had been so focused on his own physical issues. He frowned as he realized the tightness was gone. He still felt a little weak from the last attack, but more like himself.

“What’s this?” She was reading the spell and her voice showed it had caught her attention.

“I was thinking about the weather.”

She made a humming sound before shaking her head and waving her hand over the book to close it. “Good thought. Too bad no one here is powerful enough without the unicorns to cast it.” She leaned against the table and frowned at him. “We should have spent more time trying to find a way to harvest their power.”

“The dark creatures killed them to do it.” He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth.

She glared. “Are you comparing us to the dark creatures? We protected them from the dark creatures.”

“No, I was just stating a fact.”

He
r glare didn’t lessen. “You seem to think it’s good the unicorns are out there at the mercy of any dark creature or human. It isn’t just the magical beasts who are a threat to the unicorns. People will want their power for their own.”

He glanced down at his hands.

“We have protected them for all of these years.” His mother insisted. “Cared for them. Our ancestors did not imprison the unicorns when they found this valley. They befriended them. They assisted them. Before the barrier was put up dark creatures and humans frequented the forest to hunt for unicorns. It is because of us this herd has not disappeared into nothingness as so many of them have.”

Herrick
had learned the Keep history since he could stand at his mother’s knee, but he doubted it now. Perhaps the Keep had started out with good intentions, but his mother’s own words betrayed what the Keep had become. The unicorns would have no need to run away or escape if they wanted to remain in the valley and have the magical barrier.

The Keep was a prison to the unicorns and they were their jailors.

****

Jiline
jerked awake, rising to run away from the wyvern in her dream. The tree ring the unicorns had found for them to rest in through the night was the same. No wyvern’s raced in or lurked outside. At least that she could see. Darkness surrounded them and she wondered what time it was. Middle of the night or close to dawn?

The unicorns stood in their sleep. Ginger was the only one l
ying down with her, sharing her body warmth to keep Jiline from getting too cold. The absence of sound told her the rain had stopped outside the magical box. She looked above and wondered if the magical box still surrounded them. She snuggled in closer to Ginger.

A presence jarred her. Her eyes snapped back open. Had t
he wyvern’s returned? Bai stood beside her. His eyes glinted in the darkness.

She bit her lip to keep from whispering her question.

No
. He answered anyway.
A magical search. We felt it before, but what you call our magical box keeps the searcher from seeing us.

She rose slowly and walked the few feet
to bring her alongside his head. “Who is searching?”

The Keep Mage. She has scr
yed for us several times.
His head raised and turned a fraction.
But this is not the same searcher and,
he snorted,
it is not scrying magic.

“What is it?” She whispered.

Gwyn stepped up beside them. She had been standing on the other side of Ginger a moment ago.
It is your Herrick.

Jiline
shook her head wondering why Gwyn kept saying that. “He’s looking for you.”

Gwyn touched her muzzle gently to
Jiline’s arm and her warm breath blew over her hand.
Not us. You.

She
glanced from Bai to Gwyn. “Why would he look for me?”

Perhaps, the Keep Mage has realized she can not find us and is instead focusing on
Jiline
. Bai suggested.

Gwyn dropped her muzzle again to blow on her hand.
No. He searches for Jiline.

He is the Keep Mage’s son and he is more powerful than
she.

Gwyn didn’t move from her position, but her attention shifted
and Jiline could feel the glare leveled on her son.
Yes, he is. But she would do the search herself. She would not trust another to do it, not even her son. He searches for her on his own.

“Has he found me?”
Jiline looked around the grove. The other unicorns had wakened though they remained quiet. “Does the box keep us safe from his search?”

How had she felt his presence? She hadn’t known when Mage
Brennah had been searching for them. They didn’t answer her and she had the distinct feeling they were speaking to each other without allowing her to listen in on their words.

Bai’s white coat glowed as the darkness lightened. She
glanced past him to look out at the trees. It wasn’t her imagination. At least she knew it wasn’t the middle of the night now. Her eyes were drawn back to his glowing coat and her fingers trembled as she raised them to touch its softness. The unicorns had been touching, poking, and prodding her from the beginning, but this was the first time she attempted to touch one of them.

His coat was just as soft as it looked. Softer and silkier than anything she had
ever run her fingers against. Dropping her hand, she worried over her sudden boldness. She should have asked to touch him. But he didn’t react to her touch.

One by one t
he unicorns left the grove and Ginger raised up with a groan and a stretch. It was time to move. But the unicorns still hadn’t answered her question. Feeling they were still conversing with each other, she walked the few steps to gather her tack. She brushed all the twigs and needles off which had gotten stuck to Ginger while she slept.

Ginger nickered at her and nuzzled her hand.
The pony was hungry.

“I know
, girl,” she whispered and rubbed between her ears. “They don’t give you a lot of time to eat.” Her own stomach rumbled reminding her she would run out of food by that evening. “You’ll need to eat as they do, on the fly.”

She placed her saddle on Ginger and tightened the girth. She then looked at her bridle. It was difficult for Ginger to eat much with the bit in her mouth. Even now there was a blade of grass twisted around the metal. She tightened the girth before tackling the idea of fixing the bridle to not have
a bit. The question was how to make it work. The headstall attached to the bit and the reins attached to the bit. She unbuckled the bit and attached the reins to the nose piece connected to the headstall. The funky looking bridle wouldn’t offer a lot of control, but it should be enough to direct a well-trained pony. Satisfied it would work, she slipped the tweaked bridle over Ginger’s head and put the bit inside her bag.

It is time to leave.
Bai said behind her.

She nodded and mounted quickly to follow Gwyn out of the grove. The soft light was steadily growing and though it was still cloudy the rain had
indeed stopped, allowing the ground to absorb the water and not be nearly as muddy. The unicorns still hadn’t answered her question and she closed her eyes to see if she could feel the presence again. She couldn’t.

Turning, she looked at Bai. “Did he find me?”