Unicorn Keep (7 page)

“A death sentence for someone who has magic.” His bro
wn eyes were intense. “They let you live this time. They might not be as generous next time.”

He rose a
nd took a step back just before Mistress Marta reappeared with a jug of water and a glass. He nodded to Marta and strode from the hallway.

A fr
own appeared over Marta’s eyebrows as she watched Herrick leave before turning her attention to Jiline. “How are you feeling?”

Confused, but she didn’t say that. “Better.”

Marta poured the glass of water and handed it to her. “Drink this and then return to your room to clean up and change for dinner. Those chosen to be unicorn keepers will meet in the library after dinner.”

Marta walked to the entrance of the trail and
Jiline guessed another trainee was on their way up.

****

Dinner was uneventful except for the hateful gaze of Sabrine focused on the red scarf still tied to her arm. She had forgotten it at first not realizing she had to wear it as part of her uniform. The unicorn keepers in the valley hadn’t been wearing red scarves that she had seen. Sabrine didn’t have a red scarf on her arm.

Those who did were excused from dinner early and the ten of them filed into the library nervously. She hadn’t realized so many of them had been chosen by th
e unicorns. She wondered if their meet-ups had been as exciting as hers, but she refrained from asking in fear of having to share her own experience.

Mistress Marta waited for all of them to take seats around the library. “Congratulations to all of you for being selected by the unicorns. I hope you realize the great honor which has been bestowed upon you.”

She paused as if waiting for them to agree, but no one uttered a sound. Jiline was beginning to realize the mess she was in. She was supposed to have failed the test and be heading home by now.

“
You have passed the first test,” Marta said. “The first in a line of tests and tasks you will be required to perform to become a unicorn keeper. You will learn about the unicorns, the valley, and what will be required of you in your duty. Unicorn keepers must be fleet of foot, able to climb the tallest tree in the valley, swim the rivers, and run all day long.

“Do not think because the unicorns have chosen you today t
hat they will always accept you. They won’t. You must move silently, respectfully through their valley when on duty. You must always be vigilant against the dangers inside and outside the valley. You will study hard and train even harder”

She frowned at all of them as she paused. “Your training starts now. I’ll meet all of you outside, in front of the Keep, in five minutes. Be prepared to climb.”

7. UNICORN REQUEST

Jiline stood at the railing and looked down at the valley. As a keeper in training she was allowed here, but not down in the valley yet. How was she supposed to keep her promise to the unicorn? She viewed it as a promise and it itched at her every passing day. It had been four since he had spoken to her.

The real keepers now mingled occasionally with her group
of ten. She’d learned there were always five keepers in the valley watching over the unicorns. But she couldn’t figure out why they had to watch over the unicorns. The Keep protected the unicorns from those who would capture them and use their magic for evil. But how were the keepers supposed to prevent that from happening. They had no magic to ward off the evil creatures.

She dreamt of them every night
, their delicate features and deadly horns, dancing through the forest.

Yet, she never spotted a single one from this balcony. The gate beckoned to her. It was an hour
until curfew. There was no way she would be able to make it down and back up in an hour. But she was tempted. Didn’t matter that the gate was magically locked to keep out non-keepers. She walked over to it and trailed her fingers down the cool metal. The magic was there. She could sense it, but wasn’t sure how.

Someone cleared their throat behind her and she turned expecting another trainee.
Instead, Mage Herrick stood before her. She straightened and quickly bowed. Waiting for his instructions, she kept her eyes on the smooth rock of the balcony floor.

“Come here.”

She blinked at his strange instructions, but raised her gaze to take the few steps closer to him. He was frowning at her as he had when she’d been chosen by the unicorn. His cryptic message had told her he knew she was a fraud but nothing had happened.

He held his palm up. “Recognize this
?”

She glanced at his hand and froze. The crystal. Of course
, it probably wasn’t
the crystal
, but one just like the one the mages had brought to her village.

“Keeper in
training Madelen,” his voice was sharp. “Do you recognize this?”

She nodded
, unable to form the words. He would know for sure she was a fraud now. But how had he known before?

“The Keep Mages believe in these crystals
so completely that it just now occurred to me to wonder why they don’t use them when the trainees show up to report for keeper training. Anyone could arrive and say they were someone else. It’s a risk. They don’t know that the mages who tour the villages aren’t the same ones in charge of the Keep or the training. But someone could decide to take the risk. The question would be why.”

She couldn’t pull her gaze from his eyes. They hadn’t left hers the entire time he had spoken. She wondered
for the first time what the mages would do to her. Before she had worried about how they would react to Madelen and her family for her not showing up. But now she wondered about her own safety.

He raised an eyebrow. “Why would someone pretend to be a chosen trainee,
Madelen?”

She was tempted to confess, but no words came to her. Her promise to the unicorn forced all words out of her mouth. She must return to the valley floor. She shook her head. “I don’t know, Mage
Herrick.”

His frown deepened and he suspended the crystal inches from her face.

It began to glow. Surprise flowed through her and mirrored the surprise she could see on his face. His hand slowly lowered and he tucked the crystal into his pocket. The confidence he had shown a moment before was gone and his frown was uncertain now.

“I bid you good night,
Madelen.” He didn’t wait for her response, but pivoted on his heel and strode back into the Keep.

She stayed out there until
curfew and returned to her room just as Marta was about to close the door. She received a frown but no scolding and quickly slipped into bed still dressed but without her boots. No time to change. Her punishment for being late.

A few hours later
, she was wide awake and uncertain what had roused her. Sliding carefully from her covers, she picked up her boots and tip-toed to the door. She opened it just enough to squeeze through.

She didn’t put her boots on until she reached the gateway to the trail down to the valley. The gate opened as silently as
the door to her room had. The mage candles glowed on the walls down the short stairwell to the rocky hillside. The valley was full of shadows. She wrapped her arms around herself at the chill. Winter was coming shortly. None of the trainees had failed the test enough to be sent home before winter. Marta had explained that once winter came no one would leave the Keep and no one would be able to get to the Keep.

The trail looked even more dangerous in the soft moonlight. She fingered the red scarf before
untying it and shoving it into her pocket. It was possible one of the five keepers was watching the trail. She tied her hair back and tucked it into her tunic, and was disguised as best she could considering she hadn’t thought to grab her cloak with its hood. Already committed it seemed too late to venture back to her room to get it.

She could handle a little cold. Stepping out of the safety of the Keep walls
, she kept her head down and went down the hillside as quietly as she could. A challenge she didn’t think she managed very well. Perhaps she should have tried for speed. And perhaps she would have tripped and tumbled the rest of the way down.

At least she was now on the valley floor and she sprinted to the first line of trees. Knowing a keeper could be anywhere
, she kept her face down and moved as quietly to the next meadow as she could. If the keepers stayed near the unicorns to protect them they would most assuredly spot her if she got close to them. So how was she supposed to find the unicorn without getting spotted?

A flash of white to her left caught her attention. A horn glittered in the woods across the meadow. Taking a deep breath, she didn’t allow herself to hesitate, but ran through the second meadow to where she had seen the glitter. The unicorn wasn’t there. She hesitated again, leaning against a tree to catch her breath.

A second flash of white deeper in the forest. Holding on to her courage, she weaved her way through the trees going deeper into the woods. This section wasn’t like the others. It didn’t lead into a third meadow but became thicker with trees.

The flash of white no
longer moved and the horn shone in a ray of moonlight. A unicorn stood next to an ancient tree. She wasn’t sure if the unicorn was the same one who had spoken to her or one of the other four who had allowed her to see them. A second unicorn emerged from around the wide tree.

She stared at them
uncertain of what to do. Was one of them the unicorn she had made the promise to?

You are late.

She thought of Herrick and the crystal.

The unicorn colt raised his head.
They tested her again.

Why?

She shrugged, unsure herself why Herrick had suspected she wasn’t pure.

The unicorn colt snorted.
Did he say anything to you?

She struggled with how to tell them what
Herrick had said.

You may speak. The others are distracting the keepers away from us.

She bit her lip before whispering. “He asked me why anyone would want to switch places with a chosen candidate knowing the risk of discovery.”

Why did you switch places?

Thoughts of Madelen and Wilm quickly filled her as well as her own parents’ worry for their children’s prospects.

The unicorn colt stepped closer to her.
She is the one.

You cannot be sure. It is a great risk we would ask of her.

He raised his head.
You wish to remain in this prison forever? We do not know if another will come who can help us.

Her eyes darted back and forth between the two unicorns as it occurred to her
that she was listening to two unicorns arguing.

The second unicorn gazed at her with deep brown chocolate eyes.
Would you help us?

Yes
, vibrated inside her, but she couldn’t fathom how she would be able to help a creature as magnificent or powerful as a unicorn. The magic flowed from every pore of their bodies.

“How would I help you?”

The unicorn colt spun in a flash.
A keeper approaches. You must return to the Keep before you are spotted.

You take her. I will distract him.
The second unicorn flitted through the woods and disappeared.

Come
. The unicorn colt commanded.

Jiline
obeyed without thought, running after the dancing unicorn back toward the Keep. He stopped at the final line of trees.

Return tomorrow night and I shall explain. Climb quickly,
Jiline.

The unicorn colt was gone. Hee
ding his command, she ran across the small meadow and climbed as fast as she could, scrambling up the rock face. She was sure someone probably waited at the Keep entrance to catch her. But no one waited for her.

****

Herrick fumed in the library. Madelen was out training in front of the Keep. Marta had them running sprints. Dark circles under Madelen’s eyes told him she hadn’t slept through the night. He wondered if thoughts of him had kept her up or thoughts of a more nefarious purpose. He hadn’t told his mother of his embarrassing attempt to prove Madelen had magic within her.

Yet, she beckoned to him whenever she was near. He could feel her presence before he saw he
r in a room. It didn’t make sense. The book he had been studying on courtship rituals of the mages hadn’t been any help. No mention of a mage feeling the draw to a non-magic. Not even the possibility. So, how could he feel it if she had no magic?

“
Herrick,” his mother’s voice was filled with irritation.

He stood up quickly and bowed his head to her as mistress of the
Keep even if she hadn’t used his title name, her voice certainly put her in that realm. He tried to block the book with his body, but her sharp eyes had already caught what it was judging by the frown on her face.

“This is getting ridiculous,” she said sharply. “You are not a child anymore.”

He raised an eyebrow at the scolding she was giving him like he was a child, but he didn’t voice it.

“You are a young, healthy man, it is perfectly natural for you to be attracted to young healthy girls
. It is not a draw that you feel.” His mother’s voice no longer held it’s perfect cadence as she appeared to stumble over her words. “She’s a keeper in training. You must leave her alone. A hint of magic on her could ruin her to the unicorns.”

“You think I would put her in danger?” he asked sharply.

She hesitated. “There are plenty of other pretty girls here. If none of them suit you, perhaps you should travel again.”

He gritted his teeth. He had no interest in heading out on another journey. She’d sent him off to every available young mage woman over the summer in the hopes that he would be drawn to one of them. It hadn’t worked. But he had to be careful
with what he said. As the Keep Mage it was completely within her right to send him away as a mother could not send her son away. He would have no choice but to obey her if she commanded him.

He kept his eyes steady on hers. “You’re right
. I was just trying to understand how a draw would feel.”

She stepped forward to pick up the book. “You understand the difference now?”

He nodded.

“You’re young, you’ll feel the difference between regular attraction and
a draw soon enough,” she said hurriedly.

He kept himself from rolling his eyes. He might not be the most experienced, but he was old enough to have felt a regular attraction for a female mage and non-mag
e alike. An awkward silence settled between them.

“Well
.” Brennah smiled. “Times like this make me wish your father wasn’t a traveling mage.”

He didn’t
agree, but nodded anyway, anything to get the conversation over. He doubted his father would have been any help at all since they barely knew each other.

****

Her body ached by the time her head hit the pillow at lights out. What made it worse was knowing she wouldn’t be getting any more sleep than she had the night before. She couldn’t allow herself to close her eyes as she wasn’t sure she would wake up. Making herself count to two hundred, she peered around the room and listened to the breathing.

She could just make out the shapes of the other nine beds. With her bed against the farthest wall from the door, she would have to pass all of them, five on one side and four on the other to get out of the room.
Uncertain if everyone was really asleep inside or outside her room, she made herself count to five hundred.

Silent as she could be, she grabbed her cloak this time along with her boots before sneaking out of the room.
She moved with more assurance, but kept her ears open to make sure she didn’t run in to anyone as she exited the Keep. The unicorn colt had assured her they would keep the keepers distracted so she didn’t hesitate as she swirled her cloak on and descended down the hillside. It wasn’t as difficult tonight.