Unicorn Point (14 page)

They arrived in the center square, and caused an immediate stir. Word went to the village patriarch, who hobbled up to greet them. “Be ye Adept?” he asked nervously. “We have no quarrel with Adepts!”

“We be partial Adepts,” Bane explained. “I be Bane, son o’ the Adept Stile o’ the Blue Demesnes; this be Tania, sister o’ the Tan Adept; and this be Fleta, mate o’ the Rovot Adept.
 
We come to question thee about new arrivals at thy village.”

“We take sides not between Adepts!” the patriarch protested. “We be far from the controversy, and minded so to remain!”

“An we be satisfied, we shall depart, leaving thy village so,” Bane said. “Please summon all thy members, that we may question them.”

“But they be widely scattered!” the patriarch protested. “Some in the fields, some doing service for the gnomes, some away trading with other villages—“

Tania spoke. “Man, look at me,” she said.
 
The man looked at her. Her eyes widened slightly; that was all. But the patriarch was transfixed by her Evil Eye.
 
“Do it,” she said, looking away.

As in a daze, the patriarch hobbled off, calling to others.
 
Soon a younger man approached. “We are sending out word; all our members will gather. But some are far-flung; it will be two days before all are present.”

“Then prepare a residence for us for that interim,” Tania said curtly. “And bring good food.”

The natives scurried to oblige. The party had known it would be thus; only full Adepts could do things promptly.
 
This was why this search promised to be extremely tedious.
 
There were about a hundred villages scattered across Phaze, and if each took two days to check, over half a year would be expended in this single aspect of the effort. She was sure it would prove futile; the boy had shown himself to be too smart to risk using human form. But she was prepared to endure it, because it meant half a year of close association with Bane or Mach.

They shared a single residence, on the direct understanding that this would protect against possible treachery: one of them would always be on guard. There was also the tacit under standing that Tania was out to subvert Bane, and Fleta was out to prevent this, protecting the interest of her opposite number in Proton. Therefore the three were closely bound, though not exactly by friendship. It was also to the interests of Bane and Fleta to accomplish their mission as quickly as possible—and that was part of Tania’s strategy. She wanted them to want to find the boy, and they were surely the ones to whom the boy was most likely to come. Thus her approach to Bane was artful, and she made no effort to conceal it from the mare.

Indeed, as dusk came, she played it for what it was worth.
 
“Do thou take the first watch, animal, and we human folk will sleep.” Before the unicorn, who was maintaining human form throughout, could retort, she turned to Bane. “And since it be cool, thou and I may share a blanket, and the warmth o’ our bodies. That be most comfortable.” And before he could protest, she pulled off her tan cloak, showing her body naked beneath it.

“I will make a spell for warmth,” Bane said. “With thy permission for the magic to be practiced on thee.”

“It really be not necessary to expend thine precious enchantments, when we have a natural alternative,” she said.
 
“Willst not simply strip and join me?”

“Nay; I will warm the full chamber, so that all be comfortable.” And he singsonged, and it was so: the chill was gone.

“As thou dost wish,” she said, lying down on one of the pallets, and spreading her cloak over her body as a covering.
 
“But methinks it be a shameful waste.” She had accomplished what she sought: to give him a good, solid, lingering view of her excellent body. He might affect not to notice, but she knew better than that; the image would remain in his mind long after the original was gone. The were-folk (and she regarded the unicorns as such) always had good human forms because they crafted them that way, but genuine human beings had to settle for what they started with. She was blessed with a trim form and ample secondary endowments, and understood the effect these had on men of any age; she had put it to the proof often enough. Her main liability was her face: it was ordinary. She did what she could to frame it with her hair, and she definitely preferred shadows for close contacts. She could of course fascinate men with her power of the Eye, but usually she didn’t bother, because it worked only once on a given man; she saved that for emergencies. It would not be long before Bane wanted more of her body than mere glimpses. She could wait.

After three hours Fleta returned. Obviously she had been grazing near the village, in her natural form. Tania didn’t care; she knew that the ears, eyes and nose of a unicorn missed nothing, and that if anything had approached this house, the mare would have intercepted it. The mare might not care for her, Tania, at all, but when the mare was committed to stand guard, the mare would be the best possible guard.

Also, the mare would have known immediately had any thing occurred between Bane and Tania in the house. One night, Tania intended to give the mare excellent grounds for her concern. But that would take time, because of the stricture against employing the Eye. Even if it were not for that, it would be pointless to use it on Bane; it would have greatly diminished effect on him, and thereafter he would be proof against it. No, she had to win him the hard way.
 

Tania roused herself. “Very well, animal; I be alert.” The mare’s ears seemed to flatten against her skull, though she was in human form at the moment. She departed again, for further grazing; this time she would sleep while doing it.
 
Tania spent her watch time pondering the quest they were on. Where could that brat have gone? If he’d assumed bird form, he could be anywhere—but surely he would have lacked the flying experience and stamina to wing far, for none had ever seen him assume that form before. Where could he have gone that was near to where he started from? South, maybe, to the Purple Mountain Range. But there were few unicorns there, and few human folk, and many predators. Translucent was probably right: he had assumed another form, a fourth form. What would that be? That of an elf or gnome? Or a dragon?

Nothing seemed to make much sense. Well, he had to have assumed some form, and she would find that form. In due course.

She gazed at the sleeping Bane. Oh, he was a handsome cuss! And a talented one, too. An excellent match for her. It was really infuriating that the mixup of the exchange of iden tities had occurred, bringing him love in Proton before Tania had had proper opportunity to take him. She had been as sured that he would be hers, so had not rushed it, preferring to have him pursue her, not she him, so that most of the con cessions would have been his to make. Who needed the other frame? She would have roped him in, in time, and the issue between Adepts would have been settled in favor of the Tan Demesnes before it ever came to a head. But everything had gone awry, and only now, with the interruption in contact, did she have a proper chance at him again.

She daydreamed, how it would be. Perhaps she would let him have some modicum of pleasure, before closing down his options. Let him indulge his appetite on her body, convinced it was his own idea. Then, slowly, gradually, she would assume control, and finally indulge her appetites on his body. A man could experience a lot of pain, and not only of the body, when things were properly managed. At first she would scream in simulated rapture as he took her; later he would scream in unsimulated agony as she took him. But there would never be, of course, aught that showed.
 
“Ah, I have plans for thee, fair man,” she murmured, her eyes dwelling fondly on him.

But first she would have to win him away from his alien creature lover in Proton. That would not be easy—but of course there was pleasure in the challenge, too.
 
When her watch was up, she arranged herself artfully in the lone shaft of moonlight that entered the house, draped her cloak so that one breast and parts of both thighs were dimly illuminated, and called to him. “Bane—it be thy turn.” He woke. His eyes opened, scanned the ceiling, then dropped to orient on her. She lifted her knees so that nothing but shadow masked the space between her thighs; he would see only the most tantalizing suggestion. “Thy watch,” she reminded him innocently.

He squinted, attempting to fathorn the shadow; then he caught himself, and stretched, trying to make it seem that he hadn’t looked. “Got it,” he agreed, standing. “Where be Fleta?”

“Where else? Out grazing. It requires much fodder to maintain a mass like hers.”

He did not answer. He walked around the room, getting his circulation going. Tania lay down to resume her sleep, drawing the cloak across her torso imperfectly, so that neither breast nor thigh was fully covered. Let him gaze at her while she slept, as she had gazed at him! He would deny it, most of all to himself, but he would desire her. Desire was the hook that would hold him, night after night, until at last she reeled him in. That was a man’s most singular weakness: his inability to control his lust.

At dawn she woke, discovering herself completely covered by the cloak. Had she moved it in her sleep, changing it as she turned, or had Bane done it? It hardly mattered, yet she was inordinately curious.

She sat up and stretched, so that her belly thinned and her breasts lifted, choosing her moment when Bane was facing her. Then she stood and pulled the cloak on over her head, and shook her hair into place. She stepped out back to the privy, then took the short walk to the stream near the village where she could wash her face and arms. This was not exactly the Tan Demesnes, but it was a pleasant enough bucolic locale, and she rather liked it. She saw Fleta in animal form, still grazing in the near distance, and marveled again how the rovot could love such a creature, knowing her to be an animal. Bane’s dalliances with her in the early days had been but natural; a young man experimented on whatever was available. So did a young woman; Tania had practiced both Eye and sex with village louts, getting the details of it straight.
 
She knew how to make a man respond. But love? Marriage? Reproduction? It was laughable!

She returned to find a breakfast of fruits and nuts and milk in the process of delivery. The townsfolk were being most hospitable! Did this owe more to the Eye she had given the patriarch, or to their ardent wish not to affront the Adepts in any manner, so that there would be no cause to harm the village? A bit of both, she concluded, satisfied. She had for gotten what pleasure it could be to intimidate rustics!
 
Fleta came in to share the meal, resuming human form.
 
“What, not enough greenery?” Tania inquired lightly. “Me thought thou wouldst have got a bellyful by now!”

“Aye,” the mare agreed, giving her a direct look. Bane kept a straight face. Tania smiled, masking her ire; the animal had struck back effectively enough. Well, it was a useful reminder; she might address the mare contemptuously, but she must never forget that this was a canny creature whose intellect was the equal of most full-blooded humans. The king of the snow demons swore by her ability in chess. Tania knew nothing of chess, finding such pastimes boring, but it was said that it required considerable savvy for good playing.
 
She must confine her contempt to her manner, not her belief, or she could one day regret it.

And of course she knew why the mare had come in: she could not graze enough in six hours to carry her the rest of the day and night, unless the foraging was excellent, and here it was only average. Also, she intended to prevent Tania from flirting with Bane during the meal. Lots o’ luck, filly! she thought. It was almost as much fun aggravating the unicorn as it was tempting the man.

So it went for the days and nights until the village personnel assembled. Bane never gave a sign of being affected, but she knew he was, in the way a piling was weakened by the surging water of the shore; eventually it would give way.
 
On the morning of the third day the villagers lined up: a motley collection of men, youths, women and children. They hardly seemed to have a good suit of clothing between them.
 
Tania stood before them and made her statement: “We search for a child who may have joined you this past week. Bring forth your children.”

Fearfully, they brought them forth. She inspected the ragged urchins, then questioned each in turn. “Be thou native to this village? Know ye o’ any who be not?” All the children were native. Tania went to the adults, fixing each with just enough of her Eye to be assured they were telling the truth. “Dost know an any child came here, or departed here, o’ the type I seek?”

No one knew of any. It was as she had expected: it had taken more than two days to verify that this village was clean.
 
And only about ninety-nine villages to go!
 
Actually it took less than six months to check all the human settlements, because news of their search spread, and each village was eager to be exonerated. Soon the far-flung personnel were arriving almost as their party did, so that the job could be done in a day. Of course the very time consumed in their search caused the event in question to become increasingly remote. But since the villagers knew the nature of the search, their memories of the time in question were sharp-ened. They could not cheat or conceal anything, because Tania always cross-checked, inquiring not only of individual memories, but of what they knew or had heard of the experience of others, and of any missing villagers. No one escaped scrutiny, and no one dissembled; all were clean.
 
As expected. In Tania’s mind. Purple had done much damage by his foolish insistence that the human population be checked first. Translucent was right: the boy had avoided that form, knowing it would be checked.