The Unicorn Thief

by R. R. Russell

  “What is this?” the Boy King shrieked as he fired, not at Twig, but at Griffin. “What kind of cheating? What kind of trickery?”

  Though stricken by the sound of the arrow piercing his brother’s shoulder, of Griffin’s strangled cry, Ben still felt the shame of Reynald’s words, of what Griffin had done. Griffin drew his last arrow and, with a shout of agony, fired at Reynald.

  “Ben! Behind you!” Twig cried.

  There was a great splash, a flash of enormous teeth. A snap. Ben whirled toward his brother and grabbed at whatever he could. He pulled Griffin off Breaker just as the stallion disappeared under the water in the grip of a swamp lizard.

  The putrid water bubbled up, then stilled. Ben clutched his older brother to his chest with all his strength as Griffin called out desperately for Breaker.

  “He’s gone, Griff.”

  And now we’re all going to die. A sticky wetness coated Ben’s hand—Griffin’s blood, dripping into the swamp water as he hung half on, half off Indy in front of Ben. “Get behind me,” Ben commanded. For once, Griffin listened.

  “They’re coming. Look!” Twig cried. Sets of lizard eyes glided above the water, leaving telltale wakes behind them. “They look so big.”

  A swamp lizard launched out of the water, right onto the boardwalk, and snapped at Wonder’s feet. The boardwalk groaned with the force of the swamp lizard’s lunge and the pounding of Wonder’s hooves. Ben watched in horror as the section of boards gave way and crashed into the shallows of the swamp. The lizard attacked relentlessly, and beautiful Wonder Light splashed into the muck.

  Wonder kicked. She struck the lizard in the head, then leaped farther into the water to escape its thrashing. Indy lunged and slashed through the lizard’s throat with his horn. It sank into the swamp, limp and lifeless—but the swamp teemed with movement.

  “Reynald!” Ben said. The boardwalk had collapsed beneath the Boy King, and now he was wading through the swamp too. “We have to work together if we want to get out of here. If we want to live.”

  “I’m to trust you after this?” Reynald plucked Griffin’s arrow from the hood of his cloak, where it had lodged after narrowly missing his head.

  “I had no part in it,” Ben told him.

  But Twig said, “You don’t have a choice!”

  Reynald let his arrow fly, right at Twig. Wonder leaped aside just in time, and behind Ben, Griffin grunted and something else flew—Griffin’s dagger. It just missed Reynald’s ear and struck Ackley instead.

  Ackley plunged backward into the water. A frenzy of snapping and gnashing surrounded him. Twig screamed.

  “Stay calm!” Ben barely got out the words.

  Stone Heart flew into a panic as the mass of hungry jaws stirred up the water around his nimble feet, and his rider cried out in horror. He reared, and Reynald fought to stay on, but he was no match for the power of Stone Heart’s terror.

  The Boy King soared through the air and skid-splashed to a landing on a mass of water plants just out of reach of the swamp lizards.

  “Look out!” Twig cried.

  As Reynald scrambled backward across the slippery swamp plants, a wake shot toward him like an arrow. Twig darted around, circled behind the swamp lizards, and tried to make her way to Reynald, to save him, even though he’d just tried to shoot her.

  The lizard’s massive head broke out of the water, jaws poised to crush Reynald’s legs and drag him to his death, but Ben’s arrow struck right between his reptilian eyes. The beast fell into the water with a splash.

  Twig leaned down, barely hanging on to Wonder. She extended her hand. Reynald took it and climbed behind her. Wonder scrambled onto what remained of the boardwalk.

  “Stone Heart,” Reynald said hoarsely. “Please, help him.”

  Ben met Reynald’s pleading eyes. He nodded. “Hang on, Griff.”

  “Ben!” Twig said. That was all. But her eyes said the rest. Don’t die.

  Ben said, “Just keep shooting. Keep me covered.”

  “Get close.” Griffin’s voice was barely audible in Ben’s ear. “I can take Stone Heart. I can ride.”

  “Griff—”

  Another swamp lizard flew toward them through the water. It lunged out of the water. Just as Ben cried out, Twig’s arrow pierced its head right between the eyes.

  “Just do it,” Griffin said. “I got us into this. Let me do the right thing. For once, just let me do it, Ben!”

  So Ben rode, plowing through the swamp while Twig’s arrows whizzed through the air. He drew alongside Stone Heart, who was stuck in a tangle of mud and swamp plants, struggling madly and getting nowhere. Griffin clambered onto Stone Heart’s back.

  Ben threw Indy’s reins to Griffin so that he could hang on while Indy tried to pull Stone Heart free. “Go! Indy, yah!”

  Griffin clung to Stone Heart with his legs as he groped in his pockets with his free hand.

  “What are you doing?” Ben said.

  “Hold on. Just a minute.” Griffin pulled a tiny wooden tube out. He put it to his mouth and began to blow.

  “What are you doing!”

  Griffin moved his head as though in time with music, but no sound came out of the strange little instrument. He’d completely lost his mind. Or maybe he’d just lost too much blood. Ben reached out to snatch the little pipe and maybe smack some sense back into Griffin, but he froze halfway through the motion.

  Stone Heart had grown still and quiet. He’d stopped his frantic struggling against the pull of the swamp. Underneath him, Ben felt the pulse of excitement, the tenseness of the battle, fade from Indy’s body. Griffin motioned for Ben to drive Indy forward.

  “Let’s go, Indy-boy. Pull hard.”

  The mud squelched as Indy leaped and lunged and Stone Heart was wrenched free, calm and steady, no longer fighting against Indy’s efforts. Griffin tossed Indy’s reins back to Ben. He pulled Stone Heart in front, and without being told, Indy followed. He climbed up onto the boardwalk after Stone Heart—as though in a trance.

  Hypnotized, that was the word Twig had used. Griffin had entranced the unicorns with that little instrument. Griffin was the unicorn thief.

  Chapter 33

  Twig and Ben fired arrow after arrow, until the water was still and the last of the swamp lizards had retreated. All the while Ben kept glancing at Griffin and battling his disgust. It really was all Griff’s fault. Everything. And now Griffin had Indy under his control.

  Griffin dismounted and handed Stone Heart over to Reynald. Reynald took the reins gratefully. He turned his full attention to his beloved Stone Heart.

  “What is that thing?” Twig whispered to Griffin, casting a glance at Reynald. But Reynald’s face was buried in Stone Heart’s mane.

  “A unicorn whistle. It was my father’s. Passed down from another herder who mentored him.” He stroked the wood. “One of a kind. A secret few herders knew. He kept it closely guarded, seldom used.”

  “Because it isn’t right!” Twig hissed. “Controlling them like that—it isn’t right.”

  “Wake them up,” Ben said stonily. “Bring them back.”

  Ben pretended not to see the tear cutting through the grime on Griffin’s face. His brother blew the whistle, moving as though to music. Music none of them could hear. The unicorns stirred. They whinnied and sniffed and pawed at the ground. They realized where they were and neighed anxiously again, but this time there were no swamp lizards to send them into a panic, and their riders took control.

  A strange smile curled Reynald’s mouth. He mounted Stone Heart and headed down the boardwalk, toward his flag.

  “What’s he doing?” Twig said. “Does he still want a fight?”

  “Let him go. Even if we fought him for it and won, it wouldn’t be ours.” Ben glared at Griffin. “We broke the rules.”

  Griffin stood there alone, his unicorn gone. He
held the unicorn whistle out to Ben. “He’d want you to have it. You were the one he trusted.”

  Not with this secret. His father had never said a word about it. Neither had Merrill. Why? Couldn’t something like this have helped them deal with Dagger? Couldn’t it have saved his father’s life?

  Ben shook his head at Griffin’s offering, feeling sick.

  “He didn’t give it to me.” Griffin looked beyond sick. “I’m sorry. I took it, and I never got to tell him I’m sorry. I saw him use it when I was little. Before everything changed. When all I ever wanted to be was a herder just like him. He used to practice on a little flute. An ordinary one that made music we could hear. Don’t you remember, Ben? Don’t you remember the songs?”

  “He played music,” Ben said, “by the fire. To pass the time.”

  “No, not just to pass the time. When I saw him use this on a crazed unicorn, I recognized the pattern. Even though I couldn’t hear a sound, I recognized the movement of his fingers, the tune. I knew I had to have it. I could be a great herder if only I could use it.”

  “So you stole it?” Twig said.

  Ben jumped down from Indy. He advanced on Griffin. “When? How long have you had this?”

  “About ten years.”

  Ben swallowed hard over the realization. “He never mentioned it because there was no point. It was gone, and we had to deal with Dagger without it. He’s dead! He’s dead because you took it!”

  Twig leaped between them, and Ben realized his hand was clenched around his knife.

  “Darian died because of Dagger,” Twig said. She grabbed Ben’s cloak and looked into his eyes. Hers were full of tears.

  Ben pulled away. He looked down at his weapon. At his hand, white with the fierceness of his grip—of Dagger’s grip on him still.

  “Dagger killed him, and no one else. It was wrong, Ben, what Griffin did. It was wrong, but you have to forgive him.”

  Indy whinnied his concern. He nuzzled Ben’s back. Ben tossed his dagger into the swamp. He turned his back on Griffin. “I cannot.” He put a hand on Indy’s neck, but he couldn’t even look into his unicorn’s quicksilver eyes. The eyes that would draw him back. He was far away. He wanted to be far away from everything.

  “He’s right, you know,” Griffin said to Twig. “It’s my fault. So many things are my fault. This. You being in this swamp. It’s my fault.”

  “Griffin,” Twig said. “Your mother wanted you to wait by the boardwalk and take Reynald and Ackley out, didn’t she?”

  “She only agreed to this because I was supposed to take one of the side passages near Eastland’s entrance,” Griffin replied. “I was supposed to sneak up on Reynald and take care of him before he ever set eyes on Ben. We’d get the flag, and Ben would have no choice but to come out of the swamp with it. My mother would get rid of Reynald, and Ben would get what he wanted—the truce with Eastland upheld—and he’d still be alive. She cannot stand the thought of losing Ben.”

  “And you couldn’t either. That’s why, when you realized we’d be going through the swamp by boat, you came anyway.”

  “My mother told me there was nothing I could do about Ben trying to boat through the swamp. She wanted me to stick with eliminating Reynald. She wouldn’t risk having both of her sons killed. She told Neal to go with me.” He turned to Ben. “But I wanted to find you. To protect you. I broke away from Neal as soon as I could—when we ran into a nasty nest of swamp lizards. I don’t know what happened to him.” He shook his head. “After that, the swamp had its own ideas about which way I should go. When I couldn’t find you, and I realized I was near Eastland’s entrance, I cut through to the main boardwalk. I knew that Reynald would be there waiting. He’s not the only one who has spies. I was afraid I’d be too late.”

  “Unfortunately,” Ben said through gritted teeth, “you weren’t.”

  “Ben,” Twig said.

  It was just a whisper, just his name, but it stirred another whisper in Ben’s heart. This is how you honor your father. Forgive.

  Ben turned around to face Griffin. Griffin saw Ben’s face and crumpled to his knees on the rickety boardwalk. He stared at the water as though he might as well just fall in.

  “You started this whole thing by taking unicorns. You let her think it was Eastland.”

  “I never thought Eastland would be blamed! I was trying to save the unicorns. To start rebuilding the herds—and building up the power to resist what she’s been doing. What could I do?”

  “You could’ve told the truth,” Twig said. “Once you found out Ben was going to pay for it.”

  “I tried to stop him. I—”

  “You took Indy!” Ben said. “He didn’t need saving. None of that is true!”

  Griffin’s eyes snapped up—blue like their mother’s. “I took him to bring you back. One of Father’s tunnels goes under part of the swamp. I took him through it, to my hideout. I thought you’d go to Mother, not track him there! I needed you here. I’m supposed to be king. Next year, I’m supposed to be king.”

  “So?”

  “So do you really think she’ll let that happen? Didn’t you ever wonder what would happen to me? To all of us?” Griffin shook his head. “Tell me you care about more than that island. Your herd. There are unicorns here who need you. People who need you. I needed you to care. I had to make you see. Make you face it. I knew you wouldn’t care unless you realized it would affect you too, that your island wasn’t immune.”

  “What are you trying to do, Griff?”

  “I thought once she saw you…I thought Father would come with you, of course. I didn’t know…how could you not tell me?”

  “How could I? You saw what happened when I told Mother! What could I have done? Put it in a letter?”

  Griffin’s expression softened. “You don’t put something like that in a letter.”

  “You don’t keep it from your brother either,” Ben said quietly. He sat down next to Griffin. “He loved you, you know. He wanted you with us. Every time he taught me something new, I could see it in his eyes. He was remembering teaching you.”

  “You’re everything he wanted you to be, Ben. Everything he was.”

  “Not everything.” Ben rose and held a hand out to his brother. Griffin took it, and Ben pulled him up, and then Griffin pulled him into a hug. “I’ll forgive you, Griff. Somehow.” Not just because it was what Ben knew his father would want, what his father would do, but because it was the right thing to do.

  Chapter 34

  Twig eyed the swamp-filled gap in the boardwalk. “Should we try to get back up on that side of the boardwalk and head back to Westland?”

  “No. We owe Eastland an apology. Griff.” Ben gestured for his brother to ride behind him, and they headed toward the Eastland entrance.

  They’d survived the Death Swamp, and something even darker had been uncovered amid the muck and the rot—secrets that should never have been. For Ben, new pain on top of the old. And for Twig, painful old memories, bubbling up again. If Griffin had only told Ben what he wanted…

  Ben never had a chance to know who his brother really was. And Twig was keeping the same kind of secret from her dad. But what choice did she have?

  At the end of the boardwalk, Reynald was waiting. Waiting, and holding the flag of Eastland. “Come with me,” he said.

  They followed him out of the swamp. The Eastlanders and Westlanders had swapped sides to wait for their duelers to emerge. The Westlanders called out and clamored and pointed as they appeared. Among them, a large, muddy figure stood out—Neal had made it out of the swamp alive after all. Twig almost felt sorry for him, having to come out of the swamp and tell the queen both of her boys were still in there, missing. His hair was scorched, his clothing in shreds.

  Twig saw the queen’s anxious expression melt into relief at the sight of her sons. But soon she took on the confused look
of all the others. What were both duelers doing here? Why did Reynald have his own flag and not Westland’s?

  In front of the onlookers, Reynald rode over to Ben. He held out the flag. “Take it,” he said.

  “But I didn’t win.”

  “You saved my life. You earned this flag. I’ll best you some other time—or, even better, in a few years, I’ll best the new King of Westland.”

  A glint of new malice burned amid the gratitude. “But perhaps that’s not fair, Griffin. You are a son, first and foremost. I suspect you were just doing what you were told.” Boldly, he turned the glare right on the queen.

  “I don’t know what you’re saying, but I do know you are not to be trusted. Your people stole from me—straight from my stable, even while you were a guest in my country, supposedly negotiating to extend our treaty!”

  “Mother,” Griffin said. “It was me.”

  “What was you?”

  “I am the unicorn thief. I took Night Spark and all the others too.”

  “But…why?”

  “I needed to be ready. To have my own forces for when I come of age.”

  “You thought I would oppose you?”

  “Once you found out what I plan to do when I’m king, yes.”

  “And just what are you going to do?”

  “Keep our defenses strong but avoid provoking war. Allow those who wish to do so to go back to herding.”

  “There are no unicorns left for them to herd.” She waved her hand dismissively, as though that had nothing to do with her policies, as though it were unchangeable. “The war unicorns aren’t suited to the wild.”

  “Eventually, some of them might be if the right people work with them. But there is one last herd. On Lonehorn Island. If they were protected, some of those unicorns might flourish again in Terracornus. Their numbers could build back up.”

  “I see.” The queen smirked, but Twig wasn’t buying it. She was scared and trying to hide it. The queen turned to the crowd. “And which of you support this?”

  There was silence. Such a long silence. Twig wanted to grab Ben—and Griffin too—and run.