The Dark Gods

by Josepha Sherman

  "Are you sure? I thought your people lived in the forests farther south, near the sea.”

  "Oh, they do. But that doesn't mean I never had any geography lessons." Nanine hesitated, as she always did when the subject of her regal past came up, then shrugged. "Royal children do get the best of tutors, you know. Whether we-ah-they want them or not."

  "Poor things," muttered Myno sarcastically. "A slave's lucky if she gets any education at all."

  Nanine sighed. "I wasn't boasting, believe me.”

  "I know." Myno shrugged. "When you stop to think about it, I guess you could say that in a way, a princess is as much a prisoner as any slave."

  "Why do you think we both ran away?"

  “Well, anyhow, I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that this place is giving me the chills."

  "Me, too," admitted Darian. "It's just so . . . empty."

  Myno nodded. "And that's what's bothering me the most. If we're going the right way, toward Erech-ban—a bustling capital city, for the love of Light!—there should be crowds of people coming and going, right? So? Where is everybody?"

  Nanine laughed. "My dear Myno, do you think me a fool? How, pray tell, could we possibly pass among other folk as innocent, ordinary travelers while riding our horned friends here?"

  "Oh, of course. I forgot about that."

  "We are going toward the royal city, I promise you. But this region through which we ride is far from the standard trade routes. Though there is water enough for our small party, there isn't enough to support whole caravans. And the going is rough on camel legs or horse hoofs." She gave her unicorn an apologetic pat. "And, as for natives, without the wealth from those caravans to support them, why would anyone choose to live here?"

  "Why, indeed?" Pelu murmured, looking about with a shudder and pulling her cloak more tightly about herself. "Oh, why, indeed?"

  Only the unicorns seemed undisturbed by their inhospitable surroundings.

  Well, that's a good sign, thought Sheila.

  Unless there was some sort of danger that even the unicorns couldn't sense…

  Night fell sooner than Sheila would have liked, catching the small group in a canyon formed of stony walls and spires. The rock was dull red in color, and had been eroded by wind and sand over the ages into strange, twisted shapes through which a faint, monotonous breeze moaned and whistled forlornly.

  Sheila couldn't imagine actually trying to sleep in this uninviting place, but it was too dark to ride any farther. Besides, they weren't likely to find a better campsite. Nanine had pointed out a clear little stream running through the canyon, and there was enough greenery on either side of the stream to give the unicorns some decent grazing.

  While Sheila and the others set up camp—which meant simply finding enough twigs for a fire and clearing the pebbles from a large span of ground so everyone could sleep more comfortably—Darian and Myno went off scouting.

  Time passed. Just when Sheila was beginning to get the tiniest bit worried about them, Morning Star raised her head from grazing and gave a whinnied greeting. Myno's unicorn whickered a reply.

  "Hey, everyone," called Darian cheerfully, "we're back! And we've brought dinner!"

  Grinning, he and Myno held up their catch: two lizards, a snake, and something that looked like a large reddish mouse.

  Yuck! thought Sheila. Still, it was better than going hungry. And at least the unicorns had grazed their fill.

  With the setting of the sun, the dry earth quickly gave up its heat. Pulling her cloak up about her face, Sheila closed her eyes and doggedly set about trying to sleep.

  ''Hey!”

  The indignant cry brought Sheila halfway to her feet, hand groping for her sword.

  "Nanine? What is it? What's wrong?"

  "Nothing so alarming. It's just that. . . only a moment ago I put my bracelet, the golden one with the emerald, right here." Nanine's hand slapped a flat rock. "And now it's gone!"

  "Maybe it slipped off the rock."

  "Maybe. It's hardly likely that there'd be thieves wandering around in the middle of nowhere! Never mind, Sheila. I'll find it in the morning."

  But when morning came, the bracelet was nowhere to be found. And while Nanine and Sheila were reluctantly giving up their search, a second cry of outrage rang out, this time from Myno.

  "What is this?" she exploded. "Last night I put my sandals right here, both of them. Now there's only one!"

  "Wait a minute, Myno," called Darian. "Here's the other one, under this rock."

  "That's impossible! It couldn't have walked there by itself!" Myno stalked over to retrieve the sandal, then paused, glaring at the others. "All right. Is one of you trying to play a trick on me?"

  "Yes," added Nanine, "and on me, too?"

  "No, of course we aren't," Pelu soothed. "But what else could it be? The unicorns would have warned us if anyone else had approached."

  "Maybe some little desert animal thought the sandal was something to eat and tried to carry it off," Sheila suggested.

  "And tried to eat a gold bracelet, too?" Nanine scoffed. "Strange animals they have in this land!"

  The mystery remained unsolved as the warriors mounted and rode on. But they hadn't gone more than a half-morning's ride before Morning Star gave a snort of surprise and stopped short.

  "What's the matter, girl?" Sheila began, then gave a startled yelp as she felt the saddle slipping sideways beneath her. Quickly she jumped to the ground.

  "The girth must have come loose," Pelu suggested.

  "No. I checked it myself, twice. I always do, before-"

  She stopped, frowning. "Okay, who's the joker? Come on, now! Somebody pulled the tongue of this buckle loose so the whole saddle would fall off, and I want to know who did it!"

  "Now, Sheila, you know none of us would do something so foolish." Pelu's voice was stern. "We know better than to play such dangerous tricks. And I—Hey!" The healer looked down in alarm at the kit that contained her medicines. "The lid's unfastened! But I always make sure it's shut, particularly when-" She broke off and began rummaging through the little vials. "One of them’s missing!" Pelu glanced up, more angry than Sheila had ever seen her. "All right, that's enough! Whoever is playing these pranks has got to stop, here and now!"

  "But, Pelu!" protested Dian. "We wouldn't waste time like this! Not with Illyria's life at stake!"

  Uneasy, the riders set off again. Strange things continued to happen all that day. Dian found that someone had removed the clasp from her cloak. The hem of Pelu's spare tunic had been unraveled. And one of Myno's hair pins turned up stuck into the sheath of her dagger. But still the unicorns seemed untroubled. Maybe there was some sort of peril even they couldn't sense.

  By the time the warriors had to stop for the night, they were all on edge. Settling down as best she could, Sheila was glad they had decided to post human sentries instead of just depending on the unicorns.

  As Sheila was dozing off, a quick flash of greenish light caught her eye, down at the level of her backpack. It was funny, she mused groggily, how moonlight could play such tricks of reflection.

  Wait a minute! Sheila thought. What moonlight? That wasn't a reflection at all, but the gleam of two bright green eyes! A lizard? A desert mouse? Or . . . Hardly daring to breath, Sheila lay perfectly still; watching intently from half-lidded eyes as a small, five-fingered hand touched the backpack. A second hand followed, fumbling for the buckle.

  It's on the other side. If the Whatever wants to get it open, it'll have to climb up where I can see it, Sheila thought.

  Sure enough, there was the tiniest of grunts, a heave—And suddenly Sheila found herself almost face to face with a strange little creature, standing upright like a man, but no taller than a human toddler. It was scaled like a lizard, horned like an imp. Its bright green eyes stared at her out of a broad, flat-nosed face, while a long, pointed tongue flicked nervously out and in.

  Trying to decide if I'm really asleep, thief? Well, you little imp, or whatever
you are—I’m not!

  And Sheila pounced. For an instant she felt a cat-supple body under her hand. Then her fingers lost their hold on the slick scales, and the creature, screeching in fright, went scuttling off into the night.

  "Sheila!" The warriors were already springing to their feet, weapons glinting. "What's going on?"

  Sheila grinned fiercely. "I just scared off a would-be thief, that's all!"

  But other green strangers were out there in the night, chittering in excitement.

  "All right, my little friends," muttered Sheila angrily, crouching down and rummaging in her backpack, "we'll see how you like this!"

  She pulled out her tape deck. Without stopping to look, Sheila dropped the first tape she could find into it, turning the volume up full blast. Bon Jovi blared out into the still night, and the chittering stopped dead. The warriors all hurried to cover their ears. Even the unicorns seemed to wince.

  "Well," yelled Sheila above the noise, "if that doesn't scare them away, I don't know what will!"

  "They don't look scared!" shouted Darian. "What do you suppose they're doing?"

  "Dancing!" cried Dian. "They seem to like your music, Sheila!"

  So they did. As the warriors stared in disbelief, the little creatures danced and cavorted and giggled with joy. One of them came scuttling bravely forward, reaching up to take Sheila's hand in its own (its tiny, hard, warm palm felt just like the paw of a raccoon she had once handled at a game farm), and pulled her into the merry ring of imps.

  "I think they're asking you to dance!" said Pelu, laughing.

  Feeling silly, Sheila tried a few steps. The imps chittered in glee, clapping their hands.

  "Well, okay. If this will keep you out of our belongings…”

  As the warriors kept time, clapping and stamping their feet, and as the unicorns stared in amazement, Sheila and the imps danced away, whirling and laughing, till the end of the tape.

  "All right, fellows. That's it for tonight. Okay?" And, without another sound, the imps melted away into the darkness.

  But the next morning they were back in full force, their scaly faces split by smiles.

  "Looks as if they've decided you're their good friend, Sheila," said Pelu with a grin.

  Sheila shrugged. "I guess they'll go away when they get bored." But they didn't. All that day, as the warriors rode on, the imps scrambled happily along behind them.

  Well, thought Sheila, now we know why the unicorns didn't react to them. They're harmless. Kind of cute, too, in an ugly sort of way.

  Oh, yes, the imps were harmless enough. But who knew who—or what-the unicorn warriors would meet next?

  9

  Erech-ban

  As each day of hard riding and each night of uneasy watching brought them ever closer to the time of the dark of the moon, the unicorn warriors grew silent and tense. Even Sheila's friendly little imps, who were still frolicking along behind them, failed to make anybody laugh.

  Sheila knew why. Everyone was sharing the same grim thoughts:

  What if Nanine is leading us astray?

  What if we don't get to Erech-ban in time?

  What if Illyria dies?

  At least the monotonous landscape was changing. The twisted red rocks loomed up ever taller around them, till the unicorns were making their cautious way through true mountains.

  "Nanine," began Myno uneasily. "Are you sure .

  "Yes, yes, we're almost there, I promise. As a matter of fact, my friends, we'd better start slowing down a bit."

  "Why?"

  "Well, we don't really want to arrive at Erech-ban in broad daylight, do we? Not if we wish to check out the situation first. I'm not exactly sure how strongly the city is fortified." "Lead on, Nanine," Pelu said resignedly. "But we don't have much time to spare. Tonight is the last night before the dark of the moon."

  "As I promised," said Nanine, sweeping out her arm in a dramatic gesture, “Erech-ban."

  The warriors were standing on a rocky cliff, looking down into the beginning of a narrow gorge that widened into a vast, circular valley. In that valley, its walls and houses cut out of the red sandstone cliffs under which it sheltered, stood a breathtaking city.

  The rosy-red coloring was made even rosier by the light of the setting sun which cast dramatic shadows over the ornamental stonework, imitation columns, balconies, porches, and ornate doorways that graced each and every building. But these common houses paled in comparison to the enormous structure that loomed above them.

  That has got to be Kumuru's royal palace, Sheila decided. It was an eerie structure, built right into the side of the tallest of the encircling mountains. Every inch of its vast facade was ornamented with all manner of carvings: columns cut to look like stalks of gigantic flowers, friezes of geometric designs, and strange statues of people, animals, and creatures Sheila couldn't even name.

  "What a creepy place to live!" she exclaimed.

  "What a lovely place for an ambush," muttered Myno, casting an unhappy gaze over the narrow, winding gorge. "But there doesn't seem to be any other way in."

  "No," said Nanine softly. "I'm afraid there isn't."

  "What about climbing around and down one of the mountains?" Darian suggested.

  "That won't work. You can't see it from here, but there's a solid, unclimbable wall of rock at the city's back."

  "Oh, great!" Darian exploded, his eyes flashing with frustration. "Are you saying we came all this way for nothing? We've got to get Illyria out of there!"

  "I only promised to get you here in time!" Nanine protested. "I never said I had all the answers!"

  "Yes, but-"

  "What about-"

  As the others began arguing back and forth, searching for a solution, Sheila moved away from them, thoughtfully studying the opening of the gorge.

  "Hey, everybody," she called after a while. "Come look at this and tell me what you see."

  Myno shrugged. "Nothing special. Just two watchtowers, one on either side of the gorge." She looked up at the fortification and a great grin suddenly spread across her face. "Two small watchtowers," she corrected herself, "with room for only a few guards in each."

  "Yes . . ." added Pelu slowly. "Guards who must be pretty bored with sitting there doing nothing. Guards who also must be pretty sleepy from staring into the glare of the sunset.''

  "Guards," concluded Nanine, "who, in short, must be totally off their guard!"

  Quickly the warriors divided themselves into two teams. Sheila found herself with Nanine, Pelu, and Darian. Keeping to the shadows, they climbed silently up the side of the gorge to the right-hand watchtower, finding more than enough hand- and footholds in the weathered sandstone. Sheila warily peeked into one of the tower’s windows and bit back a laugh.

  There were four guards inside the one small room. Three of them were busy playing what looked very much like the Samarnan version of dice. The fourth man was sound asleep and snoring.

  He's in for a rude awakening, Sheila thought, as the warriors pounced on their prey. Before the guards even knew what hit them, they were all in dreamland.

  "Better tie them up and gag them," warned Nanine, picking up a coil of rope. "We don't want them waking up too soon and yelling for help."

  Warily, Sheila looked across to the other tower, then gave a little laugh of relief as she saw Myno's wave. "It's okay. The other guards are out of commission, too.”

  The warriors scrambled back down to where they had left the unicorns, and mounted up. Cautiously, they began the ride through the gorge. Sheila fought down the urge to keep looking back over her shoulder.

  There's nothing following us, really there isn't! she scolded herself. Except maybe an imp or two. And you know they're harmless!

  But then she found herself staring nervously up at the steep cliffs on either side of them. If only the gorge weren't quite so narrow, or the cliffs quite so high. . . . The patch of sky she could see far overhead only made her feel more trapped than ever.

  The
unicorns. Think of the unicorns, instead.

  How lightly they were stepping, their cloven hoofs not making a sound. Did they understand how important silence was right now?

  I bet they do. I bet they know we're going to rescue Illyria, too, and—Uh-oh.

  Ahead of them was the end of the gorge and the opening of the valley. Ahead of them were the high walls and gates of the city of Erech-ban. And ahead of them, parading back and forth in front of those walls, a whole regiment of guards.

  "So much for sneaking in," whispered Nanine. "Now what?"

  The little band of warriors hastily drew back into the shadowy gorge. "There's no hope for it," said Pelu softly. "We've got to follow our original plan. Some of us will have to use the unicorns to create a diversion."

  "While the rest of us steal into the city," added Myno. "All right. Who's going to do what? I'm all for starting a nice, loud diversion. What do you say, Nanine?"

  "Oh, I think we could work out something!" The ex-princess grinned at the ex-slave. "And Darian has a good voice for shouting. He should be able to come up with some frighteningly fierce war cries. Eh, Darian?"

  He opened his mouth, closed it again, clearly knowing the most useful place for him was with the group creating the diversion, but looking miserable about it. Sheila knew he wanted to be the one to rescue his sister. And, just for a panicky, selfish moment, she wanted to tell him, Go ahead. She's your sister, you risk your neck for her! But instead, before Darian could speak, Sheila heard herself saying, "I . . . guess I'd better be the one to get into the palace. After all, Kumuru's magic doesn't seem to work on me.”

  She half-hoped someone would come up with another plan, but Pelu only nodded and said, "That makes sense. I'm coming, too. I hate to bring this up, but we don't know if Illyria has been hurt. She may need a healer."

  "I want to come with you.

  "Dian? There's no need-"

  "Oh, yes, there is! I betrayed Illyria. I lost Swiftfoot. If it hadn't been for me, none of us would be in this mess. I am coming with you."

  Pelu sighed. "Sheila? You were the first to volunteer. It's up to you.”