by Morgan Hawke
The king laughed. “Foolish, doe... Did you forget your horn? It will easily destroy them, for it unravels magic on contact.”
I turned my entire head to stare at him. “Wait... Are you telling me to ram head-first into a monster?”
The king plucked at the lace of his cuffs. “I suggest getting behind them before you ram into one of them, as you so delicately put it. They have rather nasty claws, and teeth too.” He patted my shoulder. “And aim for the heart.”
I blinked twice. Once because I wasn’t quite sure I’d heard him correctly, then a second time when I realized that I had. “Aim for the heart, through the back of the ribcage?” Is this guy an idiot? “Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a sword between the back of the ribs, never mind actually reaching the heart from there?”
The king’s lips curled up into a wicked smirk. “Speaking from experience?”
I turned one ear back. “Yes, actually.” My prince had a habit of making enemies very easily, and with enemies came assassins. My temper flaring hot, I abruptly reared up on my hind legs. “But that’s not the point here...!”
The king abruptly smiled. “Point or not, your first target has arrived.” He waved his hand toward the far end of the corridor.
Something huge was plodding down the corridor toward us on two legs, something big and...furry. Rounded ears lifted at the top of its round furry head and it pointed its short muzzle at us. It looked like a bear, except it didn’t have paws; it had hands tipped with long black claws that curved. Scattered about its limbs were shreds of dull gray fabric, almost like clothing. Its eyes suddenly glowed green. The mouth opened showing long jagged teeth and a bass growl rolled from its massive chest.
It wasn’t just a monster, it was my childhood nightmare. A monster such as this had slaughtered my entire family.
For two whole breaths I just stared. Honestly, I expected to feel the icy chill of terror freezing me in place. Perhaps it did for a single brief moment, but what came over me was an emotion far colder, and far more powerful than fear.
Rage.
I wanted to kill it with every fiber of my being.
Wrapped in a frigidly cold calm, the world slowed down around me. As though I was in a dream, I leaped the full length of the space between the monster and I in one jump. The floor thundered under my hooves with my landing and the creature roared, but the sounds came from far, far away. It took all the willpower I possessed not to ram straight into its black heart right then and there. Instead, I ducked under the swings of the clawed hands to slip to the right, along the ornately painted wall of broken mirrors.
In that moment I absolutely regretted my lack of hands. If I’d been able to hold a saber, I could have decapitated it in that one move.
Once past the beast, I reared up behind it. With icy calm, I carefully selected my target and stabbed two feet of spiraling horn into it, between the ribs and into its heart.
It froze, its mouth open and its eyes wide. All sound ceased. Then it slumped heavily to the floor.
The world returned to normal speed, and normal sound around me. My knees quivered under me, but a feeling of disappointment washed through me. It had happened so fast, and so easily. Too easily. I wanted to kill it again, slower this time so I could enjoy it more.
However, the beast started to melt. First went the muzzle, and ears, then it condensed in size at a rather swift rate. Finally, the fur evaporated completely until what lay face-down on the blood-soaked carpet wasn’t a beast at all, but a half-naked person; a woman with long, tangled blonde hair. The tattered remains of a maid’s uniform clung to her limbs. The stab wound I’d made was clearly visible on her back, bleeding freely and profusely.
I reared back in wide-eyed shock. “What the...?” I looked over at the king. “What is this?”
The king strode toward me, his gaze cold, his lips curled in open disgust. “I told you, sorcery. I doubt she even knew what she was doing.”
Then this was an innocent person? I was perfectly fine with killing someone that killed others, but this was just a house maid. She’d probably never hurt anyone, well other than cuffing a house boy or two.
An impossible thought stabbed through my heart. Does this mean...? Was the monster that killed my family was an innocent victim too?
Every drop of rage I’d had spilled out of me.
He looked away, his lips tightened, and eyes narrowing. “And this is only one of a great many who have been cursed into monsters.”
What...? I stared, horrified. “How many people are we talking about here?”
The king smiled sourly. “How many humans originally occupied this palace?”
“Including the servants and staff?” My eyes widened. “Hundreds, but with the addition of all the visitors for the unicorn hunt and their staff, probably several hundreds.”
The king nodded. “That is your answer.”
I stiffened in alarm. “The entire palace? Are you serious?”
The king caught my gaze and nodded. “Only those with an affinity for magic could have repelled this curse. Everyone else will be just as she was, a monster unable to stop themselves from slaughtering anyone in their path.”
I winced. Magic wasn’t something just anyone could use. Only the rare individual could cast even a small enchantment. Most people, even among the nobility, were generally powerless. In other words, the castle was probably crammed full with monsters.
At the same time, a profound sense of relief came over me. There was no way Alberic was among the cursed. My prince had most definitely been schooled in the use of magic, though I had no idea who might have taught him. I’d never seen even one of those lessons. However, I immediately felt disgusted with myself for feeling so relieved when so many others had been turned into raving monsters. All those innocent people!
I lifted my head. “Can we break their curse? Unicorns are good for unraveling enchantments, right?”
The king snorted, but his eyes remained narrowed. He nodded. “Your horn can unravel their curse...temporarily, at least.”
Both of my ears tilted forward, hope blooming in my heart. “Then I don’t have to kill them? I can just wound them, and they’ll go back to normal?”
The king looked at me with cold, narrowed eyes. “Wounding them will only return them tonight. The curse will still remain. At the next full moon they will transform and slaughter any living thing near them.”
Disappointment crashed down on me. Crap. Then another idea occurred to me. “What about the one who cast it?” I laid my ears back flat and stomped a fore-hoof on the carpeted floor. “If we kill the sorcerer, will that break the curse?”
The king smiled, showing straight white teeth. His eyes blazed with icy blue fire under lowered white brows. “You don’t mind putting off finding your prince in favor of hunting down the sorcerer that did this?”
I stiffened. Sure, Alberic was likely safe from being cursed, but how safe was he from those who weren’t?
My first instinct was to find my prince and just plain escape, but I had no idea where in this vast palace to even look for him. That meant fighting my way through the monsters until I found wherever he was hiding, then fighting my way back out.
On the other hand, if I killed the sorcerer, all the monsters would disappear at once, and I could take my time locating my prince.
I turned my head to look past the shattered doors to the palace. “Do you know where to find this sorcerer?”
The king strode past me with a sidelong smile. “If you were an all-powerful sorcerer that just successfully cursed an entire palace of humans into monsters that obeyed your every wish, where would you go?”
I blinked then blew out a heavy sigh. The answer was obvious. “The throne room.”
The king nodded. “Exactly.”
~ Eighteen ~
At a flying gallop, my white coat softly glowing in the smoky darkened hallway, I ran alongside the king.
He jumped as nimbly as I over fallen furniture, c
harging down the halls faster than any human I’d ever seen.
From a doorway on the right, a cursed beast lumbered out across our path.
I lowered my head for a sidelong slash.
“Do not!” The king grabbed onto my mane with one gloved hand with far more strength than his slender human form appeared to have, dragging us both to a sliding, skidding halt.
I reared in confusion. “What...?”
The king gripped my mane tighter, his gaze narrowed, staring hard at the beast before us. “Do you not want those released to survive?”
My ears lifted. “Survive...?” I flattened my ears, showing my annoyance, and tilted my head to eye him. “Of course!”
“If you release this one from their curse, what do you think will happen to him? To any human surrounded by such beasts?”
They’d get slaughtered. Crap! I shook my mane from his hand. “Then what are we supposed to do?”
The king set his hand on his hip and cracked a serene smile. “We run.” He took off at a sprint, dodging the beast with disgusting ease.
I dashed after him, ducking under a massive clawed hand in passing. Damn it, he could have mentioned that beforehand!
We bolted down broad galleries with soaring, arched and buttressed ceilings. Everywhere the floors were cluttered with broken furniture, and shattered glass. The once pristine marble walls were gouged, the priceless paintings, and tapestries slashed. It was also dark, the air thick with smoke from untended fires set by fallen candles.
Then there were the monsters.
Every room, every hall, everywhere there were monsters; howling and fighting amongst each other, or hunched over and tearing into things I didn’t want to see, their fanged muzzles dripping deep red.
Eventually we reached the broad, and arching white marble staircase at the palace’s center. Floor after floor we climbed. While easily climbed with four legs, I was not looking forward to going back down it.
Somewhere in the middle of the staircase, the king left the stairs to run down a broad gallery lined with gold-flecked marble pillars.
Leaping broken tables and chairs, and dodging past monsters, I pushed into a flat-out run to catch up with the running king. “Where the hell is the damned throne room?”
The king lifted a hand, pointing dead ahead. “There!”
At the end of the hall were a pair of massive, ornately decorated double doors that appeared to be made of solid brass. Even so, the one on the right had been pushed open and crushed inward by something large, round and apparently hot. Black scorch marks sprayed outward, and a black smoke stain blighted it in an upward pattern, marking the wall above it as well. At the center was a huge crater that was melted.
It looked as though an immense fireball had struck it.
I slid to an alarmed halt. What the hell kind of sorcerer were we about to face?
The king stopped to look over his shoulder at me. “Hmm?” He looked back at the door then rolled his eyes. He leaped to my side, and set one hand on his narrow hip. “What? Are you frightened? We purify magic simply by our presence, remember? If it comes in physical contact, it shatters or rebounds.”
I nodded toward the blasted door. “Even that kind?”
He smiled. “Even that kind.” His looked toward the door, and his smile faded. “The problem is those around us.”
“Huh...?” I tilted an ear toward the king. “Those around us?”
The king stared at the door. “While enchantments do not affect us, stronger spells will still affect the area around us, and anyone that happens to be in that area.”
Oh... I laid my ears back. I might be fine, but if there were innocent bystanders...?
“But!” The king smiled and patted my neck with far more strength than necessary. “I doubt that will be a problem here.”
I flinched under the king’s hand, my neck actually stinging. “Right.” Because anyone that had been nearby would have been cursed, and likely run off to tear something up. Which brought something else to mind.
I turned to the king. “What about the princesses?” He hadn’t mentioned then, not even once. “Do you think they fell under the curse?”
The king didn’t even look my way. “No.”
Both of my ears lifted. “No?” The princesses can use magic?
He strode for the destroyed bronze door. “Come. We have a sorcerer to destroy.”
I trotted after him, my hooves clicking on the marble flooring. The carpets that had once graced the floor had been burned completely away, leaving only scorch marks and powdery ash.
The king passed by the door easily.
Being far larger, the size of a full grown horse, I actually had to shove the door further open with my shoulder to pass. The door moved with a horrific screech. I sighed. So much for entering quietly.
The circular throne room had clearly been magnificent. A full wall of delicately arched, soaring windows rose to the left with a view that overlooked the land all the way to the sea that surrounded the island of Lyoness. A nearly full moon glowed among a sea of stars.
However, the window glass, though still intact, were spider-webbed with thousands of fractures, and framed with the torn and burned remnants of gold velvet curtains. The once snow-white walls of the room were blackened from multiple blasts. The marble floor was burned bare of carpets, the furniture splintered and charred beyond recognition.
The only piece left intact was the marble throne carved into the far wall, the curtains hanging above it still pristine in gold and blue. Sitting, or rather lounging sideways across it and facing the windows was a woman with her legs thrown across one arm and crossed at the ankles. They were encased to the knee in boots that were buckled from toe to knee. Her black gown barely reached the top of her boots, revealing red and black striped stockings. Multiple layers of lacy red petticoats spread the skirt wide with an impossibly narrow, buckled corset that barely contained her impressive bosom. Long gloves encased her arms, nearly to the shoulder. Blood red barrel-curls tumbled down her back, and across her brow framing a lovely heart-shaped face. Her eyes were closed, her hand pressed to her brow as though in pain.
I stood there blinking at the impossible sight. Gabriella?
She lifted a gloved hand negligently. “Whoever you are, go away. I don’t have time to play with you.” She waved her hand. A white-hot ball of fire the size of a fist bloomed into existence and blazed towards me.
Truthfully, I was far too shocked by the sight of Gabriella to even think to dodge. Something, perhaps instinct, made me rear at the last second to point my horn at the flaming projectile.
The fire ball popped like a bubble, leaving a small cloud of black smoke and the smell of burning paper.
I blinked in some surprise. I hadn’t even touched it.
The king stepped to my left side and set his palm against my neck with an amused smile. “See what I mean?” He lifted his chin and looked over at the woman lounging comfortably on the throne. “My apologies, miss, but I’m afraid that magic doesn’t work against unicorns.”
“Unicorns...?” Her head lifted, her green eyes opening wide. He gaze focused on me and narrowed. “You...” She swung her legs off the throne’s arm to stand on the dais, booted feet braced wide. She pointed a finger toward me. “You!”
I still couldn’t quite believe what was going on. “She’s the sorcerer?” I turned my head to look at the king. “Gabriella? She did this?”
The king crossed his arms. “You know this one?”
I nodded slightly. “Gabriella is my prince’s personal spy.” No need to be nice about it anymore. “She followed us here, but...” I shook my head in confusion. “But her spells never work right. Are you sure she’s the sorcerer?”
Gabriella howled in fury. “Don’t you dare ignore me!” She opened her hand and a fireball formed, this one the size of a human head. “You bitch!” The flaming sphere came speeding toward me.
I whipped my head around and pointed my horn toward it.
/> About three feet away from me, the fireball popped into a small cloud of smoke.
With a sour smile, the king tilted his head toward Gabriella. “Is there any room for doubt?”
I reared up and trumpeted in anger. “Gabriella! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Gabriella shook a fist at me. “Is that a threat, you— You stupid animal!”
The king stepped forward, his hands resting on his hips. “Excuse me, Miss Gabriella, I believe?”
She scowled at the king. “What do you want?”
The king tilted his head to the side. “Would you happen to be responsible for this palace being cursed?”
Gabriella crossed her arms. Her gaze narrowed but her lips curved up into a bitter smile. “I notice that the curse hasn’t affected you.”
The king smiled, but his gaze narrowed and his eyes ignited into orbs of frosty blue-white. “Yes, well, magic doesn’t affect me quite the way it does others.” He began to walk toward her with slow casual steps. “May I ask why you did such a thing?”
She turned away with a pronounced pout. “Look, I don’t have time for you. I’m waiting for someone.”
I tilted an ear back. Waiting for someone? Who...? But there was only one person Gabriella ever wanted to see. That idiot! I tossed my head in annoyance and trotted up to the king’s side. “Gabriella! Do you honestly think Prince Alberic would be happy with you cursing a whole palace full of people?”
“Tell that animal to shut the hell up.” Gabriella turned to curl her lip in a sneer at me. “All that braying is getting on my nerves.”
That’s right, she can’t understand me. I turned to the king. “Tell me how to get back my human body! I can’t talk to her this way!”
The king’s gaze slid to me. “No.”
“What?” I stiffened, my ears standing straight up. “Why the hell not?”
