The Gathering

by S L Dearing

  Ferage was now looking at Alia again and she could feel his sadness.

  "My people were killed for our magic."

  "What is your magic? I know so little about what unicorns really are and what they can do."

  Ferage smiled and turned, looking at a mare and foal in the distance, grazing on grass. Then he turned back to Alia.

  "We can see the future, but it is limited. We can create telepathic ties, and we can teleport, but only as a whole. The misconception of our kind is that we are solitary animals…we actually depend on one another deeply.”

  Alia looked at him and furrowed her brow, then looked out at the other unicorns now grazing with the mare and foal.

  "But why would they kill you?"

  “By consuming the blood of our kind, a human will develop great powers. We carry inside us the innocence of the gods. To take our blood is to take part of them into oneself, but of course to take our blood, one must kill us, for we could never allow that power to be given to any one man or woman. That is for the gods to decide. But one man, one man has killed many of us for that power.”

  “The Shape.”

  “You have seen him?”

  “In my dreams…he’s powerful…he’s the one who is behind all of this, isn’t he?”

  Ferage nodded and looked out at his herd.

  “He wants more. The magic he has stolen from us is borrowed magic and he’s losing it. Just like all innocence, the magic from unicorn blood is fleeting…he wants us and he can feel us. We came to you because we need you to save us, Alia…and yourself.”

  Alia looked back at Ferage.

  “You know I’ll do whatever I can to protect you and your family, Ferage, but I don’t have much magic either…and what I do have, I’m just learning to use. What do you mean, save myself?”

  Ferage continued to look out at his herd.

  “Haven’t you wondered why the Shape is here? Really here? He fears you.”

  Alia shook her head and walked towards the group grazing and then stopped, turned and looked at Ferage.

  “Why would he fear me? I don’t have any great powers, Ferage. I’m just a woman trying to raise her kids and keep her home safe. I’m hardly a threat to anyone.”

  “Not yet, but you know that she has chosen you, Alia. She hasbeen calling for many years to bestow on you her gifts. Why do you not answer?”

  Alia felt her breathing get short and the pit of her stomach lurch. She remembered what Ferage had said the day before, look only to her messengers. Alia knew about whom Ferage was speaking and she took a deep breath, sucking the cold air in deeply. Ferage looked at her.

  “You are afraid. What do you fear?”

  “Losing myself…if I invoke the goddess, how can I know I won’t lose myself?”

  Ferage smiled.

  “You cannot, but that is why you must be brave… and have faith.”

  “Brave? I'm working on it, Ferage."

  “You are the one, Alia. She has a plan for you. You must answer her call. For all of us.”

  Alia shook her head and watched the young unicorns playing in the sun, their tiny horns glistening in the sun. Then she felt a love she knew too well and her eyes welled up and she turned to look at Ferage.

  “I won't let him hurt your family, Ferage…I promise."

  “You are a good friend, Alia Stark."

  Alia walked over to Ferage and leaned into his mane. She could still feel sadness coming from the great beast.

  “So are you, Ferage.”

  They watched the unicorns in the distance, unaware that they were being watched. Slowly, a young girl crept up behind them, ever so quietly, until her foot stepped on a stick.

  Both Alia and Ferage spun around to see Coeli being knocked over by a young silver unicorn, with crystal blue eyes.

  “Coeli!”

  Coeli had fallen on her back and the unicorn was on top of her and they were nose to nose. Coeli couldn’t help but smile as she thought to herself.

  “Wow, you're beautiful.”

  “Thank you, so are you.”

  Coeli’s eyes grew large, so that she barely noticed her mother pulling her up from the ground.

  “She talked to me, Mom…in my head.”

  “Yeah, I know, I heard her.”

  Coeli turned, mouth agape and then smiled.

  “This is totally cool!!”

  “No, it is not! Why are you outside those walls?”

  Coeli’s dark eyes grew wide and she shrugged.

  “I don’t really know.”

  Alia frowned and looked at her daughter.

  “Really?”

  “I wanted to meet the unicorns, so I snuck out here, but then I saw you coming out of the gates, so I..."

  Coeli lowered her head again. Alia sighed and took her daughter’s face gently in her hand and lifted her gaze.

  “It’s dangerous out here, Shay. We just had this conversation about the army and the dreams…”

  “I know, I’m sorry.”

  The young unicorn now moved forward and her face was about equal in height to Coeli’s. She nuzzled softly against Coeli’s cheek, making Coeli smile.

  “Alia, this is my daughter, Schepta.”

  Alia nodded at Schepta and smiled at Ferage.

  “I’m sure you know this is another one of my children, Coeli. Wait…why can Coeli hear Schepta? She wasn’t out here when you gave us the ability to hear you.”

  Schepta and Coeli looked at Ferage.

  “It would appear that they are bound.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “There are some creatures that become ‘tied’ to one of us, a special relationship that just occurs randomly. Coeli can hear Schepta, but she cannot hear the rest of us.”

  Coeli turned and looked at Schepta, as she relayed what her father had described, and Coeli smiled.

  “Really? That's awesome!”

  “Hey, we need to go back inside,” Alia said.

  Coeli dropped her shoulders and sighed.

  “Ok…can I still come out again later?

  “Yeah, but don't tell your brothers and sisters about this, ok? It'll just cause a lot of drama.”

  Coeli smiled.

  "Sure, Mom, I won't say anything."

  Alia looked over at Ferage, who was smiling.

  “Perhaps we should finish this conversation later.”

  Alia started to smile and nodded.

  “Perhaps we should.”

  She took Coeli's hand and they walked back towards the village as Coeli watched the unicorns over her shoulder. She felt like a little girl again.

  59

  Sara and Scott were sitting at a quiet table in the Dining Hall. They were talking when Elian and Albion Merganser walked over to them.

  Scott looked up and smiled as Sara struggled to get a smile on her face.

  "Hello, Elian, Albion."

  Elian smiled and took a deep breath.

  "We're sorry to interrupt you, but we wanted to talk to you…both of you."

  Scott motioned for them to sit down and then winced at the voice in his head.

  "What are you doing?"

  Scott looked over at Sara and raised his eyebrows.

  "Finding out what they want to talk about. Relax."

  Sara sighed and looked over at the brothers, smiling.

  "Ok, what's up?"

  Elian looked at Albion and then over at Scott and Sara.

  "First, I'd like to apologize for my behavior. I know that the two of you are together and I'm glad. You make a good pairing."

  Scott looked like he wanted to slide off his chair and Sara's mouth dropped open.

  "I've been a jerk and I'm sorry."

  "Wow!"

  Sara nodded and then shook her head.

  "Thanks, Elian."

  Elian shrugged and then began again.

  "You're welcome, but we actually came to tell you about a strange thing that happened to me earlier."

  Elian recounted the story
of what had happened at the stables. When he had finished, Sara was frowning.

  "Is this a joke, Elian? I thought you just said…"

  "It's not a joke," Albion said.

  Sara looked at Albion.

  "The same thing happened to my father, only he wasn't paying close enough attention and that Rona Mason woman seduced him."

  Scott leaned in.

  "You saw it?"

  "Yeah, one minute he was talking to Ms. Mason and then he was having sex with your mother, but then it wasn't your mother. It was Ms. Mason…only my father couldn't see it was her. He thought it was your mom."

  Albion was looking at Sara, who had sat back in her chair. Elian looked at Scott.

  "I know this all sounds crazy, but I swear on everything I hold dear that it is the truth."

  Scott looked at Sara.

  "I believe them."

  "Yeah, I do too."

  Sara looked at the brothers.

  "Have you guys seen your dad since the meeting?"

  They shook their heads.

  "What meeting?"

  Sara and Scott told them about St. Viviana's and then what happened at the meeting. Albion looked away pale and embarrassed as Elian breathed deeply. Scott took a mouthful of food.

  "Your dad was lucky that Myron was able to hold Sean back."

  Elian shook his head.

  "We'd hope to stop this before it happened."

  Sara looked up.

  "We can still help your dad, Elian. I think we should go and tell my mother and Beverly Watson what you just told us."

  Elian shrugged.

  "What good would it do?"

  Scott shrugged.

  "It couldn't hurt, right? And I bet they would love to know about Rona."

  Albion nodded.

  "I think we should, Elian. Something is wrong and it must be stopped."

  Elian nodded and the four of them got up and left the Dining Hall together. Coeli and Sam watched them all leave, then they looked at each other.

  "That was weird."

  Coeli nodded in agreement.

  "Should we follow them?" Sam asked.

  Coeli nodded again. They got up and left the hall as well.

  60

  Ian was staring so intently at Hannah and Chris from across the quad that he hadn't heard Tanner and Chelsea come up behind him. Tanner gently laid his hand on Ian's shoulder and Ian jumped.

  "Very funny!"

  Tanner and Chelsea laughed.

  "Yeah, it was really."

  Ian scowled at them and turned back to see Chris kiss Hannah. Ian went to get up, but again Tanner put a hand on his shoulder.

  "Relax, Man, he's just kissing her."

  "She's just a kid, Tanner.” Ian looked at Chelsea. “Aren't you just a kid?"

  Chelsea smiled.

  "I'm sixteen…is that a kid?"

  Ian took a deep breath and shook his head. Tanner smiled.

  "She's not a kid, Ian."

  Kaley had walked up to hear most of the conversation. She put her arms around Ian and placed her head against his chest. He glanced over at Hannah and then back down at Kaley, putting his arms around her.

  "What's up, Babe?"

  Tanner shook his head as Kaley sighed.

  "Long day."

  Ian kissed her head. Tanner looked at Chelsea who was starting to look uncomfortable.

  "Ok, well, I just came to say congratulations, Man. Welcome to the family."

  Tanner put out his hand and Ian took it and smiled.

  "Good news travels fast, I guess. My mom screamed this morning when I told her. I think someone spilled coffee on themselves because of it."

  They laughed and then said their good-byes as Tanner and Chelsea walked over to Chris and Hannah. Chris was watching them come over.

  "Hey, so how’s the happy couple?"

  Chelsea sat down next to Hannah, as Tanner remained standing.

  "Ok. He's a little preoccupied with the two of you though."

  Hannah rolled her eyes.

  "Great."

  They all smiled. Chelsea took a piece of Hannah's hair and started to braid it.

  "He's just worried about you…that's what big brothers do, right?"

  The twins looked at each other and smiled and then shrugged. Hannah rolled her eyes again.

  "You two are hopeless."

  Chris leaned in and kissed her cheek.

  "I think you like hopeless."

  Hannah let a grin escape and blushed. Chelsea smiled as Tanner leaned in.

  "I gotta go take care of some stuff. See you for dinner?"

  She smiled and he kissed her. She felt like she would float away. The twins walked away as Corey and Rachel walked up to the girls. Corey stood in front of Chelsea, looked at Tanner and then at his sister. He lifted his arm and pointed after Tanner.

  "What the hell was that?"

  Chelsea smiled and shook her head, then looked at Hannah.

  "See, older brothers just try to protect you, that's all."

  Corey stood there indignant as Rachel shook her head and he looked at her and pointed to Chelsea. She nodded.

  "Yeah, I know, I saw. Relax. Go find something to do."

  Rachel was about to sit down, when she realized that Corey was just staring at her, so she stood up and grabbed his face and kissed him long and slow. When she finally let go, he stood there, blushing, unable to speak.

  "Go."

  Corey looked around and walked off after Tanner and Chris, muttering to himself. Rachel shrugged and sat down with her friends and the girls laughed. The bustling crowds of the marketplace moved slowly through the stalls as a cold afternoon breeze gently moved through the streets. Although everyone smiled, there was an air of sadness. Rona watched the girls from a distance and smiled as she formulated a new plan. A plan the Master would like very much.

  61

  Vivian Shorely sat alone on a bench, not far from the southern stables. Her normally pinched face was soft and sad as quiet tears rolled down her cheeks. She breathed deeply and sighed, allowing herself to release some of her normally pent-up emotion.

  Sean stepped out of the stables into the afternoon sun and looked around, pushing his hair back out of his face and rubbing the back of his neck. He glanced around and noticed Vivian sitting on the bench. He breathed deeply and watched her. He frowned and put his hands in his pockets as he walked over to her.

  When he was a few feet from her, he noticed that she had heard him and began to wipe her face and sit upright. He stopped for a moment as if he would turn around, but thought better of it and continued forward the last few feet.

  “Viv?”

  Without looking at him, she lifted her chin and he could see her purse her mouth.

  “As much as I enjoy our banter, Captain Lantry, I’m not much in the mood right now.”

  He heard her voice crack and felt a knot in his stomach. He moved to face her.

  Vivian’s eyes were bright red and swollen as she tried to move away from his gaze. He could feel her sorrow. He sat down next to her and looked at the ground with his hands folded in front of him as he leaned on his knees. She looked at the ground, but peeked over at him once or twice and sniffled. He continued to look at the ground.

  “You had someone at the KMC, didn’t you?”

  Vivian tried desperately to stop the tears, but they flowed freely and she breathed deeply.

  “My…my…my…sister, Helen.”

  “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

  Then her sobbing began and Sean just stayed where he was, listening.

  “She was a devout Catholic. We only saw each other every so often, she didn’t approve of my choice of religion, let alone leaving the church. But in the last few months, she said she wanted us to be close again and she was going to come with the Mormons when they arrived. They said there were no survivors. I never…never got to say…goodbye.”

  She put her face in her hands and continued to sob. Sean’s eyes were welling up as
he thought about his own sister, Grace.

  Grace Lantry had been a lawyer in San Francisco. Two years before the war started Grace had just started working at a prestigious firm and the young man she had been seeing had just proposed. One Friday evening as she left work to go home for the Thanksgiving holiday, she was kidnapped. The police told them what they thought had happened. Her abductor forced her to drive them to San Rafael. They drove down one of the small roads off the main freeway, where they pulled off into the trees. The police said that she had tried to run, but the kidnapper caught her, then he raped and murdered her.

  She had fought. They found DNA under her nails where she had scratched and pulled, but her killer was never found. Sean remembered when he had to identify her body.

  He could see her face, pale and empty. He thought to himself that she didn’t even look like the woman he knew. It was like he was looking at a strange mannequin that had his sister’s features. He didn’t cry as he looked down at her. He found that he was staring at her hair. There was a large chunk of it that had been cut off and he thought to himself, Boy, she must be pissed that they did that. He was numb to what they had done to her.

  The coroner’s voice was barely a whisper as he asked if this was Grace Lantry and Sean felt his head move up and down. His parents were in the next room and Sean could hear his mother screaming through the window.

  Sean turned and looked at Vivian. He could see the real Vivian now. The high-strung, pinched Chancellor in her sixties who focused all her attention and energy into her work wasn’t there, just the lonely woman who had lost her only sister to a murderer.

  Sean stood up.

  “Wait here, Viv. I’ll be right back.”

  Vivian looked up at him and watched him walk away. She hoped desperately that he wasn’t going to get Alia. Vivian had always prided herself on keeping control of her emotions and the last thing she wanted was to lose control in front of her queen.

  A short while later, Sean returned with a bag and his saddled horse. Vivian stood up and wiped her face again.

  “What’s all this, Captain?”