“She’s pretty,” his mother said thoughtfully.
He nearly rolled his eyes. There were plenty of pretty girls within the Keep. Many of the male mages dallied with them if they were house keepers instead of unicorn keepers. The mages never told anyone that very few of their recruits actually cared for the valley or the unicorns. The majority of the keepers cared for the mages and the Keep itself. It needed a small army to run efficiently.
He thought he saw her emerge on the other side of the woods, but he couldn’t be certain. He didn’t realize how much he was straining to see her until his mother put her arm around him.
“You must stop thinking of her.”
He sighed, but couldn’t tear his gaze away. It had to be her, she was striding bravely through the meadow to another line of trees. Stupid girl. Don’t confront the unicorns. “I have tried to put her out of my mind.”
“Try harder.”
A growl rumbled deep in his chest. “I want her.”
His mother’s arm loosened and she was quiet a moment. “You feel a draw to her?”
“Yes.”
His mother shook her head. “But she is a potential keeper. A mage cannot be drawn to a keeper in that way. You know this.”
“I know. I didn’t say it made sense.”
“A mage can only be drawn to a mage.” She suddenly straightened in alarm. “If she has magic in her, the unicorns will kill her.”
His breath stopped. His mother confirming his fears. “She couldn’t have any magic in her.”
“She must or you wouldn’t be drawn to her.” Brennah was now scanning the valley as he was, but he knew she had already ducked into another line of trees.
“She wouldn’t have passed the crystal test if she had magic in her.”
He held on to that. It made more sense for him to be drawn to someone without magic than for the crystal test to have failed. It would only glow when put in contact with someone without a single spark of magic within them. Amazingly most of the population had a little bit even if they never realized it.
It was better for the mages if they never realized it.
His mother uttered an incantation and her hands moved.
“What are you doing?”
“Finding her.”
“Your magic won’t work.” But his words didn’t stop her from continuing to try to bring up the image of Madelen in the valley. All they saw was fog in the mirror.
He stared bleakly knowing there was nothing he could do but wait. To go into the valley was unthinkable. The unicorns would seek him out to kill him. His magic would not be able to defend against their attack.
6. UNICORNS
Jiline slid down the final few steps of the steep path. The little meadow was crowded with the trainees.
Keeper Kellye cupped her hands together. “The unicorns will seek you out if they approve of you. If you don’t see a unicorn we will test you again in the spring. If a unicorn charges you, run for your life. We will be watching.”
The two keepers entered the woods in front of her. Somehow she doubted the unicorns were at all tempted to step foot in this crowded clearing so she walked forward to follow the keepers into the woods.
Another giant meadow emerged. A few of the other trainees followed her and they each set their own course through the meadow. She wasn’t sure how many other trainees remained in the tiny meadow at the base of the trail. She had to find a unicorn, fail the test, and not get killed in the process. The two keepers had disappeared. There could be even more within the valley watching them, cataloging who the unicorns approached and rejected.
She kept walking without slowing down. The brief glances she had gotten of the valley through the trees as they had come down the trail had shown her it was vast. She didn’t know how many unicorns there were or where they were. The unicorns could be on the opposite side of the valley and never even know they were all down here.
She hesitated at another line of trees. They were grouped closer together and let in less light than the previous strip of forest.
“Don’t be a ninny goat,” she whispered and forced herself to make the first step in to be engulfed by the shadows. The trees surrounded her as she picked her way carefully over downed branches.
A meadow peeked through the trees on the other side of the woods. She quickened her pace to get rid of the rising claustrophobia. A flash of white out of the corner of her eye stopped her dead in her tracks.
Digging her hand against the rough bark of the tree closest to her, she slowly pivoted and looked directly into the eyes of a unicorn. It couldn’t have been more than ten feet away. Perfectly still. It’s head raised and brown eye focused on her.
The horn glinted in the shadows needing no sunlight to make it shine.
****
A flash of light from the valley. Herrick gripped the railing tighter waiting for the signal to continue from the keeper.
“Looks like the first unicorn has found a trainee,” his mother said softly.
He had lost track of Madelen. It could be her or she could be in a completely different part of the valley
****
Jiline tried to remember to breathe. The unicorn stared at her. She stared at the unicorn. Neither of them had moved. She wasn’t sure what she should do, but knew she should be worried. Why hadn’t the unicorn made a move toward her? It had to sense her unworthiness. If a crystal could, shouldn’t the unicorn be able to.
You have magic within you.
The words filled her mind and though the tree she touched beckoned to her with its protection, she couldn’t move her feet.
But the unicorn did. Lowering his head, he glided across the forest floor until the sharp point of his horn was inches from her face. She closed her eyes waiting for his judgment.
****
Another flash from the same location, followed by three more. If he could have ripped the railing off he would have. The unicorns were converging on a trainee. It was unheard of for them to converge on anyone but a mage. The magic beckoned and enraged them at the same time. He shoved away from the railing to head for the forbidden trail.
“Where do you think you’re going?” His mother demanded.
“You said it yourself. The only way I could be drawn to her was if she was a mage.” He walked into a wall of thin air and spun to glare at his mother.
“They would converge on you just as easily.”
“I’m supposed to do nothing. Just let them kill her?”
“They haven’t killed a trainee in several generations,” she said gently, walking toward him. Her hands moved in a soothing gesture. “Besides there could be several trainees in that slice of woods. We don’t know if it is just her.”
He sliced the air with his own hand to cut off the incantation she was attempting to weave around him. Slamming his hands against the wall, he attempted to shatter it with a magical blow, but it bounced back. Helplessness filled him. He shook off her hand and bolted for the door that would lead him inside the Keep. There was more than one way to the trailhead.
And slammed into another magical barrier.
****
The blow didn’t come. Her breath was loud in her ears as she waited, but the blow didn’t come. She slowly opened her eyes and stumbled back. Four more unicorns stood in front of her just behind the first. Humbled, her legs began to shake and she couldn’t draw her gaze away from their deadly beauty. Five horns glinted at her.
You need not be afraid.
The words filled her mind again. Her lips parted, but no words emerged. It couldn’t be. Had the unicorn spoken to her?
We will not harm you child. A second voice. Just as strong as the first, but distinctly different flowed through her.
The first unicorn turned his head to glance back at the group behind him. Jiline grappled with what she had heard. Two distinct voices. It wasn’t her own mind playing tricks on her at least she didn’t think it was her mind.
The other unicorns moved just as suddenl
y as they appeared. Dancing through the thick forest they were suddenly gone. All accept for the one. His head turned back to her and lowered. The point of his horn was now directly in front of her heart.
Her breath stopped. Time seemed to stop.
He huffed and raised his head back up.
I will not harm you, girl child. You are what we have been waiting for.
****
Several flashes in quick succession. Herrick was too distracted to read the code. “What?’
“The unicorns have moved away from the trainee. They weren’t converging on her.”
“She’s still alive.”
“It would appear so.”
****
“W-what?” Jiline stammered out.
The unicorn shook his head. Do not speak. We are not alone. His body shifted so she now stood beside him looking directly into his eye. They watch and tell those above what we do.
A question built, but she bit her lip to keep from speaking. He was talking to her, but how was she supposed to answer him without speaking?
I hear you quite clearly. Speech is unnecessary.
With him standing beside her and the horn pointing away from her, he wasn’t quite as intimidating as he had been before. She realized he wasn’t the monstrous size she had thought, but was actually dainty and small compared to the farm horses. Not as small as her pony Ginger, but not as large as Night or Fire. No wonder the unicorns had moved so easily through the trees.
Why would you think we were bigger?
The drawings she had seen in Madelen’s books had always shown the unicorns dwarfing the people next to them.
He snorted, but no words filled her mind at first. His head raised slightly before his eye focused back on her. I have lingered with you too long. You must come back to us as soon as you can without the other keepers watching.
She bit her lip before the words could form again. Why did he want her to return? And she had no idea how she would go about coming down on her own.
Find a way. He shifted and his horn touched lightly atop her head.
He moved just as suddenly and gracefully as the others had and was a blur before he was gone. No longer in his presence, her legs gave out and she sank to her knees and hands on the forest floor. Her arms wouldn’t hold her either and her forehead pressed into the mulching leaves. The musky smell filled her nostrils, chasing away the sweet, crisp smell of the unicorn.
“You all right?”
The voice startled her and she jerked up. A keeper knelt down a few feet away from her. She hadn’t heard him approach and knew he must have been the one the unicorn had referred to as watching her. Pushing herself back onto her knees, she nodded.
The keeper didn’t look convinced. He wore the same clothes the two keepers who had led them down did, brown tunic with brown leather pants, and had a long length of rope wrapped over his shoulder.
“You can go back now. The unicorns chose you as a keeper.” He stood up. “Though I’ve never seen them converge on a keeper the way they did you. I was sure you were done for.”
“Me too,” she found her words. “Go where?”
He pulled a red scarf from his pocket. “Back to the Keep.”
****
More flashes from different keepers. The unicorns were making themselves known to the trainees. Brennah kept an expert eye on each one. Not knowing what flash might be Madelen, Herrick watched in agony. If he was lucky none of the flashes referred to her. Why he had thought the first flash did, he didn’t know. And most likely it didn’t.
One of the chosen made her way back into the small meadow. He groaned when he saw the red scarf tied around Madelen’s arm. Well, now he knew he wasn’t lucky. She was one of the chosen. His mother’s gaze shifted from keeping track of the flashes for a moment to look over at her son at his sound.
“She is a keeper. Without magic. And wouldn’t be for you.”
Knowing that the draw he felt toward her wasn’t the magical draw of two mages destined to be together didn’t lessen what he felt. Despite what his mother said, he was drawn to her. But if his feelings were true there was more to consider than the protective instincts racing through his blood. The unicorns had not only tolerated someone with magic, but has chosen one to be a keeper.
His mother had taken over the running of the Keep almost ten years ago when he was seven. The unicorns had not been kind to him when he had snuck down there. He knew they had spared his life despite emerging bloodied and with a broken arm. But they hadn’t killed him. His mother had raged at him that he was lucky he was a child. Anyone a few years older would not have been as lucky. Madelen was more than a few years older than a seven year old boy.
He walked away from the railing and this time didn’t walk into the magical barrier, but tapped it. “Is this necessary any longer?”
He was surprised at her hesitation, but with a flick of her wrist, the barrier dropped and he entered the walls of the Keep.
****
The climb up from the valley floor was way worse than the slide down. The red scarf kept flashing into her vision as she reached forward to scramble up the steep hillside. You couldn’t walk up, but had to climb. Sometimes grabbing handholds while other times bracing and scrambling against the steep face. Sweaty and tired, she finally reached the top and was greeted by Mistress Marta.
“Congratulations, Trainee Madelen,” Marta said with a smile. “You have passed the first test.”
Jiline tugged at her green tunic trying to straighten the dirty material unsure of what she was supposed to say. She had passed the test. Her vision wavered. She wasn’t supposed to pass the test. She was supposed to flunk it and be sent home.
An arm went around her waist and guided her into the cool interior of the Keep. She was gently pushed into a chair and she closed her eyes to try to control the dizziness.
“What happened to her?”
The voice was familiar, but her mind was yelling so loudly it barely registered his words.
“She’ll be fine. I’m sure she’s overwhelmed and tired from the climb. She’ll adapt to it in time,” Mistress Marta said.
The spots stopped dancing in front of her eyelids and she slowly opened them to see two pairs of shoes standing in front of her. Carefully raising her head, her brain was foggy and didn’t quite register that Herrick was Mage Herrick despite his robes. Then it hit her. Mage Herrick. She jumped up and swayed, trying to remember exactly how she was supposed to greet a mage who addressed her.
“Sit,” he commanded and stepped forward to nudge her down into the chair. “Get her some water.”
Jiline closed her eyes and decided not to worry about what she was supposed to do. She had a right to be completely and utterly confused not to mention overwhelmed.
His voice was a whisper this time. “The unicorns converged on you.”
She peeked at him, uncertain of what he was saying to her. He was right in front of her face, either kneeling or squatting, in a very un-mage like way.
“A death sentence for someone who has magic.” His brown eyes were intense. “They let you live this time. They might not be as generous next time.”
He rose and took a step back just before Mistress Marta reappeared with a jug of water and a glass. He nodded to Marta and strode from the hallway.
A frown appeared over Marta’s eyebrows as she watched Herrick leave before turning her attention to Jiline. “How are you feeling?”
Confused, but she didn’t say that. “Better.”
Marta poured the glass of water and handed it to her. “Drink this and then return to your room to clean up and change for dinner. Those chosen to be unicorn keepers will meet in the library after dinner.”
Marta walked to the entrance of the trail and Jiline guessed another trainee was on their way up.
****
Dinner was uneventful except for the hateful gaze of Sabrine focused on the red scarf still tied to her arm. She had forgotten it at first not realizing she had to we
ar it as part of her uniform. The unicorn keepers in the valley hadn’t been wearing red scarves that she had seen. Sabrine didn’t have a red scarf on her arm.
Those who did were excused from dinner early and the ten of them filed into the library nervously. She hadn’t realized so many of them had been chosen by the unicorns. She wondered if their meet-ups had been as exciting as hers, but she refrained from asking in fear of having to share her own experience.
Mistress Marta waited for all of them to take seats around the library. “Congratulations to all of you for being selected by the unicorns. I hope you realize the great honor which has been bestowed upon you.”
She paused as if waiting for them to agree, but no one uttered a sound. Jiline was beginning to realize the mess she was in. She was supposed to have failed the test and be heading home by now.
“You have passed the first test,” Marta said. “The first in a line of tests and tasks you will be required to perform to become a unicorn keeper. You will learn about the unicorns, the valley, and what will be required of you in your duty. Unicorn keepers must be fleet of foot, able to climb the tallest tree in the valley, swim the rivers, and run all day long.
“Do not think because the unicorns have chosen you today that they will always accept you. They won’t. You must move silently, respectfully through their valley when on duty. You must always be vigilant against the dangers inside and outside the valley. You will study hard and train even harder”
She frowned at all of them as she paused. “Your training starts now. I’ll meet all of you outside, in front of the Keep, in five minutes. Be prepared to climb.”
7. UNICORN REQUEST
Jiline stood at the railing and looked down at the valley. As a keeper in training she was allowed here, but not down in the valley yet. How was she supposed to keep her promise to the unicorn? She viewed it as a promise and it itched at her every passing day. It had been four since he had spoken to her.
The real keepers now mingled occasionally with her group of ten. She’d learned there were always five keepers in the valley watching over the unicorns. But she couldn’t figure out why they had to watch over the unicorns. The Keep protected the unicorns from those who would capture them and use their magic for evil. But how were the keepers supposed to prevent that from happening. They had no magic to ward off the evil creatures.
Unicorn Keep Page 5
