Unicorn Keep

by Angelia Almos

  She dreamt of them every night, their delicate features and deadly horns, dancing through the forest.

  Yet, she never spotted a single one from this balcony. The gate beckoned to her. It was an hour until curfew. There was no way she would be able to make it down and back up in an hour. But she was tempted. Didn’t matter that the gate was magically locked to keep out non-keepers. She walked over to it and trailed her fingers down the cool metal. The magic was there. She could sense it, but wasn’t sure how.

  Someone cleared their throat behind her and she turned expecting another trainee. Instead, Mage Herrick stood before her. She straightened and quickly bowed. Waiting for his instructions, she kept her eyes on the smooth rock of the balcony floor.

  “Come here.”

  She blinked at his strange instructions, but raised her gaze to take the few steps closer to him. He was frowning at her as he had when she’d been chosen by the unicorn. His cryptic message had told her he knew she was a fraud but nothing had happened.

  He held his palm up. “Recognize this?”

  She glanced at his hand and froze. The crystal. Of course, it probably wasn’t the crystal, but one just like the one the mages had brought to her village.

  “Keeper in training Madelen,” his voice was sharp. “Do you recognize this?”

  She nodded, unable to form the words. He would know for sure she was a fraud now. But how had he known before?

  “The Keep Mages believe in these crystals so completely that it just now occurred to me to wonder why they don’t use them when the trainees show up to report for keeper training. Anyone could arrive and say they were someone else. It’s a risk. They don’t know that the mages who tour the villages aren’t the same ones in charge of the Keep or the training. But someone could decide to take the risk. The question would be why.”

  She couldn’t pull her gaze from his eyes. They hadn’t left hers the entire time he had spoken. She wondered for the first time what the mages would do to her. Before she had worried about how they would react to Madelen and her family for her not showing up. But now she wondered about her own safety.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Why would someone pretend to be a chosen trainee, Madelen?”

  She was tempted to confess, but no words came to her. Her promise to the unicorn forced all words out of her mouth. She must return to the valley floor. She shook her head. “I don’t know, Mage Herrick.”

  His frown deepened and he suspended the crystal inches from her face.

  It began to glow. Surprise flowed through her and mirrored the surprise she could see on his face. His hand slowly lowered and he tucked the crystal into his pocket. The confidence he had shown a moment before was gone and his frown was uncertain now.

  “I bid you good night, Madelen.” He didn’t wait for her response, but pivoted on his heel and strode back into the Keep.

  She stayed out there until curfew and returned to her room just as Marta was about to close the door. She received a frown but no scolding and quickly slipped into bed still dressed but without her boots. No time to change. Her punishment for being late.

  A few hours later, she was wide awake and uncertain what had roused her. Sliding carefully from her covers, she picked up her boots and tip-toed to the door. She opened it just enough to squeeze through.

  She didn’t put her boots on until she reached the gateway to the trail down to the valley. The gate opened as silently as the door to her room had. The mage candles glowed on the walls down the short stairwell to the rocky hillside. The valley was full of shadows. She wrapped her arms around herself at the chill. Winter was coming shortly. None of the trainees had failed the test enough to be sent home before winter. Marta had explained that once winter came no one would leave the Keep and no one would be able to get to the Keep.

  The trail looked even more dangerous in the soft moonlight. She fingered the red scarf before untying it and shoving it into her pocket. It was possible one of the five keepers was watching the trail. She tied her hair back and tucked it into her tunic, and was disguised as best she could considering she hadn’t thought to grab her cloak with its hood. Already committed it seemed too late to venture back to her room to get it.

  She could handle a little cold. Stepping out of the safety of the Keep walls, she kept her head down and went down the hillside as quietly as she could. A challenge she didn’t think she managed very well. Perhaps she should have tried for speed. And perhaps she would have tripped and tumbled the rest of the way down.

  At least she was now on the valley floor and she sprinted to the first line of trees. Knowing a keeper could be anywhere, she kept her face down and moved as quietly to the next meadow as she could. If the keepers stayed near the unicorns to protect them they would most assuredly spot her if she got close to them. So how was she supposed to find the unicorn without getting spotted?

  A flash of white to her left caught her attention. A horn glittered in the woods across the meadow. Taking a deep breath, she didn’t allow herself to hesitate, but ran through the second meadow to where she had seen the glitter. The unicorn wasn’t there. She hesitated again, leaning against a tree to catch her breath.

  A second flash of white deeper in the forest. Holding on to her courage, she weaved her way through the trees going deeper into the woods. This section wasn’t like the others. It didn’t lead into a third meadow but became thicker with trees.

  The flash of white no longer moved and the horn shone in a ray of moonlight. A unicorn stood next to an ancient tree. She wasn’t sure if the unicorn was the same one who had spoken to her or one of the other four who had allowed her to see them. A second unicorn emerged from around the wide tree.

  She stared at them uncertain of what to do. Was one of them the unicorn she had made the promise to?

  You are late.

  She thought of Herrick and the crystal.

  The unicorn colt raised his head. They tested her again.

  Why?

  She shrugged, unsure herself why Herrick had suspected she wasn’t pure.

  The unicorn colt snorted. Did he say anything to you?

  She struggled with how to tell them what Herrick had said.

  You may speak. The others are distracting the keepers away from us.

  She bit her lip before whispering. “He asked me why anyone would want to switch places with a chosen candidate knowing the risk of discovery.”

  Why did you switch places?

  Thoughts of Madelen and Wilm quickly filled her as well as her own parents’ worry for their children’s prospects.

  The unicorn colt stepped closer to her. She is the one.

  You cannot be sure. It is a great risk we would ask of her.

  He raised his head. You wish to remain in this prison forever? We do not know if another will come who can help us.

  Her eyes darted back and forth between the two unicorns as it occurred to her that she was listening to two unicorns arguing.

  The second unicorn gazed at her with deep brown chocolate eyes. Would you help us?

  Yes, vibrated inside her, but she couldn’t fathom how she would be able to help a creature as magnificent or powerful as a unicorn. The magic flowed from every pore of their bodies.

  “How would I help you?”

  The unicorn colt spun in a flash. A keeper approaches. You must return to the Keep before you are spotted.

  You take her. I will distract him. The second unicorn flitted through the woods and disappeared.

  Come. The unicorn colt commanded.

  Jiline obeyed without thought, running after the dancing unicorn back toward the Keep. He stopped at the final line of trees.

  Return tomorrow night and I shall explain. Climb quickly, Jiline.

  The unicorn colt was gone. Heeding his command, she ran across the small meadow and climbed as fast as she could, scrambling up the rock face. She was sure someone probably waited at the Keep entrance to catch her. But no one waited for her.

  ****


  Herrick fumed in the library. Madelen was out training in front of the Keep. Marta had them running sprints. Dark circles under Madelen’s eyes told him she hadn’t slept through the night. He wondered if thoughts of him had kept her up or thoughts of a more nefarious purpose. He hadn’t told his mother of his embarrassing attempt to prove Madelen had magic within her.

  Yet, she beckoned to him whenever she was near. He could feel her presence before he saw her in a room. It didn’t make sense. The book he had been studying on courtship rituals of the mages hadn’t been any help. No mention of a mage feeling the draw to a non-magic. Not even the possibility. So, how could he feel it if she had no magic?

  “Herrick,” his mother’s voice was filled with irritation.

  He stood up quickly and bowed his head to her as mistress of the Keep even if she hadn’t used his title name, her voice certainly put her in that realm. He tried to block the book with his body, but her sharp eyes had already caught what it was judging by the frown on her face.

  “This is getting ridiculous,” she said sharply. “You are not a child anymore.”

  He raised an eyebrow at the scolding she was giving him like he was a child, but he didn’t voice it.

  “You are a young, healthy man, it is perfectly natural for you to be attracted to young healthy girls. It is not a draw that you feel.” His mother’s voice no longer held it’s perfect cadence as she appeared to stumble over her words. “She’s a keeper in training. You must leave her alone. A hint of magic on her could ruin her to the unicorns.”

  “You think I would put her in danger?” he asked sharply.

  She hesitated. “There are plenty of other pretty girls here. If none of them suit you, perhaps you should travel again.”

  He gritted his teeth. He had no interest in heading out on another journey. She’d sent him off to every available young mage woman over the summer in the hopes that he would be drawn to one of them. It hadn’t worked. But he had to be careful with what he said. As the Keep Mage it was completely within her right to send him away as a mother could not send her son away. He would have no choice but to obey her if she commanded him.

  He kept his eyes steady on hers. “You’re right. I was just trying to understand how a draw would feel.”

  She stepped forward to pick up the book. “You understand the difference now?”

  He nodded.

  “You’re young, you’ll feel the difference between regular attraction and a draw soon enough,” she said hurriedly.

  He kept himself from rolling his eyes. He might not be the most experienced, but he was old enough to have felt a regular attraction for a female mage and non-mage alike. An awkward silence settled between them.

  “Well.” Brennah smiled. “Times like this make me wish your father wasn’t a traveling mage.”

  He didn’t agree, but nodded anyway, anything to get the conversation over. He doubted his father would have been any help at all since they barely knew each other.

  ****

  Her body ached by the time her head hit the pillow at lights out. What made it worse was knowing she wouldn’t be getting any more sleep than she had the night before. She couldn’t allow herself to close her eyes as she wasn’t sure she would wake up. Making herself count to two hundred, she peered around the room and listened to the breathing.

  She could just make out the shapes of the other nine beds. With her bed against the farthest wall from the door, she would have to pass all of them, five on one side and four on the other to get out of the room. Uncertain if everyone was really asleep inside or outside her room, she made herself count to five hundred.

  Silent as she could be, she grabbed her cloak this time along with her boots before sneaking out of the room. She moved with more assurance, but kept her ears open to make sure she didn’t run in to anyone as she exited the Keep. The unicorn colt had assured her they would keep the keepers distracted so she didn’t hesitate as she swirled her cloak on and descended down the hillside. It wasn’t as difficult tonight.

  Breaking into a run, she headed toward the third wood she had been led to the night before. A glint of white told her she was heading in the right direction. This time three unicorns waited for her at the ancient tree.

  She stumbled to a stop and tried to catch her breath as she waited. None of them spoke right away.

  “I’m here.”

  We see that. The new unicorn said. They all had distinctive voices. She doesn’t have enough power.

  I’ve hidden it.

  The new unicorn stared at the unicorn colt, who looked away.

  You sure she can break the barrier.

  The unicorn colt raised his head back up. Yes.

  The new unicorn nodded his head slightly. Very well.

  With a swirl, the new unicorn flitted through the woods and was gone. Leaving the two original unicorns with her.

  “Break what barrier?”

  The help I referred to last night.

  “Oh.” That didn’t really explain anything to her. “What did you hide?”

  Your magic from the mages. It was how the crystal didn’t pick it up.

  “Why does it glow if it doesn’t pick up magic?” She would think it would glow if it sensed magic.

  They did originally. The mages changed it’s chemistry to make it appear the crystal is choosing someone when it is actually eliminating who they don’t want coming to the Keep.

  “But they have magic.”

  The older unicorn took over explaining. Most of you do. Very few people are born without a spark of magic. Your mages have learned to grow the spark.

  The unicorn colt snorted. Steal is more like it.

  They grew their spark to become powerful enough to imprison us and steal our magic.

  “Imprison? But I thought the Keep was built to protect you?”

  The unicorn mare stepped closer to Jiline so she could look in her eye. A lie. The valley is our prison. They use our own magic to keep us within the mountain walls. We cannot break them. The more we push at it the stronger it gets.

  Jiline gazed at the mare in horror as images of the unicorns’ confinement for nearly two hundred years flowed through her. “I’m sorry.”

  You are not responsible, Jiline. My son seems to feel you can help us break the barrier.

  “But how?” If the unicorns with all of their magic couldn’t break a magical barrier, how was she supposed to?

  The barrier is tied to us. A human mage can break it. The unicorn colt said. There is a spot where the barrier is weak. A trail the mages don’t know of. The barrier is strongest where we can physically leave and weaker where nothing can actually climb from the valley.

  “The Keep?”

  The unicorn colt shook his head. The Keep itself is a physical barrier. We could attempt to climb the cliff and go through the castle, but they would erect a magical barrier before we could.

  “I still don’t know how I’m supposed to help you.” And she wanted to help them. The tears still gathered in her eyes from the unicorns’ sorrow the mare had allowed her to feel.

  You will break the barrier for us.

  “But I’m not—”

  The mare spoke again. No, you are not a mage yet, but with our help you can become one. It will take some time. But what is a few months after hundreds of years of waiting. The danger will be to you. If the mages discover what we are doing they will kill you.

  Jiline shook her head trying to wrap her mind around everything she was learning. The killing part didn’t really register, it was the becoming a mage that she found hard to believe.

  The choice must be yours.

  The unicorn colt snorted in protest. The mare swung her horn at him.

  The choice is hers. You will not compel her. The mare swung her head back toward Jiline and blew softly over her face. The choice is yours. We will not force you or harm you if you choose to remain a keeper the rest of your life. Think until the quarter moon. Return then if you will help us.

&nb
sp; 8. CHOICES

  Herrick hid in the alcove and watched the trainees file by. The large group split into two. He examined Madelen as she walked by. Dark circles under her eyes. He had no interest in attracting her or any of the trainees attention. His mother was right. He was pathetic. Madelen had passed the test. She was a non-magic. Yet, he still felt the draw. He scuffed his boots on the old stone floor once they had passed him and emerged into the hallway.

  He couldn’t explain what he felt toward her. The protective instincts when she went down into the valley had been more than casual interest as his mother insisted. He needed to put her out of his mind. It wasn’t like he had nothing to do but follow her around like a little puppy. He had his own training to see to.

  The mage level was at the top of the Keep and boasted several full windows that looked out over the valley. Not that it did them much good beyond the view. A flash of white here or there. The unicorns were not happy. As far as Herrick could tell, they were never happy.

  The keepers were having to stay on their toes to prevent any mishaps. He knocked sharply on his tutor’s door and waited.

  “Enter!” a voice boomed out.

  Herrick heeded his command and pushed the door open. Mage Lionel’s blue eyes were steady on Herrick as he entered.

  “I leave in a week’s time if you would like to accompany me,” Lionel said, setting out the workings of a complicated potion for Herrick to mix and execute.

  Herrick met Lionel’s gaze. His mother at work again? “My mother’s command?”

  Lionel didn’t look away, but his smile turned to a frown. “I spoke with your mother this morning and she felt it would be beneficial for you to not be confined to the Keep all winter. There is plenty of the world for you still to see, Herrick.”

  “I know there is.” He carefully kept his emotions concealed. Something he had learned to do very early on and normally didn’t worry so much about. “I’m honored by your invitation to join you, Mage Lionel, but I plan on remaining at the Keep.”