The Unicorn Quest

by J. A. Armitage

  The chopping sound grew closer, and my pace slowed. At last, I spotted a clearing up ahead. River stood in the clearing, hacking away at one of the younger trees. Perhaps ten feet away, running across the clearing's far side, there lay a raft, half-completed by the looks of it. It rested a dozen feet from a fast-running stream that ran across the clearing's edge.

  River abruptly stiffened, then stood to his full height. He looked around, his eyes sweeping the tree line, but they didn't linger on my spot. He hadn't seen me. He might have smiled, though I couldn't be certain from that distance.

  He called out, “Freya. Show yourself, young lady. Don't you know, it's rude to spy on people?”

  I felt myself grinning and stepped out from behind a bush to enter the clearing. “How did you know it was me, or that I was here?

  He shrugged nonchalantly. “I don't know. I just… felt your presence, felt you watching me. How long have you been there?”

  “Not long. I just wanted to make sure you weren't a party of ogres before I stepped into the clearing.”

  River's replying grin was a sloppy one. “I've been called worse, but never by you.”

  I smirked as I walked up to him. “I see you're making a raft.”

  He dusted off his hands and then wrapped his arm around my shoulders to look at his project. “Yes. It was the only way I could think to get us out of here without backtracking. The mountains are too steep to climb, so the only path is the river.”

  “Do you think Opal will go for it?”

  He shook his head. “She won't like it, that's for sure, but since when does Opal like anything?”

  “You make a good point. She thinks you’ve deserted us.”

  River shook his head. “She doesn’t. She knows I wouldn’t leave. She’s just grumpy.”

  I let out a small laugh. When wasn’t Opal grumpy? It was her default emotion.

  River let his hatchet fall from his hands, and I allowed him to gently pull me closer, then rest his hands on my hips.

  I found myself caught in his gaze like a fly in a spider web. The intensity with which he looked at me made my stomach do a little dance as his gaze hypnotized me.

  He smiled and bent toward me. When our faces were mere inches apart, the smile faded, and something new showed in his eyes—hunger. His lips parted a fraction of an inch, and then they found mine.

  I heard myself emit a happy, excited sound, but it sounded distant, like someone else had moaned, and I was only half aware of myself as I pressed in to embrace him. For a moment, all my concerns about Jet, about Opal's anger, about the mission, all faded away.

  I lowered myself down, bringing River with me. The heat of a thousand suns burned through me as our kiss turned heavy, no longer just a kiss, but a promise of something more. When River pulled back and told me that we had to leave early to avoid being stuck on the raft when darkness came, my heart filled with disappointment. My body ached to be with him, but my head knew he was right. Rafting a river on a half-made raft would be dangerous enough during the day. Doing it at night would be a death wish. Begrudgingly, I let him pull me to my feet.

  River and I returned to camp together. When we entered the cave, both Opal and Kaida were there. Opal looked up and cocked her head to the side.

  “You two have fun?”

  Heat filled my cheeks as one of Opal’s eyebrows shot up questioningly. “There’s grass in your hair,” she said, pointing at me. I pulled my hand up to my head and ran my fingers through my hair, extricating the stray bits of grass.

  “I found some wild rabbit and Opal cooked it,” Kaida said with a smirk. She handed me a piece of the meat and I sat down to join them.

  “I was building us a raft,” River said, grabbing some of the cooked rabbit. “So get your mind out of the gutter.”

  I actually saw a small smile on Opal’s face, and she murmured “Uh huh.”

  After we’d eaten and the heat in my cheeks had faded, River took us all to the raft. He pulled it to the stream that flowed into the river.

  As River had predicted, Opal did not want to get on it.

  “There's no way I'm getting on that thing. It looks like it will fall apart the second we get in.”

  River patted the wood. “It’s solid. It will get us through.”

  Opal didn’t look convinced.

  “I think I’ll fly,” Kaida piped up. “I can scout the river as you go. Then if one of you falls out, I will do my best to grab you.”

  “Thanks for the note of confidence, guys,” River said, jumping onto the raft.

  Blu and Ivy slipped into his pocket and peeked out, waiting for us to jump aboard.

  Opal didn't reply, merely looked angry and miserable as she had before.

  “Jet wouldn't hesitate to get on that raft to save anyone of us,” I said, hopping onto the raft in front of River. I looked at Opal, waiting for her reaction. With as much resignation as she could muster, she hopped onto the front of the raft, making it very obvious she was clinging on for dear life.

  Kaida handed us our backpacks and took off to change into her dragon form as River pushed us away from the bank.

  He handed Opal and I a sturdy makeshift paddle made from three large sticks. I could feel Opal tense up as she saw what was now our only method of steering. The first part of the journey was easy as we let the stream take us from the copse of trees out onto the lake I’d seen the day before. I gasped as the view ahead of us became apparent. The wide valley that held the lake got significantly narrower, the closer we paddled to the river that left it. Ahead, I could hear the sound of roaring water long before we left the lake.

  “I don’t want to do this,” Opal said, clutching her paddle, but it was too late. The current had already grabbed hold of the raft, dragging us onward toward the narrow crevasse and the rapids that ran through it.

  Chapter 12

  CHAPTER TWEVE

  River kept his eyes on the water, his gaze as hard-set as his jaw. The roaring of the water filled my ears as it splashed over the side of the raft, drenching us. It took everything we had to keep the rickety raft afloat as we careened through the narrow valley. Up ahead, I could just barely make out the red of Kaida’s scales as she hovered, waiting for us, ready to swoop down at a moment’s notice. It would have been fine had there only been one of us, but if the raft flipped, all three of us would fall into the raging water.

  Opal screamed obscenities all the way through, only stopping when the gorge widened, and the river calmed.

  We floated for hours, letting the current do the work and only using the paddles when we had to. Kaida flitted in and out of the canyon, checking up on us every so often. We ate on the raft, snacking on some of the leftover rabbit and some apples we’d brought with us. The trip would have been enjoyable if it wasn’t for Opal and her miserable mood and the threat of more rapids ahead.

  Opal’s misery finally abated when Kaida came to land on the rocky riverbank a short distance ahead. River guided the raft toward her, and Kaida hooked it with a claw, dragging it a couple feet ashore with a grunt.

  “What's going on?” Opal asked, jumping onto the bank beside Kaida.

  Kaida began to shift so I rifled in her bag that we’d carried in the boat and, once she was back in human form, tossed her some clothes.

  “We aren't alone,” she said breathlessly, pulling a shirt over her head. “The winged people saw me flying in their territory. There were just one or two at first, but they came back with more. I got the feeling we are going to have a welcome party before we get much further.”

  Opal seemed a lot more delighted than I felt at this particular nugget of information.

  “At least we found them.”

  “Technically, they found us,” Kaida corrected. “Beyond where the river winds through steep mountain walls, there are what look like homes carved into the cliff face itself. I saw the same people with wings flying in and out of them.”

  “Were they hostile?” River asked, tying a rope around a rock
to steady the raft.

  Kaida frowned. “They didn't attack me, but they are all armed. Spears, mostly, and many carried odd-shaped bows.”

  “Odd how?” I stepped toward her.

  “The tips re-curve forward, somehow. But the bowstring and quivers make it clear they're bows.”

  Opal's eyes narrowed, her spine straightening. “If there are people ahead, it shows we're on the right course. We must be near a city.” Her eyes turned to River who’d just finished the knot. “Did we pass the border between the kingdoms yet?”

  “We passed it half a day ago. We’re definitely in the West Kingdom. I’m not sure exactly where. I’ll have to get the map out.”

  “No need,” Opal said airily. “We found the flying people. Let’s go and see what they know.”

  “They have bows...and spears,” I reminded her. We had come with knives, but nothing that we could use if a hoard of angry bird people decided to attack.

  Opal let out a sharp breath that sounded like a snake's hiss. “We are heading to a city. They’ll have shops. We’ll buy weapons there.”

  Kaida and I exchanged a look, but the dragon merely shrugged, then jumped up, shifting again, and with hard thrusts of her mighty wings, flew up and away.

  Opal watched her go for a moment, then after jumping back into the raft, turned to River. “We're leaving. Now.”

  River tugged on the knot he’d just fastened, releasing the raft from the rock, and we once again began to drift on the current...this time into bird people territory.

  The river flowed on. As our speed increased, my heartbeat accelerated along with it. I was mollified somewhat by the presence of other boats, visible as we turned a corner. Lots of them carried by the current on my right, while on my left, the bank was dotted with boats being pulled upstream by horses or mules.

  “Odd,” I muttered, "I didn't see any towns behind us."

  Opal turned to me and pointed up. I followed the line of her finger to the sheer gorge walls.

  To both sides, intermittent homes built into the sheer rock walls flanked the river. Winged people flapped their way to and fro, flying into the holes and watching us out of the windows.

  Further downstream, a bridge stretched across the river, a hundred feet or more above the water, and beyond, a huge city loomed. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before with buildings stretching off into the distance. The sheer gorge walls widened and curled outward to a plateau. The closer we drifted to the city, the more eyes watched us. I was yet to see a person without wings.

  As we approached the bridge, the size of the group of people watching us increased. A chill down my spine and was joined by goosebumps on my arms, and a vague urge to flee.

  “It’s fine,” River said, putting a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “It’ll be fine. They are probably just inquisitive.”

  Opal turned her head far enough to snarl over her shoulder, “You two are afraid of your own shadow. This is a city. Merchants come here, people from all over the known world, I bet. Besides, Cassie told us to look for the Key Keeper at the palace of the capital city. This has to be the capital. So, if you're afraid of this place, you should have stayed home with your--”

  The line of people on the bridge above us vaulted off and dove through the air, falling directly toward the raft.

  I gripped the sides of the raft as I watched the synchronized display until they unfurled their wings and came to a halt mid-air. They glided to our left and began to lazily circle the raft with their spears held firmly in both hands.

  A guard with a deep purple headdress flapped her wings hard, hovering before the raft. With each wing-beat, a blast of air struck the raft hard enough to raise Opal’s and my hair as though we were in a gusty windstorm.

  “You trespass within Anoria, humans. Have you the proper papers? Show them to me now, or face the alpha tier.” The winged woman's voice was high and warbled, like the voice of a bird. Her hawkish features, however, reminded me of a hawk eyeing its prey. Indeed, the woman's bird-like, rear-bending legs ended in claws with long talons, and each talon had been capped with a brilliantly polished metal spike.

  Opal, showing no fear as usual, was the one to answer the woman’s question. “What papers? We don't have any. We're here—”

  The winged people circling us cut her off with a raucous raptor's cry, ear piercing in its volume. I pulled my hands to my ears to block out the deafening sound.

  The purple-plumed woman cried, “Guilty! Initiate alpha protocol.”

  The winged people dove toward us. Hard talons gripped at my arms, and I saw a soldier grasp Opal's arms the same way. The guards yanked me and the others into the air, hard enough to make my shoulders scream in pain as they threatened dislocation. Once in the air, a second pair of claws snatched at my ankles, and in a moment, I found myself being carried aloft by two of the winged people, both men.

  They flew us over the bridge, streaking directly toward the larger of the two huge buildings overhead.

  Faintly, I heard Opal's voice ripping them a new one as we soared through the air. In any other circumstance, I would have found it amusing to know she didn’t reserve her particular brand of anger for her friends.

  One of the abductors slammed the butt of his spear into Opal's head, and she went limp. I bit back a scream as we crested the bridge and headed to one of the large buildings beyond it.

  Chapter 13

  The winged guards holding me flew through a broad double-doorway at an upper level of the building. They streaked through a corridor, taking a couple of turns at bone-jarring speeds, and then dove through another door, this one in the stone floor itself.

  Our abductors swerved to the side and abruptly let us go without slowing. As I fell almost ten feet, I saw them both race back through the hole in the ceiling, and they were gone.

  A fiery pain arced through my ribs. The sudden stop, thanks to the stone floor, knocked the breath from my lungs, forcing me to gasp for air. I looked around frantically, seeking help, but then my breath caught, ragged at first, but soon I was breathing normally. As normally as I could at least, given my likely cracked ribs and the sensation of icepicks jammed into my shoulder sockets.

  River landed with a thump beside me, and his abductors fled through the same ceiling hole as the others, leaving him lying motionless on the floor.

  I scrambled on hands and knees to his side, ignoring the pain radiating from my shoulders and ribs. Pushing him gently didn’t work, so I resorted to screaming his name which caused him to stir

  Relief flooded through me as he opened his eyes.

  In the distance, I could still hear Opal screaming, but she was not brought into the same cell as us. Her shrieks had gone from fear to full-on abuse. She was far enough away that I couldn’t catch every word that she said, but I heard enough to get the gist of it. She wasn’t happy. Go figure! As well as the trap door in the ceiling that the winged guards had flown us through, there was a barred entrance on ground level. Bars stretched from floor to ceiling and beyond stood another winged guard who had his back to us.

  After making sure River was conscious, I got to my feet and headed to the bars. “What have you done with my friend? She’s hurt. One of your people knocked her unconscious.”

  The guard didn’t bother to turn around. It was blatantly obvious by the obscenities filling the air that Opal was no longer unconscious.

  It suddenly went quiet as Opal stopped screaming. Movement to my right took my attention away from the guard to the hole in the ceiling. The sudden silence as Opal had quietened down had me on edge, wondering if they’d knocked her unconscious again, but as I strained to hear, a unicorn with silvery hair and a pink and purple mane was hauled through the hole by four of the winged people. They let her go and flew off through the hole they’d come from. Opal, in her unicorn form, landed on her hooves, legs pumping, and lunged into a gallop with her head down, horn extending in front of her. It glowed brightly. My first thought was that Opal was going to try to sk
ewer the guard through the bars, but no, she was aiming for the door. The thought struck me with dawning horror. What exactly did she plan on doing after that? The place looked to be swarming with guards.

  In a blur of motion, Opal lunged forward at the same time as the guard turned and opened the cell. A glint and clank preceded my realization that he was carrying manacles, chained ones…

  Opal didn't stand a chance in the confines of the room we were in. The huge guard collided with her, and in the tumble of arms and legs, the sound of locks clicking closed echoed loudly in my ears.

  River pulled himself into a corner as the two fought. Blu and Ivy were nowhere in sight. Hopefully, they were hiding in River’s pockets rather than squashed as he fell. Opal and the guard crashed to the floor, the guard’s arms around Opal’s neck. I was standing right next to the open cell door. It would have been easy for me to escape. If River was quick, he would too, but I couldn’t leave Opal like this. Despite her size and strength, the brute of a guard was giving her a hard time.

  From the corner of my eye came a blur of movement. A terrible force whipped me around, and an arm like a vice clamped around my neck. An instant later, I was slammed back into a smooth stone wall, knocking the breath from me and sending fire shooting through already painful ribs.

  I blinked twice and found myself staring into the eyes of a winged-male guard, his arm pinning me to him. His eyes were gray, flecked with specks of gold, but his iris wasn't round. Rather, it was vertical, like a serpent's. I found myself staring into those eyes—and gave up all hope. I awaited my death at his hands when he decided to tear my throat out.

  Half a second later, a deep voice barked, “As you were. Stand down, guards.”

  The unblinking eyes of my assailant bored into me, but after a brief pause, the pressure around my throat and neck slackened, allowing me to gasp for air. When he let go and stepped back, I doubled over to my hands and knees and sucked in sweet, sweet air—never mind the smell; it was the best air I'd ever breathed.