The Unicorn Quest

by J. A. Armitage

  River, who had been watching the prince and the queen with a respectful silence, nodded in agreement. “That's true, they have half of what they need, but they have only half--the easier half, mind you. We still stand every chance of stopping them.”

  I smiled for the first time since arriving. “We must secure only one to bring their plan to ruin… after we find Jet, of course.”

  “Yes, even though we don't know what their end-game may be.” River kept his eyes on the queen, and I imagined I could feel him willing the queen to agree.

  After a long moment, Linara's shoulders drew back from their hunched, tense posture, and she held her head a little higher.

  Linara said, “Very well. There is little I can do personally, but I assure you, I will provide you with every advantage, every resource my kingdom can muster. Whatever you need, it is yours. James must go with you, however. Our ancestors won't rest easy until one of our bloodline resolves the threat we allowed to fester under our very noses. James doesn't have much faith in the old ways, but that is ever the curse of the young. With age comes wisdom, or so they say, and one thing I've learned is this—there are far too many impossible coincidences in this world for us to ignore the hands of the gods aiding us in our need.”

  We all sat in silence as we processed everything. We had one ruby pendant, with another down in the vault beneath the palace. Ateris had two more and possibly the Diamond key and Jet along with it. As far as we knew, he didn’t have the pendant that sat below us in the palace vault, nor had he started looking for the pendants that made up the sapphire key. But he would go looking for them.

  “I need to clear my head,” Kaida said, getting up and slapping her thighs “I'm going to take wing for a while. I do my best thinking with my head actually in the clouds.”

  “Okay,” Opal replied, looking at me and River. “I’m going to make sure the unicorns are okay.” She gave a sly glance toward James. “James would you come with me?”

  “Actually, wait there. I have something for you.” James left the room just behind Kaida, but unlike her, he returned a couple of minutes later.

  He held his hand up to Opal, and for a second, I thought he was brushing her hair back from her shoulders. From where I was sitting, the strange gesture looked awfully intimate, but when he pulled back, something glistened on Opal’s neck. It was the ruby pendant. She barely looked down. She was too busy gazing adoringly into James’ eyes.

  River slid his hand into mine. “Wanna go for a walk and leave these two alone?” he whispered.

  My belly tingled at his touch, butterflies running rampant in my stomach. I found myself smiling as I looked into his eyes and I thought I might be sucked into them like a vortex if I weren't careful. I nodded yes to his question.

  He took my hand, and together, we made our way into the gardens. I took him to the north garden, far away from the stables, just in case Opal and James ended up there. They deserved their alone time as much as I craved mine with River.

  In the distance, a couple of the Anorian guards flew around, no doubt doing their job.

  “Tell me more about your childhood,” I began as we strolled hand in hand along the beautiful lawns. Now that I’d gotten to know the truth about him, I wanted to know all of it, the good, the bad, and the heartbreakingly painful. I wanted him to know that he never had to hide his past from me again.

  “I survived by hunting wolves and other creatures in the woods at the edge of Anchor. No one ever taught me to hunt. It was something I figured out myself. My father might have shown me the basics once, but he was usually too drunk to show me much else. We ate the meat and sold the pelts. For a long time, people thought it was my mother that did the hunting. She didn’t broadcast the fact she was a witch, but people suspected. I was happy to let them continue thinking it was her long after she was gone. She had a colorful reputation because let's face it, anyone who could have stayed with my father had to have been as tough as he was to handle him. People didn't mess with me for fear of whatever perceived retribution she would bring down on them. And the longer it had been since anyone actually saw her, the more cautious people became.”

  “At least, that worked out in your favor,” I replied and sighed. He’d been through so much, and I had judged him harshly without ever getting to know him.

  “Yeah…” His voice trailed off, and he took on a faraway look. His tone made it pretty clear to me that he didn't fully agree. He continued, “In some ways, it might have worked in my favor. At least, it made it possible for me to raise myself without being shipped off to the orphan farm.”

  I squeezed his hand in mine gently. “In others, though, it stripped you of a normal childhood. Or any kind of childhood. Not that you had one of those, growing up with the father you were saddled with…”

  Abruptly, I became aware that he was leaning in toward me, his face edging closer to mine. My lips and cheeks tingled in anticipation.

  His eyes flared wide, and he jerked back from me, glaring at something in the air over my shoulder. I found myself spinning to see what had surprised him so.

  At first, I saw nothing to explain it. Then I saw, up above, a mighty dragon diving at the speed of a hawk, streaking directly toward us. “Kaida!”

  “She looks like she has something important to say.”

  I watched as Kaida approached, but she didn’t slow down as she normally would when coming in to land. She was flying way too fast. My rising adrenaline exaggerated the closing distance effect as Kaida appeared to grow larger, the closer she got, until she seemed to take up the whole sky. I cried out, a high-pitched squeak, and turned to dive out of the way—but I was too late.

  Kaida's wings shot out at the last moment, arresting her fall, but she still had enough momentum to bowl me over. She landed straddling me, pinning me to the ground with heavy dragon muscle. She reached a long, talon to my neck.

  River charged into Kaida, shoulder-first. His voice seemed far away as he shouted at Kaida to get off me, but the dragon's strength and mass were too much for him. He bounced off her, landing on the grass with a thud, and I could hear him gasp for air as the impact knocked the wind out of him.

  Kaida bared her fangs, and I could smell her sooty dragon breath, feeling it burn my eyes. What was wrong with her? Kaida grasped the pendant around my neck, hooking it with her talon, and pulled at it. I closed my burning eyes as my neck became restricted with the force of Kaida pulling at my chain. The chain snapped, and then the weight atop me vanished. After a moment, I opened one eye cautiously.

  Kaida was already thirty feet or more into the air, wings beating furiously. I pulled myself into a sitting position as she flew away over the city.

  She had the pendant. Opal had the other. I had to warn her, had to stop Kaida before she got the last piece of the Ruby key.

  I leapt to my feet and sprinted toward the door in the castle wall behind the pagoda, leaving River gasping as he struggled to his knees. I didn't even look back.

  Chapter 26

  Once out in the street, I looked to the skies. Kaida was headed somewhere in the city. I took off down the cobbled street, River racing to catch up with me as I fought to keep up with Kaida.

  From behind, River shouted, “Where is she going?”

  I saw her in the distance, her bright red body easy to spot in the early afternoon light. She was flying to the denser part of the city, the city center.

  Why wasn't she just leaving? The answer was obvious, of course. She was meeting someone within the city. That gave us a chance. If we could catch up, interrupt Kaida and whomever she was planning to meet…

  Without answering River, I put my head down and pumped my arms and legs as hard as I could, following Kaida's twisting, winding path through the city and dodging startled Anorians.

  I rounded a corner, and the university's large central dome swung into view. Hovering above it, was Kaida.

  I vaulted over one of the low, small-wheeled wagons the Anorians used to drive goods back and
forth within the city, nearly getting my feet entangled within its harness sprawled across the cobblestones. I kept my feet under me somehow, and kept going, running across an intersection and then over the terraced university garden. Around the surprised and angry gardeners who were busy keeping the university looking nice. I didn’t have time for nice. I’d apologize later, I thought as I raced across a flowerbed, squashing pretty pink and yellow flowers as I ran. As I ran through the main doors of the university and looked for the way up, River caught up and pointed to a stairwell. We dashed up the narrow stairway that spiraled up through the university and ended at a door marked Fire Exit. Opening the door, I found we’d come to the roof. A quick look around told me the central dome was behind us. In front, only the flat roof and hovering above it at the far end, Kaida.

  “There!”

  Kaida was descending, landing on a roof two small buildings over and not the university roof as I had thought.

  “Firefae!” I muttered. “We’ll have to turn around and find out which building to climb up.”

  “Not yet,” River said, gripping my hand. He pulled me into a run, racing to the edge of the building. My legs screamed in pain at the pace we were traveling, but when I saw what he intended to do, I pushed my muscles harder still.

  We vaulted from the main university building, over a narrow alleyway to the next roof over. Terror filled my mind as I spotted the ground five floors below us, but I pushed it down as we geared up to repeat the process to the next building. Thankfully, all the university buildings were built closely together, probably to keep things as cheap as possible. I closed my eyes as we sailed over the next alleyway and landed in a crunch. After getting my breath back, River pulled me to my feet.

  “You ok?” he mouthed.

  I nodded, even though I was far from it. Kaida had betrayed us. I would never have believed it of her. It hurt more than I cared to admit. We were supposed to be a team. We rounded a chimneystack and spotted Kaida. I skidded to a halt, nearly falling over and landing on my face in the process, Ten feet away, Kaida crouched in human form, completely naked, tears streaming from her eyes. She had her arms wrapped around none other than Jet, cradling him. She was saying his name, over and over again. He didn’t move, didn’t speak, but I could see by the rise and fall of his chest that he was breathing.

  She heard my shocked intake of breath and looked my way. Her face was soaked with tears and snot, and I could see she was shivering without her clothes. River pulled off his jacket and threw it at her.

  "I'm so sorry, Freya. Please, you have to believe me," she said as she pulled away from Jet and covered herself with River’s jacket.

  I stood panting for air, my eyes narrowed at Kaida.

  “Where’s the pendant, Kaida?” I said, holding my hand out to her. “Who are you working with?”

  Kaida squeezed her eyes shut, welling up tears that spilled down over her cheeks, and firmly planted one damp cheek against the top of Jet's head. “It's not like that. You don't understand—”

  “So help me understand,” I said, lowering my hand when it became clear I wasn’t going to get the pendant back.

  The dragon opened her red-rimmed eyes. “I flew up before, just to clear my head. I wasn’t lying to you.”

  “I remember,” I replied.

  “While I was up here, I spotted Ateris on this rooftop. I flew at him, intent on attacking him, but he said he wasn't stupid enough to have the pendant on him. What he did have with him was Jet, bound and sitting up against that very bulkhead behind you, with his dagger against his… against Jet's throat.”

  Kaida shook her head, still clinging to Jet with clear desperation. “He told me he would kill Jet if I didn’t get the pendant.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me instead of barreling me to the ground and ripping it from my neck?”

  “He gave me ten minutes. He said if I took any longer, I’d get back to find Jet’s dead body. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “What did Ateris do to Jet? Why isn’t he opening his eyes?”

  Kaida wailed. “I don’t know. He isn’t dead. He’s warm, and he’s breathing, but he won’t wake up. Ateris took the pendant.”

  Movement from the corner of my eye had me spinning around. There stood Ateris, frowning. “Both of the pendants, actually. I have this one,” he said, holding up the one Kaida had stolen from me long enough for us to see it before tucking it back into his shirt. “But where is the second one?”

  I had already drawn my blade, half on reflex, but Ateris ignored the threat I posed. I eyed him warily. What did that feeble old man have, what advantage was I ignorant of, that he looked so confident?

  River said, “What second one?”

  Ateris laughed. “I know your shifter unicorn friend has one too. You think you came up here to get to your dragon friend, but you came up here to be my bait.”

  Ateris raised one index finger and looked at Kaida. He moved his finger in a swirling motion like he was stirring some invisible drink. At the same time, Kaida spun suddenly, like a top, and shrieked. When she topped spinning a moment later, ropes of golden light appeared around her, binding her tightly. “Can't have you flying away, dear.”

  He turned to River and me, and his kindly expression transformed into something else. Something malignant and cold. “Please, don't give me trouble. I don't need either of you alive to get what I want, not since I have the unicorn's brother. I will trade his life for the pendant. I’m only keeping you alive to really make sure the unicorn knows what I’m capable of.”

  My eyebrows furrowed as my lip curled back into a snarl, but before I could launch myself at him, a force like an invisible fist slammed into me from above, driving me to my knees. I gasped in pain as my sword flew away to skitter over the roof's ledge.

  The weight that had forced me down still remained, effectively pinning me to the roof with the same magical bonds that held Kaida.

  I watched in horror as he turned, still grinning, to face River. “Your turn, young man. But I don't really need you, do I? Have a nice trip.”

  “Oh yeah? Where do you think I'm going?”

  Ateris didn't reply. He raised his hand and flicked his wrist; River jerked like he'd been tied to a startled horse, and flew up and away in a high arc.

  An arc that would take him far off the roof ledge.

  I screamed and, despite the weight pinning me, raised one hand out to him as though I could stop his coming death by sheer willpower. But of course, I could not. He continued flying away, now curled into a ball, but unlike Kaida, River had no wings.

  In horror, I watched as his momentum faltered, and he began to fall. I heard my own voice cry out his name, and was almost shocked to hear the panic, the primitive agony, that rang clear in my voice.

  Just before he vanished over the ledge, the curled-up River flung out both arms and legs, and instantly, he stopped spinning—and he stopped falling. A golden-hued translucent glow surrounded him, shining brightly from his eyes, and his hair stood straight up like he'd been hit by lightning. Golden wisps of magic issued from the corners of his eyes.

  River hovered in the open space, nothing beneath him. Then, he glided forward, back over the roof, slowly drifting toward Ateris. The university director looked as startled as I felt.

  “No.” River's one word rang with finality. He drew both fists back, and the bright eye-glow became mirrored by a new bright light surrounding his hands. When he thrust both fists toward Ateris, the balls of blinding golden light didn't stop when his hands did. They streaked toward Ateris; a lavender lightning bolt arced between the two light balls.

  Ateris shrieked as he ducked, covering his head with his arms. River's balls of light collided with the traitor and flared outward brilliantly before disappearing, leaving behind an obscuring cloud of debris and dust where Ateris had stood a moment before.

  I looked back at River, eyes wide. He could use magic… Of course, he could. His mother was a high witch.

&nb
sp; But River's glow stuttered, then faded almost to nothing, and he drifted lazily toward the rooftop ten feet below him. When he landed, he came to his hands and knees, panting.

  I rushed to him, thankful to be able to move again. Whatever he'd done, it had taken a lot out of him. He'd saved himself and everyone else, but I had to wonder, at what cost to himself? I skidded to a halt at his side and wrapped my arm around his waist, trying to help support him.

  “You saved us. We have to get the pendant. Are you strong enough to stand?”

  River nodded. His face was pale and clammy, but even as I watched, the color returned to his cheeks. “Yes, I'll be fine. Just… I need a moment, that's all.”

  He looked up at me and smiled. “That was pretty amazing huh? I’ve never done that before. I didn’t even know I could until I did. Let's… Let's go see if he had either of the pendants on him, after all. If there's anything left of him.”

  He sounded stronger by the end of the sentence than he had at its beginning, and relief flooded through me.

  We turned to where Ateris had been demolished. I froze at the same moment. Ateris stood in the same spot he'd been in, facing us with his arms folded across his chest, withered old face rigid with anger. Around him, a green aura shone faintly, casting a putrid ambiance over every flat surface nearby.

  “You did not truly think that child's spell would overcome the director of the university, did you? Pah.” He turned his head and spat.

  I growled. “Actually, yeah. It looked pretty effective to me. Bet it hurt.”

  Ateris casually brushed dirt from his shoulder with one hand. “A little. Let me show you what real pain feels like.”

  He nodded his head at us both, nothing more. With an audible pop, a translucent shadow in the shape of some nightmare monster's face appeared between us. It roared, though no sound emitted, then sprinted for us, thin tendrils, crackling with visible electricity like lightning, spewed from its mouth as it streaked toward us.