But this is what I came here to do. I cannot let this opportunity pass. I must try.
I took three deep breaths, and then once again shifted my feet. The unicorn didn’t even flinch. Keeping my eyes fixed on the creature, I slipped the two hares from my shoulder and raised my spear. Still, the unicorn remained unperturbed. I pulled my arm back, preparing to throw. My muscles tensed. Sweat dripped down my forehead and into my eyes. I knew what needed to be done, but my body wouldn’t respond. I can’t do this.
Something stung my neck and I flinched, dropping my spear to the ground. I hissed, slapped my palm to the stinging pain, and felt something wet and warm dripping from my neck. I turned and saw an arrow protruding from the tree behind me. Before I could fully turn around, I felt the sharp tip of something press against the other side of my neck. Without moving my head, I looked out the corner of my eye and saw a blurry figure standing next to me.
“Who are you?” an angry voice demanded.
I slowly raised my hands, opening my palms in surrender as I carefully shifted to face my opponent. My eyes widened as I found myself confronted by a young woman. She was at least a head shorter than me with fierce, dark eyes and wild, brown tangles of hair escaping the hood of her cloak. She had a bow over her shoulder and a knife just inches from my neck.
“I said who are you?” She leaned forward until the tip of the knife was once again against my skin. Girl or no, she was serious.
“T…Teryn.” I tried to move my head as little as possible as I formed my words.
“Who do you work for?”
“No one!”
“You lie. Who sent you here to hunt the unicorns?”
My words were getting increasingly more difficult to find. “Um…Mareleau.”
She cocked her head. “So, why did this Mareleau send you to hunt them?”
“It’s just…it’s what she chose as the object of the Quest. She demanded one horn, one pelt, and one pet.” I tried to keep my voice from shaking, but at that point, every part of me was quivering.
I felt the tip of her knife draw back slightly, giving me a chance to let out a deep breath as the girl’s face twisted with confusion. “Who is Mareleau? Where does she come from? Why do you work for her?”
“Mareleau, Princess of Sele,” I said in a rush. “I’m competing for her hand. To win I must complete her Quest.”
“Who did you say you were?”
“Teryn. Prince Teryn. Of Mena.”
The girl’s eyes widened for a moment and I thought I saw the faintest hint of a smile twitch at the corners of her lips. She lowered her knife a few inches and eyed me from head to toe. I eyed her back, trying my best to steady my ragged breathing. Before I could consider relaxing, she thrust the tip of her knife right back under my chin. “You tried to kill my friend, you idiot!”
“I would never try to kill your friend, honestly. I wouldn’t kill anyone…”
“Then what exactly were you attempting to do with that spear? Tickle him with it?” She nodded in the direction where the unicorn had stood.
“No. Well, at first I…but I couldn’t, and…Wait. Your friend? The unicorn?”
She raised an eyebrow. “You really have no idea what you are doing, do you?”
“Not really.” I attempted a shaky smile.
The girl sighed and rolled her eyes. “You’re in way over your head. Go home, little boy.”
Little boy? I’m certainly older than she! However, the weapon in her hands made her impossible to argue with. Before I could say a word more, she lifted her leg and sent her foot to my gut, making me stumble back and fall against the tree behind me. My vision swam as I heaved forward, grasping my stomach.
“If you ever come near a unicorn again, I will kill you. I will not spare your life twice.” She now stood a good twenty paces away.
My mouth hung open with the realization that I had been bested by a girl. “How will I finish the Quest?” I muttered to myself, realizing too late that I had said the words out loud.
“I don’t care,” she said with a sneer. The girl turned to leave, but then paused. Before I knew what was happening, she removed her bow from her shoulder, nocked an arrow, and sent it soaring straight at me. I shuddered as it struck the tree directly above my head. The tree was now riddled with two arrows that had nearly been the death of me. “And don’t follow me.”
My breath came out in ragged gasps. “Good aim.”
“How do you know I didn’t miss?” The girl eyed me with one final glare, and then stormed away, leaving me to stew in my humiliation.
13
Bloodshed
Cora
“Why did you put yourself in danger like that? Why did you let him see you?” I asked Valorre as we left the boy at the tree.
He was harmless.
“You sure have a strange concept of harm then. He had a spear raised at you! He could have hurt you. I wouldn’t have let him, of course.”
He wasn’t going to throw it.
“You’re not the least bit bothered by the possibility? How do you know he wasn’t going to throw it?”
Same way I know you would never hurt me. I know danger. I know darkness. The boy was neither. Just confused.
“Stupid is more like it,” I mumbled. “What a fool. He’s going to get himself killed, gallivanting around like a unicorn hunter. Gringe and Jarrod would have that boy for breakfast if he got in their way!”
And you? What would they do to you?
“I’m careful, Valorre. Besides, I’ve got a mission. A good mission.” A failing mission, I did not add. I was still reeling from the shock of learning I’d missed my opportunity to save two of the unicorns. When I arrived at the hunters’ camp earlier that morning, I found only one cage occupied. From what I’d learned, Nym and Arrin had killed and dehorned the two weakest unicorns while I was busy following Gringe and Jarod. I had to formulate a plan, and quickly. The remaining unicorn was growing weaker.
You’ll think of something, Valorre said.
I nodded, and hoped he was right.
My mind wandered as we made our way through the sun-speckled forest, and again I thought about the boy and what he had said. “I can’t believe that spoiled little princess has demanded unicorns in exchange for her hand. And even more unbelievable is the prince’s pathetic willingness to please her! What is wrong with these people? Is that normal behavior for royalty these days? Yet, who am I to talk? I’m supposed to be dead, but here I am, traipsing through the woods like a wild woman, talking to a unicorn.”
Valorre rippled with something like laughter. The boy agitates you. Or interests you.
I blushed, wondering if Valorre could sense my embarrassment. “It’s just the first time I’ve met someone like me—like who I used to be—in a very long time. It was kind of exciting.”
I thought back to nearly-forgotten moments of my childhood; I could vaguely recall the names Teryn and Mareleau. I could almost remember their young faces from the royal festivals I’d seen them at. The face I’d confronted with an arrow revealed just how much time had passed since then. We were all just kids last time I saw them! Now the snotty little blonde and the haughty little boy are grown and practically engaged.
I felt a hollow sinking in my gut. That life was not for me to think about anymore. I shook the memories, the thoughts, and the prince’s face from my mind, focusing instead on the task at hand.
* * *
Teryn
The sun was beginning to set by the time I made my way back to our horses. Lex ran to me, eyes wide as they fell upon the wound on my neck. I looked beyond him and saw that Helios had already returned and was roasting something over a fire.
“He wouldn’t go look for you,” Lex whispered, nodding toward Helios. “I’ve been so worried. What happened?”
I shook my head, not wanting to talk until I was seated. I stumbled over to the fire and sank down, putting my head in my hands.
“Where have you been?” Helios sounded more en
tertained than concerned.
I lifted my eyes to meet his, my head pounding. “Checking traps. Hare.” My voice came out raw and weak.
“Where is it then?” His eyes flickered to my neck, smirking. “Did it do that to you? You know you’re supposed to kill it first, right?”
My face flushed as I realized I’d forgotten to retrieve the hares I dropped during the unicorn fiasco. I opened my mouth but couldn’t find the words to defend myself.
Lex sat next to me and offered me a skin of water, which I gratefully accepted.
“You better pull yourself together,” Helios said. “We have a big day tomorrow.”
“What’s the plan?” I asked.
“I followed the unicorn’s trail. Didn’t find it. It’s likely been captured, as I saw what seemed to be human footprints near it. However, it did lead me to the hunters we’ve been tracking.”
I was about to mention my encounter with the unicorn and the angry girl, but stopped myself. There was no way I was going to reveal the humiliating details of that event. Besides, it felt good to know something Helios didn’t.
Helios continued, “I was able to watch their camp and gather some information. And the best part? They have a unicorn.” Silence followed as I stared blankly back at him. “Did you idiots hear me? They have a unicorn.”
I let out a sound of mock awe. The truth was, after my encounter with the girl, I wasn’t sure I wanted to see another unicorn ever again. In fact, the Quest was seeming more insane than ever.
“Tomorrow we claim our first prize for Mareleau.” Helios wore his deepest grin. Even Lex was smiling. But all I could hear were the girl’s words: If you ever come near a unicorn again, I will kill you.
* * *
The next morning we rose early and followed Helios to the hunters’ camp. My muscles tensed with every step I took, yet I couldn’t bring myself to turn back.
“You say you know how to fight,” Helios said, interrupting my thoughts as Lex and I walked behind him along a narrow trail.
Lex and I exchanged a wary glance. “Yeah. So?” I said.
“Here’s your chance to prove it. If my observations were correct, when we arrive at the camp, you will see two armed guards. The two of you will kill the guards while I get the unicorn. Got it?”
My heart began to race. “Wait, what? You never said we were going to kill anyone.”
“How else do you expect to invade their camp?”
“I don’t expect to! We’re just following your plan without any say in the matter!”
Helios stopped walking and brought his face close to mine. “That’s because my plan is the only one that will work, remember? You can do what I say, or you can go home. In fact, do me a favor and quit. Both of you. Leave Mareleau to me.”
The look in his eyes when he said her name made my stomach churn. My imagination was quick to conjure up a flood of unwanted images. I ground my teeth. “I’ll do it.” I looked over at Lex, whose face had gone pale. “Just let Lex get the unicorn. Please.”
Helios sneered at Lex. “Yeah. I figured he wouldn’t have it in him, anyway.”
When Helios turned his back to us, Lex released a deep breath, and whispered his thanks.
Outside the hunters’ camp, Helios silently communicated our instructions, pointing out a target for each of us. I was to take on the guard at the left side of the camp, Helios was to take on the right, and Lex was to free the unicorn. Helios held up his hand and we prepared for invasion. Helios and I unsheathed our swords. Lex balled his fists and went a shade paler.
Helios gave the signal, and we were off, storming the camp with a blur of swords, shouts, and curses. The surprised young guard I confronted fumbled to nock an arrow into his bow as I approached him. My sword was at his neck before he could succeed. The guard dropped his bow and raised his arms in surrender. Our eyes met yet I remained still, unable to move my sword.
“What are you doing?” I heard Helios say behind me. From the silence in the camp, I could tell he’d already killed his target. “Kill him!”
I knew how to fight, but this wasn’t fighting. This was slaughter.
“I knew it. You can’t do it. Pathetic. I won’t do it for you.”
The guard at the end of my sword raised an eyebrow and looked from me to Helios and back again. I could see his breath begin to calm as his arms ceased their shaking. His upraised hands slowly began to lower. I watched as the fingers of his right hand twitched, and my eyes flashed to the sword at his hip. His hand moved, firmly closing around the hilt of his sword just as I plunged my blade into his chest. As he sank to his knees, I kicked his torso to free my sword and watched as he slid to the ground in a heap of blood.
I dropped my sword at my feet and turned, glaring at Helios’ triumphant face. My blood boiled, and my shoulders tensed as I opened and closed the shaking hand that had just ended an innocent life.
“I knew this would be fun.” Helios grinned from ear to ear as he wiped the blood from his sword.
“I need help.” Lex’s voice distracted me from the hatred and disgust that burned my veins. I brushed past Helios and went to Lex, who fumbled with a set of keys at the unicorn’s cage. His hands shook so badly, it was impossible for him to find the correct one.
“Step aside,” Helios growled, nearly knocking me over as he pushed his way forward. He snatched the keys from Lex’s hand and quickly found the correct key.
I looked to the creature lying within the cage, thin and miserable and nothing like the majestic white unicorn I’d seen the day before. Still, my feelings for it were the same; I did not want it to die.
“What are you going to do with it?” I asked as Helios wrenched open the door.
“You know what needs to be done. We need a horn, a pelt, and a pet.”
“Then let’s take this one as Mareleau’s pet.”
“This pathetic thing? It’s half-dead already. She wouldn’t want it as her pet. Besides, we can’t capture the live unicorn until we are ready to return to Verlot. How would we be able to continue the Quest with a unicorn in tow?”
“Fine. Take its horn and let’s go.”
Helios’ lips curled into a devious smile. “If you insist.” He entered the cage and knelt next to the unicorn. He placed the unicorn’s weak head in his lap, an almost tender gesture as he unsheathed his dagger. The unicorn remained limp, blinking slowly at Helios.
“This won’t hurt, will it?” Lex asked.
“Oh, it most certainly will. You should probably turn around.” Helios raised his dagger.
“I said to just take its horn!” I shouted.
“I am.” And with that, Helios swung his dagger down into the unicorn’s skull.
Bile rose into my throat as Helios tightened his arm around the unicorn’s neck. The creature bared its teeth as it uttered a guttural sound. Blood poured from the base of his horn. “Helios, stop!” I shouted, yet he paid me no heed. I turned my head and closed my eyes.
“Don’t you know how to dehorn a unicorn?” Helios’ deranged voice was almost drowned by the tortured sound of the protesting creature. “You have to cut the horn from its head when it is still alive. Or else the horn’s power fades and it eventually turns to dust.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” I said over my shoulder. “That’s not a minor detail. I would have forfeited if I knew!”
Helios laughed. Once the unicorn was silent, I gathered the nerve to turn around. I looked over at Lex who stood trembling, a hand braced on one of the other cages and his head hanging low. I brought my eyes to meet Helios as he stood in front of the now hornless unicorn, flourishing the bloody horn in his hand.
“I didn’t tell you, because I knew you would find it distasteful.”
“Why would you care? Why wouldn’t you want to discourage me in whatever way possible?”
“I thought the two of you were going to be useful to me. I thought I could use you to help me acquire the three gifts. Now that I see you are completely useless, I can kill
you now instead of later.” Keeping the horn in his left hand, he unsheathed his still-bloody sword with his right. “Who wants to die first?”
I was too shocked to move, too terrified to fight. “Please, Helios, just let us go. You’ve won. I forfeit.”
“I can’t risk letting you go.” Helios took a step toward me.
I reached for my sword and found my scabbard empty. With a curse, I looked across the camp where I’d left it after killing the guard. I darted for it as fast as I could, and gathered it into my shaking hands.
I turned to face Helios, who hadn’t even moved. He wants a fight, I realized as he started toward me. My heart pounded; my whole body shuddered from the force of it. My knees trembled, and my feet rocked on the ground below me.
Then I realized it was the ground below me.
Helios froze mid step, and the three of us looked around. The entire camp was rumbling.
I threw myself to the ground just as a giant, blood-red abomination of a creature with a spiked mane of white horns pounded into the camp. I scrambled backward, but it paid me no heed. Its beady eyes were fixed on nothing but Helios. In the blink of an eye, it was upon him. The creature opened its giant, salivating maw and closed it over the upper half of Helios’ body. I heard Helios scream as the creature pulled him further and further into its mouth. Blood poured over the creature’s lips and dripped to the ground below. In a matter of moments, the screaming ceased; Helios was gone. The creature shook its body from mane to tail.
I remained frozen at the edge of the camp as the creature looked around, sniffing the air and nosing a few things to the side. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lex cowering by one of the cages. Then, just as quickly as it had come, the creature pounded away. I waited until the ground was steady before I scrambled over to Lex, pulling him to his feet.
“What was that?” I wondered aloud.
“The question is, who are you?” I spun around, and saw two angry hunters enter the camp.
Shadows of Lela Page 9
