Wednesday Briefs: Unicorn Quests Chapter 23

Tinn’il took one look at the mist and withdrew inside my cloak. I glanced over my shoulder. “Londe?” His horn was glimmering, but he was calm.

“I don’t sense anything.”

Anything evil, he meant.

“Are we going in there, Papa?” Colete asked. She was leaning on Londe. He hung his head over her healing withers, gently nosing her cheek.

“We have to, Tera says. This is the way to Tinn’il’s family.” I didn’t want to take my family through the mist, but I couldn’t leave them behind unprotected either.

“I keep telling you I’m not your enemy,” Tera said. She pushed her hair out of her face, frowning at us.

“So you say.” Londe eyed her. “A person who was friendly might have tried speaking with me before they stole a Being under my care.”

“I didn’t steal him!” She shoved her fists on top of her hips and faced Londe. “I was rescuing him.”

“From the Beings who had already rescued him from the ones who actually kidnapped and might have hurt him. He hasn’t been able to tell us, but no young that age should be away from their family, so we were trying to find them. Because we care. Because we don’t harm other Beings. Did you really think we were doing something evil to him?”

“I couldn’t take the risk.” She glanced at me.

“Enough.” I slashed my hand through the air. “I’m tired of going over this. We’re taking Tinn’il home.” Through a mysterious mist, apparently. “Let’s go.” I raised my eyebrow at Tera. “After you, of course.”

She sighed, letting her arms drop to her sides. Exasperation that I wouldn’t let her continue to try and defend her actions? That I kept Tinn’il away from her? That I forced her to go ahead of me? That she couldn’t use her magic on us unaware?

Nope. Didn’t care what her frustration was for, as long as she did what I said.

Mist should be cold.

This was warm. It curled in tendrils around my legs and arms as soon as I stepped onto the trail by the lake.

‘Wasn’t the mist on the end of the trail?’ Londe asked me, sending the question mentally.

‘Yes, and it shouldn’t be warm.’

“Is this your magic?” I asked Tera.

“No. This is not mine. My magic is fire.” Her hair was curling about her face and she looked distinctly uncomfortable, her arms folded inside her cloak. Maybe her discomfit was more about the mist and her magic than us. The tendrils curled around her legs and then up her body, obscuring her just a few steps ahead of me.

Then she disappeared.

“Tera?”

She didn’t reply.

The mist had grown into a solid wall. I spun, looking for my family. They were gone too. “Marces? Colete! Londe?” I sent out the call mentally as well, but there was no answer. What was this? My breath sped, and my hands shook. I wanted to draw a weapon, but what could I use against mist?

This was magic. It had taken my family.

I touched my side, but Tinn’il was still huddled inside my cloak. Damn it. All I wanted to do was take the poor young home, but I’d put my family at risk yet again. My stomach roiled.

“You may pass, protector.”

“Who said that?” I spun again, looking for the source of the voice that chimed around me. It seemed to come from all directions at once, the fog distorting the sound and masking the speaker.

I took a step, and the warm moisture clinging to me and obscuring my vision abruptly disappeared. There was Tera, standing beside the lake with both hands up facing my mate who had both our young behind him. Londe was pawing the ground, his horn glowing and lowered to point straight at her chest.

“Where is he?” Londe thundered.

He could be so forceful. Love and regret washed over me. “I’m here.”

Londe whipped his head toward me. “What happened to you? Where did you go?”

“Nowhere. The mist just got really thick. You disappeared.”

“No we didn’t. You did.”

“It was the magic. It was verifying your intentions. Judging your—”

“Soul?” I interrupted. I scoffed, turning away. “Whatever. Another thing you didn’t tell us, obviously. Let’s go.” I wanted to be done with this and away from this devious witch.

I stroked Marces and Colete’s mane’s, and Tinn’il came out to touch noses with them. They would miss the little guy.

Just beyond the lake was a flower covered mound. Furry Beings popped out of the ground. They were both like and unlike Tinn’il. Two rushed me who had his face, but their bodies were much larger. They stood upright and reached my chest where the locus was vibrating in excitement.

“Tinn’il!”

“My son!”

“Daddy!” Tinn’il squeaked when his father grabbed him. He nuzzled the female. “Mama.”

The chittering and squeaks were incomprehensible, to me at least. I back to my family, leaning against Londe’s shoulder. Marces and Colete both close, and I stroked them, remembering that moment when we’d been reunited. The relief had been indescribable.

I gazed around us. There were some little ones scampering around the adults looking on. None were as small as Tinn’il, though.

Just how young was he?

Tinn was holding Tinn’il. His little ears were sticking right up, and his father never stopped crooning. Serai finally looked away, though her hand stayed on Tinn’il’s back, stroking him. “Thank you for rescuing our son.”

“I’m just glad I could help.”

“The mist passed you, so your intentions were truly to only help him, and us. Do you know how rare that is?” Serai asked.

I shrugged. “He’s a young. Young should be protected at all costs.”

“Even if his magic could restore yours?” Tera asked. “I can sense it’s broken. You’re supposed to be a unicorn.”

“I would never steal magic from a child,” I refuted, aghast.

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Carol Pedroso

Julie Lynn Hayes

Wednesday Briefs: Unicorn Quests Chapter 22

“Oh, thank the spirits. You found him, Tera!”

“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!” The locus poked his head out of my cloak, and his eyes couldn’t be any bigger. Those ears were unrolled and standing up straight, quivering.

“Who are you? What have you done with our son? If you harm him, nothing will save you from a torturous existence before a gruesome death,” a female hissed.

Their faces were larger versions of the little Being’s in my arms, the female’s features leaner with a sharp chin. I couldn’t tell their coloring, since they were appearing in the flames. But the young in my arms knew them.

“Mama!” The locus nearly squirmed out of my arms.

The witch’s story must be true. I lowered my knife, sheathing it so I could hold the excited locus safely. “I have not harmed your son. I rescued him from trolls who were holding him captive along with many other Beings, including my own foals.”

“Your foals!” the witch exclaimed.

“Yes. My son and daughter, who you left with my mate. You tampered with their memories. Why did you do that?” I asked.

“I… thought they were your captives, with the locus. I knew you were a Being, but I didn’t know what kind.  I know now you have pure magic, but not until you came close. I saw you through the flames and only from a distance before you left for the town. This is beside the point.” Sweat broke out on her forehead. “I can’t hold the farseeing forever. Tinn, Serai, this… Being is a unicorn.” The witch’s voice expressed her shock.

“A what? No he’s not. He’s a human.”

“I am not a human, despite this form. I have suffered much at their hands looking for my young; when I discovered yours escaped with us, we decided to try and find his home.”

The locus started chittering, making all the sounds and calls he’d made when we’d traveled. The pair in the flames were silent for a moment.

“It… seems what you say is true. Tinn’il likes you and your mate. He says your magic fizzes in his belly.”

“What?”

The witch swayed and the flames flickered, the faces losing their shape around the edges. “I can’t hold this much longer,” she gasped out. “Tinn, Serai, I will bring Tinn’il to you, as I promised. He is safe.”

“Thank you, Tera,” Serai said. “The spirits watch over you and grant you safe journey back to us.”

“Be good, Tinn’il,” Tinn said. His voice was already fading away as the flames fell to knee height and then died completely, leaving just a scorched ring of earth in the vegetation around me.

The locus cried, his ears rolling. “Daddy? Momma?” He reached out, then started to curl up.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. Tinn’il? Is that your name?” I stroked his head with two fingers.

He looked at me, his eyes shining. “Tinn’il? Tinn? Daddy?” He chittered, and tilted his head, then his expression dimmed when I didn’t respond.

Did he speak another language? Was that what he was trying to do this whole time? He didn’t speak Common, or more than a few words it seemed, but his parents had said he told them about me, about Londe and the foals.

“You’ll be okay. We’re going to go see your daddy. Soon.” I needed to get back to my young and my mate. I didn’t like being separated from them, especially after humans had followed me from the town. It only took one getting lucky to put my family in danger again.

“Tell me where his family is, witch, and I will take him to them.”

“My name is Tera, and no.”

“No?” I narrowed my eyes. Had she really been trying to steal him? She’d just said she’s return him, but now she said no?

“We will take him back to Serai and Tinn. Together. So I will guide you to his home, but I will not tell you how to get there.” She managed to look stubborn as a boulder even while her skin was deathly pale, and she wobbled on her feet.

I sensed it would take more time than I wanted to waste to try and change her mind, and I might as well try to move a boulder on my own than sway her. “Fine. First I must get my family. You can wait here and recover.”

The expected argument didn’t come, and I promptly left. I did not leave Tinn’il with her; she might know his parents, but he didn’t seem to know her, and he wanted nothing to do with her after the way she’d stolen him away from my mate and run from me. That much was evident from the way he refused to look at her and squeaked when she came too close on her way to spot she could comfortably sit and wait for me to return.

“Stay awake, witch, there are humans nearby,” I warned her.

“My name is Tera,” she snarled at me.

Turning my back, I ignored her. I knew her name, but I would not let myself forget what she was. A witch. A dangerous being who could harm me and mine. Wary was not even close to how I felt in her presence.

It took even more convincing to get Londe to take the foals with us to meet her. He kept them back, taking up the rear guard and making me stay between them and her. Few witches could be counted as good, and we wouldn’t risk harm to our young or Tinn’il.

Two nights traveling brought us to a small lake. A path wound around it, the end lost in a weird mist that hung about even in late afternoon. Londe stomped his foot nervously, and Marces nudged my back.

“There,” the witch said. “Through the mist.”

“Of course it’s through some mystical mist. Can’t just be a cave or a tree or a house, can it? No,” I complained.

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Carol Pedroso

Julie Lynn Hayes

Wednesday Briefs: Unicorn Quests Chapter 21

“Give me the locus,” I demanded.

She pulled it in tighter to her body, and it squeaked. I huffed out an angry breath and lowered my head, staring directly into her wide eyes. “I will kill you and then take it.” Damn spellcaster. What was she doing with the poor thing? Going to use it for something, probably. A spell or a charm or some of both.

I was getting the picture the locus was a very valuable Being, even if I hadn’t heard of them before. That’s what I got for being part of a race of Beings who deemed themselves pure and hid away from the world.

Pressing upward with my knife, I made my intentions and complete willingness to take her life in a very painful way clear. Blood, scarlet and scorched, ran down my blade with a sharp hiss.

She had something in her. Something… fiery. But the fight in her eyes faded to nothing under my glare and she uncurled her arm.

The locus whimpered as it scampered away from her, its tiny legs working furiously as it headed straight for me. It crawled up my body, and then inside my cloak on the side opposite my blade arm, which I’d luckily cinched tight with my belt.

How to escape? If she was a spellcaster, moving the knife away from her would free her to work her magic. It would not affect me directly, but she could use things around us against me. Not that she would know what I was. Probably.

I grimaced. “If you try to stop me from leaving, I will kill you.” She opened her mouth, and I moved the knife, digging it in. “Evil witch, I know your type. Don’t try it; I will not let you harm a youngling. You’re lucky I’m not like you, or I’d kill you where you lay, in the dirt and filth, and leave your body to rot as a warning to all those who’d try to harm those under my protection.”

My horn may have been taken, my soul sheared with its ivory brilliance, and I may not have the majestic form I longed to take… but I would not allow evil to triumph. I would fulfill my role as a protector. This little locus would be going home or to someone who knew him and would take care of him, if his family was gone.

“Is death worth whatever foul spells you would have achieved if you took him from me? Trust me, you will fail if you try, and I will kill you.” Her blood was smoking on my knife, and it scorched my hand when it trickled down to touch my skin, but I ignored the pain.

Placing one cautious foot back, I stepped away, stretching my arm out. I hesitated, then I took another step, my knife moving away from her chin. I moved more rapidly but didn’t take my eyes off her, holding my knife ready. I could throw it if I had to, right through her throat.

We were almost clear, almost out of sight, when a stick rolled under my foot and I stumbled. I took my eyes off the witch for just a second, and that was all it took.

“Enkindle!” She waved her hand in a circle, and a wall of flames sprang up around me in an unbroken circle. I couldn’t stop her as she rose to her feet and wiped the dirt from her tunic.

She was a witch of unparalleled power, if she could do that with a single word and gesture. Fear—not for me, but for the idea of what failing to stop her would mean—churned in my stomach. I should have killed her when I had the chance, why hadn’t I?

I held the locus close, keeping my cloak from the flames. The heat was intense, sweat popping out in an instant. The knife was slippery in my palm, so I gripped it tighter.

She’d have to kill me to get him. I crouched, my eyes above the flames, to watch her.

“Wait,” she said. She stood with her hands raised, and I tensed even more, when I’d thought I couldn’t get any more on edge.

“For you to kill me like I should have killed you?” I snarled. “I don’t think so.”

“No. You didn’t kill me because I’m not evil. Your magic must have recognized that.” Her voice was calm. Beguiling in its sincerity.

A witch’s voice, with the power to tempt and taint your mind.

“Right.”

“If I was evil, would I not have harmed the others with the locus?”

“You stole him away from a unicorn. No one who wasn’t evil would do that,” I insisted.

“I took him to save him from you. I saw you with them, with him. I thought you had entrapped them somehow.”

“Even after I left them?”

“I thought them trapped, penned in by magic. I could only carry the locus.” She moved a few feet closer. “The locus clan was raided days ago; I promised to do my best to help them.”

“You know the clan?”

“We are allies. My territory borders theirs. I have been listening, trying to find any mention of their missing young, when I heard you.”

“You heard me? How?” She paced closer, and I clutched my knife. She might sound as if her story was true, but I would not be taken unawares again.

“Through the fire. It is mine to control. Watch.” She’d gotten close and I bared my teeth, swiping my knife through the fire. It parted, but I missed. The heat crackled along my skin, but I wasn’t burned.

“Stop that! I don’t want to hurt you,” she said.

“Then what are you doing?”

“This.” She waved her hand and the flames coalesced into a solid sheet in front of me. “Serai, Tinn. Please—”

The locus squirmed under my arm. “Tinn?” it squeaked.

“Tera, did you find him?”

“Daddy!” the locus squealed.

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Carol Pedroso

Julie Lynn Hayes

Wednesday Briefs Unicorn Quests Chapter 20

“We have to find him. He’s too little to be on his own.” The map. Maybe the map could help.

“I didn’t see him leave. Are you sure he didn’t follow you? You didn’t see him on your way back?” Londe asked.

“No, I couldn’t come back the same way. To avoid being followed, I had to leave town a different direction and circle around. That’s why I was gone so long.” I unfolded the map, my hands unsteady and my stomach flipping.

How could I have lost another young? I should have woken Londe. Told him I was going. Put the locus near him…

Wait. I had. I paused before the map was fully unfolded, then quickly shut it, tucking it into my tunic. This wasn’t right.

I hadn’t left in the early morning when Londe and the foals were sleeping. They’d been awake. My heart began to hammer in my chest, even as my hands steadied.

‘Something is wrong.’

He tilted his head, staring at me with one dark eye. ‘I know. The locus is missing.’

‘Yes, but something else is wrong. I left him with you. On you. My stuff wasn’t over there.’ I sent a mental picture to go along with my words, the first one showing where my cloak was when I came back to camp and the second showing what I remembered from leaving before I went down into the town.

Were we being watched? The hair on my neck prickled. ‘Stay close to the foals’. “I’m going to head toward the path. Stay here, look around, maybe he’s hiding?” ‘Don’t leave the fire. Stay aware.’ The mental conversation was completely different from the verbal one, but if we had a watcher, I didn’t want to tip them off.

I picked up my cloak, sniffing it as I dramatically whirled it around my face. My scent. The locus. Londe’s clean scent, like icy air on a winter’s day and sweet, frosted berries.

And something else.

There had been someone, something here.

Sweat. Tang. Metal.

Human?

How could they have snuck past Londe? Why didn’t they go after him or the foals? How had they changed the memory of where the locus was?

Magic-wielder. Human, but with spellcasting. That had to be what it was. Why take the damn locus? Why did they keep preying on such a tiny young Being?

Rage danced in my chest. Londe and the foals had stayed by the fire; I had stepped away from it. I must have passed beyond the threshold of the spell to notice something was wrong. Or maybe it was because I wasn’t there when it was cast, so it wasn’t strong enough to fool me.

My weapons still hung on my belt. I resisted the urge to put a palm on my long knife. My gaze swept across the ground. I made a show of it, using just the edges of my vision to sweep farther away, higher. Looking, searching. Where was it? The mark?

There! Draped on a tree branch. A small bag, beaded, something dripping from it. Dark.

Blood.

My roar was barely suppressed.

Striding forward, I yanked the bag off the limb. Brown smeared across my palm. Fluid, not blood. Not my little charge’s blood.

I dropped the bag on the ground and crushed it into the dirt with my heel, shattering the spell it contained.

That’s when the calls broke the silence.

“Locus!” It was him. I knew it was. The long, low vibration shook the air like a piteous moan over the distance.

He’d made that call before, and I’d heard it up close. It was faint now, not even really a sound, but the vibration inside me quivered just the same. “I’m coming!” To the devils if it warned the one who’d taken him; I’d let him know he was not alone and I would rescue him if he could hear me.

And the thief should quiver in fear.

I threw my body down the path, legs churning up the distance in my new boots. My cloak, unfastened, streamed behind him as I sped down the path. I followed those vibrations, let them guide me, the rage rising as his fear called out to me.

Rocks sprang up to block my way. I leapt them. Trees bent, but I endured their whipping branches and the sharp, stinging blows to my face, chest, and arms as I barreled through. Roots tried to trip me, to twist my ankles.

Snarling, I used all the agility I’d retained from my former life and made it through. “You will not escape me!” I shouted.

Blue fluttered in front of me. To the right. I swerved, last minute, then jumped. I caught the fabric, jerking on the fistful I gripped with all my might. “Caught you, you bastard.”

The figure choked, stumbling, one arm wind-milling wildly before they slammed onto their ass with a broken gasp. I spun, slamming one boot down on their arm at the shoulder to pin them to the ground. The locus was in their other arm, its ears rolled down, covering its eyes, mouth open and warbling that vibrating call unabated.

“I’m here. You’re going to be fine. I’m here,” I assured him. My knife hissed as I pulled it from my sheath.

Bending, I used the edge of the blade to push the hood of the cloak off the human spellcaster’s face where it had fallen.

Female? The face was narrow, heart-shaped, with green eyes surrounded by pale lashes and a riot of red hair spilling from the cloak. Her chest heaved, still trying to draw in a breath.

She opened her mouth, and I put my blade under her chin. “No speaking,” I warned. “Or this will go right through your mouth and keep you from using that wicked tongue to cast a single spell in the most painful way possible.”

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J Alan Veerkamp

Carol Pedroso

Julie Lynn Hayes

Wednesday Briefs: Unicorn Quests Chapter 19

The map showed the mountain range. The town was nestled in its foothills. Did Maize expect us to backtrack over those infernal ridges and peak? I hoped not.

What was this map to? I knew from her information how to find the rough direction to head to find them. Of course I had to find my way back to my mate and young first. I glanced down the road.

Damn it. What to do? Continue on with my plan, keep the same course? I sighed. The first thing to do was get back to my family. I desperately needed to speak with Londe, and our bond was stretched too thin.

There. Decision made. I wouldn’t make one yet. I’d speak to my mate. Just then, a speck on the map floated off. What? I looked up. No, nothing coming from above me. It wasn’t some sort of debris from the tree.

Dots along the left edge of the map were moving. My breath caught and I watched, wide-eyed in shock.

I’d heard of imbued artifacts; tales of the magic being given to such things. It was well beyond anything I’d encountered before.

But who or what were the dots? I turned, facing the east. A square in the map twisted. So I was on there.

Did I want to go toward the other moving symbols? Or away from them? Damn it, this is where a little information would have come in handy. I sighed. Well, the first thing I needed to do was get back to Londe and the foals. Looking at the terrain around me, and then the map, I only wished it looked as easy and flat as it did on the paper.

There was some nasty brambles in the spaces under the trees. It would make walking tricky. Damn unstable two legs. I missed my body all the time.

I forged on, continuing the struggle until I broke out of the trees finally. The meadow lead down to a stream flanked by several large boulders. I could hear my mate’s mental patter as he quietly fussed at the foals.

“Stay still, stay quiet. No, I don’t know how long. Yes, we can move after your papa gets back. Soon.” I hope followed the last, the words so loud that I was surprised the foals couldn’t hear them even though Londe muttered them in his mind.

“I’m back,” I said, slipping out of the shadow of one of the large trees.

“Papa!” Marces cried. He rushed over to me, butting his head against my chest. “Did you get some food?”

“Weren’t you just eating?” I asked.

He batted his big eyes at me, like that would work. “Candy?” he asked hopefully.

“Not this time.” I hadn’t had time to get sweets at the shop. “I have good, nutritious food, supplies, and something special.” I patted Marces a few times on the neck.

“Can I see? Can I see it?”

“After your father has a few moment’s peace. There could be important messages; details we need to know immediately,” Londe said reprovingly.

‘Nothing like that.’ An image came to mind of the papers with my image.

“Then why are you in a different form?” He answered me by speaking aloud, his neck arched so he could look down on me. His horn glinted in the light.

I sighed. “Because there was something….”

Colete grimaced as she rose. “Do we need to go?” she asked faintly. Her eyes were red, her nostrils flaring.

“Not this second. While I may have been pursued, I do not think they will find my path easily.”

“Who is they?” Londe asked sharply. “Who is following us now? You just went for supplies. Tell me you paid for them!”

“Of course I did.” I was affronted by the very idea. “I wouldn’t steal from Beings, much less Maize.”

“Maize?” Colete asked. “You saw her?”

“Yes, and she gave me some medicine for you. Hold on.” I dug in the sack tucked against my back. “Here we go.” There was a metal can with an unguent inside. It smelled bitter, briny, but I trusted Maize. She wouldn’t harm a fly, not even merciless killers, to save her own life. She would not harm a young, much less a unicorn foal.

“Tell me if this hurts.” The wound were red, weeping, and hot to the touch. I grimaced, hoping the medicine would kick in and heal the worst before we made it to the meadow.

“Ahh,” she said. “It feels cool.” She wiggled, her skin twitching.”

“Where is my little friend?” Everyone else had greeted me. Where was the locus?

“Isn’t he with you?” Londe asked.

“No, of course not! Why would I take him with me?” I was aghast. Did Londe really think I took him. “I left him here, bundled up in my cloak. I rushed over to the pile of things by the fire, calling the locuse’s name.

“Where was he?” I’d faced a growing certainty that saving this young one would help us find out all the questions plaguing us.

Who had stolen my horn? Who wanted me dead? Londe out of the way? The young captured and taken away for an unknown Being. Londe, a non-fighting unicorn, allowed to leave the safety of the herd…

And how in the spirits did that map help me figure all that out?

Want more flash?

J Alan Veerkamp

Julie Lynn Hayes