Song of the Unicorns (Avalon: Web of Magic #7) (13 page)

T
HE KNIGHT RAISED
his staff, hurling the whirlwinds at the mages.

“Fire together!” Adriane called to Emily and Kara.

Bolts of blue, gold, and white entwined and smashed into the cyclones. The whirlwinds slowed, but kept spinning.

“Riannan, what do we do?”
Pollo asked worriedly.

The brave unicorn closed her eyes tight and concentrated.

poot.
A sound, tiny, but sure, came out.

“What was that?”
Dante asked, shocked.

“Her horn sparked!”

“I saw it, too.”

“How did she do that?”

“We don’t need our horns to make magic!”
Riannan called out.

“That’s the spirit, Riannan,” Emily encouraged. “Everyone, hurry!”

Thirty young unicorns concentrated now, but all they could manage were tentative poots and hoots.

“Just sing from your heart,” Emily instructed.

The horns began to pulse, then squeak and squonk.

“BAweeeeMOWAYYYee!”

A deafening note blared across the desert.

Spruce held his horn up and blasted another one.

“
BWEEHooopAH!”

“That’s it!” Adriane cheered. Dreamer stood by her side, helping to focus the magic.

The cacophony of honks and tootles blended together, building into a wave of sound.

The knight’s jewel flared unevenly as the wobbling whirlwinds began flinging wild magic everywhere.

Suddenly, from high above, a single note hung in the air, strong, confident, and unwavering.

It was Riannan. The unicorn held her horn high. A rainbow of lights shimmered up and down her crystal horn as a surprisingly sweet melody flowed like honey.

“Way to go, Riannan!”
Ralfie’s awed voice came from the middle of the group.

Another note rang out, sweetening the sound of Riannan’s melody with a delightful harmony.

Pollo’s horn began to glimmer, faintly at first, then shone pure silver.

All at once a flurry of silvery notes soared over the circle, ringing against the wild winds. More notes flowed, blending in perfect rhythm, melody, and harmony. Even the tall rocks vibrated with a pulsing beat.

“Get your dance on!” Kara twirled in a twinkle of blazing magic.

Moving to the beat, the unicorns danced, shuffled, and grooved to their glorious music. Magic glittered up and down the unicorns’ horns as vivid colors returned to their coats. A dazzling bright flash surrounded Riannan. Her coat gleamed like a treasure chest of shining gold and sparkling diamonds.

“Impossible!” the knight roared. “They have no magic to make music!”

“We have music by heart!”
Riannan sang out, smiling at Emily.

As the music engulfed her, Emily felt something sweet and familiar. Something she thought she’d lost. Her own healing magic was stirring to life, bright and pure as when she’d first discovered it. Emily sang, healing magic blazing in her gem stronger than ever.

In a soaring chorus, the unicorns focused magic with the steady pulse of their horns. As the music reached a crescendo, swirls of rainbows cascaded over the circle. The whirlwinds burst apart as the unicorn magic touched them.

“How did they get the magic back?” The knight’s cry echoed across the desert. “Ack—!”

Something was standing on the knight’s head. A pile of twigs and scrub brush leaped from his helmet and landed on the tip of his staff.

“Tweek!” Emily shouted.

The knight frantically tried to shake the E.F. loose. But Tweek held on, prying the jewel free of the staff.

The knight lurched forward, grasping.

“I’m open! Over here!” Big beaver tail flapping, the berret scurried across the sands.

Tweek threw the gem, sending it flying across the circle. Ozzie swatted it with his tail, batting it right through the rainbow of unicorn magic. At the top of the rainbow, the crystal’s green glow faded, replaced by brilliant white light.

Adriane leaped in the air, golden wolf fire blazing from her gem. This time, she didn’t stumble. Her balance was perfect. Dreamer matched her movements exactly, warrior and mistwolf fighting side by side. Adriane fired her magic straight at the knight.

Flung back by the impact, the knight smashed into a rock tower.

Emily raised her hands high, conducting the unicorn choir. Gold, blue, and diamond-white mage magic mixed with the rainbow magic of the unicorns. Together, mages and unicorns turned their magic on the evil knight.

A high-pitched scream echoed inside his helmet. But it was not the grating voice of the knight. It came from someone else.

The knight crashed to the ground—his black armor screeched as he sprawled into a motionless heap.

The last strains of lyrical melody echoed over the desert as the unicorns and the mages drew their magic back to horns and gems.

“Bravo!” Tweek called, walking from behind a rock pillar.

“Tweek!” Emily exclaimed. “We thought you’d exploded!”

“Naturally,” he answered. “That was all part of our plan.”

Ozzie strolled up behind him, giving the E.F. a high twig.

“I must say we pulled that off quite well,” Tweek told the berret.

“What’d you guys do?” Adriane asked.

“I made a dummy Tweek,” Ozzie explained. “And I used my jewel to make it seem like the fakemental was talking.”

The mages were impressed.

“Yay! Fuzzy!”
The unicorns all cheered.

Ralfie bent and scooped the ferret onto his back, bouncing Fuzzy high in the air.

“Gah!
Can’t you just give me a medal?” the berret screamed as he somersaulted.

Tweek walked over to the fallen knight.

“Is it dead?”
Electra asked.

“
Quite. Without its jewel, there was nothing to sustain it,” Tweek explained.

“Let’s see who our mystery guest is.” Adriane and Dreamer knelt by the lifeless suit of armor. The warrior carefully raised the faceplate.

“Ahhhh!” the group screamed, all peering into the empty space where a head should have been.

Emily couldn’t believe her eyes. “It’s empty!”

“It’s a golem,” Tweek explained.

“Say what?” Kara asked.

“An inanimate object given life and controlled by magic.”

“Like a puppet,” Adriane said.

“Yes,” Tweek agreed.

“So someone else was operating it?” Kara asked. “How?”

“With that!” Tweek pointed at the knight’s transformed crystal.

It floated in the air now, shining with rainbow prisms.

“Glorious blossom!” Tweek cried. “I’ll be promoted to a full mental!”

“What is it?” Emily asked.

“It’s a power crystal!” Tweek explained. “One of the nine that were washed away from Avalon.”

The unicorns and mages stared at the fantastical gem.

“Wow.” Kara walked up to the beautiful power crystal, its rainbow light reflecting in her wide blue eyes. “It’s amazing!”

“Everyone in the known web is going to be after this baby, and we’ve got it!”

Tweek said happily, then stopped short. “O’ me twig.”

Suddenly a bolt of lightning split the air. The flash glimmered into a giant circle of light. Behind the mist-shrouded opening, lines of stars arced across infinite strands of web. Two shadowy figures loomed at the portal, ready to emerge.

“Look out!” Adriane shouted, ringing the group in a shield of gleaming wolf light. “I think someone’s already found it.”

M
USIC DRIFTED FROM
the swirling portal, a beautiful song of friendship.

Emily knew that song—she would never forget it. Just as she hadn’t forgotten the elegant creature now coming through the portal, traveling between worlds. A sleek white unicorn stepped onto the desert sand, her horn twinkling with magic.

“Lorelei!” Emily cried, running to embrace her friend. “I can’t believe it’s really you!” The healer buried her face in Lorelei’s silky soft mane.

“I’ve missed you so much, Emily.”
The unicorn lowered her beautiful head over the healer’s shoulder, her silvery voice ringing like delicate chimes.

The young unicorns rushed forward, horns gleaming, crowding around the mages and the new unicorn.

“
Ooo, a unicorn!”

“She’s so pretty!”

“Did you come from Dalriada?”

“Did you bring apples?”

“
By the great tree!” rattled another voice from the portal.

Silhouetted against the swirling doorway stood a creature that looked like a larger version of Tweek, made of branches, thick leaves, and bits of earth.

“Master Gwigg!” Tweek cartwheeled over to the Earth Fairimental. “Thank goodness! Look! We found one of the power crystals!”

“Well done, Tweek,” Gwigg’s rough voice rustled. “It will be kept safe until the others are secured.”

Lorelei turned her sparkling eyes to the herd of young unicorns.
“Your horns are tuned already!”

The unicorns’ horns glowed as they proudly displayed their brightly colored coats.

“We couldn’t have done it without Emily,”
Riannan said, her golden hide shimmering.

“Lorelei must bring the new class to the Unicorn Academy right away,” the Earth Fairimental rumbled. “She’s one of the best teachers the U.A. has ever had.”

“How cool.” Emily smiled.

“How are things on Aldenmor, Gwigg?” Adriane asked. “We haven’t heard from Zach and the mistwolves in weeks.”

“Thanks to you three mages, Aldenmor is healing nicely,” the Fairimental rattled. “The Garden is blooming, and your friends say they miss you all the time.”

Adriane smiled widely.

“Dreamer is looking very good indeed,” Gwigg observed.

“Warrior wolf!”
the mistwolf barked, rustling Gwigg’s twigs.

Adriane hugged the black wolf. “Emily’s magic helped me heal Dreamer.”

Emily held her sparkling rainbow gem next to her friend’s wolf stone. The two magic jewels flashed with gold and blue light, warrior and healer, forever linked.

“Sharing the magic has made each of you stronger.” Gwigg turned to Ozzie. “Sir Ozymandius, you’ve changed, as well.”

“Yes, I’m tuning my jewel.” The berret proudly held up his ferret stone.

“No, I mean that.” Gwigg pointed a branch at Ozzie’s new giant beaver tail.

“Gah! Can you fix it?”

Gwigg approached the berret. “I can give you two choices. You may get your original tail back and remain a ferret.”

“Or?” Ozzie asked hopefully.

Gwigg paused, tendrils of magic glowing around him. “Or you can become a beaver.”

“GAH!” The ferret’s eyes bugged out. “I’m already gaining weight! I’ll take my cute fuzzy tail, thank you very much!”

A glowing swirl of mossy green magic sparkled from the branch that served as Gwigg’s hand and surrounded Ozzie’s rear.

“What’s going on back there?” the alarmed berret yelled, whirling around to try and see his behind.

“A very proper ferret tail,” Tweek informed him.

Kara clutched her unicorn jewel worriedly. “What about my magic? Is it all gone?”

The mass of shrubbery shook as Gwigg regarded the blond girl. “There is great magic inside you, blazing star. But you must be patient. Tuning it is a lifelong process. With practice, and the help of your friends, you may be able to master the fairy magic inside of you.”

Kara didn’t look convinced.

“Where were you?”
Pollo asked Lorelei.

“We almost got eaten!”
Violet added.

“With the web emergency, all the unicorns are busy at their sectors so we sent the centaurs to bring you to the academy,”
Lorelei explained. “
The protection amulet had a failsafe built in to take you to the mages.”

“
How did you know we still had our magic?”
Dante asked Emily.

“The knight couldn’t find it because you didn’t believe you had it anymore. But the magic was always inside you.” The healer smiled at Lorelei. “You just had to believe in yourselves.”

“The magic is especially strong with you, Prince Pollo,”
Lorelei said.

Pollo’s forelock poked straight up. “Prince?” On his forehead, a star-shaped blaze shimmered beneath his crystal horn.

“Pollo! He’s the prince! Way to go, Pollo!”

“O’ me twig!”
Pollo cried.

Riannan held her head high.
“Congratulations, Pollo.”
Looking at her brother’s mark, her dark eyes flashed with disappointment.
“You’ll make a great prince.”

“And you will make a great princess, Riannan,”
Lorelei added.

Everyone stared at Riannan’s forehead.

Pollo’s eyes opened wide.
“Riannan, you’ve got the royal mark, toot!”

“I do?”
Riannan exclaimed.

The unicorns gathered around the pair, hooting and honking in surprise. “Inconceivable!” Tweek cried, twigs dropping to the sand. “I’ve never heard of a prince
and
a princess!”

“This is a very good omen, indeed.” Gwigg rumbled. “Two unicorn leaders will keep the magic twice as strong on the web.”

Emily hugged Riannan. “You’re going to make a wonderful princess, I just know it.”

“I’ll always try my best,”
the princess promised.

“I’m so proud of all of you,” Emily told the unicorns.

Tweek’s quartz whirled in his twigs. “Well, let’s get back to Aldenmor.”

“Tweek,” Gwigg said. “You are the very first Fairimental designed to stay on Earth. Your mission is not over. There are still eight other crystals out there somewhere. They must be found.”

The little E.F. shuddered.

“Gwigg, can Tweek come back with us to Ravenswood?” Emily asked.

“You’d have the whole preserve as your home,” Adriane added, smiling.

“A little Ravenswood moss would really bring out your quartz,” Kara said.

“The mages will face their most difficult challenges in the days to come, Tweek,” Gwigg rumbled.

“Well, I—” Tweek twiddled his twigs.

“Someone my own size for a change.” Ozzie wiggled his tail. “Join the team, Twighead.”

Tweek nodded. “Very well.”

Ozzie threw a paw around the E.F.’s shoulders. “Great! What do you eat, anyway?”

“Eat?” Tweek asked. “Why, nothing.”

“Perfect.” The ferret beamed. “That’s more for me!”

Gwigg approached the mages. “The unicorns will do all they can to stabilize flowing magic. But we need you to find all the missing power crystals and open the Gates of Avalon.”

“Do you know where the other crystals are?” Emily asked.

“We believe that one is in the Fairy Realms,” the Fairimental said. “They will be attracted to great magical power.”

The power crystal floated into one of Gwigg’s twigs.

“This one ended up near the Otherworlds. The Dark Sorceress and her allies used it to control the golem—the knight who tried to kidnap the unicorns. They will try to find the others.”

The mages exchanged worried glances.

“There is much to do.” Gwigg whirled toward the portal. “We must bustle.”

“I’m going to miss you guys.” Emily moved between the unicorns, hugging each one.

“You’ll always be our favorite teacher.”
Violet nuzzled Emily with her lavender nose.

“
Come see us for our graduation concert!”
Spruce bleated.

Kara sniffled, arranging Calliope’s pale green forelock. “Remember, check your mane and tail after every class and you’ll look perfect all day long.”

“One day we’ll ride the web together!”
Calliope exclaimed proudly.

“You know it!” Kara broke out crying.

“Oh no, Kara, now you’re going to make me cry,” Emily cried as she hugged Riannan and Pollo.

“Ahhhh!”

“Bweeeee!”

“SnIFFle!”

Adriane hugged as many unicorns as she could grab while Dreamer and Lyra nuzzled the others.

Ralfie and Dante shuffled over to Ozzie.

“
We’re going to miss you most of all,”
Ralfie said.

The unicorns swarmed around Ozzie, nudging him with their brightly colored muzzles.

“All right, all right, now get going,” the ferret said, waving his paws toward the portal. “Beat it, you pests.”

“Bye, Fuzzy.”

“We love you!”

Lorelei herded the baby unicorns toward the portal. One by one, they jumped through. Lorelei looked back at Emily before following them in.
“Until we meet again, Emily.”

Gwigg whirled in after the unicorns. “The magic is with you, now and forever.”

The mages waved until the last of the group vanished. The portal swirled closed and winked out.

Emily spotted Ozzie standing to the side. The ferret’s back was turned, heaving in deep breaths.

“Ozzie,” she said, gently petting his back. “Are you crying?”

“No way!” the ferret sniffled.

“We’re all going to miss them,” Emily said, lifting the sobbing ferret into her arms and hugging him tightly.