The Secret Of The Unicorn Queen -The Dark Gods (3 page)

     "No, oh, no! Go away!" 

     If only she had her sword! If only she had any weapon at all! 

     Suddenly she noticed her backpack on the ground before her Sheila snatched it up. 

     "N-now you'll see what I can do! Now you'll be sorry!" 

     But the dark Things only laughed. 

     "You are no sorceress! "they snarled. "You have no power, only silly little tricks! You are no one, nothing!" 

     And the circle continued to close. Sheila could feel their hot, foul breath now, and see the fire blazing in their eyes, so pitiless that-

     Sheila woke up with a wild shout—a shout that was echoed by others! Sheila sprang to her feet, shaking, and threw on her clothes. Grabbing up her sword, she rushed out into the hall, terrified of what she might find. 

     But there was nothing fearsome waiting for her, only the other warriors. 

     "What are you-?” 

     "A dream, such a foul-" 

     "You too? I dreamed-" 

     "A terrible thing-" 

     Illyria held up a hand for silence. "Did we all have nightmares?" 

     "So it would seem," said Myno grimly. She gave an enormous yawn. "What d'you expect? Too much celebrating, that's all." 

     "No." Laric had silently joined them, his dark eyes fierce. "There is the taint of sorcery in the air here." 

     "Ah, not exactly, Your Majesty." Toron Medlian, busily tying a robe about his plump middle, shook his head. "Sorcery was worked, all right, I don't doubt it, but it wasn't on my lands." He sighed wearily. "This is Kumuru's doing, Your Majesty. We're just too close to Samarna's borders, you see. Whenever King Kumuru calls on his Dark Gods, the aura of his sorcery slips out and troubles people's sleep." 

     The Dark Gods . . . Sheila thought, remembering the cruel-eyed, evil Things in her dreams. Was it those evil creatures that Kumuru worshiped? 

     Just then a shrill scream rent the air! Not a scream, realized Sheila, a whinny. A unicorn's whinny! A second wild neigh rang out, and a third. 

     "Something's wrong!" Illyria said sharply. "Come on!" The unicorns were milling about in the darkness, pawing the ground, swinging their horned heads anxiously. 

     "Look at that!" cried Dian. "They're all staring in one direction." 

     "South," said Laric grimly. "South to Samarna—and Kumuru. There's more to this than dark dreams!" 

     Regally he called for his warriors, and they came running forward. Cam, their leader, was in the foreground. "Your Majesty?" 

     "Cam, I wish you and five volunteers—yes, you five, thank you—to take to the air and scout out the border region. Don't take any action. Just bring back what news you can of King Kumuru." 

     Cam saluted. "Of course, Your Majesty." 

     Laric raised his arms, chanting the eerie words of his Transformation Spell. Even though Sheila had heard it before, and seen it work, little shivers ran through her at the alien sounds. The men's shapes blurred and changed ... 

     Six great eagles soared up from where six men had stood a moment before. One of them— Cam, Sheila guessed—dipped a wing in salute to his prince. Then all six were winging their way through the darkness to the south. 

     As though relieved that action was being taken, the unicorns slowly quieted down. They relaxed their rigid stares and allowed themselves to be soothed by the warriors. Sheila hurried to Morning Star's side and stroked the silky white coat and long, dark mane. Morning Star nuzzled her affectionately. 

     "There now, girl," Sheila crooned. "There's nothing to be afraid of. No harm will come to you. Not while I'm here." 

     "As if you'd be able to help her," mocked Dian. "Why, you can't even stay on her back!" 

     Before Sheila could think of a clever comeback, Darian had moved to her side. "Hey, that's not fair, Dian. We've all taken falls." 

     "Oh, but Darian, I didn't mean anything by it." 

     "I saw you laughing at Sheila on the road, and showing off, too. That wasn't fair, either." 

     Sheila could see Dian's face redden even in the darkness. "It's okay, Darian," Sheila murmured, embarrassed. "You don't have to-" 

     Dian drowned her out. "What are you trying to say? That I'm a-a bully?" 

     "No, of course not. Look, Dian, I only meant-" 

     "I wasn't going to hurt Sheila. But she had it coming! Always acting so-so nice. I'm a warrior, too, and a good one! I earned my place in Illyria's band, and it wasn't easy, either. Then along comes this-this silly little girl who doesn't know anything! But suddenly she has a sword, and a unicorn, and magic, and everybody thinks she's so special. All at once, I-I'm n-nothing!" 

     "That's nonsense," Sheila cut in angrily, and Dian glared at her. 

     "You keep out of this! It's all your fault, anyhow. Everything was fine before you came. Darian and I-" 

     "Hey, wait a minute!" Darian protested in bewilderment. "There never was anything-" 

     "No, of course not! How could there be? You like Sheila better, just like everyone else! Fine! Well, you can have her!" Dian's voice quivered. "You can do anything you want. I don't care!" And with a wild sob she turned and rushed off into the night. 

    Poor Dian. Sheila paused on her way out of the mansion the next morning. It wasn't her fault that Darian wasn't in love with Dian. She'd never say a word against the girl. But still .. 

     “Shiela!” 

     Sheila jumped. "Myno? What is it? What's wrong?" 

     The burly woman stood with hands on hips, fuming. "Have you seen Dian?" 

     Uh-oh. Now what? "No, not since last night. Why?" 

     "Because she's gone, that's why! She, her weapons, and her unicorn have just up and disappeared." 

     "Didn't she tell anyone where she was going?" 

     "Oh, sure. She left a note saying she was off to visit her relatives. Relatives! She doesn't have any kin living this far south! Now we'll have to send someone out looking for her. Are you sure you don't know which way she went?" 

     Feeling a little guilty, Sheila decided she had better tell Myno about her quarrel with Dian. But before she could so much as open her mouth, the shrill, fierce cry of an eagle made her glance sharply up. "Look!" she said. "The eagle-warriors are returning!" 

     Laric was already waiting for them. Even as the big birds swooped down for a landing, he began to murmur the first words of the Transformation Spell. The eagle forms blurred and changed. Then Cam and the others, men once more, were bowing before him. 

     "Well?" the young prince asked. "What have you seen?" 

Cam hesitated. "Some strange things, Your Majesty. And I don't think you're going to like them." 

     "Go on, Cam. Speak." 

     The warrior took a deep breath. "South of here we came across what looks like an ancient ruin, one of those stone circles from the long-ago days." He gave Lord Toron a questioning look. 

     Toron nodded. "It was here long before any of my ancestors came to this land. Stories say it's a place of old, old magic." 

     "And power," Laric agreed softly. "Such sites often are, since they were built by magic. Continue, Cam." 

     "Ah, yes. Well. Those stories must be true, because someone was using that circle." Cam gave an apologetic shrug. "You'd know more about such things than I, Your Majesty. But it seemed to me that whoever was down there was performing what looked very much like a ritual of dark sorcery.” 

     "How could you tell?" asked Lord Toron. "It was night, after all, and dark." 

     "Eagles have awfully good eyesight, my lord. Even at night. Besides, there was a weird sort of red fire burning, lighting up everything. We saw maybe ten or twenty men, all in dark, hooded cloaks. The man who was leading the ritual was wearing one of those hooded cloaks, too. But just for a minute, just as he looked up, a breeze caught the hood and pulled it back. Before he could catch it, I saw his face most clearly." Cam hesitated, uneasy. "Your Majesty, no doubt about it: the man was King Kumuru of Samarna." 

     "Kumuru!" 

     "That's right. He and some of his followers must have stolen across the border to . . . well, to do whatever it was they were doing in that circle." 

     "Summoning up the Old Magic," said Laric grimly. "That's surely what they were doing. Using the Old Magic to amplify whatever sorcery Kumuru's Dark Gods lend him. Come, give me some details! Tell me exactly what you saw.” 

     Cam sighed. "I'm afraid I can't tell you too much more. You see, I think Kumuru knew we were up there." 

     Laric tensed. "How-" 

     "Oh, no, no, I didn't mean that he knew we were really men, rather than honest-to-true egg-hatched eagles. But he must have sensed something strange in the sky." 

     "How can you be sure of that?" 

     "Well, I can't, I suppose. Not without him telling me so himself. But he didn't have to say anything, because as we circled, all at once fog formed out of nowhere—choking, thick, disgusting fog. It overwhelmed us. I mean, we couldn't even tell up from down! But we didn't dare try to land because, for all we knew, we might be landing right in a trap." Cam shuddered, remembering. "In fact, the only thing we could do was what we did: fly blindly all night, and pray the fog would let up before we collapsed." The man sighed, rubbing his tired arms. "There were times when I feared we would never make it back. But with the first rays of sunlight, the fog just . . . fell apart and vanished. I never saw anything like that fog, never. It was so thick and dank . . . Ugh. It felt dirty, if you know what I mean. 

     "I do, indeed," Laric muttered. 

     "And the way it came up, so suddenly . . ." Cam looked at his prince with puzzled eyes. "It can't have been natural." 

     "It wasn't. Curse Kumuru!" Laric paced restlessly back and forth, his eyes the wild, savage eyes of an eagle. "I will not let Kumuru or his foul magic invade this land! He must be stopped!" 

     "By us, you mean?" Illyria asked softly. "You mean to go after him here and now?" 

     "Exactly." Laric gave the Unicorn Queen a fierce smile. "Kumuru must learn not to toy with us. He must learn not to trespass. I intend for us to ride to that circle and teach him those lessons this very day!" 

     But Illyria shook her head. "I don't know. . . . Something just doesn't feel right about this." 

     "What do you mean, love?" 

     "It all seems too easy. Too convenient. A breeze just happens to catch Kumuru's hood. He just happens to let his face be seen, when he could have safely screened the circle from spies with that sorcerous fog right from the start." 

     Laric raised a questioning eyebrow. "Go on." 

     "Maybe he wanted to be seen. Maybe this apparent threat of his is nothing more than a trick?"