Unicorn Bait (14 page)

“You promised,” she said.

He grinned. “What did I promise?”

She opened her mouth to answer, and suddenly she had Tavik’s tongue in it. She flailed back, but he followed her. He was merciless. His hands were tied behind his back, but she felt like the powerless one, and it didn't feel too bad. Damn, the man was a good kisser, but she knew she shouldn't indulge. He needed to stay chaste. She pushed him away and skipped back finally. She raised her hand and wiped her mouth.

“That definitely falls into the something category.”

He looked very pleased with himself. “Pity, I thought you might let that pass.”

She bent and picked up the rope. She gave it a good tug. “Come on.”

Mr. Squibbles sat on a rock near the door. “What took you two so long?” He noticed her flushed face and bruised lips. “Naomi,” the mouse scolded.

“It’s his fault,” she said pointing at Tavik.

“Humph, I think I will go with you two. Obviously, you two can’t be alone.”

“We’re married,” Tavik argued.

“Doesn’t matter,” Mr. Squibbles said. He crawled up Tavik and took up residence on his shoulder. “Well, let’s go pee,” the mouse said.

She led the way to a small copse of trees that would give Tavik some cover while he did his business. She wasn’t worried about him running off anymore. Her lips still tingled. Maybe she shouldn’t be the one holding his leash. He’d brought up their marriage like it mattered. She never really thought of them as husband and wife.  More like prisoner and jailor. They were married, but were they something to each other? She’d been with him a good bit and was sort of okayish with him, but everything was so topsy-turvy here. Was she a wife?   

Tavik came to stand in front of her. “I need my belt undone.” She meant to glance down at his waist to check his belt, but her eyes kept going down to stop a few inches below that article of clothing. Get a grip, she told herself. He was going to go to the bathroom, which eww, not sexy. She grabbed hold of the belt and tugged it loose. Instantly, the pants began to sag. Her eyes shot back up to his face. He smiled crookedly at her. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to help?”

She thought about hitting him, but she didn’t need to. Mr. Squibbles stood up on his hind legs and bit him on the earlobe.

“Ow!”

“Go do your business,” he ordered. She grinned wryly and turned around. She realized that she would hear every sound he made. She hummed to distract herself. After a few bars, she realized her subconscious liked a good joke. She was humming the wedding march.

“He’s done,” Mr. Squibbles announced.

She turned back around as he ducked out from among the trees. He’d pulled his pants back up. All she had to do was refasten his belt. As she reached to do that, he stepped back and weaved to the side playing keep away. She couldn’t help giggling.

“Keep still,” she laughed.

He had a grin on his face too as he continued to dance away from her reaching hands. His pants sat precariously on his hips.

“Enough children, we need to get back to the cottage,” Mr. Squibbles chastised. She giggled again and lunged for the belt. He hopped back, and his pants slipped. She quickly turned around to face the other direction. She wasn't sure if she'd seen anything, but there had definitely been skin, too much for there to have been any sort of underwear. Tavik went commando. “See, this is what happens when you don’t listen,” Mr. Squibbles scolded.

“I didn’t see,” she sputtered.

Tavik sighed. She could hear him struggling to pull his pants back up. He growled softly in frustration. Her shoulders slumped. She knew what that meant. She turned reluctantly back around. She kept her eyes firmly up on his face. He was leering at her again. She frowned. She walked up to him, closed her eyes, and bent down. She jerked the pants up none too gently.

“Careful, you might want to use that later,” he warned.

She glared at him. Mr. Squibbles bit him on the ear again.

“Will you stop that!” he thundered at the mouse.

“Yes, when you behave.”

Fun over, she refastened the buckle and tugged on the rope to take him back to the cottage. Yula and Agatha were already back preparing to leave. They must have resolved their brewing argument and had collected different plants.

“Are we ready to go?” Agatha asked. Naomi nodded. She sat on the love seat, and Tavik sat down beside her. She didn’t bother retying his feet nor did she move from her place beside him. Agatha pulled down the steering wheel, and the cottage lifted off. “Next stop the northern plateaus.”

Tavik’s eyebrows rose. They’d kept their destination a strict secret. Agatha must have thought it didn’t matter anymore. “You don’t look northern,” he said softly to her.

“I’m not,” she said. As the cottage flew through the afternoon, she began to yawn. She dozed off and didn’t wake up till the cottage touched down again. She raised her head from Tavik’s shoulder. She glanced at him apologetically and wiped at the drool spot she'd left.

“Sorry.”

He slanted his eyes to her and gave her a small smile. Feeling a little too close to him both emotionally and physically, she rose from the love seat and stretched. “What’s the plan?” she asked.

“We should scout out as much of the area as possible before nightfall then I’ll perform the finding spell for Yula.”

Naomi nodded. “Sounds good. What are we looking for?”

Agatha motioned them over so she could speak without Tavik listening. “Hoof marks that are cloven, gashes made by a single horn on rocks, fragrant feces.”

“Nice smelling poop?”

She nodded. “Highborn ladies pay a great deal for the excrement of a unicorn.” Naomi shook her head.

“Now I’ve heard everything.” She suddenly shot a look at Yula remembering the perfume she’d forced on her. “Did you dab me with poo?”

Yula shrugged her shoulders. “It smelled nice if it were.” Naomi shuddered. She was not wearing another drop of perfume while in this crazy world. Nothing could be trusted. “What should we do with Lord Tavik?” Yula asked.

“He will stay here with me and Mr. Squibbles. You two be careful out there. Stay quiet and alert for predators.” They nodded both remembering their brush with Umbreks.

They put on heavy cloaks, mittens, and caps to keep warm on their scouting expedition and slipped from the house. Tavik came to the door to watch them go. She heard Agatha tell him to go back to his seat. She felt a stab of worry. The witch seemed to truly dislike him. She hoped he was still in one piece and human shaped when she got back.

The Northern Plateaus was sparse country. There were no trees, and the ground was perpetually permafrost. They had arrived in the fall season for the area. A cold wind whipped across the plateau and stung their cheeks and noses telling them that the fall season would be very brief. “Let’s make this quick,” Naomi said. Since the space was so open, they could see for miles. She began walking and looking at the ground for possible unicorn signs. Yula trailed after her.

The plateau was immense. There was too much ground to cover in one day. She hoped they found something soon because combing the entire place was a daunting prospect.

The bleakness of the place brought her spirits down. Her feet were quickly numb from the cold, and the rest of her was not long off. The wind made them wince every time it blew. They crept across the plateau for a couple of hours. They found no signs of unicorns or of any other wildlife. She began to fear this whole expedition had been one very bad wild goose chase. As the sun began to dip, they turned back to the cottage which was a distant speck. They had covered a good amount of area, but it had been no use. They had found no cloven hoof prints, horn scratches, or aromatic feces.

“I wonder if Agatha knows of anywhere else to search,” she said with her head bent as she continued to search the area doggedly on the way back. She didn’t expect to find anything but wouldn’t give up.

“Milady,” Yula called.

She kept going too focused on the ground. “Obviously there are other plateaus, since this it's called the Northern Plateaus and not the Northern Plateau, but I wouldn't mind giving up here and going somewhere a little warmer and less likely to have unicorns. I hate the cold.”

“Milady, look over there!”

She finally turned to Yula. “Did you find something?” Yula was pointing at something. She followed her wavering finger. Standing not five yards away was a unicorn.

“Actually, I think he found us.”

Chapter 13

A baby unicorn is called a foal just like a baby horse, and their mothers love them just the same.

From roughly fifteen feet away, the unicorn stared at them. He held his head high, his coat glowed in the deepening dusk, and from the center of his forehead, his horn shone. There was no mistaking him for anything else. 

“I just looked, and he was there,” Yula said. The unicorn seemed curious about the two women. She wondered if maybe all the virgin business was nonsense. He didn’t seem skittish. She cautiously approached the beast with her hand out. He bowed his head and pawed at the ground. She halted her approach.

“It’s okay, big guy. I won’t hurt you, just want to make some travel arrangements,” she said.

The unicorn backed away with his horn lowered toward her.

“Be careful, milady. Unicorns have gouged men in full armor. He will skewer you for sure if you’re not careful.” She thought Yula might have a point, or rather the unicorn had a point, a sharp point which was aimed at her. She put her hands up and backed off. The unicorn watched them start back across the plateau to the cottage. She glanced back frequently as they walked.

“Is he following us?” Yula asked.

“I think so. Maybe he’s hungry. Not a whole lot to eat up here.”  The unicorn stayed well back but kept pace with the two women. She couldn’t wait to get Tavik out there to deal with him. They jogged back to the cottage in high spirits, but when they were close enough to see through the windows, they looked back, and the unicorn was gone.

She stomped her cold feet. “I knew that was too easy.”

“At least, we’re sure that unicorns do roam this plateau,” Yula offered. 

“Yeah, you're right. Let’s go get warmed up.” They hustled into the warm cozy cottage.

Agatha stood over a pot bubbling in the fire. Naomi couldn't help reciting the famous lines. “Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.”

“What?” Agatha asked looking up from the pot.

“Nothing.”

“Did you find anything?”

Both women nodded their heads, and their eyes danced. “It practically followed us home,” Yula gushed. Agatha made hushing motions as her eyes darted to Tavik. He stood by a window looking out. It was out the opposite direction of way they came. He cast them a bored look and turned back to the window. She studied him for a second. He didn’t seem any worse for wear after his isolation with Agatha. She had half expected to come back to find him singed and drowned.

“What’s that you’re cooking?” Yula asked walking over to the pot.

“Stew seemed like the perfect thing for a night like this.” Yula picked up the large wooden spoon sitting across the top and stirred the contents up. “Don’t worry. I didn’t put any carrots in it. Tavik watched me the whole time. Didn’t you?” He didn’t respond.

He was being super quiet. It was making her nervous. She sidled over to him. “Hey.”

He looked over at her. “Your cheeks are rosy.”

Reflectively, she put her fingers to her face to feel them. “Yeah, it’s getting really cold out there.”

“You should be careful. There are dangerous beasts in this area.”

“They seem to be everywhere,” she said a touch wryly.

He nodded and looked back out the window. She watched him for a few seconds more, and then wandered away. Maybe he just wanted some peace.

The women set the table for dinner and chatted amicably. The cottage had a palpable cozy feel to it. As they puttered around the room, Naomi smiled.

“It’s nice having company again,” Mr. Squibbles murmured to her from a shelf.

“Has Agatha been alone much?”

He nodded his head. “There were years where we didn't have a single soul grace our doorstep. It was a lonely time. We used to have visitors regularly, villagers who would need a charm or some scrying done, then they stopped coming.”

“Why?”

“He forbade it.”

Her eyes darted to Tavik and then back to Mr. Squibbles. “Why?” she whispered.

He dropped his head. “I shouldn’t say. It’s a bad business.”

She absorbed this information with concern. What could the bad blood be between the witch and the war lord? Was it only the Errilol business? The group settled around the table for dinner. Agatha ladled out the stew and passed the bowls around. Naomi once again sat beside Tavik to feed him. She stirred the stew and found herself making sure there were no carrots in the bowl. She loaded a spoon and brought it to his mouth while her other hand hovered underneath to catch any drips. He gave her a wry look and took the spoonful. She knew he was thinking about their switch in roles and how much she had protested it when she had been the one tied and fed, but then again, he wasn’t blindfolded.

Agatha was telling Yula about the finding spell. Once they were done with dinner, they would scrub out the pot, melt some snow, and use the plants they had gathered that afternoon. Naomi hoped the spell worked.

“You shouldn’t trust her. She only has her own interests at heart,” he said softly.

She had to swallow her mouthful of stew before she could answer. She loaded a spoon for him and kept her voice low to answer. “She’s the only one who seems to know how to get me home, and though ditching me at the castle for you to find, didn’t seem like the best move on my behalf, it has worked out all right, and she sent Mr. Squibbles to me and now I’m here. I think she can get me home.”

“How did you end up in Harold’s Pass?”

She knew she still couldn’t tell. She shook her head. “It was very bad luck.”

“Was it bad luck?”

She paused. She knew he meant to insinuate that Agatha had a hand in her arrival, which really was impossible, but was it really bad luck that had brought her there? She looked around the table. She liked and cared about Yula, Mr. Squibbles, and Agatha. She didn’t regret meeting them. She turned back to him. Weirdly, she didn’t regret meeting him either. Maybe it would be fairer to call it a fluke?

“What are you two whispering about?” Agatha asked.

She didn't know why, but she blushed. “Nothing important,” she answered. The witch gave them an appraising look, Yula hid her smile by taking a bite of stew, and Mr. Squibbles didn’t pay them any mind. The mouse was paws deep in broth and happily nibbling on a potato the size of himself.

Naomi cleared the table while Agatha set up for the spell with Yula’s help. Once the dishes were clean and put away, she took a seat by Tavik to let the other women work and because she wanted to ask him some more questions.

“Why did you forbid the villagers from going to Agatha?”

He had tilted his head down to hear her and kept it bent as he thought about his answer. She thought that he deliberated too long for his response to be completely truthful. “I didn’t want her causing trouble.”

She glanced at Agatha and smiled a little. “She's certainly capable of mischief, but she can help people too. Why prevent her from doing that?”

“Because she's not interested in helping anyone but herself.”

She really didn’t understand why he kept harping back to that. “How is helping me self-serving?”

He turned and looked at the witch bent over the once more bubbling pot. “It will become apparent soon enough.”

Her eyebrows scrunched together at his vague assurance. She decided to switch topics. “Tell me about this god of yours. Yula was really upset by your tattoo.”

He rolled his shoulders and stretched his back as he thought about his answer. She realized guiltily that his hands had been tied behind his back for over two days now. They were probably killing him if he could feel them at all. She rose from her seat and moved behind him. She began rubbing his shoulders like she had that first night. He released a grateful sigh and relaxed under her hands.

“Errilol is not openly worshiped any longer. He is a god of war but not a god of victory. He loves the strife and chaos of battle and the pain and despair of bloodshed. All of his temples have been destroyed or abandoned. People stopped worshiping him when they realized that he did not care about them. He only cares for conflict. He does not protect his devoted. He couldn't care less if they live or die.”

“Why would you swear yourself to him? He sounds more like a demon than a god.”

“Because unlike other gods, he makes himself known. He imbues me with his power so that I may kill my adversaries. Even if he doesn't care about me, he does answer me when I call on him. It is with his might that I have survived. Other gods promise salvation and refuge but do not always deliver. Errilol promises neither but is a reliable source of strength.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think the fact that he’s dependable is enough to sell him to me. The fact that he’s so eager to answer your prayers is scarier than not answering them.”

He shrugged under her hands. “I can’t justify my reasons any better than what I have said.”

“The fact that you would scrape your knee to that fiend is horrifying. Errilol is a god to stand against not with,” Agatha said, revealing that she'd been eavesdropping on their conversation.

Tavik stood up to face her. A muscle in his jaw twitched as he locked eyes with her. “Errilol made me the man I am.”

“I wouldn’t be so proud of the man I was if I were you. Having your people fear you and wonder if you were a fiend is not something to be proud of.”

He clenched his jaw, and Naomi hoped this didn’t go beyond a heated argument. “I became the man I needed to be.”

“And what need pray tell required you to become a barbarian who has slain hundreds of men and destroyed countless lives?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask my mother?”

Agatha’s eyes grew wide as her face thinned. She sucked in a breath through her teeth. “How dare you. I taught you to respect your fellow man and care about the people around you. How dare you insinuate that I prompted your descent into this madness!”

Naomi and Yula’s eyes caught each others in a wide stare. “She’s your mother?” Naomi said.

Agatha’s eyes didn’t leave Tavik’s angry face. “I have no son.”

He jerked as if hit. Naomi winced in sympathy. She crept from behind him over to Yula. “Did you know this?” she hissed to the other woman. Yula dumbly shook her head.

When Naomi looked again, she saw they had stepped toward each other to better shout at one another. Both were beyond angry. Tavik’s body was a mass of tense muscles while Agatha’s face was red, bordering on fuchsia.

“You can deny me all you want, but it was the only way to save the town!”

“No, it wasn’t! There are always other options. I was working on something!”

Tavik kicked the table. It slid across the room and banged the wall so hard a number of items fell off their hooks. Naomi and Yula backed further away from the two. “There wasn’t any time! The army was approaching!”

The witch crossed her arms and gave him a narrow look. “Well, where’s the army now?”

In a cold voice, he said, “Every solution has a price. You taught me that.”

Her back stiffened. “I also taught you that if the price is too high then you turn away!”

“THERE WASN'T ANYWHERE TO TURN! They would've razed the town, burned the forest, and drawn and quartered you! I was supposed to turn away from that!”

In response, she silently turned her back on him.

He let out a snarl of frustration and paced the floor like a caged animal. Naomi wanted to do something to help but didn't know what. She was still reeling from the realization that the two were mother and son. Tavik's eyes fell on her and flashed with anger.

“At least be honest with Naomi, and tell her your real plan.”

Agatha still kept her back to them. Naomi jumped in to try and explain again. “I told you we didn't plan this initially. It was a fluke that I came to Harold's Pass. If it weren't for your mother, some bastard soldier would've raped and killed me. She saved my life.”

“But what about leaving you at the castle as Lady Naomi? Was that just a fluke?”

“It was the safest option,” she said but even she wasn’t sure of that. It had seemed like a dirty trick at the time.

“She can change herself into a cat, and her house flies. Leaving you for me to find was the best she could do?”

She didn't have any answer. Her eyes turned to Agatha's back.

“She left you for me. Why do you think she did that?”

She had no idea. “Agatha?”

The witch shook her head and wouldn't turn around.

“She knew what would happen. She planned the whole thing.”

She had asked her about unicorns! But she would've had to have planned the whole thing in like an instant and who planned to kidnap her own son to catch a unicorn? But Tavik still didn't know about the unicorn part of the plan and that part made the whole thing especially convoluted. She had to choose her words carefully as she asked, “You're saying she planned to get us married, so we could kidnap you? Doesn't that seem kind of silly?”

He shook his head. “That wasn't the plan.”