Chapter 18

Unicorns are peaceful creatures…until crossed. Then they fight dirty.

She looked around, and felt relief cascade over her. It’d worked. She’d teleported into Tavik’s room, not into some fiery hell, not halfway into a wall, or worse into Mrs. Boon’s chamber, and best luck of all, there weren't any healers or guards there to raise an alarm. Her head swiveled to the bed. There was someone in it. She didn’t recognize him at first. The helm threw her off. In her mind, she’d come to picture Tavik without it. He’d told her that he’d put it back on when he returned to the castle. It made sense, and it didn’t, like so much in this world. He worshiped an insane god and hid it from the world by wearing a terrifying mask because his religious beliefs would frighten the townsfolk more. But he didn’t worship Errilol anymore. He’d broken from him, and she was here to help him.

She went to the side of the bed. One of his arms lay above the covers with his hand loosely curled. She picked up his hand. It was heavy and warm in her grasp. She gave it a tender squeeze. He didn’t stir. She couldn’t tell anything with the helm covering his face. She wondered vaguely how the priests examined him wearing it. It wasn’t a problem for her. She let go his hand and reached up remove it. She had it halfway off when he stirred. His hand clamped onto her arm. His grip was like a vice.

“Let me take this off,” she said in a hushed voice. She didn’t want to alert anyone that she was there. His head rolled toward her on the bed. The eye holes were just black holes to her. She tried to shake his hand off. His grip tightened. “I want to see your face,” she told him.

He didn’t release her arm. She felt coldness creeping up her fingers into her hand due to his bruising hold. She put the horn down to reach with her other hand. He saw the other hand approaching and jerked the arm he held so that she fell across him.

“Who are you?” His voice was ragged. It held mistrust and rage.

“It’s me, Tavik. I came back.”

He twisted the flesh under his grasp. She gritted her teeth at the burning flare. “No,” he whispered.

She nodded her head. “It’s me. Let me see your face. Is it Errilol that’s making you sick?”

At the mention of the god, he dropped her arm. “Fever dream,” he murmured. He turned his head away from her. She grabbed his now lax hand.

“No, I’m real. I’m really here. I’m touching you. Can a hallucination do that?” He sighed and turned himself onto his side away from her. She wondered savagely what the priests had been doing for him. They couldn’t have done freaking much if they’d left the helm on him. They couldn’t have examined him, given him medicine, or anything. Had they shut him away in his room hoping he’d get better on his own? She pulled on his shoulder to make him roll onto his back, but even sick, he was still very strong and big, and she couldn’t manage it.

She ran around the bed to the other side to make him look at her. “Mr. Squibbles fetched me. We repaired the horn that was broken. We used it to come back. Tavik, it’s really me.” She tried to keep her voice down, but her desperation was increasing the volume little by little.

If his eyes were open, they stared right through her. He didn’t think she was real. He was too sick to tell fantasy from reality. She’d fix that soon enough. She moved back to the other side of the bed and picked up the horn. She stared at his curled back. There was a bit of skin showing at the neck of his shirt. She touched the horn to the patch of exposed skin. The horn glowed in her grasp. It felt warm, and the light was gentle, but there was like a sensor in her head that showed how healed he was, and the dial hadn’t moved any yet. The horn continued to grow brighter. The unicorn had fixed her broken arm with only a brief touch, but it wasn’t doing anything for Tavik.

The horn began to feel very hot. Tavik didn’t appear to feel a thing. She felt a sob rise in her throat. Why wasn’t this working? She had to switch hands because the horn was beginning to burn. The light kept growing brighter. The guards were going to notice. She smelled the sickening familiar scent of burning flesh, and again it was her own.

“Why aren’t you getting better? You have to get better.” Tears rolled down her face. He didn’t stir.

The door crashed open. The bright light had finally roused the guards. They had swords drawn. “Stop witch!”

She stayed rooted in her spot holding the burning horn. The guards took action and rushed her. They grabbed her and hauled her away. The horn’s light flared and went out. She tried to struggle out of their grip to get back to Tavik, but she was weak with pain. She tried to plead with them.

“Let me go. I have to help him.”

“And how are you helping him? To an early grave?”

“No, you don’t understand. It’s not me who’s hurting him.”

“Who is it then?”

As if in answer, deep laughter echoed around the room. Everyone froze. The dimly burning fire whooshed to monstrous life. Its color changed from orange to green, and a face appeared within the flames. “He will always be mine, unicorn mistress.”

It was Errilol. The god had come to stop her. She was able to free herself from the guards. They weren’t paying any attention to her anymore. They were staring at the fireplace in terror. An angry, insane god was in the room with them. They should be afraid. She was afraid too, but she was also furious.

“He doesn’t serve you anymore!” she screamed at the green fire.

“That is why he will die.”

“No, I won’t let you!” She lurched forward to touch Tavik again with the horn, but the green fire belched a ball of flame that swept over him and his bed. It knocked straight into her and threw her and the two dumbfounded guards back into the wall. The force of the god’s assault left her breathless, but it hadn’t hurt her much. She was still standing, still conscious, and she still had the horn. The green fire faded back to orange. Errilol had withdrawn. She sagged against the wall in relief.

More guards had come to the doorway. They were staring at her. They appeared horrified. She pushed herself off the wall to face them. Two strange thumps sounded on either side of her. She thought the two guards had merely passed out. She looked down at them. Black spots erupting in her vision to block out what she saw. They were burned beyond recognition. Their flesh was black and charred on top and red in pulpy in the cracks visible underneath. She stumbled away and fell against the side of the bed.

“Get away from Lord Tavik, witch!” one of the guard’s in the doorway shouted.

She turned wide eyes at them. They thought she’d murdered their comrades. Their swords were drawn and leveled at her. They were going to kill her if she didn’t escape somehow. She fumbled with the horn. Her burnt hands were not working. Instead of moving the horn to prick herself she had to stab her wrist on it. It slashed across her arm.

She staggered up the step to Agatha’s cottage. All the windows were dark. She moved to pull open the door but cried out when she tried to open her empty hand. Her other hand clutched the horn. She couldn’t open that hand either. She banged the side of her fist against the door and cried out through clenched teeth at the shock of pain it caused. She turned around and slid down the door. What good was the cottage, anyway? No one was inside. There was no help. Her eyes slipped shut.

Awaken. Naomi lifted her head to find the woods shrouded in mist. It made goose bumps ripple up across her arms. She looked at her hands and saw they were healed. Not a twinge of pain remained in them. They’d healed while she slept. Tears of relief stung her eyes. She wouldn’t have been able to do anything with her hands crippled. She didn’t understand how they’d healed since the burns were made by the horn so it couldn’t have healed them, but it was a blessing that they were. She rose to her feet to look around. She didn’t know what had woken her, but she didn’t feel alone. A glimmer of white caught her attention. A unicorn stepped out from among the trees. Another glimmer of white appeared to her right. She turned her head to find another unicorn. Her mouth fell open as unicorn after unicorn appeared out of the woods.

“What’s going on?”

They needed her help. She was startled by the appeal. She didn’t know what to ask first. How could she help them? Why did they need her? What could she do? The unicorns heard her silent questions, and the answers slid into her mind like the mist around her, shrouding her with information. She stood still as she absorbed all they wanted her to do. When they were done, she nodded to indicate she understood and accepted. The unicorns slipped back into the woods leaving her alone again.

Mumbling an apology to Agatha, she forced her way into the witch’s cottage. She began grabbing what she needed. She took a cloak down from a peg and picked up an empty wineskin. She spotted the magic shield that she’d used against the Golgoffs. Her arm gave a phantom throb as she hefted it. It was as cumbersome as before, but its benefits canceled out all the drawbacks. She pictured the destination the unicorns had given her and pricked herself.

The wind made her stagger. She didn’t know the name of the place she was. The unicorns had only given her a picture. It was a narrow path on the side of mountain. It was dark so she couldn’t see much, but she knew the path. She planted the tip of the shield in the ground and huddled behind it. To her amazement, the shield more than sheltered her; it threw the wind back so that the force didn’t affect her. Keeping herself behind the shield, she began making her way up the trail. The shield was heavy, and she paused a few times to rest her arm, but as the wind howled around her, she knew she would have been blown off the mountain without it. If Agatha was the one who’d made the shield, she could make a tidy living selling them. Naomi would buy one.

She finally could make out the cave entrance in front of her. She redoubled her efforts with the goal in sight. Once she was inside and out of the hurtling winds, she put the horn’s tip to her lips and blew a warm breath across it. It began to glow and became bright enough to light her way. Another trick the unicorns had shown her, though they of course didn’t need to blow across the tip to make their horns glow. She walked further into the cave. There was some light beside the horn. There were markings painted with some sort of luminescent substance that glowed a dull red. She didn’t know what the markings meant but could feel some sort of purpose emanating from them. She raised the horn closer to one and both glowed brighter. She didn’t dare actually touching the horn to the symbol.

When she went around a bend in the cave, she came upon a sparkling spring. This was her goal. She submerged her wineskin and filled it with the mysterious water. When full, she put the stopper back in and slung it onto her arm. A crisp breeze that felt like a sigh passed over her. She paused a moment and bowed low to the back of the cave. A blue light flared in acknowledgment and blessing. The being at the back of the cave was Calax, the god she’d heard so many people refer to in exclamation. The unicorns had sent her here because he was one of the few who would offer help against Errilol.

When she made her way back out of the cave and back down the trail, the unicorns were waiting. They watched her silently. Their manes and tails whipped about them. She brushed her hand over the wineskin and nodded. They winked away. She pricked her finger.

She returned to Tavik’s room ready to fight her way to his bed, but the room was empty again except for him. She couldn’t believe that they hadn’t posted a guard within the room, but their stupidity helped her. It was one less obstacle she would have to deal with. She took a chair and jammed it against the door to keep the guards out this time. The sound alerted those posted at there, and they began banging on it from the other side. She turned a deaf ear to them.

She strode to the bed and flung away his mask. She hoped to never see him wearing it again. She raised his head to put the wineskin’s spout against his lips. She filled his mouth with the holy water. He sputtered and flailed weakly, but his eyes didn’t flutter. She tightened her hold to keep his head steady. When he swallowed, his lips turned blue. She watched the transformation in grim silence. Errilol leapt to life again in the fireplace. Her eyes slanted to the shield. She’d leaned it against the bed to free her hands but couldn’t stop now to retrieve it and use it to protect herself. Tavik hadn’t drunk enough. If she stopped now, Errilol would reclaim him. Tavik’s breath came out as cold mist. His body temperature dropped more with every sip he took.

“Stop, bitch!”

She ignored the god and continued to give Tavik the water. Fire swarmed out of the fireplace. It licked over the ceiling, the floor, and the walls. She didn’t budge. The heat scorched the soles of her shoes. Sweat broke out all over her body only to evaporate in the burning room.

Frost spread across Tavik’s cheeks. His eyes had opened. They stared at her, but there was no light in them. A pang of fear went through her. He looked dead. She bent her head to kiss his forehead. Her lips were seared by his chill. She poured the last of the water into his mouth. She watched his throat convulse one last time and then he went completely still. His skin turned white with a blue sheen. She laid him back onto the bed. She crossed his hands and closed his eyes. The bottoms of her shoes had melted away. Her feet cooked on the burning floor.

“What have you done?” roared the god. She picked up her shield. It was cool to the touch. It hadn’t absorbed any of the heat. Agatha really needed to patent this thing. “Answer me!” he roared.

“I would prepare if I were you, Errilol. I’m coming.”

The fire crackled with laughter. “You think you can destroy me?”

“You shouldn’t have gone to war with the unicorns. They aren’t nice when they're angry.”

“I’ll wipe them from existence!”

She didn’t reply. She pricked her finger and was gone. She appeared again outside Agatha’s cottage. The door was jerked open by the owner. Mr. Squibbles sat on her shoulder. A relieved smile spread across Naomi’s face at the sight of the witch safe and sound.

“Where have you been? What’s happening?” the witch demanded.

“Naomi’s out there?” another voice cried, and Yula appeared. Naomi’s smile increased at the sight of her other friend. Agatha pulled her into the cottage.

“You’ve seen Tavik?” the witch demanded.

She nodded and sank with relief into a chair. She almost missed the time she’d spent pent up in her room. Simple pacing hadn’t made her ache like this.

“Naomi, your feet!” Yula cried.

She looked down at her burnt feet. She hadn’t really let herself contemplate the pain. She wondered vaguely if the unicorns had given her some sort of mental blocks when they’d been in her brain telling her what to do. She touched the horn to her feet and felt instant relief as they were healed.

Agatha pressed a cup of wine into her hands. She cradled the cup and sipped from it. The wine felt wonderful going down her throat. “Naomi, what's happened?” the witch asked again.

“Tavik’s safe for now. Errilol can’t touch him,” she told them.

“How?”

“He’s frozen in time. I got some water from the spring of Calax.”

“Truly? But how?”

She shrugged. “The unicorns. They need our help.”

Agatha nodded. “Yes, but we must do something about the god’s hold on Tavik.”

“The only way is to kill him,” Naomi said.

“Kill Tavik?” Yula said horrified.

“No, Errilol.”

Both women looked shocked by the idea. “Kill a god!” Yula exclaimed. Agatha shook her head denying the possibility.

“The unicorns told me how.” Both women stared at her. “I have to go to his place of power and run him through with this horn. It’s the only way.”

“No, it’s impossible. You’ll surely be killed,” Yula argued. Her voice quavered in fear.

She didn’t deny her assessment. “Why won’t the unicorns do it?” Agatha asked.

“Because they aren’t allowed into the homes of the gods. It’s like a magical law. They can’t break it.”

“But you can walk right in and slay him?” Mr. Squibbles said.

“I know it won’t be that simple, but I have to do this to save Tavik and the unicorns. Errilol has set out to exterminate them. His priests kill any they come upon.”

“And because the priests are virgins, the unicorns don’t know what danger they are in until it’s too late,” Agatha added as she pieced it together.

She nodded. “We’re responsible. The unicorns and Errilol wouldn’t be fighting if it weren’t for us, and we gave Errilol the idea for how to destroy them.”

“Then it’s up to us,” Agatha said.

Naomi’s eyes flew up to stare at her. “No, it’s up to me,” she said. Agatha ignored her protest.

The witch began rummaging through her things. “The shield should be very useful against Errilol, but some sort of concealment will help greatly too.”

“Like camouflage?” Naomi asked weakly.

“No, like invisibility.”

Naomi and Yula shared a look. She wondered where one signed up to become a witch because it sure came in handy. “Ah, here it is,” Agatha announced. She picked up a large corked jug. She brushed off the spider webs that clung to it.

“Agatha, I don’t know if that stuff is a good idea,” Mr. Squibbles said.

“You’re not sure it works?” Yula asked. Agatha uncorked the jug, stuck her finger in it, and pulled her hand away. When she held her hand up, she was missing a finger. Yula paled. “It looks like it works.”

“Wait till you have to really use it,” Mr. Squibbles grumbled.

“Are there side effects?” Naomi asked.

“It’s completely harmless,” Agatha assured her. The witched wiped her invisible finger on her apron, and it reappeared.

Naomi glanced at the mouse for his opinion. “Completely harmless,” he agreed, “But you don’t know yet how you’ll have to use it.”

Continue to Chapter 19.