It was amazing, being up here among the clouds on the back of a flying unicorn. The sun shone brightly overhead but the ground below was hidden by dense grey clouds.
“Why haven’t we been doing this our whole trip?” I asked Victor who sat in front of me shivering.
“Because. Unicorns aren’t meant to fly. It will weaken them quickly. Also, it’s not as easy as it looks, keeping the wings attached to the Unicorns.” He spoke through clenched teeth.
I glanced over at Shika, her glossy golden wing feathers were littered with black in a mottled pattern. Her powerful muscles pushed the huge wings up and down in a graceful arch.
I could see Timmy smiling as he stretched his hands out away from his sides, pretending he could fly. Sage was observing the different cloud formations, boredom showing on her face. The ugly brown unicorn was flying loops and upside down, but never straying too far from her master. And we flew upward and onward, over the pass.
As time passed I slowly began to worry. We’d been traveling for most of the day now and the sun was turning a hazy orange as it sank lower in the sky. Victor’s shivering had now turned into a body-wracking shake as he strained his magic to keep us aloft.
“Victor, how much time do we have before we’re over the pass?” I questioned worriedly. Victor sat up straighter and glanced back at me.
“At least another hour by flight, but I don’t know if I can last that long,” he said through chattering teeth. I looked over at Shika and gasped.
Timmy was laying back against Sage, apparently in sleep. But that wasn’t what was bothering me. Timmy had untied the leather from his aching legs and they were dangling loosely in the air, inflames stripes where the leather had worn them raw. The huge wingspan of the unicorns prevented us from getting close enough to speak with one another so Sage would not be able to hear me even if I shouted. This was bad.
Around the same time I noticed this I also saw a golden feather fly past my head and looked over to see Shika molting of her wing feathers.
“Victor!” In terror for Timmy I accidentally shoved Victor forward in the saddle and he lost concentration and Shika fell.
“Timmy!” I yelled as the golden unicorn plummeted from the sky, her now featherless wings beating harshly. The small boy’s eyelids flashed open but then they were gone from sight, lost in the wetness of the storm clouds below. Victor was muttering something now and I strained my gaze, staring at the spot they had vanished, willing them to come back. And then it happened. Those golden wings appeared once again, followed by Shika as she shot upward, her eyes rolling with terror.
Timmy was gone.
“Victor-”
“Shut up! I’m concentrating!” Victor screamed at me as his body shook and he closed his eyes, searching. He was deathly white now, and I knew, Timmy or no Timmy, we would have to land somewhere for the night and soon. The veins in his face showed now as the final rays of the sun disappeared and the temperature dropped cruelly as clouds billowed above us.
A scream, not unlike that of a hawk, echoed through the windy skies as the unicorns banked and neared the floor of the pass.
“Down there!”I pointed as the ground rose up to greet us and a small overhang became visible below. A cave entrance. Victor’s eyes were still closed but I could feel his body relax and he looked up.
“There.”He pointed to the sky as a lone lost hawk flew towards us, perhaps mistaking the unicorns’ wings for a hawk itself in its own delirium.
Victor remained transfixed by the creature. He would not take his gaze off the thing, even when we landed on the ground harshly. Xyle’s legs buckled under him and as he rolled we were tossed to the muddy ground. Victor was up in a second, staring at the hawk as it neared us. Victor held his arm up and I gasped as the hawk spread it’s wings and slowly descended to Victor’s out-stretched arm. The next second Victor fell to the ground and the hawk vanished. I raced over to him and gasped.
Victor lay in the mud, his eyes closed and his face a pale white. Timmy lay curled up next to him, his brow covered in sweat as he panted for breath.
Sage hurried over to me and together we managed to get the two boys inside the low ceilinged cave. It was chilly but at least it was dry.
“Thanks, Sage,” I muttered greatfully.
She nodded then hobbled over to a corner where the unicorns had chosen to take refuge. It was evident that others had been here before us. A blackened charred spot on the floor indicated the designated fire pit. Luckily there was enough dry sticks and leaves laying around in the cave to get enough kindling gathered for a small fire. I lit it with a small flint I’d remembered in my rucksack.
“I can cook if you’d like.” Sage’s gravelly voice startled me as the fire blazed, greedily devouring the dry tinder.
“Alright,” I complied easily. “We don’t have much, but help yourself.” I tossed her the soft leather pouch that contained our journeys provisions. She caught it then sat beside the fire, staring at the glowing and writhing flames. She finally turned and picked up a semi-flat rock and placed it in the center of the flames. She placed a few strips of dried meat on the rock to warm them before she took a handful of perfectly round nuts from her bag and placed them alongside the meat.
“What are those?” I asked in bemusement as I watched her carefully arrange them on the rock.
“They’re coffin berries, also known as death nuts. Only magical people can survive the poison that they carry. The poison burns through their body and awakes their magic to fight it off. In doing so the magic not only heals the poisons destruction but anything else that was wrong with the person. It also reveals a person’s worst nightmares. I think your friends should eat them... it would heal them.” I squinted at her through slitted eyes. Could I trust her?
I decided to ignore her and turned to count our money as the meat slowly started to sizzle. Sage poured rain water on it causing a delicious aroma to fill the cave. I dug through Victor’s bag and found that he no longer had any money left. The fool must have spent it all or got it stolen while he had been drunk.
I laid out my silver coins on the ground. It was a pathetic remnant of my once great stash. I sighed and scooped the silver back into my bag and saw that Sage had been watching me. I decided to change the point of attention.
“So… What brings you through the pass, Sage?” I asked conversationally.
She was startled at the sound of her name but remained silent as she rose to her feet and left to get more water. The rain was coming down in small wispy drops now, causing a barely audible noise. At least it meant no snow for a while.
Sage returned after a minute and another cloud of aroma buffeted me as my stomach complained.
“I’m going to the town of Greed. It’s a town of outcasts, a town where I belong. I could never seem to fit in back in Norwood,” she sighed sadly and for the first time I felt sorry for her.
“Brownie and I are nomads, we go wherever the wind takes us. In other words, we travel this Kingdom as we please. We’ve been everywhere, save for Cazenville and through the Pass.”
I was staring at her. How could Sage ever expect to fit in? She looked like a troll, her brown hair broken and uneven, hung in a limp rag around her head. Her face and arms were misshapen by gnarled twists and knolls, resembling an old tree greatly.
“Um, Sage? Who are your parents? I mean...were they human?” I don’t know what made me ask it and I realized how rude I sounded as the words left my lips and I stared down at my feet in shame.
“If you’re wondering if I’m part troll I can tell you ‘no’ confidently. My mother was human, I know that. My father was also a human man but I know not what his soul was, be it devil or man, beast or animal. I know who he is, just not what he is inside.”
I nodded, wanting to drop the subject, embarrassed for bringing it up, but she seemed as if she wanted to continue on. Luckily Victor stirred, small bursts of color now returning to his cheeks.
“Is Timmy alright?” He looked around bleary eyed and I nodded.
“About that, Victor. Did you really turn him into a hawk?”
He nodded and flopped back down to the ground. The Death Nuts were now rolling all over the rock, bouncing and popping as they seemed to come alive. Sage grabbed them and quickly cracked all five opened. A pinkish-white center fell from each nut and landed in a small pile in her other hand.
“After dinner, we each eat one.” She spoke calmly and matter-of-fact like causing me to gasp.
“Are you crazy? Timmy and I don’t have a sniff of magic in our bodies. Are you trying to kill us or something?” I shouted at her, realizing my death was only one fleshy nut heart away.
“Nonsense, Zavier. You and Timmy both have magic. He has natural magic and you have inherited magic. I can tell just by looking at you.”
I let out a snort of disgust then rose to go retrieve the three tightly wrapped bed rolls off of the brown unicorn’s back, the place we’d tied them before our ascent into the pass. There was no way she was going to get me to eat that nut.
Brownie nickered as I approached her, her soft gaze gleaming and suddenly I recognized her.
“You’re the unicorn from the market place! Aren’t you!” Brownie just let out another soft nicker.
“That may have been so, Zavier. Just yesterday I purchased her from a man going to slaughter with her and his five pigs. He seemed happy to rid himself of her.” I nodded and started untying the leather ties. So it had been the same unicorn from before.
After I’d retrieved the bundles I lay them out and Victor crawled over to his and slid into the flap of unicorn hide sewn over it as a built in blanket. I picked Timmy up and placed him in his own roll then turned to Sage.
She passed me a plate of softened meat dripping in some sauce she’d made. My mouth watered as my mind traveled back to Daldiana for the first time in a while. She’d been a wonderful cook, too.
I sat in silence as I gnawed the meat slowly. Victor sat up and Sage passed him another piece. I started to chew more fiercely on mine as Sage walked over to Timmy, who woke at the smell of food. She slowly started to feed him and I turned away, my attention on the meat. It gushed with flavor and disappeared all too quickly.
After I had finished I sidled over to my own mat and flopped down. I allowed my mind to wander a bit, before I shot back upright, causing Sage, who was just now starting on her own meat, to jump.
“Why you conniving little rat!”
She looked at me confusedly and for a moment I almost doubted my assumption.
“Where are those death nuts?”
She pointed to my stomach and my heart dropped.
“You idiot! I don’t have any magic at all! I’m going to die!” I yelled in horror.
She shrugged.
“Then what did you do at Earl’s party? With the dragon I mean. If that wasn’t magic then I don’t know what else is.”
My gut dropped. So the fool had assumed I’d had magic just because in my anger someone had assisted me and allowed me their magic to free the dragon.
I looked at her and found that a black spot had replaced the area Sage had been sitting just moments before. A rock beside the blob disappeared, a black thing in its place. Slowly everything in the cavern turned into a black nothingness and I fell back to my bed roll, engulfed by blackness.
I awoke in a place I found to be startlingly familiar to me. I was standing alone in my father’s wheat field, the wheat stalks rustling in the wind, speaking whispered secrets to each other, laughing at me.
Zavier... Zavier... Zavier...
I turned and found someone standing behind me. At first I thought it was a ghost, her transparent skin allowing the wheat stalks to be visible behind her. It was the pale girl from my dreams.
Zavier...
She spoke not with her voice but with her mind, like the dragons. Her voice was only a hoarse whisper as she tried to speak.
What? I asked silently, the pain in her eyes boring into me. Why? Why have you not come? Why have you not shown us any signs, anything?!
She smiled a small sad smile and pushed through the wheat, it parted in front of her as she closed the gap between us. Oh Zavier, but I have. I must tell you something, though. Sage is to be watched, she is not trustworthy. You should leave her behind as soon as you can.
And Zavier, you seek a castle? A castle that holds many secrets that no man is ever meant to know. But even after that being said, you need to go there. It is a real place, Zavier, do not be fooled or swayed in the disbelief of others. The Palace is a strange place and more destruction than healing will be found there.
But you said-
Zavier.
She opened her mouth and let out a small gasp as her hand flew to her chest. Blood was soaking through her white gown and she stared at it. A hole appeared above her heart; a hole of nothingness. I could see the wheat field behind her clearly now as the hole spread and her chest disappeared, as if eaten by some ghastly parasite.
“Zavier! Help me!” She gasped as the thing spread. I knew of nothing that would help her but grabbed her hand as she reached out and she sank to the ground, slowing disappearing. But then it stopped. She was still there, a large gaping hole in her chest, blood pouring from the wound.
“Zavier.” She was still alive, but barely. “We are dying. I hoped you would be able to save us but I can see that I was wrong. It is too late. It has been too long, far too long. Thank you for your loyalty. We could have used a knight in shining armor like you long ago. It is too late now. Thank you.” A sad smile crossed her face and lingered there on her lips as her body trembled and was still. She was dead.
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