Wil Ogden - The Nightstone

“You are not as wise as I believed, Kirvel,” she said, glancing at him then focusing her sight back on the battle in the distance. She left her staff in the demon’s throat, letting it draw a small trickle of blood.

“As you predicted Osris is not reacting to the incursion on his land,” Kirvel said in a strained voice, as if he were being careful not to move his throat. His fear of her would keep him from backing away from the staff. Fear had its uses.

“Those are my guards down there in Osris’s tabards.” Glacia said. “Is their performance believable?”

“I wouldn’t have guessed. Murdread has no reason to suspect the battle is anything other than it appears,” Kirvel replied. Glacia pulled her staff away, but kept it with her. “Why are your guards defending the King’s lands?”

“Because the King seems to have lost interest,” Glacia said. “His days are numbered, but I am retaining control over exactly what that number is. His entire staff, from his guards to the imps that handle his waste, is under my influence. I am awaiting a suitable replacement. So far, the candidates here are not pleasing to me.”

“But, you let Murdread into the King’s Palace,” Kirvel said. “Surely you are not going to let him take control.”

“No,” Glacia said. “But that’s where your knowledge of my plans ends. Thank you for your service. You will be rewarded when this has played to fruition. Be gone!” She pointed her staff back towards Kirvel, sure to hold the bloodied tip before his eyes. She didn’t even watch as he flew away, keeping her sight on the King’s courtyard. That courtyard was as far as her guards would let Murdread penetrate the palace. The gate was in that courtyard, which is what Murdread was after. Still, he hadn’t yet acquired the Key. She considered how involved she wanted to be to see that he did get the Key.

Once Murdread opened the gate to Mealth, he would no longer be a nuisance to her, but the timing had to be just right.

Two Unicorns stood outside the Gypsy’s camp. Both had white coats and golden horns. The larger one’s mane and tail-tip were blue while the smaller one’s were pink. Charles stood beside them, along with Jonah.

“The colors are dyed,” Jonah said. “It helps them tell each other apart. Otherwise all Unicorns are as white as new snow and have the same golden horn, though their eyes vary from azure to blue.” The smile on Jonah’s face told Charles that last part was some kind of joke.

Until a moment before, Charles had thought Silon and Chelle to be human, just like the rest of the Gypsies. They’d invited him to join them outside the camp. When he’d arrived they’d introduced themselves then promptly shifted forms. It hadn’t been a shift so much as an instantaneous replacement. There wasn’t even a flash, just a slight whoosh sound as the air was forced to change shape around the Unicorns. The Unicorns themselves were not what Charles had expected either. Their long legs could almost make them look like horses from a hundred paces away on a foggy day after half a dozen drinks, but up close they looked nothing like horses as the legends described them. Their heads were wider than a horse, though they narrowed more at the nose and mouth than a horse. Their manes were more like a lion’s mane than a horse's and their tails were distinctly leonine. Their legs were thicker than a horse's and ended in tufted cloven hooves. The tufts were dyed on the smaller Unicorn but not the larger. It was also very clear that the larger of the two was male.

“They can’t speak?” Charles asked.

“They can make noise,” Jonah said. The Unicorns bleated then growled. Silon, the larger one, then roared. “They communicate mostly by body language. You hang around them long enough and you’ll be able to understand them as if they could talk.”

“Are they the only Unicorns among the Gypsies?” Charles asked.

“We have about a dozen,” Jonah said. “Unicorns are hunted for their horns, which are both highly magical and pure solid gold. They don’t take their natural forms often unless they know they are secluded and safe. Silon and his daughter are willing to risk it here, to help you change to your true form.”

“I’m supposed to turn into a Unicorn, here? Today?” Charles asked. “The ring is supposed to help with that, right?

“So the Queen says,” Jonah said. “Let’s see, how should we start?”

Silon grunted and moved his head back and forth.

“That’s as good a plan as any, I guess,” Jonah said. “Charles, why don’t you just imagine yourself as a Unicorn?”

“I’ve been doing that since they changed,” Charles said. He had. He’d been wondering what it would be like if it were true. How would it feel to be so big and to not have hands and not be able to speak?

“Concentrate on the image,” Jonah said.

He did, nothing happened.

Chelle bleated and pointed her horn at Charles’s ring.

“Now do it while touching the ring,” Jonah said.

“I don’t have to chant, ‘I am Kehet’ and spin around three times?” Charles asked, and then chuckled at his own joke. No one else laughed but Jonah smiled weakly. Maybe the Unicorns were smiling. Charles couldn’t tell.

“Just touch the ring and imagine yourself changing into a Unicorn.” Jonah stepped back, giving Charles room.

Charles hadn’t actually imagined the change before, just the being a Unicorn. When he touched the ring with his other hand and imagined the change, he changed.

“Ack!” he tried to scream. It came out as a roar.

“I guess that confirms it,” Jonah said.

“Confirms what?” Charles tried to ask, but only bleats came out. His body must have betrayed his question, though because Jonah’s next words answered him.

“You look just like Kehet and we never told you what he looked like,” Jonah said.

Charles bent his neck around, though he couldn’t focus on this mane, he could tell it was a royal purple, as was the tip of his tail. He also couldn’t see his horn. His eyes gave him a very binocular vision, barely overlapping.

“Your horn is here,” Jonah said, touching his finger to the tip, just above the center of Charles’s vision. Charles could feel the finger touch his horn. He wouldn’t have expected being able to feel through metal. Jonah then explained, “Also your horn is silver, and Kehet is the only Unicorn with a silver horn.”

“So I am Kehet,” Charles bleated, sounding nothing like the words he was trying to say.

“Remember you can’t talk,” Jonah said. “Your body will speak for you if you let it. By trying to talk, you’re actually impeding your ability to communicate.”

Silon grunted and tossed his head to the side, pointing his horn to the woods. Chelle snorted and nodded slightly.

“Time to run,” Jonah said. “Follow them.”

Before Charles could ask anything, Silon took off with Chelle just behind him. Charles ran after. His body knew how to move and it felt natural to run. He kept his focus on the Unicorns ahead of him, not wanting to lose them in the woods. Then he noticed how fast he was travelling. The woods blurred through his vision, barely recognizable as individual trees.

They ran for an hour, until Silon brought them to a stop. Charles knew the spot. It was where Heather had found him. In the distance he could see the edge of the crater that used to be Blackstone

“How did you know?” Charles asked, forgetting he couldn’t speak. The words came out as bleats and slight growl.

Silon went over to a large flat stone by the river. Charles had often used that stone to lie in the sun. Using his horn, Silon dug under and flipped it over. There were symbols carved in the other side. Charles had never seen them before but he could read them.