Unicorn

Avalon 1.10 Kidnapped part 5 of 5

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The boat floundered a little in the water. Bruten sat in the back, but he seemed loathe to set down the amulet in order to paddle. He felt a little afraid to put the amulet around his neck, but in the end, he did that in order to keep himself from drifting into the shore.

As soon as the boat stabilized, Faya came down in slow circles while her friends continued to circle above. She landed on the bow, out of reach of the paddle. Bruten stared at the owl and for some reason he did not dare do anything. When Faya changed back into a woman, Bruten shouted his fear and surprise.

“The red hair. I thought. But you cannot.” He dropped the paddle and fell to his face. “Please, mercy.”

Faya spoke without emotion. “These Neolithic days are brutal, and you have certainly shown your worst. Now it will end.”

“Please do not kill me.” Bruten’s voice shook from his fear.

Faya simply stretched out her hand and the amulet vacated Bruten’s neck and flew to her. For some reason, and it may have been an unconscious reaction, Bruten made a grab for the amulet in mid-air. It moved too quick for him, but Faya lost all sense of mercy with that.

Bruten snatched his hand back with equal speed and begged again. “I am sorry. Please let me live.” Faya heard no sincerity in the man’s apology. And she spoke.

“You were driven out of your own village for raping and killing a young woman. You did the same in the village where you traded, and while you tried to cover your tracks, you were found out and had to flee for your lives. Now you have tried the same with my friend. It is clear to me if you did not learn after the first or second time, you will not learn after the third. You are a danger to yourself and others and in this age, there is only one remedy.”

Bruten did not exactly listen. He muttered, “Please, please, please and mercy.”

Faya raised her voice to unearthly proportions. “Bokarus!” The word echoed off the water, sounded through the forests, spread across the plains, and bounced off the mountains, and the bokarus responded. It came in ghost fashion and stared at Faya who called it to come. “I have need of the boat,” Faya spoke in a normal voice. “You may have the man to satisfy your hunger and thirst but then leave my friends alone and stop following them.”

The bokarus circled the boat twice and twice flew up to Faya’s face, as if considering the proposition. It said nothing, but Bruten found himself standing and shoved over into the water. He had no time to scream before his mouth filled with water.

Faya called to her friends who came down to listen. “Bears,” she said, and the birds became bears and plopped into the water. She handed the rope to the lead bear with a word. You must bring this upriver to the place where I will be waiting. With that, she resumed her owl form and grasped the amulet in her claw. She took off into the wind and arrived back with Raini and Roland about the same time Boston showed up.

Faya landed when the unicorn stopped and kept its distance, pawing at the ground. Boston kissed the beast behind the ear and slipped off. She did not appear strong enough yet to stand, but she was awake enough to motion that she would be all right.

Faya resumed her female form and smiled for the unicorn, though she knew better than to approach the beast. It would have nothing to do with her or Raini, being mothers as they were. The unicorn did dip one leg as it had back in the days of Keng when it bowed to the goddess, Nagi. But then it turned and raced off into the distance and disappeared in the dark.

Roland ran forward, picked Boston’s head off the ground, and held her gently. She looked up at him and smiled since it did not hurt too much to do that. He looked ready to cry, but she really felt much better. She felt fairly sure her ribs were healed, and she no longer had that concussion. She imagined her nose might be fixed as well, though it felt like she still had the black eyes and plenty of bruises. Most important, she no longer bled everywhere, even if the wounds were not completely healed.

“I knew you would come,” Boston said through her smile. Roland said nothing so she nudged him from behind and he bent closer until their lips met. Faya and Raini just watched, and Raini smiled like Boston.

“There, that’s better,” Raini said.

“Poor Mingus,” Faya responded. “And you leave my children alone.”

Raini looked ready to protest but changed her mind. “And mine,” she said. “There is nothing a child hates worse than having her mother fix her up with someone.”

“Don’t I know it,” Faya said, and the two women hugged again like sisters and waited for the boat to arrive. They would need it to get Boston across the river. Faya had imagined she might carry the girl across in bear form, but she had no way of gauging how badly Boston might still be hurt, and she could not surround the girl with healing power as she carried her the way the unicorn did.

~~~*~~~

Roland and the Were made a stretcher for Boston and all of them took turns carrying it back up to the mountain village. When they arrived, Faya found her husband, a big man, telling dirty jokes to Koren, Lockhart, Mingus, Lincoln and Captain Decker—and they were all laughing, and drinking beer. Alexis and Katie Harper escaped to the children with whom they appeared to be getting along well.

They were by the upper wall, the one that divided the village from the plateau, as much to keep the villagers from infringing on the highlands, as a barrier to the wolves and others. It was the place where the villagers and the Were sometimes met to discuss matters of mutual concern. There were two campfires lit that night, and two guards to watch during the wolf moon.

“Boston!” Alexis, the first to notice, jumped up to help her friend. She guided the stretcher to a place between the two fires where Boston could stay warm in the chill spring night, and so she could have plenty of light to examine her.

“Alexis.” Faya spoke sternly after she thanked her friends and allowed them to run back up to the plateau. “You will only check her internal organs and for broken bones or a concussion. Her cuts and bruises must heal on their own, in the old-fashioned way.”

“Yes, Lady,” Alexis said, humbly. Faya’s voice sounded so commanding. Alexis hardly knew what else to say. The Kairos spoke, and Alexis had been an elf far longer than she had been a mortal woman. Also, though not an actual goddess, this was a demi-goddess and more than worthy of respect for her father’s sake. With that, she got to work, and Faya turned to Raini.

“If I let her, she will drain herself to exhaustion trying to heal every nook and cranny by her art.”

“I see that,” Raini said. “She is very full of love, though sometimes it interferes with her good sense.”

“Very true,” Lincoln nodded to the women and went to kneel beside his wife.

Raini watched them and sighed.

Faya turned toward her husband; a stern look on her face.

“Don’t worry, dear. Nurse and Bain are both with the children. I expect by the time we get home they will just about stop laughing. You know good old Bain.” He grinned for her, a real pleading bit of a grin.

Faya slowly let the smile cross her lips. “Don’t stay out late,” she said. “Children.” She clapped. “Back to the heights and then back to the hunt.”

The boys jumped up. “Yea!” The girls were a bit less enthusiastic. They were enjoying the adult conversation with Alexis and Katie, especially the fifteen-year-old. But when Faya returned to red owl form, they followed suit and soon all disappeared in the sky.

“Well,” Faya’s husband spoke softly. “She is a keeper, for sure. I knew that when I first saw her.”

“How many children have you got, if you don’t mind my asking,” Lockhart got curious.

“Eight, working on nine.”

“Oh, you poor man,” Mingus commiserated and Captain Decker agreed with him.

************************

Tomorrow

Avalon 7 reveal. Don’t miss it.

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Avalon 1.2 Beasts in the Night part 3 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

The bogy beast was a small one. It only stood about sixteen feet when it stood on its hind legs, which it did as soon as it reached the first hut. It had to be on all fours to walk. The hair of the beast turned out to be more like shredded steel than hair. It looked sharper than a porcupine and able to reject every bullet short of a direct hit. The snout looked more like a wolf than a bear, and it had some extra teeth. It seemed impossible to tell if it was a reptile or a mammal, but it was easy to see what it had in mind. The hut got torn to shreds and then the beast nosed around in the wreckage for any tasty morsels it might find. When it found nothing, flames came with a roar and crisped the remains of the hut.

“Fire!” Lockhart yelled, and gunfire burst out from every corner. The beast was surrounded, except for the avenue by which it arrived. Several bullets penetrated and the beast roared and turned. It reared up in the midst of the withering fire and swiped at the air with its great claws, as if trying to tear the bullets from the air.

It roared again and spread fire in a circle around its body. The gunfire paused while people ducked behind cover. Then the gunfire started again, but overall, it had minimal effect until Lieutenant Harper had the idea of going for the eyes. She paused, but only long enough to clip her scope to the rifle. When she fired, she certainly struck something. The beast reared its head back, roared and shot a stream of flame straight into the sky.

With a final roar of protest, the beast returned to all fours, turned, and galloped out of the village. It ran very close to Boston who wisely crouched down in the shadows and tried to become as invisible as possible. Then it was gone.

The people came pouring from their hiding places around the village and began to celebrate, but Lockhart knew better. “It is wounded now and that will make it more dangerous.”

“We must track it while we can,” Roland said.

 “Unfortunately,” Mingus agreed, “And I will be here when you get back.”

“Won’t that be dangerous?” Alexis asked.

“Yes,” Lincoln said. “That is why you need to stay here with Boston, your father and Doctor Procter.” She kissed him, but Boston heard.

“Heck no,” she said. “I’m going. I’m good on a hunt. Probably better than you.”

“Lieutenant, you stay in case the beast doubles back,” Captain Decker commanded.

“Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Harper came quicker with the sir this time, but it was clear she was unhappy once again with the order.

“Okay redneck,” Lockhart smiled at Boston when that got settled. “You lead the way.”

Boston grabbed Roland and together they started out front. It turned out to be an easy trail. The purple puss that served for blood in the beast glowed a little, like neon. It was probably fire inspired. When they reached the edge of the woods, the broken branches and crushed saplings made the trail even easier.

“I don’t like this,” Boston whispered. She looked back. Lockhart and Lincoln were alert and trying to listen for what they could not see in the dark. Captain Decker had his night goggles on, but it remained hard to see behind a tree. “This trail is too easy.”

Roland paused and looked at her. He knelt and she knelt beside him as the company came to a halt. “A bogy beast is clever, but like a fox, not a person,” he assured her, before he turned to the group and spoke a bit louder. “It stopped here and I would guess it licked its wounds. The thing is, if it makes it until morning, it will rest underground and be all healed in a day.”

“We have to find it before it rests,” Lockhart said, even as the beast reared up in front of them. One roar of fire and a backwards swipe of a claw caught all three who were standing there. Captain Decker got knocked to the ground while Lincoln and Lockhart crashed into the trees. All were knocked senseless. The beast looked down on the two still kneeling on the ground and roared fire again. Roland quickly hovered over Boston.

“I set a shield,” Roland shouted next to Boston’s ear. They still felt the heat and Roland’s back turned red, but the fire got deflected. All the same, Boston screamed. She got answered by a white light in the distance that raced toward them.

The bogy beast reared up, determined to let its claws do what the flame failed to do, but it also saw the streaking light and sensed something. It began to turn away and let out a very different sound as the unicorn leapt over Roland and Boston and drove its horn deep into the beast’s chest. The beast let out a chilling noise as it clawed the unicorn and knocked it away. Then it stumbled as its putrid, flaming purple insides came pouring out of the gaping hole.

Decker got up by then and he began to blast away at the hole. The beast collapsed. It kept up that unnerving sound of pain and surprise until its body quit wiggling. Captain Decker shot out the eye Harper had missed as his way of making sure the beast stayed dead.

“My guess is the bogy could not see the unicorn out of the eye Lieutenant Harper shot, until it was too late,” Roland surmised.

Lockhart came up limping and leaning on Lincoln, but he waved them off. He would be fine, shortly. Boston ran to the unicorn. It had been injured, terribly.

Keng chose that moment to come running up. “I missed it? I missed everything!” He did not sound happy, but the others smiled at the young man.

“Glen. Please help me.” Boston called.

“I – I can’t,” Keng said.

Then someone else showed up. She glowed in the night and Roland immediately fell to his knees. It took the others a bit longer to feel the awesome fear of this person. Then they joined the elf on their knees. It felt not quite like the angel, but something in that direction.

“I go away for a few days and the whole place falls apart,” the woman complained.

Keng, of course, kept to his feet, and the woman gave him a curious look before she did something to tone down her glow. “Who are these people?” she asked Keng.

“These are friends of mine,” Keng said proudly, and to the woman’s stare he added, “What? I can have friends.” The woman said nothing, so Keng introduced the five who were there. “They have fallen back in time, but they are trying to get home. You could maybe help them?” He was not exactly asking.

The woman stepped up to Lockhart and looked down into the man’s eyes. Lockhart had to look away before she spoke again. “Three days is the most even the gods are permitted to bend time. It will not help these.”

“Yes, of course. I knew that.” Keng said. “Oh, yes, this is Nagi. She is the goddess of my village.” He remembered himself then and went to his knees, but Nagi just made a face before she smiled.

“A bit late for that,” she said, and stepped in close for a look at the bogy beast. Then she stepped up to stand behind Boston who had become wracked with tears, crying all over the unicorn. “A gift for defending my village,” she said, and waved her hand. The unicorn was made whole, and as it stood Boston’s tears turned from sorrow to joy. “The bogy does not belong here and neither does this creature. There are no unicorns in this part of the world at present, so you must take your pet with you when you leave.” Boston simply nodded as the goddess turned her back and returned to the others. The unicorn bowed to the goddess in the way of horses. It touched its horn to the earth before it turned and bounded off into the woods.

The goddess did not seem concerned with that as she stepped up to Keng and made him stand once again. She walked once around him like a person might examine a prize animal. She began to glow again, but in a different sort of way. Every male eye became fastened to her, like they were glued to her as she spoke her conclusion. “I think I could have use for this one.” She smiled at her own thoughts. “Yes, I will,” she said and vanished.

When they returned to the village and reported their success—without mentioning the goddess on Keng’s insistence, Mingus put a damper on their celebration.

“But that means the bogy man is still out there, somewhere, and he is not going to be happy.”

“We will burn that bridge when we come to it,” Captain Decker suggested.

“Meanwhile, get some sleep,” Lockhart ordered.

“I vote we stay here a couple of days to heal and help these people rebuild,” Alexis said as she laid hands on her brother to heal his scorched back.

“I think the goddess would rather see us move on in the morning,” Lincoln responded, and he told her, Mingus, and Doctor Procter of their encounter.

Doctor Procter appeared thoughtful. “Perhaps we should move on tonight.”

Lockhart did not answer the man directly. All he said was “Get some rest.”

************************

Monday

Avalon 1.3 The Way of Dreams is the third episode with only 3 parts. The travelers run into an early example of human conflict, and the Bogyman is unhappy at losing his pet. Until Monday, Happy Reading

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Avalon 1.2 Beasts in the Night part 1 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

After 4465BC in Southern China. Kairos 9: Keng

Recording …

Boston checked the database and read the results aloud. She concluded with her finger on the map and a note that they appeared to be somewhere between the Yangtze River and the southern mountains.

“How many time zones do we have to go through to get back to our own time?” Lieutenant Harper asked from the rear where she and Captain Decker continued to act as rear guard.

“One hundred and thirteen,” Boston answered from where she straggled at the back of the pack. “Glen is the one hundred and twenty-first lifetime of the Kairos.”

“It won’t be anytime soon,” Alexis looked back.

The land appeared to be a mix of forest and meadow with much steeper and taller hills than the Sahara. When they came to the top of one of those hills, a place where rocks stuck out through the soil, Lockhart called a halt. It would be dark soon, and they needed the rest.

“As good a place as any,” Lincoln sighed.

“Yeah,” Captain Decker added. “Something is bound to catch up to us no matter what we do, and this is a defensible position.”

“Chinese deer,” Roland announced, and he got out his bow and jogged back down the hill.

“And some greens,” Alexis said, as she dragged Boston and Lieutenant Harper off to gather. “I was never a big fan of Atkins.”

“Some rice would be nice,” Boston thought out loud. “Too bad we don’t have a wok.”

Once Alexis showed the others what to look for, they gathered as the sun sank in the west. They saw plenty of deer, and Boston felt sure Roland had already gotten back to the camp and had cut the beast for the fire. She stepped around a few trees and caught sight of a light in the forest. It did not look too far away, so curiosity drove her to take a closer look.

An opening among the trees showed sweet grass and flowers in that little place. A bubbling spring made a small stream that flowed by her feet.  A creature that positively glowed a brilliant white against the growing shadows stood beside the spring. Boston put her hands together in delight, but she dared not say a thing, not even to call to the others for fear of frightening off the animal. Thus, she simply watched, enthralled as the sun sank lower in the sky.

“Unicorn.” Roland came up beside her and whispered. Alexis and Katie Harper came with him.

“But no bones have ever been found of such a creature,” Katie protested. “I thought such things did not exist.”

“It isn’t a creature,” Alexis said. “It is a spirit, a greater spirit of purity and virtue, though it behaves much like a creature. There are a few still in our day on Avalon. Certain elf maids pledge themselves to their feeding and protection and do not marry or have relations with men until they retire at age one hundred.”

“You met Mirowen back at the headquarters building,” Boston whispered. “She was a unicorn maid before she met Doctor Roberts.”

“She lost her unicorn on earth, and it got captured. Doctor Roberts helped her retrieve it from area 51,” Alexis added. “I imagined you knew that since you and Captain Decker are stationed there.”

Lieutenant Harper shook her head. “The whole complex at area 51 is strictly on a need-to-know basis,” she said. “Colonel Weber,” she added by way of explanation.

They watched while the unicorn bent down to the spring for a drink. “Unicorns can be injured and even killed when they inhabit this form,” Alexis continued with the information. “But they are very powerful creatures, much more powerful than the form implies.”

“If it chose to charge, we would not escape,” Roland added.

“And it knows full well we are here,” Alexis said. “But I don’t get it. They usually are not seen unless there is an innocent in need of protection.”

“Hey.” Roland reached out, but it was too late. Boston had stepped out on to the meadow.

“Unicorns are dangerous,” Alexis spoke quickly.

“You said it knows we are here,” Boston responded softly.

“Boston,” Roland raised his voice a little. “Don’t you dare.” He turned on Lieutenant Harper because she raised her weapon to the ready.

“You have to be a virgin,” Alexis whispered very loud. Boston paused, turned to look back at them in the bushes and then turned again to continue toward the unicorn. The unicorn raised its head and began to nod, but it made no hostile moves in Boston’s direction. When she arrived, the beast turned its horn away from the girl as Boston reached out carefully to touch the unicorn’s neck. She felt a moment of electric shock when she touched before she felt drawn to do what moved her heart. She put her arms gently around the unicorn’s neck and kissed it right behind the ear. She dreamed about this since she was little.

The unicorn nodded again and broke free, gently. With one more nod, it turned and bounded into the bushes to be lost in the coming night. The light it emitted vanished with the animal, and Boston remained to cry gentle tears of joy.

When the others joined her in the meadow, Boston turned to Alexis. “You don’t mind? It was something I just had to do.”

“It called to you,” Alexis smiled. “I don’t mind at all.” She punched her grinning brother in the stomach before they escorted Boston back to the camp.

“Boston visited with it,” Alexis said, in a cryptic way. She said nothing about the virgin qualification. She imagined Lincoln understood and Lockhart may have guessed. She assumed Captain Decker had no idea, and Alexis was not going to spell it out for him.

“A unicorn.” Mingus understood right away. “Then we may have help guarding the camp against the creatures following us.”

“I see no good in it,” Doctor Procter said, and he looked morose.

“We still set a good watch,” Lockhart insisted. “And if you think you hear or see something, make sure everyone is awake before you go to investigate.”

That night, when everyone else worried about defending the camp from ghouls and the bokarus, Boston dreamed about riding on the back of a unicorn.

~~~*~~~

Boston and Katie Harper had the last watch in the night. They sat side by side as the sun readied to come up and talked about their lives and loves.

“I’m a good Catholic girl,” Boston insisted. “I finished High School when I was sixteen and went to Saint Elizabeth’s, an all-girl’s college. I finished there in three years and went straight on to graduate school where I studied. I mean, I went to parties and all, but electrical engineering takes real work. I didn’t have time for much dating, and then I got drafted by the men in black, I just sort of ended up pushing Lockhart around in that wheelchair for the last two years. That’s all, really.”

Katie Harper looked back toward the camp. “Yes, it is hard to remember him as an old man.”

Boston nodded. “Him and Lincoln, and Alexis who I never met before now. They were all old.”

“I understand,” Katie said as she looked again around the perimeter. “Given the environment, it was a good thing the Kairos was able to make them young again. A bunch of old people and a cripple would never have been able to keep up.”

“Glen,” Boston responded. “He likes to be called by name. Kairos is too formal, more like a title.”

“God of event time.”

“That’s right.” Boston smiled. “The Watcher over history, he calls it.” She looked at the lieutenant and Katie got the impression that it was her turn.

“I did my graduate work in human cultural studies, specifically the technologies of early and medieval cultures. I have a strong background in modern technology as well, though not exactly an engineering degree. Still, I am sure that is why Colonel Weber chose me for this assignment.”

“No doubt,” Boston said, before she jumped. Something roared in the distance. It stayed out of sight, down the hill and hidden by the trees, but it sounded loud enough to wake the camp. Lieutenant Harper stood with her weapon ready. Boston had her Beretta but stayed seated where she was.

“Bears?” Katie asked. She knew it was no lion or tiger sound.

Boston shook her head. “I hunted bears in Canada. That was no bear.”

The roar came again along with another sound. They heard a squeal that dropped to a low roar of its own. The trees swayed. They heard at least one tree crash to the ground. Then they heard a whine and something like thunder. Then silence. Smoke could be seen among the trees, just visible in the dim light before dawn, and the women thought the trees might be on fire, but they saw no light from flames.

Reflections Flern-11 part 3 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Flern squeezed Kined’s hand and smiled up into his eyes.

“Everyone else is happily married,” he said. “You and I are the last ones.” His eyes returned her smile.

“Not the last,” Flern responded with a nod of her head. Riah and Goldenwing walked close to the riverbank while Flern and Kined sat on the blanket where they could look out over the deep blue water of the Danube. Riah and Goldenwing were not holding hands, but they might as well have been.

 “She is his heart,” Kined nodded his agreement before he clicked his tongue. “I can’t believe I am worried about her being so young. I mean, she is over seventy years old.”

Flern’s eyes never left Kined’s face. “Am I your heart?” she asked.

Kined dropped the blade of grass he worried with his thumb and forefinger and slipped his arm over Flern’s shoulder. “Let me say it this.” He scooted right up beside her so they were touching, side to side and Flern felt a sudden flush of desire. “It has been a long, hot summer. Now you say it will be a good two months to follow the Danube to the sea. A couple more months to winter on the sea, and a couple more months to follow the Dnepr to the town at the foot of the pass. From there it will be across country back to the Dinester and home so we might get home by late spring, more than a year after we left.” Kined turned his eyes to the river and his voice dropped to a soft whisper. “I don’t think I can wait that long.”

Flern also chose to look at the river. She had told Kined she would not marry him until the adventure was over. She secretly figured if she died, she did not want to leave him a widower. But another six or eight months sounded like forever to her, too. “I don’t think I can wait either.” He turned her head and kissed her.

Flern reveled in his kiss until his kiss suddenly went cold. Flern pulled her head back to look. Kined looked frozen, and Flern had to wiggle out of his arms for a better look. He seemed completely unmoving, like a statue, or someone stopped in time.

“Who is there?” Flern stood up and quickly looked around. This could only be the work of one of the gods. “Show yourself.” The shimmering image of a man appeared, though never became fully manifest. A shimmering image of something Flern did not recognize appeared beside the man—but Flern recognized the man well enough. “Loki!”

Loki looked up at Flern and looked surprised. Clearly, he imagined himself to be invisible. But as soon as the shimmering something became manifest, Loki did disappear—or left the area. To be sure, Flern’s focus turned elsewhere, because as soon as the something manifested, Flern felt a great sucking pain in her gut, like something started being drawn out of her. Immediately, the shimmering something took on Flern’s exact shape down to the unbuttoned top button on her dress.

Flern screamed. “Doppelganger!” But the replica screamed at the same time and yelled the exact same word in the exact the same way.

Kined, suddenly set free, spun around to see the two Flern’s facing each other. Riah and Goldenwing rushed up from the riverbank but stopped to look on with uncertainty.

Flern fell to her knees, but so did the anti-Flern. Flern pointed and said, “It is sucking the life out of me,” but so said the other Flern.

Pinn and Vilder ran up, wearing leather aprons, their skin grubby from coal dust. Pinn yelled, “But which one?”

“Try the Princess, or Wlvn,” Kined suggested.

“I can’t,” two Flern’s said while two hands went to two stomachs. “I don’t remember how.”

“Flern?” Vilder had to ask.

The two Flern’s began a slow crawl toward each other. It looked like at least one of them resisted, but which one? “Don’t let it touch me,” both Flerns said as Gunder, Tiren and Andronicus rode up on horseback.

Vilder grabbed one of the two Flerns and Gunder dismounted and grabbed the other.

“Call for your armor.” Kined was still thinking, but Flern’s mind felt too dizzy to concentrate.

“Which one?” Pinn asked again.

“I can’t tell. I can’t tell,” Riah admitted.

The boys held the Flerns to their feet by sheer arm strength. Flern, herself prepared to black out when a bright, white light came streaking down the hillside. The unicorn came, and it appeared to know which one, in answer to Pinn’s question. Gunder and Vilder were both blown back by some force of light and wind as the unicorn leapt. The anti-Flern put her hands up and breathed, “no.” Flern stopped with her hands half-way up. The unicorn horn went through the doppelganger and the ganger dissipated in a puff of smoke and twinkling lights. Flern felt all of her essence rush back into her gut and she collapsed.

The unicorn turned and kept everyone away by snorting and stomping its foot. It came to Flern and nosed her until she sat up, groggy, but alive. It put its nose to Flern’s back and shoved her toward Kined.

“Okay. I was going to say let’s get married now. Don’t be pushy.” Flern did not move, however, but Kined dared the unicorn. He came in close and scooped her up in his arms.

“That is the one,” Pinn said, with a nod of certainty. “Why do today what you can do tomorrow?”

The unicorn snorted once more before it turned toward the river. It ran and bounded and made one great flying leap a half-mile over the river to the other side, where it landed gently and disappeared into the distant forest.

“I think that is the last I will see of the unicorn,” Flern said softly. Kined looked down at her with questions on his face, so she explained. “They only visit with very young, innocent children and virgins.” Kined’s shock looked priceless.

Three days later, Vinnu tugged on Flern’s wedding dress to make sure it covered her ankles while Thrud complained about it being too hot for a wedding. Pinn wisely stayed outside where she could keep an eye on the food. She was not sure what the boys were doing, but it seemed to involve a great deal of punching in the arm.

When Flern and Kined stood before the village priest, he stepped aside for a woman. Flern recognized as the goddess Hestia, but she said nothing. She looked back once and saw Artemis and Aphrodite, and Aphrodite stayed good. She did not molest anyone.

On the other side of the aisle, Vry and Mother Vrya sat side by side and looked happy. Frigga sat behind them, next to the old man, himself. He seemed impossible to miss, big eye patch and all, yet none of the locals or her own crew seemed to recognize the strangers in their midst, if they even recognized them as strangers.

Hestia asked. “Do you, Kairos, take this man to be your husband?”

Flern spoke loud and clear. “No.”

There were gasps from the witnesses, but Hestia did not even blink. She turned calmly to Kined and asked, “Do you understand?”

Kined looked briefly at Flern before he said, “I do.”

Hestia gave a little smile before she began again. “Do you, Flern, take this man …”

“Yes,” Flern interrupted.

“… to be your husband?”

“I mean, I do.”

After the ceremony, Flern came face to face with Frigga and Odin. The queen of the gods held tight to the old man’s arm and told Flern she looked beautiful. The king of the gods looked down at her with a face impossible to read. Flern felt a touch of discomfort while he cleared his throat.

“I have placed a hedge around you and your companions so that none of the gods may interfere directly or indirectly with your quest and confrontation. You humans need to settle your own human problems, and that includes the Wicca. Now, where is the cake? I always like a good wedding cake.”

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MONDAY

Flern and her friends return home to find an army gathered. Flern needs to face the Wicca. Until Monday, Happy Reading

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Reflections Flern-8 part 1 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Heads nodded with understanding as Wlvn spoke. He felt he had been patient enough. “But now, you have something to tell us I think.”

“Indeed,” Lord Oakvein also nodded his head. “Of late I have become aware of a great power in the east. Her eyes are turned in this direction, and not for good. She alone has power to force others to her will. There is nothing that even the gods can do to force my will, being counted as a lesser god myself, but I fear the little ones, the elves and dwarfs and the dark elves who live under the mountain might not have the strength to resist her. As for men, she might not have the power in herself to take a whole village. I see she has soldiers for that task. But one man here, one woman there might be swayed by her, even at this great distance. I know you oppose her. Be careful whom you trust. What is more, she does not work alone.”

“What do you mean?”

“I cannot say who, but I imagine one of the gods themselves is supporting her, directly, and I see the other great gods holding back as if they promised not to interfere.”

“The gods don’t make promises,” Wlvn said.

“So I have heard, but they may pledge to stand back for a season. It is not unknown.”

“One of the gods?” Vinnu sounded frightened by the thought of opposing a god.

Wlvn could not help teasing her. “Do you see what trouble Flern has gotten you into?”

Thrud and Tiren laughed nervously.

“I don’t care.” Vilder spoke up, and it sounded a bit loud. “The Jaccar have taken our homes and imprisoned our families. I will fight the gods if I have to in order to set them free.” Pinn touched Vilder on the arm and leaned up to kiss his cheek. Everyone but Oakvein and Riah gasped. They had never seen them so much as touch. Vilder also appeared shocked, from the look on his face, but he quieted and took Pinn by the hand, and they held hands for the rest of that night.

“What of the Were?” Wlvn asked.

“I do not know,” Lord Oakvein admitted. “They may be beyond her reach for one reason or another.”

Wlvn nodded. “I am not as concerned about my little ones as I am about those that are not mine.”

“Your little ones?”

“Yes, mine and Flern’s.” Wlvn told Oakvein, and the others by extension, though they understood or suspected as much.

“So that was why she traveled with the half dwarf and the half elf and Moriah’s mother, Laurel. But what of the mermaid? How do you explain that?”

“Tell us about Flern,” Vinnu spoke up. She wanted to get her mind off the idea of fighting the gods.

“Yes, what did she stumble into?” Thrud asked, having been exceptionally quiet that whole time. “Flern was always a pretty good klutz.”

Lord Oakvein lifted his ivy vest and showed his scar again. “That sword, actually.” He pointed at Wlvn. “She was learning.”

Wlvn listened at that point. He felt glad to hear that things were continuing according to plan. Skinny Wlkn and Elleya were still clinging to each other, Badl and Moriah would end up together and Flern apparently found the one Mother Vrya and Aphrodite designated for Andrea. If Wlvn should find his way back to his own time, he would not have to marry any of those women. He smiled and turned over to sleep while they talked, Riah right in the middle of the conversation.

Wlvn instinctively knew it would be best not to listen too closely. If he heard too much about how things turned out in those days, he might be tempted to change things, or accidentally change things if and when he got back there. He considered his situation and wondered briefly if this double trade might really be the accident it seemed, but then he slept.

In the early morning, Riah woke with him before the sun. They walked as they talked so as not to wake the others.

“You were named after Moriah, my friend,” Wlvn said it out loud.

“Yes.” Riah looked at the ground. “She died seventy-two years ago, the day I was born. She and mother were best of friends.”

Wlvn nodded and stopped when the light began to peek above the horizon. “And Badl?” he asked.

“Very old,” Riah said. “His son, Balken is chief of the dwarfs of Movan Mountain.”

Wlvn stopped walking at the edge of a small clearing and looked at the elf. She became self-conscious under his stare and looked away. “So, you are seventy-two. From your appearance, a girl about fourteen or fifteen sounds right.”

“I am older than my mother was when she accompanied you, I mean Flern.” Riah said in her defense and wondered what Wlvn might be getting at.

“And I suppose you can’t tell me what happened with your mother.”

Riah shook her head. “Mother was right about that. I never paid attention. I only know what Lord Oakvein spoke about last night, and I am sure some of that is not to be told. I would not be surprised if the others woke up without remembering it at all, and while I remember what he said, I am sure my tongue will not form the words. The law is young, but I know the law in my deepest being. I cannot tell you about things you have not experienced for yourself, even if they are things in the deep past.”

 That was indeed the law, his law. It was safer that way. He understood, but he did not answer. He stood still instead when he heard the bushes rustle behind him. Riah looked and smiled, but Wlvn figured it might be one or more of the others. His eyes were drawn instead to the increasing light in the forest because that light did not come from the rising sun.

After only a moment, a bright white light erupted from the trees and into the little clearing. When the light dimmed, they saw a unicorn, its horn pointed up in a non-threatening manner. It shook its head and glowing white sprinkles fell from its mane. It pointed at Wlvn and stomped its left foot twice on the ground. Then it turned and bolted back into the woods to be lost from sight.

Reflections Wlvn-9 part 3 of 3

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Just before dawn, Flern awoke to the sound of a soft honk and the poking of a beak. She tried to brush it off but sat up straight and quick when she realized it was not a dream. The swan quickly waddled away, and it seemed a very pronounced waddle, Flern thought. Flern stood and glanced at the other sleepers. Laurel had gotten up and gone off somewhere, and Moriah sat up, but the others were still out for the night. Flern had to squint to see the swan in the gray light, but she felt sure the bird wanted to be followed, and she had no qualms about doing so. This swan, assuming the same swan all along, had saved Wlvn’s life more than once.

“I’ll be back.” Flern told Moriah, even as Laurel trotted up with a rabbit in her hands.

“Where is she going?” Laurel asked. Moriah shrugged, and they went about waking the others.

Flern made no effort to hide her trail, not that she knew how to do that, so she knew the others would not be far behind; but in the meantime, she could not resist seeing what the swan wanted to show her. She found it, even as the light turned from gray to misty white. A unicorn had gotten trapped in a man-made, or something-made trap, and struggled to get free. Flern looked around for the trapper, but no one could be seen, and she assumed that the swan had flown off as well.

“Pretty baby.” Flern could not help calling the unicorn by that name, though she was not so foolish as to run to it. The beast looked like it could be fierce if it wanted to be, and the horn looked like it could be deadly. “I can help if you let me.” Flern said, not knowing if the unicorn could understand her. “I can cut the vines and set you free if you like.” She pulled her long knife slowly and showed it to the beast. The unicorn gave no indication that it understood a word Flern said, but after sniffing at the blade from a distance, it got to its knees and then fell to its side so its trapped foot remained on top. “Poor baby.” Flern repeated herself. “Everything will be all right.” She inched forward slowly and carefully, and when she reached the beast, she heard the others gather behind her and hoped they would be wise enough to keep their distance.

Flern cut the vine-rope quickly and cleanly where it stretched taught, some inches from the unicorn’s hoof. Then she set down her blade and slipped the loop off the hoof itself. The unicorn brought up its head and Flern heard at least one gasp behind her, but the unicorn only nudged her and was very careful about the horn. Flern sighed and loved this beast for all the purity and love she felt emanating from the creature. She could not help kissing the unicorn on the neck, and she felt such peace.

“You are free now,” Flern said. “You can go but be careful.” Flern scooted back and the unicorn appeared to understand. It got to its feet, and with one more loving look in Flern’s direction, it raced off to disappear in the bushes.

“Well, I never,” Wlkn said. Elleya cried for joy at having seen the beast, and Moriah seemed inclined to join her. Laurel had something to say.

“Not just a beast as it appears. Unicorns are greater spirits of all things pure and good.  Only children and a virgin with the purest heart can dare to approach.” Andrea stepped up and put her arms around Flern for a hug but stared all the time at the bushes where the unicorn disappeared.

“Definitely not made by human hands.” Boritz and Badl examined the trap.

“And not a little one trap either. My guess is ghoul, or some other creatures of the darkness.” He looked all around, and Boritz looked with him, and he looked worried. “We should probably be safe in the daylight, but I would not mind reaching the village by dark, even if it means crossing two rivers. As if on cue, everyone lifted their heads at once as they heard the sound of a baby crying in the distance.

“Damn!” Wlkn swore.

“What is that?” Andrea asked.

“You don’t want to know,” Badl answered.

Breakfast became a hurried affair, and as they were right at the Prt River ford, they soon put that water between them and the creatures. Badl pointed out that while the river did not look too wide at that point, it remained deep enough to come up to the horse’s necks and that should probably be too deep for the night creatures to cross, easily. Flern did not feel assured by the word probably.

On the other side of the Prt, between there and the river Swr, the forest changed to include more firs and pines among the deciduous trees. Snow had fallen here as well, as they wound along and around the hills that snuggled up close to the mountains. Flern rode in the middle when the horses had to string out in single file. It became hard to look back around Boritz, but she kept looking back anyway. She hoped, since there were no more iced over swampy areas between the rivers, maybe the ghouls, or whatever they were, would not be interested in the terrain.

“No, Lady. If it is ghouls or worse, they are probably like the night creatures. They will cross any terrain to get what they are after and then go home when dinner is done.”

Flern looked back again. The Storyteller suggested all sorts of possible nasties including orcs and goblins taken straight from Tolkien. That frightened her for a minute until she realized that goblins were of the elf class. They were dark elves, as the gods of Aesgard called them, and thus they were her responsibility. For a while, she kept hoping that the traps were set by trolls, but Badl assured her that there were not any trolls locally who were smart enough to do something like that. So Flern looked back. She could not help it, and she patted Thred’s neck every now and then and talked softly to the horse. “If the spookies come after us, you will ride like the wind, won’t you?” she asked, and Thred appeared to nod his head. That made her want to hug the horse, or maybe hold on for dear life when the time came.

Lunch did not take long. Flern had to touch her sword and ask Badl about practicing, but Badl said they had no time for that, as she suspected. She figured it got her brownie points so later she could say she offered, without really having to practice. Unfortunately, Boritz said he could help teach her, and then she got trapped. She sighed. She knew she had to learn for the sake of her village back home, but at the moment she did not really want to learn for fear she would be expected to face the Titan.

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MONDAY

Ghouls find them, but they are looking for the red headed boy… Happy Reading

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M3 Margueritte: Year of the Unicorn, part 3 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Owien did not move.  He could not believe seeing a real unicorn, and when he saw the fairies, he almost fainted.  They were holding hands and dancing in a circle about five feet from the ground, chanting.

“Hurry, hurry Avalon

Under moon and under sun

Make a way to Kairos hold

Make a door for travelers bold.”

The children imagined listening to a bear thrash through the woods, the growl of the cat and the serpent slithering through the leaves, but with that chant, Margueritte perked up.  “How many miles to Avalon?” she asked.

“Three score miles and ten.”  The fairies answered in unison.

“Can I get there by candlelight?”

“Yes, and back again.”  The fairies, oblivious to the danger they were in, fell back and laughed and laughed, an enchanting, infectious laughter, and it cheered them all.  And then the door opened.  A mere shimmer in the air at first, it quickly became an arch, high and wide, that touched the ground.  The children saw another world altogether, with a carefully manicured lawn so richly green it nearly hurt the eyes to look at it, and a sky so blue that Owien claimed after that he never really saw a blue sky again.  On a hill in the distance stood the greatest castle any of them had ever imagined, with more towers and pinnacles than they would have guessed possible.  Near at hand stood the most beautiful woman any had ever seen, and she glowed all around, ever so slightly, like a true, angelic vision.  The woman stepped into this world, looked around and took in the whole scene with one sweep of her eyes.  The fairies bowed and backed away.  Margueritte just had to step forward.

“Lady Alice,” she said, for she knew who it was.  “Is it time for me to come home now?”

“No, my little self,” Alice said.  “You have much yet to do here, but soon enough, and you may come.”  She turned to Elsbeth who thought it only right to curtsey.  “Do not be afraid, child.  Your days, too, will be long and happy.  And what do you say Owien son of Bedwin.  Will Sir Owien and Sir Tomberlain, the best of friends, not come into this high adventure?”  She stepped aside first for the unicorn and invited the beast to enter in.  The unicorn did not hesitate.  It reared up once, the earth shook, and lightening pierced across the sky.  Then it dashed through the door and quickly became lost in the distance as it raced across that sea of green.  “And my children,” Alice said to the fee who fluttered passed the door.

“Come on, come on-ey.”  Goldenrod prompted the others.

“Yes, hurry.”  Little White flower added.  Margueritte started and that got everyone’s feet moving.  Tomberlain came last with his horse.  When they turned, they could not see a door at all, and Alice was also not with them.  Looking out across the pasture, they saw great fields of perfect, golden grain not far from a river which ran deep and wide, and which seemed to come from the castle on the hill.  Behind them was the sea.  Indeed, they were almost on the golden shore and it seemed as if the drab world from which they had come must be buried beneath the waves.  Beyond the pasture in one direction and beyond the fields and river in the other, there were deep forests.  The one past the pasture looked like pine and fir and rose in great procession to where it undoubtedly became cliffs fallen off into the sea.  The one past the fields looked like oak, birch, maple, elm, and a thousand species they could hardly name, and it seemed to stretch off into the distance without end.

They felt reluctant to go too far for fear of disturbing the pristine perfection that they saw.  Even the fairies, who seemed at home, hardly dared move from the moorings of the children.  Then they saw someone come from the fields and river. They waited, because they felt they could hardly do anything else.  At last he arrived, a man, deep bearded and hard to look upon, but with a kindly face and a warm demeanor.  He came barely clothed, wore only the least cloth such as the Romans once wore, and in his hands, he held a sword.

“Caliburn,” Alice said.  They all spun around and saw that she had somehow come up behind them.  “It was made for a princess by the gods of old, but it has been carried by others since.”

“Would that I could carry a weapon like that someday,” Tomberlain said with a sigh.  Owien nodded, but Alice laughed.

“You gentlemen will have swords a plenty,” she said.  “But true and proper will be the swords carried by you men.  Even Arthur, who once pulled this sword from the stone, later gained another sword from the Lady of the Lake that he could bear with honor.  I said this sword was made for a woman, but there is a man who will bear it.  Margueritte, dear, you will know him when you find him.  Now you must go home.”

“Oh, Lady, must we?”  Little White Flower whined.

“Of course.  Your father will miss you.  But you may come again.”

“Promises?”  Goldenrod asked.

“Promises, my sweet,” Alice said, and she waved her hand to open a door to another place.  Tomberlain and Owien stepped out first with the horse.  The girls took hands and followed with the fairies.  The door vanished.  They stood in the triangle and their mother ran to hug and cry over her children, before she sent a man to find their father.  The man did not have to go far.

The king left without his tents, and only sent men back to fetch them.  Lord Bartholomew told the story that evening.

“There we were, racing for the site where the girls had been left.  I was obliged to follow, not knowing the location.  Fortunately, I had sent Tomberlain ahead to search as soon as I knew of Urbon’s foolish plan.  And, I must say, when I explained to Urbon what he had done, he was most reluctant to let the girls be harmed by whatever beasts might be driven to the center of that circle.  He did not say he was sorry, but I could tell he hadn’t thought things through very well.  So, we raced ahead of the people and arrived in time to see a rather incredible and unexpected sight.  If I say she was the most beautiful woman my eyes have ever beheld, you must forgive me, dear wife.  She was angelic, glowing even in the daylight and floating some two feet above the ground.  Neither would I have had those dainty sandaled feet muddied by the grime of this world to which she obviously does not belong.”

“Poor Urbon fairly fell to his face and trembled before her, and Duredain the druid went right with him.  I kept to horse, but only because I was so astounded at the sight of her.  The Irishman also stayed up, but I believe it was shock that froze him.  He is like a man who uses words for his advantage but does not actually believe in anything but himself.  I am sure he never believed there was a unicorn.  The woman fairly froze him in his saddle.”

“The children are safe,” the woman said.  “And I will see them safely home.  Do not be too hard on yourself for putting their innocence in harm’s way.  The unicorn is out of this world now and out of your reach.  Alas, the old ways have gone and the new has come.  Embrace the new, but also remember you must show grace to those who still see things differently.  This universe is bigger than you think, and always remember there is more you do not know than there is that is known to you.”  And she vanished.  It’s true.  She utterly vanished off the face of the earth.”

“Alice,” Tomberlain said.

“Huh?”

“Her name is Alice,” Tomberlain said.

“And she was most very beautiful,” Elsbeth added.

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MONDAY

The years go by, but finally some questions just need to be asked, and Margueritte has to answer them, if she can.  Until Monday

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M3 Margueritte: Year of the Unicorn, part 2 of 3

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Things were about settled when Marta came sheepishly in and interrupted.  “Your pardon, but I must set the table.  There will be eight and the children?”  She asked, judging the table too small for that many.

“Let the children and Tomberlain,” Brianna added to single him out, “eat with you and Maven this evening, unless my young squire would rather share with Redux?”  Tomberlain said he might carry enough to the barn to do that very thing.  “And here,” she said.  “We will help.”

“I’ll help Maven with the cooking,” Elsbeth said, but Margueritte grabbed her arm.

“You need to think harder than that to get out of work.  You can’t cook, or did you forget?”

Everything got settled amicably that evening, and the supper went very well overall.  Margueritte helped Marta serve since Lolly was not there and Maven got so tired out from all that cooking.  Elsbeth went with her brother and Redux, and the little ones, probably had a wonderful time dancing to the sound of Luckless’ mandola and Grimly’s flute.  But that was all right.  Margueritte did not mind.

They almost got into trouble when Chief Brian wondered where that midget had gotten off to?  The others became excited for the possible distraction since the supper table was not exactly tension free.

Marta stood stiff as a board, her eyes darted back and forth, with sweat ready at any moment to break out on her forehead.

“She had to go home.”  Margueritte spoke up quickly and sent Marta outside to the kitchen.  True enough.

“Drat,” Chief Brian said, and he explained his encounter with the little one, embellishing it just enough for a good laugh.  By then, Maven had come in, presumably to help clear dishes.

“Yes.  Dear Lolly had to get on home,” Maven said.  “She has seven mouths of her own to feed, you know, in that little rundown old shack of hers.  Why, the place barely keeps out the rain, it does, and that does not help her husband, arthritic and all the way he is.  He can barely farm enough to keep his family from starving, though he might have done better if his oldest and only son had not lost a foot in the badger hole.  Come to think of it, they would have had eight children, that is a second son, if the wart hog had not got him when he was a young one.  I almost forgot about him.  Of course, Lord Bartholomew, saint that he is, does everything he can for the poor, wretched family, but there is only so much one can do.  And here, Lady Brianna, the good lady let Lolly come up to cook just for her king whom she loves with the hope that in his abundance he might send her just a little to see her and hers until they can get in the rest of the scraggly bits of grain from the field.  Even with all the little girls helping, though, I can’t see how they will get it in before the frost.  Yes, I really feel for the poor old dear and help her myself every chance I get.”

“Oh my,” Chief Brian said.

The king frowned.  “I may be able to send a little something.”

“And I will, too.”  Chief Brian agreed.  Everyone agreed, except Bartholomew who seemed to be having a hard time to keep from laughing, and Brianna whose ears were red from hearing such lies, and Finnian McVey who looked up at Maven and tipped his hat ever so slightly to a master.  Finnian was apparently no slouch in the matter of lying.

Going out the back door with the dishes, Margueritte turned to Maven.  “You lie like an elf.”  She said it bluntly and did not mean it as a compliment.

“Well, having a few around has given me some chance to practice,” Maven admitted.

###

In the morning, almost before day had fully broken, Margueritte and Elsbeth were dumped, not too softly, in a pile of leaves.  Obviously, the place had been well worked out in advance as the riders shot for it in a straight line.  Margueritte wondered what other parts of King Urbon’s plans he had neglected to share with her father.  But then Goldenrod and Little White Flower showed up and the girls got busy having fun.

“I told the ogrees like you asked,” Goldenrod said.  “That was scary for me, the most scary, ever.”

“I bet it was,” Little White Flower said.

“How come fairies don’t always talk right?”  Elsbeth asked out of the blue.

Margueritte had to think for a minute.

“Is it because when they are young, their little brains can’t hold it all in?” Elsbeth suggested.

“Mostly too many feelings in this world,” Little White Flower said.  “It’s hard to be happy, feel proud at having done well, and scardy remembering all at the same time.”

“No,” Margueritte said.  “Well. Probably something like that, but I think it is because young fairies were made to be terminally cute and sweeter even than cotton candy.”

“What’s cotton candy?” Elsbeth wondered.

“Whipped sugar,” Margueritte answered.

“I knew some cotton fairies once,” Little White Flower said.  “But I never knew a cotton candy.”

“Hmmm,” Goldenrod interrupted.  She wanted to say something intelligent, too, but she could not think of anything to say.

“Unicorn.”  Elsbeth called out when she remembered her instructions.

“Unicorn.”  Goldenrod echoed, and for a while they all called, though none of them seriously supposed the creature would come.

Meanwhile, King Urbon had moved the entire male population, and quite a few females out of the village of Vergen, and also brought about a hundred members of the court along to make nearly seven hundred people altogether.  He even offered a lesser sentence to those stuck in the fens if any would be willing to help.  These people slowly spread out at first light until they made a line, a mile in length.  Ever so slowly, they moved into the Banner.  They carried whatever nets, fishing nets, cloth or sacks they could which might help to catch a unicorn.

After a while, the girls stopped calling.  The sound of hounds could be heard, far away, closing from the other direction.

“I’m cold,” Elsbeth admitted, and she and Margueritte got up and began to walk in a great circle.  The calling started again but stopped quickly when they heard a rustling in the leaves not far away, but out of sight.  They stiffened as a face popped out from behind a tree.

“Owien, Son of Bedwin.”  Both girls called out together.

“I see you bathed,” Margueritte said.

“Look nice,” Elsbeth added.

“No time for that,” Owien said.  “I came to warn you.  It’s a trap.  The people are circling all around to keep the unicorn from escaping, but Mother says they will drive all beasts to the center, and not just the unicorn.  That means Bears and Great Cats and Wart Hogs and snakes, too.”

Elsbeth shrieked at the word, “Snake.”  They paused again, because the leaves rustled once more.  A man jumped out and grabbed Owien, took him down, and held a big knife.  Owien fought well, but the man, or rather boy was much bigger than him.  Margueritte hit the boy in the arm.

“Tomberlain,” she yelled.  “Leave Owien alone.”

“Yes, leave him alone,” Elsbeth agreed.

“You know this boy?”  Tomberlain asked.

“Of course,” Margueritte explained.  “He risked himself to come and warn us about the circle closing around us.”

“Oh, sorry,” Tomberlain said and he sheathed his knife and helped Owien to his feet.  “I thank you for caring about my sisters.”

“No, thank you, Squire,” Owien said.  “I never wrestled with a real squire before.  It was an honor.”  Margueritte thought she better step in before Tomberlain’s head swelled to where it became too big to fit between the trees.

“What can we do to get out of here?” she asked the practical question.

“No broomsticks handy,” Tomberlain said.  “But I brought my horse.  He is young and strong and might carry the four of us.”

“Three,” Owien said.  “I can just blend in with the circle as it closes.”

“Nonsense.”  Margueritte and Tomberlain spoke together.  Tomberlain finished.  “You’re in as much danger here as the rest of us.”  For a third time, everyone stopped then, to listen.  The leaves sounded agitated this time.  To everyone’s surprise and wonder, the unicorn came into the little clearing.  It would not let the boys near it, but it seemed to be offering itself to the girls to ride and to take them out of danger.

“Looks like the matter’s settled,” Tomberlain said.  “We have two chargers, but we have to hurry.”  They could already hear the drums and distant shouts.  “It took too long to find you,” Tomberlain admitted.  “But we can make a dash for it.  Hurry Owien.”

M3 Margueritte: Year of the Unicorn, part 1 of 3

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In the fall, right before Samhain in the same year that Elsbeth danced, not being the year to go to Vergenville, King Urbon, Duredain the druid and Finnian McVey paid their own visit to the triangle along with Chief Brian, his druid Canto, and a very wary Roan and Morgan.  They brought a dozen men at arms, three strong hunters, and plenty of hounds.

Lady Brianna welcomed them most regally and apologized that her small manor home hardly had the room or the facilities to entertain royalty.

“Never mind,” the king said, as he pointed his men toward a newly mowed field.  “I’ve brought our hunting tents.  We will be quite comfortable in the field.”

Sir Bartholomew rode up, having gotten the word from Little White Flower.  Tomberlain rode beside him as did several peasant Franks, but Grimly was nowhere to be seen.  Luckless the dwarf also absented himself from the forges, and, in fact, Margueritte went down into the lair of the little ones in the side of the hill beneath the barn to make it very clear to all of them that they were neither to be seen nor heard during that whole visit.  Fortunately, Hammerhead the ogre had been given two cows which he took off as a present for his family in Banner Bein.

“He certainly earned them.”  Bartholomew remarked to his wife’s question.  Hammerhead was one little one who did not mind working.  In fact, he rather enjoyed it, and he certainly did enough around the farm that spring and summer to earn a great deal.

“Lord Urbon,” Bartholomew said.  “Your majesty graces our poor home with your presence.”

“Yes, yes.”  Urbon waved off the formalities.  “Bartholomew, we have to talk.”  They went inside with Finnian and Duredain, even as Margueritte came out from the barn, having climbed up the underground stairs to the secret door.  Urbon’s men were already half-way down the hill.  Chief Brian appeared to want to speak with her first, privately, but Canto held his arm and led him also into the house.  Roan and Morgan dared not look at her and they quickly hustled their few servants down the hill to set up Chief Brian’s tents.

Elsbeth squirted out the front door, looking for Little White Flower.  “psst.”  The word came from the mistletoe oak and both girls looked up.  Little White Flower risked coming down to kiss Elsbeth on the cheek and added a bit of motherly advice.  “Be good now,” she said and wagged her tiny finger in Elsbeth’s face.  She curtsied to Margueritte and sped off to the fairy glen—a good ten miles into the Vergen forest.  Margueritte knew it would take Little White Flower almost a minute to get there.  Margueritte faced her sister who wore a devilish grin.  It was not the first time Margueritte wondered exactly what the relationship was between her sister and the fairy, but that thought got interrupted when Elsbeth spoke.

“You forgot Lolly,” she said.

Margueritte put her hand to her mouth before she said something rude.  She feared what might happen, but inside she laughed.  They ran to the side of the house, to where the kitchens were out back, and saw that Chief Brian had already walked out the back door for a little repast, as he called it, after his long, long journey.  Lolly had already slapped his hand once with her cooking spoon, and Marguerite, herself, knew how that would sting.

“Wait ‘till it’s ready, you big fat slobber, or next knock will be on your noggin,” Lolly said.

Brian was taken aback for a moment, not the least to nurse his hand, but then he laughed out loud.  “I didn’t know Bartholomew had a little person about.  I love you midgets. You always make me laugh.”

“Little people hitting each other,” Margueritte said quickly, not knowing what else to say.  She wanted to get Chief Brian’s attention before he looked at Lolly too closely.  “That’s what Napoleon liked, too.”

“Huh?”  Brian asked.  “Who’s that?”

Margueritte shrugged.  “You wanted to ask me some questions?”  She reminded him while Elsbeth hustled Lolly toward the barn, and not without some argument.

“Huh?  Yes,” Brian said.  “But I’ve quite forgotten what it was, exactly.  Anyway, I do hope all my questions will be answered tomorrow after you girls are dropped off in Banner Bein.”  He went inside.  Margueritte followed, shocked by what she heard.

Inside, the subject had already been breached, and Sir Barth stood red with anger and only refused to do anything foolish in his own home.

“Come now.”  Duredain spoke up.  “You Christians are always claiming Christ as your true protector.  You should not fear for your girls.”

“Besides,” Finnian added in his Irish drawl.  “The unicorn is reparted to be a most gentle and loving crature who is most kind to young innocent garls.”

“No.”  Bartholomew repeated himself for the hundredth time.  “You’ll not use my children as bait.  And besides, I am not a Christian.”

Poor Lady Brianna did not know what to say.  She was moved to speechlessness by the whole suggestion.

“Then by your own pagan Gods.”  Duredain looked ready to spit.

“I’m not exactly asking,” Urbon said, mostly to Lady Brianna who remained a native of Amorica.  “But it would be greatly of value to the whole kingdom and a benefit to all the people.”  He knew he had little or no say over the Franks.  In fact, having three Frankish Lords on his border watching over him rather spoke for the opposite.  Still, he hoped to appeal to the Lady as one of his own, whose daughters were at least half his.

Lady Brianna shook her head when Margueritte stepped up and Elsbeth came in the front door.

“What?”  Elsbeth asked straight out.

“Baby,” Brianna explained.  “The king and his men propose to try and catch the unicorn, if they can, and save it for all the people, for the purity and health it will bring.”

“But what?”  Elsbeth spoke again.  Apparently, she heard enough before coming inside to ask.  Margueritte stood quietly at her mother’s shoulder looked up and down the row of faces seated at the table and did not like any of them very much.

“Baby.  They propose to take you and Margueritte to the woods, alone, in the hope that the unicorn will return to you.”

“Bait,” Elsbeth said what her father said, and she turned her eyes on the men at the table.

“To Banner Bein?” Margueritte confirmed.  At least Chief Brian nodded.

“Think on it.”  The king rose so everyone rose with him.

“You will come for supper,” Brianna said.  It was a statement of invitation, not a question.

“Of course,” the king answered.  He planned to settle the matter that evening.  He stepped out, Duredain on his heels, and Finnian who sauntered a bit.  Chief Brian sent Canto on ahead but tarried until it became safe to speak.

“Care, Sir Barth.  There is much talk about you Franks being responsible for this Christian business and the dissolution of the old ways.”

“What?  Get out!”  Lord Bartholomew roared.  Chief Brain shrugged, but Brianna walked him to the door and thanked him.

“It was only a fair warning.  He risked telling you,” she said.  “It was not a threat, veiled or otherwise.”

“Oh.”  Bartholomew got it, but his ire was so engaged, he could hardly hear anything unthreatening.

“Father.”  Margueritte spoke as Tomberlain came in from caring for the horses.  “Isn’t Hammerhead in Banner Bein visiting his family?”

Bartholomew looked at her and Lady Brianna was not sure what she might be suggesting, but Elsbeth seemed to understand.  “Oh, yes.”  She clapped her hands together.

“And I don’t see why, with a little help, if you know what I mean, we might not be safe enough.  Far be it from Elsbeth and me to break the peace between the Franks and the Breton.”

“Margueritte!”  Brianna’s voice scolded, but Lord Bartholomew clearly thought about it.  If the girls could pull it off, whether they got their unicorn or not, it would give him certain leverage on the king.

“What’s it all about?”  Tomberlain asked, and Margueritte explained her plan more fully, accepting the ways in which her father amended those plans, and Brianna, though not believing her ears, nevertheless did not object.

M3 Margueritte: And Secrets, part 1 of 3

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The afternoon got spent with Maven again, shopping, while Tomberlain went with the boys to practice feats of skill and stupidity, as Margueritte had come to call them.  Sir Barth and Brianna also made the rounds before they had to get ready for the feast and the evening festivities at the king’s court.  For most of the time, Roan and Morgan were not too carefully shadowing the girls.  Margueritte once pulled Elsbeth quickly behind a booth while Maven went after some sweets and when the fools came racing up to look every which way for the girls, she and Elsbeth jumped out.

“Surprise!”  Margueritte stomped on Roan’s foot as hard as she could and Elsbeth kicked Morgan in the shins.

“Girls?”  Maven turned around.

“Here Maven,” Marguerite said, sweetly.

“Don’t do that,” Maven breathed and completely ignored the two men hopping around, each on one foot.  “I lost you once.  I’ll not lose you again.”  Margueritte simply smiled.

Not long after that, the fat old village chief, Brian himself caught up with them.  He came decked out in a long blue robe with gold trim and looked every bit a prince, though he was not.  He also had the chain and oversized symbol of his office around his neck, and Elsbeth laughed at the way it bounced off his plump tummy with each step.  He wanted to know a bit more about the unicorn.  He could not quite grasp that the unicorn had a plain, silver horn rather than one colored like the rainbow.  “Or at least white,” he said.  “Maybe it just looked gray in the dark of the woods.”

“No, it was gray,” Margueritte said, as her eye caught a sight, she felt surprised to see.  A little gnome pinched a sweet.  She gasped.  Suddenly she saw a dozen little ones, imps, brownies, pixies, and the like, all taking little bits of food and drink here and there.  A snatch of cloth and a broken needle, and she wondered why no one noticed, but then she realized they were all invisible to mortal eyes, except her own.

“What a shame,” Brian said.  “If only I could believe you.  What a wonderful find that would be, to catch and preserve a real, live unicorn, right here in my village.  Prosperity and health would be ours forever.”

“No.”  Margueritte shook her head.  “A unicorn can heal the heart, only.  It is not a fertility or prosperity beast.”

“And how do you know this?”  Brian asked.

“Well, I’m not sure.”  Margueritte said, as Elsbeth reached for her hand, curious at what could be on her sister’s mind.  Immediately, Elsbeth had to stifle a shriek since on touching her sister, she saw all that her sister saw.  “But I think that is right.  You understand unicorns are greater spirits, way beyond my little ones.”

“Your little ones?”  Brian tried to follow.

“Mmm,” Margueritte said.  “Like these.”  She took Brian’s hand and pointed.  Brian saw and gasped.  Maven reached to move Margueritte along, thinking the conversation had finished, but as she touched Margueritte’s shoulder, she also saw and screamed.  Some of the little ones ignored the scream and assumed it was what “mudders” did once in a while, but some looked up, and one particularly little gnome-like dwarf leapt up on a table and shouted.

“We been had!”  With that the Pixies, elves, and hobgoblins vanished from the fairgrounds in a matter of seconds. Elsbeth hugged her sister and whispered in her ear.

“Do it again.”

Chief Brian went off, silent in the wonder of his vision, his great iron symbol of office bouncing all the way.

Maven stopped screaming after a while.

That evening when the fires were put out, there were no untoward incidents.  Tomberlain chose that time to tell the story he heard about the robbers of Cairn Brees and how they broke into the tombs of the kings in search of booty.  When the next Samhain came, the ghosts of the kings and queens rose-up in the dark and exacted a terrible vengeance on those unfortunates.  He did a fairly good job for an amateur storyteller.  Margueritte felt frightened at the proper time.  Maven laughed.  Marta did not say a word the whole next day.  Elsbeth did not speak to her brother for a whole week.

The next day, the day of Samhain felt like a bit of a let-down.  Much of it got spent in the company of Lady Lavinia who took the girls to many of the same places they had already visited with Maven, except she made them talk and name everything the whole time in Latin.  Every time Elsbeth got something nearly right, Lavinia praised her.  Every time Marguerite so much as conjugated incorrectly, she got scolded.  Margueritte noticed.

After that, they began to dream of home and being in their own rooms and sleeping in their own beds.  Even Tomberlain said as much, and they started out early in the day, nearly at daybreak, so apparently, it was a well shared feeling.  Around ten that morning, a strong drizzle started, which did not help their spirits, but perhaps hustled up their feet.  They passed the coast road and the south road, and the rain slackened off.  They got within three bends of the triangle when they stopped completely.  Behind them they heard the sound of many horses coming up fast.

They had no time to get the wagons away safely, so Sir Barth ordered Redux, Andrew and John-James on their honor to guard the women, and especially the children.  When he turned to face the horsemen, they had already arrived.  The Moors appeared, and their swords were drawn.  The melee began at once along with Elsbeth’s scream.  Margueritte joined her scream when they saw Tomberlain knocked from his horse by a wicked hit on the head.

Few of the men were able to keep to their horses on the slippery grass and in the mud and rain.  Slick saddles sent men to the ground while horses sauntered off into the woods, away from the commotion.  Margueritte found herself and Elsbeth pushed down into the wagon and a wet, woolen blanket thrown hastily over them by their mother.

Lady Brianna sat still with a dagger in her hand while Redux the blacksmith took the tool he brought for the wagon wheels, something like a tire iron, and faced off with one of the enemy.  Brianna got startled, when one came up behind her, still on horseback.  She spun with the knife and cut the man’s hand, and then thought fast and kicked the horse which bucked and threw its’ rider.  With her back turned, however, it became easy for two strong hands to grab her from behind and pull her from the wagon seat.  It took two of them to hold her, and even then, it was only because she landed flat on the ground, on her back, and had no leverage.  Unfortunately, she had dropped the knife.

Margueritte, who thought, “Way to go, Mother,” when Brianna cut her attacker, cried out when her mother got grabbed from behind.  She reached out of the blanket to try and catch her mother and keep her from being dragged from the cart, but it was too far to reach.  Then, she felt herself lifted right out of the back of the wagon, and though she kicked, her feet could not quite reach the ground.

“Let me go!” she screamed and wriggled.  “Help!” she yelled.  “Hammerhead!” It was the first name that came to mind.  Perhaps she did not think at all but merely bubbled something up from her unconscious.  Her mother and Tomberlain were both down and who knew in what condition.  Elsbeth was surely no help, and her father fought face to face with Lord Ahlmored who kept shouting, “Save me the woman and the older girl.  Kill the rest.”  So Margueritte shouted for Hammerhead, odd as it seemed.  Odder still was the fact that he answered.