Unicorn Keep (4 page)

“
Where are you from, Madelen?” Herrick asked softly.

She jerked her gaze back to him. He was staring at her now. Again, the vulnerability went through her. Which was totally unlike her. She was always the brave one and now she realized how silly it had been to think of herself as brave when she’d been surrounded by things and people she knew.

Forcing herself to breathe when she realized she was holding her breath, she glanced at the fire, before looking back at him. “Ainsley, a small village a few days south of here.”

“Your family sent you alone.”

Of course they had, they had believed she was traveling on a well-traveled road to the closest city with Wilm as her escort. But she didn’t say that. Instead, she sat up taller. “You’re traveling alone.”

“I’m not a child.”

She glared at him. “I’m not a child either.”

“You couldn’t be more than f
ifteen.”

Her irritation grew at his accurate guess.
“Good guess. You can’t be much older than I.”

He shook his head. “I travel a lot. This journey is nothing.”

Raising an eyebrow at his dismissive tone, she asked him, “Where did you come from?”

“The sea.”

She glanced back at the fire. He had traveled a lot farther than she. The sea was at least a week from her village in the opposite direction as the Keep. And the sea stretched on forever according to her father. He’d shown her a map of the coast once. There was more water than land.

“Have you seen the sea?”

She shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself. She watched him dig in his saddle bag and pull out the blanket from before. He held it out and offered it to her.

Embarrassed
, she shook her head. “Thank you. I have my own.”

Dropping it on his saddle, he watched her again. She was going to have to get used to having the stranger’s eyes on her. She didn’t know why he made her so jumpy, but it was something she was going to have to get over. He hadn’t threatened her in any
way and in fact had only offered his assistance. So what if he acted annoyingly know-it-all. He did know how to start a fire. She wasn’t sure what time it was, but it was a little early to go to bed.

Biting her lip, she pulled her own saddlebag a little closer and opened one of the bags to pull out the small amount of what was left of the food she had packed. Traveling food was completely uninspiring, she’d be
en able to eat berries, some greens and fruits while she was in the grasslands and known what she was passing. But the farther away she’d gotten from home the less she had found that she recognized and knew was safe.

She also pulled her blanket out so he would stop offering his own to her. He hadn’t spoken again since he’d offered. She really needed to work on her social skills.

Unwrapping the food bundle, she considered the hard biscuits and meat. Yep, very uninspiring. But considering his own generosity, she lowered the bundle so he could see.

“Would you like some? I have soda
biscuits and smoked meat, if you’re hungry?”

He smiled and slowly shook his head. “I have my own, but thank you.”

Setting the bundle in her lap, she chewed on the end of a piece of the salty meat. Though it was probably about an hour away from when she would normally fall asleep, she found it was harder to keep herself erect and her eyes open. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball.

She slowly wrapped the bundle back up and tucked it away in her saddle bags. She wasn’t re
ally full, but no longer hungry anymore. Hopefully she would be able to spot something more appetizing on the trail tomorrow. Of course, she would have to get over her self-consciousness around Herrick. She was going to be around a lot of people she didn’t know for possibly the entire winter. She didn’t believe it would take them that long to discover her soul wasn’t pure, but she wasn’t sure.

Herrick
flicked his blanket out and lying on his back, he tucked his hands behind his head. He was now on the other side of the fire and she couldn’t see him as clearly. Which meant he couldn’t watch her as easily either.

She undid her own blanket and wrapped it around herself before laying down. Using her saddle
bags as a pillow, she stared at Herrick’s boots.

4. THE KEEP

The chill of the morning woke her. The fire pit no longer glowed in the gray dawn and
Herrick’s boots were no longer where they had been. She jerked up and glanced around the meadow. He was saddling his horse. Maybe the chill hadn’t wakened her. He finished brushing grass and dirt off his gelding and swung his saddle up.

Rubbing her eyes, she stretched and slowly rolled to her feet.
Her body was not happy. She’d been so distracted by her company she’d practically forgotten the soreness which had begun the second day of her journey. Several days in the saddle, followed by nights on the ground was not doing her a lot of good.

Ginger nickered as soon as she saw
Jiline up and slowly ambled over to the camp fire while Jiline gathered up her things and stomped her feet into her now dry boots. She only had to walk a few steps to meet up with Ginger. No dirt or grass on her, but she did a visual look over for any saddle sores. Clear, thankfully. She wasn’t sure what she would do if Ginger developed any. Setting the saddle on her pony, she was ready shortly after she realized Herrick was watching her again.

Or rather he probably wasn’t watching, but was waiting for her to finish. Unstra
pping the hobbles, she tucked them into the saddle bags and looked around the clearing until she found the small tree she had left her clothes and cloak hanging on. She was relieved to find them dry, but she glanced quickly at Herrick. He was waiting for her and she hated the idea of changing near him again. Despite the dunk in the river, the clothes in her hand were considerably cleaner than those she wore.

Stifling a
groan, she led Ginger behind a large tree on the edge of the meadow away from Herrick. Hiding behind the tree, she changed as quickly as she could, a task considerably easier when her clothes weren’t wet. She folded her dirty clothes swiftly before tucking them into her saddle bags.

Checking Ginger’s girth, she swung up and bit back the groan as her sore bottom touched down. The soreness would fade to numbness in a little while if her previous days
’ journey were an example, but the first hour was not going to be a comfortable ride. Ginger walked the few steps to take them around the tree and back into the meadow.

Herrick
was mounted and waited on the other end of the meadow. Ginger set forward eagerly to catch up with Herrick’s horse before he could leave them. She almost reassured Ginger that they were waiting, but realized Ginger wouldn’t be the only one hearing her talk to her horse. Instead, she gave her a pat and a slight sushing noise.

“Ready?”
Herrick asked.

She forced a smile. “When you are.”

Herrick nodded and turned his horse to head back into the woods. It didn’t take long for the serious climbing to begin. Herrick alternated between a walk and a trot depending on how steep the trail was, but she worried about Ginger keeping up and that they hadn’t passed any source of water since the river yesterday. She thought of every pound weighing her pony down and was tempted to toss what was left of her food to lighten the load. But the food couldn’t even weigh a pound and it would be foolish on her part. Though the letter had made it seem like it was about a day’s journey to the Keep, it could be longer.

Herrick
suddenly stopped. She pulled Ginger up and tried to look around him and what had caught his attention, but all she could see was his horse and trees.

“What’s wrong?”

He was silent a moment. “People.”

This time she really leaned to the side to try to see around him.
Herrick’s horse started walking again. Whoever he had spotted must have spotted him as he raised his hand in a greeting.

“Can we get
a ride?” a high pitched voice asked.

Herrick
shook his head. “Sorry, they’re too tired to carry extra weight. You’ll be at the Keep soon.”

Jiline
still couldn’t see who the we was and tightened her hold on Ginger’s reins. Three people came into sight a few feet away from her as Herrick’s horse passed them. They were glaring at Herrick, but transferred their angry stares to Jiline. Two girls and one boy about her age or maybe a little younger. They had been walking the trail.

One of the girl
s stepped into her path. “We could take turns riding your pony. It would be the fair thing to do.”

Herrick
glanced back. “Out of her way, the pony belongs to her.”

Th
e girl shot a mulish look over her shoulder at him and didn’t clear the trail. Thankful for Ginger’s size, Jiline urged her off the trail and around the tree to trot back up behind Herrick’s horse. She tried not to, but she couldn’t help looking back at them. They had started walking again and were staring angrily at her. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but their mouths were moving.

“They look tired,” she said guiltily and forced herself to stop looking at them
and to focus on the trail. Walking it had to be awful. She couldn’t imagine how long it would have taken her on foot.

“Their journey is almost over.”

“How do you know?” She tried to look around him again, but was still obstructed by his horse and the trees.

He glanced over his shoulder and grinned. “Because I’m very familiar with this trail.”

She stared at his back as his horse started trotting again. Ginger didn’t need any urging to pick up her own pace. He started cantering and then they were both racing up the trail as they broke from the trees. She nearly dropped her reins in shock at the massive stone castle looming over her. It didn’t matter since Ginger was completely attached to Herrick’s horse and slowed to a stop to stay next to him.

Herrick gestured.
“The Keep.”

It rose above them. Dwarfing everything around it. She counted four windows above her. She’d seen pictures of buildings that were more than a single story and
except for the barns with their hay lofts this was the tallest building she had ever seen in person.

It loomed
over her. A giant of stones. It’s edges sharp and square.

“
Madelen.”

She couldn’t stop looking at the tower where someone stood on top of it.

“Madelen.”

She jerked her gaze to
Herrick’s.

“The
trainees are being gathered on the north side of the Keep.” He pointed to where a few other people and horses stood.

She dragged her gaze from them back to
Herrick. Herrick who’d ridden the trails before and knew where she was supposed to go. “Are you a keeper?”

He smiled and shook his head. “I’m a mage.”

She’d thought at first he just looked older than he was down at the river, but he must be considerably older if he was a mage. Her uneasiness which had plagued her on the trip suddenly gripped her in its hold and she couldn’t move.

He dropped his smile as he dismounted. “Good luck with your training,
Madelen.”

He walked his horse away and she tightened her reins to keep Ginger from following. Ginger danced beneath her and whinnied to her new love.
Herrick’s horse turned his head and nickered back to her for the first time.

She pulled herself out of her idiotic stupor and fought moment
arily with Ginger to go where Herrick had directed her. He had gone in the opposite direction. Five other potential keepers waited with an adult. She frowned at Jiline, but didn’t exude the same energy the mages from the village, and now that she wasn’t being an idiot, Herrick had exuded. It had to be the power they held inside them.

“Name,” the woman asked.

“Madelen of Ainsley,” Jiline said, waiting and hoping the woman would pull out one of those crystals.

But she didn’t.
She just looked over her list and marked it. She glanced over her shoulder and Jiline noticed the open door into the Keep.

“Evie!”

A girl with long blond hair came running and stopped by the older woman who looked to be about her mother’s age. “Take Trainee Madelen to the stable and then bring her back to the hall.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“Trainee Madelen,” she barked.

Jiline
straightened her shoulders and suddenly realized she hadn’t dismounted Ginger. She quickly did. “Mistress?”

“Keeper Evie will help you with your pony. Do not wander off from her.”

Jiline nodded and led Ginger after Evie. She headed in the direction Herrick had gone, wondering if she would run into him again. But the stable was empty except for another young person who was feeding the horses stabled in the large half stone, half wood building built into the side of the Keep.

“We need a stall for Trainee
Madelen’s horse.”

The boy smiled briefly. “Pony, Evie, it’s a pony not a horse.”

Jiline could see Evie’s eyes narrow, but she didn’t say anything. The boy waved Jiline over. “I’m Keeper Brody. I take care of the horses. What’s your pony’s name?”

“G-Ginger,”
Jiline said surprised by the eager friendliness she saw in his gaze.

Again, none of the uneasiness swamped her as it had on the trail. She really needed to learn to trust her instincts. Not that
Herrick had meant her any harm, obviously, but she should have realized that her uneasiness around him wasn’t normal.

“I promise to take good care of her
,” Brody swore.

Evie made a noise and he smiled again.

“They’ll be wanting you back quick so I’ll go ahead and untack and brush her down if it’s all right with you.”

She
nodded as he expertly plucked the reins from her hand. He passed the saddlebags off to her in the same motion and led Ginger away. Ginger balked for a moment, but followed the boy into a stall. Her ears pricked at Jiline and she nickered.

With Evie’s impatient eyes on her, she called, “Be a good girl, Ginger, I’ll see you in a little bit.”

Evie had already turned and was leaving the stable. She jogged to catch up with her as Evie led her in through another door. They wound through several hallways lit by mage lights. Madelen’s parents had given her a book to prepare her for some of the items and magic she would have to become used to. Jiline had done her best to memorize it so she knew that mage lights existed, but she hadn’t ever actually seen one and to see the unburning candles glowing was eerie.

****

A group of about twenty children around her age gathered in a large room with a giant wooden table which could sit probably double the number of people who were gathered. The three she had passed on the trail were in attendance and not very happy to see her, judging by their glares. Steering clear of them, she sat on the other side of the table and waited with everyone else. Jugs of water and glasses were at each seat. But she hesitated when she didn’t see anyone else drinking.

A mage walked in. The robes swirled, but her hood was
down revealing her long brown hair. Was it the robes that made all mages look so tall? This woman appeared to be closer in age to the mages who had come to Jiline’s village than Herrick.

The mage stopped at the end of the table.
“Welcome, new trainees, as you can see we are still expecting more of you, but it is good to see so many of you before the harvest moon ends. Your eagerness speaks volumes. I am Mage Brennah and will be in charge of your training. Full training will launch when all of you have arrived. Until then, those of you who arrived today will be paired up with a keeper. Your keeper will teach you the rules of the Keep and you will find there are many. The most important is you are not to step outside the Keep without the express permission of a mage. The second most important is you are to do whatever your keeper or any mage commands you to do. We will be testing you this fall and winter. Those who don’t pass the test will return home in the spring.”

As she spoke
, she looked at each of them in turn, her brown eyes settling on Jiline on the word spring. Her stomach clenched. Did Mage Brennah know just by looking at her that she was a fraud?

Mage
Brennah’s stern face softened into a smile. “Now, you eat.”

On that command, several people came in carrying heavy trays overflowing with food and set them on their half of the table. Everyone seemed to hesitate at first, but all it took was one person reaching forward before the table was
in motion with people grabbing food and chattering nervously.

The boy she
sat next to chewed on an apple and stared openly at her. “Who are you?”

She
raised an eyebrow at the rudeness of his voice, but decided he was just as nervous as she was. “Madelen. And you?”

“Bill
us.”

She nodded, but her eyes were drawn to a small group of mages who quietly entered
the hall. One was very familiar. Herrick. His gaze rested on her and she dropped her eyes to her lap. He looked like a mage now in his mage robes, but he was considerably younger than the other four who had entered with him. None of them were the three mages who had come to her village. So far so good. Except for the nagging feeling she had that they must know she wasn’t Madelen.