2. Unicorn
CHAPTER 2
Unicorn
ALIA
M y wolfsbane pipe locked on my target who was moving away from the other werewolves. His dark eyes shot up to meet mine just as I took a breath. His nostrils flared.
The dart hit him in the chest. He hardly moved. Most werewolves jerked at the pain of the wolfsbane coated in silver, but not this one. It made my eyebrow quirk. What kind of monster didn’t react to pain?
He shifted to his human form. Whoa. He was wearing clothes with knife hilts peeking through the shadows of his cloak. That meant the dude had coin. Only some could afford the large mana fee it took to give you an enchanted object which could hold your belongings until such a time as you shifted back to human form.
He stood upright, his eyes darting up to meet mine. They were dark and cold, a smile crossing his lips.
My arms tingled as adrenaline rushed through me. I blew a second dart, but he stepped to the side, avoiding the tiny dart with an ease that made my heart attempt to bruise my ribs.
Heck.
I blinked and he was beneath my tree. His speed was uncanny. I jumped, aiming for him like a bird of prey. His eyes widened, as if he were not expecting a human to just leap from a tree.
I twisted, avoiding his blade poised to enter my chest by a hairsbreadth. I hit the ground and rolled, popping back to my feet and spinning to meet him. His blade came up to nick my throat even as I leaned back. Our blades clashed with the ring of steel. He showed no emotion as he stared down at me, our blades locked between us.
His muscles bunched and he pushed forward on his knife. My feet made divots in the ground as I winced from the strength he was showing, my blade slowly coming closer to my neck.
I backpedaled, pretending to trip over a root. I rolled in a reverse somersault. His blade nicked my arm, and I twisted to stare into his face with my blowgun to my lips. His eyes widened nearly imperceptibly.
The dart hit him in the forehead. He stumbled forward, and I stabbed him in the stomach. But he was already out.
Oops. I probably shouldn’t have stabbed him, but he would live. I hoped.
His weight smashed me into the dirt. I felt his warm blood soaking into my leathers. That would be a pain to clean later.
A question was rolling in my head. Why didn’t he call for help? He could’ve easily howled when the first dart—which should have laid him flat—hit. Instead, he acted like a lone werewolf who attacked and killed and asked questions later.
There had been murder in his eyes when he’d stared at me, and I feared what he would do if he woke in a position to attack. I would just need to ensure he had no way to get an advantage.
I snapped a spelled rope around his wrist that would help lesson his weight and used it to drag him to a side entrance while the other werewolves continued howling, their song covering my kidnapping. What the heck does he eat? Rocks? I was stout and we were close to the exit, but I was still huffing and puffing by the time I moved him ten feet.
A guard stood beside the door. Human—his eyes didn’t glow in the scant light.
A dagger hilt to the temple was easy enough to get his keys from his pocket. Did they not have better trained guards?
My teeth nibbled my bottom lip as I tried the different keys in the lock. And… there. I jiggled the lock and heard it snip when a dagger poked through my bodice. I froze.
“Why are you kidnapping me?” said a silky voice tinted with… was that humor?
“Can’t a girl kidnap a pretty guy?” I said, my hands closing around my pipe. I pinched my skin to keep my heart rate from betraying the cold fear rushing through my veins at the sound of his voice.
“If one were that desperate to bag a mate, then I suppose it may be permitted?—”
A swish of fabric was my only warning. I spun in a crouch, his dagger slicing where the back of my neck had been a mere moment before. His second dagger was coming for my eye when I blew another dart and leapt backward in an ungraceful crab walk, the wooden handle of the door banging against the back of my head.
He was much slower during his attack, likely due to the blood staining the dirt where I’d dragged him. It was my saving grace because that dagger would have killed me were I a scant moment delayed. It would have sliced easily through my hood to sever my spine just before my brainstem.
His eyes were dark as an onyx stone and seemed to suck the light from my soul. His lips quirked. “You are too pretty to be so desperate, little Red.” He teetered and then he hit the ground for a second time. And I didn’t bother to break his fall. Oops.
I sighed. “Pretty can hide some terrible ugliness,” I said to his snore. His face was planted against the dirt and his hind end was up in the air. It couldn’t have been comfortable, so I kindly kicked his butt over so he was on his side as I opened the door.
Most werewolves would be out for the night with the first dose I gave him. It was about then that I wondered if I’d caught more dragon than I could ride. But I was too deep in the mire to backtrack now. I’d just have to dose him every fifteen minutes and get his weapons off sooner than later.
I lugged his rock-hard body through the gate and found Ran waiting on the other side. Her white hide glimmered in the moonlight, making her a beacon for any passersby. Her neck was an elegant arch leading to prim and proper ears and deep amber eyes over her long equine nose. “Dim the glow, nitwit,” I said.
Her lips peeled back, revealing pointed teeth instead of the usual flat teeth of a horse. Because you asked so nicely, she said, tossing her head and making her long mane ripple. She stomped a hoof and her hide became the shimmery dark night of an abyss with stars. It wasn’t any less eye-catching, but was definitely less noticeable in the dark, which was a win. Her amber eyes dared me to make her change again, so I huffed out a breath and lugged my catch onto her back, strapping him in place.
Couldn ’ t you have at least laid down so this would be easier? I asked as I wedged his upper body halfway over and then panted a few breaths. Why’d this guy have to have such long legs?
Do you expect me to read your mind, Two-Legs?
I huffed out an annoyed breath, then hopped on behind my kidnapee. That’s when I realized the night was strangely quiet with the sort of anticipation that makes your hair stand on end.
Uh-oh.
I looked back at the wall, and from inside the open door were multiple glowing twin pinpricks of light above shining ivory teeth.
“GO!” I hissed, leaning over my kidnapee to grab fistfuls of Ran’s mane.
She hesitated for one second, looking back at me. If a horse could raise a brow… “Please?” I bit out through clenched teeth.
As the princess asks, she said.
She reared, her hooves pawing the air as a werewolf snapped at my cloak and nearly ripped me off Ran’s back, then we were off. Her hooves pounded to the rhythm of my anxious heart.
A glance back made me squeak. Four werewolves as large as ponies were pounding after us, their eyes slits and their lips peeled back to reveal teeth as long as my finger.
Ran, we have company.
No joke! she shot back.
We were slowing down. Why the heck were we…
Oh.
Ran came to a stop as a werewolf stepped in front of us, cutting off our escape route. Ran snorted and bared her teeth, but the werewolves were less than impressed. They came from alleyways and hopped down from rooftops, landing with clacking paws and oddly gentle thuds for something that enormous. We were surrounded.
Ran was built for speed in the open plains, not tight quarter dodging and kicking. She always gave nearly as well as she got, but this was a bit dire.
A bit? Ran snapped, her voice both as languid as a gently flowing stream and as sharp as her teeth.
Her tail swished behind us as a werewolf snarled and snapped at air.
Any ideas? I asked.
This is where I kill and you maim, she said.
I rolled my eyes. We ’ re not here to start a war.
Tell that to them, she replied with a shake of her glorious mane that she made me oil weekly to make it shine.
Whelp. She has a point.
I grabbed a tiny bottle from my bodice.
NO!
But it was too late. I slammed the dirty bomb into the cobblestones in front of Ran’s hooves, and from it erupted smoke that smelled of sewage and garlic and wolfsbane.
Ran released a neigh that was part squeal and part dragon growl.
You ’ re going to pay for that, she whispered. My skin tingled as the blood left my face. She could be terrifying.
She darted through the smoke, using her body to shove the yipping and whining werewolves out of our way. I heard a sharp yelp and the crack of bone when her hoof kicked behind us.
I squinted my eyes to keep them from burning as I slashed with a knife at the werewolves with enough self-control to prowl at Ran’s flanks. One yelped, a long gash dripping red blood from his shoulder, slashed by my blade. Then we were through the smoke and the alleyway opened before us.
One last werewolf stood between us and freedom. She was a white, glistening beauty with a black-tipped tail. I can admit something is pretty even if it’s out to kill me, thanks. The snarling coming from her throat was loud enough to hear above the pounding of my heart and the sharp thuds of Ran’s hooves. She crouched, waiting, ever patient.
JUMP! I shouted at Ran, giving her a visual to go with it.
Either Ran trusted me a heck of a lot more than I think—which was unlikely—or she knows this was the best plan we have and is too scared to pause.
This better work, grungy Two-Legs.
Ran’s hooves hit the lean-to and one slipped. She almost flipped over backwards, but I threw my weight forward, righting us. A low neigh rumbled in her lungs and she used the lean-to as a springboard to leap to the one-story roof behind us. I grabbed fistfuls of mane and closed my eyes as the snarl of the white werewolf and the snap of teeth sounded from just beneath us.
That blasted rotten breath nearly took my tail, Ran grumbled.
Her hooves hit the roof, clicking over the moss and dirt wedged in the tiles of the slightly slanted, A-framed tavern. I could tell because loud, off-key singing rumbled through the planks beneath Ran’s hooves. But Ran didn’t pause long. Once she pranced a few steps, she leapt forward with enough momentum that she nearly dislodged me from her back.
RAN! I shouted.
No need to shout, Two-Legs. I ’ m right here. The smugness in her voice suggested she’d done that on purpose.
Idiotic, bloodthirsty ? —
Careful. It ’ s a long way to the ground, she said.
I gulped and shut up.
My kidnapee moaned, his head thwacking against Ran’s shoulder. I reached for the wolfsbane, but as soon as my fingers closed around the extra vials in my saddlebags, Ran leapt. I heard screaming and was unsure if it were the few people on the streets below or if it was me. My mouth closed with a clack of my teeth. The screaming stopped. Nice.
The vial was jostled from my fingers when we landed, and I released a curse Mom would cut my hair for.
Oops, Ran said.
Oops? What oop— I looked over and saw a horse barreling down the street at a breakneck gallop. His eyes were wild as all heck, and he looked as if he’d seen a dragon. Or a unicorn.
Oops indeed. And he was heading right for a bunch of late-night revelers who I knew didn’t have a lick of sense left in their brains. Poppycock.
I tugged on Ran’s halter—she wouldn’t deign to wear a bit—and she glanced back at me with squinted eyes. Really?
YES, REALLY!
No need to yell, she grumbled, but she turned and leapt over an alley. I left my eyes open this time—had to in order to figure out a way down—and my soul nearly fled my body. I’d done a few daring things in my life, but we were currently three stories high with a long drop into the abyss of death.
Better not fall, then, Ran said, a twinkle in her eye when we landed on another roof.
You are enjoying this way too much, I hissed. Aren ’ t unicorns supposed to be afraid of heights?
She flicked me in the back with her tail, simultaneously slapping the face of the werewolf who woke up just as we were in the air again. His face was staring down into the blackness from three stories up.
“Is this some sort of odd torture?” he asked, his voice laced with a hint of amusement. He grunted when we landed, his body wiggling a bit. His blood stained Ran’s shoulder red.
We got just ahead of the horse frothing at the bit. The pathway down was looking… sketchy.
I don ’ t think that ’ s going to hold—RAN!
She released a tiny sound that was halfway between a grunt and a shrill scream and landed on an awning over a second-story balcony. The awning cracked and then gave. I screamed.
A piece of wood smacked the werewolf on the head. The metal balcony caught us, and Ran used it as a spring to leap below. Her hind hoof clipped the metal balcony railing, but we made it. She tossed her head, coming to a stop inches from the drunk men.
One guy, a beefy dude with arms the size of Ran’s hooves and black ink trailing up his arms, released a shrill scream.
His buddy looked up. There was something little and white and fluffy between them. I groaned. It was a puppy. A white puppy with eyes as wide as saucers and teeth bared in a snarl. What were two drunks doing with that?
They stole it, Ran hissed. The horse reared to a stop behind us, snorting and pawing, but Ran paid zero attention to the sweaty chestnut. Her attention was on the two men.
My kidnapee shifted to get a better look. “Is that?—”
“Yep,” I said.
I slipped from Ran’s back. One of the men turned tail and ran. The other released his bladder with a hiss as he stared into Ran’s dark eyes, glowing mane and bared, shark-like teeth. He fell to his knees. Yeah, she’s terrifying.
I stepped around the dude and squatted down beside the puppy, whose hackles were raised as it snapped at my fingers. I grabbed it by the scruff, not in the mood to go chasing after the little thing. It might get itself killed.
It whimpered as I stood, but I cradled it in my arms, and it didn’t attempt to bite me again. That was a positive sign.
The man who’d previously released his bladder now released a tiny sob. “Wait, please, they’ll kill me?—”
“They might. But would you prefer me to sic her on you?” I asked, bending down to his level as I jutted my chin as Ran.
He gulped and shook his head.
“Thought so.”
A howl rose behind us, making my arm hairs stand at attention. Great.
I climbed back on Ran. This time, she was kind enough to stand still.
“You were harsh to them,” the man on Ran’s wither said.
I glanced down at him. Was that approval in his voice? His dark eyes found mine, and they were shining with humor and something else I couldn’t name. They were quite entrancing, all amber mixed with swirling gold hues, but this was a werewolf I was talking about. They were always entrancing while they hunted you to your death.
“Shut up,” I hissed.
I kicked Ran, who grumbled about me asking next time instead of jabbing her sensitive flanks, and we ran. The werewolves chased us outside the city, where we eventually lost them in the wood.
“Where are we going?” the werewolf asked.
“Shut up.”
“Unless you stab me again, I don’t suppose you have anything to threaten me with to keep me quiet, yes?”
Being this close to him had ice rushing through my veins. What was I thinking? I’d always killed werewolves, not kidnapped them. “I’m only taking you to get to someone else. No harm will come to you if you do as I say.”
“Says the one who stabbed me.”
I winced. “I’m new to this, ok?”
“I can tell,” he said, that hint of amusement back in his voice. “Who are you trying to draw out with this little charade?”
“None of your business. Now go to sleep.”
“I am not a child to be put to bed. Could you give me a dose of wolfsbane? Sleep, even drugged sleep, is preferable to this.”
“Is this conversation not pleasant enough for the mighty werewolf?”
I heard a snort that might’ve been a laugh or just a grunt from hanging over the back of Ran’s bony wither. “It is entertaining, but the ride is quite exhausting. I would prefer to wake with a headache and sore muscles later than soar over rooftops and leap streams with a crazed assassin and her steed—is that a dratted unicorn?”
Dratted? Ran threw a slight crowhop that sent his head banging against her knee.
“Fine! A mighty fine unicorn with beautiful feathering along her hooves and strong, muscled flanks.”
Ran’s gait evened out. Smooth, she said, her voice holding a hint of appreciation.
“Shut up,” I whispered, but of course the werewolf heard.
“Do you wish me to end this fine conversation? I believed you to be enjoying it, but it appears I was wrong?”
“I wasn’t—Yes, please. Shut up.”
“You are much too nice for a kidnapper.”
“Thanks?”
I hadn’t dosed the dude with wolfsbane again, mostly because he’d asked for it. Yes, I was petty like that.
And yes, that also made me an idiot. Who let a werewolf who’d tried to take your life multiple times and nearly succeeded live ?
Me. That’s who.
The moon and stars overhead lit my path, the silvery light filtering through the leafy canopy, and something in me uncoiled. Heck. I’d actually pulled that off.
Now if I just survived this coming night, I’d call it a win.
“Are you going to say where we are heading?” the werewolf asked nonchalantly, as if we were a couple taking a stroll through the market.
“Shut up.” I was busy checking the little wolf over, letting my poor legs relax at Ran’s sides since they were nearly shaking with the aftereffects of adrenaline and holding tight to a blasted unicorn who enjoyed throwing in a few crowhops over streams.
“Oh? Are you talking to me or your animal companion?”
I clenched my teeth. Something about him just got under my skin. A mountain loomed ahead, just a black outline where the stars disappeared.
The little wolf was fast asleep in my arms, his tiny feet kicking out in a dream. I smiled down at the small fellow, covering him with my cloak. I felt eyes on me and glanced over to find the werewolf staring at me and the pup with an undefinable look in his eyes. His neck would get a crick if he held that angle much longer. A scowl crossed my lips as I looked away.
That was when a tiny pop like a bubble came from the little pup and a scent like rotten meat reached my nose. I waved my hand to get the scent away from my nose.
“I believe I may barf,” the werewolf said.
“Don’t, unless you wish the unicorn to dump us both in an icy river.”
He glanced up to find Ran craning her head around to stare at him. He nodded and swallowed hard.
After wading through dozens of rivers and hearing Ran complain about toting two rotten humans not even suitable for munching, we arrived at a cavern. The dark maw held a sense of timelessness, as if it had seen ages pass and the years had wizened it.
Great. I was thinking of caves as sentient. Missing a few nights’ sleep was making me loopy.
I eased down from the saddle, my legs protesting. I rode often, sure, but not over miles of twisting, turning pathways, all while trying to keep a gentle hold on the pup and not slam my body against the werewolf lumped on Ran’s wither.
Ran’s pace picked up as we entered the cavern, her haggard body knowing rest was imminent. I didn’t bother lighting a torch. It took a few turns for us to arrive at a cavern lit by what appeared to be starlight but was in fact a special purple and green glowing moss I’d cultivated for this purpose. Ran immediately plopped her head in the sweetly seasoned rabbit meat I’d specifically saved for her. While she dug in with her pointy teeth, I unstrapped the man from Ran’s back.
I untied him and he dropped feet first. He landed and his legs gave, sending him sprawling on the floor. He lay there for a moment, his face ashen and expressionless.
It was creepy, as if he were a corpse.
I dropped and pressed my hand to his stomach, where blood still welled. A tiny groan escaped him, the first sign of pain I’d heard from him.
His body called to me, a sensation like a gentle breeze raising the hairs on my arms. Rest and red meat. He needed it along with something deeper. A need for anonymity. Which was weird. Most werewolves, especially nobles, were in control, not being controlled.
Then his needs cut off as if he’d erected a wall around them, making me raise a brow. Very few people had the mental fortitude to cut their internal needs off from me, and most didn’t because they didn’t know I had a Gift.
He either cut himself off from the world all the time without realizing it or was paranoid. Perhaps both.
His hands were bound behind his back, but I knew he was still just as deadly. I jerked back as his legs swung up and nearly caught me in a headlock.
“I am trying to tend to your wound, you blasted stubborn fenbutt!”
He rolled over to his stomach, his face twisting in pain, and then hauled himself to his knees. I nearly whistled in appreciation of the will that move took when his stomach and detached ab muscles had to be screaming in agony.
“You likely just undid all the healing your body managed. Congrats.”
His head was bowed to his chest, his dark hair hiding his face from me. “Leave me be,” he hissed, a low growl rumbling in his chest.
I stumbled back, then tried to stand straight before he realized he’d actually scared me. Werewolves could sense fear. It made them excited to hunt and kill. And I didn’t need this one getting any more deadly than he already was.
His head came up. His eyes met mine and my skin prickled with thousands of tingles as my body was overloaded with the suspense of being in the jaws of death.
His eyes held a hint of gold, but it was the darkness in them that stole my breath. A depth of nothingness, as if he didn’t feel at all. I was staring into my end, and he knew I knew it. That was the worst part. His lips curved upward, as if in amusement. Those eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he face-planted on the ground.
It took me a few moments of breathing to realize I still could breathe.
Something I wasn’t entirely certain would have happened if he hadn’t passed out when he did.
I hoped Hood came sooner than later, because I think the roles had just reversed. The hunter had become the prey, and I did not like feeling like prey.