THUNDER PEAK, page 10
“Loose magic.” Casey echoed him softly.
“Loose magic.” Her father nodded. “Old Hickory calls it spirit magic. We call it ghosts and the devil’s work. But that’s the real reason, even if I don’t explain it very well.”
“Whoa…”
“Whoa,” Jonas agreed. “So your mom called herself an aril, not a human. She said, in her…realm, I think it was—but she also said kingdom and homeland, but that was rather like we say country. Anyway, they think very little of us humans over there for some reason. So that plays into the Forbidden thing too.
“Aril,” Casey mused, glancing around the barn. Her eyes wandered for a long moment, then widened suddenly and snapped back to her father like a whip. “What’s mom’s name?” she asked.
“Riell,” Jonas answered. “Her name is Riell. But I called her Mae, because that’s when I met her, in the spring, and it was a long time before we spoke to each other and learned each other’s names.”
“Rye-el.” Casey rolled the name over her tongue. “That’s pretty. But why even have a law against arils loving humans?” she asked wonderingly. “What difference does it make?”
“That I don’t know.” Jonas shook his head sadly. “She just told me there was a law, and I never really got around to asking her why.”
Silence fell in the barn. After a time a soft snort and whinny caught Casey’s attention. “The fruit of the snowbark is kindling your faerie blood; with it your words become clearer to me. Your question I have heard. Why the aril shun Earther, and why your mare is not allowed to return is a tale I can tell if your sire cannot.”
“Dad!” Casey turned to Jonas. “He said he knows! He can tell us why aril can’t marry humans!”
“Right then.” Jonas shifted on the milking bench again. “Tell him let’s have it.”
And thus the unicorn’s tale began.
“The magic door you speak of is but one of many. Together we call them the Tyndryn Trailway, and only the aril can activate them. They say control is a blood gift from the first makers and original builders, so it is they and only they who can open and close them. This they do according to their whim, or when it suits traditions they’ve imposed.”
Casey, wide-eyed, breathlessly relayed the story to her father.
“As they once did here on Earther, the aril often post Sentinels on each side of a gate. For a time, perhaps a long time, the scouts and the humans who lived nearby worked together in harmony. Something happened. I know not what, exactly, but a battle of some kind erupted during which the Sentinels opened the gate to flee home and were pursued before they could close it again.
“The aril are physically stronger and faster than humans, so until then they had no reason to fear them, even in great numbers. But the humans who came through the gate that fateful day carried with them new weapons that the aril had no defense against—the firestick. Many aril died in that bloody struggle before the humans were defeated and their weapons destroyed. Afterward they abandoned trading with humans entirely and refuse now to open the gate here except on special harvesting occasions.
“To have come here often enough to have fallen in love with your sire, it’s likely your mother was a Sentinel of the highest pedigree. I too was on a harvesting expedition when I was stranded. Finding you was an accident. I was trying to distance myself from the fang folk of your realm when I sensed your dwellings; they are surrounded by very powerful wards of protection, probably woven by your mother during one of her missions here. Initially I believed the aril had been lying all along about the Sentinels, but now that I realize what you are, I am amazed you were allowed to survive at all, even here.”
Is that why Mae sent Taliko to be her guardian? Jonas wondered. Was she worried the aril might send someone after Casey?
“There is no doubt your mare loved you with all her heart, because she certainly risked her life to get you here, a place where she knew the Elders would have no influence over you, and has been punished mightily for her crime.”
“That is so mean.” Casey shook her head. “Hurting people just because they care about each other and want to have a family. Wait!” Casey’s thoughts shifted suddenly, and her eyes filled with concern. “The aril won’t come, but they’ll let your friends come right? They know you’re here. They have to let someone come back to bring you home. Don’t they?”
The steed looked away and then back again. “They do not. But I believe my family will try to persuade them.”
“The aril.” Casey sneered. “If only there was something we could do.”
The steed looked at Casey. “Perhaps there is.”
“Really?” Casey stepped forward. “What? Tell me what, and we’ll jump to it.”
“It is an untried solution, deeply rooted to the heart of your question about why the aril are so hurtful.”
“I’d like to know the answer to that too,” Jonas said quietly after Casey translated.
“Among the unicorns, we believe the origin of the aril law forbidding nonaril companionship is based on fear. Fear that the blood gift of the original builders will be passed on to the offspring. In this case, to you.” The unicorn’s silver eyes peered directly at Casey. “And that now you can open the gate without their leave. If the aril fear anything, it is losing mastery of the Tyndryn Trailway. Especially to humans and their firesticks.”
Casey finished translating, and overcome suddenly by great mental and physical fatigue, she slumped down into the hay.
Meanwhile, Jonas had grown sullen. This entire tale was not at all what he had been hoping for, and he guessed with some certainty that the appearance of this magical stallion was not the harbinger of his being reunited with Mae. He also got the sense that he was missing something.
Something important.
Taliko stood up shortly after, interrupting all their thoughts. “All of you should be resting now. The moon is long risen, and there is little else to discuss that cannot wait until the new sun.”
“Agreed.” Jonas rose slowly and helped Casey up. To his daughter he said, “Please thank our new friend for that rescue again, and tell him we’ll all talk more in the morning. And if he thinks you can open the gate for him, we’ll certainly try, and hopefully help get him home.”
Casey did so, and the unicorn whinnied happily to convey his thanks.
Taliko led the way out, followed by father and daughter.
Just after the barn door closed, it creaked open just enough for Casey to slip her head back in. “I don’t even know your name,” she said. “Mine’s Casey. What’s yours?”
“Well met Casey,” the steed replied with a deep nod. “My name is StarFall.”
PART II
Seyca
7
The Gategrove
Jonas let Casey sleep in the following morning so he could speak with Taliko alone.
“What do you think?” he asked his friend as they strolled through the orchard. Taliko eyed him quietly a moment, and seeing the look, Jonas cut him off before he could start. “I know. Mae’s not coming back. I was hoping. Really, really hoping. But this feels all wrong. Like an accident.”
“An accident,” Taliko echoed him with a gravelly sigh. “Yes, a better description than unfortunate. Don’t forget Jonas, I too was hoping to see the Maker again.”
Taliko trailed off, wrestling it seemed with his next thought. Jonas waited for him to resume speaking. When he didn’t, Jonas asked, “What about StarFall? Do you think someone will come for him?”
Taliko was slow in responding, then finally said, “I am created with the Maker’s jevaling magic to help ward over Casey. As such, I have no practical knowledge of unicorn customs. Though it seems certain that they must know he is here. And that calls to mind the many times you have told me about being a soldier. So perhaps honor or duty, if nothing else, will require a rescue attempt.”
Jonas thought back to his time in the Confederate Army. “I suppose so, but that was different. That was war. StarFall is trapped and probably feels like a prisoner because he can’t get home. But he’s not a prisoner of war in need of liberation. He simply fell behind, and they haven’t come back for him. Yet. If what he says is true, then his family and friends could be trying frantically to get the aril to reopen the gate. It could happen any time, or never, but…”
“But even if the aril open the gate for the unicorns to return and bring him home, there appears to be little chance of the Maker coming with them,” Taliko reflected aloud.
“Exactly.” Jonas sighed sadly. “The more I learn about how harsh these aril are, the harder it is to believe that Mae is one of them. Still, we should do our best to get him home. Maybe we can write messages for her, let her know we’re all right and that we miss her.”
Taliko’s stony visage drooped once in agreement. “As you say, but I believe there is more to be considering before embarking—”
A bear lumbered out of the grove, growling grumpily. Jonas and Taliko froze in their tracks, watching him snarl and snap at things they could not see while remaining oblivious to them.
“I think that’s the same bear,” Jonas said quietly. “The one we saw stirring up the hornets that chased Casey and me back to the barn.”
“After the ambush at the pearlwood,” Taliko said.
“After the ambush.” Jonas echoed him. “Any idea what those…” he fumbled for the correct word. “Lizardmen…were? I thought maybe they come out of the mountain like the others, but these lizards were alive-alive, not dead-alive like the things we fought in there. Casey thinks they’re giant whiptails.”
“I am in the process of trying to discover just that,” Taliko said evenly.
Jonas looked squarely at the stout reptilian. “Process? What process?”
“Communication,” Taliko answered, still studying the bear.
“Communication?” Jonas frowned. “One of them is still alive?”
Taliko turned to regard Jonas steadily. “Friend Jonas. They are all but the ones killed during the battle still alive.”
Jonas ran his hand down his face and gathered his thoughts. “And you believe this is a good idea?”
Taliko spoke slowly, as he always did. “As it pertains to what you are thinking, and not saying, yes. I feel some kinship with the lizardlings. Once they awoke their demeanor was one of fear and confusion, not aggression. Executing them before learning more about them seemed wrong.”
“I don’t know Taliko.” Jonas shook his head from side to side. “I’m thinking they’re from the cave. That it’s turning regular animals into monsters again. If not through the gate, where else could they have come from?”
“That is possible,” Taliko said firmly. “But the truth is unclear. The cave is too distant to easily check upon, and the lizardlings lack the skills to communicate with me beyond simple sounds and gestures, so it’s hard to be sure about anything pertaining them. They are in my nest as we speak.”
“How many”
“Eighteen,” Taliko replied. “Nine others did not survive; some required mercy.”
Jonas nodded and looked into the distance. Then he let out a deep, cleansing breath. “I’ve seen what you can do Taliko. I trust you to do the right thing. More, I can see now this is a good decision, the right decision. I hope it works out and we get some answers.” Jonas sighed. “What happened to me? I used to be more like you, I think. Before the sheriff asked me to dispense justice with my rifle. Or maybe it was before the war.”
Jonas paused to rub his wrist across his forehead. “I left Texas, I left my family, looking for peace. Since then I’ve found many things. A new life. A new love. A couple good friends. And most important, a wonderful daughter. But not peace.”
Taliko was quiet a moment, then said, “My life so far teaches me that peace is an illusion. Consider the bear who pillaged the honey from the hornets yesterday, or the fish that he must catch in the stream to eat. The hunting hawks, or even the marauding wolves of Thunder Peak. Together they turn a cycle of life and death that results in harmony. But not peace. I believe what you do for the sheriff is similar. Violence that results in harmony for those who depend on Storm Town. As the instrument of peace for others, you may never have the peace you crave.”
Taliko’s words made Jonas think of the Colt .45, and how such a gun, or any gun, could be called the Peacemaker. Maybe that was him, he thought with a rueful smile. “Harmony,” he said. “I like the sound of that. I can live with that—the way you put it, anyway. That is, long as I get to be the bear and not the fish.”
“Just so.” Taliko nodded, and together they watched the big brown bear trundle back into the woods, still growling and snarling; at what they could not guess. “I remember when that bear was a cub, have wrestled him many times and watched him grow fine and strong,” Taliko observed. “Clear it is to me that something needs be unsettled about him. I shall follow him a bit to see if I can find out what it is. Then check on the lizardlings. Later I will return.”
Jonas gave him a wave, and still thinking about the difference between harmony and peace and the role he played in it, he continued his walk. Eventually his thoughts turned back to StarFall and the gate. Once they did, the pang of concern about Casey trying to open it returned, but after tussling with the notion for some time, he still couldn’t figure out what it was. Then he recalled that Taliko had seemed about to say something just before the bear arrived and steered the conversation in a new direction.
Making a mental note to revisit what that might be the next time he and Taliko could talk, Jonas left it there and turned his thoughts to the day ahead.
Casey stormed out of the house just after midmorning to find her father working in the grove and StarFall grazing at the side of the barn.
When she reached the bottom of the ladder he was standing on, she looked up, eyes blazing with fury. “What are you doing picking apples?” she demanded. “And why did you let me sleep so late when we have so much work to do trying to open that gate for StarFall?”
Jonas picked a few more apples while his daughter waited, hands on hips, glaring up at him. Deciding he didn’t care for her attitude or posture, Jonas dropped the basket of apples he had filled. “Catch” was the only warning he gave.
Casey moved with catlike grace, first side-stepping and then cradling the heavy load before it crashed to the ground. A load every boy her age and most young men would have staggered under.
Jonas plucked one more apple and clenched it in his teeth. Normally he slid down the sides of the ladder with his feet and hands controlling his descent, but his wounded thigh wasn’t ready for that just yet, so he clambered down one rung at a time instead.
“Let’s go,” he said. “I think all three of us need to talk and establish some rules about how this is going to work.”
“Rules?”
“Yes, rules,” Jonas said firmly. “There are chores around here that still need to get done.”
“Chores?” Casey was incredulous. “We have a unicorn in our barn, and you’re talking to me about chores?”
Jonas wheeled on her. “Yes Casey. I am. The sun is still coming up and going down ain’t it? It’s still going up and down on the other side of that gate too. The world isn’t stopping for us, and we can’t stop for it.”
“Dad!”
Jonas put his hand up to forestall any more talking. When they reached the barn, he pointed to the back porch and said, “Find StarFall, and meet me over there.”
Casey pounded away and returned a short time later with the steed.
“Okay,” he began, “Casey, you translate.”
StarFall glanced at Casey in confusion, and she said, “He wants to make rules.”
Jonas squinted at his daughter while she folded her arms and speared him with a tight glare of defiance.
“Right then. Assure him…” Jonas began, but, glancing at StarFall, he became momentarily disconcerted over the fact that he was talking with his daughter and a horse. Pretending to gather his thoughts, he huffed and started again. “What I mean to say is that I really want to help get him home. But it’s just you and me here, and while I can do plenty of the work, I can’t do it all. With me so far?”
“I am,” Casey answered, and Jonas could tell by the abrupt monotone in her voice that she already knew where this was going.
“Good. Now I’m willing to give this two full days to get started. After that I expect you to resume all of your chores. And now that you know how important they are, I also want you to be more diligent about practicing with your knives, and that begins today.”
“I will,” Casey promised quickly.
“And that does not mean you get to neglect your pistols. You have to keep practicing with those too. This is a dangerous place we live in. You have to be ready for the gate, and ready for outlaws and Indians, and wolves and mountain cats, and now we have lizard monsters and who knows what else. Follow?”
Gaze steady, lips set in tight determination, Casey nodded once.
“So you need to be good with both of them. Real good. And you need to prove it to me regularly. If you don’t, or you can’t, I’m not letting you leave the ranch by yourself, even if you are with him.” Jonas tilted his jaw at the unicorn.
Casey exhaled audibly and said, “I understand.”
“Right then.” Jonas nodded back at her. “That’s what I wanted to hear. Now, if it helps, and as long as it means everything needs getting done around here gets done by sundown, I’m willing to let you two make your own schedule.”
