Raxtus circled down. Kendra looked for movement inside the wall or around the keep, but saw none. The dragon landed gently.
"Would you like me to check it out?" Raxtus asked.
"Do you mind investigating?" Bracken asked.
Raxtus turned invisible. "It's a specialty. I'll be right back."
Kendra felt and heard Raxtus fly away. Bracken stared after him, seemingly following his flight path. "Can you see him?" Kendra asked.
"Barely," Bracken said. "You were wise to befriend him. There is a profound goodness to Raxtus that few dragons possess."
"Are we too late?" Kendra asked, eyes straying to the quiet keep.
"Almost certainly. I see no evidence of an ongoing struggle. The gate was destroyed recently. You can tell by the unweathered portions of the broken wood."
"You can see that from here?"
"Yes."
Kendra frowned. "Then what now?"
Bracken looked at Kendra, disappointment in his eyes. "Once Raxtus finishes his preliminary reconnaissance, we'll go see what we can learn, hope for some useful hints or clues. If all else fails, perhaps we'll rejoin Warren." Bracken sat down.
Kendra sat beside him. A chilly breeze ruffled her hair. "What's it like, being a unicorn?"
Bracken scrunched his brow. "Funny, I've never been asked that. Let's see. It's very different from inhabiting a human form. Peaceful. Almost passionless by comparison. We love, but from a distance. We experience extraordinary clarity. We wander, we heal, we serve. We're the guardians of the fairy world."
"So you feel different as a human?"
"I'm still the same being deep down. But my experiences as a human have changed me. Unicorns are generally solitary creatures. Spending all this time in a human form has helped me learn to socialize. At times I even enjoy it! I'm still trying to improve. Old habits die hard. But I would have liked you even in my former state. My kind have always had a weakness for virtuous maidens."
Looking down, Kendra willed herself not to blush. "Even in human form, you're not really mortal."
"No, I retain a connection to my horns. They would have to be destroyed for me to really age. I could be killed, but not by sickness or time."
"How exactly did you lose all of your horns? Is that too personal? You've told me the basics."
He grinned. "It's very personal. A unicorn's horn is his glory. But I'll tell you. It's almost impossible to take a horn from a unicorn. We normally have to give them. I gave my first horn as a gift to a man who saved my life. It has passed through many hands. I can still sense it out there.
"The next horn I gave away was my third horn. This was highly unusual. I'm not sure if any other unicorns have given theirs away, save perhaps Ronodin, the dark unicorn, who willfully corrupted his horns. To part with my third horn meant parting with my form as a unicorn, but it also meant sealing away the demon horde, so I surrendered it to Agad the wizard."
"Agad? The same Agad who lives at Wyrmroost?" Bracken nodded.
"He helped seal the demons away?" Bracken grabbed a pebble and tossed it off the ridge. "He was one of the five wizards who created Zzyzx."
"And you helped him?"
"Only by allowing my horn to be crafted into the Font of Immortality."
Kendra stretched her legs out. "And you've been stuck as a human ever since?"
"That was the price."
"Why did you care so much?"
He regarded her pensively. "Gorgrog, the Demon King, destroyed my father."
Kendra felt she had pried too deeply. "I'm sorry."
"It wasn't your fault. All of this happened long ago."
"No wonder you want to keep the demons inside of Zzyzx."
"Little matters more to me."
"What about your second horn?" Kendra wondered.
"The Sphinx took it when he captured me. I mentioned that it is almost impossible to steal the horn of a unicorn. The protections on our horns attack the emotions, but the Sphinx is a shadow charmer, and he was immune to the effects. He took my horn with impunity and cast me in a dungeon." His eyes were far away. "I tried to make the best of it, tried to bond with other prisoners, tried to find life down in the darkness. But my lifelong love is what now surrounds us: a fresh breeze, wild plants thriving, rushing rivers, the sun and moon and stars."
"It must have been hard being locked up," Kendra said, crossing her ankles. "Especially for a unicorn."
"Any creature hates a cage," he said. "And any creature can cope if he tries. The hardest part has been adapting to my human form. I had taken human shape before, but never for a prolonged period. After becoming human, for years-- centuries, really--I lived alone, wandering. The solitude was a hard habit to break. As the seasons changed and the years slipped by, my identity began to feel diluted. Over time I experimented with human society. I dabbled with friendship and duty. There are aspects of humanity that I have grown to cherish. I have worn many masks, filled many roles. It is difficult living as an unchanging being in a temporal world."
"I bet," Kendra said.
"Don't waste any sorrow on me. I'm at peace with my choices. I feel sorry for you, so young, yet forced to confront so much."
"I'm all right."
"You cope, but you're not all right. I understand your worries and your pain. Kendra, I promise you that I will do everything in my power to protect you and your family."
Feeling tears threatening, Kendra turned her head away. "Thanks."
"These are dark times, but every generation has its challenges." Bracken stood. "Raxtus returns. I was starting to worry."
Kendra scanned high and low but could discern no sign of the dragon until she felt the whoosh of his wings as he landed nearby. Once on the ground, he flickered back into view. "It was a bloodbath," Raxtus reported.
"Do any foes remain?" Bracken asked.
"None," Raxtus said. "I searched carefully."
"Roon?" Bracken asked.
"There was a throne in the main hall. A big, charred man now sits on it. If it was Roon, he's very dead."
"He had guards?" Bracken asked.
"At least two dozen," Raxtus confirmed. "It must have been quite a skirmish. Severe losses on both sides. A boar the size of a hippopotamus was savaging some of the corpses, but I drove it away."
"Any women or children?" Bracken inquired.
"No."
Bracken gave a quick nod. "Let's have a look."
They glided down to the gate first. Inside the wall, a few armored men lay where they had fallen, surrounded by a dozen goblin corpses. Kendra allowed herself only brief glances at the deceased warriors. Bracken paced around the area, crouching, fingering footprints, rolling bodies, moving aside battered shields.
"Anything between here and the keep?" he finally asked.
"Not really," Raxtus said. "You'll see. It looks like everyone retreated to the main hall to make a last stand."
Raxtus flew them up to the keep. The heavy doors had been blasted to splinters.
"There was magic at work here," Bracken said.
Kendra instantly pictured Mirav.
"You can wait out here with Raxtus," Bracken offered.
"I'll come with you," Kendra said.
The cavernous hall was built around a long hearth where embers still smoldered. Huge trophy heads of exotic magical creatures stared down from the walls--triclopses, wyverns, trolls, and strange horned beasts.
Kendra regretted joining Bracken the moment she entered the room. She had never imagined such carnage.
A score of armored men lay butchered among a host of fallen foes. Kendra saw dead minotaurs and cyclopses, as well as a grisly variety of goblins and hobgoblins. Arrows or spears protruded from many of the bodies. Some limbs were missing.
Seated in a throne on a raised dais at the far side of the room, a carbonized cadaver presided over the massacre. A slain tiger lay beside the throne, fur matted with gore. Kendra tried to pretend she was looking at a phony scene on a gruesome carnival ride, but the smell kept persuading her otherwise.
"Quite a fight," Bracken murmured.
"Yes, it was," answered a masculine voice.
Kendra jumped. For a moment, she had a horrible certainty that the charred corpse on the throne had spoken. But then the tiger arose.
Bracken drew his sword and strode forward. "Who are you?"
"Peace, unicorn," the tiger said in a slow, tired voice. "I assume you are no friend of the raiders."
Bracken kept his sword out. "We came to warn Roon."
The tiger sighed. "Would that you had arrived last night."
"They attacked at dawn?"
"Two hours before sunrise."
"Who?"
"A wizard. Several skilled warriors. Some lycanthropes.
And the rabble you see strewn around the room. Minus the wizard and a couple of the more skilled warriors, we would have won the day. Roon always loved a brawl."
Bracken stepped closer. "Who are you?"
"I am Roon's guardian. He called me Niko."
"May I approach you?"
"You wish to verify my identity? Considering the circumstances, I will take no offense."
Bracken crossed to the tiger. Despite the deep, rational voice, it was still a tiger, and Kendra reflexively clenched with fear as Bracken knelt and placed his hands on the large paws.
After staring the tiger in the eye, Bracken backed away. "You're a shape-shifter."
"Correct," Niko said. "Which is how I survived. I had retained this form throughout the skirmish. Once Roon fell, I pretended to succumb to my injuries."
"Healing yourself internally while leaving some external damage," Bracken said.
"You have the idea."
"Tell me about the battle," Bracken invited.
"First tell me more about your purpose here."
"A demon called Graulas has taken control of the Society of the Evening Star," Bracken said.
"I remember Graulas. Shouldn't he be dead?"
"It's a long story. The short version is that he's healed. The Society now possesses all five artifacts. They're using the Oculus to track down the Eternals."
Niko arose, shaking his fur as if shedding water. His wounds disappeared. "I have been waiting here to see who might come. I honestly did not expect allies."
"You wanted a bite of whoever planned this," Bracken said.
"Something like that. You desire knowledge of the battle?"
"Please."
The tiger stretched, claws extending. "As a glance at the walls will reveal, Roon son of Osric was a master hunter--a giant of a man, with a magnificent beard and a taste for mead. For centuries, this stronghold has served as his private hunting ground. He maintained two other secret hunting arenas not far from here. On all of his properties, he bred extremely dangerous game. The men who served him came here as apprentice huntsmen. To serve Roon meant to renounce the outside world. He never shared his secret, but they knew he had an unusual arrangement with Death. He drew the best to him. One to three perished every year on the hunts, but still they came.
"Blindsided, outnumbered, his men stood with him in the end. Old and young fought fiercely and died bravely. We all tried to save him. Roon felled more foes than any of us, first with bow, then with spear, then with mace, then with sword. His silver knife slew the pair of lycanthropes on the steps of his dais. But magic made the fight unfair. In the end, the woman whose arrows were fletched with phoenix feathers found her mark. In crimson flames Roon fought on, until alone, finally beaten, he staggered to his throne to die."
Kendra had never pictured a tiger shedding tears.
"Tragic," Bracken said solemnly.
"Hunting alongside Roon was the joy of my existence," Niko said. "In the end, I failed him. There were too many foes, several of them powerful. This is a dark hour. Putting my personal bereavement aside, the loss of another Eternal is the real tragedy today."
"Two left?" Bracken asked.
"Two left."
"You don't happen to know where we might find them?"
"To what end?"
"They must be warned," Bracken said. "They still imagine concealment to be a protection. Instead, I will encourage them to travel to Wyrmroost, where Agad now resides. Walls that strong might protect them."
The tiger began to pace. "Perhaps fortune smiles amid calamity. I am the single being in the world who might be able to help you. You see, I am the chief guardian of the Eternals, appointed by Agad eons ago. As such, I can sense the positions of the other guardians. Our lives are bound to those we have sworn to protect. When they die, we die. Except for me. I live on as long as any of the Eternals remain."
"Can you be killed?" Kendra asked, speaking up for the first time.
"I can," Niko replied, "although none of my opponents have proven clever enough to succeed yet." The tiger regarded Bracken coolly. "Tell me about your fairy princess."
"Her name is Kendra," Bracken said. "She's fairykind, and here to help."
"I can see. Does she know who you are?"
"She knows enough."
"And the dragon who was nosing around earlier?"
"Our ride."
"I've never seen a dragon like him."
"He's one of a kind."
The tiger growled. "Our enemies have struck a crippling blow. Roon was the mightiest of the Eternals. We must hurry before our cause is lost."
