“I am not a magical being. Their spell won’t affect me.”
His eyes narrowed and his head barely tilted to one side, reminding her of a dog taking in its master’s every word.
“I am not magical,” she repeated and held out her hand. “I know you have to have something I could use to cut those brambles.”
“It is not safe,” he said through clenched teeth.
“I am not leaving those babies here with those monsters.” She pointed at the far side of the enclosure, the side opposite the one next to thesluagh.“I can cut through that side, coax the yearlings out, then Pegasus can take them back to Sevenrest while we ride our mounts. Those youngsters won’t disobey him. I know it in my gut. He has to be like some sort of unicorn superhero to them.”
“Unicorn superhero?”
“Never mind.” She tapped on her open palm. “Knife, please?”
“I am going with ye.” He pulled a dagger from his boot and placed the hilt in her hand.
She nodded, then backtracked the way they had come, pausing to whisper the plan into Pegasus’s ear, then the stallion’s and the mare’s. They moved as one, following her and Jeros to the far side of the deadly barrier that none of them could risk touching, none of them except Lexi.
She led the way, determined to succeed, and when they were safely back at Sevenrest Hall, she intended to give all the unicorns extra feed to comfort them after this ordeal. As they approached the cursed fence of brambles, it glowed brighter, startling Lexi. She motioned for Jeros and the unicorns to back away, and as soon as they did, the brambles returned to the glimmer of before. Proud of herself for listening to her instincts, she gave Jeros a thumbs up.
He bared his teeth and shook his head with a hard jerk, obviously irritated that he couldn’t take the lead once more and keep her safely away and watching from the sidelines.
The young unicorns started toward her, but she shook her head and motioned them back.Don’t let them know I’m here. Stay huddled up and act frightened like before.She didn’t know if they could hear her thoughts until they did exactly as she asked. Thank goodness Pegasus had marked her with his star.
After pulling her jacket sleeve down over her hand to protect herself from the brambles, she took the dagger and started sawing through the woody vines covered in long, spiky thorns. She was concerned that once she cut the barrier, it would stop glowing and alert the trolls to a breach in their system, but it didn’t. Even though the fence soon had a good-sized chunk, a unicorn-sized doorway cut out of it, it still emitted the magical gleam as if nothing at all was wrong.
Thank goodness for that. She backed away, motioning for the young ones to follow—slowly.They eased toward the opening, occasionally glancing back at their captors, who were engrossed in absorbing the heat from the fire. Apparently, trolls, orsluagh, didn’t like the chilly rain any more than she did.
As soon as they all slipped through the opening, they trotted over to Pegasus and the others, pressing as close as they could, obviously relieved to be rescued. And so was Lexi. They were almost home free.
But then the magical fence hissed and yowled like an enraged cat. Its severed ends sparked like fireworks.
Jeros jerked her to his side. “Run like ye have never run before, or thesluaghwill feast on us both.”
So she did, heading for the unicorns, but somehow, the beasts had disappeared. “Where are they?”
“They left as ye bade them,” Jeros shouted. “Unicorns are quite literal. Ye must always specify exactly what ye want.”
“Now you tell me.” She pounded through the darkness, slipping and sliding on the wet leaves and fighting to stay on her feet.
Thesluaghroared and wailed like angry ghosts as they crashed through the woods behind them. Their massiveness slowed them, and the wet forest floor bogged them down as well, but not by much and not enough to give Lexi any ease. This was the worst nightmare she had ever lived through.
“Where are we going?” she shouted, struggling to keep up with Jeros. “Don’t you have any magic you can use to make us disappear like the unicorns did?”
He grabbed her hand, yanked her into his arms, and shouted, “Domus!”
And then they were back within Sevenrest’s borders, just inside the barrier, beside the brightly glowing magical wards. Struggling to catch her breath, Lexi sagged forward, bending to suck in great gulps of air. “Why didn’t you do that first instead of telling me to run?”
“Because I didn’t know if it would work or not,” he said with a growl, holding his side and trying to catch his breath as well. “My magic is currently weakened.” He spat the words as though they tasted bad. “Were I my usual self,Domuswould have taken us to the hall instead of merely inside Sevenrest’s borders.”
“Are you sick or something?” He hadn’t seemed well ever since their argument at dinner the other day. His gaunt features and haunted eyes had concerned her, but she’d been hesitant to ask since their argument had made him grouchier than a sore-tailed bear. “Jeros, are you sick?”
“What do ye care?” He moved closer to the nearest ward and frowned down at it. “Pegasus kept his word and added his energy to them all. They glow golden now. Even thesluaghshould nay be able to breach them.”
His snappishness hurt her heart. It was her fault. He was pushing her away because when she had lost her temper the other night, she had thanked him for helping her decide to leave. “Are you sick?” she repeated quietly. Just because she might be angry with him didn’t mean she didn’t care.
“Restoring the wards temporarily drains my magic.”
“And…”
