Ten minutes later, they were ready to leave. Koradan stepped forward, expecting to help carry Markon, but it seemed the humans had already sorted things out. Samuel and Stanley took the front two corners of the stretcher, while Lynette and Nerik took the rear. They began a slow, careful trudge back to the road, where they could load him into the cart.
Not sure what he was supposed to do next, but concerned to see them all off safely, Koradan followed along, just behind Gosta and Henrietta. A loud rustling behind him got his attention, and he turned to see Ashd moving to follow them as well. Bel stood up and shook herself, then decided that she may as well come too.
“Oh, whoa, hold on,” Koradan said, holding up his hands as if to slow a skittish horse, not wanting to alert the humans to the fact that anything unusual was going on. “Maybe you should wait here,” he said, taking a step towards Ashd, as if to lead him back to his spot by the trees.
“Let him come,” Gosta said. She’d stopped, turning to look at them with that same unreadable expression on her face. “If anyone happens to see us on the road, it’s just one more opportunity to show people that they’re not dangerous.”
Why would Gosta care if people thought they were dangerous or not? She couldn’t actually be a salas, could she? But she’d gone straight up to Ashd with very little fear. And as unlikely as it seemed, Ashd was rarely wrong about such things. But with humans so close by, he could hardly just come out and ask her.
Koradan shrugged, letting the two vreki trail along behind them. Once they reached the road, Ashd and Bel sat down in a pile of ferns while the doctor and his team got Markon strapped in. Koradan hadn’t yet seen a horse in this world, though he knew they were supposedly very similar to unicorns, and he now saw that in many ways, that was true. The one in front of the cart was white, as unicorns also were, but it was slightly smaller than a unicorn, and it lacked the obvious horn on its head. And its coat didn’t have the iridescent sheen that unicorns had. Aside from that, they were truly very similar.
But as he continued to look, he saw an odd shape on the horse’s halter glimmering in the sunlight, as the leaves shifted in the wind overhead. Was that… obsidian? Surely not. He eased closer, and he was as certain as he could be without walking right up to the creature that yes, that was an obsidian gem woven into the straps of his halter.
Unicorns were as adept as vreki at telepathy, but with one key difference; where vreki communicated in images and emotions, a unicorn’s telepathy was almost solely ‘spoken’ language. They simply lacked the vocal cords to actually speak.
Tentatively, Koradan reached out mentally.Are you a unicorn?he asked the creature, not entirely sure it would respond.
Yes, and I’d appreciate it if you’d be quiet about it,the unicorn replied. Even in his head, the unicorn’s voice was cultured and refined, with an eastern Chalandrian accent – an area that had once been full of lush pastures, with gems scattered liberally through the rocks of the region. It had been a place of wealth and luxury, until the dying sun and rising temperatures had turned the fertile soil to dust.This is the best job I could hope to get at the moment, and yes, my so-called ‘owner’ is entirely aware of what I am, and we have a very amicable partnership, thank you very much. I’ll be going now, so good day.
Koradan experienced a moment of panic. A Chalandrian, right here in front of him, and a local, from the sound of it.Wait, I’m looking for a witch-
Well, I’m not one of those, am I?the unicorn replied, leaning into his harness to begin the journey back to Minia. Yes, they were every bit as haughty and arrogant as Koradan remembered. But short of chasing the creature down the road, there was little he could do at the moment.
“Let’s head back,” Samuel announced. “Once we’re at the hospital, I can give Markon some ether and set that leg. He’ll need to stay here for a few days. Henrietta, could you head back to the hospital and warn the day shift we’re coming in?”
Henrietta rushed off at a quick trot, soon disappearing around a bend in the road, while the ‘horse’ plodded slowly onward, so as not to jar Markon’s leg. Stanley was ‘leading’ the unicorn – basically just putting a hand on his reins while the unicorn did as he pleased – and Lynette and Samuel fell in beside the cart, to keep an eye on Markon for the journey back to town.
But off at the side of the road, Nerik was having a hushed conversation with Gosta, casting wary glances Koradan’s way, and he wondered what they were saying. Suspicious of a stranger who claimed to be able to tame dragons? Or did Gosta already know what he was? If she was actually a salas, she’d likely made an educated guess about his own origins. But was that a good thing or a bad one? Could she be trusted, or did she mean to expose him?
What is Nerik?Koradan asked Ashd.Human, or something else?
There was a pause, then a trickle of confusion came back from Ashd.Can’t read him. Blocked. All blank.
Ashd was blocked from Nerik’s mind? That certainly meant he wasn’t a human. To learn to block a vreki took a great deal of skill and experience. So out of six creatures who’d come to help them, Lynette had somehow – by design or by accident – managed to bring at least three who were Chalandrian.
“You go ahead,” Gosta suddenly announced, pushing Nerik to follow the others. “I need a moment to gather myself for the walk back. It’s a long way and I’m not as young as I used to be.”
Nerik gave her a nod and a reassuring smile, then trotted off after the others. Koradan and Gosta both waited until they’d rounded the bend in the road.
Then Gosta turned to face him. She crossed the road slowly, coming to a stop a short way from the vreki. She glanced up and down the road, making sure they were alone.
Then, in a gesture that was carefully designed to look casual, she tugged at a leather cord around her neck and pulled a black gem out of her blouse. Obsidian. Bloody hell, Ashd had been right. But what was a salas woman doing working in a hospital in Minia?
“Interesting story about training a dragon,” Gosta said. “But I’m more interested in how you and Lynette met. She doesn’t seem like the type to trust easily, but she apparently thinks the world of you.”
It was an invitation; to admit what he was, or to plead ignorance. He was sure Gosta wouldn’t believe him if he just continued pretending to be a human. But at least she was offering him the choice.
Koradan pulled his own obsidian gem out, letting it dangle in front of his shirt. “Let’s cut the small talk, shall we?” He said it bluntly, but not harshly.
“Are you a salas?” Gosta asked, as forthright as their species was known to be.
“I am,” Koradan answered.
Gosta nodded. “I figured as much. It’d be a rare thing to find a vreki too far from his rider. But Lynette… she is actually a human, right?”
Koradan nodded. “Yes, she is.”
“I thought so. I worked with her for years and after that long, I didn’t think I’d have missed something like that. Does she know what you are?”
