Unicorn Tracks (19 page)

The horse’s head snapped up, and he shied sideways, nearly dumping one of his riders. He was an enormous draft animal, with hooves the size of plates and a deep, powerful chest. The second rider jumped down as soon as he saw me. He looked me up and down, eyes jumping to the yellow dusting of pollen that covered my hair.

“My God,” he exclaimed, and then rolled his eyes. “Ran away, rode all this way, just to lie sleeping in a bush? We had bushes in Mugdani, you know. If you wanted one instead of a bed, you could have saved yourself all this trouble and asked.”

He grasped my arm, as if afraid I might crawl back under the foliage and disappear again before he could bring me to his boss.

I snatched my arm away. He was one of the General’s close attendants. I recognized him from the day before. “You’re early. We didn’t expect you until this afternoon or maybe tomorrow.”

“And you’re in a world of trouble,” he said, exchanging glances with his companion. “Your father was beside himself. So yes, we ended up coming as soon as we could.”

Kara climbed out of the bush to stand behind me, rubbing her eyes. Ant bites and thorn scratches covered both of her arms. I winced for her as she attacked the red bumps with her nails. Her hair looked like a living creature: ants moved across the red strands, leaves and berries clung to the knotted nest.

“Where is the rest of the army?” she asked, putting her head between her legs and combing her hair with her fingers to shake out the ants.

“We’re just scouts, sent to look for you. They’re just over the ridge, setting up camp. We left before dawn,” the second rider grumbled. He lifted his foot to the horse’s stirrup to climb up, but his companion shook his head.

“We should let them ride.”

“Let them ride after all the problems they’ve caused?” the attendant asked, chuckling and rubbing the back of his head. “You have to be kidding.”

The other rider swung off the horse, shaking his head. “The General will not be pleased if we make two women walk while we ride, especially a chief’s daughter.” He held the stirrup and motioned for Kara to mount. “Any trouble they’ve caused isn’t for us to deal with. We take them to General Zuberi and Chief Adebayo. Then it’s their problem.”

“It’s still not fair,” the first attendant whined. “We’ve been up for hours.”

“And they slept in a bush covered in ants. Do you really want to compare worst nights? Besides, if they’re on the horse and we’re holding the reins, they can’t run away again.”

I swallowed. Suddenly, I wished the General had ignored my father and chosen to sleep in. Father alone was formidable enough when truly angry, but the General had a terrifying reputation. We might have been safer with Arusei.

WHEN WE
reached the edge of the General’s camp, I understood why Zuberi had wanted so much time to prepare. The camp spanned acres, built along a perfect grid. Identical rows of blue and black soldiers’ tents framed a central square. It looked almost as if someone had patrolled with a ruler, perfectly aligning the camp like an enormous architectural drawing.

Stacks of weapons lay outside each tent: pile after pile of rifles, poison bombs, and claw-blades. I almost smirked. Without Arusei’s death carts, the General’s men could overrun the poachers with ease. As we approached the central square, the attendants brought the horse to a halt outside the largest tent. I pressed my lips together to vanish the smile. Better to look contrite.

We dismounted, and the attendant rushed inside to announce us. Seconds later the General appeared through the tent flap. His dark eyes stormed, and he tapped his cane on the ground. He jabbed his finger at me. “Just her. The foreigner can stay outside.”

The ferocity in his eyes made my legs shake. We hadn’t eaten in over twenty hours, but fear made my bowels churn. This was it. It probably wouldn’t even matter what I told him about the unicorns. I bowed my head and followed him into the tent.

Inside, the General lowered himself into a leather chair at one end of a long table. Twelve unoccupied wood chairs sat around it, so I tentatively pulled out the one farthest away from him and perched on the edge. Attendants scurried around the tent, hanging drapes and mosquito nets. General Zuberi cleared his throat, and the servants stopped immediately and filed out of the tent in a line. I shuddered, feeling much exposed now that we were alone. Any man who could order people about by clearing phlegm from his throat needed to be feared.

General Zuberi steepled his fingers. “You disobeyed an express command, from both myself and your father.”

I squirmed in my chair. “I know.”

“I should have both of you publicly horsewhipped for your insolence.”

I looked down and ran my finger over the cracks in the table, hardly daring to breathe. He’d said
should
, which meant he still might decide not to. Or at least allow me to save Kara.

“Do you want to explain to me why you disobeyed me? With the foreigner, I understand. She is not accustomed to our ways. Plus, the man imprisoned is her father. Doesn’t know our history or our laws. She has no reason to trust my reputation. But you are a chief’s daughter. I expected much better.”

“We just had to know. We couldn’t sit and do nothing. We had to know if they were alive.” I took a deep breath. It was tempting to look down at my feet and answer his questions in monosyllables. But the General wouldn’t respect me for that. “But, sir—it’s a good thing we did. Last night we snuck into Arusei’s camp.”

“You did what?” the General hissed. Then he banged his fist on the table. “This is exactly why your father was so insistent we leave immediately. He knew you would do something rash and stupid—”

Against all sense of self-preservation, I cut him off. Words flew out. I needed him to know everything, before I lost the nerve. “But sir—Arusei’s weapons from Echalend… they arrived. We saw them unload the train. He has these tubes…. Kara called them cannons… but he lines them up on carts and uses the unicorns to pull them. We set the unicorns free. If we hadn’t, many of your men would have died.”

The General went very quiet, staring at me across the table. He licked his lips, and when he finally spoke, I heard the smallest note of uncertainty in his iron voice. “He had cannons?”

I nodded. “Mobile cannons. They were like death carts. Each unicorn could pull four at once. Fast.”

General Zuberi took a deep, jagged breath. His eyes scanned my face. “That’s what he needed them for. You freed them all?”

“Yes, and before when we snuck in, we stole his moonstone—that’s how he attracts them. He can’t replace them. At least not until he finds another stone.”

He stroked his chin and drummed his fingers on the table again as he thought. “Then we must act before he has chance to do so. He will still be able to load those cannons, but without something to pull them, they will be difficult to move into place. If we can ambush them from the sides of his camp, they will have no chance to use them. I have brought three hundred armed men with me. We will arrest them within minutes.”

He rose slowly from his chair, legs shaking without his cane. I felt the urge to go and offer him my arm, but I doubted he would appreciate any acknowledgment of his weakness. “I can’t condone your disobedience outside this tent. You will understand that appearances have to be upheld. But let us say, between you and I, that I am not displeased.”

Limping, he came toward me and laid his hand on my shoulder. “Those cannons would have ripped our men to shreds. I don’t know how you girls did it, but doing so was very brave. My warriors are also brave, but sometimes I wish I had more like you around me, with the courage to follow themselves.”

I looked down at my hands. “Thank you, sir.”

“Your cousin and the girl’s father… they are alive, yes?”

“Yes, Arusei enslaved them. Please… when you arrest Arusei, most of the laborers have been forced. They don’t want to work for him. Don’t shoot them.”

He shook his head in disgust. “Arusei is a monster. Even when he was a child, we knew what he would grow up to become. He and those who served him willingly will be condemned to the Pits. The others we will restore to their families.”

I closed my eyes, thanking the gods I never prayed to that Tumelo would soon be home.

General Zuberi turned toward the tent flap. “I will instruct the attendants to find you and the foreign girl a tent, food, and a hot bath.”

“Kara and I have guns—”

The General raised his hand, scowling. “You’re not a trained warrior, and the presence of women will distract the men on the field. In this you will obey me.”

I walked behind him, so that we were at eye level. “I’m a good fighter, just because I’m a woman—”

His cane snaked out and whacked my calves so hard I nearly screamed.

“You forget yourself,” the General said. “I like you. I like your ideas. But I have explained to you why your disobedience could jeopardize our mission. I won’t have a young girl’s silly ideas about becoming some sort of warrior princess cost any of my men’s lives. You’re a good tracker, and you have a good brain. Stick to your talents. If I find you at Arusei’s camp during our attack, I will have you horsewhipped. No matter the outcome.”

I hung my head as the General walked out of the tent, slinking away without looking at him again.

FED, BATHED,
and warm, we wrapped ourselves in a thick blanket and floated in the airy comfort of the feather mattress until evening. I woke with my arm slung over Kara’s back, to the sounds of men marching. I wanted to stay and admire the contrast between our skin and the graceful arch of her sleeping back, but despite what the General had threatened, I couldn’t imagine staying in bed while his army attacked Arusei’s camp. Zuberi and his men would be focused on the poachers, and my father would play the part he was given—someone had to make sure Tumelo and Mr. Harving made it to safety.

With a small sigh, I slid out from under the white, velvet blanket. When had I become such a daredevil? Kara mumbled in her sleep. I pulled on my clothes, hesitating to look at her before I slipped out the door. When Kara woke up, she’d kill me for leaving her behind like this. We were a team, but she was safe here, away from the battle like General Zuberi had ordered. Besides, I was already scarred and a few whip marks wouldn’t make my body any uglier. But for Kara, I wondered what they would mean when she returned to Echalend.

I squeezed my eyes shut and rushed out the door to stop the flow of emotion. I couldn’t think about her return right now.

Slipping unnoticed among the soldiers as they saddled their horses and loaded equipment into wagons, I crept to the makeshift stables to find Elikia. Most of the horses were already out of their stalls and the attendants took no notice of me as I peered over doors, swiping a spare bridle as I went.

Elikia munched hay in a stall at the very end of the block. When she saw me, her head lifted and she nickered softly, ears twitching back and forth. I reached in to scratch her forehead, and she leaned into my touch. “I’m sorry I left you behind, girl.”

My fingers curled around the metal bolt and I tried to tug it open. It held fast. Looking down, I groaned. A large silver padlock dangled from the bolt, securing it place. General Zuberi had anticipated that I might not obey him and had taken extra precautions. Scanning the stalls of the other remaining horses, I realized that all of them were locked as well. Damn it.

“Ahem.”

Closing my eyes, I slowly turned around. Kara stood with her arms crossed over her chest, wearing the silken nightgown the general’s attendants had put aside for her. Her long white legs were bare, but she had hastily stuffed her feet into a pair of sturdy leather boots. Smudged circles of the coal she’d only half washed off made her eyes look even fiercer than usual. Her wild hair had been pinned back into a quick ponytail.

“Please don’t tell me you were thinking of doing something stupid without me.”

“I—”

She scowled. “That was rhetorical. And don’t lie to me either. At least I caught you before you left.”

I pointed to the lock on Elikia’s stall door. “We’re not going anywhere.”

Kara rolled her eyes, flashing me a devious grin. She pulled a pin out of her hair and knelt by the lock. “You have no imagination, sometimes.”

“I suppose you just picked that up at boarding school as well.”

She smirked as the lock clicked open and then tucked the pin back into her red curls. “Political rallies, remember? My father wasn’t totally naïve. He did try to keep me from going sometimes.”

Looking around to make sure none of the attendants were watching us, I rushed inside the stall, throwing the reins over Elikia’s head and hopping aboard while Kara picked the lock on Brekna’s stall. The stallion was fresh, and when she swung onto his back he burst from his stable, prancing about and snorting. I reached over and gave one of his reins a sharp jerk, hoping he would get the message and start behaving.

Most of the camp had gone dark, as the army had taken their torches with them on the march. I didn’t want to light a torch of our own until after we made it out of the camp, so we had to rely on the moon and on the horses’ keener eyesight to navigate through the maze of pitched tents.