Unicorns' Opal (31 page)

“You are not sure?” questioned Arik. “I assumed that Tanya was with Jenneva, but you make it sound rather unsure. What if she has gone somewhere else?”

“Jenneva left before it was light,” explained Alex. “While I heard her leave, I felt no need to arise to wish her farewell. Tanya and her horse were gone when I awakened. Seeing as she expressed a desire to go with Jenneva, I assumed that she had done so. I feel fairly confident that such is the case.”

“Jenneva is a witch?” inquired Alan.

“Witch is not a term I would use for her,” nodded Alex. “She is one of the best at what she does, but she uses her powers sparingly. Too much use of magic will draw the Black Devils to us. Even one powerful spell could announce our location. She finds it very frustrating to hold such power and not be able to use it. It is good that Tanya is with her.”

“Couldn’t we leave before Tedi wakes up?” questioned Arik. “We could tie him to the horse and be well away from the desert before he awakens.”

“I doubt he could remain asleep being tied to a horse,” responded Alex. “It is better for him to get a good nights rest. He will need his energy to get through the morning. It will be very hard on him, but I feel it is the safest way.”

“I agree,” added Konic. “Let Tedi sleep while he can. We can take turns watching him through the night. If he wakes, we will prepare to leave.”

A noise on the stairs caused Alex to turn warily. He stepped to the door and saw Jenneva and Tanya coming up the stairs. He waved to Jenneva and turned back into the room.

“Our group is reassembled,” smiled Alex as Jenneva and Tanya entered the room. “What did the magician have to say? Did he have any clues for us?”

“He did,” Jenneva answered as she gazed at the bound body on the bed. “We need to head to Trekum. There is a chance that the Golden Horn is in the Royal Palace.”

“Why is Tedi tied up?” asked Tanya.

“He tried to jump out of the window,” Arik explained. “We have agreed to leave in the morning or when he wakes up, whichever comes first. We think the desert winds are causing him to go crazy.”

“We have agreed to take turns watching him through the night,” offered Alan.

“That won’t be necessary,” Tanya stated as she sat on the bed next to Tedi. “He obviously is not going anywhere and I will wake if he does. I will let everyone know if we have to leave early.”

“Then we shall leave your room,” nodded Konic. “You should get some sleep right away so that you are well rested when he does wake. If you want one of us to watch him, just call. We are willing to take our turns.”

The Rangers filed out of Tanya’s room and closed the door. Alex and Jenneva returned to their room and sat on the bed.

“How long has he been like that?” asked Jenneva.

“He has been troublesome all day,” reported Alex, “but he only became violent a short while ago. We need to get him free of the desert winds.”

“That is easy to do,” responded Jenneva, “but that will not end his troubles. This has been coming for a long time. I warned you in Cordonia that he would eventually go insane.”

“Surely there must be something we can do for him?” questioned Alex.

“The only thing that I can think of is to seek the help of the elves,” replied Jenneva. “They have great knowledge in the healing arts. I had hoped that it would progress more slowly than it has. Perhaps, I should take him directly to the elves and let the rest of you continue the search for the Golden Horn.”

“Where exactly do you think the Golden Horn is?” queried Alex.

“The best guess that we have so far is in the Royal Palace of Sordoa,” answered Jenneva. “I suspect it would be in the vault if it is still there. Nobody has been able to access the vault since the Emperor died.”

“Then it is likely that we will need your magic,” frowned Alex. “Sending you off with Tedi is not much of an option. Would Mustar have knowledge of how to heal Tedi?”

“I don’t know,” sighed Jenneva. “I asked him about it when we met, but he was not interested in becoming involved. It is hard to explain someone like Mustar. He cares nothing for what happens on the surface. Nations may crumble around him and floods might besiege the cities, but his only desire is to continue his studies. He shuts himself off from the rest of the world.”

“Then why did he help you with the location of the Golden Horn?” quizzed Alex.

“It did not concern magic,” responded Jenneva. “To him it was a riddle and it was actually his student, Hakim, who supplied the answer.”

“That appears rather cold to me,” scowled Alex. “How can he not help a young lad who is in trouble?”

“His love is magic and the study of it,” explained Jenneva. “He has shut himself off from the world to devote his life to its study. He feels that once he gets involved in the troubles of the world, he will not be able to return to his studies, because the world is always in dire need of attention.”

“That is selfish and foolish,” countered Alex. “It would not take him long to heal Tedi if he knew how to.”

“Foolish?” retorted Jenneva. “I have become what he fears. When is the last time that I had a real chance to study my craft? How many years have I spent embroiled in the world’s ills? If all magicians followed my example, magic knowledge would never advance. In fact, magic would die out. He is not foolish, Alex. He is devoted to the study of magic. You may find that selfish, but it is not. Mustar will continue to study magic until he dies. It is not for his own glory that he devotes his time to his studies. It is to pass the knowledge along to others. If he craved glory, he would not hide under the desert sands. There are few people in the world who even know Mustar exists.”

“Is that how you feel?” Alex questioned sadly. “Do you think the last twenty years have been wasted on a world that does not deserve it?”

“I have had those feelings,” admitted Jenneva, “but no, that is not how I feel. I have made the choices in my life freely. I would not want to be anywhere that you were absent from. There are times that I feel sad about the lack of furthering my understanding of magic. I lived to study in my youth. I often wonder how much I would know now if I had continued studying, but I cannot bear the injustices I see around me.”

“Things will change when Sarac is killed,” Alex promised as he put his arm around Jenneva. “When this is all over, we shall retire to Atar’s Cove and you may take up the study of magic again.”

“I would like that,” smiled Jenneva, “but what would the mighty warrior do there? How could you possibly be happy on an island?”

“You have given up your life to aid me in my struggle,” Alex replied. “I can do no less for you when this is over. I did not start off in this life as a warrior. Perhaps I will fish as Konic and Alan did.”

“Perhaps,” mused Jenneva. “We shall see what life brings. We are far from assured that we can kill Sarac. Let us get some rest and in the morning we shall decide what needs to be done for Tedi. I cannot allow him to suffer any longer. I wish we had discovered the severity of his problem before it got this far.”

“Arik says that Tedi has been feeling progressively worse,” added Alex. “He hid his pain even from Arik, but there have been times that Tedi could not hide it well. Arik first noticed the problem in Tagaret.”

“He must learn to communicate with us better,” stated Jenneva. “I will talk with him about that in the morning.”

***

Tedi’s eyes snapped open and he stared into the darkness. A heavy weight was upon his stomach and fingers probed his temples. His first reaction was to attack, but his arms were immobilized against his body by the person sitting upon him.

“How do you feel?” Tanya asked as she slid off of him.

“What were you doing?” Tedi asked as he sat up and rubbed his head.

“Just massaging your head,” said Tanya softly. “I think it will ease your hearing problems.”

Tedi felt his ears and rose. He walked to the window and gazed out as Tanya returned to her spot on the floor.

“The wind has not stopped,” commented Tedi, “but I no longer feel like it is invading my body. I feel almost normal. I could not bear the pain yesterday. I just wanted to die.”

“Well you had everyone rather upset,” responded Tanya. “Nobody knew how to help you.”

“But you did?” questioned Tedi. “What did you do to make it go away?”

“Just something I learned along the way somewhere,” Tanya answered. “You should have let us know that it was getting worse. We are a team after all. We must help one another when they need it.”

“That sounds strange coming from you,” retorted Tedi. “There are times when you act as if you are apart from the team. You are always so secretive and share nothing with the rest of us. I do not know that I can trust you.”

“Those are harsh words,” frowned Tanya. “You do not reveal everything either, so why do you pick on me for keeping my thoughts to myself?”

“I am sorry,” apologized Tedi. “I guess they were harsh words, especially for someone who has just cured me of a vile evil. Still, I would be a liar if I said that I had the utmost trust in you. I am sure that was your uncle I saw in Tagaret. Arik may believe your story about him having a brother, but I do not. And the notes I found in your pack. How can you expect me to trust you when you are caught detailing our movements to the enemy?”

“I will explain the notes to you,” offered Tanya, “if you promise me that you will not repeat what I tell you. As for whom you saw in Tagaret, I cannot answer the question, as I was not there. I have no way of knowing who you really saw.”

Tedi turned and walked to the bed. He sat down and starred into the darkness. “Okay,” he finally said, “I will keep your secret, but if it is important, I will urge you to let the others know.”

“I am not sure how important it is,” admitted Tanya. “If everyone knew what I knew then we would never get an answer to the question I chase. The notes you found sneaking through my belongings are notes that I retrieved from our various campsites on the way to the unicorns. Someone was leaving them in the ashes of the campfires. After I found the first one, I started making excuses to separate myself form the group in the mornings. Do you remember that?”

“I do,” nodded Tedi. “And it led me to believe that such absences would give you the perfect opportunity to leave notes behind.”

“Or to recover notes that someone else left behind,” countered Tanya. “Don’t you find it strange that I still had these notes in my possession? How could that be if I were leaving them behind?”

“I don’t know,” conceded Tedi. “I guess I am just confused. Why would you not share this information with everyone and then we could find out who the traitor is?”

“And do what about it?” asked Tanya. “Kill the traitor? What if the Traitor is one of the Children of the Prophecy? What if we decided wrongly about whom the traitor really was? What if we decided rightly about the traitor, but that person was not acting of their own free will?”

“So you decide to just keep this information to your self?” inquired Tedi. “How does that help any of us?”

“Because if nobody is aware of what is going on except me,” responded Tanya, “then I remain free to keep observing this person without them getting suspicious. If everybody was constantly watching, this person would try harder to conceal what they are doing and we would never know when we were really betrayed until it was too late.”

“I can see some sense in what you are saying,” agreed Tedi. “Still, you take a great deal on yourself. If you miss the signs of betrayal, we will all pay with our lives. Don’t you think we have the right to know?”

“I am not stopping anyone from observing the rest of the group,” declared Tanya. “The signs are available for everyone. I will not infect the group with my own suspicions though.”

“I suppose there is some merit to that,” Tedi admitted grudgingly. “I do not know why you must keep everything a secret.”

“I don’t keep everything secret,” grinned Tanya. “I would appreciate it if you did not mention that I cured you though. We had best get some more sleep. I suspect we have a long ride tomorrow.”

Tedi shook his head and reclined on the bed. It seemed as if he had just fallen back to sleep when the door opened. The dull gray light from the window assured him that it had been longer than it felt.

“Why are the ropes off of him?” asked Alan.

“Have you ever tried to sleep when you are tied up?” retorted Tanya as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

“I am feeling much better,” Tedi announced. “I am sorry for the trouble I caused. I will not be a problem any longer.”

“Are you sure that you are feeling better?” Alan inquired dubiously.

“Positive,” grinned Tedi as he leaped out of bed. “I haven’t felt this good in weeks.”

Tanya looked towards the hallway and saw the rest of the Rangers assembled outside the room. “I guess we should get on the trail,” Tanya said as she rose from the floor and began gathering the ropes that had been used to bind Tedi.

Tanya swiftly left the room as everyone was trying to figure out why Tedi was feeling better.

***

The carriage was old with the paint chipped and peeling. Large gouges marred the once elegant finish and the lantern holders were smashed beyond use. The driver appeared old and frail as he negotiated the coach along the rutted trail. Only the horses appeared to be out of place. The mares were strong and well cared for and they carried a military bearing as they stepped in unison. Black curtains hide the overly large passenger section of the coach.

Excitement rippled through the soldiers as they saw the old coach approaching. One ran into the rambling estate home and reappeared moments later with General Gregor in tow. The General shouted orders to his men and a flurry of activity erupted. Men lined the rutted trail that the coach had yet to reach. Others ran off into the fields and wooded areas surrounding the farm to alert even more soldiers of the approaching carriage.

The old driver maneuvered to the front steps of the estate mansion and halted the team of horses. Immediately men piled out of the carriage on both sides and scanned the area. The driver leaped down off his seat and discarded the old gray cloak that had been hiding his uniform. He stepped lively to the passenger door and bowed as he opened it. One of the men who had exited the carriage reached into it and extended his hand to the passenger as an aid in disembarking.