Page 2 of The Glass Unicorn: Part 13

Hesitantly, I ran my hand over his flank. He might be translucent, but he felt warm and alive under my fingers. “You’re so beautiful,” I said. “You don’t feel like glass.”

“So many things aren’t what they seem,” he said. “You’re struggling with a moral quandary,” he added.

“I am. Every fiber in my being screams that I can’t just kill an unarmed woman, but I know what she is—I know what she’s done, and what she’s capable of doing. How can I let that go on?” I stared into the unicorn’s eyes and felt lost within them, as though I were in a vast ocean, being washed from side to side by the waves.

“You know what you must do,” he said.

And I did. I didn’t want to voice it, because I didn’t like what it made me. “We have to destroy her, and we have to do it before Zaran reaches her prison. I can’t let countless others fall because of her.”

“You mean die because of her,” Master Ashelainn said. “Use the words. Don’t pretty it up.”

“Right. Because she kills—and she seems to revel in it. So, we find her and take her out before Zaran gets there.” I paused, then asked, “Will he come after me? Because of this?”

“I expect so, but I imagine he’ll give it some time. Devastey and Zaran share power, and when she dies, it will weaken him as well.”

I licked my lips. “Then, if we can find him next before he regains his strength, the world will be better off.”

“You begin to understand your destiny,” Ashelainn said. “You should go now. The sooner this is over, the better.”

Feeling resigned, but sure, I turned back to the others. “We’ll go get her. Otsiano, if you could point us in the right direction?”

“We’ll accompany you to the Waypoint, and from there, it’s a bit of a hike, but not easy to miss,” Otsiano said. “You’ve made up your mind,” he added.

I nodded. “We’re off to find Devastey. It’s the only sane choice.”

And with that, we gathered up our gear and headed back to the road.

CHAPTER 74: FINDING DEVASTEY

As we followed Otsiano and Master Ashelainn through the forest, the sounds from the surrounding woodland filtered through. It was as noisy as a city, with the hisses and pops of insects, the constant birdsong, the rustling of bushes as wild animals made their way through the undergrowth, and the ever-present sound of water from the various streams and creeks that crisscrossed their way through the forest.

We fell into a comfortable pace, lulled into silence by the warmth of the day. There was something magical about the land here. It felt like we were being watched every step of the way, and Otsiano had verified this.

“The gods of the land here are found within water, land, and air,” he said. “And the fire of the sun. They are—like me—living gods of the world, outside this realm and yet part of it. Even we aren’t sure of our origins. There are usually creation myths, but they are hidden in time. We are bound to this world, yet not fully of it—we straddle dimensions.”

“How many gods are there?” Ray asked. “I’m a cleric without a temple.”

“And you seek someone to follow? Think carefully before pledging yourself, my friend,” Master Ashelainn said. “The gods carry deep secrets, all of them. Even Master Otsiano, Lord of Bears, here. Some secrets are benign, and others run dark and shadowed.”

Ray nodded. “I’ll remember that,” he said.

“There are many gods,” Otsiano said. “More than you can imagine. I shy away from many, for they are chaotic and dangerous to cross.” He paused, then pointed ahead. We’d been walking for several hours. “There, beyond that stone marker. The Waypoint.”

We made sure the way was clear, then hustled into the clearing. A stone marker sat to one side, and a few yards away was the Waypoint. It was fashioned like the others, and I stepped inside and, following the pattern I had before, activated it, feeling a sense of relief sweep over me. Knowing we had some transportation between the different countries made me feel less at the mercy of this world.

“We could go home for a visit,” I whispered, but before the others could hear me, I wiped the thought from my mind. If we did that, it would give Zaran a chance to get to Devastey before we did, and the last thing I wanted was to fight the necromancer. If we could weaken him first, then so much the better.

“All ready and activated,” I said, rejoining the others. “Once we finish, let’s go back to Liesel’s. I want to see Star, and we need to tell her what’s happened to us through the past weeks.” Truth be told, I realized that I’d lost count of the days since we had set forth from her house. The moment I draped the key around my neck, I had embarked on a fork in the road that—if I’d just given some thought to—might not have happened.

Ah, a thought whispered inside my head, but then you wouldn’t have met any number of helpful souls—including Otsiano and Master Ashelainn.

I didn’t like thinking that everything happened for a reason, but I was starting to feel myself bend toward that line of thought.

“How far to the entrance to the Summer Kingdom?” I asked.

“We’ll reach it by midday tomorrow,” Otsiano said.

“I’ve noticed that, so far, we haven’t really encountered anybody along the road here,” Reggie said. “Is the land sparsely populated?”