Unicorn Point

They stepped into his water globe. It floated up, through the top of the curtain that contained the air of the isle, and on through the water. It lifted into the air above, gained el evation, then coursed west.

Their speed did not seem great, but it must have been, because soon Forel saw them coming down at the old Oracle’s palace, halfway across the main continent of Phaze. Adepts really knew how to travel when they wanted to!  “Now here there be truce,” the Adept said. “We be here to negotiate. Only the leaders o’ each Demesne be here, and all be on honor to provoke naught. Ne’ertheless Flach must needs be confined; Forel be messenger.”

“Me?” Forel asked, astonished. He had not thought the Adept even knew his name!

“I will be within,” Translucent explained. “My bubble will be without, as will be the conveyances o’ the others.  Flach will verify for our side, and thou, pup, willst carry the news. Understand?”

“Aye,” Forel said, awed.

“Then comest thou with me now, and mark the spot o’ this bubble. Naught can pass in or out o’ it other than we two, and none will interfere with thee.” The Adept stepped out as if the wall of the globe had no substance, and Forel followed. They were on the green turf surrounding the palace, and other conveyances or creatures formed a wide circle around it. There were carts and sledges and even a sailing boat anchored in air, and horses and huge birds and a massive wooden golem, and next to the globe was a formidable flying dragon.

Translucent swept toward the palace entrance without regard for the sights, but Forel, following, was dazed. He had never imagined such a setting, and never thought he would ever be a part of such magical dealings. He was nervous, too, despite the Adept’s reassurance; the dragon’s head did not turn, but its eyes were tracking him.

The palace had not seemed large from a distance, but it loomed impressively as they approached the main entrance.  Inside, it seemed larger yet: towering ceilings for each huge chamber, and elaborate arches between the halls. There were carpets on the walls that showed murals of great events of the past, exciting an intense curiosity in him. He, as a young wolf from a distant Pack, knew little of such history; until now he had not missed it, but he knew that he could never rest again until he fathomed the events of the murals.  They came to a tremendous cathedral-like chamber, and here were the assorted parties assembled. Forel recognized the several Adepts immediately, though he had never before seen them: Blue, who was Barel’s grandsire, in his blue cloak, looking no bigger than a child, and who used singsong rhymes to work his enchantments. Red, who was actually a troll, grotesque, but perhaps the most powerful of all, because he possessed the Book of Magic; he made amulets of singular potency. Brown, a woman with brown hair, of indeterminate age, mistress of the wooden golems. These three had held off the force of the Adverse Adepts for a score years, because of the strength and versatility of their magic. Now they were joined by Barel’s sire, the rovot, who had become the strongest of all because of his studies in the Book of Magic.  On the other side of the chamber were gathered the eight Adverse Adepts, in their color-coded robes. White, also called the Snow Queen, with her glyphs. Yellow, the bane of animals. Black the line. Orange, of the plants. Green fire. Sinister young Tan, with the Evil Eye. Purple, who lived in the Purple Mountains and controlled the forces of geology. And Translucent, of course, in his watery robe, controlling the forces of water.

Yet, for all their horrible power, they looked mostly like ordinary human folk, a number of them getting old and fat.  How deceptive appearances could be!

Between the two groups of Adepts were the animals: a unicorn, bat and wolf—it was Kurrelgyre, his own Pack leader!—near Stile’s group, and an assortment of monsters closer to the Adverse group. There was a hulking ogre, a dragon, a monstrous roc bird, a goblin, a troll, a harpy, a human form with the head of a snake, and a giant man. The assorted Little Folk were with Stile, while the assorted de mons were with the other side. Perhaps there were others, but he couldn’t look; he was being summoned.  “The wolf-boy be our runner to Flach,” the Translucent Adept was saying. “Pup, tell where Flach be.”

“He—he be in thy water globe,” Forel stammered.

“Ill-treated?”

“Nay.”

Kurrelgyre shifted to wolf form. “Change, Forel,” he said in growl-talk.

Forel looked at Translucent. “He tells me to—”

“Aye, change,” the Adept said.

Forel assumed wolf form. “It be true,” he told the Pack Leader. “We be on the isle where the mare was.”

“Come here,” Kurrelgyre growled.

Forel looked at Translucent, but the man made no objection. He walked slowly to the grown wolf.  They sniffed noses. Then Kurrelgyre turned away, dismissing him. The old wolf resumed man form. “There be no geis on him,” he said. “He tells truth.”