Unicorn Quests - 40. Chapter 40

All day the clan had worked industriously, but they allowed us to help where we could. First they dug a hole, which confused me. “I thought you were releasing his form.”

“We shall, but we come from the elements. That is where our magic is grounded, by connections. So Wenn will be released using all four elements as well. Earth, Air, Fire, Water.” Tinn stood beside the elder locus who had declared Wenn was at peace as they oversaw the preparations.

The youths dug the shallow pit, while the young brought broken boughs that had littered the ground to line the earth, creating an elaborate pattern that looked like water, especially after the females brought baskets of water and filled the depressions between the limbs on the lower levels. We made it easier on them, letting them drape the poles across our withers.

For me, the weight was negligible but Colette struggled. I walked at her side, encouraging her up the path from the lake. Her head hung lower than I liked.

“Do you need a break?”

She looked up. “No, I can do it,” she said softly but with determination.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.

“Does it bother you?” She looked the other way, studying the right side of the path, not meeting my gaze as she asked her cryptic question.

“What?” I had no idea what she meant.

“Tinn’il greeted Pater and Marces and me. But not you. I… I thought maybe we could stay here. It feels… safe.” She kept pausing between her words, glancing at me and away. She looked around, and up, and around. Such a reserved foal, always so careful in her words. “But you have been sad. And maybe that makes you feel too bad.”

“You want to stay here?” I focused on the important part of what she’d said, pushing aside the thoughts of my feelings, including Tinn’il’s avoidance.

She shrugged, the water sloshing in her baskets. She stilled, walking carefully.

“They do have the mist, but that doesn’t make their land completely safe. Still, much safer than other places,” I agreed. “And it is beautiful here.” That couldn’t be denied. There was plenty of room, especially considering the locus lived underground and not aboveground in the fields and trees that bordered the lake.

“Maybe they could use someone like you to help protect them. And, maybe if we stayed, Tinn’il would get to know you like this too.”

Oh, sly little minx. She was quiet, and thoughtful, but she had quite the plotting mind. Under it all, she craved the feeling of safety. I wanted to give her that. “Your pater and I haven’t decided anything. We will talk with you and Marces before we make any decisions, okay?”

“Okay.” We reached the ceremonial space, and Colette and I both knelt slowly, minimizing any splashing from the half-filled baskets so the females could get the water.

The combination of fire and water confused me until I saw how they continued to build up the branches, creating a plinth over the water that remained only halfway up the limbs. Wenn’s body was born up by many hands and placed on top, with his hands tucked down to touch the water and earth and his face turned upward to the skies. Then wide leaves were passed out to all the members of his people and even to Londe, the foals, and me.

I wanted to ask what now, but I clutched the thick stalk of the leaf in my teeth, so I waited silently.

A spark was brought out by the old locus, who limped heavily without his stick as he held the coal in a bark bowl in one hand and held a leaf in the other. The thin bark was already smoking. I held my breath as he grew closer, afraid the coal would burn through before he made it to the plinth.

But the bark remained intact. With a murmured prayer that was echoed by those around me, he set it down between Wenn’s feet. A soft sigh began to spread through the group, and I lifted my eyes from that bright orange coal, my heart pounding as it grew brighter.

No, not a sigh. They were moving their leaves, fanning the air. Air. The last element, the one that would ignite the blaze and free Wenn from his mortal body once and for all. My eyes stung as I began to wave my leaf, haltingly at first, but then with more vigor when the coal brightened and darkened.

What would happen if it went out? If he couldn’t have this ceremony? Pain and panic sped my movements, but it wasn’t enough. It was like that connection we’d shared was still there, but it couldn’t be, not if he was going to be with his family.

He needed to have that reward for what he’d done for me. The pain spiked, and then the air shimmered around me. My form shifted, melted away, and then I stood on two legs.

I was a human again.

There was no time to panic, or worry about what this meant, or even reassure my mate and foals. I reached down for the leaf I’d dropped, swiping it and then stepping up to breathe directly on the coal, just like I’d done with my forges before Londe had come to find me.

One breath. A curl of orange taking over more of the black.

Two breaths. A blush of red flaring along the side.

Three breaths. The heat began to crackle against my skin, tightening it across my forehead.

I straightened and began waving my leaf, willing the coal to burn through the bark bowl and ignore the wood of Wenn’s plinth and set the pyre alight to free his mortal form.

The bark crumbled in the center, the two halves breaking, and the coal began to eat the brittle, dried wood at a rapid pace. Fire leapt up, streaking away from the spot between Wenn’s feet. Soon it began to obscure his body.

We all kept fanning. The elder locus kept chanting. Time stood still as we sent off this courageous Being who’d given all he had to save me.