Unicorn Quests - 18. Chapter 18

When I least expected it, a reprieve. “Thank you, but I really need the things on the list I gave your partner.”

“Supplies? For more than one person. Are you rescuing others?”

“My mate and foals,” I admitted. “The foals were stolen, then sold. I had to steal them back, but they were being held by trolls who also had a large number of other young Beings. Also picked up something called a locus.”

Maize gasped. “I’m so sorry. Are they okay?”

“Eventually they will recover.” I tried not to think of the marks marring Colete’s coat or the hardness I saw in Marces’ gaze.

“You also found a locus? They are rare.”

“You’ve heard of them?”

She nodded. “There’s an enclave west of here.”

Damn. Not the direction I wanted to travel. But if they were in the area, then they were probably related to the little one I had in my care. “My family is okay, though one of my foals was hurt by a bug-like Being who was forcing them to travel to its employer or master. Whoever is behind this all, at least.” I scowled. “It got away before I could kill it or get more information.”

“Pity.” For all she belonged to a type of gentle Beings, Maize hadn’t flinched when I used violence to save her tree. Living among humans lead to knowledge that sometimes violence stopped violence, that sometimes it was the only way. “I had wondered, about the poster on the board in the town center. It looked so much like you, but…”

“I know. My herd pushed me out; it was too much for them, after I took this form. They stripped me of my link to the herd when they took my horn, and if Londe wasn’t so stubborn, I’d have lost my family as well.” We almost had, when that bastard Trevis had failed to protect the young—my young—from predators.

And he let our allies think I was dead, trying to cut me off from assistance. Trevis had always been threatened by my power. Not that I wanted to lead the herd; that was not my desire. I wanted to protect my family, protect the herd, protect the land and those who lived upon it from those who would do harm.

“Here.” Maize’s partner plopped some sacks on the counter. “As I said, two silvers, five coppers.”

He was some form of tree spirit; I recognized it now that I saw him near Maize, but there was still something else about him. Something strange. His gaze met mine and his pupils flashed silver and then back to black that contrasted the pale violet of his irises.

“Shequi! You can’t charge him. He saved—”

“He can. This is a normal transaction. One you might do with any other traveler.” I was glad Maize had gone back to the counter, putting space between us. I darted a quick look at the window, the dirty panes not enough to obscure the spy watching us.

Just curious? Or had I aroused too much suspicion? I flicked my fingers, then scooped them into the coins knotted in a pouch on my belt. “Thank you.” I collected the bags, tucking them into my pack. One was heavier than I expected.

I flashed a look at Shequi, but he remained inscrutable. He’d already made the coins I’d pay him with disappear. Clearly a master of sleight of hand. I’d kept an eye on his movements in the front of his shop, and I hadn’t seen him put anything that should put this amount of weight in the bag.

Some kind of minor magician? Most nature Beings didn’t go in for things like that.

Maize fluttered into the back for a moment, then came out. She raised her voice. “Thank you for your business, sir. As I said, if you go east, then south, you will find larger towns with more likely business to hire your services.”

I knew she figured I’d go west, and she was right, but then I did need to go south. So it wasn’t the best ruse.

“Thank you, lady.” I accepted the hand she held out to me, bowing over it, my pack heavy on my back.

Huh. Sleight of hand. Apparently Maize and Shequi weren’t just associates in a goods business.

“You’re welcome,” she said when I slid my palm from hers. Afraid of who might be listening now, I kept our parting brief.

Steeling my nerves, I stepped through the door. Would I be rushed? Captured? Given to irate humans or a fleeced vampire?

People were going about their business. No one seemed to be even looking at me. I narrowed my eyes; someone had been spying on us.

But were they spying on me?

Maybe. Maybe not. I had the supplies we needed. I looked up and down the main road that ran through the center of town. Maize had been helping, but now I had to go east. Londe and the foals were north. I’d have to travel out of the town openly and then cut back through the country.

I casually slid my hands into my cloak sleeves, tucking the paper Maize had given me into a pocket sewn into the end of one sleeve. I’d look when there were less eyes.

The burn of scrutiny didn’t fade until I’d left town, and even then I assumed someone was watching. Not until I’d passed from sight of the walls around the town, and the silence of the solitary road surrounded me, did I finally feel it dissipate. Casually strolling over to a tree stump on the side of the road, I stopped and pulled off my pack. The new boots were calling my aching feet to step inside.

Under cover of changing my boots, I unfolded the scrap of paper that had been folded into Maize’s palm.

A map?