"You keep trying to contact him?" Kendra asked.
"I don't think he's retrieved the communicator from my cell yet. I'm sure he's trying to juggle a number of concerns. For all we know, Graulas may have already imprisoned him."
"I never thought any part of me would be rooting for the Sphinx," Kendra said.
"A calamity like the opening of Zzyzx can forge peculiar alliances." Bracken walked over to Raxtus and patted the dragon on the neck. "How are you holding up?"
"You don't need to keep asking. I'm fine. The two of you are light. I could go like this for days."
Bracken nodded thoughtfully. "You fought valiantly against the harpies. How would you feel about joining another fight, if it comes to that?"
Raxtus scratched at the ground. "I've always quietly wanted to be a hero. Putting that desire into practice has always been ... complicated. When opportunities to prove myself come along, I have this tendency to run or hide. But my confidence is better than ever after those harpies, and having you two along should boost my motivation. After all, we're trying to prevent the end of the world. Hard to argue against that. It ends up amounting to option A, risk death now, or option B, die for sure later. I'm well aware that the demons will want to lynch me for killing Navarog. If we have any chance of winning, I'll join the fight."
"Fair enough," Bracken said.
Kendra looked out toward the sea. She had long imagined touring Europe, but had never pictured doing it by dragon. They had made good time. Raxtus flew much faster with only two passengers. It was just yesterday that the Sphinx had helped them escape Living Mirage. With luck, they would soon convince Roon to come away with them to a safe hideout, and Zzyzx would be a little safer. She knew they should hurry.
"I've thawed," Kendra said.
"You sure?" Bracken asked, coming to stand beside her.
She glanced up at him. He looked so young! He could be in high school. She could almost picture them studying together for a science test. But of course, he was really older than her grandparents. Much older. And a unicorn besides.
He definitely didn't seem like a unicorn. His perfect skin, those keen eyes looking at her, fringed by long lashes ...
She fought to derail her train of thought. "I'm sure. We should hurry."
Raxtus swooped over and snatched them, and they glided off the ledge. Banking to take advantage of air currents, Raxtus followed the winding course of the deep, narrow fjord. Kendra wished she had a camera. Instead, she tried to imprint the spectacular scenery on her memory.
After growing somewhat narrower and shallower, the fjord came to an abrupt end. Raxtus veered to the northeast. The dragon's shadow rose and fell against rugged terrain. They flew over craggy hills, sheer ravines, stony ridges, ice-rimmed lakes, and scattered copses of fir trees.
"Up ahead," Kendra said, as a squat keep of gray stone came into view, situated on a flat rise between two rocky hills. Reaching well beyond the hills, a tall stone wall ringed a vast tract of wilderness. A heavy wooden gate in the wall had been smashed open and now hung askew from a single huge hinge.
"I see it now," Raxtus said. "My eyes kept straying away from there."
"I see it as well," Bracken said darkly. "The splintered gate is an ominous sign. Raxtus, take us down onto that ridge." He indicated a jutting spine of rock outside the breached wall.
Raxtus circled down. Kendra looked for movement inside the wall or around the keep, but saw none. The dragon landed gently.
"Would you like me to check it out?" Raxtus asked.
"Do you mind investigating?" Bracken asked.
Raxtus turned invisible. "It's a specialty. I'll be right back."
Kendra felt and heard Raxtus fly away. Bracken stared after him, seemingly following his flight path. "Can you see him?" Kendra asked.
"Barely," Bracken said. "You were wise to befriend him. There is a profound goodness to Raxtus that few dragons possess."
"Are we too late?" Kendra asked, eyes straying to the quiet keep.
"Almost certainly. I see no evidence of an ongoing struggle. The gate was destroyed recently. You can tell by the unweathered portions of the broken wood."
"You can see that from here?"
"Yes."
Kendra frowned. "Then what now?"
Bracken looked at Kendra, disappointment in his eyes. "Once Raxtus finishes his preliminary reconnaissance, we'll go see what we can learn, hope for some useful hints or clues. If all else fails, perhaps we'll rejoin Warren." Bracken sat down.
Kendra sat beside him. A chilly breeze ruffled her hair. "What's it like, being a unicorn?"
Bracken scrunched his brow. "Funny, I've never been asked that. Let's see. It's very different from inhabiting a human form. Peaceful. Almost passionless by comparison. We love, but from a distance. We experience extraordinary clarity. We wander, we heal, we serve. We're the guardians of the fairy world."
"So you feel different as a human?"
"I'm still the same being deep down. But my experiences as a human have changed me. Unicorns are generally solitary creatures. Spending all this time in a human form has helped me learn to socialize. At times I even enjoy it! I'm still trying to improve. Old habits die hard. But I would have liked you even in my former state. My kind have always had a weakness for virtuous maidens."
Looking down, Kendra willed herself not to blush. "Even in human form, you're not really mortal."
"No, I retain a connection to my horns. They would have to be destroyed for me to really age. I could be killed, but not by sickness or time."
"How exactly did you lose all of your horns? Is that too personal? You've told me the basics."
He grinned. "It's very personal. A unicorn's horn is his glory. But I'll tell you. It's almost impossible to take a horn from a unicorn. We normally have to give them. I gave my first horn as a gift to a man who saved my life. It has passed through many hands. I can still sense it out there.
"The next horn I gave away was my third horn. This was highly unusual. I'm not sure if any other unicorns have given theirs away, save perhaps Ronodin, the dark unicorn, who willfully corrupted his horns. To part with my third horn meant parting with my form as a unicorn, but it also meant sealing away the demon horde, so I surrendered it to Agad the wizard."
"Agad? The same Agad who lives at Wyrmroost?" Bracken nodded.
"He helped seal the demons away?" Bracken grabbed a pebble and tossed it off the ridge. "He was one of the five wizards who created Zzyzx."