CHAPTER 28: KEHET
While rallying the soldiers at the north gate, Kehet had been approached by Silon and Chelle in their human forms. The Unicorns from the Gypsies had run to the city, arriving just ahead of the Vulak armies. Silon apologized for not participating in the battle at the Gypsy camp, as did Chelle. They were pacifists, but that shouldn’t have kept them from defending their god, they said. After they’d thought about it, they felt they had to come to Melnith and make amends.
Kehet assured them that he thought no less of them for avoiding combat. It was Silon who’d suggested they leave the city walls and rally the Unicorn population. When Kehet saw Reginald engage the Vulak and began to understand the futility the Abvi faced with the scale of the armies, he knew that Silon’s suggestion had merit.
“We have to charge through the Vulak,” Kehet said. “I can see some thin area’s in their lines. I could go alone, but I wouldn’t know where to find the other Unicorns.”
“We’ll go with you,” Silon said. “We Unicorns don’t often like to admit it, but we do all serve our god.”
“I’m not very good at the fighting,” Chelle said. “I’ll do my best for you, my Prince.”
“Just stay in my wake,” Kehet said. He planned to run point first through the enemy lines and not slow down to let any Vulak swing at him.
“I should let you know, it won’t just be the three of us,” Silon said. He gestured at the people around him.
Kehet hadn’t noticed them. But there were scores of people around him, all kneeling with their heads bowed. Instinctively, Kehet knew they were all Unicorns, disguising themselves as humans and Abvi.
“Okay,” he said, “Everyone get up and get ready, we’re going now.”
“Follow me,” Kehet yelled. “Don’t stop to fight, don’t impale anything. Threaten with the horns but hit with your shoulders. Shoulders and trampling are our weapons today.”
“Don’t hit them too fast,” Silon said. “I know we can move fast, but impacts at those speed will hurt us.”
Kehet hadn’t thought of that, but it made sense. He nodded in agreement then shifted. Most of the people around him did as well. The street, which had already been crowded with the thousands of soldiers, was suddenly packed even tighter. Kehet didn’t even try to count.
He just turned and bolted out the gate. He noticed Pantros and one of Reginald’s knights come in through the gate. He didn’t know why the boy had been outside the gates, but assumed that his returning was a good thing. Whatever the reason was, it wasn’t as important as making it out of the siege.
Outside the gate, Kehet took a sharp left, away from the monument and away from where a couple of Reginald’s knights still fought. The Vulak were converging on the knights and Kehet wanted a shallow place in the battle line.
The first rank of Vulak had time to prepare. They set spears and locked shields. Just before he would hit the spear points, Kehet turned sharply to the side. He cut into the spears, allowing a few to cut his flank, but using his horn to push the hafts of the spears aside. He ran through the hafts of the spears then pushed into the Vulak force, jumping the locked shields. The Unicorns behind him did the same, though some of the larger ones just hit the shields sending the Vulak behind them sprawling only to be trampled. The Vulak behind the first line scattered. When they were clear of the initial battle line, Kehet glanced back to see not a single Unicorn had fallen though many had bloody wounds. He turned again and ran towards the next group of Vulak. All but one of those scattered. The remaining one held a crossbow level at Kehet.
Kehet increased his speed heading straight towards the crossbow, but the Vulak didn’t falter. He remained steady in his aim and released the missile when Kehet was only a few paces away. Before Kehet could react, a white form passed before him. Kehet heard the scream and Chelle fell before him. Kehet, unable to stop, leapt over her and pierced the crossbow wielding Vulak through the throat then tore his horn out. He stopped and looked back at Chelle, but could sense she was dead. There was nothing he could do for her.
He ran on, seeing no other Vulak before him, he increased his speed to one he knew Silon could keep up with. After a few minutes, he stopped and changed form. The other Unicorns did so as well as they approached him.
Silon approached him and said, “Remember what she did for you, please. That’s all I ask.”
“Why did she do that?” Kehet said. “I would have healed.”
“Maybe,” Silon said. “But such a wound would have dropped you long enough for the other Vulak to get close and strike you with their weapons. You might heal from all those attacks too, but you’d never make it away from them. They’d just keep wounding you. In the best case, we’d have been forced to defend you until you could run again. Others would die. We lost one Unicorn; it’s tragic but not as bad as it could have been.”
“I’ll remember Chelle,” Kehet said.
Silon nodded. “Our first stop will be the Unicorn Meadows, our country. There will be Unicorns there that have fled from the Vulak incursion.”
Kehet turned to the other Unicorns present and said, “I don’t have time to run across the continent and introduce myself and rally our people. I need each of you to run to where you know the local Unicorns and have all of us meet…” He didn’t know where to have them meet. He tried to think of somewhere everyone would know.
“At the Spire, in the Meadows.” Silon finished for Kehet.
Most of the other Unicorns assumed their natural forms and darted off. A few remained with Kehet, including Silon.
The Spire was a modest tower compared to the towers of Melnith. Silon explained it as Kehet’s palace. It spiraled upward like a Unicorns horn, reaching perhaps a hundred paces into the air and gleamed pearly silver. Inside, the palace was bare other than a single dais in the center of the large main room that took up the entire ground floor. A stairway spiraled up the outside wall leading to rooms above. The walls of the palace were just translucent enough to allow the sunlight to illuminate the hall.
“There aren’t even doors,” Kehet said.
“Unicorns in their native form cannot turn doorknobs,” Silon said. “What use do we have for doors?”
“I suppose I’m the type of guy that doesn’t care to keep people out?” Kehet said.
“Keep who out?” Silon asked. “The nearest town is forty leagues from here. There’s nothing to take here and no food other than the particularly tasty varieties of grass we’ve cultivated in the Meadows.”
“Have I done anything like this before?” Kehet said.
“Not in my lifetime, but there are probably a couple dozen precedents in the last ten thousand years,” Silon said. “Pacifism is not usually the nature of Unicorns; we are a passionate race often prone to rash decisions.”
“So, what do we do now that we’re here?” Kehet said.
“You wait here, the rest of the Unicorns are spreading the word of the call. As they arrive, you greet them.” Silon said.
“Should we send scouts to Melnith, to keep apprised of the enemies’ placement, their strong points and their weaknesses?” Kehet said.
“I wouldn’t have thought of that,” Silon said. “I think you should go ask for volunteers.”
The four hundred league journey to Melnith would take a Unicorn four hours to run, so Kehet assigned the scouting missions on two day rotations. Everyone present volunteered, but Kehet only sent twenty.
He didn’t know how many days it would take to gather the Unicorns, nor did he know how long he had until the Vulak pressed the defenses of Melnith. All Kehet could do was hope that his actions would ultimately help the Abvi.
CHAPTER 29: PANTROS
