He and Lucivar stood on a flat-topped hill that was one of Sceva’s official landing places, the gently rolling land spread out below them. Large meadows provided good grazing. Stands of trees provided shade on summer afternoons. Creeks veined the land with clean water.
He had stood on this hill a handful of times in the past five years, looking down on the unicorns while the stallions kept careful watch over the grazing mares and the foals playing tag.
Now he looked down on a slaughter.
Turning to the north, Lucivar shook his head and swore softly. 'This wasn't a few bastards who had come for a horn to take home as a hunting trophy, this was a war.'
Saetan blinked away tears. Of all the Blood, of all the kindred races, the unicorns had always been his favorite. They had been the stars in the Darkness, the living examples of power and strength blended with gentleness and beauty. 'When the others arrive, we'll split up to look for survivors.'
The unicorns attacked at the same moment the coven and the male circle appeared on the hill.
'Shield!' Saetan and Lucivar shouted. They threw Black and Ebon-gray shields around the whole group while the other males formed a protective circle around the coven.
The eight unicorn stallions veered off before they hit the shields head-on, but the power they were channeling through their horns and hooves created blinding-bright sparks as they scraped across the invisible barriers.
'Wait!' Saetan shouted, the thunder in his voice barely competing with the stallions' screams and trumpeted challenges. 'We're friends! We're here to help you!'
*You are not friends,* said an older stallion with a broken horn. *You are humans!* 'We're friends,' Saetan insisted.
*you are not friends!* the unicorns screamed. *you are humans!*
Sceron took a step forward. 'The Centauran people have never fought with our unicorn Brothers and Sisters. We do not wish to fight now.'
*You come to kill. First you call us Brothers and then you come to kill. No more. no more. This time, we kill!* Karla stuck her head over Saetan's shoulder. 'Damn your hooves and horns, we're
The unicorns hesitated for a moment, then shook their heads and charged the shields again,
'I don't recognize any of them,' Lucivar said, 'and they're too blood-crazed to listen.'
Saetan watched the stallions charge the shields over and over again. He sympathized with their rage, fully understood their hatred. But he couldn't walk away until they were calm enough to listen because more would die if they weren't cared for soon.
And because Jaenelle was among those bodies, somewhere.
Then the unicorns stopped attacking. They circled the group, snorting and pawing the ground, their horns lowered for another charge.
'Thank the Darkness,' Khary muttered as a young stallion slowly climbed up the hill, favoring his left foreleg.
Relieved, the girls began murmuring about healing teams.
Watching the young stallion approach, Saetan wished he could share their confidence, but out of all of Kaetien's offspring, Mistral had always been the most wary of humans – and the most dangerous. Necessary traits for a young male who everyone anticipated would be the next Warlord Prince of Sceval, but damned uncomfortable for the man on the receiving end of that distrust.
'Mistral.' Saetan stepped forward, raising his empty hands. 'You've known all of us since you were a foal. Let us help.'
*I have known you,* Mistral said reluctantly. *That sounds ominous,* Lucivar said on an Ebon-gray spear thread.
*If this goes wrong, get everyone else out of here,* Saetan replied. *I'll hold the shield.* *We still have to find Cat.* *Get them out, Yaslana.* *Yes, High Lord.*
Saetan took another step forward. 'Mistral, I swear to you by the Jewels that I wear and by my love for the Lady that we mean no harm.'
Whatever Mistral thought about a human male laying claim to the Lady was lost when Ladvarian's light tenor pounded into their heads.
*High Lord? High Lord! We have some little ones shielded, but they're scared and won't listen. They keep running into the shield. Jaenelle is crying and won't listen either. High Lord?*
Saetan held his breath. Which would prove stronger- Mistral's loyalty to his own kind or his love for and belief in Jaenelle?
Mistral looked toward the north. After a long moment, he snorted. *The little Brother believes in you. We will trust. For now.*
Desperately wanting to sit down and not daring to show any sign of weakness, Saetan cautiously lowered the Black shield. A moment later, Lucivar dropped the Ebon-gray.
They divided into groups. Khary and Morghann went to help Ladvarian and Kaelas with the foals. Lucivar and Karla headed north from the landing place with Karla as primary Healer, Lucivar as secondary, and the rest of their team scouting for the wounded and providing assistance. Saetan, Gabrielle, and their team headed south.
It hurt to look at the mares' hacked-up bodies. It hurt even worse to see a young colt lying dead over his dam, his forelegs sliced off. There were some he could save. There were many more where all he could do was take away the pain to ease the journey back to the Darkness.
Hours passed as he searched for the foals that might be hidden under their dams. He found yearlings hidden in shallow dips in the land, dips that held a power unlike any he'd ever felt before. He didn't trespass into those places. The young unicorns watched him with terrified eyes as he carefully circled around them looking for wounds. It came to him slowly as he stepped around torn human bodies that any of the unicorns who had reached these places had, at worst, minor cuts or scratches.
He continued to work, ignoring the headache the sun gave him, ignoring the aching muscles and growing fatigue.
His emotions numbed as a defense against the slaughter.
But they weren't numb enough when he found Jaenelle and Kaetien.
'There, my fine Lady,' Lucivar said, running one hand down the mare's neck. 'It'll feel sore for a few days, but it will heal well.'
The mare's colt snorted and pawed the ground until Lucivar gave them a few carrot chunks and a sugar lump.
When the mare and her colt moved off, he helped himself to a long drink of water and half of a cheese sandwich while he waited for the next unicorn to gather the courage to be touched by a human.
May the Darkness bless Khary's equine-loving heart. After a rapid look at the carnage, Khary and Aaron had gone back to Maghre. They'd returned with Daffodil and Sundancer pulling carts loaded with healing supplies, food
for the humans, changes of clothes, blankets, and Khary's 'bribes' – carrots and sugar lumps.
Seeing Daffodil and Sundancer working confidently with the humans had acted as a balm on the unicorns' fear. The words 'I serve the Lady' had produced an even stronger response. On the strength of those words, most of the unicorns had let him touch them and heal what he could.
Taking the last bite of his sandwich, he watched a yearling colt cautiously approach him, its skin twitching as the flies buzzed around the shoulder wound protected by a fading shield.
Lucivar spread his arms, showing empty hands. 'I serve-'
The yearling bolted as Sceron's war cry shattered the uneasy truce and Kaelas roared in challenge.
Calling in his Eyrien war blade, Lucivar launched himself skyward.
As he sped toward the man running for the landing place, he coldly ticked off each little scene as it flashed under him: Morghann, Kalush, and Ladvarian herding the foals into the trees; Kaelas pulling a man down and tearing him open; Astar pivoting on her hindquarters as she nocked an arrow in a Centauran bow; Morton shielding Karla and the unicorn she was healing; Khary, Aaron, and Sceron protecting each others' backs as they unleashed the strength of their Jewels in short, controlled bursts that ripped the invading humans apart.
Focusing on his chosen prey, Lucivar unleashed a burst of Ebon-gray power just as the man reached the bottom of the hill.
