Fan’twar climbed onto his dais. I followed, leaping over the narrow moat, and then I found a ledge to sit on. The two Wults waited near the entry. Neither of them looked very comfortable being here. I couldn’t blame them—humans were born to fear dragons.
“You may take leave,” he said to my companions. “Galatius will show you to the gathering room.”
Galatius, a red, spine-backed dragon that resembled a stegosaurus, appeared in the hallway, and Kull and Heidel followed him out of the room.
“You are troubled,” the sky king said after the sound of their footsteps had disappeared down the hallway.
“Yes, I’m concerned about the fairies’ starstone. The thief is hiding on Earth, and he—or she—has killed two people. The trouble is, I don’t have a clue about what creature I’m dealing with. I suspect it’s a shape-shifter, albeit a limited one. The Wults think it may be a phøca. The fairies suspect it’s the bloodthorn. But whatever it is, it’s extremely difficult to track down. The textbooks don’t say anything, so I was forced to find information in a fairy bestiary of mythical creatures. If I don’t find this thing soon, more people could be killed. I fear this has gone way beyond a search for a missing fairy starstone. Do you have any idea what sort of creature it could be?”
“The bloodthorn,” Fan’twar said, “is a creature of myth. The phøca is also derived from ancient Norse mythology. If either of these beings do somehow exist, I have never encountered them.”
“Is it possible that they exist and you’ve never seen one?”
“Possible, but not likely. I have lived a very long time, and I have interacted with many creatures—some that are now extinct—but I have never encountered either of these creatures.”
My shoulders sagged. “Then it’s most likely neither one exists, which puts me back at square one.”
“Not necessarily. Creatures of myth are most often based on truth. What more do you know of this being? Think only of what you know for certain, not what the rumors may be.”
I contemplated the last several days. “It’s very good at hiding and blending in. It gave Kull a nasty wound, and he described it as having long nails or claws. It may also have some type of long fur or hair, but I suspect that’s when it is in its true form. Also, I’m pretty sure I saw it once, although I only saw its eyes, which were glowing green. I’m confused because each of its victims was found with flowers in their eye sockets, and there is only one person I know at the festival who had those same flowers—Madame Glitter, the palm reader.”
Thin trails of smoke rose from Fan’twar’s nostrils. “Palm reader? What more do you know of her?”
“Not much. She came in for a consultation once, but it didn’t go very well. She was guarded with her information and seemed to want to know things I didn’t have answers to.”
“What sort of information did she seek?”
“She wanted to know how I used my powers and where my knowledge came from, that sort of thing. It didn’t seem all that important at the time. I didn’t even charge her as none of my tests confirmed that she’d been to Faythander. If she’s the shape-shifter, it seems unlikely. She didn’t possess magic.”
“Yet she was curious about your magic?”
“Yes. When I get back to Earth, I think I might need to have a chat with her.”
“I believe that would be prudent. Because she does not possess magic, it is unlikely she is the shape-changer, but it would be wise to learn what she knows. Are there others who may possess magic?”
“Possibly, but it’s hard to say. My own magic has been off lately. It’s hard to balance Earth magic with Faythander’s powers. Sometimes my magic acts by itself without being conjured. It seems the two don’t want to work together. I don’t know… It’s hard to describe.”
“That may very well be the case. You never had to rely on your Earth magic until Faythander’s magic ceased, and now that your Earth magic has grown stronger, balancing the two may be a challenge.”
“Do you think I’ll ever get my magic back the way it used to be?”
“No. At least, not the way you were once used to. For now, your magic has evolved into something else entirely. I suspect in time you will learn to balance the two.”
“I hope so.”
Blue Faythander light sparked through the crystals growing overhead, illuminating Fan’twar’s face in a turquoise glow.
“What more do you know of the creature?” he asked me.
Remembering the hairs I carried in my pocket, I pulled them out and laid them atop the dais. “Kull found these,” I said. “When I spellcasted them, I found dark magic, but I wasn’t able to learn any more than that.”
Fan’twar studied the long strands of matted hair. Carefully, he reached forward and touched a claw to the hair.
“Dark magic, yes,” he said after a pause. “Very odd.”
“Why?”
He pulled away. “It is unicorn hair.”
“Unicorn?” I asked, surprised.
“Yes.”
“But I don’t understand—how is it possible that dark magic is connected to a unicorn?”
“I do not know. Like fairies, the unicorns also possess an Arrubicus stone. Both stones absorb Faythander magic and give power to the fair species, and they absorb dark matter, making it impossible for the fairer races to accomplish a dark spell. Once a dark spell is uttered by a fairy or unicorn, the starstones absorb the dark energy, making the spell void.”
“Where do the stones come from? Maybe if we know more about the stones, we can understand who took them.”
“They were formed during the first rift, along with the rest of the planet. In those early times, all magical creatures were gifted with an Arrubicus stone, but now, only two remain.”
“The unicorns’ and the fairies’.”
“Yes. These dark
