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Illyria immediately stepped toward Mardock menacingly, but he turned and summoned a dozen guards who crowded into the cell behind him.
"Such a foolish group," he mocked, "all so unwilling to cooperate. All so nobly resisting the inevitable." He walked into the middle of the room. "I think it is time to move things along. I will begin with Dr. Reit, who refuses to teach me the ways of his time-traveling machine."
Without another word Mardock spun around and threw one of his green electric bolts at Dr. Reit, blasting the scientist off his feet and onto the floor.
"See here, Mardock," said Dr. Reit bravely, "that sort of attempt at intimidation will hardly convince me to change my mind."
"No?" Mardock screamed hysterically, standing over the fallen man. "Perhaps not. But never mind. I have no further use for you, you stubborn fool. I've got your troublesome little assistant now, and I’m sure she will be easier to break." Then Mardock simply waved his arms over Dr. Reit. A bright light flashed around the two men, and when it subsided, there was nothing left of Dr. Reit but a rough-cut diamond.
"This should fetch a pretty price," Mardock said with a laugh, picking up the gem and tossing it from hand to hand.
"Turn him back to himself!" Sheila cried in horror. "Do it now!''
"Mardock!” Illyria spoke fiercely. "I have a bargain for you.
"What can you offer me?"
"Ankzar desires me as his wife. Return Dr. Reit to his original state, and I will go to Ankzar. I will tell him it was you who convinced me.”
Mardock eyed Illyria suspiciously. "Why not?" he said at last. "I know the emperor is generous to those who help him fulfill his desires—though why he'd desire such a headache as you, I do not know.”
With another flash of light, Dr. Reit was returned to the cell. Sheila ran to him and supported the wobbly man with her shoulder. "That last zap made me quite dizzy," he muttered weakly.
"You will come peacefully?" Mardock asked Illyria, who nodded wordlessly. "Watch her carefully," he commanded the guards. And looking straight ahead, betraying no emotion, Illyria followed Mardock out the door
No sooner had they disappeared than Simi roused herself from her stupor and began to rant in a high, shrill voice. "Why her? Why is she the chosen? I am the daughter of a wizard! I once had great beauty. She must have bewitched him."
"Illyria's no witch," Sheila protested. "And she certainly doesn't want Ankzar. She just wants to help Dr. Reit. And now that she's out of here, I'm sure she'll find a way to free us all.''
"You don't know Ankzar," Simi snarled, rising to her feet. "There was never a man more charming. I should know. He once used that charm on me—until my father fell from his favor. Your friend will be unable to resist him."
"Don't be silly! Illyria hates Ankzar!" Sheila exclaimed.
"And, besides, she loves someone else. She would never forget about Laric."
"Ankzar can make a woman forget any man on earth," Simi insisted before collapsing to the stone floor in a heap of pitiful sobs.
Sheila and Zanara-Ki exchanged glances. For days Simi bad sat like a zombie—barely moving, emotionless. Now here she was, weeping and wailing. And over Ankzar!
Simi cried on and on. When she had finally run out of tears, Sheila picked up the bowl of water from the plank near the door and offered it to her. With her eyes red from crying, the wizard's daughter seemed softer, more vulnerable, and Sheila sensed she might be ready to talk now.
"Simi, please tell us what you know about this spell," she requested gently.
"Everyone wants to know about the spell," Simi said, a bit of the old bitterness creeping back into her voice. "Ankzar has been trying to get me to reveal its secrets for years. I've always refused him. But now he's set his new wizard to decoding my father's secret books. From your words I take it he's been successful. So Ankzar thinks he doesn't need me anymore." The woman laughed to herself. "But that's where he's wrong.”
''What do you mean?" Sheila asked.
Simi gave Sheila a twisted smile. "I'm not sure I wish to reveal that."
Sheila tried again. "Why would Ankzar want to make all the unicorns disappear? It doesn't do him any good."
Simi suddenly realized that Zanara-Ki and Dr. Reit were listening intently to her words. She seemed to enjoy having an audience and drew herself up into a regal posture. Even her voice took on a deeper tone as she assumed the bearing of a great sorceress. "Isn't it obvious, child? Anything that has been made to disappear can be made to reappear! All it takes is the chanting of certain words over the dog's head on the staff Ankzar keeps by his side, All the focused power of the spell resides within that head."
"That's why Ankzar has such an abundance," Zanara-Ki gasped with sudden realization. "All the crops and animals he made disappear, reappeared in his own storeroom and stables!"
"Exactly," Simi confirmed. “At least they reappeared until my father was murdered. My wise father left the words of reemergence out of his books, revealing them only to me. Not even Mardock can find them. Since Ankzar knows I know the words, I imagine that's the reason I am still alive."
"But if you love Ankzar," Shefla said, "why not tell him the words? I don't understand."
"You wouldn't," said Simi, turning her back on Sheila and the others as she spoke. "Love and hate can be strangely entwined. I once loved Ankzar and offered to help him—if he would make me his wife." Simi's voice became choked with rage at the memory. "He laughed in my face. Now I would do anything to hurt him, even if it means I rot in this prison forever."
With these words, Simi seemed to collapse back into the madwoman she had appeared to be before. She slowly turned and walked to the darkest corner of the prison, where she pulled herself up into a ball. With eyes wide open, her face went blank. It was clear that Simi would tell them nothing further, at least not now.
"You did well," Zanara-Ki said to Sheila.
"At least we know what's going on," Sheila answered.
"But now what?" asked Dr. Reit, looking up from a page of notes he had been scribbling. ''I hate just sitting around idly, not doing anything to help the situation."
"What's that you're writing?" Sheila asked.
"It's useless, really. I've been working on a possible connection between this spell and my own work in molecular acceleration—moving matter to different planes and realms of reality. It might help in some way, yet I don't see how words can affect molecular movement.”
"Magic is a powerful force," said Zanara-Ki. "The words simply focus the wizard's energy.”
"Hmmm," muttered Dr. Reit thoughtfully. "Why don't you have a look at my notepad. Perhaps we can figure something out."
The scientist and the mystic sat together near the torch at the far wall and went over Dr. Reit's theory.
Though Sheila somehow doubted they would get very far, she left them to their work and wandered over to the bread and water a guard had just brought in. Sheila had learned that it was slightly better if tasted immediately. As she picked up the loaf, she saw a folded white piece of paper underneath it. She grabbed it up and took it over to the other torch.
By the flickering light Sheila saw the note was from Darian. He must be in Queelotoo!
"I bribed a guard to give you this," she read. "I hope you get it. Sad news. All the unicorns have weakened and disappeared. There was nothing I could do to stop it. Morning Star was the last to go.”
Sheila staggered back against the wall. "No!" she gasped, tears flooding her eyes.
At that moment Simi rose up, wild-eyed, and ran to Sheila. "You will die," she whispered, reaching for her throat.
Sheila pushed the woman away. "What are you saying, Simi?"
"And you, Ankzar, you serpent," Simi hissed, pointing at nothing. "You will die first."
Sheila looked into Simi's vacant eyes and realized the sorceress was sleepwalking.
"Simi, you're not awake. Go back to sleep," Sheila coaxed the woman.
"No," Simi snarled, shrugging off Sheila's hand on her arm. ''I can never sleep while Ankzar has that blond devil for a wife. I am the one he needs."
Sheila tried to remember what she had heard about sleep-walkers. She knew it wasn't a good idea to startle them. She had heard that if you couldn't guide them back to bed, then it was best to distract them until they either woke up or fell back to sleep.
Zanara-Ki looked up from her conversation with Dr. Reit, but Sheila waved her back. She could handle this.
But how could she distract the woman in this empty cell? Then the hard bump of her tape recorder gave her an idea. Mardock had missed it when he ripped the pack off her. She had kept it strapped to her waist, hidden under her caftan. Now she pulled it out as Simi continued to wander about the cell whispering and waving her arms angrily: “Die, die, I will make sure they both die.”
"Hey, Simi! Want to see something interesting?" Sheila held the recorder out. Simi looked at it blankly and then at Sheila. "See,” -Sheila pressed the Record button-"it can record voices.
Simi knocked the machine from Sheila's hands. "Fools' magic!" she growled. "Simi, the daughter of the great wizard, has real magic. Only I know the sacred words of reemergence; Aza ka moseti! Azataka atut mazut adatiaba…”
Simi continued spouting strange words for almost another fifteen minutes without faltering. Sheila marveled that the woman remembered it all after so many years. "It is I whom Ankzar needs. I whom he should love. I who will triumph!" Simi concluded. And still muttering angrily, she finally stretched out on the floor and went back to sleep.
Sheila sighed wearily. "Thank goodness," she said to herself, and returned to the note. After all the unicorns had faded, she learned, Darian had waited for the women's return. But when days went by with no word from them, he'd become worried and followed them into Queelotoo.
Hearing the news that Ankzar had taken a new blond wife from across the seas, he jumped to the obvious—and correct—conclusion that it was Illyria. Darian then made his way to the palace, where he bribed one guard to let him in to see his sister, and when Illyria told him what had happened to the others, bribed a second guard to deliver this note.
Pressing her back against the stone wall, Sheila let herself slide down to the floor. Now her nightmare was really coming true: Morning Star had disappeared.
But Morning Star wasn't really gone, Sheila told herself firmly. Ankzar was determined to make the unicorns reappear. She would beg Simi, plead with her, to say the words of reemergence over Ankzar's staff. And then somehow, some way, Illyria's warriors would stop the slaughter. Sheila knew it was a long shot, but it was worth a try. For as long as the unicorns remained in this strange, suspended state of invisibility, there was no hope at all for them.
After telling Zanara-Ki and Dr. Reit the news from Darian, Sheila made a silent vow to the one who was not there: We won't give up, Morning Star. Be brave, girl, and I'll try to be brave, too.
Sheila closed her eyes to better conjure up the image of her beloved unicorn, but her intense concentration was broken by a sudden sharp clicking sound. It was the tape recorder shutting off. The cassette must have wound down to the end. Sheila had forgotten about it. She crawled a few feet across the room and picked the recorder up. At least it's not broken, she thought, reaching under her caftan and restrapping it, before settling down to sleep. .
Sheila was abruptly awakened by the clanking of keys in the lock. As the door was pushed open, her jaw dropped in astonishment.
Illyria stood before them, dressed as a queen. Her abundant hair had been piled high on top of her head, falling in a long, loose tail down one shoulder. She was sheathed in a sheer dress of shimmering gold, bordered with jewels of every kind—emeralds, rubies, sapphires, pearls. The dress was clasped at one shoulder with a dazzling blue diamond, leaving the other shoulder bare. Illyria's eyes had been expertly made up, lined all around in black pencil. Her full lips were painted a cherry red.
It wasn't the woman Sheila knew at all. Yet she had to admit that Illyria looked breathtakingly beautiful.
"I have come with a message," Illyria said in a stranger’s flat, toneless voice.
Back To Chapter Listings!
Chapter 1: Haunted Days, Sleepless Nights
Chapter 2: Transported
Chapter 3: Return to Campora
Chapter 4: Into the Wilderness
Chapter 5: Reunion
Chapter 6: The Unicorns' Lament
Chapter 7: Spellbound
Chapter 8: Stops Along the Way
Chapter 9: The Hickorites
Chapter 10: Across the Unknown Sea
Chapter 11: Queelotoo
Chapter 12: In Ankzar’s Prison
Chapter 14: Simi's Revenge
Chapter 15: Sheila’s Magic
Chapter 16: Homeward Bound
Email: Nikki