"My brethren and I have decided to dwell at the far side of what you humans call the Alien Plain. There is

336 t JOHN LEE

s.p.a.ce and grazing enough for ail and there is no reason why we cannot coexist in peace, but I have observed your doings, Emperor of Umbria, and I have seen into your heart. Keep within your proper bounds and all will be well between us. If you do not, you will rue the day." Joscelyn paused, as if listening, and then his head came up. "Thus speaks Astarus the unicorn," he de- clared.

There was a frozen, shocked silence and then the boy turned and sprang lightly onto the unicorn's back. He bent forward and twined his hands into the mane. Both of them disappeared. One moment there, the next gone.

The crowd stirred, as if released anew, and a buzz of conversation rose- Varodias, who had, at first, gone deathly pale and then had progressively reddened with anger, turned to Arabella.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, voice squeaking with pa.s.sion. "And who was that young up- start? Is this some conspiracy by the Magical Kingdoms to publicly demean the Empire?" .

"We can a.s.sure you, cousin," Arabella said shakily, "that we have no knowledge of this. We are as amazed and affronted as you. You may rest a.s.sured that we shall inquire into these circ.u.mstances forthwith and will deal severely with the miscreant. We shall not tolerate this insult to an honored guest." She drew a deep breath. "In the meantime, we suggest that we return to the palace. The boy is gone. There is nothing that we can do here."

She beckoned to a page. "Do you go immediately to the Lady Marianna and the Mage Courtak and com- mand them to attend us in the private withdrawing room " She turned to Varodias and said, "If anyone knows about unicorns it will be those two."

She held out her hand to the Emperor and, head high,

THE UNICORN PEACE t 337

moved out of the royal enclosure and back onto the road to Celador.

'Talk to me,' Jarrod pleaded as the procession re- formed.

'lam deeply ashamed,' Nastrus replied slowly as Mar- ianna and he walked away from the Burning Ground.

7 do not remember who his dam was, but there must be bad bloodlines [here. Perhaps I am getting old. I do not understand this new generation.'

'Yes. yes, yes,' Jarrod thought back with barely sup- pressed annoyance, 'but what was all that about my brethren and I living on the Alien Plain?'

There was a sigh in Nastrus' mind. 'You remember the coifs that I brought to help you build your castle?

Well, they went back and talked to their kin about the uncounted leagues of virgin gra.s.s here on Strand. You have seen our portion of the Island at the Center. It is cramped and every year our numbers grow. This Astarus.

it seems, has a position of leadership among the younger unicorns and he convinced the others that they should move to Strand. It appears that this new breeding is more aggressive that we were. They talk of defending territory.'

His tone turned sarcastic. 'Some of them may have looked into the Memory, but they have not seen the de- struction of the cloudsteeds at first hand. This world has dangers that they cannot comprehend.'

'How many are coming? Where will they go? Where did Astarus and Joscelyn go?' The questions crowded forth.

T don't know,' Nastrus admitted. 'Astarus is arrogant.

fie would not submit to my authority. He told me very little.' The thought turned bitter. 'He considers me a spent force, an aging sire no longer capable of keeping other males away from my dams. His opinion of humans is none too high either. I fear that you will have trouble with him. As to where they have gone. I suppose to the

338 castle. Where else on the Plain would he have a homing point?'

They completed the journey back to Celador in trou- bled silence, each caught up in his thoughts, each gloomy for reasons that had nothing to do with Rag- nor's funeral.

Jarrod and Marianna regained their rooms quickly and set about changing their clothes. They exchanged what information they had, knowing that as the discov- erer of the unicorns and as Joscelyn's parents, they were doubly responsible.

"Why didn't you tell me about this castle before?"

Marianna asked.

"Because it was none of your business," Jarrod said shortly. "There are only a handful of people who know.

It was a Discipline project, but even Greylock doesn't know about it. Ragnor knew, of course, but he's dead."

"Then we certainly shan't tell Arabella," Marianna said, unabashed. "Honest ignorance is what we have to project. My son appeared suddenly and joined the cor- tege saying that they wanted to pay homage to Ragnor.

Josceyin is obviously under the influence of this strange unicorn. We didn't know that they were coming and we don't know where they went." She looked at him.

"Well, it's the truth," she said.

Jarrod made no reply and she went took him by the arms and shook him slightly. "Listen to me. Gwyndryth could lose all influence at Court because of this. If Var- odias insists, we are going to be made scapegoats even though we have done nothing wrong. They can't do much to you, you're a Mage, but they can cripple Gwyndryth. Our only hope is to be bewildered, but helpful. If we are seen as part of a possible solution, we may be spared. Just follow my lead."

Jarrod disengaged her hands gently and looked down 339.

at her. "No, my dear," he said firmly. "This is more important than Gwyndryth. The unicorn was essentially correct in many of the things that he said about Varo- dias, but that is beside the point. What we have to do is to make sure that this does not get blown up into an international incident. Unicorns come within the Dis- cipline's purview and this is our problem. Joscelyn may be your, er, our son, but he is an Apprentice Magician.

You will follow my lead in this. Is that quite clear?"

Marianna looked up into his eyes and whatever she saw there quenched the spark of rebellion in her own.

"Very well," she said with a little shake of the head.

"But if you put Gwyndryth in jeopardy, you shall an- swer to me," she added before turning away to com- plete her preparations for the audience.

They were ushered into the withdrawing room by a gentleman-of-the-bedchamber who smirked at them as they pa.s.sed. Bad news travels quickly, Jarrod thought.

Arabella was ensconced in an ornate chair, looking grim. Another, unoccupied, stood close by.

"I am so sorry, Your Majesty," Marianna said, un- bidden, as she rose from a deep curtsy, "that this should have occurred on this day of all days."

Arabella waved her into silence.

"We need hardly tell you," she said, "that the Em- peror is exceeding angry. He has been attacked and in- sulted in front of a gathering of every personage of note on Strand. We have asked you here because you know more about unicorns than anyone else and, some way or another, we must get to the bottom of this." She looked at Jarrod. "You can converse with the unicorn Nastrus, can you not?"

"Yes, ma'am, and I have done so. He has told me that a number of younger unicorns have decided to come to Strand. It seems that they are running out of s.p.a.ce and grazing in their current home,"

340 "And what of the challenge to the Emperor?" Ara- bella asked.

"Nastrus was at a loss to explain. This other unicorn refused to acknowledge his authority and would tell him nothing."

"And what of the young man? Did your unicorn know him?"

Marianna looked at Jarrod and he nodded. She faced the Queen again. "He is my son. Majesty," she said quietly. "Unbeknownst to us he ran away after our wedding and went in search of a unicorn. Today was the first time that I save seen him since Stronta."

"I see," Arabella said. She looked back to Jarrod.

"Did you send him on a quest?" she asked.

"No, ma'am. It may be that our marriage triggered thoughts of emulation in his mind. He is at an impres- sionable age."

"What can you tell us," Arabella began, but was in- terrupted by the opening of the doors.

"His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor Varodias," the usher announced.

Arabella rose and Jarrod and Marianna turned. The one bowed, the other genuflected to the floor. They held their positions as the Emperor stalked across the room, the heels of his boots clacking on the floorboards. He nodded to Arabella and took his seat. He regarded Jar- rod and Marianna with undisguised hostility as they rose to face him.

"So," he said, his high, light voice cold, "the author- ities on unicorns. Tell us, is it possible that the boy was speaking for the animal, or was he put up to it by those who wish the Empire ill?"

"It is possible, Your Imperial Majesty, for humans to understand the thoughts of unicorns. It is, as far as we know, extremely rare and the ability to converse with one unicorn does not mean that we can talk to others.