Kara woke up to a light touch on her shoulder. Lyla said, “It is nearly dawn.”
Kara got up and stumbled through getting ready, her fingers still thick and clumsy from sleep. She threw on her long-sleeved tunic and leggings. She slipped into her leather boots and looked up to Lyla. She could just see her outline in the early morning light. “You can't just wear a tunic. You need heavy boots to protect your feet from insect stings and snake bites.”
“A snake would not bite me.”
Kara stared at her and wondered again about the nature of fae folk. She knew next to nothing about them, but resolved to find out as discreetly as possible. “Okay. Let's meet Icari.”
She noticed as they edged out that Naomi was not curled up in her blanket with that annoying little snore of hers. Was she with Vayne last night? Kara shook her head. She should not care.
They hurried through the tents, the paths empty, the early morning hush discouraging even a whisper. Soon they drew up to Icari. He was wearing an outfit similar to Kara's, with a satchel slung over his back. He eyed Lyla's light dress, but said nothing.
Kara gave him a small smile. “Ready to go?”
“Yes.” They turned in unison to the forest. She tried to keep her courage up as they left the carnival and went into the dense quiet of the tree cover.
As they walked down the narrow path, Lyla said, “We should go to the unicorn's stuffed remains. Her spirit lingers there the most.”
“You burnt that room down,” Kara said.
“The darkness smothered the flames. The unicorn's remains are undamaged.”
They drew up to the last tree that bordered the lawn and paused. She looked at Icari and he gave her a reassuring smile, then frowned. “I do not remember how to get to the stuffed trophy room. We wove through many hallways and rooms to get there.”
“I remember a way. A hidden passage,” said Lyla. She studied the manor then nodded to the left. “It is that way.” She closed her eyes and went very still, then opened her eyes and looked at them gravely. “The evil within has grown stronger. It will be drawn to us and the unicorn. We must hurry.”
Kara said, “You don't have to tell me twice. Let's go.”
They followed Lyla, who seemed to create a path through the overgrown lawn without effort. She flitted around the left corner of the manor. Kara was amazed at how fast they were going. They should have had to stop and hack their way off the beaten path, but nary a thorn caught their clothes.
She licked her lips and tried to remember scraps of legends about fae folk. Her tutor had mentioned they could control certain aspects of nature, could call the earth's energy, could petition the sleeping Goddess for aid...
And where was the book that held a bit of this knowledge? It had been a dusty old tome tucked somewhere in her father's library, an archaic history if there ever was one. She remembered Quinton, her tutor, oh-so-carefully opening the brittle pages to show her a passage on lost cultures such as the fae...
She shook her head as they came upon a low brick wall. Her rational mind wanted to dismiss the possibility of Lyla being fae, but she could not stop thinking about those pointed ears. She wondered if such a thing could be done by surgeons or could be a deformity.
Lyla jumped over the wall and they followed her through a maze of box hedges.
Kara's stomach grew tighter as they got closer to the manor's back wall. She could feel the manor's empty stare, through broken windows that would not let in any light...
“We enter here.”
Kara almost screamed out loud at the sudden sound of Lyla's voice. She clamped her teeth together and forced her attention to the entrance Lyla was indicating. It was a conservatory. Hundreds of broken glass panes made up the front walls and ceiling. The back wall was attached to the body of the manor. Lyla strolled right in, stepping around broken glass woven through ivy.
Icari and Kara hesitated. He glanced at her then reached out to squeeze her fingers. She squeezed back, reassured. They would protect each other. They stepped into the conservatory together, glass and leaves crunching underfoot.
Lyla jumped in an empty fountain. It had a stone merman surrounded by shells as the centerpiece. He would have poured water from an urn once. Now all he poured was more ivy. She pulled the ivy apart and found what she was looking for. It was an auger seashell, twisted up like a unicorn's horn. She pressed it back and Kara heard a click.
A small door swung open on the back wall. Kara squared her shoulders. She was not going to lose face in front of Lyla or Icari.
He pulled his hand from hers with a smile. “Let me go ahead and light the lamp while I have some sun.”
She nodded and stepped up beside Lyla, who was waiting at the door. “Ready,” said Icari. He held the lamp up and they marched into the dark.
The same thing happened as before. The second Kara passed into the house, it swallowed her whole. The icy air wrapped a freezing blanket around her. It hurt to breathe as the air branched out into her lungs. They hurried, single file, down a brick passage. The color of the bricks was the same as dried blood.
The passage led to a dead end. Lyla counted up from the left corner and pushed the seventh brick in. Kara wondered again how she knew so many of the manor's buried secrets. Had she lived near here before the dark mage kidnapped her?
Another soft click and the door swung forward.
Lyla hesitated then whispered, “Unsealing the way has made the dark one stronger.” She shook her head. “That does not manner. The unicorn must be free.” She walked into the doorway and Kara hurried after her. True to Lyla's word, the passage led straight into the stuffed trophy room. It seemed to be the center of the house in more ways than one. As Icari lifted the lamp, she saw they had entered to the right of the unicorn.
The front of the room was charred to ruin. What was left of the two dragons lay crumbled under the massive archway. Parts of the wall and many other stuffed trophies had fallen on top of them.
He swung the light around slowly and she saw the unicorn, unburnt.