Chapter Nineteen
Justin was distracted by Maggie. So distracted in fact, that he didn't hear the king speak. It took him even longer to realize that he was speaking to him personally. When he jerked his head up to meet the king's serious gaze, he flushed and stammered out an apology.
"I beg your pardon, your Majesty. I was lost in thought and didn't hear what you said. Do you mind repeating it?" The king let out a sigh that showed his displeasure at being ignored, but there was nothing that Justin could do but try to pay attention and not let it happen again. He wasn't used to interacting with royalty, but the king couldn't know how unfamiliar he was with all this.
"As I was saying. I hope that the time you spent with the mages has been fruitful." Justin didn't miss the steel in the king's voice. He glanced over his shoulder at the mages and saw hesitation on all of their faces. He knew that it would be up to him to bring his ideas before the king.
"Yes, your majesty, we have discussed a lot since you left us. We have decided that the first thing that needs to be addressed is the issue of the unicorns. It has been expressed to me that you need to ensure that they mate and that the baby is delivered safely to ensure their line continues.
Justin hoped that bringing up the unicorns might encourage the king to say why he specifically brought unicorns to the palace grounds to save their magic and not any of the other magical creatures. Instead, he just sent a hard stare to Art, who cleared his throat and took a step forward. Justin could tell Art was about to say something, and he knew that if Art spoke, Maggie would not be involved in any of this. He had to make sure that didn't happen, so he spoke before Art could.
"I have a plan that might make it easier on the unicorns to mate." The king did his best to hide his excitement, but Justin could see the corner of his lips twitch up, and he began to rub his thumb and fingers together.
"And what might that plan be, Master Justin?" His words were almost compelling Justin to speak. Justin took a deep breath and told the king his plan: to create a place for the unicorns to live that resembled their natural habitat, and to give them some freedom and privacy to do what mated unicorns did best.
The king seemed intrigued by this, but then he asked the same question that the mages had asked. "But how will we be able to keep an eye on the female unicorn to make sure the baby is delivered safely?"
Justin knew a lot about unicorns from the many mythology books he had read. What he didn't know and should have already asked about was what the people of Aldervaile knew about them.
" Before I answer that, can you tell me how the unicorns were captured to begin with?" Art stepped next to Justin and put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from continuing. "Let me answer that, Justin. We found an old manuscript here in the library that a mage had written over 100 years ago. He wrote about witnessing a male unicorn admiring himself in the reflection of a still pond. The mage wrote that the unicorn stood there for a quarter of an hour, entranced with what he saw. He didn't even see the mage who was observing him. That led us to believe that unicorns might be vain creatures."
Thinking back on what he had learned about unicorns, Justin agreed that it was a fair assessment of them. He saw Art waiting for him to let his thoughts come to a natural end before he continued. Justin nodded slightly to let him know he was ready.
"So, we polished up a shield until you could see your reflection in it and hung it on a tree. We put a man in the branches of the tree with a large, magically reinforced net. When the female unicorn came out of the woods to run with her mate in the field, she was drawn by her reflection, and when she stood in front of the shield, the man in the branches dropped the net on her."
"What about her mate?" Art held up a hand to Justin to allow him to continue. "Her mate was frantic and tried to bite through the net, but the magic held. He was so focused on rescuing her that he didn't notice the man in the tree slip a rope down and loop it around his neck. Then it was just a matter of brute force to bring them to the royal stables." After a deep breath, Art added. "We were able to capture the second pair in a similar fashion, although it took an extra guard to get them to cooperate.
Justin was at a loss for words as Art finished telling the story. He knew that capturing unicorns would be difficult, but he had not imagined that it would be so physical, almost violent. No wonder the animals were unwilling to perform in front of the guards who captured them. He wouldn't have either if it had been him.
"I am afraid you have put yourself in a corner in the way that you captured them. They do not trust you because of how you treated them. It would have been much easier and kinder to capture the unicorns with a virgin woman."
All eyes bore into Justin's as though he had grown a second head. He worried for an instance if he had. When the king spoke, it became clear why they looked so shocked. "What does a maiden have to do with capturing unicorns?"
It was Justin's turn to look shocked, until he realized that the knowledge that he had readily available to him in his world might not be known here, even though the creatures existed here. It was an odd truth.
He almost spoke about the books he had read in his world, but caught himself just in time. "The school has found information from past mages at other libraries that state that unicorns cannot be tamed unless a maiden is near. They are drawn to her purity as they are pure themselves, and they will often let a maiden lead them to places. Some people believe that some unicorns will even lie their head in the lap of a maiden and fall asleep."
Justin heard the intake of breath from one of the other three mages behind him, but he wasn't sure which one it was. His attention was brought back to the doorway when the king nearly bellowed out a response.
"You call yourselves royal mages, and you did not know that a maiden could be used to humanely bring the unicorns here?"
By the red growing up the neck of the king, Justin wondered if he had just doomed the mages to an untimely end.