Twig was excited. This was exciting! They knew where one of the bad people was. Granted, he was surrounded by some of the most powerful magic-users in the nation, but still. It was a start. And the unicorns weren’t being mean anymore! Not as much, anyway. They still had Twig and his friends caught, but at least they were only bickering with Razorscale instead of hurting them now.
“We need to hurry,” the dragon was saying, gesturing with one human arm. “He could leave at any time!”
=Our two compatriots are already there,= the scary unicorn reminded him, diamond fangs flashing in the light. =And you should go nowhere near the place after being so clumsy about your exit.=
Razorscale bared his human teeth in a grimace that was probably supposed to be threatening. He argued some more. Twig tried to think of a solution.
What could he do? Not much while stuck in this magical sticky-trap, but the unicorns would surely let him go soon. Then he could … what? He didn’t have his wings, so he couldn’t even fly there to listen in. Windmane still had pixie dust in her bag, but…
The pixie attendants fluttering about the unicorns caught his attention. They could do everything he usually could. Probably more, if the unicorns weren’t stingy with their magic. They could…
“We can spy on his house!” Twig exclaimed. Heads turned in his direction. “If we know who he is, the pixies can sneak in and look around.” He tried to point, though the sticky magic made it difficult. “We do know his name, right?”
Everyone looked at the fangy unicorn. Who still hadn’t introduced herself, now that Twig thought about it. Rude.
=Our compatriots are discovering that now,= she said smoothly. =The conversation at court is all about him.=
“Good,” Razorscale said. “See if they can get the names of his allies as well.”
=Obviously.=
“Then we can go to his house!” Twig said.
No one answered him directly.
“It might not be a bad idea to search his place of power,” Razorscale said to the unicorn. “He will likely return there, and we can question him.”
=And search his workspace for record of the offending spell,= the unicorn agreed.
“Send the pixies first!” Twig insisted. “We’re great at sneaking in through windows and things.”
They ignored him, but they ended up following his suggestion anyway. Twig beamed from his place in the sticky-trap while the unicorns relayed the information they were getting from their compatriots.
Apparently the pixies at the party were being helpful too, showering the fake minotaur with compliments until he answered their questions about his workspace. The unicorns at the party were close enough to pick up his surface thoughts of what it looked like (and where it was) without him ever noticing. Sneaky. Probably illegal, actually. But all in the name of Catching The Bad People who had done much worse. So yay for the unicorns and their creepy mind-reading!
When they had the information they needed, the unicorns argued with Razorscale some more about who would go where. Razorscale won. The unicorns released the sticky trap — hooray! Twig could scratch his nose again! — and Razorscale directed the magic carpet to Windmane. The pixies arrowed out through a window, on a mission. Twig cheered as they left.
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He smiled as the whole group exited the room under their own power, following the pixies by foot. Or maybe they were going back to the party; Twig couldn’t keep up with the arguing. But he trusted Razorscale to get them on the right track one way or another.
The night sky outside was darker than before, though this ritzy neighborhood was lit up like a festival. It smelled nice too. Twig didn’t mind a walk.
Windmane and Stomp were muttering behind him: plans on how to handle the fake minotaur, by the sound of it. Assuming the guy was still in that shape when they saw him.
“What if he gets drunk at the party?” Windmane asked. “Will that make him easier to taunt?”
“Possibly,” Stomp said. “Probably. But we don’t know how long he’ll be a bull.”
“Will he still be drunk when he changes back?”
“I have no idea. I don’t know how the spell handles that.”
They were both silent. Twig stopped pretending he wasn’t listening, and turned to look. Both were staring pointedly at the magic-users who did understand the spell, none of whom were paying attention to anyone’s conversation but their own.
The unicorns stopped talking suddenly. Then the boss said, =The pixies have been stopped by a ward on the house.=
In the time it took Twig to say “Well that’s not fair,” the unicorns had cast a new glowy magic around the entire group, including themselves.
=It’s quicker this way,= the unicorn said.
The whole thing lifted off the ground without feeling like it was moving at all, which Twig found impressive. Then the world below flashed sideways. Between one blink and another, they were there.
“That was great!” Twig said. “Can we do it again? How do you make it feel like we’re not moving?” Even now, as the ground approached at a casual pace, it felt like he was holding still.
The magic dissipated as everyone’s feet touched down. The unicorns were ignoring Twig again, and he supposed he didn’t blame them this time, since there was a cluster of agitated pixies waiting to talk to them.
They couldn’t get in, the pixies explained. The sprawling mansion behind them — which Twig had to turn in place to see all of — was warded to the highest degree.
But the unicorns were talented to an even higher degree! They took up a position aiming their horns at the house, and Twig prepared for a magic show.
He waited. And waited some more.
When he opened his mouth to ask how long it would be, the lead unicorn broke into a spate of cursing that was frankly shocking.
“Do you need me to do it?” Razorscale asked smugly. “Oh wait, I’m incapacitated at the moment. Apprentice, come show these unicorns how to break a ward.”
Twig took a step back at the amount of fury crackling off the two unicorns as Silver quietly stepped in front of them. The young dragon focused and … waited.
Twig looked from face to face for an answer.
“I can’t,” Silver admitted. “It’s not a matter of power; it’s the type of ward he’s using. It reacts to my aura’s resonance and counters it.”
=Yes,= said the unicorn. =Yes it does.=
“What if you worked together?” Twig suggested. When they all turned to glare at him, he continued. “Your auras are pretty different. It probably can’t counter both at once.”
The dragons and unicorns glared at each other instead. Twig didn’t know why they weren’t getting on with it already; it was the perfect solution.
“It would work,” Razorscale finally said.
=Of course it would work,= the unicorn snapped back.
“I won’t tell anyone if you won’t.”
=Fine.=
With a swish of her sparkling mane, the unicorn flounced forward to stand beside Silver. Razorscale and the other unicorn joined them.
Then they did an impressive amount of standing there, while the pixies spread out in a pattern that looked like it meant something. Twig admired the formation while he waited. That was some good wing control to hold so still.
Then white light flashed in a silent explosion that was over before Twig had finished covering his eyes.
=He won’t be alerted,= the unicorn said. =I tied off his alarm thread in a loop.=
“Yes, I saw that,” Razorscale said. Where another person might have added a compliment on a job well done, he simply said, “If you missed any on the inside, that’s on you.”
The unicorn bared her fangs at him as she walked toward the house. He returned the gesture and kept pace.
“Are they going to be like this the whole time?” Twig said aloud.
“Yes,” chorused Stomp and Windmane.
“They already forgot we’re here,” Beak said, moving after them. “Better hurry if you don’t want to be left outside.”
Twig definitely didn’t want to be left outside. The forests that surrounded the rich human’s house had been planted in rows. Unspeakably creepy. Who knew what kind of equally creepy things patrolled them for intruders?
He hop-skipped forward and grabbed onto the corner of Windmane’s carpet for good measure.
The paving stones rung hollowly under his feet on the long walk to the door. Razorscale was already arguing with the unicorns about how best to break it down.