Windmane got her feet under herself — mentally, at least. She sat as straight as she could on the flying carpet while the glow of travel magic faded to show multiple wealthy-looking humans. This was the entrance to the court, far closer than they’d dared come before. Windmane could only hope that the unicorns would speak for the raggedy assortment of “humans” if anyone asked.
=Our compatriots will meet us,= said the lead unicorn. =Be still.=
Windmane froze in place. Then, as no one appeared to be taking an interest in her, she gently lowered the carpet until her head was level with Stomp’s.
“If we have to lure him out,” she whispered, “What would be the best way?”
Stomp nodded once. “Definitely by insulting his pride. The idea you had earlier about challenging his direction sense is a good one. He’ll have to go outside to show off.”
“You’re sure he’ll rise to the bait?” Windmane asked. “He’s only been a minotaur for a little while.”
Stomp snorted. “You saw his workroom. All those drawings, and the statue. He’s put serious thought into being a minotaur.”
“Good point.”
“Anyway, the unicorns will probably just zap him with something,” Stomp continued. “But if they want to avoid a scene, that’s the way to go. Maybe one of the pixies can deliver the message as a dare, if we want to be really stealthy.”
Windmane looked from Stomp to the unicorns and back. “Do we want to be stealthy?”
Stomp crossed her arms. “If we have to.”
The pixies overhead whirled in a dance of greeting as they were joined by others. Two unicorns followed them at a brisk pace on the ground, looking just as glittery as the first pair. These had gold-capped fangs. When they drew close, both bowed slightly to the one with diamond.
Then they stood there staring at each other and talking silently while Windmane and the others waited with varying levels of grace. Razorscale was opening his mouth to say something when the lead unicorn finally spoke.
=Gather close,= was all she said. The pixies moved in, then another glowsphere snapped into place.
The house that appeared this time was smaller than the last, but it made up for it with multitudes of partying humans. Like the crowd at court, decorative magic use was everywhere, though these people didn’t all have mage lines that were quite as prominent. And they were far louder, leaning out of windows, sprawling over benches, traipsing along the many staircases and walkways that decorated the grounds. A wall around the property was nearly invisible, merely a dense cloud of sparkles with a wrought-iron gate.
A male human who was not partying stood behind that gate to greet newcomers. The lead unicorn made a beeline for him.
When asked her name, the unicorn produced a sound that should have come from a musical instrument, not a throat. Windmane was intensely curious to see how the human would handle it.
He opened the gate, stood aside, and announced, “Please welcome Her Magnificence the Four-Chord Harmony, and attendants!”
Oh, Windmane thought. I wonder if she goes by Harmony for short.
The unicorn asked if a minotaur-shaped guest had arrived.
Why yes, and he had been invited to lounge by the pool.
Four-Chord Harmony said nothing else that Windmane could hear, just striding forward through the gate with the other unicorns behind her.
Razorscale grumbled that he was not an “attendant,” but he followed nevertheless. When it was Windmane’s turn through the gate, she nodded politely at the human, who was staring straight ahead while he held the gate open. He didn’t return her nod. Apparently the servants were meant to be ignored here.
“This place looks fun!” Twig said. “Too bad we can’t stay long. Hey, I think the pool’s over that way! I hear splashing.”
The unicorns ignored him, which was probably for the best. Windmane gave half-hearted replies to Twig’s running commentary on the walk across the grounds. Human nobles — in fancy dress and multiple stages of drunkenness — gave way as the unicorns approached. Some even climbed onto railings to make sure they had enough space. Four-Chord Harmony paid them no more attention than the servant at the gate.
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Razorscale glared at everyone. Twig smiled. Windmane and the others tried not to attract attention, though it was a losing battle from the start.
The pool was easy to find. But the minotaur, surprisingly, wasn’t.
=You,= Harmony addressed the first wet human to cross her path. =Where is the minotaur?=
“The what?”
She moved on to the next. Windmane rose up on the carpet to see better, but no luck. Just a pool made to look like a naturally-occurring rock grotto (with unnaturally glowing lights underwater), and many humans with few articles of clothing between them.
Stomp moved restlessly while the questioning continued. “Did he turn human again?” she asked.
“Maybe,” Windmane said. “Do we know what he looks like?”
“I don’t. The unicorns probably do.”
Windmane was debating whether to suggest the possibility to them when Harmony found someone who’d seen the minotaur.
“You just missed him!” the woman pouted. Her clothes were dripping, and didn’t look like they were meant to. She had very faint mage lines. “We’d barely gotten here when his friends showed up and bullied him into leaving!”
=What friends?= the unicorn asked, fixing her with a piercing gaze and probably reading her thoughts. The woman had barely gotten through a rambling answer before Harmony turned aside scornfully. She addressed another human in flowing dress. This one had managed to stay dry, and had no mage lines at all. =Where did they go?=
“Somewhere to get ready for the contest,” the woman said. “They made him sober up and everything.”
Harmony stomped a hoof and turned to her compatriots. =We’ll have to check their homes individually,= she said. =Such a dull-awful waste of time.=
Windmane tried not to worry, then Silver uncurled suddenly behind her.
“The surveillance charm!” the dragon hissed. “All five of them are there now!”
Razorscale’s head whipped toward Harmony. “Let’s go!” he said.
Windmane didn’t think the travel spell had been that fast before. She barely took a breath before the pool was replaced by the front walkway of the mansion.
“You couldn’t have brought us in closer?” Razorscale complained as he dug in his belt pouch and Silver leapt off the carpet to join him.
=No,= Harmony said without explaining. =You two get your spell ready, because we will not be interested in waiting for you.= True to her word, she cantered toward the door.
Just as Windmane was remembering that they hadn’t left that door closed, it swung open again.
Five humans charged out, with bright mage lines and a visible ward around them that glowed in multiple colors. The unicorns blasted white light at them immediately. It fizzled on impact.
Windmane sent the carpet into a dive behind a rock wall, barely noticing Stomp following her and Beak going the other way. She had no idea where Twig was.
The humans were shouting to each other, sounding surprised that the attackers weren’t fellow human magicians. Then one of them noticed Silver, and another saw mage lines appear on Razorscale, and that gave them a new target.
“Dragonsleep! Do dragonsleep now!”
“I’ve got it; feed me power!”
Windmane peered over the wall in hopes of seeing the dragons finishing the spell reversal. Instead she saw two darts of red power flash across the walkway to drop them both where they stood.
She yelped, covered her mouth, and watched in horror. All she could think was That shouldn’t even work; he’s not in dragon form right now.
The humans were talking to the unicorns. “We have no quarrel with you!” one shouted.
“Leave us!” tried another.
=Oh, you very much do have a quarrel with us,= replied Harmony.
The dangerous tone registered with the humans, as did the stance; she looked ready to charge. Windmane didn’t know if the unicorn would be able to break their ward by slamming bodily into it, but the humans were clearly terrified.
Harmony lunged as two humans cast magic toward the unconscious dragons, lifting them from the ground. The other three did something complicated with their hands.
All five disappeared with a pop, taking Razorscale and Silver with them.
Harmony skidded to a halt where they had been standing. She bugled her fury at a volume that made Windmane shrink back, and the other three unicorns joined in.
Then they disappeared too.
Windmane couldn’t breathe. They were gone! All of them!
“What just happened?” Stomp asked.
“I don’t know,” Windmane said helplessly.
“What was that?” yelled Beak from behind a tree.
“I don’t know!” Windmane yelled back. “They’re gone! The unicorns could be mounting a rescue or getting reinforcements or planning to burn down the country for all I know!”
“And where the crack is Twig?” Beak asked.
“Up here!” said a voice. “Gimme a second!”
Windmane craned her neck looking straight up, to where Twig, still in human form, had somehow figured out how to fly. Badly.
“Twig, what are you doing?” Beak demanded. “Get down here!”
“Trying!” he said, wobbling and dipping like a leaf in a stream.
“Stomp, you’ve got to catch him,” Windmane said. “Wait, I can catch him!” She aimed the carpet skyward and yelled at Twig to hold still.
“Doing my best!” he said. “Human magic doesn’t make any sense!”
With more than a little awkwardness, and two near-missed of elbows to Windmane’s head, she got the carpet under him and he released the magic. Fresh mage lines faded from his arms and face. She sank down carefully in case he lifted off again.
Then all they could do was talk in circles. Twig had figured out how to access the magician’s power source, sort of! In the least helpful way! And nothing else good had just happened!
“But what do we do next?” Windmane exclaimed. “Where do we go?”
“Back to the gorgons?” Twig suggested. “They were friendly.”
“Their kids will kill us,” Beak reminded him.
“Oh yeah.”
A new voice spoke up. “I have a suggestion.”
Windmane nearly sprained something as she twisted to see a human woman — the one from the party, the one wearing dry clothes — stepping out from behind a hedge.