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They broke from the trees howling and screaming and waving their
ill-made weapons. Our five archers let loose a volley, dropping one.
It was good shooting for such a night. I stepped out from the
caravan; no missiles came towards me so I lowered the shield and
picked out their pack leader. The wolves and dogs were mostly of
mottled black and chocolate brown, their leader was a big, dirty
white, some sort of polar wolf.
I steadied myself, raised my power within me and initiated The
Unicorn's Charge, an instant of speed carrying me the hundred yards to
the pack before they could blink at the white blur. Just before the
magic of my charge began to falter, I slammed into the leading three
wolves with my shield held crossways, splattering them away helpless
and broken into the mud. I careened to a stop in the mud, getting my
hooves under me directly in front of the pack leader. I was
surrounded, so I tossed away my shield. It would only get in my way.
He swung his sword at my head. I caught it in a spiral of my
horn, took his wrist, and slammed him over my hip onto his back. He
scrabbled in the mud with no purchase while I put my horn to his chest.
"Surrender and tell them to drop their weapons, or you die," I
said. He was brave enough to wait until I jabbed my horn in up to the
first spiral. Then he cried like a hyena, and begged his pack to drop
their weapons. Their pack mentality made them obey, and it wasn't
long before we had %s them tied up and guarded in one of the less full
wagons. Three more hours and we entered Shastar, turned in our
prisoners at the yellow Slavers Guild pavilion, and collected the
bounty. We split it, and our pay, and went our separate ways in the
Most of the others went straight to the guild of mercenaries for
their first night in the city. The fame of Shastar's great baths drew
me, however, and I decided to stay my week here in the Cerulean, the
largest inn and bathing house in the entire city. It sprawled several
stories above and belowground, covering many acres. It was a castle
of itself, devoted to many of the finer pleasures of life, and I
planned not to leave it for the entire week.
Though I was tired, I didn't want to sleep with all the grit and
grime of the travel and fight on me. After I checked in and let a
chunk of my money disappear, I stripped off my cuirbolli and sodden
tabard, going to the nearest heated marble pool to soak. At this
early morning hour I was able to find a room-sized bath and have it
all to myself, leisurely awaiting service from those in the employ of
the Cerulean. Two bath-kittens, yawning from naps, quickly came by to
work me over with their scrub-brushes. They combed and brushed out my
tail, scraped my hooves, stretched me out and punished every inch of
my hide until the usual glossy white of my velvet-short fur had
returned. They left me to soak just as quickly when I dismissed them,
and I fell into a warm doze floating free.
...(to be continued)
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