As morning lengthened toward noon and the shadow of the Deep Fell began to grow visible, he decided to take another crack at the cat. He had been busy during the trek, mulling over the possibility of a common link between the various unicorns he had encountered since his dream. There were, after all, quite a number of them. There was the black unicorn. There were the sketched unicorns contained in the missing books of magic — correction, one of the missing books of magic; the other was burned-out shell. And there were the fairy unicorns that had disappeared centuries ago on their journey through Landover to the mortal worlds. It was the legend of the fairy unicorns that concerned him just now. He already believed that there must be a link between the black unicorn and the drawings contained in the books of magic. Otherwise, why had Meeks sent dreams of both? Why did he want them both so badly? The real question was whether they also had some connection with the missing fairy unicorns. He realized that it would be something of a coincidence if there actually were a connection among the three, but he was beginning to wonder if it wouldn’t be an even bigger coincidence if there weren’t. Magic tied all three in a single bond, and he would have bet his life that it was some sort of control over the magic that Meeks was after.
So. Enough debate. Maybe solving one of the little puzzles would aid in solving the big one. And maybe — just maybe — Edgewood Dirk would be less reticent to help…
“Dirk, you’ve been a lot of places and seen a lot of things.” He opened the conversation as casually as he could manage, not giving himself a chance to dwell further on it. “What do you think about this legend of the missing fairy unicorns?”
The cat didn’t even look at him. “I don’t think about it at all.”
“No? Well what if you did think about it? You said you knew something of the missing, white unicorns when we first met, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“About the unicorns the fairy people sent into the other worlds? The ones who somehow disappeared?”
“The very same.” Dirk sounded bored.
“So what do you think happened to them? How did they disappear?”
“How?” The cat sniffed. “They were stolen, of course.”
Ben was so astonished at getting a straight answer for a change that he failed to follow up on it for a moment. “But… stolen by whom?” he managed finally.
“By someone who wanted them, High Lord — who else? By someone who had the ability and means to capture them and hold them fast.”
“And who would that have been?”
Dirk sounded irritated. “Now who do you think that would have been?”
Ben hesitated, considering. “A wizard?”
“Not a wizard — wizards. There were many in those days, not simply one or two as there are now. They had their own guild, their own association — loosely formed. but effective when it chose to be. The magic was stronger then in Landover, and the wizards hired out to anyone who needed their skills most and could best afford it. They were powerful men for a time — until they chose to challenge the King himself.”
“What happened?”
“The King summoned the Paladin, and the Paladin destroyed them. After that, there was only one real wizard permitted — and he served the King.”
Ben frowned. “But if the unicorns were stolen by the wizards, what happened to them after the wizards were… disposed of? Why weren’t they set free?”
“No one knew where they were.”
“But shouldn’t someone have looked for them? Shouldn’t they have been found?”
“Yes and yes.”
“Then why weren’t they?”
Dirk slowed, stopped, and blinked sleepily. “The question no one asked then is the one you fail to ask now, High Lord. Why were the unicorns stolen in the first place?”
Ben stopped as well, thought momentarily, and shrugged. “They were beautiful creatures. The wizards wanted them for themselves, I suppose.”
“Yes, yes, yes! Is that the best you can do?”
“Well, uh…” He paused again, feeling very much a fool. “Why can’t you just explain it to me, damn it?” he demanded, exasperated.