Rachel Golden and the Retriever of Sin (19 page)

Ros stopped and sniffed at the air. ‘Maybe,’ he agreed. ‘I could be picking up the scent of unicorns. But if we’re getting close to the castle then there’s bound to be some ’corn sti—smell in the air.’ He looked sideways at the others to see if they’d noticed his slip. Was it racist to say that unicorns stink? They
are
a race, and ‘stink’ is a negative stereotype… No one seemed to care though.

This was the plan that the Crown and his military advisors had come up with for them: Since the Dark Ones had lost sight of them at Crabs’ shack, and had then seen Crabs returning alone the next morning, they had to assume that he had taken them to the north somewhere in the night. And since Rachel had been served, the Overlords’ assumption would have to be that the Hero party would be travelling undercover, as best they could.

It wouldn’t be long before someone figured out that they were heading for the old mine tunnel that connected the castle to the coast. SO, they had all agreed that some kind of reception would be waiting for them at the tunnel mouth near the castle.

But would the Overlords be aware that there was a rabbit and mole warren above the mine tunnel? And if they were, would they know that the Crown of the warren not only had secret exits from the shaft, but would be willing to help the Hero party? That was their gamble.

They had exited the warren about two thirds of the way along the mine shaft. The rabbits had several acres of crops on the surface, with hidden warren tunnels leading to it. So the plan was to come up to the surface early, stay under cover of the trees as much as possible, then circle around the mine tunnel exit and see if anyone was waiting for them.

If they were, they could just go around them. If not, they were very near the castle anyway, and could go about their original plan. Great, right? But there was a slight problem. They were beginning to realize that they’d never really had a solid plan of what to do when they got to the castle in the first place. They had just been playing it by ear.

Still, there was no point worrying about that now. Assorted Colors certainly wasn’t. Rachel smiled from the back of the group as she saw the little homunculus (search the word in Google images and you’ll get a fairly good idea of what AC looks like. Minus the big, uh… hands) digging his heels into Ros’s sides to gee him along. The poor old Lab had given up trying to discourage this.

She took the opportunity of being at the back of the group to take the gun out again. She just wanted to look at it. Sunlight glinted off the shining eight inch barrel, the fat cylinder and the polished walnut grip. The wood was stained a little dark from its saltwater sojourn, but Rachel felt that added character to the Magnum. Her restoration job was excellent, the gun just felt so…
right
in her hand.

Kel started to speak again, and she slipped it back into her waistband, but not quite quickly enough. He saw her admiring it, and exchanged a meaningful little glance with Ros, who’d also turned to look. He cleared his throat and started again. ‘So as I was saying,’ he said, and Rachel’s cheeks flushed a little, ‘according to this map we’re nearly at the tunnel exit. How about if we split up again for a recon?’

Ros whined softly. Their last recon hadn’t gone very well. Rachel had been gored and both she and Kel had been captured. AC didn’t seem to mind though, and was already applying his burnt cork camouflage makeup. Kel sensed the dog’s discomfort. ‘Look, I’m just saying that if there
are
Dark Ones waiting, you and AC will be a much harder target to spot in these woods. Rachel and I can cut around here,’ he ran a line across the map with his finger, ‘and we can all meet up at the edge of the forest before the castle.’ He looked enquiringly at the rest of the group.

Rachel knew what he said made sense, but was a little unsure of being alone with Kel for the next hour or so. They hadn’t really spoken, one on one, since that night on Crabs’ deck. There had been kisses and awkward moments in between. Her stomach did a little flip. Though they really
should
clear the air. She gave a noncommittal shrug and Kel looked at Ros and AC.

AC hoisted his shiv (the guards at the warren had returned it to him) and gave a
Hooah!
battle cry. Rachel rolled her eyes. ‘Fiiine,’ she said, hoisted the backpack straps a little higher on her shoulders and tramped off in the direction Kel had pointed. Kel gave Ros and AC some last minute instructions, then hurried after the Rachel.

The Hero and the Safeguarder walked in silence for a few minutes, each thinking of what they’d like to say to the other. Rachel spoke first. ‘Hey do you—’ but unfortunately Kel had started to speak at the same time and they both fell back into silence.
Awkward
. She tried again. ‘Look, I was thinking about what you said about Heroes and Safeguarders, you know, not being able to “like” each other or whatever, and I get it. Your license is important to you, and—’

Kel stopped and turned to face her. He held up a hand. ‘Whoa. Hold on. You think this is about my
license
?’

Rachel faltered at Kel’s anger. ‘Well, I mean… isn’t it?’

‘No! God, Rach. You think I care about that? Well, I mean I
do
, obviously, but I would never let that stand in the way of you and me.’ Rachel felt her heart jump at the words ‘you and me’. ‘My Safeguarder license has nothing to do with why we’re not allowed to go out,’ he went on. ‘That’s been a longstanding rule. Like, if we were in love, that would affect us working together. The Council doesn’t want Safeguarders and Heroes working together if there’s a chance they might put their feelings for each other ahead of the mission.’

Ohhhh, Rachel thought. Well that made sense. She’d thought it was just some dumb rule, like ‘no making out in school’ or something. But if they were on a mission and she got into trouble, and Kel had to choose between saving her and stopping some bad guy from killing a
lot
of other people… Oh. Yeah, that would be a problem.

And that would also explain why it was fine for Kel go out with that stupid Caroline girl. They were both Safeguarders. They would never be on the same mission together, and therefore would never jeopardize anything. Well that sucked.

Kel’s hands were on Rachel’s shoulders and he looked down into her eyes as she worked it out. Then something else he’d said echoed in her mind. About them being in love. ‘Wait… you said “if we were in love”. Does that mean we’re not?’ she asked, blinking up at him, noticing the way his hair fell across his deep brown eyes.

Kel felt his pulse quicken, and when he spoke it was barely a whisper. ‘Rach,’ he breathed, ‘it means… I don’t know.’ Before she could reply he leaned down and kissed her, softly on the mouth. She let herself fall back against the trunk of a tree, her hands finding his waist, and opened her mouth to his kiss.

‘Ya!’ AC yelled, kicking Ros’s sides. ‘Onward, war horse!’

‘Would you shut
up
?’ the dog hissed. ‘We’re supposed to be on reconnaissance, unless you’d forgotten. Any minute now we could come across a herd of giant fire-breathing unicorns who’d like nothing more than to kill us to death, and you’re whooping and yelling like a deranged Frenchman.’

Assorted Colors wasn’t listening though, and continued to thrust and parry against some imagined opponent with his razor blade toothbrush. ‘It’s like you have ADHD,’ he said. ‘Is that a thing? Do homunculi get ADHD? You might want to get yourself checked.’

All of a sudden the dog froze. A noise, faint, but exactly like a horse’s snort, came from just ahead of them. Ros flattened himself on the forest floor.

‘Get down,’ he whispered to AC. The little man slid silently from Ros’s back. ‘Did you hear that?’ he asked, and AC nodded. ‘Go and see what it is. I’ll watch your back from here.’ Assorted Colors gave the dog a disgusted look, but puffed out his small chest and began stalking through the low grass in the direction of the sound. Ros edged behind a tree trunk, with just his nose and one eye peeking out.

A few yards further on, the forest thinned out and the ground gave way to a gentle downward slope. AC dropped to his belly and army-crawled the last couple of feet. Below him, a natural valley lay, which was clear of trees and carpeted with heather. It looked like the Scottish Highlands, not that the little man knew or cared what they were. At first, all he could see was a group of feral unicorns, all differently colored, lazily nosing through the scrub. There were maybe eight or ten of them.

Well that wasn’t
so
unusual. They were very near the castle, after all. Then a gleam of white caught his eye. Almost hidden behind the feral ‘corns, two Overlords stood apart from the group. AC shivered, though it wasn’t cold. He’d heard tales of the creatures’ viciousness and brutality. And legend had it they liked nothing better than human flesh. Granted, it was a stretch to describe Assorted Colors as ‘human’, and he would make little more than a mouthful for a unicorn. But that was close enough to be uncomfortable in his opinion.

He was about to turn back and report his findings to the dog, when another out-of-place shape caught his eye. This one was a human; as tall as Kel, but thinner, and he was talking to the two Overlords. AC was too far away to hear what was said, but one thing was for sure. This was no chance group of feral unicorns grazing in the wild. This was a trap. But where were the Dark Ones?

‘The Dark Ones are scaring the feral unicorns,’ El complained to the Overlord next to him. ‘They’re making them nervous, and when they’re nervous they snort. They’re going to hear us!’

The gleaming white unicorn Overlord raised his head with a bored sigh, and looked in the direction of the tunnel mouth. The old mine shaft entrance was nearly overgrown with bushes and brambles. The two Dark Ones on either side of the entrance were hidden from anyone coming out of the tunnel. They wouldn’t see them until they were out in the open, and by then it would be too late.

‘You are
tiresome
, Mr. El,’ the Overlord said lazily. ‘The only thing you need worry about is the Hero party not showing up. Then my annoyance might turn to hunger.’ El swallowed as the Overlord looked him up and down, fat globs of drool dripping from his gleaming, needle-like fangs. He had no doubt at all the unicorn would eat him if Rachel failed to show.

But there was no other way they could be coming. The globe had showed nothing of the party since they’d arrived at that old fool Crabs’ shack. Yes, Crabs… El thought. He knew the old man from years back. He used to be a Guide back in the day, but was now nothing more than an old hermit.

No, there was no other way they could be coming, he reassured himself. They simply
had
to be coming through the old mine shaft. It was the only explanation as to why the globe hadn’t picked them up since Turtle and McKitten had served the girl.

‘Not to worry,’ he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. ‘They’re coming. You can count on it.’ As he spoke the tiniest flash of light caught his eye from the hillside next to the tunnel entrance. It was just the barest glint, possibly of the sun off something metal. Possibly a metal razor blade…

He shaded his eyes and strained to see into the shadows at the edge of the forest. No, he thought, just a trick of the light. As he was about to turn away a flicker of movement drew his eye again. It was a small shadow this time, darting through the undergrowth. It could almost have been a dog.

El frowned and chewed on his lip thoughtfully. That simply wasn’t possible. The Hero party
had
to be coming through the tunnel. And there was nothing else on the land above it between there and the sea. It was all forest and scrub, and a couple of lettuce patches. He swallowed. Lettuce patches. And carrot fields. No. Surely not… There’s no way they could have found the rabbit warren. Not a chance in hell. But then again… They
should
have made an appearance by now.

El did a little calculation in his head. If Crabs had taken them to the tunnel before dawn the day before, and they’d slept one night in the tunnel, yes. They should
definitely
have come out by now. Unless they’d found some other way out of the tunnel. Damnit, he fumed. He was on very thin ice with the Overlords as it was. He wasn’t sure how they’d react to another miscalculation on his part. Probably not well. So what to do?

He needed to get back to the castle and check the globe. If Rachel and Kel had come out in the rabbit fields he’d be able to spot them with it. He needed to do it sneakily though, so as not to alert the Overlords to his concern. He stretched and yawned, and tried his best to appear bored. ‘Not long now,’ he said to the unicorn nearest him. ‘Are you chaps feeling hungry at all? I was thinking about going back to the castle to get some lunch. I could bring you back some, uh… meat.’ He didn’t know or
want
to know what kind of meat it was he’d seen the white unicorns eating.

The Overlord swiveled a lazy eye at the man. ‘Why El, you seem to be a little nervous. Not worried your friends aren’t going to show, are you?’

El forced a nervous laugh. ‘Of course not. Just hate to wait around on an empty stomach. It’s past lunchtime, you know.’

The unicorn eyeballed him suspiciously, before peeling back his lips in an malicious smile. ‘Of course it’s past lunchtime. What was I thinking? Tell you what, why don’t I send a couple of wild unicorns with you? You know, in case you get lost?’ The Overlord grinned.

‘Splendid idea,’ El said weakly, feeling like he might throw up.

RACHEL WAS LYING ON HER BACK ON THE GRASS, OPPOSITE WAY UP TO KEL, with her head touching his as they stared up at the sky. It was warm and there was little breeze, but the white clouds high up were scudding across the blue sky. When one passed overhead and threw them into shadow, Rachel shivered. It felt like a bad dream, when all of a sudden things would get cold and dark. It was like it was the last day of summer and she was the only kid left outside.

They had been lying there for about 20 minutes, having reached the rendezvous point ahead of Ros and AC. She hoped that nothing had happened to them, and as she wondered what time it was her hand automatically reached down to touch the watch pocket on her jeans—though it had been days since she’d lost the Retriever of Sin.