After the Downfall

Infantrymen fought better when they knew a few panzers were in the neighborhood. The tanks didn’t have to do anything; they just had to be there. If the foot soldiers knew armor could back their play, they got bolder. Hasso had never thought of himself as a panzer, but he could see that the Bucovinans had a point.

“Well, I see what I can do,” he said, and then, louder, to the sentry: “Where is this unicorn?”

“Who -? Oh, it’s you,” the native said. “Come with me. I’ll take you to him. Do you think you can mount the beast?”

“I don’t know,” Hasso answered. “I want to find out.”

“What will you do if you can ride it?” the sentry persisted.

“Piss off the Lenelli,” Hasso said. “Isn’t that reason enough?”

“More than reason enough, you ask me.” The man grinned. He pointed towards a stand of oaks a few hundred meters from the encampment. “I went out there to make sure no Lenello spies were hiding in amongst the trees, and I saw the beast instead.”

Maybe it wasn’t instead. Maybe a unicorn had brought a Lenello wizard up here to see what the Bucovinan army was up to. Maybe he was sending word to Bottero’s army like a forward artillery observer back in Hasso’s world. Maybe… Maybe anything, dammit. Hasso made sure his sword was loose in the scabbard as he walked out to the trees. It wouldn’t do him much good against a Lenello soldier, but it might against a wizard. Those boys would depend on magic till they found out it didn’t work. Hasso sure hoped they would find out it didn’t, anyway.

How were you supposed to call a unicorn? Simple. Make a noise like a virgin. He shook his head. He really was losing it. Not only was the joke weak, it wasn’t even true, not in this world.

He stepped around the trunk of a tree that had been growing there a few hundred years and … there it was. It stared at him out of big black eyes a woman would have killed for.

“Hey,” he said softly – a noise more of recognition than anything else.

In the dim, fading light, that pure white coat seemed to glow even more than it would have under bright sunshine. He saw right away that the unicorn was wild; it had never borne a Lenello wizard on its back. It was unshod. No one had gilded or silvered its horn or braided its mane and tail. It had no saddle or reins.

“Hey,” he said again, a little louder. He had a bit of honeycomb – a treat for his horse. He held it out to the unicorn. “Here you go. What do you think of this?”

He watched its nostrils dilate as they took the scent of the honeycomb – and, no doubt, his scent, too. Did magic have an odor? How could a unicorn tell a wizard if it didn’t? Maybe the way Aderno did: by magic.

Slowly, cautiously, the unicorn approached. It took the honeycomb with as much delicacy as a cat would have taken a bit of fish. Its mouth and breath were warm and moist against Hasso’s palm. After it finished, it looked at him as if wondering whether there was more. He reached out to stroke its nose. It let him do that. It felt like fine velvet under his fingers.

“Sorry,” he said. “That’s all I’ve got with me. There’s more back at the camp, though, if you want to give me a lift.”

It couldn’t possibly have understood him … could it? It was just a beautiful animal… wasn’t it? What did he know about unicorns? Not bloody much. What he knew about this one was that it knelt and gave him an inviting look.

He wasn’t a terrible horseman, but he’d never ridden bareback before. He’d never ridden an animal without reins and a bit, either. The Lenello wizards didn’t do that – he’d seen as much. If he tried it and it turned out not to be what the unicorn had in mind, he was in a ton of trouble. But the last invitation more definite than this one he’d had was the one Velona gave him after he shot the Grenye who were chasing her.

Yeah, and look how that turned out, his mind gibed. But you couldn’t win if you didn’t bet. He got on the unicorn’s back and patted the side of its neck. It rose to its feet as easily as if he didn’t weigh a thing.

“Wow,” he said, and then, “Come on. This way.” He pointed over toward the encampment, and damned if the unicorn didn’t head in that direction.

The horse the Bucovinans had given him was a plodder. This … This was like riding lightning and fire. The unicorn’s hooves hardly seemed to touch the ground. He knew they must have, but they didn’t seem to.

When he came out of the little wood, the sentry’s jaw dropped. “Lavtrig’s dick!” he exclaimed. “You did it!”

“How about that?” Hasso knew he was grinning like an idiot. Well, if he hadn’t earned the right, who had?

As usual, the camp was a raucous place. He could tell just when the Bucovinans spotted him, because silence rippled out and through the place. People turned and looked his way, till all he saw were thousands of staring faces, all with wide eyes, most with mouths fallen open.