Gold Unicorn by Tanith Lee

Author:Tanith Lee [LEE, TANITH]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2011-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

PART THREE

X

The fifth town was called Beehaif.

It lay at the foot of the hills, and deep forest stretched beyond it, blue and green, and copper where the summer was going out.

Ambassadors came from Beehaif in the late afternoon. They brought gifts and tokens of surrender. They were insistent that they surrendered. They said, urgently, to Lizra’s officials, “Are you sure you’ve written it down? Are you? We surrender.”

Some of the gifts were of a domestic nature, including two kettles of pure gold. There were also silver trays of food, cakes, and pickles and slabs of melting butter. And, in the middle, a compliment: a golden unicorn two feet high, made entirely of cheese. It had red candied cherries for eyes.

They knew all about the unicorn.

They said they understood that it would be pulled through the town on a sled so that everyone could see it.

“Or we can start it up. Fire it,” said one of the captains jollily.

The ambassadors from Beehaif turned pale. “No, no.”

They gazed at Lizra and hastily told her that the whole town had been painted in her colors, blue and red, to honor her.

Lizra thanked them. She was always very gracious when the towns and cities gave in.

They asked about the unicorn again. They were obviously nervous, and so Honj and the Locusts took them to see it, where it stood on the hilltop, gleaming in the sunset.

It looked so awful now, so terrifying, that two of the ambassadors ran away. The soldiers laughed at them. They liked the unicorn and some of them called it by a pet name, Sunshine.

Sunset ran over Sunshine like blood. Sunshine’s crimson eyes glowed. Roses and hyacinths were around its neck. It was scarred, deformed, the tall gold arch of its stomach—under which no one ever crossed—casting a deep shadow on the grass.

After the ambassadors had gone, everyone was up most of the night, preparing for another glorious progress in the morning.

Lizra’s chariot horses were reshod, their plumes combed. She had decided to dress in a red gown, not in armor. Honj had selected a hat with a long bill. The Locusts washed their horses, and the rest of the men were burnishing weapons and putting flowers on the cannon.

Tanaquil walked slowly up and down the camp, looking at all this.

When the sun went, a cold wind blew over the hill.

They would winter by the sea, and there the artisans would make ships and Tanaquil would work magic on them. It was all planned.

Tanaquil had lost her chance to get away, for Lizra had begun to have her watched. There was always some strong man a few yards behind her as she walked, there to protect her and uphold her dignity. The women who insistently brought her dresses and jewels for Lizra’s feasts had beady, intent little eyes.

She should have left when she told herself she would, after the second city surrendered.

Why had she stayed? She knew why. Honj had sat laughing at the dinner, the torches flashing on the white bars of his teeth.

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