The Secret Of The Unicorn Queen - The Final Test by Dory Perlman

Author:Dory Perlman [Perlman, Dory]
Language: eng
Format: epub

8

Laric's Sacrifice

A rough scratching sound was rousing Sheila from her sleep. "Five more minutes," she mumbled, thinking for a moment that she was home and her mother was waking her for school.

Sheila hadn't slept for more than a day, and so despite her terror at being imprisoned in this squalid cell, she had been unable to keep her eyes open a moment longer and had fallen into the deep, dream­less sleep of total exhaustion.

The noise persisted, and slowly it dragged Sheila into consciousness. Rubbing her eyes she remembered, dejectedly, where she was. A patch of white moonlight that shone through the window onto the floor was the only illumination in the otherwise pitch-black cell.

Clink, clink, crunch. Where was that noise coming from? She followed the sound to the window. It sounded as if someone was scratching at the window sill with a knife.

Pulling herself up to the window, she came face to face with Laric and Cam, who were chipping away at the stonework around the bars of her window. "I hope I'm not still asleep and dreaming," she whispered happily.

"We're real, don't worry," Laric said with a quick smile.

"How did you get into the city without being spotted?''

"Flew, of course," Cam answered with a wink.

"That's right, I almost forgot," Sheila said. She noticed that their daggers sparkled and flashed lightly as they worked. "You almost have that bar loose," she observed, new hope surging back into her.

"These daggers hold magic of their own," Laric told her, not stopping his work for a second. "They are made of hammered diamonds, a gift to me from the swordsmiths of the Far East,"

Sheila pulled her dagger from her pocket and joined the effort. One bar started to wobble. Red-faced with effort, Cam and Laric grunted as they pulled the bar from its stone casing.

"Hop down and lay this gently on the floor," Laric instructed Sheila. "We don't want any clanking bars alerting the guards."

Sheila did as she was told and then climbed back to help them work on the second bar. "Did . . . Dian make it back?" Sheila asked.

"Muddy and bruised, but in one piece," Cam said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "It was close, though; the tunnel collapsed not ten feet behind her just as she climbed out."

Sheila heaved a sigh of relief. "One, two, three, pull," Laric told Cam as they heaved the second bar from the window. Again Sheila climbed down and placed it quietly on the floor.

"One more and I bet I could squeeze through," Sheila said, climbing back up to the sill. Laric and Cam's hands flew with almost lightning speed. Sheila almost thought she saw sparks flying as they worked. "Listen," she said, "I guess Dian told you that the disk led us to the potion. I figured it out. It's zanga nuts, spring water, and honey."

Laric and Cam exchanged glances. "Zanga nuts, eh," said Laric unhappily. "I don't know where you'd find a zanga nut in this part of the world."

"I've seen them south of here in Kumuru,” said Cam.

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