Unicorn Lost

Presents

nside a large library of old world charm worthy of any ivy league university, located in the heart of the ferret kingdom, K, a tall thin bachelor kitsune in his mid 30s wearing pink tinted prescription sunglasses with chrome frames and dressed in nice casual attire, sat at a perfectly square wooden table surrounded by four matching chairs.

On the table to the left of K sat two open books. Situated in front of him, toward his right, laid a blue notebook he was writing in. On the other side of the notebook, out of the way, sat a grey fedora. On the floor and to the right of his chair was a leather messenger bag, on the left a walking stick leaned against the table.

As the kitsune worked away, he sensed something near him. He looked up and saw a jeweled butterfly fluttering above the table. K laid down his pen on the table and nodded yes, instructing the butterfly to proceed. The butterfly landed on K's head and in the couple of minutes of reliving this memory he was immediately relieved, but then perplexed. The butterfly flew down from K's head to the table before him. K looked at the butterfly, noticing it was a young butterfly, he made a mental note it was a recent memory. "Thank Heavens. Lady Rebecca, her family and her majesty Queen Olivia are all right," K thought, but not knowing what transpired before these events, he tried to make sense of what he just witnessed. Believing it was inconceivable for Lady Rebecca to be easily fooled by the red dragon, K wondered, "Is it really possible for Lady Rebecca to have the dragon under her control or is this an elaborate trick orchestrated by the ogre and the dragon." He had no way to be certain at this point. "Even if this turned out to be true and Jeanette accepted it logically, she wouldn't have accepted it so easily emotionally."

K gathered up the books in his right arm and with the walking stick in his left paw he proceeded to the return cart with a limp he's had for six years. He returned to the table, gathered his notebook and pen in the messenger bag and slipped its carrying strap over his right shoulder. The butterfly followed as K picked up the grey fedora with his right paw, put it on, headed to the foyer and out the front door which faced directly to the street.

Half a minute later a well crafted but simple open top carriage pulled up in front of him with a young ferret at the reigns. "Where are we going?" the young ferret asked.

K opened the door, climbed in and placed the bag by his feet. He situated the walking stick directly in front of him with his left paw on top and the right on top of the left. "To the palace, I need to speak with one of the king's advisers." As the carriage pulled away, K said to his driver, "Lady Rebecca, her family and Queen Olivia are all right."

Mystified the ferret looked back at K and asked "How..."

K motioned to the butterfly sitting next to him, who was resting its wings.

"Lady Rebecca and her family are with Queen Olivia," the ferret mused. &nbps;"Do you know where they are?"

"No, I don't." &nbps;K didn't want to mention the part about the dragon. &nbps;Even he wasn't sure what to make of it yet.

The carriage pulled up in front of the palace. &nbps;Getting the door himself, K slipped the strap of his leather messenger bag over his right shoulder and exited the carriage. The butterfly followed. &nbps;K proceeded to one of the ferret guards as his carriage pulled away. "I wish to speak to his majesty's adviser, Jules," K said to the first guard. "I just received recent information on the condition of Queen Olivia."

The first guard called for another one, "Have this gentleman escorted to Jules. He claims to have recent information regarding Queen Olivia."

The ferret guard escorted the kitsune to the second story. With his right paw on the railing and his left on the walking stick, K managed the stairs. With the light in the corridor limited, K removed his prescription sunglasses and put them in his breast pocket. When they reached an open, more lit area of the second story, K placed the pink tinted glasses back on his face. In the open area the two of them proceed directly to a heavy, weathered door. The guard knocked and once given the go-ahead the ferret opened the door slightly and said, "Sir, there is a gentleman here to see you. He claims to have recent information regarding Queen Olivia." The guard opened the door more to let Jules, an older kitsune, see who it was that came to see him.

"K!" the older kitsune exclaimed. "What a pleasant surprise, it's good to see you." Then speaking to the guard, "It's quite all right, you may leave us." &nbps;With that the ferret left, letting the two gentlemen kitsunes be. K removed his grey fedora as Jules went to great his old friend with a hug.

The older kitsune's office was a medieval study with weathered looking reddish-brown furniture with matching book shelves. The pieces, which required such, had black metal hinges and handles. Behind the desk, providing Jules ample light to work with, was a single arched window with two panels that swung like double doors. The glass in the window was cut in a diamond shape fitted together in a crisscross formation in identical black metal frames. In the shelves and scattered elsewhere were tons of books and papers, contrary to the orderliness of the library K just came from.

"Are you still riding around in that old, broken down carriage?" Jules teased.

"It gets me where I need to go."

K put his fedora on the hat rack, then the two of them sat on opposite ends of the desk.

With a more serious tone Jules asks, "What is this about you having word on our queen?"

"A recent memory came to me. I'm not sure where she is but she appeared all right. She is with Lady Rebecca and her family."

"Huh," Jules said wondering how this came about.

Then as if on cue the butterfly flew over and lightly landed on top of the king's adviser's head.

A minute or two later Jules finally spoke. "If I haven't witnessed this memory for myself, I would have sworn it was a memory of a dream. These are actual events. So, Jeanette is riding on the back of that female unicorn. I bet she has some stories she could tell." Then in a more serious tone, "What are we waiting for? We don't know where she is yet, but the king must know the queen is all right."

Then with a somber tone K said, "We believe Sir Alex was killed by the red dragon. Therefore, it's not unreasonable for Jeanette to want to seek revenge against the dragon. A lady unicorn, wolf and skunk explained to the court the other day their intent on rescuing their unicorn friend from the ogre. Commotion broke out in the king's court and the three were sent to the dungeon til what happened could be settled. Word of what happened quickly spread. Sometime before the break out, Jeanette was spotted in the dungeon area. That night our queen is discovered missing and now we see this memory of Jeanette riding on the unicorn's back, but the wolf and skunk are no where to be seen. Jeanette's family is there. Queen Olivia is with them and Lady Rebecca presumably has the red dragon under her control. They discuss freeing the captive unicorn with the help of the dragon. The only possible conclusion is they left Rebecca's house and are headed directly to the ogre's castle, and somewhere along the line the group got separated. We have to assume they took the most direct rout possible and there were no diversions along the way. We can approximate when they left but we have no way of knowing how quickly they are traveling."

"You seem a little too assured of your self. How can you be certain that is where they are headed?" Jules pointed out.

"There's more. I was at the library when I was visited by the memory. I'm looking for Isabelle's descendant who now carries the torch identical to Jeanette's. Unified the torches become more powerful than the sum of their individual powers."

"Looking for Isabelle's descendant? So, you don't know where she is?"

"Jeanette's grandmother broke a 2000 year old tradition when she passed her torch to her son Alex's oldest daughter. By tradition, Jeanette has no right to the torch. Jeanette's aunt, the matriarch of that clan, would know where to find the other torch bearer, but because of the pettiness, none of us are going to find out anything from her."

"So you have a good idea Jeanette would be going to the ogre's castle. Were you visited by another memory or did your clairvoyance reveal this to you?" Jules asked.

"Call it a hunch."

"Where did Rebecca get the bracelet used to control the dragon?" Jules asked, throwing a monkey wrench into K's optimism. As the king's adviser it was the elder kitsune's job to find out these things. "How or where she acquired the bracelet could affect the route they took."

"I don't know," K answered. "But there is now a clearer idea of where to look."

Jules got up from his chair, went to a book shelf and picked up a rolled-up map laying on top of some books. He returned to his seat, rolled out the map on the desk and laid a ruler on the map. "Let's see. Lady Rebecca lives in this area outside the barrier."

K nodded his head yes.

"And the ogre's castle is here." Jules situated the ruler, forming a direct line from Lady Rebecca's house to the ogre's castle, crossing a ravine in the process. "The two most likely places they would cross are here and here," Jules continued, pointing to two spots on the map. "Setting aside the unknowns for a minute, given time and distance, Queen Olivia and her band of travelers are about to cross the ravine or they have already done so meaning they are almost at the ogre's castle, and if that is the case then it is most likely they will reach the castle before King Erroll can get his men out there."

"Then perhaps I should advise King Erroll to send his men to the castle and work their way to the ravine given this new information."

-page oo58-
written by Jeanette

Copyright and Credit:
  · Florence from "Freefall" © Mark Stanley.
  · Magic Gardener © Hortmage.
  · Jeanette © Jeanette Isabelle.
  · Kathy from "Carry On" © Kathy Garrison.
  · Kamida © Guest #1.
  · ToraKiyoshi - Writer.
  · Tiger_T. - Writer.
  · White Pony from "Cross Time Cafe" © S.Kidwell.
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