Chapter Twenty Five
"The magic is alive?!" Justin could hear the fear in his voice as he asked the same question that Maggie had asked only a few seconds before. Philip's throat bobbed as though he was reconsidering whether or not he should have spoken, but he plowed on anyway.
"Mages have tried to understand the essence of the magic since we discovered it. That was hundreds of years ago, and no one has been able to definitively prove its truth.
"But it is clear that it has enough intelligence to bring you from your world, Justin." Philip's words brought a question to Justin's mind. "What spell did you exactly use to bring me here? Maybe your spell was too specific, and the magic had to bring me?" He hoped that wasn't true. He liked to think that, in some way, he was special and worthy of solving Aldervaile's problems. If the mages had done the spell too specifically or even wrong, that might mean that he wasn't qualified to help at all.
Art spoke to answer Justin's question. "That is not important. YOU are the one we need. Telling you the spell won't change the fact that you are here and we need you. Let's move on to more important things, like determining how we are going to house the mated pairs of unicorns.
Justin was taken aback by Art's directness. As much as he wanted to protest and learn about the spell that brought him here, he only nodded and stood next to Maggie. She smiled reassuringly at him, as though she could see his discomfort on his face. He really hoped that wasn't the case.
After another awkward moment, Art relaxed his features and looked at the other mages. "Now, let us show the princess and Justin the options that we have for the unicorns. Cora, will you do the honors?"
Cora stood straighter at his words and slowly closed her eyes. Justin didn't know whether he needed to stay seated and hold on to something or if the magic worked better with everyone standing in a circle. He had no idea about any of it, but he was too embarrassed to ask. He did decide to keep his teacup on the desk, however. It was better to keep his hands empty in case he got scared or had to run.
Cora's words came out loud and sure as she directed everyone's eyes to the space above the table. "If you would all please look here. As the images form, you might experience a bit of dizziness and discomfort. Please remain in your seats, and if you need to, you can keep your heads down until I say so."
Justin had no idea what was about to happen, and he prayed that he wouldn't embarrass himself by getting sick. He didn't even want to have to look down. If he was going to perform magic, he needed to be able to experience all of it. He would do EVERYTHING he could to witness this first big act of magic.
A quiet naturally fell in the room as everyone waited for Cora to begin. She raised both of her hands, palm out towards the space above the table, and said a long string of words. As she turned her palms down toward the table, she slowly began to lower them to her sides. As they moved downward, images began to form, starting at the edge of her fingertips and spreading out over the entire open space. By the time her hands were at her side, the entire table top was covered in a beautiful landscape scene.
Justin sat with his mouth hanging open. He felt drool forming near the corner of his mouth and quickly closed his mouth and swallowed. He dared a look over at Maggie, and she had a similar expression on her face, so he didn't feel too bad.
"What you are looking at is our first option for where we can house the unicorns. As you can see, there is a wooded area, a field that they can run in, and a small lake for their water. We would still need to fill the area with their food source, but they at least seem to eat similarly to regular horses when in captivity, so if we can't determine what they prefer to eat, we can always give them that." Art leaned back against his chair and waited for a response.
Justin snapped out of his shock at Art's words. "If we continue to feed them oats and sugar, it won't take them very long to realize that they really aren't free. They have to believe it long enough to not only conceive, but also allow Maggie, I mean Princess Magdalin, to tame them. What do they normally eat here in the wild?"
Art looked down sheepishly before he squared his shoulders and met Justin's eyes. "We have not found out that information from the books yet. We assume that it has been written down, it just may not be in any of the books that we have at this library."
Justin smiled kindly at the embarrassed mage and sat up straighter, glad for a chance to help. "Where I come from, it is believed that unicorns prefer clovers, dandelions, and other wild flowers, meadowsweet, and a variety of berries. They really like elderberries."
Glancing again at Maggie, he was pleased to see she looked impressed by his knowledge. "I knew you were the right one for the job. I just knew it." Philip spoke in an almost reverent tone as he pulled his eyes off of Justin and looked back up at the image floating above them.
Justin was humbled at the respect he heard in Philip's voice. He, too, looked up at the image and cleared his throat. "While there is a large space for them to run and the woods do appear to be deep enough for them to feel secure, we will need to add their food source in the field and at the edge of the lake. Will that be a problem?"
"That shouldn't be a problem for good ol' Art here." Oaklie's smile was broad and mischievous. "He is great at turning weeds into flowers. His mother always said he had a green thumb." At the word thumb Oaklie bent over at the waist and laughed so loud that Maggie jumped.
"You are too funny for your own good, Oaklie. Much too funny. Art tried to sound serious, but there was a gleam in his eyes as he spoke. "Now, if you can pull yourself together, we will move on to the second option." He looked at Justin. "This option may naturally have a better food source for the unicorns, but as you will see in a moment, the woods are not as deep."
Justin grew serious even as excitement rolled underneath his skin. He was going to get to see the magic again. At that thought, he felt a sort of energy hum through him, playing hopscotch with the excitement. It was almost electric. It took everything in him to remain seated. He reached for Maggie's hand and squeezed it, and kept his eyes on the space above the table.