Page 8 of Unexpected Magic

“Oh, no,” said Delia. “Polly and I shall need to travel with Sapphire. We can make up a cot for Mary and a holder of some kind for the egg.”

“A large wagon,” Mr. Thornton noted. “Mary is the lindwurm. Tell me about the egg.”

“We don’t know what will hatch out of it,” Father said. “The wife of one of my farmers laid it. Very upset, she was. He wanted to dispose of it, but the priest said it had been born of a humanmother so it must have a soul. They sent it to me, for I have put out word that I’m to be told of any magical happenings. Since we have no idea what it is, it will have to go to London, to the College of Mages, so I gave it to Delia to look after.”

“She does not take a lot of care,” Delia commented. “We are keeping her in a bed of sand by the fire, and turning her twice a day. I thought on the trip we could fill earthenware crocks with hot water, to keep her bed warm while we travel.”

“Her?” Mr. Thornton asked, then proved he was worthy of respect by answering his own question. “Ah! Because Sapphire does not object to her presence.”

Mr. Thornton was more than just a handsome man with nice broad shoulders and good manners.

Chapter Four

Miss Cordelia wasthe only person at Nettleford Manor to have considered the logistics of moving herself and her charges to London. Jasper gave up any idea of leaving that day, and bent his mind to finding a female driver, maiden female carriage horses, and preferably half a dozen female guards.

A chaperone, too. Miss Cordelia was an unmarried lady, and could not possibly travel with an escort of men and no reputable female companion. To be sure, she would be safe in his company and that of his entourage. Jasper was a gentleman, and one whose mission was to deliver the lady and her charges safely to London.

Besides that, little Sapphire would be a formidable enemy to anyone who succumbed to the temptation that the lovely young woman presented. Everyone knew unicorns never forgot an injury or a slight, and who wanted to live the rest of their life looking over their shoulder for an angry magical beast with the ability to deflect most weapons, the power of translocation (not yet, but it came in the second year of their life, according to his reading), and an eighteen-inch ivory skewer on its forehead?

However, reputation took no account of reason, and Miss Cordelia required a chaperone.

Once Jasper was introduced to Polly, it was obvious she wouldn’t do. Too common and far too young.

And it wouldn’t be the lady’s mother. From what he could pick out of Sir Arnold Nettleford’s hints and elusive comments,Lady Nettleford had taken to her bed when Master Edgar, the young Nettleford heir, had been sent to the duke to have his erratic mage-gift brought under control. Jasper wished him the best of luck, and none of the issues Jasper himself had experienced.

Whether Lady Nettleford had asked about or shown any interest in her daughter, who had—through no fault of her own—been hurled into the role of unicorn minder, Sir Arnold did not disclose. However, he made it clear enough that the lady’s mother would be of no help whatsoever.

Jasper asked for pen and paper, and then made use of three of the royal guards in his escort to take messages to the Duke of Chester, the mayor of Chester, and the nearest convent of the Sisters of the Three Warrior Maidens, which was about an hour’s ride southeast of Nettleford on a prominence called Bulkeley Hill.

On second thought, he sent two of the guards riding to Chester with his messages, and took another two as escort on a ride to Bulkeley Hill, to the Convent of St. Gwladys. The warrior nuns acknowledged no master except God and no authority except the superiors of their own order. They must be humbly requested for their aid, and it was better to do that in person.

The captain and rest of his men could be left to guard Miss Nettleford, the unicorn, and the remainder of her unlikely charges.

It took longer than he expected. Rather than simply delivering his request and riding away, he found himself being subjected to several grueling interviews. The sister hospitaller was first. Her role was to see to guests, and so she had greeted him, listened as he explained his errand, and sent a message. A few minutes later, he was ushered into the reception room of the mother superior, who asked a few incisive questions andthen sent him off in the care of the sister sacristan, to have refreshments while she consulted with her senior advisers.

He returned after an excellent lunch to be grilled by three other nuns—one the sister in charge of combat training, one the convent’s most senior battle mage, and one the prioress. She, it became clear, was also the convent’s most gifted healer, and had read widely on the topic of how magical gifts were transmitted through families.

Eventually, he was sent off to wait in the guests’ garden, where the hospitaller brought him an excellent cherry wine, and stayed to chat about the convent’s origins and history.

The order itself had been founded in France, and took their inspiration from the French warrior saint, Jeanne D’Arc, the warrior queen, Saint Margaret, and the warrior of faith, Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The sisters specialized in providing escorts and wayside accommodation for women pilgrims, and for training women guards and women mages.

They were known for using only necessary force, and someone who attacked a pilgrim caravan guarded by the good sisters was unlikely to be killed. But they might wish themselves dead.

Eventually, a nun came to fetch Jasper back to the mother superior’s reception room, where he was told that an escort and a chaperone would meet him at Nettleford Manor on Monday at eight o’clock in the morning.

“I trust you can organize suitable transport for the unicorn and your other charges by that time, Mr. Thornton,” said the mother superior.

“Earlier, if you wish, ma’am,” Jasper assured her.

“We do not travel on Sundays except in extremity,” the nun explained. “You shall leave on Monday, arrive in London on Friday, and our sisters shall spend two days with our order in London before returning to us on the following Monday.”

And that was that. Jasper thanked her and returned to Chester, to find out whether his messages there had borne fruit.

*

Cheshire

After that, Jaspermade a point of visiting Nettleford Manor every day, both to see that all was well with Miss Nettleford’s charges, and to monitor the growing magical effusion.