A/N: Okay, time for another chapter. I still have my writer's block, but recent comments I have received have given me a new drive to continue and hopefully finish this story. I want to thank Nicole, Silver Spell, and Black-as-Knight14 for reviewing. (I know she didn't actually review, but I know she's going to, so I'll just put her name up anyway) Oh, and if anyone has any ideas of their own about how the story should play out or any ideas about anything, please tell me!! As I've said before, I have a massive writer's block and need suggestions!!
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Disclaimer: Don't own nuthin but Thianc and the plot. I wish I owned the Sunchaser though. Either him or Numinor. They both would make such handsome horses....
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Days passed, and things in the Celestial Valley went on much as they had before Thianc was born. The herd started every morning by greeting the rainbow, and then spent the rest of the day grazing and playing. None of the unicorns had any notion of the evil that was brewing across the Gap.
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Entia was excited. Today was the day that his plan would be put into action, if all went well. Gully was weak enough to be forced into submission, and the Shifter's forces were at the peak of their condition. Now all that he needed was time...
He heard the great stone door of the chamber scrape open and many pairs of feet shuffle inside. "Shifter?" a cold voice rang out.
Entia recognized it as that of his Captain, Sreanakor. "Is everything in position, Sreanakor?"
Rusted metal screeched as the creature nodded. "Your troops are ready in position outside the castle. We await your signal."
"Good," the Shifter said. "Wait with them outside. The Shadow and our Link should arrive momentarily. We can do nothing until they come."
Sreanakor nodded once more, the harsh grating sound echoing through the hallways of the tower. He then gave a signal, and the shuffling feet retreated out of the room and down the hall, until the heavy door blocked the sound.
The Shifter waited, but Ru Krion did not come. "And you wondered why I did not pay you," he muttered to himself. To pass the time, Entia turned and gazed into his orb, asking to see the Celestial Valley. The spherical stone was filled with images of happily grazing unicorns, totally unaware that they were being watched.
The image then shifted to a group of foals running through the lush pastures. Entia recognized one of them as Thianc. The foals stopped on a hill and lowered their heads, charging at each other in mock battle. Then, a unicorn mare came and stopped the fighting, telling the foals that they were too young to be engaging in such adult behavior. The foals agreed reluctantly, following the mare back toward the herd.
The Shifter laughed at the irony of the situation. Too young for battle? "One is never too young for battle," he said quietly to himself. "Our young Thianc will soon see that for himself."
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On a faraway hill, the Old Mare of the Mountain saw the scene playing out in the Valley in her mind. Like a movie, she saw the mare ending the foals' "battle" and heard her comment. Materializing from her rock form, the ancient unicorn wept for the Celestials and for all unicorns. For she knew the truth behind Thianc as well, and also knew what the Shifter had in store for him.
In one final attempt to save the young green-eyed foal, the Old Mare cried out silently to anything and anyone who would hear her, asking them for their strength and their time. After moments of silence, she finally felt one mind that could make a difference.
Sleep... she commanded the unicorn whose presence she had felt. Sleep, Sunchaser, and save your son...
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The stone door scraped open once more, admitting the two creatures that Entia had been waiting for. The Shadow entered first, followed by two of its accomplices. They were holding between them Gully, who no longer fought their hold.
This amused the Shifter. When the procession came to a halt in the middle of the dark room, he gave a small laugh. "I see that you no longer struggle, little toad. Amazing what a few days with no food can do, is it not?" When Gully didn't answer, Entia continued. "I assume you are prepared for the task at hand?"
"He will be ready," Ru Krion answered coldly. "It is just a matter of time..."
"Time?!" the Shifter burst out, feeling pressured for the first time. "What time do you think we have? Numinor suspects something, as does the entire herd. How long until he confronts the Dreamspeaker? She cannot lie to the Golden One, you know that." Here Entia added a small pause. "The hour is later than you think, Ru Krion. We must act swiftly, or our plans will be foiled. I have not gone so far to be stopped because we ran out of time! We begin immediately."
"Immediately?" The Shadow was shocked. It had never seen the Shifter so determined. But it was too confident in its powers of persuasion to back down. It turned to the Shifter and said, "It is done."
"Perfect," Entia grinned. "Secure the Link. The road is long and hard. I would hate to lose our key along the way."
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The Sunchaser's eyes snapped open. He did not know why he had suddenly felt so tired, or why he had chosen to fall asleep near a strangely large rock. But what he did know was that what he had dreamed was real, and that the Shifter knew the truth about Thianc. Sure of what he must do, the great bronze stallion got up and raced toward the Crystal Pool.
Atalanta was there, as he had predicted. She seemed to be gazing for something, but the Sunchaser's news wouldn't be stopped. "Atalanta!" he called out as he grew closer to her.
The purple unicorn raised her head and turned, her eyes annoyed at being interrupted.
But they quickly grew surprised when she saw who it was who had called to her. "Sunchaser?" she questioned breathily.
"Atalanta," the bronze stallion said once more as he drew to a halt before her. "Where is Thianc?" he asked frantically. "Is he safe?"
The Dreamspeaker looked at him skeptically. "Why the sudden interest in my son?" she asked, choosing her words carefully. "Why do you ask to see him now when you wouldn't stay to watch his birth?"
"Atalanta, the Shifter knows," the Sunchaser said.
Her eyes widened considerably. "What?" she asked softly, half to herself. "But how...?"
"I don't know," the bronze stallion answered. "But he does. He seems to think that Numinor suspects something as well. All I can tell you for sure is that Thianc is not safe."
"Of course he's safe!" the Dreamspeaker exclaimed. "What safer place is there than the Celestial Valley? No evil has been here seen the First War, thousands of years ago."
The Sunchaser thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, I supposed you're right. But it may not be Entia who poses the greatest threat to the foal. If Numinor suspects that all is not right with young Thianc, he may prove more dangerous than the Shifter himself."
Atalanta did not want to believe what she was hearing. "How do I know to trust you?" she demanded of the bronze stallion. "You leave my life, abandoning me when I most need you, and then suddenly come back telling me that Numinor and Entia are endangering my son? You seem to know a great deal about the ways and thoughts of the Shifter."
The Sunchaser could see that there would be no persuading the Dreamspeaker. "Atalanta, I am sorry. I tried to warn you. The Shifter knows that Thianc is not of the blood of Numinor, and I know that he will somehow use it to his advantage. Protect your son, Dreamspeaker. Entia is coming."
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If the Sunchaser had stayed asleep for a few moments longer, the Old Mare of the Mountain would have shown him something that would have set the stallion into a much more urgent state of warning. For after the bronze unicorn broke the vision, Entia, Ru Krion, and Gully, the Link, left the Castle of the Shifter and, along with the Shifter's army, set out toward the Gap. There, The Shadow put his expertise to work and had the small toad-like creature under his control. In a few moments, the Link began his haunting song, and the door was open.
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Haha, I made a cliffhanger! I'm such a hypocrite; I tell people not to make cliffhangers and then I go and make them! I love being mean... Well, you might have to wait a little while for chapter 8, what with All State auditions being tomorrow and my working on my LOTR fic. Gotta please the obsessed fangirls and get Aragorn in it. People, you really should check it out... But, you should stay long enough to review this story. Yup, that you should... Oh, btw, is just putting the three asterisks better than putting a whole line of them? I thought that it looked a little jumbled with a whole line of them, so I'm trying the three thing out. Will you please tell me which one you like better?