Acropolis

Lost

The boy chuckled with each clack. Acacia ran after Milko and her party followed. Milko was their chance to find out more about the City of the Unicorns and knowledge of the older man's take on the war.

Andelko yelled, "Don't go after him Acacia, he is a mischievous bug, a squirm, the old man was rightful in his anger. I'm unaware of the war, but we can't avoid it."

"He must know an awful lot about the unicorns. I'm unsure of the man's stance on the unicorns, but if we find Milko, we will find exactly his master's meaning." Acacia reasoned.

"Exactly what he intended," Chiron spoke disturbed.

Finally, Acacia caught up with the humanoid boy, clutching him and threatening him with his scimitar. Something unexpected disrupted Acacia's conscience. Milko started spurting tears. He was heard all through the streets crying. Suddenly, she received bizarre looks.

"I didn't mean to steal anything. I don't have food and besides, Ondrea gave me the job. Blasted work!" Milko spilled.

Acacia whispered, "You say Ondrea? Well, bring me to him!"

Milko wriggled, "If you buy me fruit. The fruit is soft, oh so sweet, and the city is full of its preserves. The jars, they make towers out of them." He squealed. "Don't hurt me. You can't take me." Acacia constrained him wondering if his shenanigans would stop or if they would later be worth the while. She didn't like interfering, but the unicorn city seeped with suspicion. Some hopefulness rose in her words.

"I can give you something greater than a fruit. How about a new costume? And a finer weapon?"

"Okay, I'll tell you where Ondrea went: just don't fall for his ploys." His whispers resonated encouragingly but his tears came too late.

"But first you must give back that man's sword." Milko sighed and then dashed up to the merchant. The merchant, however, did not return Milko's dagger.

"Boys shouldn't play with swords." He puffed. The merchant's brow rose in frustration and furrowed in confusion. Milko kindly returned the look.

They were dejected but Milko returned to them and the party reached the spires after crossing a river with a golden bridge. Behind the spires, were dunes and mountains so high yet so concealed, they housed many jeweled caverns. The most unicorns anyone has ever dreamed of lived in the gemmed pockets. The light twinkled in the caverns going in and out like the stars of the outer earth. In the City of Unicorns, the day's hours faltered to run according to any schedule adhering to the outer lands. Day refused to leave the caverns as well. As their delayed sky sank, the caves glowed even brighter.

We aren't in the earth but nearly shielded from it. Acacia searched for an unseen skylight or translucent shield protecting the subterranean world, or even a portal. Clouds climbed to the stratosphere and bent into a signifying arch back to the horizon. What lay behind them was the desert and the only entrance to the vast valley of cities that if contained, would be more enormous than the empires outside of Domain.

Andelko returned from an armory shop and bought enough weapons to equal two large bundles and bushels and a new scimitar for Milko. The boy twirled the scimitar with effort after Andelko handed it to him, but admiringly, caressed and thumbed the edge of the blades.

"I lost my family," Milko saddened, "it wasn't their fault, but I wish there wasn't a war. I don't point to the faults of anybody else for the war either. Simply, I need an ending." He further explained how his village was burned after the last unicorn war and the greatest fall of the unicorns. "Long since, I have been orphaned. I've been orphaned much longer than you've been alive."

Andelko broke his defenses. "I'm sorry for your circumstances, and as High Sailor of Medora, I offer you a training position in my ranks."

Milko almost refused, but he gave in just so he could find a home. He had been working with merchants for a few weeks, promised an apprenticeship but sold as a slave, so the prospect didn't scare him as much as the transition. Acacia bought him a new eye mask for the masquerade along with a miniature robe and pointed shoes with pom-poms. He adorned a crown of silver rays with diamond droplets at the tips, mimicking the rain of Hyas's tale and fanning out the rays of dusk. The new costume truly made Milko transform.

"I can take you to Medora, but our journey is cut short," Andelko admitted. "You would be very helpful to tell us where our fugitive, Ondrea, is hiding."

"I saw him where you're going. He taught me what I know...I don't think you can help me find my parents." Andelko stopped in protest with a gasp escaping his throat.

An itch clawed at Acacia's mind and it was decided. "I am taking you to Medora," she affirmed.

The spires rose around them like fjords. Occasionally, a shy unicorn would flit and make swift behind an alcove, embarrassed by its unintended fierceness. Andelko was still uneasy about the unbaptized spirit-boy. His character changed in an instant, but with a little discipline he would soon be capable of earning a high-mast vessel and without conning, rule over all the merchants.

Just as Andelko was about to dispel his plan, the boy vanished. Even the forest, would hinder to explain.

Acacia moved her thumb in front of the moon, proving it had turned five degrees in the Eastern horizon and proving the night was passed. They spent copious time in the Lost City and Chiron and Circinus tried to convince Acacia it was the end of their journey.

"The only way I can repay you is to take to more ventures and steal your rights to give them back to your kind."

"Like you, Acacia," Chiron reasoned, "I have lost kin and many I thought were dead, and worse, dead and in turmoil. You prompted us to bravery but there is nothing we can do for the past, so we can't stay here."

"But the least I can do is repay you."

Chiron fidgeted. "I remember your promise and now I remember mine."

"They are safe here, your kin, Circinus, Chiron; we can always return." And Chiron did not dither. Circinus bowed to allow her to ride his back.

The day resumed its cycle and the sky spread out, stretched by feathered wings of the yawning clouds. Desert stretched between the spires and the caverns. The caverns caught the sunset showing forth a warm aura and revealing a narrow pass in the ridge. The pass was mistaken as a dry stream bed, but it was obscured by sparse palms and brush. Hidden beyond the ridge were dark, lush mountains. Steam-like clouds rose from the pass as the sun rolled betwixt the ridges like a marble in a storm drain. The dyes of evening bled over the horizons and twinkled on the heads of the cavernous ridges.

The troupe did not see the city after morning. The only thing left behind was longing.