Acropolis

Sacrifices and Disguises

Kazimir was torn. He wanted to stay in the temple to dissuade the elders from sacrificing unicorn but he tarried long enough in the sanctuary.

Maybe if I find Jason, Acacia will find me. Trapped here, I move toward nothing. I am safe but useless.

What most irked him was that he heard news of the capture of Acacia's parents and with Janus's wine and spellful bedtime stories, they could easily lose their sense of control, mind, and therefore, the essence of life.

So, Daphne and Kazimir set off toward Agora with unicorn whistles. Catching a unicorn was rare for rarely did they trust people, especially high officials. Kazimir heard enough legends concerning unicorn capture, but the reasons for their appearance were ambiguous. He often drew doodles of them in his study and, least mentioned to Acacia, in class.

Jason swished and swirled a wine glass and held it up to Acacia's mom and dad between the prison bars so their noses could breathe in the temptation.

"And if you ever do get thirsty, I have the perfect concoction for you," Jason said, sniffing the last drop of wine.

The Alexander's feared poison and slowly their vision became bleary, but slowly light returned to their eyes, or maybe it was the elixir running its course.

Acacia's father objected. "We haven't any water. Give us breadth or give us bread." He gave Jason no choice.

Jason peered eerily at him through the shadows in the cell. His eyes were deep and his brow gouged out from his tired lids yet his bags were not the only shadows concealing him. Jason's luminous dark hair was a beautiful sight but it became greasy and he looked like a diseased stray.

"Water is hard to come by. If you aren't careful, some streams poison." Jason reasoned. "Safety is within here until the war is concluded."

Acacia and Andelko rested for the night. A few watch guards, "watchdogs" as Andelko called them, stood outside the cave. Acacia didn't know what was inside the cave, except the flickering light of the campfire.

Although I was miles from home, if you could even measure it, I found familiarity in remembering our family bonfire tradition except I had a new family. From inside the cave, I could see flecks of jewel-like the caves on the edge of Unicorn City. And although there came a familiarity, I did not feel comfortable wiling away the hours with these strange folk (Day 28, Acct. 3 of Siljeca).

Jason spoke to Mr. and Mrs. Alexander, "Let me entertain you a tale, but there will be no need for stories once you find the truth. I will tell one. Acacia is far away, across the distant sea, locked up in fortune, but locked up by Daphne. I dare not leave you in battle, but you are safe here and I must fall through with her fortune and rescue Acacia. Kazimir rests with her, but unlike you, he doesn't rest peacefully. This is exactly like the tale: a pirate and a gypsy follow adventure together but each is driven by fortune. Along the way, they fight with a sea of bandits who intend to take the fortune. They work with two evil rulers who are certain to stop their line but...not their fortune. And the rulers, working alongside the bandits, dress the pirate and gypsy up in a tower surrounded by fake fortune. See, what good is locked up in that tower? What good is the fortune? Ha, unfortunately—listen while you still have your wits—surrounding the tower is a setup of fierce fighting unicorn, and around the ring of unicorn surrounding the tower, is a ring of Kirin, and around the territory of Kirin, surrounds the sea. The tower is on an island, an island surrounded by sea creatures, some scaly, some slimy. The gypsy bribes the unicorns with fruit by wailing outside the tower windows, the unicorns bribe the Kirin with a game. The unicorns challenged the Kirin with their flesh in hopes of escape. While some horned horses escaped their duties with death, others escaped to the sea. Those who could swim did not drown in the torrential sea, and those survivors negotiated with the sea monsters a ride to shore. The survivors reached the shore in plans of finding sea warriors to save the prisoners.