Prologue

A Chapter by A. Hart

She knew it was coming. They’d warned her, of course. Everyone warned her. It didn’t make it any easier. The click of the lock and the door being opened was what woke her. They’d come in, talking to her as if she was just a dumb animal, crooning that it would be alright and not knowing she knew what they were saying and knew that they were lying. She’d watched others be taken from their cages and lead in chains out into a waiting crate in a truck. Someone had bought them and what little safety they had in the auction was gone.

It made sense that someone would want her. Unicorns were second most valued next to dragons who were wavering on their selling price because they were so naturally unpredictable. Only fear of being hit kept her from rearing and pounding their heads in with her hooves as one of the men buckled a bridle on her. Even though she’d been stuck with one on before, she still hated the feeling of the leather against her face. “Just get it out of there,” someone she couldn’t see snapped at the small group. Her ears flicked back. I’m not an it. I have a name, you b*****d. Cera. Not it. It was dark enough that all she could see was the men and the bars of her cage, beyond that was cloaked in shadows.

A tug on the chain around her neck and on the reins got her attention. Slowly, she unfolded her legs from underneath her and stood, snorting at a sharp pain in her right shoulder that ran down her leg. “I said no one touches it,” the same voice from before growled.

“I didn’t mean to. It kicked me last night.” She didn’t bother to look to see who spoke. She was too busy trying to remember what happened the night before. The voice didn’t sound familiar and she couldn’t remember anything after a couple coming in during the afternoon. They mentioned something about wanting a birthday present. Another jerk on the chain had her stumbling forward on three legs. The pain was making her head pound and her thoughts cloudy. She almost blindly followed them down the ramp. The feeling of soft ground under her hooves grounded her to the present and reminded her that she was getting sent off to another owner. A shudder rippled down her back. Every past one she’d had never stuck with her long but they’d all made an impression.

Light blinded her for a few seconds, revealing a truck with a trailer connected to it. The sky was overcast and threatening rain, she could sense that. There was something underneath it she couldn’t identify. Some kind of flicker-like feeling that made her horn tingle. It gave her the sudden urge to run. Her mind had a destination but she couldn’t put a name to it. When the door opened and another ramp was pushed up, she skittered to the side, stumbling as she remembered she couldn’t use one leg to walk on. It hurt too much to put any pressure on it.

Someone cracked a whip at her heels and she surged forward, terrified that the next time they would be actually hitting her. The ramp teetered as she walked on it. Three men went in the trailer with her, tying the reins and locking the chain to the floor on a hook close enough that she couldn’t move her head much. “Good riddance,” she heard someone mutter before the door was slammed shut. She flinched at the sound and stared out the window, still trying to figure out what the feeling was.

The Gates. Grevin’s Gates. She’d only heard stories of the Gates. The portals to Rivian that the four great races had made to a world any magical being could escape to. The leaders of the dragons, unicorns, faeries and goblins had pooled their magic to create the gates. No one knew how Rivian was created-she was fairly sure no one cared. She hadn’t paid much attention to the rumors but every being with magic in them knew when the gates were opened and when they were closed. As far as she knew they had closed a century ago, locking every other creature out of Rivian and trapped on Earth. And now they’ve opened again.