by Willow Rose
“Okay. Here we go,” she said and lifted off the purple scarf.
It was beginning to get hot, but clouds suddenly came moving from the west. It looked like it would rain, Sara thought. She looked at the ball in front of her. It seemed to have a blue light burning inside of it. The ball sat on a wooden foot with six long claws holding the ball. Sara turned it in the light and saw the colors change inside of it. From blue to purple even to red.
Then she put it on the ground in front of her.
She took in another deep breath before she put both of her hands on the sides of the crystal ball and looked inside of it. At once she felt like her whole body started shaking. Then something emerged inside of the ball, like a giant eye of fire.
It stared back at her.
She felt naked, as if it saw right through her and could tell her innermost secrets, as if it was pulling it out of her. The feeling was so strong she immediately let go of the ball and moved her eyes away from it. She breathed heavily for awhile before staring at the ball in front of her again. The eye was gone and only the blue light was left.
She tried again. She put both her hands on its sides and stared directly into the ball. The eye emerged again and this time she felt it burning through her soul, like a fierce eager will. Sara writhed. She was tormented but could no longer take her hands off the crystal ball. Her eyes remained fixated on the burning eye inside the ball. She felt it was piercing through her, pouring the life out if her.
And that was when she saw the pictures.
First it was Marius lying in his crib, crying. He was in pain. It made her cry. She wanted so badly to help him. Then there was a flash of light and she saw herself, bringing him something in a small bag. What was it?
“A fingertip is enough,” she heard herself say. “One fingertip of dust from a unicorn’s horn.”
Then something happened but the picture was covered in dust. She could not see the end.
She writhed her body once again while the light was flashing in the ball. A new picture emerged. It was of herself again. She was older. What was she doing? Why was she doing that?
Sara felt her body shake while all the images ran through her head like a fast forwarded movie. Then all of a sudden it stopped and Sara froze. Her hands let go of the crystal ball and she tumbled backwards.
All the sky was clean and blue and birds sang in every tree.
Sara rose to her feet. A great weariness had come upon her, but her will was firm and her heart lighter. She spoke out loud to herself:
“I will do now what I must,” she said.
After hours of walking, the sun was beginning to get low and the light of afternoon was on the land as she followed the river back to the mountains. At the bottom of the valley on its western side she came to an opening between the two mountains. This is the way the creatures had told her to take in order to avoid climbing the mountaintop of Nightmare Mountain again.
The evening that followed was clear, cold and starry, but smoke-like wisps of mist crept up the mountainsides. She ate her food and then went on again. She followed a narrow road into the darkness ahead.
At first she calmed herself down by talking to herself, then she hummed, later she marched on in silence and as she was about to climb a steep slope she stopped and turned around certain that someone was following her. But she saw nothing.
She went on for a little longer until the weariness got to her and she needed to rest. Leaving the road she had been following, she went in between the trees and gathered sticks and fallen branches to make a fire. Soon she had a big flame at the foot of a large fir-tree and she sat and stared into it for a while feeling lost and alone. The fact was that she did not know where she was going. Find a unicorn and get dust from its horn? How was she supposed to do that? She didn’t even know any unicorns or where to find them. Were they even real?
She curled up at the great tree’s roots and tried to go to sleep when she thought she heard a sound coming not far from her. She got up holding Manolo’s knife in her hand.
“Who is there?” She yelled.
But she got no answer.
She searched the bushes around her but found nothing. Not even a small animal hiding from her.
Tired and weary she got down on the ground again and was soon fast asleep.
The morning came, pale and clammy. Sara woke up and found that the tree-root she had been sleeping on had made her back hurt and her neck stiff. But she also sensed something else. Someone was there. Close to her. Slowly she grabbed the knife and stood. She pointed the knife out in the air.
“Who are you?”
And that was when she saw the most beautiful creature. A huge white Pegasus was spreading its giant wings. It balked in the sunrise and neighed, kicking its legs in the air.
Sara dropped the knife and stared at the gracious animal. It calmed down and she walked closer to it reaching her hand out for it and talking gently.
“Now there … take it easy … I am not going to hurt you … I am just going to take a look at you.”
The Pegasus’s eyes were flickering and it kept neighing and jumping. Sara reached her hand out and touched its face gently, still talking to it.
“Easy, boy, easy…”
She touched its neck and looked into its brown eyes. In them she saw something she thought she would never see again. If it was a look or an expression or precisely what it was, no one would know but Sara. She recognized an old friend in them.
“Manolo?” she asked.
The horse neighed and bowed down in front of her.
“Is that really you?”
“Indeed it is,” Manolo’s voice said.
Sara smiled and hugged the Pegasus. How happy she was to see her friend again.
“But how … why?”
“I told you I would always be exactly what you needed me to be. Right now you need someone to bring you many miles away in a matter of minutes, and I can help you with that.”
“But I thought you were dead, I mean Sensisaron stepped on you?”
“I told you to trust me.”
Sara hugged him again and held the Pegasus tight.
“I will never doubt you again,” she said. “But why didn’t you tell me about your plan?”
“Would you have followed it through if you had known that I had to die?”
Sara thought for a second.
“Probably not.”
“That is what I thought,” he said.
They looked at each other quietly for a few seconds. Sara couldn’t believe that she had gotten her best friend back.
“So what are we waiting for?” Manolo said.
“What do you mean?”
“Aren’t we supposed to find a unicorn?”
She looked into his eyes and smiled widely.
“You know where to find one?”
“What kind of a helper would I be if I didn’t? Get up!”
Sara climbed the back of Manolo and a few seconds later he soared into the air. The twelve-foot wings flapped on either side of Sara and she just had time to seize him around the neck before he lifted upwards.
Sara urged Manolo forward as they glided quietly through the air.
“The unicorn’s horn has been known to have great healing powers. But it is very hard to get your hands on. Unicorns are extremely rare and very shy. They are wild and ill-tempered animals. Therefore only a few people in history have ever seen them, let alone caught them. They hide deep in the mountains. I know of a small herd living in the Valle de la Felicidad, in Happiness Valley.”
“Is it far away?”
“Only a hundred miles,” he said. He smiled as he flapped with his mighty wings, and Sara felt them rising powerfully beneath her knees. “It should take us about three hours.”
Precisely three hours later they were circling over a small enclosed valley. A herd of animals were grazing quietly in the middle. As Manolo came closer Sara saw they looked like white horses with horns.
“Unicorns
,” she said. Never had a sight like that felt so great to anyone.
Manolo landed on the grass keeping his distance from the herd in order not to scare them. Quietly he kneeled on the ground, so Sara could jump off.
“Unicorns are afraid of everything. If they get scared they hide in mountain caves and we will never find them again. Therefore it is very important that you don’t scare them off.”
“How do I avoid that?”
“The gentle and pensive maiden has the power to tame the unicorn, the legend says.”
“What does that mean?” Sara asked.
“The unicorn, through its intemperance and not knowing how to control itself, for the love it bears to fair maidens forgets its ferocity and wildness; and laying aside all fear it will go up to a seated damsel and go to sleep in her lap,” Manolo continued. “That is what the legend says - according to Leonardo da Vinci."
“So what you are saying is that the unicorn can only be caught by a young girl. Only she can tame its temper and fear?”
“Yes. Just do as I tell you. Approach the unicorns quietly and sit down close to them.”
“Then what?”
“Then you will wait. Eventually it will come to you.”
Sara smiled. That didn’t sound so bad, she thought.
And it wasn’t.
With great caution she approached the her grazing in the valley, hoping not to scare them so they would run away and hide. She sneaked through the high grass and when she thought she was close enough she sat down and waited with her back against a big tree. She watched the herd as time passed by. They didn’t seem to notice her. They kept grazing, every now and then lifting their heads to look at her, but only to bow them again and keep on eating.
Hours and hours passed until the day was over and the sky turned orange in the sunset. Sara sighed deeply fearing that the unicorns would now go to sleep in their caves and not be out again until the morning. Time was not on her side and she felt a lump in her stomach of pressure and stress from not knowing if her brother was even still alive.
The shadows of the trees became long in the grass and soon the sun was gone. Nothing but darkness surrounded her, and finally when the stars came out she dozed off certain that the unicorns had left to spend the night elsewhere.
So it wasn’t supposed to happen this day. Only could she hope that it would happen the very next morning.
She woke up by the feeling that someone was touching her. It was like she had something sitting in her lap. Something living. She opened her eyes and looked down. She was unable to breath. It was the most amazing thing. In her lap was the tiniest little baby unicorn all curled up and sleeping heavily. Careful not to wake it up, she managed to get out her knife and small bag that Manolo had given her. With the tip of the knife she scraped on the twisted horn.
“Only a fingertip of it is enough,” she said quietly to herself while she caught the dust in the small leather-bag. Afterwards she sealed it carefully and put it in her pocket. Then all she could do was to wait for it to wake up so she and Manolo could fly home to her brother. Sara was about to burst with joy. Not knowing that is exactly what having a unicorn sleep on you will do. Make you happy.
Finally, when the sun had risen the baby unicorn opened his eyes and looked at Sara. It yawned and snorted. She dared to pet it. It felt just as soft as it looked. The unicorn rose on its legs looked at her one more time before it galloped back to the herd.
“Thank you,” Sara whispered as she saw it disappear.
Then she, too, got up and walked towards Manolo who was also grazing in the field. He stopped and looked at her as she came closer.
“Let’s go home,” she said as she jumped on his back, and the enormous wings once again rose beneath her.
21
THE HEALING TOUCH
They flew most of the day, maybe more, before Manolo had to stop and get something to eat. The hasty flying was draining his energy and he landed in a small clearing in a forest. The sun was about to set and even though they now were close to the camp, they had to spend the night and fly the rest of the way tomorrow. Manolo was simply exhausted.
Sara wasn’t very hungry. All she could think of was to get back home, but still she ate the rest of the bread in the bag the goblins had given her. She felt anxious and ate in silence.
“Why the long face?” Manolo asked.
Sara swallowed a lump of bread.
“I can tell something is bothering you,” he continued.
She sighed.
“It is just …” then she stopped herself not sure she wanted to share this with him.
Manolo’s eyes were smiling.
“What you saw in the crystal ball scared you, right?”
Again Sara sighed. Manolo always seemed to understand everything.
“Yes. It was just … I mean I seemed so … angry.”
“We never know exactly what the future will bring. What you saw might just be a fraction of something,” Manolo said.
“But will this happen to me? Will I become that angry? Will I do those horrible things that I saw myself do?”
Manolo sighed.
”I don’t know. Maybe it is how you see yourself, maybe it is what you are afraid of becoming, I don’t know what the crystal ball showed you. Sometimes what you see can be deceiving. It is what you believe in your heart that is important.”
“But it keeps tormenting me.”
Manolo looked at her with comforting eyes.
“I told you it would be hard, didn’t I?”
Now Sara smiled as well.
“Yes, you did.”
They would never be able to tell you exactly where it came from. Because they didn’t see it. They didn’t see its red eyes staring at them between the trees, they didn’t hear its heavy breathing and they certainly didn’t see it running towards them with the speed of light.
The only thing they saw was a big black bear jumping at them from the forest, its red eyes lightning with fury and evil.
“Look out!” Manolo yelled as he was the first one to spot the creature of darkness leaping towards them.
Sara saw nothing but black fur in the air, a paw stretched out in the air ready to hit her with its long claws followed by a deep roar. Just in time she jumped to the side and the black bear landed right beside her. She ran to Manolo, but the bear was quickly on top of her, holding her down with its paw. She felt the claws in her back going through her clothes, ripping the skin on her back. The black bear roared again. It made a giant echo on the mountainsides and the trees in the forest.
Manolo neighed and balked. He turned his back to the bear and kicked him in the face, but it didn’t move. Then Manolo leaped into the air and flew towards the bear spewing balls of fire out of his mouth, hitting the bear, making it tumble to the ground. The bear soon after leaped into the air and grabbed onto Manolo’s back causing him fall to the ground.
“No!” Sara yelled when Manolo’s beautiful white body hit the ground. He lay still and she could tell he was alive but bleeding from his leg. He tried to move but couldn’t. He was in too much pain.
Quickly, Sara was on her feet again face to face with the big black bear. For a time the two looked at each other without a word, without a sound. Finally the bear let out a soft dangerous-sounding growl.
“Sara …The Mighty One,” it said. “You don’t look that mighty to me.” The reddish light in the bear’s eyes flickered.
“Who are you?” Sara asked.
The bear roared.
“I am Vault, the black bear.”
“Why have you come here?”
“I was sent to destroy you.”
“Who sent you?”
The bear seemed to be laughing deep from within.
“Those whom I serve. They want you killed.” The bear watched Sara closely. “Not that I can see why. You seem to be just a little girl,” it said.
“Why do they want me killed?”
The bear hissed like an old angry woman.<
br />
“Well I don’t know, do I? And I don’t care,” it said and threw its paw at Sara but missed her.
“How did you know where to find me?”
“I have followed you for days even weeks through the mountains. I picked up your trail right away when I was sent out here. I tracked you day and night – gradually coming closer, through the Singing Cave, Wild Witches Valley through Vamila, the forest of vanity where I almost had you but then I lost the track. You seemed to have vanished into thin air. I went on searching because I knew you had to be here somewhere, and I was about to give up when finally a few minutes ago I picked up your scent again. And here you are.”
The bear raised his head.
Sara took a step backwards.
“Well here I am,” she said. “Come and get me if you can.”
A tremor went through the bear’s body. It came again and again and he seemed to grow stronger and bigger. From its throat came a horrific growling. It grew louder and more rasping, it swelled into a roar that echoed back from the trees and rocks around them. It was the most horrific sound Sara had ever heard. Never again was she to hear anything like it. Then it leaped again and threw Sara to the ground, causing her to severely hurt her back. The bear was on top of her. Growling in her face.
“I am not afraid of you,” she said looking him straight in his eyes. She sensed he could feel that she was fearless and it frightened him. Trying to get her to show fear he growled again and snapped at her with his pointy teeth. But Sara was motionless, even the expression on her face never changed. All she did was keep repeating the great Moeselman’s words in her head.
“Never show fear, they can smell it right away,” he had said. And he was right. Animals of the darkness lived off people’s fear. Without it they could not survive.
By the sight of her fearlessness the black bear seemed to be discouraged. And as she watched this change, something else happened, something that Sara could never have foreseen in her wildest dreams. As she lay on the ground looking the bear straight in his eyes, the bear suddenly disappeared from atop her body. It tumbled to the ground as if some mighty force had attacked it from the forest. Sara heard growling and roaring and sat up. On top of the black bear sat a werewolf. And it wasn’t just any werewolf. It was an acquaintance of Sara’s.