The Cowboy and the Unicorn

by Kristyn Gansen

  “I don’t know, Sarah, but you better look at this,” Micah whispered.

  Sarah heard something strange in her brother’s voice, and she slowly got off the ground and came to stand next to Micah.

  Her mouth dropped open too, and she immediately forgot about the goblin gold. Reaching to her face, she removed her glasses, cleaned them on her shirt, and put them back onto her face.

  “Micah…um, what is this? This…this isn’t the clearing we were in before.”

  Micah rubbed his eyes, shook his head, and looked back out into the clearing before him.

  “I don’t know for sure, Sarah, but I think we may have found the goblins.”

  Chapter 4

  “This isn’t what I thought it would be,” Sarah said, turning to her brother. “I thought it would be ugly and scary, but this is beautiful.”

  Sarah ran from the mouth of the cave, trying to take in all the sights at once. Straight ahead, she saw a pond fed by both a waterfall and a water fountain. To one side she saw beds of bright, beautiful flowers, and to the other she saw swings and hammocks for relaxing. Stairs wrapped around tree trunks, leading to tree canopies, where visitors could sit and soak up the sun.

  Sarah started for the stairs, anxious to run around and explore. Micah grabbed her arm and stopped her before she got too far away.

  “I know everything looks exciting here, Sarah, but maybe we should be careful. We don’t really know what this place is about yet,” Micah said.

  Still, everything was amazing. When they’d entered the cave, the shadows had grown long, and the sun had begun to dip behind the trees. Here, the sunshine sparkled from high in the sky. The trees were greener, the air was fresher, and everything felt happy.

  Micah looked toward the sky and tried to take in everything at once.

  “It’s not what I expected either,” Micah said. “Not at all. I thought it would be dirty and gray, almost mean looking. This looks more like a place where fairies live.”

  The beautiful landscape in front of him caused him to stop and question everything he really knew about goblins. He’d seen them in movies and heard stories of them in fairy tales, but when he began to search his mind, he realized he really knew very little of the creatures. Micah expected them to be small and have big foreheads and huge ears. He expected them to move quickly, almost prancing from place to place, and he expected them to be greedy, mischievous, and kind of sinister.

  Micah continued thinking about the goblin he’d created in his mind until his thoughts were interrupted by a voice he didn’t recognize.

  “It’s never what anyone expects! I say it every time, ‘You thought wrong!’”

  Micah caught Sarah’s eye. “Did you hear that?”

  She nodded.

  “It’s beautiful, eh?” the voice said again. “Don’t let the beauty fool you though. Weird things happen in this beautiful place.”

  “Who said that?” Sarah asked, swiveling her head to find the voice. “Where are you?”

  “Down here. Look down here,” the voice said. “By your knees.”

  Sarah and Micah both glanced down, but the only thing they saw was a large red flower standing about six inches away from Sarah.

  “Yes, there. The flower,” the voice said.

  Looking closer, Sarah realized that the flower had eyes and a mouth. A mouth that was moving.

  “You’re a talking flower? What?” Sarah exclaimed.

  “That’s ridiculous,” Micah said, stalking closer to his sister and taking a closer look at the red blossom. “How can that be true?”

  “Never mind how,” the flower said. “Just be careful around here. Watch out for strangers; they aren’t always what they seem.”

  “What does that mean?” Micah shouted as he bent down and touched the red petals.

  Upon Micah’s touch, the flower pulled its petals in and covered its face, refusing to say more.

  “Hey, wait! Is that all? You can’t tell us anything else?” Micah asked.

  The flower stood stiff as a board and said nothing else, almost as if it had never spoken in the first place.

  “Did that really happen?” Sarah asked. “You saw that too, right?”

  “Yeah,” Micah said. “And I guess we’re on our own. Don’t go running off anywhere, and like the flower said, watch out for strangers.”

  With that, Micah trudged out into the forest, his sister close behind.

  It didn’t take long for Sarah to fall completely in love with this new, magical world she’d entered. Everywhere she looked, she saw bright colors, shiny decorations, and unearthly beauty.

  Sarah and Micah walked into the clearing and turned around in a circle as they continued to cross the round opening in the forest. While in the clearing, Sarah noticed the vibrant greenness of the grass and the dainty white flowers growing on the forest edge.

  Across the way, the clearing funneled back into a forest trail. There, Sarah noticed a beautiful white bridge covered by a thatched roof.

  “Let’s go that way,” Sarah said, pointing to the bridge. “It looks cool.”

  Where Sarah saw a beautiful bridge, Micah saw dark shadows.

  “I’m not so sure, Sarah. It looks a little spooky,” Micah said.

  But it was too late. Sarah was already off, sprinting across the clearing and heading straight for the covered bridge.

  That’s exactly what I told her not to do, Micah thought as he hurried to catch up with his sister.

  When he reached her side, Sarah had stopped underneath the covered bridge. She was staring up at the ceiling, looking at six birds sitting in the rafters of the roof. The brightly colored birds seemed unbothered by Sarah’s presence, though they were staring back at her with their heads cocked and curious looks on their faces.

  “They seem to be wondering about me,” Sarah said to Micah. “Do you think they talk, like the flowers?”

  “Ask them.” Turning to the birds, Micah shouted, “Hey, do you guys talk?”

  Each bird was colored differently, but the biggest bird had beautiful iridescent red and blue colors. When Micah called out to her, the bird jumped from her perch and landed just in front of Micah. Her head reached up to Micah’s waist, but she pulled her head back so that she could look up at Micah’s face when she spoke.

  “Of course. You’ll find that nearly everything speaks here. Who are you?”

  “I’m Micah, and this is my sister, Sarah.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  Micah and Sarah looked at each other, unsure of how to respond.

  “Um…that’s a good question,” Micah responded. “My grandmother told us a story about this place, and we set out to find it. We never thought it was actually real; we were just playing a game. And now we’re here.”

  “We don’t get to see many kids around here,” the bird said. “How long are you planning to stay?”

  Micah and Sarah looked at each other again. The bird was asking them all kinds of questions they hadn’t even considered before walking out into the clearing.

  Micah shrugged.

  “Looks like you don’t rightly know,” the bird said. “Well, that’s to be expected, I guess. Here’s my advice: don’t stay too long, and be careful around here. Your eyes can play tricks on you.”

  With that advice, the bird flew back up to its perch in the top of the covered bridge. The other birds welcomed her back with a squawk. She ruffled her feathers, settled back into her spot, and nodded her head toward the far side of the bridge.

  “Move along now,” she said. “We ladies need to get some rest before nightfall.”

  With that, Sarah and Micah looked at one another and nodded, heading through the bridge into another large clearing.

  Chapter 5

  This clearing was different from the last. Instead of a round, cleared space, this area was shaped like a triangle, with short trees making up the edges. The treetops were low enough that Micah and Sarah could see across the tops of them if they stood o
n their tiptoes.

  The clearing was different for another reason too. Off to the side, Micah and Sarah saw a man dressed in jeans, a plaid buttoned-up shirt, and riding gloves. On his head he wore a cowboy hat, and on his feet he wore boots and spurs.

  “A cowboy!” Sarah whispered excitedly. “What is he doing here?”

  “It looks like he’s trying to ride his horse,” Micah said, crouching down behind some of the trees on the edge of the clearing. The warnings from the birds and the flowers were recent in his mind. “It looks like he’s having some trouble though.”

  “His horse looks weird,” Sarah whispered as she crouched down next to her brother. “It looks kind of shiny, and why does it have that spike on its head?”

  “It’s not a spike, silly. It’s a horn.”

  “Oh! It’s a unicorn!” Sarah yelled in excitement as she jumped up from her hiding spot. “It’s beautiful, Micah!”

  Micah grabbed her wrist and yanked her back down to the ground, but it was too late. The cowboy had seen the two of them and called out across the clearing.

  “Who’s there?” he yelled. He whipped his head around, turning his body from side to side looking for the person whom he’d heard shouting.

  Sarah began to stand up, but Micah grabbed her wrist again.

  “What? We should help him!” Sarah said to her brother.

  “Are you crazy? Didn’t you hear what the bird and the flower said? How do you know he’s a good guy? And how do you know he even needs help?”

  “He’s trying to ride a unicorn, Micah. Everyone knows you don’t ride unicorns,” Sarah said. “How dangerous can he be?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t want to find out. I’m heading back to the cave and going back to Grandma’s. Maybe I’ll be there before dinnertime. And oh yeah, I will be safe.”

  “OK, Micah. You do that. I’m going to help the guy in need over there.” Sarah said. “If that was you, you would want someone to help, wouldn’t you?”

  She jumped to her feet and sprinted across the clearing, heading straight for the cowboy.

  “Hi! Do you need help?” Sarah asked.

  The cowboy turned to her and grinned a grateful smile. “I sure do, little missy. I’m glad you’re here, but I’m not totally sure how you can help me get this horse under control. Er, I mean, unicorn.”

  “Why are you trying to ride a unicorn?” Sarah asked.

  The cowboy wiped the sweat from his forehead. He gently held onto the unicorn with the rope he’d tied around her neck, almost like a lasso.

  “She wasn’t a unicorn when I started. This here used to be my horse, but we stopped in a cave to cool off. When we came out, my horse here turned into a unicorn, and now she refuses to let me ride her.”

  Sarah nodded, knowing exactly what the cowboy was talking about.

  “Did the cave have weird flower drawings in it?” Sarah asked.

  “Well, yes, it did. How did you know?” the cowboy said.

  “We came from there too. That’s how we ended up in Hogar Haven.”

  “Hogar Haven? What are you talkin’ about?” the cowboy asked, just as Micah caught up to his sister.

  Micah doubled over and put his hands on his knees in an effort to catch his breath. When he stood back up, Sarah reached out to hold his hand. She wasn’t sure if she was trying to comfort herself or her brother, but she knew she wanted him close by. Finally, as she talked to the cowboy, Sarah realized that something weird was going on around here too.

  “Who’s that?” the cowboy asked, looking at the link between Sarah and Micah.

  “This is my brother, Micah. I’m Sarah. Who are you?”

  “I’m Mark,” the cowboy said. “I’d say nice to meet you, but this isn’t exactly my day. I hope yours is going better.”

  Sarah smiled and decided she liked Mark. He seemed frank and honest, she thought.

  That’s why she decided to tell him everything she knew about their current predicament.

  “Yes, ours is good so far! This magic land is interesting, at least. Did you come through that bridge?” Sarah said, turning and pointing at the covered bridge.

  He nodded.

  “Did you talk to the birds in there?” Sarah asked.

  “Birds? There were no birds in there when I came through,” the cowboy said.

  “I see. How long have you been here?” Sarah asked.

  “All day,” Mark said. “I was riding my horse on that state forest land there, and this is where we ended up. I’m trying my best to get home, but I’m not going to leave my horse here, even if she did turn into this unicorn.”

  Sarah turned to Micah. Without saying anything, she shrugged her shoulders and opened her eyes wide, asking Micah if it was OK to help now.

  “Fine,” Micah grunted, turning to the cowboy. “How can we help?”

  Chapter 6

  It didn’t take Micah long to realize that Mark was physically exhausted and more than anything just needed a break from trying to wrangle the unicorn.

  “You sit down for a minute,” Micah said. “We will hold her for you.”

  After he handed the rope to the children, the cowboy sat down on a rock and reached for his saddlebag. Pulling out a canteen, Mark took a long drink of water. He smacked his lips and recapped the bottle. Again, he reached into his bag and this time pulled out a sandwich.

  Watching him gave Micah an idea.

  “Do you have any other food in there?” Micah asked. “Perhaps a carrot or an apple?”

  “Yeah, carrots,” the cowboy said.

  “I’ve got an idea,” Micah said. “What if we try to calm the unicorn with a carrot stick, just like they do in the cartoons we watch on Saturday mornings. Do you think that would work?”

  “Kid, at this point, anything is worth a shot,” Mark said desperately. “Have at it.”

  Micah handed the rope to Sarah, walked toward the cowboy, and reached into the pack, pulling out two huge carrots for the unicorn.

  Once he found what he was looking for, Micah headed back toward the unicorn, and the unicorn calmed almost instantly.

  “It’s as if she knew I was bringing this food over here just for her,” Micah said.

  Micah held the carrot out in front of the unicorn and slowly began to inch backward, heading in the direction of the bridge.

  “I see what you’re doing! If we can get her to calmly follow us back to the cave, maybe we can get out of here,” Sarah said.

  Micah nodded, but not before a horrible, ear-shattering sound started all around them. It sounded like cicadas, only much louder, much closer, and much more menacing. Sarah could feel the noise vibrating throughout her body, right down to her bones.

  “What is that?” Sarah asked, covering one ear with her hands and pressing her other ear into her shoulder. When that didn’t work, she raised the hand with the rope to her other ear.

  “I have no idea,” Micah said, but I think we should get out of here. He looked toward Mark. “Do you think she will follow me if I run with this carrot?”

  “There’s no telling, but right now I think it’s worth a shot!” the cowboy screamed.

  At just that moment, a puff of smoke appeared on top of one of the short trees. When the smoke cleared, Sarah, Micah, and Mark were greeted by a small creature with green-gray skin, a huge forehead, and pointy ears. His teeth were sharp, and his nose was tiny, but his beady little eyes stuck out more than any of his other facial features.

  “Well, hello there,” the goblin said. He tented his fingers and leaned forward at the waist, reaching his body toward Micah and the carrot. “I’ve been watching you children since you came into my forest. I hope you’re enjoying your time here.”

  Micah gulped and swallowed. Sarah covered her eyes with her hands but split her fingers so should could peek at the goblin. Mark remained hidden in the trees at the edge of the clearing.

  “I know you want to take that unicorn out of my forest, but I’m afraid you won’t be able to do that now,�
� the goblin said. “This unicorn here is mine. It will make a delicious meal for my family, so I can’t have you taking it from the forest today, children.”

  At that, Mark burst from the edge of the clearing, a horsewhip in hand. He cracked the whip in the air, making a loud sound as he did so. The goblin turned in the cowboy’s direction, surprised to see the man in the clearing. “You ain’t takin’ my horse!” the cowboy hollered, his voice full of anger.

  “Run!” Micah screamed.

  Micah took off toward the bridge, but not before he showed the carrots to the unicorn one last time.

  Chapter 7

  The unicorn followed Micah toward the bridge, with Sarah and Mark hot on its tail. Once they reached the round clearing, the cowboy sprinted ahead of Sarah and Micah, encouraging the children to keep pace as he ran past. Once in front, Mark turned to the siblings, waving his arm, indicating that they should follow him.

  Micah did the best he could to keep up, but it didn’t take long for his lungs to start burning. Just when Micah thought he couldn’t run anymore, the cowboy ducked behind a row of pine trees.

  Micah and Sarah both doubled over with their hands on their knees, trying to catch their breath.

  Micah felt a nudge at his hand. He peeked out from under his hair to see the unicorn reaching for the carrot with her mouth. Micah gave the carrot to the unicorn and patted her on the neck.

  “Good girl. I’m glad you followed us. Er…the food,” Micah said to the animal, still panting.

  Sarah stood up and looked around. “What in the world was that? And what are we going to do now?” she whispered.

  All three of them stood up and looked at one another, unsure of what to say.

  “Um, it was a goblin, I guess. I think we have to find a way to get out of here before he comes back, but my horse still is not herself. I just don’t know what to do!” Mark wailed.

  Micah looked at the ground and scratched his head. Sarah put both hands on top of her head and looked at the sky. Both appeared to be searching for a way to help the cowboy solve his problem.