The Darkest Unicorn

by Alice Hemming

  “I was so foolish.”

  Thandie nodded. “But you were not the only one.” She gestured to the rest of the group. “Dozens of people gave their memories away.”

  Linnell stared at Thandie, her blue eyes wide. “But not you. You were stronger.”

  Thandie shook her head. “No. I nearly gave away everything, just like the rest of you. For something that I badly wanted.”

  More tears welled in Linnell’s eyes. She seemed to Thandie like someone who would cry a lot. Unlike her, Thandie rarely cried. She patted Linnell on the back and Linnell took a deep, shuddering breath. “I am so happy of course to be rescued and to be going home to my father but…” She trailed off.

  Thandie thought she understood. “It means you are going back to your old life?

  “Yes. It feels as though I had my one chance to improve my life and now that has gone—”

  “No. I know what you’re thinking, but it’s simply not true. You never run out of chances. It is not a choice between having your dreams magically granted or spending the rest of your life on your father’s farm.”

  Linnell answered softly. “I don’t see how.”

  Thandie held the other girl by the hands, speaking to her as if their ages were reversed.

  “You can make a difference to your own life. Study hard. If you educate yourself then there will always be a chance for you. Do you understand?”

  Linnell nodded. “Maybe one day, when the farm is mine, I could sell it, or join up with one of the bigger farms in Arvale…”

  “Yes,” cried Thandie. “You can achieve anything you want, and in the meantime you know that your father loves you an unimaginable amount. With his support, you can do anything.”

  There was silence for a moment. Thandie hoped that Linnell really meant these things, that life might change a little for her when she went home.

  “What about you?” said Linnell. “Are you happy with your life? What do you plan to do after all this is over?”

  Thandie thought for a moment. “I think … that my life was actually not as bad as I thought and maybe for a time I can be happy with things the way they are. Also, like you, I have people who love me, although it has taken me a long time to realize that.”

  A few of the others had begun to stand, looking ready to resume the journey. Thandie’s feet were still sore and throbbing but she knew it was time to go. “Let’s carry on, it can’t be far now.”

  Linnell agreed. “But will you lead us? You’re a better leader than me. I shall walk at the back and make sure that no one strays from the path.”

  Thandie stood. “Yes, I’ll lead.” She rummaged in the holder for Sander’s pipe – her pipe now. “And I shall play, to keep our spirits up.”

  They set off again. As she put the pipe to her mouth, her fingers tingled. She was itching to play, she realized. Something had happened. Something to do with Sander giving her his pipe and then sacrificing himself for them. Was it a kind of magic? Thandie had to play. It might be two or more hours yet, but she would play until they were all safely down from the mountain.

  She played the happiest tunes she knew. She played marching songs, celebration songs, the Arvale harvest song and the Essendor wintertide song. She played all of their songs. When she played Linnell’s song, a little yellow bird fluttered past, and made its way along the line of people, almost as if it was looking for someone.

  DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN

  Yannick

  That evening, Linnell’s father splashed his evening milk over the rim of his cup. The sun was setting and the old man found it increasingly hard to see when the light was dim.

  He took the warm drink out to his porch and sat, gazing at Mount Opacus and its two Sentries as he did every evening. Every evening he hoped to see a smiling girl with straw-coloured hair walk around the corner, back to him. There had been many disappointing evenings but since the visit from the strange, bold girl and her shifty-looking companion, his hope had been renewed. He was not the only one looking for his precious daughter: other people were looking for the stolen ones and one day they would succeed.

  He took a few sips of his drink as he stared into the dark green mass of trees, halfway up the nearest mountain. The appearance of the trees changed according to the slant of the sun or the position of the clouds, but this evening, there was something different. Far away on the mountainside were some unfamiliar dots. He rubbed his eyes. Herds of goats and cows lived on these slopes, and he had seen them do many strange things. He had known dairy cows that walked in line and queued politely, but the creatures he was looking at now were not cows. It was hard to see that distance but, unless he was very much mistaken, the creatures were people.

  He watched them for some minutes, peering and squinting until he was quite, quite sure that this was not the hopeful imaginings of an old man. Then, he heard a sound. A pretty, trilling sound that he hadn’t heard for two years. A pretty bird flew past, and a flash of yellow caught his eye. “Sunbeam,” he whispered, as the little canary, still singing, perched briefly on top of its old cage.

  Yannick left his cup of milk on the porch, found his walking stick by the door and went directly to Madam Lavande’s, still in his slippered feet. This time he wasn’t going to tell any brave young men, who would insist he stay at home. He knew that Madam Lavande would understand, even though she was a good ten years younger than him.

  She was sitting out on her own porch as she did every evening.

  He went right up to her, touched her arm. He dispensed with any formal greeting and said, “I need to go to the mountain. They are coming back.”

  Madam Lavande didn’t question who was coming back, or what could be important enough for her to leave the house at such an hour. Instead, she shuffled inside to get a shawl and her wooden clogs, and then offered a steady arm to Yannick to guide him to the foothills.

  They moved slowly. Yannick felt every tree root beneath his feet and his hip joints protested at the distance, but he had to do this. Sunbeam fluttered along with them and then disappeared in the direction of the mountain. They reached the spot where the mountains met the woods, but a fast stream ran past, preventing them from progressing any further. They stood by the stream, watching and listening. The dots from the mountain must be drawing nearer because he could hear pipe playing – a marching song. He recognized the clear sound of that particular instrument, which, he was fairly certain, was the one that the boy had played in his kitchen. Had they succeeded, and brought his Linnell back to him?

  Other people started to gather by the stream. Whether they had seen the procession of people, as Yannick had done, or whether them pipe playing had roused them from their beds, farmers and their families arrived by the side of the stream.

  The first person emerged from the trees. It was not the pipe-playing boy. Instead it was the bold girl with the warm eyes and the dark hair, playing his pipe like an expert. His heart pounded in anticipation. Thandie. That was her name. She had promised him. He tried to catch her eye from across the river but she was too far away to see him. Why was she playing now, and not the suspicious-looking boy who had accompanied her? She stood to the side and continued playing, turning to face the trees from which she had just emerged. Her expression was difficult to read.

  Another girl, who looked familiar to Yannick, emerged from the trees. She was about the age that Linnell had been when she was stolen away and looked tired but unhurt. A woman to Yannick’s right screamed in recognition, then shouted, “Posy! Posy my love! You’ve come back.” She ran towards her, splashing and wading through the river, which reached up to about her knees, soaking her long skirts.

  The girl – Posy – gazed around looking confused. First she glanced at Thandie and at the faces across the stream. Then she saw the woman and her hands flew to her face. “Mama! Is it you?” She ran to meet her mother and they hugged each other tightly.

  But Yannick didn’t watch their emotional reunion for long. He kept his eyes on the people coming
into view. A boy followed, and then two more girls. Then more and more children.

  The waiting people moved large stones and branches into the water so that the children could cross without getting wet. They ushered them over and welcomed them, fretting around them. Most of them, of course, did not have families to greet them, as word had not yet travelled that far, but every so often a shout would go up, indicating that one of the Arvale children was safely home.

  Yannick just stood, holding on to Madam Lavande’s arm and watching each new face appear. She patted his hand gently and continuously, saying nothing. Every time he saw a blonde head, his heart stopped for a moment, but he did not find the beloved face he was looking for. Was it possible that Linnell had changed beyond all recognition in the two years she had been missing? He did not believe this to be possible. Surely he would recognize her anywhere. Anyway, the children that had appeared were all younger that Linnell would be now.

  The children kept coming. There were so many of them and yet Linnell wasn’t there. The stream of children became a trickle and then stopped. He felt that if she didn’t appear then he might give up living right there and then. But there in the shelter of the trees, he saw one last person coming down the mountainside. Was it his imagination, or did she have straw-coloured hair? And a little yellow bird fluttering alongside her?

  Before he trusted his eyes, he trusted his ears. The pipe playing stopped and a single, sweet voice sang out in the stillness of the morning. A voice he thought he might never hear again.

  “To me you are the mountain,

  To me you are the sea,

  To me you are the forest,

  You’re everything to me.”

  The old man staggered forwards, faster than he’d imagined he would ever walk again, using his stick to propel him. Madam Lavande was left behind. A couple of the villagers helped him on to the makeshift stepping-stones and somehow he was across and stumbling towards the lower slopes of the mountain.

  That was when Linnell saw him. She broke away from the mountain path, half-running, half-sliding down the green slope. He stopped, leaning on his walking stick, and she ran towards him, thudding into him with such force that it was surprising the elderly man wasn’t knocked to the ground. But they were supporting each other, clasped in each other’s arms with tears pouring down their faces.

  WATCHING

  Thandie

  There was nobody at the foot of the mountain to greet Thandie. She had known there wouldn’t be, but it was still hard to watch the lucky Arvale children greet their families. Especially Linnell.

  Thandie had stopped playing when she heard Linnell sing. She didn’t want to spoil the moment between Linnell and Yannick. Thandie sat on the rock, knees pulled up to her chest, staring at father and daughter. There was such love between them.

  If she saw her mother after all these years, what would it be like? Thandie felt sure she would recognize her, but would she recognize Thandie? She had been tiny child and now she was almost an adult – taller probably than her mother had been. But Thandie felt surprisingly empty at the thought. Her mother was like a dream to her now – a dream that she would always hold but that she would no longer build her life around.

  Watching Linnell hug her father, Thandie knew that there were three people – three solid, real, living people – who would greet her in that way. And after she had eaten a warm meal, had a bath and seen all the stolen ones head home, then she knew exactly where to find them.

  HEADING HOME

  Thandie

  Thandie stayed that first night with Linnell and her father. Not in Linnell’s room this time, but in the kitchen, the table pushed against the wall. The people of Arvale sent messengers on horseback to all the towns and cities in the kingdom to spread the news, but it would take a couple of days at least for them to reach Essendor, and still more time to send all the children home again. Thandie could not bear to wait any longer. Besides, Linnell and her father had a lot of talking to do and didn’t need a visitor getting in the way.

  Her legs were worn out. They had begun to wobble at the end of the long journey home, but now, they ached worse that she had ever known. It was agonizing to climb up or down steps, or to sit down or stand up. Still, despite feeling unable to take another step, Thandie felt it would be more painful to wait.

  So, when Thandie heard Linnell get up with the sun, and leave for the cow barn, she got up herself and scribbled a farewell note which she left on the kitchen table.

  She hoped that she and Linnell meet again one day but couldn’t face a goodbye in person. The last few days had been far too emotional already. She pulled on her battered boots and took one last look at Linnell’s view. She squinted up at the thick clouds above Mount Opacus, still surprised that there was no sign of a castle. It was as if she had dreamed the whole thing. She mentally said her own goodbyes and then trudged around the back of Linnell’s cottage, towards the woods.

  Thandie planned to travel east, using the low road around the mountain. She couldn’t face going up; she doubted she would ever want to set foot on another mountain. She walked through the brightening meadows, then into the shadows of the forest, where it was still dark. As she had told Sander many times, Thandie wasn’t scared of the dark, but she was still alert to dangers that could be lurking. She found herself reaching for the pipe, which she knew had a certain power of protection. She put it to her lips and felt safer, knowing that she could scare a wild animal away, or charm another animal to be on her side. She realized then that she probably also had the power to charm people to be on her side, as Sander had done. What a great responsibility that was.

  Something moved in the bushes. It was only a small movement, but Thandie had spent enough time out in the natural environment to know that it was not a bird or a rodent; it was a larger animal than that. She stopped, listened. She could hear its breath. She held her own breath and faced the bushes. She was patient. She would make a decision on what to do when she knew exactly what she was facing.

  Then, out of the bushes poked a familiar furry face. Grey and white with a long snout and distinctive yellow eyes.

  “Kemi! How did you find me?”

  The wolf stepped slowly out from her hiding spot and pushed her head into Thandie’s hand. Thandie had not expected to see Kemi or any of the flying wolves again. She hadn’t realized that they even ventured this far down the slopes. She thought that they were animals of the mountains. And of the air, of course. Thandie looked around for the rest of the pack.

  “Have you come on your own?”

  Kemi stared at Thandie, her yellow eyes blinking slowly. Thandie met her gaze. Sander had told her not to stare directly at a wolf but this was not that sort of look. Kemi trusted her and had come to find her.

  She realized she still had the pipe in position and began to move her fingers instinctively. She didn’t think about the notes or the tune but she played the memory of meeting the wolves. She played the tumbling cubs and the first sight of the alpha pair and Sander’s charming song and her own delight.

  And Kemi understood. With her ears pricked up to the music, she came and stood at Thandie’s side, where Thandie could feel her warm furry flank rippling with her steady breath.

  When Thandie had finished playing, Kemi began to walk slowly away and Thandie thought for a moment that their time together was over. Perhaps Kemi had simply come to say goodbye. But then the she-wolf stopped some distance away and turned her head and shoulders towards Thandie.

  Thandie thought she understood. “You want me to follow you, don’t you?”

  So Thandie followed, taking a wolf’s path through the forest, which involved walking through long grass and past prickly branches. Thandie didn’t have the same thick fur as Kemi and soon found that her arms and legs were covered in scratches, but she kept on, at Kemi’s pace, wondering where they were heading.

  When they were through the forest, out in a wide meadow, Kemi lay down with her chin on the ground and her forepaws ben
t as she had done in the hills of Wending. Thandie knew what this meant. Kemi was offering her a ride. She laughed and climbed carefully on to the wolf’s back. They sat for a moment as she tried to remember how Sander had told the wolves where they wanted to travel. It was a bit different to travelling by coach. She couldn’t just hop in and speak to the driver. Or maybe speaking to the driver was exactly what she should do.

  “I need to get to Essendor. Do you know where that is?” Thandie pointed over the Grey Mountain in the direction of the capital.

  Thandie didn’t know if Kemi understood the words or the gesture but she really felt that the message got through. In some ways she didn’t mind where Kemi took her, as long as it wasn’t back to the castle in the clouds.

  This time, rather than adopting her “launch” position, Kemi stood and began to run. It was a bumpy ride, but Thandie managed to hold on. Once they had reached what Thandie guessed must be top speed, Kemi unfolded her wings in a swift movement. With a couple of giant flaps, the pair flew off the ground. Last time, they had begun their journey at mountain height but this time, they had to reach that same height from ground level.

  Kemi threw back her head and pointed her nose into the air so that she was in an almost vertical position. Thandie’s legs were positioned behind Kemi’s wings as she’d been shown, and she slid rapidly backwards towards Kemi’s tail end. She threw herself forwards, close to Kemi’s body, gripping the bony base of her wings.

  In a few seconds, the sharp ascent was over and they were horizontal once again. Kemi panted rapidly – it had been hard work for her – and Thandie patted her back. She adjusted her position and relaxed a little now that she wasn’t petrified of falling off. She was lightheaded from the sharp ascent but managed to ease the pressure in her ears by yawning. Kemi yawned too, perhaps for the same reason. They were now level with the peaks, in the light white mist of the clouds. Down below, in the foothills of the mountains above Arvale, Kemi saw a figure with a wooden pail. Linnell. Thandie waved and Linnell dropped the pail, open-mouthed. She waved back, a great big wave with both arms. Thandie was glad that she had seen her. A personal farewell would have been too painful, but the note on the table didn’t seem quite enough. She hoped that Linnell would settle happily back into her old life but also that she wouldn’t give up on her dreams.