by Paula Boer
The dragon, similar in size to a fruit bat, though covered in scales of precious stones rather than fur, flitted above her. “It’s good to see you in better spirits. I was starting to feel very pale.”
Remorse swamped Gemstone. “I’m sorry. I can’t stop worrying. I don’t know what to do, Tatuk.”
Tatuk was her favourite of all the dragons. He had been one of the first to join her when she discovered the valley. His rainbow scales glimmered as he alighted on her crest, his claws clinging to her mane, and his tail coiled tight. He arched his neck, serrated spines flickering as his body pulsed with many colours. “You should contact the other unicorns. They may know what’s going on.”
Gemstone slumped. “So you keep telling me. Sometimes I think you’re right, but what if they don’t answer? Or what if they think I’m stirring trouble? It might even be me causing the problems.”
Her friend flitted to the ground and scratched at the soil. “Even the worms are dying. Something is amiss with Equinora’s energy. The only way you’re affecting them is by being so miserable.”
Gemstone nibbled at the varied grasses around her. They didn’t taste as sweet as usual. “Who do you think I should contact? Moonglow is Spirit Unicorn, but she’s so peculiar. And from what I’ve overheard, she’s getting frail and forgetful.”
Tatuk folded his wings against his side with a clap, making his potbelly wobble. He trembled in agitation. “Why are we having this discussion again? It must be Diamond. She’ll be thrilled to hear from you.”
Gemstone quivered as if a fly had alighted on her. “She hasn’t called me for years. She’ll more likely be cross I haven’t responded before.”
The dragon’s colour paled. “I can’t stay here with you in this mood.”
Before Gemstone could send love to him, he disappeared. She’d never worked out whether he truly vanished or whether he could fly so fast she didn’t see him go. He was the only dragon she knew who could perform that trick.
Wandering down to drink, she was surprised how many fish congregated in the lake, large and small schooling together, and enemies among their quarry. She had to act. She couldn’t continue upsetting her charges and not doing anything about her worries.
With firm resolution, she trotted to her favourite tree. The low branches of the mighty oak gave shade as well as providing a perch for birds and dragons. The earth was packed hard from her standing in the same place. She concentrated and tried to send out a mind message. Instead, the whistling of the blue jays squabbling over acorns distracted her.
She needed to find a more secluded place. She headed away from the lake, across meadows where flowers bobbed heavy heads, over the forested foothills where leaves rustled, and along trails where animals scurried in panic, all driving her on. She climbed a winding track high into the gorse and scrambled onto a granite ledge. A cool breeze teased her mane and tail.
Shivering, she sought shelter against a low cliff. Far to the northeast, turbulent clouds built into thunderheads, a sight she wasn’t accustomed to. Shimmering Lake usually only received gentle showers, enhancing its colours with prisms of light, every droplet transformed into a rainbow.
She shook off her worries and focused on her task. She had never sought out the other unicorns before. Whenever she heard their communication it had been when she was dozing, unable to shield her mind from their calls. She shut her eyes to picture her dam. Diamond, are you there?
Afraid of a response at the same time as wishing to hear an acknowledgement, Gemstone attempted to visualise where her dam might be. The Light Unicorn had the power to translocate across vast distances, moving from one place to another in an instant. She could be anywhere. The further away she was, the less likely she would hear Gemstone’s call.
She waited.
No answer.
She tried again, several more times.
Still no response.
Now she had decided to send a message, Gemstone determined to contact someone. She widened her communication to include all unicorns. Can anyone hear me?
I can hear you, daughter.
The deep voice jolted her. She shied and slipped on the rock. Echo, is that you?
How many sires do you have?
Although thrilled at making contact, Gemstone froze with surprise.
Won’t you speak to me? You must have something important to say for you to break silence after all these years. Are you in trouble?
Gemstone had never met Echo. Diamond had told her he was a generous and loving soul. All else she knew was that his coat was the rich colour of loam, and his mane and tail were a brilliant emerald like her own coat. She tried to imagine him as she thought of what to say.
Don’t worry about what I look like. How can I help?
She had to share her concerns no matter how strange they sounded. I’m disturbed by a change in the energy. Animals and birds in my territory are preparing for a hard winter even though Shimmering Lake never gets cold. I suffer from bouts of despair like I’ve never experienced. The dragons pale and sicken.
Yes, I’ve sensed it too, though not perhaps as strongly as you. My own dragons are unaffected as yet. It feels like a storm brewing over the land.
Yes! That’s it. Yet I can’t place what’s wrong. Sharing her worries lifted a weight from Gemstone’s mind. She hadn’t been imagining the trouble. Glad she had overcome her fears of contacting the other unicorns, she became eager to talk more.
Her sire interrupted before she could ask what to do. It must be Shadow. I don’t know how or what he’s doing, but he’s a threat to all life.
Diamond had told her of a hotblood with two horns who lived at Obsidian Caves. She shuddered at the image of the black beast thriving on pain and terror. What Echo said made sense. The duocorn must be the source of the cold and darkness. Should we be talking with our minds like this? Won’t he hear us?
No, he can’t communicate like other hotbloods. There’s no need to block.
Only slightly reassured, Gemstone sent a mere thread of thought. So what can we do?
I don’t know the nature of the threat as yet. Now you’ve experienced feelings similar to mine, I’ll try to contact the others. Meanwhile, build up your power reserves.
It was a relief to share her concerns, no longer alone in her distress. Her self-imposed exile had made her lonely. Now she had broken her silence, she buzzed with questions. What do you mean? What power? How do I build reserves?
No answer.
The quiet in her mind left Gemstone as bereft as if she had lost a lover. She occasionally allowed a handsome stallion through the shields of confusion that protected her valley, always ensuring she ate contraceptive herbs to prevent producing a warmblood. Then she grew bored at having to translate for her mate with the other creatures who shared her home, and found their conversations dull. Her sexual desires met, she sent them on their way only to miss them as soon as they left. Now she could communicate with the other unicorns, she need never be lonely again.
She returned to the lake and searched for Tatuk to share her excitement. He would be surprised at who answered her call and keen to hear the news. He might also be able to tell her more about the duocorn. All she had learnt as a foal was that Shadow stank of evil and was as black as the tar seeping from the shales in the far east.
A wide valley spread before Fleet, the glint of water drawing him on. He had never seen anything like this lake before. Although he had seen rainbows, he had never seen water shimmering the same way, every ripple twinkling in bands of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Following a well-worn track, he tested the ground with each step in case this was a hallucination. Had his nightmares become fantastical dreams? But he could sense each pebble beneath his hooves and smell the sweet fragrance of blooms. So many birds sang he couldn’t differentiate their songs.
Foxes played hide and seek
with coneys in their burrows. A golden eagle perched above them in a giant spruce, ignoring the potential meal. A bushy-tailed wood rat scampered among the leatherleaf near a sleeping bobcat. How could such harmony exist between predators and prey? He must be dreaming.
As he approached the vast expanse of water, fish of all sizes splashed in the shallows, throwing up a dazzling spray. He sauntered onto the sandy beach, which glistened like wet crystal. The firm footing massaged his tired soles and sent blood coursing through his body, invigorating him. He halted, content to stand and breathe the clean air as he watched the goings-on around him.
Squirrel dismounted and wandered along the lake edge, singing to grebes and loons where reeds replaced the sandy beach.
Splash!
The surface of the water shattered in myriad sparkling drops, pierced by a glittering opal horn.
Fleet jumped sideways, blowing through flared nostrils.
An emerald head and neck appeared with a ruby forelock and mane. Sapphire eyes exactly like his dam’s gleamed from a broad forehead with a spiral horn.
Fleet stepped back and snorted. Dream or no dream, he’d expected a unicorn to be gentle and loving, not steaming in anger.
The apparition glided ashore, eyes blazing. As her hooves hit firm ground, she lowered her head and aimed her horn straight at Fleet’s chest.
Gemstone charged.
The black horse spun and fled.
Surprised he didn’t fight, she backed off and came to a halt. Maybe this wasn’t Shadow, as she’d feared. He didn’t have horns. But no normal horse could enter her valley through the protective veil without permission. Who are you?
Not even the twitch of an ear showed the horse heard her. She trembled in fear, the lack of response and the emanating stench reaffirming this must be Shadow. Why had he run? Perhaps he meant to lure her away from the safety of the lake, not realising the water only provided sustenance and healing. She couldn’t instruct the waves to defend her like Tempest could control the sea.
She held her position, every muscle taut, fighting the urge to flee to the depths of the lake. “This valley is sacrosanct. Why are you here?”
The horse turned around where he had stopped at the edge of the trees and lowered his head in submission. “I didn’t mean to trespass. I’ve come for help.”
The apology confused Gemstone further. The horse appeared normal, smaller than herself and with no horn. She tested the barrier around her territory with her senses. It remained intact.
Her fear heightened.
“Who are you?” Her voice tinkled like a creek burbling over stones, though inside her a river roared over a waterfall.
The horse took a tentative step towards her, his head lowered. “I’m Fleet. King Streak sent me. We, that is, horses, need your help.”
Gemstone remained tense. “How have you hidden your horns?”
“My horns?” The horse glanced at her before averting his eyes again, and shuffled his feet.
Trying not to take her gaze from the threat, Gemstone spotted a figure crouched near a shrub, his eyes large under raised eyebrows. “You have a man with you. I would have detected his meat-eating stink and your foulness before you got here if I hadn’t been swimming. People have never entered my territory before.”
Stretching every skill to detect any evil, Gemstone sensed no power. She waited for an explanation.
The horse bowed. “I’ve come for help because my dam had a vision showing a horse with twisted horns is threatening everything.”
Gemstone stamped her hoof and tossed her head. “Shadow, the duocorn! If you’re not he, you must be of his creation. I won’t be tricked. Go away and leave me in peace. Tell your master the unicorns will not permit him to despoil Equinora.”
Song unlike any she had ever heard distracted her. The beautiful tunes came from the man’s pipe. She strode nearer to him. “Who are you to travel with this beast?”
The man leapt to his feet, held out one hand, and approached with caution. “You’re real! I couldn’t help but capture your beauty in music. And you can talk my language! The legends don’t mention that. Can you understand me?”
Gemstone stamped in agitation. “Of course I can. I can communicate with all creatures, even people. Unicorn power translates for those we talk to. Explain who you are and why you’re here.”
The young man stopped a short distance from her. “I’m Yuma Squirrel of Waterfalls. My father sent me to find a lifemate, but instead I saved this horse from a wolf and have been travelling with him ever since.”
“Squirrel! So you’re a messenger of danger. This companion of yours can’t be a normal horse. The pair of you would never have been able to enter my valley if that were the case. Yet I sense no duplicity in you. Where did you encounter him?”
Expecting to hear the man had met Shadow’s minion to the northeast, where Obsidian Caves loomed, Gemstone was surprised to hear the tale of their journey.
The man summed up: “So we followed the river until we came to a fork. The going was much better this way. We were chased by a pack of unnatural wolves, but something stopped them. I’ve never seen such beautiful country.”
Gemstone tossed her mane in a flash of red. “That must be why I didn’t detect you entering my sanctuary. I felt the evil rebuffed but you made it through.”
The horse stepped closer and stretched his nose towards her. “Can you understand his mumble?”
So, the horse hadn’t followed their conversation. Maybe he wasn’t Shadow’s tool. The duocorn surely wouldn’t send out one of his warriors so ill-equipped. She cocked one ear as she inspected him closer. He certainly appeared to be a normal horse. “I gather you can’t talk with him, as he has no idea why you’re here.”
Staying on guard, she invited the horse to approach. “Tell me how you came to be travelling with a man rather than both of you staying in your respective herds.”
Before he could answer, Tatuk arrived with outspread wings. “Who’s got a new lover, then? He certainly has the hots for you! Stinky, though.” His colours brightened and pulsed as he alighted on her crest in a flutter, his cheeky laughter filling her ears.
The horse threw back his head in alarm. “What’s that? I’ve never seen a creature of so many colours.”
Surprised that, unlike the man, the horse could see the dragon, Gemstone thrilled that Tatuk’s reaction proved Fleet was no threat. Understanding dawned on her. “You’re a noncorn.”
“A what?”
“Corns, horses with horns, are hotbloods. Normal horses are coldbloods. When the two cross the result is a warmblood. Warmbloods don’t have horns, so are called noncorns.” She studied him further. “Who was your dam?”
“Sapphire, formerly Queen Sapphire of White Water Cliffs, and my sire was King Thunder.” The horse told of Thunder being killed, driving Sapphire into hiding, the bloodwolf attack that killed his dam, and her dying vision.
Gemstone sighed in relief. “It’s your wounds I smell. Come closer and let me heal you. Wounds from wolves get easily infected, particularly if they’ve been scavenging carrion.”
The man rummaged in his pack and extracted the wolf’s incisors. “These are the wolf’s fangs.”
She examined the remains and snorted in disgust. “They’re not just rotten, they’re venomous.”
Squirrel looked at the curved teeth with distaste. “Maybe I should get rid of them. Hardly a worthy gift for a partner, after all.”
“Not in my valley. Wrap them up and hide them until you go. Use anise hyssop and maple leaves.”
She turned back to the horse and glided her nostrils over the length of his back, confirming the stench rose from his sores. Sparks spat like pine sap in a fire as she stroked the wounds with her horn. The gashes closed over. “There’s still poison in your veins. It’ll take time for you to fully recover.”
&n
bsp; “Could that be the cause of my nightmares?”
Considering it likely, Gemstone touched her muzzle to his. “Come and drink from Shimmering Lake and see if that helps.”
With a spring in her step, she anticipated the pleasure of communicating with the other unicorns again. “I’ll contact Echo and see if he’s learnt more. These are worrying times. I don’t want my charges at risk.”
Fleet bounded up the hillside, leaping from boulder to rock shelf. Feeling stronger than any time in his life, he whinnied as he spotted Gemstone ahead. He caught up with her and blew a greeting. “Any more news?”
Gemstone sparkled in the sun. “Echo has spoken with Tempest, but he hasn’t felt any threat at Seashore. Neither of them knows what we should do.”
Fleet tingled from her close proximity, still stunned by her beauty and the existence of a unicorn. Meeting Tress seemed a lifetime ago. The black filly seemed arrogant, naïve, and plain in comparison to Gemstone. Streak had done him a favour by driving him away.
In Gemstone’s territory, forgetting the threat of bloodwolves was easy—until he thought of Sapphire. Terrifying wolves continued to fill his nightmares, despite his dark moods lifting when he woke. Staring north, he shivered. Ominous clouds billowed. Thunder rumbled like a herd of galloping horses. “The winter has a strong hold outside Shimmering Lake.”
Gemstone agreed. “I doubt it’ll be easy with Shadow stirring trouble. A fox arrived yesterday and spoke of fires raging through Dark Woods, even though snow lay thick on the ground. More creatures than ever seek sanctuary.”
Sombred by the reality of suffering animals, they wandered down the mountain. As they reached the grasslands, Tatuk flitted around their heads. Fleet shied, still unaccustomed to the flying rainbow arriving out of nowhere.
After conversing with the cheeky creature, Gemstone changed direction. “Tatuk wants my help in feeding the foxes. A new one still feels the need to eat meat. Come with me if you like.”
Curious how the carnivores fed themselves where no animals were permitted to kill, Fleet trotted along behind. The colours of the dragon intensified as Gemstone sent him love. By the time they reached the vixen’s lair in a hollow under a tree, Tatuk shone as bright as the rainbow surface of the lake in full sun.