Gotta Warn the Unicorns!

by Nancy Krulik

  “Unicorns are different from people, Filippo,” Gordon reminded him.

  That is true. But Princess Pulverizer figured most likely the old unicorn’s fur was green and yellow because he was hiding among trees that had green leaves and yellow flowers.

  Clearly Gordon had not read the book Unicorns from A to Z.

  “Are you sure it was an actual unicorn?” Filippo asked Gordon. “Maybe it was a horse.”

  “Horses don’t have beards or horns,” Gordon told him. “I should’ve grabbed him when I had the chance. But I felt sorry for him. He was so feeble. It didn’t seem like a fair fight. I figured the king would surely be fooled by that old walrus horn I got at a market.”

  Princess Pulverizer was impressed. What a knightly thing of Gordon to do! He would have gotten away with it too—if she hadn’t opened her big mouth.

  “Well, we have to catch him now,” Humphrey insisted. “We have a direct order—and very empty stomachs—to fill.”

  “I don’t think King Harvey will be satisfied with just one horn,” Gordon said. “What’s going to happen when he breaks it?”

  “He is always breaking things,” Filippo agreed. “Remember when he was about to toast the Queen of Hammerhousen, and a bird tweeted outside the window? He got so scared he dropped the glass.”

  “When he breaks the horn, we’ll go hungry again,” Gordon said. “We should get him some spares.”

  “If there’s an old unicorn around, younger ones can’t be too far away,” Humphrey suggested. “We can track them down and get all their horns.”

  “Let’s head out first thing in the morning,” Filippo added. “We are excellent animal trackers. I bet we’ll be eating again by lunch!”

  This was even worse than Princess Pulverizer had feared. She had to warn the unicorns! Without thinking, she slipped from behind the curtain and raced to the door.

  The knights stared at her with surprise.

  “Where’d she come from?” Gordon asked as she whizzed by him.

  “Do you think she heard us?” Filippo wondered.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Humphrey told them. “She’s just some princess. What can she do to stop us?”

  Humphrey was a fool. She wasn’t just some princess. She was Princess Pulverizer. And she was going to stop the knights from harming the unicorns. They would just have to wait and see.

  Chapter 7

  “Halt! Who goes there?”

  Princess Pulverizer stopped at the castle gates and looked up at the thirty two guards.

  “Princess Serena. I’m leaving.” Princess Pulverizer was surprised how much easier the name Serena came to her lips now.

  “Leaving?” the guard asked. “Do you have permission? King Harvey doesn’t like us opening the gates for just anyone.”

  “Why would I need permission to leave?” Princess Pulverizer asked him. “What threat is someone who isn’t going to be here anymore?”

  The guards looked at one another. The princess got the feeling no one had presented them with that idea before.

  “Fine.” The tallest guard pushed open the gate and looked onto the street. “Where’s your carriage?”

  Uh-oh.

  “I’m . . . um . . . walking,” Princess Pulverizer said. “My guards and carriage have still not returned.”

  “Princesses don’t walk alone at night,” the guard insisted.

  “This princess does,” Princess Pulverizer replied defiantly. “We’re not all alike, you know.”

  With that, the princess shot off like a jackrabbit, only stopping when she found a quiet alleyway, far from the castle walls.

  Princess Pulverizer took a moment to catch her breath, and finally let out a loud nightingale whistle.

  Then she waited for Dribble and Lucas to come running to her side.

  And waited.

  And waited some more.

  Clink. Clank.

  The princess heard the sound of armor coming in her direction.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  The ground began to shake.

  Gulp. Had the king’s knights figured out Princess Pulverizer was a real threat to their plans? Were they coming to stop her? The princess’s heart pounded so hard she thought it might leap out of her chest. Until . . .

  “Sorry it took us a while,” Dribble apologized as he, Lucas, and Fortune came racing toward her.

  What a relief! The ground had been shaking under Dribble’s weight. And the clinking armor she’d heard belonged to Lucas.

  “We had trouble with Fortune,” Lucas explained. “He wanted a bite of someone’s roses, so he stuck his head between the fence posts.”

  “Then he couldn’t get his head out,” Dribble added.

  “You’re always getting into trouble, aren’t you?” Princess Pulverizer said. She petted the unicorn’s head. Yuck! “Why is he greasy?”

  “Butter,” Dribble said. “We used it to make him slippery so we could slide him loose.”

  Princess Pulverizer wiped her hands on her red-and-white dress. No need for a napkin here.

  “It’s worse than we thought,” she said, getting straight down to business. “The knights don’t just want to capture the old unicorn. They want to capture all the unicorns.”

  “We have to stop them!” Lucas declared.

  “Obviously,” Dribble agreed. “But how?”

  Lucas and Dribble both stared at the princess, hoping she had a plan.

  “I have no clue,” she said. “But I do know the old unicorn is hiding among some willow trees.”

  “Are you sure?” Lucas asked her.

  “Pretty sure,” she admitted. “According to a knight named Gordon, the tree where the unicorn was hiding had drooping branches. And he said the old unicorn had a yellow and green coat. Willows have drooping branches with green leaves and yellow flowers. I think the unicorn changed colors to blend in.”

  “It makes sense,” Dribble said. “Willows give a lot of shade. An old unicorn would want to be somewhere cool and comfortable.”

  “I’m sure the other unicorns know that, too,” Princess Pulverizer agreed. “Which means they’ll look for him among some willows. And if Gordon goes back to where he first saw the old unicorn, and the other unicorns should happen to arrive when the knights do—”

  The princess stopped midsentence. She didn’t want to think about what might happen.

  “We have to get to him quickly,” Princess Pulverizer said instead. “It’s getting late, and the knights are going to start looking for the unicorns at dawn.”

  “How would someone go about tracking a unicorn anyway?” Lucas wondered.

  “Start looking for clues, I suppose,” Dribble replied. “Like fur that’s been shed, or hoofprints.”

  “That’s it!” Princess Pulverizer exclaimed suddenly.

  “What’s it?” Lucas asked her.

  “Hoofprints,” she replied. “If the knights are tracking unicorns, we’re going to set them off track. Really off track!”

  * * *

  “Do you think the knights will be fooled by these?” Lucas held up the clay shoe he’d just crafted. The sole was shaped exactly like a unicorn’s hoof.

  “I hope so.” Princess Pulverizer carefully slipped her foot into one of the clay shoes she’d sculpted and smiled up at Dribble. “You’re right. This mud dries really fast.”

  The princess began to walk around. Everywhere she stepped she left a unicorn hoofprint. It worked!

  “Everybody have clay shoes on?” Princess Pulverizer asked Dribble, Lucas, and Fortune.

  Her friends all nodded. Well, Lucas and Dribble did anyway. Fortune was busy dining on a daffodil. Then again, he didn’t need clay shoes to leave unicorn tracks.

  “All we have to do is run around leaving fake tracks for the knights to follow,” Princess Pulverizer instr
ucted. “Just be sure to stay away from any place real unicorns might be actually hiding—like flower gardens.”

  “Speaking of which, I’d better keep an eye on Fortune,” Dribble said. “I don’t want him running off to feast on someone’s forget-me-nots.”

  “Perfect,” Princess Pulverizer agreed. “We’ll meet behind the cottages near the castle just before dawn.”

  The princess reached into her knapsack and yanked out a candle that she had found in Sir Surly’s cottage, back when she and her friends had been in Yabko-kokomo.

  She pulled out her sword. It felt good to have her weapons back—even if this time the sword of truth was only being used to cut a candle into three parts, making sure to leave a small piece of wick at the top of each one.

  “These will light your way,” she said as she handed the bits of candle to her friends. “Now let’s make tracks!”

  Chapter 8

  Princess Pulverizer yawned and rubbed her eyes. It had been a long night. She’d walked for miles leaving fake hoofprints in places unicorns would never actually go.

  It would be nice to close her eyes for a few minutes. Then she—ZZZZ . . .

  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

  Dribble’s thunderous shout bolted Princess Pulverizer upright from her slumber.

  “How can you sleep?” the dragon demanded. “The sun is almost up. Those knights are about to go on their hunt.”

  The princess blinked twice and looked up at Dribble, Fortune, and Lucas.

  “I wasn’t sleeping,” she insisted.

  “Are you kidding?” Dribble asked. “You were snoring louder than a yeti.”

  Princess Pulverizer was about to reply when she heard the familiar sound of a trumpet blaring. She knew what that meant.

  “Come on!” The princess scrambled to her feet. “The hunt has started!”

  * * *

  “I can’t believe they’re falling for those fake hoofprints I left,” Princess Pulverizer said. The sun was bright now, and she and her pals were hiding behind a clump of trees, watching the knights on their hunt. “Everyone knows unicorns don’t use public bathrooms.”

  “They don’t use private bathrooms, either.” Lucas giggled.

  “No unicorns in here,” Gordon shouted to the others as he walked out of the outhouse. “But it does smell beastly.”

  “I found more tracks!” Filippo called.

  Gordon and Humphrey went running.

  Princess Pulverizer and her pals snuck quietly behind some fences and a building, following them.

  “These lead to Mr. Wasserbagel’s bakery,” Filippo said. “I’m hungry. Maybe we can get a cookie while we look?”

  “King Harvey said no eating until we bring him that horn,” Gordon replied.

  “The door’s locked anyway,” Humphrey added.

  Gordon looked around the side of the shop. “Here are some other tracks,” he said. “They seem to be pointing toward Farmer Silosorter’s fields, leading toward the corn maze he created for the harvest festival.”

  “Wow! Look at the size of those hoofprints,” Humphrey added. “That unicorn must be massive. I bet he’s the leader!”

  Dribble stood tall and puffed his green chest proudly.

  “Don’t get any ideas,” Princess Pulverizer whispered. “Your feet—and therefore your shoes—are just bigger than ours. That doesn’t make you the leader.”

  The princess and her pals continued sneaking behind the knights as they followed more hoofprints.

  “I think they’re hiding in here!” Gordon exclaimed, stopping at the edge of a large corn field.

  “You guys left hoofprints in the corn maze?” Princess Pulverizer asked Dribble.

  “Now it’s a uni-corn maze.” Dribble laughed. “You’re not the only one who can tell a good joke.”

  “These tracks lead right,” Filippo said.

  “But those lead left,” Humphrey added.

  “And some go straight ahead,” Gordon noted.

  CLANG.

  CLINK.

  CLONK.

  “Watch where you’re going!” Princess Pulverizer heard Gordon yell as his armored body banged into one of his friends.

  “You crashed into me!” Humphrey argued.

  “Those knights will be lost in that maze for hours,” Dribble boasted.

  “Giving us enough time to find the real unicorns,” Princess Pulverizer said. “At least I hope so.”

  Chapter 9

  Aaachoooo! Dribble sneezed loudly.

  “Quiet,” Princess Pulverizer warned. “You don’t want to scare the old unicorn if he’s hiding behind those trees.”

  “I can’t help it. I’m allergic to willows,” Dribble replied.

  “The old unicorn isn’t here,” Lucas said as he peered under the branches of a big willow tree. “This is the third grove we’ve searched. I doubt we’re ever going to find him, or anyone else from Fortune’s blessing.”

  “Maybe we’re going about this all wrong,” Dribble said. “We assumed Gordon spotted the old unicorn near Leononia. But knights travel everywhere. What if he saw him somewhere else? Like the meadow near Beeten Wheeten where Fortune came from.”

  “The old unicorn might have been too weak to search for Fortune with the others. He could have stayed behind,” Lucas agreed.

  “Exactly,” Dribble continued. “If the old unicorn poked his head out of hiding for even a moment, and Gordon surprised him, they might have seen one another.”

  “Poor old unicorn,” Lucas said. “If you’re right, he’s been alone a long time. It’s been days since the others went out looking for Fortune.”

  “They may have returned to check on the old guy,” Dribble suggested. “In fact, the whole blessing could be there right now. We should go back to the meadow where Fortune came from and see.”

  “Good idea,” Lucas agreed.

  Princess Pulverizer shook her head. “It’s not a good idea,” she insisted.

  “Why not?” Dribble asked.

  “Because we don’t know how to get back to Fortune’s home,” she replied.

  “It’s just outside of Beeten Wheeten,” Lucas reminded her. “All we have to do is head back that way.”

  “Except we’ve taken a lot of roads since we left Beeten Wheeten,” Princess Pulverizer argued. “I have no idea how to get back there. Do you?”

  “We’re all turned around. We’d never find our way back there,” Lucas said with a heavy sigh. “This is beginning to seem so pointless.”

  “Pointless!” Princess Pulverizer exclaimed excitedly. “That’s it!”

  Dribble and Lucas stared at her, confused.

  “Fortune can lead us back,” the princess explained. “All he needs is the magic arrow—the one that points the holder toward his home.”

  Quickly, the princess began braiding the arrow with orange and yellow feathers into Fortune’s tail.

  “Why don’t you just stick it in his mouth?” Lucas asked.

  “This guy?” Princess Pulverizer asked. “He’ll just eat it. Or, at the very least, break it with his teeth.”

  The princess finished off the braid, and stood back to admire her work. Almost immediately, the unicorn’s tail began to twitch and turn. Finally, it pointed to the left.

  Fortune jumped up in surprise. And then, he began to walk—backward—in the direction his tail pointed.

  “It’s working!” Lucas exclaimed excitedly.

  “Sure is,” Dribble agreed.

  “I don’t know why you guys ever doubt me,” Princess Pulverizer said smugly. “I certainly never do.”

  * * *

  “I recognize those shimmery flowers,” Princess Pulverizer said a long while later as she looked around the flowery meadow where the arrow had led them. “This is definitely Fortune’s home.” She unbraided the arro
w from Fortune’s tail and smiled.

  “With all these flowers, and that brook, it’s the perfect spot for unicorns,” Lucas added. “It’s got everything.”

  “Except unicorns,” Dribble pointed out sadly. “I don’t see a single one. I guess I was wrong.”

  Suddenly, Fortune reared up on his hind legs and began twirling in circles. Then he let out a series of cooing noises.

  “What’s with him?” Dribble wondered.

  “He’s dancing,” Princess Pulverizer said. “And singing, I think.”

  A chorus of coos echoed back from the bushes and trees. It sounded like a whole flock of turtledoves were hiding there.

  Only it wasn’t a flock of birds.

  It was a blessing of unicorns. And now they were all running toward the center of the meadow.

  They leaped from the lavender.

  Raced from the rosebushes.

  And trotted out from among the trumpet vines.

  “Camouflage is a very handy trick,” Lucas said. “I didn’t see a single unicorn at first.”

  “They were probably afraid of us,” Dribble replied. “But once Fortune let them know it was safe, they came out.”

  Fortune was now joyously touching horns with the other unicorns. Princess Pulverizer was happy to see Fortune dancing with his family.

  But she was unhappy about what she didn’t see.

  The meadow was filled with big unicorns, small unicorns, fat unicorns, and thin unicorns. But there wasn’t a single old unicorn.

  Fortune wandered over to a willow tree and nudged his horn in between the green leaves and yellow flowers.

  Coo. Fortune let out a gentle, quiet call.

  Coo. The answer came back just as quietly.

  Princess Pulverizer peered over Fortune’s back. Sitting there among the flowering branches was an old green-and-yellow-furred unicorn. The coloring had helped him blend in with the flowers and leaves, but the princess now saw his blue eyes and pointed horn.