Unicorn School: the Treasure Hunt

by Linda Chapman

  They lined up again. Storm looked flustered. He tried too hard to push off with his back legs and ended up shooting straight into the air and losing control. Sapphire was concentrating so hard on trying to keep flying fast after she’d taken off that she didn’t see him.

  ‘Ow!’ they both gasped as they banged into each other. They weren’t hurt and they both started to laugh.

  Willow giggled too and landed. ‘I don’t think your training’s doing us much good,’ she said teasingly to Troy.

  He glared at her and then at the others. ‘You’re not taking this seriously enough. Now come on. Let’s try again!’

  Willow was very relieved when the horn blew for breakfast time. ‘I’m glad the treasure hunt’s tomorrow,’ she muttered to Sapphire. ‘Imagine if it was weeks away and Troy made us do this every morning.’

  Sapphire shuddered at the thought. ‘He is being a bit annoying.’

  ‘A bit?’ said Willow. ‘A lot! I wish he didn’t want to win so much.’

  They trotted thankfully to the table. There were buckets full of a warm bran mash mixed up with carrots and apples all along the table. ‘Yum!’ said Willow, plunging her head into a bucket. It was her favourite breakfast on a cold day!

  As she finished the last mouthful she felt something soft and cold land on her head. She looked up. ‘Snow!’ she gasped as she saw flakes of snow floating down from the sky. ‘It’s snowing!’

  The other unicorns whinnied in excitement.

  ‘Oh, wow!’ said Troy. ‘We’ll get to fly through it in our flying lesson after breakfast.’

  ‘And at lunchtime we can make a snow unicorn,’ said Sapphire. ‘I hope it falls really thickly!’

  ∗

  After breakfast, they headed off to the Flying Heath for their first lesson of the day. Atlas, their flying teacher, was waiting for them. ‘We were going to practise turning and changing direction today,’ he told them. ‘But I think we’ll practise flying through snow instead. Has anyone used their magic to fly through snow before?’

  The Year Ones all shook their heads. Unicorns didn’t usually do much magic before they started school and it was the first time it had snowed since they had begun there.

  ‘Well, I think you’re really going to enjoy it,’ Atlas told them.

  Storm raised his horn. ‘Isn’t it a bit hard to fly through snow?’

  ‘Yes,’ put in Flint, another Year One unicorn. ‘It must be really hard to see.’

  ‘It would be but we have a special type of magic we can use to help us,’ said Atlas. ‘To make it work, you must imagine feeling as warm as you can. Let the feeling flow out through your horn and see what happens. Off you go!’

  The unicorns rose into the sky.

  Feel warm, feel warm, Willow thought to herself. She imagined feeling toasty and snug in her cloud stall. The sensation rose inside her but then the next minute she found herself swerving out of control and heading straight towards the ground. She whizzed upwards just in time. It was really hard to concentrate on flying and to think about feeling warm at the same time!

  Looking round she was relieved to see that she wasn’t the only one having difficulty doing both. All around her, unicorns were swerving and crashing into each other. But then she caught her breath. High above them all, Troy was flying through the snow. Purple stars streamed from the tip of his horn. They flowed together into an arch over his back, casting a glow all around him. As the snowflakes fell on the arch they melted. Troy flew through the snow in a bubble of magic lilac light.

  Willow caught her breath and for a moment forgot how annoyed she was with Troy for being so bossy about the treasure hunt. He really was brilliant at anything to do with flying. ‘Well done!’ she shouted, cantering up into the air.

  He grinned at her as she joined him. ‘Thanks, Willow! This is cool!’

  ‘I can’t do it at all,’ said Willow, shaking her head as the flakes blinded her. ‘I’m going to have to go back down.’

  ‘No, wait,’ said Troy. ‘Here, fly with me under my light and then see if you can make the magic work too.’

  ‘OK,’ said Willow eagerly. She reached his side and, cantering along in time with him through the air, she found that his magic light kept the snowflakes off her as well.

  She tried to imagine a feeling of warmth again. But as she concentrated on it she felt herself starting to worry that she was going to crash, so she quickly stopped.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Troy told her, nudging her neck with his nose. ‘I’ll make sure you don’t fly into anything. Try again.’

  Willow flew even closer to him so their sides were touching and then concentrated again. This time the feeling of warmth flooded through her and out of her horn. Suddenly, purple stars of her own started to appear. ‘I’m doing it!’ she gasped as a rainbow of light formed over her body.

  ‘You are doing it!’ exclaimed Troy. ‘Now you can concentrate on flying too.’ He edged away. ‘See, you’re on your own!’

  Willow realized she was. She whinnied in delight. Together they cantered and swooped through the snowy sky.

  ‘Well done!’ Atlas cried, coming over to them. ‘It normally takes a lot of practice to be able to fly through snow.’

  ‘It was Troy!’ said Willow gratefully. ‘He helped me. I couldn’t have done it without him!’

  Troy looked very pleased. ‘You did it yourself, really, I just gave you a bit of help.’

  ‘Well, it’s really great to see you both working as a team,’ said Atlas. ‘Off you go!’

  Willow and Troy flew into the sky. ‘Now you know how to do it, let’s go and help the others,’ said Troy, looking over to where Storm and Sapphire were trying to fly through the snow but failing. ‘I’ll help Storm learn, you can help Sapphire.’

  ‘OK,’ said Willow, thrilled with her new skill. ‘Come on!’

  Chapter

  Four

  Troy’s Treasure

  Hunters

  By the end of the flying lesson, Sapphire and Storm were swooping and diving through the snow as easily as Willow and Troy. It was lovely just to be having fun together rather than to be arguing about the treasure hunt, but the peace didn’t last for long. At lunchtime, Troy remembered they had to practise and tried to get them all to go to the library to look at the maps again.

  ‘But I want to make a snow unicorn,’ said Storm. ‘We don’t know how long the snow will last.’

  ‘Yeah,’ agreed Willow. ‘We can look at boring maps another time!’

  ‘The treasure hunt’s tomorrow,’ Troy told them. ‘We should use all the time we have and we also need to think of a name to give our team. We have to register it by the end of today.’

  Sapphire sighed. ‘OK, let’s go to the library then and do some treasure hunt stuff.’

  But Willow shook her head. She didn’t want to spend all lunchtime in the library. ‘No, I’m not going,’ she decided. ‘I’m going to make a snow unicorn!’

  ‘Willow!’ Troy said crossly. ‘Don’t you care about this treasure hunt at all?’

  ‘Of course I do. I just don’t see why we need to waste our time learning maps,’ Willow argued. ‘It won’t help!’

  ‘Yes it will! You’re being stupid!’ Troy told her.

  ‘And you’re just being annoying!’ she snapped angrily.

  ‘Stop it, you two!’ Sapphire broke in.

  Willow and Troy shut up.

  ‘Don’t argue,’ said Sapphire, stepping forward. ‘Please!’

  Troy looked at her. ‘You’ll come and learn the maps with me, won’t you, Sapphire?’ he said pleadingly.

  ‘Well…’ Sapphire looked torn. ‘Oh, OK, then,’ she sighed.

  ‘Storm, you’ll come and make a snow unicorn with me, won’t you?’ Willow said quickly.

  Storm looked unhappy. ‘Can’t we do something all together?’ he said.

  But Troy was already trotting away with a reluctant Sapphire.

  ‘It looks like we can’t,’ Willow told Storm. ‘Or at l
east not while Troy’s being so crazy about winning this treasure hunt. Oh well.’ She tried to be cheerful. ‘I bet we’ll have a much better time than they will!’

  But it wasn’t nearly as much fun making a snow unicorn on their own.

  ‘There!’ Willow said brightly, stepping back after a while. ‘It looks great.’

  Storm looked at it. ‘I suppose… but we’d have been able to make a much bigger one if Troy and Sapphire had helped us. And it would have been more fun. It’s always better when we do things together – like when you and Troy helped Sapphire and me learn to fly through snow earlier. That was brilliant.’

  Willow sighed. She was still feeling cross with Troy but she knew Storm was right. It was more fun when they did things together.

  Just then Sapphire came back. ‘Hey! That looks great!’ she said, looking at their snow unicorn. ‘Can I help finish it off?’

  ‘Of course,’ Willow told her. ‘Where’s Troy?’

  ‘I don’t know. He said he had to do something for the treasure hunt and went off.’ Sapphire looked at the snow unicorn. ‘I wish we could have helped you make the unicorn. I like it much more when we do stuff all together,’ she said wistfully.

  ‘So you didn’t have loads of fun in the library, then?’ Willow asked.

  ‘No.’ Sapphire looked guilty and giggled. ‘Don’t tell Troy this but it was really boring!’

  Storm nuzzled her. ‘Well, we missed you. Come on, let’s finish this snow unicorn.’

  They were just finishing off by putting stones in for the snow unicorn’s eyes when Troy came cantering into the meadows. Willow noticed he was looking very pleased with himself. ‘All done!’ he announced.

  ‘What’s all done?’ Willow asked curiously.

  ‘I’ve registered our team for the treasure hunt,’ said Troy.

  ‘You’ve registered us,’ said Storm in surprise. ‘But that means you must have chosen a name.’

  Troy shook his mane back. ‘Yep! I’ve called us…’ he paused, looking very proud, ‘Troy’s Treasure Hunters!’

  They all stared at him.

  ‘Troy’s Treasure Hunters!’ Willow echoed.

  Troy nodded. ‘It’s a cool name, isn’t it?’

  ‘Um…’ Sapphire began slowly.

  ‘No!’ Willow broke in. ‘It’s not a cool name at all! It makes us sound like we’re your team! You shouldn’t have registered without talking to the rest of us, Troy!’

  ‘Well, none of the rest of you seemed that interested in this treasure hunt.’ Troy looked cross. ‘I think you should be grateful to me.’

  ‘We are,’ Sapphire said hastily. ‘It’s fine, Troy. Thank you for registering us.’

  Troy stamped huffily. ‘I’ll see you later!’ He cantered off.

  Willow swung round to the others. ‘I can’t believe he registered the team’s name without talking to us about it!’

  ‘I wish he hadn’t,’ said Storm. ‘But he didn’t mean to upset us, Willow.’

  ‘No, I’m sure he didn’t,’ said Sapphire.

  ‘Huh,’ Willow snorted. She looked in the direction Troy had gone. ‘I’m going to be glad when the treasure hunt’s over. I almost wish it wasn’t happening!’

  Sapphire nuzzled her. ‘Don’t be like that. You know it will be fun. Troy’s just being his usual bossy self. Try to ignore him and just have a good time. That’s what I’m going to do.’

  Willow looked at her and felt a rush of affection. Sapphire was so sensible. And she was right. There really was no point getting upset about Troy wanting to win so much and being so bossy. That was just the way he was. ‘OK,’ she said, nuzzling Sapphire back. ‘It’ll still be fun even if Troy is being the biggest bossyboots ever.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I promise I’ll try really hard not to get cross with him tomorrow. I’ll just enjoy myself!’

  Sapphire whinnied. ‘Cool!’

  Storm nodded. ‘We’re all going to have a great time. I know we are!’

  Chapter

  Five

  The Treasure Hunt

  When Willow woke up the following day she looked out of the window. More snow had fallen in the night and the sun was shining in a clear blue sky. Excitement fizzed through her. It was the day of the treasure hunt and even the thought of Troy being bossy all day couldn’t dampen her happiness.

  She could hear the others around her all getting up. The other unicorns who shared their stable – Topaz, Starlight, Flint and Ash – were also going in for the treasure hunt as a team.

  ‘See you down there,’ Topaz called to Willow as Willow left the stable.

  ‘Yeah, good luck today,’ Willow told her.

  Topaz smiled. ‘You too!’

  ‘What are you doing wishing the other team good luck, Willow?’ Troy told her crossly as he joined her on the way to breakfast.

  Willow felt a flicker of annoyance but she squashed it down. ‘I was just trying to be friendly,’ she replied.

  Troy opened his mouth but Willow trotted away before he could say anything else that would annoy her. ‘Come on. I’m hungry!’

  They all ate their breakfast as fast as they could. Everyone was talking about the treasure hunt. Nearly everyone in the school was going to be taking part.

  ‘I had another look at the maps yesterday evening,’ Troy hissed to Willow, Sapphire and Storm. ‘I think I know them off by heart now. I should be able to find the way to any of the places we have to go to.’

  ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing if we won the shamrock?’ Sapphire said.

  ‘A whole term’s supply!’ said Storm. ‘Where are the teachers keeping it?’

  ‘In one of the feed rooms near the kitchens,’ said Troy, who seemed to know everything there was to know about the treasure hunt. ‘One of the elves told me that shamrock mustn’t get too cold or it goes off and can’t be eaten. They’re going to bring it out at the start of the treasure hunt in boxes.’ He looked around. ‘Let’s go to the Assembly Fields as soon as we’ve finished breakfast. That’s where the teachers will be giving out the maps. Maybe we can get ours early and start working out what the first clue means!’

  But although Willow’s team was one of the first teams into the Assembly Fields, Atlas wouldn’t let them have their treasure map. ‘No one is going to have their map until the treasure hunt officially starts,’ the flying teacher told them. ‘The Tricorn is going to talk to all those taking part and then we’ll give out the maps so that everyone gets them at the same time.’

  By a quarter to ten, the Assembly Fields were full of excited unicorns standing in teams of four. They all fell silent as the Tricorn – the school’s Headmaster – walked into the field. He was a very noble-looking unicorn with a horn of three colours – bronze, silver and gold – and he was accompanied by a team of elves all carrying wooden boxes that they placed in front of the platform.

  The Tricorn walked on to the platform and looked around at the expectant unicorns. As the last box was put down, he began to speak. ‘Good morning, everyone. I’m glad to see so many of you taking part in the annual winter treasure hunt this year. As you know, you have to try and find six objects. This year, they will be six crystals all labelled with your team’s name. To find the crystals you must follow the clues. The first team back with all six of their crystals will win the prize.’ He nodded towards the wooden crates and smiled. ‘A term’s supply of shamrock. Fly swiftly, solve your clues wisely and the prize might be yours. Only one team can win but I hope that you will all gain something from visiting the different places in Arcadia as you collect your objects. Good luck, teams! The teachers will now give out the treasure maps. Please do not turn them over until the chief elf blows his horn.’

  The teachers trotted among the teams giving out the maps. They also gave each team a leather bag to put their crystals into.

  ‘I’ll wear it,’ said Troy quickly. He took the bag from Atlas and slipped it over his head.

  Willow frowned but she was still determined she wasn’t going to get cross with Tr
oy. She didn’t want anything to ruin the day.

  At last all the teams had their maps and bags and were ready to start.

  The Tricorn raised his head so that his horn sparkled in the sunlight. ‘Let the treasure hunt begin!’

  The chief elf blew a long note and all the teams turned their maps over. Willow noticed that not all the bits of Arcadia were named, just some of them.

  ‘What does the first clue say?’ Storm asked eagerly.

  The clue to the first place they had to go to was written at the top of the map.

  ‘Clue one,’ Troy read out. ‘“A very pretty thing am I, you’ll see me in the pale-blue sky. Delicate, fragile on the wing, indeed I am a pretty thing. What am I?”’

  They all looked at each other.

  Willow re-read the clue. ‘A pretty thing? On the wing? What does it mean?’

  ‘We’ve got to be quick!’ Troy urged, glancing round. ‘Some of the other teams are setting off already.’

  ‘Maybe it’s talking about a bird,’ Sapphire suggested. ‘Look, there is a place on the map called Bird’s View. It could mean we have to go there.’

  ‘Great! Let’s go!’ said Troy, taking off.

  ‘No, Troy! Wait!’ exclaimed Storm. ‘It’s not a bird. A bird’s a good guess, Sapphire, but they’re not really delicate and fragile, are they? I think it’s a butterfly!’

  ‘Which means we probably need to go to Butterfly Hollow!’ said Willow. ‘I bet you’re right, Storm.’

  ‘I know how to get there,’ said Troy . ‘Come on!’

  They took off after him. They flew above the Assembly Fields and out across the courtyard. The air was filled with unicorns all flying in different directions as they followed their clues.

  ‘Wait, Troy!’ Willow called as Troy raced ahead.

  ‘We can’t keep up!’ Sapphire whinnied to him.

  But Troy didn’t stop.

  ‘Troy!’ shouted Willow as she galloped through the sky. ‘We don’t know the way to Butterfly Hollow.’ But he was too far off to hear. He flew into the distance.