Unicorn Sacrifices

by Setlu Vairst

  ***

  Flack’s haunted look never once flinched as Shane began speaking to him. “The rain comes often. It does no harm to you. It is the same as when you bath in a pool or a stream.”

  Shane could see the unicorn trying to visibly relax, trying to take comfort from the words of the dog but Shane felt that it was not so much his words which had brought comfort to the nervous unicorn but more so the fact that Shane himself was not in the least bit distraught by the occurrence of the heavy rain.

  “We shall await here till it ceases,” said the unicorn, looking at him though he could not help but continue to stamp his forelegs upon the ground.

  In the silence that followed, Shane could hear the hard, rapid pitter-patter of the rain that broke through the canopy above and was striking the bushes around them.

  Moving closer to the unicorn, Shane lay down on the ground, curling his body around in a spot where he had detected less rain drops striking the ground. ‘We will just have to wait here until the weather improves and Flack has some confidence before moving on. It would be dangerous to try and move through the trees at this time as we are bound to be seen by humans who themselves will probably be camped down during the storm. We would be the only thing moving in the forest and would easily be observed…’

  Peering ahead through the trees, Shane heard the unicorn move a little before lying down upon the ground close by. The silence continued and Shane just listened to the continuing noise of the rain striking leaves and the ground around him. In some place, there appeared to be a grey mist between the trees but he knew that it was only places where the rain was piercing the canopy in abundance and sending a deluge towards the ground. ‘It’s like seeing waterfalls in the forest,’ he thought.

  And, as Shane continued listening to the rain he became aware of another rhythmic sound coming from the forest. His ears went straight up, twisting slightly as he tried to locate the direction of the sound and then, suddenly jumping to his feet, crouching low, he could not help the snarl that came from his lips.

  “What is it?” asked the unicorn, from behind him.

  “Humans,” replied Shane, regaining his composure, forcing himself to analyse the sounds that assaulted his senses and then, recognising the dull thuds that began to separate from the sound of the rain, he said, “The humans are building something. No other creature makes those sounds. But why are they doing it now? Humans normally prefer to shelter form the rains?”

  Hearing only silence from the unicorn, Shane said, “I will return soon. I only want to check on what they are doing and make sure it is not a trap for the likes of you or me.”

  “I will come with you,” said Flack.

  Hearing the unicorn getting to his feet, Shane was about to tell him to remain but decided that, ‘Although it may be curiosity that drives the unicorn, he will still have to walk beneath the storm. So, he is being brave as well as cautious and if we have need to race from this area it is better that he is stronger in the face of the thunder and lightning.’

  “Follow me,” whispered Shane, slowly moving forward, crouching low to make himself as invisible as possible and then, realising that it would be pointless as the unicorn could not do the same and would still present a large target, he began trotting forward slowly, his nose occasionally skimming the ground as he searched for any scents that may give him a clue as to what the human’s were doing.

  The rain pounded hard against him at times as he made his way through the trees, always heading roughly in the direction that he wanted and making small adjustments when he saw areas that looked as though they would help conceal the unicorn from eyes that were ahead of them.

  The noises grew louder, clearly evident against the backdrop of rain, as Shane thought, ‘They are hammering frantically. What is it that they are doing?’

  Slowing his pace, Shane halted, listening to the sounds in the forest while peering through the trees and then, in the distance to his right, he caught his first sign of movement.

  Whispering, he said, “There are many humans. They have much wood that they are using to construct something with. These are the red humans; I can see glimpses of the colours they wear, though their clothes are darkened by the soaking rain.”

  “Should we move away from this area?” said the voice of the unicorn from behind him.

  “We should, but I want to see more,” replied Shane. “The rain will make it difficult for the humans to see us clearly and by the evidence before me I would say that they are too busy with what they are doing to be looking around the forest for the likes of us.”

  Instinctively crouching lower, while disregarding Flack’s inability to do so, Shane began moving forward again, suddenly breaking into a quick run and racing towards a large clump of bushes. Above the sound of the rain, he could hear Flack’s footsteps when he increased his own speed. Although it seemed loud, Shane knew that it would be heard by the humans, ‘Not with the commotion being made with their constant hammering.’

  The rain was easily getting through the canopy in this area and Shane realised that whatever the humans were constructing it must be going up into the canopy of the trees.

  “I want to circle around,” whispered Shane, adding, “Please try to keep quiet. It is wetter on the ground in this area so try to go where the soil is like mud as it will hide the sound of your footsteps, but just be careful in case you slip…” Without waiting for a reply, Shane raced off to his left, his head being constantly turned towards the signs of human activity as he ran, ‘If I keep this distance away from them then we should be safe.’

  Glancing behind, he was surprised that the unicorn was so close to him, ‘He is following my advice and ensuring that he is quiet. I only hope that the humans do not see him moving amongst the trees, though I doubt they would be interested…’

  Pulling himself to a halt, Shane had seen something that he was expecting to see but it still shocked him to the core. Before him was the evidence of the power of the humans.

  “What is it?” asked the unicorn, moving slowly to stand beside him.

  Looking at the immense rain-obscured bulk upon the ground, Shane replied, “It is a dragon. It is a dead dragon!”

  “What is a dragon?” asked Flack.

  “They are strange creatures,” whispered Shane, “And I had not heard of any in this new land. I know they existed in the land from where I came but I did not know that they were actually in this land.”

  “What is this land and what is the old land?” Flack asked.

  Hearing the puzzlement in the unicorn’s voice, Shane replied, “They are a creature from the old land and it is believed that they are not of Earth, that they come from beyond the stars.”

  “Where is this old land?” Flack asked.

  “I am not sure,” replied Shane, “One night I was in my human camp sleeping and was awoken in the morning to the sounds of excitement and noise. There was tension in the camp because of the appearance of a large blue light against a giant tree that was at the centre of the camp.

  It aroused great curiosity in me, as well as the humans, and I went to investigate it and it was the strangest thing I have ever seen. I could not smell it, I could only see it and, as it did not give off heat or cold I touched it with my nose, expecting to strike the solidness of the tree but I did not.”

  “What was it?” Flack asked.

  “I do not know,” replied Shane, “One moment I was looking at it and the next moment I was sore and dizzy. One of the humans in the camp had come up behind me and kicked me but instead of crashing into the tree that stood behind the blue light I was pushed through into this place, this new land.”

  “What happened then?”

  “After being disorientated for a moment, I found myself in another place, a beautiful place and, as I looked around, one of my brothers came through the blue light. His name was Arrow, but he had not been kicked through the portal, he had come after me and then, after looking around for a few moments, Arrow walked back
toward the blue light and then vanished.

  He had returned to the old land and when he came back a few moments later he was immediately followed by a human who, after trying to maintain his balance, turned and ran back through the blue light. For a while, I thought about remaining in this beautiful place but the thoughts of my family made me want to return and, as I was about to, another human came through. Soon he was joined by three others and these others made a fire camp and scouted around the area.

  Eventually, two of them returned through the blue light and then, slowly, all of the members of the human camp came through, bringing their weapons and tools with them and began to set up a new camp. No sooner had the last human come through and then the blue light began to shrink and though one human ran toward it he never reached it in time and it simply shrank out of existence.”

  Shane paused, his eyes watching the bulk of the dragon and, after a little while, he saw the arrival of four humans who began moving around the body of the dead beast.

  “They are taking a wing,” whispered Shane.

  “What do you mean?” Flack asked.

  “It is an old trick of the humans from the old land,” began Shane. “When they killed a dragon they would take its wings and place them in the tree tops, a little distance from a crude, wooden tower that they had built and camouflaged.”

  “Why?” Flack asked.

  “So they can lure another dragon in towards the wing. The dragon would think it was another of their kind in distress and would come to investigate and, once they came close enough, the humans would fire their arrows and spears from the hidden tower that they waited upon. But they have to use the wings of a dead dragon quickly and that is why they are in a hurry to construct this tower.”

  “Why, what for?” Flack asked.

  “Because once a dragon dies the body begins to disintegrate. It happens to no other creature on the planet, only to dragons.”

  “Why only the dragons?”

  “It is said that it is because they are not of the Earth, it is something that I was told a long, long time ago,” replied Shane. “There are legends tied to the dragons and the legends tell of their arrival here with another race of creatures in a time long since forgotten.”

  A sudden, joyous cheer from the humans interrupted Shane’s thoughts and, looking towards the bulk of the dragon, he saw a large shape beginning to move separately from the main mass.

  “The humans have cut away a wing. They will be getting ready to pull it up into the tree tops. Come, we should be away from here because once the humans have their trap set, and have men in the tower, then the remaining humans will most likely be moving about and roaming the forest close to them, looking for fresh food for themselves. It is best that we are not seen.”

  Turning, Shane began moving past Flack, heading back the way that they had came. Knowing that Flack was behind him and that the dull light and rain would be hiding them, he began increasing his speed, knowing that they were moving away from the central mass of humans. ‘I hope that there are no other humans wandering nearby.’

  After a little while, Shane reached the area where they had lain when they had first seen the humans and, although tempted to stop, a shift in the light towards darkness told him that it was best that they get some more distance between them and the humans before they tried to settle for the night. ‘I hope we can find somewhere that is dry.’

  “Are you all right,” he called back to the unicorn, slightly concerned because Flack had not spoken since they had last spoken of the dragons.

  “I am fine,” Flack had replied, offering no other words to Shane.

  Nodding, Shane said, “It is best that we keep moving for a little while longer while there is enough light to see what is ahead of us.”

  Flack made no reply and, without looking back, Shane increased his speed, beginning to race amongst the trees, his eyes ever vigilant and his ears only occasionally hearing the sound of the unicorn’s hoof-beats thudding on the wet and damp ground behind him. Shane noticed that the unicorn made no attempt to race past him and go charging into the distance.

  ‘It is good that we are running as it makes talking difficult,’ he thought.

  Maintaining his pace, Shane only began to slow down when the light shifted dramatically and he was sure that night time would soon be absolute. His eyes began feverishly scanning the area ahead, looking for places of shelter and even as he did this, he felt the ground underneath him change and become more solid and resisting to his paws. Coming to a halt, he saw that he was on a large piece of stone that only just pierced through the soil. It was a gigantic slab and, as he watched the rain being washed away down a sloping side, he turned to his left and began to move across the slab and saw that he was standing on a piece of rock that was lifted away from the ground. ‘It is fortunate that I did not carry on running across this slab. It is only a small drop but the surprise could have cost me and the unicorn dearly.’

  “What is it,” the unicorn asked from behind him.

  “I am not sure. Perhaps we may have found some shelter for the night,” replied Shane, turning left and running along the edge of the slab before turning right when the rock began burying itself back into the ground. The unicorn’s hoof beats were loud upon the stone slab and Shane hoped that the unicorn would quickly follow him off the slab and back onto the soil.

  Racing along beside the slab, Shane could see that the rock jutted out of the ground at an angle, creating an overhang. ‘A place to rest for the night,’ thought Shane, as he began to turn to move beneath the giant slab of rock.

  Trying to pull himself to a rapid halt, Shane could not stop himself as he saw the heavily red-clothed figure that suddenly turned and lashed out at him with a foot. With an agonising yelp, Shane took a forceful blow on the lower right side of his neck, the power behind the kick sending him spinning back and crashing to the ground. Shaking his head, he saw the red-clothed human move toward him and suddenly stop and then, as the human turned to his left, the full force of Flack’s horn rammed into the human’s stomach, sending him flying back through the air, landing with a heavy thump on the damp ground.

  Clutching his stomach, the red-clothed human took hold of something and pointed toward the foreleg stamping Flack. A red beam or light erupted from the device in the strange human’s hand and, as Flack leapt to the side, Shane saw the red light catch Flack’s side, making the unicorn shout in pain.

  Scrambling to his feet while ignoring his own pain, Shane was about to leap toward the red-clothed human, whose scent he now recognised, but was stopped by a sudden shrieking, screaming sound that began emitting from the human’s lips.

  The red-clothed human’s head began to violently move from side to side and, as the sound of the scream reached a crescendo, the figure suddenly burst into flames, screaming in agony and, as the evil figure burnt, Shane saw it seem to change shape, elongating its limbs before, with a sudden flash of intense light, the figure vanished, taking the mournful screaming with it.

  “What was that?” came Flack’s voice, invading Shane’s stupefied mind.

  Shaking his head, Shane replied, saying, “I do not know. I thought it was a human. I thought it was Koo-tansee, the strange human who joined my human camp a little time ago. No, I know it was him, I recognised his strange, horrible scent. But what was he? I have never seen that happen to a human in all of my life!”

  “What is this?” said Flack, taking Shane’s mind away from his confused thoughts.

  Looking at Flack, Shane saw that he was pawing the ground just in front of him and so Shane moved towards the strange object that blinked with strange lights of red and green. Standing and looking down at the object, Shane was completely puzzled by what he saw. “Human’s only use tools for making things, breaking things and firing arrows. I have never seen anything as small and detailed as this. How does it make the lights blink? The only lights I have seen with humans have been ground fires and grass torches. I do not know what this is
or what its purpose is.”

  Studying the shiny black surface of the object, Shane was trying to determine what might be the meaning of the strange markings upon the object when, suddenly, Flack’s foreleg flashed into view, his hoof driving down and smashing the object into a number of pieces.

  Jumping back, Shane watched as Flack struck again at a piece of the object which still held a blinking red light illuminating upon it. After a few more pounding hoof strikes, there were no more strange blinking lights and the object now existed in a multitude of pieces, some stranger than others.

  “What are the strange bits that have come from inside the outer shell of this thing?” asked Shane.

  “I do not know,” said Flack, “But it was evil and had to be destroyed.”

  Glancing up at the unicorn, Shane had become aware of the pain in the unicorn’s voice and then recalled that a red beam had struck out from the strange object, striking him upon his side.

  “Are you all right?” asked Shane, concern in his voice but, before the unicorn could reply, Shane saw the unicorn begin to sway a little before he went crashing to the ground. The unicorn’s legs jerked as he came to rest and, as Shane shouted, “Flack!” he saw the unicorn’s eyes flicker for a moment before slowly closing.

  “Flack?” repeated Shane and even though he got no reply, he saw the unicorn’s chest moving slowly.

  ‘At least he is breathing,’ thought Shane, quickly raising his ears to see if the sounds of the dying strange red-clothed human had been heard and was bringing unwanted attention on the place they were now. Hearing only the rain, Shane continued listening for a few moments before relaxing, thinking, ‘It is good that we are far from the humans with the dragon.’

  Bolting off to his left, Shane raced back up onto the top of the slab and began looking around the area for any sign of movement amongst the nearby trees. Searching between almost every tree, Shane was eventually satisfied that there were no humans moving in their direction.

  Racing along the slab and then jumping down to the ground when it was close enough, Shane saw the shape of Flack lying on his side. Trotting towards him, Shane sniffed at the unicorn, smelling the hot breath as Flack exhaled. Satisfied that the unicorn was sleeping, Shane turned and moved toward the overhanging slab where, after turning around to face the unicorn, he lay down.

  With his eyes on the unicorn, Shane kept his ears keen while listening for any strange sounds in the night, though he knew that there was little chance of humans moving around now that night was settling in. The rain continued falling upon the ground beyond the overhang and, though Shane was dry, he thought, ‘I wish I could drag the unicorn out of the rain and out of sight, but I do not have the strength.’

  The darkness of the night became complete and Shane continued lying there, watching the unicorn even when all he could see was a silhouette rising slightly against the backdrop of the forest floor. Eventually, the night was complete and while he was listening to the continuing pitter-patter of the rain hitting the soil and the unicorn, he fell asleep.

  When the morning came, the rain had stopped and there was a heavy, dew mist hanging around the forest, making it difficult to see the immediate area. Looking down at Flack, Shane had remained there for a little while after having woken and going over to the unicorn to see if he was still breathing. At first, Shane could see no movement in the chest of the unicorn but when a moisture filled breath slowly crept from the unicorn’s mouth, he was relieved to know that the unicorn still lived.

  ‘Strange it was that Flack had been so scared of the rain, particularly when he was brave enough to face the humans and yet somehow, the rain... scared him. As if it were the first time he had ever seen the rain! It is almost as if Flack is telling the truth when he claims to have been only six days in life!’

  Shane ceased this thinking abruptly as it was only serving more to confuse him. He remained standing beside the unicorn while, for the fourth time, he used his snout to push the unicorns head, trying to elicit a response from the sleeping creature. Flack’s head was heavy but, as before, he managed to push it slightly up from the ground before allowing it to rock back into the same position it had been in for the whole of the night.

  Suddenly, almost with a shocking violence, the pitter-patter of the rain ceased, leaving behind an incredible silence that immediately made Shane feel nervous and tense. High above the tree tops, he saw a brightness begin to pierce his dim world and he knew that the sun had broken though the clouds at last and he relaxed a little. The brightness increased and amongst the distant trees he saw sun beams piercing the canopy and striking down through the mist and touching the ground, warming the soil. The sun beams were appearing all around and he hoped that some would come toward himself and the unicorn and then, as he thinking this, sun beams did come striking the tip of the slab and the ground immediately around the overhang. Shane felt the warmth immediately, basking in the pleasant feeling that it gave to his body.

  Glancing at Flack, he saw a thin steam rising from the body of the unicorn as the warmth of the sun began to dry his body. ‘Funny, it seems that the sun's rays are concentrated on him. It is lucky he collapsed where he did,’ thought Shane. ‘Drying him quickly will be good and, hopefully, he will awaken soon. We are still too close to the humans for safety!’

  Lost in a trance, Shane continued staring at the rising steam from Flack’s body while his ears remained alert for any sound that could show him that their presence had been detected by the humans. It seemed like an eternity before the sudden movement of Flack moving his head brought Shane eye’s into focus on something other than the rising steam. Looking at the unicorn, Shane saw Flack blink a number of times, raise his neck and shake his head a little.

  “Hi,” said the unicorn, as he caught sight of Shane standing looking at him.

  Suddenly jerking his body, Flack got himself sitting upright and began looking around the area.

  “The rain has stopped,” said Flack, immediately trying to get to his feet and, as he hauled himself up onto all fours, he added, “The sun feels really warm.”

  Backing away a little, Shane thought, ‘Has he grown since last night or have I just got used to looking at him lying down for so long?’

  “I am hungry,” said Flack.

  Looking up at the unicorn, Shane replied, “We will go in search of food. The area seems quiet and I have heard no sounds of humans in the area. How are you feeling?”

  “I feel fine?” replied Flack, shaking his head a little and then turned his head to look around the immediate area. Then he said, “Listen!”

  Shane tilted his head, looking around the area, trying to hear what Flack was referring to and then the sound came to him. ‘Such a natural sound and I missed it because I was spending all my time listening for the sounds of humans.’

  Shane allowed the warmth of the sun rays to bath him as he concentrated on the rare sound of a bird singing. He knew that Flack was listening as well and so, cancelling out all other sounds, he listened to the bird song, hearing the words delivered by the creature as it greet such a beautiful morning.

  “The sun begins to shine

  And newness fills the day.

  No humans live in sight of us

  And the trees grow taller.

  The flowers dance and dry their eyes,

  For the day is good,

  And much good can happen.”

  The song of the distant bird continued, repeating over and over, again and Shane felt that it brought as much cheer and warmth to Flack as it did to himself.

  Beginning to walk away from the slab, Shane watched Flack climb the small rise that bordered the area in which they had spent the night. Shrugging his shoulders, Shane followed Flack up the rise and saw, ahead of Flack, an area where the whole ground looked to be lit up by the sunlight. ‘It looks to be a clearing over there. Perhaps there will be fruit there.’

  Giving a quick burst of speed, Shane caught up the slow moving unicorn and trotted along at h
is side, thinking, ‘He definitely seems bigger than yesterday.’

  “Are you all right after the attack on the strange human last night?” Shane asked.

  “I am fine,” replied Flack, without slowing his pace or looking at Shane, and then he asked, “How are you? The strange human kicked you very hard.”

  “I am fine. A little bruised but that is all, it will pass.”

  They were nearing the brightly lit clearing and then, just before they moved out into the clearing itself, Shane asked, “Did the human not strike you as being strange?”

  “He was a human. He is just another who kills for pleasure and not need. I have only met a few and the situations all seem to be the same. If you do not kill them then you are the one who will be killed.”

  “Did he not seem stranger than other humans; the way he died, bursting into flames and what about the strange object?” Shane asked.

  “I had not seen those things before but I would assume they are characteristic of some humans and not of others,” replied Flack.

  Shane had come to a halt beside Flack, who had stopped moving once he was a body length into the bright sunlit clearing.

  Shane wanted to ask more questions about what Flack had thought about the strange object that was in the possession of the human. ‘Did the weapon do any damage to you when it struck you? You seem fine, but why are you so unconcerned about such strange events? Perhaps’ thought Shane, ‘you really do not know the ways of the world and the humans. Perhaps you have not enough knowledge to know that what happened last night was truly a mystery of the greatest magnitude!’

  “Look,” said Flack, interrupting Shane’s thoughts, “There is food upon the ground over there.”

  Watching Flack beginning to walk towards the right edge of the clearing, Shane decided that it would be worthless pursuing the subject of last night’s events as the unicorn did not seem the least bit interested in them.

  Standing watching the unicorn eating the freshly fallen fruit, Shane himself tried a piece but the taste was not totally to his liking, even going as far as to make his eyes close involuntarily due to the bitterness of the flavour.

  Hunger made him eat a little but it was easy for him to convince himself that he was full up after a small time spent fighting with the taste. Lifting his head, he scanned the area around him. He could no longer the bird singing and concentrated on the sounds of the forests. After a few moments, he was happy that he had not heard the clumsy attempts of humans trying to move quietly through the trees, ‘though there are those who are very skilful at moving quietly though the forest.’

  Content to let Flack finish eating till he was full, Shane lay down, his ears ever alert as he basked in the sun, his panting loud, but every so often he would suddenly stop, listening keenly for any sounds of humans. He was relieved when Flack walked back towards him, obviously sated and ready to move on.

  And, as they stood there in a sanctuary of peacefulness, Shane suddenly shouted out, “Essilon!”

 

  20 - Numbers II – The Three Peaks

  The unicorn startled and then, as Shane watched, he saw the unicorn cast his gaze back behind him, following the direction that Shane was looking in.

  “There, the three peaks! Up there, in the mountain range, behind those peaks, there lays Essilon,” Shane shouted out, almost hysterically. “I recognise the pattern of the mountains; it is what was described to me!”

  Shane began to cry. The obsession with the journey broke him down as the relief at seeing the ‘Three Peaks’ let fade all of his doubts and worries. ‘It has been such a dream to come this far to a place where I can see my goal; to be reunited with my brothers and sisters. I never thought that I would ever reach this place and I cannot believe that it was always in sight of me, only hidden by the trees that I spent my days beneath!’

  Clinging to his hopes of meeting those beast’s who were very special to him, he could not help let his desires and wishes race into his mind, ‘And this place may well be the place where I can be re-united with my brothers and sisters. Essilon is the place that they sought out! I was not able to leave with them because I had a duty; I never thought that I would ever get the chance to see them again!’

  Standing still and gazing upon the peaks with respect, Shane knew that the shapes in the distant sky were where the journey would end, ‘And yet, I feel Flack senses that this would be the place where his own journey would really begin.’

  Basking in the nearness of their goal, Shane began to eat grass, watching Flack do the same, each silent in their own thoughts. They were enjoying a meal and ensuring that they made sure that their stomachs were in good health before they set out to complete the final march of their pilgrimage, for it would be hard to find food to eat as they approached the mountains of Essilon. ‘There is not much to be found amongst the rocks and sand that lead to the mountains themselves, this I have heard.’

  The rain still hung upon the grass and, to Shane, the rain added to the taste that he was enjoying. He began to like the rain and began to appreciate that it had many mysteries, many frightening characteristics, and many beautiful uses.

  Eventually, they were walking again, heading towards the peaks, although all they were doing was walking across a sun blessed clearing. ‘Soon,’ Shane thought, ‘we will be crossing the final stretch of land that will deliver us to the kingdom of the beasts, a place where a ‘Great One’ would save our world and make life a more beautiful river to swim within.’

  He knew that, even before they reached the peaks, they would have at least another full day of travel. Most of the land that they would have to cross consisted of a long, brown, barren plane, which seemed to be almost totally devoid of all colours other than the many shades of brown that constantly crept across the face of any desert.

  Once they had crossed the plane, then it would be a stiff climb, up amongst rocky crags and boulders. Shane was aware of this and it was a part of their journey that he was not looking forward to. ‘It is believed that there is a secret path mapped out for all animals to follow and that, whenever any beast neared the beginning of the path, then they would know of its existence. But what would stop the humans from following the same path? How could the path be kept secret from the humans? There are many beasts that are far larger than the biggest human, so how would the path be big enough for them and yet be able to remain hidden from the humans?’

  These same thoughts had puzzled Shane in the past and, whenever he had not been able to find an answer, he had just agreed that, ‘There is a secret path because of all of the beasts that he had known who had set off to find Essilon, none had ever returned. Therefore, they must have found the path and so, in turn, they must have reached Essilon.’

  Entering the other side of the clearing, Shane had all of his senses on high alert, particularly as it soon became obvious that the trees and vegetation were thinning out, making him feel more nervous about moving forward. If humans were nearby then the unicorn would be easily seen. ‘Then again, it is easier for me to see humans if I keep myself alert.’

  As they journeyed further, the bushes and shrubs began to thin out and so they began to eat a lot of food that they knew would not be in great supply as they crossed the plane. Shane was sure that there would be an abundance of food once they eventually arrived at journeys end but the journey there would not provide much food from this time on.

  Shane stood still, scanning the trees around him whilst Flack ate the grass and then, when Flack was sated and standing guard, Shane took a turn to eat. Little by little they crept through the thinning trees, preserving their energy and seeking out sustenance. ‘Soon,’ thought Shane, ‘the trees will end and we will have to run swiftly across the sands as fast as we can and for as long as we can, hoping that no human eyes are upon us.’

  The edge of the tree line was soon upon them and standing staring towards the peaks of Essilon, Shane saw a lot of sand that would have to be traversed before they got there. His eyes scann
ed the lifeless sand and everywhere he looked he could see no sign of the green of life. ‘It is not a great distance to cover to the hills of the mountains and we can only hope that we have the food and water within us to get us beyond the peaks.’

  Beside him, the unicorn stepped out from the trees, walking slowly over the scattering clumps of grass that began to grow from amidst a thin layer of sand. Shane knew the sand would have been blown this far and that there was still soil beneath it but, as he looked beyond the unicorn, he could see a line were no more green grass grew beyond. Snatching a mouthful of grass, he was disappointed to find that the dry was dry and did not hold any dew or moisture. ‘Any plants that we find will be dry from this point on and I can only hope that fortune with provide us with a water supply.’

  Shane began to sense that it was quiet, too quiet, for no longer could he hear rain falling from leaves, nor dripping onto stones upon the ground behind him in the tree line. He became consciously aware that there were no birds singing. Even the breeze had stopped and all was so quiet that he could hear each time he chewed upon the small supply of grass that littered the barren land. The lack of sound began to unnerve him and he stopped suddenly in his eating. His ears strained, hoping to find the minute hint of a sound. Then he heard it. It was the presence of this sound that ensured the absence of all others.

  “Wait,” shouted Shane, trying to get the unicorn’s attention and not be any louder than he had to.

  Watching the unicorn stop and turn his head to look back at him, Shane said, “I think I heard something. Let me check.”

  Turning, Shane ran back into the tree line, moving toward were a group of trees stood fairly close together. Reaching them, he stood still, not even panting, as his ears began seeking confirmation of the sounds that he thought he had heard. The sound was louder this time, it was a heavy murmur that seemed to creep amongst all of the trees and it took a moment for Shane to work out that the sound appeared to be coming from his right. ‘I cannot see any signs of movement,’ he thought. Glancing back in the direction that he had come from, he was relieved to see no sign of the unicorn. ‘Good, Flack has remained where he is.’

  Crouching low, Shane began to move forward, heading towards the right, belly low to the ground, as he moved from the tree to another, ever drawing nearer to the source of the sound. He knew that it was humans, many of them, even before he heard the tell-tale shout of a human shouting. There were now the sounds of metals and wood being struck, and there was a smell in the air that told him that there were many beasts roasting on spits over open fires. Suddenly freezing in his tracks, though he was between two trees, Shane was aware of a huge mass of red amongst the trees in the distance, ‘and,’ he thought, ‘If I am this far from them and can hear this much noise, then there must be many, many humans dressed in rags. What are they doing here, so close to the edge of the forests? What are they gathering for?’

  The shouts of the humans were growing louder and he could see much movement of the red-clothed bodies. ‘I must be away from here before I am seen,’ thought Shane as, turning around, he began to run as fast as he could towards where he had left Flack. His frenzied run had his heart pounding as he believed he would hear the sudden ‘thunk’ of an arrow as it slammed into a tree close by. But no arrows came and he increased his speed, suddenly bursting through the tree line and then, seeing Flack a little to his right, he ran towards him, urgency in his gait, and then ran fast past Flack, heading out into the desert.

  Running forward, Shane maintained his pace, though the sand was making it difficult to run at his greatest speed, but he knew that the unicorn would easily be able to catch up with him.

  “It is best we get as far away from the tree line as quickly as possible as the humans have their bows and arrows,” panted Shane, beginning to feel the heat of the scotching sun on his back as Flack drew up beside him.

  They continued forward, having to move apart a little as the sand would cause them to almost stumble into each other if they were too close.

  “Are there many humans?” Flack asked.

  “More than I have ever seen in one gathering. They all wore the red clothes and appeared to be gathered for a reason that I cannot even guess at,” Shane replied.

  “Perhaps they are gathered to attack a gathering a blue cloth humans?”

  “It is possible,” said Shane, adding, “Though, why they would gather so near to the desert is beyond me. Few humans ever go into the desert. There is nothing there of value and there is very little to survive upon. No, the humans must be gathering there and preparing to move deeper into the forest to go on a journey or to simply attack other humans who are nearby.”

  Looking behind, Shane saw that the sand that they had crossed left a clear track of their path but he also noticed that the sand had rose and fallen a little and now, seeing this, it was clear to him that, at times when they had come down the side of a sand dune, they would be completely out of sight of any humans who may be watching in their direction.

  ‘It is almost tempting to hide within a sand dip and await darkness before moving on,’ thought Shane, as he felt the heat of the sun burning heavily into his back, forcing him to pant heavily and, at times when sand was kicked into his mouth, he really felt as though it would be better until the main heat of day had passed before continuing their journey.

  Glancing at Flack, he saw that the unicorn did not seem to be as affected by the heat as he was and so he remained quiet and continued trudging through sliding sands.

  Time moved slowly as they carried on their journey and because the peaks of Essilon seemed to hold their distance from them, every once in a while the two would bolt for the peaks, laughing at the energy rush that they received as, slowly, Essilon began to loom ever closer to them. The rushes forward only increased their speed a little but it made Shane feel as though they ‘had’ to be making better progress.

  The sun shone still but Shane could no longer hear any more bird song, although Shane was convinced that he could faintly hear the drumming of a bee’s wings upon the still air, but he could never see the bee. He had not heard many birds singing in recent times and here, now that they had moved into the desert, the absence of the birds seemed more absolute.

  And now, as they slowed back to their normal pace, and the laughing that they had done as they all but stumbled through the sand faded, Shane caught a faint sound in the air. Stopping, he turned and raised his ears; half believing he was going to see a creeping red blanked rolling across the sands towards him. But there was nothing. Just their trail as it rose and fell across the sand dunes and their tracks lost to sight long before the green line of the tree shelf began.

  Straining, he sought out the source of the sound. It was very faint and he had to cease panting in order to listen properly. Shane saw that Flack sensed that there was something wrong also, as he too had stopped moving, standing still and slowly turning his head, surveying their sandy surroundings.

  In silence, the two dredged every wave from the passing air. The air was hot, hazy, and completely void of all sounds. Everywhere seemed to be dead, there was no sounds of life and then, just as Shane was about to start moving forward again, he heard the sound, seeing Flack look toward him as he too acknowledge the existence of the noise. The two stood silent, listening to the sound and, as they listened, the sound began to grow slightly louder. This new sound was a voice and it was a very human voice. Panic momentarily rose within them.

  They were only about halfway across the plane when they had heard the voice. It was a weak voice, a grating voice, a pitifully weak voice and yet the voice still sent fear through the bodies of the two companions. They could see no human near them, all around was the shades of brown of desert sands and beyond them the peaks of Essilon and, above them, the clear blue sky that held the burning sun. The sound continued, indistinct in his words but distinct enough to know that it was the sounds made by a human. Shane sighed, believing that their journey across the sands was to sudden
ly become more dangerous than he had first believed.

  The two, as one, turned toward the direction that they believed the sounds had come from and, after pawing the ground a little, Flack turned and followed Shane as he walked past him, heading slightly to the left of their original course. Slowly moving forward, a silence came back to the plane and this caused a further rush of fear within the two as Shane noted how Flack came to a halt even as he did when the sound came carrying across the sands. Shane looked up at Flack and then, nodding, he moved forward slowly, climbing the small sand dune that was ahead of them. Painstakingly, they continued slowly forward, muscles tensed, held ready to run at the slightest indication of a threat.

  Occasionally, they would pause and look at each other, seeking reassurance from the other that they were doing the right thing, and then they would continue upon their way, moving toward where they thought the sound had emanated from. They had no choice but to find out the source of the sound, for the barren land offered nothing to hide behind and if there was a human, or humans, hidden somehow upon the land ahead of them then they could easily blindly run into them. ‘It is best that we know where they are and so avoid them,’ thought Shane.

  He knew that, to be safe, they had to discover where the sound was coming from and what would be the best way of safely getting past. They needed to approach the source of the sound as silently as possible; ready to turn and race if they should find it to be a well-placed trap laid for any beast.

  To Shane, it seemed as though his own paws sent avalanches of sound cascading ahead of them, warning everything and anything of their impending arrival. ‘In silence, the slightest sound seems as thunder.’

  Suddenly, just a little ahead of them and to the left, a human head, looking strangely severed, jutted out above the barren flat of the plane. At once, Shane took a few steps backwards and then sprinted off forward, at an angle that would take him away from, and around, the human head. Shane was quickly aware that the unicorn had not followed his example and so he stopped and gazed back and the scene that greeted him placed a mixture of horror and fascination across his features as he saw that Flack was not only not following him but was, in fact, walking toward the human head!

  The human head was now becoming agitated and was beginning to shout more frantically. He had obviously spotted the unicorn and was calling the unicorn, beckoning him onward and toward him with strange skinny arms that leapt and danced in the air.

  The human was clearly in some kind of hole and was jumping up and down in a very frenzied state. The human head was shouting out, “The final battle draws near. Reach the far land and fight beside the beasts. It is the dawn of the age of the Beasts. Man shall pay for his evil.”

  The human in the hole began to wave his arms in a way that showed he was motioning for Flack to come forward, quicker. Shane watched as Flack began moving tentatively closer. The human head began to lose some of the wildness of it and to speak in a calmer fashion, trying to coerce Flack toward him. Shane began trotting back toward Flack, his eyes searching all around, looking for the first sign of a human trap.

  “I won’t hurt you, Unicorn,” said the man in the hole. “You must get to the mountains where the beasts are gathered and then join in the glorious battle that shall be!”

  Astonished, Shane could not believe the words that he was hearing and yet he felt that the human was sincere in his ravings. “When will this madness end?” he said to himself, knowing that the unicorn would have heard him as he was drawing close to his side.

  Shane was having doubts of moving any closer to the human when he heard the droning beat of insect wings upon the hot air currents and he immediately bolted forward, slightly running past Flack, before he came to halt. Shane stopped and began to ponder about why he was afraid of bees so suddenly. As he stood there thinking, the unicorn continued walking up toward the hole where the human resided. Stopping at the edge of the hole, Flack leant his neck forward and slightly downward, looking down into the hole and Shane knew that he must be able to completely see the now silent human that stood there.

  Shane’s eyes continued searching the land around him, looking for any sign of humans but everywhere seemed peaceful and calm; everything seemed much calmer now that the human was silent of his ravings. ‘Peace has returned to this barren wilderness,’ thought Shane, glad that the human had stopped his noise and so would not be attracting the attentions of any others who may be in the area. Moving forward, carefully and slowly, Shane walked to where the unicorn stood gazing down upon the human figure and was not disturbed as Shane came to stand at his side. Then Shane also looked down upon the human figure. Relief flowed through Shane’s body as he saw that the human was a very old human; grizzled, dirty, and weak, and with no weapons beside him, or anywhere else to be seen. Yet Shane was still wary of the human. He had seen humans be very cunning on many occasions, using items as weapons that were not designed to be used as weapons, but they still did the job. ‘That is the one thing that I ‘admire’ about humans, they have hands that could fashion and change objects, combine objects, and use objects far more efficiently than any beast ever could.’

  Shane was surprised to see that the human was in the pit and that there was no sign of any ropes tying him in there. Once Shane had decided that there were no weapons in the pit that the human could use against himself and Flack he found that he had to assume that the human had been put in the hole as a punishment. ‘I have seen this done to humans before; done by other humans. I have seen humans thrown into pits and then had wild beasts thrown in with them, I had seen humans tied in pits and then the pit filled with earth, burying the human alive, sometimes the hole is only partly filled so that the human’s head is all that remained above the ground. And that would normally be done near to a large insect nest. Or the captors may lay a scent trail, using certain fruits and plants, which would lure ants toward the trapped human.’ With a shiver, he recalled the time he had witnessed the humans lure a bear into the area where the trapped human was located. Shane remembered the screams from that incident very vividly as the bear had bitten chunks out of the buried human’s head. The screams and pleas had continued for a little while and then had abruptly ceased.

  He recalled that there had been a deathly silence when the bear had been lured into the area and the humans had made a safe retreat. Shane remembered imagining what the human must have been going through. He would only have been able to see the bear if it came from somewhere in front of him. He would not have been able to turn and seek it out.

  He must have remained silent, even if he heard the movement of the bear around him somewhere, trying to remain quiet in the hope that the bear would move away and leave him alone. But the bear was bound to smell him out because of the fruits that had been smeared on the humans head and face.

  There had been silence for what seemed like an eternity and then there came a sudden deep growl, and then the human had screamed. He had begun the loudest scream that Shane had ever heard. Shouts, pleading, and crying had came from the human before he had screamed the loudest scream that he had ever heard made by any human. And then the scream suddenly stopped. It did not fade out. It just stopped!

  It was a few days later before he had returned to that place with the humans. The bear must have excavated the pit, bit by bit, to get at the humans flesh. There were bones littered around the pit and, Shane could see, there was not enough to account for a complete human. Either the bear or some other beasts had taken their own trophies away with them.

  The humans laughed as they pointed toward the remains of the human. Shane was almost sick. Blood and death never bothered him but he could not comprehend the killing of another creature other than for the need of survival; and the humans had not killed this human for their survival. It was for some other reason, something entirely different from that which is done amongst the beasts. ‘Humans get pleasure from the pain and death that they inflict,’ and that was something Shane could not understand, would never u
nderstand.

  Shane recalled that he had felt more sickened when the screaming had finally stopped. ‘The human’s are indeed cruel and evil in almost all that they do. And there were times when a human is simply buried up to his neck and his captors spent a long time throwing small, yet painful, stones at the human; sometimes striking him, sometimes not!’

  Returning his thoughts to the present, he stood glancing around, sniffing the air for any tell-tale signs of a human trap or of the presence of any other humans. He could detect nothing but the human in the hole. The air was still, and so no breeze would carry scent along the winds to him. Shane knew that other humans could still be in hiding somewhere nearby but, unless they made a movement, it was unlikely that he would see them in time to flee.

  Shane looked back down into the hole. The hole was not too deep, and Shane was sure that if the human really wanted to get out then he would be able to. The human’s skin was burnt brown with the scorching heat and his garments were ragged, torn, and very dirty. There was rotten fruit, half-eaten fruit, fresh fruit, water jugs, human waste, and many broken sticks and twigs strewn around the pit. It gave off a repulsive smell.

  There were many other smells emanating from the hole and, though some were very pungent, there was one that rose above all others; it was the smell of the human. Only now did Shane find the scent repulsive. It had never bothered him while he had lived within the human camp but now, for a reason he could not explain, the scent was both repulsive and evil.

  The man continued talking feverishly, and Flack never once flinched as Shane looked from the human to Flack and then back to the human. The man’s voice began to grow even louder, becoming more insistent, more passionate, as if a frenzied need to let all beasts know his message took tight control of him once again.

  “Join the armada of the beast. Then swim to the final victory. Spread wings with the birds and soar away to fight for good,” shouted the human, and then began repeating the same words and then moving on to more short comments, his voice seeming to grow stronger and louder.

  Then, as if seeing Shane for the first time, he said quietly, “And you too, little beast, you must also join the armada to destroy the humans.”

  Shane was very puzzled and very uncertain. He did not trust humans and would expect this to be some kind of elaborate trap that the human had devised in order to capture the beasts but he knew or rather, he felt, that whatever reason that the human had for shouting these things, they were sincere. He thought, ‘This human wants all humans to be destroyed by the beasts. A battle will take place, he says, and we are to join with all other beasts!’

  Shane knew of the gathering of the beasts but did not know how this human knew. ‘No beasts spoke with humans, it could not be done. So how had this human discovered the knowledge of a place where all beasts were to gather?’

  Shane decided too much was happening too quickly for him and so he lay down beside the unicorn, his tongue panting in and out of his long snout, deciding to wait until Flack decided to move on. They could not remain for very long, for they would need to eat soon, and the nearest supply of food was still a small journey away from them. As if in answer to these thoughts, the human threw up some fruit that landed beside Shane, while some he threw closer toward Flack.

  Shane made no move to eat the fruit. He had seen the way humans had filled them with a form of drug that they sometimes used to bait and capture wild beasts. Flack, on the other hand, and to Shane’s amazement, merely bent down his long neck and began to eat the fruit.

  Shane was startled, astonished, and when Flack had eaten a little and when he did not begin to sway or shake under the effect of any possible drug, Shane too began to eat, slowly at first, and then with sudden mounting hunger.

  He began to hear, once again, the uttering of the human.

  “A great beast shall descend from the sky and this beast shall lead all the beast’s to do battle with the humans. This great flying beast shall lead all beasts to final victory! This great beast shall...” And there the human stopped. An eerie silence filled the air. Shane became panicky, while the unicorn continued to eat.

  A sudden thought swept through Shane’s mind. He did not like to think what he was thinking. His head shot up as his nostrils caught the fresh scent of other humans as he jumped up and spun around, were his heart almost commanded his body to die there where he was for such was his amazement at what he beheld.

  ‘Humans! Many of them! More than I have ever seen in a single human gathering!’ Staring, Shane could see a huge swathe of red cloth riding across the sand dunes and he knew that it extended all the way back, and into, the distant tree line. The red clothed humans were coming across the plane, making an impression upon the plane as a cloud would do if it should float across the face of the sun.

  Noticing movement beside him, he knew that Flack had turned to look back in the direction of the forest and, from the way Flack suddenly raised his head, Shane knew that Flack was expecting to see a few ragged humans at most coming toward them, but even he was shocked to see the amount of human forms that marched across the sand. There was so many that it looked as though they were still but, as Shane stared, he could make out movement, seeing the glitter of sunlight upon weapons, hearing the rumble that their voices were making upon the quietness of a once beautiful day.

  Shane was sure that the humans were still too far away to do any damage, but they were coming ever closer; slowly and determinedly, they were coming closer. ‘I wonder if they have seen us.’

  Suddenly, a whistling sound filled the air, a sound that Shane recognised, but now it seemed more deadly than it had ever sounded before.

  “Run,” shouted Shane, turning and bolting off, racing around the pit and heading across the sand. Flack was soon beside him, having turned and ran the moment that Shane had commanded him to. With panic in their very hearts, they raced around the pit, within which the old human still shouted out his words. Stopping a small distance away, Shane turned just in time to see many arrows embed themselves in the ground, as if they were trying to destroy the very earth itself.

  The old human’s head and arms appeared and, clambering from his pit, he raised his dirty hands to the sky, shaking his clenched hands towards the advancing red clothed army.

  “The end draws near. Soon the mountains will shudder with that of the human ones. Mankind, the vilest of plagues, shall be washed away. The new day brings...”

  There, the old human stopped as another flight of arrows whistled death in the air, and a few found a home within the flesh of the human. Clutching his chest, the old human fell backwards into his pit. Vanishing from sight, he had returned to the pit, and Shane knew that that is where his body would remain forever. The human was gone! No more would he shout his words into a lonely desert wilderness.

  A few of the arrows had come close to the heads of the two beasts and now they turned and ran, spurred on by the deadly hand of death that flowed behind them. They ran and ran, never speaking to each other, always feeling safer as they went down a sand dune, always feeling vulnerable when they climbed the next and, at the times when Shane dared to glance behind them, he saw the huge wall of human death following, marching slowly whilst he and Flack ran for their lives.

  High overhead, a large bird gave forth a loud scream and then, as Shane and Flack glanced upon its graceful, peaceful flight, it turned and, beating its wings furiously, it sped away towards the mountain peaks; toward Essilon.

  Running as fast as he could, Shane knew that the unicorn had reduced his speed so that the two could run together, almost side by side. To Shane, it appeared as though Flack was more preoccupied with the running he was doing. He seemed to be using none of his energy; he was not even trying hard to outpace the deadly humans, he was merely ensuring that he maintained a pace that Shane could achieve. It was not hard to outdistance the humans for the humans were not running; they were marching steadily forward in eerie silence, following the path that Shane and Flack were trav
elling.

  Panting heavily, wishing the sun would sink below the horizon, Shane’s glances at the mountains ahead seemed to confirm that the peaks were fighting off their spurious advance. This disheartened Shane and it was only the words of the unicorn that kept his hopes and strength up.

  “We can rest a while if you need to, Shane,” Flack had said, “We are some distance ahead of the humans and so can afford to rest.”

  “No,” Shane had replied, pumping his muscles harder, fighting against the displacing sand that gave him nothing to leap from.

  With the humans forever creeping behind and the mountains fighting against giving up their distance, Shane remained grimfaced and determined to reach the rocky hills at the base of the mountains before he would consider resting. But, eventually, the peaks conceded and gave way to rocks and small boulders, and then gradually sloped upwards toward the peaks which, by now were hidden behind the steep hill that now began to gaze down upon them, challenging them further.

  The peaks towered high in the sky and Shane wished that the sun would move quickly across the sky so that the mountains could cast a shadow upon him and get him out of the relentless heat of the sun. Anytime that he tried to stop panting, he had felt the immense heat inside his own body threatening to devour him completely.

  Glancing at Flack, he was relieved to see that the unicorn’s coat was soaking with sweat and that, just above the outline of Flack’s back, he could make out rising vapours that left the unicorns back and slightly distorted the sand and sky beyond him. Even while Shane believed that they had a little way to go to reach the few rocky outcrops that led up to the side of the mountain ahead of them, he was relieved when his paws struck solid ground beneath the sand. They were back on solid ground though it was covered with fine layers of sand.

  Bolstered by this, Shane ran even faster, dreaming of getting amongst the rocks and into shadow. ‘And there may be even a pool of water left behind by the recent rains,’ he told himself, feeling tiredness and relief at the same time. As their legs pumped furiously, working hard to cover the ground ahead of them, they could not help sliding back half a body length or more. Soon, there were many stones beneath their feet that would often crumble into a small avalanche of stones, but the two continued their fight in a grim determination. Always their ears listened for any sound of shouting coming from the advancing humans.

  They had left the humans a long way behind and, as they rose higher up the rocky slopes, they occasioned a glance backward. The humans were still marching toward them and from their ever-increasing vantage point, they could see a huge red swarm covering the desert, slowly advancing, slowly becoming even more deadly.

  The sun’s continual assault on their strength began to show as their progress was becoming pitifully weak. At one point, Shane lost his footing and slipped back nearly three body lengths and he just lay there, tired, exhausted, and with no more will-power to carry on. Looking up the slope, he saw Flack had stopped and was now looking back at him. The unicorn stared in silence at him, saying so much by saying nothing. Under Flacks gaze, Shane jumped to his feet and once more began to climb. Flack waited for him to reach him and then the two once more began the climb together.

  To their utter relief, the climb lost quite a bit of its steepness and the progress was made immensely easier. Occasionally, they came upon ledges and what appeared to be pathways. They had not been able to see the paths from the flat land of the desert but up here, amidst the rocks, the paths were easy to find.

  “Many beasts have passed this way,” remarked Shane. “Their scents are fresh, one, maybe two days old.” There was a joy in Shane’s voice as he said this for it meant that they were on the right trail, they were heading toward Essilon and, although he was not sure what Essilon actually was, he believed it was a place where the beasts would be safe from the human ones, especially those that marched across the desert behind them.

  ‘Then again,’ thought Shane, ‘If there is to be a final battle, then the beasts will have to leave Essilon to face them or else the humans will find a way to get to Essilon itself!’

  Shane began to get upset in his thinking. ‘If all of the beasts had made passage to this place, Essilon, then why had I not known that it was time to migrate toward it? Why should all other beasts know that it was time to travel to Essilon while I did not?’ Shane felt angry and bitter inside. ‘Why had I not been included in the knowledge of the time of the gathering of the beasts?’

  Neither had spoken for a while during this part of their ascent, both saving all their energies for the climb, and now Shane uttered a cry, taking his mind from his immediate thinking. “Look!” he shouted, knowing that his voice was loud and excited.

  Running along a ledge that forked left and right, Shane raced along the right hand branch as he had seen something glimmering. ‘It has to be water!’

  Following the ledge, he found that it cut a little into the side of the mountain so that he felt as though he was running along a small canyon. The shade was welcome relieve from the sun and the tantalising glimmer continued to twinkle on the lip of the rock ledge ahead of him. Coming to a halt in a flurry of dust, Shane stared at the scene before him. ‘This has to be one of those times when the heat of desert affects what is seen! I have heard humans talk of these things.’

  Shaking his head, Shane looked again. On his left a huge slab of mountain rock was tilted at angle away from the mountain, looking as though it could topple over at any time. In front of this, on the right of the ledge and bulging out from the mountainside was an expanse of water, a giant rock pool that lay in the shadow of the rock that tilted away from the cliff.

  ‘This cannot be real,’ thought Shane, staring at the gently rippling water, conscious for the first time of a trickling sound and then, looking toward the angled slab of rock, he could see a gentle stream of water seeping out of the rock and gently running into the pool.

  A movement next to him told him that Flack was standing beside him now and, as he was about to ask Flack what it was that he could see, he saw the unicorn lower his head and begin to drink from the pool of clear water. Deciding not to question their good fortune, Shane moved forward, stepping into the water and finding that the rock beneath the water was smooth and gently rolled away from him. Taking a quick lap of the water, while expecting his mouth to be filled with sand, he was startled by the crispness of the water. Eagerly, he began gulping down water as he slowly moved forward so that the cool liquid bathed his stomach in coolness.

  Sated, and feeling that his stomach could hold no more, Shane turned around and moved closer to the edge of the pool where he lay down, enjoying the cold water surrounding most of his body. The shade provided by the overhanging rock helped cool his back and then, recalling the heat and how painful it had become as they raced across the sands, he rolled to the side, encouraging the water to swim over him. There was instant coolness about him and then, as the water lapped over his face, he coughed and struggled to his feet, escaping the water that had tried to cascade uninvited into his mouth.

  Leaping out of the water, he shook his coat and then, turning to look at Flack, he saw that the unicorn was regarding him with some amusement. Turning away, Shane moved closer to the mountain and lay down in the shade. He felt strong and revitalised after suffering the heat of the sands and knew that he would not be lying here for long. ‘The humans are still coming in this direction and so we must hurry and find the path to Essilon.’

  Climbing to his feet, he saw Flack leaving the pool and looking at him expectantly.

  “We must seek the path to Essilon,” he said. Moving back along the ledge, through the small canyon of shade, he was disturbed by a strange rumbling sound that made the rock beneath his feet begin to shake. Halting, he turned around, noting that Flack was doing the same.

  Staring at the angled slab that overhung the pool of water, he could see stones being shaken loose and falling into the pool. The slab leant further and further away from the mountainside
and with a final resounding crunch, it met the rock of the ledge, blocking the way back to the water pool and hiding its existence from sight.

  “The rock seemed to fall too slowly to be a rock fall,” commented Shane.

  “It did seem strange,” answered Flack.

  Watching the dust beginning to settle, Shane said, “Come, we must find the path. We have to hope it is around here somewhere because the humans will be drawing nearer.”

  Turning, Shane fled back along the canyon and when the rock fell away on his left he could once again see the expanse of the desert before him. ‘Or, I would be able to see the desert if so much of it was not covered in human red-cloth!’

  “They are drawing near,” he said, as Flack came to stand beside him. Looking upward, he could only see the sheer steepness of the mountain as it rose above him. ‘I can see no way to climb higher and I can see nothing up there to show the presence of more ledges.’ Feeling despondent, Shane tried to recall if he had seen other pathways up into the mountain while they had been crossing the desert. Nothing came to mind.

  Moving forward, heading toward the left fork of the original path that they had followed to get to this place, he exclaimed, “That might be it!” as he ran forward, trusting that they were neither in sight or range of any advance party of humans or their weapons. Staring harder, trying to focus more on what he had glimpsed, Shane saw, about twelve body lengths ahead of him, more details of the dark shape that had first caused him to call out. There was a definite dark hole in the rock face ahead of him, and was not shadow as he could see the far inner side showing him the smooth rock of its insides.

  “It may only be a cave but, perhaps, it is the way through to the other side of the peaks. Perhaps it may be the path we seek and, if not, then it would at least be a place to rest out of the glaring heat of the maddening sun, if only for a little while. The humans will be a while before they reach us,” Shane said, pointing his head in the direction of the desert. “They seem to be in no hurry, simply determined to cross the desert.”

  “Do you think they are seeking out Essilon?” Flack asked.

  Pausing, studying the rippling red mass that now covered almost half of the distance between the forests and the mountain, Shane replied, saying, “They must be, and I would have to assume that they have been planning this for a long time for it would take humans a long time for them to travel to a specific location. There are far more humans there than I ever imagined in the forests. Many must have come from distant lands.”

  “I did not realize that the humans could be so well organised,” said Flack.

  “Yes, this even surprises me. The humans normally live in camps of forty or fifty and they protect their neighbouring land from intrusion by other humans who may enter the area in search of food. Normally, a large gathering of humans would result in the death of a great number of humans but this time, for some unknown reason, they appear to have forgotten their differences and have united together; choosing red cloth as their banner.”

  Flack asked, “What about the blue clothed humans that are believed to exist in great numbers?”

  “I do not know. I cannot see any blue cloth amongst those crossing the sands and can only assume that they are somewhere else or have been wiped out by the red clothe humans,” replied Shane.

  Standing in silence, watching the slow advance of the red horde, Shane interrupted his staring, his amazement at the amount of humans that must be out there, by suddenly running forward, while saying, “We had best find out if this is a cave or a path. We will have little time to go searching for the true path if this proves to be only a cave.” ‘We have made a lot of progress this day, mainly due to the incessant mass of humans marching behind us and now is not the time to relax. The humans are deadly at all times. Even though they are distant I still fear for our lives,’ he thought.

  “I feel weak,” said Flack.

  Looking up at the unicorn, Shane pleaded, “We must continue, we must see if this is only a cave or if it leads the way to Essilon.”

  Glancing nervously towards the humans, Shane noted that the sun was going down and had passed to the other side of the mountain, casting a dim shadow across most of the desert. Studying the nearest red humans, he detected that they were no longer moving.

  “The humans appear to be setting up to rest for the night and so we should be safe for a while,” said Shane, “But we will have to remain alert to the presence of any human scouting party.”

  Flack did not reply and, instead, he walked into the cave, moving into the shade of the cave and then turned, facing outward and then lay down.

  ‘What is wrong with the unicorn? Surely, he knows that we should keep moving and that we should get to Essilon as quickly as possible, joining the beasts in the battle that is to be led by The Chosen One?’

  Conceding that the unicorn would have to rest, Shane glanced toward the evil human horde, satisfying himself that they appeared to be halted for the oncoming night, and then walked into the cave opening, lying down close to the unicorn.

  “How are you feeling?” Shane asked, as a silence began to draw around them.

  “Strange. I do not know how to explain it. I have pains all through my body and yet I felt fine when we were running across the sands.”

  “Perhaps it is aching muscles from the exertion of the day,” said Shane.

  When there was no reply from the unicorn, Shane turned to look at him and saw that the unicorn was lying completely on his side. ‘How sick is the unicorn?’

  “I... am... tired,” said the unicorn.

  “Just get some rest, Flack. Soon we will have to move away from here and by then you will feel fine, I am sure,” replied Shane.

  There came no reply from the unicorn and soon the cave was filled with the sounds of heavy breathing. Facing forward, Shane noticed how much the light had faded and, for that, he was grateful. The humans on the sand had lit torches and it was obvious that the torches were not moving. ‘At least the humans should not be advancing again until the morning and, by then, we should be away from here. At least, I will be. I worry for the unicorn; I worry about his pains and I worry if he will awaken again.’

  Feeling bitter and alone, Shane continued to stare out from the cave, watching the distinct shape of the red human horde fade until they became as dark as the night that draped the land. With his eyes focused on a group of torches Shane maintained his vigil for the two of them until sleep crept up and stole him from consciousness.

  With a start, Shane awoke, feeling a bright sun piercing his eyes and, leaping to his feet, he peered across the brightly lit sand, trying to see if the humans had started their advance upon the mountainside. Relieved to see that the sand at this side of desert was clearly visible and not obstructed by the red cloth humans, he turned toward the sleeping form of the unicorn. Flack was lying in the same position as he recalled from the previous night. Listening, against the background noise that told him that the humans were waking and preparing themselves to march, he heard the deep breathing of the unicorn.

  “Flack?” he whispered, hearing his voice gently echo within the cave. “Can you hear me, Flack? It is time that we were on our way to Essilon.”

  At first, there was no reaction from the unicorn and then, suddenly, Flack raised his head, looking around his surroundings as if they were alien to him. Focusing on Shane, the unicorn said, “Is it time to be on our way?”

  “Yes,” replied Shane, his mind returning to the pool of cool water that had sated him the day before. ‘I am thirsty but the pool is locked away from me.’

  Facing out of the cave, he watched the insidious movement in the human camp, seeing the front line of humans begin to slowly change shape as the humans began their march.

  “Come, we must find the path to Essilon. The humans are once again approaching the mountain.”

  Jerking upwards, Flack struggled with his legs until he found his balance and then slowly stood, raising himself to his full height from h
is bended forelegs.

  ‘Has he grown so much?’ thought Shane, seeing the shape of Flack towering above him. ‘Is he really growing so quickly or is it the light and shadows in the cave that play tricks with my eyes?’

  Ignoring his wonderings, Shane turned and began moving deeper into the cave, calling back, “I will see if there is anything at the end of the cave, and I hope I find a way that leads to Essilon. It will not be too long before the humans will have us in range of their weapons should we have to venture out of the cave to seek another path through the mountain.”

  Slowing his pace, Shane moved cautiously forward as the darkness around him became complete. The cave appeared to go back a long way before narrowing and, as Shane sniffed around the ground, he sensed that the cave somehow widened. He could not see the widening of the cave, he simply felt a breeze gently blowing, gliding across his whiskers and passing beyond him, making him feel that the wind came from his right. The breeze carried the scents of many animals and so he knew that a number of beasts had been here in recent times. ‘Perhaps they have found a way through or they discovered that this is not the path to Essilon and had to go in search of another route.’

  Behind him, he heard the echo of Flack’s hoof’s clipping the floor, sounding as though the unicorn had turned to face in another direction and then stillness returned to the darkness. Moving slowly forward, keeping his right side scraping against the cave wall, Shane stopped when his way forward was suddenly blocked. Making a decision, he followed the stone that blocked his path as it ran to his left and then, suddenly, the way forward was no longer blocked.

  Something inside his mind began niggling him, something did not feel right. ‘If I have found a passage that runs deeper into the mountain then this should be the way to Essilon, but why does it feel wrong?’

  Again, there came the sound of Flack moving but the sound abruptly stopped, leaving Shane thinking, ‘Good, I want the unicorn to remain there while I find out if this is the way through to the great plane.’

  Sensing the continuation of a passage, Shane thought, ‘It must be the way through the mountain. That is, if there were any way through this cave. So why does it feel wrong?’

  Perplexed, and beginning to think that he was more tired than he thought, Shane lay upon the floor, determined to find what was causing him such concern. Closing his eyes, he found that there was no difference from when he held his eyes open, such was the completeness of the darkness this far back inside the cave. Using his ears, he listened and heard nothing. Using his whiskers was pointless as there was nothing to touch. Laying his head between his paws, he asked himself, ‘Why do I not want to move forward and travel down what appears to be a continuation of the passage?’

  Sitting there in the darkness, with all his senses seeking out answers, he eventually had to admit, ‘There is nothing! I can find nothing that indicates I should not try to go down this passage.’

  And then, suddenly, it hit him, ‘I feel nothing here! But a little way back I felt a breeze! Why is the breeze absent from here?’

  Standing quickly, he turned around and moved slowly back through the darkness, feeling the sudden arrival of rock to his left. ‘If this is only the cave wall then why can I now feel a breeze?’

  Standing still, Shane leant his body to the left, feeling the hardness of the cave wall. ‘But I can feel a breeze,’ he said to himself, his mind wondering if he was just imagining things or whether the breeze was really there.

  Annoyed that his senses appeared to be playing games with him, Shane stood up and turned around, placing his left side against the cave wall as he began to retrace his steps back towards the entrance.

  Following the cave wall, he soon saw the light of the opening of the cave and then, recalling that there had been no debris upon the floor, he began to run through the darkness, his eyes fixed on the circle of light ahead of him.

  The silhouette of the unicorn could be clearly seen standing against the bright light of day and Shane kept running until he was close to Flack who, hearing the sound of Shane’s claws upon the cave floor, had turned to face him. Coming to an abrupt halt, he heard the unicorn ask, “What did you find?”

  “Many beasts,” was all that Shane said, expecting Flack to understand the total meaning of his short statement.

  “There is a small group of humans that have moved quickly across the sand. They appear to be waiting for something, or someone, before they begin trying to climb the mountainside,” said Flack, as if he had not heard Shane’s comment. Turning, Flack looked back towards where he had last seen the humans. “They were very near the bottom of the steep climb, still upon the desert sand but they would soon be starting their own ascent, following on the trail that we have taken.”

  “Many beasts,” repeated Shane, adding, “There have been many beasts that have passed this way, and very recently. But not only many beasts, but many different kinds of beasts and I believe the way to Essilon is through this cave but the way is hidden from me.”

  “What did you find?” Flack asked, moving slightly deeper into the cave, adding, “I think it is best that we remain hidden from the humans.”

  “I am not sure,” replied Shane, turning and walking beside the unicorn and then lying down when the unicorn did so. “I need to try and solve a puzzle and it is better to lie here and ponder rather than stumble around the dark interior of the cave.”

  In the silence, Shane tried to work out what it was that he was missing. ‘Surely the presence of the scents of so many beasts indicates that this is the way to Essilon. Perhaps, there are many ways to reach Essilon through the mountainside and, even if there are other ways, then I still believe that this is a passage to Essilon also.’ This knowledge cheered him and lifted his spirits a little.

  Lying within the shade of the cave entrance, Shane could keep a watchful eye on the advancing humans. Then, realising that he was getting nowhere solving the puzzle, he decided it might be better to stop thinking about it for a while.

  “Why do you think the humans are all gathering here at the place where all beasts are gathering?” asked Shane, immediately realising his own answer. “They are here to destroy the beasts. But why?” he questioned himself without waiting for Flack to reply.

  “The humans have been cruel masters but they have needed the beasts, why would they want to destroy them? What would they use to hunt with, to carry for them, to eat?”

  “The humans,” began Shane, “can hunt with their own weapons, they can carry their own loads and they can live off fruit and vegetables. The demise of the beasts would not stop their existence.”

  Shane stood up in agitation and walked around in a circle a number of times, his eyes always darting to the advancing dark cloud that crawled its evil way across the desert floor.

  “Why do humans have to grow up?” questioned Shane.

  Shane could tell that Flack was surprised by this statement. ‘He understood humans to be evil by nature but he will not understand that there can be a difference in their ways because of age?’

  “What do you mean?” asked Flack, his curiosity engaged.

  “You know what I mean, when humans are still pups they,” Shane paused, “…maybe you don’t know... if you are only days old in age.” Shane thought for a moment and then continued, “When humans have young they are born weak and defenceless…”

  “All animals are weak and defenceless when born,” interjected Flack.

  “Yes,” replied Shane, “but do you know that it takes three to four seasons for them to walk on their own and even longer before they can communicate with their parents?”

  “Is three or four seasons a long time?” questioned Flack.

  “Look,” began Shane, sounding slightly annoyed, “You say you are six days old, so assume that one season is this time again, and again and again and again and again and then, take that number of days again and add it to itself.”

  “I cannot imagine this amount of days,” said Flack, clearly puz
zled by the concept of the passage of time.

  ‘Flack can only know of what has gone before in his six days of life, living and making choices in the happenings of now and only wondering what could be in times to come. He has no idea of time.’

  “Well then, imagine this, if you grew as a human child grew you would not be walking yet, you would not be able to forage for food, you would not be able run. How far away from the vile humans do you think you would have got?” Shane shouted these last words annoyed at having to try to explain such a simple concept as time.

  Flack was startled.

  Shane could see Flack flinch because of the tone of his voice and knew that his nerves were getting the better of him. “I’m sorry… it’s just that...” Shane’s words drifted off. ‘How do I find the way to Essilon through this cave?’ he asked himself, forgetting his conversation with Flack.

  “Why were you concerned about the humans growing up? Why should that make any difference to their ways?” questioned Flack, clearly ignoring the earlier tones which had appeared in Shane’s voice.

  “Well,” began Shane, leaving behind the dilemma of how to get to Essilon for the moment, while making sure that he spoke in a calmer voice, “When human children are very small they are not a problem at all. As I said, they cannot walk or talk for a very long time, but there comes a time when the human is still young and he begins to explore his world.

  The human child is very inquisitive and is soon travelling to as many places as he can. Now, around this time is when they tend to interact with the animals. You would not believe the amount of love that human children could give to an animal. You would not believe how gentle they can be.

  This is one of the reasons that made it possible for me to stay within one of the human camps. They would run, play, and just love the animals. In fact, some humans remained this way all through their lives but, for the majority of the humans, it is a short time full of love, which is soon forgotten by most as they grow.”

  Flack was silent for a moment and then he said, “You mean that the humans are not solely all of the things that I have witnessed?”

  “No, no, not at all,” replied Shane. “It’s just that they change. I do not know what makes that change, but it happens; there is an ugliness that takes over them. Some seem to be able to fight it off but, when they are surrounded by so many others who are evil, they tend to become evil themselves. In fact, I remember being told, by my mother, about a human who was a beautiful person and he refused to hunt the animals for food, he would not abuse them in any way. He was forced to leave the camp, not by the other humans making him go, but because he did not want to be a part of them. So he left, and a number of the animals went with him.”

  “What happened to him?” Flack said, his whole attention given to Shane’s words as he listened to this story. It was hard for him to believe that the humans could be so decent and good, but he had no doubt that Shane was telling him the truth.

  Shane was quiet for a moment and then he continued, speaking slowly, “I was there when it happened, I was only young but I remember it so strongly. I was with my mother at the time when a group of the humans who had been out hunting, returned. There was a lot of excitement in the human camp and my mother went running toward the main group of humans. I was excited by all of the noise and immediately raced after my mother.

  I made my way through the humans and I recall that I was kicked a number of times by them. They were not serious kicks but they caused me some pain. Anyway, I managed to get to my mother and watched with her. The humans were dragging in another human. They were shouting and screaming at him. They threw him to the floor and a few of the humans kicked him. There was a lot of blood on him, I do remember that.

  Then, suddenly, the humans went quiet and one human, who was the leader of that human group, began to speak. He began to shout and the other humans began to repeat his words. I cannot recall their words because at that age my understanding of the human language was still limited.

  Anyway, all went quiet again, and then the leader walked up to the human who was lying on the floor. He bent down over the human but I could not see what he was doing, but the human on the floor started to shout, and then suddenly he began to scream. The scream was cut short very abruptly.

  The human leader stayed bending over him for a little while and you could feel the tension in the air coming from the other humans. It was the first time that I was ever frightened by the evilness of the humans. I did not know what was going to happen, but the malevolence that was present scared my heart into pounding so fast that I thought it would burst.” Shane paused for a moment, but Flack was so intent on the story and eagerly wished Shane to continue that he could not contain himself and spoke quickly to Shane.

  “What happened then?” asked Flack.

  “Then? Oh, well,” Shane continued, and then, in a quieter voice, “In the silence of that malevolent human group, suddenly a great shout went up as the leader stood up straight. He held his hand high and that hand held something that hung there, dripping blood.

  The humans were all shouting and cheering as the leader threw the thing he was holding. It sailed through the air and landed a little way away from me and my mother. We did not have a chance to see what it was before a number of the humans descended upon it. They shouted as they attacked it with their feet. They kicked it and raced to where it had stopped. They were shouting, cursing, pushing each other, all fighting to be the one that got to the object first, only to strike at it and send it hurtling across the ground again.

  I remember my mother standing frozen beside me and a dark shadow began to seep over me, making me huddle up closer to my mother. I will never forget her looking at me and then turning her head to watch the humans. I was frightened but I also watched. It is hard to explain, but there was so much evil and hatred in the air that it made you want to run, but at the same time, it tied you to the ground, transfixed.

  Suddenly, the object that the humans were kicking came in our direction. It rolled over and came to rest directly in front of my mother. I did not know what it was at first but then I began to recognise the human features of a face. It was the human’s head! I remember growling at it as I thought that it was going to attack me and I received a sharp nip from my mother. I cowered between her legs.

  Then, without any warning, she turned and ran back toward our den. It was beside a large den that belonged to one of the humans. For a moment I stood there and watched her run, and then I glanced back at the human head and then was suddenly made more aware of the humans around me and raced over to my mother.

  She was lying, facing back toward the humans head. I whimpered and lay beside her. There was much activity amongst the humans and the smell of smoke and cooking began to fill the air. It made me hungry but I was too scared to say anything to my mother or to wander amongst the humans looking for a handout. So I lay down beside my mother and watched with her. Not once did her attention leave that human head.” Shane stopped talking and Flack could see in his eyes that he was recalling the events, almost as if he were reliving them.

  “This human, the one who was slain, he was the good human?” asked Flack, softly.

  “Yes, I did not know it then but by morning I knew all about the human and how much he had meant to my mother, and to me.”

  “What do you mean?” quizzed Flack.

  Well, we lay there very still, with the humans running around, shouting, dancing, and eating. Insects had begun to gather around the human head and were having a feast of their own and then, suddenly, my mother stood up and in fright at her sudden movement I also jumped up, but she turned and gave me a look that told me to stay where I was. And so I lay back down immediately and watched as my mother made her way to the human head. I watched as she stopped before it and then she delicately - I can see that now - took the human head by the scalp, turned and ran away into the darkness.

  My heart was beating madly as I continued to lay there. My mother was gone f
or a long time. Eventually, I heard her coming back to me and when she came up to me she just lay down beside me.”

  “Where had she been? Why had she taken the human’s head?” Flack was becoming impatient.

  “It was a while before she spoke to me,” said Shane, “but when she did, she told me more about the human, and about me.”

  “How did it involve you?” said Flack.

  “It seems that this human was a very kind and gentle human. He had many friends amongst the animals and she said that many of the other humans resented that but, more importantly, she told me about her bearing forth me, my brothers, and my sister.

  She told me that she had a difficult labour and that two of her young were stillborn. This human would not leave the stillborn pups and massaged and caressed the two until one began to breathe.

  That pup was returned to my mother while he continued massaging and caressing the other pup. Mother says that she knew that the pup was lost long before the human gave up his efforts. She said he kept looking at her and she could see such deep sorrow upon his face.

  Eventually, he returned the pup to my mother who cleaned the pup and washed him and then, after a little while, the human took my dead brother out of the human camp. He returned, after a little while, and kept a vigil with my mother and her new family. She said he was very concerned about the one that he had saved and kept watch over him for the whole of that night.

  My mother told me that my brother, who had died, she had named ‘Genta,’ and that he was identical in markings to me.” There were tears in Shane’s eyes as he recalled the events.

  Flack spoke, feeling as though he was intruding in on private thoughts, but needing to ask more questions. “Did the other pup survive?” Flack asked.

  “Yes, he survived. My mother was always very protective of the little pup that the human had saved, the one that she called Shane.” His voice broke, and Flack heard Shane haul in a huge breath of air and slowly let it out again.

  “You miss your mother very much, don’t you?” said Flack, unnecessarily. There was no reply from Shane but the silence told him how much.

  The silence was eventually interrupted by Shane. “Do you want to know where she went that night when she carried away the human’s head?”

  Flack nodded.

  “She went and buried the humans head with my brother, the one that he had tried to save but could not.” Shane paused for a moment and then continued, “For a while after that my mother used to take me with her to where they were buried. We just used to lie there for a while, never speaking, and then we would return to the human camp.”

  “It must have been very hard on you, to find out all those things,” said Flack.

  “It was. I learnt a great many lessons that day, although many I did not understand until I was a little older. You can perhaps understand me now when I said it was safer to be amongst the humans than to be an outsider. The gentle human was one of their own ‘kind’ and look what it was that they did to him…”

  “Do you think there are many humans like that who...” Flack began, but was interrupted as a number of clattering sounds caught their attention causing them to stand quickly and move forward to the edge of the cave entrance and gaze down the rocky slopes of the mountain.

  A number of humans, who were clearly ahead of the main mass, had fired their arrows in the hope of catching the beasts. They had fallen short but they would soon be within range.

  “It seems that they knew that we were here,” said Shane, moving backwards slowly, knowing that they would have to move, and quickly.

  ‘I have to hope that where we stand is not just an entrance to a cave but is, in fact, an entrance to a passage. It would be pointless to head back out if we found it to be a cave, for the humans would probably have reached the entrance of the cave by then... and if they had? I can only hope that the ledges on the mountainside slow down their ascent.’

  Turning to face the dark inners of the cave, Shane shouted, “Ledges! That’s it! It has got to be it!”

  Beginning to run deeper into the cave, Shane could hear Flack’s hooves echoing around him as the unicorn followed him. Shane had to quickly slow down, ‘I know there are no obstacles but it would be reckless to fall and risk injury now.’

  “Flack, I have stopped running, be careful as you come up behind me,” shouted Shane, wanting to make sure that the unicorn did not crash into him. ‘A blow from those hooves could do me a lot of harm,’ thought Shane.

  From behind him, he heard the sound of Flack coming to a halt, and said, “Wait there, Flack. We had best be careful. I will call you when I have got to the place that I want to search and you can follow the sound of my voice.”

  Turning his head, Shane was aware that he could see faint details on the cave wall to his right. ‘I could not see those details before,’ he thought, adding, ‘Some stray sunshine must be penetrating the cave.’

  Conscious of the faint details on the wall, Shane still leant his right side against the cave wall, ensuring that he would follow the path to where he had been earlier when he had felt the breeze. Moving slowly forward, he noticed that the details of the wall descended further into blackness and he had no choice but to use body to guide him along the cave wall.

  With his leg muscles straining because of an urgency to find out if he was right about the passage, Shane had to fight to keep his pace down to a painful crawl. With a start, he halted, feeling the cold wall at the end of the cave and, holding himself still he immediately felt the gentle breeze that he had detected earlier.

  Turning left, he followed along the wall until he could no longer feel the breeze and knew that he was close to the other passage that he knew he did not want to travel down. Turning around, he retraced his steps, constantly feeling the breeze and even though he pressed his left side against the cold cave wall, he could not find a gap that would lead through.

  Turning to face in the direction of the wall, he got onto his hind legs and moved forward, feeling the hard wall blocking his progress. Fighting against his unsteady balance, he moved to his right, his claws scratching against the rock as he fought to keep his balance.

  Despondent, he returned to all fours, feeling the breeze and annoyed that he had not been able to find a ledge. Turning around, preparing to return to Flack and hopefully race from the cave, whilst avoiding the human arrows as they sought another passage way in the mountainside, Shane was surprised to see a faint light in the cave. Staring, he could see a rough outline of the unicorn seeming to shimmer in the darkness.

  “Flack,” Shane whispered.

  “Yes,” replied the unicorn.

  “Can you make your way toward me? Go slowly, in case you collide with the walls. Keep to the right.”

  There was no reply from the unicorn but, almost immediately, he heard the slow clipping of Flack’s hooves as he made his way toward him. ‘And the light moves too! How can the unicorn give off light?’

  For a moment, he considered asking the unicorn but then decided that, ‘If the creature was truly only six days old and seemed to know nothing of his life, then he was probably not aware of the glow. Why did I not see the blue glow when we rested at night?’ he asked himself, and then reasoned, ‘I may have seen the glow but, because it was so faint, then I have assumed it was the moonlight striking his white coat.’

  Mesmerised into silence, he watched the approaching outline of the unicorn and when Flack was drawing near, looking like he was a tall as a giant tree, Shane said, “Whoa, I am down here.”

  “Is that what you have found?” asked Flack, as the faint blue glow permeated Shane’s surroundings, lifting just enough nearby darkness away so that he could see the details on the wall on his left and floor immediately between himself and the unicorn.

  Not seeing anything that Flack was referring to, Shane turned around and exclaimed, “I knew it! There is a ledge but it was just a little higher than I could reach!” Before him, he could now see what appeared to be a cave wall
was in face a ledge and was just a little higher than his paws could reach when he had tried to feel his way along it in the dark.

  Moving away, he stood beside Flack, saying, “You had better hope that I was right!” before running forward and bounding as high as he could, his rear legs only just managing to push him on the ledge before he slipped back. Standing still, he could see the sight breeze but because he had moved so far away from Flack there was no longer the faint glow to help him see his surroundings.

  “Can you make it up here?” Shane whispered, wondering why he was whispering, and then added, “Let me move to the side a little. I do not want you landing on top of me.”

  “I do not know,” Flack replied.

  The glowing form of Flack began to move backwards, moving a little way down the cave, leaving Shane completely in darkness. Suddenly, with thundering hooves, the glowing form of Flack came running toward him and, in desperation, he raced further to the left as the huge bulk of Flack landed on the ledge beside him, staggering forward for a moment and almost stumbling.

  Silence returned and Shane asked, “Are you all right?”

  “I caught my left hind leg on the ledge. It is painful, but should be all right.”

  “Let me look,” said Shane, moving toward the leg and easily seeing a dark patch that hid the gentle glowing that came from the rest of Flack’s body.

  “You are bleeding, but I think it is only a scrape. Can you put your weight on the leg?”

  Flack body moved slightly and then Flack replied, “Yes, there is no additional pain when I rest my weight upon the leg.”

  ‘That is fortunate,’ thought Shane. ‘I have seen what the humans do to horses that are lame.’

  “Do you know why you glow?” Shane asked before he could stop himself.

  There was a pause, and then Flack replied, “I was not aware of it until I entered deep in the cave but I had thought that it was because of the strange blue light, the portal that my mother told me that I had passed through to enter this land, although I do not recall such an event.”

  “Yes, yes,” said Shane, speaking more to himself, before adding, “I told you that I came through a similar blue portal. For some reason it appears to have affected your coat though I have not seen it affect other creatures or humans in that way. Perhaps there is something unique about a unicorn’s coat that holds and traps the blue light. Was you parents coats the same?”

  “I cannot recall,” said Flack, “If I had seen it I would not have seen it as anything out of the ordinary if it were the same with my parents.”

  “Never mind, it came in useful here. If it were not for the glow from your body we may have found this ledge. Are you able to walk or do you need to rest your leg?” Shane asked.

  “I will be fine,” said Flack, moving his head up and down in confirmation.

  “Right, let us see what we can find,” said Shane, turning around and seeing that the glow from the unicorn lit up the ground a little in front of him. ‘That will help us move quicker but it will be still progress because we will not be able risking running in this place. And, even if this place is a dead end, then the humans may not find us hidden in here.’

  Moving slowly forward, the light from the unicorn’s glow was lost to him and he realised that Flack would have to remain very close if they were to try to use the light. His eyes could no longer see any detail ahead of him and he would have to use his nose and whiskers to help them through. Shane could still smell the scents of many beasts that had passed this way and so he was sure that this was not just a cave. With Flack’s hooves echoing around the walls of the cave, Shane felt that they gave a loud and vibrant sound to a seemingly, dead world of darkness. ‘I hope we can travel along way so that, when the human’s search the cave they will not hear the sounds made by Flack.’

  Shane halted, calling for Flack to halt also. He knew that it was very difficult for Flack to follow him as the unicorn had to follow the slow ‘sniff-sniffing’ noises that Shane’s nose produced, as he searched for the scents of any beasts that had previously travelled this way.

  “We have a problem,” said Shane. “The passage appears to separate here into two separate passages. The faint light just about lets me see two distinct dark holes which have to passages.”

  Flack remained silent and, in that silence, Shane was thinking back over all of the things that he had heard tell of Essilon.

  After a little while of the two of them standing in complete silence, in the lonely darkness of the cave passage, Shane spoke slowly, “I have an idea about this place. It was told to me once that the entrance to Essilon is open to all beasts but is a trap for humans. Wait here for a moment whilst I just check out which should be the correct passage that we should follow.”

  The patter of Shane’s paws and the odd scraping of his nails on the rocks travelled with him, leaving Flack alone in the darkness of the cave. Behind him he heard the muffled shouts and screams of the evil humans and knew that they must be approaching the cave. ‘Now that the humans know we are here they are bound to be determined to catch us. I wonder what the outcome would be if that happened? I cannot imagine facing that many humans, armed with their weapons that can kill from a great distance, while we are trapped in tight passages. What chance would we have?

  The passages could be so narrow that Flack would not be able to turn around to face any humans that should follow us along the passage. He would simply be slain from behind.’ That thought unnerved him and he lurched a little forward, scraping his right flank on a jagged piece of rock that was hidden in the darkness, sending a searing pain through him, almost causing his legs to buckle.

  Suddenly, aware that the breeze had stopped, he began moving slowly backwards until he felt the breeze again.

  Turning his head, he could see the glow of the unicorn, realising, ‘The humans will also see Flack once they venture far enough the cave. We must hurry to be down as many passages as possible, hoping that they will bend a little so that Flack becomes hidden from them.’

  Fears began mounting in Shane and the darkness of the passage seemed to enhance the fear. He could imagine the walls collapsing around him, burying him in the rock. As if confirming his fears, he heard Flack’s hooves nervously pounding upon the rocky floor in agitation.

  ‘Why does this dark passage scare him so much, for surely it was a safer place than being in the open at the mercy of the flying weapons of the humans. And the darkness should help protect us. Why did it scare the unicorn so much?’

  “Hush! Be quiet! You’ll bring the humans straight to us,” said Shane in a harshly whispered voice, hearing the sudden stillness as Flack obeyed.

  Concentrating on sniffing the floor, Shane moved across the width of the cave, making sure that he could always feel the slight breeze. And then, moving in front of the left-hand passage, he found the scent of other beasts to be very strong.

  ‘This has to be the way!’

 

 

  21 - Numbers III - Hundreds of Choices

  “Come, follow close behind me. I think I have the key to take us through this maze of tunnels we are about to enter. At least, I’m sure we will find a maze of tunnels. You see, it is a very simple way of protecting Essilon if I am correct. It has to be simple so that all beasts that enter should have safety and all humans whom enter must go to death.

  We are faced with a honeycomb of tunnels, but only one path leads to Essilon. It is heavily scented with the odour of many beasts, odours that the human’s poor noses would not be able to smell. And so, the humans shall become lost in the tunnels and wander until they die.” Shane’s voice had become quite happy sounding, he noted.

  The sound of Flack’s hooves began again, slowly coming toward him and, as the glow of the unicorn lit up the ground just in front of him, he could see the towering beast come to a halt and standing looking down at him.

  “There is also a faint breeze. Too gentle for the humans to detect and I believe that will also act as
a guide,” said Shane, turning way from Flack and beginning to move into the left hand passage.

  The passage narrowed at times, and Shane knew that Flack would scrape his sides on the outcroppings of rocks regularly. At first, Flack groaned in pain but, as they progressed with their speed almost down to nothing because Shane felt that they were sufficiently deep and hidden from any humans that entered the cave, the noises from the unicorn became less and less. ‘He has even found a way of walking so that his hooves do not make so much noise.’