by Kate Gordon
The breeze brought the smell of the sea, and Lily inhaled deeply. She loved it here. Beach, forest and farm to ride on. Friends to ride with and a dog to keep her company.
“Come on, then.” Sky slipped through the paddock gate at her heels. “Stay with me in case of the taniwha. They might like eating dogs too.” But Sky shot away in pursuit of rabbits.
Lily broke into a jog, keen to reach the solid companionship of the horses, but then stopped as the dusky light turned silver. To the east, she watched the moon inch over the horizon. She could make out the shadows and craters. “Wow.”
Dad had said it was going to be a super moon in a couple of nights. An eerie shiver trickled down her neck. If ever there was a time for taniwha, this would be it!
Rainbow nickered and walked towards Lily. “Hello, lovely boy. Are you keeping Kahurangi company?” He rubbed his forehead on her shoulder as she scratched around his ears. He sighed in contentment.
Lily ran her hands firmly over the pony, sleek and shiny in his summer coat. Down his neck, around his chest, under his belly. Was he sore? Up over his back and Rainbow just stood, calm, not a flicker of pain or discomfort.
“I don’t know, mate. All I can think of doing is trying Kuia’s herbs and going back to jumping kindergarten for a few days.”
Suddenly Rainbow’s head went up. Snorting, he sidled under her hands.
“Easy, pony. Probably just that mad dog,” Lily murmured as her hands moved over his rump, but he wouldn’t settle.
She looked around. Nothing but her, the horses, the bush and their paddock. She couldn’t hear anything other than the surf and her pony’s breathing. But there was a sense of... something.
What... what if it’s... taniwha?
Chapter Two
Suddenly a deep rumbling noise interrupted the everyday sound of the Tasman Sea meeting the shore.
What the heck...?
Another rolling rumble. It seemed to come from down near the beach.
She froze. What was happening?
The horses’ ears were pricked towards the sound as it got louder. Lily stood at Rainbow’s shoulder, drawing strength from his presence. He wasn’t trembling or running from the noise, so it wasn’t too scary...for him.
The ground trembled under her feet, echoing the deepening roar.
Her heart jumped.
Was it an earthquake? Should she run to the house? Tell her parents?
A shrill neigh cut through the night.
She looked around quickly. Which horse was that? Gracie and Rainbow were right here. Kahurangi was just over the fence, also facing the beach.
More whinnies, some small and frightened, among the strange, continuous rumbling from the beach.
Are those foals? Are they hurt?
Lily spoke out loud as if the horses could answer. “How can there be foals? We haven’t got any, so whose horses are they?”
More shrill whinnies had Lily gulping down her fear of the unknown. She grabbed a handful of mane and vaulted onto Rainbow’s bare back. “We have to go see.”
He moved forward willingly as she squeezed her legs. “I don’t know what it is, Rainbow, but if a horse is hurt or something, we have to help if we can.”
Lily nudged Rainbow into a canter across the silvery, moonlit grass. Thankful they’d done lots of bareback work without bridle or even a halter, she asked him to halt at the gate by leaning her weight back slightly. A nudge here, pressure there, and they quickly navigated the gate onto the track through native trees down to the beach.
“Just walk, pony.” She urged him forward. “It’s a bit dark through here. Your eyesight is probably better than mine, but no point stumbling over tree roots if we don’t need to.”
She could hear the rumbling over the crunching of Rainbow’s hooves as he walked briskly down the gravel track. Anxious whinnies still rang out.
Confused by whose horses could possibly be on their private beach, Lily also couldn’t fathom what was making that incredible roar.
They stepped out of the trees onto the sand, bright with moonlight.
“Oh. My. Goodness.” Lily’s mouth dropped open.
Horses.
Everywhere.
Foals and mares. Bigger horses – geldings or stallions maybe. Pale greys, dappled greys, marbled silver-greys and little foals with darker, almost black coats. All milling around in restless groups while the roaring sound seemed to come from behind them right down by the surf.
Hold on.
Those weren’t horses...
Where she expected to see the familiar lines of their heads, there was something... Something long and pointed...and only seen in books and fairy tales.
Dumbfounded, she asked her pony, “Are they unicorns?”
With a friendly nicker, Rainbow started towards the closest group.
He touched noses with a light dappled-grey unicorn who had a foal tucked in close to her flank.
Trembling, Lily had eyes only for the ivory spike rising from the unicorn’s forehead. The twisted curves caught the silvered light. The tip was so sharp, so lethal. Would she use it on Rainbow to protect her foal? Would the others?
Now they were surrounded by unicorns armed with those deadly spikes. Lily sat frozen on Rainbow’s back. How would they escape if the unicorns decided to attack?
The mare whuffled a greeting just like Rainbow would and Lily relaxed a fraction.
They seemed friendly. So far.
But where had they come from?
She nudged Rainbow forward across the sand, the constantly moving groups of unicorns around them. Closer to the sea, there was...
She gasped and pointed even though there was no one else to see.
It was...a kind of chasm, a gaping hole in the beach just metres from the surf. The roaring sound came directly from the hole from which a very dark unicorn staggered then collapsed.
Two larger unicorns galloped towards their fallen colleague, throwing up sand as they skidded to a halt. The silvery one nuzzled the dark unicorn, obviously encouraging it to get up. The other darkly dappled one tossed his head, and the unicorns milling around Lily galloped to that inexplicable hole in the beach, turned and formed a row as if on command. They kicked sand into the hole with their rear hooves, but from what Lily could see in the ever-brightening moonlight, it didn’t make any difference to the size of the hole although maybe the pulsing sound was a bit quieter.
Without the unicorns gathered around, Lily felt suddenly exposed. A girl and her pony watching mythical creatures in some desperate struggle on her family’s private beach.
Then the head-tossing, dark-dappled unicorn saw them and charged!
“Run, Rainbow, run!” Lily kicked her pony’s sides and tugged on his mane. But he stood there calmly, watching the large unicorn gallop towards them with his head lowered and that spike ready to run them through.
“Rainbow, come on!” Frantic, she kicked and punched Rainbow’s neck, rump, anywhere she could reach, but nothing.
Should she get off and run? She looked around. The native bush which ran down to the beach was quite a way off. Fast runner though she was, she was no match for an angry unicorn on the soft sand.
Swinging back to face the terrifying unicorn, she couldn’t believe Rainbow was just standing there, waiting for certain hurt. Tucking herself tightly against her pony’s neck, she closed her eyes. Those thundering hooves came closer.
Then...
Furious snorting and a deep voice. “Who are you?”
Eyes popping open in disbelief, Lily sat up.
Did the unicorn just talk to me?
The huge dark grey unicorn swung its spike frighteningly close to Rainbow’s beautiful head. “Answer me!” It was angry. “Who are you and why are you here?”
“Um,” she squeaked. “I’m Lily and this is our beach.”
The silvery unicorn thundered up, spraying sand over them all. Rainbow stayed steady beneath her, simply snorting the sand off his face.
“
It’s a human, as you can see, Sire! Spying for Abellona, perhaps.” The first unicorn spat the words out angrily.
“I see a girl on a pony, Sigvard,” the silvery one replied. “There is no cause for alarm at this point.”
Hearing his deep yet strangely soothing voice, Lily’s terror of being run through by a unicorn horn lessened. He towered over her and Rainbow, but somehow he didn’t frighten her. On the contrary, she found herself reaching out a hand to him.
He lowered his head so she could touch his muzzle.
“Oh!” Lily snatched her hand away.
“It’s alright, child. I feel it too.”
“Like a tingling?”
He nodded.
Beside him, Sigvard stamped his hooves. “Not again, Ambrosius. This constant desire to interact with humans is dangerous.”
“Hush, Sigvard, we do not know if the child can help.”
Lily only had eyes for the unicorn called Ambrosius. She placed her hand flat on his cheek, her gaze locked with his and away from that polished spike which shone in the moonlight.
There it was again. A warm tingle. Flowing from her hand, up her arm. “Wow. It’s...it’s...”
“Indescribable?” The chuckle in the unicorn’s voice made it sound like he was smiling.
Lily’s hand moved over the silky coat of his cheek and neck. It felt just like Rainbow’s, but with that amazing feeling, kind of a magical warmth. “You’re right, I can’t describe it, but it’s wonderful.”
“We simply call it a connection. It is wonderful and very rare, despite what Sigvard says. You are only the third person in my lifetime with whom I have felt it.”
“Wow,” Lily whispered. She didn’t know what to say. What do you say to a unicorn when he tells you something like that?
“Sire!” Sigvard spoke with urgency. “This is all very well, but we need to get off this beach. And what about Brökk?”
Lily had almost forgotten he and the other unicorns were milling around as she petted the one who seemed to be the herd’s leader. Her whole body quivered gently as the warm connection wove through her. It was like when she realised that she loved her pony Rainbow more than anything else in the world. Yet somehow more.
Ambrosius sighed as he lifted his head away from Lily’s hand. He rested his muzzle ever so gently on her head for a moment before turning to his colleague. “Yes, Sigvard. As you know, you cannot seek a connection. They simply exist. Can we not take this as a positive sign? But I agree, we do need to move. Have the herd continue trying to conceal the portal as best they can. I will see if Lily can help us with where we can take Brökk to rest.”
With a snort of acknowledgement, Sigvard thundered back towards the giant hole on the beach where Lily could see the other nearly black unicorn still lay.
The silvered one cleared his throat to draw her attention. “I will speak quickly. Let me introduce myself more formally. I am Ambrosius, King of the herd of Västerbotten, from the lands you know as Scandinavia. We are being pursued by a determined and devious sorceress named Abellona and seek to get as far away as possible from our homeland. We have a little time, we don’t know how long, a few days perhaps, before we expect her to follow us through the portal made by our mage Brökk.” Ambrosius nodded his spike towards the fallen unicorn. “The question is, can you help us find somewhere secluded to rest and allow Brökk to heal? Obviously, we do not know your land as we know our own.”
Lily opened her mouth but had no words. He – a unicorn king – wanted her – a twelve-year-old girl – to help his herd of unicorns hide from an angry witch?
“Me?” she squeaked. “You want me to help?”
“Yes, Lily, if you can,” he replied calmly.
“But...but I’ve got to qualify Rainbow for the Pony Club championships...”
“Surely,” Ambrosius said with a smile in his voice, “that is not at this very moment.”
Rainbow shuffled his feet in the sand, and Lily smiled ruefully. “Um, no.”
“That is good to hear.” The unicorn king moved to face his herd. Most were kicking sand into the hole, lessening the intense roaring sound. A few were beside Brökk, the moon-lit phosphorescence of the waves gently curling onto the sand creating a backdrop for the stricken unicorn. Foals stood quietly with their mothers, heads hanging.
“The foals are tired,” Lily said, her mind reeling with all she was seeing and hearing. The herd needed help to keep the foals safe, but how?
“They are. We need to get out of this bay to somewhere that other humans won’t find us. Can you think of somewhere we might move to? To save us heading off into the unknown and potentially meet more people who may not be as accepting as you are.”
Oh heck. Lily thought hard.
“Oh!”
“Yes?” said Ambrosius eagerly.
“The farm where Kahurangi was found. There’s no people, no stock.” She pointed away to the far end of the bay. “It’s through the trees in that direction, and you don’t pass any other farms or houses on the way.”
“That sounds promising. Let me talk with Sigvard. I want us all to be somewhere much safer by dawn.” He trotted over to the others.
A sharp whistle blasted through the night.
“Oh, geez, Rainbow. That’s Dad’s sheep-dog whistle.” Lily looked up at the night sky. The moon was up a good way from the horizon. How long had she and Rainbow been out here?
She nudged her pony to follow the unicorn. “We’ll quickly make sure they know where they’re going, okay?” Rainbow snorted in reply as he broke into a trot. She squeezed her legs to grip on. “Then we better get home.”
“Good, you’re here.” Ambrosius turned to Lily as she stopped beside him. “Can you please explain as best you can where this deserted farm is? Sigvard will send Guilio up to scout ahead for us.”
“Who’s gwe-le-o?”
A white, winged creature stepped from among the unicorns working on the portal. “I am Guilio, the guardian pegasus of this fine herd.”
Lily gasped. A winged horse! How had she not seen him among the unicorns?
The pegasus stopped in front of Rainbow and dropped his head as if bowing to Lily. “What landmarks should I seek?”
Lily closed her eyes, trying to visualise how to find the farm from the air, which wasn’t something she’d ever had to do before. She’d hate to get this wrong.
“Okay, I’ve got this,” she whispered to herself.
She opened her eyes and pointed. “When you leave the beach at that end, after a little while the bush – the native trees – become pine forest. Through the pines you’ll come to the dead-end part of a dead-end road. Follow that road until the first driveway on the...” She paused to think. “Left. The driveway winds up a long hill. I’ve never been up there, so don’t know much about the farm other than it’s among hills and has lots of tree-filled gullies, which seems like a good hiding place.”
Another whistle sounded. It was closer, but still up in the horse paddock as far as Lily could tell.
“I have to go!” She turned to Ambrosius. “Can I come and see you tomorrow? Early, before school. Just to make sure you’re okay.”
“Of course,” he replied. “Now you go. And thank you!”
“Good luck!” She waved and nudged Rainbow to canter along the beach. She couldn’t risk Dad coming down to the beach to look for her and then seeing the unicorns. And finding their chasm thing.
Ambrosius said humans must not know about them and some people would just want to catch the unicorns to keep them on display. Not that Dad would probably be like that, but I won’t risk it.
At least the noise was getting less the more sand they kicked into it, but a big hole like that was pretty obvious on a normally smooth beach. Mum and Liam liked to walk along the beach most days. She had no idea how the unicorns would fill it or hide it but hoped they would sort it out. And soon.
She glanced back. The silvery creatures were moving along the beach to the far end, several walking c
lose beside a slow-moving darker one. Brökk. At least he could stand up now.
Will some rest be enough to heal him? What will happen if the witch somehow followed them?
She shivered, icy fear tingling down her spine.
“I don’t even want to think about that, Rainbow.” They reached the track through the trees, and she pressed him into a fast canter. “We’re going to be busy enough with your training, herbs with Kuia, and trying to fit in seeing the unicorns tomorrow as it is. Lucky it’s the holidays the day after tomorrow.”
They reached the gate.
“There you are!” Dad’s voice boomed from behind the dazzling light of his big torch.
“Don’t blind us, Dad.” Lily slipped off Rainbow to go through the gate.
He flicked the torchlight away from them. “What have you been doing? Why were you on the beach? And after dark too.” He sounded worried.
Rainbow followed Lily as she walked up to her father and grabbed his hand. “The moon was amazing, Dad.”
And so were the unicorns, but I can’t tell you about them. Oh heck, how am I going to keep them a secret from Sasha and Chloe?
“I just wanted to see it from the beach. You know how the waves light up with phosphorescence?”
As she hoped, that got her father talking about the science of the little sea creatures in the waves being fluorescent.
They walked back across the paddock, her hand tucked in her dad’s big, work-roughened one. All Lily could think about was how were the unicorns getting on finding the abandoned farm.
Even if they just hide in the bush away from the beach, that might be okay for a while. I wonder if Ambrosius – what an amazing name – would mind if I told Sasha and Chloe. I’d feel mean if I didn’t. They’d tell me if one of them met a herd of unicorns, I’m sure of it. I don’t think I can keep something like this a secret from them. It’s just too exciting.
She patted Rainbow goodnight at the gate back into the stable yard, as Dad latched the gate.
Yawning, she followed Dad into the house. She’d figure out whether or not to tell her friends tomorrow. She was sure they would be able to keep the secret safe.
