by Kate Gordon
Lily pondered Ambrosius’s words as she watched the unicorns in front of them. Long rows snaked across the dimly lit paddock. Sasha and Sigvard were nearly at the gate which led through the bush down to the beach.
She moved with his stride, trying to soak up the feeling of riding the unicorn one last time. “Ambrosius, I will never regret anything about helping you. As Sasha often says, you and the herd are the most amazing thing to have ever happened to us.”
“That is very kind of you to say, Lily, thank you.”
“Rainbow will be okay soon, and there are other competitions. And if our parents never know about us going out at night, that will be okay too. But...” She paused to think.
“But Abellona?” he prompted.
“Can she hear us?”
The unicorn dropped back a few metres. “Definitely not now.”
“What you said has me worried. Could she ever come back to New Zealand without Brökk’s chasm?”
“I do not know, Lily, but that is why we will work on our allegiance with the zilants to keep Abellona safely locked away when we get home. Brökk has also suggested we try and find one of his brethren, a very old mage who has gone away to live a solitary life. She had a long history with Abellona and her twin brother, and their mother before them.”
Lily jumped in. “So she might know other magic that can stop them?”
“We hope so, yes, if we can find Hakana.”
Sasha and Sigvard were already through the gate and out of sight down the track. The unicorns followed as instructed.
“We haven’t been paying much attention!” Lily said as she saw Chloe and Mikaela turn through the gate.
“The herd has done as instructed,” Ambrosius said as he trotted to catch up with the unicorns pulling the cage. “You’ll slow for this turn, yes?”
“Yes, Sire.”
“You might need to walk down the track,” Lily suggested. “It’s quite bumpy.”
“Yes, we will,” the team’s leader replied.
Lily slipped off Ambrosius to shut the gate. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness among the trees on either side of the beach track, but then she could make out the silver unicorn forms moving as quietly as they could.
“If you stand here, Ambrosius, I can mount from that post.” She clambered up some rails beside the gate and slipped onto the unicorn’s back for the last time.
He walked after his herd, and she leaned forward to lie over his withers, hugging his neck. Happiness and sadness rolled through her, and she closed her eyes, savouring Ambrosius’s warmth and smell as her face pressed into the crest of his neck.
Nearly the whole herd was returning safely to their homeland – which was a good thing, but also sad. Sad for the unicorns who had died in the battle with Abellona and now lay buried under a mighty kauri tree near the battlefield. Sad for her and her friends who had grown to love the unicorns so very much in such a short time.
She sniffed away the threatening tears. It wasn’t a time for crying. She should be happy that the unicorns could go home, right?
Lily sat up on Ambrosius’s back as he walked down the steepest part of the gravel track. Ahead, she saw the unicorns moving around the sandy curve to the far end of the beach where Brökk’s chasm had emerged.
“Will it take you three days to go back through the chasm, Ambrosius?”
“Brökk says not this time with the help of the zilants.”
“Oh, I’ve been wondering how they get home.”
“They should be here any minute.”
And with that, she heard the swooshing rhythm of large wings approaching from the direction of the abandoned farm. The flight of zilants swung over the herd to land on the beach near Sigvard. Their wings settled with a slithering sound that made her shudder. Imagine being right beside them like Sasha is.
Then came the rocs, who now carried the giant fighting cats upon their backs.
“Are they all in allegiance with you now, Ambrosius?”
“Let’s call it a work in progress.”
Lily’s gaze was captured by the magnificent sight of three pegasuses sweeping into land.
Lily grinned. “Oh, look, Xanthe is flying!”
“Indeed she is, my dear Lily, and all thanks to you.”
Her heart filled with happiness, she leaned forward to hug the unicorn. “You’re very welcome, Ambrosius.”
“I feel as happy as you, dear child. Truly, we have a new era of life to return to and I do not know how we will ever repay you.”
“Don’t say that. You know I would do anything to help you all. Seeing Xanthe flying with Galen and Guilio might just be the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” She paused, thinking of the night she first saw the unicorn king. “Except that moment when you galloped up to me and Rainbow on this beach. That...” She blinked away sudden tears. “You...you are absolutely the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.”
“Ah, Lily.” Ambrosius nuzzled her knee. “I will miss you very much.”
Tears plopped onto Lily’s jeans before she wrapped her arms around his neck once more. “Oh, I know! I will miss you heaps!”
Shrill whinnies interrupted their conversation.
“Ambrosius, the cage!” Lily pointed to the wheeled cage, which was bogged in soft sand despite the muscular efforts of the four harnessed unicorns.
A harsh cry was followed by four zilants leaping into the air and racing to the cage. Quickly, they formed up over the cage, grabbed the roof bars with their massive talons and flapped their wings. The combined efforts of the flying serpents and the unicorns soon had the wheeled crate back on firm sand.
“That was impressive!” Lily said as Ambrosius carried her close to the zilant leader.
“Our squads are well drilled,” replied Zax in his heavily accented tones. “Just part of our new collaboration with the herd of Västerbotten.”
“Much appreciated,” Ambrosius bowed his head. “Brökk. Zax.” He looked to the magic-makers. “It is time to go. The portal please.”
The darkest grey unicorn – looking more powerful than she’d ever seen him – stood with the steely-grey serpent. Together they intoned a deep chant in a language she did not understand. With a roar, the chasm into the sand opened.
This was it. Lily had to say goodbye to Ambrosius, to all the unicorns and the pegasuses.
She blinked hard, her eyes brimming. Where were Sasha and Chloe?
“Sasha is near, and I will call Mikaela to bring Chloe,” Ambrosius said.
Astonished, Lily managed to say, “How did you know what I was thinking?”
“Our connection is stronger than you realise. If you think of me when I have returned home, you will know I am thinking of you.”
“For real?” Her mouth quivered.
“For real,” Ambrosius chuckled as he repeated her words.
Mikaela trotted briskly towards them, and Ambrosius turned to join Sigvard and Sasha in front of the chasm.
“Girls,” he said solemnly. “It is time.”
Lily slipped off the unicorn king’s back and hugged his head as he lowered it to her. “Goodbye, Ambrosius, I will never forget you.”
“Nor me, you, darling Lily. Remember what I said about us thinking of each other.”
“I will.” She wiped tears from her cheeks. “Travel safely.”
“We will,” he replied. “Brökk and Zax will look after us well.”
Lily stepped back, away from the unicorn, as Chloe stumbled away from Mikaela. “Come here, Chlo.” Lily wrapped her friend in a hug, then felt Sasha’s arms go around both of them.
“We knew they had to go,” Sasha mumbled into Lily’s shoulder. “But that doesn’t make it any easier.”
“I know,” Lily sniffed as she lifted her head. “Look, Sigvard is leading them into the portal.”
Sigvard had a group of warriors around him. He reared high. “Farewell, Sasha,” he called before spinning to plunge into the dark swirl of the chasm opening, his
warriors with him.
Mares and foals. The guard of brave young unicorns. The four pulling Abellona’s wagon.
“Goodbye, Chloe, farewell.” Mikaela disappeared with her injured Tymek.
In groups of three or four, the unicorns headed into the portal to the other side of the world.
“Haere ra, Lily!” Ambrosius spoke in the language of Lily’s forebears.
“Goodbye, Ambrosius, goodbye,” she whispered as the unicorn king went out of sight with the three shining white pegasuses. Zilants and rocs flew low and fast into the chasm’s swirling dust. Only Brökk and the zilant leader were left on the beach.
“Thank you! Farewell!” Brökk called.
Then they were gone.
Whoomph.
The portal vanished, and only messed-up sand near the high tide line remained.
“Oh,” Chloe sighed sadly. “They’re really gone.”
“Gone, gone, gone.” Sasha started walking back along the beach. “Time to go home and back to real life, I guess.”
Lily grabbed Chloe’s hand as they ran after Sasha. “But we three will always know the unicorns are real.” She took Sasha’s hand as well. “We will always know how special our connection was. That we saved them from a life as Abellona’s prisoners.”
“Yeah.” Sasha sounded upset. “You’re really the one who saved them.”
“I couldn’t have done it without either of you!”
“Okay, but we’ll never see them again, will we?” Sasha grumbled.
“Who knows?” Chloe asked as they climbed the bush track. “Who knew any of this would happen, yet it did!”
“I guess,” Sasha agreed with a sudden flash of grinning teeth in the gloom. “And now we’ve got a long walk home seeing as Lily and I are walking you back to your place to make sure you get in safely.”
“We are?” Lily asked.
“We are. Because there is absolutely no point us having gone out all these nights if we can’t all make it home undetected after one last adventure.” Sasha let Lily’s hand go and twirled up the bush track. “Wasn’t it amazing? Riding the unicorns!”
And that was what they talked about all the way home.
“Can you believe two weeks ago we were saying goodbye to the unicorns?” Chloe whispered in Lily’s ear as they watched Sasha and Tommy clear another show jump.
“No, not really,” Lily whispered back. “Weird how it starts to feel so long ago, like a fairy-tale or something, eh?”
“So weird. Like being able to sleep through the night without worrying about whether I’d wake up in time to come and meet you guys.”
Lily’s eyes moved with Tommy as he cleared the final jump. “She’s done it! She’s qualified!”
“Woohoo!” shouted Chloe.
They clapped and cheered with Lily’s mum as Sasha galloped Tommy around the ring, grinning fit to bust, before turning her chestnut gelding through the entrance back to her friends.
“You did it, Sash!” Lily beamed as Sasha flung herself off Tommy to hug her friends before turning back to her pony.
Sasha let Tommy’s girth out and rubbed his sweaty brow. “Only because you couldn’t compete on Rainbow.”
“No way!” Lily shook her head. “What do you think, Mum? Sasha rode brilliantly, didn’t she?”
“You did very well, Sasha.” Lily’s mum ran her hands down Tommy’s legs. “This pony is a credit to your hard work and talent.”
“See, you deserve to go to the championships!” Lily laughed. “I’ll take you on next year, don’t you worry!”
Sasha looked at Chloe. “I’m sorry you didn’t get through, Chlo.”
Chloe smiled. “It’s fine. It was my fault, not Angel’s. When I told Mum, she said I could have more lessons if that’s okay with you, Mrs Masterton.”
“Of course, Chloe, I’m happy to help,” Lily’s mum replied.
The loudspeaker interrupted.
“Come on, Sash,” Lily straightened Tommy’s wayward mane. “You better mount up and go get your red ribbon!”
THE END
Glossary
Glossary of New Zealand and Māori words
Bush – native forest or areas of native trees, shrubs and plants
Kaimanawa pony or horse – come from a population of feral horses which live in the Kaimanawa Ranges in New Zealand. They are descended from domestic horses released in the 19th and 20th centuries. They are known for their hardiness and quiet temperament.
Kuia– Māori for grandmother, female elder
Mokopuna – Māori for child
Kawakawa – a small native tree with bitter leaves
Rongoā – traditional Māori medicine, a system of healing passed on orally
Over-faced – when a horse is asked to do something it doesn’t have the experience or training to do
Roc – an enormous legendary bird of prey in the popular mythology of the Middle East.
Zilant – a legendary creature with the head of a dragon, the body of a bird, the legs of a chicken, the neck and tail of a snake, the ears of a canine, red wings, sharp teeth, dark-gray feathers and scaly dark-gray skin.
Karakia – Māori incantations and prayers, used to invoke spiritual guidance and protection.
Free goodies to say thank you
Hello, and thank you for reading Lily and the Unicorn King.
I hope you enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.
A free factsheet on Ambrosius
It’s been fantastic fun, creating the unicorn characters and dreaming up their world. If you’d like to know more about Ambrosius, the unicorn king, and the quests ahead of him in future books, simply visit BookHip.com/HQHCAX to download the factsheet. It’s a PDF file so should be readable/viewable on all devices and computers.
Free downloadable posters!
Would you like free posters of Ambrosius, the unicorn king; his lieutenant, Sigvard; and the sensory unicorn, Mikaela?
Then I invite you to join my readers’ list, if you haven’t all ready, and I’ll email you the links to the three digital posters created by my wonderful illustrator and fellow New Zealander Emma Weakley which you can download to print, save on your device or computer or simply enjoy.
Head over to www.kategordonauthor.com and follow the readers’ list link on the homepage.
I also share reviews of other great pony stories and other books I’ve enjoyed – you might enjoy them too! There will be giveaways from time to time, and other fun things celebrating our shared enjoyment of reading a good book.
Reviews
Can I ask you to review Lily and the Unicorn King please?
I truly value your feedback on this story. You’re welcome to email me – [email protected] or if you would like to post your review via the online bookstore where you purchased the book or on your favourite book review website, that would be ideal.
I appreciate your time and effort, thank you. All reviews – negative or positive – are an important aspect of building the profile of every book. You probably look at reviews before you buy a book, so you can help other readers decide if Lily and the Unicorn King is a book that they or the younger readers in their life might enjoy.
About Kate
Kate Gordon spent 90% of her childhood reading books about ponies. The other 10% she spent galloping around the garden on an imaginary horse – until she was able to ride a real pony of her own.
Now she’s penning fantastical adventure stories about brave friends, ponies and unicorns.
Kate is inspired by the magical mountains of Central Otago in New Zealand’s South Island where she lives with her husband, three dogs, and two cats. She’s currently working on her second book in the Unicorn King series and would love to tell you when it’s ready – join Kate’s readers’ list to be the first to know!
Connect with Kate online
To my husband Jeff, who always believed I could finish this book. Thanks, darling, for keeping on asking if I should be writing.
Acknowledgments
Writing this story has been harder and taken longer than I could ever have imagined.
It’s also been a lot of fun, spending time lost in my imaginary world of unicorns, ponies and brave young riders.
Another fun aspect are the wonderful people I’ve met on this writing journey.
To my original writers’ group Shar, Wendy, Cheryl and Trudie, you guys fuelled my passion to write fiction, so thank you! I just needed to find my own path with children’s fiction. I’m rapt to see you all being so successful as indie authors.
To my Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators critique group, thank you for all your helpful feedback and constructive criticism. I loved reading your amazing stories.
To my Central Otago writing friends Maria and Rose, I always love talking writing with you. It’s such a treat! Thanks so much for sharing the ups and downs of this journey.
To my writing wizard buddies, Elena, Amanda and Jess, you’re all amazing! Wonderful women and writers. I’m loving the opportunity to focus on middle grade fiction, to support and encourage each other, and bounce ideas around. So many cool things to learn and discuss!
To my illustrator Emma Weakley, you have done an incredible job translating my ideas into stunning visuals. Thank you, most sincerely.
