by Wendy Knight
He couldn’t lose Scout. Not again.
He laid her gently on the ground, grateful that it was soft and cool beneath his hands. She didn’t make a sound, but the grass under her was soaked with her blood almost immediately. Trey’s hands shook. “Help her, please. Please help her.”
The unicorn glared at him for several seconds before she flicked her tail. The others came to her side, and as one they lowered their horns. Soft blue light swept over Scout, and the bleeding stopped. “This one… is difficult,” The sapphire one murmured. Another joined her, lowering its glowing horn to Scout’s lifeless body, and then a third. They stood like that for several minutes while Trey felt his heart breaking a little more every second. Finally, the first one raised her head, eyeing Trey with hostile distrust. “That is all we can do. She will live.” They left Scout and whirled on Ashra, going to work without another word.
Iros knelt on Scout’s other side. “She’ll be okay.”
“Why’d they say she’s difficult to heal?” Trey traced his knuckle along her forehead and down her cheekbone. The color was returning. She wasn’t deathly gray anymore.
“She holds on to her pain as a shield. They can’t take away what she’s unwilling to let go,” Iros said, sitting back on his haunches. “We will let her rest in one of our camps, if you’d like to take her there.” He pointed across the clearing to several little huts Trey hadn’t noticed when they came in. “The one on the far right is mine. The others are all open.”
Trey nodded and lifted Scout to his chest again. Iros turned away, shoving his way to Ashra’s side. Trey hesitated long enough to watch Iros lift the giant head and lay it in his lap, murmuring quietly.
“Would you like help?” Torz asked, walking beside Trey toward the little huts.
“No, she’s not that heavy.”
“The other one… the one with the white mane. She is in danger,” Torz said.
Trey’s head snapped up. “Kylin? How do you know?”
“The soul stealers will have smelled her on you. They’ll go after her to punish you. I will take you to her, if you’d like.”
Trey looked from Torz’s kind brown eyes back to Scout — motionless, bloody, beautiful in his arms. “Iros will protect her,” Torz said quietly.
Trey clutched her tighter to him for several seconds before he sighed and nodded. Right now she didn’t hate him. “Okay. Thank you.” Trey knew what would happen. Scout would wake up while he was gone, and she would hate him even more. But what choice did he have? Kylin needed him, and he would go.
****
“We shouldn’t have brought her here. The other unicorns will kill her.” Scout had missed Ashra’s sarcastic voice bouncing around inside her head. She didn’t know why she had, but it was the first thing she heard when she finally fought her way out of the darkness; and if she weren’t so exhausted, she would have smiled.
“We didn’t have a choice. The soul stealers almost killed her. Almost killed you both.” That one was said aloud and Scout was pretty proud of herself for remembering Iros’ name when she couldn’t even open her eyes yet.
“So Torz seems to have a new rider?” Ashra deliberately changed the subject.
“Yes, he does. Trey and Torz bonded. Over you and Scout. They both know unrequited love and immeasurable guilt.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ashra’s voice was harsh in Scout’s head, making her wince, although she completely agreed.
“I think your kind words woke our patient.” Iros chuckled.
Scout forced an eye open, and when that didn’t hurt so much, she tried the other one as well. Iros stood off to her side, and she could feel Ashra nearby, although she couldn’t see her. Scout was in a hut of some kind. The walls were thatched wood, and what looked like palm fronds made a roof — like the cute little huts Scout saw on the Bahamas’ vacation ads that she drooled over every time they came on. She pushed herself up on her elbows, watched the room spin for a bit, and blinked several times to clear her vision.
Trey wasn’t there.
Of course Trey wasn’t there. Why had she even thought he would be? “Where am I?” she asked, grimacing when her voice sounded like a half-dead frog.
“Paradesos. Unicorn Haven.” Iros grinned. “You gave us a scare, Scout.”
Scout almost sighed dreamily at his accent, but a snort from behind her somewhat discouraged the idea. “Ashra. Are you okay?”
She heard Ashra’s big hooves clomp away, and then her head appeared in the window where Scout could see her. Free from the terrifying armor she’d been wearing before, she just looked… magnificent now. “Better than you. Our Leerhas can heal me. You gave them all kinds of problems. And that was after we spent hours trying to convince them you were worth saving.”
Iros frowned, his dark green eyes widening. “Ashra, it isn’t her fault. Be nice.”
“So wait. Ashra is in my head but you can hear her, too?” Scout held up a hand, looking from Ashra to Iros.
“Yes. She can choose to talk just to you, or to whoever is within hearing distance. The fact that you heard her so quickly when we first met was astounding though.” Iros glanced quickly at Ashra. She tossed her head but said nothing.
“Why can’t the Leerhas heal me?” Scout sat up, swinging her legs off the cot. She was stiff and tired, but given the pain she remembered when the soul stealer had its claws in her, stiff and tired were perfectly acceptable.
“You have too much anger and bitterness in your heart. You hold on to your physical pain like a shield, because physical pain you can handle, while emotional pain…” Iros ducked his head like he’d embarrassed himself.
“How do you know that?” Scout narrowed her eyes.
“We can feel it, Princess,” Ashra said, her voice exasperated as it echoed through Scout’s brain.
“Besides that…” Iros glanced uncertainly at Ashra, and looked back to Scout. “We’ve been watching you for years.” Scout felt her eyebrows shoot up and Iros hastened to continue. “Well, not you, your family. Lil Bit was a powerful innocent. We had very high hopes for what she would one day do.”
“Had?” Scout froze, halfway between pushing herself to her feet.
“What I mean is, well, uh…”
“What he means is that once she’s been taken by a soul stealer, there’s very little chance we’ll get her back, and even if we do, she won’t be an innocent anymore. The wonder and hope will be gone.”
Scout whirled on Ashra, nearly toppling over in the process. Iros grabbed her elbow to steady her but she jerked her arm away from him. “You promised you would help me find my sister.”
“We will Scout. That isn’t what I’m saying—” Iros started, but Scout cut him off.
“And she will never lose her innocence or her hope. Lil Bit is stronger than those horrible creatures!” She wanted to stomp away, but her temper tantrum had taken all her energy. She slowly sank back onto the cot, burying her head in her hands.
“Crying about it isn’t going to do anyone any good,” Ashra said.
“I’m not crying,” Scout mumbled through her fingers without looking up.
Iros squatted next to her, peering up into her face. “Scout, as soon as you’re healed we will do everything we can. I promise. For now, why don’t you go with Ashra and explore Paradesos? Knowing how and why we do the things we do will help you when you’re battling beside us.”
Scout sighed, dropping her hands. “Okay.” She stood up, more slowly this time so she didn’t fall over, and shuffled to the doorway.
“And Scout, stay with Ashra. At all times.” There was definitely a warning in Iros’s voice. Scout frowned and glanced over her shoulder at him.
“The unicorns hate humans. Basically, you wander away from me and they’ll probably kill you.” Ashra sounded distinctly cheerful about the prospect.
“Awesome.” Scout shook her head. She joined Ashra outside, but barely noticed the giant unicorn as she tried to take in everything
she’d been sleeping through.
“Paradesos comes from the word parádeisos, which means paradise in Greek,” Ashra said.
“Fitting,” Scout murmured. “Is that where we are? Greece?”
“Above, actually.” Ashra said.
It was so green. Hanging moss draped lazily across the trees, thick grass covered the ground, and Scout didn’t see a dead branch or a weed or even a bug anywhere.
“Unicorns hate bugs. Just like your horses. They annoy us.” Ashra tossed her head. “Of course we wouldn’t let them in our home.”
“Holy Hannah.” Scout couldn’t think of anything else to say. She’d never seen so much beauty. The sky was brilliantly blue. The square village of huts was in what seemed to be a giant cave with a wide opening at the far end leading into the thick forest. The ceiling of the cave was so high Scout could barely tell it was there, and lots of openings let in bright sunlight. In the distance, she could hear a river gurgling and echoing across the valley.
“Where are the other unicorns?” she asked finally, realizing that although there were a few huts littering the valley, there were no unicorns.
“They don’t like humans. When we brought you here, they found other places to be.” Ashra started to wander away, so Scout followed her, finally giving Ashra her full attention. When she’d first seen them, the black unicorns had been covered in foreboding black, spiky armor that made their eyes seem to glow red. They’d been almost as terrifying as the soul stealers. But now, without the armor, Ashra was beautiful. Majestic. Her black hair glistened in the sunlight filtering through the canopy above, and her horn seemed to pulse as the color changed and swirled — one minute it was a deep crimson, the next a bright green.
“Wait. You don’t like humans, but you’re dying to protect them?”
“It’s our job.” Ashra tossed her head again, her ears flicking back toward Scout.
They left the shelter of the giant cave and came to the edge of the thick forest. Scout wasn’t sure Ashra would fit between all the trees, but they seemed to widen and move away from her, letting her pass with no problem. A light breeze blew the draping branches away from Ashra’s face, but Scout had to duck around it. She let her fingers trail across the moss covered bark — it was soft, almost fluffy. The smell of this place reminded Scout of camping. When they would wake up early in the morning and everything smelled clean and new and fresh and a bit damp.
“Do I have to avoid your rear feet like I do normal horses? Will you randomly get the urge to kick me?” Scout glanced down at Ashra’s giant hooves. They were sharp, unlike regular horse feet. Made to do damage. She remembered watching Torz attack with his hooves the… day? before. Definitely made for doing damage.
“If I want to kick you, it doesn’t matter where you stand,” Ashra said. She unfurled her wing from her side and knocked Scout away from her.
Scout heard Ashra’s snicker in her head, and if horses could grin, Ashra was definitely doing it. “Watch it, you overgrown bird.” Scout eyed her, thinking about shoving her back, but Ashra was huge. It would be like trying to shove a barn over.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Ashra whinnied, an actual horsy sound, throwing her head around and stomping one hoof. Scout was so shocked to hear such an animal-like sound coming from a legendary unicorn that she tripped over her own feet and landed in the dirt.
“And that’s where humans belong.” Scout heard the voice in her head, but it wasn’t familiar at all. She looked up, shoving herself to her knees. A green unicorn materialized from the shadows of the trees. Much smaller than the huge battle unicorns, Scout doubted if this one was even as big as a normal horse.
“They’re built for speed. Green equals Eske, our trackers,” she heard Ashra whisper in her head.
“She’s fighting with us now. Leave her alone.” Ashra sounded big and tough and threatening. Scout scrambled to her feet as Ashra moved to stand between them, but her heart sank at the rustling behind them. They were surrounded.
“Of everyone, Ashra, you are the one I thought least likely to cave to Iros’ pressure.” Another unicorn, to the right of them, stomped one delicate hoof on the ground.
“I haven’t caved to anything. Go play tag or something and leave me alone.” Ashra snapped, literally — nipped at the unicorn closest to her. It danced backward, moving so quickly Scout’s eyes couldn’t follow.
“She’s forgotten the betrayal. Of everyone, she should remember. When we forget, she should remember.” The last was said by several different voices, chanting as they circled Ashra and Scout. There were a few blue unicorns as well, shimmering like sapphires when the light hit them, and Scout could see more beyond the trees — watching, waiting.
“I haven’t forgotten the betrayal. I’m protecting this human because we need riders, and that’s it. If you want to pick a fight with someone, go talk to Torz. He bonded with his rider.” Ashra snarled, nipping again, her teeth razor sharp.
Scout felt like she’d been slapped. Sure, she and Ashra hadn’t bonded, but they had a connection… or so she’d thought. But no, she was just a rider, someone to wield the scepter.
Fine. She could just be a rider.
“Enough!” Iros’ accent wasn’t nearly as charming when he was yelling, but it was still amazingly hot. Scout felt her pulse race as she whirled to see him, Havik by his side, storming through the mist. The unicorns surrounding them fled until all Scout could see was a brief sparkle when the sun would catch their metallic hair. “So. Ya’ll hate humans, huh?” She stuck her hands in her pockets and rocked back on her heels.
“No, we do not all hate humans.” Havik’s voice, deep and calming. His eyes were the gentle brown of the Clydesdales Scout remembered seeing at the fair. He certainly didn’t seem threatening now, although if he’d asked her ten seconds ago, that wouldn’t be her answer.
“But most of you do.” She glanced sideways at Ashra, who flicked an ear her way but said nothing.
Iros read Scout’s look. “Ash, you’ve had a very long two days. Why don’t you rest before we head back out?”
Without a word Ashra snapped her giant wings out. Scout gasped and stumbled backward as they lit in flames. The heat scalded her cheeks as Ashra pumped them twice into the air and surged away.
“Well that was fun,” Scout said, shoving her tangled hair over her shoulder. What she wouldn’t give for a shower and a comb right now.
“I’m sorry. Ashra is a warrior. I forget her past.” Iros refused to meet her eyes.
“Past. Betrayal. They hate humans, except you. How about someone tell me what’s going on?” Scout crossed her arms over her chest and tried to look threatening. Havik snorted and tossed his head, a horsy grin playing around his soft lips. She cracked a smile.
Iros held out his arm, offering his elbow. “It’s quite a tale. Would you like to hear it?”
Scout hesitated, looking for Ashra. Stupid unicorn, anyway. “Yes.” She took his elbow, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the corded muscle under her hand.
“We have company. Maybe you should save your tale so it only has to be told once,” Havik said, his ears flicking backward.
Scout tipped her head back, squinting. In the distance but coming fast she could see black blurs. “Soul stealers?” she whispered, horror choking her. Her feet stumbled backward of their own accord ready to run and she dropped Iros’ arm.
Iros reached out and caught her hand, twining his strong fingers with hers before she could flee like the frightened animal she was. “No. Torz with your friend Trey. And—” Iros motioned to the sky with his free hand.
“Kylin,” Scout sighed. Of course Trey had gone to get her. She was his girlfriend after all. And I’m fine, thanks. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Havik’s big head turning toward her, but couldn’t bring herself to look at him.
They landed several feet away. Trey and Torz still had that weird glow that made them seem larger than life, but it died away as Trey leaped down. He jogged to the other
unicorn and held his hands up. Kylin slid into them, looking pale and more hungry than usual. Scout pressed a hand over her heart, willing it to stop hurting as she watched Kylin lay her head against Trey’s broad chest.
“It wasn’t safe for her. Once the soul stealers realize she is associated with you, they’ll take her just to punish you. In fact, none of you are safe now. Once you’re a rider, the soul stealers target you,” Iros said quietly, as if reading Scout’s thoughts.
Kylin jerked her head up and fixed her angry eyes on Iros. “You could have mentioned that before Trey agreed to help you,” Kylin said, abandoning Trey and picking her way through the soft grass in stiletto boots. Yes, stiletto boots, designer jeans, and an embroidered tank top. Scout was suddenly aware of her torn, bloody jeans and what had once been a long sleeve shirt. Awesome.
“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Trey said. Scout finally looked at him, really looked, because he’d been pretty beat up the last time she’d seen him. He still had the bruises, burns, cuts, scrapes, and he was covered in more blood than she was. She searched his face, finally meeting his gaze and realized he watched her with the same worry in his eyes. She flushed and looked away.
“What do you mean it wouldn’t have mattered? You have the state championship in two weeks!” Kylin screeched.
“Does she always do that when one argues with her? It hurts my ears something awful,” Havik whispered in Scout’s head. She giggled, clapping a hand guiltily over her mouth when Kylin turned furious brown eyes on her.
“This is all your fault, you know,” she snapped.
“I know. I told the soul stealers to attack. Just so I could ruin Trey’s chance at State.” Scout fought to keep her face solemn. Kylin rolled her eyes.
“Kylin, knock it off,” Trey sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “We’re in the most beautiful place on earth... er, around earth, above earth. Whatever. Why don’t you stop complaining for a few seconds and enjoy it.” He looked at Scout, waited until she met his gaze again. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said, moving closer to Havik, borrowing his strength.
