by Wendy Knight
“Iros!” Scout exclaimed. She held up a finger. “Wait. Jus a secon’“ She spun around and spit the toothpaste out, muttering about how long it took to rinse her toothbrush before she turned back to him. “Sorry.” She bit her lip sheepishly.
“I owe you an explanation.”
“No.” Scout shook her head. “You don’t. I shouldn’t have been in your hut…”
Iros rolled his eyes, the first sarcastic thing she’d ever seen him do. “If I truly didn’t want anyone in my hut, it would have a lock. Or at least a door.”
Scout tipped her head, twirling a curl around her finger nervously. She didn’t know what to say, so it seemed smartest to keep her mouth shut. He sighed and ran a hand through his short, cropped hair, and her eyes were drawn to the well-muscled bicep. Realizing he watched her with the barest hint of a smile, she squeezed her eyes shut tight and willed her cheeks not to flame scarlet for the second time in ten minutes.
“She was my betrothed. Hundreds of years ago.” Iros looked away, out the window toward his hut. Scout felt her jaw drop but couldn’t will it shut. “After my brother was cast out, he sent his soul stealers after her. She was his first victim.”
Scout muffled a cry against her fist. “Iros.” She shook her head, resisting the urge to physically comfort him. That would make an awkward situation so much worse. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.”
Iros gave her a sad smile. “I can’t give up on her. The unicorns keep her alive. Until I can… until I can let her go.”
Scout dropped her fist. “Why can’t you save her? When we save Lil Bit, we can save her, too! We can save them all!”
Iros opened his mouth like he would say something, but instead just sucked in air. Several deep breaths later, he finally spoke. “Scout, he’s building an army by tearing apart the good souls to build evil. She’s…” he clenched his fists at his side. “She’s gone. Excuse me.” He whirled and practically ran from the hut. Scout watched him go as her heart broke for him.
****
Avoiding someone when he couldn’t leave his cave-like home was difficult, but Trey tried his best, hanging out at the far end of the valley near the forest. He saw Iros rush away from the huts and straight toward Trey, his shoulders tight, but Iros was staring at the ground and didn’t see Trey until he nearly ran him over. “You okay, man?” Trey asked, blocking him with his hands.
Iros jerked his head up, blinking rapidly like he was trying to bring himself back from somewhere far, far away. “Yes.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Yes, sorry. I didn’t see you there.” He glanced back at the huts before returning his attention to Trey. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were hiding.”
Trey kicked at a root, trying to think of something clever to say to this man that was his nemesis and un-hate-able all at the same time. Iros chuckled. “Wait one second. I’ve got something that might entertain you.” He turned and jogged back toward his hut. Seconds later he reappeared with something tucked under his arm. Trey squinted, unable to make it out until Iros got within hearing distance.
“A football? You have a football here?”
Iros grinned like he’d won a trophy. “There’s a flat, grassy area not far. I haven’t had anyone to play catch with for decades. The unicorns just impale and destroy it.” He looked hopefully at Trey.
What choice did he have? The man was too nice, and he’d presented one of Trey’s two weaknesses. Football. “I’m in. Forge ahead, fearless leader.”
Iros chuckled. “This way.”
They played catch as the sun moved across the sky. It felt good to have something familiar in his hands, something concrete; something he could feel and touch that reminded him his previous life was still there. He hadn’t realized he was scared of losing it all until he caught that football and felt some of the fear melt away.
Iros, for his part, had a strong arm, which wasn’t surprising since he was the leader of a unicorn battle army and all. “How do you even know about football? I haven’t noticed any TVs in the area.” Trey quirked an eyebrow and Iros laughed.
“No, no TVs. Before the soul stealers escaped, we had a lot of free time roaming the world, watching for threats. A lot of time to watch games when no one in the stands could see us but the little innocent ones.”
The ball sailed back and Trey caught it easily. He felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck and looked around quickly, but they were the only ones in the little meadow. He threw the ball back, glancing over his shoulder. Nothing.
The next time he felt it, he jerked around fast enough that he just caught site of the glowing horn in the darkness. “Aye. They’re watching. Waiting to see if they have to rush in and rescue me.” Iros grimaced as he caught the ball. “Don’t worry. They’re just watching.”
Trey found it difficult to concentrate when he could feel them at his back. His skin crawled while he waited to be impaled or burned with unicorn fire. He missed the next two throws and the third one caught him in the face. Iros jogged over, trying to smother his laughter. “Had enough for today?”
Trey rubbed his cheekbone, where he could already feel a lump forming. “I guess so. Will they ever stop hating us?”
Iros nodded, the light fading from his eyes. “Yes. But it will take time. All forgiveness takes time, but it happens. It’s a healing process, if you think about it.” Iros tossed the ball into the air and caught it in his big hands before he started for the trees. “You have a wound, you keep picking at it — it will never heal. It just gets worse. But you start nurturing it, bandaging it, cleaning it, examining it — it starts to heal. The wound will never be completely gone — the worst wounds always scar — but it will heal.” He shrugged, glancing at Trey out of the corner of his eye. “They all heal eventually.”
They walked in silence until they were within sight of the valley. “You are free to resume hiding. I—” Iros was cut off as a bright green unicorn sliced through the trees and landed in front of them. His coat was lathered with foamy sweat and his breath came in ragged gasps.
“Iros. We have a problem.”
Iros glanced at Trey. “Excuse me,” he motioned at the football and smiled, but it didn’t chase away the worry that bloomed in his eyes. “We’ll play again soon, right?”
“Right.” Trey nodded slowly as Iros whistled.
Trey could hear Havik coming long before he could see him — the thunderous hooves nearly shook the ground as the mighty unicorn came into view. “We’ve got trouble, Havik.” Havik lowered his head. His horn glowed briefly, and the trees shook as more giant hooves — many more, roared through the forest. Trey immediately recognized Torz; he felt him coming closer without even needing to see him. Ashra was with him, darker and sleeker than the others, like she had Ekse blood in her as well as Irwarro. The other hundred or so that materialized out of the trees or dropped from the air all looked very similar. Trey inched away, settling himself on a gnarled root away from the mighty warriors, but Torz still managed to situate himself between Trey and anything that might want to attack his rider. At the front of them all, Iros and Havik stood silently, waiting.
When it seemed they could fit no more gigantic unicorns in the clearing, Iros turned to the Ekse who waited next to him. “What did you see?”
“The Taraxippus have already begun the Corruption.” The many unicorns in the meadow squealed, snorted, tossed their heads or stamped their hooves, leading Trey to believe that this was a bad, bad thing, but otherwise he struggled to figure out what the Ekse was talking about.
“You know the Taraxippus as soul stealers,” Torz’s voice said quietly in his head. “The Corruption is the rending of innocent souls and rebuilding them as an evil soul for the Taraxippus. So that they can march on Paradesos.”
“They don’t march.” Ashra snorted, turning her graceful neck to roll her big eyes at Torz. “They have no feet.”
Trey missed her sarcasm, so overwhelmed with horror that it felt like acid ate away at his heart
. Innocent souls? Liam. Tate. Lil Bit. Those were the most innocent souls he knew. He couldn’t imagine them being a part of something so evil.
“What can we do?” “We must attack immediately.” “Kill the Taraxippus before they can enter Paradesos!” So many voices in Trey’s head, bouncing against his skull, but the meadow wasn’t silent even with the telekinesis. The unicorns made horse sounds when they spoke, whinnying, neighing, whatever they called it. They stomped a lot, and slapped their tails even though there were no bugs to bother them.
Ashra and Havik seemed to be the only ones still calm. Torz shifted uneasily next to Trey, watching and waiting. “I don’t like what’s coming,” Torz said, his voice quiet in Trey’s head, but somehow drowning out everything else.
At the front of the makeshift assembly, Iros leaned his head against Havik’s, and seemed to ignore the commotion around them. When Iros stood up, he faced the unicorns, one regular-sized man against a whole army of gigantic horses with sharp hooves and dangerous horns. “We will close the gate to Aptavaras.”
Absolute silence.
No one moved. Trey felt his jaw drop. “But if you close the gate, how will we rescue the souls?” he blurted. At least a hundred pairs of eyes turned to glare at him. He swallowed hard but didn’t take his eyes off Iros.
Iros’ face was grimmer than Trey had ever seen it; the sadness in his eyes was nearly overwhelming. “They will be lost.”
Trey burst to his feet, his sudden movement startling the unicorns closest to him. They rounded, horns glittering with fiery magic and pointed at his chest, but he barely noticed. “How can you even think of doing that?” he exclaimed.
“Trey, you have to understand, billions of souls are at stake here versus a few thousand. We have no choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” Trey yelled.
Iros shook his head. “Not this time. If the Taraxippus — the soul stealers — attack Paradesos before we can build an army, the entire world will be lost. I’m sorry, Trey.”
Trey wanted to punch the thick tree next to his head. He wanted to yell about broken promises and false hope. But there was nothing he could say or do that would change Iros’ mind; he knew that. Instead he did the only thing left to do.
He went to warn Scout.
****
The sun wasn’t even high in the sky yet,, and already the day had been too emotional. Scout couldn’t handle any more, and since she was sure there would be fireworks of some sort when Kylin finally woke up, she escaped into the forest, grabbing her shoes this time. No one followed her, although she could feel the unicorns watching, waiting to see how she would betray them. She didn’t care. She just wanted to escape, and it didn’t matter how lost she got herself doing it. She wandered through the thick trees letting her fingers trace the moss covered bark, the silver flowers, the deep grass. She remembered very little from the night before, but somehow she ended up at the waterfall anyway. Even in the daylight, it glowed like there were tiny lights under the surface. But she’d been under that surface. She knew there were no lights. Tugging off her shoes, she sat on the edge and let her feet soak swinging them slowly back and forth while the water licked her toes. It was so beautiful here. Lil Bit would have loved it — no one to hurt her, no one to haunt her, and no one to tease her. Scout’s eyes went to the middle of the pond, where the wound was. If she could figure out a way through, Lil Bit was on the other side.
“You’re insane. You realize that, right?” Ashra materialized across the pond, her long black tail sweeping the grass as she ambled slowly toward Scout. There was something different about her, though she tried to hide it. More pain than normal haunted the depths of her eyes.
“Maybe.” Scout stared again at the pond. “Hey, should we practice that jumping on to your back thing again?”
Ashra snorted. “Why? If we go to battle, I’ll help you on. It’s not a big deal.”
“Yeah,” Scout said slowly, “but it bugs me that I can’t do it.”
Ashra blew out a breath and tossed her head. Scout smiled. “You’re such a horse sometimes.”
Ashra snapped her wings in annoyance and motioned Scout with her ears. Scout left the side of the pond and backed away from Ashra several feet. “Just run hard, and push off with your feet,” Ashra offered.
“Ya think? I thought maybe I’d skip and do a back handspring at the end.” Scout rolled her eyes. She dropped to the ground like a sprinter about to break from the blocks.
“What are you doing?”
“I thought this would help. Quiet, horse. Let me concentrate.” Scout dropped her head. She heard Ashra’s outraged snort and she allowed herself a wicked smile before she squinted hard at the ground, trying to focus. She pushed off hard and raced at Ashra, leaped with everything she had, and hit the top of Ashra’s back. But not high enough and she slid down and collapsed to the ground, squeaking in pain.
Ten tries later, Scout still hadn’t launched herself onto Ashra’s back the way Trey and Iros could, and she hurt too much to keep trying. “I give up. I need to grow like six inches.” Scout flopped to the ground, dipping her toes in the pond and staring up at the sky. Blue, like always. What was the sky like in Aptavaras? Was it dark? Scary?
Ashra shook her head and reached her long neck down to eat the grass next to Scout. “So, you really like that stuff, huh?” Scout wrinkled her nose dubiously.
Ashra snorted.
Scout returned her attention to the pond. “How deep do you think that is?”
Ashra jerked her head up. “You’re serious with this?” Even in Scout’s head, she sounded dangerous. Scout glanced at the razor-sharp tip of her horn and inched away.
“Is there another way to Aptavaras?”
Ashra’s wings expanded and fluttered up and down restlessly. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”
“We have to go down there. There’s no other way to save my family. Or that girl lying in Iros’ hut.”
Now the wings burst into flames, and Ashra’s horn glittered furiously. “Leave Aella out of this. Do you hear me? Do not drag Iros into this by telling him you want to save her. He hurts enough as it is.”
Scout leaped to her feet. “Yeah, but if we go there and save her, he won’t hurt anymore.”
Unicorns materialized from the thick mists, watching silently. Ashra didn’t seem to notice them, but Scout did. Goosebumps rose on the back of her neck.
“Don’t make this about him. This is about you. It’s always been about you.” Ashra stomped her big hooves, the silky black hair tangling in the thick grass. “Always about Scout. Scout is hurt. Scout’s been betrayed. Scout has to rescue her sister.”
“I never pretended I was doing this for anyone else but Lil Bit!” Scout exclaimed, throwing her hands up. The unicorns, black, green, blue, tightened their circle, snorting and stamping their hooves like Ashra. Scout hadn’t been around a lot of horses, but even she could tell this was angry-horse behavior. Where’s a white unicorn when you need one?
“Well, here’s some information, Princess.” Sarcasm practically dripped from Ashra’s words and scalded Scout’s brain. “Because of your little suggestion that we save Aella, Iros is closing the gate to Aptavaras. Today.”
Scout gasped, stumbling back like she’d been punched in the face. “He wouldn’t. He told me he’d help me save Lil Bit.”
Ashra tossed her head in fury. “Yeah. And then he realized that holding on to Aella when there’s no chance she could still be in Aptavaras was putting the entire world at risk. I told him hundreds of years ago to close the gate. He didn’t do it because he wanted to save her. Now he sees you doing the same thing and he’s putting a stop to it.”
Scout stomped her foot, but it didn’t have the same effect as when Ashra did it. Pain shot through her leg and into her back but she refused to acknowledge it. “Iros is a good person. He won’t abandon Lil Bit.”
“You really are that selfish, aren’t you? He can save the rest of the world if he clo
ses that gate. And all you care about is your sister.”
Scout stared at Ashra, breathing hard. She hurt, her heart hurt, her body hurt. They had betrayed her. “I’m not helping you fight this war.” She didn’t mean the words until they were out and Ashra’s beautiful eyes narrowed.
“We don’t need a weakling like you to help us win this war.”
It was true, and Scout knew it, had known it all along, but Ashra’s words still tore her heart apart. Gritting her teeth, she refused to give Ashra the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She spun away, only to find herself faced with several glittering, fiery horns. They were all just waiting to see her fail, to see her prove them right. “Move,” she snarled. She wasn’t sure what she would do if they didn’t — it wasn’t like she could shove them out of her way. Even the Leerhas outweighed her by several hundred pounds.
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared. “You want me gone? Fine. Move. Out. Of. My. Way.”
Several seconds passed before the Leerha, whom Scout recognized as the one who had healed her the day before, stepped back, lowering her head. Scout didn’t hesitate. She sprinted through the gap and ran back through the forest, toward her hut. She had to find Iros. He would tell her Ashra was lying. He had to tell her Ashra was lying.
It took her hours. They watched her — she felt them watching her, but none of them helped her find her way. Her stomach growled and her body screamed in pain, but all she could do was wander through an infinite space and pray she’d eventually find her way out.
“Scout?”
Scout screamed. She hadn’t heard another sound in so long that when Havik’s voice entered her head she nearly collapsed. “Havik?” she spun, searching, but didn’t see the mighty leader until he materialized right in front of her.
“They tell me you’re leaving us.” His voice was deceptively mild.
“They tell me you are refusing to help me save my sister.” She wanted to sound angry, but her voice came out small and pitiful.
