‘I wish to stay here,’ said the man. His voice was even weaker.
‘But why?’ cried Ethel. ‘This isn’t your home. We’re not your people!’
‘I have no home,’ said the man. ‘The water covered all my island. I came here hoping for a home. No one will ransom me. I was loyal to my leader. I didn’t run with the others. I stayed till I was struck down. Now I would be loyal to you.’
‘But …’
‘I would be loyal,’ promised the man. His eyes closed, bruised smudges in his too-white face. His breathing deepened.
Ethel stood and walked back through the Hall. Who are friends and who are enemies? she thought. How can you ever know?
A hand clutched her skirt and she looked down. It was Tor Underhill. His skull and thigh were bandaged.
‘Tor! What happened! How badly are you hurt?’
Tor shook his head, as though his wounds were irrelevant. ‘The monsters …’ he said urgently. ‘Lady, have the monsters gone?’
‘What monsters?’ asked Ethel, though she knew.
‘We were just about to fight … then the monsters came … and we attacked … and something struck me … there were monsters all along the hill …’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Ethel gently. ‘They fought for us.’
‘For us, my Lady?’ The pain-thickened voice sounded confused. ‘Then we’ve won.’
‘We won,’ said Ethel. ‘We’re safe. Go to sleep, Tor. We’re all safe.’
Ma’m Margot met her in the courtyard. ‘Will you let the T’manian stay?’ she asked.
Ethel nodded. ‘We’ve land to spare, if that’s what he wants. Do you think I’m right?’ she asked.
‘I think so,’ said Ma’m Margot.
‘I’d better go,’ said Ethel. ‘Ma’m Alice will wonder where I am.’
Ma’m Margot shook her head. ‘She’s gone,’ she said.
‘Gone? But she can’t have gone! I haven’t thanked her properly! We have to bring her back! She must stay here!’
‘Let her go, pet,’ said Ma’m Margot softly. ‘Help tend the wounded now. You can see her later.’
‘But she saved us …’
‘And now she wants to go. She can’t stay here.’
‘But …’ Ethel stopped. ‘Have the monsters gone?’ Tor Underhill had asked.
Ma’m Alice would always be a monster here.
Suddenly the unicorn snickered from his shelter in the corner of the yard. His horn glinted in the dusty orange light. His blue eyes, blue as eyes of the man who had once been an enemy, met hers across the cobbles.
Ethel looked at the unicorn who was her friend. If you put a unicorn with horses they’d stamp it to death. She was the girl who rode the unicorn. She was different, though her difference made her the Lady, not an outcast. The unicorn was different. And her other friends. Are only those who are different at ease with others who are different? she wondered. Maybe when you were born different you had to become wise.
And Ma’m Margot? Ethel smiled. Maybe some people just learn how to be wise. Or perhaps their differences didn’t show …
‘Take me with you when you visit her again,’ said Ma’m Margot softly. ‘I would like to meet Ma’m Alice properly next time.’
Ethel nodded.
The world had seemed so simple when enemies were simply enemies, and giants sucked their victims’ bones. The world was more confusing now. But for the first time she knew what it might mean to be the Lady.
The unicorn whinnied again. Ethel gazed up at the hill. There was Ma’m Alice trudging up the slope. Something dark scurried at her heels. Hingram, come to meet his friend away from the stares of other people.
Her friends. The monsters who were generous, the enemy who would now be loyal, the old woman who was strong.
Ethel looked back at Ma’m Margot. She was smiling, the smile of an old friend for a young one. ‘Let’s go in,’ said Ethel. ‘There’s a lot to do.’
Things had changed in the past. Maybe tolerance could come once more. Somehow it no longer seemed so impossible that she, the Lady of the Unicorn, might lead her people once again.
They walked back into the Hall together.
About the Author
Jackie French is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator and the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2014–2015. She is regarded as one of Australia’s most popular children’s authors and writes across all genres — from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi to her much loved historical fiction. ‘Share a Story’ is the primary philosophy behind Jackie’s two-year term as Laureate.
You can visit Jackie’s website at:
www.jackiefrench.com
Books by Jackie French
Historical
Somewhere Around the Corner • Dancing with Ben Hall Soldier on the Hill • Daughter of the Regiment Hitler’s Daughter • Lady Dance • The White Ship How the Finnegans Saved the Ship • Valley of Gold Tom Appleby, Convict Boy • They Came on Viking Ships Macbeth and Son • Pharaoh • A Rose for the Anzac Boys Oracle • The Night They Stormed Eureka Pennies for Hitler • Nanberry: Black Brother White I am Juliet
Fiction
Rain Stones • Walking the Boundaries • The Secret Beach Summerland • Beyond the Boundaries • Refuge A Wombat Named Bosco • The Warrior — The Story of a Wombat Tajore Arkle • Missing You, Love Sara • Dark Wind Blowing The Book of Horses and Unicorns
Non-Fiction
Let the Land Speak: How the Land Created Our Nation Seasons of Content • A Year in the Valley How the Aliens from Alpha Centauri Invaded My Maths Class and Turned Me into a Writer How to Guzzle Your Garden • The Book of Challenges Stamp, Stomp, Whomp The Fascinating History of Your Lunch Big Burps, Bare Bums and Other Bad-Mannered Blunders To the Moon and Back • Rocket Your Child into Reading The Secret World of Wombats • I Spy a Great Reader How High Can a Kangaroo Hop?
The Animal Stars Series
1. The Goat Who Sailed the World
2. The Dog Who Loved a Queen
3. The Camel Who Crossed Australia
4. The Donkey Who Carried the Wounded
5. The Horse Who Bit a Bushranger
6. Dingo: The Dog Who Conquered a Continent
The Matilda Saga
1. A Waltz for Matilda • 2. The Girl from Snowy River
3. The Road to Gundagai • 4. To Love a Sunburnt Country
Outlands Trilogy
In the Blood • Blood Moon • Flesh and Blood
School for Heroes Series
Lessons for a Werewolf Warrior • Dance of the Deadly Dinosaurs
Wacky Families Series
1. My Dog the Dinosaur • 2. My Mum the Pirate
3. My Dad the Dragon • 4. My Uncle Gus the Garden Gnome
5. My Uncle Wal the Werewolf • 6. My Gran the Gorilla
7. My Auntie Chook the Vampire Chicken
8. My Pa the Polar Bear
Phredde Series
1. A Phaery Named Phredde • 2. Phredde and a Frog Named Bruce
3. Phredde and the Zombie Librarian • 4. Phredde and the Temple of Gloom •
5. Phredde and the Leopard-Skin Librarian
6. Phredde and the Purple Pyramid • 7. Phredde and the Vampire Footy Team •
8. Phredde and the Ghostly Underpants
Picture Books
Diary of a Wombat (with Bruce Whatley)
Pete the Sheep (with Bruce Whatley)
Josephine Wants to Dance (with Bruce Whatley)
The Shaggy Gully Times (with Bruce Whatley)
Emily and the Big Bad Bunyip (with Bruce Whatley)
Baby Wombat’s Week (with Bruce Whatley)
Queen Victoria’s Underpants (with Bruce Whatley)
The Tomorrow Book (with Sue deGennaro)
Christmas Wombat (with Bruce Whatley)
A Day to Remember (with Mark Wilson)
Queen Victoria’s Christmas (with Bruce Whatley)
Dinosaurs Love Cheese (with Nina Rycroft)
&nb
sp; The Hairy-Nosed Wombats Find a New Home (with Sue deGennaro)
Good Dog Hank (with Nina Rycroft)
The Beach They Called Gallipoli (with Bruce Whatley)
Copyright
Angus&Robertson
An imprint of HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, Australia
This is a combined edition of two titles: Ride the Wild Wind (first published in 2002) and The Book of Unicorns (first published in 1997)
This combined edition first published in Australia in 2014
This edition published in 2014
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Jackie French 1997, 2002, 2014
The right of Jackie French to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
HarperCollinsPublishers
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive, Albany, Auckland 0632, New Zealand
A 53, Sector 57, Noida, UP, India
77–85 Fulham Palace Road, London, W6 8JB, United Kingdom
2 Bloor Street East, 20th floor, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8, Canada
195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007, USA
ISBN 978 1 4607 5013 1 (pbk)
ISBN 978 1 4607 0442 4 (ePub)
Cover design by Christa Moffitt, Christabella Designs
Cover image by shutterstock.com
Author photograph by Kelly Sturgiss
The Book of Horses and Unicorns Page 26
