The Midnight Unicorn, page 14
“Then that is what I shall do.” Audrey stalked off into the trees to find something suitable to use as a splint. “Nobody touch the rabbit,” she ordered.
Alette stirred the pot. Supplies were getting low but she still had some dried beans and bacon that would make a flavoursome soup. After a few moments, the trees rustled near where Audrey had gone seeking her splint. She glanced up. At first, when she saw the sleek black fur on the creature’s legs she thought it was Storm. He had come to find her. Then she saw the white mane and horn, and dropped her spoon in the cooking pot. It was Audrey, in her unicorn form.
Audrey whinnied and gently blew air through her nostrils, then nodded in Alette’s direction. Alette nodded back. She preferred her sister when she was a unicorn. She didn’t feel anger or annoyance as she did sometimes when they were in their human state. Her feelings were uncomplicated, like they were with Storm. Now, when Alette looked at her, she had the urge to run – to run through the fields together. That seemed to be how they communicated best.
But Audrey didn’t look as though she wanted to run anywhere. She walked slowly out from the trees, tail swishing, and made her way over to where Bramble lay. She bent her head, and for a second she thought that Audrey was going to use her nose to nuzzle Bramble, in the way that Storm sometimes did with her. But Audrey lowered her head further and Alette realized she was dipping her horn into the water bowl. A gentle light shone from the bowl as if it were reflecting back a strong shaft of sunlight. Then Audrey raised her head, turned, and walked back towards the trees, tail still swinging rhythmically.
Alette used a second spoon to lift the first from the stew but splashed her arm with the hot liquid. “Ouch!” she cried. It burned. She walked over to the water bowl that Audrey had touched. Maneo, too, folded his map and came to investigate.
Alette dipped a finger into the water, which was still gently glowing, and rubbed the water on to her scalded arm. The three red marks faded to pink and disappeared, along with the pain. She showed her arm to Maneo.
“I think Audrey has made a healing potion,” said Ribston.
Maneo nodded and Audrey walked out from the trees in human form. “Does it work?” she asked, in the voice of a concerned parent.
“I think so,” said Alette.
Audrey knelt by Bramble. She dipped a rag in the potion and wiped it across the damaged area. The blood cleared magically from the matted white fur, and the wound shrank. She took a fresh rag, dipping it and winding it tightly around Bramble’s leg. “A broken bone might take longer to heal,” she said.
Finally, she tucked a blanket around Bramble as if he were a baby. “There.”
Alette stared at Audrey. “What happened in the trees?”
“I don’t know,” said Audrey. “I found a small piece of tree bark that seemed the right size and shape for Bramble’s back leg.” She stopped.
“Go on,” said Maneo.
“I’m not sure if I can properly explain. It was almost as if I thought, or knew, that there was a better way. And then I felt tingling in my legs and they began to lengthen. This time I knew what was happening – that I was changing – and I knew that I could heal Bramble.”
“Most interesting,” said Maneo. “That is the second time you successfully managed to transform. And yet it seems it is still not a conscious decision on your part. Are you beginning to understand your power? Is it something that you might be able to harness, so that you can change at will?”
“I think I am understanding it a little better.” Audrey lowered her eyes.
“And…?”
“Well, it seems to be linked to what I am feeling. That is, more than what I am trying to think. I can tell myself to change over and over again, but I have to feel it to make it happen.”
“That is exactly what I told you,” said Alette. “I change when I am feeling anger. So when I need to transform, I have to make myself feel angry.”
“Yes, it is just as you said. I am working on it.”
Maneo leaned forward and cleared his throat. “So something about this … furry creature enabled you to change into your unicorn form?”
“Yes, I wanted to help Bramble. It was the same on the bridge. When I saw Alette over the other side, so helpless—”
“Helpless? I don’t think I was quite helpless—”
“Well, in danger then. When I saw my sister in danger, I wanted to make her safe. I suppose it was a kind of rage, as Alette described, but not like one I’d ever felt before.”
Alette was not sure what she thought of this news. She had desperately wanted Audrey to take control of her power, so that they could be stronger together, but now that she seemed to be doing just that, Alette didn’t feel happy. Her sister seemed to have different powers to her own – Alette had never healed anyone. And Maneo seemed so impressed and excited by Audrey. He never questioned Alette about her time as a unicorn.
She pointed to Bramble, who was hopping very slowly in a circle in a circle around Audrey. “The healing seems to have done the trick.”
“Oh, his leg is better! He’s not dragging it any more,” said Audrey happily.
As if in response, Bramble hopped faster. This was the first time they had seen him move at speed and they all laughed at how quickly he ran. His fluffy tail bobbed up and down comically and he zigzagged his way into the undergrowth. Then he was gone.
Alette raised her eyebrows. “Well, that’s the last we’ll see of your rabbit, I’m afraid, Audrey. All that attention you gave him and not even a nose-twitch of thanks. Are you glad you carried him for nine miles now?”
Audrey looked at the place in the bushes where he had dived in. Her voice was low. “I suppose if he’s happy then I don’t mind where he goes. Maybe he will find some others of his kind. Oh, he’s back!”
Bramble shot out of the undergrowth once again and sprang into the air, twisting his back legs behind him.
“He is dancing a jig,” cried Ribston.
Maneo shook his head. “No, this is quite usual rabbit behaviour. They do it when they are relaxed and content.”
Alette raised her eyebrows. “More interesting rabbit facts.”
Bramble hopped back over to Audrey and she stroked him between the ears, just as he liked. “You can stay with us for as long as you like, Bramble.”
THE VIEW FROM THE HILL
Audrey
After a good night’s sleep, they set off again.
There was a low mist this morning. It hung around them and muted the autumn colours of the leaves. Unlike Alette, Audrey loved trees, but even she found this unending woodland suffocating. At least it had been colourful before. Now everything had a blue-grey tinge and the long tree trunks were black and foreboding. Even the smells of the woods seemed deadened by the cold mist that filled her nostrils. Her feet hurt and her legs ached and they had only been walking for an hour. She trudged along, dragging her feet and wishing there was some way of magicking herself to a more interesting location. She would ask Maneo but she could already guess what his answer would be.
Bramble hopped along beside her, sometimes venturing ahead or lolloping into the brambles for a snack, but always returning. The faithful Ribston walked on her other side.
“I feel as though we have been travelling constantly uphill! My legs are burning. Maybe we could have a break?” said Alette.
Nobody replied. There was more silence. More uphill trudging.
Then, after a few minutes, Ribston cried out.
“A ship! I see a ship!”
“A ship? I doubt it, we’re about four score miles from the nearest coastline,” said Alette.
“But there is a mast and a sail, like those on a ship.”
“I don’t think so, my dear Ribston,” said Audrey, squinting into the distance. She could see white mist and little else.
But the orch must have had keener eyes than the rest of the party, for after they had travelled a few more feet, the others began to make out the same shapes on a distant horizon. Two tall trees leaned together to form an arched frame for their view. Audrey could see why Ribston would think it might be a galleon, especially as the mist gave the impression of things floating. But the mist was gradually lifting and she could tell the view was of a large building on a hill.
Maneo stopped and swung his travelling bag down on to the leafy ground. “That, my friends, is the city of Essendor.”
So the city on the hill was real. It had seemed as if they would never reach this place. Now it was a few miles away, emerging before them like a forgotten dream. The mist in the woods lifted higher, swirling around the treetops, and clear shapes revealed themselves: houses, walls, the castle.
Maneo narrowed his eyes, and Audrey wondered what he was thinking. When did he last look upon Essendor? Was it thirteen years ago, when he left with baby Alette, or had he been back since?
“I thought the journey would take at least another day,” said Alette.
“It will,” said Maneo. “The city is still miles away. And remember we cannot use the main routes. Now, more than ever, we must be stealthy and avoid detection by Zelos’s men. Today, we will descend the hill. Tonight, we will sleep by the river. Tomorrow, we will cross the river to the castle.”
Alette sighed in response. Audrey couldn’t tell if the sight of the city excited Alette or made her nervous. To Audrey, Essendor looked exactly as she knew it would: just as she had modelled it on the bread. No wonder her mother had fainted. The pointed turrets of the castle, the twisting stone steps. It felt like looking at a picture of home, which was strange, as she had never set eyes on the place before. At least, not since she was a baby.
But something was not quite right.
“There are no flags flying on the turrets.”
Maneo looked at her quizzically. “You are correct. There were always red flags flying when your parents were on the throne.”
Alette seemed agitated. “I do not recognize anything about it. I may have seen it in a painting or printed picture before but it stirs nothing in me – no sense of recognition.”
“That is hardly surprising,” said Maneo. “You left this place when you were but two weeks old and have not returned since. That is far too young for any memories to form.”
Maybe, thought Audrey, but her memories were rushing in all at once.
Yellow roses. A raven calling. Danger.
Even Bramble seemed moved by the sight. He hopped close to Audrey and put his paws on her legs, above her knees, almost as if he were seeking reassurance. Was he scared? She picked him up and stroked him.
Ribston shook his head slowly. “Never have I seen such a beautiful place. You are telling me that there is a person living in each one of those pretty little buildings?”
“Not just a person but whole families. Families sitting around fires on this chilly morning. Families telling stories. Families enjoying time together,” said Audrey.
“And even in the big building itself?”
“The castle, yes.”
“Well. What a place,” declared Ribston. “I see now how wrong it is for a bad soul to rule this city. This city’s ruler should have integrity and honour. I feel it in my core.”
They began climbing down the other side of the hill, and the castle disappeared from sight once again. Audrey had the feeling that it had all been a dream, brought about by some magic in the mist. If they could not see Essendor, then she could not really be sure it existed.
The hill was steep. In some parts they could walk steadily downhill; in others they were practically sliding down. Audrey’s knees hurt and her leather slippers were ruined. They stuck closely to trees and bushes in an effort to stay hidden and there was not much conversation. It was a long day.
That night, at the bottom of the hill, they made their camp some distance from the river. They were close enough to access water but far enough to remain under the protection of the trees.
They ate a basic meal, then settled down in shelters constructed from sticks and blankets. Maneo explained that they would discuss the last part of the plan in the morning. There was no need to worry; he had it all organized. Maneo had his own shelter on one side of the fire and the girls shared a shelter on the other side. Ribston slept as he always did, up in the comfort of the trees.
Audrey and Alette lay down comfortably with less than an arm’s width between them. As Audrey drifted off to sleep she remembered how she felt that first night in the barn. How strange it had felt then to be making a bed out in the open. But now it was starting to feel almost normal. The noises of the night didn’t bother her – not the owls or even the distant wolves. She knew that she would sleep soundly all night if it weren’t for their proximity to Essendor, which made her feel nervous. She hoped Zelos’s men were not lurking in the bushes waiting for a quiet moment to attack.
As a result, she didn’t fully relax, but still managed to get a couple of hours sleep before she was disturbed. Alette woke her, jiggling her shoulder and whispering in her ear. “What’s that sound?”
Audrey listened. The sound came quickly. A regular thumping,
Thump, thump, thump.
And again,
Thump, thump, thump.
Whatever was making the sound was very close indeed.
The girls listened for a couple of minutes and then, as Audrey fully awoke, she realized where it was coming from.
“It’s Bramble! He is thumping his big back feet on the ground.”
Alette lay back on her bed. “Is that all? That rabbit is a pest! Can you not quieten him? Stroke him or whatever it is that you do?”
“You don’t understand. Rabbits thump if they are scared of something or someone. Maneo told us, don’t you remember?”
“I can’t say that I do.”
“Well, there must be a predator on the prowl. Bramble is trying to warn us. What shall we do?”
“I’ll go out to see what’s bothering him. It’s probably a fox.” Alette stepped out into the night, her blanket around her shoulders. Audrey thought she should probably go with her, but the thought of something lurking yards away made her shudder. She may have been happy with the sound of distant wolves, but she did not want to encounter one up close. Still, she leaned half out of the shelter and watched Alette. If her sister needed her then she would be at her side in seconds.
Alette broke a long stick off the shelter and lit it using the smouldering embers of the fire. Audrey couldn’t be sure if this was so that she could see better, or to fend off wild beasts that might be lurking. Wolves, perhaps, or trolls. For some reason, a clear image appeared in her mind: the toll troll biting the head off that fish yesterday. The blood dripping down his chin. She shuddered.
Then Alette laughed. Audrey jumped at the unexpected sound and looked to see the source of her sister’s laughter. Not wolves or trolls at all. It was a squirrel and a tiny grey mouse. They were both pictures of perfect innocence with eyes that looked too big for their tiny heads. Both animals seemed stunned by the unexpected light of Alette’s torch. They looked around in a panic, then glanced at each other and scuttled in opposite directions.
Audrey ventured fully out of the shelter, as Alette continued laughing. “I can’t believe it. The woodland creatures follow you even when you are asleep, Audrey! They probably dance around outside the window of the bakery to ensure you have sweet dreams!”
Audrey smiled in the firelight. This was actually quite a comforting thought.
Alette raised her voice and called into the undergrowth. “As for you, Bramble, next time you decide to warn us of predators, please make sure they are larger than you!”
A thump came in response. The girls had no way of telling if it was an annoyed thump, an apologetic thump, or if he was still concerned about the predators. As the girls made their way back to their makeshift beds, something cracked. A stick or twig, a few yards away in the darkness. They looked up, alert once again. Was it another innocent animal? It had sounded like the sort of sound made by a large creature. Before they had a chance to investigate, a half shout, half scream, like a war cry, broke the air. Bushes rustled, sticks cracked and someone burst into the clearing.
A man. He ran to the fireside. Like Alette, he was carrying a flaming torch, which he brandished wildly.
“Spies! Cowardly spies! Be gone!”
Audrey didn’t know whether to run or fight. She looked to Alette, who instantly adopted a defensive pose, the torch held before her like a sword. “Get back or you will be sorry!”
The man stepped back, raising his hands in a position of surrender, but surprisingly he didn’t seem particularly interested in them. He was looking around for something – or someone – else.
Audrey assessed him. He wore simple peasant’s clothes – a loose tunic and trousers. And a leather thong around his neck that was hung with different items: feathers, seed pods and a whistle. He had kind eyes and a full beard. He didn’t look like someone who meant to kill them in their beds.
Alette ignored his kind eyes and thrust her torch close to his chin. Audrey hoped she wouldn’t set his beard on fire. “We are not spies, stranger! But what of you? Who are you to attack a camp of innocent travellers?”
Alette’s voice rang out in the silence of the night. How could she be sure that there were not ten more men hiding in the darkness?
The man was still looking around. “You don’t understand—” he started to say in a low voice, but he was interrupted. Something fell on to him from above. In the dim firelight it was hard to see what was happening but the man’s face was partly obscured. He shouted, “Get off! Get off!” as flames burst up around his feet. He must have dropped his torch in the dry leaves.
Audrey saw then that it was Ribston who clung to the man’s back and shoulders, hands around his neck. He must have jumped down from his tree on to the man.
