The Lost Soul, page 5
part #1 of Enchena Series
David decided that it was definitely time to stop for a rest and food, so the next time they came to a clearing, he sat down and shrugged off the rucksack Tobias had given him. Samantha followed suit, glad for the break. She was already worn out by the walk, but wouldn’t admit it out loud.
Their snack was a meagre one – bread, apples and a few other items. But plenty for both. There were also two flasks, the small one had the same dark liquid they had drank with dinner the previous evening; the larger flask was full of water.
“So what’s gonna happen. You know, when we get home?” Samantha asked quietly.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we’ve been gone for days, how do we explain that?”
“Oh.” David hadn’t realised this problem existed. He couldn’t think of any excuse that his parents would believe. “Don’t know, what will you say?”
“Don’t know.” Samantha repeated. She sat quietly, even in her wildest fantasies, she never would have thought this is what an adventure to another world would be like. Running, hiding, and a painful need to just go home.
“Come on, we might as well keep going.” David stood up and waited for Samantha to follow. “Sammy?”
She looked up at him; she was tired, but didn’t want to admit it. She pushed herself off the hard ground and brushed the dirt from her trousers. “OK, let’s go.”
David lifted the lightened bag onto his shoulder and they set off again.
It wasn’t much later when they stopped again. The horrible realisation finally dawned. They were lost.
David started to climb the thick trunk of a tree, swearing each time he reached higher. His head finally broke above the canopy, and he was bathed with sunlight. Once his eyes adjusted, he looked around, but the Great Forest wasn’t giving away any of its secrets easily.
“David, do you see anything?” Samantha’s voice came from the ground.
David took a deep breath and started to descend again. “Nothing useful.” He admitted as he dropped the last few feet to the ground, and wiped his sore, grazed hands on his shirt. He’d forgotten how much tree bark hurt the hands.
“So, which way?” Samantha asked.
“How should I know?” He replied, loud and sharp.
“Well you’re the superstar Lost Soul.” Samantha shouted back. “And don’t shout at me!”
“And you’re the only reason I’m heading home instead of actually embracing that!” David shouted back, then bit his tongue. They didn’t want Hrafn’s men to overhear them. Although he silently admitted that would be one solution to their current predicament. When he spoke again, he kept much quieter. “Let’s split up and find the damn track.”
“Yeah, and lose each other as well.” Scoffed Samantha.
“If only.” David muttered. “Look, if you have a better idea, I’d love to hear it. No? Then let’s get searching – whistle if you find anything.”
Samantha watched him walk away, then started to march through a copse of trees in another direction. She went pushing branches angrily out of her way.
“It’s all David’s fault. He’s the Lost Soul, he’s the reason I’m wandering through this blasted forest.” She muttered to herself, casually forgetting that she had followed him into Enchena of her own free will.
She had not walked far before coming to a small rocky descent. From here she could not see a great distance in any direction because of the thick forest, but directly below something caught her eye, some animal movement through the forest. Samantha stopped to watch and saw a glimpse of glossy hide, she was quite sure there were several animals milling at the bottom of the rocks.
She almost held her breath in anticipation, and bobbed down to keep hidden. As she gazed down, more of the animal was revealed, a lean, leggy frame that could be mistaken for a horse, before it turned in her direction. More moved into the small clearing, joining the first, grazing in the sun. From the forehead of each individual, a pearly horn rose and fell with the movement of the creatures’ heads. Unicorns.
Samantha stayed, hypnotised by the sight, she could hardly believe her eyes; she never thought anything so beautiful could truly exist. She knew that she had to share this with David, no matter how angry she had been at him, he deserved to see this, too.
Samantha turned and hurried away as fast as she could, without disturbing the unicorns. Whistle, she had to whistle. She tried, but had never been able to do it the shrill, attention-worthy way. So instead she risked shouting his name as loud as she dare.
David heard Samantha call and turned back. He hurried through the trees, scared that something had happened to her. He heard her before he saw her, crashing through the branches without care. “What is it? Are you ok?”
Samantha just grinned and grabbed his wrist. “Come on.” She said, pulling him back to her discovery.
When they got back to the rocky tor, David stared down in disbelief.
“But… that… they’re… how?”
Samantha chuckled at his complete loss of words. “Want to take a closer look?” Her green eyes bright with the challenge.
David just nodded numbly.
Samantha started to move down the portion of the rock face that was shielded by trees, then made her way as carefully as possible towards the clearing. David appeared at her side, and they both silently watched the unicorns.
Samantha mused over the fact that these animals were not the pure and delicate white of the mythical stories, instead their hides showed colours of brown, chestnut, and all the colours of any ordinary horse, with the woody shades most common. Not a single white unicorn stood before them. Yet they were still a sight to be marvelled at, tall and majestic beasts, grace and power in every movement.
Samantha almost squealed when she saw an adorable foal stumbling into the sunlight, with its knobbly knees, and legs that seemed too long for its body. Before David could stop her, she had shifted to move closer to them. David staggered after her, his legs numb from squatting in one place for so long, and a fallen branch cracked underfoot.
The reaction was immediate. Horned heads were thrown in their direction. A horse-like call rang out, and from the far side of the herd charged a unicorn that was as black as night. It halted, wild eyes staring at the humans in disbelief, none had ever been seen so deep in the forest, and he was going to make sure none were seen again. The black unicorn lowered his horn to charge.
David gripped Samantha’s arm and pulled her behind him, in a desperate act to protect her. He found his feet fixed to the ground with fear as the huge beast thundered towards him.
There was the flash of silvery hide and suddenly a pale grey unicorn stood in front of them, facing the black.
“Get on.” Came a low, commanding voice that was more a thought in each of the humans’ minds than out loud. “Now! Don’t linger.”
A darker, slightly smaller grey trotted up to Samantha and stood still, waiting for her to mount.
“Hurry.” A high, beautiful voice pleaded.
Samantha leapt up and David helped push her on, then she turned and helped drag him up behind her.
The light grey and the black were now close and reared in warning. Neither backed down, and suddenly there was the flash of black hooves; pearly teeth and horns all tearing and thudding at the other.
The dark grey gave a worried whinny, then turned and galloped away, swifter than any racehorse, away from the black’s approaching herd.
Riding a unicorn is a wonderful thing if, like Samantha, you’d had a few riding lessons. But even David found it easy to stay balanced on the swift and smooth strides. They raced so fast that the trees became mere green and brown blurs and David began to wonder how they dodged them all so quickly.
The dark grey unicorn finally slowed down and stopped. David and Samantha slid off and looked at the horse-like creature that stood before them.
“Thank you.” David said, the first to find his voice.
The grey bobbed her head, catching her breath. “He should come soon.” Came the singsong voice once more, obviously belonging to this unicorn, without explaining who was coming.
But sure enough, as fast and as silent as the wind, the lighter grey emerged from the trees, sweating and bearing a new cut along his fine neck that bled little. The two unicorns stood solemnly in the dappled sunlight. Both David and Samantha felt very much humbled and shy in their presence.
“You were unwise to approach that herd.” Came the low, powerful voice that seemed to belong to the taller grey that had fought the black unicorn. “And I would not naturally come to your rescue, yet my sister Alina insisted that it was vital, though we do not know why.”
David and Samantha stood speechless. The unicorns did not speak in any ordinary sense, they talked through shared thoughts and it was a strange and thrilling experience for the two humans.
“I am Nmirr.” Continued the light grey male. “The afternoon grows late and the night-time forest has its dangers… If you wish, you may stay with my herd until morning. Then we shall set you on track again.” With that he turned to his right and led off through the trees at a steady walk.
“Come.” Alina invited in her joyous, singing voice.
David and Samantha could do nothing more than follow the mystical and shining creatures through the trees at a steady walk.
*****
Eventually they reached their destination. Another large clearing, where the early-evening sun shone down on a rippling brook that splashed against a large rock. It seemed deserted, but then Nmirr raised his fine head and whinnied gently.
There was movement, as other unicorns emerged from the trees. Nmirr trotted to greet them, and after a welcoming look to the humans, Alina followed him.
The rest of the herd balked at the sight of the humans, but there was no anger in their eyes or movement. They all looked to Nmirr, and trusted his judgement in bringing the two young humans here. The herd was larger than the black’s, and also consisted of many equine colours. In the herd there was a stunning black mare with a silver dapple on her rump, whom Nmirr had trotted over to first. She greeted the humans gracefully, introducing herself as Cassiopeia, Nmirr’s mate.
Their son came up to them curiously, but shy at first. Sundance was a tall and handsome palomino colt, who truly deserved his name as the sun’s flames danced on his golden coat.
David and Samantha agreed to stay with Nmirr’s herd for what was left of the day and through the night, with no wish to hurry away. They remained mostly with the sweet Alina and her nephew, Sundance, who seemed to have an abundance of energy, playfully running to the brook and back.
Samantha spoke little with Nmirr, finding him too daunting as he stared wisely at them. David though, had told him everything about their journey and Nmirr had listened thoughtfully, but did not speak his thoughts on the matter.
Alina and Samantha got on well, and Samantha found that they had been very lucky for the two greys to come along.
“Why did the Black attack us?” Samantha asked as she and David wandered alongside Alina and Nmirr.
“The Black?” Alina’s thoughts expressed confusion.
“We call him The Dark Being.” Nmirr informed them, his low voice murmuring in their minds. “He would kill you as soon as look at you.”
“Why?”
Nmirr looked at Samantha, his brown eyes bright. “It is easy to tell that you do not come from Enchena. The Dark Being and his herd have the darkest and coldest of hearts.”
“But… but unicorns are always good. They are where we come from.” Samantha gushed, ignoring David’s attempts to silence her on the matter of earth myths. “And they’re all white, too. They’d never be evil.”
Alina looked up at her with interest. “Then you must come from a strange and wonderful place. We have not known of a pure white unicorn since Praede. Hunters would catch such a light one easily.”
Nmirr nodded his agreement. “Perhaps we once originated from your kind, but it is The Dark Being infecting the ill-will of the people of Enchena even within us.”
“How do you mean?” David asked.
Nmirr snorted slightly and his feeling of sadness and regret could be felt by the small party. “He is older than I, so I only know what my father told me of the incident. When The Dark Being was about 20 winters, only a youngster by our counts, humans captured him. This is rare, normally they only hunt us for our horns and hides; and when a unicorn is caught alive the fire within is put out and they quickly die. But The Dark Being somehow fought on, surviving around humans as he was paraded around fairs. I suppose being around all the anger and hatred that dwells in many human hearts, he saw the world in a different way, and the torture he endured as a caged animal… it is a terrible enough thing to turn the mind.
“When he finally escaped, he returned to his old herd changed. He challenged the leader and broke our lore by killing the old leader after he had defeated him. The herd were now bound to him, and he began to teach unicorns to behave more like men: fight first, stay alive. He turned many a good unicorn dark, and killed those that would not follow his commands. Thankfully our parents escaped and warned all other herds.
“He has caused us much trouble. Making enemies within our own species, something that has never happened before. He is getting old now, over 200 winters, but he is still strong, all the more for having his herd behind him. There are few that can match him.” Nmirr sighed and hung his head. The new scar on his neck ached at the thought of his enemy.
Seven
The sun was dropping down to the tree line, turning red on the backs of the grazing unicorns.
Samantha shifted, hunger making her uncomfortable. A glance at David told her that he felt the same. David gave her a brief smile and jogged over to meet Nmirr.
“Nmirr, we were wondering if there was anything here that, um, humans can eat?” David asked hesitantly.
The unicorn looked thoughtful for a moment, remembering that these funny humans couldn’t eat grass.
“Ask the trees.” He said simply, then continued when he saw that David was still nonplussed. “Ask the trees to bear fruit.”
David looked to Samantha and shrugged. Was this just one more magical part to this crazy world? Feeling more than a little nervous, David turned to a nearby tree and placed his hand on the trunk.
“Uh, can you… could I have some fruit?” He stared at the tree, aware of how stupid he sounded. “Please?”
Behind him, Samantha giggled. This was definitely the most ridiculous thing yet. But Alina trotted past her and up to David.
“Don’t worry, I think they might ignore humans. But they’ll respect a unicorn.” She looked up at the tree and shared her amusement. “And we may wish to find another tree, rather than a fir.”
Samantha continued to laugh as Alina turned and walked to a tree by the stream. She stretched out her silver head until the tip of her horn touched the bark. Within moments small, unripe fruits appeared on the boughs. After a few minutes the fruits had grown large and ripe.
“Eat.” Alina sang happily.
David and Samantha, who had managed to stop laughing, walked over and reached up, gingerly pulling the ripened apples from the branches. The apples were crisp and fresh, more so than the fruit they had been given by the Deorwines. The unicorns munched delicately on apples knocked down by their horns, and though it was not a perfect meal, the humans enjoyed the food provided.
*****
The clearing was picked out by a bright, almost whole moon. David and Samantha were laying on the rough ground, using David’s pack as a pillow. Nmirr was quite a distance away, sleeping as he stood beside a dark mass that was Cassiopeia. Alina was lying near David and Samantha, the warmth of her presence was pleasant as the air cooled.
All three were staring up at the navy blue sky, awash with glittering stars. With a pang of homesickness, Samantha wondered if these were the same stars as back home.
“There’s Praede.” Came Alina’s thoughts, as she pointed her horn to one of the larger constellations. “The first unicorn of Enchena.”
“Was he real?” David murmured sleepily.
Alina nodded, before beginning the story she heard as a filly. “A long time ago the land of Enchena was barren, empty of all creatures. Then one day, with the rising of the sun, the Goddess Minaeri rode through the land on a pure white unicorn named Praede. In their wake, a forest rose up that stretched from sea to sea. Minaeri dismounted and turned to her faithful steed.
“’Praede, I give you the forest, in which you will always be safe.’
“And Praede replied. ‘I thank you, O Glorious One. I ask only that I may always keep my sons and daughters safe.’
“The goddess nodded and gave her promise that would become Praede’s Honour. Praede turned and called, his rich neigh singing through the forest and it was instantly full of unicorns. Praede bowed gracefully to Minaeri, then went to meet his own kind.
“The goddess journeyed to fill this new land, allowing humans to settle in the plains. And whenever Minaeri needed a steed, the noble Praede would always volunteer with a gracious heart.
“Years passed and the unicorns flourished, spreading far and wide, yet always knowing that the forest would protect them. Praede watched over his children with pride as he grew old. One night he disappeared from his herd to die alone in his forest. And as Minaeri had agreed, he rose to the skies to forever watch over us.”
By the end of the story, David and Samantha had both fallen into gentle sleep, leaving Alina to stare up at the stars, consumed with her own thoughts.
*****
Samantha awoke with a start. A long grey face looked down into hers.
“You are awake, get ready.” Came the low, almost throbbing voice of Nmirr.
She blinked in the hazy sunlight of morning. Overnight clouds had gathered and the sky was no longer clear. Samantha sat up as Nmirr turned away to continue grazing.
David was already up and talking with Sundance, but seeing that his companion was awake, he left the young unicorn and walked over to Samantha. “Decided to get up? Nmirr’s offered to take us back to the portal, he’s pretty certain where it is.”
