Unicorn Lost

Presents

J	eanette! Jeanette! Wake up, my darling!"

Rebecca was shaking her daughter's shoulder. "You were screaming in your sleep again!" she whispered with earnest concern as her child slowly regained consciousness.

"Was I?" Jeanette asked, squinting and rubbing an eye. Even now, the dream was fading from her mind, the way dreams so often have a habit of doing. She shivered in the predawn chill.

Her mother stood. "Come, child. I have made some chestnut paste sandwiches from the supplies Kamida brought. Florence says we should be on our way again; that the time grows short. She fears that the ogre may kill her Unicorn and then we will be too late."

Jeanette nodded and fitted her glasses onto her nose, and drawing the abysmally-thin camping blanket close around her shoulders, joined the party as it sat in a circle around a purple campfire which burned with no apparent means of support on a bare rock.

As Jeanette sat down, she noticed that Kamida was looking a little trance-like, and understood that this was a magical fire conjured by the amnesiac sorceress. "Pretty," Jeanette said as her mother passed her a sandwich that looked too small by half to fill the gnawing void in her belly.

"Purple won't alert our enemies," Florence explained. She held her paws out nearer the violet flames. "It's also not terribly warm, but..." Her voice trailed off, as she raised her snout and perked her ears.

The rest of the party grew instantly concerned. "What is it?" Queen Olivia asked in a hushed voice.

Florence sniffed the air. "Has anybody seen Kathy recently?" she asked.

Nervous glances were exchanged. "She probably just went to...you know, relieve herself, or whatever it is unicorns do first thing in the morning," Queen Olivia shrugged; but there was a tremor to the levity of her remark.

Florence was on her feet in an instant. "We can't afford to lose another unicorn," she stated in a voice like ice. "You all stay here. I'm going to go look for her!"

"One and one make three," said Kamida from her trance. No one thought to correct her.

~~~~~~~~~~~{ Meanwhile }~~~~~~~~~~~

"Bleh," said Kathy under her breath, looking at a withered plant. "Even if I liked eating grass, I wouldn't touch that!" She wandered on, her alicorn casting a faint ivory glow on the jagged edges of the rocks jutting up from the barren canyon floor. Her hyena-belly was shrieking for food, but regardless of whether she was a unicorn or a hyena, there was nothing, nothing to eat.

"Hey, Babe. Lost?"

Kathy nearly inverted herself with a very un-unicorn-like shriek. The voice had come from almost directly above her, and as she threw a wild-eyed glance skyward, she could just make out the silhouette of another unicorn, a real Unicorn. Its margins crackling with foxfire-light against the fading stars. Her breath caught in her throat as the magnificent beast sprang lightly down the sheer face of the cliff to land beside her with a snick of his dainty silver hooves. He tossed his dark, curly mane and gave her a roguish look from the corner of one hazel eye.

"You come here often?" he asked, parting his velvet lips in a smirk.

"Wh-who are you?" Kathy stammered, feeling suddenly very shy indeed, especially in light of the way this creature was looking at her. He couldn't possibly be Florence's missing White Pony.

The newcomer tossed his beard and swished his tail, striking sparks with his right front hoof. "The names Ctesian," he said. "But you can call me Stan. And, with whom do I have the pleasure of conversing? I don't recall ever seeing a blonde unicorn around here?" He raised an eyebrow.

Kathy turned aside her head and blushed so hotly her fur turned pink. "I'm...nobody," she said.

Cstesian drew nearer. His breath smelled like spices rare and costly. "Oh, don't be coy," he teased. "A pretty little filly like you has got to have a name!"

Kathy swallowed hard. She could not look the unicorn stallion in the eye. "Nadia," she said in a small voice. "Nadia Bellimi."

Cstesian smiled raffishly. "Well...Nadia! We are well met indeed! A pretty girl like you shouldn't be wandering the Badlands on her own!"

Kathy said nothing. She tried hard not to even think about her companions, lest Cstesian perceive her thoughts.

"There's all sorts of foul and deceitful creatures wandering around these hills," Cstesian went on, angling himself so that he was now between Kathy and the way back. He moved nearer to her as he spoke, in effect trying to subtly herd her along. She resisted his attempt. This vexed him, but only slightly, and his tone never changed from one of paternalistic concern. "There's wolves here, you know--strange wolves. I just saw one yesterday. And weird little creatures that wear clothing, of all things! And lest we forget, these hills are the front garden of He Whose Voice Is Thunder."

Kathy felt a chill go down her back. "Are we that close to the ogre's castle...I mean?" she blurted, as Cstesian narrowed an eye.

"You do know about the ogre?" he inquired. The sparks continued to glitter about his hooves as he moved.

"Well...yes, of course! I mean, who hasn't heard of old...old Thunder-sighs," Kathy stammered. "I'll tell you, I was pretty concerned when I realized I had to pass this way," she laughed, "What with his penchant for unicorns and all. I'm surprised to meet another one in such a blighted place!"

Cstesian smiled the gentle smile of one who is trying to convince someone else that he has their best interests at heart. "I have...an arrangement with the ogre," he admitted. "He leaves me alone, and I don't run him through the privates, if you get my drift." Cstesian proudly tossed his long, sharp horn, which looked like polished hematite. Little serpents of power crept around its spiralled surface, even when he was at rest.

Kathy shuddered to be in the presence of such a magnificent beast, forgetting that, at that moment, she too was a unicorn. Her hyena-nature wanted to crawl away and hide. "You can do that?" she inquired, which made Cstesian laugh.

"I AM A UNICORN!" he replied in a ringing bellow. "I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, to whomever I want!" He eyed her. "And, so what brings a shy little maiden such as yourself to this neck of the woods, eh?" he asked her in a soft purr. "Have you come here in pursuit of your deepest urge. In pursuit of that wish, which til now, has been silent?"

Kathy took three quick steps backward. "Excuse me?" she gasped, tucking her tail between her legs.

Cstesian followed her, his ears laid back, and a strange fire in his leaf-colored eyes. "Oh, don't be coy. You know why you've come here! I too know why you've come here...as I have come here. We unicorns are a savage and solitary lot, but every once in a while..." and he nuzzled her neck.

Kathy squealed and danced backward again. Whether she realized it or not, she was moving in the direction Cstesian intended--which was away from the party. She stared at him with large, alarmed eyes. "I'm sorry, sir! But I'm not that sort of girl!" she cried indignantly.

"Sure you are. You just never realized it," Cstesian moved nearer. He ran his gaze over Kathy's figure and seemed to like what he saw. "Growing up all alone, I'll bet you have no idea--I'll bet I'm the first stud you've ever seen."

"Well, technically that's true," Kathy stammered. "And while you are, admittedly, an attractive creature, I'm just...I'm not...I have no intention of..."

"Oh, you just don't know what your intentions are," Cstesian purred. He touched her again, this time to nibble her mane.

Kathy pulled away, but with the guilty realization that, to her new form, that felt good. "You don't understand, Mr. Cstesian," she told him. "I'm not what you think I am!"

"A virgin unicorn mare?" he answered, with a chuckle. His voice got very low and he whispered, "Hey, no one ever said the Unicorn had to be a virgin!"

Kathy couldn't speak, her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth, as Cstesian drew ever closer. She could smell the intoxicating fragrance of his body, and for a fleeting moment, understood why Florence was willing to risk her life to find White Pony. She started to feel like she was sliding down a rabbit-hole.

"After all," Cstesian murmured as he whuffled her ear, "Where do you think little unicorns come from, eh?"

Suddenly something creased through the befuddled gloom of Kathy's thoughts. Like a bolt of lightning, she reared up screaming like a freight train, "UNICORNS AREN'T BORN IN THE ORDINARY WAY! THEY ARE CREATED FROM THE EARNEST WISHES OF THOSE WHO NEED THEM!"

Cstesian backed up, his eyes flashing fire. "Who told you that?" he demanded.

"The Majestic Presence!" Kathy retorted. "The one who made me like this!" She stamped a foot. Her old vinegar was coming back. "Beware! I'm not what I seem, Mr. Cstesian!"

Cstesian regarded her with the most terrible expression Kathy had ever seen worn by something that wasn't carved out of stone. "Oh?" he said in a cold, heavy tone. "NEITHER AM I!"

Before her eyes, Cstesian's shape began to alter, to grow, to sprout wings--his eyes blazed the fire of twin volcanoes and his hooves split into cruel paws armed with half-a-dozen iron claws.

From out of her half-fainting brain, Kathy thought she heard Florence's voice screaming, "IT'S THE RED DRAGON!!!!"

-page oo36-
written by Nightstar.

Copyright and Credit:
  · Florence from "Freefall" © Mark Stanley.
  · Magic Gardener © Hortmage.
  · Jeanette © Jeanette Isabelle.
  · Kathy from "Carry On" © Kathy Garrison.
  · Kamida © Guest #1.
  · ToraKiyoshi - Writer.
  · White Pony from "Cross Time Cafe" © S.Kidwell.
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