It was only as the ground beneath their feet turned to grass and the ceiling above became dark rolling clouds, that Scarlet thought she should perhaps have told Martin what they were doing. Oops.
She looked at the hand clasped in hers. Lara wore bangles and bracelets, some the rubber ones you got from charity or bands and others, thin rounds of metal. They rubbed gently against her wrist. Maybe she should get some too. Maybe she should buy one for Lara.
Maybe she should find out where they were before someone or something inevitably attacked them. The field stretched away in all directions. Mountains filled the horizon, peaks covered in snow or hidden in the clouds.
Opposite was a forest, the sort you got lost in, or found a gingerbread house in, but either way probably never came out of. Lara’s mouth was wide open and she shook her head. Scarlet squeezed her hand. ‘You okay?’
‘Uh, yeah? Maybe? Where are we?’
‘No idea. Doesn’t matter though, we need to find the horse.’
‘It’s not a horse, it’s a unicorn.’
Scarlet raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you sure they exist?’
‘Why are you asking me? You’re the one who just opened a portal to another dimension or something.’
True. Somehow though, the idea of unicorns was a step too far, even if their horns had been removed. Was it called a horn? Did it have some fancy name?
She started to walk, taking slow steps through the long grass, enjoying the feel of the hand held in hers and the gentle caress of the bracelets against her wrist.
‘Where are we going?’
‘To find the unicorn.’
‘Well, yes, obviously, but where is it?’
Scarlet shrugged. ‘Normally, I just walk a bit and someone’ll screw things up for me, or kidnap me, or try to kill me. Whatever, we’re bound to come across it sooner or later. I’m just kinda liking the walking.’
She threw a smile to Lara, who laughed as her forehead wrinkled up. ‘Shouldn’t we have some sort of strategy?’
‘Does it involve splitting up? ‘Cause if it does, I’m against it.’
‘I don’t know, we don’t have one yet.’
‘Oh.’
They walked on and sure enough, after only a few minutes, the white figure of a horse emerged from a gap in the hills and galloped out onto the meadow, shaking its head back and forth. They stopped, watching it prance. Scarlet frowned.
‘Aren’t you supposed to be, like, awestruck by the beauty of it or something?’
‘I’m not sure, possibly, yes.’
‘That was conclusive, thanks.’
Lara laughed again and Scarlet stopped looking at the unicorn to glance at her girlfriend. Girlfriend. Heh. She could see her in profile, see the tip of her nose rising slightly, the tiniest wrinkles around the corner of her mouth where she smiled. She must smile a lot.
‘Help you?’
She almost wasn’t surprised that the unicorn was talking to them. Almost. She did, however, jump out of her skin and gasp as the massive beast galloped up to them. He stopped just in time, by which point they were both cowering, hands over their heads. His voice was quieter now and sounded amused.
‘Word to the wise, the best way to avoid being trampled to death is not to put your hands over your faces. Ain’t gonna help much.’
Scarlet recovered first, watching him stamp his massive hooves against the grass, snorting, his mane twitching. ‘Thanks for the tip. Speaking of which, what happened to your horn?’
The stamping stopped, the unicorn’s head coming close into Scarlet. The eyes were huge, as big as her fist and she worked very hard to neither back away nor whimper.
‘It’s not very nice to bring attention to another’s shortcomings.’
‘I’d have thought it was a short-going, actually, you know, being on the front…’
She trailed off as the eyes bore into her. Okay, stupid move. The unicorn was larger than any horse she’d ever seen. To be fair, she’d only ever seen a couple, normally ridden by police, but they had seemed big at the time. This thing was huge, like, twice her height and when it pulled its lips back she could see teeth the size of her head. At least.
‘You are not of this place.’
She bit back another flippant retort, and shook her head. ‘No, we’ve come here from London.’
‘Where’s that?’
‘England?’
A blank stare.
‘Europe?’
Another.
‘Earth?’
‘Ahh, how is it there?’
The two of them exchanged glances. This was, she had to admit, now quite surreal. ‘It’s okay. Weather’s a bit crap, but you don’t seem to have much better here.’
The unicorn tossed its mane again, looking over their heads. ‘The end of days is here.’ He sounded bored and tired and grumpy. ‘The clouds have been steady for… perhaps twenty, maybe thirty years. I lost count a long time ago.’
‘Um, how old are you?’
The unicorn turned its attention to Lara. ‘She ain’t the only rude one, then? Do you normally ask people how old they are, back on Earth?’
Lara turned bright red and stammered. ‘Um, no, no, sorry, not at all, goodness, do please forgive me.’
‘Hm, you talk better than your mate, at least. I remember when the forest behind you were striplings, barely planted. I remember those who planted them, and I remember the forest that was there before the planters cut it down to build.’
‘Old, then?’
He turned his attention back to her, lip rising again as he snorted. ‘You’re interesting. Why are you here?’
‘Actually, we came to see you. I mean, assuming you’re the only unicorn with his horn chopped off in these parts?’
He stamped again, head shaking, and she tried to figure out if he was angry or if it was, like, a nervous twitch or something. She hurried on. ‘Someone’s trying to bring the Undying back to life. We thought you might be able to help.’
‘Ah.’
Was that it? They waited a little longer, but nothing more was forthcoming. ‘So, do you think you could help us, please?’
‘How long’s it been since the last time.’
‘About sixty years, I think. Quite a while really.’
Another long, awkward silence, during which Scarlet got to wondering where the nearest toilet was and whether the clouds above ever delivered the rain they so obviously promised.
‘You lot are clumsy back on earth, ain’t you? Yeah, I’ll help.’
‘That’s a relief. Thanks. What can you do?’
The unicorn actually did a double take, which was one of the funniest things she’d ever seen. ‘The usual, you know.’
‘Um, no?’
He sighed, then snorted. ‘What all unicorns do. I’ll act as a conduit for your magic, strengthening it, making it greater than it would otherwise be and thus giving you the power needed to defeat the Undying.’
‘Actually, I was hoping we could make it so we never got to the point of actually having to fight him, you know? So, like, can you do anything else?’
The unicorn stamped and shook his head. Okay, it was definitely a reaction. She took a step back. ‘OK, great, well, that’s really cool, thanks. Will you come back with us now?’
‘I will. How do you propose we return to earth?’
‘Well, I’ve got the ingredients, so we’ll just get it together and then I’ll open the portal, same as on the way here.’
The unicorn shook its head, almost on a par with the double take for weird humour. ‘No you won’t. The ruler of this place has it locked down tighter than the queen’s privates. Why do you think I’m still here, even after he took off my horn? No one leaves the kingdom without the king’s say so.’
Next Installment Monday 3rd March
