The unicorn was resting a weary head in the royal garden. Though it seemed no matter how much he slept he could not truly rest. He was dreaming of an open valley when the horns of the palace woke him.
"Gelding! Wake! You shiftless beast!"
The creature started, a low grumble sounding in his throat. Large, violet eyes glared at the royal guard who had dared to wake him.
"The Princess is missing! Get your posterior up. Or I will spear you and tell the King it was your fault."
After a yawn, the unicorn's head darted at the mention of the princess. He was not a large animal. Built like a slender deer with long legs and large ears that flicked. He was almost finicky in demeanor. Only a subtle majesty about him made him impressive. There was snow-white fur and a horn-- so sharp at the end it was a match for a blade-- was imposing. Otherwise, this was a creature built for delicate, aesthetic beauty, all glowing with flowing mane, a long, thin beard and a lion-like tail.
"What did you say of Princess Amethyst?" Gelding demanded of the guard. "Speak up, buffoon. And do so without yelling. My ears are sensitive."
"She is amiss!" the surly, red-bearded guard exclaimed into one of those aforementioned ears. "Amiss on your watch!"
"Err from blaming games and focus will on aiding me to find the girl," Gelding's voice was aged and rich, with a certain chilled detachment.
"A search party forms as we speak!"
"You still yell," the unicorn told the man.
"I give orders! This is a captain's voice!"
"Dulcet. I suppose you expect I join your troupe on its travels." The unicorn gestured to the gathering party before the gates.
"Yes! File in line!"
"I am unworthy of that honor, Captain."
The unicorn bowed on his front legs to the captain, horn swooshing dangerously close to the man's nether regions.
"Careful, beast!"
"Perhaps I am too senile to parade about with your hunting hounds. My horn may turn and render one of your men half-blind, Captain. Nay, I should remain here and tell tales of early greatness to children who pass by."
"Your speaking is nonsensical."
"That I speak at all makes sense?" Gelding asked.
Already, he was turning around without fear. The long tail hit the captain's face once before the unicorn began to trot away.
"You are not dismissed, Gelding!"
"What was that? There is a knot in the abyss?..."
The unicorn was not impaired in hearing. Rather he simply refused to work alongside the King's men. His trot quickened to a gallop. When he reached the gate, he bounded over it and avoided the spikes. He jumped it often because he could not be held captive, even if he was owned by the King.
2
DEEP IN the forest's shadows, a gnarled oak tree shaded a tiny cottage. Within there was said to be a witch.
Our unicorn traveler knew of her, so when he came to the cottage's door he had merely to touch the lock and melt her magic with his own horn.
The witch was at her loom and spinning, humming a somber tune. The hood that cloaked her was up. Perhaps she had known the unicorn was coming.
"Do you know where Princess Amethyst has gone to?" he asked the witch without introduction.
"Nay," the witch replied without looking up. "Why do you ask me?"
"She is amiss. You know the forests, all under your spell."
The Witch lifted her face from her work. "How many times has the maiden been rescued by the unicorn?"
"Numbers mean little to me. You cannot evade me with your parlor tricks. I know you."
"But you ask my help in finding her."
"Amethyst is kind to you. Some people are known to return kindness. If she were in trouble I would think you could care."
She shrugged and lowered her hood to reveal a younger countenance than Gelding had last seen on her.
"A new glamor you wear today. But not a new temperament."
"I can help you," the Witch offered, suppressing a yawn. "For a small token."
"Let me gander at what."
Her eyes fell upon his horn, which was luminous in the dark of the Witch's cottage. Its light sent spiders fleeing.
The unicron's expression was something unamused. He pawed at the floor and turned from the Witch.
"You are not willing to bargain with me? If not your horn then something else."
"I do not trade with anyone who has traded their soul. Clearly poor judgement skills on your behalf," Gelding spoke.
"It would only be your second castration!" the Witch hissed at him.
The unicorn's head hung and his posture slumped but he did not entertain her further. At the corner of her cottage, he squatted and relieved himself on her garden and across the wall.
3
IF THE witch would not aid him, he had the forest itself to turn to. Not the spirits, for demon and fairy folk were devious, but the beasts. Birds and squirrels were good for news, after all.
But none Gelding came upon happened to have seen Princess Amethyst. Until he met a gathering of chattering squirrels. When he asked them where the Princess had gone to, they answered all at once.
"Each his piece and with some semblance of peace, please," Gelding asked them.
They mentioned to Gelding that the Princess had been by, walking alongside a curious animal.
"What did this animal look like?"
Squirrels were not known for their wit, and it took nearly six of them to collaborate and explain how the animal appeared. It had more than four legs and it "crept" rather than walked.
"A skulker or a crawler?"
"Fast! Very fast!" one exclaimed.
"Black! Very black!" another added.
"Are you sure it was Amethyst who accompanied it?"
"Who?" one asked.
The unicorn bowed his head and shook it. These rodents were hopeless. That was when he heard them chittering and snickering to one another about the Princess' penchant for trouble. One looked at Gelding and and whispered to the other "No! Really?"
The unicorn turned his horn on the squirrel to threaten it, purely for amusement. They scattered and the beast smiled to himself.
4
BASED ON the direction that the animals had indicated and his own powers, he found and smelt the maiden's trail at last.
He was on a steady trot when a sharp agony pulsed through his tail. In the shadows someone was hidden, with bow and arrow in hand. She had managed to pin the poor beast's tail to a tree.
He let out a manly scream. Its echo through the forest frightened all who heard. The Witch revealed herself and lowered weapon to her side. "You defecated on my house! Now you will hear my offer! I come with an idea!"
"You might have called my attention in a more pragmatic manner, spittle-pool," the unicorn growled, tears streaming.
"You do not listen to proposed ideas," the Witch scolded him.
"Perhaps because their grounding is unsound. Unpin me."
"Not until you hear my idea."
"All that stands between my path of antipathy is gone. Speak, woman."
"The Princess' tears!" the Witch exclaimed, brandishing a vial. "If you fill this with them then I will unpin your tail. Give me your oath."
Gelding thought that Amethyst would have given this to the Witch for free. But the Witch was daft and he knew that this would somehow hurt the Princess if she felt it must be bargained for.
"You drive a hard bargain."
She smiled, newly youthful features lighting up.
"But I shall not lie to you. I see that this is still a bargain riddled with pitfalls. A maiden's tears are not taken for harmless purposes by shady figures. I will not bargain. But you will release my tail."
"I most certainly will not! You haughty bitch of a unicorn! If you will not bargain with me, you will stay pinned to that tree!"
The horn on his head was aglow again and the unicorn stood on hind legs. This time when he spoke there was something powerful in the voice. It was the very thing poets attempted to capture about the unicorn. As he shone the light, the Witch fell to her knees, weakened. She youth began to melt.
"Release me or I will melt the glamor fully, stripping you to your gnarled truth."
The Witch was set to panicking. She already appeared older.
"I will! Stop! I will!"
She unpinned the bleeding tail and the unicorn kicked, whinnied and bolted from the scene.
5
A CAVE at the forest's edge is where Gelding found the Princess. When his horn lit up the darkness, he saw that it was netted with webs that glistened. But there was no sign of a spider until he found it sleeping. It was tucked into a corner, the giant insect cuddled with with Amethyst.
The maiden herself was curled into a sleeping pose, long black tresses touching the spider. She appeared at peace and unharmed. The unicorn had only to nuzzle her and she woke.
"Gelding?" she yawned. "What time is it?"
"Time to go home..."
He knelt to allow the girl to climb on his back and sit.
"I made friends with a spider."
"Evidently."
"She's friendly."
"Your father is looking for you."
"Oh no! I overslept!" she exclaimed as they exited the cave.
"Only a little."
"How many hours, Gelding?"
"I do not count such things. Those are mortal concerns," he reminded her and carried her home, where he hoped to have a long, uninterrupted rest.
End
