I am going to take a walk with Miss Lilly," the new Unicorn said. He helped her up and took her into the woods, even though Cam protested. Before completely disappearing he looked at all the white Unicorns. "These are the friends of my Destiny. You are not to harm them at all while I am away."
He walked away, leaving us with the beasts that just tried to kill my sister. Can I just say, watching your sister beat on a thing almost three times her size is awesome? I mean, I was terrified that the person I would watch die would be my sister, and she looked like she had wrestled with death itself, but seriously, she whooped that thing's butt.
Speaking of which, I had a bone to pick with that monster.
"Hey!' I called, walking up to her. "What did my sister say to you, Crystalnils?"
"What do you mean, Child?"
"I'm Lilly's twin brother, Louis, not so nice to meet you. What did she say before you threw her off?"
"She asked if I had any last words. That, Louis, was my last word to her."
"You could have killed her."
"That was the arrangement we made."
"I hate you."
"I really do not care."
"You-"
"Okay! Louis, why don't you come sit back here with Meghan? She'll help cool you off," Hanan interjected before I could offend Crystalnils any more than I probably did.
Sulky, I walked over to the rock Meghan was sitting on and sat next to her. She gave me a small smile, and took my hand. I looked at her appreciatively, then we both watched as Hanan and Cam approached the Unicorns.
"Excuse me, Crystalnils, but would you mind telling me who that guy was?" Cam asked.
She shrugged, which I didn't know was possible, and looked incredibly weird on a horse body. But she had been totally terrified of him. "King of the Unicorns. He's no big deal."
"So you listened to him because...?" Hanan asked.
"Because he could kill me instantly, duh!" She snorted with laughter.
"And we let Lilly go with him?" Cam asked frantically.
"Oh, no, there's nothing to worry about for her. She's his Destiny, which means they were made for each other."
"In a romantic way?" Marshall ventured, with a disgusted look on his face.
"Ew, no, that's sick. I mean that now he'll go with you guys, because they've found each other. Like I said, each Unicorn has a human Destiny, and vice versa."
"Do you think any of us have a Destiny within your herd?" Meghan asked.
"It's not likely, but you're welcome to try."
Meghan picked up the flint knife that was laying next to her, and cut her finger. We all looked at her like she was crazy, but Hanan mostly just looked worried. We waited for five minutes, and nothing happened. Meghan shrugged, saying she just didn't have one.
Cameron volunteered to go, and cut his finger too. Same thing, nothing. That happened with all of us but Marshall. We figured he had coughed up blood a good way back, but that his Destiny would have smelled it by now. Plus, Hanan didn't really want him losing any more blood.
"Well, Miss Lilly definitely seems to deserve him. She was an impressive fighter and extremely stubborn," Crystalnils said.
"Yeah, Lilly deserves the best," Cameron said wistfully. I looked at Meghan with a raised eyebrow, and she nodded. Poor guy. It sucks to love someone who won't love you back.
"Hey, I have a question," I said, getting off the rock. "You were talking like Lilly before that King guy showed up. Why do you sound different now?"
"I don't expect you to understand, but I knew He was watching. He always watches. He holds us to a certain standard, like a really annoying parent."
"No, I understand. Lilly's totally the same way."
"They seem to be growing more and more similar. Good luck dealing with two of them."
"How do you do it? Put up with him, I mean..."
"Easy. If I didn't, he could kill me."
I thought about that, sitting back down and wondering if Lilly could kill me. I imagined a scene where someone gave her the choice to live and kill me, or die. She's only ever cared about herself, so she'd pick to live. It wouldn't cause her any pain to do it...but how would she do it?
Would she simply run me through with a sword once, and leave me to die a slow, painful death? Or maybe she'd stab me in the heart and get it over with. Maybe she'd use a gun, depending on what was handy, and just shoot me in the head. I thought of the mountain lion. Would she treat me like that once I was dead?
My sister was heartless.
I wondered if she would be forced to do something like that on our trip. Make a choice between one of us, and herself. I wondered if anyone would have to make a decision like that.
What would I choose? Them, obviously. I couldn't kill my friends, even if I had just met them.
What if the choice wasn't between me or them? What if I had to pick between one of them? If it came down to Lilly or one of them...she'd understand my decision, whatever it was, I was sure.
I decided I didn't want to think about that anymore. There was no way that could happen, and if it did I would just choose not to make a choice. And no matter what, if Hanan was involved, he came first. Always.
When I had pushed the thought away, I found that some of the Unicorns were teaching Cameron one of their games, which he seemed to be enjoying. Marshall watched them from astride one of the Unicorns, who had taken pity on him. Meghan and Hanan were talking near the part of the forest that Lilly and the King had disappeared through. Meghan was holding Hanan's hands, so I figured I wouldn't interrupt them.
I came over to Marshall and the Unicorn he was on, asking him to explain the game, which he did. I nodded, and watched as Cameron jumped over Unicorn after Unicorn like they were mere hurdles in a race.
He completed it, earning cheers from the Unicorns and I. They offered to let me try, but I could barely get over the first Unicorn. After I had gotten over it, I suggested we just sit and talk.
Two of them sat with me, but the rest wanted to play with Cameron. Their names were Ashmaul and Ashlar, twins.
"So...is everyone afraid of the King?" I asked.
"Not really," Ashlar began. "It's just that-"
"-Crystalnils tried starting an uprising-"
"-And He quelled it, leaving her with a 'warning.'"
"So she has reason to fear him?"
"Yeah," Ashmaul said. "And when she said he's 'always watching,' that's because she isn't really trustable."
"She's the only one who's discontent with his reign," Ashlar added.
I thought about that. I had understood how she felt, yet she was discontent with her leader. She hated him, and tried to overthrow him. Did I hate my sister? Was she really a thorn in my side?
It would be so much easier if she just quit being so stubborn, and actually told me she loved me. But, I would want her to mean it...I wouldn't want her to pretend.
Or maybe I did want her to pretend. I wanted to hear her say that she loved me; she was the only immediate family I had left. Of course, I still had Hanan, but we didn't say I love you. We were men.
Either way, I wouldn't get an 'I love you' from my family any time soon. I remembered my conversation with the Unicorns, and wanted to get back to them...I still had a few more questions.
"Why is he black, when all of you are white?"
"No one really knows..." they said in unison.
"One final question, and then I'll leave you alone. What-"
"No! Don't leave us alone!" Ashmaul cried.
"Yeah, we like talking to you!" Ashlar said, adding a whinny.
I chuckled. "Okay, I'll chill with you guys while I'm here."
They cheered, getting up and doing a little happy dance. I laughed as they sat back down, one on each side of me. They nudged my hands, encouraging them to scratch their manes. They were cuddly little guys. Ashlar started the conversation again:
"Okay, Louis. So what-"
"-Was your question?"
"What is the King's name?"