Ginger princess's Arc

Chapter 3 of 7

By morning the third unicorn still stood apart. It had not eaten. It had not slept. It kept its head turned west, wings half open, and pawed the same patch of dirt until the grass was gone. The ginger princess watched it from the porch with a fresh tray cooling on the rail. Whatever hunted it had not come in the night, but the unicorn's fear had not eased either. She could not feed a fear she could not see. Thomas came out of the cabin buckling his sword belt. He looked at the unicorn, then at her. "It won't settle while the thing that chased it is breathing," he said. "I'll go find it." "You don't know what it is," she said. "I'll know when I see it." He kissed her forehead. "One warning. Then the sword." Fancy Pants was already at the corral gate, tightening a strap on the spotted horse. She did not turn around. "Take the Appaloosa," she said. "She sees in trees." That was all. She led the horse to Thomas and put the mane in his hand. He rode west into the tree line before the buns were cold. The ginger princess baked to keep her hands busy. She made three trays. She fed the two unicorns who had stayed. She did not offer any to the third. It would not look at her. It only looked at the trees where Thomas had gone. He came back at dusk. The Appaloosa was muddy to the chest. Thomas was muddy to the shoulder. A canvas sack hung from his saddle, heavy, dripping dark at one corner. He swung down at the corral gate and carried the sack into the meadow. He did not speak. He set it on the flat stone where the tray had been the day before. He opened the top and stepped back. The third unicorn lifted its head. It walked to the stone slowly, one step, then faster. It looked inside the sack. It stood there a long moment with its horn low. Then its shoulders dropped an inch, the way the first one's had. It turned from the stone and walked to the porch and stopped in front of the ginger princess. She picked up a honeybun with a shaking hand and held it out flat. The unicorn ate it. Then another. Then a third. Its red eyes went from her face to the west and back to her face, and this time it did not look west again. "Stay," she said. "For a spell. For as long as you want." Fancy Pants took the sack off the stone without looking inside and walked it toward the fire pit. Thomas wiped his sword on the grass. The ginger princess set the tray down and let the third unicorn eat from her hand until the tray was empty. The haven had three now. What the west would send next, she did not yet know.