Ginger princess's Arc

Chapter 5 of 7

The ward held through the night, but the ginger princess woke to a new sound. A low humming came off the green and rose light, steady as a bee swarm. She stepped onto the porch in bare feet. The three unicorns stood at the meadow's edge with their heads lifted toward the ridge. Fancy Pants was already there in her gold pants, arms crossed, watching the sky. "It's singing," Fancy Pants said. "To something out there." The ginger princess listened. The hum was not a warning. It was welcome. She followed the sound with her eyes and saw them then, past the ridge line, shapes moving along the fog. Horses. A dozen, maybe more. Thin ones. Lame ones. A dark bay with a rope still knotted at its neck. They pressed toward the light and did not pass it, but they did not run either. They waited. Thomas came out of the cabin buckling his belt. He looked at the ridge and then at her. "The ward is calling them in," he said. "I know." "There's no room." "I know that too." She walked down to the gate. The spotted mare met her halfway and pressed a nose to her chest. The ginger princess put both hands on the mare's face and held on until the shaking in her fingers stopped. Then she straightened. "We build," she said. "Today. A stable big enough for all of them." Thomas looked at the old open stable by the cabin. Weathered wood. Thatched roof. Room for four horses at most. "That won't stretch," he said. "Then we raise a new one beside it." Fancy Pants was already walking toward the woodpile. She did not argue. She never argued when a thing was decided. They worked the whole day. Thomas cut posts. Fancy Pants dragged them. The ginger princess measured stalls in paces and drove stakes into the dirt. The unicorns watched from the meadow. By afternoon the frame stood. By dusk they had walls on three sides and a long open front for air. The ginger princess walked to the ward and set honeybuns along the inside edge. She spoke through the light. "Come in if you're peaceful. Stay if you want to." The humming shifted. The ward thinned at one seam, just wide enough for a horse. The bay with the rope stepped through first. The others followed one by one. Twelve in total. They walked past her without touching her and went straight to the new stable and stood inside it. She watched from the hitching post and gripped the rail until her knuckles went white. Thomas came up beside her but did not speak. Fancy Pants sat on the trough edge and counted heads. "Twelve mouths," Fancy Pants said. "We had grain for four." The ginger princess nodded. She had wanted this. She had it now. Tomorrow she would have to feed it.