Custos Unicorium 2: Nova Turba~ New Company

Chapter Ten: The Magnificence

"Hey! You two brilliant females over there!" Deverell called around full sun, "Might want to investigate the odd hoof beat sound over there!" 

My head shot up. "What hoof beat--oh...now I hear it!" 

"It's coming from waay over there!" Edelia pointed off to our right. A thin white line lingered on the horizon. I squinted to try to see what it was. 

"Could it be?" I mumbled, running over to where Deverell was, closer, to get a better look. 

"What's your problem?" Deverell growled. 

"Shhh," I hissed, concentrating on the whiteness. Silver, sparkling in the light. It had to be. 

"Unicorns!" I yelled. 

"Aah! What's going on?" Edgar said, startled from his dozing sleep by my call. 

"How slow does your horse have to be going for you to mount?" I asked as I ran towards the gate into Lavetin. 

"Uhm, pretty slow?" Edgar replied, still confused as to what was going on. 

"If he's running can you stop him?" I didn't catch Edgar's reply before reaching the town. I sprinted to the inn. Rounding into the barn I unlatched the stalls of Bobbal and Jeffersthon before I leapt onto Black of Night. 

Under different circumstances I might not have jumped Black of Night over the stall door, but that day I did. 

"Raaah!" I called, startling Bobbal and Jeffersthon into racing after Black of Night as I took off at a lope. The small herd and I reached the gate in no time. Slowing Black of Night didn't seem possible at the moment, so I hoped Edgar's last reply had been a yes.  

As we streamed through the gate Edgar stood defensively, ready to catch Bobbal's attention. Luckily it worked, as I raced past on Black of Night the two horses who had only followed out of confusion stopped at the sight of their owners. 

"What the hell? My horse?" Deverell's enraged confusion was the last thing I heard before Black of Night carried me out of earshot. 

I let Black of Night shift into an all-out run and the white line approached faster than I'd thought possible. It began to transform from one long, white line to a whole bunch of unicorns. There were probably more of them than at the haven as a while. It was all I could do to slow Allistair's huge horse enough so I didn't barrel through the herd of unicorns. 

"Hey!" I yelled. All the unicorns were staring at me already, making my greeting null. 

"Who are you?" A stocky-muscular, tall, pure-white unicorn at the front of the herd stepped forward. Counting his horn he was taller than Black of Night. 

"Regina," I answered. 

"That does not matter," the unicorn snapped. "What do you want with our magnificence?" 

"Conceited much?" 

The unicorn snorted. "Magnificence is a collective term. We've tossed around perfection, glory, pleasure, you name it. We've not decided on anything though." He tossed his head. "Does not matter. Why are you here?" 

"You're unicorns!" 

"Yes. We are. Hello young maiden. This is the unicorn. Majestic, rare, elusive--" 

"Yeah, yeah, I know." 

"You do?" 

"Yes. Where are you guys going?" I asked.  

"There is a haven for unicorns up a head. Maybe you've heard of it." 

"I work there. You're about a day out," I told him.