Voice of the Wind

Horses and Gold

A few hours later

Leslie moaned and lifted her head, "What happened?" she wondered. She slowly sat up and looked around. She was in woods...and she had tripped over something and banged her head. What had she tripped over?

Leslie tried to get up but fell back down. She glanced behind her and saw the problem. Her foot was stuck in a hole. A hole that a box was protruding out of. The box was crude and the hold was obviously not finished.

Interested, Leslie reached over and grabbed it, pulling her foot out as she did.

She tried pulling it open but couldn't, so she started looking for a easy way to bash it open.

Leslie saw a thin stick nearby and frowned. Could she pry it open? She shrugged. One way to find out.

She grabbed the stick and shoved it into one of the box's seams and yanked. The box flew apart, one piece cutting Leslie on her forearm.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, shaking the blood welling on her forearm off. Unfortunately it didn't work and blood spattered onto her shirt. "Ugh." she groaned.

She started looking around to see if there was anything in the box.

On the ground was a few pieces of wood from the box. She knocked them to one side to see under them and saw a small book and a pencil.

She picked them up. "It...it must be a diary or something."

Opening the book she read the first entry.

Dear Leksi,

I am so glad I brought this with me. I just woke up in the woods and it's very disorienting. I don't know how I got here. I only remember a voice...and a herd of horses. I followed the voice and somehow ended up here. It's really strange.

Somewhat confused but always yours

Anasie

"Huh." Leslie frowned and she flipped ahead a few pages.

Dear Leksi,

I figured out how to survive and I made a little house to live in. It's nearby your hiding spot so maybe I can take you there someday. I found the horses today. They each have one weird pointy thing protruding from their foreheads. Maybe someday I'll find out what they are. The only way you can summon them is if you have the enchanted gold. I summoned them and they are as tame as puppies! I guess the gold tames them too. They could be worth a lot of money and I hope to go home soon so that I can show Mom and Dad and maybe sell them to help the farm.

Love

Anasie

"This is it!" Leslie cheered, jumping up. She turned in a circle trying to see if there was any markings of a trail nearby.

She saw a faint trail and started heading down it, taking the diary with her. Soon it came to a dead-end with a log at the end.

She peered into the log, "Hello?" she called.

A growl came from deep inside the log. Leslie jumped. "Bear!" she squealed and she ran back down the way she came. Once back where she had started she looked carefully around her for a different trail.

She saw a well concealed path that a person had obviously used a lot but had forgotten to cover their tracks last time, so she followed that.

After a few minutes of walking along the path she came upon a small clearing in which there was a little hut. She stopped and opened the diary to the entry she had read before again.

"I figured out how to survive and I made a little house to live in. It's nearby your hiding spot so maybe I can take you there someday." Leslie read out loud.

"You found me." said a new voice.

Leslie turned in a circle trying to see where the voice had come from. It was like the voice that had told her to follow, soft and sweet.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Some people say I'm a legend, some people say I'm a myth, what do you think?" a girl dropped down in front of her. Lidesn looked up, there was a little platform up above her in the tree.

Why didn't I notice that before? she berated herself.

"So, do you want to go back home or stay with me?" the girl asked, walking over to the hut.

"Um....I guess I'll stay with you....but I don't even know your name!" Leslie complained.

The girl turned around, "Skenteos." she told her.

Realization dawned on Leslie. "You're the girl in the story Dad told! How are you still alive?"

Skenteos pulled a lump of shiny gold from the bag that Leslie now noticed was hanging on her arm.

"This keeps me young."

"As well as summoning the horses and taming them? That must be worth a lot of money." Leslie said, trying to appear disinterested when really she was ecstatic. This could be her chance to get back to New York!

Skenteos nodded and put the gold back into her bag. She motioned to Leslie and stepped inside the hut.

Leslie followed her tentatively. All her instincts screamed at her to not trust Skenteos but Leslie ignored them.

Inside the hut was very simple. There was a neatly made bed pegged into the wall and a fire-pit in the middle of the hut's floor.

Leslie stood inside of the door, taking it all in as Skenteos moved to the other side of the fire and picked up a small pot. Skenteos placed it on the fire and stretched.

"I'm going to keep watch." she told Leslie, "You can have the bed. I'll wake you when it's your turn."

"Is it night already?" Leslie asked, turning to look outside.

Skenteos closed her eyes for a few seconds then nodded, opening them again.

Leslie peered outside at the dark sky and frowned. She could have sworn it was light outside only a few minutes ago.

She shrugged and went to the bed. Skenteos grabbed a tin cup and filled it with the water on the fire. She handed it to Leslie.

Leslie drank it all quickly. She was very thirsty. Then she lay down and went to sleep.

After a little bit of time Skenteos came back inside to wake up Leslie for her watch. Seeing Leslie peacefully asleep she decided not to and went back outside.

Leslie woke up and saw Skenteos head back outside. She realized that Skenteos's watch must be over and that Skenteos must have been about to wake her up. She jumped up and stepped to the door softly.

Peering out the door she saw something. But it wasn't Skenteos.

A large horse with a horn on its head was pawing the ground outside. Leslie gasped and pressed herself against the wall inside the hut.

"A unicorn?!" she whispered to herself in disbelief.