Devils And Unicorns

Chapter 21

"Good afternoon!" called the man next to the truck; 'Ginger', she had nicknamed him in her mind, though she had no idea what his real name was and nor did she care. She was so taken aback by his presence that she couldn't even think to question why he was here, hundreds of miles south of the Driftland border.

"Can we help you?" Zac demanded, his voice thick with disdain.

"I need to speak to the young lady," said Ginger. "And the other fella, if he's around."

Florence tightened her fingers around Dissent's reins and poised herself in the saddle. If she felt threatened this time, she could just turn around and gallop away. Where was Charlie? She glanced back towards the course, but saw no sign of him.

"He's been held up," Zac replied.

"Can you give us a minute?" Ginger looked up at Zac. "This is a private matter, if you don't mind."

Zac shrugged and dismounted Last Unicorn, immediately loosening the girth. Luckily, he glanced up at Florence before he disappeared with the saddle and caught the subtle shake of her head. Never the most astute at interpreting human body language - he didn't usually care enough to try - something clicked in him this time. He dropped the saddle on the ground by the side of the lorry and went about removing Last Unicorn's boots and bridle as slowly as was humanly possible.

"Did you hear me?" Ginger said, a little louder this time.

"Give me a second, will you?" Zac said. "I've got stuff to do with this horse before you get to click your fingers and make me vanish like your deodorant obviously did, okay?"

"Excuse me?!" Ginger snapped - but any further altercation with the jockey was interrupted in timely fashion by Charlie's arrival.

"What's going on?" were the first words from his lips, spoken with enough hostility to suggest that he too remembered Ginger.

"Ah, Mr. Trent!" Ginger said.

"You're one of the guys from the Driftland border control station," Charlie said. "What are you doing here?" He tossed the map he'd been carrying onto the grass and rolled up his sleeves. Zac and Florence shared a look of trepidation.

"I've been sent with a message, actually," said Ginger, staunchly.

"A message from border control?"

"No..." He laughed. "From Errol Carver."

"Carver?" Charlie and Florence said in unison.

"As I said, this is a private message..." Ginger cleared his throat, nodding towards Zac.

"He doesn't have to go anywhere," Charlie said. "Anything Errol Carver has to say to me can be said in front of him."

Florence wasn't so sure about that, but said nothing. Besides, whatever this message was, Zac's opinion of it was probably the least of their problems right now.

"Fine." Ginger sighed. "Mr. Carver wants you to withdraw your horse from the Grand Chase."

"What?" Charlie laughed incredulously.

"Get fucked." Zac scoffed in the background.

"You heard me. Scratch the horse - or face the consequences."

"Listen, I don't know who the hell you are." Charlie was bristling. "But I think it's about time you left."

"What consequences?" Florence asked under her breath.