As the men drew closer to the caravan, they fell silent. The sounds of a snoring man caught their attention. He slept under a cart attached to two mules. Colm led the way past the tail of the caravan and toward the front, where the treasured unicorn and steeds would most likely be held. Casey and the knights listened for any telltale sounds of the horses or unicorn, but they heard none yet. Only crickets and other bugs sounded out in the light of the full moon. Past the less important carts, the men encountered the larger, more discrete wagons and trailers with hidden contents. They crossed another sleeping man underneath a trailer; the trailer must have overcrowded with sacrifices to Rey Polilla and left no room for him. If the man had seen Casey and the knights, he said nothing. At this point, their only defense was to move as if they belonged here.
Casey heard his heart beating in his chest. He’d never been a thief before. He’d never learned to use a sword, either. The bizarre context of this upside-down town forced this upon him. Colm, Ryan, and Casey stopped at the trailer they had witnessed Reamonn walking the unicorn inside. It stood out from the others by being larger and having a barred window on one side for the animals inside.
As Casey drew nearer, he saw the dark hides of Colm and Ryan’s horses, their rumps facing the window like an absurd joke next to the majestic head of the unicorn. Casey smiled, and the unicorn eyed him. The unicorn lowered its head as if to acknowledge Casey. Colm and Ryan searched the trailer over for the lock that secured it.
Casey looked left and right to see if anyone witnessed him. He saw no one and reached out with a friendly hand to greet the unicorn. The moment was safe. He tried to empathize with the animal and understand what it had experienced. It had only known freedom its whole life, and now the Baron Reamonn possessed him in captivity. The unicorn stamped its hoof and quivered, as if the experience of being here poisoned and aggravated him. Casey intuited his thoughts.
“Set me free,” the unicorn seemed to beg. “Release me. I will cross the river and be gone forever in the wilderness. Release me.”
“No, no,” Casey said and hushed the beast to calm him. “We’ll make sure you’re never behind bars again, though. We’ll get you somewhere you can be loved and appreciated—”
The unicorn shook its head and tossed its mane over its eyes. “Grant me freedom,” it begged. I’ll disappear beyond the river. Grant me freedom.”
Casey passed the keys to Colm. He heard the clinking sounds of Colm unlocking the door to the trailer, followed by the lumbering hooves of the sleepy horses. Colm and Ryan led their horses out of the trailer. Casey recalled the awful warnings he heard about the river, so he entered the trailer to calm the unicorn.
“Come with me,” Casey said as he guided the mythical creature. The unicorn followed him out of the trailer. Once it stepped all four hooves onto the grass, it panicked and tried to bolt. Casey blocked its path and hoped to calm him. He looked back at the knights. They mounted their horses and looked at him like he’d lost his mind.
“Mount it so we can all ride off faster,” Ryan commanded.
Casey looked the unicorn in the eyes and saw its natural majesty. As swiftly as if he’d stolen the unicorn, he mounted it, but it proved too wild for him. The unicorn bounded across the grass and raced toward the bridge.
“No, no!” Casey commanded the unicorn, but it refused to listen.
Casey barely heard Colm mutter in the distance behind him, “Oh, no.”
Aisling’s warnings raced through Casey’s mind. The unicorn had no reins to stop it with. Casey held on tightly to the sides of its neck and saw the bridge coming nearer. The knights behind him picked up their paces to keep up with him, but the freed unicorn moved faster. Casey hoped that something might come to his aid, some divine providence or greater power. Instead, he noticed the shiny armor of Reamonn, who sat beneath a tree facing the river. The commotion alerted Reamonn, and he stood up to shout, “You there! Stop!”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Great!” Casey said. His troubles multiplied. As the bridge came nearer, he braced himself and wished for luck at the same time. He eyed the river, anticipating trouble. Would it be as terrifying as the stories made it sound?
A loud burst of water came forth from the river as the serpent, Gadai, emerged. The serpent rose above the riverbank and higher, standing as tall as a three-story building. Its body glistened with metallic, blue scales, and its lipless mouth split to reveal razor-sharp fangs and a forked tongue. It stared down at Casey and the unicorn with two green eyes. Gadai exhaled a deep hiss of air, but the unicorn showed no signs of slowing down. Casey knew the unicorn’s obsession with freedom; he had no intention of being imprisoned again. Casey squeezed tighter.
The serpent arched its back and lowered its head, preparing to strike. It hissed again, flailing its forked tongue like a whip. The unicorn increased its pace and lowered its head. The hooves of the unicorn clattered over the stones of the bridge, and the serpent struck with a terrible speed. Casey heard an explosive burst of air. The unicorn’s pace slowed suddenly, throwing Casey to the stones of the bridge.
The impact forced Casey to roll. He recovered his sense fast enough to grab his sword and unsheathe it with a loud metallic zing. It took a moment to orient himself toward the monster. The body of the serpent waved headless over them.
“What just happened?” Casey asked. Then he understood the might of the unicorn. Before anyone could engage the monster, the unicorn had torn its head clean off in its breakneck gallop.
Gadai’s head squirmed about on the bridge, snapping its fangs and flicking its tongue. Casey leaped at the head, followed by Colm and Ryan on horseback, and the three of them delivered the final blows to the creature. The flailing body of the creature collapsed on the bridge, blocking the path back to the caravan.
Casey, the knights, and the unicorn stood triumphant by the slain Gadai. Casey struggled to catch his breath. He wiped the sweat from his brow and calmed his spirit. The beast lay dead before him.
“You there! Stop!” Reamonn yelled from the other side of the bridge. He’d ridden his horse to the scene of action, but it refused to go near Gadai. “You’ve stolen the unicorn that I captured! You have no right!” Reamonn pulled his sword from its sheath and slashed at the air. The enormous body of the serpent lay in a pile on the bridge, blocking his path.
Casey mounted the unicorn again. He petted the back of the unicorn’s head and neck. “Iontach,” he said to the unicorn, “you have to calm down. I’ll work with you. I’m your friend.” The unicorn remained still and calm, as though Casey seemed like a familiar person.
Aisling arrived on horseback, beyond the body of Gadai. She stopped beside Baron Reamonn with a dour frown. Casey saw the disappointment register on her face; her plot collapsed.
“You men bring the unicorn to me, and maybe we’ll work out a deal where you can have lighter sentences,” Baron Reamonn promised. He reached out with his hand as if the unicorn could fit in his palm. He’d been a commanding, possessive man.
“I can’t do that,” Casey said. “I’m sorry. Maybe Aisling deserves the unicorn, but there’s no way I can deliver it to her without you possessing it and sacrificing it. I’ve seen what your people do—your upside-down value system makes you sabotage the good in the world.”
“Horse thief,” Aisling called out to him with a bitter voice. “That’s all you are.”
Casey sympathized with her anger. In a world with a proper orientation of values, she would have been allowed her time with the unicorn. This place, tangled up as it was, allowed no such thing.
“I never stole anything until this community called me a thief,” Casey said. He pondered the power of their words. “Language is magic you can hear.”
Casey felt the freedom of the road beyond the bridge calling to him. The curse of this town lost its grip on him. “Come with me, Iontach, for now,” he whispered to the mythical creature, “and we’ll make sure no one’s imprisoned by Rey Polilla again.” The unicorn neighed into the air in agreement. Casey turned the unicorn’s attention to the road out of town. Beneath a full moon, the road wove a silky strip through cypress trees and billowing clouds. Casey and the knights departed into the night, on their way to kill the false god, Rey Polilla.