This is a short little, cutesy story that I wrote...sometime in middle school, I think. I surprised myself by finding a copy of it saved on a disk in my room, and thought I'd share it here for the sake of sharing. :nod:
I hope you enjoy this little fantasy blurb that my younger self dreamed up. biggrin
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"Ava..."
"Naria, I swear I saw one! In the forest!"
Naria looked to her friend, skepticism clear in her blue-grey eyes. She wished that she could believe the younger girls excited words, but found that she simply couldn't. It wasn't the first time that she had made such an outrageous claim, Ava was well known within their small village for her stories of faeries in the flower field and elves in the gardens. This time she was swearing up and down that she had seen a unicorn. A unicorn of all things!
"It was probably a white horse." Naria argued calmly, using one hand to brush back a lock of dark brown hair that had fallen into her face. "Everyone knows that there are no unicorns here anymore. They've all been killed off years ago by horn-hunters."
Horn-hunters were, simply put, poachers. It had been long told that within the spiraling horn of a unicorn could be found great healing power, and for this reason they were a widely sought out possession. Horn-hunters were those groups of men who hunted and slayed the silver-white beasts to gain possession of their horn, later to sell it at market for a high price. Many corrupt men had come to great wealth in that way and the thought of it made Naria sick.
"Not all of them!" Ava protested, the excitement still heavy in her voice, her green eyes wide and sparkling. Naria's comment had done nothing to dim her current mood. "I know because I saw one!"
"Oh Avalon! Stop being so stupid!! There simply aren't any unicorns!" Naria snapped, beginning to grow annoyed with Ava's constant insistence of seeing what she simply couldn't have seen. When would the girl stop with her absolute nonsense?
It was clear that Ava had been hurt by Naria's words and her clear disbelief. A slight crimson flush had grown to cover her pretty face, and her green eyes were slowly filling with tears. At her sides her hands were clenched into tights fists.
"Fine." She stated, lifting her chin up and gazing down her nose at the brunette. "If you think I'm so stupid I'll just leave and not bother you anymore." With those words she spun on her heel, retreating back down the dirt road. Naria, realizing that she may have been just a bit to harsh but to stubborn to apologize, called after her.
"Fine! If you come looking for me with yet another of your stupid stories I'll be in the forest where there aren't any unicorns!"
With that last parting shot Naria turned and headed down the road in the opposite direction, away from the village and towards the forest. She had been going in that direction anyway, before she ran into Ava. Her mother, a healer of the village, had recently run out of a few of her healing herbs and had asked her only daughter to retrieve them.
A unicorn! Honestly, could you imagine! Naria though as she walked along, swinging the small woven basket at her side as she went. That girl has some imagination.
Her thoughts kept turning in a similar pattern until she reached the edges of the forest when she had to push them away to focus on finding and collecting her mother's plants.
She had to go quite some distance into the cool shelter of the forest before she finally found any of what it was she searched for. She really didn't mind the trip, however. She had always found the forest, with it's all trees and various species of wildlife, to be beautiful.
"But without a unicorn." She stated aloud matter-of-factly to the quiet forest as she bent down to collect the pain-relieving plant. But wouldn't it be wonderful if there really had been one? The thought entered her mind in a whisper, teasing her. Wouldn't it simply be a glory to see? An image conjured of the creature: A beautiful, silver-white unicorn standing proud before her mind's eye, it's long silky mane blowing freely in a wind. A small smile began to form on her face, twitching the corners of her pale pink lips upward. Quickly though both the smile and the unicorn were dislodged with a shake of her head.
"Now I'm being the stupid one. What's the use in imagining such a silly thing when there's work to do?" She berated herself with mumbled words as she stood, brushing out her blue skirt to get rid of any clinging bits of forest debris. Making the decision not to think on it any longer she instead filled her mind with thoughts of what she needed to get done. She walked this way for the better part of an hour, her search producing no more results and only landing her deeper in the forest. She was now beginning to come to areas that she didn't know as well and would have to be careful. She had also become quite thirsty. Knowing that there would be a clear brook not to far to her left she turned in that direction. When she finally arrived beside the water a few minutes later she carefully dropped to her knees on the dry ground beside it and leaned over to cup her hands in the cool liquid. Once filled she lifted them to her mouth, repeating the action a few times. Sighing contently she sat back on her heels when finished, not yet wishing to resume her search when it was so wonderfully nice here by the water. Lazily she turned her head in either direction, first looking upstream and then down. It was what appeared downstream that made her breath stop and her eyes widen.
It had come from the opposite side of the stream she was on, maybe twenty or thirty yards down. It had appeared silently, like some kind of silver-white ghost emerging from the shadows of the forest. The creature had the appearance of a horse, yet at the same time wasn't like a horse at all. It was to small, and neither it's tail nor it's legs were the right shape. It's head almost seemed to be to small for it's body, but somehow managed not to look strange. And then there was the horn which protruded from just above and between it's dark eyes.
It didn't seem to notice her as it stepped up the the stream, lowing it's head gracefully to the water. So Ava had been right! There was a unicorn in the forest!
"Oh, glory!" Naria whispered in awe and although her voice had been in a soft whisper the unicorn seemed to hear it. It's head snapped up and turned in her direction, settling two liquid black eyes on her kneeling form. For a moment it stared at her and she stared back, to stunned to remember to even breath. Then the creature blinked once, and was gone as if it had never been. Naria sat for a moment more, not able to move. "Glory bless..." Quickly she jumped up and began to run back through the forest the way she had come, in her haste forgetting to pick up her mother's basket.
She had to get back to the village and find Ava. She owed the girl a severe apology for her words and disbelief. She didn't think she would ever doubt her younger friend again after that day. Especially when it came to unicorns in the forest.
