STORIES OF THE UNICORNS BOOK ONE When God created the earth, he asked Adam in the Garden of Eden to name the animals. When Adam picked the unicorn to name first, God reached down and touched the unicorn’s horn. This is a sign that unicorns are blessed above all other creatures. —Nancy Hathaway, Unicorn Shelly looked longingly at the big jugs of water being sold in the shops scattered along the dusty street. “Hey, hey, hey, girlie! Get off’ the road! You’re blocking it with your over-large body!” The voice laughed heartily Shelly sighed. They were the rich boys and newspaper boys. Their favorite activity was to tease Shelly They were trying to provoke her to come and hit them. Then Shelly would be arrested and severely punished by the government. Shelly flicked her long, red, wavy hair out of her face. It fell far past her waist, and many folks thought it greatly needed cutting. Her big, green eyes swept the street floor, searching constantly for dropped or forgotten coins. The nine-year-old girl pushed her small body through the crowds. She desperately wished it was Christmas, her birthday It was the only day of the year when she allowed herself to buy a feast. The boys were partly right about her. Shelly was a beggar girl and was extremely scarce of money. The stream opened into a little pool. Curiously, it was silvery The cold evening wind blew her dress and hair. Shelly could see her wispy clouds of breath and decided to head back to her alleyway. When she at last reached her beloved alley, Shelly immediately curled up in her few blankets. One of them had been hers ever since she could remember. It was silvery blue with a single unicorn embroidered in the middle. The thick blanket felt a thousand times better than silk. Shelly wouldn’t, couldn’t ever part with it. Shelly wrapped herself in that special possession and the other thin brown sheets she owned. Her box stood overhead, weather-beaten and dirty. It was so large, Shelly was sure it once held a bed frame. An eventful sleep took over Shelly. First she dreamed she was walking in a field of unicorns. The earth turned blacker than black and colder than cold. A black-hooded figure loomed toward Shelly through the magnificently never-ending darkness. Shelly backed away and tripped over her own unsteady feet. The figure of darkness (at least that’s what Shelly thought it was) gracefully curved its body downward toward Shelly’s face. At that precise moment, the dreaming girl woke up, breathing hard and sweating. “It was just a dream,” she told herself firmly, “just an old dream. It’s not hurting anyone, and it’s not real.” Shelly tried to sound confident, but her voice trembled slightly. “Big sign of madness, talking to your own head,” stated a newspaper boy by the name of Frederick Afintger, who was passing. He smirked. Shelly ignored him. Dawn was Shelly’s favorite time of day. Most people were still snug in bed. No one shot insults at her, she was free of owners of stalls and shops shouting at her to get away from their selling areas. Shelly was sick of that. Now the girl grabbed the last of her bread loaf and headed for the stream. It was warm, especially for this time of day Shelly finally reached the cold, playful stream that flowed around the edge of the enchanted place, Magic Forest. The beggar girl took a long, refreshing drink from the creek. When Shelly finished munching on her bread loaf, she waded into the water. The deepest place reached up to her knees. Shelly stared absentmindedly at the horizon. The sun was still determined to climb over the mountain. The sun had almost accomplished that goal, which it repeated every morning. Shelly marched back to the bank and dried herself off. Suddenly, she glimpsed a flash of white in the trees. Shelly started. Then she saw it again, further this time. “Hello?” Shelly called out. “Anybody there?” No answer. Shelly entered the Magic Forest and sprinted toward the white. She ran until she could run no more. A stitch had arisen in Shelly’s side and her breathing was fast and hard. She had arrived in a clearing. A small, lush apple tree stood in the corner, its fruits swaying slightly in the breeze. The very same creek Shelly had earlier waded in flowed before her. The stream opened into a little pool. Curiously, it was silvery. It must come from here and go around the wood, Shelly thought to herself. Shelly sighed heavily for no particular reason and headed for the apple tree. She heard a hiss and tripped over a tree root, or she thought it was a tree root. Fangs sank into her leg and poison shot through her body. Hooves pounding like thunder, and everything went black. Everything was blurry and Shelly could hear a faint neighing sound. With difficulty, she sat up and slowly looked around. There, trotting along the path toward her, was a unicorn! He had a long, flowing, milky-white mane, tail, and forelock. His eyes were like crystals, glowing in the bright sunlight. His hooves were cloven like a goat, and the fur was silky. It was beautifully white. He came over to her. Shelly didn’t know how to feel. The unicorn started to speak in a strange language. Oddly, Shelly could understand it. “Hello, my name is Magic Star. What is your name?” the unicorn asked. Shelly replied shakily, “My name is Shelly. I am an orphan.” For a moment, Shelly thought she saw an excited look on Magic Star’s face. But when she blinked, it was once again replaced by a curious expression. “What happened to me? Are you really a unicorn? Why are you here? Where are we? Was that a snake? If it was, did you kill it? Do you live here? Is this forest dangerous? Why is that pool silvery…?” It all came
Fantasy
Cry of the Phoenix
Min-Li was an eleven-year-old slave girl taken from her family so long ago that she barely even knew who she was. Her owner, Master Chu, never considered telling her anyway. He never really treated Min-Li properly, and he was a terrible master. Master Chu never even used Min-Li’s real name; he called her “wretch” and “lazy one” instead. Min-Li’s only friend was a river rat that she had named Huang He, after the Yellow River. After all, he was a river rat. “Wretch! Where are you hiding this time?” barked Master Chu. Min-Li appeared around the corner of the run-down barn. “I wasn’t hiding, Master, I was just…” The man silenced her with a furious look. “Where is my morning tea? Go make it!” Min-Li ran to the well to fetch water for the tea. On her way, she saw the mouse, Huang He. “Huang! Come, we’ll get water together,” she said. That same day, Min-Li went behind the barn to spend some time with Huang. But Min-Li heard a voice she had never heard before. “Min-Li,” it said. She shook the voice out of her mind. But she heard it again. “Min-Li,” it said again. Min-Li peered into darkness, but saw nothing. “Where is my morning tea? Go make it!” Just as the sun was about to set, the voice came again. Min-Li spun around. There behind her was a majestic bird-like creature with feathers as bright and colorful as the rays of the rising sun. “Min-Li, bring me to your home. I will return your hospitality. I am one of the legendary phoenixes.” Min-Li stopped, bewildered, but motioned for the regal creature to follow her into the drab barn. “I’m sorry, but this is the only place I have for you to stay.” Min-Li walked to the cottage, drowning in questions. Where was this bizarre creature from? Was it friendly, or was it the devil’s trickery? Min-Li couldn’t sleep that night. Suddenly, during the middle of the night, there was a loud screech. MIN-LI! COME TO THE BARN QUICKLY! Min- Li slipped out of her cot quietly and leapt out the window. But she was stunned to discover a very strange occurrence. All the birds, rats, and insects had come out from their nests and were all over the ground. I wonder if this is a bad sign, she thought. The phoenix was waiting for Min-Li in the barn. “What about Huang?” “Take the mouse.” “How will we leave?” she whispered. “We will fly,” the phoenix answered swiftly. Min-Li hesitated, and then mounted the phoenix, quick as a flash. The phoenix spread its powerful wings and took off gracefully. They slipped through the air and into the dark night. “Who are you?” Min-Li asked once they were gliding with the wind. “I am Sakai, messenger of the phoenixes,” the phoenix replied. Her voice was sweet and musical, like many crickets singing on a warm summer’s night. “Where are we headed?” Min-Li asked. The phoenix was silent. They swooped through the air like wind and landed on a riverbank many miles away. “This is Xining.” Min-Li’s dark eyes widened in amazement. The scenery was unbelievably beautiful and calming. “Why did you take me here?” Min-Li asked. “You were in great danger at the time.” “Is there a village near here?” Sakai nodded toward the east. “Small village that way” “May we stay there tonight?” Min-Li asked. Huang He slipped out of Min-Li’s hands and darted eastwards. “Wait! Huang! Come back!” Min-Li dashed after the mouse. Huang ran until a river came into view. Sakai flew behind Min-Li to where Huang was sitting. Then she scooped up Huang and Min-Li and flew over the river. They slipped through the air and into the dark night They reached the village quickly, and Sakai disappeared behind a wall as Min-Li asked the villagers if they could stay for the night. A deadly sickness was going through the village at the time. Sakai, Min-Li and Huang stayed at a villager’s barn for a night before leaving in the early morning. All the sick people of the village had unexpectedly gotten well on the morning Min-Li had left. As the three soared through the air, Min-Li asked the phoenix if it knew about her past. Sakai started to tell a story of where Min-Li was born and what had happened to her parents. “You were born in the city of Shanghai. Your parents were of a race we now know as the Guardians of the Phoenix. The people of that race were the only humans who could understand the tongue of the phoenix. All Guardians had magical healing powers. Your mother and father were both from a wealthy family from the far west. Both were falling on very hard times and had to sell you as a slave. They passed away soon afterward.” Min-Li listened intently, absorbed in the story, and her eyes gleaming and fixed on the bird. “You, Min-Li, are a Guardian. When you retreat to the heavens after you have completed your task of curing ill villages, you may join your parents in the paradise of Shangri-La.” Min-Li agreed to go with a dazzling smile on her face. Sakai smiled back at her meaningfully. Sakai’s enormous wings lifted them higher yet into the air and they soared to start Min-Li’s long journey. And that was only the beginning. Samantha Lai, 10Piedmont, California Min loo Yi, 13Bellevue, Washington
A Light Shining Out of the Darkness
Orion padded along through the dense undergrowth, his leather-coated feet silent as death’s cruel hand as they compressed the damp soil. His mother, Selena’s, words, clear and simple as a raindrop, echoed through his head, “I need you to fill this basket with ashberries.” Orion nodded, forgetting that his mother’s words were only a reverie. His elf eyes scanned the bushes, searching for the berries with the gray pallor. These berries were essential if he was to hold up his mother’s reputation as the best healer in the Dawn Woods. Ashberries, his mother had only used them once in his presence. It was also the only time she had ever failed. His father had gone out to hunt, a simple hunt out in the fairly safe Dawn Woods. No one knew that a young male dragon had made a home in a nearby cave where the deer had often lodged for the night. For all that was known, as his father had gone alone, he had entered the cave hoping to find the deer, there was something quite different waiting for him. The dragon had appeared in front of him out of nowhere like a specter and unleashed a ball of burning hatred of all creatures at him and his horse. Hours later his horse limped up to the small cottage and began to neigh. This awoke Selena who came warily outside to a gruesome sight. The beautiful white horse was filthy with ash and soot, its right flank was a different sight. A curling pattern of blood arched down its right flank. Wasn’t white the color of life, not death? Dragging behind it was Orion’s father holding on only by his foot, caught in a stirrup. His body was completely disfigured by oozing burns. Letting out a sigh of relief he began to fill his basket Selena had heaved him inside and into the room where she treated her patients. Orion had been out behind the house at the well, getting a drink of water. He was pouring the water into a cup when he saw his mother dragging the body through the house. “Who’s that, Mommy?” he had drowsily questioned, staring at the unrecognizable body. He had just barely been able to make out his mother’s words, her voice was choked with tears, “Your father.” It took a moment for his child’s mind to register Selena’s words but when it did the effect was devastating for him. He broke down in silent tears at first; giving way to sobbing on the floor and wishing his father had heeded his words, begging him to stay home. Selena had made a mush out of ashberries, the only known cure to dragonfire burns, and she began pasting her husband’s figure with the bland-colored paste. Her tears were flowing freely now and were dripping on the raw-skinned body. Orion’s father had then regained consciousness and the pain had driven him back into dreamful infinity. After hours of grief, the sun had risen, birds were tweeting, bugs were buzzing, but in the little operating room there was no life. The man’s family came in full of hope, only to be sent back to the abject misery that had lasted the nearly endless night. Orion’s father had been buried in the woods, as was custom, for elves’ home is the forest and to be sent off in any other way or buried in any other location would be obscene. There had been no one but his own family to mourn his horrible demise and Orion’s home became a place of silent suffering. Since then Selena had striven harder than ever not to let death arrive at her doorstep again. That morning it seemed that the fateful night had occurred again. A lone stranger arrived at their door in the same bedraggled condition as Orion’s father had. Orion was surprised that the man was even conscious after his exhausting ordeal. He had brought the man in and Selena set to work. Selena opened the drawer labeled Ashberries. It was empty. In her franticness to save her husband, Selena had ravenously used up her entire store of the rare berries. In her grief over her beloved husband’s death, she had not wanted to even look at the berries again, never mind refill her stash. Anyway, what were the chances that she would have to treat someone with dragonfire burns again? Orion was sent to retrieve the final but most important ingredient to the poultice that would save the man’s life. Now he was searching as best he could to keep the stranger from having the same fate as his late father. Finally, after what seemed like years of searching compacted into about an hour, Orion found the ashberry bush. Letting out a sigh of relief, he began to fill his basket. When the basket was overflowing with the gray spheres, he began his trek home with celerity He scampered through the door to the house, slamming it hastily behind him, and bore his precious cargo to his waiting mother. She dismissed him to his room at once, and Selena began crushing the berries with a pestle and mortar. Orion thumped onto his bed, exhausted after his long journey, and instantly fell into a dreamless slumber. When he awoke, he immediately remembered the stranger and hurried into the kitchen. There, sitting at the table and tightly wrapped in bandages, was the man, smiling and happily conversing with Selena, who for the first time in years was truly happy. The happiness that had hidden from sight for years in the midst of her sadness was finally showing itself, a light shining out of the darkness. Jonathan Morris, 12Grantham, New Hampshire Anna Welch, 13Hancock, New Hampshire
