| SORCEROUS SIGNALS |
| Written by Sandra Panicucci / Artwork by Lee Kuruganti |
| Make a donation to this writer |
| The Autumn Wood |
I slapped myself on the cheek. “Wake up Dara.” It was no more effective this time than the last ten tries. Either I
wasn’t dreaming, or I wasn’t waking up, and smacking myself was painful. Tears slid down my cheeks as I examined
my prison again, as if I could possibly have missed anything the last fifteen times around the room.
A bed made of logs and rough cut planks occupied the middle of the room. The mattress was straw, but at least the
comforter was down. The kitchen, and I use that word loosely, was a table set near the fireplace. Two well-worn
wooden chairs were pushed up to the table. Plates, with an exquisite pattern of intertwining branches and vines, and
fine silver, set upon its rough surface. I’d already searched the walls for hidden closets. I hadn’t yet figured out what
use silverware was when there wasn’t any food. Wind gusted through the windows of the tiny log cabin, blowing the
hideous olive green curtains open, revealing sights I had no wish to see.
Outside, the sound of predators snuffling around the door sent shivers up my spine. The only time I dared glance out
the window a minotaur turned to examine me, sending me screeching for the far wall. I spun to watch, heart
thumping as he peered in. Calm returned when he remained outside, but the wind made sure I knew he was still
there.
The dark green skirt I wore wasn’t mine. My cheeks burned at the thought of somebody having dressed me. The pale
yellow blouse felt like silk. Where was my flannel night-shift?
Last thing I remembered was going to sleep in my own bed, in my parents’ home. It had been summertime, Papa had
gone down to the tavern and Mama had sung little Elle to sleep before telling Jeth a bed-time story.
Did they think I’d run away? I’d fought with Mama and Papa about their plans to marry me to Serl, the chandler’s son.
Papa stormed out to the tavern, blaming Mama for raising me to be so willful, and Mama sent me to my bedroom
without supper. How could they think I was old enough to marry, but not old enough to form my own opinions about
who my husband would be?
The wind carried the scents of decaying leaves and the chill of autumn. A low mournful howl made me curl in a ball at
the foot of the bed. The door was locked. At least from my side it was. I assumed since none of the predators
entered, it was fastened on their side as well. Some of them, like my friend at the window, were perfectly capable of
lifting a latch if there was a latch to be lifted. I wished there was wood for the fireplace. Of course if whoever locked
me away here granted that wish I’d have to wish for flint to start it and I was a bit leery about getting myself in debt
to anybody with enough magic to steal away three months of my life.
A thump in the woods raised a chorus of chattering, growling, and snarling from the monsters. A second thump
sounded closer and padded feet tore off through piles of crackling leaves. One more thump and even the minotaur
abandoned his post, hooves galumphing across dry ground. A fourth thump chased away something immense that
slithered. I hate snakes.
Every rhythmic footstep brought the creature closer but it was still distant. Fear grew in my gut, little swooping
sparrows turned into dragons twisting and tearing. I slid under the bed, not that if whatever was out there stepped
on the cabin, the bed was going to save my life. But it was the only thing I could do to even feel like I was trying to
save my own life.
Then again…
The monsters that had been keeping me here were gone. The door might be locked but I’d fit through the window
quite nicely. The monsters were still out there, but they lurked every time we walked in the forest. Whoever took me
had not seen fit to remove the charms from around my neck. Mama bought them to keep me safe when I went to the
woods to collect herbs.
If I was going to take advantage of the monsters’ absence I needed to go, now.
I stopped dithering, rolled out from under the bed and dove through the window. Invisible flames seared my sides.
Thirty lashes would have been preferable to the agony ripping through my flesh. I hit the ground gasping, and
shaking. Another thump from the thing headed my way forced me to shove pain to the background, tuck the bottom
of my skirt into the waistline and take off running at right angles from the direction everything else had gone. I
ducked most of the branches and wiped away the tears brought up by those few that lashed my face. Since my
seventh year I have been able to outrun every boy in the village. My natural talent, bolstered by a good dose of fear
carried me swiftly into the unknown.
Best I could tell I was heading north. Not the direction I’d have chosen if I’d thought a little harder but my feet were
already moving and even the thought of stopping urged them to tell me I was stupid and travel faster. The Thumper
strode on, his pace unchanged and I relegated him to a background noise and started paying more attention to my
surroundings. Mother paid good silver for the charms but that didn’t make them fool-proof.
I had no idea what I’d been doing for three months but at least I was still in the same physical condition as when I
last remembered anything. Plenty of time spent roaming the forests for the medicinals Mother sold to the village and
even more time spent tempting and teasing the shepherds in their lonely hills—against Mother’s strict orders—nearly
gave me the speed of wings.
But even wings tire. I ran until my legs revolted, trembling like poorly set jelly, and then I slowed enough to catch my
breath and allow them a moment’s respite.
Somehow I managed to draw away from Thumper. At least he sounded more distant to my hopeful ears. A flash of
gray to my left coaxed me back into a slow run. Hoofbeats had me searching for the minotaur, though it could have
been as innocent as a deer, or a woods goat. Thinking of goats brought the fear-dragons back to my gut, nearly
disabling me. Were there satyrs here? The randy little fellows had tried to snare me more than once and they weren’t
the sort who cared if a girl wasn’t interested in cross-species pollination.
I shifted back into high speed, forcing my legs beyond their desires. Silence fell over the forest. Not the calm before a
storm, but complete and total silence. Even my feet in the dry leaves didn’t make noise. With or without sound, I
wasn’t waiting around to figure it out. I couldn’t tell if Thumper was moving. About the time that registered on my
panicked mind, a roar shook the forest as sound returned. I glanced back expecting to see fire. What besides a
dragon could be that big and that loud, but there were no yellow and orange tongues of flames licking at the trees.
The sun was on my left and I kept it there to prevent myself from running in a circle.
After the roar, Thumper remained silent. Slowing down I began again to notice movements among the underbrush.
Was that the same gray fur I’d seen earlier? The woods at home were never this frightening. Of course the woods at
home had manicured paths enchanted against the monsters that lurked there and for those few of us with reason to
tread off the beaten trails we had charms.
Besides myself, two other girls from the village collected herbs in the forest. Four of the men were woodcutters,
gathering everyone’s firewood and hauling out logs if somebody got married and needed a new house. The charms
we wore were thrice-blessed by the Lord and Lady of the wood. Or so the story goes anyway. The Lord and Lady
were forest gods and not to be trifled with. If a mage wandered through and offered to sell thrice-blessed charms
and misrepresented them...let’s just say there are a lot of forests and anybody who travels as much as most mages
do, end up going through one sooner or later. The upside of that is the Lord and Lady didn’t take offense at the
innocent who got duped. To the contrary, while the mage usually died, the forest gods would make the bargain good
for the owner of such charms.
They were kindly gods who took good care of those of us who worshipped them and I knew now why this forest felt
so dark. There was no evidence of the forest gods ever visiting here. Not a whisper of the warmth found in a
managed forest. These trees were dark and twisted, like the creatures that had surrounded the cabin. They were old
growth and the canopy swelled overhead darkening the floor. Vines hung heavy in the upper branches of the trees.
Every fallen giant left an opening for undergrowth to overtake the clearing formed.
The onset of twilight made me question the intelligence of leaving the cabin. There was no food here. No water either
and my throat was parched from running. I slowed down even more and began taking careful stock of my situation. At
least there had been a bed back in the cabin. And four walls. Maybe someone would even have shown up with
firewood. I was cooling off from running and I realized it was going to freeze tonight.
I looked over my shoulder, contemplating returning. There wasn’t anything to say I’d be safe and warm there. For all I
knew, Thumper was standing on top of the little cabin having turned it into a tiny pile of broken lumber. Three months
was enough of my life to give up. I needed to find shelter and water. I could live without food for another day or so
but I needed water tonight. I trudged onward listening hopefully for the babbling sound of flowing water. My throat
burned and swelled, breathing became a chore and I examined every dip in the ground hoping for even a palmful of
stagnant water to dispel the ache. The charms seemed to be performing their function, even if the forest gods’
presence wasn’t tangible here.
Darkness descended on the forest like an axe. One moment I could see, the next I was fumbling my way from tree to
tree, hands out in front to prevent myself unnecessary pain. I considered climbing one of them and tying myself to the
vines but it would be even colder up there and not necessarily any safer. Pain dug its fingers deep into my calf and
knee as I tripped over a tree limb and crashed to the ground beside another downed giant. Even warped as they
were, it was sad so many of them had fallen.
I lay beside the behemoth. Rising would only get me another barked shin. If I was going to freeze, at least the tree’s
death might grant me reprieve from some of the wind. I checked the direction of the airstream and forced my weary
muscles to clamber over the tree trunk to be better protected. Blindly I gathered the nearby leaves and covered
myself with them. With my last tiny bit of strength, I wrapped my hand around the charms and begged the Lord and
Lady to keep me safe.
The first rays of sunshine brought me to wakefulness. The very thought of moving sent lightning screaming through
my muscles. I was lying there, cautiously flexing each one to bring them awake before I even tried to move my limbs
when the whispering started.
A chorus of, “Did you hear?” bounced from tree to tree.
It was returned by just as many eager voices, “Tell us.”
“The lady ran.”
“She ran? Why would she run?”
“We told him. Told him he could not just steal her away and lock her up.”
“Did not.”
“Well we would have if he’d listen to us. Could have told him big and impressive wasn’t a good idea either.”
“Master wanted her. It’s what he does. He wants something he takes it. Big and impressive was meant to frighten
her into obedience.” A titter of laughter flowed through the clearing formed by my downed tree. “Frightened her all
right, and all her guards too. Did she run past here?”
“He sent you.” The strident accusation flew through the tiny voices.
“No, no. Just curious.”
It was somewhat frightening to lay there and listen to untold numbers of, the Lady only knew what kind of creatures,
talk about you. If the locals thought the newcomers might be spies, perhaps it was a good thing I was still unable to
move.
“Isn’t here,” chorused the voices I’d come to think of as locals. “Nope, not here.”
I wondered if the intruders noticed the break in the number of voices and the lack of speaking as one. I wondered
how many of the locals realized I was right beneath their noses.
“She was headed this way,” the foreigners said. “The Ash tells true. Even if the rest of you have given up hope, Ash
believes he is not beyond redemption. Ash tells us she came this way. Perhaps you simply didn’t hear her in the dark.”
The chorus of voices snipped, “Then you should be on your way. It must be hard to fly while you’re bowing and
scraping the ground he walks on. Didn’t see her pass.”
Which was true enough, I stumbled into their midst and lay pretty much where I fell. At least a dozen pairs of wings
whirred, and flew off in the direction I’d been traveling the night before. I twitched my fingers, amazed that they
moved. Then I tried to shift my forearm and found more than stiffness bound me. Vines encased me. In the agony of
awakening and the curiosity of the conversation, I hadn’t noticed. Now their constriction caused my heart to race. An
aged and gentle voice soughed into my mind. “Not yet.”
I calmed, and continued flexing my sore muscles. Not like I could do anything about it anyway. I warmed as the sun
rose higher and eventually the vines eased their hold and slithered away from me. Slowly I tested each pain-ridden
muscle. The simple act of sitting up had never taken me more than a moment. This morning, forever was closer to the
correct time frame. When I eventually made it upright I was stunned by the loveliness encircling me. Instead of the
briars and underbrush choking the other clearings, flowers and grass filled the space. And, oh, Lord and Lady, at the
foot of the felled oak I’d slumbered next to, the roots had left a deep hole and the hole was filled with cool water. It
wasn’t flowing and was somewhat brackish but to my parched and tortured throat it tasted like the nectar of the
gods.
I knew better than to drink my fill, but it didn’t make stopping any easier. I leaned back against the tree and let the
liquid settle. While I rested, I glanced around the clearing. The Lord and Lady were strong in this little patch, and
blessed be, there were berry plants and an apple tree. It wasn’t natural, this speck of brilliance in the middle of the
twisted darkness, but who was I to question a miracle? Perhaps the local residents had enough magic to maintain it.
With my back against the tree I felt the aged voice whisper, “It was not like this before you came.”
I reached for my charms. Could the thrice-blessed be powerful enough to permit the Lord and Lady to claim this tiny
bit?
And the voice in my mind responded to my thought, “‘Tis you lady. You fill his shadows with hope.”
“Whose shadows? And who are you?”
“The first I may not tell you. The second...” The voice paused briefly and the limbs of the tree waved in the morning
breeze, the vines that had encased me earlier writhed toward me. I remained still. “As to the second, lady, you are
leaning on me.”
I felt the roughened bark behind my back and shrugged. I was missing three months of my life. I awoke to more
monsters than I’d ever actually seen in my life, and run for hours through a dark and twisted wood pursued by a
monster so huge it had shaken the ground. Though to tell the truth, the ‘fear’ of the creature had pursued me, after
the roar I had no sense of him following me. The voices had said he chose big and impressive. What exactly did that
mean? Was he a shape changer? A talking tree was not so terribly hard to believe.
I worked up the strength to stand and take the five steps toward the patch of berries. As I approached, a cloud of
oversized dragonflies took to the air. Closer inspection showed them to be little men and women...sort of. I examined
them as they clustered around me. They were covered in a deep green fur, but other than that they were naked.
Antennae stuck out of their head and the translucent wings could just as easily have belonged to the dragonflies I
first mistook them for, but the intelligence in their eyes told me these were the speakers.
“Thank you,” I said.
“For what?” They asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.
“For not telling those others where I was.”
“We didn’t know, lady. Even half dead, Oak keeps his secrets.”
Apparently I didn’t have to be leaning against him for Oak to make himself heard to me. “Secrets are the only way to
keep the talkies quiet.”
“Talkies?”
“Those you are speaking to. Love to hear themselves talk.” He sounded like a long suffering parent and for the first
time in two days, I found myself smiling.
One of the bolder talkies flew near me and lifted a lock of my hair. “Yellow. Pretty.”
Having examined and been examined I turned my attention back to the berries, deep red raspberries half the size of
my palm. I took three of them and retired to lean against Oak. The trip there and back exhausted my underfed,
overworked, body. I’d never seen raspberries large enough I could not simply pop one in my mouth and chew it. Juice
ran down my chin as I bit into the sweetest fruit I’d ever eaten.
The flesh and juice slid down my throat and the effect on my strength was immediate. I held the thrice-blessed
charms and dared to hope I could regain control of my life.
I knew I didn’t want to continue north. Frozen, barren, wasteland was not my idea of a good time. South was asking
to run into him—whoever he was—and east would take me back into the horde of monsters that had run off from the
cabin. Realistically, I knew they dispersed and I was probably surrounded by them, but knowing how many had run in
that direction I decided to go west. While I finished two of the fruits, the talkies lined themselves up on Oak. Sated, I
held the third berry up to them and they swarmed it as though I offered them ambrosia. As if they hadn’t been
feasting on the berries when I interrupted them. Juice ran between my fingers as talkies consumed the berry. It
stained my hand red and I could just imagine what my chin looked like.
When they finished I went to the pool at Oak’s feet and washed. I glanced at the talkies and then stripped down and
submerged myself in the cold water washing away the sweat and brambles of yesterday. I scrubbed my skirt and
blouse then climbed from the pool and draped them over Oak to dry while I picked some apples for the day’s journey.
Five luscious ripe apples were within easy reach. More than I really wanted to carry, but not knowing if I’d find
anything to eat later, I tore the bottom of my skirt off and knotted the apples in it. I was dressing when I sensed
another presence in my clearing.
Quickly pulling my damp blouse, which was somewhat the worse for yesterday’s journey, down to cover my midriff, I
glanced around. On the far side of the clearing, under the apple tree, stood a horse. Not just any horse but a
stunning black creature with small ears and doe-like eyes. His mane and tail floated around him like so many wisps of
silk caught in a breeze. His shoulders were muscular, neck arched, hips well-rounded and his back, broad and inviting.
He looked as out of place in this forest as my little clearing. He snorted at me and took a hesitant step in my direction.
Temptation dragged me toward him, the talkies and Oak remained silent. In fact the talkies had disappeared. He
matched me step for step until he stood beside me in the middle of the clearing. He presented his side to me as
though inviting me to mount and warning bells went off in my head. I recalled the stories told to me by one of my
shepherds about large, overly-friendly black horses. I backed away as tales of pookas flooded into my mind. Large
blue eyes gazed into mine and I remembered a pooka’s eyes were supposed to be pale yellow.
I decided walking was preferable to drowning. A huge black stallion offering to allow me to ride was too tempting,
therefore probably too good to be true.
I picked up my apples, slipped my feet into what was left of the thin leather shoes I’d been wearing yesterday when I
awoke and began my journey for the day, silently bidding farewell to Oak. There was no response.
I paused at the apple tree and stretched to gather three more apples. Just beyond reach of my fingertips I was about
to give up when a short swift breeze loosened two of them. One fell in my palm the other I pinned between elbow
and torso as it fell. I placed one on the ground in front of the horse and bit into the other as I walked into the west,
passing into the dark forest around my clearing. I looked over my shoulder to watch the horse look between me and
the too high branch the apple had come from. After a moment’s hesitation he ate the apple then trotted to catch up,
bumping my shoulder with a velvety muzzle, occasionally circling around in front of me to present his side for me to
mount. I patiently walked around him and continued.
I wasn’t going to accept that which he seemed too eager to offer but his silent companionship was not unwelcome.
When he disappeared mid-morning, I acutely felt his absence. I wasn’t lonely long. No sooner was he out of sight
than talkies surrounded me.
There were a couple who weren’t the dark green of the group I’d breakfasted with. A rich maroon color flittered off to
my left and splashes of yellow fluttered overhead.
“Where is the lady going?” The maroons asked.
“Running,” the greens said.
“Walking,” the maroons argued.
“Running away,” the greens insisted.
“From what?” The yellows entered the conversation.
I listened closely because I’d like to know the answer to that question myself. The answer didn’t tell me any more
than the morning conversation I’d listened to.
“Master.” The greens’ voices were hushed. It sounded like only half of them answered.
The yellows laughed. The maroons gasped. The greens circled me. “Lady, you should hurry.”
A few of the yellows flew away, their flight uneven as they giggled. The maroons hovered just outside the circle of
greens and then darted to the south following the direction the horse had traveled. I lengthened my stride in
response to the greens’ urging for more speed, but I was determined not to run myself ragged. I began to get the
feeling if the Master took it in his mind to find me, I would not be safe in his woods no matter how many thrice-
blessed charms I wore. I could only hope whatever was delaying him, held him long enough to allow me to find my
way out.
I ate one of the apples and the weariness of the morning’s trek faded away. In the afternoon I came across a small
brook flowing west, and followed it. The greens stayed with me the rest of the day and as the darkness deepened
with the setting sun, I sought out another clearing. The fallen tree in this one was also an oak but its leaves were
long dead and the wood, dry and brittle, no life remained but it would still be decent shelter.
I piled leaves deep while I could still see, then ate a second apple. When darkness was complete I burrowed into the
leaves, using half for a bed and half to cover myself up.
Sunshine brought me awake to a clearing as different from that I went to sleep in as night from day. Berry bushes
lined the banks of the small stream that cut through the center of the clearing. A peach tree grew across the clearing
and butterflies covered its branches.
Unlike yesterday’s dragonflies, the butterflies were no more than butterflies, brilliant splashes of orange and gold
against the dark forest surrounding my sunny patch. The talkies were still there, hidden in the berry bushes until I
started picking them. This morning only greens were present. As I had yesterday, I washed up, but this time I just
washed face and hands. When I turned around I wasn’t the least bit surprised to find an ass standing across the
clearing under the peach tree. He reached up and snatched at the lowest peach, consuming it and leaving the pit on
the ground. As I watched another tree sprouted from the pit left behind.
I was torn with indecision when he presented himself to carry me. A pooka was capable of shape changing, but could
something that existed to wreak havoc and cause death also be responsible for causing new life to spring from a
freshly dropped seed? Or had it been the Lord and Lady’s magic encompassing the grove that grew the sprout? I
handed the donkey one of yesterday’s apples, filled my makeshift bag with peaches, put the sun to my back and
began walking. The donkey did not follow as long as the horse had, seeming to understand the futility far sooner.
Nightfall brought another clearing. Morning brought berries, talkies and pears. I wondered what form the pooka
would take today. I arose from washing and turned to the pear tree. A glimmer of white winked in and out of the
shadows of the forest. Unlike the stallion and the ass it seemed more reluctant to approach, but when I sat against
the log, it stepped into the sunlight on the opposite side of the clearing.
If Mama wanted proof that none of the shepherds had ever convinced me to give up my virtue, this was it. A unicorn
stood under the pear tree. Delicate nostrils fluttered as though by scent it could ascertain I was in fact a virgin. Unlike
the black, this stallion’s mane and tail did not float on the air currents. Each strand glistened as though it contained
the sun, and the horn was eighteen glittering spirals of gold. Surely something as evil as a pooka could not take the
image of something that represented innocence and virtue. I stood and walked to the pear tree and replaced the fruit
I’d eaten the day before.
I held a pear out to the unicorn and he nibbled it delicately. Emboldened by the offering he lifted his nostrils and
sniffed my hair, warm breath tickling my neck. Blue eyes stared down the long nose, carefully watching me. Unlike the
other two, he didn’t offer himself up as a mount seeming content to trail behind me, occasionally walking alongside
and placing his neck under my hand.
When I chose a clearing for lunch he was still there. He lay down beside me and placed his head in my lap. When I
tried to stand he put pressure on my lap and flexed his head so his horn lay along my hip. “Stay with me, Lady.”
“I’m being hunted. I need to get out of this forest.”
“He will not come near while I am here.”
“You know who he is?”
“Everyone knows of you, lady. And everyone knows the Master hunts for you.”
“But why? What does he want?”
“He watches the humans. Plays at being one and one day you stopped in the hills and shared your lunch with him in
exchange for no more than a tale. He told you of the pooka and then you thanked him and said you needed to hurry
home. He found you fascinating.”
“So he repays my kindness by stealing away three months of my life?” Anger edged my voice.
“No lady. It was naught but yesterday he brought you to this forest. It is always autumn here.”
“What were his plans? Perhaps it has only been a day but did he plan to let me return to my parents?”
“His plans were not complete. He is not used to being refused and you refused him. So he stole you. Didn’t think it
through.”
“He never asked me anything. How could I refuse him? He sounds like a spoiled brat.” But I was afraid I did perhaps
remember him. and he did ask me for something but it was something I wasn’t prepared to give.
The unicorn remained silent for a moment a crystalline blue tear formed in the corner of his eye. Sadness pervaded
his voice. “You do not even remember him? You came three times to where he tended sheep in the mountains. Each
time you brought him food and talked long into the afternoon.”
“I’m sorry. It’s a game I play called, ‘drive Mama crazy’. The shepherds are nice enough, but I talk to all of them.
Doesn’t mean anything.”
“He desired you.”
I laughed. “Most of them do. They live a lonely life.”
“And yet here we are with my head in your lap. How do you manage that?”
“Most of them are honorable. Those who are not find it difficult to catch the wind.”
“One of your parents is the wind?”
I couldn’t fathom the tremor in his voice. Running my hand through his mane I shook my head with a laugh. “It’s just
an expression. Mama used to tell me that to run any faster I’d need wings and only the wind could catch me.”
“Are you certain it’s just an expression? It would explain...”
He stopped speaking. He seemed more free to speak than anybody I’d met thus far in the forest, but something had
just made him shut down.
“Anyway,” I said, “None of them could catch me. Even satyrs tried from time to time. Now I really must be going.” A
shudder ran through his body as I wrapped my hand around his horn and used it to pry his head off my lap.
He stood and followed me through the forest as we spent the afternoon walking into the sun, alongside the creek.
Occasionally I saw the talkies but the unicorn’s presence kept them at bay.
As I prepared my leaf bed, the unicorn said, “You may use my neck as a pillow if it would please you.”
“That’s all right. It couldn’t possibly be comfortable for you to stay still all night. I’m actually getting used to this.”
He hung his head, nose brushing the ground, horn resting in my pile of leaves. “Then allow me do this.”
In place of my leaves a mattress appeared. I knelt down and placed my hand on the flannel surface. It was soft and
warm. I sank into its gentle embrace. He lay down beside the mattress, his head resting on the edge, horn buried in
the soft depths.
I dreamed that night of a young man tending his flock in the mountains. I remembered him. It had struck me odd that
he had no dogs to help protect his flock. His black hair had been held back in a leather tie and fell nearly to his waist.
High cheekbones, straight nose and the most glorious blue eyes I’d ever seen. Wide shoulders, narrow waist, slender
hips and when he took his shirt off to relax in the sun while he ate, there was no shame in the muscle he carried. Oh
yes, I remembered him. I’d gone back to his part of the hills three separate times, each time going to great pains to
hunt him down.
The third time we sat together long into the afternoon talking about sheep and the hills and the forest where he
claimed he’d seen me collecting herbs. And when he touched my arm and looked me in the eyes and asked me to
spend the night with him, the burn in my lower abdomen that flooded down my legs turning them to liquid told me to
stay. Only my fear of Mama’s disappointment and Papa’s anger forced me to toss back my head, laugh and tell him I
had to go home. He was honorable. He had looked sad but he watched me go without attempting to stop me. Which
was good because the legs I was so immensely proud of wouldn’t have been able to outrun a newborn child, much
less a determined man.
I dreamed he lay beside me now in this dark forest. I dreamed of making love to him and when I awoke the next
morning, the forest, for as far as I could see, was filled with tall straight trees and dappled summer sunlight. Every
tiny clearing was filled with ripe luscious berries and the larger clearings held fruit trees. Gone were the briars and the
shadows felt more like familiar friends. The unicorn lay with his legs curled under him, patiently waiting for me to
awaken.
When I looked at him, he asked, “What did you dream of, lady?”
My cheeks burned. “That’s none of your business.”
“But it is, lady. I am charged with keeping this forest alive and despite my efforts, ever has it dwelt in gloom. You
dreamed and brought summer where summer has not been for hundreds of years. I would know what magic this is.”
I sat back, enjoying the warm summer sun on my face. “If this change was brought on by my dreams, you could not
duplicate the effect.”
“Please, indulge me.”
But I shook my head, clamped my lips together and prepared for the day’s walk.
After we ate, he asked me, “Why do you travel in this direction?”
“Because a forest cannot go on forever.” I explained my choice of directions then said, “When I am free of the forest I
will find other people, perhaps they can tell me how to get home.”
My answer displeased him. “Do you dislike us so very much then?”
“It’s not that I dislike you, but my parents will be worried for me. Or angry at me. I would never have taken off
without telling them where I was going, but the night I was stolen from my bed I argued with them. They may even
think I ran away.” Tears formed in the corners of my eyes and I wiped them with my sleeve before they could fall. I
could not bear for my parents to believe I was a willful, ungrateful brat who would run away just to thwart their plans.
“Why did you argue with them?”
“They wanted me to marry.”
Silence fell as he stopped walking. I looked back over my shoulder as he muttered to himself. Finally he hurried to
catch up. “You find marriage disagreeable?”
“They picked the boy they wanted me to marry and did not think I should have any say in it.”
“Tell me about this boy.”
It sounded like a reasonable request, except for the anxiety in his tone. I told him anyway. “Serl and I are of an age.
We grew up together, climbing trees, wandering through the mountains until his father decided it was time for him to
apprentice in the chandler’s shop. Blond hair, hazel eyes, nose a bit crooked where I broke it with a stick in a ‘sword’
fight. He’s pleasant enough to look at. We’ve always gotten along well. I suppose before I met your master, I wouldn’
t have balked at marrying him. My parents thought they were doing right by me.”
The unicorn’s head flew up in the air and he bugled his surprise, then seemed embarrassed by such a horse-like
display. “You would throw away a friendship of a lifetime for a person you met three times?”
“I cannot explain it. I only know I was attracted to him in a way that barely let me walk away the afternoon he asked
me to stay.”
“Yesterday you could not even remember him.”
“You said I shared my lunch with him. I have shared my lunch with many people. How was I to know which was your
master?”
“And how are you certain of him now?”
I waved at the summer forest we traveled through. “Because I dreamed of him last night.” The pleased look on his
face was well worth the embarrassment of that admission.
“You dreamed of him and brought summer to a small part of his land. Imagine if you had accepted his offer.”
“Accepting his offer would have made me no better than the whores in the taverns. It did not happen then; it will not
happen now. I don’t believe he’s the type to force his attention on a woman. Of course I did not think him the type to
steal a woman from her bed.”
“He had...encouragement. His parents think it well past time he should have a mate. He went every day to await you
in the mountains but you did not return. He thought if he took you from the familiar, he could convince you to accept
him.”
I stared into the glorious blue eyes of the unicorn. “You certainly know him well. Why wasn’t he there when I awoke?”
“His parents called him. Their realm had been invaded by humans searching for a missing girl. They suspected he may
have had the wrong reaction to their encouragement. You awoke from the spell before he could return.”
“And just how did the talkies put it...you thought that by being...excuse me… he thought that by being large and
impressive he could frighten me into obeying his every wish. Frightened me all right. Clean out the window and nearly
to death.”
The unicorn placed his horn on my chest. A twitch of his head would kill me but I felt no fear. Sparkles floated from his
hide. The blue eyes closed and when he opened them again, they were brown. The glitter swirled like dust motes
catching the sun. I closed my eyes to shut out the flare of light. When the glow dimmed, I opened them to see my
black-haired shepherd, his hand resting on the unicorn’s mane.
“Cornall.” I breathed his name. “You joined with the unicorn?” I couldn’t keep the dismay from my voice. “I believed
you transformed yourself.”
He shook his head and scratched the unicorn’s withers. “The stallion was transformation. A wondrous creature was
he not?”
“Too wondrous. In fact it was your own tales of the pooka that made me refuse to ride him.”
He smiled. “And the donkey was also me. I thought perhaps you’d find it fitting since I’d done such a good job of
making an ass of myself. But not even the son of the Lord and Lady of the forest can take on the likeness of a
unicorn.”
I stopped dead. “Just like that? By the way I’m the son of the forest?”
“I thought you had figured it out.”
“I had my suspicions. So tell me...to join with a unicorn...does one not have to be a virgin?”
His cheeks turned crimson.
The unicorn answered. “You are correct, lady.”
I looked back at the son of the forest. “Then I’m guessing other women have turned you down.”
“You were the first I asked. I apologize for everything I have done so terribly wrong. Courtship is not something I
know. And I certainly did not take the wind into account.”
He was talking gibberish. “What does the wind have to do with anything?”
“I did not figure out what made you so special until you started speaking of the wind. I think there may be more to it
than an offhand comment by your mother. No human could have gone through the window of the room I left you in.
Nor could a human have run so far it took me all day and night to find her in my own demesne.”
“The window almost killed me, and I had fear to drive my legs.”
“You don’t even know how far you ran. Fear is not enough. A human would have died before they accomplished what
you did. I believe your sire was the wind.”
I stared at him now and fear prickled the back of my neck. He was every bit as handsome as I remembered but he
was crazy, and we were alone. I looked at the unicorn, hoping he would not allow a virgin to be injured or taken by
force. His head was nodding as though he agreed with the madman standing in front of me.
Cornall grabbed my hand. I fought the urge to flinch. He was too powerful to fight.
“I can see you don’t believe me. Lady knows I’ve given you plenty of reason to fear me, but this should not be one of
them. Would you believe the Lady of The Woods if she told you your sire was the wind?”
I backed away a step. “I’d like to go home.”
He held fast to my hand moving with me. “As a shepherd I asked you to stay the night because my parents would
never have approved a deeper commitment. But now...”
“Nothing has changed.”
The earnest look on his face made it hard to be afraid. “The apples—that first morning, you couldn’t reach them. The
wind answered your need.”
Couldn’t argue that.
“It took me so long to find you because in my over-confidence I figured you’d tire by mid-afternoon and find some
place to hide. I slowed down and thought about what I’d done. Talked to several of my friends and took their advice
on how to fix the mess I made. Then I started searching for you. Then I panicked because I couldn’t find you.” His
voice took on a desperate edge. “I kept looking and I sent the fairies out to search. The trees kept leading them
farther.” Reaching out to grab my other hand he sank to his knees and placed his forehead on my knuckles. “I
thought somehow you made them lie for you. I didn’t believe you could possibly have gone so far. You scarcely left
foot prints, no scent. I had to dig through leaves as though the wind had blown them over your trail. If not for the
fairies and the trees, I may not have found you.”
“Fairies?”
“I saw you talking to them. They appreciate your berries.”
“Those were fairies?”
“What did they tell you they were?”
I pulled him off his knees. “Oak told me they were talkies.”
“Oak? The trees spoke to you?”
“A tree spoke to me.”
He gripped my hands so hard it hurt. “You belong here.” His thumbs rubbed the back of my hands. His palms were
sweating. “Stay with me?”
What he was saying couldn’t be true even though he obviously believed it. “I can’t.”
“Give me a reason.”
“I already have. When I get married, I will be a virgin.”
The unicorn stepped forward and placed his horn on Cornall’s shoulder, pushing him back to his knees. A curl of gold
peeled off his horn. Cornall released my hand and plucked it from the air as it fell. He looked up at me and said,
“That’s what I meant this time. Be my mate. Marry me. Whatever your customs require. Grow old with me.”
If a fairy had landed on my shoulder I’d have fallen over. The son of the forest was asking me to marry him. The curl
of gold was warm as it molded to my finger. I glanced away from him to examine it. Wrapped twice around my finger,
it carried fine engravings of running unicorns interspersed with oak trees. Doubt still niggled at my mind. “What about
your parents?”
“They will be happy for us.”
“Yes.” I breathed the word experimentally. It slid from my mouth as though it had a will of its own. I didn’t believe he
would even hear it but as I prepared to answer him louder he surged to his feet and lifted me off the ground. He
lowered me until our faces were level and his lips sought out mine. When breathing became necessary I bent back
and said, “I wish to get married in my village, with my parents there.”
My feet never touched the ground. He lifted me onto the unicorn’s back then transformed himself into the black
stallion and the pair of them spun around and ran back the way we had come, continuing east long past where I had
spent my first night in the forest. Landscape flew by. We passed out of the shadows of his forest into open meadows
and then mountains and finally into a forest that felt familiar. It welcomed me and the thrice-blessed charms warmed
between my breasts. A stag with a magnificent set of antlers and a white hart stepped into our path and the unicorn
and the stallion slid to a stop.
Cornall and the deer all changed to human form. He wrapped them both in his arms before turning and lifting me from
the unicorn’s back. “Mother. Father. I’m glad you’re here. I’d like to introduce my mate, the lady Dara.”
They looked from me to the unicorn and back to their son, mouths gaping in surprise.
They remained speechless and a worried look crossed his face. “Say something. You’ve been trying to force women
on me for the last hundred years.”
“She knows who you are?”
“I would think that obvious, Mother.”
“Have you considered how short the life span of a human is?”
“I did father, but I think perhaps she is not fully human. You should see her run.”
The Lord’s interest deepened. The Lady brushed my throat with her fingers and stood back, lifting her nose to the air.
“The...wind. How is this possible? The wind has not sired a child in over a century.”
“Perhaps she’s second generation. Perhaps you do not know everyone in your circle as well as you believe. I wanted
her before I discovered this. When it became obvious I could grow old with her, I asked her to marry me. She has
magic too, Mother. She brought summer to my forest. She caused fruit trees and berries to grow wherever she slept.”
The Lady raised an eyebrow and turned to assess me again. “Is this true?”
I kept my eyes lowered. “I thought perhaps he did it.”
“He has not been able to do these things since we gave him his own demesne. If they happened, it was not him.”
I reached a hand out to him as bright pink color flushed his cheeks.
The Lord rubbed his chin thoughtfully; long dark hair shadowed his angular features as he stared at the ground. A
slight movement at his feet swirled and grew into a vaguely human shaped pile of dirt.
“What is it?” The dirt sighed.
“Is this your daughter?”
Eyes appeared on the side of the dirt nearest me. A thin arm of dirt flowed toward me and I stood to be poked and
prodded. A smile appeared in a mouth that hadn’t been there a moment ago. “It would seem she is. How old are you,
child?”
“Seventeen.”
“Ahhh...” the sigh was like that of a breeze in a heavily leafed maple. “From Torlinsville?”
I nodded.
“Your mother’s hair is blonde?”
I nodded again. Of course that covered three quarters of the women in town.
“She is well?”
“She has two other children, and she’s married.”
“That is well then.”
The face disappeared and reformed in front of the Lord of the forest. “You were complaining so vehemently about the
lack of potential mates for Cornall, I decided to help. I guess I forgot to mention it. I go so many places...” The face
appeared in front of me. “Morana?”
“That’s Mama’s name.”
“There you have it,” the wind said and the pile of dirt fell in on itself. The lady of the forest advanced and wrapped
her arms about me. “Welcome to the family, Dara. Now though, I believe perhaps you should let the lady Morana
know you live. And see to it my son apologizes for any distress he caused her.”
“Yes, Lady,” I said.
Her fingers groped at my throat and a tug on the silver chain brought out the thrice-blessed charms. “Leave these
with her, that she might visit. You’ll have no need of them.”
She stepped back from me and a cool breeze lifted my hair and ran across the flesh of my arms and throat. In my ear
the wind soughed, “The boy had best take care of my gift. If he doesn’t, you need only think of me and I’ll be there.”
And then the breeze was gone.
Cornall turned and held out his hand. “Shall we.”
The unicorn stood in the background the Lord of the forest produced an apple and fed it to him. “Thank you for your
service. You are released.”
The unicorn turned soft brown eyes on me and said, “I’ll wait. I can carry her back.”
I sensed an argument but then Cornall nodded. His form shimmered and the stallion stood beside me. He knelt for me
to get on his back. I tucked my skirt under my bare legs and seat, then grabbed his mane as he surged upward and
forward, galloping out of the forest and down the hill stopping in front my house. The moment I dismounted, he
shimmered and changed, standing before me in a knee length, hunter green tunic and hosen. He looked at me and
drew his finger down the length of my body changing my torn blouse and skirt to a velvet gown, complete with tightly
laced stays, in the same shade of green.
I opened the door and found Mama at the dining room table. Red eyes peered up at me. Dried tears left tracks of dirt
down her face. Papa sat beside her, arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders. From the damp patches on his tunic
I could see she’d been leaning on him, crying.
He saw me and leaped to his feet. His face turned bright red. His hand raised in a fist. Cornall lifted his hand and
waved it at him. Papa’s fist bent backward and he was driven to his knees.
I laid a hand on Cornall’s, “Let him be. He’s worried about Mama.”
Cornall lowered his hand.
Papa stayed on the floor. Mama pushed her chair over backward and grabbed me, a hand on each arm as she stared
in my face as though to be certain it was truly me, then pulled me close and cried into my shoulder.
She collected herself and stood back again, her attention focused on Cornall. “I suppose this is why you did not want
to marry Serl.”
“Yes, Mama.”
“And look at you, dressed like a queen. Figured it was one of those shepherds you had taken up and run off with.”
“I didn’t run off Mama, and I’ve been trying to get back here for three days.”
“Tis truth lady. I took her, hoping I could convince her to agree to accept me. But she escaped my prison and I’ve had
a time catching up with her and making her see I meant her no harm.”
“And did you?”
“She has agreed to marry me.”
Mama looked back at me. “Did he hurt you?”
“Scared me more than anything. And Mama I rode a unicorn back to the edge of the forest.” That should settle the
worst of her fears.
“Who are you then, to steal a child from her bed?”
“I met her several times and my tongue tied itself in knots and said stupid things when I tried to ask her to come
away with me. And then she stopped coming to see me. I was a desperate fool. Her beauty made it near impossible
to forget she existed. Now I’ve met her parents I see where she gets that beauty from.”
Mama looked at him as though trying to make up her mind. “You’re right about that tongue of yours saying stupid
things. I’m her Mother, but Dara was two years old when her father and I married. I do not know who her sire is.”
“I am aware of that, Ma’am. Most like you were enjoying a summer day as so many young maidens do, swimming in
the pool by the waterfall. Did your friends suddenly catch a chill and go home?”
Mama nodded slowly. “How could you know that?”
“It’s how the wind works. Lady Dara’s sire was a god. He took you without your consent and for that I’m sorry. It
would seem he was attempting to answer my parents’ wishes that I find a mate who could grow old with me.”
On the floor, Papa’s jaw opened and closed in stunned amazement. He had asked often who my father was and he
would not accept that Mama did not know.
“You did not answer my question. Who are you? How is it possible that eighteen years ago you were in need of a
wife and yet you look no older than my daughter?”
“My parents are the Lord and Lady of the forest.”
He said it so matter of fact, as though the son of the forest walked into your house everyday and announced he was
marrying your daughter.
##
Mama went straight to work planning the wedding. The other villagers assumed I must have come back from running
away, humble and pregnant that she was in such a hurry to send me off again.
Riding a unicorn to within a hundred yards of the ceremony accompanied by two people who could only be the Lord
and Lady of the forest put an end to all the whispers. The Lord and Lady flanked me to the alter as though they
thought I may have second thoughts and run. Cornall waited with the priestess who fell to her knees as her gods
approached her.
The forest didn’t need the ceremony, but I did, and Mama did. As Cornall and I promised to love each other the rest of
our lives a gentle breeze played with my hair and tugged Cornall’s, threatening punishment if he broke his vow. My
sire at least cared enough to watch the fruition of his eighteen-year-old plan.
After the ceremony, Cornall lifted me to the unicorn’s back then shimmered, and in full view of the villagers galloped
away wearing the form of the magical black stallion, anxious to get back and bring summer to his forest.
wasn’t dreaming, or I wasn’t waking up, and smacking myself was painful. Tears slid down my cheeks as I examined
my prison again, as if I could possibly have missed anything the last fifteen times around the room.
A bed made of logs and rough cut planks occupied the middle of the room. The mattress was straw, but at least the
comforter was down. The kitchen, and I use that word loosely, was a table set near the fireplace. Two well-worn
wooden chairs were pushed up to the table. Plates, with an exquisite pattern of intertwining branches and vines, and
fine silver, set upon its rough surface. I’d already searched the walls for hidden closets. I hadn’t yet figured out what
use silverware was when there wasn’t any food. Wind gusted through the windows of the tiny log cabin, blowing the
hideous olive green curtains open, revealing sights I had no wish to see.
Outside, the sound of predators snuffling around the door sent shivers up my spine. The only time I dared glance out
the window a minotaur turned to examine me, sending me screeching for the far wall. I spun to watch, heart
thumping as he peered in. Calm returned when he remained outside, but the wind made sure I knew he was still
there.
The dark green skirt I wore wasn’t mine. My cheeks burned at the thought of somebody having dressed me. The pale
yellow blouse felt like silk. Where was my flannel night-shift?
Last thing I remembered was going to sleep in my own bed, in my parents’ home. It had been summertime, Papa had
gone down to the tavern and Mama had sung little Elle to sleep before telling Jeth a bed-time story.
Did they think I’d run away? I’d fought with Mama and Papa about their plans to marry me to Serl, the chandler’s son.
Papa stormed out to the tavern, blaming Mama for raising me to be so willful, and Mama sent me to my bedroom
without supper. How could they think I was old enough to marry, but not old enough to form my own opinions about
who my husband would be?
The wind carried the scents of decaying leaves and the chill of autumn. A low mournful howl made me curl in a ball at
the foot of the bed. The door was locked. At least from my side it was. I assumed since none of the predators
entered, it was fastened on their side as well. Some of them, like my friend at the window, were perfectly capable of
lifting a latch if there was a latch to be lifted. I wished there was wood for the fireplace. Of course if whoever locked
me away here granted that wish I’d have to wish for flint to start it and I was a bit leery about getting myself in debt
to anybody with enough magic to steal away three months of my life.
A thump in the woods raised a chorus of chattering, growling, and snarling from the monsters. A second thump
sounded closer and padded feet tore off through piles of crackling leaves. One more thump and even the minotaur
abandoned his post, hooves galumphing across dry ground. A fourth thump chased away something immense that
slithered. I hate snakes.
Every rhythmic footstep brought the creature closer but it was still distant. Fear grew in my gut, little swooping
sparrows turned into dragons twisting and tearing. I slid under the bed, not that if whatever was out there stepped
on the cabin, the bed was going to save my life. But it was the only thing I could do to even feel like I was trying to
save my own life.
Then again…
The monsters that had been keeping me here were gone. The door might be locked but I’d fit through the window
quite nicely. The monsters were still out there, but they lurked every time we walked in the forest. Whoever took me
had not seen fit to remove the charms from around my neck. Mama bought them to keep me safe when I went to the
woods to collect herbs.
If I was going to take advantage of the monsters’ absence I needed to go, now.
I stopped dithering, rolled out from under the bed and dove through the window. Invisible flames seared my sides.
Thirty lashes would have been preferable to the agony ripping through my flesh. I hit the ground gasping, and
shaking. Another thump from the thing headed my way forced me to shove pain to the background, tuck the bottom
of my skirt into the waistline and take off running at right angles from the direction everything else had gone. I
ducked most of the branches and wiped away the tears brought up by those few that lashed my face. Since my
seventh year I have been able to outrun every boy in the village. My natural talent, bolstered by a good dose of fear
carried me swiftly into the unknown.
Best I could tell I was heading north. Not the direction I’d have chosen if I’d thought a little harder but my feet were
already moving and even the thought of stopping urged them to tell me I was stupid and travel faster. The Thumper
strode on, his pace unchanged and I relegated him to a background noise and started paying more attention to my
surroundings. Mother paid good silver for the charms but that didn’t make them fool-proof.
I had no idea what I’d been doing for three months but at least I was still in the same physical condition as when I
last remembered anything. Plenty of time spent roaming the forests for the medicinals Mother sold to the village and
even more time spent tempting and teasing the shepherds in their lonely hills—against Mother’s strict orders—nearly
gave me the speed of wings.
But even wings tire. I ran until my legs revolted, trembling like poorly set jelly, and then I slowed enough to catch my
breath and allow them a moment’s respite.
Somehow I managed to draw away from Thumper. At least he sounded more distant to my hopeful ears. A flash of
gray to my left coaxed me back into a slow run. Hoofbeats had me searching for the minotaur, though it could have
been as innocent as a deer, or a woods goat. Thinking of goats brought the fear-dragons back to my gut, nearly
disabling me. Were there satyrs here? The randy little fellows had tried to snare me more than once and they weren’t
the sort who cared if a girl wasn’t interested in cross-species pollination.
I shifted back into high speed, forcing my legs beyond their desires. Silence fell over the forest. Not the calm before a
storm, but complete and total silence. Even my feet in the dry leaves didn’t make noise. With or without sound, I
wasn’t waiting around to figure it out. I couldn’t tell if Thumper was moving. About the time that registered on my
panicked mind, a roar shook the forest as sound returned. I glanced back expecting to see fire. What besides a
dragon could be that big and that loud, but there were no yellow and orange tongues of flames licking at the trees.
The sun was on my left and I kept it there to prevent myself from running in a circle.
After the roar, Thumper remained silent. Slowing down I began again to notice movements among the underbrush.
Was that the same gray fur I’d seen earlier? The woods at home were never this frightening. Of course the woods at
home had manicured paths enchanted against the monsters that lurked there and for those few of us with reason to
tread off the beaten trails we had charms.
Besides myself, two other girls from the village collected herbs in the forest. Four of the men were woodcutters,
gathering everyone’s firewood and hauling out logs if somebody got married and needed a new house. The charms
we wore were thrice-blessed by the Lord and Lady of the wood. Or so the story goes anyway. The Lord and Lady
were forest gods and not to be trifled with. If a mage wandered through and offered to sell thrice-blessed charms
and misrepresented them...let’s just say there are a lot of forests and anybody who travels as much as most mages
do, end up going through one sooner or later. The upside of that is the Lord and Lady didn’t take offense at the
innocent who got duped. To the contrary, while the mage usually died, the forest gods would make the bargain good
for the owner of such charms.
They were kindly gods who took good care of those of us who worshipped them and I knew now why this forest felt
so dark. There was no evidence of the forest gods ever visiting here. Not a whisper of the warmth found in a
managed forest. These trees were dark and twisted, like the creatures that had surrounded the cabin. They were old
growth and the canopy swelled overhead darkening the floor. Vines hung heavy in the upper branches of the trees.
Every fallen giant left an opening for undergrowth to overtake the clearing formed.
The onset of twilight made me question the intelligence of leaving the cabin. There was no food here. No water either
and my throat was parched from running. I slowed down even more and began taking careful stock of my situation. At
least there had been a bed back in the cabin. And four walls. Maybe someone would even have shown up with
firewood. I was cooling off from running and I realized it was going to freeze tonight.
I looked over my shoulder, contemplating returning. There wasn’t anything to say I’d be safe and warm there. For all I
knew, Thumper was standing on top of the little cabin having turned it into a tiny pile of broken lumber. Three months
was enough of my life to give up. I needed to find shelter and water. I could live without food for another day or so
but I needed water tonight. I trudged onward listening hopefully for the babbling sound of flowing water. My throat
burned and swelled, breathing became a chore and I examined every dip in the ground hoping for even a palmful of
stagnant water to dispel the ache. The charms seemed to be performing their function, even if the forest gods’
presence wasn’t tangible here.
Darkness descended on the forest like an axe. One moment I could see, the next I was fumbling my way from tree to
tree, hands out in front to prevent myself unnecessary pain. I considered climbing one of them and tying myself to the
vines but it would be even colder up there and not necessarily any safer. Pain dug its fingers deep into my calf and
knee as I tripped over a tree limb and crashed to the ground beside another downed giant. Even warped as they
were, it was sad so many of them had fallen.
I lay beside the behemoth. Rising would only get me another barked shin. If I was going to freeze, at least the tree’s
death might grant me reprieve from some of the wind. I checked the direction of the airstream and forced my weary
muscles to clamber over the tree trunk to be better protected. Blindly I gathered the nearby leaves and covered
myself with them. With my last tiny bit of strength, I wrapped my hand around the charms and begged the Lord and
Lady to keep me safe.
The first rays of sunshine brought me to wakefulness. The very thought of moving sent lightning screaming through
my muscles. I was lying there, cautiously flexing each one to bring them awake before I even tried to move my limbs
when the whispering started.
A chorus of, “Did you hear?” bounced from tree to tree.
It was returned by just as many eager voices, “Tell us.”
“The lady ran.”
“She ran? Why would she run?”
“We told him. Told him he could not just steal her away and lock her up.”
“Did not.”
“Well we would have if he’d listen to us. Could have told him big and impressive wasn’t a good idea either.”
“Master wanted her. It’s what he does. He wants something he takes it. Big and impressive was meant to frighten
her into obedience.” A titter of laughter flowed through the clearing formed by my downed tree. “Frightened her all
right, and all her guards too. Did she run past here?”
“He sent you.” The strident accusation flew through the tiny voices.
“No, no. Just curious.”
It was somewhat frightening to lay there and listen to untold numbers of, the Lady only knew what kind of creatures,
talk about you. If the locals thought the newcomers might be spies, perhaps it was a good thing I was still unable to
move.
“Isn’t here,” chorused the voices I’d come to think of as locals. “Nope, not here.”
I wondered if the intruders noticed the break in the number of voices and the lack of speaking as one. I wondered
how many of the locals realized I was right beneath their noses.
“She was headed this way,” the foreigners said. “The Ash tells true. Even if the rest of you have given up hope, Ash
believes he is not beyond redemption. Ash tells us she came this way. Perhaps you simply didn’t hear her in the dark.”
The chorus of voices snipped, “Then you should be on your way. It must be hard to fly while you’re bowing and
scraping the ground he walks on. Didn’t see her pass.”
Which was true enough, I stumbled into their midst and lay pretty much where I fell. At least a dozen pairs of wings
whirred, and flew off in the direction I’d been traveling the night before. I twitched my fingers, amazed that they
moved. Then I tried to shift my forearm and found more than stiffness bound me. Vines encased me. In the agony of
awakening and the curiosity of the conversation, I hadn’t noticed. Now their constriction caused my heart to race. An
aged and gentle voice soughed into my mind. “Not yet.”
I calmed, and continued flexing my sore muscles. Not like I could do anything about it anyway. I warmed as the sun
rose higher and eventually the vines eased their hold and slithered away from me. Slowly I tested each pain-ridden
muscle. The simple act of sitting up had never taken me more than a moment. This morning, forever was closer to the
correct time frame. When I eventually made it upright I was stunned by the loveliness encircling me. Instead of the
briars and underbrush choking the other clearings, flowers and grass filled the space. And, oh, Lord and Lady, at the
foot of the felled oak I’d slumbered next to, the roots had left a deep hole and the hole was filled with cool water. It
wasn’t flowing and was somewhat brackish but to my parched and tortured throat it tasted like the nectar of the
gods.
I knew better than to drink my fill, but it didn’t make stopping any easier. I leaned back against the tree and let the
liquid settle. While I rested, I glanced around the clearing. The Lord and Lady were strong in this little patch, and
blessed be, there were berry plants and an apple tree. It wasn’t natural, this speck of brilliance in the middle of the
twisted darkness, but who was I to question a miracle? Perhaps the local residents had enough magic to maintain it.
With my back against the tree I felt the aged voice whisper, “It was not like this before you came.”
I reached for my charms. Could the thrice-blessed be powerful enough to permit the Lord and Lady to claim this tiny
bit?
And the voice in my mind responded to my thought, “‘Tis you lady. You fill his shadows with hope.”
“Whose shadows? And who are you?”
“The first I may not tell you. The second...” The voice paused briefly and the limbs of the tree waved in the morning
breeze, the vines that had encased me earlier writhed toward me. I remained still. “As to the second, lady, you are
leaning on me.”
I felt the roughened bark behind my back and shrugged. I was missing three months of my life. I awoke to more
monsters than I’d ever actually seen in my life, and run for hours through a dark and twisted wood pursued by a
monster so huge it had shaken the ground. Though to tell the truth, the ‘fear’ of the creature had pursued me, after
the roar I had no sense of him following me. The voices had said he chose big and impressive. What exactly did that
mean? Was he a shape changer? A talking tree was not so terribly hard to believe.
I worked up the strength to stand and take the five steps toward the patch of berries. As I approached, a cloud of
oversized dragonflies took to the air. Closer inspection showed them to be little men and women...sort of. I examined
them as they clustered around me. They were covered in a deep green fur, but other than that they were naked.
Antennae stuck out of their head and the translucent wings could just as easily have belonged to the dragonflies I
first mistook them for, but the intelligence in their eyes told me these were the speakers.
“Thank you,” I said.
“For what?” They asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.
“For not telling those others where I was.”
“We didn’t know, lady. Even half dead, Oak keeps his secrets.”
Apparently I didn’t have to be leaning against him for Oak to make himself heard to me. “Secrets are the only way to
keep the talkies quiet.”
“Talkies?”
“Those you are speaking to. Love to hear themselves talk.” He sounded like a long suffering parent and for the first
time in two days, I found myself smiling.
One of the bolder talkies flew near me and lifted a lock of my hair. “Yellow. Pretty.”
Having examined and been examined I turned my attention back to the berries, deep red raspberries half the size of
my palm. I took three of them and retired to lean against Oak. The trip there and back exhausted my underfed,
overworked, body. I’d never seen raspberries large enough I could not simply pop one in my mouth and chew it. Juice
ran down my chin as I bit into the sweetest fruit I’d ever eaten.
The flesh and juice slid down my throat and the effect on my strength was immediate. I held the thrice-blessed
charms and dared to hope I could regain control of my life.
I knew I didn’t want to continue north. Frozen, barren, wasteland was not my idea of a good time. South was asking
to run into him—whoever he was—and east would take me back into the horde of monsters that had run off from the
cabin. Realistically, I knew they dispersed and I was probably surrounded by them, but knowing how many had run in
that direction I decided to go west. While I finished two of the fruits, the talkies lined themselves up on Oak. Sated, I
held the third berry up to them and they swarmed it as though I offered them ambrosia. As if they hadn’t been
feasting on the berries when I interrupted them. Juice ran between my fingers as talkies consumed the berry. It
stained my hand red and I could just imagine what my chin looked like.
When they finished I went to the pool at Oak’s feet and washed. I glanced at the talkies and then stripped down and
submerged myself in the cold water washing away the sweat and brambles of yesterday. I scrubbed my skirt and
blouse then climbed from the pool and draped them over Oak to dry while I picked some apples for the day’s journey.
Five luscious ripe apples were within easy reach. More than I really wanted to carry, but not knowing if I’d find
anything to eat later, I tore the bottom of my skirt off and knotted the apples in it. I was dressing when I sensed
another presence in my clearing.
Quickly pulling my damp blouse, which was somewhat the worse for yesterday’s journey, down to cover my midriff, I
glanced around. On the far side of the clearing, under the apple tree, stood a horse. Not just any horse but a
stunning black creature with small ears and doe-like eyes. His mane and tail floated around him like so many wisps of
silk caught in a breeze. His shoulders were muscular, neck arched, hips well-rounded and his back, broad and inviting.
He looked as out of place in this forest as my little clearing. He snorted at me and took a hesitant step in my direction.
Temptation dragged me toward him, the talkies and Oak remained silent. In fact the talkies had disappeared. He
matched me step for step until he stood beside me in the middle of the clearing. He presented his side to me as
though inviting me to mount and warning bells went off in my head. I recalled the stories told to me by one of my
shepherds about large, overly-friendly black horses. I backed away as tales of pookas flooded into my mind. Large
blue eyes gazed into mine and I remembered a pooka’s eyes were supposed to be pale yellow.
I decided walking was preferable to drowning. A huge black stallion offering to allow me to ride was too tempting,
therefore probably too good to be true.
I picked up my apples, slipped my feet into what was left of the thin leather shoes I’d been wearing yesterday when I
awoke and began my journey for the day, silently bidding farewell to Oak. There was no response.
I paused at the apple tree and stretched to gather three more apples. Just beyond reach of my fingertips I was about
to give up when a short swift breeze loosened two of them. One fell in my palm the other I pinned between elbow
and torso as it fell. I placed one on the ground in front of the horse and bit into the other as I walked into the west,
passing into the dark forest around my clearing. I looked over my shoulder to watch the horse look between me and
the too high branch the apple had come from. After a moment’s hesitation he ate the apple then trotted to catch up,
bumping my shoulder with a velvety muzzle, occasionally circling around in front of me to present his side for me to
mount. I patiently walked around him and continued.
I wasn’t going to accept that which he seemed too eager to offer but his silent companionship was not unwelcome.
When he disappeared mid-morning, I acutely felt his absence. I wasn’t lonely long. No sooner was he out of sight
than talkies surrounded me.
There were a couple who weren’t the dark green of the group I’d breakfasted with. A rich maroon color flittered off to
my left and splashes of yellow fluttered overhead.
“Where is the lady going?” The maroons asked.
“Running,” the greens said.
“Walking,” the maroons argued.
“Running away,” the greens insisted.
“From what?” The yellows entered the conversation.
I listened closely because I’d like to know the answer to that question myself. The answer didn’t tell me any more
than the morning conversation I’d listened to.
“Master.” The greens’ voices were hushed. It sounded like only half of them answered.
The yellows laughed. The maroons gasped. The greens circled me. “Lady, you should hurry.”
A few of the yellows flew away, their flight uneven as they giggled. The maroons hovered just outside the circle of
greens and then darted to the south following the direction the horse had traveled. I lengthened my stride in
response to the greens’ urging for more speed, but I was determined not to run myself ragged. I began to get the
feeling if the Master took it in his mind to find me, I would not be safe in his woods no matter how many thrice-
blessed charms I wore. I could only hope whatever was delaying him, held him long enough to allow me to find my
way out.
I ate one of the apples and the weariness of the morning’s trek faded away. In the afternoon I came across a small
brook flowing west, and followed it. The greens stayed with me the rest of the day and as the darkness deepened
with the setting sun, I sought out another clearing. The fallen tree in this one was also an oak but its leaves were
long dead and the wood, dry and brittle, no life remained but it would still be decent shelter.
I piled leaves deep while I could still see, then ate a second apple. When darkness was complete I burrowed into the
leaves, using half for a bed and half to cover myself up.
Sunshine brought me awake to a clearing as different from that I went to sleep in as night from day. Berry bushes
lined the banks of the small stream that cut through the center of the clearing. A peach tree grew across the clearing
and butterflies covered its branches.
Unlike yesterday’s dragonflies, the butterflies were no more than butterflies, brilliant splashes of orange and gold
against the dark forest surrounding my sunny patch. The talkies were still there, hidden in the berry bushes until I
started picking them. This morning only greens were present. As I had yesterday, I washed up, but this time I just
washed face and hands. When I turned around I wasn’t the least bit surprised to find an ass standing across the
clearing under the peach tree. He reached up and snatched at the lowest peach, consuming it and leaving the pit on
the ground. As I watched another tree sprouted from the pit left behind.
I was torn with indecision when he presented himself to carry me. A pooka was capable of shape changing, but could
something that existed to wreak havoc and cause death also be responsible for causing new life to spring from a
freshly dropped seed? Or had it been the Lord and Lady’s magic encompassing the grove that grew the sprout? I
handed the donkey one of yesterday’s apples, filled my makeshift bag with peaches, put the sun to my back and
began walking. The donkey did not follow as long as the horse had, seeming to understand the futility far sooner.
Nightfall brought another clearing. Morning brought berries, talkies and pears. I wondered what form the pooka
would take today. I arose from washing and turned to the pear tree. A glimmer of white winked in and out of the
shadows of the forest. Unlike the stallion and the ass it seemed more reluctant to approach, but when I sat against
the log, it stepped into the sunlight on the opposite side of the clearing.
If Mama wanted proof that none of the shepherds had ever convinced me to give up my virtue, this was it. A unicorn
stood under the pear tree. Delicate nostrils fluttered as though by scent it could ascertain I was in fact a virgin. Unlike
the black, this stallion’s mane and tail did not float on the air currents. Each strand glistened as though it contained
the sun, and the horn was eighteen glittering spirals of gold. Surely something as evil as a pooka could not take the
image of something that represented innocence and virtue. I stood and walked to the pear tree and replaced the fruit
I’d eaten the day before.
I held a pear out to the unicorn and he nibbled it delicately. Emboldened by the offering he lifted his nostrils and
sniffed my hair, warm breath tickling my neck. Blue eyes stared down the long nose, carefully watching me. Unlike the
other two, he didn’t offer himself up as a mount seeming content to trail behind me, occasionally walking alongside
and placing his neck under my hand.
When I chose a clearing for lunch he was still there. He lay down beside me and placed his head in my lap. When I
tried to stand he put pressure on my lap and flexed his head so his horn lay along my hip. “Stay with me, Lady.”
“I’m being hunted. I need to get out of this forest.”
“He will not come near while I am here.”
“You know who he is?”
“Everyone knows of you, lady. And everyone knows the Master hunts for you.”
“But why? What does he want?”
“He watches the humans. Plays at being one and one day you stopped in the hills and shared your lunch with him in
exchange for no more than a tale. He told you of the pooka and then you thanked him and said you needed to hurry
home. He found you fascinating.”
“So he repays my kindness by stealing away three months of my life?” Anger edged my voice.
“No lady. It was naught but yesterday he brought you to this forest. It is always autumn here.”
“What were his plans? Perhaps it has only been a day but did he plan to let me return to my parents?”
“His plans were not complete. He is not used to being refused and you refused him. So he stole you. Didn’t think it
through.”
“He never asked me anything. How could I refuse him? He sounds like a spoiled brat.” But I was afraid I did perhaps
remember him. and he did ask me for something but it was something I wasn’t prepared to give.
The unicorn remained silent for a moment a crystalline blue tear formed in the corner of his eye. Sadness pervaded
his voice. “You do not even remember him? You came three times to where he tended sheep in the mountains. Each
time you brought him food and talked long into the afternoon.”
“I’m sorry. It’s a game I play called, ‘drive Mama crazy’. The shepherds are nice enough, but I talk to all of them.
Doesn’t mean anything.”
“He desired you.”
I laughed. “Most of them do. They live a lonely life.”
“And yet here we are with my head in your lap. How do you manage that?”
“Most of them are honorable. Those who are not find it difficult to catch the wind.”
“One of your parents is the wind?”
I couldn’t fathom the tremor in his voice. Running my hand through his mane I shook my head with a laugh. “It’s just
an expression. Mama used to tell me that to run any faster I’d need wings and only the wind could catch me.”
“Are you certain it’s just an expression? It would explain...”
He stopped speaking. He seemed more free to speak than anybody I’d met thus far in the forest, but something had
just made him shut down.
“Anyway,” I said, “None of them could catch me. Even satyrs tried from time to time. Now I really must be going.” A
shudder ran through his body as I wrapped my hand around his horn and used it to pry his head off my lap.
He stood and followed me through the forest as we spent the afternoon walking into the sun, alongside the creek.
Occasionally I saw the talkies but the unicorn’s presence kept them at bay.
As I prepared my leaf bed, the unicorn said, “You may use my neck as a pillow if it would please you.”
“That’s all right. It couldn’t possibly be comfortable for you to stay still all night. I’m actually getting used to this.”
He hung his head, nose brushing the ground, horn resting in my pile of leaves. “Then allow me do this.”
In place of my leaves a mattress appeared. I knelt down and placed my hand on the flannel surface. It was soft and
warm. I sank into its gentle embrace. He lay down beside the mattress, his head resting on the edge, horn buried in
the soft depths.
I dreamed that night of a young man tending his flock in the mountains. I remembered him. It had struck me odd that
he had no dogs to help protect his flock. His black hair had been held back in a leather tie and fell nearly to his waist.
High cheekbones, straight nose and the most glorious blue eyes I’d ever seen. Wide shoulders, narrow waist, slender
hips and when he took his shirt off to relax in the sun while he ate, there was no shame in the muscle he carried. Oh
yes, I remembered him. I’d gone back to his part of the hills three separate times, each time going to great pains to
hunt him down.
The third time we sat together long into the afternoon talking about sheep and the hills and the forest where he
claimed he’d seen me collecting herbs. And when he touched my arm and looked me in the eyes and asked me to
spend the night with him, the burn in my lower abdomen that flooded down my legs turning them to liquid told me to
stay. Only my fear of Mama’s disappointment and Papa’s anger forced me to toss back my head, laugh and tell him I
had to go home. He was honorable. He had looked sad but he watched me go without attempting to stop me. Which
was good because the legs I was so immensely proud of wouldn’t have been able to outrun a newborn child, much
less a determined man.
I dreamed he lay beside me now in this dark forest. I dreamed of making love to him and when I awoke the next
morning, the forest, for as far as I could see, was filled with tall straight trees and dappled summer sunlight. Every
tiny clearing was filled with ripe luscious berries and the larger clearings held fruit trees. Gone were the briars and the
shadows felt more like familiar friends. The unicorn lay with his legs curled under him, patiently waiting for me to
awaken.
When I looked at him, he asked, “What did you dream of, lady?”
My cheeks burned. “That’s none of your business.”
“But it is, lady. I am charged with keeping this forest alive and despite my efforts, ever has it dwelt in gloom. You
dreamed and brought summer where summer has not been for hundreds of years. I would know what magic this is.”
I sat back, enjoying the warm summer sun on my face. “If this change was brought on by my dreams, you could not
duplicate the effect.”
“Please, indulge me.”
But I shook my head, clamped my lips together and prepared for the day’s walk.
After we ate, he asked me, “Why do you travel in this direction?”
“Because a forest cannot go on forever.” I explained my choice of directions then said, “When I am free of the forest I
will find other people, perhaps they can tell me how to get home.”
My answer displeased him. “Do you dislike us so very much then?”
“It’s not that I dislike you, but my parents will be worried for me. Or angry at me. I would never have taken off
without telling them where I was going, but the night I was stolen from my bed I argued with them. They may even
think I ran away.” Tears formed in the corners of my eyes and I wiped them with my sleeve before they could fall. I
could not bear for my parents to believe I was a willful, ungrateful brat who would run away just to thwart their plans.
“Why did you argue with them?”
“They wanted me to marry.”
Silence fell as he stopped walking. I looked back over my shoulder as he muttered to himself. Finally he hurried to
catch up. “You find marriage disagreeable?”
“They picked the boy they wanted me to marry and did not think I should have any say in it.”
“Tell me about this boy.”
It sounded like a reasonable request, except for the anxiety in his tone. I told him anyway. “Serl and I are of an age.
We grew up together, climbing trees, wandering through the mountains until his father decided it was time for him to
apprentice in the chandler’s shop. Blond hair, hazel eyes, nose a bit crooked where I broke it with a stick in a ‘sword’
fight. He’s pleasant enough to look at. We’ve always gotten along well. I suppose before I met your master, I wouldn’
t have balked at marrying him. My parents thought they were doing right by me.”
The unicorn’s head flew up in the air and he bugled his surprise, then seemed embarrassed by such a horse-like
display. “You would throw away a friendship of a lifetime for a person you met three times?”
“I cannot explain it. I only know I was attracted to him in a way that barely let me walk away the afternoon he asked
me to stay.”
“Yesterday you could not even remember him.”
“You said I shared my lunch with him. I have shared my lunch with many people. How was I to know which was your
master?”
“And how are you certain of him now?”
I waved at the summer forest we traveled through. “Because I dreamed of him last night.” The pleased look on his
face was well worth the embarrassment of that admission.
“You dreamed of him and brought summer to a small part of his land. Imagine if you had accepted his offer.”
“Accepting his offer would have made me no better than the whores in the taverns. It did not happen then; it will not
happen now. I don’t believe he’s the type to force his attention on a woman. Of course I did not think him the type to
steal a woman from her bed.”
“He had...encouragement. His parents think it well past time he should have a mate. He went every day to await you
in the mountains but you did not return. He thought if he took you from the familiar, he could convince you to accept
him.”
I stared into the glorious blue eyes of the unicorn. “You certainly know him well. Why wasn’t he there when I awoke?”
“His parents called him. Their realm had been invaded by humans searching for a missing girl. They suspected he may
have had the wrong reaction to their encouragement. You awoke from the spell before he could return.”
“And just how did the talkies put it...you thought that by being...excuse me… he thought that by being large and
impressive he could frighten me into obeying his every wish. Frightened me all right. Clean out the window and nearly
to death.”
The unicorn placed his horn on my chest. A twitch of his head would kill me but I felt no fear. Sparkles floated from his
hide. The blue eyes closed and when he opened them again, they were brown. The glitter swirled like dust motes
catching the sun. I closed my eyes to shut out the flare of light. When the glow dimmed, I opened them to see my
black-haired shepherd, his hand resting on the unicorn’s mane.
“Cornall.” I breathed his name. “You joined with the unicorn?” I couldn’t keep the dismay from my voice. “I believed
you transformed yourself.”
He shook his head and scratched the unicorn’s withers. “The stallion was transformation. A wondrous creature was
he not?”
“Too wondrous. In fact it was your own tales of the pooka that made me refuse to ride him.”
He smiled. “And the donkey was also me. I thought perhaps you’d find it fitting since I’d done such a good job of
making an ass of myself. But not even the son of the Lord and Lady of the forest can take on the likeness of a
unicorn.”
I stopped dead. “Just like that? By the way I’m the son of the forest?”
“I thought you had figured it out.”
“I had my suspicions. So tell me...to join with a unicorn...does one not have to be a virgin?”
His cheeks turned crimson.
The unicorn answered. “You are correct, lady.”
I looked back at the son of the forest. “Then I’m guessing other women have turned you down.”
“You were the first I asked. I apologize for everything I have done so terribly wrong. Courtship is not something I
know. And I certainly did not take the wind into account.”
He was talking gibberish. “What does the wind have to do with anything?”
“I did not figure out what made you so special until you started speaking of the wind. I think there may be more to it
than an offhand comment by your mother. No human could have gone through the window of the room I left you in.
Nor could a human have run so far it took me all day and night to find her in my own demesne.”
“The window almost killed me, and I had fear to drive my legs.”
“You don’t even know how far you ran. Fear is not enough. A human would have died before they accomplished what
you did. I believe your sire was the wind.”
I stared at him now and fear prickled the back of my neck. He was every bit as handsome as I remembered but he
was crazy, and we were alone. I looked at the unicorn, hoping he would not allow a virgin to be injured or taken by
force. His head was nodding as though he agreed with the madman standing in front of me.
Cornall grabbed my hand. I fought the urge to flinch. He was too powerful to fight.
“I can see you don’t believe me. Lady knows I’ve given you plenty of reason to fear me, but this should not be one of
them. Would you believe the Lady of The Woods if she told you your sire was the wind?”
I backed away a step. “I’d like to go home.”
He held fast to my hand moving with me. “As a shepherd I asked you to stay the night because my parents would
never have approved a deeper commitment. But now...”
“Nothing has changed.”
The earnest look on his face made it hard to be afraid. “The apples—that first morning, you couldn’t reach them. The
wind answered your need.”
Couldn’t argue that.
“It took me so long to find you because in my over-confidence I figured you’d tire by mid-afternoon and find some
place to hide. I slowed down and thought about what I’d done. Talked to several of my friends and took their advice
on how to fix the mess I made. Then I started searching for you. Then I panicked because I couldn’t find you.” His
voice took on a desperate edge. “I kept looking and I sent the fairies out to search. The trees kept leading them
farther.” Reaching out to grab my other hand he sank to his knees and placed his forehead on my knuckles. “I
thought somehow you made them lie for you. I didn’t believe you could possibly have gone so far. You scarcely left
foot prints, no scent. I had to dig through leaves as though the wind had blown them over your trail. If not for the
fairies and the trees, I may not have found you.”
“Fairies?”
“I saw you talking to them. They appreciate your berries.”
“Those were fairies?”
“What did they tell you they were?”
I pulled him off his knees. “Oak told me they were talkies.”
“Oak? The trees spoke to you?”
“A tree spoke to me.”
He gripped my hands so hard it hurt. “You belong here.” His thumbs rubbed the back of my hands. His palms were
sweating. “Stay with me?”
What he was saying couldn’t be true even though he obviously believed it. “I can’t.”
“Give me a reason.”
“I already have. When I get married, I will be a virgin.”
The unicorn stepped forward and placed his horn on Cornall’s shoulder, pushing him back to his knees. A curl of gold
peeled off his horn. Cornall released my hand and plucked it from the air as it fell. He looked up at me and said,
“That’s what I meant this time. Be my mate. Marry me. Whatever your customs require. Grow old with me.”
If a fairy had landed on my shoulder I’d have fallen over. The son of the forest was asking me to marry him. The curl
of gold was warm as it molded to my finger. I glanced away from him to examine it. Wrapped twice around my finger,
it carried fine engravings of running unicorns interspersed with oak trees. Doubt still niggled at my mind. “What about
your parents?”
“They will be happy for us.”
“Yes.” I breathed the word experimentally. It slid from my mouth as though it had a will of its own. I didn’t believe he
would even hear it but as I prepared to answer him louder he surged to his feet and lifted me off the ground. He
lowered me until our faces were level and his lips sought out mine. When breathing became necessary I bent back
and said, “I wish to get married in my village, with my parents there.”
My feet never touched the ground. He lifted me onto the unicorn’s back then transformed himself into the black
stallion and the pair of them spun around and ran back the way we had come, continuing east long past where I had
spent my first night in the forest. Landscape flew by. We passed out of the shadows of his forest into open meadows
and then mountains and finally into a forest that felt familiar. It welcomed me and the thrice-blessed charms warmed
between my breasts. A stag with a magnificent set of antlers and a white hart stepped into our path and the unicorn
and the stallion slid to a stop.
Cornall and the deer all changed to human form. He wrapped them both in his arms before turning and lifting me from
the unicorn’s back. “Mother. Father. I’m glad you’re here. I’d like to introduce my mate, the lady Dara.”
They looked from me to the unicorn and back to their son, mouths gaping in surprise.
They remained speechless and a worried look crossed his face. “Say something. You’ve been trying to force women
on me for the last hundred years.”
“She knows who you are?”
“I would think that obvious, Mother.”
“Have you considered how short the life span of a human is?”
“I did father, but I think perhaps she is not fully human. You should see her run.”
The Lord’s interest deepened. The Lady brushed my throat with her fingers and stood back, lifting her nose to the air.
“The...wind. How is this possible? The wind has not sired a child in over a century.”
“Perhaps she’s second generation. Perhaps you do not know everyone in your circle as well as you believe. I wanted
her before I discovered this. When it became obvious I could grow old with her, I asked her to marry me. She has
magic too, Mother. She brought summer to my forest. She caused fruit trees and berries to grow wherever she slept.”
The Lady raised an eyebrow and turned to assess me again. “Is this true?”
I kept my eyes lowered. “I thought perhaps he did it.”
“He has not been able to do these things since we gave him his own demesne. If they happened, it was not him.”
I reached a hand out to him as bright pink color flushed his cheeks.
The Lord rubbed his chin thoughtfully; long dark hair shadowed his angular features as he stared at the ground. A
slight movement at his feet swirled and grew into a vaguely human shaped pile of dirt.
“What is it?” The dirt sighed.
“Is this your daughter?”
Eyes appeared on the side of the dirt nearest me. A thin arm of dirt flowed toward me and I stood to be poked and
prodded. A smile appeared in a mouth that hadn’t been there a moment ago. “It would seem she is. How old are you,
child?”
“Seventeen.”
“Ahhh...” the sigh was like that of a breeze in a heavily leafed maple. “From Torlinsville?”
I nodded.
“Your mother’s hair is blonde?”
I nodded again. Of course that covered three quarters of the women in town.
“She is well?”
“She has two other children, and she’s married.”
“That is well then.”
The face disappeared and reformed in front of the Lord of the forest. “You were complaining so vehemently about the
lack of potential mates for Cornall, I decided to help. I guess I forgot to mention it. I go so many places...” The face
appeared in front of me. “Morana?”
“That’s Mama’s name.”
“There you have it,” the wind said and the pile of dirt fell in on itself. The lady of the forest advanced and wrapped
her arms about me. “Welcome to the family, Dara. Now though, I believe perhaps you should let the lady Morana
know you live. And see to it my son apologizes for any distress he caused her.”
“Yes, Lady,” I said.
Her fingers groped at my throat and a tug on the silver chain brought out the thrice-blessed charms. “Leave these
with her, that she might visit. You’ll have no need of them.”
She stepped back from me and a cool breeze lifted my hair and ran across the flesh of my arms and throat. In my ear
the wind soughed, “The boy had best take care of my gift. If he doesn’t, you need only think of me and I’ll be there.”
And then the breeze was gone.
Cornall turned and held out his hand. “Shall we.”
The unicorn stood in the background the Lord of the forest produced an apple and fed it to him. “Thank you for your
service. You are released.”
The unicorn turned soft brown eyes on me and said, “I’ll wait. I can carry her back.”
I sensed an argument but then Cornall nodded. His form shimmered and the stallion stood beside me. He knelt for me
to get on his back. I tucked my skirt under my bare legs and seat, then grabbed his mane as he surged upward and
forward, galloping out of the forest and down the hill stopping in front my house. The moment I dismounted, he
shimmered and changed, standing before me in a knee length, hunter green tunic and hosen. He looked at me and
drew his finger down the length of my body changing my torn blouse and skirt to a velvet gown, complete with tightly
laced stays, in the same shade of green.
I opened the door and found Mama at the dining room table. Red eyes peered up at me. Dried tears left tracks of dirt
down her face. Papa sat beside her, arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders. From the damp patches on his tunic
I could see she’d been leaning on him, crying.
He saw me and leaped to his feet. His face turned bright red. His hand raised in a fist. Cornall lifted his hand and
waved it at him. Papa’s fist bent backward and he was driven to his knees.
I laid a hand on Cornall’s, “Let him be. He’s worried about Mama.”
Cornall lowered his hand.
Papa stayed on the floor. Mama pushed her chair over backward and grabbed me, a hand on each arm as she stared
in my face as though to be certain it was truly me, then pulled me close and cried into my shoulder.
She collected herself and stood back again, her attention focused on Cornall. “I suppose this is why you did not want
to marry Serl.”
“Yes, Mama.”
“And look at you, dressed like a queen. Figured it was one of those shepherds you had taken up and run off with.”
“I didn’t run off Mama, and I’ve been trying to get back here for three days.”
“Tis truth lady. I took her, hoping I could convince her to agree to accept me. But she escaped my prison and I’ve had
a time catching up with her and making her see I meant her no harm.”
“And did you?”
“She has agreed to marry me.”
Mama looked back at me. “Did he hurt you?”
“Scared me more than anything. And Mama I rode a unicorn back to the edge of the forest.” That should settle the
worst of her fears.
“Who are you then, to steal a child from her bed?”
“I met her several times and my tongue tied itself in knots and said stupid things when I tried to ask her to come
away with me. And then she stopped coming to see me. I was a desperate fool. Her beauty made it near impossible
to forget she existed. Now I’ve met her parents I see where she gets that beauty from.”
Mama looked at him as though trying to make up her mind. “You’re right about that tongue of yours saying stupid
things. I’m her Mother, but Dara was two years old when her father and I married. I do not know who her sire is.”
“I am aware of that, Ma’am. Most like you were enjoying a summer day as so many young maidens do, swimming in
the pool by the waterfall. Did your friends suddenly catch a chill and go home?”
Mama nodded slowly. “How could you know that?”
“It’s how the wind works. Lady Dara’s sire was a god. He took you without your consent and for that I’m sorry. It
would seem he was attempting to answer my parents’ wishes that I find a mate who could grow old with me.”
On the floor, Papa’s jaw opened and closed in stunned amazement. He had asked often who my father was and he
would not accept that Mama did not know.
“You did not answer my question. Who are you? How is it possible that eighteen years ago you were in need of a
wife and yet you look no older than my daughter?”
“My parents are the Lord and Lady of the forest.”
He said it so matter of fact, as though the son of the forest walked into your house everyday and announced he was
marrying your daughter.
##
Mama went straight to work planning the wedding. The other villagers assumed I must have come back from running
away, humble and pregnant that she was in such a hurry to send me off again.
Riding a unicorn to within a hundred yards of the ceremony accompanied by two people who could only be the Lord
and Lady of the forest put an end to all the whispers. The Lord and Lady flanked me to the alter as though they
thought I may have second thoughts and run. Cornall waited with the priestess who fell to her knees as her gods
approached her.
The forest didn’t need the ceremony, but I did, and Mama did. As Cornall and I promised to love each other the rest of
our lives a gentle breeze played with my hair and tugged Cornall’s, threatening punishment if he broke his vow. My
sire at least cared enough to watch the fruition of his eighteen-year-old plan.
After the ceremony, Cornall lifted me to the unicorn’s back then shimmered, and in full view of the villagers galloped
away wearing the form of the magical black stallion, anxious to get back and bring summer to his forest.
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