Jim's mind was reeling, he had unknowingly been walking and talking to the Unicorn for what must have been many hours, and now the dawn was starting to break. It had also clouded over and had started to snow lightly, he could see the flakes in the morning twilight. The white unicorn was a most beautiful sight as she tossed her head in the air as if to catch and play with the snowflakes, occasionally prancing like a young playful filly as she walked on. It reminded him of a card he'd been sent by a friend one Christmas.
Jim seemed to be in a trance when his attention was suddenly snapped back into reality by the cold and the pain in his arm. He had still been carrying his toolbox all this time ! He quickly stopped and put it down on the light snow. Looking around him, he then realized that the land was flat, which for where he was shouldn't ever have been.
"You'll have need of your spells wizard" said the unicorn as she stopped and looked back at Jim.
"I'm NOT a wizard for pity's sake" said Jim, utterly exasperated by this point, mainly as he was tired, cold and angry with himself as he'd just realized he'd been following a mythical Unicorn for so many miles, a situation that seemed utterly and totally beyond reality or his sanity
"You are, you'll see" said the unicorn, which was still walking on ahead of him.
Jim got up again and picked up his toolbox with the other hand. "Then tell me" shouted Jim "Why me, why have you come to me now !" Jim cursed himself again, as he realized he sounded like Molly Grue from a book he'd read. The Unicorn stopped to let him catch up again.
"I have been watching you for a very long time, I said someone had need of you, a person who could see us, live in our world for a time and could restore the Helinth."
"The WHAT ?" shouted Jim, this was going too far, he sat down again and looked round half expecting the Candid Camera team or Jeremy Beadle to come around with TV cameras from behind a tree, laughing at him.
"I'll tell you more later" said the Unicorn, "but you are tired, but we are about to cross quickly into my world. We still have very far to go, so climb onto my back for a while."
"And my 'spells' eh ?" enquired Jim, sitting down in the snow and drumming the top of his toolbox with his fingers in exasperation. The Unicorn lowered her head and picked up one of her cloven front hoof's and stamped it loudly on the snowy ground.
"The elves will bring them" she said, "They'll take them safely to where were going".
"I thought a mortal couldn't ride a unicorn ?" Jim stammered.
"Your a doubting lot you wizards" replied the Unicorn, she walked up to him and looked him close in the face, her horn inches away from him.
"And where did you pick that myth up from ? Don't tell me, it's all those fairy stories written by you humans, wrong as usual! You see fairies as good and dragons as bad, you have no idea do you !"
Jim gave up arguing, and climbed nervously onto the Unicorns back. This he found quite easy, he often rode horses anyway, and often worked at weekends around various local stables. The Unicorn was only about 14 hands high, it was easy for him to gently vault onto her. He felt at home and at ease on her strong, wide muscled back, as he gently clutched a handful of her foamy coloured mane. It felt nothing like the hair of any horse he'd known, but much finer. He felt something else too, he felt the Unicorns mind and it was full of hope and happiness.
The Unicorn went from a walk quickly
through the paces to an amazing gallop. He'd never experienced
anything like this, he'd ridden some good Arabian horses whose
light movement seemed to float on air, but this was like
the wind itself ! It was a wonderful experience.
They went on for what must have been 20 miles, The Unicorn never seemed to tire, he could feel her steady pulse and breathing as slow and light as if she was just at a walk. If only he could find an endurance horse like that ! Jim couldn't tell how long it had been travelling for sure as his watch had stopped at 23:43. He felt an urgency from the Unicorn now, a need to be 'there' soon. Then he saw a point of light which came out of nowhere, blinding him before it suddenly crinkled up around him and turned into a million flickering fragments like he was looking through shattering glass. The air became warm, so suddenly that he gasped for breath, as they emerged into a summers evening sky with a sea shore in the distance.
"What the..........where ?" Jim's stammered, his voice suddenly freezing with shock !
There was another unicorn standing there, some distance away !
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