Chapter 14

From PenguinWiki

 Welcome << Chapter 13 - Chapter 15 >>

[edit] Chapter Fourteen

And then, with a sudden start, he woke up. He quickly squeezed his eyes shut again. "Maybe it had all been a dream! ... But what a strange dream ... a unicorn, one that could fly." That was a strange one he thought and he rolled on to his right side and tried to go back to sleep. Perhaps he might dream some more ... but what would he dream about this time?

Then cold shiver possessed him, like an ice-cold knife stabbing through his heart. Looking up at the wide open blue sky he could see a figure descending slowly and gently toward him. The sun illuminated the figure, its large broad white feathered wings beating behind it gracefully like an angel, its mane being tossed backwards by the wind and its legs moving in the air as if it were jumping down from the clouds. The spiral horn of the unicorn shimmered like a million sparkling diamonds, and his bright blue eyes were looking for the young boy that he had saved. He could see the young child sitting against a large tree, part-covered in a sleeping rug. He was looking much better now, he'd even built a fire to keep himself warm ... he would be fine. The unicorn was glad he had come back to check up on the child, it had put his mind at peace. He had been worried whether the child would even survive the night.

He tossed his mane back as he remembered that previous evening's events, how on his night-flight he had seen the attack on a traveling carriage by looters. The men in the carriage were fighting off the enemy, allowing enough time for a small band of women & children to slip away into the bushes. Unnoticed by the women, one child was falling behind carrying a heavy rucksack, and had stumbled and fallen backwards down the steep bank into the river with a splash. The women heard the splash and looked back, one went to the river's edge and looked down - it was too far down to go down and rescue him. She had told the child to hold onto a rock and try and stay hidden from the looters, they'd come back for him soon. The child was in shock and shivering, but he had nodded to show he understood, and the woman disappeared into the forest. The looters had already taken over the carriage by this time and dumping the bodies on the side of the road. It had been too late for Ishmael to help anyone there, he would have been outnumbered thirty to one. He had observed the boy gripping on to a rock near the river edge trying to pull himself up, but suddenly the current got stronger and teased him away back into the open river towards the waterfall.

Ishmael had wasted no time and dived down towards the boy, he could see him moving faster and faster towards the edge of the waterfall. Just as the boy went over the edge screaming, Ishmael managed to swoop down and grab hold of his rucksack straps in his mouth between his teeth, using his wings to pull the child up and out of danger. They landed on a wide ledge just to the right of the waterfall, panting and exhausted. Ishmael knew this place, he used it as a safe hideaway sometimes, there was a natural turquoise-colored light produced by the rocks that he liked. He had carried the child further down the ledge, going behind the waterfall to a cavern in the mountainside with walls made of the same natural turquoise-glowing rocks, hidden from view outside. Ishmaelhad put the boy down, and moved back towards the wall so as not to appear hostile.

The boy had been in shock and was breathing rapidly, but slowly got his breath back. He was looking all around him in amazement, and showed no fear or hesitation in getting up to his feet and exploring the cavern.

Ishmael had watched the child noticing the inscribings on the wall and an image, he knew what they were. The central image was the Black & Gold covered building in Mecca that was special to followers of Islam. On the right of the image there was an inscribing in Arabic that said 'Allah', and on the left of the image was an inscribing that said 'Muhammad'. The child looked upon Ishmael strangely and appreciatively, and pulled something out from his rucksack. He walked over towards the unicorn slowly, and with both his hands held out a single red rose, which he placed on the floor in front of him and said "Thank you".

Ishmael had waited several hours for the looters to move on, before he and the boy made their way down to a meadow close to some large trees providing cover from the rain, where they spent the night.

Now it was morning and time to move. Ishmael walked up to a tree near where the boy was sleeping, and gave it a fierce kick, 14 apples fell down and rolled towards the boy. The boy jumped up in delight, it was breakfast time. During breakfast, the boy thanked Ishmael again and told him all about his journey so far. He was planning to make his way back to find the women he'd been with in the carriage, he knew where they were headed. After breakfast the boy put on his rucksack, then walked up and stroked Ishmael's neck, gave him a big hug & kiss, and looked up smiling at him in his eyes. He stood back and saluted the unicorn, said 'Assalamu alaikum' ('Peace be with you' in arabic) walked into the forest waving. Ishmael returned this goodbye, by a tossing of his mane backwards and nodding of his head, his horn sparkling.

 Welcome << Chapter 13 - Chapter 15 >>