From: CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu (Chris Meadows) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [AU] A Day in the Life Date: Mon, 24 May 93 09:52:44 CDT Message-ID: <16BD88AEC.CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu> Keywords: Andrea Sheryl Jay unicorn transition rescue new friend ADMIN: I'm still away until June 7th. I just managed to get back up here temporarily to put this out. See you in June! ----- DEDICATION: This segment is dedicated to Liralen Li, who has been a big help to me in my stories, and whose terse comments on whatever I churn out are always worth a great deal to me. ----- In our last episodes, Andrea, Sheryl, and Jake Pitzar fought off a brigand attack on the small abandoned house where they're staying the night, and set up shifts for the rest of the night. Andrea has been undergoing some strange...changes. The next morning found Andrea staring out the window as the sun slowly rose on the eastern horizon. There had been no incidents during the night, and she had been startled to find that Jake had stood watch almost the whole night, only waking her up about an hour ago. "You looked like you needed it," was all he'd said before retiring himself. Now Andrea sat there, half-asleep. She yawned, and Sheryl came trotting over. "Good morning, sister!" she nickered brightly. Andrea jumped. "What?" Sheryl nickered again, and this time Andrea couldn't understand it. "Wait a minute..." Andrea said aloud. "Yesterday morning I was able to understand you, too, when I was only half-awake. But when I was fully awake, I couldn't. Hmmm. Let's try a little experiment." As Jake stirred, she said, "But let's try it outside. C'mon, Sheryl." They stepped outdoors, where the rising sun was touching the dew-tipped grass with sparkles of light. "Now...let's try to understand each other..." she said, half-closing her eyes, trying to concentrate on sleep. Then something inside her SHIFTED, somehow, and her right hand started to pulse coolly. When she opened her eyes everything looked...different. Sharper, somehow, and clearer. Though Andrea didn't know it, her eyes had just become electric blue, matching Sheryl's for color. "Sister, can you understand me?" Sheryl whinnied. "Yes!" Andrea cried. "Yes, yes I can!" She knelt and embraced Sheryl. Tears came to her eyes. For the first time in over ten years, she could actually understand what her sister was saying! Sheryl seemed to be not a little emotional herself. "Sheryl..." Andrea said. "Are you well? Is there anything wrong, anything that's bothering you? I've never been able to ask that before and expect any kind of an answer." Sheryl tossed her head. "No," she replied. "You've always been the best sister a unicorn could hope to have." "Good. That's the one thing that I really wanted to know. But tell me, how did we get here?" Andrea feared she knew the answer already, but she wanted independant confirmation from Sheryl. "It's just as that man said," Sheryl nickered. "You became a unicorn, and ran. I'm worried." Andrea shook her head, becoming more agitated. "But how could that be? What has happened to me?" "I don't know. Evil one's curse?" "But we deflected it." "Maybe not all." Andrea shook her head violently, more in the manner of an equine tossing its head than the human gesture of denial. "It can't be...it just can't..." "Sister, you're changing!" Sheryl whinnied nervously. And Andrea looked down at her arms to see that they were lengthening, her fingers melding together into hooves, arms and legs stiffening...and then, suddenly, she stood on four legs, looking out through the eyes of a unicorn. "I--I am a unicorn!" Andrea nickered in amazement, confusion, and horror. "So you are," Sheryl agreed. "But what am I going to do?" "Run!" Sheryl suggested exuberantly. "Let's go!" "Seeing as I don't have any other pressing engagements, I might as well," Andrea whinnied wryly. And they were off! <> Andrea and Sheryl galloped together, and the landscape seemed to blur behind them. They ran through grassy meadows, over hills and through valleys, under the trees of an old forest, and alongside a river for several miles. Andrea had never known a feeling like this, complete and utter freedom, unmarred by human cares and concerns. She was beginning to appreciate why Sheryl would rather stay a 'corn. THONK! Andrea felt a sharp pain in her right flank. She stumbled, fell over, got unsteadily to her feet. She was horrified to find an arrow sticking out of her hindquarter! "Got it!" a voice came from the bushes. "But what IS it?" "It's a unicorn!" The two hunters emerged from the bushes. They wore leather jerkins, and carried bows and hunting knives. "Not a deer at all. Better!" "Sheryl, run!" Andrea whinnied. "Get out of here, get Jake's help!" "Get that other one!" But before the hunters could move, Sheryl's horn began to glow, releasing a sparkling cloud that cascaded down over her, and then she was gone. Andrea wished she knew how to do that. "Quick, get it before it escapes!" The two man ran forward, and Andrea stepped back. As they came closer, Andrea stepped back farther--then the ground gave way beneath her, and she was suddenly in the river! Caught in the current, she was carried swiftly downstream, as she struggled to keep her head above the water. Jay ran up the street as fast as his limping legs would carry him, out past the shops at the edge of town and into the woods, toward his secret hiding-place. The blond-haired, lanky fourteen-year-old was battered and bruised from his stepfather's latest beating, and holding back tears from the pain as he stumbled down the trail, tripping over some roots but getting up again and moving onward. He was going to leave this town. Yes, he would do just that. There was nothing here for him, anyway, except an abusive stepfather and the scorn of all the other kids. Nothing would hold him here any longer. Maybe he would go to Generica! The river was just ahead. There he could wash off the blood and dirt before moving onward to his hidden place. It flowed through the forest, and, it was said, on into the Great Blue. Jay didn't know this for certain; he'd never been there, after all. Jay stumbled down the dirt embankment into the river ford with a splash. The soothing coolness was a welcome sensation after the beating he had just received. And then he heard the sound of something struggling in the water. He looked upstream, and gasped. There was a horse or something in the water, fighting the current. It was swimming over toward shore...toward the very ford Jay was sitting next to, in fact. It looked very bedraggled, almost spent...Jay moved forward to help it ashore. A horse! It could be his ticket to Generica! And then he saw its horn. "A unicorn!" Jay breathed, even as he lent his support to the mare, helping her ashore. She stood on the embankment, head drooping, mane and tail hanging in sodden clumps. There was an arrow sticking out of her right flank. "Gods, who would shoot an arrow into a unicorn?" Jay breathed as he examined it closely. The mare swung her head around, observing him with soulful blue eyes. She nickered weakly. "Don't worry, girl..." Jay said. "Hmmm..." He looked at the arrow. He'd watched the local cleric remove arrows plenty of times. He THOUGHT he could do it... "This is prob'ly going to hurt a lot." The 'corn nodded. Or so Jay thought (did unicorns nod? Were they that intelligent?). "All right, then..." Jay reached down and grasped the arrow by the haft. The mare flinched, but didn't bolt. Gently he tugged, gradually working the arrow free of the wound with the head intact. "There!" he announced triumphantly, holding the gory arrow up for her inspection. He threw it in the river. "Hmmm. What can I do about that wound?" Then looking down at his own shirt, torn and bloody from from the most recent beating, he smiled. "Well, this shirt's torn up anyway." He tore a strip off of it, washed it in the river, and used the sap from a nearby pine tree to make it stick to the unicorn's flank where the wound was. Looking at the remains of the shirt, Jay shrugged, and tore it off. Casting it in the river, he said, "Better off without it." Of course, it also made the crisscrossing pattern of scars from old beatings and welts from more recent ones show up on his chest and back. The unicorn still stood there weakly. "We have to get you to some shelter before someone else comes along and notices you. And I think I have just the place. Follow me." He started walking along the shore, looked back and saw that the unicorn hadn't started moving. He walked back to her. "Come on, you can make it...it's only a little ways along, and it's nice and warm and dry in there," he pleaded. "Come on...please?" Jay didn't know why, but he felt he had to save this 'corn, he was responsible for her safety. He was extremely happy when she started to come along, stumbling a bit, head down, limping, but still coming. "It's just a little farther," Jay said, glancing back over his shoulder to be sure the 'corn was keeping up. They rounded a bend, and Jay pushed some bushes aside, revealing a small cave. "Come in here, please." Without even looking up, the unicorn stepped inside. Jay pulled the bushes back into place behind him, and lit a lamp hanging on the side of the cave. Illuminated by the glow was a small room, with two old wooden stalls, a campfire spot, and a small spring in the middle of one of the walls. The stalls were filled with hay, old but dry. There was also a small chest up against one of the walls. Jay believed this to be an old smugglers' haven from bygone days. "You can sleep in here until you're feeling better," Jay said. "I'm going to be in here a lot, too. Oh, by the way, my name's Jay." The unicorn stumbled into the stall, lay down on the soft hay, and was soon breathing regularly, in a deep sleep. Jay set to building a fire to warm the room. Then he searched the corner for where some old rags were, and started rubbing down the wet, sleeping 'corn so she wouldn't catch a chill. She stirred a little in her sleep, but didn't wake. With her wound and the exertion of her struggle against the river, she was going to be under for a while. As Jay finished, his own wounds started to ache, and he sat down by the fire, which was by now beginning to crackle quite nicely. As he looked at the unicorn mare, he wondered what he was going to do. The thought of betraying her to those who would pay dearly for a unicorn never even crossed his mind, of course. Jay could see that he would have to return to the town despite his vow to leave and not return, to obtain food and medicine. He sighed. He'd just have to avoid his stepfather, he guessed. After a few moments' rest, Jay stood, and walked out of the cave. Andrea woke in strange surroundings, feeling strangely weak. She opened her eyes to look around--and realized that she was a unicorn! "Oooh...what happened..." she groaned, though all an onlooker would have heard was a pained whinny. "Sheryl?" And then she started to remember... Recalling the arrow wound, Andrea winced, and swung her head back to take a look. It had been bandaged...but who had...? Then she recalled the young boy who had helped her out of the river, pulled the arrow out, and led her here, to this shelter. He'd said his name was Jay, she recalled... The fire in the room was dying away to embers, the smoke floating up through a small hole in the ceiling through which a bit of sunlight was also visible. The boy was nowhere in sight. And Sheryl was also not around. Andrea remembered sending her for help from Jake, and hoped she'd made it, for Sheryl's own sake. When she tried to stand up, Andrea discovered that her leg was painfully stiff, and she ached all over from the exertion of struggling against the river current. She snorted in pain, but finally managed to get to her feet, bits of hay sticking to her. "I'd better change back to human form and get out of here." Andrea concentrated on becoming human...and nothing happened! She tried again, tried harder...she felt SOMETHING, but she didn't change. She tossed her head, panic in her eyes. Was it because of her wound, her lack of control over the change, or some more insidious effect of the curse? Andrea had no way of knowing! Then the bushes that covered the cave mouth rustled, and Andrea backed up in the stall, head lowered, horn pointing toward the young man who came in, a new shirt and knapsack on his back. "Hey, easy, girl, it's just me, Jay." Andrea relaxed as the young man came forward. "Hmm, the fire's going down, better fix that back up." He put the satchel on the ground and added more wood to the fire. "So...you new around here?" Jay asked, opening the backpack. Andrea snorted, demonstrating the extent of her conversational abilities. "Oh, right, you can't talk. You seem smart enough, though." Andrea WISHED she could demonstrate just how smart she was, but she couldn't talk, and she couldn't change back. Now she was truly beginning to appreciate how Sheryl had to have felt for all these years. "I brought some healing salve and bandages for that cut of yours." He chuckled. "The cleric thought it was for me, for obvious reasons. I didn't tell him I had a unicorn in my cave." He laughed. "As if he'd believe me if I did." He set the jar down, and pulled out a currycomb and brush. "I had to swipe these from the stalls. But they'll never miss them." Next out of the bag was a sack of oats. "I didn't know what unicorns eat, so I took some grain from the stall while I was at it. There should be enough for a couple of meals for you here." He pulled out something else--a rather large hunting knife. He strapped it on. "Since I don't plan to go back there for much longer, I took this. If they can't find me, they can't beat me." Andrea chuckled, though it came out as a neigh. That had been her philosophy during her training days so long ago, when she had taken whatever she could get away with from the Selactican shops. "Anyway, first I'd better put some of this on your cut." He uncapped the jar of salve and approached her, pulling off the bandage. "Okay, it doesn't seem to be infected. Ah, okay now, here we go...good girl." He placed a fresh bandage on Andrea's wound, then stepped back. "How's that?" Andrea nickered and nodded her head. It really did feel better! The salve seemed to have some sort of numbing property, which made it easier to move that leg. It was probably helping it heal, too. "Good." He picked up the comb and brush. "Now I'll just go over you with these...if you have no objections, of course." Andrea snorted. "I'll take that as a 'yes,' Jay said, moving in closer to her and starting to brush. "You really do look a mess, you know." Andrea relaxed as Jay brushed and combed her, working out the snarls in her mane and tail and getting all the dirt out of her coat. It felt great, like a backrub might feel to a human. Maybe being a unicorn wasn't so bad after all...? As Jay worked her over, Andrea glanced back at him. He'd taken his shirt off as he worked, revealing scars and deep welts that made Andrea wince to look at. Gods, but those had to HURT! If only there was something she could DO...But wait a minute, she was a unicorn, maybe there WAS! Andrea reached out toward him with her horn. Jay looked up. "Huh?" But he didn't move, he just stood there, letting Andrea touch him. Now how did Sheryl do this? It surely wasn't just the touch...it had to involve concentration, too, didn't it? Andrea relaxed, let herself sense the flow of magic within herself. Now, if she could just redirect some of that energy through her horn...Yes, she could do it! Andrea's horn began to glow, and the glow gradually spread over Jay's abraded back, chest, arms, and legs. Under this glow, the lesions gradually closed up, leaving no trace behind them. Jay gasped. "Wow! he said, speechless. "You healed me!" He hugged her around her neck. "Oh, thank you, unicorn! Thank you." Andrea nickered softly, and hoped he would continue with his brushing. He did, working faster now that he didn't have those welts slowing him up. When he was finished, he sat back against the wall and grinned at her. "Hey, you're really pretty now that you're all groomed," he said. And it was true, Andrea saw, examining herself in the pool as she drank from the spring. She was once more the archetypal unicorn, gleaming white with electric blue eyes, luxuriant mane and tail, and gleaming bright horn and hooves, one of the most beautiful creatures ever seen. "Hey, not bad!" Andrea nickered, though of course Jay couldn't understand her. "I look like a real unicorn!" "You're probably pretty hungry, aren't you?" Jay asked. Andrea hadn't thought about it, but now that she did she realized that her stomach was quite empty. She nodded, nickering hungrily. "I thought so." Jay picked up the sack of oats and crossed to the feed trough set into one of the cavern walls. "Hope you don't mind oats...they were all I could get." Andrea was a little doubtful, but then, Sheryl seemed to like them okay, and she WAS hungry enough to eat just about anything...She trotted over to the trough and waited impatiently as he poured some of the oats into it. She took a bite, chewed experimentally..."Wow!" Andrea nickered. "These are really good!" She started eating ravenously. "I guess that means you like them, then," said Jay, who had only heard a couple of pleased nickers. Andrea nodded, nearly bumping her head on the wall, and continued eating. Jay laughed, and took some tools out of his backpack and started tinkering around with a rusty old padlock. It was a set of lockpicks, Andrea noticed, and he was trying to get it open. And he was going about it all wrong. Andrea nickered, "No...you're not doing it right!" but Jay just heard the nicker and thought she was curious. "You wonder what I'm doing? I'm just practicing lockpicking. I learned a bit from a travelling thief, before the people in town drove him out. I hope I can become good enough at it to make a living by it wherever I decide to go from here." He hadn't learned enough, that was for sure! Andrea wished she could tell him the right way, but she was stuck as a unicorn and could not talk. Maybe if she tried again to change back...no, she couldn't do it! All she could do was hope that she would eventually revert without trying, as she had in the past. Jay continued to try to get the lock to open, and finally gave up on it in disgust. "As you can see, I guess have a lot to learn." Andrea nickered and nodded. Jay looked up. "Oh, I guess you may not approve of my trying to learn a thief's trade, being a unicorn and all. But if you don't, you sure haven't indicated it. Funny, I'd always heard unicorns were supposed to be obsessed with good and all that." Andrea snorted. If only he knew about how she and Sheryl had been together for over ten years...then he'd see that a thief and a unicorn wasn't such an unlikely companionship. It all depended on the unicorn. Jay finally put the lock and tools aside. "I guess I'm just not getting it," he said. "I'll try again later." Andrea thought that might probably be a good idea. The boy walked over to the cave entrance, shoved the bushes that camouflaged it aside. "Say, would you like to graze a little? There's some pretty good grass out here by the river." "Why not?" Andrea nickered, walking toward the entrance. Jay held the bushes aside for Andrea to pass, then followed her and let them flop back into place. Andrea looked around, and saw that there was quite a bit of grass in the fifty or so feet between the cave entrance and the riverside. She stepped forward, put her head down, and started grazing. And she found that grass actually tasted DELICIOUS. Why hadn't she ever thought of eating it before? ("Because you weren't a unicorn then, silly!" she told herself wryly.) It sure was good; she could really fill up this way! Several hours passed, as Andrea grazed and enjoyed the afternoon sunlight, and Jay sat against a tree, knees drawn up to his chest, watching her. As the sun warmed her, Andrea could feel her strength coming back, but she was still rather tired from the day's events and sore from her wound. As the sun set on the western horizon, she was only too glad to follow Jay back into the small cave, where he built up the fire while she lay down to rest in the soft hay. As the fire crackled, Jay found a spot of his own in the hay. "Good night, unicorn," he said. Andrea nickered softly in response, and they both fell asleep. Sometime in the night, Andrea woke up to find Jay snuggled up against her back. She went back to sleep. [Note about the music: Since one of my little brothers has lost my Enya tape, I'm not certain about the title of the song mentioned above. If it's the fairly rapid one from "Shepherd Moon" that is very evocative (IMHO) of unicorns galloping, then that's the one. If not, you know which one I mean. If you haven't heard "Shepherd Moon" (or even heard of Enya), then this probably won't mean anything to you anyway.] -- Chris Meadows || NOTICE: I am still away until June 7. CHM173S@SMSVMA.BITNET || I managed to get back up here for a CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU || couple of hours so that I could post CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU || a few things. See ya June 7th!