Chapter 50

Cat

I followed the horse as she stepped out from the groove. She was insufferable, but at least the travel here had gone surprisingly easy. I looked around. We’d managed to cross the border and were on safe land. The Queen had to die, but despite it all, I knew she still respected the old rule of Unicorn land as neutral territory and wouldn’t bring conflict to it. Now all we had to do was to find the other horses.

I still didn’t know how Sara planned to tell them, but if she didn’t tell me about it soon, I would have to pry it out of her. Who knew if they would even care about her revelation of what they had done in the past, but there was nothing stopping the horse once she got fixed on something.

I wondered what Silvi and Kim were doing. I hadn’t wanted to leave them there, but I knew they couldn’t have come with us. If things went downhill, it was better they weren’t here. The horse halted and watched out over the land. I could see a road in the distance.

“We’re almost there”, she concluded.

I waited for her to continue, but she stayed quiet.

“So, what will you do?”, I asked in the end.

She turned to me, and to my surprise, I thought I saw her smiling. It caught me so off guard, I didn’t know what to say.

“I will ask for counsel.”

At least that made sense. A horse council meant she would be allowed to speak, and their ridiculous traditions forbade them to deny anyone asking for it. But why was she smiling? Was she so happy she had returned to her homeland?

“Okay, so nothing else?”, I managed to ask.

“No”

“Then I’ll keep watch, and if anything happens, we run.”

She smiled.

“Nothing will happen because they will hear the truth.”

Whatever. I hope she didn’t grow stupid just because she had returned. We continued walking, and it didn’t take long until we were out on the road. Soon, I could see stone pillars along the road. She picked up speed, and I almost had to jog to keep pace with her. That’s when I saw the first horses. A group of them, standing by a tree and quietly talking to each other. It didn’t take long before they noticed us.

“Sa-... Sara…? Is that you?”

She halted and turned to them.

“It is, my friend. I have returned.”

They looked at each other in surprise, and then one of them walked up to us.

“What… What brings you here?”

“I have come to seek counsel.”

She continued walking, and after a few bewildered looks, they followed us. Even though I was formally allowed on their land as a guest, I was happy they barely noticed me.

Soon after, we entered into something that I could only have described as a horse village. There were Unicorns everywhere, chatting and talking to themselves. In the middle, I could see an empty circle where I assumed they sat in councils.

She halted before them and called out,

“My friends. I have returned to seek counsel.”