Sapphire
“Shawna! Shawnaaaa!”
Orin was running blindly around the forest, whacking tree limbs with his sword, and crashing through the underbrush like a bull. He was frantic after the light disappeared and had taken Shawna with it.
“Shawna!”
“Orin!” Lula yelled.
She flew up to his face. He didn’t look at her.
“Orin, yelling is not working.”
He rushed away from her further into the dark woods, calling for Shawna.
“Orin! Stop yelling!”
A faint yelp bounced out of the darkness up ahead. Lula flew over to see if he had finally run himself into a tree. Instead he had run into Antares who was practically sitting on him. Orin was on his back completely pinned by two giant paws.
Antares growled at him. “If you keep howling like a gargoyle I’ll make sure you end up looking like one.”
Orin lay gasping and glaring up at the crimson glowing, nine hundred pound beast.
“Fine,” Orin muttered, glowering so much he really did resemble a gargoyle. “Then what should we do? What’s your great idea? If you didn’t notice she’s gone!”
Antares curled his lip as Orin’s spit speckled his muzzle. He roared and shoved his snarling face into Orin’s, black claws extending and curving around his shoulders, but Orin didn’t flinch. They growled and glared at each other. Lula rolled her eyes.
“How cute you two are,” she said, crossing her arms.
Mira stepped in upon the scene. “What’s going on?”
Antares let him go, and Orin leapt to his feet with fists clenched.
“They were cuddling,” said Lula.
Orin shot her an ugly look, and she gave one back. Mira looked up at the stars and shook her mane like she was trying to rid herself of gnats. She stomped a front hoof, and everyone looked at her.
“We need to calm down and think. We cannot afford to lose ourselves to petty emotion. We don’t know where any one of them are right now, and that puts us all in danger.”
Everyone knew she meant Gavan as well as Shawna and Adhara.
Lula glanced around. “What should we do?”
It was several minutes of everyone looking at everyone else until Mira finally answered.
“There is something…something here. I can feel it. A magic so strong, yet so intricately woven, that I cannot detect its purpose. I believe she is here though. Somewhere close.”
Orin stiffened, looking all around. “Where? Where is she? How can we find her?!”
“I am not sure. Calm down. All I know is that she is here somewhere, concealed by very powerful magic. Even I cannot dispel it. I’m afraid all we can do is wait.”
“Wait?!” At Orin’s shout Lula shot upward, hitting her head on a low branch. “We can’t just sit here and wait. We have to do something. What if she needs us?!”
Lula rubbed her head, glaring at Orin, while Mira spoke.
“I think if she needed us we would know. Somehow, we would know.”
Orin ran his tongue along his bottom teeth. “Somehow? Is that the best of your powers, unicorn? Somehow we would know?”
“Yes.” Her eyes shone like gems in the starlight. “I believe. I believe more than anything that we will know when she needs us.”
He scoffed, throwing his hands up. “You ‘believe.’ That’s great. Hope that works out for you. This”—He waved his arms around at the silent forest robed by night—“this waiting around for a sign is useless.”
He said it so coldly that Lula thought Mira would do as she promised and run him through with her horn, but her eyes swam with pity not anger.
Without another glance, he turned away, and said, “while you do nothing, I’m going to do something.”
But before he took one step, they all heard a noise. As one, they turned their eyes to the mountain pass.
“Oh, no,” whispered Lula, covering her mouth.
Mira’s horn ignited with flame. The earth trembled from millions upon millions of feet. The air vibrated with countless screeches, snarls, and howls. A piercing horrifying howl echoed down the mountainside, repeated a million times over. It sounded like the mountain was erupting and crumbling from within.
“The molochs,” Mira gasped, rolling her eyes in fear as their hordes crested the mountain pass and began to descend.