CHAPTER 24
THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
Johnny was as surprised and happy to see who was stumbling towards him from the nearby bushes, as he was to see the unicorns. “Elizabeth?” He ran to hold her close, while again being careful with her broken arm. “I told you to go to the Great Tree!”
“Leave you alone with that monster? Not a chance, Johnny Goth.” In truth she was too weak and confused to make the trip anyway. She felt numb and ached everywhere, including her poor head.
“A logical choice, human,” spoke again the smaller of the unicorns. “You are indeed safer here. The Evil One has retreated only temporarily, I suspect, and not very far.”
“Pru,” replied Johnny, smiling. “It is good to see you again. And Baldor.”
“I have never been far from you, Wolf Cub,” said Pru.
“You mean the gold watch,” said Elizabeth.
Johnny was suddenly aware that his manners had been lacking. “Pru and Baldor, this is my fiancée, Elizabeth Winters. Elizabeth, meet Pru and Baldor of the People.”
“You are deeply injured, Elizabeth,” said Pru. “The Evil One has hurt you more than you know.”
“I’ve just now patched her up a bit,” said Johnny. “I can heal myself really good, but I’m not nearly as good with others. She needs still more healing.” he put her arm around her and helped steady her, and was shocked when he learned just how weak she was. He telepathically relayed his concern to Pru.
“The Evil One’s work, but she shall soon be healed further, Wolf Cub,” answered Pru. “I ask that the two of you go to the Land with me now. There she may be healed most quickly, and there also you will learn more of your father.”
Johnny frowned. “Ned or Two Bears has told you that Ned’s secret is out?”
“Not exactly. The watch and knife are both small parts of me, Wolf Cub. At times of great need, they can give me glimpses of you and what you think and see.”
“You know everything that happens to me?”
“Far from it. The powers of the watch and knife are limited, and are usually focused on other matters.”
“Such as giving me powers?”
“Again not exactly, small one, though it can provide temporary surges of strength,” voiced Baldor in a deep voice, breaking his silence. “The greatest power that we unicorns possess is to shield those around us from a force that prevents them from learning and using powers that they already possess. As long as you carry the watch, your own natural powers are freed.”
“Even away from the Mountain?”
“The Mountain merely amplifies your life-force,” said Pru. “Your basic abilities are yours. Such powers have always been strong in the Goth family.”
“Amazing. I have many more things to learn, but first Elizabeth must be helped.”
“Yes, young ones, the time has come to go,” said Pru. “Both of you should ride on my back. Baldor will remain here to watch over the one you call Dark.”
Elizabeth, who had been standing supported by Johnny, was suddenly swept up into his strong arms. Though weak and in pain despite strengthening by the Source and Johnny’s continuing first aid efforts, she studied the unicorn as they stepped closer to it.
Pru was the size of an average horse, and similar in shape to a slim Arabian, but there the resemblance ended. She was without a doubt the most stunning and incredible thing Elizabeth had ever seen. Her fur glowed perfect white, as white as the whitest snow, trimmed by silver-gold hooves, mane, tail, and lesser tufts of long hair ringing the ankles above the hooves.
Two other striking features drew her attention most, however. A glowing blue-tinged horn spiraled more than half a meter from Pru’s forehead. Below the horn the two eyes that stared at her were overly large and perfectly black, ageless, bottomless pits, somehow infinitely blacker than the night. They reminded her of Dark’s eyes, she realized.
Almost before she knew it, she and Johnny, after a few moments of floating in the air, were sitting on Pru’s glowing back. Elizabeth sat in front, cuddled protectively by Johnny. Pru’s back felt like that of a mortal horse, she was delighted to find, warm and slightly padded over solid muscle, but at the same time reassuringly sturdy and powerful. Best of all, being with Pru and Johnny was gradually taking away some of her pain and numbness.
“Hold on to my mane,” directed the unicorn.
Johnny and Elizabeth each grasped a handful of flowing silvery-gold mane, as Pru stepped towards the One Tree so smoothly that she seemed to be almost gliding.
“Do not fear, small ones,” said Pru. “Inside the rock you will be kept safe and comfortable, and our journey though infinitely far by some measures will not take very long.”
“Inside the rock?” muttered Elizabeth, as Pru’s horn suddenly glowed much brighter; a cold light that illuminated without burning or irritating the eyes. They reached the tree and continued without pause, moving past it and into the black volcano as if it wasn’t even there. But for the glowing unicorn and its beacon-like horn, they were plunged into darkness, except for a meter-thick, white, glowing tube underfoot that stretched ahead into the darkness. It was the tap-root of the One Tree, the humans realized.
“Don’t worry, Elizabeth,” said Johnny. “Unicorns can travel through things, and take their friends with them.”
“We’re inside Goth Mountain?” Elizabeth asked, when she could find her voice.
“Far beyond it by now, small one,” said Pru. Although the unicorn seemed to be walking slowly with her silver-gold hooves, they appeared to be flying along the root so fast that it was a blur.
“Why don’t we see rock?” asked Elizabeth. “We only see the root.”
“The root lives, the rock does not,” stated Pru. “It is most easy for me to remove all the effects of what does not live.”
“What’s that then?” asked Johnny, pointing at a vast, dark, shadowy bulk to their left.
“It is a layer of rock rich in what you call iron, Wolf Cub. It is somewhat resistant to my powers. I understand that it is also resistant to many human inventions.”
“How do we breathe rock?” asked Johnny. “And how can we speak to each other?”
“Very simple. I brought air with us. We and it exist now apart from your world.”
“In another universe?” asked Johnny in amazement.
“Nearly so. Your world is only slightly askew from this one, as our powers for concealment are limited. Such skills allow us to conceal the Land of the People from your kind and from others.”
“The Land is where you live?” asked Elizabeth.
“Yes. It is our sanctuary from your world,” answered Pru. “Our legends tell us that thousands of years ago, before your kind overran all the Earth, we withdrew to such places to avoid powerful enemies. Only a few of us ever left our sanctuaries, and we interfered only rarely in human affairs. This is our last sanctuary.”
“But you do want the Source to be guarded also,” said Johnny.
“Yes. It has been hidden near us for as long as we can remember, though it is beyond our powers to do anything other than help to hide it. We bask in its great power, but we fear that it is a danger to us and to others.”
“Where are you from?” asked Elizabeth.
“It was so long ago we no longer remember. Perhaps far distant in terms of space, time, and the laws of nature as currently understood by man.”
“What is an elemental?”
“Merely a human term that has been used to describe some of us and some of our enemies. The People all differ greatly from life such as yours. Elementals differ most greatly. Elementals are as much energy as they are matter.”
“And Dark?” asked Johnny.
“Dark is our ancient enemy. We sense that he is very similar to us in composition. He is at least partly elemental. Perhaps he copied our structure to himself, much as our People have copied Earthly life-forms. Not all life developed as did yours. Dark is an ancient evil; an evil that strives to become fully elemental and all-po
werful.”
“Not a visitor like you?” asked Elizabeth.
Before responding, Pru snorted and whinnied strangely. “Earth has been our home for a very long time, mortal,” she stated. “Ours is much more than a visit. Earth is our home. Dark has been our enemy for as long as we can remember. His origins are as great a mystery as our own.”
“Sorry to ask so many questions,” said Elizabeth, afraid that she had been rebuked.
“Don’t be,” responded Pru, after whinnying again. “Curiosity is a highly valued trait; one of the more important things that makes humans more preferable to associate with than Dark, even though he may physically resemble us much more closely. Also, we learn much about you from your questions. You are as worthy of our study as we are of yours. But there is now no more time for such talk. We arrive.”
They had slowed down to walking speed. The glowing root that they followed joined with another, larger root, and then another, until what they followed was a white-glowing root as thick as a bus. For a moment Elizabeth and Johnny glimpsed a great conflagration of dozens of merging roots of titanic size, and then they broke through into the open.
They were on the edge of a great clearing. The whole area was dimly lit, to about the level that would be provided by a full moon, although no glowing lunar orb was visible. Rather, a dim glow seemed to emanate from the entire sky, or roof, or whatever was overhead. The air was comfortably warm with a slight breeze, and it smelled wonderfully of life. Forest night sounds filled the air. Stands of trees, bushes and great boulders loomed nearby, but it was impossible to identify most objects very well in the near-darkness.
Beside them rose an enormous Aspen tree, fully as large as the Great Tree of Goth Mountain. The One Tree glowed slightly, and might easily have become the focus of their attention if not for the ten-meter tall naked giant that stood before them.