Molly the Unicorn Part 2
by Neoraichu
This story is based on the Movie, the Last Unicorn.
...
King Haggard watched as the Red Bull returned from it's nightly hunt. While it wasn't unusual for the Red Bull to return empty handed lately, as there could only be a few unicorns left in the whole world that it had not collected yet, it seemed to carry itself differently this time. It's head was hung low and its stride lacked its usual confident swagger. Could the unimaginable have happened? Could the Red Bull have been defeated?
"This is most unprecedented," said Haggard aloud to himself.
While Haggard didn't directly speak to the Red Bull, he always seemed to have an impression about what happened to the Red Bull while it was out hunting. He remembered the early days of the hunt when the Red Bull returned with three or four beautiful unicorns every night. He could clearly remember the feelings of triumph and confidence that radiated from the Red Bull like a heat wave.
While he couldn't get the exact details, he clearly got the impression that the Red Bull was not defeated by the unicorn itself, which had never fought back before, but instead was thwarted by guardians of the beast. Perhaps they were even humans. He couldn't imagine what sort of person had the power and the skill to thwart the ambitions of the Red Bull, but they certainly had to be some sort of mighty warrior or powerful wizard.
On the other hand, the Red Bull could have been defeated by lucky chance. He could hardly deny the Red Bull a second chance to get the job done. "If this happens again tomorrow," he announced loudly to the Red Bull even though he had no clue whether or not he was heard by the beast let alone understood by it, "I will have to employ other means. I have little tolerance for failure."
...
Molly Grue seemed to be truly happy as a unicorn. Schmendrick could find no other way to look at it.
Most of the morning hours passed by as Amalthea showed Molly what to eat and what to avoid eating. Molly relished her new palate, eating things like flower buds and tender grass that surely would have made her barf as a human. At one point, he could hear Molly asking, "Why can't I eat this? Is it poisonous to unicorns?"
He also clearly heard the answer from Amalthea. "No," she said, "unicorns cannot be poisoned, but we can get sick to our stomachs if we eat the wrong things. The flesh of beasts, for example, will never sit well in the stomach of a unicorn."
"I see," said Molly giggling, "Well I can live without meat without too much loss. It's not like Captain Cully stuffed us with meat every night. I should know, as I did all of the cooking for him and his ragtag band of scofflaws."
Molly and Amalthea seemed to be inseparable companions at this point. Schmendrick even realized that he was feeling a twinge of jealously while he was pretty much ignored by the two. It was fortunate that the unicorns could graze as they went, as he only had to feed himself now.
...
About midday, they came across another village controlled by King Haggard. He took the girls to a stable where he paid the local stable girl several copper coins to feed them oats, give them a good grooming, and otherwise pamper them for hours on end. She could see that they were unicorns, announcing that she was the luckiest girl in the world, but he was sure that even if she talked about it, that no adult would take her seriously. The unicorns certainly liked the young girl well enough, and were certainly inclined not to object to the affections lavished upon them, not even Molly Grue. This was definitely a new experience for her.
With that out of the way, Schmendrick sought out a place to feed himself. With the little money he had left, he had to find a cheap dive that served a lot of leftover gruel made from the leftover morning oat meal of several days combined with the all of the unused food and scraps from all of the other dishes, and a lot of weak watered-down beer. It took a couple of hours for Schmendrick to get stuffed, and he was taking his sweet time to boot. With a mighty belch that drew looks from everyone present, he decided it was time to go.
He went to the Town Square to make some easy money performing cheap tricks that had nothing to do with magic. It was all simple sleight of hand and coordinated maneuvers, like making coins appear out of people's ears, or juggling half a dozen balls at once. Honest hard working folks always seemed to be entertained by such simple things. After three of four hours of performing, he had amassed a dozen or so more copper coins in the hat he had set by his side.
As the sun waned in the sky, he knew it was time to leave the village. He knew that if the Red Bull attacked again in the night, they could not be anywhere near a place where innocent humans lived. It would be best if no innocent animals were endangered either.
He was not surprised to see a balding man scolding the stable girl as he approached. "Stop telling people we have unicorns, sweetie," he said, "there's no such thing. I don't want people to think you're crazy or something."
She seemed to be rather dejected.
"Pardon me," said Schmendrick, "but I heard you talking. I am the Great Wizard Schmendrick, and might there be something I can do for you?"
"You're well traveled, right? You've seen a lot of things?" he asked, "Just tell my little girl here there aren't any unicorns, and certainly none in my stables. Just horses."
He walks up to the young girl, patting her on the head as he said, "She is young and innocent, and believes many things that no one is holding against her. Tooth fairies give coppers for lost teeth, and Santa Clause gives presents to all the good boys and girls on one night every year, right?"
The man nods quietly as he continued, "We both know what's real, don't we? There's no point in spoiling the fantasy right now, is there? If she believes in her innocent little heart that there's unicorns in your stable, who are we to crush her spirits? It's a sweet story that she can tell to her children and her grandchildren."
"You are so right, Mister Wizard," he said. He turns to the stable girl and says, "If you say they're unicorns, sweetie, then daddy believes you. Take care of them and play with them until they have to leave, okay? But don't stay up to late, you have chores you have to do at the crack of dawn tomorrow, just like any other day."
She smiled noticeably and said enthusiastically, "Yes father, I will."
"Oh," added Schmendrick, "I have to take my horses and leave right now. I realized I'm late for a show in the next town."
"It isn't safe to travel in the night, sir," said the man with a touch of concern, "it isn't safe. There could be monsters."
"I am the Great Wizard Schmendrick," he boasted, "the night holds nothing that frightens me. There is no monster that can defeat me and my magics."
"As you want, sir," said the man as he scratched his chin. He turned to the stable girl, and said "I can handle this. You need to go to bed, young lady. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man... uhm... a young lady... uhm... something something something..."
"Yes father." She turned and withdrew into the house.
...
As Schmendrick deduced in town, the Red Bull attacked again by night, and Molly once again drove it away with her ferocious offensive. The battle must have lasted for at least an hour. He figured that she even managed to inflicted light wounds to the forelegs of the monstrous flaming beast with her magical horn. Even though Molly was knocked down and winded more than once, she would not give up or let the Red Bull get anywhere near Amalthea.
...
King Haggard watched as the Red Bull returned defeated for the second time. He deduced that since the Red Bull returned to quickly, that the unicorn had to be nearby, in his own kingdom. "How can a unicorn go unseen in my own kingdom for this long?" he asked aloud. "Who has been hiding and defending a unicorn from the Red Bull and from me? Why do I keep asking myself questions out loud like this?"
There was no answer.
"Lir!" he shouted, "Your King needs you!"
It wasn't long before the dutiful son appeared before him, asking "Yes Father?"
"There is some evil man or beast holding a unicorn against its will in my kingdom. Follow the Red Bull tonight and slay whatever keeps the unicorn captive so that the Red Bull might herd it to the safety of the other unicorns. This I command."
"As you wish, Father."