Chapter Six


Liiiiiii-llyyyyyyyy! an impatient mental voice called through Lilly's dreams. She slowly opened her eyes, and found herself facing three scowling faces. One was that of her friend Ivan's phoenix, Isichar. The next was that of her own companion, Lyra, who was quickly becoming an adolescent Glenn Dragon.



The third was of Sef, Maya's Griffin. Her elegant, femenine eyes were narrowed. She had become an adult a few days ago, and she was almost finished with her bout of molting that seemed to come with reaching the next stage of her life.



"We've been waiting," Sef said dryly, "for you to finally wake up."

Exactly, Lyra confirmed in the same aggrivated tone of voice. We're already late to our training session!

Lilly groaned, rolled over, and closed her eyes, pushing her face into her pillow. She wouldn't have stayed up so late celebrating her fourteenth birthday if she hadn't forgotten her training session! Slowly rising, she swung her legs over the side of her bed, and trudged into the bathroom.

After showering and changing into some loose-fit clothes, she began to attack her thick, bushy black hair with a brush. Finally, she just put a headband on. She slipped on red earrings for some strange reason, and slid her feet into her worn old sneakers. She then proceeded to walk back into her room, and climb onto Lyra's back.

"Giddyap," Lilly muttered, still half-asleep. The training session morning routine was like second-nature to her after so many months of it. She wasn't surprised to find Maya and Ivan in her living room, after last night's movies and popcorn that had lasted until 2 A.M. "Wake 'em up, Sef and Isichar."

"Will do," Sef said with impish pleasure. Isichar squawked in agreement. Even as Lilly exited the house, she could hear Maya's screech of awakening. Wondering what exactly Sef had done this time, Lilly turned to the moutain.

"What's your air element worth?" Lilly asked teasingly of her mount. "See if you can't still get us there on time, Lyrababe."

If you call me that one more time, I just might have to hurt you, Lyra said in a mock-growl. With that being said, the elegant cerulean blue spread her wings, and slowly lifted from the ground. The powerful appendages beat up and down, as Lilly felt, for the millionth time, the cool wind flying through her dark hair. She closed her eyes, and grinned into the onslaught of the breezes and soft leaves brushing her face from the tallest trees.

Lilly opened her eyes again, and looked over at the regular place on the mountain. There sat an expectant Legatus, his dark eyes twinkling even from far away. He nodded, and Lilly began the drill.

She tapped gently on Lyra's left shoulder, and Lyra dived left. They remained in their swift plummet, until Lilly tapped Lyra's neck. Lyra instantly switched direction, flying smoothly upward, and slightly to the left. Realizing that they were going a bit far left, Lilly tapped Lyra's right shoulder instead. They made a sharp turn right, still spiraling upward.

"Okay," Lilly said quickly as they went. "Good so far. Now, you know how it goes. Legatus will send out commands, and we follow them. Got it? Here we go."

They stopped, hovering slightly in mid-air. We're ready, Lyra sent to Legatus, her vibrant green eyes narrowed in concentration. Then, she received the message from Legatus's faithful, highly intelligent morsani pet.

Up, turn left, and get to that pointy rock on the mountain, said the growling mental voice of the feline.

Lilly immediately, instinctively, tapped Lyra's neck. They spiraled upward, up, up, up....

Left shoulder...she tapped the left shoulder, and they went at an angle...up to the pointy rock...I see it...go there now, Lyra, you see it too....

Lyra plunged upward, and made a violent, crashing landing on the earth beside the pointy rock. Lilly jumped off, treading delicately and carefully. She imagined a real, live morsani, crouching behind that rock, and she plunged, striking out....

There was no morsani. However, there was...something. It was a small, glistening something. It shone with all the iridescent colors of the rainbow, and it seemed to have its own aura of light surrounding it. It made Lyra's perfect, glistening scales look dull and flithy.

"What the..." Lilly breathed. Did she dare pick it up? She'd take it back to Legatus...he'd tell her what it was....

She reached out, her fingers trembling, and she wrapped her hand ever so tenderly around the thing. She didn't fall over dead, but her hand did feel warm, somehow. She scrambled back onto Lyra's back, and whispered, "Get down to Legatus. I'll show this to him."

Lyra closed her eyes, concentrating hard. There's an aura of magic surrounding that, she sent decisively. We really should get it to Legatus...I'm not old enough to sense whether the magic is good or evil, yet.

With that, the two flew swiftly back to Legatus. Lilly was quite surprised - she'd never known that Lyra could sense magic before....

"Ah..." Legatus said fondly, fingering the object that Lilly had presented to him a moment ago. "I may be mistaken...in fact, I'm sure I am, but.... Yes, I'm quite inclined to say that you have found a figment from the hoof of a Unicorn."

I've heard of them, Lyra said suddenly. My siblings and I used to talk about the wildest things in the nest. They told me that unicorns are like horses, but with horns. Is that true?

"If that is," Lilly said, "I saw it." She didn't quite know what made her say that, but, when the word Unicorn left Legatus's lips, the powder blue horse she had seen rushed across the channels of her memory. "Powder blue," she said.

Legatus nodded. "They have been known to appear in secluded areas of the city. They like to live around those humans they find trustworthy. You must have made quite an impression on that Unicorn, Lilly!"

"Why?" she asked, confused.

"Unicorns almost never show themselves to the humans they share their home with," Legatus said. With that, he nodded toward the skies. "Out. Practice. Now."

He then winked at the two, who were still confused. Mentally shrugging, Lilly mounted Lyra and took to the skies again.



That night, Lyra was lounging by the window. She gazed out into the trees, wondering when she would first have to face a real, wild morsani. She dreaded the moment....

What was that? Lilly pressed her nose to the window, and watched the powder-blue form come into better view. The Unicorn was back, and Lilly could clearly see its horn now. The horn glowed gold, lighting the Unicorn and everything around it. It gave the creature an almost unearthly aura.



Lilly watched it. It seemed to be watching her as well. The sat for several hour-long minutes, staring into each others' eyes from countless yards apart. That was when Lilly heard a soft voice echoing in her mind. It was almost like a whisper, but it had its own strength.

Spyri.

"Spyri?"

Spyri.

"Erm...Lilly...?"

Greetings.

"Greetings to you too." The conversation dropped, as Lilly tried to think of something to say to the Unicorn. "I...I'm the Guardian," she said, finishing lamely.

Greetings.

"Greetings." This was going nowhere. "Um...where are you from?"

Lesthpoldia.

"Where...where is that?"

Far.

"Far away?"

Yes.

Suddenly, Lilly felt sorry for the poor creature. Indeed, even as it spoke its next fateful words, a hint of sorrow remained in its voice.

Morsani.

Lilly froze. "Wha...what about them?"

Coming.

Lilly could no more reply than she could move. Coming? For once, she wished that the Unicorn would say more than word at a time. At last, she managed to squeak out, "The...morsani are coming?"

Yes.

"Are they coming soon?"

No.

Lilly breathed again. However, she felt the need to ask more of this Unicorn while it lingered. "How far away are they?"

1700.

"1700 miles?"

Yes.

It wasn't a long ways away, but it was still pretty far. She suddenly felt an uncomfortable knot in her stomach, and she knew one more question to ask.

"How many?"

Thousands. With that, Sypri dissapeared.




Background from here