Chapter 6
Prideful Warriors
I stood from my nap and yawned. Still tired, I stumbled out into the Big Room. Brayan stood in the middle of a group of unicorns.
I trotted toward him and asked,"What's going on, Brayan?"
Brayan pushed through the crowd of unicorns and explained what they were doing. "We're working on a time to attack the dragons. We also have to figure out a way to get them into Marana so no people will know of the battle going on."
I had told everyone about Marana at dinner, and they had all agreed that it was a good name for the dimension. Unfortunately, we all had to agree that we had to defeat any evil creature we saw, for the dragons now knew the secret of the Sparkle. Since the unicorns at the Sparkle in Marana and in the people dimension were killed, we decided to get from dimension to dimension by having me open up a doorway. The dragons controlled the Sparkle and could go anywhere they wanted. We knew this was an awful truth, but truth none the less.
After a heated discussion among the unicorns, Brayan, and I, I decided to tell the dragons myself. Everyone silently nodded their heads and bowed as I dismissed them. Brayan motioned for me to follow him to his room. We walked in and turned human. Brayan closed the door and leaned against it. I leaned against a wall as he explained what had gone on while I was in the icy dimension.
"We all thought you were gone. I decided that you couldn't be the Dragon Slayer if you were dead, so I picked the next best person for the job. I picked a unicorn named Masia. She was taken from her home with the humans as a baby, for her father beat her mother and her mother wanted to protect Masia. The unicorn who took Masia away heard the mother say that Masia's name was Sarah. We all figured we must have guessed wrong about you being the Dragon Slayer. We thought that maybe you being gone was a wake up call. But now we all see that we were right in the first place. You have to be the Dragon Slayer. You fit all the requirements and we can all sense that it is you."
I smiled and nodded, glad that they no longer doubted I was the one.
"Anyhow, thanks for winning that discussion. It's going to take quite a bit of bravery, skill, and negotiating to get those dragons to come to Marana. I know you can do it."
He smiled encouragingly and opened the door. I smiled back, and we both changed to unicorns. Brayan trotted to the entrance to our cave and bid me farewell. I told him I would see him soon, and that we could move our unicorns to Marana as soon as I returned to open a doorway. He agreed and sent me on my way.
Through the treetops and out into the open air I flew. Silently, gracefully I swooped toward a patch of clouds. Settling down on a firm looking cloud, I tried to find my way to the dragon's hidden cave. Slowly I began to notice trees that looked familiar and clear patches in the forest that I'd seen before. I lifted off the cloud and soared toward the land marks. After twenty minutes of flying, I was able to spot the large hill that hid their cave. Slowing down, I gracefully dove through the trees and to the ground in front of the cave entrance. I heard a voice from inside as the doors began to open. A large dragon's head poked out between the doors and stared at me in surprise. I folded my wings against my body, making sure I was prepared to take off at any time.
I lifted my horn to the sun and said,"Get Clyte, your leader, for me."
The dragon nodded his head vigorously and ran inside the doors. He closed them and ran off toward the Main Room. I gathered all my courage and confidently faced the door. A few moments later, a guard appeared at the door. I heard the doors opening, and not wanting to appear a threat, I changed to human. The dragon came up behind me to escort me into the cave. I boldly took a few steps forward, and when I saw that the dragon wasn't stopping me, I walked right into the cave. The guard followed me as I opened the doors to the Main Room. Inside sat Clyte on his royal throne. He glared down at me as I approached him. I walked to within twenty feet of where he sat, then stopped and stared up at him.
Clyte shifted uncomfortably and asked,"What have you come for?"
I closed my eyes and took two deep breaths. After a few seconds, I opened my eyes and spoke.
"I came to ask you something. So, lets get down to business. I don't want to hear any lame excuses; I can already see past those. I also want no interruptions. Agreed?"
Clyte closed his eyes and opened them again. When he looked down at me, I could tell that he had finally grasped the truth in what I was telling him. He folded his scaly arms across his chest and said,"Go ahead."
I smiled inwardly and began to tell Clyte of my request.
"Clyte, as you know, none of us want to be seen by the humans. I propose we fight at Marana, the dimension with Ferar Trees. Or, what used to have Ferar Trees."
I didn't glare, for I knew he would see that I cared for the Ferar Trees and that could be advantageous for the dragons, if they knew, later on. Clyte rubbed his hands together and smiled an awful smile. I kept my face from frowning, glaring, smiling, or even twitching. I didn't want to show any emotion to this heartless dragon. I began to change to unicorn. Just as I had changed, I saw Clyte's eyes move to the left then back to me. Dragon guards swarmed me, but they were no match for my might. Quicker than any unicorn has ever before moved, I jumped to the side as a dragon dove for my legs. I jumped over so that he would miss me by mere inches. The dragon crashed into the floor and scratched up his snout. The other dragons tried their hardest to catch me, but I was too fast for them. I always made them think they'd get me, then appear a few inches to the left of them. I played with the dragons like this for at least a half hour, before Clyte called them all off. He was fuming. Maybe it was because his dragons were bloody, battered, and bruised. I hadn't even broken a sweat. I put on a serious face and turned to face Clyte. He jumped up out of his throne and flew towards me. I dodged his tail and flew to his back. He yelped as I pranced around on his back. Clyte turned belly up so that I would slide off, but I was already off his back and by his head. He gasped and reached a clawed hand for my face. I moved my head to the side, making him miss. I flew to within seven feet of the ground and turned human. Clyte fell to the ground, hitting his back hard against the cold stone. I landed safely on my feet, for I had gained better balance, and stood my ground as he rose and stomped toward me.
I waited until he was within seven feet of me before I said,"I look forward to seeing you in Marana."
Clyte dove for me, but I jumped out of his reach. It took all I had to keep from smiling. Somehow, believing that I really was the Dragon Slayer had boosted everything within me. I could jump higher and much farther. I could fall from higher places, and I was much, much faster. I was so fast, that my movements couldn't be detected. I turned around and walked toward the huge doors. The dragons tried to close them to keep me in, but I appeared on the other side of the doors. Appeared, meaning I was so fast it seemed like I had teleported myself to the other side of the doors. The dragons stared at me in awe as I changed to a unicorn and walked to the entrance of the cave. I opened my wings and flew into the clear blue sky. Not a single dragon followed me as I soared toward the unicorns' hiding place.
I swooped down and saw a line of unicorns at the open doors. I smiled and gracefully landed on the ground. The unicorns stood, solemnly waiting for me to open the doorway into Marana. I nodded to Brayan, who was at the front of the line, and he walked along the line, following it into the cave. I changed to human and waited. After a few minutes, he came back. He had relayed the message that I was here and that the line would be moving soon. I smiled at Brayan, then turned to open the doorway. Quickly, feeling the rubber between my fingers, I pulled at it to make a doorway. While holding onto the rubber, I saw a list of the dimensions come into my head. They moved very slowly. The one I was looking for wouldn't be a picture of the dimension, it would be a name. If the dimension wasn't named, then a picture would come up. Finally, ‘Marana' passed by. I blinked once, to choose Marana. How I knew to do this was beyond me. It was pure instinct. When I blinked my eyes, it was almost like clicking on a name with your computer mouse to go somewhere. Anyway, it was really cool. I held onto the door to keep it open as the unicorns moved forward to step through. One after another disappeared as they stepped into Marana. I yawned as the line slowly moved forward. All of the unicorns were strong, prepared warriors. I looked at them and smiled. Way down, deep inside I was shaking my head. They weren't going to win by being strong on the outside. They needed to be strong on the inside first. Sure, they had their fighting faces on, which made them seem like they were strong on the inside too. Only I knew that they would break down crying in the middle of our war. They didn't know what war was like. They weren't truly prepared for this war. This would be the worst war since the unicorns and dragons had come to exist. I tried to give them each encouraging smiles, but it became harder and harder as I realized the problem with these unicorns. They weren't prepared on the inside for what was about to happen. My knees grew weak as I realized that we would lose thousands of unicorns and the dragons would still win the war. I gasped and a unicorn turned to see what I was so surprised with. He smiled and puffed up his chest. Holding his head high, he stepped through the doorway. I collapsed on the ground; the doorway closed. I buried my face in my hands and sobbed. The unicorns were filled with pride. We wouldn't win a war like that. I thought of that last unicorn that had just stepped into Marana. He thought I had gasped because he was so powerful, but that wasn't it at all. I was gasping at his amazing amount of pride. We would all fall if this pride continued.
I heard Brayan coming. After all, he was the only one who liked to run around as a human. He stopped beside me and put a hand on my shoulder to comfort me. He found my chin and lifted my head up to face him.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
I could see he was genuinely concerned. I shook my head and lowered my face.
"We're all doomed," I whispered.
I looked back up at Brayan and saw the shocked expression on his face.
"What do you mean? What happened?"
I licked my lips and said,"Lets take a walk."
Brayan nodded and helped me to my feet. He looked down at my shaking legs, then looked worriedly back up at my face. I tried to smile for him, but it came out as a crooked frown. I took a few steps to make sure I could walk, then motioned for him to follow me.
Brayan yelled back to the unicorn at the front of the line,"Tell everyone to prepare for battle. You guys aren't going to Marana just yet. We'll get you there tomorrow."
I nodded back to the unicorn, and he nodded and ran into the cave to relay the message to the others. I set off for the woods with Brayan close on my heels.
"Hey, Sariah, slow down!"
I continued walking and even quickened my pace as I said,"There's no time to lose, Brayan. We have to talk, and right now."
Brayan jogged to my side and looked down at my swiftly moving legs.
"How are you doing that?" He asked.
I looked down at my legs and back at him. "Doing what, Brayan?"
He shook his head and pointed to my feet,"You look like you're walking, but I have to jog to keep up with you!"
I smiled and said,"When I acknowledged that I really was the Dragon Slayer, everything within me stretched. I can jump way higher and farther, walk, run, and move faster. I'm sure there's more to it than just that, but I have yet to find out. I'm also looking at things much more realistically than I used to. I think before I act and try to figure out the consequences of my actions. It's really weird, but I can do so many more things now. I know that I'm special, but I actually believe it this time. Before, it was something people told you to make you feel better. But for me, now, it's real. I actually know that I'm special. And that makes me feel like I can do anything. Maybe I can, but I guess I still have to prove myself wrong on that."
Brayan slowed down, trying to catch his breath. I slowed down for him, noticing that my pulse hadn't sped up any. Finally, I saw an open place in the woods. It wasn't very big, but it was big enough for us to sit down and rest a little bit. I plopped down in some high grass and leaned against a tree. Brayan did the same, only opposite me. I closed my eyes and began to explain the unicorns' pride. After a few moments, I began to think that Brayan finally understood me.
"So," he said,"You think we'll lose because some of our greatest unicorn warriors have self-esteem?"
I shook my head and banged it back against the tree. "No, Brayan! That's not it at all! Self-esteem and pride are two very different things!"
Brayan crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. "There is no pride amongst the unicorns."
I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself, but it did no good. I knew I was right. "Brayan, you and I lost our pride with all the things we went through! Those dragons are less prideful than our unicorns! What do you think of that?! The bad guys have less pride than we do!"
Brayan hit his hand on the ground and said,"That's not true! We don't have pride!"
I shook my head and opened my eyes. "Brayan, don't you see?! If we are prideful, we'll fall. All of this fighting will have been for nothing because we'll lose!"
Brayan shook his head and yelled,"You're wrong! We're not a bit prideful. I'm the one who had them trained. I'm the one who had them become what they are today! It's because of me, that they aren't prideful! You didn't see what I had to do to get them this strong. I worked hard."
I felt tears well up in my eyes as I whispered,"You're prideful too. I see that now. It's because of pride that you won't believe me. It's because of pride that you think that you're unicorns can't be prideful. Well, go ahead, believe that then. But you'll get no help from me in this war if you continue to act this way."
Brayan stood and walked toward me.
I looked up at his face with tears streaming down my cheeks as he pointed a finger in my face and yelled,"You are wrong! We don't need your help anyway! Get out of here!"
He spun around and fiercely stomped through the woods, toward the unicorn cave. I sat on the ground and cried until my eyes were red and my shirt was soaked. My throat was dry from licking all of my tears, and I felt all alone. After all the things I'd been through, I could still cry. It was amazing that I could still let my emotions control me. After all of the torture, pain, and heart aches, I could still cry. I shook my head in wonder and stood up. Now what would I do? I couldn't help the unicorns. They weren't ready for me. I couldn't watch the battle, for I already knew the outcome. I guess there was only one good thing for me to do. So, I did it.
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