Chapter 8
Mark's New Name
I woke and looked around me. There was nothing to see, yet I had sensed something. The moon was full and made the grass a silvery color. I saw a shadow sweep across the meadow. Still not sure of what it was, I froze and waited for it to either move on or come over the meadow again. A cloud covered the moon, so I took to the air. Looking around, I saw movement to my left. I turned that way and sped toward the shape. I had forgotten about my speed, so I ended up crashing into the form. It yelped as we fell toward the ground. I opened my wings, but it did no good. The creature fell on me and pushed me downward. I tried to escape, but our wings were tangled. We came crashing through the trees, yelping and crying out in pain. It only took a few more seconds for us to splash in a foot high stream. Unfortunately, this stream had an awful lot of rocks. I lay in the stream, letting the water wash my face clean. The left side of my face was numb from the creak when I got up. I looked around for what had caused my fall and noticed a huge lump of fur, a little farther from me, in the stream. I trotted toward it and gasped. There, lying in the stream, was Brayan.
"Brayan!" I yelped, totally surprised to see him.
He turned his head to look at me and grinned slightly. I watched as he stood and shook the water from his mane and tail.
"Brrr, that water's freezing!" He said, while continuing to shake the water off.
"You're not kidding," I agreed. I watched him walk onto the bank beside the creak and lay down. I turned human and sat down beside him.
"So, we meet again," I sadly said.
He turned human and sat down beside me. I looked over to see him sadly nodding his head.
"Alright, so we didn't leave happy last time we met, but one thing will never change. Do you know what that is, Brayan?"
He shook his head and looked up at me. I could tell he felt badly about the last time we'd talked, but that didn't matter to me right now.
"The thing that will never change, is that I will always leave you knowing that you're my best friend."
He wiped his now wet eyes and gave me a hug. We cried on each other's shoulders, knowing what the other one was thinking. We were both so sorry about everything and wanted to start over. I know, because we talked later that night. But at the time, we just cried. Finally, after a few minutes of shedding tears, we parted and wiped our eyes. I smiled, which made him smile, which made my smile even bigger. "I'm sorry," we whispered in unison. We talked for a while, telling each other what had happened the day before. I told Brayan about my adventures with Resda and Mark, while Brayan told me of his new tests for the warriors. I sat back against a tree and closed my eyes, concentrating on Brayan's words. What with the war and all, I didn't know how much longer I'd be able to hear that sweet voice of his.
"So, I came up with a few tests for our warriors to take. A single warrior will first be led into a room. He will walk up to a wise unicorn and wait for him to speak. After a few minutes of patiently waiting, you can't stomp your hoof or show any signs of impatience, the unicorn will be let into the next room. In the next room, is a well trained unicorn. Specially trained for this job, he must ask the unicorn if he thinks he is worthy to fight in the GEW (Good and Evil War). If the unicorn puffs up his chest and proudly says,"But of course! I believe I am," then he will be a backup soldier. But the one who talks boldly, yet is humble will become our front line defense or offense. I also specified that they had to be humble and bold, because we don't need cowards at the front. So, what do you think?"
I smiled and said,"Sounds wonderful. I'm really sorry about last time we talked. I shouldn't have been so harsh when talking to you. After all, you did help design some plans for training those soldiers. Please forgive me?"
Brayan smiled and spread his hands out, while saying,"Of course I forgive you. Who couldn't?"
I frowned and scratched my head. "Well, Clyte can't forgive me." Brayan chuckled and shook his head,"That's the truth. So, are you gonna show me where you guys are staked out? I'm really looking forward to seeing Resda and Mark."
I smiled and changed to unicorn so I could lead him back to the meadow. "Sure, follow me." Brayan changed to unicorn and flew after me. I went slow so that he could keep up. When we arrived, we found the two kids still sleeping. I smiled and instructed Brayan to change to human and sleep by Mark while I went to sleep with Resda. We agreed that Brayan would name Mark in the morning.
The sound of someone yawning, was what woke me up the next morning. I opened my eyes and lifted my head from the grass. Brayan was gone and Mark was slowly sitting up. I looked beside me to see Resda still fast asleep.
Mark rubbed his eyes and looked around. He looked over at me and smiled, saying,"I had hoped it wasn't all a dream. Thank goodness."
I smiled back and nodded. Suddenly, I remembered that Brayan was gone. I frowned and looked down at Resda. I hoped I wouldn't wake her by standing.
"Hey Mark, can you keep an eye on Resda for me? I'm going off to look for a friend. I'll be back by noon. It's ten o'clock right now."
Mark nodded and looked around again. "‘Course I'll watch her. Can I explore a bit too? If I stay near enough to see her?"
I nodded my head and slowly stood to my feet. "Good then. I'll be back by noon. Don't let her out of your sight or you'll not be happy when I return. See you soon!"
I yawned and changed to unicorn. With one last glance at the sleeping Resda, I trotted to a clear spot and spread my wings. I flapped my great wings and ran across the field. Up, up, up I went. I broke through the wet leaves and branches with great speed. Once high in the air, I noticed that there was only a slight breeze. I spread my wings wider and glided in the air. Every few seconds I had to flap, but that was alright with me. The day looked like it would be perfect. Perfect for naming a boy and finding a friend.
A sound to my right caused my head to turn. There, high in the air, gently flapping towards me with his strong and beautiful wings, was Brayan.
"Brayan!" I exclaimed.
He smiled and swooped close to me. "Hey, how are you? Did you have a good sleep last night?"
I nodded and asked,"Where were you? I was just coming to look for you."
"I went off to tell the unicorns of our renewed friendship. They're all expecting you at around noon to come open the gateway into Marana."
I thought about that for a second, then agreed with Brayan's plans. "Lets get back and tell the kids. We were going to name Mark today, remember?"
Brayan nodded and swooped closer to the treetops. He circled around and flew back toward the meadow. I caught up to him easily enough and could have beat him, but I didn't think much about racing right then. The day was so nice, you wanted to take advantage of every opportunity you got to be out in it.
After a few minutes we arrived at the meadow. Brayan landed beside me and approached Mark and Resda. I trotted up to them and looked both of them over. They seemed alright. Resda was in unicorn and all dirty. I guessed she'd been rolling around for a while. Mark looked clean and smiled at Brayan.
"I'd love to have the name you've picked out for me, Brayan," he said.
Brayan jumped and stepped back a few steps. I looked from one to the other, wondering what Mark was talking about.
Mark laughed and shook his head. "I don't know how I know either, Brayan. I just felt like that was your name. As far as my new name is concerned, I don't know how I knew that either." Mark frowned and pondered that a moment.
"Hey, it's ok, Mark. Look, don't worry about it. I bet we've just got some special thing between us, I don't know what. I knew that you'd like the name I picked out."
Mark smiled and said,"Yeah, it's great."
"Ummm, guys, we don't know the name yet. Can you just name him and we'll get to the unicorns now?" Asked Resda.
I jumped back, clearly startled. "Resda, who told you we were going to see unicorns?"
Resda shrugged and said,"It's kind of funny. I heard you say it. Only, sort of in my head. But not how unicorns talk. I don't know, sort of like you were thinking it and telling me at the same time."
I shook my head in amazement and said,"Yeah, that is what I was just thinking! That's amazing, Resda! We have a special bond, and so do Brayan and Mark. Speaking of Mark, let's name him before supper, ok?"
Brayan laughed and said ‘ok'. He had Mark change to a human and kneel before him. Then, Brayan turned human and said,"By order of Brayan, right hand to the Dragon Slayer, with the permission of the Dragon Slayer, I now name you Kiol."
Kiol (Mark) stood to his feet and embraced Brayan. "Thank you so much, Brayan. I feel, I don't know, like I fit in with my new name. Like I fit in with you guys now."
Resda changed to human and walked up to Kiol putting her arm around his shoulders. "Yeah, I felt the same way when I got my name. This is great, Kiol! I can't wait to see the other unicorns!"
I smiled and said,"Yeah, but we aren't going to see them if we don't get moving. Come on guys. Lets go."
I nudged Resda's arm and told her to change to unicorn. We changed at the same time and waited for the guys. They were a bit slower than us. Finally, when we were all unicorns, we spread our wings and one by one ran and jumped into the air. We flapped up to the sky and circled, waiting for everyone else.
After a few minutes of flying, I heard Resda talking to me in my head. I heard her commenting on how exciting this was going to be and how cool it was that we could talk privately. I laughed in my head and told her I was thrilled that we'd discovered it too. As we flew, all of us were silent. I guess the guys were up to the same thing. We almost missed the spot we were supposed to land, that's how distracted we all were.
There were many, many unicorns gathered. When I landed, a great cheer arose and a line began to form. I sighed and smiled at them all. Turning human, I told Brayan to take Resda and Kiol inside and show them around while I let the unicorns into Marana. He waited until I'd opened the gateway, so that Resda and Kiol could see how it was done, before pulling them toward the cave.
I waited for hours as unicorn after unicorn was marked off the list and allowed into line. Unicorn after unicorn walked through the gateway. Unicorn after unicorn gave me a scared look before entering. The whole time, my arms got more and more tired. Finally, I sat on the ground and stuck a foot in the doorway to keep it open. It worked, and the unicorns continued going through. I wished many times that day that I could be out soaring in the sky. Looking down at the beautiful countryside below me, letting the wind from my speed cool me off. I wished many times that I could have been inside with Brayan, Resda, and Kiol. Nothing happened to relieve me of my post. No one could relieve me of my post. I ended up getting mad at the dragons for stealing the Sparkle that led into Marana. I knew it wouldn't be any work for me if the dragons had left the Sparkle alone. There were literally thousands of unicorns that needed to go through, but they needed to be checked off the list, so the line proceeded slowly. Some of the unicorns hesitated to go through the opening, which made my job last even longer.
Finally, the line ended at around four o'clock. Just as I was pulling my foot out of the doorway, an old unicorn rushed up to me and told me to stay put. I watched as he ran back to the guy with the list and whispered something to him. Then, with a sigh, I talked to the old unicorn again. He said that I'd have to stay where I was till noon the next day, just in case someone was injured and needed to be carried back. So, I lay down and stared up at the trees.
Resda, Kiol, and Brayan had brought me lunch and dinner, but by seven o'clock, I was lying in the same place by myself. Everyone had gone inside for bed, for they knew they'd have a big day tomorrow. I got extremely bored and cold. The wind picked up and I could stand it no longer. I backed toward the gateway and changed to wolf. I scooted myself back until my back legs were in the door, then closed my eyes and tried to sleep. I was much warmer, and found it fairly easy to sleep in the chilly night air with the cold wind blowing against me.
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