He was about to lie down next to her when she shot up and started looking around. For a moment nothing happened, but then a light rattling, clicking sound started, and she turned to him.
"We need to get going now," she said in a gentle voice, "the men might come back."
He didn't argue, his mother was always right. They started walking down the trail. For a few minuets nothing happened, but then the clicking, rattling noise started getting louder, and more excited. The louder and faster it got the faster his mother had him walk. Then the sound was all around.
"Hide in the bushes," she said strictly, "and don't move or make a noise, no matter what."
He was confused by what she told him, but didn't question her. She would be right, and afterwards would smile and said good. At first he was going to complain about the scratchiness of the bushes, but remembered what she told him and snapped his mouth shut.
The noise got louder and louder, and then a long, harry, finger-like leg stretched onto the road over his head. It was followed by three more, then a large round body, and another four legs. It was some sort of a giant spider.
He shook a little bit, but did as his mother wished, he wanted her to be happy. That was when he noticed her standing paralyzed with fear in the middle of the road. The spider quickly closed the distance between them. For a moment it towered over her, but then it drove its fangs downward.
He squeezed his eyes shut, but the noises still got in through his ears. He heard a little bit of screaming, and the sound of something being broken and torn. For a brief instant he opened his eyes to see what was making the noise, then quickly closed his eyes tighter then before to try and erase the horrid images he had seen.
For a moment he wanted to go out and help her, try to get the spider away, but she had told him to stay in the bush. He didn't want to let her down, so he stayed huddled in the bush, trembling and moaning in terror. He squeezed his eyes still tighter, and pressed his ears up against his head to try to keep the noised from getting in. It was no good. Some tears started coming out of his eyes and….
"Solaris, wake up."
He heard the voice, but didn't want to open his eyes for fear of what he might see, so she spoke again. "Wake up, it's just a dream. Everything's all right."
It was Forest. He opened his eyes and saw her looking back at him. She had a worried look on her face. For a moment she just stood there, but then she walked over and lied down beside him.
"What's the matter?" she whispered.
When he didn't answer, she shrugged and said, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Are you all right?" He looked across the clearing and said, unconvincingly even to himself, "Yes. I'm fine."
Then he felt a warmth, almost like when he drew his magic to him, although it had a different feeling to it. The texture didn't seem to be the same as his magic, but it felt some how more comforting then his. Now he didn't feel as alone, and he soaked up the feeling, not wanting to let it go. He still knew, though, that he wouldn't get to sleep for a long time. "You be awake at last," said the crazy sorceress.
Forest looked around and saw that it was day time again. The sun was up in the sky, and everything seemed to be cheery. Solaris wasn't with her anymore, he was looking at something in the stream's water. He looked unhappy with whatever he saw.
She was about to go to him and see what he was looking at when the old woman stepped in front of her and said, "It would be best to leave him alone for now, young one."
Forest brushed the comment away and started walking to him anyway. He had been terrified last night, and she wanted to know why. It must have been horrible because he was shaking most of the night.
When she got closer, she could see that he was crying, not angry. That was the second time since he had been it the cave. He was having emotional problems ever since the cave had shone him whatever it had.
He put his horn in the stream when she got close enough to see what he was looking at. The water waved around for a moment and then started settling down. Then he wasn't looking in the water anymore, but had his eyes squeezed closed and was shaking again.
She laid down next to him like she had last night, and sent out her magic to comfort him. It helped again, like it had last night, but when she thought he had recovered again and withdrew her magic, he got frightened again.
"Solaris, what's wrong? Is everything alright?" she asked.
He opened his eyes a small amount, and looked at her. They were dead. She couldn't see anything reflecting back from his dull eyes. It seemed like he wasn't there. Then, slowly, the life came back to them as he started recognize.
"You're here," he said in a terrified voice.
"Are you going to be okay?"
He looked at her and took a deep calming breath. "Yes."
What's wrong; what's happening to you?" she asked.
"I'm just remembering things that I don't want to."
"Like?"
For a moment it seemed that he wouldn't answer, but then he started talking, "How my mother died."
She felt suddenly bad. "Oh. You don't have to tell me about it." He looked like he wouldn't tell her for a moment, but started talking when she decided that she wouldn't be told. "It started when some men were chasing us. We had traveled near people before, but recently everything had been getting more dangerous. I can't remember why they were chasing us, but they had been for several weeks. We were both tired of running, so she had me hide in some trees while she used her magic to scare them away.
"Afterwards she was exhausted. I didn't think that we would be going anywhere for a while, but then she heard a noise. She had me hide in a bush and told me not to move or talk until she got back.
"Before she could get away a giant spider caught up with her in the middle of the road. She was paralyzed when she saw it and couldn't get away.
"I closed my eyes, but I could still hear what was happening. I could hear bones breaking, and tearing sounds. Then I opened my eyes for a moment to see what was happening. I saw, I saw...."
His voice trailed off and then completely disappeared. He squeezed his closed. Tears still came out of his eyes and he started shaking again.
Forest felt guilty for asking him to tell what happened. Once again she sent out her magic to comfort him. It took much longer for him to calm down this time. When he did calm down he started looking at the water again.
She looked where he was, but couldn't see anything special. Then she saw his magic go out to the water and mix the way the light reflected off of it. Slowly the reflection twisted and changed until it finally halted. Finally the water stopped moving around the image, making it easy to see.
In the center of the stilled water was a gray colored unicorn. She stayed in the center of the picture and was soon joined by another unicorn, a black one. He walked up and nuzzled her, and then they both looked up and faced toward Solaris.
"Who are they?" she asked, even though she thought she knew the answer.
His eyes were tearing up again while he looked at the image. "My parents. That is the only time I can remember my father. I don't want to know what happened to him, but I'm afraid to find out."
She looked at the picture and suddenly felt sorry for him. Now she knew why he was such a pessimist since he had been changed back and recovered his memories. It must have been horrible to have lived through that.
It was a wonder that he was alive at all. She didn't think that any unicorns had ever willingly gone out into the world by themselves without at least some of their magic. She hadn't wanted to go when she was captured, and she was almost an adult. He probably wasn't even near that old when he had been forced to fend for himself.
She was suddenly taken out of the thoughts when he started shaking again. The expression on his face was distant. This time her magic couldn't calm him, and she didn't know what to do, so she nuzzled him. It was like she had unlocked some sort of door in him. He almost stopped shaking, and with his eyes still closed returned the nuzzle. After a few minuets he had completely stopped shaking, but kept nuzzling her and insisted to keep receiving comfort.
Then came a hideous rattling, clicking sound. Both Forest and Solaris gazed up at the source of the sound. She felt his body tensing up before he even knew for sure what was making the sound. When she saw what it was, she froze up too. A giant spider was bearing down on them.
It took a few steps before disappearing. She heard a laughing sound and got angry at the sound. She turned on the sorceress and yelled at her, "Why did you do that? He's terrified of giant spiders! That's what he had to watch kill his mother!"
The old woman looked ashamed, and walked away. That didn't help Solaris, though, he was still staring where the spider had been with unfocussed eyes. Then he began mumbling something under his breath to someone that wasn't there. Forest found that she was worried for him once more.
Nuzzling him did eventually bring him out of his trance, but it took much longer then last time. As soon as his mind regained control over his fear, she saw him put up a shield around his body. It wasn't like the other ones he had made that trapped intruders, or told that one was coming. When she touched this one it hurt, and the harder she tried the more painful it got. She would have to leave him alone.
Solaris came out of his fear, and took down the shield. The spiders had almost gotten him that time. Any other giant bugs were easy, it was just spiders that scared him to death. He had to kill a giant scorpion before, and hardly flinched. It embarrassed him that he could kill the scorpions and was paralyzed by fear when he saw one of the spiders.
He stood up and wondered why there was grass in this meadow. It should be winter, but the grass kept growing and the trees still had their leafs. Nothing seemed to be touched by winter; even his magic hadn't taken over the task of making sure he didn't starve. The part of his mind that had been foraged while he was a human forced its way to the surface and started asking questions. For a moment he wondered on them, but then forced it back where it wouldn't cause any harm. The questions didn't, and never would, matter.
Zed'ith had said he would be safe here for a while. What he didn't say was for how long. It could have been only a few seconds, or maybe he was measuring time like immortals did. No matter how long the time was it would be just a short while, that the time he spent there wouldn't matter. That was a comforting thought.
For a moment he considered looking at the memory of his parents in the stream again. It was tempting, but that was what had made him so afraid in the first place. He couldn't afford to be like that again, someone might get him. He didn't, after all, feel that safe today.
What he felt had saved him before, even as a human. He always paid attention to what they told him now. Once he had ignored what they told him, and that was a big mistake. One that he wouldn't make again. He would have to put a shield around the clearing.
When the shield was up he saw Forest running to him. "We need to go," she said breathlessly.
"Why?"
Before she could answer he felt a small hole in his shield made, and then close up. He turned around to look at where the gap had been and saw a dwarf leading a giant vinegarroon. It sent a slight twinge of doubt through him. Normal vinigarroons were worse then normal scorpions. He had to assume the same for large ones to.
The dwarf smiled and said, "I have brought you a present from my mistress," then left.
The vinegarroon snapped its front pincers and whipped its switch like tail over its head. For a moment the tip of the tail fidgeted around, and then a stream of liquid came out. Solaris was barley able to get out of the way. When the liquid hit the ground, it began to eat away the grass and sand. He didn't have any time from when he dogged the acid to when the vinegarroon came at him with its claws. Those barley missed him as well.
It looked like it was about to start coming at him when its body went ridged. "Do something!" Forest yelled, "I can't hold him like this for ever!"
For a moment he didn't know what to do, but he started gathering his power anyway. His mind rushed for an idea. Fire wouldn't get past its exoskeleton, and it was probably water proof. He looked on the ground and got an idea when he saw a small stone lying there.
With his magic he made it levitate and started changing its shape and size. When it was even with his eyes he stopped its upward motion and used all of his magic to start it spinning and making it into a point. It spun faster and faster, all the while getting sharper, and then he willed it to the vinegarroon's middle eye.
The rock hit slightly to the right of where it should have gone, but penetrated the shell anyway. Once inside it stopped its forward motion and just kept spinning, tearing up what ever was around it, until friction finally slowed it to a stop. The vinegarroon stumbled for a moment when Forest's magic couldn't hold it any longer, and then fell to the ground.
From behind he heard a familiar shriek. It was the old lady. When he looked in her direction he saw her running with a giant spider following close behind. He remembered what he heard Forest say while he was paralyzed with fear of a spider last time. The thought that she would be cruel and stupid enough to try again made him mad, so he sent a wall of air to shatter the illusion. When the wall of air hit the spider, instead of the illusion of fading like he expected, the spider exploded and parts flew everywhere.
He watched the fragments of the spider scatter, and realization hit him. He had killed a real giant spider. The thought almost made him pass out. It had died faster and easier then he thought it would.
The crazy old lady ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck. Having her this close made him uncomfortable, so he slipped out of her grip and backed up a few steps. She then contented herself with showing gratitude at a distance.
"Thank you! You save my life!" then before he could say anything
in
return she turned and ran to the opposite end of the clearing leaving
him
with his thoughts.
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