Black Unicorn, Tanith Lee [famous ebook reader txt] 📗

pain of the past, no fearfor the future. No self-doubt. No lack of trust. Everything would be well, now and for always. Here.

The unicorn had used up its bounds and leaps for the pres ent. It moved in a tender measure through the flowers, goingaway now, inland. And once, it glanced toward the shore.

They went after it, without haste, or reluctance.

Not only birds sang.

As they walked over the plain through the silk of the flow ers, a murmuring like bees . . . There were orchards on the plain,apple and damson, fig and orange, quince and olive. The fragrant trees rose to giant size, garlanded with leaves and fruit. And thefruit burned like suns and jewels. Not thinking, Tanaquil reachedher hand towards a ruby apple, and it quivered against herfingers. It lived. Never disturbed, never plucked, never devoured.It sang.

“Oh, listen, peeve. Listen.”

And the peeve looked up in inquisitive surprise.

“Insect.”

“No, it’s the apple. It’s singing.”

No fruit had fallen. Perhaps it never would. As they wentin among the trees, the whispering thrumming notes increased.

Each species had a different melody; each blended with theothers.

When they came out of the great fragrant orchard, therewere deer cavorting on the plain. The unicorn had moved by them, and from Tanaquil they did not run away. Birds flew overhead, sporting on the air currents in the sun.

“What do they eat? Perhaps the air feeds them, and thescents, they’re so good.” The peeve stalked the deer, who whirled and cantered back,playing, but the peeve took fright and raced to Tanaquil.

“They won’t hurt you.”

“Big,” said the peeve, with belated respect.

The sun and the day stars crossed the sky above them.

They must have walked for three or four hours, and Tanaquilwas not tired. She was not hungry .The peeve showed signs onlyof vast interest in everything. She had been nervous that it mighttry to dig something up, nibble something, or lift its leg amongthe flowers. But none of these needs apparently occurred to it.

In what was probably the fifth hour, the plain reached its brink and unfolded over, down toward a lake of blue tourmaline. A forest lay beyond, and in and out went the flaming needles ofparrots. Tanaquil saw animals basking at the lakeside. The uni corn, a quarter of a mile ahead, stepped peacefully among them.They turned to see, flicked their tails and yawned. They knewunicorns, evidently.

“Are they—? Yes, they’re lions. And look, peeve.”

The peeve looked. Tanaquil was not sure it realized what thepicture meant. The pride of tawny lions had mingled and lazilylain down with a small flock of sheep. Some had adopted thesame position, forelegs tucked under and heads raised. Othersslept against each other’s flanks. Some lambs chased lion cubs along the lakeshore, bleating sternly. They all fell over in a heap,pelt and fleece, and started to wash each other.

Tanaquil felt no misgiving as she and the peeve also de scended among the lions. And they paid her no special attention.The sheep bleated softly, and one of the sleeping cats snored. Thesheep were not grazing on anything. She saw how alike were the faces of the lions and the sheep, their high-set eyes and long noses.

The unicorn walked on, circling the shore.

A leopard stretched over the bough of a huge cedar. It staredat them from calm lighted eyes.

Swans swam across the lake mirror. They passed a solitary apple tree, singing, its trunk growing from the water. “Insect,” said the peeve.

In the forest were massive cypresses, ilexes, magnolias. Insun-bathed clearings orchids grew in mosaic colors. Deer movedlike shadows, and lynxes sat in the shade while mice ambled about between their paws. The parrots screamed with laughter.Monkeys hung overhead like brown fruit. Ferns of drinkable green burst from the mouths of wild fountains. Water lilies pavedthe pools. There were butterflies in the forest, and bees spiraledthe red-amber trunk of a pine. Do they have a sting? Snakes like trickles of liquid metal poured through the undergrowth.

The unicorn might be seen walking before them down theaisles of the forest. It no longer appeared fantastic. Here, it wasonly right.

When they came from the forest they were high up again,and turning, Tanaquil saw the country she had traveled flowing away behind them. The mountains had drawn nearer, and the sunand its attendant stars were lower in the sky. A rose-gold light,like that of a flawless late summer afternoon, held the world as though inside a gem. Again, as with everything, it was not thatshe had never seen such light the other side of the Gate. It wasthat here nothing threatened or came between her and the light. In Tanaquil’s world, the best of things might have a tinge ofsadness or unease. Nothing was sure, or quite safe. The light ofthe perfect world was the light of absolute truth. And Tanaquil,who had yearned in Jaive’s fortress for order, adventure, andchange, knew that here there were other things. To be happywould not become sickly. To be at peace would not bore. Happi ness and peace allowed the mind to seek for different challenges.She could not guess what they were, but she sensed them in thevery air. Would she come to know them? Would they be hers?

Above, on a hilltop, the unicorn stood against the luminoussky. A soft wind blew, and scarfed about the horn, and the hornsang, lilting and pure. But it was not the savage music she had heard in the desert. The unicorn was no longer terrible. It wasonly . . . perfect.

Soon they went on, climbing up the hills with no effort. Faroff, on another slope, Tanaquil saw a creature glide out of somewhite rocks into the westering day. It was as large as a house of

her world, and scaled like a great blue snake. Its crested headturned to and fro, and the wings opened like leaves of sapphire over its spine. “Peeve, it’s a dragon.” The peeve looked anxious.She stroked its head. Pale fire came from the dragon’s nostrils andmouth, but scorched nothing on the hill. Like the salt of the sea,fire was harmless. The peeve got behind Tanaquil.