Enchanted in Time (Enchanted After Thirty #1)

Chapter 22

22

D usk was already approaching as Hannah rode through the forest on Irmgard’s back. The unicorn trotted happily over the needles that covered the forest floor while Hannah held on to her shimmering silvery mane. The forest was deserted. Not one forest gnome pursued them.

The shadows were growing longer. Were these already the shadows where the Evil lurked?

“How do we find the darkness in the darkness?” Hannah asked. Her stomach was rumbling, but she ignored it.

“Oh, that’s a genuinely wise question, dear Hannah. My herd would be proud of you, and the unicorns would spend many hours debating it. Excellent—that’s all I can say—excellent, my dear. But to return to your question... what was it again?”

Hannah smiled to herself. To avoid exciting the unicorn again and distracting her from the question itself, she rephrased it a bit. “How do we find the darkness in the nighttime?”

Irmgard neighed. “To be honest, I don’t know, either. The gift of inborn wisdom must have just passed me by Who knows who might have gotten it in my stead. Hopefully, not a beaver. I know, I know, they’re such great creatures. But personally, I don’t like them, with their perpetual nibbling and chomping and all the dams they build.”

All of a sudden, the unicorn fell silent and raised her head as if she were frantically trying to remember something. Hannah suspected that Irmgard had lost her train of thought again. “There’s nothing wrong with not being as wise as the other members of your species. Wisdom comes with experience, as we all know.”

“That’s very nice of you, but some members of my herd hold a very different view. In their eyes, if you haven’t mastered the fundamentals of philosophical logic by the age of one and know the absolutely perfect answer to everything, you don’t deserve to be called a unicorn.”

Hannah could not detect any sad undertones in Irmgard’s voice. It was amazing how unconcerned this mythical creature’s response was to having been ostracized.

There was a sudden rustling sound, followed by snorting and loud, desperate neighing. It sounded like a young horse in danger—there, behind the raspberry bushes. But in the twilight, they could see only as far as the berries and not what was behind them.

“My herd—one of them must have become isolated!” Irmgard dashed toward the mournful neighing, which was growing louder and more and more pained.

Wait! What’s behind that hedge? “Irmgard, slow down!”

“No, I have to help it. It sounds like a unicorn foal! I have to rescue it!”

“No, stop! That’s not a foal!”

“Yes, it is!” Irmgard charged ahead at breakneck speed. Just a few more feet to the bushes. Was she planning on jumping over them?

“No, Irmgard, think! Your herd would look after the foal. It can’t possibly be here all by itself! It’s a trap!”

Irmgard whinnied and slowed down a bit, but she did not stop. “And if it is? I can’t just turn my back on it!”

Night was falling fast, but behind the bushes, the darkness was even more intense than it was in the rest of the forest. There was a dark, almost black mist lingering there as if it were waiting just for them.

“NO, IRMGARD, STOP!”

Right before Irmgard would have jumped over the bushes, Hannah pulled on her mane, and the unicorn finally stopped. The pitiful whinnying faded. The strange mist dispersed, swirled around, and vanished.

“That was a boggart!” Hannah’s heart was pounding wildly. “Don’t you think?”

“A boggart? Oh no—where did the unicorn go? Wasn’t someone just crying out?” She looked around, confused.

Hannah got down from Irmgard’s back and crept over to the raspberry bushes. Now that the mist had dispersed, there was a clear view of the endless forest landscape behind them. Two more steps, and she stopped abruptly. Right behind the raspberry bushes was a sudden descent. A steep descent. Hannah took several short steps toward the abyss and peered down. She felt dizzy as she gazed down into the bottomless depths.

Irmgard came up beside her and snorted. “My goodness, that’s a long way down. We would have jumped right into it!”

Hannah’s heart was pounding. She would never have seen her children again. Oh, that Frieda! What had she gotten her into? Irmgard nudged Hannah’s head with her muzzle, and Hannah stroked the unicorn’s nose and leaned her head against Irmgard’s neck. Thank heaven she had this unicorn with her.

Her stomach was growling loudly. The raspberries were glistening before her eyes. Did she dare try them? “Irmgard, are these raspberries poisonous?”

“Poisonous? Where did you get that idea?” Irmgard sniffed the bushes and shook her silvery mane. “They smell superb!”

Hannah picked a berry, sniffed it, and cautiously placed it on her tongue. Did it taste normal? As the red juice seeped out, she breathed a sigh of relief. Encouraged, she grabbed a few more. They wouldn’t fill her up, but they would help to relieve her hunger pangs, and the sugar from the fruit would provide a little energy.

“Let’s keep going,” Irmgard said. “We need to find shelter for the night.”

Hannah climbed back onto the noble creature’s back. “Any idea where we can sleep safely?”

Irmgard whinnied. “Maybe not safely, but since the Evil has spread through the forest and I’ve been on my own, I only sleep standing up anyway. Do you see that group of larches up ahead?”

Hannah nodded.

“Larches are protective trees. The fairies used to live in them—before they moved away. But their magic still clings to the trees, so the naughty fiends keep their distance. We can take shelter there for the night.”

The unicorn trotted over to the larches. Their needles were aglow with a lush green now that early summer had arrived. It was a group of eight trees that were growing close together in no particular arrangement. Irmgard came to a stop in the middle of the cluster of trees and looked up.

Hannah followed her gaze. “There used to be fairies living here? Real fairies?”

“Of course, they were real fairies!” Irmgard said, whinnying.

Was she laughing? And who was Hannah asking anyway? “When did they leave?”

“With the awakening of the Evil and its growth in power, the forest gnomes came to the woods. They’re the fairies’ greatest enemy. Since the fairies are very good, pure creatures who don’t like to quarrel and don’t fight at all, the forest gnomes were able to drive them out.”

“Where did they go?”

Unable to answer, Irmgard shook her head. Hannah had to smile at the unicorn’s humanlike behavior. “Probably the same place where most of the unicorns went,” she ventured.

“And where is that?”

“I don’t know.”

Hannah slid down off the unicorn’s back. She felt the ground around the trunk of one of the larches. It was dry and covered with needles. Leaning against the trunk, she made herself as comfortable as possible. She peered into the depths of the forest, which was so dark she could barely distinguish any shapes. Here and there, a pair of eyes would appear. She was about to jump back onto Irmgard’s back when the unicorn made a gentle snorting sound.

“Don’t be afraid. I’ll keep watch. I’m a light sleeper, and if something evil dares to come near, I feel it immediately. But the ancient magic of the larches will protect us.”

Hannah relaxed a little, and her thoughts drifted to the enchanted prince. Where was Maximilian? Was he all right? Was he having to fight any wild animals? Hopefully, he had just retreated into a cave and was sleeping.

Had he become aware that he’d assumed the form of a bear yet? Was the Evil already creeping up behind him to wait for that moment of weakness when it would dig its claws into his soul? The thought weighed heavily on her heart. And could she even return to her own time if she failed to rescue the prince? Then who would take care of her children?

She would have preferred to just keep moving so that she could finally find out if Maximilian was safe and return to her sweet peas. Her thoughts were racing through her head. Still, though she never thought it possible, a short while later she fell asleep, exhausted.