Enchanted in Time (Enchanted After Thirty #1)

Chapter 26

26

A n eerie stillness hung over the massif as if all the inhabitants were holding their breath and listening to Irmgard’s footsteps. The slow clatter of the unicorn’s hooves on the barren rock echoed throughout the mountain terrain, where hardly anything grew. Step by step, she scaled the first of the smaller mountains by means of the side path that wound its way through the mountain range.

Three ravens were flying overhead and cawing so loudly that Hannah and Irmgard jumped. Looking up at the black birds, they followed their flight with their gaze. The three ravens glided over the mountains and vanished behind one of the peaks.

“Just birds,” Hannah whispered.

“I guess that’s true...”

“What do you mean by that?”

“By what?”

“By suggesting that the three ravens may not just be three ravens.”

“What three ravens?”

Hannah rolled her eyes. This forgetful unicorn. “Never mind, Irmgard.”

The stillness that hung over the mountain range weighed heavily upon them. Again and again, Hannah looked back to see if someone was following them. But there was no one in sight and not a sound. No animal, no human. No one. No dark smoke or strange mist. Only the steady clatter of Irmgard’s hooves echoing through the silence. But why? Had the Evil not noticed that they were in search of the fireflower? Had they been so quick that it hadn’t been able to keep up?

Hannah looked ahead once more. The sun was already low in the sky. The mountains were casting long shadows across the path, which was strewn with small stones. How many hours remained before it was dark?

A cold wind whipped across the path and made her shiver. It roared between the mountains and pulled at her hair. It kept blowing against them—more and more wildly, more and more fiercely—so that Hannah had to cling to Irmgard’s mane. She leaned down to shield herself with the unicorn’s head.

Irmgard laid back her ears and narrowed her eyes to slits. She was finding it harder and harder to battle the storm and was getting slower with every step. She tried to stay by the edge of the path in the hope of avoiding the raging wind, but it blew just as hard there as it did in the middle. Her legs were shaking from the strain.

“Is that the Evil?” Hannah screamed above the roaring wind. Irmgard seemed not to hear her. She fought her way forward and fought and fought until they rounded a bend, at which point the wind immediately died away.

Hannah sat up on Irmgard’s back and brushed her disheveled hair out of her face. She had no desire to know what her hairdo looked like now.

“Why did the wind stop?” she asked.

“It was probably one of those mountain winds. How strong it hits you depends on where you’re standing.”

“Hmm...” Hannah was having trouble imagining that. She looked around again but saw nothing other than barren crags and loose rocks. They still found themselves so far down the slope that the mountains were towering on either side and blocking their view. Nothing stirred, and apart from their own breathing, there wasn’t a sound to be heard.

“Should we keep going?” Hannah asked.

Irmgard whinnied softly and kept moving forward. The wind did not return, and a little while later, they came to a fork in the road.

“Which way do we go, Hannah?”

“Can you stick your nostrils in the air like Siegfried and smell where the fireflower grows?”

Irmgard snorted. “I’ll give it a try.” She lifted her muzzle and sniffed the air. “I smell... uh ... what is that? I smell something. And it’s not you. I know this smell... or maybe not.” Her nostrils flared several times. “It smells putrid and foul, sulfurous and...” She inhaled deeply, “and... ugh... it does not smell good!”

“Can you smell the fireflower?”

Irmgard shook her mane.

Hannah peered down the two paths. The path to the left ran along the side of the mountain, with hardly any incline. It looked like it might take them deeper into the mountains. The path to the right, by contrast, rose sharply upwards and led to the top of the foremost mountain.

“When I came with my kids, we took the right-hand path. Like I said, we didn’t get too far before Leon got so frightened that we had to turn back. I never saw a red fireflower by the wayside, but I wasn’t exactly looking for one either. Who knows whether that flower even grows in our time. That may be the only reason I never saw it anywhere. Still, I say we take the left-hand path.”

Irmgard snorted. “I’d also rather take the left-hand path. If the wind blows in our faces again, it will be easier to keep going on a level path.”

And off the unicorn trotted. Clack, clack, clack—her hoofbeats pierced the silence, which had meanwhile grown more oppressive.

After a while, they came to a rocky plateau that stretched immediately in front of Rupertsberg, the tallest of the mountains. The path was wide enough that Irmgard could trot a few paces to either side. Now and then, the ground would reveal a crack, as if an earthquake had wreaked havoc there and split the powerful rock.

They had left the smallest of the mountains behind, and it cast its long, tapered shadow across the plateau. The remaining smaller mountain peaks rose up on every side and formed a circle around Rupertsberg.

Three paths branched off from the plateau. The middle one went straight up Rupertsberg at a sharp incline, while the left- and the right-hand paths continued along the outer edge of the mountainside.

Hannah looked around. Everything was gray and drab. She could have easily spotted the flower, but nowhere could she detect a splash of red. Here and there, a single blade of grass was swaying gently to and fro—that was the only plant life in this barren mountainscape.

Hannah pointed at Rupertsberg. “What do you think? Will we have to go up to the highest peak to find the fireflower? Or does it grow in the shadows of the mountains in one of these cracks?”

“I’m wondering if the Evil hasn’t already shielded it from our vision.”

“But there’s no one attacking us.”

“There doesn’t have to be if we can’t find it anyway.”

Hannah knit her brow and took another careful look around the barren, rocky landscape. She jumped off Irmgard’s back and walked a couple of paces along the plateau. She kicked aside a few small stray stones, which rolled into the cracks in the rock. “I would take the direct route up Rupertsberg. What do you think, Irmgard?”

Right at that moment, Hannah heard squeaky, high-pitched voices that immediately sent a shiver down her spine.

“... are they here? ... are they doing here? ... evil!”

Their footprints didn’t show on the hard surface of the rock, but it was still instantly clear to Hannah who had followed them. “Forest gnomes! Why are they here? There’s no forest here!”

“Why is she screaming like that? Must catch her! Attacked us! Evil woman!”

“Quick, Hannah, get on my back!”

She didn’t wait a single second. She could already feel the rope around her ankles, though it was just as invisible as the belligerent gnomes themselves. With one leap, she jumped back onto the unicorn.

“Be gone!” Irmgard neighed. She reared up, and her hooves came thundering down onto the ground. The crashing sound echoed throughout the mountainous terrain.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no!” they squealed. “The unicorn is protecting her. Have to get her anyway! Evil woman! Must stop her!”

Irmgard stamped her hooves and kept moving farther and farther backwards. “Away with you! Don’t you dare wrap your rope around my flanks again! Away, I say! Away!”

Were the gnomes threatening the unicorn? Where was the respect they’d had for her in the forest? Hannah looked down. There were no footprints anywhere, nor were there swirling colors in the air like what they had seen in the forest. The forest gnomes were still invisible. But Irmgard was restlessly prancing back and forth and flicking her hoof to the side as if she were casting off some shackles and attempting to drive the tiny creatures away.

“Quick, Irmgard, let’s ride!”

The unicorn neighed and reared once more, provoking numerous high-pitched, agonized screams: “Ow! Why is it doing that? The unicorn is attacking us! Evil unicorn! Must tie it up! Is our enemy!”

“Quick, Irmgard, let’s get out of here!”

Irmgard kept nervously prancing backwards until she was finally free. With one large bound, she leapt forward, but there, too, she immediately felt the forest gnomes’ ropes around her fetlocks. She had no choice but to gallop down the path to the left. Faster and faster she ran, and soon Hannah no longer heard the high little voices.

“Why did they follow us? And why did they attack you?” she asked.

“The Evil!” Irmgard replied bluntly, shaking herself as if even she got the chills at the thought.

Hannah was thinking as Irmgard speedily trotted along. “Tell me, Irmgard, why did the forest gnomes show up just now? Why did they attack us right at that moment?”

“They had probably been following us for quite some time already. We stopped there for a while, so they were able to catch up with us.”

“Or because we were on the right track! That’s why they’re not following us now—because we’re moving away from the fireflower!”

Irmgard snorted with surprise. “What are you saying?”

“Earlier, you said that the Evil might be shielding the flower from us. As long as we can’t find the flower, it won’t need to attack us.”

Irmgard whinnied. “And?“

“I had just suggested we go up to the summit of Rupertsberg to look for the fireflower. At that exact moment, the forest gnomes were suddenly there. I heard none of the whooshing or buzzing that signaled their arrival the times before. It was as if their voices just came out of the blue.”

“Maybe they climbed out of one of the cracks.”

“Even if they did, someone must have led them straight to us.”

Irmgard neighed excitedly. “Fabulous, dear Hannah! Your logical deductions are superb—superb, I have to say!”

“So you agree?”

“With what?”

“Well, that the fireflower has got to grow at the top of Rupertsberg.”

“Of course, the fireflower grows up there! Didn’t I say that already?”

Hannah furrowed her brow. Had the unicorn known where to find this magical flower and simply forgotten? Did the flower really grow at the top of Rupertsberg? She took a good look at the high mountain to her right. Was it up there—the key to rescuing Mirabelle’s mother and, by extension, Mirabelle herself? The key to freeing Maximilian from his bear form? The key that would finally bring her back to her children?

“What do you think? Do we need to take the path back to the plateau to get up there, or is there a second path that will take us to the top?”

“There is a second path farther back... I think... I did hear of it once... at least, I think I heard of it... now who was that again who told me about it?” Irmgard knit her brow. Her moment of clarity seemed to have passed.

Strange how she would suddenly get these blackouts, and then—as if memory lapses were not an issue at all—she would remember things moments later that she had usually forgotten before. “Have you been somewhat forgetful since the time you were born, or did that happen later?” Hannah asked.

“I’ve always been a little absent-minded, but at some point it got worse. I don’t remember what triggered it. All of a sudden, it got so extreme that some of the herd refused to take me seriously.”

“What happened back then?”

“I don’t know!”

“You can’t remember even a little?”

“Remember what?”

“Well, whatever it was that made you more forgetful.”

“I’ve always been like that. Came into the world that way!” The unicorn laughed as she whinnied and swished her tail.

Had she lost the thread yet again? Hannah decided to postpone the conversation until later. She would be all too happy to help her new friend. Something must have happened to trigger these random bouts of forgetfulness. A trauma perhaps. Something horrible that she was repressing. If only Hannah could figure it out... Maybe she could talk to Irmgard about the experience, and this would help her get better. But right now was not a good time for a psychological analysis. First, they needed to find the fireflower.

Irmgard galloped along the narrow mountain path even faster than before. In the distance, they could see a crossroads, with one of the paths leading up the mountain.

“I’m sure there’s something that’s lurking there, Irmgard. We need to be on our guard!”

Irmgard neighed in confirmation and galloped onward. Just a few more yards to the crossroads. What was awaiting them there? The forest gnomes again? Or something else?

“Irmgard...” murmured a voice that only the unicorn could hear. “Irmgard...”

“Who’s there?”

Hannah jumped. “Are you hearing a voice? It has to be a boggart! Don’t listen to it! No matter what it tries to whisper in your ear, it isn’t true. We’re here, and you need to come with me up Rupertsberg to find the fireflower—so your herd can stay in this magical forest!”

“Irmgard...” the strange voice in the unicorn’s head murmured again. “I can take you to her. I can bring you to where you most want to be right now. I know where she is!”

“Where is she? Tell me!” The unicorn was snorting as she looked frantically around the barren mountain landscape.

“Where is who?” Hannah asked as she stroked Irmgard’s mane. “Don’t let yourself be led astray. Remember, all the unicorns are safe. The two of us are the only ones here—no one else. Whatever is calling you, whatever the voice promises, don’t listen!”

Hannah looked around. The crossroads was just a few steps away. Apart from the barren crag, there was nothing to see. No mist, no figure. Was it a boggart calling the unicorn, or was it the Evil in person?

The voice in Irmgard’s head continued to cajole her, “You blame yourself so much for what happened back then. I know all about it. I can get rid of your guilt. I can reconcile you with yourself and your little girl. I can take you to her!”

The tears welled up in Irmgard’s eyes. She blinked them away. “No, you can’t!” she cried out loud. “My foal is no longer alive!”

“I’m sorry—what? What foal?” Hannah’s mind was racing. There it was: the fateful blow of fate that Irmgard had been repressing, the reason why her problematic forgetfulness had grown so bad. She’d had a foal. And it seems her foal had died.

Hannah forced herself to stay calm. She needed to support Irmgard, to stand by her, mother for mother. She stroked her neck and could feel the unicorn’s racing pulse. “Irmgard, don’t let it seduce you. It’s the Evil that’s speaking to you. No matter what it promises you, don’t listen! Don’t get involved! It wants your soul—it wants to lure you into eternal darkness. Your child would not have wanted that.”

“My little girl, my foal...”

A flood of glistening tears came pouring out of the unicorn’s eyes, and Hannah’s heart went out to her. She threw her arms around Irmgard’s neck and held her close. “I’m here, Irmgard, I’m right here beside you. You don’t need anyone else to support you. You’re strong. All mothers are strong—you know that.”

Irmgard’s memory awakened, and she remembered what had happened. She remembered that terrible time, the loss, and how she’d tried to suppress it all. That was how the rift between her and the herd had come about. She’d heaped so much blame upon herself and withdrawn so much that she hardly ever engaged with the others anymore.

“Come, Irmgard...” the voice murmured. “Come... here is your foal. I can see her!”

The voice was coming from farther away. Irmgard just had to go straight ahead and over the crossroads, and she would be there. Should she take a quick look? Maybe she really was there...

“I’m right beside you, Irmgard,” Hannah whispered directly in her ear, and the voice of her newfound friend brought the unicorn back from her sorrowful memories. Hannah gently stroked her neck. “I’m right here!”

Irmgard snorted, tensed her muscles, and shook her mane. “Hang on tight, Hannah!” She leapt onto the crossroads and directly toward the path leading straight ahead to the voice. But then she darted to the side and trotted up the path to Rupertsberg.

A strong wind arose and tried to push her back, but Irmgard held her ground. Inch by inch, she fought her way up until the path made a slight turn and the mountain wind died down.

“Evil unicorn!” Irmgard could hear the forest gnomes’ little voices squealing around her hooves again. “Must capture it! Want to roast it! Must never starve in the winter!”

Irmgard galloped up Rupertsberg as fast as she could. The path was steep and still made up of nothing but barren rock. The small, loose stones that were scattered about went tumbling down the mountainside when they were struck by Irmgard’s hooves. To the left and right of the path, the rocky terrain rose higher and higher so that the path leading up the mountain turned into a narrow strip.

“Got ‘em soon!” the forest gnomes squealed. “Must stop ‘em. Jump on its back and grab the woman!”

Hannah clung to Irmgard’s mane with one of her hands as she raised the other to strike. “I’ll throw you all down if you dare jump on Irmgard’s back!”

But the forest gnomes paid no heed. Hannah could sense something pulling at her ankle. She shook her leg and felt some invisible thing fall off. The next moment, one of the forest gnomes landed on the hand she was using to hold on tight. How could these tiny guys jump so high? And run so fast? With her free hand, she immediately bashed the place where she felt his weight, and he let out a loud wail as he tumbled down.

“Faster, Irmgard, faster!”

The unicorn clenched her teeth and galloped on up the mountainside. As she tensed all her muscles, she shimmered brighter and brighter. The forest gnomes that Hannah had felt both on and behind her fell off on their own, as though Irmgard’s magic had driven them off. Her hoofbeats quickened, and the gnomes could no longer follow.

“Wonderful, Irmgard!” Hannah praised her, patting her reassuringly on the neck. “We’re headed in the right direction!”

The earth trembled. A thundering sound echoed throughout the mountains. Was it coming from above? Or below? Hannah huddled closer to the unicorn and peered up and down the mountain but saw nothing.

The rocky substratum quaked, and loose debris slid down the path. “ Stay away from the thunder.” Siegfried’s warning suddenly came to mind. “Irmgard, what is that?” Hannah asked.

“Probably one of the mountain trolls.”

“Mountain trolls?” Hannah’s eyes nearly popped right out of her head. How could that be? Why hadn’t the unicorn told her about them sooner? Had she forgotten?

The ground shook. There had to be a cave up ahead because a monster at least three times as tall and five times as wide as Hannah seemed to step out of the middle of the rock. His skin was a greenish color, his clothes were tattered, and his ears were huge. He was holding a giant club in the air and preparing to strike, as if he wanted to whack Hannah and Irmgard down the mountain like a baseball.

Irmgard suddenly hit the brakes. The troll took several more steps out of his cave and planted himself squarely in the middle of the narrow mountain path so that running past him was not an option.

“A troll?” yelled Hannah, who still could not believe it. “How are we supposed to get past him?”

The monster let out a loud roar that revealed a row of rotting teeth. The hair on the back of Hannah’s neck was standing on end, and she hugged the unicorn’s neck even tighter. “Irmgard, how do we deal with this troll?”

“We have to turn back!”

“No, we need the fireflower! Think of Prince Maximilian and the future of your herd! And without the flower, I can’t get back to my kids! I have to get up there!”

Irmgard hesitated as she looked at the troll. He made a hideous face, and when they didn’t shrink back, he stomped toward them, his footsteps thundering as he went.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground trembled. Hannah clung to Irmgard’s neck. “We have to get past him! We simply have to!”

“Hang on tight, Hannah!” the unicorn whispered and bounded ahead. The troll bellowed and raised his club. He spread himself out so far that they couldn’t squeeze between him and the wall of rock. Irmgard was forced to trot back a few steps.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The troll thundered closer.

Irmgard tried the other side. She dashed ahead, but with just two steps to the side, the monster had blocked the way to the left. Irmgard quickly leapt to the right and tried to dart past the troll, who had already raised his club to strike. She raced onward, and the club hit one of her hind hooves. Her hind legs gave way as she neighed in pain. Hannah started to slide down over her tail, but the unicorn struggled to her feet and galloped past the troll, who once more raised his club to strike. This time, the blow came down on the barren rocky ground, and the thunderous crash echoed throughout the mountains as if the troll had let out a bloodcurdling scream. On the misty horizon, the ravens flapped their wings and cawed loudly across the mountainscape as though they were calling someone. Up they flew, where they circled around in the air above Hannah and Irmgard.

“Quick, Irmgard, just a little farther!”

They managed to get a few paces away from the troll, who seemed far too lumbering to chase them. He let out a fierce roar from behind them. Irmgard’s strength was failing, so Hannah immediately jumped off her back. She wanted to look at the injured hoof, but as soon as she dismounted, the troll began to move again and came thundering up the path.

Without Hannah’s extra weight, Irmgard was able to fight her way forward. Hannah ran alongside her, and the unicorn managed to keep up. The troll was slower. The distance between them increased, but the ravens kept circling around up above, and their loud cawing never ceased, as if they were trying to draw all the forces of the Evil to where they were.

“Keep going, Irmgard, you’re doing great!” Hannah said, praising her. She knew from her kids that praise could awaken unsuspected powers. She looked ahead to where the rockface leveled out on either side of the path. Maybe they were close to the top! “Look! I think we’re almost there!”

“Hannah...” a dark voice murmured in her mind. “Hannah...”

Oh, for God’s sake—it was the voice of the Evil. It was here. It wanted to seduce her again, to lure her to it.

“Hannah, come to me. I will bring you to your children. They’re crying and calling for you. Leon is terribly afraid.”

“No!” Hannah screamed and immediately put up an inward shield against the temptations and fictions. And as if the Evil had accepted her refusal, the voice in her head immediately died away.

Silence prevailed. Even the troll’s thundering footsteps were no longer to be heard, though he wasn’t so far away. Hannah looked back to see him still stomping behind them, but she couldn’t hear him at all. Nor could she hear the cawing ravens circling overhead.

“Irmgard, why does the Evil...” Hannah broke off mid-sentence. She couldn’t hear her own voice. Startled, she looked at Irmgard, who seemed to be neighing loudly, but her voice was also inaudible. Was Hannah the only one experiencing this? Or was the unicorn, too?

“I can’t hear you!” Hannah screamed, though not a sound came out of her mouth. She pointed to her ears and shook her head.

Irmgard’s mouth was moving. What was the unicorn saying? Hannah pointed back to the troll, who was coming dangerously close. Then she motioned toward Irmgard’s hoof, which the unicorn was keeping slightly bent to avoid putting weight on it. Hannah then pointed up the mountain. It wasn’t far now. They couldn’t give up. But could Irmgard still walk at all? The hoof that the troll had struck wasn’t bleeding, but it was getting more and more swollen. Hannah pointed at the injured hoof and raised her shoulders as if to ask a question.

Irmgard moved her lips once more. Just what was she trying to say? At last, the unicorn started to limp on. Relieved, Hannah hurried beside her, and together they climbed up Rupertsberg.

The oppressive silence still prevailed. Hannah couldn’t hear a thing. Without looking back, she had no idea how close the troll had come or if other creatures were following them as well. She glanced over her shoulder. The troll was slowing down, but he wasn’t stopping. He kept doggedly pursuing them, his heavy club propped easily on his broad shoulder. Up in the dark evening sky, the ravens circled overhead relentlessly. But no cawing sounds reached Hannah’s and Irmgard’s ears.

With every step that took them higher, the wind picked up even more.

“Hannah, we have no choice!” she heard Irmgard say. “We have to turn back.”

Hannah wanted to speak as well, but still no sound escaped her lips.

Irmgard stopped. “Hannah, please, I can’t go on. My hoof hurts too much.”

Hannah wanted to object, but all that came out was silence. She moved her lips, but no sound escaped her mouth. Why did the unicorn have her voice back when she didn’t? Could Irmgard transmit her thoughts to her?

Hannah bent down to examine the injured hoof, but Irmgard was gesturing something. “Please, Hannah. I know you want to get back to your kids. I’m sure we can find another way. If we go down the mountain, the Evil won’t hurt us. Look, the troll is gone!”

Incredulous, Hannah peered back down the mountain path. Sure enough, the monster had vanished.

Irmgard persisted in her attempts to get her to turn around. “I’m sure we can get you back to Leon, Emi, and Marco some other way.”

Hannah shook her head in bewilderment. Why was the unicorn suddenly giving up? But then it dawned on her that, for the first time ever, Irmgard had used her children’s real names. Something was not right here.

Her heart beat faster as she looked around. There! A dark mist was lurking in back of Irmgard. A boggart! It had imitated Irmgard’s voice and tried to get Hannah to quit. She was sure it was doing the same to Irmgard!

“A boggart!” she screamed, but her words were still inaudible. She gestured wildly to get Irmgard to look the other way. But when she finally turned her head, all she could make out was the gray mist whooshing down the mountain path. The voices in their heads died away. They followed the boggart with their eyes, but soon there was nothing more to see.

“Quick, we have to keep going!” Hannah’s voice was audible again. Relieved, she stroked Irmgard’s neck, and they struggled onward up the path.

There were just a few steps more to the mountain peak, which apparently wasn’t a peak at all but another plateau. Hannah could already see it. It was barren like the mountain landscape—no plants in sight, no trees, no shrubs. Could anything even grow up there?

Irmgard was puffing and panting. She was limping on her three good legs, and her knees kept giving way. Hannah put her arms around the unicorn’s body and did her best to support her. At last, they reached the plateau. A few steps later, Irmgard came to a stop, exhausted, and Hannah’s arms were shaking from trying to hold her up and keep her on her feet.

A sharp wind arose and grew stronger and stronger. It was gray and strangely dark. It was blowing around their ears, and it whipped Hannah’s hair every which way so that she could hardly see.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Again, they heard the troll’s thundering steps, but now they were coming from every direction. The ground beneath them trembled. The first of the trolls emerged from the east; then two more came from the west. From the north, four trolls appeared all at once and climbed up onto the mountain plateau. Then, a short while later, the troll they had already seen came stomping up. He raised his club in the air with his right hand and let out a menacing roar.

“Quick, we need to hide!” Hannah frantically searched for a hiding place. The plateau was bleak and barren—no caves, boulders, or trees where they could hide from the giant trolls. The dark mist that whistled above was casting a shadow upon the scene and making it hard to see. But they had to go on—they simply could not stop!

Slowly, they put one foot in front of the other, their eyes firmly fixed on the misty ground so as not to stumble. With every step, they checked the earth to make sure it was firm. Again and again, they would step on a loose stone, and Hannah twisted her ankles more than once, but so far, they were holding up. But with her injured hoof, Irmgard kept staggering along on her three good legs. She was slowing down, and her knees kept buckling. Hannah kept trying to prop her up, but she just wasn’t strong enough.

“Must grab ‘em!” The squealing voices were right beside them, and Hannah could already sense the strong ropes wrapping around her legs. She felt around for the thick, invisible ropes and quickly brushed them away. She jumped to the side to escape the gnomes, but Irmgard could no longer flee the tiny, invisible creatures. They held her down on the ground and lashed her legs together with lightning speed.

“Irmgard!” Hannah wanted to rush back, but Irmgard neighed, “No, Hannah, run! You have to make it on your own!”

Hannah was getting a lump in her throat. There was no way she could leave the unicorn all alone. “Irmgard!”

“Run, Hannah, run!”

Boom! Boom! Boom! The trolls were stomping closer from every side. The wind was growing stronger and stronger. It tore at Hannah’s hair and dress. She narrowed her eyes as she looked around. Where could they go? What should she do? She couldn’t leave Irmgard lying there all by herself! But how could she defend the injured unicorn? There weren’t any trees to provide a branch or twig that could serve as a club—and a thin stick would be useless against the trolls’ enormous clubs.

Still, she couldn’t leave Irmgard behind. She raced back and was bashing wildly at the air to chase the evil gnomes away.

“Hit at us! Evil woman! Must not be! Tie her up!”

Hannah whacked and kicked all around her surroundings. In between, she would feel Irmgard’s body in an effort to find the ropes that were binding her. There was one. She pulled, but it was tied too tight to undo. Irmgard opened her mouth, but it seemed she was dealt an invisible blow, for a moment later she passed out, and her head dropped to the ground.

“IRMGAAAARD!” Hannah flailed her arms even more wildly and bashed at the unseen forest gnomes, but there were far too many. Boom! Boom! Boom! She heard the trolls coming closer and closer. “Irmgard!” But the unicorn didn’t respond.

Hannah looked up. The trolls were not even ten yards away. They were thundering toward her from every side. She couldn’t escape them anymore. In a final, desperate move, she was lashing out wildly to chase away the forest gnomes when the whole plateau began to quake once more. More trolls?

The first to appear were the luminous spikes at the edge of the mountain plateau. The next moment, a horde of unicorns galloped onto the plain. Their faces had a look of determination. Their muscles were tense, and they emitted a radiant white glow. Their light drove off the gray wind that was sweeping across the plain, and it cleared the view of the rocky ground. Right at that instant, Hannah spotted the red flower. It was growing on the side behind the trolls! Hannah had to get over there.

She leapt up and dashed toward the trolls. The monsters were already raising their clubs when the unicorns attacked them from behind. The magical creatures rammed their hooves into the giants’ backs and knocked them down. As they crashed down onto the ground, chunks of rock broke loose from the crag and came raining down from the mountains. Roaring, the trolls immediately stood up and turned to face the unicorns.

Hannah seized the chance! She bounded past them and raced toward the bright red point at the edge of the mountain plateau. The wind grew stronger and more ominous as if it were fighting the unicorns’ light. Once again, the view of the ground was obscured, and Hannah could no longer see the flower. She kept running toward where she had spotted it only moments before. As she sprinted toward it, not once did she turn to look at the battling trolls and the luminous unicorns. How long would the magical creatures last against these monsters? Their strength was dwindling, and the light they emitted was fading. All that remained was the gray evening sky and the dense mist that was spreading across the plateau as the view grew worse and worse.

Hannah could barely see her hand in front of her eyes as she fought her way half-blind through the mist. The wind grew stronger and stronger, and she had to struggle to stay on her feet. She shielded her face from the biting wind, and her hair was whipping around her ears as she leaned into the gale and fought her way forward with every arduous step.

“You’ll never get it!” She could hear a menacing voice inside her head. “The soul belongs to me!”

Suddenly, Hannah felt it. The Evil was trying to take hold of her, of her heart and her thoughts. Like a cloak, it was wrapping itself around her from behind. “Yield, Hannah, and come to me. I will bring you to your children!”

“No, you will not! I will not go with you!”

“You will not? How dare you oppose me?”

Cold laughter echoed throughout the area, but only Hannah could hear it. A chill ran down her spine, and she tensed all her muscles as if that could shield her from the Evil.

“If you do not come to me, I shall go after your children! I shall go to your time and take them! Never again will you lay eyes on them! Never again will you stroke their hair. They’re small and weak. I shall take their souls, and you will never be able to save them!”

“NOOOOOOO!” Hannah kept battling her way forward. But the Evil was holding her arms and legs in its grasp. She could not take another step.

“Yield, and I shall spare them! But take just one more step, and I shall seize them!”

Hannah’s eyes filled with tears, but she would not yield to the Evil. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, and a feeling of strength surged through her body. She trudged onward. A single step. Then another.

“With that, you have now sealed their fate. I shall take them once I am done destroying you!”

The sound of icy laughter echoed throughout the hills. Darkness spread across the plateau. A hand tore at Hannah’s heart. She screamed with pain, but she would not stop. Every step was torture, each and every step a test of courage. The hand tugged harder and harder at her heart. Then, suddenly, it squeezed. Hannah could not breathe.

Was this the end?

She could see nothing. She closed her eyes. The pain engulfed her, but she focused instead on her children’s faces. Leon, with his big brown eyes that he’d gotten from Andrew; Emi, with her adorable dimples; Marco, with his crooked smile. Oh, how she loved her children! She had to hang on for their sakes. She kept her eyes closed and continued to fight. She turned her thoughts toward her children with every ounce of strength she had. The love that went coursing through her drove away the hand clutching her heart until at last she could breathe more freely again.

The sound of thunder was nearing. Were the trolls on their way again? And yet, back there was light. It was growing brighter, although the sun was nowhere in sight.

The unicorns came trotting up. Had they driven away the trolls?

“Beware and do not attempt to fight me!” the dark voice bellowed across the mountains. “Turn back, or I shall destroy your herd, just as I did the others!”

But the unicorns did not turn back. They charged toward Hannah, and with them, the light returned. At last, Hannah could see it: the red fireflower—not even two steps away. Hannah dashed over. She bent down and wrapped her fingers around the stem. Once again, the hand clutched at her heart and attempted to pull her back, but the unicorns’ presence had weakened the forces of the Evil.

With every last ounce of strength, Hannah pulled on the flower and plucked it. As the stem broke, the darkness fell away, and the grasping hand released her heart. She felt that she was free, and she took a deep breath in. A moment later, she was engulfed in total blackness.