Für Du =)

And here it is--the prologue. Aha. I promised you I'd do it =)

Off I go, laptopless and without cell phone connection for a whole week. Wish me well!

 

~Elisabeth

 

 

Prologue     

Avalanche galloped through the forest, his strides eating up the distance between him and his destination. His mane whipped his neck as he increased his speed and leapt over a log in his path. Pain seized him when his right foreleg, dark with dried blood, buckled beneath his weight. He caught himself before he fell and swerved down a well-worn path through the dark trees, trying to keep going despite the pain from his wound and the ache in his heart.

             The forest was silent, showing no sign of the danger he knew was coming. The air, heavy with the scent of spring, should have calmed him; the musty odor of loose earth and new life filled his nostrils. The wind whispered through the trees as it had for a thousand years.

            But this night was different.

            Avalanche broke into a moonlit clearing and slid to a stop, keeping the weight off his wounded leg. He righted himself, then waited.

            After a moment, a circle of unicorns stepped from the shadows to meet him.

            “What news do you bring us, my leader?” a tall, silver unicorn with a black mane asked.

            “Yes, what information from the outside, Avalanche?” A sea-blue stallion stepped up beside the first; his white mane rivaled even the moonlight.

            “Ravenmane, Fleetfoot, the news I bring is grave.” Avalanche’s voice sounded tired, even to his own ears. “Vanisa Sorian’s forces have made their first attack.”

            A wave of murmurs rose and died before it was silent again.           

            “So she has begun?” asked Fleetfoot. The young unicorn’s eyes flickered from Avalanche’s face to his wounded leg, and Avalanche could tell that he was trying not to stare.

            “She has.” Avalanche’s eyes closed for a moment. He remembered the horrible scene as the dying cries of his companions wove dark and bitter tunes in his mind.

            “How many were lost?” Ravenmane asked.

            The memories faded as Avalanche opened his eyes. “Seven. I had hoped it would never come to this.” He turned to a small yet agile unicorn mare waiting behind Ravenmane. “Lunara Whisperwind, it is time.”

            “It is time.” Lunara stepped forward to Ravenmane’s side. “We cannot let an act like this go unpunished.”

            Avalanche nodded, then paused. “Lunara, I ask this not as your leader, but as your friend: are you truly willing to go? In your condition?”

            “I am ready, Avalanche,” Lunara said, her voice resolved. “I was chosen for this long before Moonbeam’s death, and condition or no condition, I will hold to my promises.”

            Avalanche held her gaze for a moment; he was about to speak when a surprised and familiar voice joined their conversation.

            “Lunara? What are you doing?”

            Avalanche turned to face a slender woman standing in the entrance to the clearing. Her long, azure gown rippled around her like liquid moonlight as she approached Lunara. Her long pale hair was tied behind her; her blue eyes searched Avalanche’s face with sudden intensity. “What’s going on?”

            “Lara, I thought I told you not to come,” Lunara said.

            Lara drew herself up to her full height. “You said you were going for a walk, not to a secret meeting.”

            Lunara’s ears flicked back. “It is not your place to stop me.”

            “But it is too near your time!” Lara protested. “You must stay here; do not go galloping through the galaxies looking for some mythical girl mentioned in a prophecy a thousand years old. Besides, with a war brewing, that is the last thing we need—a girl in Avaria.”

            Amusement flashed across Lunara’s face; then her eyes softened. “Lara, the girl will help us. The Prophecy—”

            “—is an old Foal-Rhyme.” Lara scowled at Lunara and crossed her arms.

            “Lara.” Avalanche kept his voice firm. “Do not mock the Prophecy. If the Creator has decreed it, then it will come to pass.” He turned to Ravenmane. “You know it by heart; will you recite it for us now?”

            Ravenmane nodded. “Of course, sir.”  He began in a low, steady voice:

           

“Earth-child yet not of Earth,

Quiet one of noble birth

The true blood runs in her veins

Magical as the unicorns’ manes

When darkness falls and storms arise,

Call for the First and open her eyes

Though called to hardship and to pain

She shall be the enemy’s bane.”

Avalanche nodded his approval. “I, for one, have full faith in the Creator’s words. Lunara is right. It is not Lara’s place to stop her.”

“Avalanche,” Lara began, “this is madness, to let—”

“Lunara has pledged herself to this quest,” Avalanche interjected. “I gave her the chance to surrender her duties to another; she declined. I now hold her to her word. She will go.”

            Dismay colored Lara’s face; she gave Lunara a sidelong glance before she turned back to Avalanche. “If I cannot stop her, then it is my place to go with her.” She stepped closer to Lunara and laid a hand on the unicorn’s shoulder. “We have been together from the beginning, Avalanche. Do not separate us now.”

            Avalanche paused. It would be both useful and wise for Lunara to have a friend by her side, since she is not fit to make the journey alone. “Lunara, this is your decision.”

            Lunara did not hesitate to answer. “I would be honored to have Lara come.”

            “So it shall be. Lunara, is there anything we can do for you and Lara before you leave?”

            “Actually, there is.” Lunara glanced at Lara, then continued. “Avalanche, please send two or three unicorns with us to Moonrain Grove. They will serve as protection and, if trouble arises, they can come back to warn you.”           

            Avalanche shook his head. “I cannot spare any unicorn warriors, not after the attack. There is just no way.”

            “Excuse me.”

            Avalanche turned and peered at a muscular, crimson-red unicorn behind him. “Firehorn, son of Lunara, you wish to speak?”          

            “Yes, sir.” Firehorn stepped forward to face Avalanche, his dark brown eyes illuminated by what starlight there was. “I am willing to go with Lara and my mother. After all, I am not a colt anymore,” he said, pride penetrating his voice.

            “Sir, if you would allow me to go as well,” Fleetfoot said, following Firehorn.

            “Fleetfoot?” Avalanche asked.

            “Someone must keep Firehorn out of trouble,” Fleetfoot explained, his voice serious but his eyes laughing.

            “I suppose you are experienced enough to go…” Avalanche tried to collect his thoughts. “The two of you together will provide ample protection and will be of great service to Lunara.”

            “What of the third?”

            The cry came from a unicorn mare, slight and limber and as silver as the moon. Her jerky and uneven strides betrayed her excitement as she trotted to stand by Firehorn. “I mean, Lunara did say two or three, sir. Can there not be three unicorns to protect her?”

            Avalanche smiled despite himself. “You wish to go, Starhorn?”

            “I do.”

            Fleetfoot and Firehorn exchanged looks of disbelief before turning back to Avalanche. “Is it wise,” Firehorn asked carefully, “to send Starhorn to do a warrior’s work?”

            “Speak for yourself,” Starhorn retorted before Avalanche could speak. “You are not a warrior, and yet he sends you.” She looked to Avalanche, her eyes pleading as her pride would not allow her to do. “Send me, my leader.”

            “Are you sure, Starhorn?”

            “Quite, sir.”

            “Then you are the third,” Avalanche said. “Lunara, do you think these three young ones are suitable?” He could see Lunara hesitate, and he understood her uncertainty. In times past, these three would have been considered too young for a quest such as this. But times are changing. They have been forced to change.

            “They will do.” Lunara smiled as the three young ones took their place beside her and Lara, whose mouth opened in disbelief.

            “Very well,” Avalanche said. “May the Creator guide all of you.”

            “And may He watch over you until he return,” Lunara replied. She turned and walked carefully out of the clearing. Lara followed on foot, then Starhorn, then Fleetfoot. Firehorn brought up the rear; his excitement showed in the spring of his trot as he disappeared into the darkness.

            Avalanche waited until they were out of his sight; then he murmured a silent prayer. Keep them safe, Creator Lord. He faced his waiting herd. “So it begins.”

            The unicorns lingered; then, one by one, they left the clearing, leaving only their hoof prints to tell of their presence there.