EPISODE 8 - The Adventure Begins - Fairies and Dragons, Ponies and Knights
Performed Live May 30th, 2021
Podcast released June 5th, 2021
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    “La la la la laaaaa la laaaa, la la laaa laaa laaaa laaaaa, ya ba daaa daaa, da daaa da daaaaa, ya la la ba daaa daa daa...”

    “Edwine, stop,” said Petra.

    “La la la la laaaaa la laaaa, la la laaa laaa laaaa laaaaa...”

    “Edwine, please stop!” said Petra.

    “Ya ba daaa daaa, da daaa da daaaaa, ya la la ba daaa daa daa…”

    “Edwine, STOP SINGING!!” yelled Petra.

    “Ba da baaaa baa da, da…..”

    “Edwine, STOP! STOP!” Whack! Cue: stop Gracelyn - Edwine

    Petra smacked Edwine with her tail. “STOP SINGING! STOP SINGING! IT IS SO ANNOYING!” 

    “Petra!! You hit me in the face!”  cried Edwine.
    
    “I asked you to stop!” yelled Petra.

    “I can sing if I want to!” 

    “That is not singing!” 

    Growling, Edwine ran forward and bit Petra’s tail. 

    “AAAGGH!! You bit me! I can’t believe YOU, BIT ME! I’m going to tie you up with your own tail! Where is mom? Mom! Edwine bit me!” 

    Azreal tried to intervene, “STOP! Both of you!”

    Lyle, who was behind Edwine, leapt into the air and landed on Edwine’s her back, pinning her to the ground. “Yaaaaaaaghhh! “No one bites my SISTER!” 

    Edwine spun around and started beating Lyle with her wings. “I’M YOUR SISTER! GET OFF OF ME, YOU PURPLE-NOSED NARWHAL’S FOOT!” 

    “Guys, stop!” yelled Azrael. “Narwhals don’t even have feet, ugh, just stop!”

    But Lyle and Edwine were locked in combat. “You’re the Narwhal, you mosquito-brained buzzard beak!” yelled Lyle.

    “Cavity mouth!” 

    “Snow fort face!” 

    “Kangaroo butt!”

    Raaggghh! Ow! Ughh! (general fighting sounds) cue: Forest loop
    
    It had been three days since Beatrice, Petra, Azrael, Lyle, Edwine, Smudge, Talora, and Tom had left Durga and headed south on their way to the grasslands of Shasborough to find the ponies. In the end, Beatrice had allowed her draglings to come with her. As much as she didn’t like to admit it, they were right- they were stronger together, and at least this way she could keep an eye on them. However, she had felt the need to issue some punishment so as to make her point, and so she told her draglings that they must walk the entire five-day journey to Shasborough Grasslands without flying at all. Besides the punishment, this would give Beatrice time to work out how she was going to handle the ponies, while also providing an excellent opportunity to work with Smudge on his flying skills. And that is exactly what she was doing now. Beatrice was high in the air with Smudge, who was gliding on his own just a little below and in front of her, as the sounds of fighting dragons drifted up towards them. Even from this height, Beatrice could see Edwine and Lyle rolling around on the ground, firing off insults at each other. She felt, not for the first time, that this punishment might have been a mistake. Five days without flying was turning out to be more trouble than it was worth. The young dragons were tired, cranky, sore, and hungry- since they relied on flying to catch larger prey, they had been living off of fish from the Crystal River. They loved fish, but they were getting sick of it, and there never seemed to be enough. Three days in, and they were more or less trying to kill each other. 

    Beatrice looked down at Smudge. Had he noticed the fighting, she wondered? He was using all of his concentration to keep steady as he glided downwards. Using the same technique she had used to teach all of her older draglings to fly, Beatrice had flown into the air with Smudge on her back. When he was ready, she had him jump off and glide down. It would still be some time before his wings were strong enough to pull him off the ground and keep him in flight, but gliding would strengthen them  while teaching him how to use the wind to his advantage.

    She took her eyes off of Smudge for a minute to watch the spectacle below. Lyle and Edwine were still screaming insults and trying to rip each other’s wings off, Azrael was yelling at them both to stop while trying to pull them apart, and Petra was lying in the sun, watching serenely. Tom and Talora had climbed some rocks to get out of the way and were eating some scraps of food they’d saved. They were used to this kind of thing by now. Beatrice saw Smudge’s focus shift from his flight pattern to the ruckus below him. Hmmmm. This should be interesting. She could guess what he was thinking. Yep. He adjusted his direction slightly so that he was aiming right for Lyle and Edwine. Should she stop him? Could she stop him? “Maybe I’ll just... see what happens,” she thought. Cue: fade forest loop

    “I am going to feed your wings to the lizards!” yelled Lyle.
    
    “The lizards are on my side, you caterpillar slug!” yelled Edwine.

    “Stop! Stop it, you two!” yelled Azreal. “Caterpillars and slugs are completely different species -- ow! Watch it, Lyle! That was my eye!”

    “Yeah...you tell ‘em, Azrael,” Petra said, swishing her tail lazily through the grass. 

    For a brief moment there was a shadow as something above them passed in front of the sun. That was their only warning. Smudge crashed spectacularly into Lyle and Edwine. The force of his impact sent all three of them skidding into Azrael, and the four of them careened into Petra, who was lying just on the edge of the road with a sharp drop behind her. All five draglings went tumbling right off of the road, down the ravine, hitting every branch, bush and rock before finally splashing into the river below. Lyle didn’t stop yelling the whole time, so the whole thing sounded something like this:

    “You bug-eyed--Aaaaggghhh - I’m hit! I’m hit! Meteor! cue: crashing sounds Meteor! I’m struck by a meteor! With claws! Aauggh, falling. off. cliff. now! Someone grab my - Ow! Uggh! Stick! Stick in my nose - Uhhh. Ow! This… is… not…. soft!” cue: splash

    Talora and Tom jumped off the rock they’d been standing on and ran to the edge of the road where they could see down into the river. They felt the wind from Beatrice’s wings as she landed behind them. They watched as the five draglings thrashed about in the water. Smudge seemed to be the only one enjoying himself. 

    “Agh, Smudge!” yelled Petra. “You almost killed us!” 

    “What?!” yelled Lyle. “Where is he? Oh man, Smudge, that was you?? I thought I’d been hit by a meteor! Did you hear me? Did you hear me guys? I was like ‘Ahh Meteor, I’m hit by a meteor’, did you hear me when I said that? Smudge I totally thought you were like some meteor from space.” They all started to head back up the hill to the road while Lyle kept talking. “That was amazing. Smudge, don’t ever do that again, but seriously, that was amazing, I mean seriously, you knocked all of us completely off of the road! In one blast. You just blasted all of us right off there. If that was like a battle, then that would be like one baby dragon just defeated four bigger dragons. Like we were all just defeated by a baby dragon.” They were nearing the top of the hill now. “Mom, did you see that? We were fighting - me, Edwine and Azrael and Petra were fighting-”

    “I wasn’t fighting,” said Petra.

    “Oh right, so me, Edwine, and Azrael were fighting-”

    “I wasn’t fighting, I was trying to get you guys to stop fighting!” said Azrael.

    “Oh right, so me and Edwine were fighting, and then Smudge, out of NOWHERE- he came crashing into us. I had no idea what was going on! I thought I’d been hit by a meteor. LITTLE SMUDGE! He crashed ALL OF US off the road! I was bumping down the hill, and I was like ‘ow, ow, stick’ when a stick went up my nose, and then--”

    “Yes, thank you, Lyle,” said Beatrice. “I did see that. I saw you fighting, and I saw the crash, and I saw you all fall down the hill into the water. Is everyone all right?”

    They all nodded sullenly, except for Lyle, who tried to show everyone where the stick had gone up his nose. 

    “Listen up, all of you,” Beatrice said, looking into the miserable faces of her offspring. “I’ve decided that your punishment is over. Tomorrow we can fly the rest of the way to Shasborough.” 

    The dragons erupted in cheers, and Tom and Talora grinned at each other. This meant that they would fly too! 

    “We must be close, and once we reach the grasslands, we’ll need to keep our eyes out for signs of the ponies. We have a bit further to walk today, though. If I hear any fighting, or there are ANY other shenanigans, we’ll have to keep walking tomorrow. Understood?” They all nodded. “Good. And please, let’s keep the name calling to a minimum, shall we? I don’t want Smudge’s first words to be ‘bat-eared banana fingers.”

    “‘Bat-eared banana fingers’, ha, that’s a good one, Mom,” Lyle chuckled. Cue: forest loop

    With renewed energy, they started down the road again. Talora was so full of joy she started to skip a little. Even with the draglings’ constant bickering, she was having the time of her life. Walking didn’t bother her, since it’s what she had always done. The road was beautiful: narrow, winding, and closely following the path of the Crystal River. The woods were full of tall, stately pines, and the ground was soft with years and years of their needles. It was quiet, except for birds and the sound of the river, and of course the draglings, who never seemed to stop making noise of some kind. Talora didn’t mind that though, she was loving getting to know each of them better.

    Azreal was obsessed with nature. He was always stopping to examine pine cones, leaves, or flowers, and was constantly on the lookout for any animals he could see or hear; when he did see or hear anything, that was all he could talk about. If you were interested in talking about bugs, or fish, or moss, or owls, or pine cones, flowers, bees, bear poop- then you could talk to Azrael all day. 

    Petra was the natural leader of the draglings, and of Tom and Talora, for that matter. She wasn’t bossy, she was just “in charge” in a way that Talora couldn’t quite put her finger on. Talora found it fascinating to watch Petra. They taught leadership skills in Durga, but the knights’ version of leadership was very rigid. If someone was in charge, or higher-ranking than you, you had to do what they said, without question. Petra, on the other hand, acted more like a group organizer. When there was conflict, she made sure that everyone was heard and taken care of, and then she had the final word, which addressed everyone’s concerns and so they all tended to agree. On the other hand, Petra was also full of mischief. She took great pleasure in annoying Azrael, and she was often encouraging the younger draglings to do things that would either get them hurt or into trouble. Especially Lyle. 

    Lyle would do anything for Petra. He worshiped her. Lyle would follow Petra on a journey to the sun if she asked him to. He also had no regard for his own safety, which Petra took advantage of whenever she could. Lyle was a friend to everyone. He seemed to love everyone and everything, always wanted to be a part of every conversation, and was constantly on the lookout for any game he could play. 

    Edwine was still a bit of a mystery to Talora. She reminded Talora powerfully of a cat. She was happy to play and full of love, but also completely unpredictable, seeming to live somewhat in her own imagination. She might be silent for hours, a far-off look in her eyes, then start humming a song no one else had ever heard before, following it up with a dreamy question, such as, “Do you think the wind can see?” or, “If I flew straight up into the air without stopping, how long would it take me to reach a star?” She always wanted to hear stories or tell stories, and for this reason, she seemed particularly fond of Tom. Tom was like some kind of story and song machine; he never seemed to run out of the energy to share them.

    In some ways, Talora still felt closest to Smudge. She slept with him at night, and even though Smudge didn’t talk yet, she could clearly sense his intelligence and compassion. He paid close attention to everyone, and seemed to understand each of his siblings’ unique traits. If he found something interesting in the woods he ran right to Azrael. If he wanted to play he would pounce on Edwine or Lyle, and if he wanted to just be quiet for a while he would stick with Petra. A few things were clear about Smudge though. He did not like being alone, he needed to know where Beatrice was at all times, and… he was afraid of the dark. If Smudge had to go somewhere alone at nighttime, he would ferociously growl and roar his whole way there, which Talora imagined as his attempt to scare away the monsters he thought must be lurking in the darkness. 

    And finally, there was Beatrice. She mesmerized Talora. She just couldn’t get over what an incredible creature she was. First of all, she was just so big, but she wasn’t slow or lumbering. The ground didn’t shake when she walked. She was lithe, agile, moving through the world like shimmering smoke. Talora was often surprised when Beatrice seemed to appear next to her, seemingly out of nowhere. At first Talora had felt a little nervous around her- what if Beatrice accidentally stepped on her, or swiped her with her tail? But that fear soon went away as Talora noticed that Beatrice never touched anything with her body unintentionally. She seemed to have an awareness of where all things were at all times. And in fact, Talora had been noticing some of that same quality in Azrael and Petra, too. Talora had tried to write a description of Beatrice in her journal, but struggled to find the words for the simplest things about her, such as what color she was. This seemed to change with the light, so she could look purple, or red, or grey, almost blue sometimes, but also, somehow, all of those colors all at once. She had a row of flexible black plates running down her spine, and sharp horns curved back on either side of her head. Smaller horns, or spikes, ran along her jaws and jutted out from the backs of her legs. They were black also and matched the long black claws on each of her feet. Her skin was tough, almost like a turtle’s shell, but as her sides curved into her belly, they gave way to scales that looked and felt smooth and silky, like a snake’s skin, but much stronger. Everything about her looked lethal. Although Talora could feel the strength of Beatrice’s love for her draglings, she was not a doting mother. She left her children alone, for the most part; she didn’t hunt for them- not even Smudge- or tell them what to do or what not to do. She hardly even intervened in their squabbles with each other, expecting them to work it out themselves. She did not ignore them, though. Many times throughout the day, she would stop to show them something important. The way the ripple of the river’s current was disrupted in a certain place, for example, meant that there was a big fish just beneath the surface, or what the depth and density of an animal’s tracks said about the animal who made them. When she did this, the draglings listened attentively, and Talora wrote down everything in her journal, following Knight Uba’s advice to keep careful records. Cue: fade out forrest loop

    The sun was nearing the peaks of the mountains now, and Beatrice stopped, lifting her head high in the air. The draglings and humans behind her stopped too, and got very quiet. Talora could tell that Beatrice had sensed something important; Azrael had told Talora that Beatrice could tell a lot by smelling and tasting the air, which she did now, unfurling her long, pink tongue and panting like a dog. The draglings mimicked her. Talora, too, strained her senses to see if she could pick up on anything, but whatever it was, she couldn’t find it. Beatrice lowered her head and walked back to the rest of the group.

        “There is a herd of elk just ahead, crossing the river. I think it’s time we had something other than fish for dinner. We’ll need our strength for tomorrow.”

        Azrael spoke first. “Dinner tag?”

        “Yes, dinner tag. You may use your wings.”

        “Yay, dinner tag!” Edwine cheered. 

        “Shhhhh…. if they sense us too soon, they’ll bolt, and we can’t let them lead us too far from the river. While we’re together, on the road, we are safe, but I don’t want you going too far into the woods. There are powerful creatures here, some that I don’t recognize, and it’s best not to disturb them. Alright, we’ll use the family formation: Edwine and Lyle, you take the lead and be the first to descend. Azrael, Petra, you wait until they run to see which direction they break, then make your choice. I’ll follow last. Talora and Tom, please take Smudge up ahead and see if you can find a place to sleep for the night.”

    “How many, Mom?” asked Petra, flexing her wings back and forth. 

    “Hmm. I think that eight will be enough for all of us. Tom and Talora, how many elk do you each need?”

    “Oh, um...I think we can share one, thanks.” Tom grinned at Talora, who tried to keep a straight face. 

    “Nine, then, Petra.”

    “Got it.”

     The draglings were bursting with excitement, except for Smudge, who looked sullen. He was familiar with being left behind on hunting trips, and he didn’t like it. Beatrice nuzzled him and said to him quietly, “Soon Smudge, you are getting very strong. Alright, Lyle and Edwine, whenever you’re ready.”

        Barely waiting for Beatrice to finish her sentence, Lyle and Edwine shot up into the air. Lyle couldn’t help rejoicing. “I’m flying! Ahhh ha ha I’m flying… how I’ve missed you, sweet, sweet wind in my face.”

        Edwine swiped him with her tail. “Too loud!”

        “Oh right, sorry!” They flew up, higher and higher.

        “Petra and Azreal, now you,” said Beatrice.

        Petra took a few steps and then launched into the air, Azrael following right behind. Talora could sense the joy they felt at being aloft again, and her heart soared with them. Beatrice launched into the air as well, saying, “We shouldn’t be too long, we’ll see you soon.” Lyle and Edwine already looked like small birds, they were up so high.

        Talora turned to Tom. “Dinner tag? Is that… hunting?”

        Tom shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. Cause you know, it’s like tag, only, if you get tagged, you get to be... dinner?”

        “Oh right, that makes sense,” said Talora. They started walking. Smudge followed forlornly.

        Tom suddenly clapped his hands together and gave a whoop. “Can you believe it? Tomorrow we’re flying! Oh man! I cannot wait. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since The Scream. I dream about it. I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight!”

        Talora also felt a wave of excitement rush through her body. Just to imagine herself up in the air again, this time without fear, gave her a thrill and a sense of weightless freedom. She grinned at Tom. “I know… I can’t wait.”

        They arrived at a clearing just off the road, a flat, grassy area without many rocks where they could all rest for the night. Talora and Tom nodded in agreement as they looked around, and Smudge found a spot to curl up right away, clearly exhausted from his flying lesson. Talora took off her pack and stretched. She had gotten used to the burden, but taking it off was the best part of every day. She was starting to unpack the things she would need for the night when she noticed Tom walking into the woods. “Where you going?” she called out.

        “Oh, uh…. just got to do my business.” 

        “Gotcha,” said Talora. She kept going through her things, then paused as she realized that Tom hadn’t taken off his pack before going into the woods. Why would he need to take his whole pack into the woods to go to the bathroom? Now that she was considering it, her thoughts floated back to the last few times they’d stopped to make camp- he’d done the same thing! There was always so much going on that she hadn’t taken much notice of it, but now it occurred to her that he did the same thing in the morning, too- headed off into the woods after shouldering his pack, not before. In fact, Tom was always acting kind of funny around his pack. He was really careful with it, and he’d sometimes just open it, and peek inside. 

        She started walking slowly towards the woods where Tom had disappeared, and took a tentative step into the brush. Cue: suspense music “Tom?” she called out. No response. Smudge lifted his head to watch her. Talora gave him a reassuring smile before walking further into the woods. “Tom?” Nothing. Where was he? This was farther than he would’ve needed to go to “do his business.” cue: kitten 1 Then she heard something. She stood as still as possible, listening hard. Cue: kitten 2 She heard it again, a faint, high-pitched cry. Talora was getting a little nervous, but she kept walking quietly through the brush in the direction of the sound. Why hadn’t she brought her spear? Then she stopped, because just ahead, she could see something, partially blocked by a tree. It was Tom! He was sitting, and looking down at something in his lap. Cue: kitten 3  There was the sound again. “No,” thought Talora, as it dawned on her. “No way.” She took a quiet step forward cue: twig snap but her foot went right through a dry stick. Tom stood up to look through the trees. In his arms was a kitten.

    “Tom!” Talora exclaimed. 

        “AAAAAAGGGGHH!!!” cue: suspense fade yelled Tom, clearly surprised to see Talora. His scream scared the kitten, and it sprung out of his arms and climbed up his shoulders and onto his head, digging its claws into his flesh with every step. “AAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!! Ow! Ow! Ow!” Tom tried to grab the kitten, but the screaming and the grabbing scared it further, and it leapt off his head and ran at Talora. 

    “Catch it!!” yelled Tom. 

    Talora leapt for the kitten, landing flat on her face with her arms outstretched. She’d missed it. Wait no…  there was a tiny paw in her hand. “Ow ow ow ow OW,” she yelled as the kitten clawed at her. Finally, it chomped down hard on her finger and she let it go. It tore off through the woods back towards their camp.

      Tom leapt over Talora as he ran after it, and Talora sprang to her feet and ran after Tom. They both raced through the woods and popped out into the clearing near their camp at almost the same time… and froze. In the center of the clearing stood the kitten, and just beyond the kitten was Smudge. The kitten was puffed up to twice its normal size, standing sideways and holding its little tail high. Smudge was also puffed up, insofar as it was possible for a dragon to be puffed up- his back was arched and all of his spikes were looking very, very spiky. 

        “Okay,” whispered Talora. “You get the kitten, I’ll try to calm Smudge.” 

        “Got it,” said Tom, and they both walked carefully forward. 

     Talora spoke soothingly to Smudge. “Smudgie, what’s the matter? That’s just a kitten. Don’t worry, it can’t hurt you.” cue: kitten hiss and growl. The kitten hissed and issued a low growl, which made Smudge back away nervously.

    “It’s okay, Furball” Tom said to the kitten. “That’s just Smudgie, he’s our friend, he’s a nice dragon.”

    “Furball?”

    “Yeah, I don’t know, it seemed to fit him, he’s so fuzzy and --”

    “Okay, fine,Tom. Focus! 

    “Sorry, right. C’mere, Furball, c’mere, kitty-kitty…”
   
        But it didn’t seem to be working. The kitten danced forward, and Smudge lurched backwards while making a sort of a scared growling sound, cue: smudge growl and puffing out smoke. Then, the kitten pounced. Cue: hiss

        “Furball, NO!” yelled Tom.

        The sudden movement was too much for Smudge. He growl-screamed, cue: growl scream and took off running towards Tom and Talora, who dove out of the way just before getting trampled. Smudge ran past them, into the woods, crashing through branches and trampling everything in his path.

        Tom scrambled to his feet and ran to the kitten, scooping it up while trying to protect himself from its claws. 

        “Shooting stars, Tom!” yelled Talora. “What in the name of Durga is going on? Where did that kitten come from??”

        “Talora! I’m so sorry! He was one of the kittens from the slide, remember?” Tom held up the kitten so that Talora could have a better look.

        “No Tom, I don’t remember. I was basically on fire when I met those kittens. Anyway, that’s not the point- what is it doing here?”

        “Oh Talora, don’t be mad. It was an accident. Well, I mean, it just sort of happened. After the slide, Furball here just wouldn’t leave me alone, you know? He just kept following me everywhere, and so when it was time to go, I tried to say goodbye, but Furball just climbed right into my pack. I didn’t know what to do, it was like...he was meant to come with us. I’m sorry, Talora. I knew it was foolish to bring a kitten, so I was trying to keep it hidden. I figured, at some point I could introduce him to everyone, and by then, everyone would know that he wasn’t any trouble, cause they hadn’t even known about him the whole time!”

        “Agh! Tom! The kitten isn’t the problem. The SECRET is the problem. You scared me, and now you’ve scared the living daylights out of Smudge! C’mon, it doesn’t matter now, we’ve got to go get him.” Talora turned to look in the direction that Smudge had gone. There was a clear path of broken branches and trampled bushes. It shouldn’t be hard to find him, at least. Talora grabbed her spear. “Get your bow, Tom, we don’t know what’s in there.” 

    Tom reached for his bow, trying to sling it over his back while also holding the kitten. 

    “Okay, you can’t bring the kitten.”

        “Agh. I know. I just… my pack is in the woods. I’ll put Furball away once we get over there.”

        They ventured in. Once they reached Tom’s pack, he tucked Furball carefully inside and propped it against a tree. They kept going, and Talora noticed how quickly the darkness of evening was descending. They still had some time, but not a lot, and Smudge was afraid of the dark. “C’mon Tom, we’ve got to hurry.” Talora started running, and Tom followed. Cue: forest sounds - night

        An ominous feeling started to creep into Talora’s awareness. They were getting too far from camp. There were also new sounds and smells that Talora didn’t recognize, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. Or followed. Cue: owl

    They reached a point where Smudge’s trail changed. It looked like he had stopped running; there were fewer broken branches, and he wasn’t traveling in a straight line anymore. “Oh no, Tom… he’s lost,” Talora said. “He doesn’t know where to go.”

        “SMUDGE!!!” yelled Tom. Talora could hear the fear in his voice and knew she wasn’t the only one who felt like they were being watched. 

        “SMUDGIE?” she yelled desperately. 

    It was becoming harder and harder to follow his trail. “Tom, if you were a lost baby dragon who was afraid of the dark, where would you go?”

        “Geez, well, okay… well, it’s pretty hard to see in here, and, um…and I guess, I would want a better view of the sky, right? Cause, maybe my mom is flying around and I’d be able to see her, so-”

        “Brilliant, Tom! Yes! We need to find some higher ground, I think Smudge would go UP.” Talora led the way up a steep embankment, hoping that this was the right direction. They couldn’t keep following his trail; it was too dark now. As they climbed, the trees gave way to rocky patches, and, scrambling up a large rock, Talora could see more clearly what was around them. The ground sloped steadily upwards into a steep hill. She smiled. 

    “Look Tom, right there, there’s a ledge on the hill- it looks almost like a little cave, or shelter, maybe he went in there!”

    “Yes, look, there he is!” yelled Tom, and pointed. And there he was, stumbling up the rocky slope, heading toward the ledge. In the falling light, his dark grey color against the rock made him barely visible.

        “SMUDGE!! SMUDGIE!!” yelled both Tom and Talora, running up the slope after him. But Smudge couldn’t hear them. Then Talora remembered. Her whistle! The whistle that Knight Jazmin had given her was hanging on a cord around her neck. She pulled it out and blew it as hard as she could.

    Cue: whistle blows 

        Smudge turned around, looking for them. Talora kept blowing until he saw them, and started clamoring back down the rocky slope to get to them.

        “Phew,” thought Talora, lowering her whistle in relief. And then something caught her eye. Something else had heard the whistle, and had stepped out of the brush to investigate. It was far enough away that Talora couldn’t quite make it out, but it was between them and Smudge. Despite the darkness, it seemed to have a sort of glow all its own. It looked… like a horse, but it couldn’t be a horse, could it? “Tom,” Talora said, pointing. “What is that?” 

        Tom gasped and grabbed Talora’s arm. “Get down!” He pressed himself flat to the rock, pulling Talora down with him.

        “What is it?”

        “Unicorn,” said Tom, his eyes wide in the darkness.

        “Really, a unicorn?” said Talora, craning her neck up to get a better look. Now that it had stepped all the way out from the brush, Talora could see it more clearly. It took her breath away. A real unicorn. She had never seen one before. “It’s so beautiful,” she breathed. Tom made a choking sound and shook his head. “What? Is this bad?”

    “Yes,” said Tom. “Unicorns are aggressive. Very aggressive. If it sees us, it might charge at us.”

        “What about Smudge, then?” said Talora. Smudge hadn’t seen the unicorn yet, and was still heading for them.

        “I don’t know,” said Tom. “Maybe it won’t charge at him?”

        “But maybe it will!” said Talora. Before she knew what she was doing, she stood up, lifting her whistle to her lips. “Hey, Unicorn!!” cue: whistle 2  The unicorn turned slowly, until it was looking right at her. It began to walk in their direction, tossing its head. Its horn seemed to shimmer, glowing more brightly than the rest of its body, and Talora shivered as she looked into its eyes. 

        Tom started frantically looking around. “Uhh, okay, okay, there’s a tree not too far. I think, if it charges, we can make it. Maybe.”

        “That’s right, c’mon unicorn!” Talora called, wanting to keep the unicorn’s attention away from Smudge. It was still walking towards them, curiously, like it hadn’t decided what to make of them yet. Suddenly, Smudge, who still hadn’t seen the unicorn, [cue: smudge calls] called out to Tom and Talora with one of his “happy to see you” growl-roars as he pounded down the slope towards them.

    The unicorn turned and saw Smudge. Smudge, who, from the unicorn’s perspective, probably looked like he was attacking as he rushed down the slope, growling and roaring. As Tom and Talora watched in horror, the unicorn lowered its horn, pointed it at Smudge, and charged.