The Herd That Answered
A day passed, then another, and by the third Jin was beginning to worry in earnest. That was when Nina came back, looking immensely pleased with herself.
The lead unicorn beside her was a shadow of the beast it had been. It hung limp, spit stringing from its mouth, its black hide lathered with the foam sweat had raised. Even so, it had not lost its dignity. The horn above its brow shone with the beauty of a black pearl, its lines were finer than any horse's, and the sheer bulk of it was something else entirely.
Jin whistled before he knew he was doing it.
Nina hopped down off the unicorn. Swaying from side to side, she said,
"I'm completely wiped. I'm soaked through with sweat. Everything's sticky."
"Well, you stayed on its back the whole time. Your stamina is ridiculous."
A unicorn with the endurance to run for three days was remarkable enough. Nina, who had endured the ride, was hardly ordinary herself.
"I'm starving, I'm sleepy, and I want to wash. A bath. A bath."
"Eat first, then sleep. You won't even be able to sleep this hungry."
While Jin got a meal ready, Nina took the unicorn down to a nearby stream and washed it. When she came back alone, he startled.
"The unicorn?"
"Hm? It probably went off to rest with the herd."
"It ran away?"
"No. It lost once. It won't do that."
Nina shook her head as she slurped the porridge Jin had boiled from their dry rations. Jin, all the same, felt uneasy.
What if it ran off and never comes back?
Whether or not she knew he was worrying, Nina toppled into sleep the moment she finished eating. She snored, great rattling breaths. Jin drew a blanket over her, then watered the plants they had gathered so they would not dry out.
The next morning the sun was already high before Nina dragged herself up. She ate the meat Jin had hunted and the fruit from the trees, and only then came back to herself.
"I want to wash. But is it all right to wash in the water here?"
The fruit of the Purple Forest, and the meat of its beasts, could at least be sorted by long years of experience into the few things safe to eat. Springs were the same. They had never come this far in, though, and there was no way to be sure of a safe one.
"Not here. Get clear of the forest and wash out there. It's dangerous."
Jin shook his head as he said it, a flat don't. Nina had no choice but to agree.
"The unicorn was fine, though..."
"Are we the same as them?"
"Fair point."
Nina nodded.
Once their things were packed, she made a circle of thumb and forefinger and whistled. A sharp, piercing note split the air and held. Before long, hoofbeats answered.
"It really comes when you call."
Jin was still marveling when his eyes went wide. It was not the sound of one set of hooves, or two.
The lead unicorn arrived at the head of its herd, and Jin's mouth fell open. Nina smacked him across the back and said,
"Then let's go home."
They had to swing wide around the villages, since they were bringing the herd back with them, but the pace was so tremendous it hardly cost them anything. The horses following without packs were the ones falling behind.
Jin picked out a unicorn of his own and was thrown more than once. Even so—perhaps because the leader had been broken—he got a saddle onto it, fitted a bridle, and managed to climb back up.
"Wow. This is actually incredible."
He kept exclaiming as he walked the unicorn forward, then made it step sideways, over and over. Movements a horse would never learn unless it was trained from foalhood, the unicorn copied after being shown them two or three times.
Giggling, Jin drew up beside Nina.
"When we get into the castle, everyone's going to lose their minds. Do we even have a stable these can go into?"
"We'll have to find a pasture. I'm looking for the right person to leave them with."
"The unicorns?"
"Yeah. We need to breed them with horses and make a new bloodline."
"Ah. Right. As they are, they're too much for just anyone to handle. I'm riding one, but I've no idea what happens the moment I'm out of your sight."
They were only this docile because Nina, who had subdued the leader, was right there beside them. If she were gone, they might well fling whoever was on their backs.
Jin murmured, gazing at the horn of the unicorn under him.
"So it becomes a Rubuaene breed?"
If foals were born of unicorn crosses, he couldn't begin to guess the price. He could only guess it would be high enough to make a person's eyes start from their head.
"Right. This is only the start, though. Supply inside the domain has to be solid before we move on to the next stage."
Jin nodded at that.
"That's true."
Five years, then.
Five years until the heroine, the Saintess, appeared. In that span the horses would be seen to, one way or another.
What matters now are the plants we've been raising all this while.
Nina grinned, looking at the gathering pouch.
Come to think of it, if we're going to sell things like this, we'll have to grab another merchant company. Or rather than grabbing one, should we just build our own?
No reason to let a trading house skim a commission off the top.
I should talk to Adrian.
With that settled, she picked up the pace. Because of it, the journey back took only half as long as the journey out.
Jin felt his strength giving out, and at the same time he marveled all over again.
It hardly sways.
On horseback, breath mattered. You had to keep your balance up there and move in time with the horse. A unicorn swayed so little that it spared the rider's stamina as much as it could.
Ordinary cavalry couldn't even keep up with this.
Even so, the longer he stayed in the saddle, the more certain he was that he was going to die.
They reached the castle. Climbing down from the unicorn, Jin shook his head.
"I'm dead. This is insane. Who rides all day? Aaagh, my back! My thighs! My ass!"
He grumbled on legs that trembled under him, and Nina let out a short laugh.
"Don't worry, don't worry. Once you start training, you'll think this was nothing."
"What training?"
"You said you'd learn swordsmanship from me."
Nina said it with her golden eyes wide. Jin asked, "Oh, that training. What's that got to do with riding?" But she only smiled a sly little smile.
Everyone in the castle came out to gawk at the unicorn herd, murmuring among themselves. The stable keeper went white at the sight of the enormous beasts and didn't know what to do with himself.
"Just put them in the stable and give them plenty of beans. We won't be keeping them long. String a line and make a temporary pen if you have to."
"Yes, yes."
Nina handed him the lead unicorn's reins and soothed the beast in a low voice. The leader snorted, shook its head, and pulled the reins free of the stable keeper's hand.
Nina gave a hollow little laugh and told him,
"I think you can just go. It'll follow."
"What? Y-yes..."
He set off, awkward about it, and the leader lifted its head with pride and followed at a light, lively step.
"It's actually following?"
The startled stable keeper muttered and quickened his pace. Once the leader started off, the rest of the unicorns fell in behind it in good order. Gasps of wonder followed after them.
"Heavens. Unicorns."
"I thought they only lived in legends."
"And not just one. A whole herd of them, like that."
"Incredible."
"They're enormous. One of those could pull three wagons."
"You're telling me. Well, I'll be."
The onlookers clicked their tongues and moved along after the unicorns. Nina loaded the packs onto Jin, who was shrugging his shoulders as if he had something to preen about, and headed into the castle.