Warrior Beautiful by Wendy Knight

unicorns? Why aren’t you here?”
    “ We are. ”
    Scout felt the darkness again — the power, a different kind of darkness than the soul-crushing evil — before she actually saw it, staring at the sky as she was. She jerked her eyes down, searching, panicked because she knew full well she couldn’t run.
    “You only had to ask. We’ve been here the entire time, luv.” The voice was male, but she couldn’t see who spoke. A ghost, maybe? A hallucination because she’d completely lost her mind?
    She saw the glowing, throbbing light first. It took her eyes several seconds before they acknowledged that what she was seeing was the brilliant fire of a horn .
    From the edges of her vision she saw the black, hulking shape she’d seen the night Lil Bit had been caught.
    “Soul stealer.” She tried to scrabble backward but couldn’t move. A scream froze in her throat as the shape solidified in front of her. Her terrified mind tried desperately to grasp what she was seeing.
    It was beautiful.
    A gigantic black horse, bigger than any Clydesdale she’d ever seen, pranced in front of her. Shimmering charcoal wings folded and unfolded restlessly, flapping against thick black armor that covered the entire body. A single horn of twisted fire, rising from the center of the majestic head, glowed brightly in the enveloping darkness. Its mane and tail seemed to be a mist, fading in and out as she watched. The horse slowly lowered its head until she could meet its gaze — sitting in the grass, the top of her ponytail only came to its forearm. Black eyes stared at her, just darker than the darkest brown.
    “ We won ’ t hurt you. ” The voice seemed to reverberate around in her skull, deep and soothing, not terrifying at all.
    “You’re the unicorns? You fight the soul stealers?” she asked, trying to sound braver than she felt.
    The gigantic creature in front of her nodded slowly, the bright horn swirling with what looked like colored sparkles on fire.
    Her eyes locked on the horn, unable to look away or even blink. “I need your help,” she whispered.

Chapter Six

    “ This is the mighty warrior we ’ ve been waiting for? Are you kidding ?” Scout heard the voice in her head, not aloud, but very clear. She blinked rapidly, searching for the source, and realized beyond the giant in front of her, there were two others, nearly as large and frightening as the first one.
    “Give her some time. She’s not a natural innocent. She’s found us because of desperation.” This voice, a man, wasn’t in her head. She heard it with her ears.
    Scout scrubbed her eyes, trying desperately to make her mind understand what was going on while ignoring the screaming pain when she moved her arms. “I’m not a mighty warrior. My sister—”
    “ Lil Bit told you about us. We know. ” Another male voice, again in her head.
    “ Wait, she can hear us? ” The first voice again, distinctly female.
    Her eyes roamed from one dark face to the next, finally settling on the one in the far back. “Yes, I can hear you.”
    The unicorn blinked in surprise. “ Well. Maybe it ’ s not a lost cause after all. Do you think she can fight? ”
    “Fight? No, not me. You. I need you to save my sister. I—I can’t even move. My back…” Her words died in her throat as a man slid from the back of the unicorn in front of her. She hadn’t even seen him until now.
    He was hot and not much older than she was. His hair was short with dark, loose curls. Strong jaw. He wore all black, which was why she hadn’t seen him before — he blended right in with his ride, and he wore a thick leather belt low across his hips with a sword or something strapped to his side.
    “Let me see.” He knelt in front of her; light green eyes peered at her under thick brows.
    “It’s—it’s nothing. I hurt it a year ago, in a car accident. It just flares up… I wasn’t supposed to walk again.” Her voice trailed off, feeling stupid as he waited patiently for her to