Warrior Beautiful by Wendy Knight Page B

back to Trey. “But you can’t see them?”
    “No. I —” He looked at Scout. “You can see them?”
    “Yes. Look Trey,” she motioned, but pain shot through her when she raised her arm and she squealed.
    “Havik.” Iros turned his back on Trey and knelt again at her side. The giant unicorn stepped forward, and Scout had a brief moment of panic, thinking he would trample her under his gigantic feet, but he was amazingly gentle. Slowly, as if aware of her fear, he lowered his head. His horn brightened with flames twisting through the spiral. Scout whimpered. “It’s okay. He won’t hurt you.” Iros laid a comforting hand on her arm.
    From where he stood across the little clearing, Trey yelled and dove backward. Iros grinned. “I think he can see them now.”
    “ I won ’ t hurt you. But I can ’ t heal you completely. I can make it more manageable. I ’ m sorry. ” Havik’s voice echoed in her head, deep and powerful and yet calming, soothing. It was his voice she had heard in the beginning.
    “Okay.” Scout nodded, wishing she wasn’t trembling like a small, hairless dog in a hurricane.
    “Scout?” Trey murmured. He edged around the unicorns without taking his eyes off them before crouching next to her.
    The flame reached, curling and beautiful. She felt the heat brush her cheek before it seeped into her shoulder. Scout cried out; it burned, flames licking up and down her spine. Trey pulled her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. Still there was pain, twisting through her and around her, but Scout could feel it healing , mending the damaged spine.
    “There now. Almost done,” Iros murmured, and then the giant unicorn raised his head and stepped back.
    “ That ’ s all I can do. ”
    It took several seconds before Scout could raise her head away from Trey’s chest. “How do you feel?” Iros asked, rising to his feet.
    Scout sat up, slowly lifted her arms and moved her head. “Better. It — it doesn’t hurt like it did.”
    “Let go of the anger and our Leerhas could fix you completely.” Iros raised an eyebrow and gave her a knowing look.
    Under his breath, Trey muttered, “Not a snowball’s chance.”
    Scout ignored him, nodding at Iros as she pushed herself to her feet. And then she turned to Havik. “Thank you,” she said, wondering if it was appropriate to pet a battle unicorn. “Wait, if I hear them in my head, can they hear my… thoughts?”
    “ Don ’ t be ridiculous. You can ’ t hear our thoughts. Those are ours. You can hear what we want you to hear. ” Ashra scoffed, throwing her majestic head.
    “Can I — Can I talk to you in my head?”
    Iros smiled. “I can talk to Havik. There has to be a bond between unicorn and rider. It can be very difficult to achieve. But it also makes them very powerful in a fight.”
    “Where are their riders?” Trey asked, nodding toward the other two unicorns.
    “ Dead, ” Ashra said.
    Scout gasped.
    “They hadn’t bonded.” Iros glared at Ashra. “Ashra lost hers while we were still up north. Torz lost his in the attack yesterday.”
    “The attack… by the soul stealers?” Scout asked.
    “Soul stealers.” Iros scratched his head. “We know them by a different name — Taraxippus, but soul stealers is much easier to pronounce and, sadly, very fitting. And in answer to your question, yes, in the hospital. We were protecting you and they got away from us. We should never have let the… soul stealers, as you call them, into the hospital.”
    “It was you I felt at the hospital. It was you I was running away from. Not the soul stealers.” Scout felt like someone had punched her. The dark power wasn’t evil. It was the unicorns. Protecting her while all those other people fell.
    Iros looked grim, glancing at Havik before turning back to her. “It was us you felt, but the evil was the soul stealers. They seem to have targeted you, and we’ve had to fight them away from you twice now.”
    Ah. That explained it.