The Unicorn Herd

Chapter 2

2

I soaked in the sights of the Sanctuary as I followed Nissan to the unicorn habitat. The paths were covered with bark chipping and wound around beautiful flower beds and large trees. Colourful signs with directions hung in convenient places and helped navigate the winding paths.

I loved it. Far beyond nostalgia, it was a wonderful place. The smell of nature and animals made me giddy and excited. Considering a job like this would take up most of my time, that was a good thing.

“Here we are. You’ll be doing your internship with the silver blush unicorns since they’re the easiest to work with,” Nissan announced, halting in front of a locked gate. He grabbed the plastic badge hanging from his breast pocket and pressed it against the scanner. A green light flicked on and with a grin, he let the badge snap back. “There are staff-only areas everywhere on the grounds, hidden from the public eye. You’ll learn to find them pretty quickly. If you’re having trouble remembering, check your map.”

He held the gate open for us and Felicity rushed through, beating me to it.

“After you,” Aaron said, stepping aside.

“Thanks,” I replied, smiling at him. At least one of them was a gentleman.

The bark chippings turned into a stone path that led us around the back of a wooden building. A familiar, musky smell hung around the premises and as Nissan opened the sliding door, the smell only grew stronger.

“You’re in luck, the unicorns haven’t left yet,” he said as he walked into the stable.

“Do the unicorns always sleep inside?” Felicity asked as we followed him in.

Nissan grabbed a clipboard hanging by the entrance and nodded. “Yes. The lead mare brings them here every night. We check every individual’s health and note it down on here,” he said, tapping the clipboard. “It also gives us time to safely clean and check the habitat. Six unicorns produce a lot of shit.”

Was it wrong that I was excited to see unicorn poop? Not as excited as I was to see the unicorns themselves though. I’d been wanting to see one for as long as I could remember but they were so endangered, they’d earned the status ‘mythical’.

I stepped inside the stable, taking in a deep breath. Ever since I was a child, I loved the dry smell of hay. There was a hint of unicorn poop but due to their diet of plants, it always had a grassy, herby smell. Not pleasant, not unpleasant.

My heart pounded and my mouth was dry as a desert as I approached the fence. From here, I could see the sandy habitat and the beautiful wonders living in it.

In my opinion, there was nothing more majestic than the slender head and deep, sparkling eyes of a silver blush unicorn. And here at the Griffin Sanctuary, they didn’t just have one, they had six. A relatively small number compared to their usual size in the wild but after all the poaching, even the largest herds had been thinned out.

I scanned the open feeding area, taking in the sight. A large white male stood closest to me. He was chewing on a purple carrot and eating some dark leaves. True to their name, his slender horn had a silver tint and his coat was pure white and shiny like he’d just been brushed. Of course, that wasn’t the case. Despite being unable to return to the wild, none of these animals were tame.

Next to him, a grey male tried to steal some of his carrots and he grunted, chasing the cheeky thief away with a heavy nod.

“Typical Cross, always challenging The Sergeant,” Nissan chuckled affectionately. “The Sergeant is the lead stallion of the herd and over there, the beautiful mare is the lead female. Her name is Sunshine.”

“The silver one with the white manes?” I asked, following where she was pointing. There were a whole lot of unicorns, all varying shades of white, grey, and silver, and none of them stood very still. While I knew I’d learn to keep them apart in time, right now, they all looked the same.

The keeper nodded. “That’s the one. The younger female next to her with the grey star on her forehead is Candle, their daughter. She was born here in the Sanctuary. Isn’t she beautiful?”

Aaron took a step closer, having picked up on our conversation. “Did you take care of her when she was a foal?”

Nissan chuckled. “Did I? I took care of Mum all the way through her pregnancy and I was there for the birth!”

“No way. You did? I’d have loved to see her as a foal,” Felicity gushed.

“What was it like?” I jumped in. I didn’t usually fangirl over people but it was hard not to be amazed.

Our mentor scratched his curly beard. “Like all births. Messy, bloody, magical.” He paused, waiting for a reaction like this was what most people wanted to hear but Felicity and I kept waiting for him to elaborate. “You two want to hear more, huh? Well… Sunshine had a hard pregnancy. We feared she and the baby weren’t going to make it. We had another mare in the herd that challenged her and we had to separate them. When Candle was born, it took her four hours before she took her first step. That’s incredibly long, in the wild, these foals need to get on their feet as quickly as possible. We were very worried that first day but everything worked out.”

“Wow,” Felicity sighed.

“Wow!” I echoed.

“What happened to the other mare?” Felicity scanned the herd and pointed at the third female. “Is that the one that challenged her?”

Nissan followed her gaze and chuckled. “No, no. That’s Jun-Jun, she’s our old lady. She wouldn’t harm a fly. No, after the birth, we didn’t succeed in merging the two mares so we had to transfer the other one. It was a real shame, Thistle was wonderful. Lots of personality. That’s probably why she tried to go for lead mare. But that’s just the nature of things. She’s leading her own herd at the Myth & Monster Conservation so it all worked out in the end.”

“Oh, that’s a great place. I applied there for an internship too but when I got accepted here, there was no competition,” Aaron bragged, his only contribution to the conversation.

“I’m glad to hear. There are a couple of silver blush herds in captivity, but we’re one of only three places that have white-tipped antler unicorns and meadland unicorn ponies. They’re a little harder to work with so that’s for if you end up staying after your internship is over.” Nissan scratched his cheek as he gazed over to the meadow. “I’m getting ahead of myself. Who wants to see a silver blush up close?”

All three of our hands flew up in the air.

“Eager,” our mentor noted as he waved us along, bringing us closer to the meadow than any visitor could get.

From here, I had a terrific view of the herd but it was still hard to keep all the unicorns apart. I raised my hand again. “Can I take notes?”

Nissan seemed surprised but nodded. “Sure, knock yourself out.”

With a grin, I grabbed the notebook from my backpack and opened it on a new page. With rough lines, I drew The Sergeant and added some arrows with notes about his appearance and characteristics. In time, I would learn all this by heart but for that to happen, I had to commit it all to memory first.

Next to me, Felicity whipped out a notebook of her own and side by side, we studied the herd. The Sergeant would be easy to recognise, he was the largest of them all and his role as lead male set him apart from the others. Same for Sunshine, she would be the one guiding the herd from the front while The Sergeant would drive it from the back.

The others would be harder to distinguish, especially the twins, but I was going to do my best. I kept my eye on the young stallion that tried to steal the carrot. He pranced back and forth, his silver coat shimmering in the sun and producing a spectacle of colours. No wonder rainbows were associated with them.

Another unicorn trotted over to The Sergeant and the pile of purple carrots. The larger stallion huffed as soon as he spotted the youngster and chased him away with a snort. I glanced at Nissan, wondering if this was normal behaviour. While it seemed innocent enough now, if either of the two colts properly challenged the white stallion, that would cause a lot of unrest in the group.

The keeper made some notes but didn’t seem worried or alarmed by their behaviour. He muttered some things under his breath and nodded. "As you might know, unicorns are very peculiar animals. They're very clever and in tune with us humans. They can have very adverse reactions to some people so we'll have to check whether they'll accept you as their keepers first," Nissan explained, waving us forward.

"How do we know if they accept us?" I questioned, glancing at the herd of silver unicorns out in the paddock.

"They won't try to kill you," he answered.

I chuckled until I realised he wasn't kidding. My laughter died out and a twinge of nerves turned my stomach into a knot. Oh.

I glanced at the other two interns to see if they were worried as well but it didn't appear so. If anything, they seemed excited.

Nissan checked his chart and nodded. "Let's go one by one. Ladies first."

"That's sexist," Aaron complained.

The keeper sighed. "Alright, gentlemen first, if the ladies don't object."

Felicity shrugged and I shook my head. I didn't care if I went first or not, if anything, sometimes it was better to have someone else go first so I knew what to expect.

Nissan opened one of the gates and the two of them stepped into the first part of the pen. The unicorns behind the fence immediately noticed Aaron and slowly, one of them set in motion. Elegantly, a large silver unicorn made his way to the fence. He sniffed the air and pressed his head against the fence, pushing a sharp horn through.

Aaron instinctively took a step back, gulping visibly.

"That's The Sergeant, our lead stallion," Nissan explained, not seeming very bothered. "He'll assess whether Aaron is acceptable or not. We're still not sure what exactly they judge people on but if you get rejected by the herd, it's lethal to try and stay."

"So if The Sergeant doesn't like me, I can't be a keeper?" I asked, suddenly worried. I'd studied and worked too hard for this, only to be rejected by a unicorn.

"Correct," Nissan replied. "He's not very interested in Aaron so that's a pass."

"Heck yeah," the other guy boasted, pumping his fist. "I'm awesome."

I gulped. If the unicorns deemed him worthy, they had interesting qualifiers.

He retreated from the pen and without checking with me, Felicity went next. Cool as a cucumber, she stepped to the fence and waited for The Sergeant to return. Almost immediately, the powerful stallion trotted back and pushed his horn through the fencing again.

Felicity remained unwavering as he stared at her. After a couple of tense seconds, he retreated and she strode out of the pen like it was nothing.

Now it was my turn.

Trembling with nerves and excitement, I made my way into the pen. The fence seemed so flimsy up close, even though I was sure it was sturdy enough.

I shuffled from side to side, waiting for the stallion to return and give me the dismissal of approval. Then I could continue chasing my dream to become an expert on mythical animals.

I waited for The Sergeant but instead of turning back, he joined his herd and ate some hay from a suspended feeder.

What did that mean? Did this mean he was so sure I wasn't a threat that he didn't even have to see me up close?

Just when I was done waiting, another unicorn separated from the group and trotted my way. This one was more white than silver and looked a little smaller than The Sergeant.

The unicorn paused in front of the fence and stared at me with deep eyes. She nudged her horn through the fence, snorted softly, and turned away to rejoin the herd.

I released a tight breath. I passed.

"Interesting. Sunshine doesn't usually judge for the herd," Nissan muttered. "Fascinating."

"Is it bad?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No, it's just unusual. Doesn't matter, you all passed so I can officially welcome you as unicorn keepers. Well done! The real work begins tomorrow.” He checked his watch and nodded. “Make sure to get a good night’s sleep, you start at six.”