the novel part 10

[BrenanMommy]

Luckily for everyone, he only had one minor slip up. I watched him reach our, almost subconsciously towards her bump, finger outstretched when she was not looking at him. I cleared my throat quickly and he saw me and so he instantly reached for her hair instead, commenting on how soft it was. She seemed enthralled at his words, and I almost passed out since I had been holding my breath when it happened. I had forgotten to breathe again!

 

It had been a pleasant morning, despite the crazy bump issues. The lunch was yummy and the warm sun made everyone groggy. Muriel announced that she was going to take a nap. Rufus and I both thought this was a fine idea, and we too found ourselves drifting off, enjoying the day and how relaxing it had become. It would not be relaxing for much longer.

 

The scream could probably be heard all the way back at the castle. It echoed throughout the forest, sending flocks of birds high in the sky with a mighty flapping of their numerous wings. I was sure something had been seriously wounded based on the sheer terror in the sound that was now ringing in my ears. I wasn't sure if the sound had stopped or not because my ears were unable to distinguish any other sounds at the moment.

 

When I finally was able to regain some semblance of what was going on, it became apparent that the sound that may very well have woken the dead was in fact originating from our camp. It was in fact coming from our carriage. Rufus must have come to around the same time as me, as we both raced to the carriage, prepared to slay whatever vile creature must be attacking Muriel. Rufus flung open the door and there was nothing visible that was devouring her. What was obvious was that the bump, well, was no longer a bump. It was now protruding out by about 7 inches from her forehead. It no longer resembled a bump. It didn't even look like anything, well, human! What it did look like all of the sudden popped into my brain.

 

"It's a unicorn horn!" Rufus yelled out. Clearly he too had the same thought as I.

 

"Not just a unicorn horn! It's mine!" Muriel whined. She had discovered the appendage when she went to wash her face in the water basin she had set up in there. What didn't make any sense was her reaction to it.

 

"My goodness Muriel! You would think there were burning puppies in here based on your scream." Rufus shared my sentiment. What was the problem? I mean, it appeared to me that in all actuality, she was turning back into what she was seeking to do by going and seeing the unicorn counsel. It occurred to me that her feet were probably also changing.

 

"Muriel, can you take off your shoes?" I asked, trying to stay calm since she was still rather distraught. Sure enough, her feet were starting to become a bit malformed for a human foot. But if you were looking for hooves, she certainly was starting to get those. Of course, this did not help her disposition. Her sobs became even more intense, and I chose not to point out that her face was becoming elongated.

 

Rufus also looked a bit hurt. He knew that this would happen eventually, depending on whether or not she loved him, but because she was changing now, he assumed it was because she truly didn't love him back. It explained it now less than gentlemanly reaction to her woes.

 

"I don't know why you are so upset." He pouted. "This is why we are here in the first place. Maybe you were only temporarily changed. Maybe it was going to be this big ol' joke on some poor human sap stupid enough to marry you. Man, that would have been a bad wedding night surprise." He was being cruel, but I understood why. But it didn't help matters. She looked up at him, clearly hurt by his lack of compassion. I tried to kick Rufus discreetly, and only managed to stub my toe on the wall when I missed.

 

Muriel barged past both of us from the carriage and ran off into the woods. I shouted out to her, but she didn't respond.

 

"Let her go." Rufus mumbled.

 

"What the hell is your problem?" I knew the answer, but I wanted him to recognize he was being a royal jerk.

 

"Well clearly she doesn't love me. I mean, why else would she be changing back? I must disgust her so much that she is changing back on her own, without any help from her stupid horn heads." He then walked away, sulking. I realized I needed to go after both of them, but decided that Muriel was going to be needing my services more. So I left the prince to his temper tantrum and headed out into the forest to find Muriel.

 

I found the half unicorn, half human Muriel sitting on a log. She was having quite a bit of difficulty since it was rather clear that her bottom half was transforming much quicker than her top half, and let's just say horses don't sit on logs well.

 

I sat down on a nearby log and looked at her, hoping she would open up and talk to me. She had her head in her hooves and she was not saying anything. I think she had even run out of tears since I could no longer hear any of her sobs that had actually led me to her.

 

Finally, she raised her head, and I could see how much she truly had transformed. It looked at though it was almost complete. Her torso still resembled that of a woman, but her arms and legs and head had now taken on the form of a unicorn. It was probably going to be a little strange talking to her this way, but I took a shot.

 

"Soooo, what's new?" She didn't laugh, so I figured she wasn't ready to joke about it.

 

"Look at me! How in the world will he ever love me if I look like, well, this?" She shouted, trying to gesture to her now slightly comical appearance.

 

"It isn't that bad. I mean, unicorns are majestic and beautiful, and, wait a minute. Who won't love you like this?" I realized what she had said after I started in on my standard comfort all girls speech. Did she say what I thought she had said?

 

"Well, Rufus, of course, you idiot!"

 

"Wait, does that mean you love him?" I said these words and could feel a bit of contempt at my extremely teenager response to this.

 

"Of course! Why else do you think I am changing?"

 

"Ok, you lost me again. I thought I was there, but you took a new turn. What do you mean you are changing because you love him?" Seriously, she had a dizzying intellect.

 

"I have just proven the counsel wrong. They turned me into a human because they wanted to show that humans have no compassion. They figured if I was a human, I would start to hate humans, therefore my punishment would be just. Instead, in the last few days, between you and Rufus (she lit up a bit when she said his name and I am pretty sure I saw her change some more), I have felt like clearly, there are humans in this world that are good."

 

It all started to make sense to me. It wasn't that they wanted her to like humans, they wanted her to hate them. And if she didn't hate them, then the spell was broken since they clearly wanted her unhappy. Boy, talk about a rotten family. Can't please them any which way.

 

"So you really love Rufus?" I figured that this should be clear since this was something that Rufus would really like to hear. I certainly didn't want to tell him if it wasn't the case.

 

"I do. I really do. I know, it makes no sense, but there is just something about him that really, well, brings my horn out?" she tried to chuckle at the extremely bad joke, but even she couldn't believe she said it.

 

"Although, I don't know if I want to now being that he was being such an ass back there." She got all fired up again.

 

"No, wait! Before you get all bent out of shape, know that there is more to this than you know. You need to go back and talk to him. I think that you both have some talking to do." I wasn't about to tell her he loved her since I felt that this was a privilege that Rufus should have. It isn't every day you tell a woman you are deeply in love with them, and even rarer is the day you tell a unicorn these words.

 

I helped her to her feet as best I could. It was clear she was now in a position in which she was going to need to walk on all fours. But she held her head up high and I could see the beauty in her, despite the fact that she was now mostly horse.

[KristiS11384]

Nov. 11, 2008 at 4:52 PM

Not bad overall, the flow of the story line seems a little broken at times but this is only a rough draft and you have written it over several days.