Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. Like Princess Moon Cloud or Ethereal Tear or Star Shine.”
“You think a normal unicorn name is Princess Moon Cloud or Ethereal Tear or Star Shine.”
“Yes.”
Gary looked up at Tiggy. “Yes. We can keep him.”
Tiggy held him tighter.
They stayed in the clearing and Gary and Tiggy told him how they’d escaped from a traveling carnival where they’d both been held prisoner by a man named Koklanaris. He’d kept them in cages for months, charging humans to come in and gawk at them, calling them unnatural wonders of the mysterious world. One night, not long before they’d met Sam in the clearing, Koklanaris had gotten drunk and hadn’t properly redone the wards and dark charms that kept them in the cages. They’d escaped and run as far as they could until their legs grew tired and they could run no more.
Sam heard this story and felt a heavy weight on his heart. He reached out and touched Gary’s face, running his hands gently along his snout. “Did he take your horn?” he asked quietly.
Gary shuddered and shook his head. “That happened. Before.”
“You’re very pretty,” the boy said. “With or without it, you’re very pretty.”
And the unicorn said, “Thank you, little twink,” pressing his face against the boy’s.
They stayed the night in the clearing and the boy shared his food. They slept curled around each other until there came an angry snarl from the woods.
They woke instantly and the unicorn and the half-giant began to tremble.
Men stood in the clearing. Four of them, holding ropes and chains. There was one who seemed to lead the others. He stood in front of them, eyes shrewd and calculating. He was tall and imposing, looking as if he’d been carved cruelly from a mountain. His head was shaved and as Sam watched, he unfurled a whip in his hand.
“Those are my property, boy,” the man said. His voice was like gravel and it grated on the boy’s ears.
The boy shook his head. “They’re no one’s property. You can’t own what belongs to the world.”
Koklanaris (for there was no doubt in the boy’s mind who he was) said, “Is that so? And who are you to stand in my way?”
“Sam,” the boy said. “And these are my friends.”
“Monsters don’t have friends,” Koklanaris said. “They exist to make me money and nothing more. Step aside and let the adults handle this.”
“I am the apprentice to the King’s Wizard,” Sam said, standing tall. “You answer to the Crown, and I am an extension of that Crown.”
The men laughed. Koklanaris said, “Boy, I don’t give two shits who you are. Step aside before I kill you.” He cracked the whip, and Tiggy whined quietly in fear.
Sam had had enough.
There was an anger in him, then. That the hearts of men could be so dark that they could not see the beauty of the creatures before them. This Sam was not the same Sam who turned the boys to stone in that alley years before. This Sam was practiced. This Sam was controlled. This Sam had friends, finally had friends that he would do anything to protect.
This Sam said, “Leave. I’ll give you one chance.”
Koklanaris raised his whip, and Sam raised his hands. Words came to him, words he’d never used before like gre and san and his fingers moved and twitched as the whip came down. Before the leather could crack against his skin, the green of the forest filled Sam’s eyes and instead of pain, Sam felt the flutter of wings.
He opened his eyes and saw the whip had turned into dozens of butterflies, and they fluttered in the moonlight, swirling around Sam and Koklanaris. Tiggy and Gary gasped behind him and the men behind Koklanaris took a step back.
Koklanaris grew angry. He raised his hand back to slap the boy, but the boy said, “I could kill you,” and Koklanaris hesitated.
“I really could,” the boy said pleasantly. “I could kill you with the smallest of thoughts.”
Koklanaris slapped him. The boy’s head rocked back.
Tiggy roared. Gary growled.
And Sam (who was not the boy in the alley anymore) said, “You shouldn’t have done that,” while raising his hands again.