A Tale of Traitors

Willow: The Alpha

        I sprang into action, climbing from one branch to the other as fast as I dared, losing my grip and nearly tumbling to the ground.
"Hurry! Come now!" She cried.
I finally reached her branch and followed her gaze. "What's wrong?"
"Look!" She pointed towards a dark cave. I squinted hard to see what she was talking about.
"QUEEN," I yelped, "you can't DO things like that. I thought you were DYING."
"Why would you think that? I was obviously excited! There are so many."
I didn't dare ruin her good mood with sass. "I count four. How 'bout you?"
"I think there might be a baby one behind the really tall one, there."
"Oh! You're right. Make that five."
"I'm getting closer." Queen was staring so intently, with eyes that were almost... happy. She scrambled down the tree and tore through the bushes ahead.
"Don't wait for me," I joked as she dove out of sight.
We were facing a crowd of curious, colorful creatures. Their eyes were enormous and full of emotion, reflecting the early morning light in their green irises. I had loved the horses of Earth, too, but these ones were even more beautiful. They spotted us from afar and came clopping over, their slim hooves plodding gently along the flowery ground. They stood tall and strong, colorful manes fluttering down their necks. The first unicorn's mane was rainbow colored, the bold shades spilling down its white fur. It sniffed the air around Queen's outstretched hand, getting closer and closer. It slowly approached her, gingerly petting her hand with its nozzle. It was hard to tell which one was more excited to meet the other as Queen beamed a perfect smile and the unicorn bounced up and down. Its horn was glittering, lighting up the darkness surrounding us, illuminating our smiles. The others started to come closer, too, excited by the company. Things I couldn't quite remember screamed to be known, something was on the tip of my tongue but I couldn't spit it out...
I jumped when the hot breath poured down my neck, startling the unicorns around me and sending Queen into a laughing fit. The largest of the pack was directly behind me, eyeing me suspiciously. It was the darkest one, and was probably the alpha male. He was a shade of grey so dark it was almost black, with black fur licking up his legs and a face covered in glitter that poured out of his horn. This one had powerful black wings, and was ready to attack at any moment. He radiated pride and stubbornness, a wild creature that could never be caged or controlled. Same here, minus—hopefully—the pride. He was determined not to like me. And I was determined to make him like me.

It was a stubbornness stand off.

If you've never met a unicorn, and you probably have, then you know they're very much like dogs. Big, scary, energetic, super pretty dogs. Most of the time, dogs are friendly and want to jump around and play with you. Other times, dogs are stand-offish and seem like they're going to attack you if you bother them. At first, the unicorn pounding towards me was like a stand-offish dog that really wanted to attack me. He marched forward until his nose was a few inches from mine and huffed, the air shooting my hair and cloak backward. I sunk to my knees as slowly as I dared, not knowing how else to communicate to the alpha that he was in charge and I meant no harm. A tiny ball of fluff with wings and ginormous glittering eyes plopped into my lap. The alpha refused to take his eyes off his baby. Or me. I reached out a hand to pet the kid, but the alpha surged forward and I instantly froze. I held my arms in the air as the baby laid down and started to snore, the alpha staring daggers at me. Even Queen was getting nervous, crouching closer to me just in case he would attack. He moved forward as if he as going to snort in my face again, but instead he stroked my cheek with his nuzzle. I didn't dare move until he whinnied and sniffed my hands that were still high in the air. And just like that, the stand-offish pride had evaporated. I couldn't help but wish Calysia could have been there with me.
"You know, ever since I ended up in the professor's house, I begged him to take me here so that I could meet the unicorns." Queen smiled while petting rainbow fur. "He told me it was too dangerous."
"I never would have pegged you for a unicorn person." I replied.
"Yeah, well, they're the best. Did you know they're freakishly loyal?"
"No, I didn't."
"Yeah. When they like you, they'll love you forever. But they can also hold grudges like no one's business."
"Good to know," I smiled into the enormous stormy eyes of the alpha, who kept nudging me when I wasn't looking at him.
She glanced up at the four suns now visible above. "We should probably head back. I'm sure the professor will have woken up by now."
With more light in the sky, it was easier to see the layout of the land. We stood near the top of the only mountain in the area, where we could see the borders of the realm, the blue fire licking into the nearly-white sky. One sun was rising for each square of the separate biomes, which were equally and suddenly split down the middle of the realm. There was a desert, plain, swamp, and a freezing tundra, all divided by obvious lines. It was unnatural. Strange. And stupidly still, not counting the occasional whinnies of the unicorns. We began the steady descent down the trail we had come from, and to our amazement, the unicorns followed. It was hard to leave a crowd of sad-faced animals behind us, but we pushed forward anyway. We hoped they would follow us back to camp, despite being nervous they would give away our location. But they refused to go no further than the mountain. It seemed they were completely spooked by the ominous, foggy plains, and I couldn't blame them. It was somehow creepier in the light of day.
The camp was still and sleepy, the only noise being Bob's non-stop chattering. Adresin was sharpening his blades, eyeing everyone with the look of a serial killer. He saw us long before the others did, and the serial-killer vibe was entirely replaced by relief.
"You remember much about him?" Queen mumbled, nodding toward Adresin.
"No." I answered slowly.
"You remember anything about him?"
"I remember I trust him, I think. I did."
"Why?"
"I have no idea, Queen. But something in me is convinced he's not here to hurt us."
"Fine. Just... don't be dumb," she sighed.
"Gee, thanks for the encouragement." I stifled a laugh as we reached the camp, both of us covered in glitter and rainbow hair, and obviously more than a little excited. I dropped the bag of fruit in the middle of our sleeping bags, noting that most of the things had been packed up, and Marcellus was nowhere to be seen. The professor was barely conscious, unable to speak or move. Adri looked better this morning, but still not well. Dalia was quiet as usual. It was so bizarre to think that just two days ago she had been bold, fierce, and impossible not to notice, with a voice that commanded attention. Now, she was a shell of who she once was, unable to keep her eyes focused on anything for too long or even hold a conversation.

Memories attacked me out of nowhere.

"... This genius almost got herself into a fight with the alpha unicorn." Queen was saying. Bob was laughing.

Marcellus's wings beat viciously above.

The Professor was choking.

Someone was shaking me.

My eyes were flooded with light and dark shapes and trees and there was a smell of death and—