Page 35 of Time to Stirrup Love
Finn held tight to Margaid’s hand as they broke through the brush. It didn’t take them long to find Pearl in a clearing, ensnared in a net. Her white fur was glowing in the beam of moonlight that broke through the canopy of the trees. Her horn was sticking through the netting, but she was pinned to the ground and she was thrashing as best as she could. He could sense the netting was imbued with venom of a widow’s thorn, which was a known poison to unicorns or female glashtyns.
Not him though, and not humans.
“Oh my God,” Margaid said, stunned.
“Be careful,” Finn warned. “Might be more traps.”
The last thing he needed was for Margaid to get hurt. He scanned the area, but there wasn’t any.
“Is it okay?” Margaid asked.
“Yeah.” He pulled out a pocket knife. “I need you to calm her while I cut her free. I don’t want her to bolt and run away farther into the woods.”
“I can.” Margaid quickly knelt down at Pearl’s head. “Pearl, it’s me. Margaid.”
“Margaid, it hurts so much,” Pearl cried, tears streaming down from her big violet eyes. “Please just hold me.”
“She can in a moment,” Finn reassured as he worked on the bindings. “Do you want to follow Margaid home?”
“Yes,” Pearl whimpered.
Finn nodded, suspecting just as much. What infuriated him was that a trap was set specifically here. Which means whoeverhad set the trap had seen Pearl here before and had set it specifically for her.
He cut away the last of the netting, planning to take it as evidence to report the police. Not that he was sure the police in this district would do anything, but he was keeping it just the same.
Pearl didn’t stand up, but laid her head in Margaid’s lap and closed her eyes, softly sobbing as Margaid gently stroked her.
“What happened?” Margaid asked softly.
“Hunters,” Finn growled. “This net is imbued with poison that hurts her kind. Not me though. They knew she’d be here on a full moon. They were going to let her die a slow death and then harvest her for her magic.”
“Oh, that’s horrible. Who do we report it too?”
“The police in this area, but I doubt they’ll do anything. Some places around here are not friendly to us monsters.”
“I can report it to the department I work for. If this is now government land, they’ll put a stop to it.”
“You’d do that?” Finn asked, stunned.
“Of course. No one deserves to be treated that way.” Margaid laid a kiss on Pearl’s forehead, just above her horn. “She’s falling asleep.”
It melted his heart to see her so kind and tender to his sister, who was his whole world and responsibility since his father died. She didn’t see them as something weird or something to be mistreated and conquered.
“She’s tired,” Finn remarked quietly. “Plus, the poison drained her.”
“She’s beautiful in both of her forms, but this reminds me of my favorite cartoon unicorn as a kid. I can see why your mother called her Pearl, the violets and blues in the undertone of her white fur makes her shimmer like one. Absolutely precious. Iknow my name means pearl, but I don’t really emulate that. Not with my red hair and freckles and my nearsightedness.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” he said softly, kneeling beside her. “Pearls are beautiful and rare and I think you are too.”
She looked at him softly, her cheeks blooming pink in the moonlight. She looked away, stroking his sister’s mane. “Should we get her back home? The hunters might come.”
“You’re right. Can you carry the netting? It won’t hurt you and I’ll carry Pearl to my truck. She’s small and can sit in the back cab.”
“I sure can and I’ll sit with her. That way she won’t startle and hurt herself if she wakes up.”
“I appreciate that.” He reached down and scooped her up. Pearl, thankfully, wasn’t the size of a horse. She was small, like a Great Dane. Her head rested on his shoulders, her breathing shallow. His mother would have a poultice ready for Pearl and he’d called her once they were in the truck and headed home.
Margaid followed along, carrying the netting. They got back to the road, and he kicked down the boarded-up gate with ease, but it didn’t startle Pearl, thankfully. Margaid secured the evidence in the bed of his truck and then climbed into the back. He placed Pearl down, with her head resting on Margaid’s lap.
