Hannah raised her hands questioningly. “But where? The forest is huge!”
“You must look where the Evil is strongest.”
“And once we’ve found the darkness, how do we free the soul?”
“I can’t tell you that. But there must be a way. And I’m sure you’ll find it! And Hannah, stay with Irmgard. If you’reseparated for any reason, then you must immediately go back to the brick path!”
Hannah’s heart was beating faster. “What have you gotten me into, Frieda?”
“Have faith, dear Hannah, and it will all work out.”
Irmgard snorted. “I’ll take care of Hannah. Don’t worry!”
“Wonderful, dear Irmgard. And now, go! The clock is ticking!”
Hannah rolled her eyes. That Frieda! She climbed on Irmgard’s back, and off they rode.
22
Dusk was already approaching as Hannah rode through the forest on Irmgard’s back. The unicorn trotted happily over the needles that covered the forest floor while Hannah held on to her shimmering silvery mane. The forest was deserted. Not one forest gnome pursued them.
The shadows were growing longer. Were these already the shadows where the Evil lurked?
“How do we find the darkness in the darkness?” Hannah asked. Her stomach was rumbling, but she ignored it.
“Oh, that’s a genuinely wise question, dear Hannah. My herd would be proud of you, and the unicorns would spend many hours debating it. Excellent—that’s all I can say—excellent, my dear. But to return to your question... what was it again?”
Hannah smiled to herself. To avoid exciting the unicorn again and distracting her from the question itself, she rephrased it a bit. “How do we find the darkness in the nighttime?”
Irmgard neighed. “To be honest, I don’t know, either. The gift of inborn wisdom must have just passed me by Who knows who might have gotten it in my stead. Hopefully, not a beaver. I know, I know, they’re such great creatures. But personally, Idon’t like them, with their perpetual nibbling and chomping and all the dams they build.”
All of a sudden, the unicorn fell silent and raised her head as if she were frantically trying to remember something. Hannah suspected that Irmgard had lost her train of thought again. “There’s nothing wrong with not being as wise as the other members of your species. Wisdom comes with experience, as we all know.”
“That’s very nice of you, but some members of my herd hold a very different view. In their eyes, if you haven’t mastered the fundamentals of philosophical logic by the age of one and know the absolutely perfect answer to everything, you don’t deserve to be called a unicorn.”
Hannah could not detect any sad undertones in Irmgard’s voice. It was amazing how unconcerned this mythical creature’s response was to having been ostracized.
There was a sudden rustling sound, followed by snorting and loud, desperate neighing. It sounded like a young horse in danger—there, behind the raspberry bushes. But in the twilight, they could see only as far as the berries and not what was behind them.
“My herd—one of them must have become isolated!” Irmgard dashed toward the mournful neighing, which was growing louder and more and more pained.
Wait! What’s behind that hedge?“Irmgard, slow down!”
“No, I have to help it. It sounds like a unicorn foal! I have to rescue it!”
“No, stop! That’s not a foal!”
“Yes, it is!” Irmgard charged ahead at breakneck speed. Just a few more feet to the bushes. Was she planning on jumping over them?
“No, Irmgard, think! Your herd would look after the foal. It can’t possibly be here all by itself! It’s a trap!”
Irmgard whinnied and slowed down a bit, but she did not stop. “And if it is? I can’t just turn my back on it!”
Night was falling fast, but behind the bushes, the darkness was even more intense than it was in the rest of the forest. There was a dark, almost black mist lingering there as if it were waiting just for them.
“NO, IRMGARD, STOP!”
Right before Irmgard would have jumped over the bushes, Hannah pulled on her mane, and the unicorn finally stopped. The pitiful whinnying faded. The strange mist dispersed, swirled around, and vanished.
