Mind Over Psyche Read Online Free PDF Page B

Ydrel—your friend…” He was babbling and knew it, but couldn’t stop himself. “He’s drugged, um, poisoned? Sick! Please understand sick. We need your help. Oh, God, please make her under stand me.”
    When she knelt down to examine Deryl, the young man roused himself enough to smile at her in recognition. Joshua almost cheered wi th relief.
    A warrior lifted Deryl and settled him on a unicorn, where he slumped, unconscious again. Tasmae mounted behind him to hold him steady. Another warrior directed Joshua to a ride of his own. For a moment he hesitated, wondering if there was going to be a problem—he was no virgin—but the mare neither threatened nor shied away. Nonetheless, he approached her slowly despite the swords at his back and spoke to her in gentle tones as he mounted, careful of the odd folds of skin connecting her forelegs to her underbelly. He glanced at Deryl as the unicorns moved toward the forest, and prayed they were doing the right thing leaving the glen. Tasmae would take care of them until Deryl was awake and clear-headed enough to return them home, wou ldn’t she?
    Despite the mare’s stiff-legged gait, she moved like a regular horse, for which Joshua was grateful. He was glad, too, that he’d done a lot of bareback riding back home.
    They passed through the hilly meadow, green and lush and carpeted with delicate purple flowers that gave off a gentle sweet scent as the unicorns’ hooves crushed them, and entered a second thick wood of trees that seemed teasingly familiar. He ducked a low branch of what looked like an oak. He relaxed j ust a bit.
    Then, the woods morphed into a cultivated forest of the most amazing trees Joshua had ever seen. Dark trunks held sturdy branches frosted with silver, like a sudden freeze had shrouded the trees in thin ice. It was much too warm, however, for frost. And the leaves! Though rounded like aspens, they bore no resemblance to any terrestrial foliage. Most were larger than his hand span—and transparent. He reached out to touch one.
    â€œYeow!” He jerked back his hand and sucked on his slic ed finger.
    The unicorn snorted, and he caught Tasmae, who had apparently been watching him more closely than he’d realized, rolling her eyes. Her expression mimicked Deryl’s when he found something particular ly stupid.
    They cleared the grove and paused at the edge of a cliff. Joshua’s hand lowered slowly as he gaped at the magnificent view. He whistled.
    A gorge cut through the plateau, but he didn’t think any river had carved it. For one thing, he saw no river or stream, despite the lush vegetation. The cliff walls themselves were craggy and bare, and he spied shadows that made him suspect caves. To his left, the canyon curved sharply; to his right, it opened about a mile away, the cliffs curling away without losing their height. Were they on some gigantic mesa? He turned his body slightly and leaned back, trying to look past the soldiers around him to follow the edge of the land.
    He felt his unicorn bunch her muscles, and reflexively grabbed her mane as the animal threw herself over the cliff.
    Joshua screamed.
    His shout of terror turned to a cry of surprise, then a great whoop of delight as the unicorn shifted her shoulders and in an non-equine feat of double-jointedness, spread her legs sideways from her body. The folds of flesh attached to her legs and side unfurled into great gliding wings. She banked and soared into the canyon, landing just before it curved to the right. Two of the warriors, then Tasmae, landed b eside him.
    â€œThat was way cool,” he gasped, then said to Tasmae, “but how about some warning n ext time?”
    She glared at him before retaking the lead.
    â€œHey, can you understand me? I know you talk with Deryl,” he called after her, but she didn’t so much as turn to acknowledge him. Joshua clicked his tongue and signaled the unicorn with his legs