Prologue for Circle Of Two. A Unicorns Chronicle Book II.

by Heather Rowan.                        Photo: Courtesy Ricardo Pinto.


 At the westernmost edge of a southwestern Stannery town in England, lies an uninhabited stretch of moorland. Secreted in a valley at its heart, is an unending riot of forest, wild green and impenetrable. Dark, and untamed its boundaries seem to stretch  into infinity.
  But Alexandra Mary Hunter knows the way in.
    "Follow the river." her grandfather had said. " The water knows the low and easy places to travel. If it can't  find them, it will make them.
  'Another summer' Alexandra thought as she  stood at the rivers edge. It was shallow here. The water made soft lapping sounds around the pebbles at her feet. The sun warmed her back  where she sat on her comfortable boulder. Frisco her huge chestnut hunter,walked slowly toward the grassy bank behind her, and bent  his huge head towards the flow of a cool stream that ran from the woods and drank deeply.
  In this spot two rivers flowed peacefully  around a wide spit  of land that went far back into the valley before  joining and becoming one course. Growth on the island consisted of dry grasses and dense ancient trees. Oak. Chestnut and Sycamore.
  As ever her eye was drawn  towards the right hand flow of water .Again she felt the shift that seemed to tremble across the water to its far bank. She could never quite see it or bring it into focus. A frail mist seemed to dwell there.The place seemed uneasy. Something had happened there.Fear seemed to linger in the trees, the rocks, faint, but it still lingered.
  Frisco had finished drinking and she could hear the shingles on the small beach rattling beneath his hooves as he ambled  towards her. His huge head soon  rested over her shoulder and the leather from his bridle grazed her cheek as he settled.
"Let's get that off fella' she stood and began to remove it along with the bit. "And this too". Moving along his side she unbuckled the saddle and  let it down onto the pebbles. He shook his head gratefully and a  small shudder moved across his belly. "Free at last old boy eh?"

                                                                        * * *

    Petra and Brycan watched the girl with the long black  hair  murmur to the stallion as she stroked his sleek neck.They watched the animal respond, as from time to time he turned  his head towards her, his huge brown eyes talking to her.
  " She can't see us" Petra said to Brycan, "The veil hides us."
  " She senses though sister. She has  since she found this place."