The Missing Unicorn in the Land of the Zombie Fairies—Part Seven
By: David K. Montoya
It took sometime to remove the icky goo for the gang, the mood was somber and almost sad. No one spoke a word until Prince Theophrastus von Hohenheim of Paracelsus begin to cry uncontrollably. Emma looked over to her sister Olivia, who shrugged in return.
Emma shook her head no, and nodded toward Olivia to go and console Prince Theo. Again, Emma shook her head and hinted for her little sister to attend to the sad Gnome Prince. Finally with a sigh, Olivia stood up and walked over to Theo and asked, "What's the matter?"
"I miss my mom," Theo said flatly, but with enough emotion to know that each word was encased in sorrow.
There was something in his words that touched, Olivia's heart. She sat next to the small Gnome prince and placed her arm around him and said tenderly, "I understand."
"You do?" Theo said as he moved the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand.
"Yes," Olivia said and then nodded. "I never got to meet my mama. She went to Heaven when I was very, very young."
"But, you are very, very young, now," Theo said, quite stunned with that news.
"I was a baby," Olivia said, now with tears of her own.
Emma saw the tears of her little sister and walked and sat next to Olivia and Theo. "Our mama was very young, and I was Livi's age when it happened. Our daddy took care of us, but we know how you feel when it comes to missing your mom."
Kén Tauros who was the last to remove the tarry goo from his body, trotted over to his three friends and delivered a great big hug to all of them at the same time. "I love you guys as much as I love fresh hay!"
The sister and the Gnome prince all laughed at Kén's silly comment.
Emma stared at Olivia's messy brown locks and then ran her hands through her own tangles, "We need to brush our hair, Livi."
Olivia's eyes grew wide and she shook her head in a nary movement.
"We have to, Livi," Emma said while she examined her own brown locks.
"No. I'm good, Em," Olivia said in an uncomfortable tone. She held up a strand of hair and continued, "See I got all of the yuckies out of my hair. I'm good."
Emma smiled at her sister.
Kén Tauros stretched and yawned, before he said to the others, "I think we need to get out of here. Because I am getting sleepy again, plus I'm so hungry!"
"But the path is still a journey before we get to the end," Emma said as she stared down the pathway. "I can't even see where it ends."
"I know of an alternate path," Kén Tauros said. "At least I think I do."
"What do you mean, Kén?" Olivia asked.
"Well, while I was sleeping, I dreamed that I walked off the path that lead me through the comb forest, but, on the other side is the land of the sugar cubes."
"Comb… Forest, really?" Olivia asked.
Kén Tauros bobbed his head yes.
Emma shrugged, "Well we do need to get our hair brushed."
"Yeah, yeah," Olivia grumbled. "Let's go."
They stepped off the path on the mushy ground, and smell of rotten food drifted upward into the four friends' noses. With each step the ground made a yucky sound, PHBBBT!
"See, I told you that Swamp World was created when the Haggar Gods farted," Theo said while he held his nose. "The fart escapes with each step we take."
"Oh my," Emma said. She too held her nose, but she was most concerned with Kén Tauros who appeared to be on the verge of vomiting. It was a known fact that since centaurs are half horse, their smell is ten times greater than a human's, which in turn meant with was that much worse for Kén. "Are you all right, Kén?"
Kén nodded, with his mouth closed tight so he would not breathe in the stinky air. As they traveled through the stinky forest the gang sounded like a parade of gassy sounds.
PHBBBT! PHBBBT! PHBBBT! PHBBBT! PHBBBT!
"This is gross," Kén groaned while he watch Emma, Olivia and Prince Theophrastus von Hohenheim danced around laughing at the funny noise.
PHBBBT! PHBBBT! PHBBBT! PHBBBT! PHBBBT!
"Haggar Gods are farting…Haggar Gods are farting," Theo laughed and played.
"Ugh!" Kén retched and covered his mouth.
PHBBBT! PHBBBT! PHBBBT! PHBBBT! PHBBBT!
But the fun and games came to a sudden halt, when Olivia went to squish a large gas bubble and was yanked to a standstill by the hair of her head.
"Ouch!" Olivia cried. "Help, Em, something has my hair!"
Before Emma was able to ask her little sister what the matter was, she too was yanked to a stop.
"Me too, Livi!" Emma exclaimed in pain.
Theo looked up at the two girls, and found that their long brown hair were caught in tree branches. But, these long stems were unlike any other as the tips naturally formed into what appeared to be combs. The Gnome prince was too short to be caught up in the wooden trap, and Kén Tauros was far enough behind that he was clear of the forestry entrapment.
"Comb Forest, it's real!" the centaur said to himself.
"Help us, Kén, Livi and I are trapped!" Emma said, while she tried to pull her hair from the teeth of the comb trees.
Kén walked and started to chew on the branches, but quickly learned that the wood was too thick to gnaw through. "I'm sorry, girls, I cannot do it…it's too hard."
Olivia cried, from the constant pain of what is known as tender headedness. At home both of the sisters dreaded having their hair brushed, as it always meant they have to endure pain. But it was Olivia who suffered it the worst, and always wore a braid for that very reason.
Kén studied the trees and how the long locks of the sisters were intertwined of different strands of the arms of the branches. Finally, he knew what to do and said, "I have a plan, my friends, but you are not going to like it."
"I don't care, just get us out of here," Emma responded with a mixture of pain and frustration in her words. The oldest of the girls, Emma was always the calmer of the two, but her hair was her greatest weakness and at that moment felt utterly helpless.
"I am going to get a running start and I will grab you two, and race through the forest as fast as I can," Kén explained. "I will run as fast as I possibly can, but this is going to hurt."
"But, your hair will get caught in the branches as well," Emma warned.
Kén did not think about that, as a centaur not only did he have long black hair, but also had his long tail to consider as well. But, his heart broke was he watched Olivia continue to cry. "It doesn't matter, you girls are my friends and I must help you!"
Like a bolt of lightening, the centaur erupted forward toward the trapped sisters. Kén Tauros galloped at maximum speed as he ran into the awaiting Comb Forest. The wooden teeth pulled at the hair on his head and tail, but he ignored the pain as best as he could as the girls got closer.
Without stopping, Kén grabbed Emma and Olivia with amazing strength which pulled the sisters free of the comb trees, but he did not stop—because if he did all three would become trapped in the branches.
"My hair!" Emma finally cried out.
"Stop!" Olivia pleaded. But, Kén knew it was the pain and not logic that spoke.
"I am sorry, girls, we are almost there…I see a clearing," Kén said as he breathed heavily and continued through the forest.
Olivia squeezed her eye tight, as tears ran from them. But, then the hair pulling and running stopped.
It was over.
Kén lowered the girls to the ground, Emma open her eyes and was awestruck at how beautiful the centaur's hair was. "You are hair is lovely, Kén."
He smiled and pointed at Olivia, Emma turned, like Kén's, her sister's hair was gorgeous as well.
"I guess it was part of running through the Comb Forest," Theo said as he walked up to the three with his hands buried in his pockets. But then paused and tears streamed from his eyes. "I can't believe it."
"What," Emma said, her face contorted in confusion.
"Paracelsus," Theo mumbled. "I'm home."
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