Unicorns? Get Real! by Kathryn Lasky

rebellion began to smoulder. Then rage erupted. “Bahksmutch!” Gundersnap spat the word out. She picked up her bow and marched to the shooting line. Never had her concentration been finer. It was as if her entire body had merged with the bow. There was no separation between the bow and herself. She nocked the arrow, squinted one eye shut, aimed, and released.
    “Bull’s-eye!” the crowd roared.
    She drew another arrow from her quiver. Her rage at her mother was not a distraction at all, but burned within her, igniting every muscle. She was the bow, and the bow was her. Her vision had never been sharper, her hands steadier. Her fingers pulled taut on the bowstring. Its tension resonated with the fire burning inside her. She released the string and the arrow flew true.
    “Bull’s-eye!” the crowd roared again.
    Gundersnap pulled a third arrow from her quiver and nocked it. She knew even before the arrow struck. The world went silent, but she felt a glow like gold shimmer within her.
    “Bull’s-eye!” the spectators screamed.
    Kristen ran to her and picked the squat princess up in her arms. “You won! You won!”
    But she had done more than simply win. She had shot a golden flight, three bull’s-eyes in a row.
    Prince Haraldsvar made his way over. He bowed and smiled. “May I have the honor of the first dance tonight at the masquerade ball?”
    “You still want to dance with me?” Gundersnap asked.
    “Oh mercy!” muttered Lady Merry. “Did I hear that right?”
    “Of course. How often does one have a chance to dance with a princess who has shot a golden flight?”
    Gundersnap felt a storm of butterflies rising in her tummy. “Oh,” she said, and smiled a most dazzling smile.
     
    They were just beginning the fireworks display and Princesses Gundersnap, Alicia, Kristen, and Myrella were about to take off their masks, for their costumes were quite hot. Alicia had gone as a Gypsy. Gundersnap went as a Celtic sprite named Orla, which meant “gold queen.” She carried a quiver with three golden arrows and wore golden wings. She knew her mother would not approve of Orla. The empress thought sprites and fairies and winged creatures with human bodies in general were stupid and a waste of time. Kristen went as a pirate queen who was said to have lived many years ago and plundered ships in all the seven seas. In a scabbard that hung at her side, she carried a sword.
    “Look,” said Princess Parisiana, who was sitting near them. “That must be Myrella dressed up as an ugly old wood sprite.”
    “No, it can’t be. Myrella went as a moon maid. She’s all in silver and diamonds. Where are you looking?” Gundersnap asked.
    “See over there.” Parisiana pointed to a tiny figure who was making her way across the lawn. “No one else is that tiny.”
    Oh yes she is! all three princesses thought at once. It was Berwynna! And at just that moment, Myrella appeared. Kristen grabbed the tiny gleaming princess, and with Alicia and Gundersnap they sped to the edge of the lawn, leaving Princess Parisiana wondering what in the world it was that had made them take off like that.
    Berwynna, however, seemed to have dissolved into thin air. “She mustn’t have wanted to meet with us out in the open,” Alicia said.
    “But where could she have gone!” Myrella stomped her foot. “Shoot, I haven’t ever seen her and all of you have!” Her anger made her diamonds shimmer even more.
    “She’s got to be around here someplace,” Gundersnap said. “Look at that big tree over there!” Alicia pointed at an immense oak with low branches that flowed over the ground like dark rivers in the night.
    The four princesses ran over. There on one of the branches, with her short legs dangling in the night, was Berwynna.
    “I thought you’d never come!” she exclaimed.
    “What are you doing here?” Gundersnap asked.
    “Exactly what am I doing here? Out of the Forest of Chimes, exposing myself on a lawn with dancing princesses and