“Very hard,” the half-giant said.
The boy most certainly didn’t want to be smashed, but he needed them to know he wasn’t a threat. A unicorn couldn’t be evil, because their hearts were too pure, and if it was traveling with a half-giant, then the half-giant couldn’t be all bad either. And they sounded scared and sad and all the boy wanted to do was make them smile and laugh and be happy.
This strange and somewhat lonely boy knew he had found something unexpected.
So he took a breath and pulled his shoulders back and held himself high as he stepped away from the tree and into the clearing.
The unicorn and half-giant stared at him.
The boy stuck out his chest proudly.
The unicorn snorted. It came out pink. “Well,” it said. “That’s not quite what I expected. Who knew the forest was infested with twinks.”
The boy furrowed his brow. “What’s a twink?”
“You’ll learn one day, chicken,” the unicorn said. “Around the time your cherry gets popped. Now go away. We’re busy.”
The boy gaped at him. “You can’t speak to me that way! I’m a wizard.”
“Sure, kid. And I’m the Queen of Verania.”
“Smashing?” the half-giant asked.
“No, Tiggy,” the unicorn said. “No smashing. We don’t smash little twinks. We let them grow up so they can provide a valuable service by having sex with mens.”
“Tiggy,” the boy said.
They both looked over
“I like your name,” the boy said. “And I haven’t decided if I want to have sex with men or women yet. I’m only fourteen. I still have time to decide.”
“Honey bear,” the unicorn said. “You are the gayest thing I’ve seen since I last saw my own reflection.”
“Oh,” the boy said. “That’s… eye-opening.”
“I like your face, tiny human,” Tiggy said as he took a step toward the boy.
The boy looked up at him in awe. “So tall,” he whispered.
“Tiggy,” the unicorn said in warning.
“His face,” Tiggy insisted as he took another step and another. The boy felt the ground shake beneath.
“It’s not a bad face,” the unicorn said. Then he narrowed his eyes. “Who sent you here? Why are you by yourself? What do you want?”
“I’m on a quest,” the boy said proudly, puffing out his chest again. “I must find something unexpected and bring it back to my mentor.”
“Uh-huh,” the unicorn said. “Fascinating. Super fun. Are you here to capture us and take us back to Koklanaris?”
The boy scrunched up his face. “Kokla what?”
“His face,” Tiggy said again. His eyes were red rimmed, but the tears had stopped falling. He stood above the boy and leaned down until they were eye level.
“Whoa,” the boy said. “Your eyes are huge, dude. Like as big as my hand.”
“Dude,” Tiggy rumbled. “Huge dude.”