Chapter 17—MYSTIC IAH

As Lyra Drake or was it Luhr; she could not tell at the moment, for her husband had found out that she was a Christian. Something that he seemed to be angry about. At the moment, she was on Rum Island, walking through the forest. Stumbling upon its rivers and underbrush. She was in a daze.

Lyra was trying to get herself farther away from the small makeshift village. The one that she had helped built with Carriage, Celeste, Hai, and Hahn. The four people that Varg Drake had asked/ordered for them to keep her safe. But she was not in the right mind to think clearly.

After walking further, with every step that she took was another step away from where she had been. She had no concept of time. For all she knew, she may have been walking for half a night and she had no way to know any difference. Her eyes became droopy, and her feet began to sag. When she was about to fall onto the ground. A bright light had appeared from nowhere, nearly blinding the woman.

Once the light became dim enough for Lyra to see again. She walked towards the area of which she had seen had been eliminated from. To her, the light itself reminded her of an LED light from solar torches. That people had used to guide within the dark.

When Lyra walked around a bush. She found herself at an edge of a clearing. With glowing crystals that were the cause of the brightened light.

The time-traveler found herself moving towards the center. Turning her each way at every step she made. She stopped once she had heard movement. Lyra turned her head towards her right, slowly. It was when she noticed something that she had thought that she would never see, with her own two eyes.

The cause of the light had come from a great white looking horse. A horse, like any other except for a horn upon its forehead. Its body was as white as the moon, with the same moon glow. The being’s main and tail had the same moon shade and glow, along with silver strands weaved into them.

“Wow,” whispered Lyra, for she feared that her voice would have spooked the unicorn away.

A male sounding voice was heard within her head; it nearly frightened her. “What are you doing in the mystic wood, Lyra?” She was in shock that he would know her name until she heard something else that woke her up: “Time traveler.”

Lyra stopped breathing for a moment with a shocked look on her face. She had no clue that unicorns were able to talk to humans. Then again, Lyra might be the only one that was able to, since humans had hunted them for years. She took a deep breath and tried to think clearly. The books that she had read and the cartoons she had watched as a child seemed to believe that they were able to.

“Hello,” Lyra gasped out and followed with a “Sir.”

The majestic being laughed, which confused Lyra. “Don't worry, Child of King of all Kings.” This caused Lyra to believe that the unicorn was talking about Jesus. “My name is Iah of the Moon Dancers.”

The time-traveling woman saw the mystic blue in his eyes, which seemed to know the truth of all living things.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, for he had truly sounded concerned. “You seem to be worried and scared. How can I help you?”

Lyra found herself falling into the ground, where she was able to sit down before the mighty creature. “I don't think you can help me.” She looked down in shame, feeling unworthy to be in the presence of a unicorn. She held her hands upon her lap. Lyra may have been upset before. She had found calmness like nothing before, as long she was in the presence of Iah.

“Does this have anything to do with Varg Drake, the Viking warlord and Wolf-Dragon that flies in the air, whose father came from the North and mother from Ireland?”

The question seemed to have caught her off guard by the look that the woman was giving the creature. She sighed. Lyra knew that she was outmatched for the mythical creature. “I guess you know him.”

She had gone on to tell Iah about what had gone on that day and towards the early hours of the evening, bringing about a more prominent sad looking face. As she talked to him, Lyra noticed that the creature had shown such wisdom within his eyes.

Iah had told her that all will be alright and for her to trust the one who made everything that was in the world. The one who had brought his own son to Earth and took all the sins of the world. Iah went on to say, as he was noticing her droopy eyes, “You must be getting tired. Why don’t you lay down and get some rest?”

Lyra glanced around her, realizing that there was nothing for her to use for warmth. “How am I to stay warm?” She moved to lie on the ground, seeing that it was a nice soft patch of grass for her to do so.

The four-legged legend kept an ever-watchful eye out. “I will keep you warm as you sleep. I will take you back to your people in the morning.”

“I have no one,” answered Lyra in sorrow as she tried to fight the sleepiness that was overtaking her.

Iah of the Moon Dancers sang to Lyra, who had lost the fight of staying awake that night. While he was watching the human woman sleep, he wondered why she had made such a statement: saying that she had no one. He believed that her God would make sure that the two married people have found happiness with one another regardless of the misunderstanding that they had for each other.

Iah needed to get a hold of the man that was acting her father, for she had no friends to talk to within the world that she had found herself in. The unicorn glanced around and saw that it was still clear enough for him to step away from the human woman.

Once he had reached a safe enough distance, close enough to still be near her in case she needed him and yet far enough to call upon the man that he needed to talk to, Iah closed his eyes and willed the magic of the horn. He pushed away from the earth with his front feet, using his magic to roam upon the earth and beyond. He fell back on the ground, tired.

After twenty or so minutes of waiting, a sound of rolling thunder shook the area, but not loud enough to wake Lyra from her deep sleep. A flash of light flowed, causing the mystical creature to close his eyes for a brief moment. When the light was gone, a big, massive man stood before Iah, who was not impressed. The man towered than most men upon the earth. But Iah had noticed his eyes which saw that the Thunder God looked extreme anger.

“What HAVE you DONE to my DAUGHTER?” growled out the angry God.

Iah sighed. He wondered why he even bothered with the man before him. “Your daughter is very upset.” This caused the Thunder God to stop in his track, seeing the tear marks upon her lovely face. “She’s upset because the man who she had married found out that she believes in the one God.” The unicorn spoke smoothly with no heat behind his words.

Thor closed his eyes for a brief moment; he had high hopes for Varg, hoping that he had taken the news much better than this. Then, a thought hit him across his face. Trying to convert all the invading Vikings to the ways of the Bible had caused a lot of problems of the age. “What happened?” he asked in defeat.

A dark chuckle sounded inside Thor’s head. ‘I told you that she should have married your brother’s son.’

“The Wolf-Dragon,” stated the mystic creature, “got angry that the one God had many names and there was to be only one God to rule over everyone.” Iah sighed as he turned around and walked towards the woman upon the ground. “All Lyra wanted to do was to tell how she had grown up.”

‘She will break everything that is Viking. Are you willing to live with that?’ challenged the dark sounding voice of his father. ‘That cub wouldn’t know what to do with a woman like her. She’s a firecracker and a woman, who is so much like your mother.’

Thor groaned loudly before following the four-legged creature. “GREAT.” No matter how loud the Norse God became, Lyra was not waking up. “She didn’t take it well when he had left her here, did she?”

‘Why would she take it well,’ stated Odin within the head of Thor. ‘She will turn this world upon its axis, and it’s NOT going to be pretty.’

Iah had never seen such pain and sadness behind the Thunder God’s eyes before, along with a hint of anger that he had no clue of where it was coming from. But the pain and sadness were something new and raw, something that only mere mortals had shown. It was one of the few things that the unicorn was pleased that he had never truly experienced.

His voice could not help but sound like he knew the emotion well. “No, she didn’t.”

The two of them glanced over to where Lyra was lying upon the ground. Neither of the two males wanted to see her hurt, but they had different ways of handling it.

Thor grumbled with himself before saying loud enough for Iah to understand him, “I will go to Varg and work things out with him.” He glanced up to the legend before him. “You will make sure that Lyra will be alright?” He saw the nod before going on, “Will you be traveling with her while making sure that she makes it to the village?”

‘You’re going to do WHAT?!’ Thor was starting to hate that his father was still the King of the Gods. He really wanted to end his reign and soon. ‘Send her to the loch, and she will find a better man to take care of HER.’

‘That is NOT a MAN, FATHER.’

‘Neither is the Wolf-Dragon.’

The mystical creature gave the Norse God a menacing glare, something that none had ever seen upon such a being before him.

“Which one?”

Then, Thor remembered the hunting that the creature had to endure from time to time. Mortals’ craved power. He would have paid more attention to the unicorn if he was not arguing with his father in his head.

‘Won’t they ever learn that power in not freely given to them?’

“The one that is across the sea and a few days inland.” He saw the anger behind the unusual blue eyes. He really hated to be there at the moment; he would rather deal with his father. Speaking of which, Odin was angry with him for leaving home yet again. “The one that Varg Drake would be waiting for his wife,” Thor stated harshly to indicate that there would be no backing away from the agreement.

‘He is not worthy of his wife, and you KNOW it,’ he could hear his father losing his power of conversation with him. He just had to wait a bit more. ‘I need Loki…’ That statement scared Thor more than anything, but he could not show it to the creature before him.

Iah gave a small nod that he would make sure that the young human woman would make it back to her husband. What little home she had left in the world. Thor chanced a small glance towards Lyra, who he had made into a daughter in 836 AD. He would do anything to make sure that she was happy again. He would even battle her husband into a bloody mess if it had to come to that.

‘Father…Father…FATHER YOU ANSWER ME.’ He got no answer for his troubles; he was getting worried about what was going on, he needed to get moving.

With a great sounding sigh, the God of Thunder had summoned his energy. By swinging his hammer around and was whisked away on a massive flash of lighting. A blink of an eye later, he was gone.

Iah turned his head towards the woman when he heard Lyra. Making some kind of noise that told him that she had heard some kind of sound that had been made by her father of the time. Then after a short while, her breathing told him that she was not going to be waking up anytime soon.

Iah had realized that he was alone with the young woman, once again. He glanced towards the sky, for the hour that was graced upon the earth. Knew that it was time to get some sleep himself. The unicorn knew that he would have to keep her warm; his magic could only do so much.

Iah made his way towards the sleeping woman. Bend his limbs to where he was not going to hurt her and laid upon the ground next to her. After a moment of having his back towards her. He felt her turning towards him and snuggling closer for the heat that he had to provide for her. Then he allowed sleep to take him as well.