Strange Creatures of Dr. Korbo (11 page)

Josh gnawed on his lip. “I don't know, Reb. It's one thing just to ride around in that valley they live in, but taking them away from their home might somehow upset the balance of nature.”

“The valley
is
their home,” Jake said. “But it's something to think about anyway.”

They did think about it for a time, but not long. Everyone was exhausted from their busy day.

“One thing for sure, that mare's milk is a welcome relief from goat's milk,” Reb said. “And the unicorns don't seem to mind sharing it with us.”

They had discovered that many of the mares had foals. The foals were cute, looking like their parents except for just a small knot between their eyes where the horn would be later. The mares would stand patiently while they were milked, and their milk was absolutely delicious.

“Not near as strong tasting as that goat's milk,”
Reb said. “I bet Sammy will like it.” Sammy was Reb's particular charge, and, like the others, he thought “his” baby was the strongest and best looking of all the infants.

“I think we'll stay here and rest up at least one more day,” Josh said. “Dave's not able to travel anyhow.” He got up, saying, “I think I'll go check on him.”

 

Dave didn't improve during the night. But the next morning he drank some of the fresh unicorn's milk, and that seemed to make his eyes brighter. “My arm's so sore I can hardly move it,” he said.

“Take it easy, Dave. Gus and Meta found some herbs. They're fixing them right now. Gus says they'll speed up the healing,” Josh told him. Then he went to watch Meta and Gus shred leaves from various plants.

“I didn't think anyone knew as much about plants as I do,” Gus said. “But you do.”

“My grandmother—Viona—she taught me a lot about them.”

“You'd be handy to have around. Somebody's always getting sick. When I get sick, which I probably will pretty soon—I'm not feeling too well, you know— you can take care of me.”

Meta smiled. “Let's go see our patient,” she said. “I think this will help him.”

Josh followed them inside, where Meta made a compress out of one kind of leaf and bound it over Dave's wound. With another kind they made a brew of strong tea. The aroma of it filled the air as it bubbled over the fire.

“Here,” Gus said. “If you drink enough of this, you'll be fine. It'll make you good looking. That's the secret of my good looks, you know.”

Dave did not seem impressed by this, but he managed to grin. “I'll look forward to that, Gus,” he said.

The compress and frequent drinks of the strong tea did seem to do wonders for Dave. By the next morning he was able to sit up and felt like walking around a bit. “My arm's stiff,” he said, “but I feel much better.”

“That's good,” Josh said. “We were all worried about you.”

Dave looked rather embarrassed. “I've been kind of a pain in the neck lately, Josh. I'm sorry. I just got carried away, I guess.”

“That's all right, Dave,” Josh said quickly. “We all get carried away at times.”

 

Sarah and Abbey and Meta were at a small creek washing diapers when Sarah looked up to see the beautiful palomino that she had named Lady trotting toward them. With delight Sarah jumped up and ran to meet the unicorn. “Lady,” she said and stroked her nose, “you came for a visit. All by yourself.”

The girls admired the mare for a while, then went back to work. Lady watched curiously. From time to time she would come close, sniff at one of them, and then stamp her hoof.

“She seems so curious. They love us,” Sarah said.

“I think they love everybody,” Meta said. “They've got love in their eyes.”

The girls had just finished their washing, when there was a sharp animal cry. Then a huge weasel with a long body, sharp teeth, and reddish eyes emerged from the bushes and came straight for them.

Meta screamed. Abbey screamed. Sarah made a frantic grab for her sword, then remembered she had
left it back in the cave. W
e
hav
e
n
o
weapons
!
she thought wildly.

Lady reacted, too. She lowered her head and charged the vicious looking animal. The eighty-or ninety-pound weasel was fearless. He sprang to meet the unicorn.

Lady's needle-sharp horn struck the weasel in the breast. It fell and lay still. The unicorn backed away, her eyes fiery. The girls had not needed weapons.

They ran to the unicorn and began petting her.

“Oh, thank you, Lady,” Sarah cried. “You saved our lives.”

Later on, when the boys came to view the body of the weasel, Reb looked at Lady and grinned. Her eyes were bright, and she seemed to have suffered no ill effects from the encounter. He stroked her mane. “Well, you're mighty pretty, Lady, but I guess you can do just about anything when you take a notion.”

Lady stamped her hooves and nibbled at Reb's hat. She plucked it off his head.

“Hey, take it easy!” he said. “That's my favorite hat.”

The unicorn dropped it and then began to pull at his hair.

Sarah laughed at the sight. “She loves you, Reb.”

“She's a handy critter to have around,” Reb said. “I'd like to turn her loose on some of those squirrels.”

“She could handle them,” Sarah said proudly. “I think a unicorn can do most anything.”

 

 

S
arah looked over to where Josh was changing Susie's diaper again. “You don't mind doing that, do you?”

He looked up with surprise. “Nope.” Then he grinned.

“Most boys would think that's sissy.”

“Most boys can think what they want to.”

“That's what I've always liked about you, Josh,” Sarah said.

“What? That I can change diapers?”

“No. That you're not afraid to do things that other people might not understand.”

Josh finished his job and joggled Susie on his knee. She gurgled, and he leaned forward, looking into her mouth. “I wonder when you're going to start cutting teeth. That won't be any fun.” Then he looked back at Sarah. “You're not altogether right about what you said. I used to be terribly worried about what people thought about me. You, for instance.”

“Me! Why me?”

“When you first came to our house, back before we came to Nuworld. Do you remember?”

“I remember I was awfully afraid. My parents were off in Africa, and I was coming to live with a strange family. I didn't know any of you, and I thought you might be—well, I didn't know what you'd be.”

“I didn't know you felt like that at the time,” Josh said. “The first time I saw you, I got all choked up. I always was afraid of pretty girls, and you were the prettiest girl I'd ever seen.”

Sarah laughed at that. “You must not have seen many pretty girls.”

“Anyway,” Josh said. “I don't know why, but I thought I had to be tough.”

“I remember that too. You swaggered around and tried to talk tough, but I knew you weren't.” Sarah stood up. “Let's put these babies down on the floor with the others.”

For a while they watched the eight babies try to crawl around. Josh said, “It would have been terrible if that magician Korbo had done something to one of these kids.”

“I know. He must be a monster himself. But that's what the Dark Lord does to people.”

About that time Gus walked into the cave. He was carrying fresh milk. “That's funny.”

“What's funny, Gus?”

“Those mares. The way they came over here all by themselves just now—practically asking to be milked. I appreciate the goats, but this is sure better.” He held up the jug and said, “When we leave here, I'm going to miss unicorn milk. Of course, probably the herd will up and leave
us
anytime now. Might as well expect that.”

Josh didn't answer, and Gus sat down beside him. “And you know we've got to leave here sooner or later, don't you, Josh?”

“I know. And it's worrying me a lot. I just can't make up my mind . . .”

Gus did not say anything else. He got up shortly and went to find Meta.

Meta was cutting up leaves for salad when Gus found her.

“I've written you another poem, Meta.”

“Oh, let's hear it! I love your poetry.”

Gus had not written down the poem, but it was firmly in his mind. He quoted the verse and winked at her. “How about that?”

“That's the most beautiful poem I ever heard.”

“You said that about the last poem I wrote for you.”

“Well, every poem that you write is better than the next one.”

“Wait a minute!
That's
not right.”

“Oh, no! That would mean your poetry was getting worse.” Meta laughed and put her hand over her mouth. “I mean every one is better than the
last
one.”

“Well, now, that's more like it.” Gus sat down beside Meta and watched her finish her work. He took off his hat and put it down by his feet. His lank hair lay over his shoulders.

“You need your hair cut,” she told him.

“What for?”

“Because it would make you look better.”

Gus stared at her. “I thought I looked good enough already.”

“Oh, you do,” Meta said, “but I think if I could trim your hair neatly, it would improve even you.”

“It would?”

“Oh yes. I think so.”

“Well, have at it.”

Meta ran to fetch some scissors, and soon she had given Gus a very respectable haircut. She brushed his hair back and said, “Now, that looks much better.”

“I guess I'll have to write a poem. I'm going to call it
Ode to a Haircut.
”

“Will I be in it?” Meta smiled shyly.

“You'll be the star of it. You know, we make a great team. Me to write the poetry, and you to listen to it.”

“Yes, we do, Gus. I've never told you this, but I was so sad after my grandmother died. But then you came along, and every day you've cheered me up. You'll never know how much it's meant to me.”

“I'll write a poem about it. I'll call it
Poem.
”

“Just
Poem?
”

“That's right. Just
Poem
. It'll go like this . . .”

Meta sat listening, her eyes warm, as what passed for poetry in Gus's mind rolled from his mouth. It was not very good poetry, but she did not care. It was hers.

 

They rested for two more days to be sure Dave was well enough to travel.

Josh was standing looking off into the distance when he came by.

“You needn't hold up traveling for me anymore,” Dave announced. “I can move this arm as good as before. It wasn't my sword arm anyway, Josh.”

“That's good. You had us all worried. Those ants are mean critters. We'll be sure to detour around that anthill when we go.”

“I sure was wrong about that one.” Dave rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, “I've finally come to understand why Goél picked you to be the leader.”

Josh was startled. “Why?”

“Because you
are
the leader. It's that simple.” Dave shrugged his broad shoulders. “Some just have it, and some don't, and you've got it.”

“I don't know about that . . .” Josh muttered.

“In any case, I got all the craziness out of my system. Now whatever you say is what we'll do.”

“That's nice of you to say that, Dave. But I'll always be glad for any suggestions. I wish I had an easy answer to our problems.”

“There aren't many easy answers to big problems, are there?”

“No. Not many.”

All day Josh just walked around by himself. Everyone seemed to know he was thinking and planning, and no one wanted to disturb the process.

At supper time, he came back and joined the group seated around the fire. Reb had brought down a wild pig that afternoon, so they enjoyed a good meal.

The others talked about the babies, or about the unicorns, or about past adventures. Josh said little. He was still thinking hard.

Finally Josh cleared his throat, and everyone looked at him. He found he had difficulty speaking, but he finally began. “I've got something to tell you. It's something . . . well, something new. And it's going to be hard.”

The Sleepers looked at each other, and Sarah said, “What is it, Josh? You can tell us.”

“Well, I've been thinking about these babies. There are more children, aren't there, Meta?”

“Oh, yes. The villagers are scattered everywhere, trying to hide them. The people are all terrified of Dr. Korbo.”

“They're afraid he'll come and take their children.”

Meta nodded silently, and a murmur ran through the group.

After a moment Reb muttered, “I never thought of it that way. We're saving eight of them, but all he has to do is go out and get some more.”