beast in
headlong charge. As she did so she brought up the spear for the thrust
into the vulnerable area just behind the jawbone.

It seemed the needle point of the black horn was no more than an arm's
length from her stomach when she jumped aside with the lithe quickness
of a prowler, swinging as she jumped and thrusting the spear with all
her strength into the unicorn's neck.

The thrust was true and the spear went deep. She released it and flung
herself backward to dodge the flying hooves. The force of the unicorn's
charge took it past her but its legs collapsed under it and it crashed
to the ground, sliding a little way before it stopped. It kicked once
and lay still.

She went to it, to retrieve her spear, and even from the distance there
was an air of pride about her as she walked past her bulky victim.

Then she saw the book, knocked to one side by the unicorn's hooves.
Tatters of its pages were blowing in the wind and she stiffened, her
face growing pale. She ran to it to pick it up, the unicorn forgotten.

She was trying to smooth the torn leaves when he reached her. It had
been one of the old textbooks, printed on real paper, and it was fragile
with age. She had been trusted by the librarian to take good care of it.
Now, page after page was torn and unreadable....

She looked up at him, shame and misery on her face.

"Father," she said. "The book--I----"

He saw that the unicorn was a bull considerably larger than the average.
Men had in the past killed unicorns with spears but never, before, had a
sixteen-year-old girl done so....

He looked back at her, keeping his face emotionless, and asked sternly,
"You what?"

"I guess--I guess I didn't have any right to take the book out of town.
I wish I hadn't...."

"You promised to take good care of it," he told her coldly. "Your
promise was believed and you were trusted to keep it."

"But--but I didn't mean to damage it--I didn't mean to!" She was
suddenly very near to tears. "I'm not a--a _bemmon_!"

"Go back to town," he ordered. "Tonight bring the book to the town hall
and tell the council what happened to it."

She swallowed and said in a faint voice, "Yes, father."

She turned and started slowly back down the hill, not seeing the unicorn
as she passed it, the bloody spear trailing disconsolately behind her
and her head hanging in shame.

He watched her go and it was safe for him to smile. When night came and
she stood before the council, ash