Unicorns and the Elf King
Uni was completely unaware that he held an assassin’s blade, one of the most feared weapons known, as were the Dark Elf warriors who faced him. They were quietly confident that this stranger would give them as little difficulty as the elf guards had earlier.
He was not a trained swordsman as the soldiers facing him were, his sword was short compared the eight foot long halberds the Dark Elf soldiers at the rear carried, but he carried one advantage, the sword he had taken from the dead assassin.
The attack came in a way that Uni was not expecting, there were no screams, no charge, instead each soldier moved quietly forward, each spreading out as far as the narrow tunnel would allow, the halberd carriers holding back, to try and wound Uni with their vastly longer reach. Uni backed to the narrowest part of the tunnel and awaited them with a smile on his face. He had faced death so often that it no longer held any fear for him.
The first to reach Uni found that his armour was of no use as Uni’s assassin’s blade passed through it as if it were simply cloth, he died quickly as the poison aided the damage caused by the blade, and lay twisting in agony at their feet.
The Dark Elves had seen the effects of am assassin’s blade many times before and began to back away from Uni, but he was still between them and the exit, they were not prepared to surrender as it would mean their deaths. Their halberdiers moved to the front to keep Uni at bay while they decided their options.
Jola reached out of the shadows and grabbed the nearest halberd with her hands, pulling it hard towards her, throwing the warrior off-guard, as the others tried to swing in the direction of this new danger, they found themselves in trouble, their weapons were getting jammed in the tight confines of the tunnel, Uni moved in with speed and quickly dispatched of all three.
The remaining warriors saw their danger and at last charged, Uni was hard put to block all their weapons and started to take hits, the blood soon covered his shirt and as he killed the next warrior, he was in severe trouble.
Until now the White Wizard had done nothing, but suddenly she gestured and each of the Dark Elves was covered in thick, greasy smoke, making them almost bind and causing them to cough and stumble. Uni was already feeling faint from lack of blood so he stepped in quickly, while he still could, and killed the remaining Dark Elves before the White Wizard’s magic wore off. Then he stumbled against the tunnel wall and collapsed.
Jola leapt forward and changed to unicorn form, in the confined tunnel it would have been impossible to move, but she did not need to, Uni was directly in front of her and she began to heal him as fast as she could, her tears falling from her eyes, for as many times as she saw him near death, the terror of losing him still tore at her heart.
She stopped before Uni was completely healed so they could move further along the tunnel to safety, so with the elf girl they had rescued following them closely they hurried along the tunnel as fast as they could, finally reaching a locked door with two dead elf guards outside
The elven girl moved forward and banged heavily on the door, “Who goes there?” Asked a voice from inside.
“Princess Aurora.” She said in an imperious voice, “And rescuers.”
The door opened immediately and they were ushered inside, although the guards kept a close eye on the unicorns and their companions.
Looking around Jola could only see a statue of an old elf sitting on a bench, but as Aurora called out in a happy voice “Father!”
Suddenly the statue started to move, its head swung in the direction of her voice and it began to smile, “Aurora!” It called happily, you are safe.”
“Thanks to my rescuers.” She gestured at Uni and the others.
The elf king moved towards them, with agility rather than the stony creaks Jola expected. He hugged the White Wizard, and said to her, “Wiz, it has been so long?” Then as the dryad curtsied to him he lifted her to her feet and hugged her too, “Winter’s blossom, you have brought us two of the greatest gifts we could have asked for.” and to Uni, Jola and the children he bowed low and said, “My friends, I owe you more than I can say, since the death of my wife, my daughter is my life, Thank you.”
Uni shook his hand, Jola kissed his cheek and the children smiled.
They had met the elf king at last, now they could start to understand what their future held.
