laurie's blog: "Stories"

Unicorns Soccer for God It was a week later when Uni was woken early by a loud banging on the front door of the Ice Queen’s palace, he groggily slipped into his shorts and staggered, bleary eyed to the door. Outside was the young angel Amanda, dressed in soccer shirt and shorts wearing soccer shoes, she held the soccer ball under her arm that she had been kicking against the door. “Horse here?” She asked with a grin. Uni just mumbled, still half asleep, and leaving her at the door, headed to Sheen’s room, he shook Sheen by the shoulder, told him there was someone at the front door to see him and to get some clothes on, as Sheen pulled his pants on, Uni collapsed on the bed behind him, and even as Sheen turned to ask who, he could see that Uni was already fast asleep. As he headed towards the door, still doing up the top button on his pants he heard her voice seconds before he saw her, “Come on horse, we got a big say ahead of us.” Sheen had a huge smile on his face, he knew who it was, no one else called him horse. So he didn’t hurry on purpose. When Sheen reached the door Amanda grabbed him by the hand and immediately started dragging him behind her, refusing to answer any questions about where they were headed, all she would say was how was his Spanish. She stopped a short distance away, opened a door and dragged Sheen through after her. Behind the door Sheen could see about twenty brown skinned youths about his own age playing soccer on the street barefooted, he smiled and felt right at home here, until suddenly he saw the boy with crutches. But as he moved towards him the others saw Amanda’s wings and dropped to their knees they began crossing themselves, muttering in low voices angelito. Amanda looked annoyed, pointed with her thumb to the sky and drew her forefinger sharply across her throat. The boys understood instantly, this was God’s secret, it was to be guarded jealously. When Sheen reached the boy he changed to unicorn form, and each of the boys dropped to his knees once more, many of the boys were crying, they were watching God’s miracle being performed, “Unicornio, El curandero they whispered crossing themselves and immediately starting to pray, Sheen could feel the energy flowing into him like a physical thing, and he started to heal. He could see the health coming back to the boy’s features, and then he stood, at first a little shaky, then firmer. The boys leapt to their feet as Sheen changed back to human form, remembering Amanda’s warning, they made no sound, but each hugged sheen and Amanda and then kissed them on their cheeks. “Amanda smiled at Sheen and said, “We are now their family.” “Let’s play soccer, for God” called Amanda to them and they lined up to be selected for this game that had already changed their lives, and Sheen chose the boy he had healed and his brother first, with both standing by his side with huge smiles on their faces. It was a game to remember, each boy was playing for the honour of God, to repay Him for His Grace, for His Miracle. Each exceeded any skills they had ever known, and soon the street filled with onlookers, all quickly sworn to silence by the boys. It was a magic game, a game where the ball was treated with the utmost skill, and Sheen and Amanda were foremost among the players. The crowd screamed, they yelled themselves hoarse, it was a World Cup of faith, of skill, and of thanks. Amanda scored the first goal from a penalty shot, she grinned at Sheen, urging him to beat that. Which he did a few seconds later as the boy he had healed passed him the ball and he scored from an impossible angle. The crowd wept as they cheered, some whispered angelito and unicornio, and others nodded in understanding. The time was running out and the score was still one all, when suddenly Amanda kicked the ball high in the air, and as Sheen watched in awe, she flipped herself and kicked the ball in mid air, sending it straight past his keeper. It was the perfect goal. While the watchers were still screaming in pleasure Sheen hugged Amanda and kissed her on both cheeks, he shook her hand and said simply, “ family?” Amanda nodded with a smile and returned both the hug and kisses, and with many tears they left for home.

Unicorns Broken Wing When Uni next awoke there was a massive storm raging, the air outside was crackling with electricity, rain pounded the sodden earth, the wind whistled in its fury, and the animals cowered in any dry spot they could find. Uni staggered, still half asleep, to the window, where a sight greeted his eyes that spurred him to instant action, he grabbed for his pants, pulling them on as quickly as he could, kissed Jola tenderly on the black skin of her cheek, and ran for the door, behind him he never noticed Jola’s eyes watching him leave. Outside Uni shivered as the rain hit his bare torso before he changed to unicorn form, and raced to the rescue of the person he had seen from his window, a young angel, fighting a desperate battle against the Naga, evil half men half snakes, that had emerged from the depths, Their human upper bodies covered in the same glittering, reddish coloured scales as the snake tails that formed their lower halves. “Hiya big fella.” She said with a large smile to Uni, ‘Nice to see a unicorn again, and so handsome too.” Even in unicorn form Uni blushed a bright red and as gored a Naga, he shuffled from foot to foot. “And he’s MY handsome unicorn,” said an angry voice as Jola appeared from the darkness beside him, glaring angrily at her, “I’m only twelve you know, my name’s Amanda,” said Amanda quickly, seeing the anger in Jola’s face. “Wow, she’s beautiful.” Said Sheen as he Kasandra and Lone arrived, driving the Naga back. “Don’t you be calling me beautiful,” said Amanda angrily, acting as if Sheen had called her a dirty word, swinging the huge sword she carried and decapitating a Naga, “I’m just as ugly as any person you ever met.” Sheen’s eyes opened widely, and then he smiled shyly, but didn’t call her beautiful again., he watched as she kicked the Naga’s head and it shot across the ground in front of her. Uni and Jola were killing Nagas with each thrust of their horns, and Sheen, Kasandra and Lone were forcing the Nagas back further still. The battle had turned and it gave Sheen a little more time to talk, as a sword whistled past his head, he casually mentioned, “You play soccer I see?” “Better than you.” said Amanda, still angry after being called beautiful, “You horses just can’t control the ball.” This was too much for Sheen, whose grandfather had taught him soccer since before he could remember, it was a sport where he could use his feet instead of his then deformed arm, and he had loved it ever since. So he changed to human form, and in the middle of the battle field, they started to play soccer, with the head of a decapitated Naga, while the battle continued around them. They dodged and ducked, and played their makeshift ball with a skill that would have excited professional players. All the time the fighting went onwards, with no quarter given on either side, Uni and Jola were both covered in the sickly, green Ichor that served the Naga as blood, Kasandra and Lone were hunting Nagas on the makeshift playing field, bring one down just before Sheen scored a goal, Kasandra cheered briefly before another Naga slithered across the field, attempting to kill Sheen and Amanda. Kasandra and Lone were after him immediately. They were at two goals apiece when Sheen noticed the pain in her face as she moved, “I can fix that.” he said as her face twisted in pain again. “Oh, I never even noticed,” Amanda lied, “Can’t feel any pain at all.” Sheen changed to unicorn form, the splendid young black stallion he had become, and ordered her to turn around, and carefully he used his horn to mend the broken bones in her wing, Although it took much longer than Uni would, Sheen noticed that his healing had improved greatly, as he watched the wing start to heal in front of his eyes, Amanda gutted one Naga that had managed to get close and was about to impale Sheen with a large spear. He was so intent on healing Amanda that he didn’t even notice. Elsewhere the Nagas were retreating back underground, and finally everyone was free to lend a hand, but Uni shook his head. Sheen was becoming the leader he had always dreamt of, and so they all stood and watched Amanda’s wing become whole again, and when it finally was, she flapped her wings and lifted once more into the sky. Before she disappeared she called down to Sheen, “Pretty good for a horse, wanna do it again when I get my ball?” Sheen nodded and smiled, and Amanda disappeared into the morning sky, and together the tired unicorns headed back to sleep some more, except for Sheen who was still staring after her. Uni put his arm around his shoulders gently and led him home.

Unicorn Dreaming Uni’s eyes flickered as he dreamt, and he tossed and turned as the images and thoughts went through his mind. In his dream he saw Jola running towards him, barefooted, as he tried to keep the wolves attacking him occupied so they would not notice her, once again he felt his heart leap as he looked at her beauty. Then his dream jumped to when she had left him for another man, and had stopped believing in him. He felt his death closing in, until she at last admitted her love, and came to his aid, she had stayed with him for weeks until he had recovered, and during that time he had felt her love grow. She had become pregnant with his child, and his pride and love for her was so great, that he wept at night, but as she prepared to give birth, the wolves tracked them down once more, and aided by the entire community, he went to her rescue, where they fought until the wolves were all dead, and at last they had a daughter, a filly, who they called Kasandra. It was the greatest day of both of their lives. One that they would never forget. Not long afterwards they were married, in Jola’s dream wedding, he was the man she had dreamed of, and wept as the priest announced they were now husband and wife. It was everything she had dreamed of, and Uni knew it had become his dream too. Jola was getting very worried as she watched him, the tears ran freely down his cheeks, and she had no idea why. So she put her arms around him and held him tightly in his sleep. Whispering into his ear that she was with him, and she loved him so much. As she held Uni Jola’s own mind turned towards love. She had her heart broken before, and had a terrible fear of having the same happen again, and this unicorn/man had been capturing her heart every second that she knew him. She had twisted and turned every way she could imagine, she had taken lovers, in the hope he would go away, she had told him she could never love again, but still he loved her, she had even called him her boo, her one and only love, and even then she felt there was more needed, until she at last told him that she loved him., and then suddenly all the walls she had set up were down, but at the same time, it had let loose her fears again. Again she had started to find lovers, in a desperate attempt to be safe from being hurt, but this time she found that she was just hurting herself too. Finally she made the decision to return to Uni’s home, where they had first met, and once there, she felt the love in her heart overtaking her fear, and she knew then that Uni would never leave her as long as she herself did not force him to do so. Seconds later Uni woke, and feeling Jola’s arms around him, rolled over and kissed her deeply, and he was surprised by the passion in the kiss she returned. He smiled and hoped that the Ice Queen was a sound sleeper, because there was a feeling in the air that the herd might grow bigger tonight. Jola smiled too, having the same thought herself.

Unicorns Returning to Mom Jola after her close call with death asked Uni, if they could visit her mother, she had become intensely aware of just how short life was, and feared never seeing her mother again. Uni agreed instantly, as he had been thinking along the same line. Jola’s mother had become his also, not through birth, but through her love for him, and like Jola, both had been missing her. They all set off, as a family, to the Ice Queen’s palace, where Jola’s mother had been asked to stay, and all were excited to see her once more. She had been an important part in their lives, and each wanted her to be so again. The trip was long, giving Sheen plenty of time to plant the seeds that Winter’s blossom had given him, and it was not long before he had planted and fertilized each seed. For him it was a chance to repay the dryads for fixing his leg and healing Uni, and he had taken it to his heart. Lone was still with them, and while still wild, he allowed Kasandra to sit with him and stroke him, it had become an important part of each of their lives, Lone chose to walk beside her and she always looked for him when they were ready to being each morning, and he was beside Kasandra when the trouble came. Kasandra had taken to frolicking ahead of the others, with Lone by her side, protecting her, and she was chasing a butterfly when suddenly three of the largest wolves she had ever seen stepped from the foliage and bared their teeth. Lone was instantly in-between her and the new wolves, his own teeth bared, snarling a challenge. Lone saw the first wolf prepare to attack, and leapt for its throat, sinking his teeth deep, Uni, Jola and Sheen heard the fight before they saw it, and ran to their daughter’s rescue, but Kasandra had noticed the other two wolves surrounding Lone while he fought, and she put her head down and charged. Her horn was still too short to kill a wolf outright, but Uni’s wasn’t and he was the first to arrive, and gored the third wolf, not killing it as it had twisted to avoid him, but making it run for safety. It was Jola’s horn that killed the second wolf, and then Kasandra turned to the first, who now gained the upper hand with Lone and had him on his back with its fangs around his throat, ready for the killing bite. She charged, and hit it as hard as she could in its side, leaving a wound, but not enough to really help. But it had been enough to take its attention off Lone and he leapt to his feet and again attacked, and so did Kasandra. As Uni made to move in, Jola shook her head and he stopped, realising that this was her fight, to save her friend, and she needed to do this by herself. When her small horn hit the wolf in almost the same spot, it howled, and Lone took a better grip on its throat. Kasandra again charged once more hitting it in nearly the same wound, and Lone bit hard, tearing its throat mortally. Seconds later the wolf died from its wounds, and Kasandra changed to human form to run and hug Lone, who licked hr face over and over again. She sat beside him, patting and stroking with a huge smile on her young face. Jola walked to Uni and said, “I think they will be friends for life.” Uni smiled and nodded, the pride in his daughter was plain to see, and Jola felt so happy to have fond his love that she started to prance for him. It was perhaps the only time that Kasandra did not join in. When they continued towards the Ice Queen’s palace it was with Lone walking so close to Kasandra as to almost be her shadow, Uni and Jola in human form, holding hands, and Sheen, also in human form, walking ahead, waiting to see his grandmother. And shortly afterwards he did as she was working in a garden she had dug herself outside the Ice Queen’s palace with the red fairies, all tending vegetables that they had grown themselves, and stopping to wave when they spotted their visitors.

Unicorns and Hippogriffs Suddenly a group of centaur guards raced by them, leaving a cloud of dust un their wake. As they disappeared in the distance Jola heard them say, “The hippogriff stables are under attack, get Velocity and the warriors.” Uni had heard of hippogriffs, a rare breeding between griffins and horses, their front halves were of an eagle, rears of horses, with eagle wings too. They were temperamental creatures, always willing to peck their owners, but not very good in either attack or defence. They backtracked back the way the guards had run from until eventually they saw the hippogriff pens, large covered pens, many had been smashed, and a group of minotaurs were busy chewing on the bones of a few that they had already killed, eating the meat raw as minotaurs never bothered to cook their meat, preferring it raw. As Uni asked each of his herd to remain well out of reach, Jola could see something in his eyes that she rarely saw. Fear. She knew in her heart that his fear was not for himself, but for her and the children, and she offered to go with him. He refused instantly and said he would not be the cause of the death of his only love. Lone, the new name of the young wolf given to him by Kasandra, walked along side him as he prepared to give his life for those he loved, and together they attacked, Uni holding the Assassin’s blade he had taken from the Dark Elf assassin, Lone baring his teeth in a challenge. The minotaurs rose to their feet, charging without preparation, their roars of anger echoing through the pens. Within seconds one minotaur was dying on the ground, it’s body quivering as the poison ran through it. Lone darted quickly in and tore it’s throat out, completing the job that Uni had started. Suddenly Jola was beside him, the black unicorn was defending her man, and she reared and brought her fore hooves down on one attacking minotaur, another drew the massive battle axe from his waistband, and with a mighty swing he cut Jola right down the middle. Uni screamed, when Velocity arrived with he centaur warriors, he was slashing madly at the minotaurs, who were still attempting to kill him, and when the centaurs moved into the fight, his frenzy only increased, until Velocity himself had to stop him. “She needs your help my friend.” He said, looking at the horribly mangled form of Jola, wondering if even a unicorn’s love would be enough? Velocity could see the sweat dripping from Uni’s forehead, hear him telling the unconscious Jola not to leave him, and feel the emotions, the fear, the heartbreak from his friend, it brought the big chieftain to tears, he had to walk outside so he would not be seen. He was reminded of the death of his own mate, the dam of Melicity, who he still missed until this day, and he understood Uni’s feelings well. The battle was long over and Velocity had brought Uni’s foals inside to help heal Jola. Many hours had passed before she regained consciousness, but almost two days more were needed until she was healed. Melicity had arrived and was helping, carrying the children away to sleep, when they collapsed from exhaustion. Uni refused to leave Jola’s side, not even to eat or drink, Melicity brought him water where he sat next to Jola, he looked so haggard to Melicity, so worn out, so dead inside, he had almost given up hope, she thought. When Jola had come back to consciousness, the reached for Uni, grimacing as he pain tore through her body, asking just one thing, “Did I save you ma boo?” Uni nodded, tears streaming down his cheeks, and told the first lie of his life, “Yes my love, yes you did save me. I would have died without your help,” Jola smiled, at peace that her help had been needed and collapsed unconscious again. When at last her healing was successful Melissa entered the pen again to find Jola in human form, cradling Uni’s head in her lap, stroking his sweat soaked hair with a tenderness Melicity had never seen having been brought up without a mother in a warriors camp, but when she looked at her sire Velocity, Melicity could see in his face that it had not always been so. She could see a tenderness in him that she had never seen before, and instinctively knew that he had loved her mom just as much.

Unicorns and the Lone Wolf When Velocity was drawn into urgent centaur business, Jola, Uni and he children took a walk around the centaur village, and Jola was surprised at how well organised it was. She put her arm around Uni’s waist and held his hand. The day was sunny and she felt a wash of love running over her, it was a wonderful feeling that she had no intention of wasting. As they walked, they saw many unique sights and many common ones that she had not expected to see here. It seemed that the centaur taste was more expansive than she had imagined. Turning the next corner Jola’s hand suddenly tightened on Uni’s and a look of fear appeared in her eyes. Ahead of them stood a half grown wolf cub, it snarled at their approach and readied itself to run. Uni sniffed and then smiled gently at Jola, “It’s alright my love, this is just an ordinary wolf cub.” Jola looked at him with surprise, “Then what were the others that attacked us so viciously?” She asked . “The souls of evil men reborn to the ferocity they lived.” Explained Uni. Jola gasped at hearing the knowledge that had been eluding her for so long, and stood on her toes to kiss Uni on the cheek. His eyes widened and he looked at Jola as if to say. “What did I do for that?” “Can we keep him? Can we keep him?” asked Kasandra, followed quickly by Sheen. Uni squatted beside them, still holding Jola’s hand, he loved her so much that even little things like holding hands were of great importance to him, and began talking to their children in his quiet, soft voice, “He is a wild animal, and it would be cruel to remove from the life he knows, but he is welcome to walk beside us for as long as he chooses.” The children clapped at hearing this, and the young wold jumped, startled, but remained where he was. They walked towards the treeline outside the centaur camp, and it was there that they were attacked by a chimera, with his red lion body, his fire breathing lion’s head, a goat head beside that of the lion’s and a poisonous snake for his tail It attacked by ambush, catching them all by compete surprise, roaring and breathing fire on the closest, Uni. He was forced to let go of Jola’s hand to put the flames on himself out. All four changed to unicorn form and charged, Sheen went for the poisonous snake tail, and barely escaped being poisoned, Kasandra attacked the goat’s head, skipping sideways to make it’s razor sharp horns miss, Uni and Kola both went for the lion’s head, which was still belching fire at them. They both attacked from different sides, each goring the chimera’s body deeply, making blood pump from the wound, and causing the beast to stagger, but not fall, finally the young wolf flashed by, taking the wounded lion’s head by the throat, and tearing it deeply. The chimera tried to breathe fire on the wolf, but it was too agile, darting and twisting out of harm’s way. Uni thrust his horn deeply between the lion’s and goat’s heads, finding the beast’s heart, and this time causing it to drop to the ground. Sheen had killed the snake’s head with his fore hooves, and turned to aid Kasandra with the goat’s head, the pair killing it together. When they changed back to human form they both hugged each other, still the best of friends. Uni and Jola hugged each other and kissed, Jola started to cry, she had needed this for so long, just to be in his arms, the times to show each other their love were small, yet precious. Uni gently kissed the tears from her face and gently rubbed her back, and stroked her hair. The children said nothing, each knew how important their parents were to each other, and didn’t want to disturb that. It was special to a child, although embarrassing, to know that their parents were so much in love, and each felt that deeply. .

Unicorns and Centaurs The elf king suggested that they might start to gather the good creatures in the world, before each was attacked in force alone and destroyed. Winter’s Blossom the dryad handed Jola a large bag of seeds, and whispered in her ear, going bright red as she did so, “Before any of you go to the toilet,” she went redder still, “could you plant one of these and fertilise it please? They are dryad tree seeds, if new trees are grown the dryad race will be reborn once more.” Sheen took the bag himself, he had taken the dryads survival as a personal quest, and although he was young, Winter’s Blossom was so honoured that she started to cry. She hugged Sheen so hard that he almost cried out, but he put the seeds carefully inside his tunic, where they would remain safe until planted. She then left to go back to her tree, dryads could not survive long outside their tree, and the elf king winked at Sheen, “Your honest and quick action have won you many friends young unicorn,” he said with a smile, you will make a wonderful stallion. Uni’s smile could have lit the room, to hear such words said by the elf king himself was a father’s dream. The elf king turned to Uni and Jola and said, “This mission will be dangerous, some of you might die, so if you would like to travel alone and come back for your family later, you are welcome to leave them in my care.” Jola answered before Uni could open his mouth, “We travel as a herd, united we stand, divided we fall, Uni is strong, but there are many creatures here stronger and more deadly, as a herd we will survive where as individuals we would perish, and my love for Uni is so great that I would never let him go into danger without that love. It is an advantage that the evil creatures lack, and we can dearly use such advantages.” Uni put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, there was no doubting the love between them, and that with that love hey could achieve miracles, Then the White Wizard said that she too must go home, there were things she needed to do, and after hugging everyone, she waved her hand, and disappeared. As Uni and his herd prepared to leave, Princess Aurora approached him and removed a necklace from around her neck, she put it around Uni’s neck and told him, “This necklace is imbued with magic, it will deflect one mortal blow, but only one, then it will revert to just a simple decoration.” She kissed him on the cheek, and wished him good luck in his mission, “Before you return you will have set things in motion that will possibly change the face of this world, brave unicorns, we will be forever in your debt.” The elf king gave them simple directions, head west from the dryad’s tree and about a day’s march, Jola figured at the speed unicorns travelled it would be less than an hour, and they headed back through the tunnel, they stopped briefly at Winter’s Blossom’s tree to leave their manure there, and headed straight to where the elf king had said the centaurs could be found, Jola was right, even travelling at a slower speed for the children, they arrived in less than an hour, and were greeted by the centaur guards. Jola asked if Melicity was in the camp, but was disappointed when they said no, that she had left earlier that morning on important business for her father. Uni asked for an audience with Velocity and it was immediately granted. Velocity bellowed in excitement as he saw Uni, “Change to human form so I can hug you and shake your hand, he shouted to all the centaurs within hearing range, this is Uni, the out of time unicorn who saved my life so many times during the great war against the witch. And who are these lovely unicorns/” he asked looking at Jola. They all changed to human form and Uni introduced Jola first, “This is my wife Jola.” He said with a huge smile and a look of absolute love to Jola, “and these are my wonderful children, Kasandra and Sheen.” He glowed with pride as he looked at each. “You have already met my filly, Melicity.” Velocity looked just as proud as Uni had, and both began to talk about old times. Jola was surprised at the massive size and musculature of Velocity, whichever way you looked at him he was at least twice the size of Uni, and every inch a leader. Even the spear strapped to his side was the size of a small tree. Velocity’s ears has stood up when Sheen’s name had been mentioned, and he asked Uni if he was the same as had saved the life of a dryad. Uni almost exploded with pride, and he nodded and smiled at Sheen. “He will be a mighty stallion one day,” he said, and Kasandra is wise and brave as well, and my wonderful wife has saved my life so many times I can not count them all, “he said with so much love that Velocity looked at her again, to see the woman who had caught his friend’s heart so firmly.

Unicorns and Dark Elves The White Wizard insisted on taking them to see the Elf King herself, as the elves were besieged by thousands of evil creatures the probability of being noticed and attacked was high, but she knew back ways they could travel in more safety. As they neared the elf citadel they could see its white spires rising high over the surrounding forest, and they could hear the sound of the horde surrounding it. Even at a low volume it was deafening, with squawks and growls, roars and bellows, and the most fearsome of all, the sounds of their great war machines throwing massive rocks, and shooting huge bolts into the elf defenders. Just as they were about to enter a small grove a young nymph stepped forward, she immediately fell to one knee in front of Sheen, and addressed him as My Lord. “My Lord,” She said with her head bowed low, and said in a voice full of admiration, “Every dryad throughout the land has been asked to give you whatever help was in their power to give. I have been waiting in case you decided to pass this way.” Sheen was so stunned at being treated this way that he could not think of anything to say, he was, after all, little more than a baby, so Uni stepped forward in his stead. “Do you know of a way to get inside the citadel and see the elf king?” asked Uni, in human tongue as this dryad seemed to speak and understand it well. “Yes Sire, there is a tunnel that was built for the elf King many years ago a few feet from my tree. The fruit I have chosen to grow was given to me by the lady Cookie herself, and also the elf king. He is so fond of it that he has given me his personal protection, even as his own citadel is besieged. That is why I am the sole survivor of the many dryads who used to have trees here.” She walked a few feet to a small outcropping of rocks, and drew strange symbols on one with her finger, and suddenly o door opened and she quickly led them through, closing it again after them. Inside the tunnel was dimly lit by glow balls attached to the walls, and the dryad led them along the twisting pathway towards their destination, the elf king’s chambers. Suddenly as she started to round a small bend she gasped in horror, and motioned everyone to stand against the tunnel wall. She whispered, almost as quietly as breathing, “Dark Elves, betrayers from below.” as the muffled footsteps came closer. “You will die in screaming agony on the point of my own blade, with it’s poison turning your blood to molten fire.” Said a twisted, evil, feminine voice. As they passed within inches of the unseen unicorns, Uni’s hand shot out and grabbed the Dark Elf speaker by the throat, lifting her into the air, crushing her airways, stopping her from giving a warning. Jola reached out of the darkness and grabbed the wrist of the captive elf girl the Dark Elf had been threatening, and with a scared gasp from her pulled her beside herself against the darkened tunnel wall. A military voice came from further away in the darkness, “Double pace, we are falling behind the Mistress Assassin, we will be flayed alive if anything happens to her.” their footsteps increased their tempo with military precision as their pace increased and Uni was forced to twist the neck of the struggling assassin, before she managed to give their position away. Uni grabbed the assassin’s sword, being the only weapon available, it was light in his hand, extremely easy to manipulate, and he stood ready in the centre of the path, waiting for the battle to come. The warriors, when they appeared were uniformly dressed in black armour, that was already covered in blood, they were not black of skin, but rather a dark purple, and as they spotted Uni they moved into formation, reasdy to fight this intruder.

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.

Unicorns White Wizard The Ice Queen and Jola’s mother became immediate friends, and she even asked her to stay, Jola was so pleased when her mother said yes that she almost started clapping, She now knew the dangers here and was so relieved to have a safe place for her mother to stay, and when she looked at Uni she could see the relief in his eyes too. She loved this big, gentle man so much. When at last they stopped talking the Ice Queen suggested that they visit the White Wizard, and perhaps they would find more answers there. She quickly drew them a map showing how to get there, and with kisses and tears they waved goodbye to Jola’s mother and set off on the path they had been shown. As they started walking the Ice Queen’s red fairies decided to accompany them, flying around Uni’s head until he changed back to unicorn form and then riding on his back. Jola looked at them thoughtfully, she had noticed them staring at him earlier, but had thought they had never seen a unicorn before, but now she saw that it was something more, they saw the same things in him that had won her heart so long ago, and still held it now. They saw his immense devotion to the herd, his even greater devotion and love for her, his kindness, his softness, she didn’t know how she knew this, but all of a sudden it was obvious to her. Finally they reached the house of the White Wizard, and the red fairies popped out of view, heading for home, and Uni changed back to human form, then knocked at the door. A very attractive woman in her early thirties answered the door, and suddenly her expression changed from suspicion to pure happiness. She cried out in absolute delight, “Unicorns have come back to the world.” She hugged each of them in turn and then invited them all to come inside. In the living room she waved her hand and suddenly four troughs appeared, one in front of each of them, filled with the sweetest clover, and then slumped, as if exhausted into a nearby easy chair. She sat and watched as they ate and when she saw Jola looking at her from the corner of her eye as she ate she said to her, “I use my father’s name in memory of a great and wonderful father. I still miss him every day since his untimely death so many years ago.” A tear fell from her eye, so Jola did not pursue the conversation further. Jola asked the White Wizard quietly, trying not to upset her further, “What can you tell us about unicorns, past and present?.” The White Wizard said with a smile, “Quite a lot, I’ll start at the beginning and work my way towards the present day. The earliest known stories mention a magical pool, now long dried up, that when drunk from caused the drinker both to fall in love with the first creature they saw and to become biologically compatible with that creature, ale to have offspring. Many combinations of creatures soon began to be born, it is rumoured that some other magical creature was also involved in the creation of unicorns, but that creature’s identity is lost to time. In the first great war against the witch and her evil allies many unicorns were killed, and shortly after the werewolves began to hunt down their stallions, killing them all. During the demon wars the remainder of the unicorn herd was wiped out by marauding demons, leaving only the unicorn who had been travelling with a girl called Cookie, as the last survivor. That unicorn mated with the last surviving Pegasus and they had two foals, the first a pure unicorn stallion, the second a pure Pegasus mare. No more is known about either foal but recently there have been rumours of the unicorns returning, they changed the allegiance of a siren from evil to good, saved the life of a dryad, healing the dryad trees at about the same time. It has caused a great deal of joy among those creatures who still follow the path of good in this world, giving them hope and inspiration. Seek out the Elf King and his daughter, since they built their citadel, the elves have been under siege, but if you can reach them, they will become your greatest allies in this world. Jola smiled, it seemed her decision to move to this world had been the right one, although fraught with danger. They were much needed here.