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 UNICORN'S FOREST
   by Leah Suslovich
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   They came seeking her, as they always did. They rode side by
 side, a wiry warrior-girl and a magician. The girl had left her
 daggers behind. No weapon could come into the unicorn's forest.
 They rode bareback and their horses wore no bridles. The unicorn
 allowed no animal to be trapped in her woods. It was the one
 sanctity left to her in a world of turmoil. Here, no carnivores
 hunted, no animals starved. There was no cold, no frost, no snow;
 there was only an endless Spring. And, occasionally, the humans
 who came searching for the wish a unicorn could grant.

   The unicorn watched them, invisible. Sometimes she stayed
 hidden, sometimes she led the humans on, clever as a fox, leaving
 them baffled and frustrated in their inability to find her. And
 sometimes, rarely, she showed herself and granted a judicious wish.

   She considered what she would do this time as she watched the
 two dismount. The wizard patted the horses' noses. "Stay," he
 said briefly. "Or leave if you wish."

   The unicorn snorted in surprise, then galloped across the
 meadow to the edge of the trees. The horses' heads swung briefly
 as she let them feel the ancient woods, the freedom and beauty in
 the unicorn's forest. Softly, the unicorn nickered. Two humans
 would be walking home today.

   The horses dropped their heads and began to chomp the grass.
 Astonished, the unicorn approached the horses, then lowered her
 horn and touched one's flank. The wizard's eyes followed the
 horse's gaze before the unicorn moved away. An expression of
 triumph flashed in his eyes.

   But the unicorn had ascertained what she wanted to know; the
 horses were under no geas. So this was no trick to impress her.
 Or maybe it was to impress her, but it was no trick. She watched
 the pair.

   They began to pick up stones, arranging them in a pattern in
 the center of the meadow. It was no pattern the unicorn had ever
 seen before. It was composed of two triangles, set at right
 angles, within a circle which was within a square. They did not
 speak as they worked but when they were finished, they exchanged
 quick glances. The girl took a purple stone from her pouch and,
 leaning over, placed it gingerly in the center of the strange
 pattern. Then she stood back -- waiting.

   Curious, the unicorn approached. A strong aura of magic
 leaked from the purple stone. She ignore the other stones
 disdainfully -- there was no mere pattern of rocks that could trap
 a unicorn -- and lowered her head to the stone.

   She felt the rope coming and leapt away instinctively but,
 quick as she was, she wasn't quick enough. The rope settled over
 her shoulders and pulled tight. The girl raced to a nearby tree
 and wrapped the rope around it, tying it with a strong knot. The
 unicorn felt herself become visible. Furious, she turned and
 slashed at the rope with her horn.

   It would not be cut.

   The unicorn slashed again, and again the rope held. This was
 impossible. No rope could hold a unicorn. She turned to the
 humans, her eyes glinting.

   "What rope is this?"

   "Unicorn hair," said the magician smugly.

   Understanding and horror made her anger fade. She bent to the
 stone. It had a glamour cast over it, nothing more. After all
 these years, to be fooled and trapped like this! She had grown
 overconfident. She swung her head around to face the humans. "You
 killed a unicorn!"

   "He would not grant our wish. We could only kill him -- not
 trap him, as we did you." The magician smirked. "Curiosity caught
 the unicorn."

   The unicorn felt fear rising within her, for the first time in
 hundreds of years. It made her tongue loose. "You fools! There
 are only three!"

   "Two," said the magician softly. "The other unicorn was
 killed two hundred years ago." His eyes met hers. "And now you
 are the last."

   "Imbeciles! Three unicorns are a balance -- they --" She
 would not tell them. She lashed out with her hooves at the girl,
 who moved quickly aside.

   "We know," said the magician. "Three unicorns are needed for
 peace and balance. But since the first died, chaos and war have
 been too common."

   "The first unicorn was killed -- by one of your kind. Did you
 think killing a second would help?"

   The girl spoke for the first time. "We had to kill him to
 trap you, so that you might grant our wish."

   The unicorn snorted. "And you are selfish enough to destroy
 your world to fulfill your desire?"

   "No!" said the magician. "We are doing this to save our
 world. Two unicorns are not enough."

   "One is even worse."

   "There must be three again," the magician asserted.

   "We wish to know where unicorns come from," said the girl.

   The unicorn froze.

   "Grant it!" said the magician.

   "I will not." Her voice was quiet as death.

   "You must."

   She turned her head slowly. "You fools. We unicorns came to
 grant you a favor. And for this you killed two of us and trapped
 a third? We were never obligated to grant your wishes."

   "We won't let you go until you do," said the girl, shrilly.

   The unicorn jerked herself forwards. The rope held. She
 glanced back. The knot was secure -- connected to the tree. Her
 tree. A tree of her Woods... She felt a rage rise within her.

   "And if I do not answer -- ever?"

   The magician laughed. "How long can you stay tied, Unicorn?
 Can you live a captive? Or must you be able to run free?"

   "You don't dare let me die." Die. She'd never had to think
 about death before. The unicorn felt a wintry coldness at the
 thought. "Humans," she spat in disgust. "We should never have
 come here. Your kind don't deserve the balance."

   "I don't believe you know where the other unicorns are," said
 the girl scornfully.

   "I know." The unicorn trembled, then steadied.

   "You will tell us," said the magician. "Or -- we will burn
 your Woods. The Unicorn Woods. This one is the last, just as you
 are."

   "We know more than you think!" cried the girl triumphantly.
 "The Woods are the only places where a unicorn may stay on this
 Earth. Maybe the world you creatures come from has nothing but
 Woods. But you love your Woods and would do anything to stop us
 from hurting it."

   "Wrong," said the unicorn. "I would never allow you to draw
 two more unicorns into your world. I would never give you humans
 that much knowledge of us. You live to destroy. There will be no
 more unicorns here. You get only one chance and your kind failed."

   She swung her head. At the last moment, the magician
 suspected what she was going to do and leapt forwards with a cry.

   But it was too late.

   A searing white flame leapt from the unicorn's horn. It
 wreathed the tree to which the rope was tied.

   "No!" gasped the girl. "You can't! It's not possible."

   The tree toppled, slowly, and the flame touched the rope.
 There was an angry, hissing sound, the flame flared, went out, and
 the rope disintegrated into dust. The unicorn was again free.

   She stood, unable to be glad at her freedom. Pain burned
 through her as though in cutting the tree, she had cut her own
 heart. She had felt it die, experienced its pain. Her tree...gone
 because of these two. Humans!

   They were staring at her, the girl in shock, the magician in
 new found fear.

   "It is done," she said. They would never understand her pain,
 never know the full meaning of what they had forced her to do.
 "You have ended it. I will go back...and when there are no more
 unicorns at all, chaos will reign. You will destroy yourselves.

 Thousands of years shall pass -- you will create strange machines
 that kill, and you'll tamper with Nature, set her against you --
 and, in time, you will all die. And you will always know that you
 did it to yourselves."

   She turned and left. They made no move to follow her. The
 magician was white-faced, the girl had sunk to the ground. They
 stayed there at the beginning of the end of the world, beside a
 fallen tree, watching the unicorn gallop away and disappear among
 the trees as the first flakes of snow began to fall.

                                {DREAM}

 Copyright 1995 Leah Suslovich, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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 Leah, has been published in SHAPESHIFTER, and SHOW & TELL. Enjoys
 reading and writings, especially fantasy and science fiction, as well
 as Rollerblading and biking. Leah has a planned trip to Israel for an
 educational program, next year.
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