                                                    

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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