by W. D. Newman
*****
CAMELOT 1231 A. E. (AFTER EVACUATION)
Sweat streamed down the horse's foam-flecked sides as its hooves churned up the forest floor. The cart bounced madly behind the terrified animal, while the dark, twisted trees flew by in rapid succession. Suddenly, the narrow trail dipped sharply and then exploded from the forest, spilling out onto a bleak and barren field. The witch cracked her whip across the animal's back, spurring it on even faster.
Stone Dog was in sight now. The castle was perched on the crown of a hill and stood small, squat, and black against the early morning sky. The horse and cart flew over the dismal plain in a plume of dust and thundered across the bridge and through the gates. The poor animal had run all through the night without rest, and as the sun peaked over the horizon, his great heart finally burst. In a flurry of legs and hooves the horse collapsed, sending both the cart and the witch plummeting toward the ground. The cart tumbled end over end across the courtyard and smashed into the base of the castle's lone tower. The witch, however, vanished in a puff of smoke and a clap of thunder, before striking the ground. At that very same instant, a light winked on in the top of the tower.
Thirty miles east of Stone Dog, two men combed the western slopes of a rocky mountain side. Though the sun had just risen, beneath the tall pines and hemlocks it was still dim and strangely quiet. The men were tall and clad in forest greens and browns. Their skin was fair and their raven hair was pulled back into a long thick braid that revealed high cheek bones and upswept ears. And yet the most striking feature about these men was their eyes; keen and stern, chips of blue ice burning like lamps in the gray morning light. These were elves from the Twilight.
“Do you still feel it, Gabriel?”
“Yes, Nicholas, I still feel it. But it is weak now and growing dimmer.”
“That is what I perceived as well. We must hurry.”
The two elves picked up their pace and began to lope across the rocky terrain, looking both left and right as they sped beneath the trees. They came upon a small clearing where the sun had managed to coax up some tender green grass. Here, they found what they were searching for, but they were too late. The witch had already done her work.
A great struggle had taken place in the clearing and all of the earth was churned up. Most of the grass was bent and broken and covered with a black substance that had a reddish tint in the morning sunlight. The coppery smell of blood hung thick about the area and the two elves covered their noses as they approached the large white horse in the center of the small glade. After confirming their worst fears, Gabriel looked away quickly as Nicholas dropped to his knees and wept bitterly.
“What shall we do now?” Nicholas moaned.
“Go home. There is nothing we can do here now,” Gabriel replied.
“The Sickness, Gabriel. It will spread faster now.”
“Yes. It has always done so with each murder.”
“I say we must act, before it is too late.”
Gabriel pulled Nicholas to his feet and clasped his shoulders with both hands. “I feel the same as you, brother. But, you know the Keeper’s prophesy the same as I. We must wait.”
Nicholas looked back at the horse. The animal had been savagely torn apart. Yet, the thing that sickened both elves the most, was the gaping hole in the center of the animal’s forehead, just above the sightless blue eyes.
“Then we shall return to the Twilight and wait,” Nicholas responded. “But we must redouble our watch. That was the twelfth unicorn.”
Gabriel turned to the north and shaded his eyes against the morning sun. Dark clouds were rising there and thunder rumbled low in the distance. The storm was coming. A storm always came with the death of a unicorn, and every storm had been worse than the one before it. Turning his back to the gathering darkness, Gabriel left the small clearing with Nicholas falling in behind him. With a bit of luck, and a little speed, they had a slight chance of making it back to the Twilight before the storm hit. The two elves loped into the forest and silently disappeared among the trees.
*****