The Unicorn: Chapter 5

         “What if they can’t do it? There was no way we could foresee the boat going down. There is no precedent for the group being so small at this point.

“They’ll be fine. The group is still intact.”

“Maybe... for now. But there are only three of them left. Are you confident that the group can hold together long enough?”

“Now Jared, that isn’t doubt I hear in your voice is it?”

“No, of course not.”

“Are you sure? “

“I’m positive”

“If you’re beginning to doubt, I’ll have to remove you from the case.”

“I’m fine.”

“Good. There’s too much at stake for me to allow your conscience to get in the way now. You’re not going to become a liability are you?”

“No...”

“Good... Rest your fears, my young friend. The group will fail, I’m positive of that.”

“But sir, if the group fails then what will we do?”

“There is much you are not privy to. The group was meant to fail, even from the start. Whether it is just the three of them, or if those aboard the boat had actually survived”

“But, if the group fails, what becomes of our plan?”

“You are not listening. The plan is FOR them to fail. The only thing you need worry about is that they may actually survive.”

“Forgive me if I seem like I’m doubting.”

“My son, this is the gods plan. All you need is a little faith. The deceiver will betray them all soon enough, and the humans will die.”

!~~~~~~~~~~!

         The punch came so quick Eric could barely follow it with his eyes. Each move was perfectly calculated, perfectly timed. No punch was wasted, no kick thrown in the wrong spot. The old man had a knack for planning with punches would miss and which would hit with accuracy. Cole may not be as fast as Eric, but there was no doubt he was smarter. In a long, drawn out battle it was obvious who would be the winner. The sand beneath Eric’s feet shifted unexpectedly, a well placed kick caught him in the ribcage and he went down.

That taunting smile. Even while he lay there on the sand, Eric couldn’t seem to catch his breath. A burning in his chest could easily be a broken rib, and each breath felt as if a knife had been shoved into one of his lungs. As he monkey crawled backwards, it struck him as odd that Cole showed no signs of tiring. Eric hadn’t laid as much as a finger on the man, but he felt as if he’d run a couple miles. Eric struggled to his feet, resisting the urge to double over in pain. He was slowing down. His vision was getting cloudy. He didn’t even see the punch coming.

The hit sent him staggering back just as another one came. Somehow he managed to block the right hook with his forearm, wrapping his hand around Coles wrist and pulling him off balance. The old man stumbled forward just as Eric’s knee rose up to catch him in the stomach. Cole stumbled backward just as Eric brought his fist forward. Fist met cartiledge as Coles nose buckled, then broke. He continued to stumble backwards, clutching at his bleeding nose, until he finally collapsed on the ground.

“It...seems... I’m not... as young... as I.... used to be,” Cole wheezed as he pulled himself slowly to his feet. “Congratulations Eric, you managed to beat up an old man.”

Eric let the jeers slide off as he collected himself. A cut above his brow was bleeding down into his eye, blurring his vision, but that could be solved by packing a bit of dirt in. All in all he’d managed to avoid serious damage, at least for now..

“By far you’re the most skilled person I’ve fought lately,” Cole began, shaking the sand out of his robes. “But that’s not really saying much. It seems anybody worth fighting died in the War. I feel partly at blame for that.”

“Why? Because you slaughtered thousands of innocent people? Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“Come now Eric, you make it sound like it was all my fault,” Managing to shake the last bits of sand from the folds of his clothing, he stood as erect as he could, which was pretty bent over, a small black box materializing in his hand. “That’s enough talk for now though, we can rehash old memories if you manage to live. First, though, I’d like to show you something. This poor fellow was sworn to my servitude a while ago, but nobody has given me a chance to unleash him as of yet. You’re going to be his first kill.”

!~~~~~~~~~~!

         They’d walked for what seemed like hours through the thick underbrush and tangling branches of the trees. So little was known about their destination that they’d all but given up hope of ever finding it when, at long last, they had stumbled into the clearing with the little wood huts and tall brick buildings. The huts, no more then five, were lined up along the shoreline, their doors and windows facing inland. Small faces peeked tentatively out of those windows, some curious, others glaring as the group pushed deeper into the village.

There was evidence abundant of the towns trade; boats of all sizes and various conditions were tied to the docks, swaying lonefully in the current. They’d had to travel halfway into the ring of buildings to find anybody who’d come out of their houses. . The old man that greeted them at the door of the large, brick and wood building was small and gaunt, really more bone then anything else. His clothes were tattered and dirty, his glasses cracked and broken. He slurred his words when he spoke, and his eyes darted back and forth with an uneasiness. Still, he was the only soul in that town willing to give them housing, at a price, and the inn he ran was still in decent condition.

If they’d been expecting a large, lavish building with several rooms for all of them, they would have been disappointed. The “Inn”, if it could be called that, was little more then a two story town house. The lower level housed a large dining room with several tables, a small room at the back where the inn keeper slept separated by a dangling curtain. The second floor, which they had all to themselves, was pretty much the same in the layout. The stairs opened up into a large balcony and walkway that encircled the only room on the floor, a wood cabin if you wish, about the size of the dining room below, with a few beds, some bookcases and a fireplace.

Edward had seen to it that they had each of the humans had been tucked into a bed, all the blankets scavenged from the empty beds and piled onto them evenly to battle the chill in the air. After an hour or so of no change, they’d been forced to pay extra for the firewood and lighters. The fire lit, every piece of free cloth spared to cover their bodies, they’d left them to rest.

“Has there been any change?”

Edward looked up with a start at Casside’s intrusion into his thoughts. If he wasn’t so sure she was an elf, he’d swear she had to be part feline. Who knew, there’d been stranger blood mixes before.

“Not yet,” he sighed, leaning his head back on the wall he had positioned himself against. “The beds and warmth is certainly an improvement, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to get better.”

“Don’t you have some of your medicine to give them?” It was the most Casside had ever talked to him thus far, and to be honest it grated on his nerves. He knew her kind, he’d seen them before. It wasn’t that they were simple, they just thought simply. Never learning, always assuming there’d be someone else to do all the thinking for them. Maybe she was a decent fighter, but physical ability would only take you so far.

“It isn’t quite as simple as that. There is a cure for what they have, and the medicine I gave them normally would have had them up and walking by now. I’m afraid all the moving we did only exasperated their condition. I’ve given them as much medicine as they can safely handle but,” He could only shrug. “There’s no guarantee they’ll ever recover, and even if they do it won’t be a complete recovery.”

“What do you mean?” She had an angry tone to her voice. Edward had noticed it before, but had put it off as being caused by all the chaos earlier. If she was always this angry he wasn’t sure if he could stand her for too long.

“Well, I’m not so much of an expert on creature that come through the gates as much as those that go through them, but my best guess but’s the minimum symptoms at slight paralysis. The worst they can get is brain damage. As long as they wake up soon, however, there should be no life threatening damage. I’ll have a better idea once they wake up.”

“I can’t afford to have them die.” Casside all but screamed in his face. “They need to survive, as intact as possible.” Violently, she grabbed at the collar of his shirt, dragging him halfway to his feet before she relented her grip. “Make this right, one way or another. I need them alive, and I won’t let your incompetence get in the way of my plans.”

Edwards fell to the ground with a loud thump as she stormed off. So much for her not being angry all the time. “Psh... woman.”

!~~~~~~~~~~!

         Left. Right. Duck. Right Fist, left.

The wind had picked up a nasty chill as the day had gone on. Water and sand combined in a nasty mixture that chilled Eric to the bone.

Left hook. Right Knee. Leg sweep.

The sun had hardly moved once it had centered itself directly above. It provided no heat. Once his clothes had been sufficiently wet with seawater and his own sweat, there was no chance he would ever dry out. Every muscle burned, his lungs cried out for more air. He was exerting himself, probably stretching himself to his limit, and despite knowing all this the only thing that mattered anymore was landing a punch, wiping that smug smile off of Coles face.

Left. Right.

When he’d first managed to knock Cole down near the beginning, he had allowed himself a small glimmer of hope; a tiny chance that he might actually win and not just come out of this alive. Those hopes were dashed quickly. His body ached, acids were building up in his muscles and he had stopped sweating a while ago. Limb movements became groggy, his punches came slower, his reaction time suffered. If Cole didn’t kill him soon, dehydration would. The point of safe retreat had passed.

Right, Left. Too slow.

Cole finally went down with Eric’s last punch, hitting the sand forcefully and sending the small black box he had been holding sprawling across the ground. Eric stood defiantly over him, ignoring the small black box as it tumbled away. At first he had half expected something to come out of the box. Hell, he’d at least thought the box would do something. After waiting through several minutes of nothing, he’d decided a pre-emptive attitude would be best.

“That.... was not one of your smarter ideas,” Cole wheezed hoarsely, as he struggled to pull himself back to his feet. “I’d hoped you had more patience then that. Now, I’m afraid, you’ve put both our lives in danger. Very unfortunate.”

Eric didn’t know what Cole meant, and was tempted to ignore him all together. He’d just knocked Cole to the ground, hadn’t he? Surely the only one who’s life was in danger was Cole.

“Don’t try to tell me you have something hidden up your sleeve. You’ve lost. Admit it.”

Cole only sighed, wiping the last particles of sand from his face. “The tide is coming in. I was hoping to keep my clothing dry. Thanks to you, that’s no longer an option.”

Eric’s face began to get red with anger. Was the old man just messing with him? Dammit, Eric was working his butt off her, and Cole had the audacity to make Idle chit-chat?”Don’t mess with me Cole, not now. You of all people should know how much is at stake here. I have things to do, so if you’re going to fool around let’s just end this now.”

“Oh, don’t worry Eric. I’m very aware of your goals and the time limits that have been put upon you.” Cole sighed as he wrung the last bit of water from his robes. “Nothing is a secret anymore. In fact, I even know the people who have employed you, and what you intend to do with those humans. Congrats on the master plan by the way. I didn’t think somebody with your background could be so violent.”

“If you know so much, then you must also know that the humans are just a backup. If all goes as planned they won’t be needed.”

“No, of course not,” Cole whispered as he retrieved the black box, dusting it off caringly. “But sooner or later you’ll give up your foolish hope of killing him. You are not nearly as powerful as you think you are. It would take somebody infinitely more powerful then you to kill him.”

“I think you’re forgetting just how well I know you.” With just a barely audible cracking noise, the black box split down the middle. Eric cautiously took a few steps backward. “The words of a traitor are worthless to me.”

“Don’t be like that, Eric. You cannot begrudge me for refusing to die needlessly,” Cole pressed forward as Eric stepped back, keeping the gap between them short. “You wouldn’t be doing this either if you had a choice.”

“Don’t try to compare us. We’re on different ends of the spectrum.”

“Come now, you know that’s not true.” Tiny bits of the box began fracture and fall to the ground. The cracks began to get larger, fractures began to split entire chunks which began to break away. “We are tools Eric. We work for different sides, but we are tools all the same. You have your reasons for having to fight..... And I have mine. Nobody wants to be a hero. They’re either in the right place at the right time, or they’re forced into it.”

“Just tell me where he is, and I can free us both.” The beach took a sharp turn into some cliffs. Eric was forced to stop backpedaling.

“And what will you do if you find him? How exactly do you hope to kill him? If I failed at it, what makes you think you won’t as well?”

“You’re weak. You gave in at the first sign of trouble.”

The skin on Coles face became visually red with anger. His fist clenched furiously around the black box, increasing it’s fracture and breaking it in half. “One of these days, when everything is on the line and the pressure of the world is on your back, you’ll understood what I did and why. In fact, I invite you to try and kill the Lord. There’s a cave in the mountains there, about halfway up. That’s where’ll you’ll find him. But first,” With a great heave he threw the fractured pieces of the black box into the air. “Let’s see how powerful you really are.”

!~~~~~~~~~~!

         “Calm the hell down We are trying for subtlety here. You’re going to wake up the whole damn village ” When the oldest of the two humans had woken up, Edward had been happy. The medicine had worked after all and, as sluggish as the boys words came, the fact that he could talk at all meant brain damage would be at a minimum, if at all.

The only downside was that the damn kid had too many questions, which he insisted on asking all at once. “Now, I’m sure you have a lot of questions, and I’ll answer what I can. But you need to understand that some things I don’t understand fully myself. With that being said, ask away. But , one at a time please.”

The room which Michael had woken up was completely foreign to him in all facets. The tapestries on the walls depicted visions of blood and gore; great battles that apparently happened some time ago in all their gory vividness. Men tore at each other with weapons, huge beasts spewed fire, among other things, from their mouths, engulfing multitudes of men in.

At first he’d been tempted to think that he was still on the boat. The room seemed to sway just as the boat had, but apparently that was all in his head. Finding out he’d been unconscious for nearly two days was a bit of a shocker, but then again, what wasn’t lately? :Wha-...what happened to me?” He stammered, trying to calm his shaking nerves. “Is my sister okay?”

Edward closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. The girl still had not woken, and the lack of response to stimulation was troubling. Still, there was a chance, there was always a chance that she would not suffer any long term brain damage.

“Your sister is.... fine. For now.” Edward paused nervously. Sure, he was a doctor, but giving potentially bad news never got easy. “The longer she stays unconscious, the worse her chances become. We’ve never actually had anybody quite as young as you two come through the portals, and none of our medicines are designed to deal with this sort of predicament.”

Tears threatened to well up in Michael’s eyes, he had to choke back a cry of despair. The fireplace was playing a nasty trick on Michael’s eyes. The light of the flames flickered across his sisters face, giving the allusion of a healthy glow to her face. She was only a bed away, but he didn’t need to get closer to see that she was in bad shape. “Is.. Is she going to be alright? Just what the hell happened to us? Can you help her? ”

Edward leaned forward, the legs of the chair making a loud scraping sound as they fell flat on the floor. His hands, propped up on his knees, cradled his face as he lowered his head to eye level with Michael. “There’s no need to sugar coat it. Your sisters chances are slim. She may never wake up, and if she does she will never be the same. We’re talking limited motor skills, loss of limb movement. The chances that her brain survived what it’s been through without any damag-“

“Stop.”

“There will be some loss, and the longer she takes to wake up the worse it wil-“

“Stop it.”

“At this point, it may be a blessing if she never wakes up.”

“I Said stop it ” Michael’s yelled as loud as he could. Every muscle in his body felt as if it would collapse under the mere strain of keeping him sitting upright. The left side of his body in particular felt more sluggish. “You people dragged us here against our will. You even admit yourselves that you didn’t want us. And there’s no way to send us back If anything happens to my sister I swear to god I will kill you. You will help her. If she dies because of you, to hell with your problems. The way I see it, you need us a hell of a lot more then we need you.”

Edward only nodded, his jaw clenched tightly as he got up and left the room. It was entirely possible he had been too blunt with the boy. But he must be at least ten and five, plenty old enough to be spoken to like a man. Still, if he could not save the girl and the boy refused to help them, what then? There was no contingency for them simply refusing. The humans had to do it willingly. “Damn it Eric, where the hell are you? You need to be the one dealing with these problems, I’m just a country doctor for gods sake ”

!~~~~~~~~~~!

         Most people have never experienced something so out of the ordinary, so unexpected that the breath gets caught up in their throat. Up until now, Eric had never experienced such a moment either. And it wasn’t that he hadn’t seen something like this before, he’d seen it hundreds of times. Maybe even thousands. Just not in the last hundred years or so. The black box arced through the air beautifully, catching the rays of the sun and reflecting them into a wide array of colors. All the broken pieces flew together through the air, as if in unison. Whenever one got too far ahead of the others, the others would speed up, or it would slow down. They swam through the air in a tight circle for a few minutes before dropping suddenly to the ground.

Eric knew what would happen next. The ground began to shake, no.. tremor. Violently. Large cracks began to appear in the ground, bringing with them giant pillar sized spikes of sand and dirt that separated Cole and Eric.

“It’s just a precaution. I’m sure you understand,” Cole yelled over the large dirt fence. “You broke my control box, so some precautions have to be taken. Unfortunately that means I won’t be around to watch your death. Alas, sacrifices come with the job. Enjoy.”

The air began to swirl at hurricane speeds. Looking as light as a feather, Cole lifted into the air on the breeze, floating away at a brisk pace until he was out of sight near the horizon.

Spikes of dirt continued to force themselves upwards through the cracks in the ground until they had formed a large circle around him, trapping him in the middle. The ones in front of him were relatively small, made out of the common dirt and sand of the beach. He would have no trouble getting past them. But as they continued to rise, and dirt began to be pulled from deeper and deeper underground, molten rock and strange metals, even a few crystals, began to mix into the pillars.

These would be difficult to break, once the ret hot metals and volcanic rock had hardened. As long as those in front were just simple dirt and sand however, he shouldn’t have to deal with the ones behind him. A great tremble, even greater then the splitting earth, erupted violently from the largest of the cracks. The waves of sound were enough to make the breath in Eric’s chest catch. It was minutes before the horrible moaning sound quieted down. The moaning, however, was soon replaced by a steady, booming voice.

“That pompous fool. Leaves me alone fer ‘igh now fifty yeers, now alls a suddins wantin me to fight fer him? An against a humin ”

The voice was low and trembling, the language broken and mispronounced. At first, Eric had thought the voice had been coming from, of all things, the pillars. But that couldn’t be possible . The force of the voice was enough to shake the dirt from some of the weaker spikes, and if it had been coming from the spikes themselves they would have toppled to the ground all together.
“Eitha yer a mighty strong fella, or that basterd I’ jus to lazy ta clean up his own mess. I be bettin on the second one.”

The voice stopped. Deafening silence. The spikes of dirt in front of him had fallen into themselves as they grew larger and heavier, becoming little more then large mounds, no more then a man tall. The stronger spikes behind had not budged. It would take no effort for him to simply step over the mounds, but then again “Nothing is ever that easy.”

A dark laugh erupted from the ground, bringing with it a towering mound of molten rock and fire. Higher and higher the almost volcanic eruption rose, until the tips of it rivaled the highest treetops. “Yer be right my yung frend. If yud made a break fer it, ‘tis wud be over all ready. Now I’s be afraid I have ta actuly fight ya.”

The tower of fire reached it’s zenith. For the longest time it just stood there, a building or two tall, radiating with the hottest fire Eric had seen. But, before long, just like the dirt spikes, it began to crumble. Rock, fire, mud and stone all fell away. It took several minutes but, gradually the tower was no taller then Eric himself. It stopped shrinking then, the molten rock and fire starting to cool down enough to support itself.

Slowly, it began to bend and mold itself. Appendages began to sprout from the otherwise formless mound. It even began to resemble a man. Excess rock crumbled near the base, forming two legs. Eyes and a mouth, hands, fingers and feet; all of them gradually appeared until, at last, there stood only a man, no taller then Eric, made completely from the dirt and fire of the planets core. “You be the firs hoomin ta see me in ‘tis form. Yeh shood feel privlidged.”

It took him a minute, but Eric finally realized exactly what this creature was. They were used heavily in the military during the war. When the military had finally been defeated, they should have been all but wiped out. Cole had foreseen this creatures usefulness, and managed to form a bond strong enough to keep him alive this long. It was bad new. “You are not the first engagia I have seen,” Eric finally overcame his shock.

“No? My, yeh must be far older then yeh look. How old be yeh? On hundrid? Two? Nevermine, yous be dead soon enuff. This’ll make thing intresting though, eh? Yous be knowin whats comin. Trys to stay alive then, eh? The longer the better.”

!~~~~~~~~~~!

         “This is not a good idea.”

“Calm yourself. Nobody saw you leave, I made sure of it.”

“You have your nasty little pests following me?”

“But of course. Oh, don’t look so surprised. You slowed down the plan considerably when you came to this disgusting little town. I had to be sure you would hold up your end of the plan.”

“The humans are alive, no thanks to you. The girl still hasn’t awoken, and the boy is threatening not to cooperate if she dies.”

“They’ll be fine. The boy is the only one we need anyway.”

“But if he refuses to cooperate-“

“He will have no choice. If the girl must survive, I will personally make sure she does.”

“Whatever you’re planning, you better make it soon. I don’t know how long I can keep the facade up.”

“You will stay there as long as needed. It’s your mistakes which have prolonged the stay.”

“You can’t blame it all on me. You’ve made mistakes as well.”

“My mistakes have not put the entire goal in jeopardy. The plan proceeds or fails with you. I will not tolerate any more mistakes.”

“Then get me the hell out of there.”

“Fine. If I must intervene, the doctor will die in the morning, and you will be free.”

“It’s about damn time.”