The Forlorn Unicorn - 1. Chapter 1

The buzz of chainsaws filled the air like the sound of a thousand angry bees, and the smell of burning wood filtered through the trees. A single being shuddered and shook its mane, turning its baleful eyes towards the sound of men.

The Unicorn had lived for 500 years and for all those years the forest knew peace, untouched by the hands of man. Now something had changed the balance, but the forest had been on the edge of a human settlement for centuries, and men knew that the unicorn was there. They called him El Fantasma, the ghost.

El Fantasma stamped his cloven hoof, and then slid silently through the dark trees. He made his way towards the destruction at the edge of his domain. What he witnessed was a shock to the beast, row after row of torn-down trees, and piles of brush being put to the torch. It felt as if men had made war upon his home.

The Unicorn eyed the humans from his vantage point for several minutes. These were not the people of the village, these men dressed differently. Instead of loincloths, they wore shirts and pants, things he had not seen for many years. Not since a time when men searched for treasure and only found death.

Then with a snort of disgust El Fantasma charged at the humans.

But as he came forward a human leveled his gun at the Unicorn and fired, hitting the unicorn in his shoulder.

There was a blaze of mind searing pain, causing the unicorn to spin suddenly in an attempt to flee. He heard and felt another bullet hit him. Then Fantasma was down and all he could think about was the white hot pain.

One of the men trotted up to him, “Hey boss, I think this is what the natives were talking about, their animal god. What should we do?”

A big fat man, smoking a cigar, walked up and looked into the creature’s eyes. “Hmm, I believe you’re right.”

A third man, this one carrying the still smoking gun that had so injured Fantasma, stalked into the group, “I think we should kill it, put it out of its misery, and show them heathens a thing or two as well.”

The fat man frowned, as he flicked his cigar over the beast’s fur, “No I have a better idea. We got us here a previously unseen critter; people will pay a lot for this. And it’d be worth more alive than dead, you catch my meaning, boys?”

The boss made up his mind in that moment, and turned, walking out of the unicorn’s sight. “Get it secure boys; I’ll bring the truck around.”

The first man nodded, trotting off to carry out his task, “Aye boss.”

The man with the gun grinned, poking his rifle at the horse-like creature. “I reckon you’re gonna regret not dying.”

Several minutes later the humans had managed to hogtie the unicorn. Then they used a cable to jack up the beast into the bed of the pickup him, ignoring the hurt they did to the animal. Finally after a half-hour of suffering for the unicorn, the Ford took off down the dirt road.

Every bump and rattle needled at the Unicorn’s pain. But his head was slowly becoming clearer, even while his body healed the wounds caused by men. The two bullets pushed their way back out of the Unicorn’s body, and the wounds slowly closed.

It took the better part of an hour for the truck to reach out from the wilderness and into the habitation of men. The bumping of the road eventually became a rhythm and for a time after the bullets left the Unicorn’s body, the creature dozed.

It was the road becoming smooth that woke the Unicorn. His pale eyes perceived fewer and fewer trees. Then soon buildings that stood as high as trees surrounded him, along with the sounds of men.

The leader must have called ahead because the unicorn was suddenly hoisted up out of the truck and dragged into a corral of metal. One of the men slipped into the pen, using a pair of hedge trimmers cut the cords that bound the unicorn’s feet.

The horse-like beast was up like a bolt, and the man who had clipped the bindings dropped his sheers and ran.

Fantasma chased him across the corral, but stopped short. Without turning his head, the unicorn looked left and right along the fence. Fantasma knew he could easily jump the enclosure, but he could see guns flashing in the evening sunlight. And he knew his chances of escape were slim at best, so the ghost paced the corral impatiently as he watched his captors.

After a few minutes more humans filtered in to gawk at the Unicorn, and as far as Fantasma could tell, not a single one knew what he was.

A preteen girl wearing a skirt and stripped stockings made her way to the enclosure. If it had not been for the make-up of the clothing the girl wore, he would have sworn she was of his village people. But no, the dress looked like it could tear at the slightest of breezes.

El Fantasma looked at the girl, his eyes meeting hers, and for a moment he thought perhaps, just maybe, he could talk to her.

The girl giggled, “Hey daddy, is that thing a Unicorn?”

The boss man waved his hand at the pen, accidently flinging his new cigar into it. “I don’t know, darlin.” The man then immediately began cursing.

El Fantasma snorted in disgust. The girl was not pure; she had given herself to another willingly. He could feel the perverted thoughts flowing off of her. He could see that she also came away cursing the boy she touched, and the dozens of other things she gave herself to after her first taste.

The Unicorn could see the guilt in the girl’s eyes when she turned away from the Unicorn.

The girl suddenly yelled, “Daddy, you should have killed it!” Then she stomped off out of sight.

The Beast snorted, as his thoughts were similar. The beast pranced around the paddock for a while, to the awes of the crowd of humans gathered there, before deciding he had had enough, then laid down to take a nap.

When he woke again, the humans were gone and the sun had set. The Unicorn set into motion, heaving himself up. Then he pranced around the enclosure moving to the end near a building. The beast called El Fantasma galloped across the paddock and jumped, sailing over the fence with the fleetness of a deer.

If the Unicorn had vocal cords he would have laughed, “Did these humans think me a plodding horse? Oh, if they knew there was only one type of creature left on the whole Earth related to my kind. Those half-wits live only on the prairies of North America.” The Unicorn didn’t really have a high estimation of that other species, and he was sure it was probably being hunted like the little prey animal it was.

The Unicorn just shook its mane in discomfort to the idea of being hunted, and trotted down the paved street through the darkness.

Then he came upon a young man. The boy wore a black jacket and a chain in his pants.

The Unicorn could smell the acrid tang that came off of the jacket and the smell of cheap cologne, and then when the boy actually caught sight of him there was the distinct smell of fear.

The unicorn abruptly stopped and stood there looking at the boy. Around the teenager what he counted to be 17 summers of life flowed. Some filled with happiness some with sadness, mostly though it was about trying to fit in and moving around to places that had changed a lot since the unicorn last traveled the world.

Seville, when the Unicorn last traveled there, had been a Moorish palace, now it was a city too huge to encompass in the Unicorn’s mind. So too the bay far to the south was now just as large a city with a huge statue of the Christian God stood, looking down upon all. And everywhere were the deeds of men, where they tamed the land and bent her to their will.

More than this, the Unicorn saw that the boy kept trying to fit in and kept being pushed aside, being forced to leave, and trying to start over. He saw that the way the boy looked now was not who he was, more than this he saw that the boy was a pure soul.

All of this filled the ancient beast with sadness, and he spoke to the boy.

“You should be yourself, mortal.”

“What?! You can talk?”

The Unicorn gave the boy a mental laugh and he shook his mane, “Not your guttural human tongue, but to those who are worthy, well…”

The kid smiled slightly, “Why me then? I ain’t worth much.”

The black Unicorn snorted derisively, “More worthy than the Man who dragged me from my forest, and certainly more than his serpentine daughter.” With this he was transmitting also images of the men, and the girl as part of their mental conversation.

The boy frowned indignantly, “Hey, that’s my family you’re talking about.”

The Unicorn let out a nicker as he spoke, “Well you can’t choose family, my cousin fell in love with a Manticore, nasty brutes them.” He was clearly amused by the boy though, and even the kid could feel it. “Never mind that, it’s meaningless.”

The boy shook his head confused by the statement, and the mental image of a human-faced lion with a scorpion’s tail.

So the Unicorn repeated what he said before, “Be yourself, choose your own path, and those who are alike wilt gather, and those who are not are… meaningless.”

The boy looked troubled, “I don’t know what you mean.”

If the Unicorn was human, he would have rolled his eyes in annoyance, “Really, what about the boy who had glasses and studied, who wants to know… everything. The boy who wishes he had someone but you are so afraid of your desire for other boys that you shut all else out in bouts of self-hatred. Be yourself and be proud of what you are.” The unicorn grinned, “I am black as night, most of my kind have manes of silver, am I afraid of it? No, I would fight a Dragon if he dared cross me and I would win.” El Fantasma gave the boy an image of him stabbing through the chest plate of a mighty dragon with his single horn. “I see much potential for you, perhaps something magical if you return to being you…. go down your present path and it will only lead to horrible pain.” The Unicorn let out a mental sigh, “I have to go. Remember what I said.”

“Um Ok.” The boy smiled, “Bye.”

Then the Unicorn turned to trot back to the wilderness whence, and began to move.

He heard the boy call out behind him, “I am Daniel!”

The Unicorn paused, “Such strange creatures you are seeking to find meanings in names, Daniel. They call me El Fantasma…”

Just then a shot rang out and a bullet and searing pain hit the unicorn straight into the chest. El Fantasma felt his heart explode there and his lungs being torn open and he collapsed to the ground.

Daniel let out an ear piercing scream holding his head as he too fell to the ground.

A small man pulled up his gun, “I got him! I got the Qilin!” He ran up to El Fantasma and looked down at him.

The Unicorn immediately knew that the man wanted his blood his bones, and most importantly his horn, and that the man had been hoping to get to the beast since he heard about El Fantasma’s capture by the loggers.

El Fantasma’s breathing was becoming shallow, as he eyed the man in fear. His mind was still connected to the boy as he pleaded. “Don’t let him, the horn… return to… the forest… Daniel.”

His legs kicked outwards as his vision darkened into blackness and he felt no more pain. The last thing he heard was the man’s chill voice, “Hey kid, get over here and help me; I’ll give you a twenty.”