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Chapter 5

Mila spent weeks taming the unicorn. She went hungry for days at a time just to offer it something she had caught or found.

While the hunger pawed incessantly and her head became fuzzy at times, she didn’t complain. Every glimpse of the unicorn revitalized her. It was her companion.

She found herself speaking to it often. She crooned to it in a language that was rarely used. There had been little need of it when speaking to her own kind was as simple as thinking. Its ears swiveled curiously whenever she spoke to it, but it, of course, had no answers to give.

Now and again, it would allow Mila to stroke it. Though she tried often to clean herself, she always felt that she was too dirty to handle the beautiful creature. She touched it sparingly, combing nonexistent matts from its mane or feeling its nose when it took a morsel from her hand.

Unlike her, the unicorn never seemed to get dirty. Now her nails had a healthy amount of grime under them, her hair a mess of snarls, and her boots covered in dirt. The scent of earth and body odor was clogging her nose and still, she continued to neglect herself in favor of hunting for the unicorn in an effort to be useful to it.

She didn’t realize how far she had already secured its trust or friendship.

Mila was hunting rabbits when she sensed the approach of something. Before she had properly aimed her crossbow, the rabbit had raised its head in alarm before scurrying away as fast as its little legs could carry it. She frowned for a moment, but it wasn’t her that the rabbit had sensed.

A moment later, she felt it and the unicorn did too. She straightened out of her hunting position and felt a thrill when the unicorn came uncharacteristically close. Its head bowed and it curved its body to her, nudging her with the side of its head.

Deprived of food, it took Mila a little too long to grasp what it wanted from her. It tossed its head, becoming aggressive. She tried to calm it, but its eyes were rolling like a frightened animal. It bit her shoulder, almost tossing her in its haste.

Mila understood belatedly that it wanted her to climb onto its back. She scrambled up clumsily, leaning forward to brace herself on its slight back and distribute her weight over it without pain.

At once, the beast took off at a run. Mila’s heart hammered in her chest and she felt tears prick her eyes again. She was riding for the first time in centuries. She could hardly enjoy it though as she noticed quickly that they were being followed at an alarming pace.

Unicorns may well be one of the fastest creatures on the planet. Rarely do they feel threatened enough to need to run at their top speed, but when they do, they can outpace cheetahs without trying. Trees are no obstacle either.

A unicorn was almost liquid in the forest. It weaved between trees as though made of living shadow. Blending in just as easily.

A unicorn with a passenger might be a little slower than a unicorn without a burden, but Mila knew how to conform to her mount to create as little drag as possible. If the thing that has spooked the unicorn had been a bear or wild cat, they should have been going fast enough to avoid it.

Whatever was hunting them was coming fast. She could hear it catching up. It barreled through the undergrowth without hesitation.

If it had been Jed, he wouldn’t have made such noise. They wouldn’t have even had time to react to his approach. This was something much larger.

Straining to hear, she felt that there might even be more than one pursuer. Her slow, hungry mind raced to find the answer. What on earth would be strong and fast enough to hunt them? What would even have the notion to hunt two natural predators?

A rhythmic thumping grew closer and closer. Mila’s breath caught when it stopped. A creature, twice the size of the unicorn had leapt over them.

The unicorn came to a dead halt, rearing. Mila slid off its back, her body falling limp so as not to harm herself. She rolled out quickly from the stamping hooves, raising up on her knees, crossbow ready, hand reaching for sword.

She aimed as it backtracked. The creature whirling in front of them, raised its head and howled.

The pieces fell into place then.

It was a werewolf.

And with a slight chorus sounding behind them, getting ever closer, she understood that it had a pack.

A moment later, they were surrounded. Mila gave up on the crossbow, it would do absolutely no good. Even with the sword she stood little chance against multiple wolves, but she unsheathed it anyway. As long as she saved the unicorn.

Mila raised her sword, her body crouched, ready to strike. The unicorn, bleated at her side, still rearing.

“Go!” She yelled at it in her mother tongue. It needn’t stay here and die with her. She hadn’t spent weeks caring for it to lose it now.

The unicorn’s front hooves came down. Its head tossed as though it were shaking its head “no”.

“Go!” She commanded, louder.

Still the unicorn refused to leave, lowering its head so the horn was aimed at the wolf in front of them.

Mila turned, putting her back to it as others came up from behind. Her second teeth extended and gnashed. She growled a warning even as they began to circle.

There were three all together. The first had been the largest, a grey wolf with golden eyes. The other two were slightly smaller, a red wolf with light blue eyes and a black one with brown eyes.

The two smaller ones moved like sharks. Mila could deal with sharks. Really, most of the sharks in the ocean were like puppies, but there had been some that were unpredictable and aggressive.

Mila slashed out her sword in a nearly invisible motion, catching the whiskers of the black wolf who snarled.

“Enough,” A deep human voice sounded.

The two smaller wolves stopped circling at once, their ears curling back and their bodies crouching low in submission.

Mila hissed a warning between her fangs.

“I said, enough.” The voice spoke again in a deep tenor of an alpha.

While the voice was mostly meant to be used on other wolves, it could effect other species to an extent. Mila felt some of the power go from her limbs and the unicorn bowed under it.

No, she was stronger than a command from an animal. She was a mermaid that had lived for thousands of years, seen the rise and fall of continents. The only orders she’d ever had to obey were those of her god who had abandoned her.

She turned on the spot, her sword readied to slice the throat of the one that dared to command her now.

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