The wind moved through the trees slowly, warm and humid, rustling the leaves and causing the branches to sway in the darkness of the night. All three moons had set, with a little light coming from the fragmented ring of what had been a white moon a few centuries before. Starlight helped, with the major constellations shining brightly from the skies even as key stars slowly moved to reflect events going on in the Six Worlds.
Particularly fading of the slowly pulsating stars that had lit up on the "wrists" of the constellation of Gor DuMay, the Blossom of Death, that astrologists insisted signified imprisonment rather than his death and punishment in the afterlife.
The forest was thick with large trees that appeared to be decades or even centuries old, despite the fact that a mere decade before a city had stood there. The ground was a thick rich loam that occurred after years of leaves falling to the ground and slowly decaying, with ferns and bushes covering vast swathes of land.
Animals should have been rustling in the foliage, night birds should have been calling out from branches and nest, or silently glided through the sky, but only two things moved through the forest, one watching the other with narrow hostile eyes.
The Black Unicorn trampled vegetation under its claws and hooves, often veering out of its way to take a moment to stomp a bush or flower patch into mulch before moving on. The massive stallion's muzzle was caked with clotted blood, and the woman following it could smell the stench of decaying blood and flesh billowing off of it like a noxious cloud.
Where are you going, my new friend? Aveliene wondered, pausing after leaping over twenty feet through the air to the next branch. She was covered in drying blood from the stag she had killed to distract the massive equine from her, and knew that it couldn't distinguish her smell from the blood covering its long nose.
So far the black unicorn had led her along a wandering path, sometimes trotting, sometimes galloping, but steadily moving deeper into the forest. It carried a massive chunk of meat in its mouth, and Aveliene knew it wasn't thinking of using it as a snack for later.
So is it a mate or a foal? She wondered, waiting a moment before launching herself through the air to the next branch. She held on for a moment as a brief wave of dizziness overcame her. Stupid Peepers, she grumbled internally. The little baby reptiles had come close to killing her with their venom, and she wondered again why her Step-Mother had never ensured that she was immune to the venom of her Step-Mother's chosen children.
A neighing scream sounded out ahead of her, and the black unicorn picked up the pace, abandoning the bush it was trampling. The scream made Aveliene's flesh pimple up, full of hatred and rage and an obscene hunger that vibrated something deep inside of her and almost forced her to flee from the sound.
Mate it is. She nodded, gliding along a long branch and stepping onto another that was attached to a tree trunk in the direction the stallion was trotting. Guess my Step-Mother will have two horns to beat naughty children with. She smiled, exposing interlocked teeth. Her hands dropped to her waist, and she made a moue of disgust as her fingertips grazed and empty sheathe.
I'll have to go back and get that. She chastised herself. The knives had been forged by her other Step-Mother, the Eternal Elba's wife, known to many as the Forge Lord, and were literally irreplaceable.
Up ahead the black unicorn slowed down, and as Aveliene watched another black unicorn appeared from the shadows. This one was several hands smaller than the massive beast she'd been tailing, with cruel fangs and sharp claws like its mate.
And a massively distended belly swaying below it.
Three horns. Aveliene amended.
The mare lifted its head, its nostrils dilating as it sniffed the air.
Uh-oh. Aveliene froze, pressing close to the tree trunk.
The head slowly swivelled, the black nostrils quivering as the mare scented the air.
With a scream of rage, it whirled around and began galloping away, the stallion dropping the hunk of meat and whirling around, rearing back and pawing at the air while screaming a challenge.
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Aveliene launched herself away from the trunk, the force of her legs snapping her forward causing bark explode from the trunk. She passed over the unicorn, tucking into a tight ball and rotating so that she landed on her feet at a dead run. Behind her the black unicorn screamed again, but Aveliene was already at a dead run.
The mare came into sight, running flat out, but the Wraithkiller was rapidly gaining with long sure strides. Her jackal-man fighting knife was held tightly in her fist as she skimmed lightly over the ground. The animal behind her screamed in rage as it realized that what should have been easy prey was outrunning it and gaining on its mate.
The mare neighed in desperation as she felt Aveliene draw close, then screamed in pain as the woman lashed out and slashed the tendons at the back of its left hind leg. Before the leg could do more than buckle, Aveliene was abreast of it, the knife looping out and around to the other side of the neck, and before the mare could even scream Aveliene had opened its throat and veered off to the side, springing up into the trees and stopping.
Below her the mare tumbled a few times before ending up on its back, three of its legs kicking feebly as it tossed its head back and forth in denial of the savage wound Aveliene had inflicted. Aveliene watched the mare as the bleeding on the throat suddenly slowed.
The Wraithkiller cursed silently to herself as she saw that the animal possessed supernatural healing ability and felt a surge of anger at whatever insane god had created the foul creature.
With a snarl she launched into the air, not bothering with a roll, and dropped down with both of her Von-Lon infantry boots leading the way. The stallion was only a few score yards away and rapidly approaching as she dropped down out of the air, one hand absently sheathing her remaining dagger.
And landed directly on the massively distended belly.
Her feet burst through the skin in a shower of black viscous embryonic fluid, hit something that resisted for a second, and then her knees were absorbing the force of her landing. The mare screamed, a gurgling thing through a badly damaged windpipe, and Aveliene took the time to straighten her fingers, the talons on the end of her fingers gleaming for a moment in the starlight, and slam her hand into the mare's chest, shattering ribs and tearing through flesh.
She topped it off with a bite that left a triple circle of blood oozing holes, her jaw flexing as she pumped venom into the mare's body, before straightening up, stepping free of the mare's body, and kicking her right foot out in the same motion. Legs that could power a kick that fractured solid stone threw the body away from her, the internal organs rupturing under the powerful motion.
Before the mare's body even stopped rolling, the legs snapping and crackling as the bones broke, Aveliene shot straight up into the air, landing on a branch only a few yards up. The woman squatted down, one hand wrapped around the branch for balance, the other once again filled with her cruel dagger. Her smile was wide, baring bloody teeth, as the stallion burst from the foliage and came to a halt next to the shattered body of its mate.
It stood stock still for a moment, breathing heavily, staring at the broken and twisted body, the entrails that had burst from the stomach, and the crushed body of the foal that Aveliene had landed on.
Then it threw back its head and screamed, rage filling the primal sound.
Aveliene answered with a scream of her own, her opera honed voice carrying over the unicorn's voice and smothering it, continuing long after the unicorn stopped and whipped its head around to stare at her with murderous red eyes.
"What's wrong, precious? Lose something?" Aveliene taunted, and smiled wider when the dark intellect behind those eyes flashed angrily.
She tensed her legs, ready to drop down and kill the annoying beast, when it suddenly spun around and raced toward the edge of the small clearing.
"Come back, I'm not done playing with my food!" Aveliene crowed, dropping off the branch and giving chase.
The unicorn plunged into the shadow, and vanished in an inky ripple.
Aveliene snarled and leapt into the same space, concentrating for a moment, and felt the reality of the Six Worlds wash away as she crossed the border into the Shadow World where the black unicorn had fled.
The trees were twisted mockeries of themselves, reaching skyward with tortured bare branches. Only sullen red pinpricks burned in the heavens, stars that had long since vanished, and a bloated version of the destroyed white moon hung in the sky, shining down with a greasy feeling light.
Despite Aveliene's fleeting concern that the black unicorn might be waiting in ambush, she caught sight of it racing away, its tail streaming out behind it. With a howl of pleasure Aveliene gave chase, racing across the black half-unseen landscape.
Past tumbled down ruins covered in leperous moss, through twisted forests where things best left unseen scuttled in the eternal twilight, the black unicorn led the way, its horn gleaming in the dimness.
Finally it jumped at a bright patch with a braying sound of triumph, vanishing in a stomach turning ripple. With a grin Aveliene followed, ready to instantly counter any attack it might make as she felt the reality of the Six Worlds suddenly reassert itself.
Before her, in the darkness of the night, the black unicorn stood, muscles trembling and sweat covering its hide. It faced her, the cruel intellect she'd seen before flashing in its eyes as it reared upward and screamed its challenge.
Around them, lights came on in the houses of the town they'd suddenly appeared in, and the crowd of people on the street screamed in terror.
Aw, ox-biscuits.