Nathan took his time climbing down the ladder, dwelling on the past few minutes with no small amount of bewilderment.

Kill a unicorn? A Unicorn? Rainbows and sparkles unicorn?

Remember what Japheth said about elves, Nathan reminded himself. This could be bad. In fact, if Wattle-Hat suggested it, it’s probably the elf version of execution.

Nonsense. This is different... Don't ask me how it's different, but it is. Nathan paused a moment and sighed. I need to stop having these conversations. At least this will be something easy.

Easy?

Easy. Nathan reflected a moment on all that had transpired in the past few weeks. Frankly, a unicorn hunt didn't sound too bad compared to some of his other misadventures. The revenant, Renal, the witch... it was more adventure, more danger than many people saw in their entire lives. And I'm still here, he thought.

Despite all the terror and pain he’d been through already, the sheer scope of it couldn't fail to instill a measure of hope. He had survived. More than survived. He had thrown himself into it, cast himself into the teeth and seen those teeth break. He had saved himself and others, risen to meet obstacles placed in his way and found himself better for it. If Nathan was honest with himself, these recent weeks had meant more than the whole life he’d left behind. He had learned about himself, learned who and what he was.

And I'm leaving, Nathan reminded himself. Leaving, but I won't forget.

Probably tell yourself you had one wild dream.

Shut up, cricket.

But what about the unicorn?

Look, if the manticores were scary enough that even Maggie couldn't mess with them, and I could, it stands to reason that... Nathan frowned.

Yes?

I'm getting overconfident.

You are the last wizard, someone whose ancestors ruled the world. You kinda have the right. Being the next best thing to the Human Torch is pretty good dice.

Cricket...

Yes?

Damn, this is a long ladder. The Human Torch, Nathan thought as he set foot on the ground, is not a role model.

"Well, boy?" Japheth shook off the last of what looked like a nap and squinted up at him. "How did it go?"

"Yes..." Came a hiss over Nathan's shoulder. He turned to see Muthrei slinking out from behind the tree, hands kneading the grip of his blowpipe. "Tell us how it went, manling." The elf leaned forward with an unpleasant grin. "Tell Muthrei the happy news."

I could get to hate this guy. Nathan scowled at the elf and pointed his thumb up the ladder. "News is the elders want you up there. Get a move on, Boo-Boo."

Muthrei stared at him a moment before vanishing up the tree.

"I would’nt bait him, Nathan."

"He's a creep," Nathan replied and sat down next to the woodsman. "I'd like to use him for bait."

"Did you see how the villagers treat him? He is a pariah, boy. An outcast. Outcasts like to hunt smaller folk than they so they can feel like everyone else for a time."

"Like everyone else? How's that? Useful?"

"No. Better." Japheth looked sad for a moment, as though speaking from experience. "What happened?"

Nathan pointed across the lake. "I have to kill a unicorn. Then I get a favor."

The long silence that followed was not at all to his liking.

"Well," Japheth said eventually "I did say you would have to do something unpleasant. You are a virgin, right?"

How helpful. "Yes." Nathan said. "I don't get why that's important, other than unicorns like them..." Nathan groaned. "Wait, let me guess: they like to eat virgins."

"Indeed," Japheth nodded. "If it catches your scent it will be hard put to stay away. Still, you drove off a pack of manticore, I−"

Whatever the woodsman planned to say after that was lost in a seething torrent of furious elvish overhead. The bile flowed with little sign of stopping, and Nathan recognized the voice as Muthrei's.

"What's his problem?" Nathan asked.

"They are telling him he is to guide you to the unicorn's lair before it returns to rest for the night."

Nathan glanced at the woodsman. Japheth saw the look on his face and laughed. "Oh, do not worry so! It is not a bad plan. Listen." The woodsman leaned forward. "Simply pretend to sleep in the creature's den. When it returns it will approach slowly and you shall see it coming. It will have to. You will see why." Japheth raised a hand in a small shrug. "Then, when it draws close, roast it like a suckling pig. Easy."

That's... that's not bad, Nathan thought. "Easy?"

"Easy," The woodsman replied.

There was a rustling overhead and a few moments later the Cane descended from the tree. She nodded to them and walked away without a word, and the rest followed her down the ladder, Maia and Wattle-Hat last of all. Muthrei slunk beside Wattle-Hat like a kicked dog, glaring over the elder's shoulder at them as the elder whispered in rapid elvish.

"You bring wizards into the wood, Tree-Raiser," Maia said, her gait stiff but proud as she approached.

"Just one, Maia, and I did not know at the time. I respect him as I respect you." The woodsman smiled up at the little woman. "Forgive me if I do not stand and embrace you, child."

The old elf stared at Japheth's absent leg for a moment and gave the woodsman a tired, fond smile. "I owe you much, Tree-Raiser. The village owes you much. I am sorry I could not bring my kin to see things as I do." She turned to Nathan. "And I am sorry for what we have asked you to do, boy."

Nathan shrugged. "I've done harder things."

Maia looked searchingly into his face for a few seconds. "You have, I think. That is some comfort. The Tree-Raiser honors you. I trust in him, and so I shall trust in you." She sighed. "It is a sorrow to me that aid cannot simply be given, but tell me what you wish of us, should you succeed." She leaned forward conspiringly. "Or should you fail. If the Tree-Raiser wishes it, I shall see what can be done."

Nathan smiled gratefully. "Thank you. If you could find my friends and child and guide them out of the forest−"

"You!" Muthrei cut in front of the little elf woman, barely avoiding knocking her down as he raised an angry finger and shook it in Nathan's face. "You will follow Muthrei. He shall lead you to the hunting ground of your Mae 'Ruhk." The elf turned and began limping into the woods, muttering under his breath.

Maia glared after the crippled elf. "I would ask that you feed him to your prey, wizard, but the Mae 'Rukh eats the young, not the worthless. You had best follow. Japheth and I shall see to your wishes should you not return."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Thank you, elder." Nathan glanced at Japheth. "Easy, huh?"

"Don’t worry," the woodsman grinned. "I wager you will be back even before Maia finds me a sapling."

Before Nathan could ask what that meant Muthrei barked out something that could only be incredibly rude, but Japheth only chuckled. "Go, boy. I will be waiting."

Nathan turned and hurried to catch up with his unwilling guide, something like confidence edging its way into his mood. Easy, he said. He would know, after all. Guess things are looking up.

I wouldn't be too sure, the now-familiar little voice hissed nastily, and as he followed the logic Nathan felt the blood drain from his face.

Shit. We might as well have said ‘it can't get any worse.'

After ten minutes of following Muthrei's angry, seething back Nathan was starting to wish for the unicorn to show, if only to lighten the tension. The elf did little more than limp forward and occasionally glance over his shoulder to make sure Nathan was still there. Every attempt Nathan made to start a conversation was met with a silent, murderous glare, and eventually he was even considering giving up. That didn't keep him from talking to himself, though, whether to pass the time or further annoy Muthrei he couldn't say.

"Hmph. Easy, he said. Probably jinxed it to hell. Still, just one unicorn. Can't be that tough. You guys are still here so it probably isn't that big a hassle. Or maybe it just can't climb trees. Yeah, that's probably it. Wonder what it eats when it can't get virgin... whatever, probably. Baby animals? Yuck, that's−"

"Do you ever shut up?" Muthrei hissed.

Nathan gave the elf his sunniest smile. "Only when I sleep!" He skipped up the trail a bit, drawing up next to his guide. "Do you ever talk?"

The elf snorted angrily. "Foolish human. Muthrei is glad to lead you to your death."

"Eh, I'm not too worried. Did you know I chased away manticores by myself? Not just one, a whole pack!"

"You do not face a blood-mad hunter, human," the elf smirked. "You face the Mae 'Rukh, child of the wind, fast as its mother and as quiet when it wishes. It will taste the stink of your hide on the air and come for your flesh. You will not see it, you will not hear it. You will turn and find its horn through your heart." Muthrei stopped and turned, prodding Nathan hard in the chest. "So."

Nathan bit down the urge to drive his fist into the elf's nose and smiled. "Your people must be very clever to have survived so long with such a dangerous creature nearby."

Muthrei narrowed his eyes, turned away and limped further up the path. "The Mae 'Rukh is wise. It knows elves set traps. It keeps away when our scent is on the wind." he glanced sidelong at Nathan. "Why it likes human meat more than elf puzzles Muthrei. You are slow and you are stupid, but you play with fire and the cold iron." The elf bared his teeth. "It puzzles. How are humans better than elves?"

"We can grow beards."

Nathan heard the elf's teeth grinding, though Muthrei's scowl didn't shift. "The place where it sleeps is there," he pointed to the shadowed crest of a hill. "Just beyond that hill. I shall leave you here and return in the morning to find your bones and your cold fang." The elf threw a covetous glance at his sword. "Muthrei will take it back to the village as a prize."

Nathan sighed. "You're kind of forgetting something, Muthrei."

The elf didn't respond and Nathan shrugged. "Whatever, man. The elders knew. Didn't they tell you?"

Muthrei stumped to a halt and turned fully towards him. If he had been cold and bitter before, the look he gave Nathan now could have frozen vodka.

"Guess not." Nathan spread his hands and smiled. "I'm a wizard, pal."

"You lie," spat the elf. "Wizards are dust and gone, monsters to frighten younglings in their nests."

Nathan kept smiling and said nothing, and after a few moments the elf hissed. "Prove this to Muthrei. Show him magic. Call fire and rain, bring the forest low around you." He leaned forward. "Or do you fear a crippled elf?"

Nathan crouched down and beckoned, scooping up a fallen branch as he did. Muthrei didn't move, and after a moment Nathan shrugged and concentrated. Heat shimmered around his fingers and the wood began to smolder.

"See?"

Muthrei didn't respond. Nathan looked up to see the elf had vanished. Nathan stood and glanced around, wincing at a pain in his neck. He called for the elf again and reached to rub the aching spot, then yelped as his hand brushed something stuck in his skin. It came away in his hand and he stared: a tiny dart encrusted with brown resin. A drop of blood dangled from the tip.

"The hell?!"

There was a sudden tug at his hip accompanied by the sound of scraping metal and Nathan turned in time to see his sword, a thin rope of vine knotted around the handle, vanish into the trees.

"Muthrei knew you were a wizard, human," Muthrei called down from the trees. "He knew, for his father told him. Told Muthrei how you insulted his father, shamed him before the other elders. Told Muthrei what to do."

"What... who..." Nathan's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, Wattle-Hat?"

"Muthrei has poisoned you, wizard," the elf hissed gleefully from his hiding place. "Muthrei has taken your sword, taken your magic. Now you will die."

Nathan clawed and scraped inside himself for the magic but it slipped away, fading as if it had never touched him. "I... you can't just..."

"I have, wizard," the elf hooted. "Your magic is smoke to you. Whether you run or fight, the forest will swallow you before your magic comes back."

"It doesn't matter," Nathan snarled defiantly. "I can still do this."

Muthrei's gleeful cackles burned in his ears. "How? Stupid human, you think you can harm the Mae 'Rukh? You see less than a stone, move like a snake in the cold. You will die."

Nathan started to spit back a retort but found his anger fading in the face of what had just happened. His magic, his sword... the elf had taken everything.

"I... I can wait, asshole!" Nathan called back as bravely as he could, trying and failing to keep a quaver out of his voice. "This won't last forever, and when it does your ass is first in the fire!"

Muthrei didn’t respond, and when Nathan realized he was alone he thumped to the ground, staring at his hands and fighting the urge to scream. "What do I do now?" he asked the air. "I don't even have a weapon. How am I supposed to do this?"

You don't. You go back and admit you can't do it. Maia said she'd take care of them. You don't have to fight anymore.

So what, Nathan thought bitterly. I just curl up here and die, is that it?

What else can you do?

I can try! Nathan raged. I'm not going to just give up!

Why not−

"I don't think like this," Nathan said firmly. "I don't give up just like that. This... this isn't me. This isn't me."

Say that enough and you might believe it, the voice whispered. What did you do on the ship when they came for you? What did you do when Renal tortured you, when the dark came? You gave up. You give up, Nathan. It's what you do. Give up now, it's easier that way. Give up...

No! Nathan thought furiously, and a weight seemed to lift from his mind, a hidden tension easing back. A sudden flash of intuition lit his mind and the despairing horror that had been worming through his mind recoiled like a living thing.

Nathan had felt something like this when Maggie had attacked him at Tornic's inn. It was the cold, slippery darkness of another mind leeching into his skull, but it was different as well. When she had broken in it had been a blunt, vicious fist, a grinding weight that pressed until he could no longer hold it back. This was subtle; a faint, icy touch bleeding into his mind like ink into water. Worse yet, he knew it was only a shadow of something greater, the tip of a testing finger dipped into a pool. Nathan knew the touch of this shadow and braced himself for war.

"I thought I told you to go away," Nathan snarled as he stood. Now that he'd drawn the line between himself and that poisonous despair he recognized it for what it was, outlined against the colors of his mind like black on white. "Now you're here when I'm awake too?"

I am always here, wizard, the demon gloated. I will always be waiting. You cannot hide from one who has tasted your soul as I have, and I find it sweet. Even if you feed yourself to that horror up the path I will have you in the end. You will fall, by death or worse, and you will fall into my waiting arms.

Out.

You cannot banish me, it hissed after a moment, and hope gleamed golden in his mind's eye as Nathan felt it back away. I am eternal, a shadow cast by the light of creation itself. You cannot break me−

Out. Nathan closed his eyes and clenched his fists. Dreams may be your thing, but this is my head you're invading. You are a shadow of yourself here. You are not welcome. Get out.

I am Nathaniel Seldon, the Last Wizard. I have faced gods and monsters, I have walked between worlds and spoken with Death. I do not bow: not to kings, not to gods, not to punk-ass demons. I. Do not. Submit. Out. Now.

The last of the demon's shadowy coils faded from his mind and Nathan took a deep breath, probing the outer corners of his mind to be sure it was gone. When he was satisfied, he dragged his heels to kick dirt behind him. It was immature, but made him feel better

He glanced back the way he had come, and then shrugged. Well, I can't go back. Couldn't find it if I tried anyway. Don't really have much choice, do I?

Nathan started walking. The light was still clear, enough that he could see cruelly thorned bushes clustered at the hilltop. Nathan skirted the bushes and nearly fell over something that squelched beneath his heels. A sudden stench pummeled his senses and he glanced down.

His shoes were tangled in the half-eaten corpse of a young deer, its back legs and stomach gone, the rest almost perfect but for a vicious wound between the eyes.

Looking up, Nathan saw he was standing above an overhang in the hillside. The sun cast his shadow over a small disc of trampled earth, an almost perfectly outlined circle surrounded by the shattered skeletons of countless animals. Some were the tiny white traceries of birds and squirrels, others were notably larger. The recognizably elvish bones were the worst; small, delicate, plainly the remains of children.

The further from the circle, the fresher the remains: discarded scraps of half-rotted meat still visibly clung to the furthest bones. Some of the bones were even snapped in half and sucked clean of the marrow inside. Nathan covered his nose and made his way into the circle, inspecting the bones with a measure of forlorn hope. At least I have something to attack it with now. He reached down to a likely piece when a sudden rustling filled the air and he whirled, panicking. It's not here already, it's not... Nathan realized the sound was overhead just before something hit his face. He screamed and threw up his arms. Whatever it was came to a juddering halt and Nathan stared up at the shape swaying in the air.

An elf corpse, face frozen a rictus of horror as its toes brushed the ground, a familiar sword tucked in its belt.