Kaitlyn woke up in darkness. She slowly sat up, feeling dirt under her fingers. She blinked a few times and her eyes slowly adjusted to let her see by the faint moonlight filtering through the ceiling. Her mouth was so dry she felt like she couldn’t move her tongue. She struggled to her feet, shaking and stumbling as she pulled open the door.

In the yard near the door was a well. She prayed silently as she half-crawled and half-stumbled over to the well. She sank down beside the wall when she saw the rope was frayed, no bucket would be able to lower to the water below. She lay her head on the rocks making up the well, too tired, hungry, and thirsty to give anything more to despair.

A sound in front of her made her open her eyes and she saw a dark shape. She sighed, too weak to scrounge up fear any more. A second shape rippled in the moonlight and she stared, her hands nearly burning with the memories of blood on them, red against white. She cringed back from that beautiful form, hiding her face as shame and pain welled in her.

You were one of the hunters of my children.

“I’m sorry,” Kaitlyn croaked. “I… I didn’t know. I didn’t….”

I smell her blood on you.

Kaitlyn quivered and nodded, “I ran… I ran….”

That is why I will spare your life. You will understand us. You will hear our music until you are worthy.

Kaitlyn couldn’t even scream as the black horn touched her left hand, the invisible lines of blood crackling across her skin as the darkness consumed her.

A gentle hand lifted her head and cool liquid slid past her lips. A voice filtered through the pain, reassuring words even if Kaitlyn couldn’t understand them. She sank back into blackness with some relief, even as pain continued to skitter across her hands like a thousand fires.

When Kaitlyn woke again she heard the crackle of a fire and lay on something relatively soft. Her hands ached, bound tightly in cloths. Slowly, Kaitlyn turned her head to the side, seeing she was inside the hut again, a fire in the dirt hearth. Someone who looked almost like a child stood near the hearth, stirring a pot of something which hung over the fire.

Kaitlyn opened her mouth to talk, but the only sound that came out was a broken croak. The child looked up and said, “Oh good, you are awake. Let me get you some water.”

After an agonizing moment, the child re-entered the hut with a wooden cup. Looking at her more closely, Kaitlyn saw she wasn’t a child. She wasn’t human. She was small, somewhere just over a meter tall, but formed like a perfect woman. Her skin was brown, with lines of grey moving vertically up her arms, legs and neck where her skin was not covered with a tunic made of maple leaves. Her hair was a deep, rich green in strands like vines, which she had braided and coiled on her head.

The cup was full of cool, clear water and Kaitlyn drank it almost greedily. The tiny woman then went to the pot and used a ladle to put some of the contents in a bowl and brought it to Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn tried to move her hands to lift herself up, but the tiny woman spoke firmly, “I wouldn’t put any weight on your hands for now, they are quite hurt.”

Kaitlyn opened her mouth to speak, but instead found herself coughing. With a sad sigh, the woman went and got more water for Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn drank this more slowly and while she did, the woman spoke, “My name is Javorora. I saw the unicorn curse you. I had to ask for help to save you, he should be here in a few more days. Your hands… your hands are very hurt.”

“Unicorn?” Kaitlyn asked, “but… it was black.”

“A black unicorn is one which has killed other intelligent creatures,” Javorora said softly, “They darken as they do foul deeds and can only lighten by doing acts of greatness. I’ve never seen a unicorn which was completely black before, it must… it must have killed many, many creatures and done foul curses to darken that much.”

Kaitlyn closed her eyes against a wrenching emotional pain. There had been ten wagons in Claus’s caravan. Each had carried two men and another three rode as guards. Would nearly two dozen men be enough to turn a unicorn black? Could she have stopped them from dying if she had let Claus capture and kill that unicorn too?

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She looked up and noticed the light still coming in the hole in the ceiling. She sighed and said, “Thank you.”

Javorora patted her shoulder and said, “I’ll help care for you until Master Garthis can arrive and help you more. He is a great mage and may be able to help you unravel the curse the unicorn used. Now, I want you to eat all of this broth. I grew these mushrooms myself, they are a bit earthy, but they are full of health and happiness.”

The broth tasted like Javorora had boiled dirt. It was thick, brown, and had only the faintest hint of mint. Kaitlyn tried her best not to grimace as she took each bite, but from the smirk on Javorora’s face, the human failed miserably. Still, Kaitlyn ate every bite of it and wishes Javorora had more.

The green haired woman shook her head, “You have not eaten in so many days, if I give you too much you will be sick.”

Kaitlyn accepted that and lay her head down. After a few minutes, the sounds of the fire crackling and a bird singing outside lulled her to sleep. There was little else she could do, and despite so many days of pain and fear her sleep was surprisingly dreamless.

It was only the next day when Kaitlyn woke up to the sound of the door swinging open. Javorora jumped to her feet and ran to jump up and hug the man who entered. He laughed and swung her around in a circle, “How are you Javorora? What are you doing in this dump?”

“Oh! You must help her!” Javorora cried and pointed to Kaitlyn, who had opened her eyes, but was so weak she couldn’t even lift her head now. The bandages had soaked through with blood through the night.

Master Garthis, as this man must be, frowned as he set Javorora down. He said, “Is she a witch?”

“No,” Javorora said, “The house helped hide her from men hunting her, but a unicorn cursed her.”

“A unicorn cursed her but you want me to help her?” Master Garthis looked at the green-haired woman in surprise.

“Not a white unicorn,” Javorora said, “A black unicorn. Black without any white at all.”

“I didn’t think that was possible,” the man murmured. “It cursed her, but didn’t kill her.”

“If I hadn’t been here and the house hadn’t been helping, she would have died days ago,” Javorora said sadly, “She’s awful weak now.”

“Let me see,” Master Garthis said. As he approached, Kaitlyn was able to get a good look at the man. Heavy set, he wore simple breeches and a shirt under a dull brown cloak. He was older, his hair and bushy beard almost completely white but with the original dark brown still apparent. As he kneeled beside the bedding where Kaitlyn lay, she saw crow marks beside his eyes, wrinkles showing he smiled and laughed more than he frowned.

He frowned now as he carefully picked up her left hand. She stifled a groan of pain, but couldn’t stop the tear escaping the corner of her eye and rolling down into her hair. He tried to be gentle as he carefully unbound the dressings from her arm to look at the gashes, lines, and rivulets which criss-crossed her arms.

“I feel the curse buried into these lines,” he murmured, “why did the unicorn do this?”

“It’s where… the blood was,” Kaitlyn whispered.

“Blood?” Javorora asked.

“The unicorn… they killed her. I had her blood all over my arms,” Kaitlyn almost whispered, “Just let me die.”

“Did you kill a unicorn?” Master Garthis asked.

Kaitlyn nodded with a sob. He lay her left hand on her stomach and carefully unwrapped her right arm, still being as gentle as he could manage. Kaitlyn slowly spoke, “Claus… kept hitting me until three of them showed up. I tried to make them run away… but they wanted to help me.”

The man paused a moment, looking sharply at Kaitlyn as she spoke haltingly, hissing from pain between the words. She kept speaking, needing to tell someone, “I didn’t know… I didn’t know what he planned. But… I didn’t fight either. I… froze. I just… I trusted him. They tried to help me, but they shouldn’t have. They should have let him…”

She stopped, gasping and squeezing her eyes shut as he removed the last of the bandages on her hands. He frowned and put her right hand on her stomach with her left, she didn’t resist. He sat back and said, “I can’t undo the curse, it’s literally been etched into your skin. If I removed your skin, you would die. I think I can help you control it, but there will be a price.”

Kaitlyn sobbed and then nodded, “I will pay.”

“Before you say that, I want to make sure you understand,” Master Garthis said.

“Garthis…” Javorora spoke softly, her voice worried, “her arms… she can’t keep bleeding.”

“I don’t know if your curse can be undone,” Master Garthis said, “and it will prevent you from ever speaking to a human. I’m not sure you could even see another human if they stood in front of you.”

“Wait… but you…” Kaitlyn said.

“I am not human,” he said gently, “my father is fae and my mother was an elf. Don’t talk unless I ask you a question. I will try to explain… no. You only need to understand that you will need to stay here for a time, perhaps years.”

Javorora moved to kneel beside Master Garthis and looked at Kaitlyn, “I will be here, my tree is nearby. You can be my friend.”

Master Garthis put a hand on the dryad’s shoulder and she fell silent, but clenched her hands in front of her. The half-fae man spoke again, “I don’t understand how the unicorn did this, and I’m not sure how much I can undo and how much you will bear in terms of pain. Staying here is a risk, but I can’t move you. This is an old witch’s hut. When I first met Javorora it was seventy years ago, and the woman was ancient. The dyrads had known her as long as any of them had been alive. This house is drenched with her magics and I have no idea what they might do to you. Right now… the house it keeping you alive.”

He straightened a little and then said, “But the other choice is to allow you to bleed to death.”

Kaitlyn glanced down at her arms, the criss-crossed stripes of blood on her arms. Red blood. Her own blood leaking out with her life. She didn’t want to die. She closed her eyes. She nodded and said, “Ok. I’ll take the risk.”