4-unicorn & siren
THE UNICORN found welcomed silence among the Fairy forest. He found a tree to lean against, for he was bone-weary and ready to sleep without waking.
Solitude was cut short by the sound of a woeful song. The voice was one the Unicorn thought he knew, female and too enchanting to be mortal. It may have worked to weary a mortal traveler into lying down to weep. But he was not mortal. Instead he was filled with curiosity.
"Your ha ho has. So full of joy.
words you pass make me a toy.
My wings are soaked,
my bones already dried.
So build you hungry fire.
So build it high.
Your painted lies, your this and thats
Your torchlight cries with sharpened flats
My wings are broken, so throw your spears
You delay my defeat
‘for cries are music to your ears."
A sob broke the ballad’s end and by then the Unicorn found the Siren beneath a tree, knees hugged to her chest. A veil half-concealed her countenance but he knew there was only one siren with a veil. That of their oracle.
"You sing when it does you no good, siren. Tamryn, dry your ears and fly from this world. It is not for you. You are demon and they are fae."
"I belong in no world now. I am the last of my kind," she sighed and lowered her head, dark hair falling in a curtain.
The Unicorn saw no wings but he knew it was an illusion to make her seem harmless. He kept his distance, for though they dined on men, sirens were unpredictable.
"If you are the last then a decision should be made whether you wish to perish or live on. Action must be taken. Passivity is nothing and will lead to nothing."
"And so you are here to mock me, too?" the Siren asked.
"I find few things funny, Siren. Our melancholy is as one. They have all broken my horn."
This captured the creature's ear and she lifted her head. "I see your horn, Unicorn."
"And I still see your wings beneath the glamor."
There was a faint smile behind the veil. "We are of opposing natures. You protect innocence and purity."
"Sirens eat the tempted mortal. I do not see how this makes us very different."
"I..." she told him with a sharp gesture "eat virgins."
"I see." The Unicorn lowered his horn. It was not something he wished to do, to slay this pitiful creature. Likewise, she rose to his challenge. As his horn let out a ghostly light, her disguise as an ordinary woman melted. She spread her arms, her veil going black and feathers appearing where her white dress had been. Great, magnificent black wings unfolded before the Unicorn and where had sat a demur creature a fearsome Siren with midnight-black wings awaited the white creature's next move.
The Unicorn backed. "I do not wish to fight you."
"I do not wish to fight you," the Siren returned.
"Lower your wings and I shall lower my horn."
The Siren was afraid, this was clear in the way her feathers ruffled. But she lowered her wings. For this show of trust, the Unicorn lowered his horn. He also set his head down and began to walk away. The demoness followed, at first in silence but then "May I join you? I promise I will not touch you."
"Yes, you may come along. I am leaving this world. I must return to the mortal one, where demons and men have free reign."
"I must, too."
"Then walk by my side."
Tamryn obeyed. The veiled Siren walked with the unicorn, neither touching but each smiling slightly.
5-the Unicorn lives
IN THE mortal kingdom, the executioner still waited with an assembly of guards. All hung their head when they saw the white creature approaching. The Unicorn was luminous at night, like a beam of moonlight. His own head was not hung as low as earlier but he approached his certain death with a steady gaze.
"I had hoped...he would not come," spoke one man, echoing the thoughts of all.
Of all the heads hung, the executioner's was the heaviest. He was now to behead a unicorn.
The Unicorn knelt before the tree stump where he was to place his head. "I have known so much time that Death appears like dawn light and tomorrow sounds like Nothing."
A long silence stretched over them all as the unicorn offered his neck to cut.
But a voice glided through the quiet. It was a feminine voice, its words difficult to discern.
Yet the Unicorn knew enchantment when he heard it. Of all the men about to witness this execution, it was the executioner who stirred at the sound of the voice.
"She is calling me..." he whispered.
"Do not listen to it!" one of the men warned him.
"I have no choice..." he told the others. Then, with his axe in hand, he followed the voice. “It is the Angel of Death.
Deeper into the forest, the voice was singing. Beckoning the innocent and the pure to an embrace.
THE UNICORN found welcomed silence among the Fairy forest. He found a tree to lean against, for he was bone-weary and ready to sleep without waking.
Solitude was cut short by the sound of a woeful song. The voice was one the Unicorn thought he knew, female and too enchanting to be mortal. It may have worked to weary a mortal traveler into lying down to weep. But he was not mortal. Instead he was filled with curiosity.
"Your ha ho has. So full of joy.
words you pass make me a toy.
My wings are soaked,
my bones already dried.
So build you hungry fire.
So build it high.
Your painted lies, your this and thats
Your torchlight cries with sharpened flats
My wings are broken, so throw your spears
You delay my defeat
‘for cries are music to your ears."
A sob broke the ballad’s end and by then the Unicorn found the Siren beneath a tree, knees hugged to her chest. A veil half-concealed her countenance but he knew there was only one siren with a veil. That of their oracle.
"You sing when it does you no good, siren. Tamryn, dry your ears and fly from this world. It is not for you. You are demon and they are fae."
"I belong in no world now. I am the last of my kind," she sighed and lowered her head, dark hair falling in a curtain.
The Unicorn saw no wings but he knew it was an illusion to make her seem harmless. He kept his distance, for though they dined on men, sirens were unpredictable.
"If you are the last then a decision should be made whether you wish to perish or live on. Action must be taken. Passivity is nothing and will lead to nothing."
"And so you are here to mock me, too?" the Siren asked.
"I find few things funny, Siren. Our melancholy is as one. They have all broken my horn."
This captured the creature's ear and she lifted her head. "I see your horn, Unicorn."
"And I still see your wings beneath the glamor."
There was a faint smile behind the veil. "We are of opposing natures. You protect innocence and purity."
"Sirens eat the tempted mortal. I do not see how this makes us very different."
"I..." she told him with a sharp gesture "eat virgins."
"I see." The Unicorn lowered his horn. It was not something he wished to do, to slay this pitiful creature. Likewise, she rose to his challenge. As his horn let out a ghostly light, her disguise as an ordinary woman melted. She spread her arms, her veil going black and feathers appearing where her white dress had been. Great, magnificent black wings unfolded before the Unicorn and where had sat a demur creature a fearsome Siren with midnight-black wings awaited the white creature's next move.
The Unicorn backed. "I do not wish to fight you."
"I do not wish to fight you," the Siren returned.
"Lower your wings and I shall lower my horn."
The Siren was afraid, this was clear in the way her feathers ruffled. But she lowered her wings. For this show of trust, the Unicorn lowered his horn. He also set his head down and began to walk away. The demoness followed, at first in silence but then "May I join you? I promise I will not touch you."
"Yes, you may come along. I am leaving this world. I must return to the mortal one, where demons and men have free reign."
"I must, too."
"Then walk by my side."
Tamryn obeyed. The veiled Siren walked with the unicorn, neither touching but each smiling slightly.
5-the Unicorn lives
IN THE mortal kingdom, the executioner still waited with an assembly of guards. All hung their head when they saw the white creature approaching. The Unicorn was luminous at night, like a beam of moonlight. His own head was not hung as low as earlier but he approached his certain death with a steady gaze.
"I had hoped...he would not come," spoke one man, echoing the thoughts of all.
Of all the heads hung, the executioner's was the heaviest. He was now to behead a unicorn.
The Unicorn knelt before the tree stump where he was to place his head. "I have known so much time that Death appears like dawn light and tomorrow sounds like Nothing."
A long silence stretched over them all as the unicorn offered his neck to cut.
But a voice glided through the quiet. It was a feminine voice, its words difficult to discern.
Yet the Unicorn knew enchantment when he heard it. Of all the men about to witness this execution, it was the executioner who stirred at the sound of the voice.
"She is calling me..." he whispered.
"Do not listen to it!" one of the men warned him.
"I have no choice..." he told the others. Then, with his axe in hand, he followed the voice. “It is the Angel of Death.
Deeper into the forest, the voice was singing. Beckoning the innocent and the pure to an embrace.
Only the bravest guards chased after him in an attempt to
break his trance.
By the castle, the Unicorn stood. He had begun to trot into the forest after the Executioner. But fanfare announced the return of someone of the the princess Amethyst.
The Unicorn turned as lift of gloom could be seen on the way
he ran. While the other men were discovering the Executioner's axe, the virgin
and the Unicorn were reunited. Somewhere in the shadows of the forest, the
siren watched, humming a merry tune.
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