Written by EM Malachi Jan 11th 2017
Artemia spent her days exploring the fields and forests far from the ferry to Skara Brae. The little girl loved wandering through the woods, listening to birdsong and picking berries. The baker would trade her a handful of cookies for any berries she hadn’t eaten on the way back home.
On one of her wanderings, Artemia heard what sounded like the anguished cries of a wild horse. Following the sound, she found the animal ensnared in a poacher’s trap. The creature was on his side and covered in dirt and blood from thrashing against the iron teeth, and at the top of his head was a large twisting horn. After overcoming her initial surprise, Artemia rushed forward to help the suffering animal.
Artemia made the soothing sounds that her healer mother had taught her and offered a handful of berries to the injured unicorn. The unicorn seemed to sense that she wished to help and stopped pulling against the thick iron chain that held the foothold to the ground. Artemia examined the trap workings and picked up a pair of fallen branches. She levered the sticks to shift the trap springs open and carefully moved the injured leg out of the trap.
The unicorn managed to stand and tried to limp away slowly, but Artemia patted the animal’s side gently and took out her water skin. She started to clean the wound and bandaged it with strips from her dress and a handful of tipton weed and wild sage. As she continued to wipe blood and dirt from the animal, she noticed that the coat had a luster like the moon at night and the hairs of the great mane were a radiant rainbow. Artemia had heard stories of the legendary rainbow unicorns, but no one she knew had ever seen one. Such unicorns were said to be beings of great nobility and purity of spirit.
With awe, she finished tending to the injured animal. When she was done, the rainbow unicorn nuzzled her shoulder and walked into the dense forest. So no others would be hurt by the trap, Artemia slammed it shut with the oak sticks before returning home.
When a great dragon razed several local villages, Artemia’s father was part of the company sent to stop the beast. When his fellow soldiers returned in defeat, he was not among them. During the flight out of Destard, he had gotten separated, and with so many wounded, none could be spared to search for him. Her mother focused her skills on tending to the burns and lacerations of the survivors, but Artemia saw the redness around her mother’s eyes. That night, Artemia grabbed her bow and a few provisions and slipped into the forest.
Artemia knew well the paths south from her farm to the Dragonhame Mountains and made the journey in a little over a day. From there, she traced back the tracks and blood spoor of the retreating soldiers. There she found the great mouth of Dungeon Destard. At the entrance to the cavern stood the unicorn she had saved. The rainbow unicorn lowered his head, and Artemia climbed onto the unicorn’s back.
All shadows fled the light from the unicorn, and the smaller monsters scurried away when the unicorn lowered his horn toward them. As they went deeper into the pit, Artemia kept her eyes open for signs of her father. Near the dragon’s lair, they found Artemia’s father, barely conscious and with a broken leg. Artemia slid off the unicorn’s back and started to treat her father’s injures.
As she was helping her father to stand, there came a great roar from the lair, and an ancient wyrm crawled out of the narrow passage. Its claws tore deep into the cavern’s stone with each step. Artemia fired an arrow at the dragon, but the small missile plinked off the hard scales. She started to nock another arrow, but the unicorn gently pushed her back.
The unicorn looked at her a moment before turning back and lowering his horn at the giant dragon. Artemia helped support her father as they limped out of the dark cavern. Artemia forced herself not to turn around when she felt a flash of heat, and the two stumbled forward until they reached the tree line where they stopped to splint his leg. Artemia watched hopefully for the unicorn to make his way out, but as the sun started to set, she realized he was gone.
Years later, Artemia was returning from the Ranger’s Guild in the autumn dusk. Looking across the fields of her home, she noticed her daughter playing with a strange colt at the edge of the forest. As the light from the setting sun reflected off the colt’s mane, she recognized her unicorn reborn.