It's Just Magic

Ghostly Unicorns

Two different generations of elf waited at different ends of a very long corridor, their backs to the wall and their eyes on one another. Dodger was pale whilst Edendir's jaw was set determinedly. He nodded at the presenter and the man sighed before hurtling down the corridor faster than even Boyd could run.

"Oi! Numbskulls!" Dodger yelled, skidding to a halt just in front of the guards. Edendir pressed himself into the wall and watched out of the corner of his eye as Dodger made a spear appear as if it were sticking out of his chest. He raised an eyebrow and smirked at the guards's astonished expressions.

"Remember me?" the presenter taunted. A real spear was thrown and then Dodger was off, sprinting like there was a werewolf after him. If he failed in his deathly game of tag then there would be, Edendir had decided. 

The sound of marching, stamping feet followed the presenter and Edendir held his breath as one pair of boots slowed. The guard looked down to his end of the corridor and opened his mouth to speak. The elf was quicker, dragging a brick from the wall using magic and stuffing it into the guard's mouth. His eyes widened with shock and he stabbed wildly with his sword whilst Edendir ducked past him, tripping the guard on his way. The man fell with a muffled cry and Edendir snatched the sword away before it impaled the guard. He was only doing his job; Edendir had just made it a little harder for him.

A whinny attracted Edendir's attention and he spun around, all thoughts of the guard forgotten. A gleaming golden unicorn stuck its head through the bars of its cage and snickered, eyes flashing with fear and hope.

"Easy," Edendir murmured, holding out his palms to show he wasn't holding anything, dropping the sword to the floor. At the clang of metal on stone the unicorn took fright, rearing onto its hind legs, silver mane tossed about as it shook its head. It had a pearly white horn and Edendir knew that it was one of the oldest unicorns ever recorded, golden bodied with the purest colour horn. It was also incredibly powerful and the elf was reluctant to approach it lest he was stabbed.

"Hey," the elf said in a soothing tone. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." He waved one hand and the echoing noise of the sword's vibrating blade stopped, trapped inside an invisible sound cloud. After a minute's thought he did the same to the guard lest he managed to get the brick out of his mouth. 

"I need your help," Edendir continued in the same placid tone. "I need to stop the man that put you down here. Can you help me?"

The unicorn went back down onto all four legs and whinnied again, scratching at the ground with one white hoof. Edendir looked down and saw that the unicorn had carved an arrow into the floor, Following the direction it was pointing Edendir saw that a loop of keys was hung up on a hook on the wall. They were the one way the unicorn could escape and as the elf went to reach them, grinning all over his face, he heard a soft cough. 

Such a simple noise was enough to make Edendir freeze. He heard footsteps approach him slowly and he barely managed to stop his arm from trembling, outstretched as it was to reach the keys. The thing behind him stopped walking and coughed again.

"Turn around," it commanded in a soft, female voice. Edendir held back a whimper and did as he was told, lowering his arm. To his surprise there was nobody there. 

"Oh, I am here," the thing stated, almost as if it could read Edendir's thoughts. "I'm just not here, at the same time. I'm dead, I suppose you'd say, but my ghost decided to stick around." There was a glowing light and Edendir shielded his eyes as the ghost took its visible form. To the elf's shock he saw a young woman, brown haired and green eyed. Her outfit looked like an old guard's uniform but it was burnt, charred where it should have been smooth, patched where it should have been whole.