The Tales of Faye

The Unicorn Empire

  Faye brushed the dirt and grime of off her hands after sheathing her sword. Mounds of dead people and other creatures encircled her. "Task completed," she said.

  "Well done," a voice whinnied behind Faye.

  Faye turned around and kneeled. "Thank you, my Liege," she said.

  The King of Unicorns sat in his hovering throne. Four unicorn sentries levitated on either side of him. An ornate golden crown rested atop the King's head, his horn preventing it from sliding off.

  "Rise," the King commanded, and Faye stood.

  "What of my reward, your Highness?" Faye asked.

  The King shifted uncomfortably in his throne. He exchanged a glance with his steward, who had accompanied him.

  "That may be a problem..." the King said.

  He nodded at one of his guards. A blast of magical energy hit Faye, knocking her unconscious. The unicorn whom the attack came from landed on the blood-soaked earth. His horn still sparkled with remnants of magic use. He hefted Faye's limp body onto his back. The sentry kicked off the ground and rejoined the other unicorns, and the group flew off into clouds.

  Faye lazily opened her golden eyes. A bright beam sunlight fell across half of her face. She squinted and shuffled out of the light, and her sight then came into focus.

  Apparently, she was in a stone dungeon. The shadows cast from the iron bars interrupted the flow of torchlight from the opposing wall outside the cell. A chill went down Faye's spine when she realized how cold she was. The thin blanket the she was under wasn't nearly enough to keep her warm.

  I suppose I'll just conjure up some warmer clothes, she reasoned.

  Underneath her blankets came he muffled snap of her fingers. Nothing happened. Faye snapped again. Still nothing. Puzzled, Faye shifted her hands to raise them out from under the blankets. She could barely lift her hands above one foot. The reason was the shackles that bound each of her wrists to the stone floor. A flowing golden line ran down each cuff and through the chain. It was as wide as a strand of hair, but vividly visible.

  Magic cancelling, of course, Faye thought, irritation flickering in her mind. Now she was cold and powerless. I should have guessed. Darned unicorns.

  Faye heard the sound of hooves against stone. They were heading in the direction of her cell. The King came into view before the iron bars of the cell. His disdain for the dungeon was clearly visible on his face.

  "What is the meaning of this?" Faye growled, raising her hands to the extent that the chains would allow.

  "Ah, well, you see..." the King began. 'We weren't quite planning on paying you. Our kind knows fully well what you would do without receiving payment. We took the only available option; we had to imprison you and take away your magic ability."

  Faye narrowed her shining golden eyes. "First you don't pay me, then you imprison me? Hah! I can't believe this! You're insane!"

  "Insane? How so?" the King asked. "I only did what's right for my people."

  Inside, Faye was burning with frustration, but on the outside, she was shivering. The cell was so cold! "Y-you could at least give me something warmer," she pointed out.

  "Why should I? What would be the point?" the King said, a laugh entering his voice. "Your execution is scheduled for tomorrow."

"It's time," the unicorn guard whinnied as he unlocked Faye's cell.

"Let's get this over with," Faye muttered as she arose. The guard led Faye out of the cell. The chains binding her to the floor had been swapped for cuffs, in order for her to walk. These cuffs also prevented her from using her magic.

Faye walked behind the guard solemnly. There was no sound other than that her boots and the clatter of the unicorn's hooves on the stone. Faye wasn't necessarily sad. She didn't quite have any discernible emotion.

The unicorn guard led her into a bright courtyard, at least, bright compared to the dimly lit dungeon. A large wooden structure stood in the middle of the courtyard. A large blade was being suspended at the top by a thick rope, the other end of the rope held by the unicorn executioner.

"Ah, the guillotine," Faye said under breath as she admired unicorns' method of execution.

The guard led her up to the guillotine. Faye knelt down and her head in the stocks. The crowd of unicorn citizens watched intently as the guard slid the stocks into place. Not a sound was heard, besides the whistle of the wind.

The executioner let go of the rope, and the blade fell. In that fraction of a second, Faye's heart rate increased, and fear dribbled into her consciousness. Time seemed pass by at a slower rate than normal as the cold steel inched closer and closer to Faye's neck.

Suddenly, Faye heard the loud crack! of splitting wood. The stocks that held her head in place splintered into minuscule pieces. Without a second thought, Faye pulled away from the guillotine, only a hairsbreadth away from losing her head.

The unicorns let out huge gasps. A storm of magic arrows began raining down on the cluster of civilians, although none of them struck. The unicorns panicked and fled the courtyard. The guards charged their horns to defend against the possible attacker or attackers, but they couldn't figure out where the assault was coming from.

"Get them!!" the King shrieked. A stampede of guards charged toward Faye. Faye quickly got to her feet and her gaze focused on the unicorns, though it was drawn when the cuffs fell of her wrists. She noticed tiny blue and gray sparks jumping off the metal. Faye nodded. It's about time, she though.

The unicorns stopped their advance as they stared with awed fear at the sky above them. A bright blue ball of electricity had appeared in the sky. As the sparks dispersed, a human figure could be made out, but this creature was definitely not human, that was for sure.

A thin silver haired boy floated above the unicorns. He glared at them with a look disgust that couldn't be rivaled. His piercing, scaly green eyes seemed to burn through the horse-like creatures.

"This race should be exterminated," he muttered, his voice fringed with a British accent.

A taller, more masculine boy with black and lavender hair appeared behind the King. "I completely agree, Levi," he said, his deep voice startling the Unicorn King.

"Get rid of these humans!" the King commanded his guards, but the soldiers were paralyzed with fear. "What are you waiting for?! Get them!!!"

"It's no use, King," Faye said, her golden eyes focused on the panicking unicorn. "We're leaving, but we'll surely be back."

Faye turned and walked out of the courtyard in the direction of the exit. She headed for the entrance of the Unicorn Palace. The two boys joined her. She seemed small when compared with their larger frames, especially the black haired one's.

"Took you long enough," Faye commented. "I was starting to lose hope that you would come rescue me."

"I'll always come to your aid, Faye, you know that," the taller one said.

"I'm now completely aware of that, Brendan," Faye consented.

"Yeah, we only got held up because Brendan forgot the way here," Levi said. "He refused to admit that he was wrong."

"That's not true!" Brendan denied.

Faye laughed, and a chill racked her spine. She remembered that she was still cold. She snapped her fingers and a fluffy black coat wrapped her in its warmth.

"Much better..." she muttered, content with the heat that the coat provided.