The Paper Heart

Chapter 6 - Saviour

Suddenly a strange, uneartly sound blasted across the glade. It was a strident, bleating scream. The wolves that surrounded her flinched and cowered as they jerked their heads around. A second scream made the werewolf spin around and he bellowed back at it.

Jill lowered her hands to look. The unicorn was shaking its elegant head and pawing at the snow. It opened its mouth again and another eerie scream trumpeted in the night.

Then it lowered its head and charged.

The werewolf gave a snarling laugh. One slash of his powerful claws, one lunging bite, and it would be over. He stretched out his mighty arms. The sinews tensed in his hairy shoulders. His sharp ears flattened against his skull. Saliva dripped from his jaws. 

The brutal contest did not last long. Hunter's chase resounded with fearsome screeches. The Jill of Hearts fell back at the sight of such merciless savageryl The pure white snow exploded with crimson. Flesh and limbs were hurled watonly into the air, then shredded and spat out. The gory carcass was leaped upon and the tail torn out by the roots. 

Straddling the mutilated body of the werewolf, the unicorn reared its head and the dead fiend's blood tricked down the twining groove of its long, lethal horn. It gave a bleat of victory. Then its goat-like eyes stared balefully at the petrified wolves. They could not believe what they had just witnessed. It was as if the most ferocious, mighty lion was hidden within a lamb.

The unicorn sprang at them.

Yowling and whining, the wolves turned tail and ran for their lives. The unicorn raced after. A yelp signalled the end of one. A triumphant bleat heralded the impaling of another. Two wolves scrambled up the ridge and escaped; the remaining one was not so lucky. The unicorn rammed its horn through the beast's brains and tore the head clean off.

Jill looked around her, aghast. Everywhere was stained red. She stared at the ridge and saw that the unicorn was already returning. Kneeling in the deep snow, the plum-coloured cloak ripped and tattered about her shoulders, she waited breathlessly. The animal was staring fixedly at her and she was too petrified.

"Are you my propector - my saviour?" she asked in a quavering tone. "Or do you mean to slay me also?"