#kalces.

KALCES —— the unicorn.

there was once a unicorn who met a girl in a place where humans aren’t supposed to be. he should have run but instead he stayed. humans are killers, he’d been told, but this one didn’t seem to be a killer at all. for a time he waited; for a longer time he watched. then one day he came forward as she was dying of thirst, trapped in a bog of poison and murk, and laid his horn on the water. he purified it, just enough for her to drink and get her fill, and live.

but the bog was the owned by the three crones, who saw the unicorn clear their water. they grew angry at his insolence. so they cursed him, and swore to reclaim the life he had taken from them.

the unicorn carried the girl away from the bog, and when she awoke, he asked her why her kind had slaughtered his own. he asked her about hatred, if she understood it, if he. but she had no answer aside from an apology, and his heart broke in front of her, and he fell in love.

together the two of them traveled farther than i can tell you, and twice as far as you can tell me. they learned from each other: her about him, and him about her. but curses don’t care about distances, and curses don’t care about love. eventually it found them in the form of a three-faced woman, who came to the girl in her sleep and told her of how the unicorn had offended the crones of the bog. frightened for him, she asked the three-faced woman how undo the curse. the three-faced woman grinned three times over and gave her a vial of black bog-water, just enough for her to drink and get her fill. it was time to reclaim the life the unicorn had taken. the girl, determined to save her friend, took the vial, and drank.

when she awoke, her veins were black, and her lips were blue. her struggle to draw breath roused the unicorn, who saw the curse of the bog on her flesh, and despaired. he knew what it was the crones were after, so he struck his horn on the ground at the girl’s feet, breaking it in two. then he fell to his knees, picked it up in human hands, and pierced his heart straight through.