Page 55 of Inferno
The unicorn stopped his stomping and thrashing, settling down so that the warriors could finish fashioning a halter out of a piece of rope. It was crude, and likely uncomfortable as all hell, but as far as the warriors were concerned, it got the job done.
I’m Nerik,Nerik told the unicorn.
You’re about to be dead, based on the look of that human with the sword, came the haughty reply. Nerik sighed. He’d actually risked his life for this miserable creature. The gods alone knew when he’d finally learn to stop doing that, given how ungrateful the unicorns in general were.
If I die, can you tell Stanley what happened here? And ask him to tell Yorin.He couldn’t bear the idea of just disappearing with no one knowing what had happened. Yorin would be beside himself with worry.
Who’s Stanley?the unicorn asked.
You’ll know him if you meet him. He’s an older human who trains horses.
The warriors finally had the halter on and the unicorn under control – or as under control as he was going to get – and they turned their attention back to Nerik. “What about this one?” Bril asked again, nudging Nerik with the tip of his sword. Nerik had used the moments of their distraction to very, very slowly ease sideways, managing to absorb a few more sticks as he did so. He still had a bit of fuel left from overnight, if he could just dry it out enough to burn, and every little bit helped.
“Kill it,” Calium said, at the same time as Hallix said, “Put it in a cage.”
You care about this Stanley?the unicorn asked, picking up a note of sorrow in Nerik’s words.
“I’m not thrilled about taking it into town,” Bril said. “Looks too dangerous.”
No. But I care about Yorin,Nerik replied.He’s a human as well. A good friend.He wasn’t going to bother trying to explain the intricacies of his relationship with Yorin to this unicorn.
Hoofbeats sounded from out of the forest, and everyone turned to look. Nerik had the fleeting thought that it might be another unicorn, if a second one had been stupid enough to come so soon after the first, and if that was the case, he might just be able to make a getaway in the chaos. But a few seconds later, Captain Renfold came trotting out of the undergrowth astride a large gelding, with two more warriors on horses on his tail. “Oh, thank the gods you caught up with it,” he said, as he saw that they’d captured the unicorn.
“Can we take it into town and train it?” the younger man asked immediately. “You said we could train one if we could catch one.”
“For fuck’s sake, Kent, you sound like a three year old asking to go to the park,” Calium said, and Nerik had to hold back a snort. At least someone had said it, even if Nerik couldn’t.
Renfold dismounted, handing his reins to one of his companions as he came forward to look at the unicorn. “Sorry it took us a minute to get here. Another dragon came through the gate. It took the dragon riders a few minutes to round it up. Still not sure I’m totally on board with that idea,” he added, as an aside. He looked the unicorn up and down. “Hm… I’m not thrilled about having a unicorn stallion wandering around. I suppose we could always geld it.”
Don’t panic,Nerik snapped at the unicorn, before it could do just that.Stanley will tell them what a shit idea that is. Just cooperate for now, and give the Chalandrians in town a chance to help you.
“Or we could kill this one and wait for a female we can train,” Bril suggested.
Fortunately for the unicorn, Kent wasn’t on board with having to wait. “For the whole of the last cycle, we didn’t manage to catch a single unicorn. They were either killed at the gate or they escaped into the forest. If we don’t keep this one, it could beyearsbefore we get another chance!”
“All right, all right, keep your shirt on,” Renfold said, with the weary patience of a parent trying to reason with a cranky toddler. “We’ll keep the unicorn for now. It’s worth at least attempting to train it. But I’m not making any promises. If it causes a ruckus too many times, we will end up killing it.” He fixed Kent with a steely glare, driving his point home.
“Yes, sir,” Kent replied, happy enough to be getting his way for the moment.
“Now, what in heaven’s name is this other creature?” Renfold asked, catching sight of Nerik. “Good gods, where did that come from?”
“We need to take it into town and display it,” Henrick said, before anyone else could say anything. “People are forgetting what the warriors do for this town. Liatra refused my proposal and left the serving women entirely. Helen broke up with Calium, for the gods only know what supposed reason. There are more and more shopkeepers complaining about offering us a fair and just discount on goods. We ran out of beer at the last festival. The quality of the food the cooks are bringing is down. This town needs a good, solid reminder of how important we are. And a public execution of something as foul as this godsforsaken creature is the best thing for it.”
He finished his rant and waited, clearly expecting Renfold to agree with him. But Renfold made a thoughtful noise and stroked his short beard as he contemplated the situation. “Does anyone know what this is? I’ve never seen one like this before.” Given that Renfold was one of the most experienced men in the army – hence his selection as Captain Leefe’s replacement – it would be highly unlikely that anyone else had seen an infernal if he hadn’t. When Nerik had crossed the gate four years ago, he’d done so in the middle of the night, and had succeeded by remaining completely unnoticed in the darkness.
As the warriors debated what to do with him, Nerik surreptitiously reached out a hand and tried to get a flame out of the leaf litter around him. He managed to get the edges of a few leaves to smoulder, but that was about it. He was going to need his fire to be a fair bit hotter to even have a chance of fighting the warriors.
“I was never much of a fan of Captain Leefe’s showboating ways,” Renfold was saying, and for that, Nerik felt a grudging respect for him. Leefe had been entirely too arrogant and loud, making regular public spectacles in the name of improving morale and generating enthusiasm from the locals. All it had ended up doing was making him look like a giant git. “If the public isn’t supporting us as they usually do, there’s likely a deeper underlying reason for it.” Renfold was entirely right, and yet once again, Nerik needed him to choose the less wise path, if he was going to have a chance of getting out of this alive.
“I mean you no harm,” he said, softly, so as to avoid startling anyone. He had little hope that anyone would listen to him, but at least he could say he’d tried.
“You shut your mouth,” Bril snapped at him, pressing his sword closer to Nerik’s neck.
Renfold, however, said nothing, staring down at Nerik with a look of deep thought on his face. Nerik waited, hoping, praying that the Captain would do what no one else in the army had ever done, and actually have a conversation with a ‘demon’.
“Public sentiment is down,” Calium said, when Renfold continued to merely stare at Nerik. “I’m not a fan of showboating myself, but the public do like a good spectacle.”
“And if this thing turns out to be dangerous? We all know what happened to Captain Leefe.”