Hello everyone! I'm Fanta (Fantasizing-Lady-Knight) but Fanta is easier to say, so yeah. This is my very first fic! huzzah, huzzah So, in other words, it will most likely really really suck! But that's okay because it will be my very first story and I'll be proud of it because it will help me develop my own style...or so my mom tells me...I haven't really believed her yet...

Disclaimer: Let's see...I have some questions to answer: 1# Do I own these characters? Hmmm...Let me think about this for a second...why Ye—no. 2# Do I own these settings? Do I own these settings??? Why what kind of stupid question is that!? Why of course—not. #3 Am I Tamora Pierce? Thinks deeply Why don't you just ask yourself one little question—Are you likely to find Tamora Pierce herself on ? Do I look like Tammy to you??? Actually, you wouldn't know, would you? Hehe... #4 Do I own this plot? Why in the world would I own this stupid, Gods-forsaken, Hell-born plot worthy only of a flea???? Oh yeah...that's the only part I do own....

Okay, on with the show!

Flesh-Eating Unicorns by Fantasizing-Lady-Knight

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Chapter 1—Isn't Life Grand?

Keladry of Mindelan, first distaff knight for centuries in the realm of Tortall, gazed dreamily out of her frost-covered window. Below her window she could faintly see dark, swaying blobs where trees were supposed to be in the endlessly shifting sheets of snow falling from the clouds. At least, the snow seemed endless. This particular snow storm had been going on for the past few days, and now the snow drifts were in some places three feet deep.

The young woman's dreamy hazel eyes continued to search the white-enveloped landscape, as if searching for freedom—everyone had been kept in-doors for the past twenty-four hours. Remembering this, she sighed heavily. Her breath clouded on the window, and she turned away from the glass in disgust. Now she could understand why Alanna the Lioness, Keladry's life- long role-model, hated the cold. Lucky her, she thought. The Lioness had been able to escape this storm a month before, journeying to the Bazhir Desert to visit her tribe.

Keladry, also known as Kel, shuffled across the room to her practice glaive on the wall, knowing only one thing could kill this nasty temper and regain her Yamani calm. She removed the staff and blade from her weapon rack and slowly got into her practice-dance position.

To burn off her impatience, she began the cuts and stabs of the most complicated dance she knew.

As she regained her Yamani calm, she began to remember the activities of the past few weeks. Two months before a third girl had showed up for page training. Both Kel and the Lioness had jumped for joy. But three weeks after the girl had started, the two lady knights had their delight drenched. The girl had gone home because the work was too hard. So much for three successes in a row, Kel thought gloomily.

With a final swing of her glaive, Kel ended her pattern-dance and froze in position for five seconds like she was supposed to. Kel carefully set her practice glaive back on its rack and threw herself down onto her bed with a moan.

Ever since the third girl's failure, people had been doubting the fighting skills of women again. People had even gone so far as to say that neither Kel nor Alanna had really done the wonderful deeds that they had claimed to do (finding the Dominion Jewel, Destroying Blayce and Stenmun), and had instead just hid in a corner while the men they took with them did the tasks.

Although she liked being a girl, Kel just had to wonder sometimes whether there was really a true point to being female besides being little and delicate like people seemed to expect.

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Kel's first thought when she awoke on her bed still in her practice clothes after practicing with her glaive was that she must have dozed off. Her second was why someone was pounding on her door with enough strength to break it from its hinges at around three o'clock in the morning. Her third was complete joy because, looking outside her window, she saw that the snowing had stopped.

Kel heaved herself off of her bed and raced across the room. The knocking was still going, so she flung open the door before the it snapped in two. In the hall in front of her room stood a slightly disheveled Nealan of Queenscove. Also known as Neal, he had been her best friend for nine years.

"Kel, we have to hurry and leave!" he panted as if he had been running.

"Neal, calm down," she ordered softly. As his heaving breath subsided, she asked quietly, "So why do we have to leave?"

"The King ordered us to go out with third company of the Own. A herd of thirty Flesh-Eating Unicorns attacked GreenRidge. We have to go and stop them before they kill everyone in the town!"

Kel gazed at the ceiling and mouthed 'why me?' Neal watched her expectantly with his bright green eyes, waiting for a response. Kel sighed for the third time that evening before answering, "Fine. I'll prepare. Thanks Neal. When do we leave?"

"In an hour."

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Third Company, along with the knights Raoul, Neal, Kel, Merric, Owen, Esmond, and Seaver (Kel's group had been sent due to the fact that they had experience with some of third company due to the fact that they had helped get rid of Blayce) set off an hour later.

Mist spiraled up from everyone's mouths as they breathed, and the air was frigid. Although Kel was glad that she would be on this exploit with Domitan of Masbolle, or Dom, Neal's cousin, she still wasn't as happy as she could have been. Just because she had had a major crush on Dom for five years didn't mean she was any happier about such a mission.

Kel, mounted on her grumpy warhorse, Peachblossom, shivered and huddled deeper into her cloak.

I have to venture miles in freezing weather to find a whole herd of flesh- eating unicorns who are killing a whole town as we speak in three-foot snow drifts. My best friend will wail the whole way because he is leaving his betrothed, I am seated on a horse who despises snow, and people are starting to doubt women can fight again, she thought miserably, Isn't life Grand?

A/N: Okay that was my first chapter! How do you like it? flinches Please review! insert groveling here I'll post the next chapter when I've gotten five reviews!

Fanta