Dark Huntress by: Ciarda
Demonhart
Chapter one: something wicked this way comes
Disclaimer: Me: *surrounded by unicorn hunters* OKAY OKAY! I DON'T OWN
YUGIOH ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!
Unicorn hunter: Quit changing the subject! Where's the unicorn?!
Me: *points to bushes where unicorn is hiding*
Unicorn: -_-'
A.N.: parts of this fan fiction will have some scenes from Ridley Scott's
Legend except a little bit different. o_~
Ciarda kneeled down in the dewy grass besides Nightmare-her demon unicorn. He had a coal-black coat, a black mane, cloved hooves of iron, dark-red eyes, and an iron horn sharpened to a deadly spear.
"Are you sure you now where it is milady?" Nightmare asked.
"Yes, but if Blix has lied to me..." Ciarda motioned her pronged spear in a fighting manner. "But I trust Blix. He helped me escape from Malik's clutches. Now let's see, he told me to head east to the sea. There should be a boat called "The Shadow Treader," and to tell the captain to go to Domino city." Ciarda pursed her black lips and stood up.
She was only nine-teen years old. Her elven family was killed by Malik and his Rare Hunters. Only her and her sister Amalthelia managed to escape. She had abandoned her sister, her heart had become dark and hateful, and became a demon elf. Wandering the forests hunting unicorns.
"I can't hunt unicorns anymore, I made a promise not to for I know what will happen." Ciarda hissed. Her long, elven ears stuck upwards through her obsidian hair braided down to her knees, ending in a thick gold bracelet the size of her hand. She had black lips and nails, and two Celtic hunter tattoos on each side of her face. She had on black knee-height laced boots, a short black leather skirt, and a black tube top. With her, she carried her quiver of arrows, and a bow. And a projectile spear that protruded six feet with the push of a button.
"Perhaps you can turn into your yami and fly high enough to where you can see the ocean." Nightmare suggested.
Ciarda thought about this for a moment and agreed to it. She clutched at an ebony crystal at her neck. She unchained the necklace and remembered to how she had gotten the necklace the day before.
*flashback*
"I know this place looks abandoned milady, but I still don't know whether we should go in." Nightmare said to Ciarda.
"Relax, I'm sure nothing will happen. And besides, you said that we might find some relics or alicorns." (A.N. an alicorn is another name for a unicorn's horn) Ciarda hopped off Nightmare and stood on the stone pathway in the courtyard.
"Alright, but I'm coming with you." Nightmare snorted as Ciarda took the reins and led him into what looked like a darkened hallway.
"Can you see anything Nightmare?" Ciarda asked.
"Not really." Nightmare said.
Ciarda opened Nightmare's saddlebag, pulling out a spiraled horn about one and a half feet long.
"Alicorn, light." Ciarda said as she held the silvery horn proudly in front of her.
A bright light illuminated the dark corridors. She and Nightmare heard the sound of shuffling feet and whispers as the light from the unicorn's horn she had hunted a while ago shone on tapestries of dragons, portraits of a cloaked figure holding a gold staff-and a door!
"Wonder what's in here?" Ciarda motioned for Nightmare to follow through the door.
It was some sort of library. Spellbooks lined the towering shelves, black drapes were drawn over the windows, and a desk piled with ink wells, quills, four alicorns-and a diary!
Ciarda walked closer to the diary. It was of black leather and had a gold eye on it. "Fascinating..."
She picked it up and flipped through the pages. She had stopped to a page that said:
April 21st. 1984
Alas, my plans have worked. All I need is time. I, Malik Ishtar will bring apon an eternal ice-age in which the sun will never shed its light. The entire word will kneel at my feet! And no one will be able to stop me!
Ciarda quickly closed the book shut. She had felt like an ice cube had been shoved down her throat.
"Nightmare, I've decided something..." Ciarda pursed her lips.
"What is it milady?" Nightmare had a concerned look in his eyes.
"I don't wish to kill unicorns anymore. It's just helping the forces of darkness. It's just helping someone called Malik Ishtar. Let's go look around some more, take the alicorns and leave. It's better they are in our hands that in the hands of a "Malik Ishtar."
"Maybe there should be something useful in the throne room, like some plates or knives or something..." Nightmare's voice trailed off.
Ciarda smiled as she and Nightmare walked out of the room, and after a while of wandering, found the throne room.
"Hello! Anybody home?" Ciarda yelled as her voice echoed. "Yep, it's abandoned."
"Look at all this food on the table, it looks edible." Nightmare trotted towards the table, his cloven hooves not making a sound on the black marble tiles.
Ciarda walked towards the long table and rested her hand on Nightmares shoulder. "Do you think we should eat it?"
"I suppose so..." Nightmare said as Ciarda crawled in the table, eyeing the full rack of ribs drowned in a thick, red sauce.
The whole table looked as if a feast was set up for them. Large, plump turkeys, huge ribs smothered in some red sauce, large wine glasses filled to the top with wine that was pitch black.
Ever since Ciarda's family died, she had lost a lot of her memory of table-manners. Ciarda, picking up the ribs, eyed them carefully, then, sunk her teeth into the meat. It had been minutes before she had eaten the whole rack of ribs.
"I'm thirsty!" Ciarda said excitedly, picking up the black wine and guzzling it down her throat. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "I'm done, let's go back and get the alicorns." Ciarda took Nightmare's reins and they walked towards the large doors.
"Enjoy your meal milady?" A voice said.
"Who's there?" Ciarda pulled out her spear and aimed it at the darkness from which the voice was coming from.
"Seize her and her unicorn!" It shouted again. All of a sudden, cloaked figures came out of the darkness and grabbed her wrists and ankles. Ciarda saw a chain go around Nightmare's neck. Before she knew it, she was pinned to the ground.
"Let me go! Let me go!" Ciarda screamed as what looked like their leader went on top of her. He had dark-tanned skin, sandy blonde hair, and purple eyes.
"I asked you a question, are you pleased with your meal?"
"Y-yes. I'm really sorry for breaking in. I thought this place was abandoned and-"
"SILENCE!!!" The cloaked figure leaned closer to her ear and whispered. "My name is Malik Ishtar." He stood up, reached into his cloak, and pulled out a black necklace.
"What is that?" Ciarda said as Malik pulled down his cloak, revealing his toned chest. "I have a little gift for you." Malik said putting the necklace on Ciarda's slender neck. "You will be one of us now." Malik hissed.
"What do you mean?" Ciarda asked.
"You will aid us for the destruction of all unicorns!" Malik raised his Millennium Rod proudly in the air.
"I made a promise never to kill another unicorn again." Ciarda said as she glared at the hooded figures holding the chained Nightmare.
"You will kill them for me..."
"You disgust me." Ciarda said as she screeched in pain. Large, bloody, dragon-like wings shot out of her back. Her black nails had turned into long, black claws.
"Give the dear her spear back and see what happens Blix." Malik motioned for a waist-height goblin to give back her spear. Ciarda took the spear and was ready to kill Malik.
"What's happening to my spear?" Ciarda asked as her spearhead took the shape of two black rearing unicorns. Between them, a large, red orb appeared.
"Now you have the power to fly, and track down unicorns with that spear." Malik came up to Ciarda and gently caressed her cheek. "My dark beauty..." Ciarda glared at Malik.
"And look at your pretty eyes now too." Malik said as Blix handed Ciarda a silver mirror. Ciarda stared into the mirror-those monsters! What have they done?! Ciarda thought. Her lapiz-lazuli blue eyes were now green and snake-like. Tears began to form behind her demon-like eyes.
"Look what you did to me!" Ciarda barked, realizing she had fangs as well. She gave a mighty screech, flew up to the rafters, and stared at her claws.
"About one-and-a-half inches long-sharp too-perfect." Ciarda said to herself. With that, she lunged down, like an osprey, scratched Malik on one side of his face. "Yes," Ciarda hissed. "That is the pain I feel every day. And the scars will not heal."
Malik saw Ciarda fly up again. She clutched her necklace and looked like she was thinking about turning back to normal. With that, Ciarda's black wings disappeared, her claws faded away, and her eyes turned back to their normal color. She fell, screaming as she landed on the ebony table and hit her head.
"She actually scratched me..." Malik said turning into his darker half.
"Do you wish me to put her in her room sire?" Blix said with a terrified look in his eyes.
"Yes, there will be a unicorn hunt tomorrow. She will try to fail. If she does..." Yami Malik said as Blix dragged Ciarda off to her room. "Keep her unicorn in the stables."
Blix left the main hall carrying Ciarda over his shoulders. His pace quickened as he heard the mad laughing of his master.
Ciarda's eyes slowly fluttered open. Her mind was already struggling trying to remember the events of that day. She ran her fingers down her neck, feeling the necklace. Ciarda couldn't see where she was. Everything was so dark. Just then, the creak of a door was heard, and the dim light of a candle entered the room.
"Who's there?" Ciarda said. Clutching what felt like sheets, she had realized she was in a bed.
"Milady, please, we mustn't wake my master. He's asleep in the next chamber, and awaking him would be catastrophic." The figure walked in, showing Ciarda a nick on his twisted ear.
"Blix, is that you?" Ciarda whispered. She crawled out of bed, pulled off some black nightgown, and changed into her hunting outfit. "What are you doing here?"
"Here to help you flee. Nightmare's already in the courtyard." Blix said as Ciarda was tying the black lace on her boots.
"How did you know his name was Nightmare?" Ciarda said as Blix reached into a burlap sack, pulling out the alicorns and Ciarda's weapons.
"Ugly one-horned demon mule gave us so much trouble when we tried to get him into the stable, that getting him in was a nightmare."
"Just for the record, Nightmare's a demon unicorn, not an "ugly one- horned demon mule."
"Forgive me, it is the way of the goblins that we talk like this." Blix kneeled and started to cry.
"Blix, I'm not mad at you..."
"I know, I'm just scared."
"Scared of what?"
"I fear that when you escape, I'm afraid of what Master Malik will do to me, of if he gets all the alicorns. I don't want an eternal ice age, I don't like the cold."
"Well, wee we escape, you can come with us." Ciarda suggested.
"No, if all three of us escape, Master Malik will search for us all faster. And there will be a chance that we will be found."
"Alright then, where is the courtyard?" Ciarda said as she and Blix tip-toed through the door.
"Follow me, and be silent!" Blix hissed.
Through the corridors they went, the only source of light being the candle that was dimly lit.
What seemed like forever, only took about ten minutes when they reached the towering iron doors from which Ciarda ventured in earlier that day. The moon was just setting down the horizon, and to the east, Ciarda could make out the dim, purplish-orange light that told her that dawn was near. The stars were fading slowly, and Ciarda clutched her arms close to her body because of the cold.
"Take this." Blix said as he handed her a pitch-black cloak.
"Thank you-for everything." Ciarda said as she threw the cloak over her. The cloak was smooth and warm with an embroidered purple eye on the hood. "But...where should I flee?" Ciarda said as she hopped on Nightmare's back.
"To a place called Domino city. Go east to the sea, and there should be a ship called the "Shadow Treader," go aboard and tell the captain that you are a good friend of Blix. TEll them that you are to go straight to Domino Port. And...I know who has killed your family..."
"You mean...Malik?"
Blix nodded his head solemly.
"Do you know where my little sister is? I abandoned her a few years ago. I didn't want to, it was just hard to care for her."
"What does she look like?"
"Well, she has long, silvery hair, gold, cloven hooves for feet, she walks around without making a sound, and there's a silvery horn protruding three inches from her forehead."
"Your sister's an ugly one-horned mule? Erm, a unicorn I mean." Blix corrected himself as Ciarda shot him a dirty glance.
"It was strange spell happened long ago. We were chased by so many unicorn hunters that I had no choice but to leave her."
"I have...she lives in the forest, but don't worry. She's safe where she is." Blix smiled as he patted Ciarda's wrist in reassurance. "Now be off. The day draws nearer. Remember my directions!" Blix said as Ciarda took Nightmare into a brisk gallop through the wrought iron gates.
Ever since that morning, Ciarda had been looking for the direction of east for the sun was already at the noon point.
"So you're going to fly up to see which direction the ocean is?" Nightmare said impatiently.
"Yes, we must be far away from Malik's lair for anyone to see us." Ciarda said confidently.
She clutched her black amulet and concentrated on becoming her demon form. Just then, large, dragon-like wings spreading eight feet per wing protruded from her back, her nails becoming deadly talons, her eyes turned green and snakelike. She gave a hideous screech and shot up into the air. Ciarda felt this great surge of power and energy as she soared above the treetops. In the distance, she saw a thick, blue strip across the horizon. The sun reflected its golden light off it. It was the sea! It was so gorgeous, Ciarda had never seen the ocean until now. She flew a little higher, there, she could see the tall, wooden mast of the Shadow Treader.
"I see it! It's about a kilometer ahead, follow me!" Ciarda said as she flew ahead, Nightmare galloping behind her.
They had reached the sea in no time at all. Ciarda had turned back to herself, and flopped down onto the warn sand.
So warm..." She sighed deeply and started to doze off.
"Ciarda, we must get to the ship." Nightmare snorted.
Ciarda's eye's fluttered open, almost hypnotized by the peaceful crashing of the waves. She stood up, brushed the sand off of her, and mounted Nightmare towards the Shadow Treader.
"Ah, good day dark mistress." The captain said marveling over Ciarda's slender figure and demon unicorn.
"Hello," Ciarda said in her most noble voice. "I am a good friend of the goblin Blix, and that I wish to go to Domino City."
"Aye, milady, Domino it is. I'll let you go for free, the unicorn too." The captain said. "By the way, name's Blunder. Blunder the goblin."
Goblin's have the strangest names, don't they." Ciarda said to Nightmare as she lay in her hammock.
"We'll be at Domino in about three hours!" Blunder yelled obnoxiously in her cabin. Forcing Ciarda to take a fall to the wooden deck.
"Incompetent fool." Ciarda muttered to herself as she leaned against Nightmare, and drifted off to sleep.
Ciarda kneeled down in the dewy grass besides Nightmare-her demon unicorn. He had a coal-black coat, a black mane, cloved hooves of iron, dark-red eyes, and an iron horn sharpened to a deadly spear.
"Are you sure you now where it is milady?" Nightmare asked.
"Yes, but if Blix has lied to me..." Ciarda motioned her pronged spear in a fighting manner. "But I trust Blix. He helped me escape from Malik's clutches. Now let's see, he told me to head east to the sea. There should be a boat called "The Shadow Treader," and to tell the captain to go to Domino city." Ciarda pursed her black lips and stood up.
She was only nine-teen years old. Her elven family was killed by Malik and his Rare Hunters. Only her and her sister Amalthelia managed to escape. She had abandoned her sister, her heart had become dark and hateful, and became a demon elf. Wandering the forests hunting unicorns.
"I can't hunt unicorns anymore, I made a promise not to for I know what will happen." Ciarda hissed. Her long, elven ears stuck upwards through her obsidian hair braided down to her knees, ending in a thick gold bracelet the size of her hand. She had black lips and nails, and two Celtic hunter tattoos on each side of her face. She had on black knee-height laced boots, a short black leather skirt, and a black tube top. With her, she carried her quiver of arrows, and a bow. And a projectile spear that protruded six feet with the push of a button.
"Perhaps you can turn into your yami and fly high enough to where you can see the ocean." Nightmare suggested.
Ciarda thought about this for a moment and agreed to it. She clutched at an ebony crystal at her neck. She unchained the necklace and remembered to how she had gotten the necklace the day before.
*flashback*
"I know this place looks abandoned milady, but I still don't know whether we should go in." Nightmare said to Ciarda.
"Relax, I'm sure nothing will happen. And besides, you said that we might find some relics or alicorns." (A.N. an alicorn is another name for a unicorn's horn) Ciarda hopped off Nightmare and stood on the stone pathway in the courtyard.
"Alright, but I'm coming with you." Nightmare snorted as Ciarda took the reins and led him into what looked like a darkened hallway.
"Can you see anything Nightmare?" Ciarda asked.
"Not really." Nightmare said.
Ciarda opened Nightmare's saddlebag, pulling out a spiraled horn about one and a half feet long.
"Alicorn, light." Ciarda said as she held the silvery horn proudly in front of her.
A bright light illuminated the dark corridors. She and Nightmare heard the sound of shuffling feet and whispers as the light from the unicorn's horn she had hunted a while ago shone on tapestries of dragons, portraits of a cloaked figure holding a gold staff-and a door!
"Wonder what's in here?" Ciarda motioned for Nightmare to follow through the door.
It was some sort of library. Spellbooks lined the towering shelves, black drapes were drawn over the windows, and a desk piled with ink wells, quills, four alicorns-and a diary!
Ciarda walked closer to the diary. It was of black leather and had a gold eye on it. "Fascinating..."
She picked it up and flipped through the pages. She had stopped to a page that said:
April 21st. 1984
Alas, my plans have worked. All I need is time. I, Malik Ishtar will bring apon an eternal ice-age in which the sun will never shed its light. The entire word will kneel at my feet! And no one will be able to stop me!
Ciarda quickly closed the book shut. She had felt like an ice cube had been shoved down her throat.
"Nightmare, I've decided something..." Ciarda pursed her lips.
"What is it milady?" Nightmare had a concerned look in his eyes.
"I don't wish to kill unicorns anymore. It's just helping the forces of darkness. It's just helping someone called Malik Ishtar. Let's go look around some more, take the alicorns and leave. It's better they are in our hands that in the hands of a "Malik Ishtar."
"Maybe there should be something useful in the throne room, like some plates or knives or something..." Nightmare's voice trailed off.
Ciarda smiled as she and Nightmare walked out of the room, and after a while of wandering, found the throne room.
"Hello! Anybody home?" Ciarda yelled as her voice echoed. "Yep, it's abandoned."
"Look at all this food on the table, it looks edible." Nightmare trotted towards the table, his cloven hooves not making a sound on the black marble tiles.
Ciarda walked towards the long table and rested her hand on Nightmares shoulder. "Do you think we should eat it?"
"I suppose so..." Nightmare said as Ciarda crawled in the table, eyeing the full rack of ribs drowned in a thick, red sauce.
The whole table looked as if a feast was set up for them. Large, plump turkeys, huge ribs smothered in some red sauce, large wine glasses filled to the top with wine that was pitch black.
Ever since Ciarda's family died, she had lost a lot of her memory of table-manners. Ciarda, picking up the ribs, eyed them carefully, then, sunk her teeth into the meat. It had been minutes before she had eaten the whole rack of ribs.
"I'm thirsty!" Ciarda said excitedly, picking up the black wine and guzzling it down her throat. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "I'm done, let's go back and get the alicorns." Ciarda took Nightmare's reins and they walked towards the large doors.
"Enjoy your meal milady?" A voice said.
"Who's there?" Ciarda pulled out her spear and aimed it at the darkness from which the voice was coming from.
"Seize her and her unicorn!" It shouted again. All of a sudden, cloaked figures came out of the darkness and grabbed her wrists and ankles. Ciarda saw a chain go around Nightmare's neck. Before she knew it, she was pinned to the ground.
"Let me go! Let me go!" Ciarda screamed as what looked like their leader went on top of her. He had dark-tanned skin, sandy blonde hair, and purple eyes.
"I asked you a question, are you pleased with your meal?"
"Y-yes. I'm really sorry for breaking in. I thought this place was abandoned and-"
"SILENCE!!!" The cloaked figure leaned closer to her ear and whispered. "My name is Malik Ishtar." He stood up, reached into his cloak, and pulled out a black necklace.
"What is that?" Ciarda said as Malik pulled down his cloak, revealing his toned chest. "I have a little gift for you." Malik said putting the necklace on Ciarda's slender neck. "You will be one of us now." Malik hissed.
"What do you mean?" Ciarda asked.
"You will aid us for the destruction of all unicorns!" Malik raised his Millennium Rod proudly in the air.
"I made a promise never to kill another unicorn again." Ciarda said as she glared at the hooded figures holding the chained Nightmare.
"You will kill them for me..."
"You disgust me." Ciarda said as she screeched in pain. Large, bloody, dragon-like wings shot out of her back. Her black nails had turned into long, black claws.
"Give the dear her spear back and see what happens Blix." Malik motioned for a waist-height goblin to give back her spear. Ciarda took the spear and was ready to kill Malik.
"What's happening to my spear?" Ciarda asked as her spearhead took the shape of two black rearing unicorns. Between them, a large, red orb appeared.
"Now you have the power to fly, and track down unicorns with that spear." Malik came up to Ciarda and gently caressed her cheek. "My dark beauty..." Ciarda glared at Malik.
"And look at your pretty eyes now too." Malik said as Blix handed Ciarda a silver mirror. Ciarda stared into the mirror-those monsters! What have they done?! Ciarda thought. Her lapiz-lazuli blue eyes were now green and snake-like. Tears began to form behind her demon-like eyes.
"Look what you did to me!" Ciarda barked, realizing she had fangs as well. She gave a mighty screech, flew up to the rafters, and stared at her claws.
"About one-and-a-half inches long-sharp too-perfect." Ciarda said to herself. With that, she lunged down, like an osprey, scratched Malik on one side of his face. "Yes," Ciarda hissed. "That is the pain I feel every day. And the scars will not heal."
Malik saw Ciarda fly up again. She clutched her necklace and looked like she was thinking about turning back to normal. With that, Ciarda's black wings disappeared, her claws faded away, and her eyes turned back to their normal color. She fell, screaming as she landed on the ebony table and hit her head.
"She actually scratched me..." Malik said turning into his darker half.
"Do you wish me to put her in her room sire?" Blix said with a terrified look in his eyes.
"Yes, there will be a unicorn hunt tomorrow. She will try to fail. If she does..." Yami Malik said as Blix dragged Ciarda off to her room. "Keep her unicorn in the stables."
Blix left the main hall carrying Ciarda over his shoulders. His pace quickened as he heard the mad laughing of his master.
Ciarda's eyes slowly fluttered open. Her mind was already struggling trying to remember the events of that day. She ran her fingers down her neck, feeling the necklace. Ciarda couldn't see where she was. Everything was so dark. Just then, the creak of a door was heard, and the dim light of a candle entered the room.
"Who's there?" Ciarda said. Clutching what felt like sheets, she had realized she was in a bed.
"Milady, please, we mustn't wake my master. He's asleep in the next chamber, and awaking him would be catastrophic." The figure walked in, showing Ciarda a nick on his twisted ear.
"Blix, is that you?" Ciarda whispered. She crawled out of bed, pulled off some black nightgown, and changed into her hunting outfit. "What are you doing here?"
"Here to help you flee. Nightmare's already in the courtyard." Blix said as Ciarda was tying the black lace on her boots.
"How did you know his name was Nightmare?" Ciarda said as Blix reached into a burlap sack, pulling out the alicorns and Ciarda's weapons.
"Ugly one-horned demon mule gave us so much trouble when we tried to get him into the stable, that getting him in was a nightmare."
"Just for the record, Nightmare's a demon unicorn, not an "ugly one- horned demon mule."
"Forgive me, it is the way of the goblins that we talk like this." Blix kneeled and started to cry.
"Blix, I'm not mad at you..."
"I know, I'm just scared."
"Scared of what?"
"I fear that when you escape, I'm afraid of what Master Malik will do to me, of if he gets all the alicorns. I don't want an eternal ice age, I don't like the cold."
"Well, wee we escape, you can come with us." Ciarda suggested.
"No, if all three of us escape, Master Malik will search for us all faster. And there will be a chance that we will be found."
"Alright then, where is the courtyard?" Ciarda said as she and Blix tip-toed through the door.
"Follow me, and be silent!" Blix hissed.
Through the corridors they went, the only source of light being the candle that was dimly lit.
What seemed like forever, only took about ten minutes when they reached the towering iron doors from which Ciarda ventured in earlier that day. The moon was just setting down the horizon, and to the east, Ciarda could make out the dim, purplish-orange light that told her that dawn was near. The stars were fading slowly, and Ciarda clutched her arms close to her body because of the cold.
"Take this." Blix said as he handed her a pitch-black cloak.
"Thank you-for everything." Ciarda said as she threw the cloak over her. The cloak was smooth and warm with an embroidered purple eye on the hood. "But...where should I flee?" Ciarda said as she hopped on Nightmare's back.
"To a place called Domino city. Go east to the sea, and there should be a ship called the "Shadow Treader," go aboard and tell the captain that you are a good friend of Blix. TEll them that you are to go straight to Domino Port. And...I know who has killed your family..."
"You mean...Malik?"
Blix nodded his head solemly.
"Do you know where my little sister is? I abandoned her a few years ago. I didn't want to, it was just hard to care for her."
"What does she look like?"
"Well, she has long, silvery hair, gold, cloven hooves for feet, she walks around without making a sound, and there's a silvery horn protruding three inches from her forehead."
"Your sister's an ugly one-horned mule? Erm, a unicorn I mean." Blix corrected himself as Ciarda shot him a dirty glance.
"It was strange spell happened long ago. We were chased by so many unicorn hunters that I had no choice but to leave her."
"I have...she lives in the forest, but don't worry. She's safe where she is." Blix smiled as he patted Ciarda's wrist in reassurance. "Now be off. The day draws nearer. Remember my directions!" Blix said as Ciarda took Nightmare into a brisk gallop through the wrought iron gates.
Ever since that morning, Ciarda had been looking for the direction of east for the sun was already at the noon point.
"So you're going to fly up to see which direction the ocean is?" Nightmare said impatiently.
"Yes, we must be far away from Malik's lair for anyone to see us." Ciarda said confidently.
She clutched her black amulet and concentrated on becoming her demon form. Just then, large, dragon-like wings spreading eight feet per wing protruded from her back, her nails becoming deadly talons, her eyes turned green and snakelike. She gave a hideous screech and shot up into the air. Ciarda felt this great surge of power and energy as she soared above the treetops. In the distance, she saw a thick, blue strip across the horizon. The sun reflected its golden light off it. It was the sea! It was so gorgeous, Ciarda had never seen the ocean until now. She flew a little higher, there, she could see the tall, wooden mast of the Shadow Treader.
"I see it! It's about a kilometer ahead, follow me!" Ciarda said as she flew ahead, Nightmare galloping behind her.
They had reached the sea in no time at all. Ciarda had turned back to herself, and flopped down onto the warn sand.
So warm..." She sighed deeply and started to doze off.
"Ciarda, we must get to the ship." Nightmare snorted.
Ciarda's eye's fluttered open, almost hypnotized by the peaceful crashing of the waves. She stood up, brushed the sand off of her, and mounted Nightmare towards the Shadow Treader.
"Ah, good day dark mistress." The captain said marveling over Ciarda's slender figure and demon unicorn.
"Hello," Ciarda said in her most noble voice. "I am a good friend of the goblin Blix, and that I wish to go to Domino City."
"Aye, milady, Domino it is. I'll let you go for free, the unicorn too." The captain said. "By the way, name's Blunder. Blunder the goblin."
Goblin's have the strangest names, don't they." Ciarda said to Nightmare as she lay in her hammock.
"We'll be at Domino in about three hours!" Blunder yelled obnoxiously in her cabin. Forcing Ciarda to take a fall to the wooden deck.
"Incompetent fool." Ciarda muttered to herself as she leaned against Nightmare, and drifted off to sleep.