~Part Ten~

The flickering embers of the fire held Michael's gaze as he sat hunched over on a thick log, just a few feet away from the fire pit. The haze over the dimly lit moon was thick, and he watched as Max nervously bit his fingernails, praying that the cursed weather would hold off long enough for his wedding tomorrow. Michael was positive that it would, but he still enjoyed watching Max squirm in his seat; he was still mad at the guy for trying to set him up with someone.

She wasn't just any someone either, she was a Maria someone, which just made it that much worse. Any other girl and he wouldn't be having this problem. He would have simply blown them both off.  But the problem was...he couldn't blow off the small pixie that he'd know for only a short amount of time, and that did nothing more than confuse him. Why was she able to have such an affect over him? He was beginning to reconsider the witch theory...

It took Michael a few moments to realize that the normally loud chatter around the bonfire had died down and everyone but he and Max, who was still staring at the moon as though he was afraid lycanthropes would suddenly emerge from the forest to tear them all apart, were staring at something behind both of their backs.

Turning around quickly, he watched as a nervous Maria twisted a small piece of her dress in her nimble finders as she looked back and forth between him and the other men sitting around the flames. The loud "Ow!" that suddenly irrupted from Maxwell startled him as he realized he'd just hit his friend in the arm to get his attention.

When Max finally noticed just who it was everyone was intently staring at, he quickly stood up to go and talk to her. He'd known that Michael had been wandering off into the forest nearly every night to meet her, despite his best friend's lack of knowledge that practically everyone in town had known for the last couple of days. But why she was suddenly emerging from the protection of the trees he had no clue, as did anyone else including Michael apparently.

"Maria?"

Smiling at Max, Maria did her best to shake off the sudden nervousness she was feeling for being out in the open, surrounded by so many humans all at once. Watching them from a distance was easy, but spending time among a large group of them felt like being swarmed by a pack of gorillas, waiting to be pounced on.

"I thought I might join you around the fire tonight," she said, forcing herself not to let her anxiety get the better of her. "That is, if Michael's invitation to do so still stands."

Invitation? Michael looked at her, confused. When had he..? Wait, she must have been talking about the first night he'd spoken to her, when he told her that she could have sat with the men from town near the fire, instead of lurking around suspiciously in the trees. He didn't think there was any other time that he'd mentioned the idea to her. He sort of enjoyed spending time talking with her away from everyone else, not worrying about whether or not what he said came out wrong.

It looked like tonight wasn't going to be one of those nights. Maybe this would get him off of the hook for having to ask her to be his date to the wedding…

Glancing up at Max, who was staring at him with raised eyebrows, Michael nodded. He watched Max turn back to the nervous girl and smile, before leading her over toward the spot where he had just been sitting. To his surprise, rather than taking the seat Max offered her, Maria sat down unconsciously next to Michael on the side of the log closest to her. He tried to hide the smirk that was pulling at the corner of his mouth as she was forced to scoot closer to him so that she wouldn't fall off of the side of the log.

"What are you doing here?" Michael asked her quietly, turning his head to watch as the other men either started looking around them as if the sky and trees suddenly interested them to no end, or stroke up boring conversations about the weather and the health of their families. Hmph. Amateurs.

Maria tilted her head to look up at him. "I wanted to come here before it was too late," she told him, chewing lightly on her lip. When she left, she knew that she would never have this chance again. She wouldn't able to come back.

Too late? Oh, that must have been what she meant by, 'If Michael's invitation still stands.' She should have known that she could always come join them if she liked.

Nodding his head lightly, Michael searched his mind for something to talk about, asking the first thing that came to him, "Know any good legends?" He could hear a few snickers coming from around the large circle. Great, he'd be the biggest laughing stock in town come tomorrow morning.

"Actually," Maria said, breaking into his thoughts, "there is one I...have heard that hasn't been told around the fire. One that is very rare and not well known."

The men noticeably perked up, listening to the new arrival rather interestedly. They had been telling the same old legends over and over again for years. The only time they were enticed with new ones was when someone from town went away for a time, or someone new moved into Albythia. None of them would admit it, but this was better news than having a perfect harvest or a sudden rush of customers in their stores.

Michael smiled, leaning back slightly. No laughing would be done at his expense now. The men were more likely to pat him on the back and call him a town hero.

"Tell us," Alex piped in nearby, just as eager to hear the story she had to tell as the others.

A large smile broke out on Maria's lips. This was how the men always were when they told legends at night. Perhaps she wouldn't have to go through an evening feeling as though she shouldn't have come, after all.

"Well," she began, thinking deeply as to where she should start. She knew that humans had always known the basics about her kind, but the story of what actually happened to them had never been revealed. "I suppose I should start at the beginning."

Staring deeply into the flickering flames, she watched as they lapped hungrily at the cool night air, giving her strength. "Before humans had come into existence, when legends were still truths and magic was as common as a hot summer day, unicorns lived in the valley of Antar. Most believed that they'd been brought into existence by a magical charm conjured from the sea of Naupake by the Tarreuke priests. But the truth was that they have...had existed since before time had a form, before it was even a tangible thing."

"For thousands of years they lived in peace among other mythical creatures, most who have long since been extinct. Then, when humans began to claim the Earth," she said, looking up at the midnight sky, watching the stars flicker back and forth as though they were speaking animatedly to one another, "they embraced them, helped them adjust to the new world."

"Thousands of years later, when humans could live on their own, were spread out throughout the lands, a tragedy happened. A man, who had fallen in love with a merchant's daughter, had taken her into the mountains for a small picnic away from both of their chaotic worlds. They were near a great wall of rock, when suddenly the walls of the rock face began to fall." Looking down at her hands, Maria clasped them together, swallowing her sorrow. "The man was able to get away, while the girl...was trapped under the fallen boulders."

"When the man realized what had happened, he looked up from the hill he'd tumbled down and spotted a young unicorn atop the cliff from which the rocks had come. The unicorn had made no move to help the girl, but stood staring down at him without emotion because unicorns held no emotion for such things. It could not help the girl...she was already dead." Taking in a shuddering breath, Maria folded her arms across her, rubbing the coldness from her limbs. "The man believed that the unicorn had caused the rock slide, that unicorns held no emotion for humans or other living beings and therefore deserved to perish as his love had. He vowed from that moment on to find their valley, their world and kill them all."

"It didn't take him long. He was able to track the unicorn he'd seen and follow it back to its village. After creating a large stir in his town among his people, he was able to gather a large mob and take them there, take them to the hidden walls of Antar where he killed them."

"A few were able to escape, but from that day unicorns became merely legend. The only ones that survived were forced to live alone, away from their kind, away from everything they'd once known." Licking her dry lips, Maria looked back up to meet the intense gaze of the man sitting next to her.

"That is why unicorns are no more."

Michael could feel the pain that was falling in shards from Maria's eyes. It was pain felt for the murdered creatures of the past, pain for the man who had lost the only woman he would ever love, and pain for those forgotten in the silent whispers of myth and legend. Pain for the lost understanding of every creature that had ever existed.

The sudden silence around the fire was slowly becoming deafening to Maria's ears. She could feel her legs pushing her to stand, and her feet carrying her away from everyone and into the forest. There she could hear sound, there she would feel the essence of life flowing through her, instead of the death and destruction that had been brought upon her kind. It was there that she felt alive.

It didn't take her long to distance herself far away from the camp. She knew she wouldn't be able to look upon the faces of the men who felt only pity, who couldn't understand just how terrible the ambush of the Valley of Antar had been.

Fifty-three men all armed with bows and arrows, slaughtering tens of hundreds of innocent creatures all because of her. All because she could not show compassion to the man who had lost the love of his life, all because she couldn't save her.

She spun around startled as a hand grabbed her around the waist, stopping her from running further into the forest and far away from the village. Looking up into Michael's worried eyes, she swallowed the thickness that was forming in her throat. He shouldn't be here.

"What's wrong?" It had been nearly impossible to catch up to her through the darkness of the forest after Maria had taken off in a sprint. He wasn't even sure of how many times he'd been hit in the face from branches that she'd pushed out of the way and then sent flying back at him as he'd chased the sound of her footsteps.

"They're dead, Michael," she whispered softly, as he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly to him. "They're all dead because one unicorn couldn't understand human emotions."

Running a hand gently through her hair, Michael rested his chin on the top of her head. "Shh, it's alright," he said soothingly, kissing her forehead. "It's just a story."

Maria could do nothing more than nod her head. To him it would always be a story, it would never be real. For her though, it would be a memory she was forced to live with every time she dreamed until the day she died. It was the nightmare she was to live with.

"Take me somewhere?" she asked in a quiet voice, thankful that no one else was there to see her this way, to see her guilt.

Michael rubbed his hand gently up and down her back. "Back to Liz's place?"

"No," she said quietly, letting his warm touch calm her. "To the meadow. I told Liz I would be gone for the night. I want to spend it there."

Looking down at her, Michael smiled warmly. "Okay. But only if you promise to be my date to the wedding tomorrow."

Maria looked up at him, suddenly nervous. "Date?" He wanted her to go with him to the wedding? As in, a human date? Wasn't that what led to Liz and Max's wedding in the first place?

"Max says I have to bring someone, and I really don't have anyone else to go with," he told her, noticing her sudden stiffness. "So we could just go as friends," he added quickly, making it seem as casual as possible.

Maria took in a deep breath. "Just as friends?" Were they friends? She'd never really thought about it. The only human she had ever been close to was the little girl that had given her the name Maria, but the small child had always thought she was a horse...

"Yep, just friends...and friends go to stuff all of the time together. It'll be fun."

Holding his breath, Michael watched as Maria nodded, accepting his offer. Slowly letting the oxygen out of his lungs a small smile pulled at one of the corners of his mouth, turning into a smug little grin.

"I guess we should head to the meadow then."

Letting her anxiety fade away, Maria smiled as she let him lead her farther into the woods. It had been too long since she'd spent the night sleeping under the stars. Tonight she finally felt like she was going home.