Unicorns in Battle

The woodcut grabbed Fred's interest. Whoever produced it had probably been in battle, and had included gore in the woodcut that your typical court artist often omitted. In fact, it included had realistic details about a typical battle that Fred would rather not have seen.

It was not that it was badly done. In fact, the artist did a disturbingly good job. The scenes of the weapons and armour were accurate and Fred could not find fault with any of the martial details. The one thing that seemed out of place was the unicorns. Fred had never seen unicorns in battle. Fred had never seen unicorns at all, but it seemed reasonable that they existed. But these unicorns were not the sort of unicorns that Fred had imagined. In his mind's eye, the form of the unicorn was like that of the noblest horse that one could imagine. It was of pure white, with a fine and majestic horn growing from above its forehead. He had heard that they were gentle, unless threatened, when they could be formidible. In the legends, unicorns were generally loners and free. Fred had heard that it could not be ridden, and could not even be captured, except with the enticement of a maiden girl.

The unicorns in the woodcut did not look like that. Most of these unicorns appeared to be dark and terrible beasts. These unicorns were mounted by muscular men with viscious looking curved swords. Many of the unicorn's horns were not pristine, but caked in the dirt and gore of battle. One very disturbing detail was the foam around many of the unicorns' muzzles. At least he hoped it was foam. The cause of the foam was a mystery to Fred, but Fred could not think of any explanations that gave his mind any peace.

1. Fred turned the page, trying the get the grizzly scene out of his mind.
2. Fred notices a detail in the woodcut that caught his interest.

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