Out

Indeed, the hermit had been most......evasive in his answers and finally had gone of into the swamps screaming that Fred must "......see for himself." To understand it. Fred had been on the Trial of Manhood, and had hoped to have gotten some wisdom from the Hermit of the Eldes Swamps.....in addition to the right of adulthood from this rite.....

Fred, who had apparently suffered a sticky end in a swamp, then glances over at the wide eyed nine year old, ashamed for having almost sworn in front of her. Indeed, his ordeal had rattled him greatly to have almost done that.

"It's.....difficult to explain," the unicorn says slowly, "It's many things. It's the very foundation of what determines the shape....the form you take. It's a metaphysical interface between soul and the physical world.....and as such it has some effects on how one......behaves. Not complete control, mind you! However, changing the Matrix of a person from that of a human to...lets say a unicorn...... While at the core of it the person is still the same person..... he or she will either react and act like a unicorn.....with some rather human characteristics due to what he'd been before......."

"Or....." Joan says quietly as a memory not her own fluttered up from somewhere, "if that person tries to fight it.....they go mad."

"Yes," the unicorn says softly, placing a comforting hand on Joan's shoulder, "but fear not, Joan. You are well on your way at adjusting.....I saw this when my rather crude spell caused our minds to touch briefly. Not only did the backlash cause me to reveal.....that I had the ability to change to a human form in front of people.....a serious breach of unicorn etiquette, by the way.....we also got a small measure of each other.....

"I'd be very proud to call you friend," Joan finally says after sighing, "you broke this rather unwelcome news....... that I guess isn't so heartbreaking for me now as it would be to me a few hours ago....the best you could."

Joan nods and then steps back as Urnath turns and looks over at Hannah....who's feeling at the alicorn stub on her forehead. The other humans finally notice it, and notice the same type of formation on Urnath's head. They frown as what has just been said about Martixes.....and about the fact that Hannah had said she was only a simple peasant lass.

"Ah....now we come to the last part of our lesson," Urnath sighs as he takes Hannah's hand and holds it gently, "Due to certain instincts that all male unicorns have, we are naturally attracted to female maidens.....for they usually have the same.......aura?......mental taste?......that our females have. Usually, it's not enough for something serious to happen....only that we males lay our heads in their laps as a sign of friendship.....that will last a lifetime. Since we treat friends gently and such, some scholars believe that we unicorns have been tamed.... hah!.....by the maiden. Not quiet. However, when one of our kind meets a particular.....rare maiden....."

Urnath looks deeply into Hannah's eyes, and Hannah shivers in delight as she feels Urnaths soul touch hers.

"A pure and innocent enough female......something that has only happened in unicorn legend before now......will trigger an instinctive response," the male unicorn says softly, "I found that Hannah is such a soul.....and I'd found that I'd started the rarely used process of converting her Matrix to that of a female unicorn....... my Lifemate. The one I'll share my heart and soul with forever more."

Male and female unicorn shift into their natural form and their ivory horns touch gently before returning to human form.

"Now, you know," Urnath says softly, looking into the human faces around him, "say what you will, but know that it's done. It can't be undone by me....."

"And I don't want you to undo it," Hannah whispers softly, hugging Urnath.

The others look at each other and decide that there wasn't anything to really say on that matter.

"Now, let's get our of here," nine year old Astra finally says, bringing the task at hand back to them. The grownups nod at that, and quietly head down the tunnels they know will lead to the surface.

While it may be fortunate that the Orcs decided to just capture them and treat them relatively well (if only for unknown reasons), the adventurers decided that they'd better not press their luck by staying overly long here!

With only the few swords they possessed, they knew that to try to fight their way out of this complex was foolish. Stealth was the order of the day....stealth and a quick but lethal stab to guards expecting trouble from outside their post.....from the direction they were facing. NOT from behind!

Unicorn magic and counter tracking methods learned from both Allaria and Aqualaria (from various realms) are used to throw off outward patrols. The group heads it's way in what they all finally agree (and HOPE) is the way towards civilization (though it's more of a WAG than anything else).

Unicorns give off a whiny that sounds almost like a chuckle as the nature that most Astra and Fred analogs continues (unicorns are empathic amongst other things and are especially sensitive to blossoming love). At night sharp unicorn ears hear several Freds whispering sweet nothings into charmed ears of their respective Astras.

Small unicorn charms (useful in keeping manes neat and presentable) are used to keep extremely long hair that the Astras grew while captive out of the way (one Astra has hair down to her knees while the other has it only down to her buttocks). This proves to be more....appealing to the Astras (who find they, as well as the Freds, like the look). It's better than to just hack it short with their acquired swords!

Next day, they are off again.....

1. That is when they almost literally stumble across..... 

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