He ran his finger along her jawline, his hand trembling slightly as though if he pressed too hard, she might disappear. His fears were not unfounded, for if he had tried to touch her only a few days ago, she would have fled. He couldn't remember anything about his life before her, his love for her consumed him...

* * * * *

Two days ago he had been hunting for his village when he saw the sleekest black horse running away from something. Before he could wonder what it was, a huge lion bounded after the horse's path. He chased after the two and finally caught up. The horse had caught its leg in a hole and had twisted it, possibly breaking it. The lion walked slowly around his prey as though teasing it.

A shrill cry that sounded human came from the horse and it was then that Blacen saw it wasn't a horse at all, but a black unicorn. Its horn was black with just a touch of silver on the tip, just like the silver on its hooves. He knew he had to save this majestic creature.

He pulled out his bow, aimed at the the lion, and shot before he had time to think about what the lion would do to him. But the shot was true and went right through the lion's front leg, crippling it. He roared and limped away, leaving a small trail of blood. Blacen walked over to the unicorn slowly, whispering to it soothingly. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help you."

It stared at him, fear evident in its almost human eyes. As Blacen went to its leg, he gently lifted it out of the hole, surprised to see that it wasn't broken. He took several steps back and the horse trotted around, he watched it, and from his inexperienced eyes, realized finally that it was a mare.

After she had turned around several times she seemed to nod her head at him and galloped back through the forest, leaving him in the clearing.

* * * * *

The door swung open as he pushed on it. It had been slightly open when he had come home, and he had his sword drawn, ready to kill whoever had intruded inside his house. He carefully and quietly searched around and saw who had broken in when he came to the kitchen.

A young woman, probably not out of her teens yet, was quietly sitting on the floor, looking at his knives as though she didn't understand what they were. Her hair was jet black and she looked up at him with no fear in her deep blue eyes. She was clothed in a simple black dress with silver tassles at the bottom. "Blacen."

Her voice was soft, clear and had a musical tone to it. His eyes widened as she said his name. "How do you know my name?"

A frown creased her pale face. "Blacen?"

She reached down and touched her ankle which was a deep purple, clearly she had fell and hurt herself. He knelt down beside her and she quickly moved away from him, fear and confusion flashing in her eyes. "No. Do you need help? I can help you."

She seemed to think about this for a moment before she picked up one of his knives and unsheathed it, holding it like a child would. Like someone who hadn't yet learned that the blade was sharp. She sighed and inspected it, running her finger along the knife and cutting herself in the process, red blood slowly trickling down her hand and arm.

She stared at the blood, clearly not understanding what that meant. She stood up and slowly started to back away from Blacen and out the back door. He merely watched her, not knowing what else to do about the strange girl.

* * * * *

He grunted as he swung his bow over his shoulder, having to go out and hunt again. It had been two days since the fight between the lion and unicorn and since that odd girl had appeared in his house. Blacen shook his head, almost dismissing that day as a dream.

He wandered out into the forest, aimlessly, not finding any trails or tracks to follow. Blacen raised an eyebrow as he saw dried blood deep in the soil of this clearing when he realized that this is where he saw the unicorn. He chuckled a little and sat down, just listening to the noises of the forest. Before he knew it, he fell asleep there in the grass.

A low growl woke him up and he rubbed his eyes slowly, seeing the lion that he had wounded standing not far from him. He laughed at himself softly. That's what I get for helping someone out. He shut his eyes as the lion leapt at him, but he opened them slowly when he heard something whimper. The unicorn stood in front of him, protecting him from the lion. There was a gash in the lion's side from where the unicorn had gored him, blood covered her horn and was spilling on the ground from both her horn and him.

Blacen had to cover his ears as he heard another humanlike shriek from his defender. The lion immediately backed off and slinked back into the forest. She turned to face Blacen, gently shaking her head as if trying to get the blood from her horn. He stood up and pulled out a rag. "Here, let me clean it for you."

He was careful to go slow as he reached up to gently clean her horn. Her blue eyes were full of fear, but she didn't back away from him. He smiled at her. "See, that wasn't so bad."

He frowned a little as he looked into her eyes, recognizing them; the little girl. "You. It was you in my house."

The unicorn nodded her head and made a lower pitched shrieking sound that Blacen realized came from her horn. He turned away from her, trying to block the sound out and when he turned back, he saw the girl, her ankle still bruised a little and a small scar on her hand. She took a timid step toward him and touched his chest gently with her small hands. "Blacen."

He watched her as she placed her hand on her own chest. "Dioji."

"Your name is Dioji? You are Dioji?"

She smiled and nodded. "You can understand me, can't you, but you can't speak my language very well."

She nodded again and tapped her head and then pressed her finger to his heart. She pulled out a small pendant from underneath her dress. It was in the shape of a unicorn horn. She took it off and handed him the silver chain, slowly making the motions for him to put it on. "You want me to put it on?"

She nodded rapidly, her black hair falling in front of her face. He carefully put it on and she grinned. "You can understand me now, can you not, Blacen?"

"Wow! What is this thing?"

"It is my horn for when I am in human form. It has magical properties that allow normal humans to understand us...well, me anyway. There may not be an us anymore."

He softly ran his fingers over the black pendant around his neck. "What do you mean by not an us anymore?"

"We are dying. Unicorns are meant to be free, but when we are found, we are captured and we lose our horns, becoming normal horses to you. But inside, we still have all the feelings and thoughts that we did before, we just can't express them anymore. I am the last of the black unicorns. I plan on changing this, and I need you to help me."

"Help you? How am I going to help you?"

"You are going to breed with me. I have already claimed you as mine. Your heart is pure enough that my offspring should still retain my magical abilities even though you're only a human."

He took a step back from her. "What? Do I not get a say in this?"

"No, I'm afraid not. I need you to stay with me...I will turn you into a horse and in time you may even learn that it's not that bad," she paused for a moment. "Not that it matters, because here shortly, you'll love me and never want to be apart."

She advanced on him until he backed into a tree. "I don't want to. Please, I want to go back to my village, I really don't want to be a horse."

She tilted her head to the side and smiled a little. "Okay then, let me just get the necklace from you."

Her hands lightly ran up his arms and around his neck, she started playing with the necklace and before he could react, she kissed him deeply. Slowly she pulled back from him. "Do you still want to go back to the village, Blacen?"

He smiled at her, his eyes blankly staring ahead. "Of course not, my dear."