The Purple Bicorns

“What’s this, Volf? Been out all night and just had your bath? Your hair’s still wet.”

“No, I just had a wash after morning training. It’s so warm out there, you get sweaty in no time. Couldn’t be bothered to dry my hair.”

“What do you mean, morning training? Training’s just about to start now.”

Dorino stared aghast at Volf as they sat in the Beast Hunters’ duty room, where they frequently awaited orders or a call to arms. This morning’s training regimen would focus on stamina-building exercises such as running, while the afternoon’s would be competitive team exercises. Dorino couldn’t comprehend why anyone, on a day as hot as this, would want to add anything to this already packed schedule.

“I could only keep up with Sir Volf for half of it,” someone said wearily.

Dorino hadn’t noticed him hidden in Volf’s shadow, but Kirk was here too. His hair was damp like Volf’s. He’d been spending a lot of time in Volf’s company lately, but for him to join Volf even for extra morning drills was beyond what Dorino would have expected.

“What kind of training was it, anyway?”

“Ten laps around the training ground and then five hundred practice swings.”

“Seriously? Don’t you think you’re overdoing it a little?”

Just one lap around the perimeter of the training ground made for a fairly long run. Ten laps was the distance they tackled during morning training, not as a pre-breakfast warm-up.

“Oh, no, Volf did twice as much as me.”

“Volf, are you trying to jump higher by dieting or something?” Dorino asked teasingly.

Volf didn’t rise to it, however, his tone calm and serious. “I haven’t been sleeping well these past few nights. I thought I’d try wearing myself out so I get a good night’s sleep.”

“Just get some sleeping meds from the sick bay if that’s your issue.”

“Those don’t do anything for Volf or me, Dorino,” came a low voice. It was Randolph.

Both Volf and Randolph were the sons of earls. Sleeping drugs were one of the first substances they were made to develop a resistance to, although Volf had started rather late, shortly after entering high school.

“Oh, right. Now you mention it, I think you told me that before. Sorry.”

“Couldn’t you maybe ask a mage to cast sleeping magic on you?” Kirk suggested.

“That only lasts for a short while.”

“So it does... About three hours, if I remember correctly.”

Upon closer inspection, Dorino saw that dark circles had formed beneath Volf’s eyes. It was rare to see him looking like this; the young knight usually took good care of himself. Dorino patted him on the shoulder and leaned in close.

“If you want a good night’s sleep, there’s nothing better than a pretty young lady to—”

“We have an urgent mission! Summon all the available men!”

Dorino was interrupted as the Beast Hunters’ captain, Grato, strode into the duty room barking orders. His grim expression instantly filled the knights with apprehension. The room quickly grew crowded as men were gathered in from other rooms and from outside.

“Purple bicorns have been sighted at a watering place on the southern highway. We leave to dispatch them without delay!”

For a moment, it felt as though the air had been sucked from the room. Some men clapped a hand to their forehead, others grimaced, and even the most adept and coolheaded looked deeply perturbed.

“Eyewitnesses have confirmed at least four targets, though there may be more,” Grato added.

Murmurs rippled through the ranks from men who never usually spoke among themselves in front of the captain.

“Don’t make me go...”

“Gods, anything but those.”

“I can’t do this. I’m telling you, I can’t...”

One of the newer recruits looked around at the others with bemusement.

“Are purple bicorns really that powerful?”

“Haven’t met one yet, huh? Yeah, purple bicorns are mutants, and more to the point, they’re evil bastards. It’s not that they’re all that strong, but the illusions they create are wicked.”

“Illusions?” the new recruit whispered. “What makes them so bad?”

The older knight’s gaze grew terribly distant as he replied. “They use them to make you think you’re looking at someone you love—usually someone like your wife, your child, your lover, or a parent. It stops some guys in their tracks. They’ve also got high magic resistance; you need to hit them dead-on with a long-range spell to take them down. If you get close to them, they start kicking, and believe me, you’ll know all about it if they land a kick on you. If you let their illusions stay your hand for even a second, they’ll break every bone in your body or even kill you. And they’re omnivorous, by the way, if you see what I mean.”

“Gods... It just keeps getting worse.”

The young knight blanched, finally understanding what had his seniors so distressed. He couldn’t imagine fighting beasts that spun such villainous illusions. They sounded deadly enough without them.

Grato sternly addressed the whispering men. “Our targets being what they are, we’ll travel with all possible haste and vanquish them today.”

“Captain, is it really necessary to act so quickly? Could we not wait for a contingent of bow knights to accompany us?”

“When I was young, there was once a rumor that went around that said you could meet the dead at the place where a purple bicorn had appeared. People believed it and, in just a few days, there were dozens of casualties. We killed the beast soon after, but it was cold comfort to all those who’d lost friends and family.”

“Understood, sir.”

It was understandable that some people longed to see departed loved ones, even if only in the form of an illusion. However, as knights of the kingdom, they had to do everything in their power to prevent those beasts from harming any citizens. Anything less would be a dereliction of duty. None of them wished to face the bereaved relatives of people they could have saved.

“I can offer a little compensation to anyone who wants to volunteer. In the event that not enough of you step forward, we’ll flip a coin to make up the numbers.”

Volf was the first to raise his hand. “I’d like to volunteer, sir. I don’t require any compensation, but if possible, I’d like to be given priority access to purchase the materials from the bicorns.”

“Very well. One beast’s worth of materials will be yours.”

“Thank you very much, sir.”

Bicorns possessed a high degree of magic resistance. Volf reasoned that this property might be very useful for Dahlia’s magical toolmaking—and magical sword making—efforts.

Another knight spoke up. “I’ll volunteer as well, sir. If I may, I’d like something good to drink when my wife’s not home.”

“Certainly. You’ll have a bottle from my private collection.”

Some quiet laughter rippled around the room, but few others were emboldened enough to step up. In the end, the volunteers numbered only ten, including Volf. Five of them were Scarlet Armors. As the Beast Hunters’ tradition dictated, the remainder of the team would be decided by the flip of a coin. The crowd parted down the middle, the men betting on heads on one side, those hoping for tails on the other.

“C’mon, luck, I need you on my side!”

“I’m begging you here, don’t make me go!”

Heedless of the men’s prayers and lamentations, the coin spun skyward again and again until another twenty knights had trudged forward to join the roster.

Vice-Captain Griswald, thirty knights, and four mages galloped on horseback from the capital, bound for the southern highway. It was just after midday when they reached the watering place mentioned in the report. They stopped their horses a fair distance away and proceeded from there on foot.

Griswald and one of the mages spoke to each other in hushed tones.

“We know what these illusions are, but it’s still not going to be easy maintaining focus.”

“It isn’t. I have an anti-illusory device that reveals the beasts’ true form, but they’re still overlaid by the illusions.” The mage used a magical lens to observe the bicorns from afar. “Those two on the right look especially dangerous.”

The beasts had deep purple, almost blackish fur and looked very similar to unicorns, only larger. Their eyes were red and somewhat long and narrow in shape. The clearest difference between them and their close cousin the unicorn was the two horns spiraling from their foreheads, as black and glossy as obsidian.

“And it’s tricky to fight them with long-range magic?”

“Yes. These purple bicorns are highly resistant to magic; if you don’t get a perfect shot the first time, they’ll escape. There are four of them, so perhaps we can use air and ice magic to prevent them from escaping and buy time.”

“Right. We’ll let you slow them down and then we’ll strike. Still...ugh. It won’t be easy putting my weapon through them.” There was a rare note of unease in Griswald’s voice as he stood watching the bicorns.

“If I may ask, Vice-Captain, who is it that they make you see?”

“My wife, carrying our daughter in her arms.”

“Ah... I understand.”

It was hard to imagine a man with such grit as to be able to drive a sword through his beloved wife and child, even if they were only a bicorn in disguise.

“How about you?” Griswald asked.

“I see my wife. It takes a good degree of resolve to cast long-range magic, but those beasts don’t make it easy.” The mage turned to the bow knights standing nearby. “And you? Who do you see?”

“My fiancée. Nothing surprising about that, but...I don’t know how I’m supposed to shoot her without so much as turning a hair.”

“It feels so wrong to fire at my wife and child...”

The men’s voices were quiet and full of woe. Even if they had used magical devices to prevent the others from overhearing, their worry would have been clear to anyone watching.

“I can’t believe this. It looks like the maid from our quarters.”

“Hold on, you’re gonna need to explain that later on. Not that I can talk... I see Fabiola. You know, the top girl at the House of Twilight in the pleasure quarter.”

“Wait, Dorino, you’re serious about her? I knew you’d been spending a lot of money on her lately, but...”

“Sure looks that way. Gods, I’m sweating like a pig.”

The bicorn’s wiles were exposing hitherto unknown desires, further compounding the general misery.

“What do you see, Randolph?”

“There’s not a slyer, more loathsome creature in all the kingdom, I’ll tell you that much.” Randolph wasn’t at all his useful self, staring fixedly at the bicorns with a taut smile.

“Are there any Scarlet Armors willing to form a vanguard? I won’t force anyone,” Vice-Captain Griswald called out.

“I’ll go.”

Volf stepped forward. The knight’s eyes were downcast and obscured by his bangs, his expression unreadable.

“Ever reliable, Volfred. Thank you.”

“That figures,” said a man a little distance away. “Remember last time we fought these things? He said they just looked like bicorns to him; he didn’t see anything else.”

“That’s just sad. That means there’s not a single person he really loves.”

“Well, yeah, when you put it that way...”

If Volf noticed their pitying gazes, he gave no sign. On Griswald’s order, he began to prepare for the attack.

Passing him, a knight with blue-gray hair stepped forward. “I, too, would like to volunteer, Vice-Captain.”

He was Nicola Astorga, a man about ten years Volf’s senior. Unlike Volf, he was not a Scarlet Armor but one of the regular knights of the order.

“That’s very obliging, Nicola, but are you sure you’re prepared?”

“Yes, sir. I feel this is something I must conquer, or I’ll not be at ease with myself.”

Griswald hesitated for a moment after hearing the man’s pained reply, but he soon nodded. “Very well. You and Volfred shall lead the charge together.”

Volf armed himself with a second longsword the same size as his usual. He laid both scabbards on the ground and flexed his arms, familiarizing himself with the weight and feel of the blades.

“Dual wielding today, Volf?” Dorino asked.

“The quicker we kill them, the quicker we can all go home.”

“Look, are you sure you’re all right with this?”

“Fine.” He avoided making eye contact. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to ask who he saw when he looked at those monsters. “We’ll take the two on the right first. These things are really rubbing me the wrong way, so I want to make the first strike. Will you have my back, Dorino?”

“Yeah, all right, then. I’ll follow two seconds behind. I’ll get ’em if you don’t, I promise. Even if I have to shut my eyes or something. We’ll need your shield if they start kicking, Randolph. With our strengthening magic, we’ll survive one kick, but no more.”

“I’ll be there,” the other knight replied.

Having thoroughly inspected their weapons and armor, the men leading the attack discussed their formation. A mage and another of the senior knights joined them. In the event that their assault failed to dispatch the bicorns, a second wave would follow, but many of the men remained deeply troubled by the thought of striking at the illusions they saw. They could ill afford these misgivings. Even a moment’s hesitation could be punished by a swift but painful death beneath the bicorns’ hooves.

The older knight, Nicola, stood on the left, and Volf on the right. Several knights lined up at their backs, Dorino included. After a final check of the terrain through his field glasses, Griswald gave the signal, and the vanguard rushed forth. Volf cast his strengthening magic at full power and used the sköll bracelet to accelerate.

This was the second time he had encountered purple bicorns. The first time, they had looked like nothing more or less than what they were. He’d been perplexed by the reactions of all the men around him. This time, he understood. This time, he also saw the monster’s illusion, and what he saw filled him with white-hot rage. Before Volf’s eyes was a young woman with red hair and green eyes. But this woman, draped in sheer silk and softly smiling at him, was not Dahlia. Dahlia’s hair was softer, her eyes a brilliant emerald.

“Don’t you dare...!” Volf’s roar was thunderous and charged with fury.

For mere monsters, these things had some nerve. Although he knew that the woman before him was nothing but a conjured disguise, as she spread her arms and smiled as though to welcome him in, his steps almost faltered for a moment.

You’re not Dahlia. Not even close. Dahlia smells like sunshine in a summer garden, not like you. You smell like a beast!

In an instant, Volf’s vision cleared, and the bicorn’s true form was laid bare. He raised his swords in a cross before the approaching monster, slashing them down to rend its body into four. The other made to flee, but Volf bounded off the trunk of a tree, leaping after it and decapitating it from behind while his other blade cleaved the barrel of its body. The red of Volf’s armor was soon drowned beneath an even bloodier shade.

Meanwhile, Nicola was advancing on the other pair of bicorns with a white-knuckle grip on his greatsword. His blue eyes narrowed as he drew closer, but he never stopped running nor slowed his feet.

“Let her go, damn it!”

His yell was drowned out by the roar of a gale; it must have been a mage casting air magic to stop the bicorns in their tracks. One of the bewildered beasts reared onto its hind legs to try to lash out at the knight, but there was no strength in its attack, and all it took was one great swing of Nicola’s sword to chop the monster apart.

---

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A sidelong slash caught the other as it tried to escape, a veritable fountain of blood spraying into the air. By the time the knight lowered his sword, nothing remained of the bicorns but corpses.

“Men, search the area! There may still be others!” Griswald ordered.

The knights responded at once, scattering to comb the surroundings for any beasts that had escaped their notice, but they found none. With the coast clear, it was safe to begin harvesting materials and disposing of the bodies. The tension among the men finally dissolved, and conversation soon broke out again.

“Ugh, those illusions are the worst.”

“Tell me about it. Wish they’d invent some magical tool that could get rid of them.”

“Say, did you see Sir Volfred? He looked furious. I wonder who he saw.”

“Must’ve been that duchess. If he saw her acting like a temptress in the middle of these woods, it’s no wonder he flew off the handle.”

“Ah, you think he’s finally fallen for her? He couldn’t have made a worse choice, though.”

“It’s a shame. I know this is Volfred we’re talking about, but it’s hard to imagine the feeling’s mutual.”

“Right. You might as well fall in love with a star.”

The subject of the men’s gossip was Altea Gastoni. Women claimed that she used her influence and wealth to keep Volf under her thumb, while most men insisted that Volf was in thrall to her beauty and lofty status. Altea was not just a duchess but also sister-in-law to the queen consort. Her husband had gone to an early grave, and now she kept a young Adonis at her side. Was it any surprise that rumors abounded?

“Those monsters sure know how to give a guy a rude awakening.”

“First thing I want when we get back to the city is a stiff drink.”

“You said it. Tonight, we drink, forget our troubles, make some noise, and get a damn good night’s sleep.”

The men’s voices were low and dour. Some of them were loath to reveal who the bicorns had shown them; others sighed deeply.

“As for you, I think you ought to start by finding out the name of that maid from the castle.”

“You’ve seen how cute she is. She’s sure to have a boyfriend.”

“Hey, don’t give up so easily. Won’t know unless you ask. It’s true what they say—you miss every shot you don’t take.”

“I don’t wanna take any shots... Anyway, what about you, Dorino?”

The man who’d been egging on his friend looked away with a distant gaze and a hollow bark of laughter. “Me and Fabiola? Do you know how many noblemen she’s got doting on her already? She’d have to be out of her mind to get involved with a guy like me. Nope, it’s a bottle of liquor who’ll be my partner for this evening.”

“If that’s meant to be a joke, Dorino, nobody’s laughing.”

“Aw, give me a break, Randolph. Why don’t you tell us who you saw?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Oh, no you don’t; I asked you a question, so answer it!”

It seemed that no drink was needed to ease the men into talk of romance today. The noisy chatter one usually heard in the bars had already begun, though they were all still stone sober. Keeping his back to the hubbub, Volf removed his armor. Clutching a water crystal in one hand, he drenched himself from head to toe, rinsing away the rank blood that caked him. As he was washing his hair a second time, a knight with blue-gray hair approached him—the man who’d joined him at the vanguard.

“None the worse for wear, Volf?”

“No, I’m fine, thank you. And you, Sir Astorga?”

“Managed to chip my sword. Must have been a tad overenthusiastic.”

With a chuckle, the other man began to wash his own hair and face with a water crystal. Volf couldn’t help but notice how the water running down his cheeks looked almost like tears.

“I’m sure there was nothing wrong with your swordsmanship, Sir Astorga, but...if I’m not prying, might I ask who the bicorns looked like to you?”

“Curious? That’s not like you. I saw my wife—my ex-wife. We separated the year before last. I was away on expeditions so often, she said, that she might as well not have a husband,” the hitherto taciturn knight quietly replied.

“Forgive me. I should not have asked.”

“Don’t trouble yourself. I managed to cut through her, so that must mean I’ve gotten over it. I think I’ll give it a little while and then see about those marriage interviews my friends keep nudging at me. What about you, Volfred? Who did you see?”

Volf hesitated briefly, unsure whether he ought to tell the truth. “I saw a dear friend. Those bicorns make me sick. I make myself sick.”

“You mustn’t think too much about it. Bicorns don’t only show you people you’re in love with. It can be anyone you hold dear. Before I met my ex-wife, I used to see my younger brother, who died when we were young. It got under my skin too.”

“Your brother?”

“Yes. Some of the others see their children or family members who’ve passed on. I think it might be more accurate to say that purple bicorns show you those you want—or wanted—to protect.”

Those you want to protect... Suddenly, everything made sense again. But then he considered the phrase, “those you wanted to protect.” It brought his mother, Vanessa, to mind—or rather, the image of her lying still and lifeless in the dirt. In his mind’s eye, he saw the color of her muddied jet-black hair suddenly shift, turning bright red, and he felt as though his heart froze solid. Volf was determined never to lose anyone else like that, never again to be left consumed with regret at his own weakness.

“Puts a fire under you, doesn’t it? Makes you want to get stronger so those monsters won’t be able to mess with you anymore.”

“Yes, I feel the same way,” Volf replied, finally smiling his usual smile.