24-Hour Story Contest Short Story - The Unicorn of Brightview

Mesa Unicorn.jpg

Mesa Unicorn, by Winona Nelson | Wizards of the Coast

Now, now. Don’t be shy. Come in, step closer.

I’m going to weave a little story for you, boyo. And ya better listen carefully.

You might have heard a little sumthin’ about that old lady who owns the Redwood plantation, near the banks of the Tinred river. Poor old Ms. Redwood. She never married, she never had a family again after tragedy marked her life when she was really young. And I’m pretty sure she’ll die alone in that forgotten ranch, piling coin after coin, selling cocoa like if tomorrow was the Day of Reckoning, but never being able to know happiness again.

Have you heard how she lost his father?

Here. Drink this… And I’ll tell ya how it happn’d.

Back then, fifty years ago, poor old Ms. Redwood was Marissa Redwood, the youngest of the three Redwood siblings. Her father, Jebediah Redwood, was one of the most powerful ranchers this side of the Tinred river, a man known for providing his family with prosperity, riches and treasures from far, far away. The cocoa coming from his plantation was the best cocoa of the country, and it still is. And that old bastard surely knew how to take advantage of that. There was no lawyer or politician he couldn’t buy, no rival he couldn’t appease or make him disappear, no woman he couldn’t have. And for his kids? There was not a single thing in the world they couldn’t ask for him.

When his firstborn, Anthony, asked for a musket, the almighty Jebediah didn’t just bring him a musket, no, no, no. He bought him a flintlock musket, brought itself from Europe, rumored to be used by a French National Guard on the very storming of the Bastille, back in `89. Yeah, yeah, of course we’re talking like, sixty years ago, but it was Jebediah Redwood’s firstborn son we’re talking here. He naturally paid a fortune for that musket. And boy, that kid was happy as hell.

His brother, Dade, was a more, you know, artsy kid. Not that he didn’t like to shoot or go hunting once or twice, the Redwood plantation being as full of that thingy they call testosterone that much. But the kid actually liked painting. Like, a lot. In his eighteenth birthday, Dade had a lil’ trip to London, fell in love with the works of a Cockney landscape painter they used to call Turner. For what it’s known in this parts, Dade actually met the guy. Naturally, when Dade came home, the only thing he was able to talk was about being the Turner of Brightview.

What do ya think Dade got for his nineteenth birthday?

Of course he got a Turner painting. It still hangs in the grand hall of the Redwood manor; thing’s so massive it nearly covers an entire wall. Of course it’s a river painting.

So, when poor, pretty nine-year old Marissa asked a unicorn… like, a live unicorn…

Jebediah Redwood couldn’t let himself be seen as a father who couldn’t satisfy his daughter’s wishes. No, no, he couldn’t.

But how he could get a damn unicorn, this side of the Atlantic, so far away from the magic, pristine lands of Avalon, where they were lastly seen alive? Well…

… he got in touch with me.

Not that I was going to say no to Jebediah Redwood. It was good money. I could have asked him for the entire town and he would have made me the frickin’ mayor.

But I didn’t ask him for that. Nah, nah, nah. You see, I got a knack for predicting how beautiful girls are going to turn when they grow up. And I knew poor baby Marissa was going to be gorgeous when she came of age.

So, I asked him for Marissa’s hand. Ya, ya, of course I meant when she grew up, who the hell do ya think you’re talkin’ with? I’m not a pervert, you know. I’m just a knowledgeable gent, you see.

The almighty Jebediah was hellbent. His eyes filled with unbridled rage, for a second or two I thought he would send his goons to kill me. But nah. He knew he couldn’t mess with me. He knew that I knew too much about him. That I knew too much about everythin’.

So, after careful consideration, he agreed.

I just advised him on a little sumthin’, of course. Ya know, unicorns are… Unicorns are deadly, man. They’re not what you might think. An unicorn horn makes people greedy and unhealthy as a drunken ferryman asking for a tip or two after he’s filled with ship with plaintains. And I knew about it. I knew all about it.

But you don’t say no to Jebediah Redwood. If poor old Marissa wanted her unicorn, her damn unicorn she would have. Specially given, well, he was all that kind to be my father-in-law in nine years.

Suffice to say, I brought him the damn unicorn, two weeks before Marissa’s tenth birthday.

... What the frickin’ hell? Do you want me to tell you how I hunted or got the damn unicorn?

That’s another story entirely, boyo… We’re talking about poor old Ms. Redwood here. A man who’s good at doing things doesn’t slip his secrets of the trade that easily…

Back to Redwood plantation. On the day of her tenth birthday, Redwood manor was pampered enough for Marissa’s to be her own frickin’ fairytale castle. The drapery, the candelabra, the food… It was the day Redwood manor seemed more like a German castle than an southern, all too American little ranch. It was an event for the ages, and Jebediah Redwood knew it.

Getting down through the main stairs of the house, with his spurs ringing and echoing with a cristal-like sound all over the reception, almighty Jebediah looked like Napoleon himself after Austerlitz. With his frickin’ big hat and his shark smile barely holding his cigar, holding both flaps of his jacket like he was riding to Heaven itself, he only had eyes for his only daughter.

A wave of applause rumbled through the whole reception room as he greeted his guests. I watched from a distance, waiting to signal my men to bring Marissa’s gift. My nine-years-too-soon dowry, if you would call it like that.

His thundering voice was heard all over the room.

‘My fellow citizens of Brightview’, he said. ‘On the day we celebrate my lovely daughter’s tenth birthday, I’m too well aware that it’s a fine occasion to remind you all that I’m a man who keeps his promises. And for my Marissa, my beautiful Marissa, I’ll move heaven and earth itself. I have brought her a thing so precious, so unique, that it will be remembered for ages to come. And I’ll share it with you all!’

With a snap of his fingers, Jebediah gave me his blessing.

I signaled my men. They brought the beast, carefully hidden in an old horse-carrying carriage that the godlike Jeremiah paid a frickin’ fortune to adapt in the veins of a fairytale coach, all with golden filigree and brazen torches. The carriage entered through the main doors, barely touching the archway. With a snap of my own fingers, my man opened the carriage’s doors and put down the ramp.

The guests fell into the deepest of silences, their breath taken away.

It was a beautiful thing, that unicorn. Never knew how old he actually was, but the thing was the most regal, astonishing horned horse to walk the earth. His brown mane seemed to had tints of blue and green when exposed to the light; his hooves made an elegant, lovely sound as he was made to walk down the reception hall. His golden horn shined like a newborn star, drawing the attention of everyone.

Suffice to say, Marissa ran to the animal like she had seen God, embracing its neck with joy.

The most thundering applause of all was heard in Redwood manor that night.

Marissa’s eyes were filled with tears. With grateful, heartfelt tears. It was a lovely instant, I tell ya.

At least until everything went to hell.

A dry, piercing laughter was heard at the other side of the hall. It was Redwood’s firstborn son, Anthony.

“What the hell is this, father?”

Not a very gullible or fanciful man, Anthony Redwood was. He made its way through the guests, closing its way to Marissa and the unicorn. Probably thinking it was all a lie, trying to search for the invisible thread tying the golden horn to the unicorn’s forehead, or the frosty paint applied to the unicorn’s mane that would fell with the right choice of thinner.

You see, the bad thing about unbelieving people is the quite violent way their beliefs change when they see the old, damned truth.

When Anthony saw that golden horn up close… he became sick with greed.

“You bring a unicorn to Marissa… A frickin’ unicorn to her… And what about the rest of us? What about me and Dade?”

The not so powerful Jebediah watched from a distance, unshaken.

“Today is Marissa’s birthday, Anthony. Not yours. Besides, when does a man get interested in a unicorn, for God’s sake? It’s obviously a woman’s thing.”

Old, almighty Jebediah, playing the strongman. Like if I hadn’t seen the shine on his eyes the day I brought him the unicorn, filled with expectation and avarice that only the love of his daughter could appall.

“What?! Wha… are you calling me a sissy, father?! What the frickin’ fuck’s wrong with you?!”

Anthony produced a gun of his jacket’s left pocket, to Marissa’s own amazement.

He pointed it right away to his father, who was trying to be nonchalant as usual.

“For God’s sake, Tony, put that gun down. Are you drunk?”

Drunk he was, poor young Anthony. He just wasn’t drunk with rum.

The gun trembled in his hands, not out of fear, but out of an otherworldly determination. Jebediah still wasn’t able to believe it, thinking his firstborn was just making one of his usual shticks.

Tony remained silent, filled with what seemed to be a very real, heartfelt parricidal intent.

“I’m saying this to you again, Anthony Randall Redwood. Put that revolver down. For fuck’s sake, what kind of son I raised to bring a gun to his own sister’s birth…”

Filled with the rage of avarice as he was, Anthony didn’t let his father finish that sentence.

A high-caliber bullet passed through Jebediah James Redwood’s skull like if it was made of hay. It was just the beginning of a long, horrendous night that passed to the history books, known as the Redwood Massacre. And oh, boyo, you wouldn’t believe why.

By sunrise, after all bullets were spent and all the fine Redwood family’s cutlery were spent, there were only three living beings in Redwood manor.

Marissa, me… and that frickin’ unicorn.

I still remember the red, dark blood all over his white dress. The whole of Brightview just killed each other that evening, all for the ravaging, crazy musings of a golden horn. Anthony wasn’t the second to fall, for he gave my own men quite a fight before falling down to a fork firmly nailed through his right eye. Fortunately, Dade wasn’t there that night: when he actually received the news about it, he never returned back to Brightview. Some people said he killed himself years later, out of never being able to believe how his brother killed his own father just because of a mythical beast he thought to be extinct.

Why Marissa and I were left alive on that horrible night… Well…

I know that my love for her saved me from the avarice. That, and knowing there wasn’t anything valuable enough to make me kill that goddamned unicorn. But for her…

… I guess, after all, his father was right when he said unicorns were a woman’s thing.

More like a woman’s faithful guardian, I say.

"The desire for its magic horn inspires such bloodthirsty greed that all who see the unicorn will kill to possess it."
—Dionus, elvish archdruid | Magic: The Gathering, Magic Origins set


This short story is participating in the 24-Hour Story Contest Short Story by @mctiller, featured here

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WOW! I love how this was inspired by a magic card!

what a story, very mystical, fanciful, and legendary! Jebediah Redwood was quite a character, and I have never heard of unicorns in this fasion.

Steem on!

Greetings, @ecoinstant! Thank you for your appreciation! 😁

In fact, it was inspired by two Magic: The Gathering cards: Mesa Unicorn, the one which you see in the introduction, and Prized Unicorn, whose card flavor text you can see near the end of the story - a text that really shocked me and inspired me the most to write the tale.

Keep in touch! I'll be writing in the contest every week, so, there's a chance we might see each other in the comments section soon!

Fantastic to hear that you will continue to participate on the Steem platform! I loved reading your story and hope to get a chance to read many more!

There are so many cards now-a-days, and I bet there is a lot more inspiration where that came from!

Oh, but Anthony,
You had your masket on your birthday,
Bought by your dad as your request.

Why now do you compete with your little sis.
Why do you imply violence other than a celebration!

You have brought misfortune to the redwood family.

This is so pityfull for un appreciative son.
But anyway daddy will always be remembered for the deep love.

😍 What a lovely comment to read, @musemeza.

You truly honor what I wrote with your poem. Thanks a lot!

Wonderfully written story! And welcome to Steemit. Aside from the interesting elements within, I like the personality you brought to the narrator. But I must know, whatever happened to the narrator character at the end?

Thanks, @jazzhero! I'm pretty glad that you liked my story :D

I'd like to think that he's still in love with Marissa at the end of the story, but things have fallen sour, of course. As he was not only the person responsible for bringing the unicorn, but for bringing the fall of the Redwood family as well, I think Marissa hates him with a vengeance even in his senior years. Which is somewhat sad, because he knew what was going to happen all along...

I guess that's why they say, be more careful with what you wish for...

Hi bohemian.machine,

This post has been upvoted by the Curie community curation project and associated vote trail as exceptional content (human curated and reviewed). Have a great day :)

Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.

I strive not to be a man of success, but rather to be a man of value.

Okay, I'm female and although not a girl any longer I still love unicorns and I love your descriptive writing including unicorns1 Oh! what a terrible fate for the father showing the power of greed - something for us all to watch out for! Thanks for sharing your story!

LOL Thank you, @porters! Indeed, I think greed it's one of the worst dangers known to man, and probably one of the worst capital sins ever (after pride, of course... Satan's favourite sin, at least according to Al Pacino (?)?

I'm very glad that you liked my story! I'll keep up the good work :)

what a beautiful story

I love how the unicorn is bad. Good idea.

Awesome take on this mythical beast- and I like that you've taken the unicorn and given it a bit of a dark and sinister edge with this tale! ... that said, it's not just the unicorn you've painted with a sinister brush - blimey what a scary bunch... Jebediah - proud and greedy - Anthony - spoiled, and greedy - and your narrator... just a little bit seedy!!

Fabulous story - really enjoyed it- and how I hope that he doesn't come back for poor Marissa when she comes of age!
E x

Boy! Are you a writer!

I believe this round has just been won.

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