The cave's winding passages showed this was not the first time it had been safeguarded for travel. The holes where older railing systems had been mounted had not healed. At times Ihzen could have sworn she saw the shadows of people who weren't there, still against the cave walls like the shadow's of a statue She was not alone in her paranoid observations. Her silent companion seemed to take interest in odd things, passageways that looked innocuous, some of those shadows. Like a pet running back and forth between rooms, so too did The Hunter's interests erratically change. Ihzen originally thought that something dark would reach out to her, as The Hunter had warned. Yet nothing came. There were no voices. No scuffling to be heard. But there was a palpable tension building up.

As if to spite their comfort, the silence was broken. Shuffling and a rotten smell came down a passage. A putrid scent and dripping. Neither of them needed to guess what was coming for them. The smell, dripping sound, and echos of boots scrapping spelled it all out. The Hunter almost groaned at the thought.

“Necromancy, how unoriginal. This one must be weak to need the undead as servants.” The Hunter said. Yet her voice was not as confident as her words.

It wasn't long afterwords the missing crew showed up as haggard and rotten as one might expect. They came right into view as if clocking in for a shift at work. The first of the Enthralled Vex loomed in the corner. Now a puppet of the Unicorn, reanimated by malignant magic that had infected its very being. It was slumped like a mop left against a wall. Its drool pooling around its legs and its yellow blood seem to sweat from its body. There was no question of what to do. Ihzen drew her gun to fire on it but held back for a mere nanosecond, just to see if the Unicorn Hunter had something to add. Silence.

She cleared the silence by firing her Arch rifle at the Thrall. The raw arcane energy hit without miss. But instead of slicing through it, it just absorbed it.

“Shit!”

Ihzen changed the fire type. First to intense heat rounds. It seared the thrall's clothing but still nothing. It turned and slouched towards them. Ihzen changed to hyper compressed air shots. Those ripped through the flesh, but it wasn't enough. Finally she drew her explosive round handgun. It was supposed to be useless against arcane entities and proper armor, but she kept it for room clearing in urban combat. She put a round in its chest and the gore splattered everywhere. She was lucky she brought extra rounds with those supplies she had hauled in. She looked back. The Unicorn Hunter revealed no trace of judgment or approval. She just looked impatient.

“I told you the explosives would be needed,” said the Hunter matter of factly. She continued.

“The Thralls will come to protect the beast when we close in. So we'll need to collapse the cave in on it. How much do you know about controlled demolition?” Asked the Unicorn Hunter.

“Almost nothing.” replied Ihzen.

“That's more than me.”

Ihzen tried to shut out the visions of being crushed to death or having the shockwaves kill her instantly. The indignity of a suicide mission to clear out a wild animal was almost too much for her. This was solely the job of The Hunter and she regretted not heading out as she was told too. Though deep down she was starting to see how unqualified she was for this task.

“Where will we find it?”

“Someplace wet. They like water. So wherever the subterranean river starts, they'll be at its shore.”

“Just how man of these things have you killed?” asked Ihzen.

“I don't know.” This did not engender confidence in Ihzen in the slightest.

“Don't know because you lost count or don't know because it's that hard to kill them?”

“Both. You can wound them to the point where they become permanently immobile. Possibly arcanely sterile.” The Hunter quipped ineffectually.

“How many can you say you killed for certain? 100 percent certain? As in absolutely no way to resurrect itself, leave any trace, I mean complete annihilation.”

“One.”

“ONE!?” Ihzen was livid.

“Just the one. I went at it for almost 30 years, day and night. I ripped every shred of flesh, burned it, staked it, sent chunks into the aether. Buried each bit of ash in concrete and dumped them in the ocean.”

“Must of had one hell of a grudge.” Ihzen genuinely wondered why they even bothered if it took so long.

“I probably did. It's all muscle memory now. Flashbacks, waking nightmares. I don't remember the details. Thus is with age. Everything, even the most important things, disappear. There's also the death curse. If you truly kill them, they use the last of their power to give you... an ironic curse. Not sure how to put it.”

“So the skill is in not getting cursed but disabling them?” asked Ihzen.

“Exactly And to satiate your curiosity, the curse was that I would birth a hundred daughters. A hundred daughter I would be forced to kill over my life and no more. That has long come to pass and I still see their faces. I also had a premonition recently about the next curse. Foresight if you will. It was that I would permanently kill one more before the turn of this millennium.”

“Did you get any sense as to what your next curse would be?”

“That I would 'steal the empresses's glory'.”

A shiver went down Ihzen's spine. To outshine the Empress would result in a terrible, terrible fate. With that thought between them, they proceeded.

The two of them marched onward. Occasionally the Page-Officer would give directions via a com system. She chattered at them, barking orders in small bursts but it was rare to get any help navigating the darkness. Their only compass being the cold air from further in. Something was deeply off. It felt like the cave could change form. That forming any memories of the layout was always going to be faulty. It seemed they had been there so long that they took every passageway for granted. Then as it seem to worsen, Ihzen could have sworn she'd heard a whisper. In that second The Hunter snapped to attention. She grabbed Ihzen's shoulder and squeezed till it hurt. Her eyes wild with rage. Ihzen wondered if the Hunter was going to murder her for some offense she had committed.

“Make noise and keep your mind busy! Don't even try to listen to it. Talk, sing, or hum if you have to. Don't focus on anything.”

Ihzen could barely think straight to begin with. She began humming a funereal dirge. Thinking of the last of her comrades her squad had buried. The ceremony. The shrines to The Black Flame and The Empress side by side. The keys they placed in the dead vex's hands and the passages each one was buried with. The chaplain's long, locked hair and tattoos.

In the same instance The Hunter slung her cannon into the crux of her arm, dragging it against the ground to make noise while she worked. With a well-practiced movement she struck a match against some incenses she had on her and began muttering an enchantment. Ihzen could instantly feel it work. The cave got smaller, the lights brighter, and her head cleared. She got her sense of direction back. All of a sudden she realized they had been going at a snail's pace and barely had made any progress. She wondered just how much influence the beast had on them. And a thought stuck with her, who would give the final rights to them?

Ihzen wanted to kill the silence to hide the embarrassment of being so easily enchanted and it being so easily dispelled. She asked the inevitable question.

“How did you get involved with unicorns? After that first curse why hunt them? There's no way the risk is worth this. Oddly specific thing to specialize in.”

“Because it pays incredibly well. Not like I have any skills useful in this age beyond hunting.” For the first time the Unicorn Hunter seemed meek. A tinge of humiliation seeped into her voice. They both felt like fools, trying to keep the masks on in front of each other. Vulnerability had become more of an enemy than their foe.

Ihzen had to keep asking. She couldn't let it drop. She needed to know.

“You said to never make a deal with one. What was it you wanted so bad you'd risk it?”

The Unicorn Hunter stared off into the blackness of the cave. Sadness creeped into the corners of her eyes. She muttered.

“I don't remember. It's been so long. I know I made a deal and I wanted back on it. I began hunting them hoping I could undue the magic. But I don't remember what the deal was or what the downside is. I can't remember anymore. Maybe I wanted power, or a daughter, I don't remember.”

“I think you do know and you don't want to talk about it.” said Ihzen. She continued, “They give us cards with all the immortal combatants on them to memorize in training. Make sure we aren't rushing head long into a suicide mission. Call in special forces if we spot one. I've memorized at least a hundred. But you're not on them, not as a hunter. But what you said about daughters. It reminded me of something. The Seunalla. The Head Hunters of Seunalla. Each one is a legend from the pre-imperial days. You. You must be Ehlnara the Vine Witch. The slaughterer of....”

“SHUT UP!” scream the Hunter. “You don't know what the hell you're talking about! You don't know anything!”

“I know you're not even here, coward. That you use your sister's corpse like a puppet. That you're safe in the Zhir Sound in your green tower.”

“You know nothing!!! I am here! I am not some puppet nor do I puppet any sister! I am right here, living and breathing! I'm sick of this. Sick of these rumors. Sick of having a million made up nonsense tales told about me. I have no sister, I'm not the vine witch, and I....” she stopped cold. “I kill unicorns. That's all that matters.”

Ihzen let the matter drop. There was no point in pushing the Hunter any further than she had.

“So..., what does it take to kill a unicorn? You said you spent 30 years doing that just the once? Is that really necessary?”

The Unicorn Hunter grimaced.

“They aren't paying me enough to do that. Just immobilize and paralyze it. You could gut one and string out its organs and it still wouldn't be properly dead. I don't see why you care so much. You'll be dead in an hour, give or take.”

The Unicorn Hunter snapped out of her funk and returned to being emotionless and monotone.

“Enough chat. This is just the start of the hunt. It knows we're close.”

The Page-Officer piped in over the coms.

“The hell are you doing?”

The Unicorn Hunter snapped.

“I thought the Ministry of Intelligence prided itself on stealth? You'll bring down the horde on us, imbecile. And I'm doing what you're paying me for; cleaning up your mess. I know why this happened and what you were trying to do. I take as long as I take.”

“We're going to start taking expenses from your final payment for every soldier you waste. They are property of the empire.” The Page-Officer replied curtly.

“I'll use as many as I need. Soldiers are made to be used and thrown away. Much like yourself, defect. Tell me, how long could you live without those augmentations? A thousand years, tops? Is that why you wanted to make a deal with the beast? To be normal? I pay for my eons with blood but unlike you I do so knowingly. You? You just waste them because you're incompetent. If you want to live as long as I, you shouldn't be so shy about sacrificing others when and where you can.”

Ihzen couldn't take much more of this. An imperial soldier was a thing of honor. She had fought her way across the continent. Fought for The Empress. The ancient Hunter chiding her was one thing. That defective, inferior vex talking about her like a tool was too much to handle.

“Just how many soldiers have you chewed through to get this job done?!”

“Ten give or take,” replied the Hunter, “That's why I wanted to send you out. You're all useless. If I could have avoided sacrificing them I still wouldn't have. The only true mark of intelligence is success. If you're smart you'll live. Pragmatism is reality. Philosophy, theory, all that shit, it's just childish day dreaming. We pay for everything in blood.”

“I hope the beast tears you to shreds before I die, Ehlnara the Slaughterer of Children.” Ihzen retorted.

The Unicorn Hunter places her large hand over Ihzen's head. It nearly engulfed it. She squeezed hard and Ihzen's head felt like it could shatter.

“Anything that could kill me will have torn you to bits by its mere existence. If there was any danger to my life, you wouldn't even be able to stand its presence. Be thankful I'm not too vindictive or I'd throw you into its jaw just to give you a taste of real fear before you die.”

Suddenly The Hunter dropped Ihzen and turned her attention to the hollows beyond.

“Prove your usefulness to me, tin soldier. Go die for that empire you love.”

Their chatter had betrayed them. They heard the Thralls slouching towards them in the darkness. The scratches and foot shuffling. The thrall did not breathe or speak. They went forward to meet them head on. Ihzen thought she'd get smart and use fewer shots by blasting the rocky floor and sending shrapnel into the Thralls. She fired an explosive round at the cave floor but the Thralls felt nothing. She cut through them with two more shots. The skirmish seemed to end as fast as it began. There was supposedly an excavation crew of 80 vex. How many had they killed? Maybe 8.

The cold air was their only indication of where to go from there. Ihzen was slowly coming to the realization that her training meant very little outside of fighting other vex on the battlefield. She had fought building to building. As the bloody civil war grew more intense, it transitioned to trench warfare. It moved outside of major cities with heavy bombing and gas attacks. She thought she was hardened. But alone, in this cave, with nothing but a single person to back her up if even that, she was truly afraid she didn't have what it took to get out alive. She knew The Hunter would not hesitate to throw her at the beast just to buy time to reload her gun as she had promised. Ehlnara was considered the worst of The Head Hunters of Seunalla. Her reputation was one of complete carnage and sadism. Burning entire villages for the fun of it. Given how immature and emotionally volatile she was turning out to be, Ihzen truly believe the rumors now more than ever. There were no empty threats among Vex. And then there was her other newly made enemy, the Page-Officer. Even if she had greeted the Page as a proper officer, any member of the Ministry of Intelligence would not hesitate to sacrifice a single soldier. Given that she had hired this freelancer, chances were no reinforcements were called in. This was meant to be dealt with as quietly as possible. She was a loose end.

Conintued in part 3