Hunters

19 - Monsters

Not a single moment he let her out of sight. He'd wanted to transform back to a young man to help her fight the men surrounding her, but something had held him back. Now, he understood why. 

Since the moment she'd opened her eyes after falling from the ruin, something had changed. There had been spirals circling in her eyes. There must have been a spell upon the tower, which affected her as if she became one with it. 

And now, she had turned a man into glass. He had seen it happen. Suddenly, it looked like water crawled over his skin, swallowing him and leaving behind a transparent casing. In his life, Diaval had seen many things, but even in his opinion, this was strange. 

A restlessness kept gnawing at his insides. What had the men been after? What did they want from Alesana? Was this whole situation connected to the ruin or did this stunning power have another origin? 

He wanted to follow the men to eavesdrop, yet he didn't; Alesana had slid down against a tree and stared forward in defeat. There was no sign of triumph; she was shocked by her own actions. 

Diaval watched the men leave. He had an inkling he would see them back soon enough. It was a disturbing thought that a group of humans had succeeded to find a way this deep into the Moren and again, he remembered Maleficent's words. 

" There is movement at the borders. Forgotten paths are walked upon again, whispering voices establish malevolent conspiracies. Without being aware of it, she set things in motion, and their powers are not inferior to mine."

Had she referred to these men or were they only a prelude, just like the bats? Diaval feared the worst. He couldn't imagine it was these men who had frightened Maleficent. But why were they after Alesana? What was she hiding? Did she even know? Her confusion made him doubt it. 

The girl didn't look up when he settled down in the grass and he pressed his head against her hand to attract her attention. 

"Raven..." Her usual enthusiasm was gone and he realized he longed for the liveliness in her voice. Hopefully, it would return soon. "Where have you been?" She lifted him on her knee. Raising his head, he looked up at her. There was a cut on her cheek, caused by the knife the man had held against it. 

Diaval felt ashamed. He hadn't intervened. Just before the men showed up, he'd wondered if it wouldn't be better if he revealed his true self, but now, he chickened out. She might forgive a bird who didn't help her fight the men. But a humanoid; one that could use a weapon and stand beside her? He doubted it. He didn't even know what had held him back. He hadn't been afraid of the men. Something had convinced him to wait; a belief that Alesana wasn't as powerless as one would think. His gut had been right but he couldn't shake off the feelings of guilt. 

What if he had been wrong? He would have been too late to save her...

Alesana's almost desperate voice broke through his thoughts. "Look what I've done." Very carefully, her finger tapped the hand that had belonged to her enemy just a while ago, afraid that the glass statue would shatter at the slightest touch. She moved her clenched fingers to her mouth and bit her knuckles. "I'm a monster..."