The Angel's Humanhood

9. Poisoned Truth

The moon in the sky was bright that night. It might have been better if it wasn't. Wahag's expression of disgust made Dow believe that she shouldn't be alive more than she already did. She was completely frozen, but no matter how much the moon shown the horrified expression on her face, Wahag didn't seem to care.
"You have been walking with a beckon in your bag, for God knows how long, calling them to come after you. All these people getting hurt around you and you couldn't even sense the darkest of magic in your pocket! How many murders have you committed? Dodi's face, the missing limbs, it was all you."
Dow didn't reply and couldn't reply. She shivered in silence.
"How long have you had this?" Wahag asked in rage and when Dow couldn't reply he grabbed her by the wrists and she met his gaze, but he could barely see where she was looking from the tears that filled them. Wahag felt something twist inside him. He wanted to revert back to his jin form and hurt her even more, but then there was a part in him that wanted to stop and tell her that she didn't mean to hurt anyone.
"Stop with the crocodile tears! There is no way someone would be that dumb." He wanted to release her wrists but something glistened in the moonlight and dripped from her hand to his.
Blood.That must be very painful. The voice whispered.
Wahag released her, "You deserve all the pain you feel." Wahag felt nauseous at his own words, but had no intentions of reprimanding himself.
Wahag turned his back to her and they didn't say anything as they stood there for a long while.
"I will take you back," Dow said like someone who was walking toward the edge of a cliff ready to jump.
"You don't deserve the relief of death." Wahag said knowing too well how humans easily give up on life.
Dow didn't reply or meet his gaze. She walked past him pale and lifeless.
Wahag realized that he was still holding the talisman in his hand. He was about to tell her that she needs to figure out how to break its magic, but as Dow walked out of the lake, he saw her hand hanging next to her dripping blood on the grass. Without having the slightest idea as to why, Wahag couldn't utter another word. All he could think of is how little blood there must be in such a small body.
He followed her to his hut and they parted without another word.
Wahag kept the talisman in the bottle, but he knew too well that such a small amount of water couldn't be enough to fully nullify such magic.
He was sure that it won't be long before the hounds come back again. He luckily found a rock in the hut that was big enough to seal the bottle and he burried it as deep as he could dig with bare hands. He tried to summon a more permanent shield but his energy was too low and his body surrendered to sleep quickly.
In the morning, Wahag heard the rustle of someone opening the hut's door and he expected to see Dow. He prepared to land a long speech that he prepared in his head for her, but it was someone else who opened the door. Dodi and a bigger more muscular boy were the ones to escort him. He decided that the talisman was better left burried in the hut.
"What happened to Dow?" Wahag tried to sound uninterested.
"She is not feeling well. She works too hard and then always gets sick." Dodi answered, the other boy gave him a look of disapproval.
Wahag felt uncomfortable hearing that about her and told himself that it was because she caused everyone so much harm, but they think she is a saint.
When they got to the field, Wahag looked around but Dow was no where to be found.
Wahag was assigned the well digging again. This time, there were no hounds and he had to actually do the digging. Not long after he started, his entire body was screaming from pain.
He sat down panting.
"Hey, what do you think you are doing?" The older boy that escorted him commanded.
Wahag puzzled at the meaningless question, "I am sitting down."
The boy was probably at the end of his teens, he had a young mustache and wore a sleeveless shirt that exposed his muscled arms. Wahag felt envious at the energy that radiated from him.
"I can see that you are sitting. Who said you can just sit? Everyone else is working? Even the youngest," the boy pointed.
Dodi was giving out water and was on his way to them with two filled jugs.
Dodi handed one jug to Wahag with a smile and turned to the boy with a more serious expression, "Here you go, Prince."
"And how is that relevant to me?" Wahag digressed.
"You eat our food. Then, you have to work. Do you feel no shame?" Prince obviously had no intentions of letting it go.
Wahag didn't want to admit to himself that Prince was right, but his ears suddenly felt warmer, "I am just resting for a minute."
"I don't know why Dow insisted on keeping such a useless weakling." The boy shook his head in disappointment.
Wahag wanted to give Prince an earful about how he saved them from the hounds yesterday more than once, but something about knowing that the protectors of this village were worshipped stopped him. Prince wasn't wrong, this body was weak.
I am not the only one who is weak. The voice echoed. You lack a lot too. You don't know the first thing about being a good person.
Wahag wanted to reply back to the voice when Prince said, "Your resting for a minute is over, get up." Prince extended a thick hand to Wahag.
Wahag took it and was pulled swiftly on his feet.
"You are wasting a lot of energy digging like a kitty in a litter box. Let me show you how its done" said Prince.