Come Love A Stranger

Twenty seven

Mariah was shocked when she heard what the angelic woman said, looking forward to meeting me? She wondered, still surprised at that.
“Aye,” the woman answered, bringing her eyes to her, Mariah was not only shocked and surprised at this time but also froze into a statue; the woman could hear her thought just like Ilayas could, could they be related? “Aye, we are by marriage.”
Mariah opened her mouth then to say something but nothing came out, she ended up closing it not knowing what to say. “Listen to me,” Azura said, “you must come with me.”
Mariah frowned then, “why?”
“T’s because of Alador and I do not have enough time to explain it here so come with me,” she grabbed her hand then and before Mariah could say anything else, they went into a portal and she had to shut her eyes when she remembered that Alador used to tell her to do that whenever he brings her with him in his magical disappearing. “You can open your eyes now.” She heard and opened her eyes to behold a magnificent palace, it was so much bigger and richly decorated than any palace she had ever been to which was one and is King Lugar’s palace. The light blue curtains were embroidered in gold stitches like clouds. The floor was shining like gold and she was kind of reluctant to walk on it. There were high up chandeliers that the candles were lit and gave the magnificent home a golden hue. There were drawings on the wall and with a closer look, she could see that they were humans with wings and also dragons as well as other animals but one drawing caught her attention, it was the drawing of a black dragon with white wings.
She gasped immediately and took a step back, she knows that dragon, she had seen it once that night in the forest and Alador had told her that it was dream. Next to the dragon was the black panther with golden and black eyes that had given her a scare in the forest and at the same time, saved her life. She couldn’t stop herself from walking closer to the paintings on the wall. Every little detail was included in the art, even the white line that went from the panther’s head down to its tail was included. The animal looked so alive like it would jump out of the wall at her, but even at that thought, she wasn’t afraid, rather, she found out that she had even missed the creature and would love to see it again. But Alador had told her that it was the beast of the forest that protects the animals, so why was it drawn on the wall of this palace?
She wanted to ask the woman with her but another image caught her attention and also made her heartbeat increase by ten beats per second. Next to the beautiful creature was a man, his hair was long and silvery white that it glows, even the painting showed the glowing. His eyes were gold and black just like the panther’s and the dragon’s, the lips were small and beautiful and she didn’t need to look at the rest of the drawing to know who, it was her Alador, and the painting showed every little detail about his appearance. She stepped away from the wall in shock, wondering what it all means, why was Alador drawn alongside the panther and the dragon? That was when she saw another tiny image she had missed earlier, a black bird with eyes the color of black and gold.
“No,” she whispered, memories flooding into her mind, the black bird on her window with the strangest of eyes, then the next night, she might the panther, and the night after, the dragon, and then, Alador. “No!” She screamed this time for she would be a liar and a fool if she doesn’t understand what the paintings means, Alador can shape-shift into all those animals, which also means that all those while, Alador has been the one she had been meeting, Alador was the one that saved her that night from the wolves, Alador was the dragon and he was the one that put her to bed that night, and most importantly, Alador was the forest beast.
Mariah was hyperventilating, she placed her hand on her chest to calm herself down but she couldn’t, her mind was still racing at the new information she got, memories flashed through her mind at the speed of light, the forest, the waterfall, the meadow and also Alador’s words that he had lived in the forest for a long time and how he loved it more. So that was him indirectly telling her that he was the forest beast?
“Not a forest beast,” she heard and turned to see Azura walking up to stand beside her and gaze at the wall, “but a forest guardian. You see, you humans always live your life believing that t’s your wit or smartness that kept you alive but that is not true. Only a handful of humans knows about our existence and they are the important ones,” she looked at her then, “the kings of each kingdom,” seeing the shock in Mariah’s eyes, the woman didn’t react to it, “every king of each Kingdom knows about us and always come to us for advice, we are the one that see about protection of the natural elements and each of us are born with one or more power to protect.
As you can tell by my appearance, I am a protector of the sky, which means, I can summon the winds whenever I want, I can control the night and day, I can make it rain whenever I deem fit and I can make the sun stay up in the sky for how long I want.”
Mariah frowned, remembering how she had felt the wind caress her face the morning they were living the cottage and back into the kingdom, she glanced at the woman immediately, “were…”
“Nay,” Azura interrupted before she could ask the question, “Alador did.”
“Alador?”
“Aye, Alador,” she looked at her, “he is the only one that can touch a human so affectionately,” she said the last word with disgust. “Anyway,” she sighed and looked back at the wall, “he has my powers and his father’s as well as his. He was born a natural protector of the animals, his father protects the trees to ensure that they are healthy and does not run out by human’s constant need of it for their boats and houses and firewood,” she rolled her eyes, “now with his father gone, Alador is in charge of that because he was the only one that has the power then until new ones were born with the same powers. But still, because he still have that power running through his veins, he still protects the forest and the animals, t’s why he could make flowers grow, bloom and die at his whim, sprout out tree vines from the earth, summon a dying tree into health, summon the wind at his command and also, shape-shift into any animal of his choice,” she looked at her then, “aye, they are others with those powers as well but he is the only one that have three different powers.”
Mariah heaved a deep sigh to dilute everything she just told her and then something she said came back to her, “you said he has a little of your powers?”
“Aye.”
“But that would make you…”
“His mother.”