Come Love A Stranger

Fifty

Mariah watched as Alador kept wriggling on the ground in pain, it went on for minutes and she knew she couldn’t take it anymore. Whatever that would be the consequence, let it happen but she just can’t do it anymore, watch him go through such pain alone without doing anything. So she ran towards him, despite Azura’s warning. Her ankle still aches from her fall earlier but she didn’t mind about it. She fell on the floor beside Alador, cradling his head softly on her labs and sniffling, “I’m so sorry, but do not worry, I will always be here for you, come what may. I am never leaving your side again, no matter what happens. Hackeries or no Hackeries, I am never leaving you, Alador, never.”
If he heard her, he didn’t show it, he just kept moaning in pain and twitching softly in her arms. His eyes were closed and his body was burning up. She has never known his body to be warmth, he was always slightly cold and only warms her up in a way only he knows how. Suddenly, his body went limp, he wasn’t moaning in pain again neither was he twitching in pain. Mariah was shocked as well as afraid, what happened? She wondered so badly and turned to glance at Azura and Bamushka who were already close to them.
“Do not worry, he is okay, he has just passed out due to the pain but not to worry, he would wake up in few days and he would be his normal self again,” Azura explained, “come, we have to take him back to our kingdom.”
“But, what about my people, my village?” Mariah asked, softly caressing Alador’s cheek. He looked so handsome and so at peace in his sleep, no atom of pain was visible on his flawless face.
“We were thawing the ice when suddenly, it started thawing on t’s own, that was when I knew something must have happened to him because the only way the ice would thaw would be if he releases it himself or if something happened to him, causing lack of focus on the spell.”
Mariah nodded, “when did you say he would wake up?”
“In three days time, that’s when the curse would be fully uplifted,” Azura answered and placed a hand on her shoulder, Bamushka placed a hand on her other shoulder and like that, they disappeared. Appearing in a room made up of green colors and different drawings of animals. They three put hands together and carried him to the bed, placing him there softly and Mariah covered him up with a blanket.
“You need to rest, Mariah, your body needs it,” Azura said when all seems to be well.
“No, don’t worry, I will stay here with him.”
“But…”
“Please,” she pleaded, bringing Alador’s hand and placing on her cheek, “I need to take care of him, otherwise I would never forgive myself for what I did to him.”
Seeing the way she was behaving and how she never took her eyes off Alador despite speaking to her, Azura felt bad and sorry for the poor human girl. She sighed and nodded softly, “fine, I will come check on you later and if you need anything, just call out to me and I would hear you,” and then she grabbed her hand and took off a bracelet from her own hand and put it on hers, “this would aid me in hearing you and knowing when you need me.”
Mariah stared at the crystal blue bracelet, the object look so beautiful and no doubt one of a kind, she glanced up at Azura, surprised to be receiving a gift from her, “thank you.”
“You are welcome,” Azura smiled and then turned to Bamushka and together, they left the room.
Mariah glanced at the sleeping Alador, she picked up his hand once more and place it on her cheek, leaning into his warmth, “I’m so sorry, Alador,” she whispered, “I will never hurt you like this again, I promise.”
A soft furry creature tickling her leg made her look down to see Sheila, she smiled and picked up the animal, hugging her so tightly. “Oh Sheila, I thought I would never see you again.”
‘I will always be here master, I only left because I thought my presence would be reminding you of my master since you do not want to see him again.’
She heard in her thought and glanced at the blue eyes fox immediately and just when she wanted to panic that the creature spoke to her, she remembered what Alador said that celestial foxes can speak to humans and gods through telepathic connection. She calmed then and hugged the fox once more, “I’m so sorry for what I did to him, I did not know it would end up like this.”
‘T’s alright master, I want you to know that master never blamed you, all through the time he was blaming himself, he believed he had failed you which was why you do not want him anymore. He also thought you rejected him because he has not been able to protect you all those lifetimes and what’s worse, he was not able to protect your child.’
“No,” Mariah shook her head, “it has never been that, I will never and have never blamed him for what happened. He tried his best, that I already know and I will never make him feel bad because of that. He was handicapped, I understand very well so I will never use that against him, never,” then turning to Alador, she grasped his hand, “I have never blamed you for what happened, Alador, never have, never will. I believe that whatever happened, happened for reason, maybe we were not supposed to have the child or something else but whatever it would be, just know that, I have never blamed you for what happened.”
She sat there and took care of him, constantly wiping his hair out of his face and also admiring his beauty. When she got tired, she climbed into bed beside him and while Sheila slept on the other side of the bed, Mariah snuggled closer to Alador, wrapping her hand around his torso and closing her eyes. She wanted to be as close to him as possible, she had missed him so much that letting him go was an abomination in her mind.
***
Two days later, Mariah has not left Alador’s side for once expect when she need to wash up but even though she wanted to do that, she would always plead with Azura to let her wash up in the room and she would always oblige, magically setting the bathing materials in the center of the room for her. With just two days, she had come to learn how much the human girl loves her son and slowly started letting her hatred on human to filter away, knowing that just because one person was evil, doesn’t mean the entire race was evil as well.
Mariah once again was dabbing a cold towel on Alador’s forehead, he was constantly hot and needed to be cooled down and that was the only way to pass him the exact amount of cold he needed without overdoing it. She sighed and stood up to get water for herself but she noticed that the jug was empty, she wanted to call out Azura as she had been doing but then remembered that she had said she was going out and would come and see them immediately she was back. So rather than sit down and wait for her and die of thirst, she decided to go get it herself, she was sure she could find her way around or if possible see someone to help her by giving her direction.
She turned to Alador and placed a kiss on his forehead and left the room but immediately she stepped out of the room, she felt cold run down her spine. She frowned wondering what would cause it but she suddenly felt like she was being watched. Turning back, she saw no one following her but she couldn’t get over the feeling that someone was watching her.
She continued cautiously on her walk to the kitchen and when she couldn’t take both the cold and fear once more, she turned back sharply and saw them. Black shadowy creature with wolf like faces and stature like that of humans, her heart missed series of beats as she realized what they are immediately. They were none other than the hackeries and from the looks of it, they have come to claim her soul.