Thanks again so much to all of my attentive readers for your follows favorites & reviews and a particular shout out to BlackMoonWhiteSky for pointing out an unforeseen error on my part. It has been fixed n.n But I am still working on revising and fixing other little mistakes I missed. Anyway I promised myself that I would only do a chapter every few days or once a week but all of your support has inspired me so that I can't seem to stop writing much to the dismay of the readers of my other stories...oh well I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 3:

"Have you heard the news that some beast attacked the royal carriage from the prince's kingdom?" a man whispered to another on the street.

"I heard that their king and the prince's sister were killed." another man replied.

"Really?" a nearby woman gasped. "Oh thats so sad this close to their wedding day AND the queen's birthday..."

Another woman came to join in the conversation. "Yes and after her own father died. Now she has lost any chance of having a new one..."

"What manner of beast could it have been?" one of the first men asked.

"If you asked me it was those fairies from the moor...I don't know about you but I still don't trust that evil one...the one who cursed the queen. I'll bet she conjured the beast to kill the king...She's just biding her time until she can take the moors again and the two kingdoms as well. Prince Phillip would do well to put a sword through her."

"I agree" another man nodded. "King Stephan should have killed her and that crow of hers when he had the chance...I personally think we should wipe them all out and take the moors as we were promised by the king..."

Several voices rose in agreement before dispersing to their various homes and trades.

The sky had long since fallen into as the proud raven continued his search for the princess.

He had been searching ever since Phillip, Maleficent, and Aurora had spoken in the infirmary. He began his search at the sight of the attack which unfortunately revealed nothing. When the monster took her it had disappeared into thin air and could literally be anywhere. He hated to admit it but at this point he was probably more likely to find her body in pieces somewhere. That thought caused anger to rise within him. But then that didn't seem possible as the monster also had a human form. It also seemed to be specifically after her which meant it had to have other motives. Most man eating monsters he knew of were not entirely particular about whether or not they ate man or woman. Though from what he heard human females tended to be more juicy and tender than men.

No there must be another reason. There was some sinister plot afoot and it had something to do with Aurora and his mistress. But he couldn't think of what. The last time a villain had risen he had been on her side. This time...he was on the other side, and he hated to be uninformed and not ready for attack. He was a bird after all. He only hoped he could find Odette, and Maleficent could find whoever did this before it was too late. He also hoped it would not spoil Aurora's wedding. After all she had gone through so much in her short eighteen years. He had hoped she would finally have peace and happiness in her life. God knew she deserved it. He flew on looking down over the forest. It was quickly becoming too dark even for him to see with his excellent eyes. The moon was hidden behind several clouds and did not cast its normal light. But he could somewhat see the sparkling of the lake dead ahead.

As he flew his thoughts wandered back to her. It hurt his heart to hear of all she suffered, especially as kind as she was. Then the words of his mistress echoed in his head. 'Well well...Diaval...if I didn't know any better I would say you liked this girl.' Diaval released an angry caw in his bird form and beat his wings harder. It wasn't as if he liked her. He had defended Aurora to mistress as well. This girl was no different. She had been kind to him...saved his life...looked at him with those beautiful brown eyes...Diaval shook his head. What was wrong with him? He growled to himself. He was acting like a bloody love sick hatchling over some girl who couldn't even hear. From what her brother said she was a dancer and dancers belonged on a stage...

Diaval stopped and hovered in the sky. 'Stage...Stage...' Where had he heard that word...'stage' Diaval looked down to see that he was hovering just over the edge of the lake. Beneath him was a small white shape floating in the water. Diaval folded his wings and dove downward towards the shape on the lake. As he came closer he saw it was a single swan. Its delicate neck curved as it looked down in the water. Diaval spread his wings once more to slow his descent. ' swan?' he thought. Then his eyes widened. When the monster spoke it said 'Come my little swan your stage awaits.' Diaval looked down at the swan once more noticing the red strip upon its head. 'It can't be...'

Suddenly the moon came out to shine down on the swan. The water began to glow and began to rise into the air. The swan looked looked around frightened as it flapped its wings and stretched itself upward attempting to fly out of the water. But the water and light encircled the creature. Diaval watched in amazement as swan disappeared into the ball of light and water and Odette appeared from it. The water quickly fell down back into the lake but the water glowed where she stood still on the water. Odette looked just as surprised as the crow above her as she looked down at her hands. She wore a dress of solid white with long flowing bell sleeves that hung almost off her shoulders and a fitted corset like top that clung to her torso. Her skirt flared out loosely and billowed around her. On her feet were slippers that laced with ribbon up her legs. Her fiery hair hung loosely down her back and over her shoulders. She stood there in a amazement for a moment before walking to the shore.

Diaval suddenly remembered himself and flew down to land in front of her. At first she didn't see him as she was still looking at her hands and flexing her fingers. But Diaval jumped up and down and flapped his wings until she looked up at him. Her look of surprise quickly turned into a bright dazzling smile as she fell to her knees in front of him. She held her hands out to him as if to say 'look I'm me again.' Diaval jumped up and now and flapped his wings elated to have found her. He hopped over and jumped on her hand making sure she was real. Odette brought her hand up to her face where she nuzzled the proud bird. But Diaval didn't seem to mind. Then a thought hit him. 'I have to tell the mistress. I have to tell the prince and queen!"

Taking off from her hand Diaval hovered in front of her for a moment. 'Don't worry princess I will bring help. We will take you home.' Odette just continued to smile, so happy to see a familiar friend. But then Diaval took off into the sky. Odette's smile disappeared and she stood up. 'WAIT!,' she thought. 'Please don't go!' But her little friend was already out of sight over the trees. Odette's head dropped, alone again. But then a thought hit here. 'Wait now that I'm human I can go find my brother and father. We weren't far from the castle when the monster attacked...I'm sure I can find it.' Odette's head shot up again with a look of determination as she took off running into the trees. Odette came to a clearing and found herself at the edge of the lake. She continued running into the next line of trees. She quickly came to another line of trees...and found herself at another edge of the lake. Odette paused 'this can't be right...I'm running away from the lake...how can...' This part of the lake looked quite similar to...'oh no' she thought. She took off running again to the opposite side of the clearing into the trees once more..and once more found herself running out into a clearing at the edge of the lake. She looked around beginning to panic. Nearby her was a large rock. She picked it up at set it exactly halfway between the tree lines on the beach of the lake and took off running again. She ran straight into the trees and again ran into a clearing...with a stone set exactly halfway between the tree lines on the beach of the lake. Odette stomped in anger and released a silent scream as tears began to run down her face. She fell once more to her knees releasing silent sobs. She was trapped.

Suddenly she caught sight of movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to look into the trees. Out of the darkness the figure covered by a long black cloak walked towards her. Odette instantly stood up. The man walked towards her and pulled down his cloak. The man was balding with a reddish hair growing from the sides of his head and a goatee. He smiled a most wicked smile at her as he walked towards her. Odette felt shivers creep up the back of her spine and took a few steps backwards towards the water. She watched cautiously as he lifted his hands.

(Hello my dear Odette) He signed perfectly to her. (There is no need to be afraid. I'm here to help you.)

Odette's eyes widened. (You know the language of signing?) She asked with her own hands. (But how? This language was created for me so I could speak. How do you know it?)

The man continued walking towards her and she continued stepping backwards until her feet were in the water. Finally he stopped and so did she. There was something unsettling about the man in front of her. She did not want him to come any closer.

(I know alot more about you than you know my little swan. I have known you for a long time... My name is Rothbart)

Diaval flew back towards the castle as fast as his wings would carry him. He had to find his mistress and the others. He had to tell them Odette was alive. He flew up to the castle and in through a window that was kept open for him leading into the infirmary. Maleficent had decided to stay at the castle that night instead of flying back to her tree in the moors at the request of Aurora who felt safer with her god mother near. She sat in a high backed chair in the corner of the room leaning against one side with her wings wrapped around her and her eyes closed. Aurora had fallen asleep in one of the infirmary beds close to Phillip's father while Phillip sat in a chair leaning on the bed at his father's side with his head on his arms. they all woke with a start as Diaval flew in squawking to wake them all up. Maleficent instantly snapped his fingers to change him. Diaval landed hard on his feet and quickly stood up.

"I've found her she's at the lake!" He pronounced much to everyone's shock.

Maleficent was the first to respond as she quickly got to her feet. "Lead us there" She said spreading her wings.

She snapped her fingers again to change him back into his bird form and followed him out onto a nearby balcony and into the air. Phillip and Aurora quickly followed on horseback. Diaval beat his wings as hard as he could with Maleficent easily following behind him. Maleficent hoped for Aurora and Phillip's sake that the girl was ok. Earlier that day as Diaval slept she had flown to the moors looking for information on any fairies who might have disappeared. No one seemed to know of any missing fairies from the moors. That is until she spoke with some traveling fairies that had come seeking sanctuary. They spoke of rumors of an evil magician who for years had been capturing the fae for his own twisted experiments searching for a way to take fairy power. Horrific tales of things he had done to their kind made the larger fairy surge with cold fury. If this was that same man she would be sure to make him pay. But she needed more information. What was his connection with Phillip's family? Why did he take Odette? Was it even the same man? She needed to know these things. But first they needed to bring back the princess.

Maleficent and Diaval flew over the tree line and landed on the edge of the lake just as the first rays of the sun peaked over the mountains. Maleficent quickly folded her wings to her back and snapped her fingers to change Diaval into a man standing beside her. Diaval felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he stared out into the water. Behind them Aurora and Phillip galloped through the trees on their horses quickly coming to a stop on either side of Maleficent and Diaval.

"Well where is she?" Phillip asked excitedly looking around. "Where is my sister?"

But Diaval didn't answer. He couldn't answer. He simply kept staring at the lake even as his mistress turned towards him with a look that demanded an answer.

"Diaval?" She asked quietly. "Where is she?"

"Oh look..." Aurora said with a smile catching her fiance and godmother's attention.

Maleficent and Phillip turned to look at the lake where she pointed and Diaval stared.

"Its that beautiful swan again..."

Odette floated with her back to those on the shore. Her wings folded close to her white body and her neck arched with her eyes shut and tears quietly sliding down her beak before falling into the water.

Author's notes:

Not gonna lie this was a cool chapter in next couple of chapters I really wanna focus on Diaval and Odette but there will be several surprises as well. Also I don't know if anyone noticed but I did finally make a cover piece for this story. And I am quite proud! I have it as my background on my phone and my ipad...and computer...ok so I'm a bit of fan girl so what. Anyway your thoughts on this chapter are most welcome thank you so much to all my loyal readers you keep me writing. I'm gonna try to contain my writing bug at least for the next few days. But we will see I said I wasnt going to write anymore until after the weekend but we are seeing how that goes...I just cant not keep thinking about this story...I really wanna go see the movie again (and I'm starting to ramble SORRY!) anyway let me know what you thought! Have a great weekend XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO