Chapter 17:

Dark Fey rose into the sky as men poured into the dry river bed to engage in battle. Maleficent screamed as she rose into the sky to meet the Dark Fey there. She tackled and swung at the other Dark Fey that littered the sky. Her grace had not been lost, but her strength was amplified by her rage that broke through. Luckily for the other dark fey, the gown did slow her down as she engaged in the sky fighting.

Diaval flew across the riverbank, straight to the other side to Elwine. He had to keep the man from draining any of the Fey Folk that had decided to fight. As he dove for the man, a ghoul tackled him from the side and began to swipe at him with his large claws. Diaval pulled out his sword and ran a large swipe across the chest of the ghoul. The creature screamed and reared back enough that Diaval rolled out from under it. He turned and swiped another slice cross the creatures back where it then fell to the ground.

"Well, that wasn't too bad," he turned to engage Elwine once more when he was then surrounded by five more ghouls, "I spoke too soon."

He turned and shifted into a large lion with raven claws on his front feet and his black wings spread behind him. As a ghoul came close to attack, he opened his mouth and blew out fire to engulf the creature. A little bit from one form to another really did help. He roared and began his work with the rest.

Elwine chuckled to himself as he took steps toward the gorge while Diaval was preoccupied. He watched as men struggled under the might of dark magic and the creatures that wielded it. He looked up to see Maleficent blow past other Dark Fey that dared to be in her way. He saw as she grabbed Borra with her green magic and tossed him straight down into the river bed. Maybe a little top off of the magic would be called for. Elwine walked down the small incline to where Borra still laid, unable to get up from the soft dirt.

"Don't worry, you won't feel any pain soon," Elwine raised his pendant to use on Borra.

There was a roar off to his side and he was bowled over by a large black mass. He rolled out of the way as Diaval shifted back into a man with wings with a large slice over his right side from one of the ghouls, "You shouldn't count me out just as yet. You and I have unfinished business."

"Raven," Borra struggled to get up.

"Get going, Borra. You're missing the battle," Diaval said as he kept his eyes trained on Elwine.

Borra nodded and then took off toward human soldiers who were being overrun by ogres.

Diaval pulled out his sword and looked at Elwine, "What was it that you said? All Lords know how to sword fight?"

Elwine frowned and waved his hand at his side which called his family sword to him, "I will not need anything other than my wit and training to kill you."

"Never fight a raven on a battle of the minds," Diaval warned him and tapped his sword with his own, "You starting, or shall I?"

"Insolent creature!" Elwine pushed forward and swung the sword down at him.

Diaval easily parried the attack and stepped around to face Elwine again. He had a grin on his face and knew the man's style. He had watched many duels and fights, battles and brawls with weapons as a spy. It wasn't until he got to know Phillip better that he was taught the ins and outs of swordplay. He frustrated Phillip to no end as he didn't like to play by the tight rules of dueling, but it did make him that much better in being unpredictable. Diaval swung at Elwine's legs, used the broadside of his short sword and made the lord stumble back.

"You do not know how to handle one properly, do you?" Elwine shouted and pointed his sword now covered in a light layer of blue magic.

"What happened to nothing other than wit and training?" Diaval asked and pushed forward.

Their blades hit against one another, some magic peeled off and reached out toward Diaval, gold magic flared in response from his ring to defend him. The men danced around once another, swords parrying, feigning and clashing along the route of the river bed. Diaval felt his grip beginning to wane as he wasn't used to the longer fights with Phillip, Percival or even Smiling John. He suddenly felt a twist in his chest and looked up to see that Maleficent had been hit in the side with an iron spear. Elwine took the opportunity and hit the sword out of Diaval's hand.

He pulled Diaval in by his collar and then slammed him up against a flat rock at their side.

"You will never have her again," Elwine smiled up at him, the young lord that Diaval had thought he knew was never there. His true colors and motives now laid bare.

"She will never be yours," Diaval reminded him and lifted his brows to flick his eyes down. Elwine looked down to see Diaval had a giant raven claw over his pendant. He pushed the claw into the jewel at the center and heard it crack under the pressure.

Elwine screamed in panic and pulled at his pendant as he dropped Diaval. The young lord stumbled back and coddled the jewel in his hands.

Within a moment Diaval was pushed viciously from Elwine as the man mumbled over the fractured jewel. Maleficent stood in front of him and flapped her wings strongly to blow Diaval further from him. He dug his feet into the ground and flapped his wings in response to combat her own gusts. Their wings both settled and they stood quiet face to face.

The whole field drew still as Maleficent yelled out, "You will not harm him!"

"I certainly will since he has harmed you!" Diaval pointed at Elwine and then looked at her eyes. He stood to his full height and looked at her pleadingly, "This... this isn't you, Maleficent."

"You know nothing of me, shapeshifter- monster!" she growled and the red glowed behind her eyes. She leaped forward and her wings sliced through the air toward his throat and chest. He dodged and jumped from her to keep out of her reach, but careful not to harm her. His own wings blocked and pushed hers from him to make sure anything that did hit him would not cause too much damage.

"Stop running!" she yelled and charged forward. He side stepped out of the way and turned to keep an eye on her.

"You said I know nothing of you. Don't I?" Diaval asked and shook his head. He noticed that some of the men had formed a small troop behind him as if to back him. He kept his eyes on hers, "I know you better than anyone else who lives- or had ever lived."

"Lies!" she roared and stomped toward him only a few steps. She picked up a sword that had fallen in the battle and swung it toward him. Her clumsy flails of the sword were easy to either bat away with his wings or dodge completely. She noticed that he had many opportunities to pick up another weapon to draw on her, but he never did. She growled in frustration and swung the sword harder at him, "Fight me!"

"I will not!" he yelled back, which seemed to confuse to the point that she paused in her attack. He noticed her hesitation to think, "I will never hurt you."

She screamed in frustration and threw the sword to the side as it had no effect on him or his form. Her hands folded into fists as green flames flicked at her skin.

Diaval held out a hand to the troop behind him to stay their weapons and back away.

Percival stepped up at the side, "Diaval..."

"I am not afraid," Diaval smiled at her.

"You should be," she answered and bared her fangs.

"I never have been," he continued and held out his hands to show her he had no weapon, "Probably why you got so frustrated with me when I was being difficult. Always gave me a look that scared anyone- everyone else. But for me? I shrugged it off and went along my way with whatever you may have needed that day."

Maleficent narrowed her eyes at him and raised her hands with now raging green fire, "I would have roasted you alive."

"And you wanted me to believe that you would," Diaval nodded with a slight laugh, "I know you are able, don't get me wrong. But you wouldn't."

"What makes you think you know me? Because we battled before?" she began to circle him and he mirrored her movements.

"Only in mind," he tapped the side of his head, "I told you. I never would hurt you. You know this."

"I know nothing of the sort," she lashed out with green magic at him, which only passed over his shoulder and into the muddy bank behind him. Part of his dragon scale armor glowed with the heat that passed close to it.

"Even your wild magic remembers me," he shrugged his shoulders and a hand patted at the armor that seemed to cool instantly. He took a step toward her and she was the one to take a step from him. With his hands still empty he tried to catch her wild gaze, "I know that your favorite time of day is in the dawn. Where the sun has crested and you are able to go straight into the headwinds and bask in its warmth..."

Her red eyes flicker back to a wild green as she thought of her favorite place in the sky. She remembered one of the last times she flew up there and remembered a raven flying with her.

"Come now. What use are you to me if you can't keep up?" a clear, solid memory fought its way from the darkness as she heard her echoing laughter after a call of a raven.

"What is this?" she whispered and kept a watchful eye on Diaval. The raven's call echoed in her mind and she swiped out at him with her hand. It caught his chest and some of the scale armor peeled off with her swipe. He only looked at the scales and then continued on.

"I know that you love the wild nuts that grow on the Eastern border of the Moors, but adore the sweet honey that can only be found on the Southside of the cliff that holds the Rowan tree. You asked me to fetch it for you many a time."

"I am feeling peckish. Fetch me something tasty and we will go tend to the Beastie," her voice echoed again with a chuckle and a response.

"Your humble servant off to grab some of the sweet honey, then."

"What are you doing?!" she screamed and held out a hand toward him to stop him. She called on her destructive magic to blast him, but no power came from her hand to do so. Something stopped it from forming. Something locked deep inside her mind.

"He is using trickery! Lies! Do not listen!" Elwine yelled from the ground as he fought to get himself back on his feet.

"I know that when you let yourself love, it is completely. You don't hold back and that makes you vulnerable to pain and that makes you scared. Those who love you, they would never hurt you."

"... I hate you." her voice once more. Soft and barely giving a fight. There was no bite to her words.

A chuckle came forward and a tender pressure was felt on her lips. Then his voice- not Stefan's, but what she thought was the monster in front of her, "You love me."

"I hate that I love you."

"But the important thing is that you love me."

"Unfortunately."

"Please, Maleficent..." Diaval held out his hand toward her. Not with any weapon, not with any magic, just an empty hand asking for hers to fill it, "Let me prove it."

She stared at his hand and then at his face. Her eyes kept flashing from red to green to her natural brilliant hazel. Her hand lifted and she reached for the hand only to grip at her head at the last moment. Her hands clutched at the strands of hair around her horns. The darkness crept back strong into her mind and ripped at the renewed memories.

"Not real, not real!" she yelled and shook her head furiously. She turned from Diaval and took to the sky.

"No!" Diaval took off immediately after her. He saw her coming back despite whatever enchantment Elwine had placed over her. He wasn't going to give up on her now.

Percival turned to Elwine who had just finished a spell, his pendant glowed with the remnants of the spell work. Percival tightened his grip on the sword, "You!"

"Dark ones!" Elwine called and the fight was on again. A small hoard of goblins gathered around Percival and stopped his advance on Elwine. He smirked and followed Maleficent's flight path to a cliff that sat at the border of Ulstead. He cannot let her remember. That raven will ruin everything again. He conjured blue smoke and he was gone from the battlefield.


Diaval followed Maleficent close behind, his wings pushed hard to not lose sight of her. Her wings rocketed her into the high clouds above them. He didn't hesitate to follow her up. As he broke through the clouds, green compacted magic flew next to him and slightly burned his cheek.

"You dare follow me to your death!" she yelled at him as her wings rode the currents around them.

"I dare to follow you where ever you go," he answered and swiped at his cheek only to shrug it off as he had with the swipe of hers to his chest, "If that is to my death, so be it. As long as you are released and free."

"What are you trying to do, monster?" she asked and then dove at him, her wing's horn came dangerously close to his neck. He spun out of the way and flipped around to face her again. Her lip curled up to show her fangs, "You still going to feed me niceties and false stories of what has never been where there are ravens?"

"Never been?" he asked and shook his head as she began to dive for him again. He calmly beat his wings to stay in place and calmly asked her, "Then why do you remember a raven as I had never mentioned one?"

Her dive was cut short and she stopped right in front of him. Her and his wings beat in time as she stared into his eyes. He refused to fight her and for one reason or another her magic refused to work properly when used against him. His hands were folded over his chest as he stared at her in defiance. Bold-faced defiance that would wear on even the most patient.

"You ridiculous, feather-headed raven!" she yelled out at him in vexation. Suddenly her hands were over her mouth as she called him what seemed only right. It was right. It fit and she knew not why.

"No, I am more than that," he smiled softly as his body relaxed slightly.

She pushed him from her and turned to fly as fast as she could away from him. She dove from him to a cliff that oversaw both the Moors and the kingdom of Ulstead. Her feet touched down and she looked over the edge to see the vast difference in the two kingdoms. The gardens and borders of Ulstead surrounded by magical thorn walls for protection. She would have used the same kind of wall as it was nearly impenetrable. The Moors were so dark, so broken and spotted with areas in need of complete revival. Those who did this to her home would pay dearly. She heard him land behind her and she growled at the insolence.

"And you yet follow me still."

"Again, I follow where ever you may lead me," he breathed out as he stood behind her, unsure if it was the moment to approach her. They both stood in silence as they tried to read one another.

"Do you see what your queen has done to the Moors?" she said in distaste as she looked at the darkened paradise.

"She was the one who brought light back, not extinguish it. That was done by Elwine," he said but took the chance to look out at the two vast kingdoms of fairy and man. He stood by her side, but gave some space as he knew she would run again, "What happened to you?"

"You know that your master had my love, Stefan, killed so she could take rule over all. Sent you to kill him," she turned to him, the red in her eyes still there, but tamed to a point, "Killed her own father for power. Such a young thing to know such brutality."

"Something tells me that you don't quite believe that," he put his hands on his hips and tilted his head, "Otherwise, I would probably be dead already. You have doubts."

"What were those things that you planted in my head?" she snapped and began to prowl around him, "Those things that you said, they made me see and hear things that couldn't be true. Raven or not."

"Like your favorite time of day?" he asked with a quirk of his brow.

"When you spoke of my love, I heard you," she stopped right in front of him, "How did you mask Stefan's voice with your own?"

"That voice is mine," he frowned and leaned toward her with slight anger, "I wouldn't want to change it. You gave it to me."

"I did no such thing!" she turned from him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Did you not?" he asked loudly and threw his hands in the air, "I guess I changed into a man all on my own under that net when the farmer was going to beat me to death. Just pulled it right out of my own self, I did! I will tell you one thing, if I would have chosen a form, it would not have been a man!"

Another picture of a struggling raven under a rope net as a man laughed above him with a club. Her own voice casting a simple spell, "Into a man."

"Again you put things into my mind!" she yelled furiously and gripped at the base of one of her horns.

"I put nothing there, it's already yours," he pleaded with her and came up to catch her eyes, "Stefan betrayed you and took your wings. That's why you needed me. I was your wings."

"How dare you!" she raised her hand to slap him across the face, "Stefan would never-!"

His hand immediately came up as if it was natural and caught her wrist. He kept a hold of her eyes but turned the hand over in his own to kiss the back of it. He linked their fingers together as he smiled tenderly at her.

"Stefan... never-" her mind fought with itself as soon as his lips touched her hand. Darkness slipped back as more and more of her memories returned. Sitting at the Heart of the Moors as someone kept her gaze as their lips touched the back of her hand. Another brush of lips to skin when her arm was circled around their arm as they walked down the halls of a castle, "Stefan never... kissed my hand. But I remember..."

"Of course he didn't," Diaval chuckled and squeezed her hand, "I did."

"Why would you do such a thing?" she asked so confused.

"Because I love you," he let out a breath and looked at her in reverence and hope, "I have always been yours, heart and soul. No matter what, you will always be my Mistress."

"Mistress."

That one word seemed to break a dam in her mind. His voice echoed thousands of times over and over with that one word. Sometimes resigned to whatever task she had given him, sometimes inquisitive on their next movements, others so filled with emotion she wondered how she never heard it before, and then there were those few that were filled with passion and want. Sounded like something one mate would say to another. Her eyes flicked to a mark that was at his neck, just under his ear. Her other hand came up without thought to touch her own shoulder hidden under the satin dress. She stood shocked and still as she looked at the winged man in front of her, her hand still in his grasp between the two of them.

"Maleficent, please," he begged.

"Say it again," she ordered.

"I will beg all I need-"

"Not that," she shook her head, "What you had called me before. Say it again."

He smiled and kissed her hand before he brought it from his lips, "Mistress."

Things began to break apart in her mind. Confusion ran rampant and she didn't know what to think. Then she felt his hand at the side of her face she opened her eyes to see him only a breath away. She didn't push him away, she didn't pull back. She stayed perfectly still to look into his eyes.

"My Mistress," Diaval whispered between the two of them and pushed his lips gently against hers.

Her eyes fell shut as light filled her mind. Everything that was dark and hidden bloomed into glorious light and warmth. She remembered the Moors, the dark magic, her dear sweet Aurora and she remembered him. Oh, she remembered him.

As the kiss broke, her eyes were still closed, but her face held a smile as she let out a small whisper, "Diaval."

He smiled brightly and opened his eyes to meet hers as they opened at the same moment. Gone was the red of her rage and the green of her hurt. It was her brilliant hazel as she stared up at him with a sorry smile. She remembered him and he laughed in relief as he went for another kiss. He only glanced over her shoulder and quickly turned her to the side, pushed her away from him in a split second.

A large bolt of lightning tore through his right wing and into his side. The power of the bolt singed and burned his skin and muscles. It crackled and jumped from muscle to muscle through his chest and landed heavily in the center of his chest. He stumbled back from the hit, his feet sliding over the gravel at the ledge and fell over.

"DIAVAL!" Maleficent screamed as she saw him drop over. She was instantly covered by half a dozen little goblin bodies before she could launch herself from the ledge. She scratched and screeched against the little bodies over her and looked up to see Elwine, lightning still cracking at his fingertips.

"That's enough of memory lane," he snuffed out the magic at his fingers and looked at her, "Been a bit on the naughty side, my dear. Can't have that happening again, can we?"