Chapter 21 – Questions

Chapter 21 – Questions

“Why?” I asked suddenly. The monster seemed to start from his reverie. “Why?” I repeated. “Why did you kill him? Why?” My voice grew stronger with every word as my anger became stronger. “What did he do to you but try to defend himself? You seem to be able to stand on two legs like a man, though you’re not one! So perhaps you can tell me why someone who walks in a civilized way could be so uncivilized? Hm?”

“I had no choice,” he said after a long moment, his voice sounding like grating metal. “He would have killed me if I had not defended myself.” He was quiet; morose. Perhaps he was sorry for his crime, but I wasn’t about to be deterred.

“So that’s it, then?” I demanded. “You had no choice, and that’s an excuse for murder? You’re such an – ”

“Animal?” He said cynically.

My voice died in my throat. I cleared it. “Yes,” I replied. “You are just as you appear: I hideous monster.” I wasn’t thinking clearly, and didn’t think through my words before I spoke them. After the fact, it was too late to take them back, and I swallowed hard, realizing my error.

“It may seem perfectly alright to you to want to kill someone else just to save your own skin,” I said quietly, “but it’s not. You’re a murderer.” I became suddenly angry again, and screamed at him, “You’re a murderer! I aught to kill you myself!”

To my surprise and horror, the monster took a step forward and roared, loud and long, the sound echoing off of the cavern walls.

I screamed, and fell backwards, terrified that he was going to kill me like he had my father. I didn’t want to die.

“Don’t torment me further!” He roared. Then he swept his hands towards the water. “Look upon my suffering, and see if you have any reason to judge me!”

Unwillingly, my eyes were drawn to the mist floating above the water. My mouth opened wide at what I saw: Faces were floating the mist like spirits of the dead. Their mouths were open, as though they were screaming. Some looked like they were crying, some begging, and a few happy. There were old, young, men women, children, and even infants.

“What sorcery is this?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

“These are all the people who have died because of me,” he replied. “Most are my people. A few are yours.”

To my horror, I then saw my father’s face among them. He was smiling, and looking right at me. “Papa!” I screamed, and moved towards his face. Tears ran down my cheeks in sudden rivers.

But before I could take a step into the water, the monster grabbed me from behind and pulled me back by the back of my dress. He threw me against the stone wall, and my head swam. “If you go in there, you will die,” he hissed in a low voice. “Only the immortal may visit the dead.”

A moment passed in silence as the damp air rested on my bare arms. “So, are you immortal, then?” I asked slowly.

The monster’s back was to me. He seemed to shudder as he took a breath, and then spoke. “To an extent,” he replied quietly. He turned to face me. “I will still die,” he said. “I only have a few years left.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because that is my fate,” he replied.

“But why is it your fate?” I repeated.

He turned to me again, with that infinite sadness in his eyes. “Because I refused a maiden’s hand, she condemned me to this fate until I either die or accept. But she lengthened my life.” He turned away from me. “That is all I can tell you.”

I thought about what Queen Adellia had said when I had asked where to find the monster. She had been worried, and then didn’t tell us how after promising she would. At the time, I didn’t find it strange because she was a vain thing, and the biggest thing on her mind was her beauty. But as I sat there, thinking, I knew the truth.

“Queen Adellia,” I whispered to myself.

The monster turned on me, having heard what I’d said. “What do you know of the Queen?” He demanded. “What do you know of anything?” He screamed at me, and then he punched the rock wall by my head.

I flinched, and a tear squeezed out of my eye again. I thought about home, and how much I missed my family. I missed Freya and Naveen, I missed Mother, and even Bryanne. But most of all, I missed Father. I buried my face in my knees, wrapping my arms around my legs. I was trying to control myself; pull myself together.

Then I heard someone sobbing, heaving great sighs. I looked up and saw a man with piercing blue eyes and jet-black hair kneeling on the stone floor, crying horribly, his body wracking with sobs. He was wearing a tattered cream-colored tunic, and dirty black trousers. His feet were bare.

“Now you see me as I once was,” he said, taking great gulps of air. He was probably attractive when he wasn’t crying, but he didn’t look all that great with his eyes red, and his nose running. He wiped his eyes, and then blew his nose with a handkerchief. It was shredded by the time he was done, and I realized that what I was seeing was only an illusion.

“I wasn’t always a Beast,” he said, his voice echoing softly off of the cavern walls. A tear trickled down his cheek as his eyes turned in my direction, and took on a faraway look. For some reason, though I had calmed down, my heart started to beat faster, in fear. Then his body changed shape and he turned back into his true form: the monster.

“You’re a man?” I gasped in a whisper. “How?” I spluttered. “Why?” I paused. “And why did you show me?”

He raised his great shaggy head and looked at me, tears sparkling in the corners of his yellow eyes. “The tale is long,” he said finally, “and even if I had the time, I couldn’t tell it to you.” He stood on shaking lefs and held out his hand to help me up.

“Why not?” I asked, cautiously taking his clawed hand. As he pulled me up, his claws scratched my hand. “Ow!” I cried, pulling my hand back, a thin line of blood trickling down my hand. As I watched, the blood ran to the side of my hand and dripped onto the stone floor.

Time seemed to stop as both of us stared at the blood falling slowly to the ground. The mist hung heavy in the air, seeming to sink farther down until it touched the ground like a fog. When the damp air came in contact with my blood, it turned a bright fiery orange. It flickered and licked across the stone like real fire.

“She with the fiery light,” the monster murmured to himself.

I didn’t hear him. There was a roaring in my ears, and the sound of rushing water. Cordelia’s voice sang a song in my head, but I couldn’t follow the words. My knees buckled under me and I was unconscious before my head hit the floor.

AN: Review, please, and let me know what you think! CC is welcome, flames are not. :)