Chapter thirteen

Aven had tried to get Devlin to go back to his home so many times, but the stubborn creature wouldn't leave him. His mother would be worried when she came home to find him missing, but Devlin wasn't listening to him.

"Devlin." Aven said, shaking his arm and trying to get the Kit off. "You can't come with us, you need to stay here."

Devlin growled quietly at Aven, holding tighter onto his arm and giving Aven a really funny look that made Bryony burst out laughing from behind him. Devlin's eyes turned to look at her and he chirped proudly. Aven shook his head, grabbing the stubborn thing, and putting him down on the ground, but Devlin immediately crawled onto his leg and stuck to his pants. Aven kicked his leg, trying to get him off. "Devlin stop, you have to stay here."

Bryony knelt down next to Devlin and grabbed him. She pulled on him but his claws were stuck to Aven's pants leg and he wasn't letting go. Devlin howled at her and she laughed, looking up at Aven. "He doesn't want to leave you."

Aven shook his head. "He needs to, this is his home. He's safe in here."

Why did Devlin suddenly want to go with him? He never wanted to leave his mother, why did he want to now? It wasn't safe for him outside of this forest, even outside this grove. He was just a baby and Aven didn't understand why he wasn't listening to him. It would be very stupid to allow a baby to go with them.

Devlin whimpered up at Aven, staring at him with those big blue eyes. He looked sad. Aven sighed, kneeling down with the leg Devlin was on outstretched in front of him so he wouldn't hurt the little baby. "You need to stay here." Aven told him softly. "It's safer for you in here. Your mother will be here soon, wait for her okay? You can't come."

Devlin chirped up at him, giving him a pleading look. He then jumped off Aven's leg and ran off into the trees. Aven stood up as Devlin howled for him to follow. He turned to Bryony and she shrugged.

"Come on." He said and ran after Devlin, not even waiting to see if Bryony even wanted to go. But he heard her running after him from behind so he knew she was coming with him.

They heard Devlin whimper behind a few trees and they ran after him. Bryony gasped and covered her mouth when they found the tiny Kit. He was standing next to his mother's body, making a whimpering sound and nudging her with his nose. Devlin's mother had claw marks all over her body and was torn up, covered in blood. Devlin was standing in the huge puddle of blood, looking up at Aven with sad eyes. There was so much blood. Aven shook his head, watching as Devlin went back to nudging his mother with his tiny nose.

What had happened? What got inside the grove and did this? The grove was protected, nothing evil could get in. What did this? Devlin was alone now, Aven couldn't leave him here. That's why Devlin wouldn't go, he knew his mother was gone and Aven knew Devlin trusted him. He was all the tiny Kit had now.

"What happened?" Bryony cried from behind Aven and he turned to see her staring at the body in front of them, eyes wide with fear. Her eyes were leaking again, crying, from what Bryony had told him. She looked up at Aven. "What did this?"

Aven didn't answer. He didn't even know what did this.

Devlin layed on the ground next to his mother and cuddled up against her, whining as he did. He closed his eyes and just stayed like that for a moment. Bryony took a step forward, but then Aven saw movement from in the trees behind her and he grabbed her arm, stopping her from moving. She turned to him, giving him a look. "What?"

Aven slowly let go of her, eyes still on the shadows behind them. Was he imagining things now? No, he saw something move with his own eyes. But he didn't see anything anymore. Maybe he did imagine it.

Bryony was still looking at him with this look. He turned to her. "Sorry, I thought I-" he immediately stopped when he saw movement from up in the tree branches right above Bryony. He quickly looked up just as something jumped down, and his eyes widened and he immediately shoved Bryony away. She stumbled back, gasping in shock as she fell down onto the ground. Her eyes were wide as she watched whatever had jumped down land on Aven, making him fall over from the weight.

A Mthunzi.

What was it doing out in the daytime?

The shadow creature snarled and tried to bite down onto Aven's shoulder but he grabbed its mouth and used all his strength to keep it from biting down. He wasn't the strongest so he was losing, and the shadow creature's mouth was getting closer and closer to his shoulder. Aven saw Bryony stand up and look around for something to help him with, but he was more focused on keeping the Mthunzi from biting him.

The shadow creature lifted a claw up and Aven's eyes widened as it smiled at him. Aven squirmed from underneath its weight and tried shoving it off, but it wouldn't budge. Just as it was about to stab its claw into Aven's side, Bryony whacked it on the head with a small log she had found. It immediately turned to her, snarling, and climbed off of Aven to pounce on her. Bryony swung the log at it but it dodged and reached its claws out and grabbed her neck. Aven stood up as the Mthunzi slammed Bryony onto the ground, claws digging into the sensitive skin of her neck. Bryony gasped, eyes widening as blood slid down her neck. Its long nails were all the way in her neck now and it was squeezing it, making Bryony choke.

Her eyes were wide with fear as she grabbed its claws and tried to pry them off her neck, but it wasn't letting go. She couldn't breathe. Bryony finally managed to get its claws off her neck, but the shadow creature immediately stabbed its claw down into her eye and Aven's eyes widened at Bryony's scream. She screamed as the shadow creature stabbed its other claw into her other eye. She started thrashing around, trying to get the creature off but it wasn't budging and she kept screaming at the pain.

Aven grabbed the log from where Bryony dropped it and ran forward to swing it at the Mthunzi. He heard a sickening crack as it made contact with its head. He must've swung it too hard, because the shadow creature shrieked in pain before falling over on top of Bryony, unmoving. Its black blood was getting all over Bryony. Aven kicked it off her and then threw the log as he knelt down beside Bryony. She was still screaming, clutching her face as she thrashed around on the ground.

"It hurts!" She screamed when he reached a hand out towards her. When she felt his hand, she immediately grabbed it with one of her hands and squeezed it tightly. Her face, neck, and hands were all covered in blood now. The Mthunzi's blood was all over her shirt. "Make it go away! Please, it hurts!"

"Hey." Aven said softly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "It's okay, calm down. You're going to be okay."

He put his other hand on her eyes. She was crying so hard now as he closed his eyes and concentrated on healing hers. Bryony was squeezing his hand really hard and crying as she squirmed a little. He felt her hand start to loosen from the tight grip on his, and that's when he felt the pain. He squeezed his eyes shut, bending over a little, and waiting for it to go away. It only lasted for a few moments and then he relaxed when he felt the pain go away, and that's when he opened his eyes.

Bryony still had her eyes squeezed shut, and she was still holding onto Aven's hand, not wanting to let go.

"You can open your eyes." Aven told her gently. "You're okay now."

Although she was still covered in blood, she was fine now. Bryony slowly opened her eyes, and when she saw Aven, she immediately smiled and sat up, letting go of his hand to wrap her arms around him. He jumped at the sudden movement and pushed her away from him, eyes wide in shock.

"It's just a hug." Bryony told him and then wrapped her arms around him again, ignoring how he didn't really like it, and buried her face in his shoulder. "Just a hug to thank you."

Hug?

Aven tensed up as soon as her arms were around him again. He didn't like that. He didn't like hugs.

Bryony was hugging Aven for at least two minutes, before she let go of him and leaned back to look at him. She touched her eyes with her hand, feeling around her face to make sure she was all fine. She pulled her hand away, making a disgusted face as she saw all the blood on her hands.

"The oceans near by if you want to wash off." Aven said quietly.

Bryony looked up at him. "How far?"

"Not far."

She nodded, but didn't say yes. She knew they had to get to the village first. She looked behind Aven and frowned. "Where's Devlin?"

Aven turned around to see that Devlin was missing. Did he run off when the Mthunzi attacked them? He was just a baby, he wouldn't survive out there alone. His mothers body was still there, but he was nowhere in sight. He must have ran off.

Aven stood up and called for him, but he didn't come. Bryony slowly stood up, wobbling a little as she did, and reached out to grab Aven's arm to steady herself. She brought her other hand up to her head and groaned. "I feel light headed."

"You lost a lot of blood." Aven told her as he gently grabbed her arm, keeping her up and steady as she almost fell over a couple times. "Your eyes are healed, but the loss of blood can't be replaced by magic."

She looked up at him with unfocused eyes. "We need to find Devlin and then get to that small village." Her words didn't come out right and she sounded like she was going to pass out any moment.

Aven shook his head. "You need to rest first or you'll get worse."

"But I'm fine." Bryony whined and pouted up at him. "Devlin might not be, we need to go help him."

"Woah." Aven said, catching Bryony as she almost fell over when she took a step forward. She shook her head and grabbed his arms to keep herself balanced as she stood up again.

"Let go of me." Bryony said to Aven as she stood up. "I can stand by myself, I'm not a baby."

"I'm not holding onto you, you're holding onto me." Aven said looking down at her hands, which were holding onto his arm tightly.

She looked down. "Oh." She let go of him and turned to take a step, but immediately fell, but Aven caught her again before she fell onto the ground.

"Bry, you need to stop. You are not feeling well right now, don't make it worse." Aven told her.

Bryony looked up at him and gave him a lopsided smile. "You called me Bry. Nobody has ever called me that before."

Aven found himself smiling back at her.

Bryony's eyes suddenly widened and she pushed Aven away from her and bent over, throwing up. Aven took a step back as Bryony gagged and puked all over the ground in front of her. She was coughing and leaning her hands on her knees to balance herself as she threw up crimson liquid.

She was puking up blood.

When Bryony was done, she wiped her mouth with her arm and then clutched her stomach as she stood up and looked at Aven. Aven noticed she was paler than before, and he immediately took a step forward to catch her as she fell. His eyes were wide with worry as he stared down at her in his arms. She stared up at him. "You're going to have to carry me." She said and then giggled to herself. "I feel drunk right now. Wait, I don't know what it's like to be drunk, nevermind." After a moment she stopped giggling and blinked at least three times, trying to stay awake, but her eyes closed anyway. Her head fell onto on Aven's chest as he slowly lowered her to the ground.

Something was wrong. He healed her, she shouldn't be throwing up, especially blood.

"Bryony." Aven said and gently shook her, but she didn't wake up.

He took a deep breath and put his arms underneath her to pick her up. Her head immediately fell back onto his chest and she mumbled something under her breath. She definitely was out of it right now.

Aven turned and started walking. He needed to get her to the village, and fast.