***
His jaw dropped.
Ana’s back legs began to elongate, raising her up, even as they expanded at the hip, forming much larger muscles. Very short white fur sprouted across her body, covering her skin in an instant. She had to be standing fifteen feet tall. Without warning she dropped forward.
He rushed to grab her, afraid she was going to land on her face, but her front legs raced to meet the ground as it rushed up at her. Her hands became hard black bone that landed firmly on the ground, without any bit of waver.
Muscle sprouted and joints reversed themselves as her transformation continued. Ferro couldn’t believe his eyes. Her body expanded, and her head jutted forward on a long neck, down the back of which long hair began to sprout.
Black hair.
As he continued to watch in awe, something began to sprout from her forehead. It was dazzling white, banishing back the darkness as it grew. He knew then why she had chosen to enter so deep into the forest. The shadows fled from its sight, a horn of the purest white he had ever seen.
The change complete, she shook slightly in front of him, her big eyes looking up with an expression that could only denote nervousness.
“Beautiful,” he whispered, stunned over what he was seeing. “You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” he said in quiet shock. “May I come closer?” he asked tentatively.
The creature bobbed its head in the best approximation of a human nod that he figured it could. Slowly, with growing confidence, he moved to her side. Her flank, he corrected, reaching out to touch it.
She shivered beneath his touch, then shuffled sideways into him as he rested his head on her heaving side. “It is okay,” he assured her, spreading his hands across her side, feeling the power contained within.
“I see now why you wanted to know more,” he said. “I have never heard of any like you. Not even you.”
He stepped back to admire her from afar.
“A unicorn,” he breathed, still unable to believe what his eyes were telling him. He moved closer to her face, but she ducked away. “Please,” he told her, gently taking her head and moving it so she could see him.
“You have nothing to fear from me, I assure you.” He nuzzled her head with his. “You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.”
His hands moved up the side of her head. She tried to flinch away again, but he held her steady. “May I?” he asked, indicating the three-foot-long horn on her head.
After a moment’s hesitation, Ana lowered her head so he could see it. Gently he reached out, tentatively grazing it with one finger at first, before running them up and down the smooth bone-like protrusion. “Beautiful,” he repeated over and over again, even as she changed back to her human form.
The light dimmed in the small clearing as her horn retreated back into her head, and moments later, the beautiful woman was standing in front of him once again.
With tears streaming from her eyes.
“What? What is it?” he gasped, moving to take her into his arms. “What is wrong?”
She fell into his arms, allowing him to hold her tight. They shared a bond now, whether they knew it or not. He was the first of his kind, alone and without equal. She was, to anyone’s knowledge, the only one of her race.
So why was she crying?
“Did I do something wrong? Are you hurting?” he wasn’t sure how to fix it.
“No, nothing like that,” she said, easily planting a kiss on his lips. “It’s what you didn’t do, actually.”
His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to understand. “What did I not do that hurt you so?” he asked, confused and concerned.
Ana shook her head, her eyes meeting his as she smiled. “You didn’t hurt me, silly.” She hit his chest lightly. “That’s just it though. You didn’t hurt me.” Her head was shaking again.
“Everyone who’s ever seen me, they look at me like I’m a freak, or something to be experimented on.” Her voice never wavered, but he saw fresh tears spring to her eyes as memories came flooding to the surface.
“What? How?” he asked, unable to believe that. “You are beautiful beyond compare. How can anyone find you, with your light, to be anything but?”
Ana shuddered in his arms. “I don’t know. Perhaps they think I am the devil in disguise, trying to entice them?” She paused. “There have been a few who look at me without such feelings, but none who have done so like you.”
“Hush,” he said, pulling her to him tightly. He pressed his lips to her head while she let her emotions pour through her. Her shoulders shuddered for several minutes as she let the tears flow. They eased off shortly though, and she stepped back, trying to recover her composure.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“I think we should go back to the village, and find a bed to stay in for the night,” he said firmly.
It wasn’t what she had meant, and they both knew it, but for the time being, it seemed she was willing to accept his blindness to her real question. Ana had been referring to the obvious connection that they had. Right then and there, however, he didn’t think either of them were in the right state of mind to consider that.
Taking his arm again, she stayed close to his side as he guided them unerringly out of the woods and back to the town. He took a slightly roundabout route though, so as to avoid the battlefield from earlier. She didn’t need to see that.
“This should be interesting,” she murmured as buildings started to occupy the sides of the road next to them.
“What should?” he asked.
“You do recall that not too long ago, I was chased from town by a mob with torches and pitchforks, right?”
He paused mid-stride.
“Right. I had forgot,” he admitted. How the hell had he forgotten something like that?
“They might try to run me off again,” she warned.
He bared his teeth. “I would like to see them try.”
Very carefully, he did not mention that he was worried about more agents of the Order who might happen upon them. That was something she didn’t need to worry about just then. He would stay awake during the night, to ensure they were not caught unawares.
Anyone who tried to harm Ana would regret it.