Apologies once again for the delay and for leaving you on such a cliffhanger last time. This is possibly the penultimate or close enough chapter - not a terribly long one I'm afraid, but rather important.

Thanks to everyone still reading and reviewing! :o)

25

She had to wake up. She had to. There was no question of it. She had to wake up.

"Neal, please. There's nothing you can do." Numair's restraining hands were still tight on his upper arms, stopping him from trying to heal his friend, his best friend, who was lying on the floor…

No. No, she can't be.

But she was. Neal sagged and Numair's grip loosened.

Neal tore his gaze away from Kel and looked around the room. The palace guards were busy restraining the remaining Scanran delegates. The man who Kel had shot, apparently the Scanran king Maggur, inconceivably back from the dead and now definitely very dead, was still slumped half in, half out of his chair, frozen gaze fixed on nothing.

But Neal could not bring himself to care about this. He turned his head to look at Baron Piers of Mindelan, who was simply sat, expressionless, stroking his daughter's hair.

That was too painful. Neal looked up at Numair and King Jonathon.

The King's face was white. "Sir Nealan…I…I don't know what to say. I'm…"

A sudden anger swept through him. "There's nothing to say Sire. She's gone. And there's no helping her now."

Jonathon's shoulders slumped. Numair laid a hand on his arm. "Jon there's no way you could have known…"

"It doesn't matter now," Neal said softly, finally looking down at Kel. He couldn't bear her lifeless eyes staring back at him, almost accusingly, so he leant over and gently closed them. Her skin was already growing cold; the blood leaking from where the arrows were sticking out of her flesh had stopped.

And she was gone. Dead. Neal raised his head again and found himself staring into a pair of familiar hazel eyes – only these belonged to Piers. The man was looking at him with the same lost and hopeless feeling that was tying Neal's stomach into painful knots. A warm trickling feeling started on his cheeks.

"Neal." Numair's voice was soft. "Come away. We should move her somewhere more…"

"No!" he shouted. "It shouldn't have happened like this!" He was crying in earnest now. "She was the best of us and it shouldn't have ended like this!"

Opposite him, Piers had closed his eyes. His face was carefully impassive to anyone who was not familiar with the Yamani trick of hiding one's feelings. Neal…who had seen that expression so many times on Kel…Neal saw the cracks showing. The man was close to breaking down.

Neal was already broken. "Why did this happen? I want to know!" He raised his face to the ceiling and bellowed. "Why? Why did it have to happen to her?"

A bright light filled the air in the room, overtaking everything. When it faded, two new figures stood in front of them. One was a tall man with grey hair and dark, unfathomable eyes. The other a beautiful woman with emerald eyes.

Confusion surged through Neal, but Numair gave a small gasp.

"Lord Ganiel," he said bowing his head at the grey haired man. "It is a pleasure to meet you again my lord. And…My Lady."

Momentarily speechless, Neal looked at the two figures – who could only be the Dream King and the Great Mother Goddess. King Jonathon and Numair knelt before them. Neal was already on the floor and Piers…well Neal didn't think Piers had registered anything other than his daughter lying on the floor…

Another wave of anger swept through Neal and he got to his feet, looking straight into those bottomless black eyes. "Do you see what you have done? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Nealan…" hissed Jonathon, looking horrified.

But Neal wouldn't be budged. Gods or no gods, he wanted answers. "Well?" he insisted, folding his arms.

Ganiel looked back at him sadly, before inclining his head towards the Goddess. She gave him a smile and addressed Neal. "My brother is sorry, he cannot speak to mortals except through dreams so I will serve as his translator." She paused as she listened to the silent words in her head, her green gaze fixed upon the body of the Lady Knight. "My brother apologises for the way this situation was…handled. He had been tasked with delivering Lady Knight Keladry her missions."

Neal blinked. "What…wait? You mean the Chamber of the Ordeal?"

The Goddess nodded and then listened again. "Yes. Who do you think operates the Chamber? Tortall is so important to our work in this realm, we cannot leave the choosing of its knights to random. Lady Knight Keladry was the purest of heart, which is why she was given an extra task at her Ordeal. However, her task did not end as simply as everyone thought and the man who condoned the perversion of life, who tried to spread his hatred, was still alive."

"But…how?" said Neal weakly. "The Lioness had killed…"

"Not Maggur, but a simulacrum. The real Maggur had escaped through a secret tunnel as soon as the battle in the castle commenced. Even Alanna, in the heat of battle, was fooled by it. An emergency plan Maggur had for years kicked in. A mage on his council disguised him with magic and it was of little work for him to infiltrate the peace talks." The Goddess waved a hand and the peace treaty that had almost been signed wafted over. She snatched it out of the air and presented it to Jonathon, still kneeling on the ground.

He took it, hand shaking slightly, and frowned as the writing on it glowed and changed. As he read the new words, his eyes widened.

"What does it say?" asked Numair.

"It essentially signed the realm of Tortall over to Maggur. Hard to dispute with the royal seal placed at the bottom," commented the Goddess.

"I don't…"whispered Jonathon, "How could we have not seen…?"

"Why didn't you warn us before it got so close?" asked Numair, sounding angry himself for the first time now.

The Goddess looked sad. "We gods have…rules to follow about interfering in mortal affairs. There are things we can't do. But we can send warnings."

At this Ganiel shifted his feet and looked a little sheepish. The Great Goddess placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Nimari have been used in the past as messengers, brother, with no ill effects. You were not to know the one you sent this time would turn out to be a rogue." Ganiel gave her a glance and she sighed. "Still, we realise the pain and the uncertainty this has caused and my brother has come to apologise."

That was not enough for Neal. "I think it's gone a bit beyond apology, don't you?" He gestured to the distraught man on the floor; at the body of his dearest friend.

Ganiel sighed and looked pleadingly at the Great Goddess. She grimaced and turned her face upwards, closing her eyes. "Well? What say you in this?" The room was once again bathed in a warm light and the Goddess smiled. "Then it appears we may have the answer you are looking for."

The light intensified once more until Neal was forced to close his eyes. When he had sensed it finally darkened behind his eyelids, he opened them to find the gods gone.

Bewildered and heartsick, Neal turned around.

Just as Kel gave a gasp and sat upright.