AN: I do own Danielle, Arsiel, Calamant, and Alcamien, but everything else is owned by Tamora Pierce.
The Ultimate Battle
Young Danielle of Airls stood there, petrified by all the chaos around her. Screams pierced the crisp night air. All around her, a battle raged.
A ray of light shone through the ominous clouds to shine on her, the one person not being attacked.
Her glittering aura was of a teal color that sparkled and shone in the darkness of the night. Danielle could stand it no longer.
She screamed a heart-wrenching sound that could be heard for miles around. She screamed for the dead. She screamed for the living. She screamed just to be screaming.
The famed Carthaki University was in ruins. Every pillar, turret, tower, and room was demolished. Yet the roof remained. It hung as if suspended in mid-air. To fall off would be to fall into oblivion, nothing, complete and utter darkness.
Danielle stood in the midst of everything. Her teal eyes were filled with glistening tears that created shiny trails that made their meandering ways down her already soaked cheeks.
"What have I done?" she screamed, her voice drowned out in the fury of the battle. "I'm just a girl!" she sobbed. She looked up at the moon that peeked through the clouds, her face mysterious and eerie-looking in the light. All Danielle wanted right now was to be back in her dorm, all nice and cozy.
Any bystander could have picked out the man and woman in the middle of everything. Their two Gifts were intertwined, showing utterly black and blinding white.
Arsiel and Calamant, Danielle thought. They used to be the best of friends. I used to envy the strength of their love for each other. All of us apprentices used to make bets on when he would propose to her. She smiled briefly at the pleasant memory, but when reality caught up with her, the tears flowed once again.
For the first time, Danielle took in the full extent of the fighting that took place. Every able-bodied mage was fighting back at the invisible source of the battle. All around her, teachers and students were dropping like flies. It seemed that she was the only one not engaged in battle. Whoever, or whatever, it was that was attacking the University seemingly had no interest in her.
Her reverie was broken by a high-pitched scream not too far away. Danielle spun around, and to her horror, Alcamien was lying on the ground, his eyes wide open in horror, and his body limp with death.
"No! This can't be! I'm dreaming!" she wailed meaninglessly, Alcamien's burly body in her spindly arms. "Nooooo! We were going to get married and live happily ever after!"
She loved him so.
Danielle's tears splashed silently onto his expensive robe, making small spots on the scrupulously clean linen. His eyes, usually alight with happiness, were empty and staring. She sank into their gray depths, sobbing uncontrollably. Alcamien's lips were still warm and supple to Danielle's soft touch. She kissed him gently, hoping that all the fairy tales she heard as a child would come true, and he would awaken, telling her not to worry. But he did not. No matter how much she hated it, Alcamien was dead and there was nothing she could do about it. It offered her small consolation to be holding his callused hands.
"I will always love you," she whispered.
A vengeful thought made its way to Danielle's mind as she gently released Alcamien to the ground once again, closing his eyes.
The thought finally made it. Whoever did this is going to pay dearly in the name of Airls. But who could have done this? The source is invisible! another part of her mind argued. It's best to stop what you can see than try to stop what you can't.
Danielle was torn trying to make a decision. Either destroy something she couldn't see, or try to prevent something she could.
In the end, security prevailed. Danielle knew she would probably die trying to stop the two powerful mages from destroying everything, and everyone, but she knew that she could at least make a difference that way. Nothing could stop her now, not even death.
As she ran furiously towards the stairs, she caught glimpses of friends and acquaintances dying all around her, and she had to reassure herself that this was the only way that she could help them.
These views just made the tears flow faster and more furiously.
A thought stopped her dead in her tracks. What can I do? These are two black robes! I'm merely an apprentice! An underling! An unworthy one, just like the slaves at the palace!
She brushed the thought off almost immediately as it struck her. If she could not stop them, then she would die trying. Arsiel was a dear friend and advisor and Calamant was a friend of Alcamien's and therefore all she had left of her lost love.
Danielle ran on, the stairs leaving and meeting her feet in a comforting rhythm. The tear flow slowed to a constant trickle as she blocked the deathly images from her eyes.
All of a sudden she fell, crying out in pain as the unpolished granite bit deep into her skin to leave a large scratch that bled sluggishly.
Realizing how urgent her mission really was, Danielle got to her feet shakily and ran on. She bit the inside of her cheek, drawing blood, to keep from crying out, which would only slow her down.
The steps were steep, wide, and numerous. It was lucky that no battles had taken place on the stairs, or Danielle would have had to avoid bodies as well as concentrate on not falling.
It was a precious and tedious few minutes before Danielle could even glimpse the battle she was heading toward.
When she finally could see the battle, Danielle was paralyzed in horror at the sight that lay before her.
The two black robes were locked in battle. Magical bolts were constantly exchanged, but defenses were less often put up.
Arsiel's face was twisted with hatred; her white Gift flowed elegantly from long, slender fingers. Calamant's face was soaked with sweat, his black Gift flying towards Arsiel.
Danielle brought herself back to reality. I have to do what I came here to do! she told herself doggedly. No matter how bleak things get, I'll try my hardest.
"Ahhhh!" Arsiel screamed as one of Calamant's bolts struck home in her left shoulder.
"Noooo! Arsiel!" someone screamed. It took Danielle a few seconds to realize that she was the one who had screamed Arsiel's name.
Ariel rose to her feet valiantly. Calamant raised his hand palm up, muttering incoherent words. Arsiel was mirroring him, her lips moving constantly with the words for the spell.
Danielle knew this spell. They would destroy each other as well as anyone or anything within a ten-mile radius once they struck their target.
They then simultaneously shouted a word in Old Thak, pointing drooping fingers at the other, their Gifts flying towards each other.
Danielle ran as she had never run before, her legs pumping furiously with adrenaline. She leaped for all she was worth and with all of her strength, and miraculously, Danielle intercepted the two bolts.
All the battles stopped instantly as all eyes turned to the girl who had just saved leaped onto the battlefield of Arsiel and Calamant.
The bolts hit her with jarring force. One hit her in the stomach and one in the back. The two mages ended the spell abruptly. Soon after, the lifeless body of Danielle of Airls lay on the gray granite roof of the Carthaki University.
Many cried out in shock and horror, while others still rushed to the limp form of the young heroine.
A sudden breeze picked up and blew a wisp of crow-black hair across Danielle's forehead. Her ruby lips were cold.
"DANIELLE!" Arsiel and Calamant cried in unison, tears rushing to their dry eyes. They ran to her,
A shaft of moonlight fell on her, and an unseen force in the sky lifted her up. Her hair fell down to brush Calamant as he reached for her.
A flash of silvery light pursued and the ghostly form of Danielle parted from her body. Her body was gently set on the ground, but all eyes were on her ghostly form.
Alcamien's limp body appeared before her, as she smiled at the two black robes she had just saved.
"I forgive you," her voice echoed in the night. Her voice was for their ears only. Now she faced the group gathered before her body. There was still quite a crowd even though there were hundreds lying dead on the ground. "All I ask is that you don't forget me," Danielle told them. Tears formed in her teal eyes. They fell to the ground as snow.
Many gaped open mouthed at the spirit that lie before them. Others rubbed their eyes in disbelief.
"Alcamien?" Danielle called, hope in her voice.
Gray light flashed and Alcamien's ghostly form appeared beside Danielle. His body fell next to hers, their hands clasped, and mouths formed into smiles.
"I love you Alcamien," Danielle whispered softly, so that only he could hear. Her efforts were in vain however, because the people down below heard her every word in the silence of the night.
"As I do you," Alcamien responded his deep voice booming.
They kissed and in a flash of intertwined teal and gray light, they were gone into the sky.
Epilogue
Danielle and Alcamien's bodies were buried side by side in the graveyard that was specially reserved for the ones who had died that night. Their tombstones were the biggest.
Arsiel and Calamant disappeared forever. Rumor has it that the two have started a totally new life in a small village in Galla. However, these rumors were never proved to be true.
Two months after Danielle's death, her father passed away of old age. Her older brother, Barnaby, consequently took over after gaining his shield two years later.
Bards in Tortall and Carthak fulfilled Danielle's last wish. They created a story and a song about that night.
Her tombstone reads:
Herein lies the heroine of all Carthak.
She saved the lives of countless men and women
She sacrificed herself
Her last wish was to be remembered
Danielle of Airls
A mysterious man once came to her grave swathed in a black cloak from head to toe. He lay a silver rose on her grave that was still there hundreds of years later.
Many believe that this man was Calamant, but it was never proven to be true.
No matter how many days pass by and no matter how many days her chamber lay empty, everyone always remembered the young girl who had sacrificed the rest of her life for Carthak.
Danielle of Airls was remembered.