Wow. Had no idea everyone would be so mad. Hehe! I know, I'm possessed. But not really, because I wrote another chapter! be happy! Er . . . they're still dead, though. *ducks sharp pointy objects being thrown at her* sorry! Sorry!

Ooooooers! Twenty-five reviews for chappie thirty-five!! (vingt-cinq, dontcha know) that's a new record. Now beat it! *sung to the michael jackson tune, of course* JUST BEAT THE RECORD! Go read! Go!

A Meeting

Kel opened her eyes.

She looked down and gasped. The floor was twenty feet below her, the pedestal in the middle marking it as the last room she remembered being in. She was hovering just below the ceiling, her and Neal's bodies clearly visible, spread-eagled on the ground.

Kel began to rise. She floated upwards, going unhindered through the ceiling, as if thousands of tons of rock were nonexistent. Kel gasped again, and then once more, because she realized that she hadn't taken a breath, or needed to breathe, since she opened her eyes.

Kel was now floating upwards though the ground, seeing dirt and rocks and roots, and then she was free of the earth, and above Greencroft. The village, and the Scanrans who had taken it over, were still entirely unaware of Kel and Neal's escapades underground.

The ground continued to fall away below her, faster and faster, though she didn't feel like she was moving any quicker than she was originally. Kel turned her face down and watched her life disappear. As she did, she noticed that she was still holding the death weapon – the armored figure's spear. She gripped it tighter, feeling a sense of relief while she held a weapon.

She suddenly choked, her throat catching. I'm dead, and I'm worrying about weapons! Kel felt like both crying and laughing.

Kel closed her eyes, trying to get her emotions under control so she'd be ready for whatever came next. When she opened them, she had halted her upwards journey.

In front of her was a gateway, hanging in a sea of blackness. Through the gate, Kel saw the river at Mindelan. A sense of calmness penetrated her, and she took one step forward.

Her grandparents, dead for ten years, appeared in the doorway. Smiling, they motioned her to join them. People she had known and liked as a page and squire became visible, waving her forward to join them. Kel took another step forward.

With a grating jerk, Kel was inexorably drawn upwards once again. Her friends' faces changed expression to sadness, and instead of welcoming her, they pushed her away.

"No!" Kel cried despairingly, her heart wrenching in her chest. Her voice sank into the smothering blackness, not unlike the sound in a room full of blankets. Kel felt suffocated.

The knight looked upward yet again and saw a great bright light. She was moving faster a second time, and the light expanded, flashing with a dazzling vibrancy. Kel raised her arms with a cry, shielding her eyes against the radiance.

Her upper body flew forward with the momentum as her movement, but her lower body ground to a standstill. Cautiously, Kel lowered her hands, and was astounded at what she saw.

Before her stood the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, or would ever see. The woman had perfect white skin, contrasting with her slanting emerald eyes and full ruby red lips. Her black hair shone like a raven's wing, falling unbound to her waist. She was taller than any woman Kel had ever seen.

With a start, Kel realized she was looking at the Great Mother Goddess. Kel tried to bow, only to lose her balance and almost fall. This can't be happening, she thought.

The Goddess inclined her head, a small smile playing about her lips.

"Wha—" Kel began faintly, but she couldn't find the energy to finish her sentence.

"Don't try and understand it, my daughter," the Mother said. Her voice was husky and soft, like the wind through the trees, but also like a pack of hounds baying in the hunt. "Just know that this is but one of the last places you must visit on your quest."

"Bu—But my quest is over," Kel stuttered, blinking hard. "The Sixth is gone, or did you not think I noticed that it vanished as soon as those men appeared? And besides, I – I'm dead."

"All of that is true," answered the Goddess, looking at her with amusement. "But you may yet return, and conclude what you set out to accomplish."
"Wha–" Kel cried out again. "How?"

The Mother ignored her, instead peering intently at the spear Kel still clutched. "It is well that you held onto that weapon," she said finally. "It brought you here, to me, rather than to the Realms of the Dead."

Kel felt faint. "How?" she repeated weakly, unable to really comprehend what was happening.

"It serves as a kind of . . . summons. It shows that you are of worth to have made it to the final chamber in my labyrinth. That takes strength, both physical and mental."

"But — why? Why do you need to summon souls to you?" Kel asked hesitantly.

"It's a final precaution before one on the search for the Six is allowed to possess all of them. It insures that the 'right one,' so to speak, is the one who succeeds in gaining the Six. And I know at a glance whether a person are the right one."

"And—" Kel choked. She cleared her throat. "And am I— am I—" She couldn't finish.

The Mother looked at her with a compassionate, yet piercing gaze. Her eyes bored holes in Kel's head. "You are," she said quietly.

Kel's head spun. "So — so what now?" she asked, barely audible.

"I will return you to life," said the Goddess with a smile. She raised her hand.

"Wait!" Kel cried, blushing at her boldness. The Goddess paused. "What about Neal?" Kel asked purposefully.

"Neal?" The Mother's perfect forehead creased in a delicate frown. "I do not know who you speak of."

"The man who was with me — Sir Nealan of Queenscove. Where did he go? Where will he go now?"

The Goddess' frown deepened, and she concentrated. She spoke several seconds later. "He is with his kin, in the Realms of the Dead."

Kel began to shake. "Is he— Is he coming back?"

"I wasn't planning on it. He wasn't summoned to me; why does he deserve to live? What is he to you?"

"Well, I sort of . . . you know . . . love him." Kel said. The immortal didn't respond. "And . . . I won't go back unless he comes with me," she added.

The Great Mother Goddess, daughter of Mother Flame and Father Universe, brother to the Sun God Mithros, and High Queen of all Mortal Realms studied Kel for a long time. When she spoke, she spoke slowly, her voice and face as unreadable as always.

"You would stay in the Realms of the Dead, forsaking your family, your friends, and the well-being of your country, to be with the man you love?"

Kel opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She swallowed, fully aware of what she was about to do, and answered. "I would." Her voice came out strong.

There was another long silence until the Goddess spoke once more. "Very well," she said sadly. Kel's throat clogged, and she closed her eyes to hold back tears of loss. "I will return both you and Sir Nealan to the Mortal Realms."

Kel's eyes popped open, and she stared in disbelief at the smiling Goddess before her. "Thank you," she whispered, overcome.

"Enough of this," said the Goddess, waving her hand. "You must get going. There is no time to lose." Even after she said that, she paused and looked at Kel. "Goodbye, Lady Knight Keladry. We will not meet again in your lifetime, I'm almost certain. Now, return to the Mortal Realms, and finish what you set out to accomplish!"

And Kel was falling. The wind whistled past ears that still rung with the Goddess's voice as she picked up speed, and the smothering blackness fell away in five seconds, the expanse between the world and the sky in three, and then she was freefalling through clouds, and the clouds were gone but she still fell downwards, and she looked down as she dropped and saw the ground rise up to meet her but instead of an impact she fell right through the dirt and she realized was coming up on the Chamber that she died in but then she saw her own dead body for a split second as she hurtled downwards before she opened her eyes.

The dark gray stone ceiling loomed over her. Kel felt her chest rise and fall as she breathed, and rejoiced in the movement, drawing in deep breaths of clean, sweet air.

She sat up.

Byrn was lying on the floor in front of Kel, huddled in a little quivering ball of feathers and keening at the top of her lungs.

"Hey there," said Kel, her voice raspy with disuse.
The immortal raised her head in a second, and saw Kel moving and alive again. She released a piercing, trilling whistle and hurtled through the air to the knight's shoulder. Byrn landed on her shoulder and immediately began to preen her hair.

Kel heard a noise beside her and started to turn, but Byrn took flight, startling her, and before she could do anything Neal was there.

He flipped her over and kissed her again and again. "How could you do that?" he shouted, and kissed her again.

Kel kissed him back, her body tingling. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she cried tearfully, for she was crying yet again.

"Shut up!" Neal cried, effectively silencing her with more kisses. "Don't you ever, ever, leave me behind again!" Kiss. "Do you understand?" Kiss. "Never!" Kisskisskiss . . .

"I know, I know," Kel wailed, pulling herself back to his lips and sobbing at the same time. A drop landed on her finger, and she realized that he was crying, too.

Kel's hands were on either side of his face, and now she moved them all around his body — his back, arms, chest, neck — as if checking to make sure he was actually back, and in one piece. He was doing the same to her, and they lost themselves and fell into each other. They sat on the floor, reveling in each other and in being alive.

It was some time before they had calmed down enough to carry on a normal conversation.

"You'll never believe—" Kel began, but Neal interrupted her.

"I know already — don't ask me how. It just sort of appeared in my head. I don't care how I know, anyway — it saves time because we don't have to explain. And we don't have any time to lose, because we still don't know how to find the Sixth!"

Byrn, whom they had both forgotten about in their encounter on the floor, let out a sharp chirp. Both Kel and Neal's heads snapped to where the sound had come from, and saw that Byrn had perched on the vacant pedestal.

Except it wasn't vacant any more.

A small stone glinted next to the immortal's silver claws, gleaming mildly in the light that still shone only on the pedestal.

Kel stared. Neal was saying something, but all Kel heard was a white static noise. The stone lay unobtrusively in the small hollow of the cushion.

Kel thought on this for perhaps three seconds before standing up decisively. She strode towards the pedestal and plucked the stone from its place, ignoring Neal's cry of alarm.

Nothing happened.

She held the stone up before her eyes, noticing a runic six gleaming unnaturally in the dim light. Kel felt a movement by her elbow, and realized that Neal had come to stand with her. Neither of them spoke, enthralled by the beauty and splendor of the stone.

They had succeeded. They held all Six of the Stones.

Kel placed the Sixth in her belt pouch, along with the other Five. As soon as they touched, they flashed once, as if in welcome, and then fell dark once again.

A long, animalistic wail pierced the walls of the chamber. It was high pitched and shrill, and made the hair on the back of Kel's neck stand on end. She shivered, unconsciously drawing closer to Neal.

Byrn added to the inhuman sound with her own shrill voice, trying to drown it out, but instead creating an even more frightful din. Kel clapped her hands over her ears, but nothing blocked the dreadful noise.

Gradually, the earsplitting whistle faded into oblivion. Neal turned to Kel. "How much are you willing to bet that that was Ichaeruut?"

Kel shook her head. "No gambling – I'm positive. Goddess knows how he could tell, but– It doesn't matter. We have to go on. Remember how he said only two days were left before Corus fell? How much time do you think has passed since then?"

"I've no idea. It all depends on how long we were–" He swallowed. "Dead. How long we were dead."

"Well, I don't want to take any more chances than we already are. Let's go." She ran towards the door.

"Wait!" Neal called. Kel didn't stop. "How are we going to get past the booby traps?"

"We'll figure that out when we–"

She walked through the door and found herself facing the ladder leading out of the labyrinth. "Get there," she finished, bemused.

Neal burst into the air behind her, followed by Byrn. "I told you! Never leave me behind again! And what do you do? You run off and disappear!" he shouted wildly, and finished by kissing her thoroughly. He finally looked around and realized where they were. "How–" he began, puzzled.

"Oh, I have my theories," said Kel, looking up.

Neal understood. "Ah. Well, then – Let's be off."

They climbed the ladder. The power to save Tortall was contained in a leather pouch. The forces of Chaos were likely hunting them down by the second. The capital was going to fall in less than twenty-four hours.

And strangely, they felt fine.

Yay! Happy chapter ending!

So? What did you think?? I want to hit 445 reviews, people! HELP ME REACH MY GOAL!

I'd make this longer, but . . . CAMI! This is for you!