Heart's Desire
Chapter 13- Desert Defeat
Disclaimer-
I do not own Delia of Eldorne, George Cooper, Alanna, Jonathan, Raoul, Gary, etc. You know the whole deal. I do own Matthew and Kelsie.
Things seemed to be going as they had planned. The next morning, George came to Jonathan and told him that it was urgent that he come to the desert with him. There had been some sort of Bazhir uprising, and Jon, as both King and Voice of the Bazhir tribes, was needed out in the Southern Desert. Jonathan agreed to come, pretending that he had no idea that Delia had infiltrated George's body.
George and Jonathan set off toward the desert on horses, and not far behind them followed Kelsie, Alanna, Matthew, Raoul and Gary. They stayed far enough behind George and Jon to where they could reach Jon if he needed help, and yet George was unaware of their presence.
They rode on horseback for a while, Kelsie talking to Jazz the entire time, telling him exactly what had been happening since she had last been to talk to him. The horse had none of his usual wise things to say-all he could manage was to tell Kelsie to be careful.
After Kelsie was through talking to Jazz, she turned to Alanna.
"I really am sorry, Lady Alanna. This must be really awful for you. I mean, it has to hurt to lose someone you love so much," Kelsie said. Alanna looked at her. Her normally cheerful and lively face looked so tired and confused.
"I will miss his friendship, but I think- I think I'm going to be all right. This won't be the end of the world, even though I really will miss George a great deal. I- I've got to accept that this had to happen, and that there must be a reason it happened-and well, I will accept it. I think all the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together," Alanna said, and her eyes glanced ahead where Jon and George were.
"You mean........." Kelsie began, and her voice trailed off.
"Hush, young one. First we all have to make it through this alive. Then- then you can ask those questions," Alanna said, and they trotted onwards. It looked as though Jonathan and George had stopped ahead of them. Raoul, Gary, Matthew, Alanna and Kelsie halted as well. Alanna's hand flew to her a stone hanging around her throat.
"Damn-he's stealing Jon's magic," the Lioness declared.
"How did you........" Kelsie began.
"This stone was a gift from the Goddess-if I hold it while magic is being used, I can see the magic." Kelsie looked at the lady knight in awe-she was protected by the Goddess. It all seemed so incredible.
"We must go-now. That kind of magic works fast-and if he drains Jon too much, we could be in trouble. Our plan could still backfire," Alanna said, and she urged her horse onward. The others followed suite, and they raced to where Jonathan and George were.
"The charade is over-Delia," Raoul announced as they rode up to the two men. George looked shocked, and he broke his concentration. The spell was over-there was no more magic coming from Jon. The king looked very weak. Raoul and Gary distracted Delia while Alanna whispered orders to Kelsie and Matthew.
"I have to give Jon energy-he's too vulnerable as he is. I need to transfer some of my magic to him. Gary and Raoul could do the actual kill-but it would be hard for them. Death by a sword- I don't like the idea. Kelsie-could you do something with your magic-something that isn't that painful?" Kelsie looked the Lioness in the eyes-she could tell that this was important to Alanna. This was going to be hard for them all, but she had to do it. She nodded-now what could she do? She turned to ask the Lioness for help, but the lady knight was already concentrating and transferring her own magic to Jonathan. Matthew had joined Gary and Raoul in taunting Delia. Kelsie searched her memory for something that she could use-she'd never used her magic to kill before. She had never used anything to kill before! This was not the job that Kelsie had wanted to get. She hated that it was now her duty to kill George Cooper, her one time friend, the Lioness's lover. The Lioness had said that this had to happen, and that there must be some reason that George had been chosen. Was there, though? Was it so that the Lioness and the King could be together? If that was the reason, then Kelsie didn't really want them to be together anymore. George didn't deserve to die. This was all my fault, Kelsie thought to herself, and then she realized that it wasn't. This would have happened even if she hadn't been at the palace, even if she hadn't been pushing for the reuniting of Jon and Alanna. The only thing that may have been different would have been Thayet-and, of course, how prepared Alanna, Jon, Matthew, Gary and Raoul were for what was happening at the moment. She hadn't caused George's death-she had prevented Jon.
"Kelsie, hurry!" Matthew said. Kelsie looked at him. She had been lost in her thoughts and had nearly forgotten what she needed to do.
"I don't- I don't know what to do! I don't know any killing spells!" she cried.
"Well, think of something! We can't distract him much longer-he'll realize what's going on and he'll go after Alanna and Jonathan," Matthew insisted. Kelsie nodded. She searched her memory one more time-and it came to her. The stupid dream-the whirlwind-George. It all made sense now. Slowly, Kelsie started to swirl the sand. At first it was small, no larger than her hand. Then it grew and grew. It was behind George so that he could not see what was going on, but it was in front of Gary, Raoul, and Matthew, and seeing the whirlwind, they slowly backed away slightly. Finally, the whirlwind was large enough to encircle the figure of George. Kelsie flicked her wrist-and George was inside the whirlwind. It spun faster and faster as it grew taller, and now and then Kelsie could see the figure of George Cooper swirling around inside it. Of course, it wasn't really George. It was Delia. She was screaming.
"Damn you! Damn you all! Roger will rule! He will find a way to live again! I swear he will! You all will be sorry!" she yelled. She gave one final scream, and then the whirlwind spit Delia high into the sky. They all watched in horror as Delia/George fell from the sky onto the desert floor. Alanna and Jonathan were both now fully conscious, and they joined Gary, Raoul and Matthew in staring at Kelsie in disbelief.
"He's- he's really gone," Jon whispered, and Alanna nodded. Silent tears were streaming down her face, and Jon's. Gary and Raoul were too stunned to cry. Matthew was unsure how to react, but he embraced Kelsie, who cried into his shoulder. None of them could really believe that it had happened. It was so unreal it almost didn't seem possible that it was reality-but it was.
"I killed him," Kelsie sobbed uncontrollably, "I killed him!" She had never felt so awful in her life. She hated herself for doing it.
"You had to, Kels. You saved Jon, and all of Tortall," Matthew replied.
"It still hurts," Kelsie murmured. Matthew didn't say anything else, and they all just sat there for a while. Finally Raoul broke the silence.
"Should we get the body?" he asked timidly. Alanna looked at him, red-eyed, and nodded. Slowly they walked toward George's body. The sight of it only brought more tears to everyone's eyes, and finally, they placed George's body on Jazz and rode him back into Corus. They took him to his mother and explained what had happened through their tears. Eleni understood.
"He always said he'd gladly die for either one of you," Ms. Cooper said to Jonathan and Alanna, "and I reckon he'd be happy knowing he died for both of you." Kelsie was amazed that the woman could try to see the bright side of her son's death. She supposed maybe it was true after all that tragedy brought out the best in people.
The next day there was a quiet funeral for George. Only his closest friends and family were present. Afterward he was buried on the edge of the Royal Forest- Jon and Alanna had insisted that this was the best possible place for him. It was a sad day, and no one really spoke. No one was really ready to return to normal life, but gradually, they did.
Kelsie thought that Alanna was the one who had said it best, "George is happier where he is now than he would have been if he were still here." It wasn't until a couple of months later that Kelsie fully understood this statement.
Author's Note-
And what could Alanna possibly have meant by this? The epilogue is coming soon, I swear! And I'm sorry that I had to kill George, ya'll-that wasn't quite the original plan, but like Alanna said, "George is happier where he is now than he would have been if he were still here." You'll see why in the epilogue.