You didn't update in such awhile! I thought you abandoned us!

Hah, no such luck. I'm still here, and I'm still writing. Have no fear.

Thorn and Evin? Who are they? I didn't read the Briar series…

Thorn and Evin are characters from my other fic, "Bloody Thorns". Briar and the Circle of Magic have nothing to do with my fics (and they probably won't for a long time, since I find it harder to write for the Circle of Magic). Since Evin is the commander of the Queen's Riders, I thought it made sense to have him at the scene. And Thorn will have an important role to fulfill later, so I didn't just pop her into this fic for nothing.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for bringing Roald back! I'm glad he's alive again!

*contemplates* now if only he would stay that way…

Is Ryker appearing soon? What about Mindy? And Neal? Is he joining the party?

Indeed, Neal is joining the party. Neal is mentioned in the chapter after this one, and he does have a small role in the chapter following that. Ryker? Oh, he'll definitely be appearing in the last/second to last chapter, at the least. Mindy too.

When Roald die, did the other Roald wake up?

Yep. But since it was only for a brief moment, I didn't mention it. But yes, he did awake.

Why can't there be two rings? One on the future Roald and one on the mage or present Roald?

*frown* but there are two rings. My apologies if that was unclear. That's why Numair wasn't allowed to examine the ring on the future Roald: any change in power in his ring would affect the one on the mage.

You said you couldn't alter the flow of the story. then why were you asking whether or not to put in thorn and evin?

Well, Evin was going to be in it either way, he's the commander of the Riders, after all. But I wasn't sure if I should allow Thorn to appear. I decided to include her because she will help a future event make more sense. It would make sense without her, but it would just be sort of random and weird. With her around, the future event is more understandable and acceptable. This might be confusing right now, but you'll understand when we get to the future event. Let's just say that Thorn is going to be doing something important, and the event has to do with the title of this fic. (No, Thorn isn't going to intentionally make Kaprice cry)

24. The Devastation

The others were gathered around the pit of Demon's Hill again.

Alanna, Numair, the mages. They were once again trying to suppress the fire with their Gifts.

No. What are they doing? I thought I already told them not to…

She hurried over towards them, calling out their names, "Numair! Alanna! Please stop! You're only aiding the fire!"

But the mages completely ignored Kaprice's protests and continued to feed the fiery pit their Gifts.

"No, please! You have to stop!"

Kaprice reached out with a hand, intent on getting Alanna to pay attention to her. But her hand seemed to slide through Alanna's shoulder, and the momentum of the movement brought Kaprice stumbling down onto her knees.

Oh gods…

Kaprice, still kneeling on the dirt, reached out with a hand and tried to touch Alanna again.

And failed again.

No…no…

Kaprice turned around to Numair and tried to touch him instead. But her hand slid through his leg and reappeared on the other side.

I'm invisible! But why? Why have I become invisible, like…

"Roald!"

She had not noticed him before, but Roald was one of the mages gathered around the pit, and he was determinedly pouring his blue gift into the opening.

I don't understand. What is going on?

Suddenly, her stomach gave a disgruntled rumble.

No, wait. That wasn't my stomach. It was…the ground?

Kaprice placed both hands on the dirt and leaned her ear down to listen.

There, there it was again. That distinct rumble. It was still quiet and almost indiscernible, but with her close proximity to the ground, she was able to hear it.

But the others didn't. They just continued with their spell.

Kaprice knew then, that there wasn't much time. She didn't know what was going to happen, but she did know that whatever it was, it was going to happen. Soon.

A sudden noise pierced her mind and paused her hurried thoughts.

Laughter. Someone was laughing.

Jumping to her feet and turning, Kaprice saw someone at the edge of the forest, watching the mages work intently on the pit.

And he was laughing.

Which was, in and of itself, strange, because he was too far away for her to be able to hear him laughing.

But she did.

With a start, she realized she recognized him. It was the man she had stumbled upon in the forest before she had met Evin and Thorn. He had been relieving himself and then ran away when he saw her.

But why was he laughing?

Suddenly, the scenery changed. The ground dropped away from beneath her; the scorching sun disappeared.

When she was able to see again, it was night and she found herself once again on Demon's Hill.

Amidst a battle.

The knights and men of Tortall were battling against the specters. But that wasn't the sight she was drawn to.

Instead, she was drawn to a fight between Alanna the Lioness and the mousey-haired man. The man who had been laughing at the mages just moments ago.

The man was not as good with the sword as Alanna was. But he pressed on anyway.

And when he raised his sword in attack, Kaprice saw a familiar glint on his hand.

The ring. Roald's ring.

Kaprice was hit with sudden understanding: He's the mad mage. The mage responsible for all of this.

With a sudden flurry of movements, Alanna sent the mage's sword scattering across the dirt, away from his reach.

The mage's face contorted; he shouted words at Alanna that Kaprice was somehow not able to hear. His ring glinted yellow with a sudden surge of his Gift.

Suddenly, two specters climbed out of the pit of Demon's Hill, and hulked toward Alanna.

"No! Don't let him get away!"

But Kaprice's shout was unnecessary, for Kel and Dom appeared to fight off the specters.

The mage opened his mouth to shout again, but it was too late.

Alanna, with an expert slash that Kaprice couldn't ever imagine doing herself, gutted the mage, and he staggered to the ground.

But he didn't die. Not yet.

Instead, he opened his mouth and laughed.

And laughed.

His laughter echoed through Kaprice mind in such a way that it actually hurt.

"It's not over yet!" he cackled insanely. "You may have gotten rid of me, but you haven't yet gotten rid of my hill. Nor will you ever…"

And then with one more wheezing laugh, he died.

The specters vanished, all of them, startling the men who had still been fighting them. And as the wind blew, the mage's body suddenly gave away, falling into ash. His hair, his clothes, everything was turned into ash.

Everything except for his ring.

His ring laid imperiously on top of the pile of ash and glinted in the moonlight.

If Kaprice didn't know any better, she would have said that it was laughing at her.

And then it disappeared.

Alanna whirled, her eyes glittering a fierce amethyst.

Her shout was carried all across Demon's Hill.

"Where is it? Where is the mage's ring?"

In the moments that followed the echoing of Alanna's question, an unsettling feeling fixed itself around Kaprice's heart.

Then someone stepped up and spoke. "It's…it's on me. I seem to be wearing it somehow."

Roald's blue eyes were dark with apprehension. His hands were out in front of him, one of them straining against the other, as if trying to take something off.

"And the ring won't come off."

The ground suddenly dropped out from beneath her for a second time, and she was suddenly standing on Demon's Hill in daylight.

And the rumbling that emanated from the fiery pit was deafening.

Roald stood nearby with the other mages, his ring glinted with great power.

And Kaprice understood.

The ring and Demon's Hill are connected. And since the mages have fed Demon's Hill so much power…

The ring was now powerful enough to make its bearer immortal. And the hill…the hill…

A cry rang out from those on Demon's Hill.

"Run!"

The ground underneath everyone shook and laughed. Fire leaped up, impossibly high, from the open pit.

And the world exploded. Or at least, to Kaprice, it seemed that way.

Victims did not even have enough time to scream as their bodies were toasted by the pit's liquid fire. Ash and smoke blackened the air, making it impossible to breathe and turning the day to night.

Luckily for Kaprice, the liquid fire passed right through her without the slightest of effects. And she was actually thankful for being invisible.

When the air cleared, seemingly hours later, Kaprice was able to glance around.

And she immediately wished that she wasn't able to again.

She was standing in shoulder deep liquid fire, and although it did not hurt her, it still made her feel uneasy.

The country of Tortall was simply gone. The whole continent was gone. The trees, the forest, everything was gone, flooded with potent liquid fire. The red rivers of fire were the only things she was able to see. Or actually, it was more accurate to refer to it as an ocean.

No, wait. What's that?

Something that was not red was struggling against the liquid fire. Like herself, the fire did not seem to hurt him.

Oh, no. It can't be…

But who else could it be? Who else had been able to survive the flooding?

Roald.

She closed her eyes, not even wanting the imagine the pain he must be feeling. To lose everything. Literally. In such a bad way…

And he couldn't even see her, so she couldn't offer him any comfort.

Suddenly, the earth rumbled again.

Oh, please. I thought it was over…

But it wasn't. Once again, the pit started shooting something high into the air.

But it wasn't liquid fire this time.

This time it was sand.

And this time, it was having an effect on her.

A burst of sand landed on her face and shoulders, hurting her eyes and causing her to choke.

She turned away, trying to shake the sand out of her nose and mouth, but the sand kept coming.

And coming.

The sand seemed intent on pushing the liquid fire away and taking its place.

Blindly, she stepped about, trying to find higher ground to stand on, to keep her head above the flooding of sand.

Something that had been floating in the liquid fire floated over and hit her painfully on the shoulder. She grabbed at it, just about to throw it away from her when she realized what the round thing was.

A skull.

With a shriek, she jumped back, only to stumble and fall head first into the increasingly high sand.

And it was everywhere, in her mouth, her nose, her ears.

She choked, struggling for breath and trying to keep herself from screaming.

Water suddenly hit her on the face, and she sputtered and opened her eyes.

"Oh gods, Kaprice. Finally, you're awake. Are you all right?"

Roald held her tightly against his chest, cradling her head onto his shoulder.

When she opened her mouth to speak, she found that the only thing she was able to release was a scream.

"Hush, it's going to be all right. You're safe. You're safe."

"Here, give her this to drink," another voice said.

Kaprice glanced up in surprise and found that Roald's tent was full of people. Numair, Alanna, Kel, Raoul, and Evin were all looking at her with looks of concern.

Roald took the drink that Alanna held out and gently pressed it to Kaprice's lips.

"Here, drink."

Kaprice drank, and the liquid slid soothingly down her parched throat.

"Oh, Roald," she finally said when she was finished. "I saw--I saw everything. And it was so horrible! I'm sorry you had to go through it all alone."

Roald tensed. "You…you Saw?"

"Yes."

"What was it that you Saw, Kaprice?" Numair asked her quietly.

She glanced up to meet his dark eyes. "The pa… the future. As it would have been had I not come to interfere."

"That bad, was it?" Raoul asked, frown creasing his forehead.

"Very bad."

"Kaprice can tell us all about it at a later time. I think she needs to get some rest now," Alanna said.

With some puzzlement, Kaprice noticed Alanna staring strangely at her. Or actually, at her hand. Kaprice glanced aside to look at the hand that she had rested on Roald's shoulder and found that its fingers were trembling. Taking control of her hand, Kaprice quickly clenched her hand into a tight fist.

Alanna nodded at Roald quietly and exited his tent.

Raoul followed, a contemplative frown on his face.

Numair wandered out after giving Kaprice a pat on the head.

Kel leaned in to say something before leaving, "Thank you for saving my life last night."

Saving her life? Kaprice frowned.

Oh, right. Last night when I had sent Dom to help her, she remembered. That moment had seemed like such a long time ago.

Evin gave her a sympathetic smile before turning to leave. "Take care of yourself, Kaprice."

Kaprice leaned her head against Roald's shoulder and closed her eyes after everyone had left.

"Why can't I ever have normal dreams, Roald?" she said with a quiet sigh. "Dreams without visiting the gods or seeing into the past or future. Is that so much to ask?"