So…what will happen to Roald after the Devastation is reversed?

I believe this chapter will answer that question.

And the mage's ring did land on the sick Roald who's still at the palace?

Yep.

So while everything now is going on, is the future still happening?

Heh, what an interestingly confusing question. *think think* the future is still happening, even without Kaprice. So, for all we know, Ryker and Mindy could be married while Kaprice is off saving Tortall. Time runs the exact same in both dimensions. An hour in the past is an hour in the future. A day is a day, yada, yada, yada. The future will stop and change only once the devestation is stopped. So the exact moment demon's hill goes 'bye bye', the future that kaprice knows will also disappear.

~~A.N.: Geesh, I haven't had a real one of these author note things in awhile. But I just thought I'd take a moment to say thank you for all your reviews. I love hearing from you guys, and I'm really glad you're willing to take time from your busy lives to read/review my fanfic.

Now on to the chapter…

26. The Only Way

A cold shiver ran down her back.

Kaprice closed her eyes and tried to ignore it.

It came again, the suspicious shiver, stronger and more insistent this time.

"Kaprice?" Kel asked with concern.

Kaprice glanced up slowly, to stare into the eyes of the crowd gathered around her. "The only way to destroy Demon's Hill," she said slowly, "is to destroy the ring that it is connected to."

Alanna leaned back into her seat. "Roald's ring? But how?"

Kaprice laid her head on her hands. "I don't know."

"We can't touch the ring with any type of magic," Numair thought aloud.

"And it won't come off of Roald's hand," Raoul said grimly.

"So what do we do?"

Indeed, that was the question going through everyone's mind.

Kaprice lifted her head, and her eyes met with Roald's.

Alanna stood up and gave Roald's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Don't you worry, my lad. We'll think of something."

~*~*~*~

Kaprice

It had been three days since the mage had been killed. Three long, long days.

Most of her time was spent atop Demon's Hill, as were the others'. They even had several tents set up halfway down the hill.

The mages spent every waking minute thinking of ways to destroy the ring without hurting Roald. They had already attempted several ideas, like trying to close and plugging the gap of the pit.

But all their efforts were for nothing.

Fire continued to blaze inside the hill, and even though the mages were not feeding it their power, Kaprice could feel it getting stronger with each passing hour.

"Kaprice?"

Kaprice jumped visibly, stumbling back into a pair of supportive arms.

"Demon's Hill isn't going to disappear, no matter how hard you stare at it," Roald said softly into her ear.

"Indeed," Kaprice replied dryly, "that would make my job here too easy."

Roald smiled, but his smile did not mask the concern and anxiety and Kaprice was able to spot.

She reached up to squeeze his arm. "We'll think of something, Roald. Really, we will." But she didn't sound as sure as she wanted to.

"Kaprice…"

"What?"

"You know I love you. Right?"

She frowned. "Of course. Why do you ask?"

Roald glanced about himself distractedly. He closed his eyes, only to open them again a few moments later. His hands were clenched into pale fists.

Kaprice glanced at him curiously. "Roald?"

Roald suddenly grabbed her to him, wrapping his arms around her in a breathtaking hug.

"Just wanted to make sure."

"Make sure?" Kaprice was completely lost now.

Roald gently extricated himself from their embrace. He murmured something that Kaprice could have sworn sounded like, 'Goodbye.'

And then he headed up to the pit of Demon's Hill.

~*~*~*~

Keladry of Mindelan

"Dom, you really shouldn't--"

"Roald! No, no, no!"

Dom glanced up first. His mouth dropped open at what he saw.

Kel quickly turned around.

Even in the night sky, she was able to see Roald's clear form atop Demon's Hill. And he was literally one step away from falling into the pit.

He held out his hands in warning to Kaprice, who stood several feet away from him.

"Oh, no."

Dom and Kel wordlessly rushed to the top of the hill.

"Roald! Come away from the pit!" Alanna demanded, not far from Kaprice.

"Immediately!" boomed Raoul.

"What in all gods' name does he think he's doing?" Neal asked, catching up beside her.

"I don't know," Kel said hollowly.

"Come no further!" Roald commanded. "Don't make me hurt you." A surge of navy blue power flared from his hands. The blue oddly reminded her of the blue of the night sky.

"Roald? What are you doing?" Kel called out worriedly.

Roald turned to stare at her squarely. "I'm destroying Demon's Hill."

"But the only way to do that is--" Neal began.

"Is to destroy the ring!" Roald held up his ring. "And I'm ready to destroy it."

Kel suddenly understood his meaning.

And she was horrified.

Oh, no. This is all my fault. If only I hadn't plagued him earlier about his future…

A snap of black magic suddenly shot out from one of the mages, but when it approached Roald, Roald held out his ringed hand and let the ring consume the fire.

"You might as well give up using the Gift," Roald said, his tone almost flat. "You will only make Demon's Hill stronger."

"Come away from the pit, Roald. This is foolish and unnecessary," Alanna said, frightened and angry.

"Foolish? Maybe. Unnecessary? Definitely not," Roald said in return. "There is no other way--"

"Roald, please don't do this."

Roald turned to face Kaprice's quiet plea. And for a moment, Kel thought that Roald might change his mind. The look on his face clearly said that he wanted to.

But he stood firm. "Kaprice, I saw everyone here perish during the first Devastation," he said, voice pain-filled. "And I don't want to see that happening again. And I especially don't want to see you die with the others."

Kaprice reached out a hand to him. "We'll think of another way, all we need is some time--"

"There isn't enough time. You, better than any one else here, know that."

The fingers of Kaprice's hand trembled, but she did not lower it.

"Roald, please."

Roald slowly turned his head, taking a long, slow look at everyone around him.

"It was wonderful coming back into the past. I'm glad I was able to have a last look at all of you before…" Roald's voice cracked, he couldn't finish his sentence.

Lastly, he turned to gaze at Kaprice.

And his blue gaze was clearer than the night sky.

"Forgive me," he said.

Then he stepped back.

And fell into Demon's Hill.

~*~*~

In the palace at Corus

Somebody was squeezing his hand.

He winced and slowly opened his eyes.

He glanced up to see Shinko sitting on the bed beside him. Her head was bent downward and her luxurious hair hid her face. She held his hand in both of her own and was just sitting there, stiller than a statue.

He frowned with puzzlement. "Shinko?" His voice rasped unfamiliarly in his throat.

Shinko let out a small cry and lifted her head. "Roald?"

He glanced at her in surprise. "Love, why are you crying?"

~*~*~

Kaprice

Kaprice stood numbly, staring at the place that Roald had been standing just moments earlier.

He's…gone.

And then she reacted, moving forward toward the pit. She wasn't sure if what she wanted to do was reach in and try to pull him out, or just to jump into the fiery pit herself.

But then the ground underneath her rumbled and growled angrily.

"What's happening?" she heard somehow shout behind her.

And then the ground moved. It shifted, stretched.

Kaprice staggered to the ground, knocking her elbow painfully on the ground, but she didn't realize her injury. She was busy staring, aghast, at the ground.

The earth around the pit was moving. Falling.

Filling in the fiery pit that Roald had fallen into.

"No!"

Kaprice hurried toward the pit, but it was too late. The pit was gone, the hole somehow magically filled.

"Please no, please no…"

Kaprice clawed desperately at the dirt, trying to dig into the earth.

But it was impossible. No matter how hard she beat at the earth, it refused to reopen its hole. And not only that, but the hill continued to rumble and shake.

~*~*~*~

Keladry of Mindelan

"Off the hill! Get off the hill!" Kel heard Thorn shouting. "The magic within the pit, it's been released back into the earth! Get off the hill before you get knocked off your feet by a tree!"

As if hearing Thorn's very words, a tree suddenly shot up from the ground a foot in front of her. Kel got knocked backwards by the rapidly growing branches that struck her as they spread toward the sky.

"Can't you control it!" Alanna shouted, her voice sounding strangely far away.

"There's too much power! None of it being my own! The best I can do is slow the growth! Evacuate the hill!"

Dom knelt and pulled Kel to her feet.

"No, Dom, what about Kaprice?" She turned her head, searching frantically for the other girl.

Dom cursed as a bush suddenly sprouted from just another his feet. "Quickly, where is she?"

"Over there!"

Kel rushed toward Kaprice, dodging trees that continued to sprout from under foot.

Kaprice was kneeling on the now grass covered earth, tearing at the brown dirt.

"Kaprice, get up! We need to evacuate the hill!"

Kaprice ignored her and continued to beat her fists down onto the earth where the pit had been earlier.

"Kaprice!"

Dom grabbed Kaprice around the waist and tossed her over his shoulder. Kaprice shrieked with anger and transferred her fists to beating down on his back.

Dom winced but did not voice any complaint. He opened his mouth to speak to her, but Kel couldn't hear the words, the forest's growth being so much louder.

She simply grabbed at his hand, and they both ran down Demon's Hill to safety.

By the time the sun was peaking out over the horizon, it was finally over. It couldn't have lasted for more than half of an hour, but it seemed like a lot longer.. Demon's Hill was gone, no longer even a hill. The earth had flattened itself out, a full forest had grown over the land. A traveler would not have been able to differentiate between the newly grown forest and the forest that had already been there.

"How dare you! You bastard! Damn you!"

For a moment, Kel thought that Kaprice was yelling at Dom.

"How dare you leave me! Damn you, Roald! Damn you!"

Kaprice pushed past the others and rushed back to the where Demon's pit had been. A huge oak tree stood where the pit had been. If it had been Kel, she would not have been able to find where it was. But Kaprice went straight to it, as if guided by an outer source.

"Damn you, Roald! How dare you do this to me!"

Suddenly, Kaprice's cursing ceased, and the forest was flooded in a blaze of silver light.

Time seemed to be suspended; everyone held their breaths.

But then the silver light slowly faded away, leaving a shocked and confused Kaprice.

And when Kaprice turned to glance back at them, the look on her face could only be described as utterly miserable.

"They won't let me," she murmured. "The gods. They won't let me change it; they won't let me bring Roald back…"

Everyone stared.

Kaprice slowly fell to her knees. She brought her hands to the dirt at the base of the tree, but this time she didn't hit at it like a mad woman.

"Look!" Thorn suddenly said with a gasp.

Something golden glittered among the tree's branches.

Thorn reached upward toward it, and with her power, influenced the tree's branches to her will, bending them downward to the earth where they were in reach.

The branches parted as they lowered, and everyone was able to see what object hung among the leaves of the tree.

A golden medallion.

Thorn gently reached up with her staff and removed Roald's medallion. Kel saw Thorn turning to Kaprice and then back to the medallion, uncertain as to what to do next.

But Kaprice was oblivious to everything that was occurring behind her.

"Please, Roald. Please come back. Please…"

Kel saw the glimmer of silent tears on Kaprice's face.

"Roald, come back. I need you."

Kel closed her eyes and turned her face away. She held her expressionless mask tightly on her face, but she knew that if she watched for any longer, she would also start to cry.