Due to my complete mental insanity as of late, I have decided to do my thank yous differently for this chapter. Thank you to Peachblossom, superalicea, White-wolf, ladyknight, FantasyIsMyLife, ravenmist , Mist*Tiger , DarkAngel33, Lady Be , Shayley Rain, and Sunrunner of Summer. Yes, the hero is dead. I'm just going to say that you have to read to find out what happens. I still want my cookie. I'm not sure completely qualify as Lia, but if you say so. I think that there is an esm trying to attack me for not updating faster, but I have plans for this week and the last five chapters. I'm very sad and now must go off to cry. All done now. I have no control over cliffies, descriptions and text. Don't worry the author is getting your rants and and can comment upon return. The author is also receiving your praises and will comment upon those as well. Nobody per say begged for that I have thanks. For those of you looking for my profile, I have no stories, so you will have to find it in reviews. I've decided to make it easier thou.  My email is lowlystudent2002@yahoo.comand my sn for aim is comandtrad2005.

~Elsceetaria

Chapter 27

But the gods were not taking action. The stars were confused, why were the gods just sitting back? Why were they just watching? The stars rumbled their question and the gods sighed.

            "We cannot help her. Her soul was kissed by evil. Only a greater power can revive her." Mithros growled; the stars shook in their displeasure. One of the youngest screeched and shot from its place, flying towards Lia's body determined to revive her.

            Erikk watched as the stars shook in the sky. One of the stars shot towards the ground and left a trail of white behind it. As it grew closer, Erikk found the heat too much for his body and had to back away.

            The star hit Lia's body with such a force that her body flew up from the ground. It was suspended with in the white trail of light and he watched as the gouges in her stomach disappeared. He watched as the slight indent in her head rounded out. He watched as the trickle of blood from her mouth disappeared. He watched as life was returned to her body. She was lowered to the ground with a final crack the light was gone and Lia was lied up against a tree and was breathing slowly. Erikk rushed to her side. She was breathing, her skin held the rosy tint it had lost over the last few days. He smiled; she would be all right.

            A week later Erikk watched happily as her eyes batted open and he saw her large emerald eyes. She blinked at him and he couldn't help but smile.

            "Hey." He said quietly. Just sitting there smiling at her. She smiled back and then looked around her.

            "I'm not dead?" She asked confused. Erikk smiled.

"No." He said grinning. Lia's face lit up as Erikk wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. "You were dead Li, and a star saved you. Flew down and hit you." He whispered. Lia nodded.

            "I know; I saw it." She said softly.

            "Don't ever do that again," He said looking her straight in the eyes. She merely nodded before he pulled her back to him. Lia pulled him closer.

            "So what do we do now?" She asked after a long period of silence.

            "I don't know, rejoin the progress maybe." He said. "We've been gone almost a month."

            "A month!" She cried, looking up at Erikk surprised. "How long was I out?"

            "About two weeks." He said simply. Lia's mouth dropped.

            "We can't ride for at least another three days. And then we're going slowly," He said warningly. Lia smiled and nodded. Erikk glared. "I did what you wanted up to this point." He said sternly. "Now you do what I say." Lia just nodded and smiled. Erikk groaned. "There's a pond over there, you need to wash your hair." He said pulling hair soap out of the saddlebags. Lia reached up to touch her hair.

            "Eww! Is this all mine?" She screeched, meaning the blood.

            "Most of it, you had a pretty good gash on your head, it was dented." He said tossing her the soap and some clean clothes. Lia nodded and ran off while Erikk cooked dinner.

            Half an hour later Lia returned, finger combing her hair as she walked back into camp. Erikk eyed her amusedly as she plopped on the ground. She smiled at him.

            "What?" She finally asked as he was dishing out the slightly over cooked soup.

            "You're different, not a bad different, but I can tell." He said as he handed her the bowl. She smiled.

            "It probably has to do with me killin' her off and then dying." She said as she sipped her soup. Erikk nodded.

            "Yeah, that could do it." He said smiling. He noticed that Lia was yawning and rubbing her eyes after a while. "Bed. Now." He said unrolling the bedrolls. Lia just grumped at him and crawled into bed. Erikk smiled, his girl was back.

~~:~~

            Erikk wouldn't let Lia ride until two weeks after she woke up. Around the second day, she had begun complaining about it, but Erikk had just laughed and told her to be quiet. 

            Lia herself felt fine but realized she had put Erikk through quite the ordeal and did as he bid.  There was one thing that was bothering her though; she hadn't had any visions since she'd woken up. She thought maybe it had to do with dying; she had started getting them after she'd died the first time. Now, she wasn't getting any after the second time she'd died. More than likely, that was it, and oddly, she didn't mind.

            Erikk seemed very much relaxed now and she liked that. She hadn't seen this Erikk since they'd reached Carthak. It was because he'd known this was where Melodius was. Well, now she was gone, so he was fine.

            Lia didn't know it but her seventeenth birthday was in three weeks. Neither of the two had any sense of dates; they would have to get back to Tortall before they could get an accurate date.

            Lia had taken over the cooking responsibilities as she had declared Erikk 'Hopeless'. Dinner was better now, but not by much.

            "Li?" Erik asked about three days after they'd set out.

            "Yeah?"

            "What do you think about taking your ordeal when we get back?" He asked. Lia looked at him stunned. She hadn't thought about it; she hadn't really been expecting to survive the thing with Melodius.

            "Um, sure." she said brightly. Erikk grinned.

            "Forgot about it didn't cha'?" He said kindly.

            "Only a little," She said. He shook his head in disbelief.

            "I'm going to find dinner; you're scary." He said before disappearing into the forest. Lia started looking for the spices; Erikk always put them in different places. She opened the pack that held her dresses. Gasping in shock, she dropped the bag. A large group of selkies poured out of her pack. Erikk reappeared from the forest.

            "What? Oh, where did they come from?" He asked her. Lia just looked at him.

            "We wanted to come with." They said, piling into the pot of water. Lia nodded.

            "You could have asked." She said after a moment. The selkies considered this for a moment.

            "Can we come?" They chorused.

            "Yes. Now get out of my pan." She said. They poured out of her pan and lined up in a row to watch her. During her conversation with them, Erikk had disappeared again into the forest. After the water was boiling, he returned with a skinned rabbit and some herbs to cook it with.

            "Will this do?" He asked Lia nodded.

            "What do you eat?" She asked directing her question to the selkies; they looked at her.

            "Worms, flies, dirt, fungus," They said. That's when Lia realized that during their trip she had seen very few bugs. "Mostly worms though." Lia nodded.

            "D'you want to try to eat rabbit?" She asked them. They looked at each other and then nodded. "I'll give you some raw meat now, later you can try cooked." She said while slicing them a piece. They poked at it and then nibbled at it. They nodded and gobbled it up while Lia sliced the rest of the rabbit up for soup. Erikk had watched this entire process with a silly grin on his face.

            "What?" She asked him as she crawled over to sit next to him.

            "They're so odd." He said after a bit. Lia nodded.

            "They're kind of like the darknings. Remember those from the Immortals war." She said; he nodded.

            "Yeah, maybe they're distant relatives or something." He yawned. "'Cept our guys have arms, and legs, sort of." he said looking at the two short, stubby things they walked on.

            "And they have tails." Lia added. Erikk laughed.

            "Soup's burning O' wonderful chef." He said cockily. She yelped and went to stir it. She poured the soup into three bowls and set one on the ground for the selkies. They poked at it for a while and ate the rabbit and carrots. After a minute of looking at the broth distastefully, they climbed into it. Lia choked on her carrot and watched as all nine selkies splashed around in the bowl. Erikk patted her on the back.

            "Odd little critters." he remarked before they went to bed.

            "Only a little."

~~:~~

            A week later, they were back in the town they had left the progress from. No one but the locals were left. They said hello and told the two what day it was, where to meet up with the progress, and all other sorts of polite things before shooing the two on their way.

            "I think that they are tired of we nobles." Erikk said pretending to be hurt. Lia laughed.

            "I haven't a clue why. Do you?" She asked in a giggly girl voice.

            "Maybe because we're snobbish pigs who use their resources until they're bone dry?" He asked.

            "That could be it, but I heard from mother that they just plain don't like us." She said before both of them broke out laughing.

            That evening Erikk was studying a map. Lia watched as he traced routes over it with his finger. She had been delighted to spend her squiredom with him, and then even more delighted to find that he was her Helper. Then she had died and she had heard from the selkie that he was devastated. Now for the first time in ages, they had no worries and she was finding that all those feelings she had been able to suppress were coming back in full force. She didn't know what to do with them.  She desperately wanted to talk to her mother about it. She would know what to do. In the meantime, she would do her best to ignore them.

            "Li, I think I've found a short cut." Erikk said. She looked up at him. "We'll be able to meet up with the progress on Tortallan soil." He said grinning. Lia smiled her relief. It had been almost a year since she had been home."

            The next morning, Lia awoke early to birds chirping and squirrels chattering. Sighing she sat up. Sitting next to her head was a thick bar of chocolate. Smiling she picked up the note that was with it.

Lia, Happy birthday! I hope this ties you over for birthday presents until we get to Corus; I'll get you something proper when we get there.

Erikk

            She smiled; she wouldn't have remembered had he not. She tickled the selkies awake and went to find him. She watched as he expertly shot a small groundhog. They didn't have much game here in the wilds of Carthak. He turned around and she smiled.

            "Happy birthday!" He said as soon as she saw him.

            "Thank you." She said smiling. "You know I could hunt every now and then." She said. He made a face.

            "And starve? No, no thank you. You can just keep throwing knives at trees." he said referring to her knife practice. Lia made a face.

            "Uh hu. We can cook that tonight; I want to make it to the border. I'm ready to go home." She said.

            "Me too, been a long year huh?" He asked.

            "Yeah, I have a lot of explaining to do once we get home too huh?" She asked; Erikk nodded.

            "Me too, we'll just call one of those conference things and explain things to the king and parentals at one time." he said.

            "Good idea." She said. Erikk nodded. They saddled up and rode to the border.

~~:~~

            They made it across the border in a month and a half, and Lia couldn't have been happier to be back on Tortallan soil. They quickly rode to Seabeth, the next stop on the progress list. The two led the horses into the inn's courtyard. Lia held the horses while Erik ran in to see if they had beaten the progress. He came back out running.

            "Next town over, the innkeeper says it's only an hour or so away." he said while he mounted. Lia nodded and hey set off at a gallop.

            The two rode into the town of Still Waters just as the sun set over the coastal hills. Lia couldn't help but smile, she was getting closer to home. They rode slowly toward the mock stables that had been set up for the occasion. Lia grabbed a servant on their way into the stables.     

"Tell Lord and Lady Queenscove, Lord and Lady Haven, and the King we require an audience." She said. The servant nodded and ran off.

            "You want to do this right away?" He asked.

            "Yeah, get it over with." She said. Erikk nodded. The servant returned as the two were tossing hay into the stalls.

            "The king will see you in his tent, as will the requested Lords and Ladies," he said. Lia nodded and followed him to the king's tent. It was just barely larger than the normal tents. Lia swallowed as they entered. The king was seated on the floor peering at several maps with markings on them. Their parents were seated on the floor, as well, whispering to each other. When the spotted their children, they jumped up and exchanged hugs and kisses. "Where have you been?" Her mother shrieked in her ear.

            "And where did you go?" Kel asked. Lia smiled.

            "Sit down," Erikk said. "This will take awhile." He said, and the two began their very long tale, from the very beginning.

            Late that night the two finished and all of the adults in the tent where sitting back just looking at the children who had been leading very different lives from what they had thought.

            "So," The king said finally. "You want to take your ordeal this winter?" He asked smiling.

            "That would be good." Lia said.

            "Good, I'll send a couple of informants to southern Corus to fill George in and all. Then we will see what happens. I the meantime, purses will be added to your treasury. Other wise I don't know what to do for the two of you." He said smiling.

            "That's fine sir, I don't really know what else we would have you do." Erikk said smiling. The king nodded and left. Lia leaned back onto the pillow-strewn floor. Her father growled.

            "What were the two of you thinking?" He father yelled Lia winced; this was going to be bad. "Going off to kill thousand year old immortals, and Erikk, aren't you supposed to take care of her? Keep her from dying? You should know better!" He roared. Lia gritted her teeth and stood up to face him head on. He opened his mouth to yell and Lia slapped him. He stared at her.

            "I do not need to be taken care of. I am seventeen father, and whether you like it or not I am a woman. I can and will take care of myself. Erikk is merely a supervisor for my exploits. I do not need to be mothered or watched every two seconds. I love you.  Truly I do, but you have been against my independence for years and I am sick of it." She said before turning on her heel and leaving. She could hear her mother's muffled laughter as well as Kel and Dom's booming laughter. Smiling she walked to the tents the servants had set up for her and Erikk.

            Five minutes later Erikk walked in looking a little disheveled.

            "For a moment there I thought your father was going to kill me." He said smiling.

            "Sorry." She said softly.

            "Hey," He said pulling her close. "Don't be so gloomy." He said smiling, and when she looked at him, she thought for a moment he was going to kiss her, but no such luck he smiled and pulled away from her. "I saw your friend Jasson." He said smiling, Lia perked up a bit; she hadn't seen him in a long time. "Get some rest, things won' seem so bad in the morning." He said before walking into his own tent. Lia sighed and smuggled down into her makeshift bed.

I told you all I had plans for updating. Well, I'm going to post a chapter a day between now and Friday counting this as Monday (even though it is technically Tuesday). You know to review so please do so.

~Elscy

Only 4 chapters left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

L