A/N: Happy (belated) Birthday, FlamingKnight! I'm sorry this didn't come sooner for you.

Chapter 9: Uncommon Courage

George felt the first waves of Numair's Gift wash over him like currents of cool seawater. As he shut his eyes, all feeling drained away except for the insistent tingling where Numair's hands rested on his temples, and where his own fingertips brushed his wife's forehead.

Then, for a moment, the three were engulfed in total nothingness. No light, no dark, no feeling.

From their tense seated positions in the infirmary, Jon, Daine and Thayet watched helplessly as Alanna's body stopped its feverish thrashing and her breath grew quiet. Numair's face turned deathly white, and George's hands began to twitch.

George found his thoughts were beginning to fade, beginning to become a part of the nothingness surrounding him. Memories and emotions drained from his being, leaving empty places in his heart and mind that were promptly filled by that undefinable nonexistence. George faintly wondered if this was what death was like.

Suddenly great tendrils of sparkling fire wrapped themselves around his consciousness, expelling the emptiness, and allowing his mind to return to normal. George struggled to open his eyes, and started with surprise when he found they were already wide open. Color began to pierce the nothingness, slowly at first, then faster and faster until he found himself surrounded by a swirling mass of every hue imaginable. They danced together, combining and separating as they made and unmade one another. Reds and blues tangled together, mixing to create rich violets. Golds and oranges swirled into semblances of sunsets, and grays and dark blues boiled like the sky after a storm.

Follow me in, said a familiar voice in his head. George could feel himself being swept along with Numair, following the mage towards a previously unnoticed greenish yellow glow that writhed independently of the other colors. As they approached the glow, George could see a core of shimmering purple at its center. The sight of his beloved entrapped steeled the former King of Thieves against the impending danger and he directed his mind toward Numair.

I'm ready.


********


With great effort, Daine managed to rip he gaze away from her entranced friends to look at her king and queen. Your majesties, she began. I know this isn't the best time, but there's something Numair didn't get a chance to tell you.

Jon and Thayet turned to the girl with questioning eyes.

It's about Ozorne... he's working with a prince of the Copper Isles and they've managed to perform a spell called Ithrandil's Curse-

The king's eyes lit in grim comprehension. You mean...

Yes. The barrier between the Human and Immortal realms has been destroyed. Oh, Horse Lords, they're all headed here!

How long?

They'll be upon us by nightfall.

Jonathan stood and looked somberly at his Champion, Black Robe Mage, and most loyal baron; all powerful assets who were unable to aid in the fight. He turned to the two women. Daine, I need you to go help Sarge and Onua saddle up the trainees. They're green yet- but they'll have to learn sometime. Thayet, have the pages round up every Gifted and able-bodied person in Corus. Tonight we ask our citizens to help defend their kingdom. Hurry now, we have precious little time before sunset.