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Please read: I have a problem. Where will Alanna get lightning from? If you have any ideas, please tell me.

Chapter 4: The Sweating Sickness

A big figure, wrapped in a black cloak, stood in the middle of a forest. Next to her was a little fountain. The figure took its hood off and revealed a woman with long black her and stunning crimson lips. She looked in the fountain. A picture appeared. It showed a healers' tent. All beds were occupied. The healers worked hard, their eyes showed that they must have been working for days without sleeping, but one patient after the other died. A tear dropped into the water. The picture blured. Now it showed a small room full of priest crowding around one bed. They were chanting prayers for the dying boy in the bed. He had black hair and sapphire eyes. The incense in the room made it hard to breath. How could the little boy get well in these circumstances? Another tear dropped into the water. The woman's eyes were full of sorrow. She looked up into the sky.

Flashback…..

The woman sat on her knees. All around her was black, exept for a little twinkling star above her.

'The time has come', said a voice. It was deep and melodious. 'The time when we have to trust in one little girl. The downfall is near. An evil sorcerer will come and lure the kingdom on to destruction.'

The scene changed. Now the woman was kneeling on a street in Corus, the capital of Tortall. The people she saw were peaky and they wore only tatters. A plump man with valuable clothes passed by. Behind him stumbled a boy, chained around his throat. He wore only a loincloth. The woman gasped. It wasn't allowed to have slaves in Tortall.

The street and the people vanished. All was dark again.'That's what will happen if the sorcerer succeeds.Our only hope is the girl with the purple eyes and the copper hair. She has to perform her task. She has to save the Royal Family and prove to the world that women can fight. If she doesn't, the world, like we used to know it, is doomed.' The voice faded.

End of Flashback….

Now the woman cried. The girl with the purple eyes wasn't were she should be. She should be in the room where the prince was dying. She should save him. But where was she? At the convent, forced to become a lady. The woman knew she had to do something. The power of the little girl was needed. The woman looked in the fountain again. Now it showed a girl with copper hair in a small room. She practiced with a staff, fighting against another staff, which was levitating. The woman smiled a little bit. Maybe the girl could still perform her task.It was clear that she was a warrior, not a lady.The woman turned around and put forth her hand. Glistening light appeared on her palm and encased the woman. As it wore of, the woman wasn't there anymore.

A little girl with copper hair ran after a boy, who looked exactly like the girl, except for the length of his hair. The twins laughed and seem to enjoy themselves. Suddenly flamboyant light dazzled Alanna.

Then she fell. She fell down a dark tunnel. Shrieks and screams came from every where around her, but they seemed to be far away. Alanna looked down on her. She was burning with purple magic. It hurt.

'Call him back!', a voice chimed in her head. It was the voice of a woman, but it was clear that it wasn't ment for human ears. Alanna's body rebelled against the power of the fire. It seemed as if the magic was soaking up all of her power. She couldn't control it, it was too powerful. It controlled her. Alanna fought against it. Tears rolled down her cheak and she felt as if she would burst then and there. Am I a silly lady, she thought angrily, Or am I a warrior? She clenched her fists and fought the pain until she had the control over it. Now she ruled the power. She was a warrior!

Alanna's eyes widened. There, at the end of the tunnel, was a boy. He was about 14 years old and had black hair and blue eyes. Alanna felt as if she had seen him once, but she couldn't guess who he was. Where had she seen this face? She shook her head.

Then a huge, dark shadow shaped like a hooded man came between the boy and Alanna. Suddenly she realized where she was. She was between the world of the living and the Underworld. She drifted between Life and Death. The hooded man had to be the Dark God.

But why was she here? And who was this boy? Alanna felt sorry for the boy. Why should a fourteen-year-old boy die? Somehow she felt as if she should save him. Alanna wondered where that came from. She didn't even know the boy.

"Exuse me", she said politly. Alanna wanted to shut her mouth but she couldn't. A strange power seemed to force her to speak. "But you can't have him. Not yet. He's going to come back with me." Her voice was not hers. It was the voice of a woman. Is that the voice I'll have when I'm a woman, Alanna wondered.

The Dark God looked at her strangely. Then he nodded and disappeared. "Take my hand," Alanna told the boy and put forth her hand. The boy grabbed it. "Thank you", he said. His voice was deep and even, calm and commanding. It was the voice of a man, not that of a boy.

Their gripped hands burned white-hot, melting the shadows around them away. Their combined Gifts burned away the walls of that dark place.

Suddenly Alanna sat up, gasping for air. Sweat was running down her face. She looked around and saw that she was in her room again. She sighed. What was that, she wondered. It seemed so real. Alanna laid down on her bed again. No, it was just a dream. A very strange dream, but still a dream.

She didn't know that the boy with the sapphire eyes had just awoke, too. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. There were about five priests the small room, chanting prayers for him. They must have thought he was death. He sneezed. All eyes turned to him.

"The prince's alive!", one of the priests shouted, "He's awake!"

How did you like it? I took some sentences from the book. Sorry. Tell me what you think.

Please read: I have a problem. Where will Alanna get lightning from? If you have any ideas, please tell me.