Disclaimer: It is Tamora Pierce's. I just borrowed it for a bit.

A/N: This is the single most heart-wrenching chapter I have ever written. I planned it from the beginning and I still cried the whole time. No flames though, please. I didn't make this AU for a reason.

Chapter 20 – Sacrifice

Numair awoke to a burning pain in his side. It was all he could do not to cry out. He felt Michael's face. The child was still burning up. Alanna's healing salve had done wonders for the visible wounds on his face, but it couldn't do much for internal ills. Numair listened to Michael's raspy breathing. He suspected pneumonia. It was frightening to think that this 3-year-old boy might die before Numair could get him back to his mother.

He wondered how bad his own condition was and if he might have built up enough power to transport Michael to Tortall. He slipped into a light meditative state and searched for his wound. Inside, his abdomen was a sea of blood. Strange that I could be hurt so badly and yet walk all this way, he thought. Academic to the end, I'm being analytical about my own mortality.

His Gift was still low, but there would be enough. He could get Michael to safety with a transporting spell. The price was high, but he was willing to pay it. He had never imagined that his plan would go this horribly wrong. He was glad now that he had put everything in order before he left. He pulled his black opal necklace off and put it around Michael's neck. He also placed Elyra's locket around Michael's neck.

Numair tried to guess what time of day it was. This was not the kind of thing he wanted a huge audience for. Scrambling out from under the boat with difficulty (because Michael was still strapped to his chest) Numair saw that the sky was overcast. It was probably midday, but it was so dark that it was hard to tell. The harbor was surprisingly empty. He wondered if the storm that was brewing was to be unusually bad. Still, it was for the best that no one seemed to be nearby.

Numair struggled stiffly to the water's edge. The surf was shockingly cold. He began to wade out as he untied the rope that held Michael to him. He cradled the boy with his left arm and lifted his right arm, palm extended, to bring the white opal to where he could see it. The rushing water was pushing against him, making it hard to stand. The bubble of magic grew and he could see Alanna. She was sleeping. He knew she was awake well into the night.

"Alanna!" She awoke with a start and stared into her own opal with bleary eyes. "Alanna, I need you to get ready. I'm going to send Michael to you."

"To send – what? Gods, you look bad."

"I had a little trouble. You would have been proud though. I mostly held my own in a sword fight."

"You haven't had much time to recharge. Why are you sending him now?"

"Alanna, he's very sick – pneumonia I think. I can hear his lungs rattle when he breathes. There were rats crawling all over him too. I put your salve on his wounds, but I cannot know about disease. He has a terrible fever and he's barely conscious. He slept through a lot of explosions."

"They weren't taking care of him?" Alanna asked. He could see anger bubbling in her eyes.

"No, he was not being kept like a prisoner intended to live. You and Duke Baird are his only hope."

"Alright, I'm ready then."

"A couple more things – he was in Kyprin Castle, Alanna."

"The castle?" She blanched.

"Yes, I was very lucky to get him out."

"Bright Mithros, the Copper Isles orchestrated this." He saw her reach over and wondered if she was stirring George.

"Also, he will have his mother's locket and my black opal. Can you give the locket to Elyra and the opal to Daine, please?" He tried to say it nonchalantly, but Alanna looked immediately suspicious.

She began to really look at him and he knew she was looking with her magical vision. "Numair! Your power is too low. You'll have to dip into your life force."

"Alanna," he started softly.

"It's suicidal, Numair, you cannot do this! You cannot…" She continued to rant and lecture fearfully.

"Alanna," he said soothingly and then louder, "Alanna." Finally he yelled, "Alanna!" She stopped protesting and stared, teary eyed.

"I'm mortally wounded, Alanna." He was amazed at how calm he felt, almost as if he was separated from himself. It felt strange to watch her cry.

"I honestly didn't know this would happen. I made a stupid mistake and caught a sword in the side. I'm bleeding internally."

She began to sob and he saw George move into the range of the opal, tousal haired and wearing a severe expression. "Alanna, George, I can save Michael. It's what I came here for, maybe it's why I was born. I've killed a lot in my life, Alanna, but unlike you I cannot heal. So I tried to balance the books by teaching. Today, I can actually choose to save a life. Help me, please."

"Numair, no." She wasn't yelling anymore. It was more like pleading.

"I'm waist-deep in sea water. It's getting harder to stand. And there's a storm coming. It seems early evening and yet I know its mid-day. If we argue much longer..."

"Numair, there has to be another way."

"None that I can come up with." He looked over at Michael. "Alanna, we're running out of time. Now, when he comes to you, it will feel like he has dropped out of midair. You will have to catch him."

Alanna was crying too hard to answer. She just nodded. George leaned in and said "We'll get him, Numair."

"Thank you, George. Alanna, for what it's worth, I'm sorry. I know it hurts. Magelet is not going to understand. Take care of her, okay?"

"Okay," she answered weakly. "Are – are you afraid."

"No. I thought I would be. It's odd really. It feels a bit like something happening to someone else. I will have a little longer. The salt water and cold will help my strength, and I've two opals – the black pendant and the white I'm using to talk to you. They will boost my power too so it won't dip as much into my life force as you're thinking. Both opals are on their way to you."

She snuffled a little.

"May the Black God welcome you," George said. His voice was strained and he looked like he was fighting his own tears.

"Goddess bless all," Numair answered and closed his hand. He wrapped Michael's hand around the white opal and finished the spell. He felt the power draining from his body and it was excruciating. The child flickered and disappeared. He held the magic until he could feel the spell complete and he dropped, exhausted, into the rolling surf.

He thought about the blue envelope. There were the usual documents, distributing his belongings. He had given almost everything to Daine, save a few scattered items distributed to friends and a few jewels to be sent to his mother. There were also letters to his friends. Jon's explained the mission and thanked him for teaching him so much. Alanna and George's letter thanked them for being a family to him. Onua's letter thanked her for friendship and songs he would never forget. Sadly, he had spent so much time on the other letter for Daine that the goodbye letter was thrown together hastily. He just wrote it, and didn't really read it over. Now he wished he had focused on it more and had not left it so inadequate. There was nothing to be done about that now.

What could he have said to help anyway? She would not understand this. Just weeks ago she thought he had died in Carthak. Now, she would have to go through it all over again. He was sorry to cause her more pain and sorry that he would never feel her in his arms again.

It was Daine who softened his path to unconciousness. He remember moments: Daine's small hand in his as he fought the dampeners on Pirate's Swoop; Daine healing an otter for the first time; Daine laughing at a campfire on the way back from Dunlath; Daine in her blue gown at the Carthak Banquet; Daine snuggling her cheek to his hand in the infirmiry.

Numair drifted with the current and was too far from consciousness to feel the dolphins come up beneath him, swimming him out to sea and toward Tortall.

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In Corus, Alanna caught Michael and held him to her as she wept. She did what she could to heal him, burning out his fever and some of the pneumonia. When her power ran low, she carried him to Duke Baird. George stayed close to her side as she walked and held her tight when her duties to Michael were complete and she collapsed into tears. "I have lost another brother," she sobbed unnecessarily.

In Numair's room, Daine awoke abruptly when the simulacrum melted away. She cried silently, collapsing in on herself, while every animal in the kingdom howled her grief.

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Okay, so I'm blubbering like an idiot and I know how it comes out.