Disclaimer: This is based on the amazing work of Tamora Pierce. Of course, if you've read the last 15 chapters, you probably know that and aren't even bothering to look at this disclaimer any more.

Chapter 16 – Mystery

Daine chose the form of a falcon to fly to the castle. Falcons are very fast but still it felt like an eternity as she worried about Numair. She wasn't sure if she should go to Alanna, Duke Baird, or Jon. She asked the palace animals for the location of each and discovered that Alanna was with George, Jon and Thayet in Jon's study. Duke Baird was in his rooms. She decided getting both Alanna and Jon in one shot would be the best choice. She flew through the castle halls causing quite a stir among servants and others wandering the corridors. She thanked the Goddess to see a partially opened door that wouldn't slow her down.

The moment she passed the threshold, she saw Thayet jump in alarm at the sight of the bird. She dropped to primate form in front of Alanna and took a moment to form her own head on the primate's body. She was gasping for breath and trying to talk at the same time, "Numair's hurt. I can't see how bad. We found a – a big hole in the forest and when he tested it with his magic it tried to pull him in." Now all of them were on their feet and she headed back out the door, anxious about leaving him for a second more.

"Where is this?" Jon asked as he ran behind her. She explained the location.

"Why can't you see how bad he's hurt, is it internal?" Alanna asked.

"No, he's invisible. We were going to map with my new carto – mapping set and we were flying over to make it as good as possible. You can't see the hole from the ground, only the air. It's bespelled somehow. He dropped to human to look – but no clothes so he did the invisibility charm." She knew she was barely making sense but she was far too worried about Numair to slow down. "I dropped his clothes over him to keep him warm and so we could find him easily, but he was out – if he wakes and walks forward, it will have him."

George spoke next, "Go on back ta' him. We'll call to ye' when we're at the for'st rim." It was a mark of the seriousness of the situation that there was no joke. In the back of her mind there was an awareness that she and Numair had been alone in the forest without their clothes on and that someday it would either make fodder for crazy rumors or just be very funny, but only if he survived it. She shifted to falcon form and sped through the night to where he was.

She came to land beside him and shifted back to a cheetah so that she could go to the others quickly without flying. She listened for his breath and pulse and nuzzled him with her furry head, trying to wake him. She purred at him praying silently that he would be alright. When she finally heard Alanna call from the edge of the forest, she jumped off and raced to them. The big cat startled them, but all four followed her to Numair.

Jon's blue fire illuminated Numair and made him visible again. They had apparently decided that he should make sure Numair was covered before the ladies approached. Alanna began to search him with her magic since she was the better healer. Daine stayed in Cheetah form, pacing fretfully until Alanna's healing took hold and she heard Numair gasp. She hadn't even realized she was purring loudly again until Thayet started to giggle at her.

Numair sat up and then seemed to realize he was not dressed. He blushed furiously. He pulled his coat more tightly around himself. Groggily, he asked, "What happened?"

"Do you remember finding a large hole from the air?" Alanna asked kindly.

"Vaguely," he answered and scrubbed his face with it hands. Daine came over and pressed her cheetah head against his face. He petted her absent-mindedly while the group reiterated what they had been told by Daine. "I guess I frightened you?" he asked. Daine nodded and switched her tail.

Jon, George, Alanna, and Thayet began to chuckle at her. So she turned and headed back to her clothes.

She returned quickly as herself to find that Numair had apparently dressed as well. He was standing discussing the problem with the others. She walked over to him sheepishly. "Did I hurt you when crashed into you?" He looked at her blankly, so she explained.

"I think you probably saved me, Magelet. Thank you." He wrapped one arm around her and squeezed. "I think it's pretty clear what caused the Tharsen Window spell to try to pull me apart. Of course, what we don't know is how this got here or what it is."

"I smelled blood," she said, staring up into his face. "I couldn't tell where it came from or what had happened and you were invisible…"

"Shhh, I'm alright now. I just cut my head on a rock, nothing more," he soothed, wrapping the other arm around her too so that she was in a tight embrace.

"If you scare me like that again, I'm going to chain you to the worst dungeon I can find," she said staring up into his face. He seemed to be trying not to laugh as he looked down into her face. Something in his eyes changed as he gazed at her. And then he let her go abruptly and walked over to stand near the edge of the chasm where Jon and Thayet were staring. Daine looked up and saw Alanna and George giggling into their hands.

"I wish I could see it somehow," Jon remarked. "Unlike you two, none of us can fly."

"No but you can be lifted by magic," Numair said.

"Of course," Alanna and Jon said together, as if they should have thought of it.

Black fire illuminated the darkness while blue fire lifted Jon into the air and purple fire lifted George and Alanna into the air and the three looked down with open mouths. When they were back on the ground, they again walked the perimeter. Thayet had spent those moments chucking stones into the hole and listening for them to hit bottom. Daine wondered if Thayet might be afraid of heights since she seemed to have no interest in being levitated.

Thayet said, "The rocks never hit a bottom that I could hear. Daine have any animals fallen into that you're aware of?"

"No, but then maybe they never get to cry out. I'd have to know they were missing if it swallowed them into nothing." She answered.

"And it can't be formed the way a normal hole or fissure might be," Numair said. "There's no debris from digging, there's no detritus from magical disintegration, there seems to be no clue where the soil and vegetation that was inside of it might have gone." He began to tug at his long nose.

"This is not being masked by any spell I've ever encountered either," Jon added. "There's no dampener or façade in place. It isn't camouflaged by any means. I'm tempted to walk through and see if I fall in." Automatically Thayet grabbed one of Jon's arms and Numair grabbed the other. Jon frowned at each in turn.

"Well," Alanna said, "I think another of us ought to reach with our magic and see if gets the same result." There was an outpouring of disagreement, but Alanna held a hand out. "We're assuming that this is what tried to pull Numair apart during the Tharsen Window spell. But what if he actually created it. There's only one way to know that. Now if I reach with my magic and it traps me, you can push me out of it, just as Daine did Numair. As long as I don't pound my head on a rock, I should be fine too."

A reluctant murmur of assent followed and George positioned himself to push Alanna from the chasm's grasp. Like Numair had done earlier, Alanna reached with her purple fire to examine the fissure and it grabbed her as if she were chained. She cried out as it pulled hard, leaving her features scumbled as if it were pulling her essence. George pushed to try to free her, only to be seized himself. Jon raced at the pair to try to free them and it captured him too. Daine dived at them, changing to a large bear smoothly as she did so and the four tumbled to the ground heavily, Daine trying to roll away to keep from landing on the others.

When Daine sat up, Jon was hanging over an unconscious Alanna and looking concerned. George was trying to lift himself but seemed to be dazed. Numair was right beside Daine, looking at her with concern. Thayet approached carrying Daine's clothing and wearing a soft smile as she said, "Thank you, Daine." Then Thayet turned to check on Jon and the others. Daine went to dress behind a tree thinking the whole time that she was getting mighty tired of shifting and dressing and shifting and dressing and that she might just want to stay in animal form.

When she returned to the clearing, "..seems to have a stronger effect, the longer you're exposed to it." Numair was saying. "Jon was conscious, George was dazed, and Alanna was unconscious, although the fact that it was Alanna's magic it grabbed, might have something to do with it."

"Why din't it capture Daine like the rest of us?" George asked the question they all seemed to be avoiding.

"I don't know. But I can search it with my magic unlike you. It does make me queasy though," she offered. "But you do all have some Gift and I don't. Is that it maybe?"

"Darlin' my gift ain't hardly worth notin'," George responded.

"But it is still present," Numair said. "No, more than ever, I think it's clear that nobody should 'walk' over to see if they fall in." He looked pointedly at Jon while he said it.

"No, but I could fly closer," Daine suggested.

"No!" Numair scolded incredulously. "Daine, if it pulled you in, we couldn't do a damn thing but watch helplessly." She was shocked at the outrage in his voice and worry in his face.

"Calm down, Numair. She won't do anything rash," Thayet said softly.

"You're right," he answered. He turned to face Daine, "I'm sorry. Guess I hit my head too hard."

"Likely story," Daine teased. "You must hit your head daily. Elsewise you're just over-protective."

George burst into laughter and Alanna sputtered, trying not to laugh outright. Numair chuckled a little. "I'll try to do better in the future," he said. He stood, staring at the area where the chasm was. He picked up a round rock and rolled it across the ground. It rolled safely through to the other side. Clearly that was not the expected outcome. Jon, George, Alanna, Thayet and Numair all stared and began to look for more round rocks. When another was found, Numair magically lifted himself above so that he could see how it rolled, while George tumbled the rock across the clearing. "It's strange, he said as he dropped back to the ground. It's as if it doesn't exist to the stone." He stood for another minute. "Daine, if we suspend you, can you fire a quarrel into the edge wall of the chasm and tell us what happens?"

She nodded and grabbed her crossbow. She loaded the quarrel and felt Numair's magic lift her through the air. She took aim and fired and the arrow lodged itself into the edge of the hole. She loaded another quarrel and shot straight into the hole. That one disappeared. She described it to the rest of the group as Numair lowered her gently to the ground.

"We could tie a rope…" Numair and Daine said simultaneously and grinned at one another. But they never got to finish the thought.

Daine felt the wrongness that always accompanied spidrens. "I hope we all have weapons," she said. "There's a nest of spidrens heading right for us – feels like a dozen." She pointed as she spoke.

"Well, at least we'll see if they fall in," Jon said as blue fire balled around his hands.

Thayet began to curse in a way that seemed more akin to Alanna, drawing strange looks from the others. "I didn't bring my bow," she growled. She moved to the rear of the group and stood there unable to even help until Alanna handed over her sword and prepared to fight with magic.

"I'd like to look that good when I'm that mad someday," Daine observed, drawing a chuckle from George and Alanna as she readied her cross bow. She noted the way George angled his throwing daggers in a leather armband she did not know he carried. It allowed each handle to stick out in easy reach.

Daine moved into front position as she had the only bow and she heard Numair move in quietly behind her. When the first spidren appeared, she heard a word whispered by Numair and she loosed her arrow. The monster exploded the moment the arrow touched it. She looked back at Numair and grinned. The pair took out six of the monsters before the others even needed to fight at all.

When at last a spidren scuttled across the chasm it screamed painfully and disappeared into the darkness, and, from what Daine could sense, it ceased to exist. She told her friends. The other Spidrens seemed to hesitate, giving Daine opportunity to target and destroy another. The other four tried to attack from the sides and were destroyed by mage fire and blades.

"I like a pit that swallows monsters whole," Jon admitted when it was over. "I'm tempted to push all the carcasses in there too." He looked up at Numair and Daine. "I had no idea that you two were so effective together. You're a force to be reckoned with. If we do face a war in the spring thaws I think I'll want to keep you two together." Daine couldn't help but smile.

"Jon, I think standing out here in the dark is a bad idea," Numair said. "Before we can really test this any more I need a few things – rope, a few charmed stones, a noisemaker…"

"We get the point, Numair,"Alanna said with a grin.

"But we can't leave this out here for someone to fall in," Thayet noted.

"We could try putting a protection charm around it," Numair suggested. "Then no one can fall in."

"What if it tries to suck the magic in while you're doing the charm?" Daine asked.

He grinned at her a little wickedly. "Will you rescue me?"

"Nothin' like a big, tough mage, is there, lass." George said and laughed.

"I'll always watch your back," she told Numair in answer with a slight smile.

"I know," he said seriously with a look of admiration that made her heart pound. "I can always count on you."

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See, no cliffy. But still more story to come, I promise.