Disclaimer: This is based on Tamora Pierce's Tortall Series "The Immortals"
A/N: For all who asked, Daine didn't change her skin for the same reason she stood there and fired a bow in the nude instead of wearing fur or feathers. And for the same reason she didn't turn into something undesireable in the pond in RotG when the Tauros came after her. I mean, would he have lusted after a crocodile? I hate when people call her a Mary Sue because she does have flaws and does do stupid things occasionally. When she's stressed, she isn't always the fastest thinker on her feet.
Chapter 21: The Rescue Plan
Numair went over the plan in his mind for a fourth time. There was so much that could go wrong. Of course, he'd have to survive for Daine to actually drop him off a glacier. He picked up the five humming gems from his work table and dropped them into his belt purse, along with hematite stones and four aquamarines, crudely cut. He also picked up two very large books and two heavy duty ropes. He stopped in Daine's room and picked up the sling she used to carry Kitten when she traveled
He was back at the forest edge studying the large books when Alanna arrived with Thayet, Onua, Sarge and Duke Baird. Numair knew Harailt and Lindhall were on their way as he had personally sent speaking spells to them. Alanna lit a fire and Jon's face appeared there. He looked as exhausted as Numair felt, though he was hard to see as it was well after dawn now.
"Jon," Numair said in greeting. The king nodded acknowledgement.
"Numair thinks he can get them out as I told you earlier," Alanna said.
"What's the plan?" Jon asked.
"I'm going to wield some elemental magic," Numair answered. He heard a gasp from in front the forest edge and realized Harailt and Lindhall had arrived.
"Exactly where do you think you're going to find that?" Jon questioned a little tersely. That was a typical reaction when he was fatigued. Numair wondered if the fight in the south was as bad as he suspected. He knew Jon wouldn't share that until this crisis was averted.
"I already have it," Numair replied, pulling the five humming stones from his belt purse. "When the barrier fell, I absorbed the magic into these stones to stop the connection between those in Corus. That much magic in the air was dangerous and I thought I might be able to rebuild the barrier at some point if the right spell were discovered. I'm afraid that won't happen now."
"Can you wield that much power, Numair, without dropping dead?" Jon asked pointedly.
"For a time. I admit I'll have to hurry and more than likely I'll need my heart started again afterward. That's why the Duke is here and Alanna, although her role will be something more essential to the actual plan."
"Alanna, you're staying unusually quiet," Jon observed.
"I haven't heard everything yet. I admit, I'm already nervous," she responded.
"Numair, sum it up quickly for me. I need to get back to the battle," Jon ordered.
Numair took a deep breath. "This is a displacement, as I explained before. The top is antimere magic and will drain anyone with gift or immortal magic, feeding the displacement to bleed more into our world. The actual pocket does not contain antimere magic. It is a place in reality but we usually can't see it. Only the lines where they overlap actually contain the magic. We're going to seal in my magic and I'll drop in. Once inside I will absorb the magic from three stones. Alanna will absorb the magic of one more and Harailt will take the last. I'll open a window and send our friends back here and then the three of us will separate the two realities back to how they are naturally meant to be. I'll be underground though, which is going to be tricky. I have a spell I learned in Carthak from the Power Codex. It makes me able to walk through walls by basically changing my frequency, similar to what happened here. They will have to pull me out, which will not be easy because the soil won't want to give to the ropes, but it will give for me. If all goes well, I come out in one piece and we get our friends back."
Jon, Alanna, Harailt, and Lindhall all looked stunned. No one spoke for a moment. "Goddess, so much can go wrong," Alanna finally said.
"Why must you still be in the cavern to move it back to its own reality?"
"Grounding – I've thought a lot about this. I even considered sending it where I sent the blood rain in Dunlath. But it must be put back where it belongs, because we don't know what kind of cataclysmic event could result from its absence. Though to us it is a mammoth anomaly, it could be holding up another city in another parallel existence. It must be returned in one piece so that it doesn't cause us further harm or destroy the other world. I need to have my feet in the soil there to feel the natural direction."
"And why are you absorbing three stones and Alanna and Harailt only absorbing one each?" Lindhall asked.
"Two reasons: first it's what each of them can wield safely and second, that's the amount I will need to move the space back where it belongs without risking the collapse of the entire forest."
"What can go wrong?" Jon asked.
"I won't lie to you, Jon. A lot could go wrong. That pit is full of immortals and when the window is opened I will have to risk letting some of them through too. Plus, I'm basing calculation for power drain off of texts that were written 400 years before I was born."
"What keeps you from being ripped to pieces like you were the last time you opened a window?"
"Daine will have to help me. But when I send her back, I'll close the window behind her. Then I'll proceed with the distortion move."
"What if I order you not to do this?" Jon asked.
Numair took a deep breath and tried not to let his anger show. "Then five loyal Tortallans die and this distortion continues to grow and collect immortals until Ozorne opens it and looses them on Corus, or the hole swallows the city."
Jon gulped air in shock. "Don't die," he said finally.
"That certainly isn't my intention."
Jon only nodded before his image disappeared.
Alanna looked at Numair, visibly shaken. "This is territory I don't know if I'm ready for. I have powerful magic yes, but I'm no scholar. And I don't understand this distortion concept at all."
"You don't have to," Numair answered. "In fact, it helps that you don't. You know your world. You are anchored by your practicality. Harailt will provide the scholarly knowledge. And Lindhall will be here to guide you. I need you in on it because of your ember. Your connection to the Goddess works like Daine's to the Badger. Energy channeled through there will allow us to talk."
"Can I do nothing more to help you?" Lindhall asked.
"Yes, I need you to bind my magic. It's going to be a complicated spell and rather draining. You need to make me invisible too."
"Why?"
"So Kitten will undo it. You see if none of my magic can bleed through, then I would not be able to break the spell on my own. I need her help and although I could ask her, she seems to be more powerful when she's indignant. This spell is going to wipe you out which is why I didn't ask you to take part in moving the displacement. You know me well enough to trap me better than anyone else."
Alanna was chewing her nails – always a bad sign. "Both exist right?"
"Right." Numair and Lindhall said together.
"And if you're underground physically when you move the other place, you'll be in the ground here."
"Yes," Numair said.
"How deep?"
"I don't yet know. I didn't ask Daine, but I think I'm best to tell you when I get there."
"You'll suffocate or get crushed by the compacted earth." Duke Baird moved in behind her in alarm.
"I won't be crushed because of the other spell. I could suffocate. You are going to have to pull me through in less than six minutes. But Cloud will help you and Daine should be up here by that time if you want any other horses for assistance. Daine might also ask some rabbits to loosen the soil around the rope. If I have the strength, I can crack the ground open, I just don't know if I'll have it left. I also don't think that Harailt, you, or Lindhall will have it to crack open the ground. If we had not sent so many mages south, we could probably have more assistance here, but we did."
Alanna pulled him aside and said, "Walk with me a minute."
He walked with her along the forest rim in silence for a moment. "What if you die?"
"Then Daine will drop my body off a glacier," he said with an ironic smile.
"I'm serious," she said.
"What I told Jon was the truth. This has to be stopped. And I can't wait around to do it until Daine and the others die in there."
"It was hard enough to let you send Michael knowing it meant sacrificing your life when you were already mortally wounded. You're standing in front of me healthy and talking about letting yourself be buried alive in the hope that you will either have the strength to break free or that we can pull you free before you run out of air." She began to curse in a long string and he waited for her to finish.
"If my choice is to let her die, then it is no choice I can make. I asked you why you needed to hear me say it if you already know. Is that what you want now? Do you want to hear that losing Daine is a mortal wound to me? Will it make it more acceptable to you?
"I'm sorry, Numair. When you get her out of there, will you tell her?"
"No. I'll wait. I don't want her by coercion. She needs to decide for herself that she loves me. If I speak she might believe she is and then …"
"And if she already is?"
"I'll drop her a hint. Does that satisfy you? We can discuss this later. The longer she's down there with those monsters the less likely I am to get her back."
When they returned to the group, Lindhall was ready to do the magic sealing spell. It took him only moments and then they tested the spell. Thayet and Onua came over and hugged him. He idly wondered if it was strange to hug someone you couldn't see. When Numair was ready to drop into the cavern, he found Sarge waiting there carrying an armload of spears.
"Where do you think you're going?" Numair asked.
"I'm going down there with you," Sarge answered in his deep bass looking past where Numair actually was.
"Why?"
"There are a lot of immortals down there and four very tired fighters. I'm going to even your odds. I have no magic so I won't be hurt. Daine is special to Onua and to me and Buri is one of my closest friends. So we go together." Sarge jumped in the pit without another word and Numair followed.
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