Disclaimer: If you don't know it by now, you probably can't process it anyway.

I had re-enabled my anonymous reviews today, only to be harassed again by Narm's Briton. There's little point in keeping it a secret since she's made it so public. I'm so sorry to all the reviewers who were using that function.

A/N: Here is the long awaited battle. I hope you like it.

JaDeViPeR08: Thanks. This one is fluffy too, but also action packed.

Sunfish Sailor: That is a very kind compliment. I'm glad you saw it that way.

Lady Tonks of Wolf's Rock: Everyone will know before I close

Sarramaks: Thanks so much as always. I like the reality of her being no-nonsense. For that reason, she leads him to a lot of things that one would normally think he would lead for as you will see coming up.

Silverlake: Thanks!

Chapter 29 – Battle

In hawk form, Numair soared through the air toward the enemy camp. His flying was a bit rusty. It had been far too long since he practiced at all. Wars could derail nearly anything. He had a spelled, invisible package of clothes clasped in his talons and one clear plan in mind. He needed to find a sentry and the younger, the better. Luck was with him that July morning. He saw what looked to be a 16 or 17 year old Copper Islander on duty at the edge of the forest. The boy had no visible fire of gift and had probably drawn duty there because the forest was too dense to actually expect an enemy to approach from that direction. Numair landed and dressed quietly, then slipped through the trees.

Startled the boy looked up and was immediately and intentionally captured by Numair's eyes. "What's your name?" Numair asked him.

"Yoseph," the boy answered. He was completely under the spell which was good. Numair had not done this level of mind control since he first discovered he could.

"Yoseph, I'm going to tell you a funny story which all of the mages in your camp will enjoy."

"The mages will enjoy," Yoseph repeated in monotone.

"It's a story about the 'so-called great mage Salmalin'."

"Salmalin," he repeated.

"He fought another black-robe mage near mid-winter called Cearl de Romando, but he cheated."

"He cheated," the boy said hollowly, but smiling.

"While Salmalin distracted de Romando, one of his friends put a spear through de Romando's back."

"Spear through the back?" he asked in monotone.

"That's right. Salmalin could not have won the fight for all the power that he boasts."

"Could not have won," the boy reapeted.

"It's too bad de Romando didn't know to take the fight where Salmalin's friends couldn't find him."

"It's too bad," the boy agreed.

"You don't remember where you heard it, but it's a good story. You'll want to tell every mage in your camp, won't you?"

"I want to tell every mage," the boy agreed.

Numair left him standing there where he would remain for another four minutes. By then Numair would be airborne again and Yoseph would not remember seeing anyone.

When he returned to camp, Thayet invited him to eat with herself and Harailt. Other than the nap on the boat, Numair hadn't slept yet and he was getting very exhausted.

"How did it go?" she asked. He looked up at her thinking about what a good commander she was and how lucky Jon was to have her. He blinked and realized he had just mind-catured her unintentionally as she sat frozen.

"Thayet, I'm so sorry. I'm that tired," he said.

She swallowed hard and he realized that both she and Harailt looked unnerved. "I never realized it was that easy for you," she said after a long silence. "In the years we've known each other, why hasn't that happened before?"

"I don't think you've ever seen me quite this sleep deprived and I work at not doing it," he answered, humiliated. "It's much easier to do to someone with little or no magic. It would be much harder to capture Ral and I've never had to worry around Daine. I think she's immune to me altogether. Again I am so sorry. That's another good reason not to use that ability. It's too easy to forget to stop." He began to eat rapidly, keeping his eyes cast down in both shame and precaution.

"It's all right," Thayet said, patting his arm. "You didn't mean to."

"Yeah, you didn't mean to," Harailt agreed.

"One's friends should never be given cause to look at him the way you both just looked at me," he answered.

"We've never discussed this ability in depth," Harailt said. "When did you discover you did not need a shiny implement?"

"Years ago. I think I was twelve and home for summer break. I did it to my own father. After that he – uh – discouraged my visits. If I did return home, the breaks were shorter and shorter before they needed to get me back. Consequently, I hardly know my youngest siblings. I doubt if I'd recognize them if we ran into each other some where." He looked up and saw what he knew he would – a look of sympathy on both faces.

"Does it happen by accident often?" Thayet asked.

"Not often, no. It is most common when I'm very tired. Unfortunately, that means I have accidentally mind captured a few women in my own bed chamber, but otherwise very rarely."

Harailt chuckled but Thayet looked contemplative. "Is it part of why you've never married?" she asked eventually.

He looked at her and smiled. "I suppose it is in a round about way. I don't want a bride who is afraid of me. But I also want someone to love and to really be a partner. My father domineered over my mother. He had no respect for her and she was miserable for it. Marriage should include mutual respect and love. I'm sure you've listened to a hundred of those conservatives tell you otherwise," he smiled at Thayet. "I think what you and Jon have is great. When I accidentally captured you I was thinking what a great commander you are and how lucky Jon is that you are so strong."

Thayet beamed at him. Harailt tilted his head. "I wonder if all of the highly educated men have the same basic philosophy," Harailt said. "We've never discussed this and yet, it is why I'm not married. I haven't found my match. Lindhall only recently found his. You have not found yours, et cetera."

"No, Ral, I have. If it were only as simple as finding her, I wouldn't have spent the last 10 months beating myself up psychologically." Thayet gave him a knowing smile. Harailt looked surprised. "Every man needs his secrets," Numair said cryptically and then he stood up. "And this man also desperately needs some sleep. I'll catch up to you in a few hours."

When the day of battle finally arrived, the Queen and her forces waited at the edge of the forest, preparing to ford the river and attack the enemy. They knew exactly where the enemy was thanks to maps drawn by Daine. Wingstar had delivered them a day prior and the army had been given plenty of time to study them well.

Numair was no longer cloaked by either dragon magic or his own powerful gift. He had rested well and prepared as much as he could for the coming fight. He had to draw Hadensra away from the rest of the battle. And though the enemy would suspect something when Hadensra sensed Numair, they would have no idea what awaited them on the other side – which was the point.

Numair had already crossed the river and he walked inland an hour earlier. He could feel Hadensra beckoning to him. A challenge had been issued. He need only to accept it. He thought he'd do it with a flourish. He sent a speaking spell to Hadensra and one of his fantom kisses to plant itself firmly on the mage's forehead. If Hadensra were angry enough, he might forget to the conventions of warning his companions.

Upriver he went, following the magical summons of the enemy. He could see an image of Inar Hedensra when he approached a small clearing by a beaver damn. He was a tall man, though not as tall as Numair. His shaggy blond hair nearly matched the animal fur he wore over his stained tunic and leggings. It was far too hot for such a costume. The ruby glittered in one eye socket and the other eye held a look of mirth. Numair's likeness brushed the simulacrum Hadensra aside and it melted to nothing.

"You're going to have to work harder than that to fool me, Hadensra." His own simulacrum said. Numair himself was right behind it, invisible and shielded. He watched with amusement as Hedensra fell for his own ploy and blasted the simulacrum with mage fire, laughing hysterically as he realized what Numair had done.

"Apparently, Salmalin, we think along the same lines." Numair could pick out his whereabouts now. "We have something else in common, Salmalin, we both have a thing for a certain curly haired brunette. Though I admit she need only be slightly warm for me to enjoy her company – I don't really care if she's breathing."

It was a disgusting thing to say and designed to make Numair reveal his position. He would not until he was ready.

"Of course, maybe Ozorne won't leave me any. He's hunting for her this morning. He's got a few tauros friends that desperately want to meet her. I doubt there will be much left to enjoy."

Numair was nearly in position and fighting the urge to turn and fly after Daine. It's what he wants me to do. Daine is strong and very capable. She will be fine. The sun was rising and the battle trumpets would sound soon.

"Aperio," Hadensra shouted. It was a basic revealing spell and Numair had expected it. "Too smart for that one, I see," Hadensra said. A blinding light suddenly poured through the ruby in his eye. Numair could feel the heat emanating from it.

"Refero colus," Numair whispered. The air shimmered and the light from the ruby turned back against Hadensra, scorching his animal hide and filling the air with a stench that would overpower a stormwing.

Hedensra laughed. "Nice, Salmalin! That's the closest you'll get." Red fire gathered at his hands and poured, amplified by the ruby – mage fire. Hadensra knew his position now. Numair countered also with mage fire – his amplified by the jeweled staff. The two magics collided, forcing both to bend at a 90 degree angle. Red and Black fire twisted together in a column, extending hundreds of feet in the air. Now everyone would know the fight was on.

"Antegenero ovt fin," Numair shouted. The mage fire stopped from both.

"I'm impressed, Salmalin. You've left your university days far behind haven't you? But I know a few things about uncreating." Red fire gathered around the man and shimmered hotly.

Forgive me, Jonathan. Heat generated in a coil of black fire. Spinning it to spiral like dragon magic, Numair sent it twisting into the earth. It erupted in a tall and hot column of molten sand and silica. And when Hendensra shouted, "Antegenero compleo saqit!" the liquid fire poured at him, trapping the spell that would have unmade Numair. Hedensra shouted in pain, but some kind of explosion burst and froze the liquid fire sending a yard-long bank of earth colored glass into the river.

"I hate to have to kill you, Hadensra. You are brilliant. Your talents could be used for so much better than this. Perhaps we could settle this in a less barbaric way."

Hadensra merely roared in fury. His baiting seemed to be over. "Flatas cosopora!" The ground cried and trembled violently as stones buried deep in the strata launched themselves from the earth and flew at Numair. Numair shielded himself, sending the projectiles into the river where they accumulated as if someone had begun building a damn.

Numair gathered his Gift into the gem on his staff and fired at Hadensra, shoving the mage backward and ending the onslaught of subterraneous boulders.

Both men staggered backward, the fight beginning to wear on them. "Perhaps I should hear you out," Hadensra said. Numair was suspicious, but could hardly decline the opportunity to show mercy – though if Hadensra were Uusoae's pawn, he would have to at least trap the man.

"Jonathan of Conte' has been very kind to me. He allows me freedom to study and taught me a lot of everyday spells that the university never bothered with. And I get to know what exactly it is I'm fighting for. I would never be fighting for the destruction of the world, for example." It was designed to feel him out. But Hadensra had apparently only been taking a break.

A white hot, jelly like substance poured over him. Numair had seen this spell before when he fought Tristan Staghorn. It was a flammable acid they learned in their early years at Carthak. It didn't burn his flesh as it was intended to because of his shield. He merely melted it as he had done before and watched the look of astonishment on Hadensra's face with amusement.

Numair fired a spell at Hadensra to encapsulate him in a sparkling whirlwind. He hoped it would slow the other mage down for a while so he could take a moment to think. Murder was against his nature, but Hadensra didn't seem willing to stop. He could possibly capture him by some means, but he had to assume Hedensra might be the pawn. He had dropped the clue about destroying the world without Hadensra even questioning him.

The whirlwind slowed the other mage for only 10 minutes before he was able to stomp it down and resumed his attacks.

"Perussi Minuo!" shouted Hadensra.

It was excruciating. Numair felt his entire body was burning from the inside. He had known it might come but he thought, somehow his shield would protect him. Through the fog of his brain he reached for the knowledge to stop this blood-fire spell. "Cesso ovt Renovo!" he cried, hoarsely when at last his brain wrapped around the knowledge he needed. It had probably only been a few seconds, but the pain was so intense it felt like much longer.

"What does it take to kill you?" Hadensra roared.

"More than you have at your disposal, I hope," he answered. Numair ripped the earth open beneath Hedensra's feet and watched as the Scanran Mage dropped comically in the hole. He didn't wait to see whether he'd crawl out or not, he just closed the crevasse.

He dropped to a sitting position. It wasn't over. But it would take the other man at least a full minute to figure out how to get himself out and he needed a rest. It was a foolish decision possibly. The power usage was immense. If he could get that damned ruby, Hadensra would weaken greatly.

He crawled to the spot in the ground where Hadensra had fallen in, drawing a rune on the surface. "A surprise for you," he muttered and pulled himself painfully to his feet. He knelt by the river's edge and greedily drank water. He then slapped water on his face and hair. He had to wait now.

The ground began to groan and shake, Numair stepped behind a large boulder and renewed his shield. Like a geyser bursting, the dirt flew through the air in all directions and the shape of Hadensra emerged right through the rune. The ruby soared through the air and Numair caught it deftly and tucked it into his mage pack.

Hadensra was livid with rage. He spewed a shaman language Numair did not know at a rapid pace and snakes appeared all around him coiled to strike. Numair lifted and shoved them at Hadensra, making the air shimmer with the power.

"Give it back!" Hadensra roared, sending a bolt of red lightning that lit the landscape on fire. Numair doused it, moving water from the river with his mind.

They had been at it for hours and were starting to use weaker spells on one another.

A swarm of bees surrounded Numair, dancing over his body threateningly. He was going to push them away with a shield spell, but they seemed to just change their mind. Both mages were startled and then realized that animals seemed to be flying and running south at a mad pace.

"Your girl's in trouble, Salmalin. I'm sure those tauros friends of Ozorne's will be gentle," It was a mocking statement that chilled Numair to the core. He felt rage bubble inside himself and a powerful buzzing in his ears.

Before he had discovered that he was in love with Daine, he had spent three months of fighting unbelievable rages that made things explode. It had subsided once he quit fighting his own emotions and was able to follow the years of training completely. Now he recognized all the signs and for the first time in his life he wanted it. He let himself imagine the worst until his skin tingled with irate power. He lifted the staff Weiryn had given him and hurled it like a javelin at Hedensra. Borne on his power, it hit its mark – Hedensra's chest. Death wasn't instant. The man writhed in agony, crying something in Scanran that sounded like a prayer, "Venlig at gaeld Mors sjael. Vaere til hjaelp.", though Numair's mind was too exhausted to translate it immediately. He did not know if Hadensra could heal himself at all and didn't dare chance it now. Numair let the rage go, dropping to a fetal position to protect himself. Stones around him expoded angrily and the jeweled head of the staff now buried in Hadensra's chest answered his power.

Numair knew it was done when blood and tissue splattered with the exploding stones and shower of gravel that followed. But there was no feeling of immense relief. He lifted himself enough to vomit and cry his wrath to the gods that he had been forced into becoming such a monster. Then he collapsed into a shivering heap of a man.

In a while, Numair lifted himself to crawl away from the grizzly mess. Again washing himself by the river's edge, he heard a terrible howling from the woods to the south. The animals – Oh Goddess no, Daine! He sobbed uncontrollably. He didn't know what had happened. He only knew that her pain must have been great for the animals to respond like that. He could only hope she survived and it seemed foolish at this point to allow such hope to exist.

Numair was drained, terribly weak and awash in self-loathing and grief. He dragged himself down river to the base of a weeping willow, where he lay prone beneath it, thinking how appropriate the name was to this moment in his life. He held the ruby for sometime, staring at it and wondering hollowly how he would go on from here. Staring at the ruby, he finally was able to clear his mind enough to translate Hadensra's final words – "Mother forgive your son. Help me, please." Like so many soldiers, Hadensra spent his last breath crying for his mother.

Eventually Numair tucked the ruby in his shirt pocket. Exhaustion took him over, and he dozed there at the base of the tree to dream strange sights of the Realms of the Gods and Daine standing in a circle of the great gods, asking them to let the stormwings stay in the Mortal Realm. It had to have been a dream as Kitten was there too.

He pulled himself from sleep but stayed where he was, listening to the sounds of the day. The battle must be over. The wood was silent except for the sounds of animals going about their summer tasks. Could it be that simple for the rest of the world to resume living when he felt his soul had been swallowed by the burden of war?

He watched a circle of carrion birds descend on the remains of Hadensra and wondered if they were watching for him to also expire from exhaustion or grief. He wondered idly why it was vultures and not stormwings that had come to consume the gore. Perhaps they were still busy fighting elsewhere.

Numair knew that Hadensra had not been the pawn. Probably Deniau was not either. He was certain that Diamondflame would have dispatched that Copper Islander right away. Numair had vaguely felt the power of the dominion jewel in use and knew that Jon had been fighting south of them. Wouldn't Valmer also be dead by now? Ozorne was left of the four identified potential pawns. Ozorne had always seemed the most likely. If he was still alive, Numair would pull himself together long enough to send him to the black god in pieces and then he didn't know how he would continue. Would Kit want to stay with him or to go on to her family in the Dragonlands where she could visit Daine in the halls of the dead. The thought was enough to rip him up again, as tears poured down his exhausted face.

The silence was broken by the sound of a horse. Too exhausted to move, Numair waited in silence. The sound of horse shoes on the summer-dried earth grew closer and closer and stopped. If the searcher were looking for Numair, maybe he should just reveal himself. What's the worst that could happen – I could die. Somehow, it didn't seem the worst thing anymore. There are worse things than death.

"Whoever you are, if you're here to kill me, you'll need to do it while I remain prone," he said boldly. "Have the decency to be quick about it, so I can get back to my rest."

He heard the sound of a person dismounting. "What I've got in mind isn't near so quick as killing!" a familiar female voice said. It sounded like Daine but… no he had heard the animals cry. This was too cruel. But some force inside of him demanded he rise, demanded he respond in case, like after the spidren attack in the Divine Realms, Daine had somehow escaped death.

"Daine?" he weakly lurched to his feet, knocking his head against the willow branches above him.

From somewhere outside of his unfocused vision, he saw the shape of her, running toward him. Daine plowed into him with enough force to drive him back against the trunk of the tree. "That hurt," he gasped and then spun his mind around Daine. Here she was almost as happy to see him as he was to see her and everything would be alright soon enough.

Numair put a hand on either side of her face in gratitude to see what he thought he would never see again. He kissed her nose, her cheeks, her forehead, and then her mouth. A powerful passion surfaced above the exhaustion, sending that blissful sense of belonging to warm his entire soul. They broke the kiss long enough to gasp and reach for one another again, this time hands roaming eagerly, as if confirming the other's existence and general well being. They broke the kiss long enough to look at each other and return again, kissing until he felt alive again and somehow healed for her mere presence.

He never said, Magelet, I thought again that I had lost you, but he thought it and felt it to the very core of himself. Daine was like air to him – necessary. And even if she said no, he wanted her in his life forever. So when they broke the kiss the last time he reached for each of her hands with his own. "Will you marry me?" he asked.

She smiled up at him – a beautiful smile that made his stomach flip. "Maybe someday, but only if you're very, very good," she answered.

"What if I'm very, very bad?" he said as seductively as he knew how. He pulled her tightly against him, kissing her passionately until neither of them could do anything but gasp in yearning.

Finally she answered, "Still maybe someday, but your welcome to try to convince me to make it sooner." He smiled at her, wondering what he had to do to convincer her and how wonderful it would be to try to figure it out.

Suddenly she giggled. "Cloud says this is as lovely as watching to colts frisking in the sun, but we're about to have an audience. Kitten's bringing Onua up."

"Then by all means, let us totter down to meet them," he answered with a sigh. "I will resume persuading you in regard to matrimony at another time, when we've rested, and eaten, and had baths."

Daine slung his arm around her shoulders, studying his face with a look of concern. "So that Inar Hadensra was a hard fight?"

Numair dug into his shirt pocket and produced the ruby eye. "The hardest. I believe I'll retire and return to juggling for a living." He wasn't entirely joking. The fight with Hadensra had taken more than power from him. There were wounds to heal that no one could see. He glanced once more at the jewel in his hand and though Let the healing commence. He threw the thing in the river. He would not be keeping souvenirs like those who killed without conscience. "I could support us with juggling, if you were to marry me."

"We'll see," she said.

"I take it Uusoae was acting through Ozorne?" he asked, wanting to know if it was really over.

Daine nodded. "I'll tell you all of it later. It will take a bit of telling." She looked up and he followed her gaze to the stormwings that were now coming for the dead.

He tightened his arm around her shoulder but said no more until they saw Onua and Kitten. The little dragon launched herself at him and he scooped her up with strength he couldn't possibly have guessed he had. "There's my little girl," he said, and kissed the dragonet on the forehead. Onua and Daine beamed at him. With Kitten in one arm and Daine in the other, he felt like his family was together again. He didn't know what would come in the days ahead, but he hoped they would always be part of his life.

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I did promise a fluffy ending – fluffier than this. Expect at least two more chapters to close the story.