Betray and Betrayed
Chapter Six-Healing Around Every Corner
"ALANNA!" yelled Char in desperation as he clutched her hand as if willing her to come back. Letting the tears fall down his face, Char brought her hand to his face once he knew that she was not coming back. As his tears fell steadily on her hands, Char felt those small and yet strong hands become colder as if the warmth of life was disappearing slowly and steadily.
Little did Char know that his call reached across time and space, where Alanna heard his desperate cry of grief.
Alanna stopped her hand, which was a breath's length from Death's as she heard Char's yell across time and space. Looking over at the Great Mother Goddess, Alanna say that she had a knowing smile on her face.
Alanna turned her head back to Death and shook her head as she withdrew her hand.
"I'm sorry, I can't go yet. It's not my time and others are still in need of my help. So until then, I can't go" said Alanna in a determined voice. Death looked at the Mother and saw that she too wore a determined look similar to Alanna's that it wasn't hard to see where Alanna got it from.
The Great Mother Goddess shook her head at Death and he made a small nod of the head and disappeared in a faint black glow.
"Great Mother, now what must I do to return to my rightful place?" asked Alanna.
"Child, all you must do is will yourself to return to the land of the living and you shall be there. But before you go, I have some things to tell you," the Mother said with a knowing smile.
Alanna looked shocked, "What is it Great Goddess?"
"There are some fears that you must overcome as the time comes. Your first fear is a person that you shall come to meet. Do not let looks deceive you since he is a great evil among the land. Secondly, you fear not being able to protect those dear to you. Do not let that hinder you, as your compassion and loyalty to your friends are great and that shall take you far..."
"And the last one Great Goddess?" asked a very curious Alanna.
"Lastly child, you fear love. You fear the commitment that it takes even when there are those that truly love you all around you. Do not fear love as it is the most important thing and without it, life is not worth living."
Before Alanna could interrupt and argue the Goddess' claim, the Great Mother disappeared in a shower of bright white light.
Alanna just stood there, shocked. She shook her head and thought, Well I can always deal with that later. Now I have to be getting back to Tortall. Alanna concentrated on the way her life was before she came to the land. She thought of the trees, the horses, the blades, and most importantly her friends. She thought of Char and his warm smile, of Jon and his gently touch, and of George and his mischievous and yet kind nature. The thoughts came easily and she felt as if her essence was fading from this world and into her rightful one.
Char awoke from his revere as the warmth in Alanna's hand, still in his own, returned. He was startled and even more so as Char saw that the sweat from her face slowly returned to normal and upon closer inspection, Char saw that her breathing was regular, if just a tad soft. He felt tears on his face once more, but this time it was out of happiness and not sadness.
"You know, waking up in the rain is not as pleasant as it might sound," whispered Alanna tiredly with a small smile.
"Alanna!" exclaimed an ecstatic Charles.
"The one and only," said Alanna, smiling warmly at him.
Char smiled and gently fixed the blankets on her. "Rest, you just had a near death experience! Don't worry me like that again."
"I'll try," Alanna said with a weary grin and added pertly, "but it might not do any good."
Char just shook his head and after checking if Alanna was comfortable, he left. Once he was out, Alanna went back to sleep.
Over the next days, multiple visitors came to pay Alanna a visit. The most frequent was Jonathan, Char, and surprisingly even George came to visit. However, he can only come around dinnertime since the Provost always had his leisurely break then.
However, by the fourth day, Jon stopped coming. Alanna was very surprised but chose to ignore it since there were plenty of other victims of the disease and as the prince, Jon would probably need to console the families of the dead.
By the fifth day since Alanna had been in the infirmary, Alanna tried to get out of bed, despite the warning glares the Healers gave her. As an important political figure in Tortall, Alanna was assigned three Healers originally, but as she healed only two remained. Once Alanna got out of bed, she tested her balance and was happy to note that she could walk fine, but was easily tired.
Coming out of the room, Alanna made to Char's rooms. Opening his rooms, Alanna was shocked to see that it was in terrible disarray. Books and charts littered the ground everywhere.
"What happened here!" she exclaimed.
"Eh…been busy with the victims of the disease so I haven't gotten around to cleaning it yet and…," said Char as he blushed faintly.
Alanna just started at him. Char was usually the neatest of all of them, probably since he was the Commander and needed to keep track of the information. So Alanna was just simply amaze that Char would ignore his responsibilities.
"Well have you seen Jonathan? I haven't seen him in a while and was wondering if he was around."
"What was the other thing I was going to tell you," Char hesitated, "the Crown Prince has the sickness and I have to see him as a sort of support from Tusaine. That's partly the reason why the room's a mess like right now." Char looked uneasily at the pale look Alanna gave him and fidgeted. Suddenly Alanna turned around and walked out of the room as fast as her just healed body let her.
Arriving at the room, Alanna saw that it was filled with the most ridiculous things in a recovering bedchamber. The smell of incense clung to the air like a wet rag. It was so smoked that Alanna, a healthy person, had a hard time breathing. If healthy people couldn't breathe, how could Jon? She thought. Furthermore, all around Jon were people wailing and hollering with priests praying to the dead. Jonathan was not even dead and here they were giving up on him already!
Alanna seethed in anger at the sight before her. The people had even covered Jon's face from her view. A light touch knocked Alanna out of her murderous anger as she turned to look at a face she hadn't seen in years.
"Child, what is wrong?" asked Sir Myles Kindly. He had basically been the father that Alanna had not had in her years as a page here. Also, Sir Myles taught about the history of Tortall, centering on the Code of Chivalry, which became Alanna's favorite class.
"Sir Myles," started Alanna, "these people are here treating Jon as if he's already passed into the world of the dead! How do you expect a person to heal in these circumstances!"
"There is nothing to do child," he said forlornly, "the healers have given up. The sickness struck him when all around the palace have already had it. Healers are all tired and weary from the healings and there is none to help him."
"Can you get them all out of here?" whispered Alanna, gesturing to the people in the room.
Myles gave her a puzzled and hopeful look, "Can you do anything to help him?"
"I will try my best. Even so, this is just crazy seeing as how it's making it worst for Jon." Myles nodded and closed his eyes. Once he opened them Alanna was shocked to see a different face than the kind man who was just there. His eyes were hardened and an air of command overtook him as he turned to the people there.
"All of you get out! What kind of place is this! This isn't a funeral, in case you haven't noticed, the Prince is still alive. How do you expect him to get better if all you are here creating this noise! Get out!" yelled Sir Myles, pointing to the door. The air around him radiated power and authority that they people were temporarily stunned at the new side of him. Grudgingly however, they obediently obeyed and went out the door until only Myles and Alanna were left in the room.
Once the door was firmly shut, Alanna walked over to the overly large sapphire blue bed. Alanna gasped as she looked into the person almost hidden until the blankets regardless of the sweltering heat.
"Jon," gasped Alanna, "What's happened to you?" Her voice showed sympathy and pity at his state.
Jon's physical appearance was simply dreadful. Sweat covered his pale and almost inhuman face. His breath came out in short and somewhat hard gasps of air, as if it was a struggle. Despite the mountain of blankets, underneath it all, Jon was shivering from the cold.
In the corner of the room, a small controlled fire was burning in an attempt to sweat out the sickness. However, it was not working in this case since the sickness was abnormal.
Alanna remembered what the village healer had once said about healing. Maude had mentioned that in extreme cases mortals can call upon the gods for help. To do that, however, one needed vervain. Maude had once said that Alanna had the knack for healing and Alanna thought, What time better than now to use it?
"Sir Myles, is it possible to get some vervain? I need it for the healing," Alanna calmly stated. The old knight gave her a puzzled look before summoning a runner outside to get the needed herb.
The breathless blond runner returned soon afterwards with the needed plant in his hands. Gasping over for breath, he handed it to the old knight before the door closed. Myles walked over and handed Alanna the herb. Then she walked over to the fire.
With intense concentration, Alanna tossed in the stalk of the plant and saw the fire rage. Gathering her courage, Alanna knelt down and stuck her hands into the fire. Intense pain filled her very essence as Alanna struggled to keep consciousness.
"Great Mother Goddess! Please aid me in healing a friend!" said Alanna with her hands in the fire. The fire roared with a vivid violet, the same shade as Alanna's Gift.
Out of nowhere a voice spoke to her that shocked Sir Myles even further than the already surprising events unfolding. A heavenly voice, the most beautiful that Myles had ever heard, appeared in the air. It was the Great Goddess.
"Simply call him back, my child. I will help you with the rest." Alanna pulled her hand out of the strangely colored flames and walked with purpose over to Jon's bedside.
Myles watched on in amazement as a powerful air of violet surrounded Alanna. He grasped Jon's hand in her own and closed her eyes. Faintly, Myles noticed a faint tinge of black surround Jon as the black and purple battled.
Alanna continued her path on the dark way of Jon's internal conscience. At the end, she saw Jon huddled in a corner and he seemed to have given up totally.
"Come on Jon, let's go. You don't belong here," said Alanna firmly and soothingly at the same time. Jon looked up at her with glazed eyes. Was that what I looked like? He reached up and grabbed her hand.
"Where are we going?" he asked wearily.
"Home," was Alanna's simple answer. The pair went back up the road that Alanna had traveled down to just moments before to find Jon. However, at the end of the road stood a dark figure with no visible face, causing Alanna to shiver. It was Death in all his glory.
"He's coming with me," Alanna said stubbornly. Death regarded her and Alanna felt as though he was looking into her very soul. To her great relief, after the stare down, Death nodded just slightly and faded away into darkness.
"Come on Jon, let's continue."
Myles watched in amazement as the darkness seemed to fade until all that remained was a faint lavender. He did nothing for fear of messing up the spell. A blinding shock caused Myles to close his eyes and when he opened it Myles saw that the heir had normal breathing and the sweat had all basically disappeared. But slumped over on the vast bed was a ghostly pale Alanna.
Author's Notes-Sorry for the delay everyone! It's been so busy and I also had been working on a new Harry Potter fanfic! But here's the update! Also, you seriously can't expect me to KILL Alanna can you! Come on now; then it would end terribly! Well REVIEW if you read this update! Thanks to all of those that DID review!-Sorry for the delay everyone! It's been so busy and I also had been working on a new Harry Potter fanfic! But here's the update! Also, you seriously can't expect me to KILL Alanna can you! Come on now; then it would end terribly! Well REVIEW if you read this update! Thanks to all of those that DID review!
SO REVIEW!
Disclaimer-Pierce is god. She owns all!