Dedicating this chapter to the lovely Macintosh technician who unhelpfully helped me to fix my laptop. In the end, I fixed it myself, without the inconvenience of paying two hundred dollars. My best friend, Crystallised Rose, and my Dearest Chrysanthemum, the dedication always goes to you two. Oh, and congratulations Cougar1, for being a wonderful 'Nick Bottom'

Chapter 3-Save her, for gods' sake

She fell limp in George's hold.

"Alanna!" roared George, "Go and get my mother!" Alanna hesitated but ran when George started cursing. "Gods Faeni, why in the name of Mithros were you so stubborn with those Provost guards?"

Eleni raced down the stairs, holding her skirts up with one hand. "George, you'd better have a good reason for giving me such a heart attack. Now, who's… Great Mother Goddess, what happened to Faeni?"

Alanna explained quickly. "She got attacked by provost guards. She assumes that they'd put poison on their whips. By the look of her, I say her assumption is true."

Eleni's face made an odd contrast to the frantic ones of her son and his two friends. "Right, Alanna, go and heat up some water. Johnny, if you can just assist me with Faeni here. Carry her up into George's room. Oh, and George, stop gawping like an idiot. Go to my workroom and crush the chrysanthemums. Only the red ones mind you."

Jonathan wondered why Eleni even bothered to ask him for help. Faeni was so light that she weighed next to nothing in his arms. "If you don't mind my asking, Mistress Cooper, why did you ask George to only crush the red chrysanthemums?"

Eleni hurriedly smoothed the bed. "Lay her flat here, careful not to bump her head. When mixed with snake venom, the red chrysanthemum has the strongest healing powers out of all the antidotes for poison. Judging by the state she's in right now, she definitely needs the best. The reason yellow chrysanthemums are not used is because they produce a secretion that makes the poison immune to any cures. Alanna, there you are. If you will excuse us Johnny, me and Alanna here is just going to get Faeni's wounds cleaned up."

Jonathan went outside, only to smash into a sweaty George. "How's she? Is she still alive? Where's my mother?" Mutely, Jonathan pointed to his room. "Right. Got to tell her that the stock of Red Chrysanthemums seem to have disappeared over night."

Jonathan knew instantly that Eleni did not react pleasantly to this news. Her despairing cries were heard clearly by him, if not by the inhabitants of Carthak. "They just can't have disappeared!" Alanna gasped at the Healing woman's vast knowledge of swear-words.

"So, what do we do now?

"George, stop talking."

"But Ma, Faeni…"

"SHUT UP, George!"

Eleni stopped her pacing. "Alanna, the only one who can help Faeni now is you. I don't have enough magic for this. Remember when you called Johnny back from the Black Realms? You must do the same for her."

"Must I?"

Jonathan stomped inside the room. "Alanna, how can you be saying this? Mistress Cooper, is it possible that I go…"

"No, Alanna has the Hand of the Goddess on her. Only she can go to the Black Realms and hope to come back alive. Alanna, as a friend and Faeni's auntie, I beg you to help her."

Alanna watched, horrified as George's mother sank to her knees in front of her. "Please get up, Mistress Cooper. I'll do it, if only you will tell me what to do."

George's mother gave a sigh of relief. "I thank you. Now, could you but that ember the Goddess gave to you."

"The Goddess said to never take it off." Alanna protested.

"DO YOU WANT TO HELP OR NOT?" Shouted Jonathan.

"Fine, fine. Right, Faeni, this had better work, or the Goddess is going to kill me."

Instead of the usual fiery colour it burnt when magical workings take place, the ember turned an eerie blue. Around Alanna, the world faded as the Great Mother Goddess filled her vision.

"Daughter," the Goddess's terribly wondrous voice vibrated. "Why have you put the ember that I give you on someone else? Is it because you wish no longer for me to assist you?

Alanna went on bended knees. "My Mother, the reason I removed the ember is because I need to rescue Faeni, the cousin of my friend. I did not expect to be here, though. Or is this the Realms of the Dead? It was different the last time I tried to rescue Jonathan."

The Goddess's voice rolled like thunder. "Alanna, my child, you must abandon this girl, you understand? She will change the Fate of things, the things that the Gods have planned so carefully for. Do not try to save her. Her birth was a mistake."

Alanna shivered. Somehow, she wasn't expecting this hostility from her patron Goddess. "Mother Goddess, when I put the ember on Faeni, it burnt a royal blue. Like Jon's Gift. Does this have something to do with him?"

The Goddess's perfect lips turned upwards. "I see that you are a sharp one. I cannot tell you what Faeni has to do with Jonathan, for if her life was to end, what I tell you would never come to pass. All I can say now is, if Faeni is to live, Jon will have to make the decision that will make Tortall benefit. Since that is very unlikely to happen, do not dwell on it. Now, my daughter, go back to your world and tell those mortals that Faeni cannot be cured."

Alanna had difficulty containing her surprise. "You… you don't want Faeni to live? What happened to those Red Chrysanthemums? Did you…?"

The Goddess nodded. "You are a sharp one. Yes, it was I who made them all disappear. I knew this was coming. What is happening? Why is he here?"

Alanna did not know. She was too busy staring at the materialised Jonathan.

Disclaimer: CAN PEOPLE PLEASE REVIEW? I never ask for reviews, because I think myself too poor an author, but any could do with a bit of encouragement. Also, I would prefer if people didn't write anything stupid like 'JK Rowling? I thought they belonged to Tamora Pierce.' I was trying to make a joke. Anyway, all Tortallan characters belong to Emily Rodda and I'm serious about that. Faeni belongs to my luminous self.